Domes of Fire

‘The name Cyrgon hadn’t come up before, Sephrenia,’ Vanion disagreed.

‘And it may very well never come up again,’ she replied. ‘I’d need a lot more than Krager’s unsubstantiated word before I’ll believe that Cyrgon’s involved.’

‘Well, somebody’s involved,’ Tynian noted. ‘Somebody had to be impressive enough to get the attention of the Troll-Gods, and Krager doesn’t quite fit that description.’

‘Not to mention the fact that Krager can’t even pronounce “magic”, much less use it,’ Kalten added. ‘Could just any Styric have cast that spell, little mother?’

Sephrenia shook her head. ‘It’s very difficult,’ she conceded. ‘If it hadn’t been done exactly right, Sparhawk’s sword would have gone right through the real Krager. Sparhawk would have started the thrust in that room up in the tower, and it would have finished up in a room a mile away sliding through Krager’s heart.’

‘All right then,’ Emban said, pacing up and down the room with his pudgy hands clasped behind his back. ‘Now we know that this so-called uprising tonight wasn’t intended seriously.’

Sparhawk shook his head. ‘No, your Grace, we don’t know that for certain. Regardless of what he says, Krager learned much of his style from Martel, and trying to shrug a failure off by pretending that the scheme wasn’t really serious in the first place is exactly the sort of thing Martel would have done.’

‘You knew him better than I did,’ Emban shrugged. ‘Can we really be sure that Krager and the others are working for a God – Cyrgon or maybe some other one?’

‘Not really, Emban,’ Sephrenia replied. ‘The Troll-Gods are involved, and they could be doing the things we’ve encountered that are beyond the capability of a human magician. There’s a sorcerer out there, certainly, but we can’t be certain that there’s a God – other than the Troll-Gods – involved as well.’

‘But it could be a God, couldn’t it?’ Emban pressed.

‘Anything’s possible, your Grace,’ she shrugged.

‘That’s what I needed to know,’ the fat little churchman said. ‘It rather looks as if I’m going to have to make a flying trip back to Chyrellos.’

‘That went by me a little fast, your Grace,’ Kalten confessed.

‘We’re going to need the Church Knights, Kalten,’ Emban said. ‘All of them.’

‘They’re committed to Rendor, your Grace,’ Bevier reminded him.

‘Rendor can wait.’

‘The Archprelate may feel differently about that, Emban,’ Vanion told him. ‘Reconciliation with the Rendors has been one of our Holy Mother’s goals for over half a millennium now.’

‘She’s patient. She’ll wait. She’s going to have to wait. This is a crisis, Vanion.’

‘I’ll go with you, your Grace,’ Tynian said. ‘I won’t be of much use here in Tamuli until my shoulder heals anyway, and I’ll be able to clarify the military situation to Sarathi much better than you will. Dolmant’s had Pandion training, so he’ll understand military terminology. Right now we’re standing out in the open with our breeches down – begging your Majesty’s pardon for the crudity of that expression,’ he apologised to Ehlana.

‘It’s an interesting metaphor, Sir Tynian,’ she smiled, ‘and it conjures up an absolutely enthralling image.’

‘I’ll agree with the Patriarch of Ucera,’ Tynian went on. ‘We definitely have to have the Church Knights here in Tamuli. If we don’t get them here in a hurry, this whole situation’s going to crumble right in our hands.’

‘I’ll send word to Tikume,’ Kring volunteered. ‘He’ll send us several thousand mounted Peloi. We don’t wear armour or use magic, but we know how to fight.’

‘Will you be able to hold out here until the Church Knights arrive, Vanion?’ Emban asked.

‘Talk to Sparhawk, Emban. He’s in charge.’

‘I wish you wouldn’t keep doing that, Vanion,’ Sparhawk objected. He thought for a moment. ‘Atan Engessa,’ he said then, ‘how hard was it to persuade your warriors that it’s not really unnatural to fight on horseback? Can we persuade any more of them?’

‘When I tell them that this Krager-drunkard called them a race of freaks, they’ll listen to me, Sparhawk-Knight.’

‘Good. Krager may have helped us more than he thought then. Are you convinced that it’s best to attack Trolls with warhorses and lances, my friend?’

‘It was most effective, Sparhawk-Knight. We haven’t encountered the Troll-beasts before. They’re bigger than we are. That may be difficult for my people to accept, but once they do, they’ll be willing to try horses – if you can find enough of those big ones.’

‘Did Krager happen to make any references to the fact that we’ve been using thieves and beggars as our eyes and ears?’ Stragen asked.

‘Not in so many words, Milord,’ Khalad replied.

‘That puts an unknown into our equation then,’ Stragen mused.

‘Please don’t do that, Stragen,’ Kalten pleaded. ‘I absolutely hate mathematics.’

‘Sorry. We don’t know for certain whether Krager’s aware that we’ve been using the criminals of Matherion as spies. If he is aware of it, he could use it to feed us false information.’

‘That spell they used sort of hints that they know, Stragen,’ Caalador noted. ‘That explains how it was that we saw the leaders of the conspiracy go into a house and never come out. They used illusions. They wouldn’t have done that if they hadn’t known we were watching.’

Stragen stuck out his hand and wobbled it from side to side a bit dubiously. ‘It’s not set in stone yet, Caalador,’ he said. ‘He may not know just exactly how wellorganised we are.’

Bevier’s expression was profoundly disgusted. ‘We’ve been had, my friends,’ he said. ‘This was all an elaborate ruse – armies from the past, resurrected heroes, vampires and ghouls – all of it. It was a trick with no other purpose than to get us to come here without the entire body of the Church Knights at our backs.’

‘Then why have they turned round and told us to go home, Sir Bevier?’ Talen asked him.