replied stiffly. ‘Aphrael’s messenger told us that the Klael-beasts
take shelter in caves that they might breathe a different air. The
air at the entrance to this cave will be the same as the air outside.
It is of no moment, however. It is done, and no harm came
from it.’
She controlled her anger with an obvious effort. ‘And what
did you prove by your foolish venture, Engessa-atan?’
‘The Klael-beasts have sealed the cave, Betuana-Queen,’ he
replied. ‘Some hundred paces within stands a steel wall. It is
reasonable to suppose that it may in some fashion be opened.
The Klael beasts retreat beyond the barrier, close it behind them
and are then able to breathe freely for a time. Then they emerge
again and attack us once more.’
‘Was this information worth the risk of your life?’
‘We have yet to discover that, my Queen. The tactics devised
by Kring-Domi keep us out of the reach of the Klael-beasts, but
I do not like this running away.’
Betuana’s eyes hardened. ‘Nor do I,’ she conceded.
“I dishonor my husband’s memory each time I turn and flee.’
‘Aphrael’s cousin told us that Khalad-squire had found that
the air which the Klael-beasts breathe will burn when it mixes
with our air.’
‘I have not seen air burn before.’
‘Nor have I. If the trap that I have set for the Klael-beasts
works, we may both see it happen.’
‘What sort of trap, Engessa-atan!’
‘A lantern, my Queen – well hidden.”
‘A lantern? That’s all?’
‘if Khalad-squire was right, it should be enough. I closed the
lantern so that the Klael-beasts will see no light when they open
their steel door to come out again. All unseen, their air will join
with ours, and the mix will find its way to the candle burning
inside my lantern. Then we will discover if Khalad-squire was
right.’
‘Then we must wait until they open that door. I will not leave
them behind us until I know without any doubt that this burning
of air will kill them. As Ulath-Knight says, only a fool leaves
live enemies behind him.’
They concealed themselves behind an outcropping of rock and
waited, intently watching the cave-mouth faintly visible in the
light of the stars. ‘It may be some time before they open their
door, my Queen,’ Engessa noted.
‘Engessa-atan,’ Betuana said firmly, ‘I have long thought that
this formality of yours is out of place. We are soldiers, and
comrades. Please address me as such.’
‘As you wish, Betuana-Atana.’
They waited patiently, watching the sizeable peak and the
dark mouth of the cave. Then, like a deep, subterranean thunder,
a stunning sound shattered the silence, shaking the ground,
and a great billow of boiling fire blasted out of the cave-mouth,
searing the few scrubby thorn-bushes growing nearby. The fire
spewed out of the cave for what seemed hours, and then it
gradually subsided.
Engessa and his Queen, shocked by that violent eruption,
could only stare in wonder. Finally, Betuana rose to her feet.
‘Now I have seen air burn,’ she noted in a cool sort of way. ‘It
was worth the wait, I suppose.” Then she smiled at her stillshaken
comrade. ‘You lay good traps, Engessa-atan, but now
we must hurry to rejoin the trolls. Ulath-Knight says that we
must reach Cyrga by morning.’
‘Whatever you say, Betuana-atan,’ he replied.
‘When I say, “lift”,’ Sparhawk instructed, settling his hands into
place around the ring, ‘and don’t let it clank when we set it
down. All right, lift.’
Kalten, Bevier, Mirtai, and Sparhawk all rose slowly, straining
to lift the rusty iron plate up out of its place among the worn
cobblestones.
‘Be careful,’ Talen said to Mirtai. ‘Don’t fall in.”
‘Do you want to do this?’ she asked.
The four of them shuffled around slightly and moved the
ponderous weight to one side so that the large square hole was
partially uncovered. ‘Set it down,’ Sparhawk said from between
his clenched teeth. ‘Easy,’ he added.
They slowly lowered the cover to the stones.
‘it’d be easier to pick up a house,’ Kalten wheezed.
‘Turn your backs,’ Flute instructed.
‘Do you have to do that?’ Talen asked. ‘is it like flying?’
‘Just turn around, Talen.”
‘Don’t forget the clothes,’ Sparhawk told her.
‘They’d just be in my way. If you don’t like it, don’t look.”
her voice was already richer.
Bevier had his eyes tightly closed, and his lips were moving.
He was obviously praying – very hard.
‘i’ll be right back,’ the Goddess promised. ‘Don’t go away.’
They waited for what seemed to be hours. Then they heard
a faint splashing down below. The splashing was accompanied
by muffled laughter.
Talen knelt at the edge of the rectangular shaft. ‘Are you all
right?’ he whispered.
‘i’m fine.’
‘What’s so funny?’
‘The Cyrgai. You wouldn’t believe how stupid they are.’
‘what did they do now. ?’
‘The water comes from a large artesian spring right near the
outer wall. The Cyrgai built a sort of cistern around it. Then
they built a tunnel that goes under the inner wall to carry water
to a very large pool that lies underneath the mountain they’ve
built their main city on.’
‘What’s wrong with that?’
‘Nothing – as far as it goes. They seem to have realized
the same thing that Bevier did. Their water-source is a weakness.
They very carefully, built a stone lattice at the mouth
of the tunnel. Nobody ‘ can get into the tunnel from the
cistern.’
‘I still don’t see anything to laugh about.’
‘i’m just coming to that. This shaft that leads down to the
tunnel seems to have been added later – probably so that theY
could get into the tunnel to clean it.’
‘-that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. It is supposed to be
drinking water, after all.’
‘yes, but when they dug the shaft, they forgot something.
The other end of the tunnel – the one that’s inside their second
wall – is completely open. There aren’t any bars, no lattice, no
chains, nothing.’
‘You’re not serious.’
‘May muh tongue turn green iff’n I ain’t.
‘This is going to be easier than I thought,’ Kalten said. He
leaned over and peered down into the darkness. ‘is that current
very swift?’ he called down softly.
‘Swift enough,’ Aphrael replied. ‘But that’s all right. It speeds
you right straight through, so you won’t have to hold your
breath so long.’
‘Do what?’ his voice was choked.
‘Hold your breath. You have to swim under water.’
‘Not me,’ he said flatly.
‘You do know how to swim, don’t you?
‘I can swim in full armor if I have to.’
‘What’s the problem, then?’
‘I don’t swim under water. It sends me into a panic.’
‘He’s right, Aphrael,’ Sparhawk called down softly. ‘As soon
as Kalten’s head goes under water, he starts screaming.’
‘He can’t do that. He’ll drown.’
‘Exactly. I used to have to stand on his chest to squeeze the
water out of him. It happened all the time when we were boys.’
‘Oh, dear,’ she said. ‘I hadn’t counted on this.’
CHAPTER 29
The moon was almost full, and it stained the eastern horizon
before it rose in a pallid imitation of dawn. It slid slowly into
view, rising ponderously above the brittle white salt-flats.
‘Good God!’ Berit exclaimed, staring at the horror all around
them. What had seemed to be round white rocks by the faint
light of the stars were revealed as bleached skulls, nesting in
jumbles of bones and staring in mute accusation at the heavens.
‘It looks as if we’ve come to the right place,’ Khalad observed.
‘The note Sparhawk left us talked about a “Plain of Bones”.’
‘It goes on forever!’ Berit gasped, looking off toward the west.
‘Let’s hope not. We have to cross it.’ Khalad stopped, peering
intently toward the west. ‘There it is,’ he said, pointing at a
gleaming spot of reflected light in the center of a low range of
dark hills some distance beyond the ghastly plain.
‘There what is?’
‘Our landmark. Sparhawk called it the “Pillars of Cyrgon”.
Something out there’s catching the moonlight. We’re supposed
to ride toward that spot.’
‘Who’s that?’ Berit hissed, pointing at a figure walking toward
them out of the bone-littered desert.
Khalad loosened his sword in its sheath. ‘Another note from
Krager, maybe,’ he muttered. ‘Let’s start being a little careful,
my Lord. I think we’re getting very close to the place where
we’ll have outlived our usefulness.’
The figure coming out of the desert seemed to be moving at
no more than a casual stroll, and as he came closer, they were
able to make out his features.
‘Watch yourself, Khalad!’ Berit hissed sharply. ‘He’s not
human.’
Khalad felt it as well. It was nothing really definable, just an
overpowering sense of presence, an aura that no human had.
The figure appeared to be that of an extraordinarily handsome
young man. He had tightly-curled hair, classic features and very