Domes of Fire

‘You’re angry with me, aren’t you?’

‘No. Not really. What made you think I’d be angry?’

She looked a bit less sure of herself. ‘You mean you’re not? I thought you’d be raging by now – about my decision to pay a state visit to Tamuli, I mean.’

‘No, actually it’s a very good idea. Of course we’ll have to take a few precautions to ensure your safety, but we always have to do that, so we’re sort of used to it, aren’t we?’

‘What kind of precautions are we talking about here?’ Her tone was suspicious.

‘Nothing all that extreme, dear. I don’t think you should go walking in the forest alone or visiting thieves’ dens without some sort of escort. I’m not talking about anything out of the ordinary, and you’re used to certain restrictions on your movements already. We’ll be in a strange country, and we don’t know the people. I know that you’ll trust me to sort of nose things out, and that you won’t argue with me if I tell you that something’s too dangerous. We can all live with that, I’m sure. You pay me to protect you, after all, so we won’t have any silly little squabbles about security measures, now will we?’ He kept his tone mild and sweetly reasonable, giving her no reason to raise any questions about exactly what he had in mind when he spoke of ‘security measures’.

‘You know much more about that sort of thing than I do, my love,’ she conceded, ‘so I’ll leave all that entirely in your hands. If a girl has a champion who just happens to be the greatest knight in the world, she’d be foolish not to pay attention to him, now wouldn’t she?’

‘My feelings exactly,’ he agreed. It was a small victory, to be sure, but when one is dealing with a queen, victories of any kind are hard to come by.

‘Well,’ she said, rising to her feet, ‘since we’re not going to fight, why don’t we go to bed?’

‘Good idea.’

The kitten Talen had given to Princess Danae was named Mmrr, and Mmrr had one habit that particularly irritated Sparhawk. Kittens like to have company when they sleep, and Mmrr had found that when Sparhawk slept, he curled up slightly and that the space just behind his knees was a perfect place for her to nest. Sparhawk customarily slept with the covers pulled tightly around his neck, but that was no real problem. A cold, wet nose touched to the back of his neck caused him to flinch away violently, and that involuntary movement would always open just enough of a gap for an enterprising kitten. Mmrr found the whole process quite satisfactory and even rather amusing.

Sparhawk, however, did not. It was shortly before dawn when he emerged from the bedroom, tousled, sleepy-eyed and just a bit out of sorts.

Princess Danae wandered into the large central room absently dragging Rollo behind her. ‘Have you seen my cat?’ she asked her father.

‘She’s in bed with your mother,’ he replied shortly.

‘I should have known, I suppose. Mmrr likes the way mother smells. She told me so herself.’

Sparhawk glanced around and then carefully closed the bedroom door. ‘I need to talk with Sephrenia again,’ he said.

‘All right.’

‘Not here, though. I’ll find someplace.’

‘What happened last night?’

‘We have to go to Tamuli.’

‘I thought you were going to do something about Drychtnath.’

‘I am – in a way. It seems that there’s something – or someone – over on the Daresian continent that’s behind Drychtnath. I think we’ll be able to find out more about him there than we ever would here. I’ll make arrangements to have you taken back to Cimmura.’

She pursed her small mouth. ‘No, I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘I’d better go along with you.’

‘That’s absolutely out of the question.’

‘Oh, Sparhawk, do grow up. I’m going along because you’re going to need me when we get there.’ She negligently tossed Rollo over into a corner. ‘I’m also going because you can’t stop me. Come up with some reason for it, Sparhawk. Otherwise you’ll have to explain to mother how it is that I managed to get ahead of you when you all find me sitting in a tree alongside a road somewhere. Get dressed father, and go find a place where we can talk privately.’

Some time later, Sparhawk and his daughter climbed a narrow, spiralling wooden staircase that led to the cupola atop the dome of the Basilica. There was quite probably no more private place in the world, particularly in view of the fact that the wooden stairs leading up to the little bell-tower did not so much creak as they did shriek when anyone began to climb them.

When they reached the unenclosed little house high above the city, Danae spent several minutes gazing out over Chyrellos. ‘You can always see so much better from up high like this,’ she said. ‘It’s just about the only reason I’ve ever found for flying.’

‘Can you really fly?’

‘Of course. Can’t you?’

‘You know better, Aphrael.’

‘I was only teasing you, Sparhawk,’ she laughed. ‘Let’s get started.’ She sat down, crossed her legs and lifted her little face to sing that trilling song she had raised back in Cimmura. Then again, her eyes closed and her face went blank as the song died away.

‘What is it this time, Sparhawk?’ Sephrenia’s voice was a bit tart.

‘What’s the matter, little mother?’

‘Do you realise that it’s the middle of the night here?’

‘It is?’

‘Of course it is. The sun’s on your side of the world now.’

‘Astonishing – though I suppose it stands to reason if you think about it. Did I disturb you?’

‘Yes, as a matter of fact you did.’

‘What were you doing so late at night?’

‘None of your business. What do you want?’

‘We’ll be coming to Daresia soon.’

‘What?’

‘The emperor asked us to come – well, he asked me actually. The rest are sort of tagging along. Ehlana’s going to make a state visit to Matherion to sort of give us all an excuse for being there.’

‘Have you taken leave of your senses? Tamuli’s a very dangerous place right now.’

‘Probably not much more than Eosia is. We were attacked by ancient Lamorks on our way here to Chyrellos from Cimmura.’