The Hidden City

escort.
    ‘Well?’ Khalad asked.
    ‘Vigayo—over in Cynesga.’
    ‘It’s not much of a town.’
    ‘You’ve been there?’
    ‘Briefly. Bhelliom took us there by mistake when Sparhawk was practicing with it.’
    ‘How far is it from here?’
    ‘About a hundred leagues. It’s in the right direction, though. Aphrael said that Zalasta’s taking the Queen to Cyrga, so Vigayo’s got to be closer than Arjun. Pass the word, Berit. Tell Aphrael that we’ll start out first thing in the morning. Then you can come and help me cut up this deer. It’s ten days to Vigayo, so we’re probably going to need the meat.’
    ‘He hath been there,’ Xanetia told them. ‘His memories of the Hidden City are vivid, but his recollection of the route is imprecise. I could glean no more than disconnected impressions of the journey. His madness hath bereft his thought of coherence, and his mind doth flit from reality to illusion and back without purpose or direction.’
    ‘I’d say we got us a problem,’ Caalador drawled. ‘Ol’ Krager, he don’t know th’ way on accounta he wuz too drunk t’ pay attention when Zalasta wuz a-talkin ’bout how t’ git t’ Cyrga, an’ Scorpa’s too crazy t’ remember how he got that.’ His eyes narrowed, and he discarded the dialect. ‘What about Cyzada?’ he asked Xanetia.
    She shuddered. ‘It is not madness nor drunkenness which doth bar my way into the thought of Cyzada of Esos,’ she replied in a voice filled with revulsion. ‘Deeply hath he reached into the darkness that was Azash, and the creatures of the netherworld have possessed him so utterly that his thought is no longer human. His spells at first did in some measure control those horrid demons, but then he did summon Klael, and in that act was all unloosed. Prithee, do not send me again into that soothing chaos. He doth indeed know a route to Cyrga, but we could in no wise follow that path, for it doth lie through the realm of sine and darkness and unspeakable horror.’
    ‘That more or less exhausts the possibilities of this place then, doesn’t it?’ They all turned quickly at the sound of the familiar voice. The Child Goddess sat demurely on a window-ledge holding her pipes in her hands.
    ‘Is this wise, Divine One?’ Bevier asked her. ‘Won’t our enemies sense your presence?’
    ‘There’s no one left here who can do that, Bevier,’ she replied. ‘Zalasta’s gone. I just stopped by to tell you that Berit’s received new instructions. He and Khalad are going to Vigayo, a village just on the other side of the Cynesgan border. As soon as you’re ready, I’ll take you there.’
    ‘What good will that do?’ Kalten asked.
    ‘I need to get Xanetia close to the next messenger,’ she replied. ‘Cyrga’s completely concealed—even from me. There’s a key to that illusion, and that’s what we have to find. Without that key, we could all grow old wandering around out in that wasteland and still not find the city.’
    ‘I suppose you’re right,’ Sparhawk conceded. He looked directly at her. ‘Can you arrange another meeting? We’re getting close to the end of this, and I need to talk with the others, Vanion and Bergsten in particular, and probably with Betuana and Kring as well. We’ve got armies at our disposal, but they won’t be much use if they’re running off in three different directions or attacking Cyrga piecemeal. We’ve got a general idea of where the place is, and I’d like to put a ring of steel around it, but I don’t want anybody to go blundering in there until we get Ehlana and Alcan safely out.’
    ‘You’re going to get me in trouble, Sparhawk,’ she said tartly. ‘Do you have any idea of the kinds of promises I’ll have to make to get permission for that kind of gathering?—and I’ll have to keep all those promises too.’
    ‘It’s really very important, Aphrael.’
    She stuck her tongue out at him, and then she wavered and vanished.
    ‘Domi Tikume sent orders, your Reverence,’ the shaved-headed Peloi advised Patriarch Bergsten when they met in the churchman’s tent just outside the town of Pela in central Astel. ‘We’re to provide whatever assistance we can.’
    ‘Your Domi’s a good man, friend Daiya,’ the armored Patriarch replied.
    ‘His orders stirred up a hornet’s nest,’ Daiya said wryly. ‘The idea of an alliance with the Church Knights set off a theological debate that went on for days. Most people here in Astel believe that the Church