Eddings, David – Tamuli – 02 – The Shining Ones

“It may take a while.’ Vanion’s tone was troubled.

The writhing, half-formed shape of the flame-like Cyrgon partially

rose and waved one huge, fiery arm, and a half-mile or so

behind the Trolls there suddenly appeared a vast glittering.

‘He’s called up his Cyrgai!’ Khalad shouted. ‘We’d better do

something. ‘

‘Ghworg! Schlee~’ Vanion roared in Bhelliom’s huge voice.

‘Cyrgon hath summoned his children. Now may your children

feast!’

The Troll-Gods swelled even more enormous and barked

sharp commands to their prostrate worshipers. The Trolls

scrambled to their feet, turned, and looked hungrily at the

advancing Cyrgai drawn from ages past. Then with a great roar

they rushed toward the banquet Cyrgon had so generously

provided.

Ehlana was tired. It had been one of those exhausting days with

so many things to do that nothing had been really wrapped

up before the next intruded itself. She had retired to the royal

bedroom with Mirtai, Alcan and Melidere to prepare for bed.

Danae trailed along behind them, dragging Rollo by one hind

leg and yawning broadly.

‘The Emperor was in a peculiar humor this evening,’ Melidere

noted, closing the door behind them.

‘Sarabian’s nerves are strung a little tight right now,’ Ehlana

said, sitting down at her dressing-table. ‘The future of his whole

empire hinges on what Sparhawk and the others are doing in

the north, and there’s no way he can keep track of what’s going

on up there.’

Danae yawned again and curled up in a chair.

‘Where’s your cat?’ Ehlana asked her.

‘She’s around somewhere,’ Danae replied sleepily.

‘Check my bed, Mirtai,’ Ehlana instructed. “I don’t like furry

little surprises in the middle of the night.’

Mirtai patted down the canopied royal bed and then dropped

to her knees to look under all the furniture. ‘No sign of her,

Ehlana,’ she reported.

‘You’d better go find her, Danae,’ the queen said.

‘i’m sleepy, mother,’ Danae objected.

‘The sooner you find your cat, the sooner you can get to bed.

Let’s catch her before she gets out of the castle this time. Go with

her, Mirtai. After you two find the cat put Danae to bed and

then see if you can locate either Stragen or Caalador. One of

them’s supposed to bring me a report on what’s going on at the

Cynesgan embassy tonight, and I’d like to get it out of the way

before I go to bed. I don’t want them banging on my door in

the middle of the night.’

Mirtai nodded. ‘Come along, Danae,’ she said.

The princess sighed. She climbed out of her chair, kissed her

mother, and followed the golden giantess out of the room.

Alcan began to brush the queen’s hair. Ehlana loved to have

her hair brushed. There was a kind of sleepy, sensual delight

in it that relaxed her tremendously. She was quite vain about

her hair. It was thick and heavy and lustrously blonde. Its pale

color was astounding to the dark-haired Tamuls, and she knew

that all eyes would be on her any time she entered a room.

The three of them talked, the drowsy, intimate talk of ladies

preparing for bed.

Then there was a polite tapping at the door.

‘Oh, bother,’ Ehlana said. ‘See who that is, Melidere.’

‘Yes, your Majesty.’ The Baroness rose to her feet and crossed

the bedroom to the door. She opened it and spoke for a moment

with the people outside. “It’s four of the Peloi, your Majesty,’

she said. ‘They say they have word from the north.’

‘Bring them in, Melidere.’ Ehlana turned to face the door.

The man who came through the door did not look all that

much like a Peloi. The clothing, tight-fitting and mostly leather,

was right, as was the saber at the man’s waist. His head was

shaved, as were the heads of all Peloi men, but this fellow’s face

was slightly tanned, whereas his scalp was as pale as the belly

of a fish. Something was wrong here.

The man behind the first wore a carefully trimmed black

beard. His face was very pale, and it looked somehow familiar.

The last two also wore Peloi garb and had shaved their heads,

but they were definitely not Peloi. The first was Elron, the juvenile

Astellian poet, and the second pouchy-eyed and slightly

tipsy, was Krager. ‘Ah,’ he said in his drink-slurred voice, ‘so

good to see you again, your Majesty.’

‘How did you get in here, Krager?’ she demanded.

‘Nothing easier, Ehlana,’ he smirked. ‘You should have kept

a few of Sparhawk’s knights here to stand watch. Church

Knights are more observant than Tamul soldiers. We dressed as

Peloi and shaved our heads, and no one gave us a second glance.

Elron here covered his face with his cloak when the Baroness

answered the door – just as a precaution – but otherwise it was

almost too easy. You have met Elron before, haven’t you?’

“I vaguely remember him, don’t you, Melidere?’

‘Why, yes, I believe so, your Majesty,’ the blonde girl replied.

‘Wasn’t he that literary incompetent we met back in Astel? The

one with delusions of grandeur? I’d hardly call those atrocities

he commits poetry, though.’

Elron’s face went suddenly white with outrage.

‘i’m not an expert in the area of poetry, ladies,’ Krager

shrugged. ‘Elron tells me that he’s a poet, so I take him at his

word. May I present Baron Parok?’ he indicated the first man

who had entered the room.

Parok bowed floridly. His face was marked with the purplish

broken veins of a heavy drinker, and his eyes were pouchy and

dissipated-looking.

Ehlana ignored him. ‘You’re not going to get out of here alive,

Krager. You know that, don’t you?’

“I always get out alive, Ehlana,’ he smirked. ‘My preparations

are always very thorough. Now I’d like to have you meet our

leader. This is Scarpa.’ He gestured at the bearded man. ‘i’m

sure you’ve heard of him, and he’s been absolutely dying to

make your acquaintance.’

‘He doesn’t look all that dead to me – yet,’ she noted. ‘Why

don’t you call the guards to remedy that, Melidere?’

Scarpa blocked the Baroness. ‘This bravado is quite out of

place in a mere woman,’ he said to Ehlana coldly in a voice

loaded with contempt. ‘You give yourself too many airs. All the

genuflecting and “your Majesty”s seem to have gone to your

head and made you forget that you’re still only a woman.’

“I don’t think I need instruction in proper behavior from the

bastard son of a whore!’ she retorted.

Scarpa’s face flickered a brief annoyance. ‘We’re wasting time

here,’ he said. His voice was deep and rich, the voice of a performer,

and his manner and gestures were studied. He had

obviously spent a great deal of time in the public eye. ‘We have

many leagues to cover before dawn.’

‘i’m not going anyplace,’ she declared.

‘You’ll go where I tell you to go,’ he said, ‘and I’ll teach you

your place as we go along.’

‘What do you hope to gain from this?’ Melidere demanded.

‘Empire and victory.’ Scarpa shrugged. ‘We’re taking the

Queen of Elenia hostage. her husband is so stupid that he forgets

that the world is full of women – one very much like

another. He’s so foolishly attached to her that he’ll give us anything

for her safe return.’

‘Are you such an idiot that you actually believe that my busband

will trade Bhelliom for me?’ Ehlana said scornfully. ‘Sparhawk

is Anakha, you fool, and he has Bhelliom in his fist. That

makes him a God. He killed Azash, he’ll kill Cyrgon, and he’ll

definitely kill you. Pray that he does it quickly, Scarpa. He has

it in his power to make your dying last for a million years if he

chooses.’

“I do not pray, woman. Only weaklings put any faith in Gods.’

“I think you underestimate Sparhawk’s devotion to you,

Ehlana,’ Krager said. ‘He’ll give up anything to gain your safe

return.’

‘He won’t have to,’ Ehlana snapped. ‘I’ll deal with the

four of you myself. Do you really think you can get out of here

when one word from me will bring half the garrison running?’

‘You won’t give that word, however,’ Scarpa sneered. ‘You’re

just a little too arrogant, woman. I think you need to know the

full reality of your situation.’ He turned and pointed at Baroness

Melidere. ‘Kill that one,’ he commanded Elron.

‘But…’ the pasty-faced literary poseur began to object.

‘Kill her!’ Scarpa snapped. ‘if you don’t, I’ll kill you!’

Elron tremblingly drew his rapier and advanced on the defiant

Baroness. “It’s not a knitting-needle, you clot,’ Melidere told

him. ‘You can’t even hold it right. Stick to butchering language,

Elron. You don’t have the skill – or the stomach – to move up

to people yet, although your so-called poetry’s bad enough to

make people want to die.’

‘How dare you?’ he almost screamed, his face turning purple.

‘How’s your “Ode to Blue” coming, Elron?’ she taunted him.

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