before Alar tore it down to build his temple. There wouldn’t be anything left,
of course, except perhaps , the tunnels, and they may have been old when the
city was built ! on top of them. Have you heard there’s supposed to be a
demon kept in the lower crypts?’
Samlor nodded curtly. ‘I heard that.’
‘A hairy, long-tailed, fang-snapping demon,’ said the younger man with a bright
smile. ‘Pretty much of a joke nowadays, of course. People don’t really believe
in that sort of thing. Still, the first priest of Heqt here disappeared. … And
last year Alciros Foin went into the temple with ten hired bravos to find his
wife. Nobody saw the bullies again, but Foin was out on the street the next
morning. He was alive, even though every inch of skin had been flayed off him.’
Samlor finished his mug of blue John. ‘Men could have done that,’ he said.
‘Would you prefer to meet men like that rather than … a demon?’ asked the
local, smiling. The two men stared in silence at the temple. ‘Do you want a
drink?’ Samlor asked abruptly.
‘Not I,’ said the other. ‘You say that fellow was looking for his wife?’ the
Cirdonian pressed, his eyes on the shadow-hidden temple and not on his
companion.
‘That’s right. Women often go through the tunnels, they say.
Fertility rites. Some say the priests themselves have more to do with any
increase in conceptions than the rites do – but what man can say what women are
about?’
‘And the demon?’
‘Aiding the conceptions?’ said the local. Samlor had kept his face turned from
the other so that he would not have to see his smile, but the smile freighted