forcing him to think very hard about the things he’s supposed
to conceal, and that’s all Xanetia really needs. We always seem
to underestimate Bevier.’
‘it’s all that praying,’ Kalten said sagely. ‘it’s hard to take a
man seriously when he’s praying all the time.’
‘We’re Knights of the Church, Kalten – members of religious
orders. ‘
‘What’s that got to do with it?’
‘In his own mind is he more dead than alive,’ Xanetia reported
later when they had gathered around one of the large fires the
Atans had built to hold back the bitter chill. The Anarae’s face
reflected the glow of the fire, as did her unbleached wool robe.
‘Were we right?’ Tynian asked her. ‘is Cyrgon augmenting
Djarian’s spells so that he can raise whole armies?’
‘He is,’ she replied.
‘Was that outburst against Zalasta genuine?’ Vanion asked
her.
‘indeed, my Lord. Djarian and his fellows are increasingly
discontent with the leadership of Zalasta. They have all come
to expect no true comradeship from their leader. There is no
longer common cause among them, and each doth seek to wring
best advantage to himself from their dubious alliance. Overlaying
all is the secret desire of each to gain sole possession of
Bhelliom. ‘
‘Dissension among your enemies is always good,’ Vanion
noted, ‘but I don’t think we should discount the possibility that
they’ll all fall in line again after what happened here today.
Could you get anything specific about what they might try next,
Anarae?’
‘Nay, Lord Vanion. They were in no wise prepared for what
hath come to pass. One thing did stand out in the mind of this
Djarian, however, and it doth perhaps pose some danger. The
outcasts who surround Zalasta do all fear Cyzada of Esos, for
he alone is versed in Zemoch magic, and he alone doth plunge
his hand through that door to the nether world which Azash
opened. Horrors beyond imagining lie within his reach. It is
Djarian’s thought that since all their plans have thus far gone
awry, Cyrgon in desperation might command Cyzada to use his
unspeakable art to raise creatures of darkness to confront and
confound us.’
Vanion nodded gravely.
‘How did Stragen’s plan affect them?’ Talen asked curiously.
‘They are discomfited out of all measure,’ Xanetia replied.
‘They did rely heavily on those who now are dead.’
‘Stragen will be happy to hear that. What were they going to
do with all those spies and informers?’
‘Since they had no force capable of facing the Atans, Zalasta
and his cohorts thought to use the hidden employees of the
Ministry of the Interior to assassinate diverse Tamul officials in
the subject kingdoms of the empire, hoping thereby to disrupt
the governments.’
‘You might want to make a note of that, Sparhawk,’ Kalten
said.
‘Oh?’
‘Emperor Sarabian had some qualms when he approved Stragen’s
plan. He’ll probably feel much better when he finds out
that all Stragen really did was beat our enemies to the well.
They’d have killed our people if Stragen hadn’t killed theirs
first.’
‘That’s very shaky moral ground, Kalten,’ Bevier said disapprovingly.
‘I
know,’ Kalten admitted. ‘That’s why you have to run across
the top of it so fast.’
The sky was cloudy the following morning, thick roiling cloud
that streamed in from the west, all seethe and confusion.
Because it was late autumn and they were far to the north, it
seemed almost that the sun was rising in the south, turning the
sky above Bhelliom’s escarpment a fiery orange and reaching
feebly out with ruddy, low-lying light to paint the surging
underbellies of the swift-scudding cloud with a brush of flame.
The campfires seemed wan and weak and very tiny against
the overpowering chill here on the roof of the world, and the
knights and their friends all wore fur cloaks and huddled close
to the fires.
There were low rumbles off to the south, and flickers of pale,
ghastly light.
‘Thunder?’ Kalten asked Ulath incredulously. ‘isn’t it the
wrong time of year for thunderstorms?’
‘it happens,’ Ulath shrugged. ‘I was in a thunderstorm north
of Heid once that touched off a blizzard. That’s a very unusual
sort of experience.’
‘Whose turn is it to do the cooking?’ Kalten asked him
absently.
‘Yours,’ Ulath replied promptly.
‘You’re not paying attention, Kalten,’ Tynian laughed. ‘You
know better than to ask that question.’
Kalten grumbled and started to stir up the fire.
‘I think we’d better get back to the coast today, Sparhawk,’
Vanion said gravely. ‘The weather’s held off so far, but I don’t
think we’ll be able to count on that much longer.’
Sparhawk nodded.
The thunder grew louder, and the fire-red clouds overhead
blanched with shuddering flickers of lightning.
Then there was a sudden, rhythmic booming sound.
‘is it another earthquake?’ Kring cried out in alarm.
‘No,’ Khalad replied. ‘it’s too regular. It sounds almost like
somebody beating a very big drum.’ He stared at the top of
Bhelliom’s wall. ‘What’s that?’ he asked pointing.
It was like a hilltop rearing up out of the forest beyond the
knife-like edge of the top of the clif! – very much like a hilltop,
except that it was moving.
The sun was behind it, so they could not see any details, but
as it rose higher and higher they could make out the fact that it
was a kind of flattened dome with two pointed protuberances
flaring out from either side like huge wings. And still it swelled
upward. As they could see more of it, they realized that it was
not a dome. It seemed to be some enormous, inverted triangle
instead wide at the top, pointed at the bottom and with those
odd winglike protuberances jutting out from its sides. The
pointed bottom seemed to be set in some massive column. Since
the light was behind it, it was as black as night, and it rose and
swelled like some vast darkness.
Then it stopped.
And then its eyes opened.
Like two thin, fiery gashes at first, the blazing eyes opened
wider and wider, cruelly slanted like cats’ eyes and all ablaze
with fire more incandescent than the sun itself. The imagination
shuddered back from the realization of the enormity of the thing.
What had appeared to be huge wings were the creature’s ears.
And then it opened its mouth and roared, and they knew that
what they had heard before had not been thunder.
It roared again, and its fangs were flickers of lightning that
dripped flame like blood.
‘Klael!’ ~APhrael shrieked.
And then, like two rounded, bulky mountains, the shoulders
rose above the sharp line of the cliff, and, fanning out from the
shoulders like black sails, two jointed, batlike wings.
‘What is it?’ Talen cried.
‘it’s Klael!”~Aphrael shrieked again.
‘What’s a Klael?’
‘Not what, you dolt! Who. ~Azash and the other Elder Gods cast
him out. Some idiot has returned him!’
The enormity atop the escarpment continued to rise, revealing
vast arms with many-fingered hands. The trunk was huge, and
flashes of lightning seethed beneath its skin, illuminating
ghastly details with their surgng flickers.
And then that monstrous presence rose to its full height,
towering eighty, a hundred feet above the top of the escarpment.
Sparhawk’s spirit shrivelled. How could they possibly -?
‘Blue Rose.’ he said sharply. ‘Do something!’
‘There is no need, Anakha.’ Vanion’s usurped voice was very
calm as Bhelliom once again spoke through his lips. ‘Klael hath
but momentarily escaped Cyrgon’s grasp. Cyrgon will not risk
his creature in a direct confrontation with me.’
‘That thing belongs to Cyrgon?’
‘For the moment. In time that will change, and Cyrgon will
belong to Klael.’
‘What is it doing?’ Betuana cried.
The monstrosity atop the cliff had raised one huge fist and
was striking at the ground with incandescent fire, hammering
at the earth with lightning. The face of the escarpment shuddered
and began to crack away, falling, tumbling, roaring down
to smash into the forest at the foot of the cliff. More and more
of the sheer face crumbled and sheared away and fell in a huge
thundering landslide.
‘Klael was ever uncertain of the strength of his wings,’
Bhelliom observed calmly. ‘He would come to join battle with
me, but he fears the height of the wall. Thus he prepares a stair
for himself.’
Then with a booming like that of the earthquake which had
spawned it, a mile or more of the escarpment toppled ponderously
outward and crashed into the forest, piling rubble higher
and higher against the foot of the cliff.
The enormous being continued to savage the top of the cliff,
spiLling more and more rubble down to form a steep causeway
reaching up and up to the top of the wall.
And then the thing called Klael vanished, and a shrieking wind
swept the face of the escarpment, whipping away the boiling
clouds of dust the landslide had raised.
There was another sound as well. Sparhawk turned quickly.
The Trolls had fallen to their faces, moaning in terror.