The Hidden City

‘I think you’d better take that up with his Grace here,’ Heldin replied. ‘I’m only a soldier. He’s the expert on theology.’

‘Thanks, Heldin,’ Bergsten said in a flat tone of voice.

‘If he is stupid, Bergsten-Priest, how can we be certain that he’s brought us to the right place?’

‘We have to trust Aphrael, Atana. Setras may be a little uncertain about things, but Aphrael isn’t, and she talked with him for quite some time, as I recall.’

‘Speaking slowly,’ Heldin added, ‘and using short, simple words.’

‘Is it possible, Bergsten-Priest?’ Maris asked insistently. ‘Can a God be stupid?’

Bergsten looked at her helplessly. ‘Ours isn’t,’ he evaded, ‘and I’m sure yours isn’t either.’

‘You didn’t answer my question, Bergsten.’

‘You’re right, Atana,’ he replied. ‘I didn’t – and I’m not going to, either. If you’re really curious, I’ll take you to Chyrellos when this is all over, and you can ask Dolmant.’

‘Bravely spoken, Lord Bergsten,’ Heldin murmured.

‘Shut up, Heldin.’

‘Yes, your Grace.’

Sparhawk, Bevier and Kalten stood at a small, barred window in the musty-smelling warehouse looking out at the fortress-like palace rearing above the rest of the city. ‘That’s really archaic,’ Bevier said critically.

‘It looks strong enough to me,’ Kalten said.

‘They’ve built the main structure of the palace right up against the outer wall, Kalten. It saves building two walls, but it compromises the structural integrity of the fortress. Give me a couple of months and some good catapults, and I could pound the whole thing to pieces.’

‘I don’t think catapults had been invented when they built it, Bevier,’ Sparhawk said. ‘It was probably the strongest fort in the world ten thousand years ago.’ He looked out at the gloomy, rearing pile. As Bevier had noted, the main structure was backed up against the wall that separated this part of Cyrga from the rest of the city. Shorter towers stair-stepped up to the large central tower that shouldered high above the rest of the palace and grew, or so it seemed, out of the wall itself. It appeared that the palace had not been built to look out over the city, but rather to face the white limestone temple. The Cyrgai clearly looked at their God, and turned their backs on the rest of the world.

The door which Talen had unlocked to provide them entry into this storehouse creaked as it opened and then closed. Then the soft glow of Xanetia’s face once again dimly illuminated the area around her.

‘We’ve found them,’ the Child Goddess said as the Anarae set her down on the flagstoned floor.

Sparhawk’s heart leaped. ‘Are they all right?’

‘They haven’t been treated very well. They’re tired and hungry and very much afraid. Zalasta took them to see Klæl, and that’s enough to frighten anybody.’

‘Where are they?’ Mirtai demanded intently.

‘At the very top of that highest tower at the back of the palace.’

‘Did you talk with them?’ Kalten asked intently.

Aphrael shook her head. ‘I didn’t think it was a good idea. What they don’t know about, they can’t talk about.’

‘Anarae,’ Bevier said thoughtfully, ‘would the soldiers in the palace let Temple Guardsmen move around freely in there?’

‘Nay, Sir Knight. The Cyrgai are much driven by custom, and Temple Guardsmen have little cause to enter the palace.’

‘I guess we can discard these, then,’ Kalten said, pulling off the ornate bronze helmet and dark cloak he had purloined in the lower city. He touched his cheek. ‘We still look like Cyrgai. We could steal some different uniforms and then just march in, couldn’t we?’

Xanetia shook her head. ‘The soldiers within the palace are all kinsmen, members of the royal clan, and are all known to one another. Subterfuge would be far too perilous.’

‘We’ve got to come up with a way to get into that tower!’ Kalten said desperately.

‘I already have,’ Mirtai told him calmly. ‘It’s dangerous, but I think it’s the only way.’

‘Go ahead,’ Sparhawk told her.

‘We might be able to sneak up through the palace, but if we’re discovered, we’d have to fight, and that’d put Ehlana and Alean in immediate danger.’

Sparhawk nodded bleakly. ‘It’s just too dangerous to risk,’ he agreed.

‘All right, then. If we can’t go through the palace, we’ll have to go up the outside.’

‘You mean climb the tower?’ Kalten asked incredulously.

‘It’s not as difficult as it sounds, Kalten. Those walls aren’t built of marble, so they aren’t smooth. They’re rough stone blocks, and there are plenty of hand-holds and places to put your feet. I could climb that back wall like a ladder, if I had to.’

‘I’m not really very graceful, Mirtai,’ he said dubiously. ‘I’ll do anything at all to rescue Alean, but I won’t be much good to her if I make a misstep and fall five hundred feet into the lower city.’

‘We have ropes, Kalten. I’ll keep you from falling. Talen can scamper up a wall like a squirrel, and I can climb almost as well. If we had Stragen and Caalador along, they’d be halfway up the side of that tower by now.’

‘Mirtai,’ Bevier said in a pained voice, ‘we’re wearing mail-shirts. Climbing a sheer wall with seventy pounds of steel hanging from your shoulders might be a little challenging.’

‘Then take the mail-shirt off, Bevier.’

‘I might need it when I get up on top.’

‘No problem,’ Talen assured him. ‘We’ll bundle them all together and pull them up behind us. I do sort of like it, Sparhawk. It’s quiet; it’s fairly fast; and there probably won’t be any guards going hand-over-hand around the outside of the tower looking for intruders. Mirtai’s had training from Stragen and Caalador, and I was born for burglary. She and I can do the real climbing. We’ll drop ropes down to the rest of you at various stages along the way, and you can haul up the mail-shirts and swords behind you. We can get to the top of that tower in no time at all. We can do it, Sparhawk. It’ll be easy.’

‘I can’t really think of any alternatives,’ Sparhawk conceded dubiously.