Talen had reached the battlements. He clung to the rough
stones for a moment, listening. Then he slipped over the top
and out of sight. After several interminable moments, Mirtai
followed him.
Sparhawk and the others waited in the darkness.
Then Mirtai’s rope came slithering down the wall.
‘Let’s go,’ Sparhawk said tensely. ‘One at a time.’
The building-blocks were of rough, square-fractured basalt,
and they protruded unevenly from the walls, making climbing
much simpler than it appeared. Sparhawk didn’t even bother
to use the rope. He reached the top and clambered over the
battlements. ‘Do the sentries have any kind of set routine uP
here?’ he asked Mirtai.
‘It seems that each one has his own section of wall,’ she
replied. ‘The one at this end doesn’t walk very fast. I’m guessing,
but I’d say that it’ll be a quarter of an hour before he comes
back.’
‘is there any place where we can take cover before then?’
‘There’s a door in that first tower,’ Talen said, pointing at the
squat structure rising at the end of the parapet. ‘It opens onto
a stairwell.’
‘Have you taken a look at the back wall yet?’
Talen nodded. ‘There’s no parapet along that side, but there’s
a ledge a couple of feet wide where the outer wall joins the back
of the palace. We’ll be able to make our way along that until we
get on that central tower. Then we get to start climbinE.’
‘Does the sentry look back there when he reaches this end of
the parapet?’
‘He didn’t last time,’ Mirtai said.
‘Let’s look at that stairwell, then,’ Sparhawk decided. ‘As soon
as the others are up, we’ll hide in there until the sentry reaches
this end and starts back. That should give us a half-hour to crawl
along that ledge to the central tower. Even if he looks around
the corner next time, we should be out of the range of his torch
by then.’
‘He’s right on top of these things, isn’t he?’ Talen said gaily
to Mirtai.
‘What is this boy’s problem?’ Sparhawk demanded of the
golden giantess.
‘There’s a certain kind of excitement involved in this, Dorlin’,’
Mirtai replied. ‘It sets the blood to pounding.’
‘Dorlin’?’
‘Professional joke, Sparhawk. You probably wouldn’t
understand. ‘
Vanion’s scouts had returned about sunset to report contact with
Kring to the south and Queen Betuana’s Atans to the north.
The ring of steel around the Forbidden Mountains was drawing
inexorably tighter. The moon was rising over the desert when
Betuana and Engessa came running in from Vanion’s right flank
and Kring and Tikume rode in from the left.
‘Tynian-Knight will be along soon, Vanion-Preceptor,’
Engessa reported. ‘He and Ulath-Knight have spoken with
Bergsten-Priest on their right. Ulath-Knight has remained with
the Trolls to try to prevent incidents.’
‘incidents?’ Sephrenia asked.
‘The Trolls are hungry. Ulath-Knight gave them a regiment of
the klael-beasts to eat, but the flavor did not please the Trolls.
Ulath-Knight tried to apologize, but I am not sure if the Trolls
understood. ‘
‘Have you seen Berit and Khalad yet, friend Vanion?’ Kring
asked.
‘No, but Aphrael said that they’re just ahead of us. Her cousin
guided them to the spot where that hidden gate’s supposed to
be.’
‘if they know where the gate is, we could go on in,’ Betuana
suggested.
‘We’d better wait, dear,’ Sephrenia replied. ‘Aphrael will let
me know as soon as Sparhawk rescues Ehlana and Alcan.’
Tynian came riding across the vast open graveyard. ‘Bergsten’s
in place,’ he reported, swinging down out of his saddle.
He looked at Itagne. ‘I have a message for you, your Excellency.’
‘Oh? From whom?’
‘Atana Mans is with Bergsten. She wants to talk with you.’
Itagne’s eyes widened. ‘What’s she doing here?’ he exclaimed.
‘She said that your letters must have gone astray. Not a single
one of them reached her. You did write to her, didn’t you, your
Excellency?’
‘Well – I was intending to.’ Itagne looked slightly embarrassed.
‘Something always seemed to come up, though.’
‘i’m sure she’ll understand.’ Tynian’s face was blandly
expressionless. ‘Anyway, after she handed the city of Cynestra
over to Bergsten, she decided to come looking for you. ‘
Itagne’s expression was slightly worried. ‘I hadn’t counted on
that,’ he confessed.
‘What’s this?’ Betuana asked curiously.
‘Ambassador Itagne and Atana Mans became good friends
while he was in Cynestra, your Majesty,’ Sephrenia explained.
‘Very good friends, actually.’
‘Ah,’ Betuana said. ‘It’s a little unusual, but it’s not unheard
of, and Mans has always been an impulsive girl.’ Although the
Atan Queen still wore deep mourning, she seemed to have abandoned
her ritual silence. ‘A word of advice, Itagne-Ambassador
if you’d care to hear it.’
‘Of course, your Majesty.’
‘It’s not at all wise to toy with the affections of an Atan woman.
It might not seem so, but we’re very emotional. Sometimes we
form attachments that aren’t really appropriate.’ She did not
look at Engessa as she said it. ‘Appropriate or not, however,
those emotions are extremely powerful, and once the attachment
is formed, there’s very little we can do about it.’
‘I see,’ he said. ‘i’ll definitely keep that in mind, your Majesty.’
‘Do you want me to go find Berit and Khalad and bring them
back here, friend Vanion?’ Kring asked.
Vanion considered it. ‘We’d better stay away from that gate,’
he decided. ‘The Cyrgai might be watching. Berit and Khalad
are supposed to be there, but we aren’t. Let’s not stir anything
up until Sparhawk sends word that his wife’s safe. Then we’ll
all go in. There are a number of accounts that are long past due,
and I think the time’s coming when we’ll want to settle up.’
The ledge that ran along the back of the palace made reaching
the central tower a matter of hardly more than a casual stroll. It
still took time, however, and Sparhawk was acutely aware of
the fact that the night was already more than half over. Mirtai
and Talen moved up the side of the tower quickly, but the rest
of them, roped together for safety, made much slower progress.
Sparhawk was peering upward when Kalten joined him.
‘Where’s Aphrael?’ the blond Pandion asked quietly.
‘Everywhere. Didn’t she tell you?’
‘Very funny, Sparhawk.’ Kalten looked off toward the east.
‘Are we going to make it before it starts getting light?’
‘It could be close. There seems to be some kind of balcony
just above us – and lit windows.’
‘Are we going around them?’
‘i’ll have Talen take a look. If there aren’t too many Cyrgai in
the room, we might be able to finish this climb inside.’
‘Let’s not take chances, Sparhawk. I’ll climb all the way to the
moon if I have to. Go on up. I’ve got the rope tied off.’
‘Right.’ Sparhawk started up again. A slight breeze had come
up, brushing the basalt wall with tenuous fingers. It was not
strong enough to pose any dangers as yet, but Sparhawk definitely
didn’t want it getting any stronger.
‘You’re out of condition, Sparhawk,’ Mirtai told him critically
when he reached the spot just below where she and Talen clung
to the’wall.
‘Nobody’s perfect. Can you make out any details of that balcony
yet?’
‘I was just going to swing over and have a look,’ Talen replied.
He untied the rope from about his waist and began working his
way across the wall toward the balcony.
You’re making me cross, Sparhawk.’ Aphrael’s voice seemed
very loud in the silence of his mind. ‘I have plans for that young
man, and they don’t include scraping him up off a street five
hundred feet below.’
‘He knows what he’s doing. You worry too much. As long as
you’re here, could you give me a few details about the top of this tower?’
‘There’s a separate building up there – probably an afterthought
of some kind. It’s got three rooms: a guardroom for the
platoon or so of ceremonial troops, the cell where Mother and
Alcan are being held, and a large room across the front.
Santheocles spends most of his time there.’
‘Santheocles?’
‘The King of the Cyrgai. He’s an idiot. They all are, but he’s
worse than most.’
‘is there a window in Ehlana’s cell?’
‘A small one. It’s barred, but you couldn’t get through it anyway.
The building up there is smaller than the rest of this tower,
so there’s a kind of parapet that runs all the way round it.’
‘Do those guards patrol it?’
‘No. There’s no real need for that. It’s the highest place in the
city, and the notion that somebody might scale the tower has
never occurred to the Cyrgai.’
‘is Santheocles up there right now?’
‘He was, but I think he might have left since I looked
in through the window. Zalasta was with him – and Ekatas.
There was some sort of gathering they were planning to
attend. ‘
There was a low whistle, and Sparhawk looked toward the