‘Let’s go inside,’ Sephrenia said. “I’m sure every patrol in the city heard that blast. We can hope that they thought it was only thunder, but some of them are bound to come to investigate. ‘ Sparhawk picked up the pouch and tucked it back under his belt. “We’ll want to get out of sight once we’re inside.
Which way should we go?’
“Bear to the left once we’re through the doorway.
The passages on that side lead to the kitchens and the storerooms. ‘
‘All right then. Let’s go.’
That alien smell Sparhawk had noticed when they had first entered the city was stronger here in the dark corridors of the palace. The knights moved cautiously, listening to the echoes of the shouts of the elite guards.
The palace was in turmoil, and even in a place as vast as this there were bound to be encounters. In most cases, Sparhawk and his friends evaded these by simply stepping into the dark chambers which lined the corridors. Sometimes, however, that was not possible, but the Knights of the Church were far more skilled at close combat than the Zemochs, and what noise the encounters produced was lost in the shouting that echoed through the corridors. They pressed on, their weapons at the ready.
It was nearly an hour later when they entered a large pastry kitchen where the banked fires provided a certain amount of light. They stopped there and closed and barred the doors.
“I’m all turned around,’ Kalten confessed, stealing a small cake. “which way do we go?’
‘Through that door, I think,’ Sephrenia replied. ‘The kitchens all open into a corridor that leads to the throneroom.
“Otha eats in his throneroom?’ Bevier asked in some surprise. “Otha doesn’t move around very much,’ she answered.
“He can’t walk any more.’
“What happened to him to cripple him?’
“His appetite. Otha eats almost constantly, and he’s never been fond of exercise. His legs are too weak to carry him any more.
‘How many doors into the throneroom?’ Ulath asked her.
She thought a moment, remembering. ‘Four, I think.
The one from the kitchens here, another coming in from the main palace and the one leading to Otha’s private quarters.’
“And the laSt?’
‘The last entrance doesn’t have a door. It’s the opening that leads into the maze.’
.Our first move should be to block those then. We’ll want some privacy when we talk with Otha.’
‘And anybody else who happens to be there,’ Kalten added. “I wonder if Martel’s managed to get here yet.
He took another cake.
‘There’s one way to find out,’ Tynian said.
‘In a moment,’ Sparhawk said. “What’s this maze you mentioned, Sephrenia?’
‘It’s the route to the temple. There was a time when people were fascinated by labyrinths. It’s very complicated and very dangerous.
‘Is that the only way to get to the temple?
She nodded.
‘The worshippers walk through the throneroom to get to the temple?’
“Ordinary worshippers don’t go into the temple, Sparhawk –
only priests and sacrifices.’
‘We should probably rush the throneroom then. We’ll bar the doors, deal with whatever guards may be in there and then take Otha prisoner. If we put a knife to his throat, I don’t think any of his soldiers will interfere with us.’
‘Otha’s a magician, Sparhawk,’ Tynian reminded him.
“Taking him prisoner might not be as easy as it sounds.’
“Otha’s no particular danger at the moment,’ Sephrenia disagreed. ‘We’ve all had spells come apart on us before.
It takes a while to recover from that.’
‘Are we ready then?’ Sparhawk asked tensely.
They nodded, and he led them through the doorway.
The corridor leading from the kitchens to Otha’s throneroom was narrow and not very long. Its far end was illuminated by ruddy torchlight. As they neared that light, Talen slipped on ahead, his soft-shod feet making no sound on the flagstone floor. He returned in a few moments. ‘They’re all there,’ he whispered in a voice tight with excitement. ‘- Annias, Martel and the rest.
It looks as if they just got here. They’re still wearing travellers’ cloaks.’
‘How many guards in the room?’ Kurik asked him.
‘Not too many. TWenty or so at the most.’
‘The rest of them are probably out in the halls looking for us. ‘
‘Can you describe the room?’ Tynian asked. ‘And the places where the guards are standing?’
Talen nodded. ‘This corridor opens out not far from the throne itself. You’ll be able to pick Otha out of the list almost immediately. He looks a lot like a garden slug. Martel and the others are gathered around him.
There are two guards at each of the doors – except for the archway right behind the throne. Nobody’s guarding that one. The rest of the guards are scattered along the walls. They’re wearing mail and swords, and each one of them is holding a long spear. There are a dozen or so burly fellows in loincloths squatting near the throne. They don’t have any weapons.’
‘Otha’s bearers,’ Sephrenia explained.
‘You were right,’ Talen told her. ‘There are four doors this one just ahead of us, another over on the far’ side of the room, the archway and a bigger one down at the end of the room.’
“The door that leads out into the rest of the palace,’
Sephrenia said.
“That’s the important one then,’ Sparhawk decided.
‘There’s nobody in these kitchens but a few cooks, I’d imagine, and not very many people in Otha’s bedroom, but there’ll be soldiers on the other side of that main door.
How far is it from this door to that one?’
About two hundred feet,’ the boy said.
‘Who feels like running?’ Sparhawk looked around at his friends.
‘What do you say, Tynian?’ Ulath asked. ‘How fast can you cover two hundred feet?: ‘
As fast as you can, my friend.’
“We’ll take care of it then, Sparhawk,’ Ulath said.
‘Don’t forget that you promised to let me have Adus, Kalten reminded his friend.
‘I’ll try to save him for you.’
They moved purposefully ahead towards the torchlit doorway. They paused just back from it, and then they raced through. Ulath and Tynian sprinted towards the main door. There were cries of shock and alarm as the knights burst into the throneroom. Otha’s soldiers shouted conflicting orders to each other, but one officer overrode them all with the hoarse bellow, “Protect the Emperor!’
The mailed guards lining the walls deserted their comrades at the doors and rushed to form a protective ring around the throne with their spears. Kalten and Bevier had almost negligently cut down the two guards at the entrance to the corridor leading back into the kitchens, and then Ulath and Tynian reached the main door where the two guards were desperately trying to open it to cry for help. Both men fell in the first flurry of strokes, and then Ulath set his massive back against the door and braced himself while Tynian pawed behind the nearby draperies looking for the bar to lock the door.
Berit dashed through the doorway beside Sparhawk, leaped over the still weakly moving guards on the floor and ran towards the door on’ the opposite side of the room with his axe raised. Even though he was encumbered by his armour, he ran like a deer across the polished floor of the throneroom and fell upon the two men guarding the door that led back to Otha’s bed-chamber. He brushed aside their spears and disposed of them with two powerful axe-blows.
Sparhawk heard the solid metallic clank behind him as Kalten slammed the heavy iron bar into place.
There was a pounding on the outside of the door Ulath was holding closed and then Tynian found the iron bar and slid it into place. Berit barred his door as well.
“Very workmanlike,’ Kurik approved. ‘We still can’t get to Otha, though.’
Sparhawk looked at the ring of spears around the throne and then at Otha himself. As Talen had said, the man who had terrified the west for the past five centuries looked much like the common slug. He was pallid white and totally hairless. His face was grossly bloated and so shiny with sweat as to look almost as if it were covered with slime. His paunch was enormous, and it protruded so far in front of him that it gave his arms the appearance of being stunted. He was incredibly dirty, and priceless rings decorated his greasy hands. He half lay on his throne as if something had hurled him back. His eyes were glazed, and his limbs and body were twitching convulsively. He had obviously still not recovered from the shock of the breaking of his spell.
Sparhawk drew in a deep breath to steady himself, looking around as he did so. The room itself was decorated with the ransom of kings. The walls were covered with hammered gold, and the columns were sheathed in mother-of-pearl. The floor was of polished black onyx and the draperies flanking each door were of blood-red velvet. Torches protruded from the walls at intervals, and very large iron braziers stood one on each side of Otha’s throne.