The Hidden City

likely being held in the building with barred windows. He absolutely had to get back to Narstil’s camp so that Bevier could pass the word on to Aphrael. If Xanetia could enter Natayos unseen, she could either penetrate the prison walls or reach into Krager’s wine-sodden mind to verify what was almost a certainty now. If all went well, it would be no more than a few days until he and Sparhawk were reunited with the women they loved. Then they could all come here and do unpleasant things to the people responsible.
    Vanion and Betuana reached Sama late that afternoon, and the Atan Queen scarcely paused before setting out for the border.
    ‘It was ghastly, Sparhawk,’ Vanion said, leaning wearily back in his chair and putting his visored helmet on the table. ‘They’re like no soldiers I’ve ever seen before. They’re big, and they’re fast, and their hides are so tough that most of the time my sword just bounced off them. I don’t know where Klael found them, but they’ve got yellow blood, and they made mincemeat out of my knights.’
    ‘Kring and Tikume ran into them as well, I guess,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘Anosian was trying to pass the word to Aphrael, but he garbled the spell so badly that she couldn’t make any sense out of it. She’s a little unhappy with Tynian. When he was gathering up the knights he brought back to Matherion, he accidentally picked every Pandion who has the least bit of skill with the spells. That’s why she can’t get any reports from Komier.’
    ‘We might have to send somebody to join him and handle communications—except that it’d take weeks for him to get there.’
    ‘Not if Aphrael takes him, it won’t,’ Sparhawk disagreed. ‘She carried me from Beresa to Sepal—almost a thousand miles—in about a half an hour.’
    ‘You’re not serious!’
    ‘You’ll love flying, Vanion.’
    ‘You’re carrying tales, Sparhawk.’
    They turned quickly. The Child Goddess was sitting in a chair at the far end of the room with her grass-stained little feet up on the table.
    ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that,’ Sparhawk told her.
    ‘Would you prefer some kind of announcement, Sparhawk? Multitudes of spirits bawling hymns of praise to introduce me? It’s a little ostentatious, but I can arrange it.’
    ‘Just forget I said anything.’
    ‘I’ll do that. I had a chat with Anosian. He’s practicing now—very hard. Kring and Tikume ran across Klael and his soldiers out in the desert, and they discovered something you gentlemen should know. I was right, Vanion. Klael’s soldiers have bile in their veins instead of blood because they breathe with their livers, and that means that the air where they come from isn’t anything like the air here—probably something like marsh-gas. There’s something in it that they need, and they can’t get it out of our air. The Peloi used their standard cut-and-run tactics, and after a little while those monsters started to collapse. Next time you come up against them, just turn around and run away. If they try to chase you, they’ll choke to death. Did Betuana leave?’
    ‘Yes, Divine One,’ Itagne replied.
    ‘Good. The quicker I can get Engessa to my island, the quicker I’ll have him back on his feet.’
    ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,’ Sparhawk said. ‘You said that his brain’s been injured.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘The brain’s very complicated, isn’t it?’
    ‘Yours aren’t quite as complex as ours, but they aren’t simple, by any means.’
    ‘And you can heal Engessa’s brain on your island?’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘If you can fix a brain, you should be able to fix somebody’s heart. Why didn’t you just take Sephrenia to your island and heal her there? Why did you come to Beresa and try to steal Bhelliom?’
    ‘What’s this?’ Vanion exclaimed, coming to his feet.
    ‘Wonderful, Sparhawk,’ Aphrael said dryly. ‘I’m awed by your subtlety. She’s all right, Vanion. Bhelliom brought her back.’
    Vanion smashed his fist down on the table and then controlled himself with an obvious effort. ‘Would it inconvenience anybody to tell me what happened?’ he asked them in an try voice.
    ‘We were in Dirgis,’ Aphrael shrugged. ‘Sephrenia was alone in the room, and Zalasta came in and stabbed her in the heart.’
    ‘Good God!’
    ‘She’s fine, Vanion. Bhelliom took care of it. She’s coming along very well. Xanetia’s with her.’
    Vanion started toward the door.
    ‘Oh, come back here,’