entire government in order to conceal the fact that we were
really only interested in the files at Interior. Milord Stragen and
the Baroness put their heads together and concocted a system.
It’s totally irrational and wildly inconsistent, but for some reason
it works amazingly well. I can’ lay my hands on any given piece
of paper in less than an hour.’
‘Anyway,’ Stragen continued, ‘we browsed around through
the files at Interior for a week or so, but the people over there
kept slipping back into the building at night to move things
around so that we’d have to start all over again every morning.
That’s when we decided to just move our operations out onto
the lawns. We stripped all the paper out of all the buildings and
spread it out on the grass. That inconvenienced the rest of the
government enormously, but Interior was still holding out on us.
They were still hiding the critical files. Caalador and I reverted to
type and tried burglary – along with Mirtai. The queen sent her
along to remind us that we were looking for paper rather than
miscellaneous valuables, I guess. It took a few nights, but we
finally found the hidden room where the files we wanted were
concealed. ‘
‘Didn’t they miss them the next morning?’ Bevier asked him.
‘We didn’t take them, Sir Knight,’ Caalador told him. ‘The
queen called in a young Pandion who used a Styric spell to bring
the information back to the castle without physically removing
the documents.’ He grinned. ‘We got us all that there real incriminatin’
stuff, an’ they don’t know we got it. We stole it, an’ they
don’t even miss it.’
‘We’ve got the name of every spy, every informer, every secret
policeman and every conspirator of whatever rank Interior has
in all of Tamuli,’ Sarabian smirked. ‘We’ve been waiting for all
of you to come home so that we can take steps. I’m going to
dissolve the Ministry of the Interior, round up all those people,
and declare martial law. Betuana and I have been in close contact,
and we’ve laid our plans very carefully. As soon as I give
the word, the Atans are going to take charge of the entire
Empire. Then I’ll really be the Emperor instead of just a stuffed
toy.’
‘You’ve all been very busy,’ Vanion observed.
“It makes the time go faster, my Lord.’ Caalador shrugged.
‘We went a little farther, though. Krager obviously knew that
we were using the criminals of Matherion as spies, but we
weren’t sure if he knew about the hidden government. If he
thinks our organization’s localized, that’s not much of a problem;
but if he knows that I can give the order here in Matherion, and
somebody dies in Chyrellos, that’s a whole ‘mother thang.’
‘I’ve missed that dialect,’ Talen said. He considered it. ‘Not
really very much, though,’ he added.
‘Critic,’ Caalador accused.
‘How much were you able to find out?’ Ulath asked him.
Caalador spread one hand and rocked it back and forth doubtfully.
“It’s sorta hord t’ say,’ he admitted. ‘They’s some places
whur it iz oz them folks o’ ourn kin move around free oz frogs
in a muddy pond. Other places, they can’t.’ He made a sour
face. “It probably all boils down to natural talent. Some are gifted;
some aren’t. We’ve made a little headway in putting names to
some of the rabid nationalists in various parts of Tamuli – at
least we think it’s headway. If Krager really knows what we’re
doing, he could be feeding us false information. We wanted to
wait until you came back before we tested the information we’ve
got.’
‘How do you test something like that?’ Bevier asked.
‘We’ll send out the order to have somebody’s throat cut, and
see if they try to protect him,’ Stragen replied. ‘Some chief of
police somewhere, or maybe one of those nationalist leaders Elron,
maybe. Isn’t that astonishing, Sparhawk? That’s one of
the things we found out. It turns out that Elron is the mysterious
Sabre.’
‘What an amazing thing,’ Sparhawk replied with feigned
astonishment.
‘Caalador wants to kill the man named Scarpa,’ Stragen went
on, ‘but I favor Elron – although my preference in the matter
could be viewed as a form of literary criticism. Elron deserves
killing more for his abominable verse than his political opinions.’
‘The world can stand a little more bad poetry, Stragen,’ Caalador
told his friend. ‘Scarpa’s the really dangerous one. I just
wish we could put a name to Rebal, but so far he’s eluded us.’
‘His real name’s Amador,’ Talen told him. ‘He’s a ribbon clerk
in Jorsan on the west coast of Edam.’
‘How did you find that out?’ Caalador seemed astonished.
‘Pure luck, to be honest about it. We saw Rebal making a
speech to some peasants out in the woods. Then, later on, when
we were in jorsan, a gust of wind blew me into his shop. He
isn’t really very much to worry about. He’s a charlatan. He uses
carnival tricks to make the peasants think that he’s raising the
ghost of Incetes. Sephrenia seems to think that means that our
enemies are spread thin. They don’t have enough real magicians
to arrange all these visitations, so they have to resort to trickery.’
‘What were you doing in Edam, Sparhawk?’ Ehlana asked.
‘We went through there on our way to pick up Bhelliom.’
‘How did you get there and back so fast?’
‘Aphrael helped us. She’s very helpful – most of the time.”
Sparhawk avoided looking at his daughter. he rose to his feet.
‘We’re all a little tired tonight,’ he suggested, ‘and I rather expect
that filling in all of the details is going to take us quite a while.
Why don’t we break off here and get some sleep? Then we’ll be
able to attack it again in the morning when we’re all fresh.’
‘Good idea,’ Ehlana agreed, also rising. ‘Besides, I’ve got this
burning curiosity.’
‘Oh?’
‘As long as I’m going to be sleeping with him, I should probably
get to know this Anakha fellow, wouldn’t you say? Sleeping
with total strangers so tarnishes a girl’s reputation, you know.’
‘She’s still asleep,’ Danae said, quietly closing the door to
Sephrenia’s room.
‘is she all right?’ Sparhawk asked.
‘Of course she isn’t. What did you expect, Sparhawk? Her
heart’s broken.’
‘Come with me. We need to talk.’
“I don’t think I want to talk with you right now, father. I’m
just a little unhappy with you.’
“I can live with that.’
‘Don’t be too sure.’
‘Come along.’ He took her by the hand and led her up a long
flight of stairs to the top of the tower and then out onto the
parapet. He prudently closed the door and bolted it behind
them. ‘You blundered, Aphrael,’ he told her.
She raised her chin and gave him a flat, icy stare.
‘Don’t get imperial with me, young lady. You made a mistake.
You never should have let Sephrenia go to Delphaeus.’
‘She had to go. She has to go through this.”
‘She can’t. It’s more than she can bear.’
‘She’s stronger than she looks.’
‘Don’t you have any heart at all? Can’t you see how much
she’s suffering?’
‘Of course I can, and it’s hurting me far more than it’s hurting
you, father.’
‘You’re killing Vanion too, you know.”
‘He’s also stronger than he looks. Why did all of you turn
against Sephrenia at Delphaeus? Two or three soft words from
Xanetia was all it took to make you throw away three hundred
years of love and devotion. Is that the way you Elenes customarily
treat your friends?’
‘She’s the one who forced the issue, Aphrael. She started
delivering ultimatums. I don’t think you realize how strongly
she feels about the Delphae. She was totally irrational. What’s
behind all of that?’
‘That’s none of your business.’
“I think it is. What really happened during the Cyrgai wars?’
“I won’t tell you.’
‘Art thou afeared to speak of it, Goddess?’
Sparhawk spun around quickly, a startled oath coming to his
lips. It was Xanetia. She stood all aglow not far from where they
were talking.
‘This doesn’t concern you, Xanetia,’ Aphrael told her coldly.
“I must needs know thine heart, Goddess. Thy sister’s enmity
is of no real moment. Thine, however, would be more troublesome.
Art thou also unkindly disposed toward me?’
‘Why don’t you leech my thoughts and find out for yourself?’
‘Thou knowest that I cannot, Aphrael. Thy mind is closed to
me.’
‘i’m so glad you noticed that.’
‘Behave yourself,’ Sparhawk told his daughter, speaking very
firmly.
‘Stay out of this, Sparhawk.’
‘No, Danae, I don’t think I will. Are you behind the way
Sephrenia was behaving at Delphaeus?’
‘Don’t be absurd. I sent her to Delphaeus to cure her of that
nonsense.’
‘Are you sure, Aphrael? You’re not behaving very well at the
moment yourself, you know.’
“I don’t like Edaemus, and I don’t like his people. I’m trying