Domes of Fire by David Eddings

a supporting army out there some place, I wouldn’t bring them in until the

last minute.’ Caalador turned and looked pointedly at the harbour. ‘That’s

our weakness right there, Sparhawk. There could be a fleet hiding in coves

and inlets along the coast. We’d never see them coming until they showed up

on the horizon. I’ve got pirates and smugglers scouring the coasts, but -‘

He spread his hands. ‘There’s not very much we can do about it, I’m

afraid,’ Sparhawk said. ‘We’ve got an army of Atans close at hand though,

and they’ll be inside the city soon after the uprising starts. Do your

people have the hiding places of these assorted visitors fairly

well-pinpointed? if things go well, I’d like to sweep them all up at once

if possible.’

‘They don’t seem to have lighted in specific places yet, Sparhawk. They’re

all moving around quite a bit. I’ve got people following them. We could

pick them up early, if you’d like.: ‘Let’s not expose our preparations; If

we can catch them on the day of the uprising, fine. If not, we can chase

them down later. I’m not going to endanger our counter-measures just for

the pleasure of their company. Your people are doing very well, Caalador.’

Their performance is a bit forced, my friend)’ Caalador admitted ruefully.

‘I’ve had to gather a large number of burly ruffians with clubs to keep

reminding the Tamul criminals that we’re all working together in this

affair.’

‘Whatever it takes.

%’Her Majesty’s suggestion has some advantages, Lord Vanion,’ Bevier said

after giving it some thought. ‘It’s what the fosse was designed for

originally anyway. It’s supposed to be a moat, not just a grassy ditch.’

‘It completely exposes the fact that we’re preparing to defend the castle,

Bevier,’ Vanion objected. ‘if we start pumping the moat full of water,

everybody in Matherion will know about it within the hour.’

‘You didn’t listen to the whole plan, Vanion,’ Ehlana said patiently.

‘We’ve been attending balls and banquets and various other entertainments

ever since we arrived here. It’s only proper that I respond to all those

kindnesses, so I’m planning a grand entertainment to pay my social

obligations. It’s not my fault that it’s going to take place on the night

of the uprising, is it? We have an Elene castle, so we’ll have an Elene

party. We’ll have an orchestra on the battlements, coloured lanterns and

buntings on the walls and festive barges in the moat complete ‘with

canopies and banquet tables. I’ll invite the emperor and his whole court.)

‘That would be extremely convenient, Lord Vanion,’ Tynian said. ‘We’d have

everybody we want to protect right close at hand. We wouldn’t have to go

looking for them, and we wouldn’t alert anybody to what we’re doing by

chasing cabinet ministers across the lawns.’ Sparhawk’s squire was shaking

his head. ‘What is it, Khalad?’ Ehlana asked him. ‘The bottom of the ditch

hasn’t been prepared to hold water, your Majesty. We don’t know how porous

the sub-soil is. There’s a very good chance that the water you pump in will

just seep into the ground. Your moat could be empty again a few hours after

you fill it.’

‘Oh, bother!’ ~Ehlana fretted. ‘I didn’t think of that.’

‘I’ll take care of it, Ehlana,’ Sephrenia smiled. ‘A good plan shouldn’t

be abandoned just because it violates a few natural laws.’

‘Would you have to do that before we started to fill the moat, Sephrenia?’

Stragen asked her. ‘It’s easier that way.’ He frowned. ‘What’s the

problem?’ she asked. ‘There are those three tunnels that lead under the

fosse to connect with the hidden passageways and listening posts inside the

castle.’

‘Three that we know about, anyway,’ Ulath added. ‘Exactly my point.

Wouldn’t we all feel more secure if all those tunnels – the ones we know

about and the ones we don’t – are flooded before the fighting starts?’

‘Good point,’ Sparhawk said. ‘I can wait to seal the bottom of the moat

until after you’ve flooded the tunnels,’ Sephrenia told them. what do you

think, Vanion?’ Emban asked. ‘The preparations for the queen’s party would

cover a lot of activity,’ Vanion conceded. ‘It’s a very good plan.’

‘I like all of it except the barges,’ Sparhawk said. ‘i’m sorry, Ehlana,

but those barges would just give the mob access to our walls. They’d defeat

the whole purpose the moat was designed for in the first place.’

‘i’m getting to that, Sparhawk. Doesn’t naphtha float on top of water?’

‘Yes, but what’s that got to do with it?’

‘A barge isn’t just a floating platform, you know. It’s got a hold under

the deck. Now, suppose we fill the holds with casks of naphtha. Then, when

the trouble starts, we throw boulders down from the battlements and crack

the barges open like eggshells. The naphtha will spread out over the water

in the moat, we set fire to it and surround the castle with a wall of

flame. Wouldn’t that sort of inconvenience people trying to attack the

castle?’

‘You’re a genius, my Queen!’ ~Kalten exclaimed. ‘How nice of you to have

noticed that, Sir Kalten,’ she replied smugly. ‘And the beautiful part

about the whole thing is that we can make all of our preparations right out

in the open without sneaking around at night and losing all that sleep.

This grand party gives us the perfect excuse to do almost anything to the

castle in the name of decoration.’ Mirtai suddenly embraced her owner and

kissed her. ‘i’m proud of you, my mother,’ she said. ‘i’m glad you approve,

my daughter,’ Ehlana said modestly, ‘but you really ought to be more

reserved, you know. Remember what you told me about girls kissing girls.’

‘We found two more tunnels, Sparhawk,’ Khalad reported as his lord joined

him on the parapet. Khalad was wearing a canvas smock over his black

leather vest. Sparhawk looked out at the moat where a gang of workmen were

driving long steel rods into the soft earth at the bottom of the ditch.

‘isn’t that a little obvious?’ he asked. ‘We have to have mooring stakes

for the barges, don’t we? The tunnels are all about five feet below the

surface. Most of the workmen with the sledge-hammers don’t know what

they’re really looking for, but I’ve got a fair number of knights down in

the ditch with them. The ceilings of those tunnels will be very leaky when

we start to fill the moat.’ Khalad looked out across the lawn. Then he

cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘Be careful with that barge!’ he

bellowed in Tamul. ‘if you spring her seams, she’ll leak!’ The foreman ‘of

the Tamul work-crew laboriously pulling the broad-beamed barge across the

lawn on rollers looked up. ‘It’s very heavy, honoured sir, he called back.

‘What have you got inside of it?’

‘Ballast, you idiot!’ Khalad called back. ‘There are going to be’ a lot of

people on that deck tomorrow night. If the barge capsizes and the emperor

falls in the moat, we’ll all be in trouble.’ Sparhawk looked inquiringly at

his squire. ‘We’re putting the naphtha casks in the barges inside the

construction sheds,’ Khalad explained. ‘We decided to do that more or less

in private.’ He looked at his lord. ‘You don’t necessarily have to tell

your wife I said this, Sparhawk,’ he said, but there were a few gaps in her

plan. The naphtha was a good idea – as far as it went, but we’ve added some

pitch as well, just to make sure it catches on fire when we want it to.

Naphtha casks are also very tight. They won’t do us much good if they just

sink to the bottom of the moat when we break open the barges. ,i’m going to

put a couple of Kring’s Peloi in the hold of each barge. They’ll take axes

to the casks at the last minute.’

‘You think of everything, Khalad.’

‘Somebody has to be practical in this group.’

‘Now you sound like your father.’

‘There is one thing though, Sparhawk. Your partygoers are going to have to

be very, very careful. There’ll be lanterns – and probably candles as well

– on those barges.,.One little accident could start the fire quite a bit

sooner than we’d planned, and – ah, actually, we’re a bit ahead of

schedule, your Highness,’ he said in Tamul for the benefit of the half

dozen labourers who were pulling a two-wheeled cart along the parapet. The

cart was filled with lanterns which the labourers were hanging from the

battlements. ‘No, no, no!’ Khalad chided them. ‘You can’t put two green

ones side by side like that. I’ve told you a thousand times – white, green,

red, blue. Do it the way I told you to do it. Be creative in your own

time.’ He sighed exaggeratedly. ‘It’s so hard to get good help these days,

your Highness,’ he said. ‘You’re overacting, Khalad,’ Sparhawk muttered. ‘I

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