The Hidden City

alternative isn’t very attractive, Lord Abriel.’ Darellon was a slender Deiran who appeared to have been swallowed up by his massive armor. He lowered his voice. ‘You didn’t really have to come along, my friend,’ he said. ‘Sarathi would have understood.’
    ‘Oh, no, Darellon. This is probably my last campaign. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’ Abriel peered ahead. ‘What’s Komier doing out there?’
    ‘Lord Komier said that he wanted to take a look at the ruins of Zemoch,’ Sir Heldin replied in his rumbling basse. ‘I guess Thalesians take a certain pleasure in viewing the wreckage after a war’s over.’
    ‘They’re a barbaric people,’ Abriel muttered sourly. He glanced quickly at Bergsten, who seemed totally immersed in his prayer book. ‘You don’t necessarily have to repeat that, gentlemen,’ he said to Darellon and Heldin.
    ‘I wouldn’t dream of it, Abriel,’ Bergsten said, not looking up from his prayer book.
    ‘You’ve got unwholesomely sharp ears, your Grace.’
    ‘It comes from listening to confessions. People tend to shout the sins of others from the rooftops, but you can barely hear them when they’re describing their own.’ Bergsten looked up and pointed. ‘Komier’s coming back.’
    The Preceptor of the Genidian Knights was in high spirits as he reined in his horse, swirling up a huge billow of the dustlike snow. ‘Sparhawk doesn’t leave very much standing when he destroys a place,’ he announced cheerfully. ‘I didn’t entirely believe Ulath when he told me that our broken-nosed friend blew the lid off the Temple of Azash, but I do now. You’ve never seen such a wreck. I doubt if there’s a habitable building left in the whole city.’
    ‘You really enjoy that sort of thing, don’t you, Komier?’ Abriel accused.
    ‘That’s enough of that, gentlemen!’ Bergsten cut in quickly. ‘We’re not going to resurrect that worn-out old dispute again. We make war in different ways. Arcians like to build forts and castles, and Thalesians like to knock them down. It’s all part of making war, and that’s what we get paid for.’
    ‘We, your Grace?’ Heldin rumbled mildly.
    ‘You know what I mean, Heldin. I don’t personally get involved in that any more, of course, but—’
    ‘Why did you bring your axe along then, Bergsten?’ Komier asked him.
    Bergsten gave him a flat stare. ‘For old times’ sake—and because you Thalesian brigands pay closer attention to a man who’s got an axe in his hands.’
    ‘Knights, your Grace,’ Komier mildly corrected his countryman. ‘We’re called knights now. We used to be brigands, but now we’re behaving ourselves.’
    ‘The Church appreciates your efforts to mend your ways my son, even though she knows that you’re lying in your teeth.’
    Abriel carefully covered a smile. Bergsten was a former Genidian Knight himself, and sometimes his cassock slipped a bit.
    ‘Who’s got the map?’ he asked, more to head off the impending argument than out of any real curiosity.
    Heldin unbuckled one of his saddle-bags, his black armor clinking. ‘What did you want to know, my Lord?’ he asked, taking out his map.
    ‘The usual. How far? How long? What sort of unpleasantness up ahead?’
    ‘It’s just over a hundred leagues to the Astellian border, my Lord,’ Heldin replied, consulting his map, ‘and nine hundred leagues from there to Matherion.’
    ‘A hundred days at least,’ Bergsten grunted sourly.
    ‘That’s if we don’t run into any trouble, your Grace,’ Darellon added.
    ‘Take a look back over your shoulder, Darellon. There are a hundred thousand Church Knights behind us. There’s no trouble that we can’t deal with. What sort of terrain’s up ahead, Heldin?’
    ‘There’s some sort of divide about three days east of here, your Grace. All the rivers on this side of it run down into the Gulf of Merjuk. On the other side, they run off into the Astel Marshes. I’d imagine that we’ll be going downhill after we cross that divide—unless Otha fixed it so that water runs uphill here in Zemoch.’
    A Genidian Knight rode forward. ‘A messenger from Emsat just caught up with us, Lord Komier,’ he reported. ‘He says he has important news for you.’
    Komier nodded, wheeled his horse and rode back toward the army. The rest of them pushed on as it started to snow a little harder. Komier was laughing uproariously when he returned with the travel-stained messenger who had chased them