The Hidden City

almost stopped!’
    ‘Sorry, Itagne,’ the big Thalesian apologized. ‘There’s no really graceful way to come out of No-Time. Let’s go talk with Betuana and Engessa.’
    They rode back to join the Queen and her general.
    ‘Sir Ulath just arrived with news, your Majesty,’ Itagne said politely.
    ‘Ah,’ she said. ‘Good news or bad news, Ulath-Knight?’
    ‘A little of each, your Majesty,’ he replied. ‘The Trolls are a couple of miles east of here.’
    ‘And what’s the good news?’
    He smiled slightly. ‘That is the good news. The bad news is that there’s another large force of Klael’s soldiers waiting in ambush just south of here. They’ll probably hit you within the hour. They’re in our way, and we have to hurry. Sparhawk and the others are going to rescue Ehlana and her maid tonight, and he wants us all to converge on the city by morning.’
    ‘We must fight the Klael-beasts then,’ she said.
    ‘That could be troublesome,’ Itagne murmured.
    ‘Tynian and I have worked out a solution of sorts,’ Ulath continued, ‘but we don’t want to offend you, your Majesty, so we thought I should stop by and talk it over first. Klael’s troops are preparing to ambush you. I know you’d prefer to deal with that yourself, but in the interests of expediency, would you be willing to forgo the pleasure?’
    ‘I’d be willing to listen, Ulath-Knight,’ she said.
    ‘There are ways we could just slip around that ambush, but Klael can probably do the same kinds of things to time and distance that Aphrael and her cousins can, and I don’t think we want those brutes coming up behind us.’
    ‘What’s your solution then, Ulath-Knight?’
    ‘I’ve got a sizeable force at my disposal, your Majesty,’ he replied, ‘and they’re hungry. Since we’re too busy right now for an extended romp through the desert, why don’t we just let the Trolls have Klael’s soldiers for breakfast?’
    Sir Anosian looked a little shaken as he rode forward to speak with Kring and Tikume.
    ‘What’s the matter, friend Anosian?’ Tikume asked the black-armored Pandion. ‘You look as if you just saw a ghost.’
    ‘Worse, friend Tikume,’ Anosian replied. ‘I’ve just been reprimanded by a God. Most men don’t survive that experience.’
    ‘Aphrael again?’ Kring guessed.
    ‘No, friend Kring. This time it was her cousin Hanka. He’s very abrupt. The Genidian Knights rely on him for assistance with their spells.’
    ‘He was unhappy with you?’ Tikume asked. ‘What did you do this time?’
    Anosian made a sour face. ‘Sometimes my spells are a little sloppy,’ he admitted. ‘Aphrael’s generous enough to forgive me. Her cousin isn’t.’ He shuddered. ‘Divine Hanka’s going to hurry us along just a bit.’
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘We have to be at the gates of Cyrga by morning.’
    ‘How far is it?’ Kring asked him.
    ‘I have no idea,’ Anosian admitted, ‘and under the circumstances, I didn’t think it would be prudent to ask. Hanka wants us to ride west from here.’
    Tikume frowned. ‘If we don’t know how far it is, how can we be sure we’ll get there by morning?’
    ‘Oh, we’ll get there all right, friend Tikume,’ Anosian assured him. ‘I think we’d better start moving, though. Divine Hanka’s notoriously short-tempered. If we don’t start riding west very soon, he might just decide to pick us up and throw us from here to Cyrga.’
    The Temple Guardsman assumed a warlike posture—a rather stiff, formalized pose such as one occasionally sees on a frieze carved by an indifferently talented sculptor. Kalten brushed the man’s sword aside and slammed his fist against the side of his helmet. The guardsman reeled away and fell heavily onto the cobblestones. He was struggling to rise again when Kalten kicked him solidly in the face.
    ‘Quietly, Kalten!’ Sparhawk said in a hoarse whisper.
    ‘Sorry. I guess I got carried away.’ Kalten bent and peeled back the fallen guardsman’s eyelid. ‘He’ll sleep till noon,’ he said. He straightened and looked around. ‘Is that all of them?’
    ‘That was the last,’ Bevier whispered. ‘Let’s get them out of the middle of the street. The moon’s finally starting to come up down in this basin, and it’ll soon be as bright as day here.’
    It had been a short, ugly little fight. Sparhawk and his friends had rushed out of a dark side-street and had fallen on the detachment from the rear. Surprise had accounted for much of their