The Hidden City

make Sparhawk and me feel better, you’re going at it in a strange way, Caalador,’ Kalten accused. ‘You’re suggesting that the women we love are the prisoners of a crazy man. He could do anything.’
    ‘It might not be as bad as it looks, Sir Kalten,’ Oscagne said. ‘If Scarpa’s mad, couldn’t this abduction have been his idea alone? If that’s the case, our solution becomes almost too simple. Prince Sparhawk simply follows the instructions he receives to the letter, and when Scarpa appears with Queen Ehlana and Alcan, his Highness simply hands over the Bhelliom. We all know what’ll happen to Scarpa as soon as he touches it.’
    ‘You’re equating insanity with feeble-mindedness, Oscagne,’ Sarabian disagreed, ‘and that’s simply not the way it works. Zalasta knows that the rings would protect him if he ever managed to get his hands on Bhelliom, and if he knows, then we have to assume that Scarpa does, too. He’ll demand the rings before he even tries to touch the jewel.’
    ‘We have three possibilities then,’ Patriarch Emban summed it all up. ‘Either Cyrgon instructed Zalasta to arrange for the abduction, or Zalasta came up with the notion on his own, or Scarpa’s so crazy that he thinks he can just pick up Bhelliom and start giving it commands with no instruction or preparation at all.’
    ‘There’s one more possibility, Your Grace,’ Ulath said. ‘Klael could already be in charge, and this could be his way to force Bhelliom to come to him for their customary contest.’
    ‘What difference does it make at this point?’ Sparhawk asked suddenly. ‘We won’t know whose idea it is until we see who shows up to make the exchange.’
    ‘We should have some plans in place, Prince Sparhawk,’ Oscagne pointed out. ‘We should try to think our way through each situation so that we’ll know what to do.’
    ‘I already know what I’m going to do, your Excellency,’ Sparhawk told him bleakly.
    ‘At the moment, we can’t do anything,’ Vanion said, moving in rather quickly. ‘All we can do is wait for Krager’s next note.’
    ‘Truly,’ Ulath agreed. ‘Krager’s going to give Sparhawk instructions. Those instructions might give us some clues about whose idea this really is.’
    ‘You noticed it, too, didn’t you?’ Berit said to Khalad that evening when the two of them were getting ready for bed.
    ‘Noticed what?’
    ‘Don’t play the innocent with me, Khalad. You see everything that’s going on around you. Nothing gets by you. Sparhawk and Sephrenia were behaving very peculiarly when Flute and Danae were talking to each other.’
    ‘Yes,’ Khalad admitted calmly. ‘So what?’
    ‘Aren’t you curious about why?’
    ‘Has it occurred to you that “why” might not be any of our business?’
    Berit stepped round that. ‘Did you notice how much the two girls resemble each other?’
    Khalad shrugged. ‘You’re the expert on girls.’
    Berit suddenly blushed and silently cursed himself for blushing.
    ‘It isn’t a secret, you know,’ Khalad told him. ‘Empress Elysoun’s fairly obvious. She doesn’t hide her feelings any more than she hides—well, you know.’
    ‘She’s a good girl,’ Berit quickly came to her defense. ‘It’s just that her people don’t pay any attention to our kind of morality. They can’t even comprehend the notion of fidelity.’
    ‘I’m not throwing rocks at her. If the way she behaves doesn’t bother her husband, it certainly doesn’t bother me. I’m a country boy, remember? We’re more realistic about things like that. I just wouldn’t get too attached to her, Berit. Her attention may wander in time.’
    ‘It already has,’ Berit replied. ‘She doesn’t want to discontinue our friendship, though. She wants to be friendly to me and to him—and to the half-dozen or so others she neglected to mention earlier.’
    ‘The world needs more friendliness, Berit,’ Khalad grinned. ‘There wouldn’t be so many wars if people were friendlier.’
    Krager’s next note arrived two days later, and it was authenticated by another lock of Ehlana’s hair. The thought of the sodden drunkard violating his Queen’s pale blonde hair enraged Berit for some obscure reason. Vanion once again read the note to them while Sparhawk sat somewhat apart, gently holding the lock of his wife’s hair in his fingers.
    ‘“Sparhawk, old boy,”’ the note began. “‘You don’t mind if I call you that, do you? I always admired the way