The Hidden City

me, though, because I’ve never liked you all that much anyway. But, mark my words, Echon. It’s one hundred miles from the Well of Vigay there to the banks of the Sama.’ And the old man spat in the direction of the pale brown pond. Talen suddenly began to laugh.
    ‘What’s so funny?’ Sparhawk asked him.
    ‘We just had a stroke of luck, revered leader,’ the boy replied gaily. ‘If we’re all finished up here, why don’t we go back to where the others are waiting? We’ll all want a good night’s sleep—since we’ll probably be leaving first thin in the morning.’
    ‘Oh? For where?’
    ‘Cyrga, of course. Wasn’t that where we wanted to go?’
    ‘Yes, but we don’t know where Cyrga is.’
    ‘That’s where you’re wrong, Sparhawk. We do know the way to Cyrga—at least I do.’

Chapter 23
    ‘Did he die well?’ Betuana asked. Her face was very pale, but she gave no other outward sign of distress.
    ‘It was a suitable death, Betuana-Queen,’ the messenger replied. ‘We were at the bottom of a gorge and the Klael-beast was hurling the sides of it down upon us. Androl-King attacked the beast, and many escaped that would have died if he had not.’
    She considered it. ‘Yes,’ she agreed finally. ‘It was suitable. It will be remembered. Is the army fit to travel?’
    ‘We have many injured, Betuana-Queen, and thousands are buried in the gorge. We withdrew to Tualas to await your commands.’
    ‘Leave some few to care for the injured, and bring the army here,’ she told him. ‘Toea is no longer in danger. The danger is here.’
    ‘It shall be as you say, my Queen.’ He clashed his fist against his breastplate in salute.
    The Queen of Atan rose to her feet, her still-pale face betraying no emotion. ‘I must go apart and consider this, Itagne-Ambassador,’ she said formally.
    ‘It is proper, Betuana-Queen,’ he responded. ‘I share your grief.’
    ‘But not my guilt.’ She turned and slowly left the room.
    Itagne looked at the stony-faced Engessa. ‘I’d better pass the word to the others,’ he said. Engessa nodded shortly.
    ‘Could you speak with the messenger before he leaves, Engessa?’ Itagne asked. ‘Lord Vanion will need casualty figures before he can change his strategy.’
    ‘I will obtain them for you, Itagne-Ambassador.’ Engessa inclined his head shortly and went out.
    Itagne swore and banged his fist on the table. ‘Of all the times for this to happen!’ he fumed. ‘If that idiot had only waited before he got himself killed!’
    Betuana had done nothing wrong. There had been no stain of dishonor in her concern for Engessa, and if she had only had a week or two to put it behind her, it would probably have been forgotten—along with the personal feelings which caused it. But Androl’s death, coming as it did at this particular time—Itagne swore again. The Atan Queen had to be able to function, and this crisis might well incapacitate her. For all Itagne knew, she was in her room right now preparing to fall on her sword.
    He rose and went looking for paper and pen. Vanion had to be warned about this before everything here in Sama fell apart.
    ‘It all fell into place when I heard that old man call their little pond ‘the Well of Vigay”,’ Talen explained. ‘Ogerajin used exactly the same term.’
    ‘I don’t know that it means very much,’ Mirtai said dubiously. ‘Cynesgans call all these desert springs wells. Vigay was probably the one who discovered it.’
    ‘But the important thing is that this is one of the landmarks Ogerajin mentioned,’ Bevier said. ‘How did the subject come up?’ he asked Talen.
    ‘Stragen and I were spinning moonbeams for Valash,’ the boy replied. ‘Ogerajin had just arrived from Verel, and he was sitting in a chair with his brains quietly rotting. Stragen was telling Valash about something he’d supposedly overheard—some fellow telling another that Scarpa was waiting for instructions from Cyrga. He was fishing for information, and he casually asked Valash what route a man would have to follow to get to Cyrga.
    ‘That’s when Ogerajin jumped in. He started rambling, talking about the “Well of Vigay” and the “Plains of Salt” and other places with names that sounded as if they’d come right out of a story-book. I thought he was just raving, but Valash got very excited and tried to hush him up. That’s what made me pay closer attention to what the crazy man was saying. I got the feeling that he was