The Hidden City

aren’t too many Cyrgai in the room, we might be able to finish this climb inside.’
    ‘Let’s not take chances, Sparhawk. I’ll climb all the way to the moon if I have to. Go on up. I’ve got the rope tied off.’
    ‘Right.’ Sparhawk started up again. A slight breeze had come up, brushing the basalt wall with tenuous fingers. It was not strong enough to pose any dangers as yet, but Sparhawk definitely didn’t want it getting any stronger.
    ‘You’re out of condition, Sparhawk,’ Mirtai told him critically when he reached the spot just below where she and Talen clung to the wall.
    ‘Nobody’s perfect. Can you make out any details of that balcony yet?’
    ‘I was just going to swing over and have a look,’ Talen replied. He untied the rope from about his waist and began working his way across the wall toward the balcony.
    ‘You’re making me cross, Sparhawk.’ Aphrael’s voice seemed very loud in the silence of his mind. ‘I have plans for that young man, and they don’t include scraping him up off a street five hundred feet below.’
    ‘He knows what he’s doing. You worry too much. As long as you’re here, could you give me a few details about the top of this tower?’
    ‘There’s a separate building up there—probably an afterthought of some kind. It’s got three rooms: a guardroom for the platoon or so of ceremonial troops, the cell where Mother and Alcan are being held, and a large room across the front. Santheocles spends most of his time there.’
    ‘Santheocles?’
    ‘The King of the Cyrgai. He’s an idiot. They all are, but he’s worse than most.’
    ‘Is there a window in Ehlana’s cell?’
    ‘A small one. It’s barred, but you couldn’t get through it anyway. The building up there is smaller than the rest of this tower, so there’s a kind of parapet that runs all the way round it.’
    ‘Do those guards patrol it?’
    ‘No. There’s no real need for that. It’s the highest place in the city, and the notion that somebody might scale the tower has never occurred to the Cyrgai.’
    ‘Is Santheocles up there right now?’
    ‘He was, but I think he might have left since I looked in through the window. Zalasta was with him—and Ekatas. There was some sort of gathering they were planning to attend.’
    There was a low whistle, and Sparhawk looked toward the balcony. Talen was motioning to him. ‘I’m going to go and have a look,’ Sparhawk told Mirtai.
    ‘Don’t be too long,’ she cautioned. ‘The night’s starting to run out on us.’
    He grunted and started across toward the balcony.
    The drawbridge was down, and no one was standing watch.
    ‘How very convenient,’ Elysoun said as she, Liatris and Gahennas crossed the bridge into the courtyard of the castle. ‘Chacole thinks of everything, doesn’t she?’
    ‘I thought there were supposed to be Church Knights on guard here,’ Gahennas said. ‘Chacole couldn’t bribe them, could she?’
    ‘Lord Vanion took his knights with him,’ Liatris replied. ‘The responsibility for guarding the castle’s been turned over to ceremonial troops from the main garrison. Some officer is probably quite a bit richer than he was yesterday. You’ve been here before, Elysoun. Where can we find our husband?’
    ‘He’s usually up on the second floor. There are royal apartments there.’
    ‘We’d better get up there in a hurry. That unguarded gate makes me very nervous. I doubt that we’d be able to find a guard anywhere in the castle, and that means that Chacole’s assassins have free access to Sarabian.’
    The balcony appeared not to have been used for at least a generation. Dust lay deep in the corners, and the thick crust of birddroppings on the floor was undisturbed. Talen was crouched beside the window, peering round the edge, when Sparhawk came up over the stone balustrade. ‘Is there anybody in there?’ the big Pandion whispered.
    ‘A whole crowd,’ Talen whispered back. ‘Zalasta just came in with a couple of Cyrgai.’
    Sparhawk joined his young friend and looked in. The room appeared to be some kind of torch-lit audience hall or throne-room. The balcony where Sparhawk and Talen crouched was above the level of the floor and was reached from the inside by a flight of stone stairs. There was a slightly raised dais at the far end of the room with a throne carved from a single rock at the back of it. A well-muscled, handsome man in an ornate breastplate and a short leather kirtle sat on the throne