are up at the top of the tower. I think we’ll want to keep this
private – at least until we decide what steps to take.’
Vanion nodded and rose to his feet. The two of them went
back out into the corridor and started up the stairs. ‘Where’s
Zalasta?’ Sparhawk asked.
‘He’s with Sephrenia. She needs him right now.’
Sparhawk grunted, not really trusting himself to speak.
They found Xanetia and Danae at the battlements looking out
over the city. The sun was moving down the intensely blue
autumn sky toward the craggy western horizon, and the breeze
coming in off the Tamul Sea had a salt tang mingled with the
ripe odor of autumn. ‘All right, go ahead and tell him, Xanetia,’
Sparhawk said. ‘Then we’ll decide what to do.’
To Sparhawk’s surprise, Vanion didn’t waste much time on
incredulous exclamation. ‘You’re sure, Anarae?’ he asked after
Xanetia had told him of Zalasta’s duplicity.
She nodded. “I have seen his heart, my Lord. He hath played
thee false.’
‘You don’t seem very surprised, Vanion,’ Sparhawk said.
‘i’m not – well, not really. There’s always been something
about Zalasta that didn’t quite ring true. He had some trouble
keeping his face under control when Sephrenia and I first went
to Sarsos and moved into her house there. He tried to hide
it, but I could tell that he wasn’t very happy with our liv~ing
arrangements, and his disapproval seemed to go quite a bit
further than a generalized kind of moral outrage about unorthodox
relationships.’
‘That’s a delicate way to put it,’ Danae observed. ‘We’ve never
understood why you humans make such a fuss about that. If
two people love each other, they should do something about it,
and living together is much more convenient for that sort of
thing, isn’t it?’
‘There are certain ceremonies and formalities customary first,’
Sparhawk explained dryly.
‘You mean something like the way the peacock shows off his
feathers to the peahen before they start building a nest?’
‘Something along those lines.’ Vanion shrugged, then sighed.
“it seems that Sephrenia doesn’t admire my feathers any
more. ‘
‘Not so, Lord Vanion,’ Xanetia disagreed. ‘She doth deeply
love thee still, and her heart is made desolate by reason of her
separation from thee.’
‘And Zalasta’s with her right now doing everything he can to
make the separation permanent,’ Sparhawk added, his voice
bleak. ‘How do you want us to proceed with this, Vanion?
You’re the one most deeply involved here. There’s nothing any
of us could say that would convince Sephrenia that Zalasta’s a
traitor, you know.’
Vanion nodded. ‘She’s going to have to see it for herself,’ he
agreed. ‘How far were you able to reach into his mind, Anarae?’
‘His present thought is open to me, his memories somewhat
less so. Proximity and some time should provide opportunity to
probe more.’
‘That’s the key, then,’ Vanion said. ‘Ehlana and Sarabian want
to start tearing down the government almost immediately. Once
that starts, Zalasta’s presence in our inner councils is going to
be potentially disastrous. He’ll find out everything we’ve got planned.’
‘Let him,’ Danae sniffed. “it’s not going to do him much good
after I’m done with my supper.’
‘What’s this?’ Vanion asked.
‘Our little savage here wants to eat Zalasta’s heart,’ Sparhawk
explained.
‘While he watches,’ the Child Goddess added. ‘That’s the
whole point of it – making him watch while I do it.’
‘Could she do that?’ Vanion asked.
‘Probably,’ Sparhawk replied. “I won’t let her, though.
“I didn’t ask you, father,’ Danae said.
‘You didn’t have to. I said no. Now let’s drop it.’
‘When did Zalasta make this arrangement with Cyrgon, Anarae?’
Vanion asked.
‘This is unclear for the nonce, my Lord,’ she replied. “I shall
pursue it further. My sense of his thought doth suggest that
their alliance dates back some years and doth involve Bhelliom
in some fashion.’
Sparhawk thought about that. ‘Zalasta was very upset when he
found out that we’d thrown Bhelliom into the sea,’ he recalled. “I
could start making some educated guesses at this point, but let’s
wait and see what Xanetia’s able to turn up. Right now, I think
we’d better concentrate on delaying Ehlana and Sarabian until
we can devise some way to make Zalasta expose his own guilt.
We need to get Sephrenia out from under his influence, and
she’s never going to believe that he’s a traitor until she actually
sees and hears him convict himself by doing or ;,saying something
that proves his treason.’
Vanion nodded his agreement.
“I think we’re going to have to keep this just among the four of
us,’ Sparhawk continued. ‘Zalasta’s very shrewd, and Sephrenia
knows all of us better than we know ourselves. If the others
have any idea of what we’re doing, they’ll let something slip,
and Sephrenia will know about it immediately – and Zalasta will
know about five minutes after she does.’
‘i’m afraid you’re right,’ Vanion agreed.
‘Hast thou a plan, Anakha?’ Xanetia asked.
‘Sort of. I’ve still got to work out some of the details, though
It’s a little complicated.’
Danae rolled her eyes upward. ‘Elenes,’ she sighed.
‘Absolutely not,’ Ehlana said adamantly. ‘He’s too valuable. We
can’t risk it.’ She was sitting near the window with the morning
sun streaming in on her and setting her pale hair aglow.
‘There’s no risk involved, dear,’ Sparhawk assured her. ‘The
cloud and the shadow are both gone. Bhelliom and I took care
of that once and for all.’ There was the flaw. Sparhawk was not
entirely positive of that.
‘He’s right, my Queen,’ Kalten agreed. ‘He tore the cloud to
tatters and dissolved the shadow like salt in boiling water.’
‘i’d really like to ask Kolata some questions, Ehlana,’ Sarabian
said. “it doesn’t make very much sense to keep feeding him if
we aren’t going to get any use out of him. This is what we’ve
been waiting for, my dear – some sort of assurance that he won’t
be torn to pieces the minute he opens his mouth.’
‘Are you absolutely sure, Sparhawk?’ Ehlana asked.
‘Trust me.’ Sparhawk reached inside his doublet and took out
the box. ‘My blue friend here can make sure that Kolata remains
intact – no matter what questions we ask.’ He looked at Zalasta.
‘i’m going to ask a favor of you, learned one,’ he said, keeping
his voice casual. “I think Sephrenia should sit in on this. I know
that she’d rather wash her hands of the lot of us right now, but
maybe if she listens to Kolata’s confession, she’ll begin to take
an interest in things again. It might be just the thing to bring
her out of the state she’s in right now.’
Zalasta’s face was troubled, though he was obviously trying
very hard to keep his expression under control. “I don’t think
you realize how deeply she feels about this matter, Prince Sparhawk.
I strongly advise you not to force her to be present when
you question Kolata. It will only deepen the rift between her
and her former friends.’
“I won’t accept that, Zalasta,’ Ehlana told him. ‘Sephrenia’s a
member of the royal council of Elenia. I appointed her to that
position when I ascended the throne. Her personal problems
are her own business, but I need her here in her official capacity.
if necessary, I’ll command her presence, and I’ll send Kalten and
Ulath to deliver the command and make sure that she obeys.’
Sparhawk almost felt sorry for Zalasta at that point. Their
decisions and their requests were all completely reasonable, and
try though he might, Zalasta could find no way to avoid agreeing.
Kolata’s testimony was almost certain to be an absolute
disaster for the first citizen of Styricum, but there was no way
he could prevent that testimony without exposing himself as a
traitor. He rose to his feet. “I will try to persuade her, your
Majesty,’ he said, bowing to Ehlana. He turned and quietly left
the blue-draped room.
“I don’t understand why you won’t let us tell him, Sparhawk,’
Kalten said. ‘He is a friend, after all.’
‘He’s also a Styric, Kalten,’ Vanion said smoothly. ‘We don’t
know how he really feels about the Delphae. He might go up in
flames if he finds out that Xanetia can pick his thoughts the way
Talen picks pockets.’
‘Sephrenia’s probably told him about it already, Lord Vanion,’
bevier pointed out.
Sparhawk threw a brief questioning look at Xanetia, framing
the question in his thought.
She shook her head. For some reason, Sephrenia had not told
Zalasta about the Delphaeic woman’s strange capability to delve
into the minds of others.
“I don’t think so, Bevier,’ Vanion was saying. ‘He hasn’t
shown any reluctance to be in the same room with the Anarae,
and that’s a fair indication that he doesn’t know. Now then,
who’s going to question Kolata? We should probably limit it to
just one of us. If we all start throwing questions at him, his