The Hidden City

Cyrgon.’
    ‘Playing?’
    ‘They’re children, Sparhawk, babies who run and play and squeal and chase each other for months on end. Cyrgon absolutely hates them, so he won’t go anywhere near them. That should help. They’ll be here in a few minutes, and then we’ll be able to start. Turn your back, Father. I don’t like having people watch me change.’
    ‘I’ve seen you before—your reflection anyway.”
    ‘That part doesn’t bother me. The process of the changeover’s a little degrading, though. Just turn your back, Father. You wouldn’t understand.’
    He obediently turned and gazed up at the night sky. Several familiar constellations were either missing or in the wrong places.
    ‘All right, Father, you can turn around now.’ Her voice was richer and more vibrant.
    He turned. ‘Would you please put some clothes on?’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Just do it, Aphrael. Humor my quirks.’
    ‘This is so tedious.’ She reached out and took hold of a gauzy kind of veil she had spun out of nothing and wrapped herself in it. ‘Better?’ she asked.
    ‘Not much. Can we leave now?’
    ‘I’ll check.’ Her eyes went distant for a moment. ‘They’re coming,’ she reported. ‘They got side-tracked. It doesn’t take much to distract them. Now, listen very carefully. Try to stay calm when we do this. Just keep the fact firmly in mind that I’m not going to let you get hurt. You won’t fall.’
    ‘Fall? Fall from where? What are you talking about?’
    ‘You’ll see. I’d do it differently, but we have to get to Dirgis in a hurry, and I don’t want Cyrgon to have time to locate me. We’ll take it in easy stages at first, so you’ll have time to get used to the idea.’ She turned her head slightly. ‘They’re here,’ she said. ‘We can start now.’
    Sparhawk cocked his head slightly. He seemed to hear the distant sound of childish laughter, though it might have been only the sound of an errant breeze rustling the leaves in the treetops.
    ‘Give me your hand,’ she instructed.
    He reached out and took her by the hand. It seemed very warm and somehow comforting.
    ‘Just look up at the sky, Sparhawk,’ the heartbreakingly beautiful young woman instructed.
    He raised his face and saw the upper edge of the moon come creeping pale and luminous up above the treetops.
    ‘You can look down now.’
    They were standing some ten feet above the rippled waters of the pool. Sparhawk’s muscles tensed.
    ‘Don’t do that!’ she said sharply. ‘Just relax. You’ll slow us down if I have to drag you through the air like a water-logged cat.’
    He tried, but he didn’t have much success. He was certain that his eyes were lying to him, though. He could feel solidity under his feet. He stamped on it, and it was as firm as earth ought to be.
    ‘That’s just for now,’ the Goddess told him. ‘In a little while you won’t need it any more. I always have to put something solid down for Sephrenia—’ Her voice broke off with a strange little sob. ‘Please get control of yourself, Sparhawk,’ she pleaded. ‘We must hurry. Look at the sky again. We’re going a little higher.’
    He felt nothing at all, no rush of air, no sinking in the pit of his stomach, but when he looked down again, the clearing and its enchanted pool had shrunk to a dot. The tiny lights of Beresa twinkled from minuscule windows, and the moon had laid a long, glowing path out across the Tamul Sea.
    ‘Are you all right!’ Her inflections were still Aphrael’s, but her voice, and most definitely her appearance, were totally different. Her face peculiarly combined Flute’s features with Danae’s, making her the adult who had somehow been both little girls. Sparhawk didn’t answer, but instead stood stamping one foot on the solid nothing under him.
    ‘I won’t be able to keep that there when we start,’ she warned. ‘We’ll be going too fast. Just hold onto my hand, but don’t get excited and break my fingers.’
    ‘Don’t do anything to surprise me, then. Are you going to sprout wings?’
    ‘What an absurd idea. I’m not a bird, Sparhawk. Wings would only get in my way. Just lean back and relax.’ She looked intently at him. ‘You’re really handling this well. Sephrenia’s usually in hysterics at this point. Would you be more at ease if you sat down?’
    ‘On what?’
    ‘Never mind. Maybe we’d better stand. Take a couple of deep breaths, and let’s get started.’
    He found that looking up helped. When he was