Part 47 (1/2)

Then they all looked at Berit. The young Pandion Knight blushed furiously. 'I haven't really got anything to report, my Lords and Ladies,' he mumbled.

'Berit,' Ehlana said gently, 'it's not nice to lie like that, you know.'

'It wasn't really anything, your Majesty,' he protested. 'It was all a misunderstanding, I'm sure-probably because I don't speak Tamul very well.'

'What happened, my young friend?' Sarabian asked him.

'Well, your Majesty, it was your wife, the empress Elysoun-the one with the unusual costume.'

'Yes, I'm acquainted with her.'

'Well, your Majesty, she approached me in one of the corridors and said that I was looking a bit tired-perhaps because I was keeping my eyes closed.'

'Why were you doing that?'

'Ah-well, her costume, you understand, your Majesty. I thought it might be impolite to stare.'

'In Elysoun's case, it's impolite not to. She's very proud of her attributes, and she likes to share them with people.'

'Berit's blush deepened. 'Anyway,' he floundered on, she said I looked tired and told me that she had a very comfortable bed in her quarters that I could use if I wanted to get some rest.'

Kalten was gazing at the youthful knight with openmouthed envy. 'What did you say?' he asked almost breathlessly.

'Well, I thanked her, of course, but I told her that I wasn't really sleepy.'

Kalten buried his face in his hands and groaned. 'There, there,' Ulath said patting his shoulder comfortingly.

Chapter 27.

'Well sir, yer Queens.h.i.+p,' Caalador was saying in his broad, colloquial drawl, 'these yore trinkets is putty thangs, I'll tell the world, but they ain't got no real practicle use to 'em.' He offered Ehlana a pair of carved ivory figurines.

'They're gorgeous, Caalador,' she gushed.

'Is that guard gone?' Caalador muttered to Sparhawk.

Sparhawk nodded. 'Mirtai just shoved him out the door.'

'I thought he was planning to stay all day.'

'Did you have any trouble getting on the grounds? Ehlana asked him.

'Not a bit, your Majesty.'

'I should hope not-not after the fuss I made.' She looked more closely at the figurines. 'These are really lovely, Caalador,' she said. 'Where did you get them?'

'I had them stolen from the museum at the university,' he shrugged. 'They're ninth century Tegan-very fine and very valuable.' He grinned at her impishly. 'If'n yet queens.h.i.+p's got this yore pa.s.sion fer anhkits, y might's well git th' real thangs.'

'I love to listen to this man talk,' Ehlana said.

Barroness Melidere escorted the others into the royal quarters.

'Any problems?' Stragen asked his brother thief.

'in slicker'n a weasel burrowin' into a hen-roost.'

'Please, Caalador, spare me.'

Caalador was serving the Queen of Elenia in the roll of 'procurer of antiquities,' and by her orders was to be granted immediate access to her at any time. One or the other of the knights had escorted him onto the grounds several times during the past several weeks in order to familiarize the guards at the gates with his face, but this was the first time he had tried to gain entrry by himself. Their a.s.sorted subterfuges were growing more and more subtle.

'Has anything meaningful turned up, Master Caalador?' Zalasta asked.

'I'm not entirely sure, learned one,' Caalador frowned. 'We keep running into something a little peculiar.'

'Oh?'

'All sorts of people are talking about something called 'the Hidden City'. They're the very people we've been watching, so we thought it might have some significance.'

'It is a'bit unusual,' Zalasta agreed. 'It's not the sort of thing you'd expect to hear noised about on the streets.'

'It actually means something then?'

Zalasta nodded. 'It's an old Tamul plat.i.tude that has to do with the life of the mind. Are they saying, 'The way to the Hidden City is long, but the rewards to be found there are treasures beyond price?''

'That's it exactly, learned one. Two people meet on the street, one of them recites the first half, and the other recites the second.'

Zalasta nodded. 'The plat.i.tude's supposed to refer to the rewards of the search for knowledge and enlightenment. I'd suspect some other significance in this case, however. Are your people hearing it from anybody other than Tamuls?'

Caalador nodded. 'A couple of Elene merchants greeted each other with it on a street-corner just yesterday.'

'It sounds very much like a sign and countersign,' Vanion mused.

'I'd hate to concentrate all our efforts on something like that to the exclusion of everything else,' Zalasta said cautiously.

'Ah, 'taint no big thang, yet sorcerers.h.i.+p,' Caalador a.s.sured him. 'I'm up t' m' ears in beggars an' wh.o.r.es an' sneak thieves an' sich. I got what y' might call a embarra.s.sment o' riches in that deportment.'

Zalasta looked puzzled.

'He says he's got more than enough people at his disposal, Zalasta,' Sephrenia translated.

'It's a colourful dialect, isn't it?' Zalasta observed mildly.

Ulath was frowning. 'I'm not entirely positive,' he said, 'but it seemed to me that I heard two of the palace guards talking about ”the Hidden City” a few days ago. There might be more people involved than we thought.'

Vanion nodded. 'It may not lead anywhere,' he said, but it won't hurt anything if we all keep our ears open. If Caalador has stumbled across the pa.s.sword of the other side, it could help us to identify conspirators we might otherwise miss. Let's compile a sort of a list. Let's gather the names of all these people who hunger and thirst for the hidden city of the mind. If this is a sign and countersign, and if it's in any way connected to what we're looking for, let's have a group of names to work with.'

'You're starting to sound very much like a policeman, Lord Vanion,' Talen said, half accusingly.