Domes of Fire

‘Then in a general sort of way, you could be defined as a clergyman – uh – person?’

‘What are you getting at, Sparhawk?’

‘Just say yes, Danae. I’m tiptoeing around the edges of violating an oath, and I need a technical excuse for it.’

‘I give up. Yes, technically you could call me a church personage – it’s a different church, of course, but the definition still fits.’

‘Thank you. I swore not to reveal this except to another clergyman – personage. You’re a clergyperson, so I can tell you.’

‘That’s sheer sophistry, Sparhawk.’

‘I know, but it gets me off the hook. Baron Kotyk’s brother-in-law, Elron, is Sabre.’ He gave her a suspicious look. ‘Have you been tampering again?’

‘Me?’

‘You’re starting to stretch the potentials of coincidence a bit, Danae,’ he said. ‘You knew what I just told you all along, didn’t you?’

‘Not the details, no. What you call “omniscience” is a human concept. It was dreamed up to make people think that they couldn’t get away with anything. I get hints – little flashes of things, that’s all. I knew there was something significant in Kotyk’s house, and I knew that if you and the others listened carefully, you’d hear about it.’

‘It’s like intuition then?’

‘That’s a very good word for it, Sparhawk. Ours is a little more developed than yours, and we pay close attention to it. You humans tend to ignore it – particularly you men. Something else happened in Darsas, didn’t it?’

He nodded. ‘That shadow put in another appearance. Emban and I were talking with Archimandrite Monsel, and we were visited.’

‘Whoever’s behind this is very stupid, then.’

‘The Troll-Gods? Isn’t that part of the definition of them?’

‘We’re not absolutely certain it’s the Troll-Gods, Sparhawk.’

‘Wouldn’t you know? I mean, isn’t there some way you can identify who’s opposing you?’

She shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not, Sparhawk. We can conceal ourselves from each other. The stupidity of that appearance in Darsas certainly suggests the Troll-Gods, though. We haven’t been able to make them understand why the sun comes up in the east as yet. They know it’s going to come up every morning, but they’re never sure just exactly where.’

‘You’re exaggerating.’

‘Of course I am.’ She frowned. ‘Let’s not set our feet in stone on the idea that we’re dealing with the Troll-Gods just yet, though. There are some very subtle differences – of course that may be the result of their encounter with you in the Temple of Azash. You frightened them very much, you know. I’d be more inclined to suspect an alliance between them and somebody else. I think the Troll-Gods would be more direct. If there is somebody else involved, he’s just a bit childish. He hasn’t been out in the world. He surrounded himself with people who aren’t bright, and he’s judging all humans by his worshippers. That appearance at Darsas was really a blunder, you know. He didn’t have to do it, and all he really did was to confirm what you’d already told that clergyman – you did tell him what’s happening, didn’t you?’

Sparhawk nodded.

‘We really need to get to Sarsos and talk with Sephrenia.’

‘You’re going to speed up the journey again then?’

‘I think I’d better. I’m not entirely sure what the ones on the other side are doing yet, but they’re starting to move faster for some reason, so we’d better see what we can do to keep up. Take me back to the carriage, Sparhawk. Stragen’s probably finished showing off his education by now, and the smell of your armour’s beginning to make me nauseous.’

Although there was a community of interest between the three disparate segments of the force escorting the Queen of Elenia, Sparhawk, Engessa and Kring decided to make some effort to keep the Peloi, the Church Knights and the Atans more or less separate from each other. Cultural differences obviously made a general mingling unwise. The possibilities for misunderstandings were simply too numerous to be ignored. Each leader stressed the need for the strictest of courtesy and formality to his forces, and the end result was a tense and exaggerated stiffness. In a very real sense, the Atans, the Peloi and the knights were allies rather than comrades. The fact that very few of the Atans spoke Elenic added to the distance between the component parts of the small army moving out onto the treeless expanse of the steppes.

They encountered the eastern Peloi some distance from the town of Pela in central Astel. Kring’s ancestors had migrated from this vast grassland some three thousand years earlier, but despite the separation of time and distance, the two branches of the Peloi family were remarkably similar in matters of dress and custom. The only really significant difference seemed to be the marked preference of the eastern Peloi for the javelin as opposed to the sabre favoured by Kring’s people. After a ritual exchange of greetings and a somewhat extended ceremony during which Kring and his eastern cousin sat cross-legged on the turf ‘taking salt together and talking of affairs’ while two armies warily faced each other across three hundred yards of open grass. The decision not to go to war with each other today was apparently reached, and Kring led his new-found friend and kinsman to the carriage to introduce him all around. The Domi of the eastern Peloi was named Tikume. He was somewhat taller than Kring, but his head was also shaved, a custom among those horsemen dating back to antiquity.

Tikume greeted them all politely. ‘It is passing strange to see Peloi allied with foreigners,’ he noted. ‘Domi Kring has told me of the conditions which prevail in Eosia, but I had not fully realised that they had led to such peculiar arrangements. Of course he and I have not spoken together for more than ten years.’

‘You’ve met before, Domi Tikume?’ Patriarch Emban asked with a certain surprise.

‘Yes, your Grace,’ Kring replied. ‘Domi Tikume journeyed to Pelosia with the King of Astel some years back. He made a point of looking me up.’

‘King Alberen’s father was much wiser than his son,’ Tikume explained, ‘and he read a great deal. He saw many similarities between Pelosia and Astel, so he paid a state visit to King Soros. He invited me to go along.’ His expression became one of distaste. ‘I might have declined if I’d known he was going to travel by boat. I was sick every day for two months. Domi Kring and I got on well together. He was kind enough to take me with him to the marshes to hunt ears.’