Domes of Fire

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.

‘Aw, ‘taint no big thang, yer sorcerership,’ Caalador assured him. ‘I’m up t’ m’ ears in beggars an’ whores an’ sneak thieves an’ sich. I got what y’ might call a embarrassment 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 password 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.

‘Can you ever forgive me?’

‘Oh, by the way, I saw an old friend at the university,’ Bevier told them with a faint smile. ‘It seems that Baron Kotyk’s brother-in-law’s come to Matherion to expose the Department of Contemporary Literature to his unspeakable art.’

‘Wouldn’t “inflict” be a better word there, Bevier?’ Ulath asked. ‘I’ve heard some of Elron’s poetry.’

‘Who’s Elron?’ Sephrenia asked.

Sparhawk exchanged a long look with Emban. They were still bound by the oaths they had given Archimandrite Monsel. ‘Ah –’ he began, not quite sure how to proceed, ‘he’s an Astel – a sort of semi-aristocrat with literary pretensions. We’re not sure just how much he’s involved in the disturbances in Astel, but his opinions and sympathies seem to indicate that he’s a strong supporter of the man known as Sabre.’

‘Isn’t it a coincidence that he just happens to have made the trip to Matherion at just about the same time that we’re getting a strong odour of dead fish in the streets?’ Tynian asked. ‘Why would he come to the very centre of the culture of the godless yellow devils he professes to hate?’

‘Unusual,’ Ulath agreed.

‘Anything that’s unusual is suspicious,’ Kalten asserted.

‘That’s a gross generalisation,’ Sparhawk accused.

‘Well, isn’t it?’

‘In this case you might be right. Maybe we’d better keep an eye on him. You’d better pull out your drawing pad again, Talen.’

‘You know, Sparhawk,’ the boy said, ‘I could make a lot of money drawing these pictures if you weren’t so set on making a Pandion of me and saddling me with all those high ideals.’

‘Service is its own reward, Talen,’ Sparhawk replied piously.

‘Caalador,’ Sephrenia said thoughtfully.

‘Yes, yer sorceress-ship?’

‘Please, don’t do that,’ she said wearily. ‘There are a number of these so-called firebrands loose in Tamuli. Is it at all possible that some of the local thieves might have seen any of them?’

‘I’ll ask around, Lady Sephrenia, and I can send to the other kingdoms for people who’ve seen them if I have to. I’m not sure how much good physical descriptions are going to be, though. If you say that a man’s sort of medium, that’s going to include about half the population almost by definition.’

‘She can go beyond physical descriptions, Caalador,’ Talen assured him. ‘She’ll wiggle her fingers at your witnesses and put an image of the person they’ve seen in a pail of water. I can draw a picture from that.’

‘It might not be a bad idea to have pictures of these various patriots in circulation,’ Sephrenia murmured. ‘If Elron and Krager are here, others may decide to visit Matherion as well. If they’re going to hold a convention, we should know about it, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Shouldn’t you add a picture of Count Gerrich as well?’ Danae suggested.

‘But he’s all the way across the world in Lamorkand, Princess,’ Kalten pointed out.

‘He’s still one of the people involved, Kalten,’ she said. ‘If you’re going to do something, do it right. How much is it going to cost? A few sheets of paper maybe? And the use of Talen’s pencil for half an hour?’

‘All right, include him. I don’t care. I don’t think he’ll ever show up here, but go ahead and have Talen draw his picture, if you want.’

‘Oh, thank you, Kalten. Thank you, thank you, thank you.’

‘Isn’t it nearly her nap-time?’ Kalten asked sourly.

‘Speaking of Krager,’ Sparhawk said, ‘have there been any new sightings of him?’

‘Just those two I mentioned earlier,’ Caalador replied. ‘Is he the kind who’s likely to go to ground?’

‘That’s Krager, all right,’ Kalten said. ‘He’s perfectly at home with sewer rats – being at least half-rat himself. As long as there was someone around to fetch wine for him, he’d be quite happy to stay down a rat-hole for six months at a stretch.’

‘I really want him, Caalador,’ Sparhawk grated. ‘My friends are all having a wonderful time telling me that they told me so.’

‘I didn’t follow that one,’ Caalador said with a puzzled look.

‘They all think I should have killed him. Even Sephrenia’s all athirst for his blood.’

‘Well, now, m’ friend,’ Caalador drawled, ‘I kin make a real good case fer jist how forchoonate-like it wuz that y’ din’t kill ‘im. You an’ yer friends here all knows this yere Krager feller, an’ he’s some kinda high mucketymuck on t’other side – which it is that he wouldn’t a’ bin iffn y’d slit his weasand, now would he? We knows this yere Krager, an’ we’ll chase im’ down sooner er later an’ set fire t’ his feet until he storts talkin’. If’n he wuz t’ be a absolute stranger, we wouldn’t have no idea a-tall ‘bout who we wuz a-lookin’ fer, now would we?’