The Hidden City by David Eddings

setting up shop across the street.’

Narstil looked a little less certain of himself. ‘I’ll think about

it,’ he said.

‘Do that. And don’t get any ideas about trying to eliminate

potential competition in advance. Your bad-boys wouldn’t be

up to it, and my friends and I would sort of be obliged to take

it personally.’

‘Stop that.’ Sephrenia chided her sister as the four of them

moved through the corridorlike streets of Delphaeus toward the

home of Codon, the Anari of Xanetia’s people.

‘Edaemus is doing it,’ Aphrael countered.

‘It’s his city, and these are his people. It’s not polite to do that

when you’re a guest.’

Xanetia gave them a puzzled look. ‘

‘My sister’s showing off,’ Sephrenia explained.

‘Am not,’ Aphrael retorted.

‘Yes you are too, Aphrael, and you and I both know it. We’ve

had this argument before. Now stop it.’

‘I do not understand,’ Xanetia confessed.

‘That’s because you’ve grown accustomed to the sense of her

presence, sister,’ Sephrenia explained wearily. ‘She’s not supposed

to flaunt her divinity this way when she’s around the

worshippers of other Gods. It’s the worst form of bad manners,

and she knows it. She’s only doing it to irritate Edaemus. I’m

surprised she hasn’t flattened the whole city or set fire to the

thatching on the roofs with all that divine personality.’

‘That’s a spiteful thing to say, Sephrenia,’ Aphrael accused.

‘Behave yourself then.’

‘I won’t unless Edaemus does.’

Sephrenia sighed, rolling her eyes upward.

They entered the southern wing of the extended city-building

that was Delphaeus and proceeded down a dim hallway to ‘

Codon’s door. The Anari was waiting for them, his ancient face

filled with wonder. He fell to his knees as the light that was

Edaemus approached, but his God dimmed, assumed a human

form, and reached out gently to raise him to his feet again. ‘

“That is not needful, my old friend,’ he said.

‘Why, Edaemus,’ Aphrael said, ‘you’re really quite handsome.

You shouldn’t hide from us in all that light the way

you do.’ A faint smile touched the ageless face of the Delphaeic God.

‘Seek not beguile me with flattery, Aphrael. I know thee, and I

know thy ways. Thou shalt not so easily ensnare me.’

‘Oh, really? Thou art ensnared already, Edaemus. I do but toy

with thee now. My hand is already about thine heart. In time,

I shall close it and make thee mine.’ And she laughed a silvery

little peal of laughter. ‘But that’s between you and me, Cousin.

Right now we have other things to do.’

Xanetia fondly embraced the ancient Codon. ‘As thou canst

readily perceive, my dear old friend, momentous changes are

afoot. The dire peril which we face doth reshape our entire

world. Let us consider that peril first, and then at our leisure

may we pause to marvel at how all about us is altered.’

Codon led them down the three worn stone steps into his

low-ceilinged chamber with its inwardly curving, white plastered

walls, its comfortable furniture, and its cheery fire.

‘Tell them what’s been going on, Xanetia,’ Aphrael suggested,

climbing up into Sephrenia’s lap. ‘That may explain why it was

necessary for me to violate all the rules and come here.’ She

gave Edaemus an arch look. ‘Regardless of what you may think,

Cousin, I do have good manners, but we’ve got an emergency

on our hands.’

Sephrenia leaned back in her chair as Xanetia began her

account of the events of the past several months. There was a

sense of peace, an unruffled calm about Delphaeus that

Sephrenia had not perceived during her last visit. At that time,

her mind had been so filled with obsessive hatred that she had

scarcely taken note of her surroundings. The Delphae had

appealed to Sparhawk to seal their valley away from the rest of

the world, but that seemed somehow unnecessary. They were

already separate – so separate that they no longer seemed even

human. In a peculiar way, Sephrenia envied them.

infuriating, aren’t they?’ the Child Goddess murmured. ‘And

the word you’re looking for is “serenity”.’

‘And you’re doing everything in your power to disturb that,

aren’t you?’

‘They’re still a part of this world, Sephrenia – for a little while

longer, anyway. All I’m doing is reminding them that the rest

of us are still out here.’

“you’re behaving very badly toward Edaemus.’

‘i’m trying to jerk him back to reality. He’s been off by himself

for the past hundred centuries, and he’s forgotten what it’s like

having the rest of us around. I’m reminding him. Actually, it’s

good for him. He was starting to get complacent.’ She slipped

down from her sister’s lap. ‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘It’s time for

me to give him another lesson. ‘ She crossed the room and stood

studying him with her large, dark eyes.

The God of the Delphae was so engrossed in Xanetia’s account

that he scarcely noticed Aphrael and, when she held out her

arms to him, he absently picked her up and settled her into his

laP.

Sephrenia smiled.

‘And most recently,’ Xanetia concluded her report, ‘young Sir

berit hath been given further instruction. He is to turn aside and

go to the town of Sepal on the coast of the Sea of Arjun. He

hath advised the Child Goddess of this alteration of direction,

and she in turn hath made the rest of us aware of it. It is the

intent of the Troll-Gods to transport Sir Ulath and Sir Tynian to

Sepal and to conceal them there in what they call “No-Time”.

It is their thought that when our enemies produce Queen Ehlana

to exchange her for Bhelliom, they might leap from their concealment

and rescue her.’

‘No-Time?’ Codon asked, his face puzzled.

‘Suspended duration,’ Aphrael explained. ‘Trolls are hunters,

and their Gods have found a new place of concealment for them

so that they’re able to stalk their prey unseen. It’s clever, but it

has its drawbacks.’

Edaemus asked her something in that language Sephrenia had

tried several times to learn but had never really been able to

grasp. Aphrael replied, speaking rapidly in a rather dry, technical

tone and making intricate gestures with her hands.

‘Ah,’ he said finally, lapsing back into Tamul and with an

expression of comprehension flooding his face. ‘It is a peculiar

notion.’

‘You know how the Troll-Gods are.’ She made a little face.

‘Didst thou in truth wring acceptance of thine outrageous

demands from them?’

‘I had something they wanted.’ She shrugged. ‘They’ve been

trying to think up some way to escape from Bhelliom for three

hundred centuries now. They didn’t like my conditions, but they

didn’t have much choice.’

‘Thou are cruel, Aphrael.’

‘Not really. I was driven by necessity, and necessity’s neither

cruel nor kindly. It just is. I kissed them a few times when I

stopped by a couple of days ago, and that made them feel better

it did once they realized that I wasn’t going to take a bite out

of them, anyway.’

‘Thou didst not!’ He seemed aghast.

‘They aren’t so bad,’ she defended her action. ‘I suppose I

could have scratched them behind the ears, but that might have

insulted them, so I kissed them instead.’ She smiled. ‘A few

more kisses and I’d have had them licking my fingers like

Puppies.’ He straightened, then suddenly blinked as if realizing for the

first time where she was sitting.

She gave him another of those mysterious little smiles and

patted his cheek. ‘That’s all right, Cousin,’ she told him. ‘You’ll

come around eventually. They always do.’ And she slipped

down from his lap and walked back across the room to rejoin

her sister.

‘That’s my place!’ a burly fellow of indeterminate race asserted

threateningly as Kalten dropped his saddle-bags and bed-roll on

a clear spot under a large tree.

‘It was,’ Kalten grunted.

‘You can’t just walk in here and steal a man’s place like this.’

‘Oh? Is it against the law or something?’ Kalten straightened.

He was at least a head taller than the other man, and he bulked

large in his mail-shirt. ‘My friends and I are going to be staying

right here,’ he stated flatly, ‘so pick up your bed and all this

other trash and go someplace else.’

‘i’m not in the habit of taking orders from Elenes!’

‘That’s too bad. Now move away. I’ve got work to do.’ Kalten

was not in a good humor. Alcans peril gnawed at him constantly,

and even slight irritations rubbed his temper raw. Some

of that must have showed on his face. The other man backed

off a few steps.

‘Further,’ Kalten told him.

‘I’ll be back,’ the man blustered, retreating a few more steps.

‘I’ll be back with all my friends.’

‘I can hardly wait.’ Kalten deliberately turned his back on the

man he had just dispossessed.

Caalador and Bevier joined him. ‘Trouble?’ Caalador asked.

‘I wouldn’t’! call it that,’ Kalten shrugged. ‘I was just establishing

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