him up to date on the situation that they were about to
encounter.
“We’re likely,” Ben warned, “to run into our old
friend Hyrcanus at this meeting.”
Mark almost missed his footing on the stair.
“Hyrcanus? Is he still Chief Priest at the Blue
Temple? But he-”
“He still is,” Barbara assured him. “And the Blue
Temple is an important faction here in Tashigang.”
“I suppose they must be. But I never thought about
it until now,” Mark murmured. “Hyrcanus. I
remember hearing somewhere that he was certain to
be deposed. I thought he was gone by now, it’s four
years since we robbed him. Plundered his deepest
rathole, as nobody else has ever done before or
since.”
“Thank all the gods for that rathole,” Barbara
murmured. “And send us another like it. A handful of
its contents has done well for Ben and me. I hear that
the Temple are now considering moving their main
hoard of treasure into Tashigang. We just wanted to
warn you, Hyrcanus will probably be here, and he
won’t be happy to see us.”
“He thinks I’m dead,” Mark murmured. But it was
too late now to try to preserve that happy state of
affairs.
They had now reached the door of the conference
room, a large, well-appointed chamber on an upper
floor, and were ushered in without delay. Even after
being warned it was a shock for Mark to behold
Hyrcanus with his own eyes; it was the first time that
he had ever actually seen the man, but there was no
doubt in Mark’s mind who he was. The Blue
Temple’s Chairman and High Priest, having
survived the efforts that must certainly have been
made to depose him after the sacrilegious robbery of
the Temple .’s main hoard four years ago, was still in
charge, and had indeed come here today for the Lord
Mayor’s conference.
Hyrcanus, the High Priest, small, bald, and
rubicund, his face as usual jovial, looked up as the
three of them entered. His cheerful smile did not
exactly disappear, but froze. He must have
recognized Ben, at least, by description, at first sight.
The Chairman studied Mark too, and could hardly
fail to identify him also, especially as their escort
announced his name along with the others in a loud
voice. The others who were gathered round the table,
a dozen or so men and women, mostly the solid
citizens of Tashigang, rose to return greetings and
extend a welcome to the new arrivals. Their faces
were cheered, Mark thought, at the sight of the
Tasavaltan green and blue that he still wore. And their
expressions altered still more, with new hope and
calculation, at the sight of the black hilt at his side.
Mark let his left hand rest upon it, loosely, casually; he
did not want Hyrcanus, at least, to be able to read
which white symbol marked that hilt.
Mark supposed the fact that he was appearing in
Tasavaltan colors might at least give the
cheerylooking old bastard pause, and perhaps cause
him to at least delay the next assassination attempt.
The Lord Mayor, named Okada, was a clerkish-
looking man on whom the robes of his high office
looked faintly preposterous. Yet he presided firmly.
The arrival of Mark, Ben, and Barbara had
interrupted Hyrcanus in the midst of a speech, which
he now resumed, at the Mayor’s suggestion.
It was soon apparent as Hyrcanus spoke that the
Blue Temple Chairman’s thoughts were not now on
revenge and punishment of past transgressors, but, as
usual, were concentrated on how best he could
contrive to save the bulk of the Blue Temple’s
treasure. A siege of the city, a storming of the walls,
were to be avoided at all costs-at least at all costs to
others outside the Blue Temple. Mark, listening,
assumed that Hyrcanus had already made some
arrangement, or thought he had, with the Dark King,
by which the Blue Temple holdings in Tashigang
would be secure, in exchange for co-operation with
the conqueror.
Mark could recognize one other face at the council
table, though no reminiscences were exchanged in
this case either. Baron Amintor was here as the
personal representative of the Silver Queen. He
recognized Mark also, and gazed at him in a newly
friendly way, while Mark looked stonily at this old
enemy of Sir Andrew. The Baron, Mark was sure,
recognized Ben and Barbara as well.
Hyrcanus continued the speech he had begun,
urging that one of two courses be adopted: either
outright surrender to the Dark King, or else the
declaration of Tashigang as an open city. That last,
Mark thought, must amount, in practical terms, to the
same thing as surrender.
The speech of the High Priest did not evoke any
particular enthusiasm among the citizens of Tashigang
who made up the majority of his listeners. But neither
were they vocal in immediate objection; rather the
burghers seemed to be waiting to hear more. Now
and again their eyes strayed toward the black hilt at
Mark’s side.
Hyrcanus might have gone on and on indefi
nitely, but Mayor Okada at length firmly reclaimed
the floor. Who, he asked, wanted to speak next?
Baron Amintor had been impatiently waiting for his
chance. Now he arose, and as representative of the
Silver Queen, argued eloquently that the city must be
defended to the last fighter. Though he was careful,
Mark observed, not to put it in exactly those terms.
Rather the Baron was strongly reassuring about the
walls, the city’s history and tradition of successful
resistance to outside attack, and about the
commitment of the Silver Queen to their defense.
Hyrcanus interrupted him at one point to object.
“What about the Mindsword, though? What are any
walls against that?”
Amintor took the objection in stride, and assured the
others that Yambu was not without her own
supremely powerful weapon. “In her wisdom and
reluctance to do harm, she has not employed it as yet.
But, faced with the Mindsword . . . I am sure she will
do whatever she must do to assure the safety of
Tashigang.”
One of the burghers rose. “When you mention this
weapon that the Queen has, you are speaking of the
Sword called Soulcutter, or sometimes the Tyrant’s
Blade, are you not?”
“I am.” If Amintor was offended by the plain use of
that second name, he did not show it.
“I know little about it.” The questioner looked
around the table. “Nor, I suppose, do many of us here.
What can it do to protect Tashigang?”
Amintor glanced only for a moment at Hyrcanus. “I
would prefer not to go into tactical details regarding
any of the Swords just now,” the Baron answered
smoothly. He almost winked at Mark,
who carried Coinspinner, as if they had been old
comrades instead of enemies. “Later, under
conditions of greater security, if you like. I will say
now only that the Queen is wise and
compassionate”for some reason, no one in the room
laughed-“and that she will not use such a weapon as
Soulcutter carelessly. But neither will she allow this
city that she so loves to be taken by its enemies.”
Mark had to admit to himself that he had little or no
idea what Soulcutter might do. It was the one Sword
of the Twelve that he had never seen, let alone had in
his possession. Almost all he knew of it was
contained in the verse that everyone had heard:
The Tyrant’s Blade no blood hath spilled
But doth the spirit carve
Soulcutter hath no body killed
But many left to starve.
Glancing at Ben and Barbara, he read an equal lack
of knowledge in their faces.
The Lord Mayor now looked at Mark expectantly.
It was time that the meeting heard from the emissary
from Tasavalta.
Mark stood up from his chair and leaned his hands
on the table in front of him. With faith in what the
Emperor had told him, he was able to announce that
the Tasavaltan army was on the march, under the
direct command of General Rostov, coming to the
city’s relief. Rostov’s was an impressive name, one fit
to go with the reputation of the walls of Tashigang
itself, and once again most of the faces around the
table appeared somewhat cheered. That the
Tasavaltan army also was small
by comparison with the Dark King’s host was not
mentioned at the moment, though everybody knew
it. Even should the Silver Queen arrive with her
army at the same time, Vilkata would still have the
advantage of numbers. –
“Does anyone else have anything to say?” the Lord
Mayor asked. “Anyone else, who has not spoken
yet?”
Ben spoke briefly, and Barbara after him. They
added nothing really new to the discussion, but
reminded everyone again of the city’s tradition and
promised to help arm the defense from their store of
weapons. Before she spoke, Barbara faced Mark
momentarily, and her lips formed the one word: