The Hidden City

attention,’ Sparhawk said sharply. ‘This is important.’
    Faran sighed.
    ‘He knows what you’re talking about, Sparhawk,’ Khalad said. ‘He’s not stupid—just bad-tempered.’
    Sparhawk handed the reins to Berit. Then he remembered something. ‘We’ll need a password,’ he said. ‘The rest of us are going to have different faces, so you won’t recognize us if we have to contact you. Pick something ordinary.’
    They all considered it.
    ‘How about “ramshorn”?’ Berit suggested. ‘It shouldn’t be too hard to work it into an ordinary conversation, and we’ve used it before.’
    Sparhawk suddenly remembered Ulesim, most-favored-disciple-of-holy-Arasham, standing atop a pile of rubble with Kurik’s crossbow bolt sticking out of his forehead and the word ramshorn still on his lips. ‘Very good, Berit—ah—Sir Sparhawk, that is. It’s a word we all remember. You’d better get started.’
    They nodded and swung up into their saddles.
    ‘Good luck,’ Sparhawk said.
    ‘You too, my Lord,’ Khalad replied. And then the pair turned and rode slowly toward the drawbridge.
    ‘All we’ve really got to work with is the name Beresa,’ Sarabian mused, somewhat later. ‘Krager’s note said that Sparhawk would receive further instructions there.’
    ‘That could be a ruse, your Majesty,’ Itagne pointed out. ‘Actually, the exchange could take place at any time—and any place. That might have been the reason for the instructions to go overland.’
    ‘That’s true,’ Caalador agreed. ‘Scarpa and Zalasta might just be waiting on the beach on the west side of the Gulf of Micae wanting to make the trade right there, for all we know.’
    ‘We’re going to an awful lot of trouble here,’ Talen said. ‘Why doesn’t Sparhawk just have Bhelliom go rescue the Queen? It could pick her up and have her back here before Scarpa even knew she was gone.’
    ‘No,’ Aphrael said, shaking her head. ‘Bhelliom can’t do that any more than I can.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because we don’t know where she is—and we can’t go looking for her, because they’ll be able to sense us moving around.’
    ‘Oh. I didn’t know that.’
    Aphrael rolled her eyes upward. ‘Men!’ she sighed.
    ‘It was very resourceful of Ehlana to slip her ring to Melidere,’ Sephrenia said, ‘but locating her would be much easier if she still had it with her.’
    ‘I sort of doubt that, dear,’ Vanion disagreed. ‘Zalasta of all people knows that the rings can be traced. If Ehlana had still been wearing it, the first thing Scarpa would have done would been to send Krager or Elron off in the opposite direction with it.’
    ‘You’re assuming that Zalasta’s involved in this,’ she disagreed. ‘There is the possibility that Scarpa’s acting on his own, you know. ’
    ‘It’s always better to assume the worst,’ he shrugged. ‘Our situation is much more perilous if Zalasta and Cyrgon are involved. If it’s only Scarpa, he’ll be relatively easy to dispose of.’
    ‘But only after Ehlana and Alcan are safe,’ Sparhawk amended.
    ‘That goes without saying, Sparhawk,’ Vanion said.
    ‘Everything hinges on the moment of the exchange then, doesn’t it?’ Sarabian noted. ‘We can make some preparations, but we won’t be able to do anything at all significant until the moment that Scarpa actually produces Ehlana.’
    ‘And that means that we have to stay close to Berit and Khalad,’ Tynian added.
    ‘No.’ Aphrael was shaking her head. ‘You’ll give everything away if you all start hovering over those two. Let me do the staying close. I don’t wear armor, so no one will be able to smell me from a thousand paces off. Itagne’s right. The exchange could come at any time. I’ll let Sparhawk know the very instant Scarpa shows up with Ehlana and Alcan. Then Bhelliom can set him down—with knife—right on top of them. Then we’ll have the ladies back, and we’ll be more or less in charge of things again.’
    ‘And that brings us right back to a purely military situation,’ Patriarch Emban mused. ‘I think we’ll want to send word to Komier and Bergsten. We’re going to need the Church Knights in Cynesga and Arjuna, not in Edam or Astel—or here in Matherion. Let’s have them ride southeast after they come down out of the mountains of Zemoch. We’ll have the Atans in Sarna, the eastern Peloi and the Church Knights we’ve already got in Samar, the Trolls in the Tamul Mountains and Komier