The Diamond Throne

imagination.’
    ‘He doesn’t sound very impressive.’
    ‘He isn’t.’
    ‘Then someone else would have to be giving him instructions, wouldn’t they?’
    ‘Precisely’ Sparhawk turned once more to the abbot. ‘My Lord,’ he said, ‘do you have any way to get messages to Preceptor Abriel at your motherhouse in Larium? Messages that can’t be intercepted?’
    The abbot gave him a frosty stare
    ‘We agreed to be frank with each other, my Lord,’ Sparhawk reminded him. ‘I’m not trying to embarrass you, but this is a matter of the greatest urgency.’
    ‘All right, Sparhawk,’ the abbot replied a bit stiffly. ‘Yes, I can get a message to Lord Abriel.’
    ‘Good. Sephrenia knows all the details and she can fill you in. Kurik and I have something to attend to.’
    ‘Just what are you planning?’ the abbot demanded.
    ‘I’m going to pay a call on Elius. He knows what’s been going on, and I think I can persuade him to share the information. We need confirmation of all this before you send the message to Larium.’
    ‘It’s too dangerous.’
    ‘Not as dangerous as having Annias in the Archprelacy, is It?’ Sparhawk considered it. ‘Do you happen to have a secure cell someplace?’ he asked.
    ‘We have a penitent’s cell down in the cellar. The door can be locked, I suppose.’
    ‘Good. I think we’ll bring Elius back here to question him. Then you can lock him up. I can’t let him go, once he knows I’m here, and Sephrenia disapproves of random murders. If he just disappears, there’ll be some un-certainty about what happened to him.’
    ‘Won’t he make an outcry when you take him captive?’
    ‘Not very likely, my Lord,’ Kurik assured him, drawing his heavy dagger. He slapped the hilt solidly against his palm. ‘I can practically guarantee that he’ll be asleep.’
    The streets were quiet. The overcast which had obscured the sky that afternoon had cleared, and the stars were very bright overhead.
    ‘No moon,’ Kurik said quietly as he and Sparhawk crept through the deserted streets. ‘That’s a help.’
    ‘It’s been rising late the past three nights,’ Sparhawk said.
    ‘How late?’
    ‘We’ve got a couple more hours.’
    ‘Can we make it back to the monastery by then?’
    ‘We have to.’ Sparhawk stopped just before they reached an intersection and peered around the corner of a house. A man wearing a short cape and carrying a spear and a small lantern was shuffling sleepily along the street. ‘Watchman,’ Sparhawk breathed, and he and Kurik stepped into the shadows of a deeply recessed doorway
    The watchman plodded on past, the lantern swingingfrom his hand casting looming shadows against the walls of the buildings.
    ‘He should be more alert,’ Kurik growled disapprovingly.
    ‘Under the circumstances your sense of what’s proper might be a little misplaced.’
    ‘Right is right, Sparhawk,’ Kurik replied stubbornly. After the watchman was out of sight, they crept on up the street.
    ‘Are we just going to walk up to the gate of the consulate?’ Kurik asked.
    ‘No. When we get close to it, we’ll go in over the roof tops.’
    ‘I’m not a cat, Sparhawk. Leaping from roof to roof isn’t my idea of entertainment.’
    ‘The houses are all built up against each other in that part of town. The roof tops are just like a highway.’
    ‘Oh,’ Kurik grunted. ‘That’s different then.’
    The consulate of the Kingdom of Elenia was a fairly large building surrounded by a high, white-mortared wall. There were torches set on long poles at each corner, and a narrow lane running alongside the wall.
    ‘Does that lane run all the way around it?’ Kurik asked.
    ‘It did the last time I was here.’
    There’s a significant hole in your plan then, Sparhawk. I can’t jump all the way from one of these roof tops to the top of that wall.’
    ‘I don’t think I could either.’ Sparhawk frowned. ‘Let’s go around and look at the other side.’
    They crept through a series of narrow streets and alleys that wound along the back sides of the houses facing the consulate wall. A dog came out and barked at them until Kurik shied a rock at him. The dog yelped and ran off on three legs.
    ‘Now I know how a burglar feels,’ Kurik muttered.
    ‘There,’ Sparhawk said. There where?’
    ‘Right over there. Some helpful fellow is doing some repairs on his roof. See that pile of beams stacked up against the side of that wall? Let’s go see how long they