David Drake - Master of the Cauldron

They were in what had been the private office of Earl Wildulf's treasurer, a commoner named Ardnon who probably wouldn't be best pleased in the morning when he learned that his Bureau of Revenue had been ousted to provide living quarters for Prince Garric and the entire detachment of Blood Eagles accompanying him. The troops were cleaning out the other rooms on the corridor, and from what Garric had seen they were doing so with greater thoroughness than care. Desks, files, and other furnishings were all going into the back stairwell, leaving Attaper's men only one direction to guard.

Wildulf himself and Marshal Renold were the sole Sandrakkan officials present, facing not only Garric and his councillors but six Blood Eagles as well. The Earl kept trying to grasp his sword-hilt. The guards had disarmed him and Renold; every time Wildulf's hand closed on nothing, rage flushed his face.

"My men were asleep," Attaper growled, looking through a window out over the dark city. His profile was stony. "The real midnight relief, I mean. Look, I'm not making excuses, but-"

He grimaced and forced himself to meet Garric's eyes.

"-I think there must've been wizardry involved. Somebody got in and took their weapons and equipment without them waking up. I can't believe they were just derelict."

"Of course there was wizardry!" Garric said. "No blame attaches to you or your men, milord. And I need scarcely point out that youdid save my life and Lady Liane's. I was on my last legs when you arrived to finish the assassins."

He wished now that he'd kept Tenoctris by him. Though the Shepherd alone knew what was going on in Ornifal. He'd weighed the choices when he sent Tenoctris with Sharina and Waldron, and the chances were still good he'd made the right decision.

Attaper looked like a rocky crag trying to smile. "I don't know about your legs, your highness," he said, "but your hands were still in good shape. I have the bruises-"

He raised his right wrist which Garric had grabbed as he tried to wrest away Attaper's sword.

"-to prove it."

"Do we know who the attackers were?" said Lord Tadai, cutting through an exchange that was so far removed from his life that he thought it was meaningless. "That is, they were dead men who I gather didn't look dead at the time, but surely the bodies came from somewhere?"

"Serjeant Bastin was talking to an old buddy who's serving in the local garrison," Lord Rosen said unexpectedly. "The fellow says he recognized one of them as a housebreaker who'd been hung three months back. The body'd have been buried in the potter's field or whatever they call it here in Erdin."

Marshal Renold nodded glumly. "The Sister's Hundred, west of the city wall," he said. "All unclaimed bodies go there, not just people who're executed. They're dumped in a trench and covered at nightfall every day. Nobody'd notice if a few were taken out after dark."

"Wizardry!" Wildulf said, half despairing and half furious. Lord Attaper nodded forcefully in agreement

Liane looked up from the beechwood notebook she'd been reading, holding it close to the light of the candle lamp she'd set on the table before her. "Earl Wildulf?" she said. "Two years ago-"

When Liane was being taught at Mistress Gudea's Academy for Girls, here in Erdin.

"-the best collection of Old Kingdom manuscripts in Erdin was the library attached to the Temple of the Shielding Shepherd. Is that still the case?"

Garric noticed that Liane dismissed empty complaints about wizardry as brusquely as Lord Tadai had trampled through the camaraderie of warriors reliving past battles. She and Tadai were correct, of course: there was serious business to conduct and no time for small talk. Yet it was small talk that eased the friction of folk squeezed together in hard times, and these times were hard beyond question.

He grinned wryly. Sometimes it was a mistake to be too correct.

"Library?" the Earl repeated, frowning as he tried to get his mind around the concept. "I don't know. Renold, do you…?"

"I could ask someone," the Marshal said, frowning in turn. "My wife's secretary, he's the sort who'd know, I think."

"I think we can take it that there've been no changes in governmental policy toward the library since you left Erdin, milady," Garric said, grinning a little wider. "And I assume a major fire would've attracted attention also. Are you looking for a particular document?"

"I hope there may be more information on the cataclysm that struck Erdin a thousand years ago," Liane said. "Besides the Bridge Island account, that is. Perhaps if we knew more about what happened then, we'd have a better notion of what we're facing today."

Her reserved stiffness melted in a smile. "I can't help with wizardry," she said, sweeping her gaze across the room. "But I can search records as well as Tenoctris, or almost as well. And it'ssomething to do."

"Yes," said Garric. Something to do instead of waiting for an enemy to strike again from the darkness. "Yes indeed."

He rose to his feet. Dawn was breaking, turning pink the side of the building visible through the west-facing windows. "I don't think there's anything more to be gained by discussing what happened tonight," he said. "Last night. Lady Liane, do you want to wait till later in the day to visit the library, or-"

"No," said Liane forcefully. She cleared her throat, and went on, "That is, I certainly don't intend to go to bed. I wouldn't be able to sleep. Though I'll need the help of the library staff, and they won't be present at this hour, I'm sure."

"Nor could I sleep," said Garric. He'd only napped before going down into the caves beneath the palace, and he'd fought an exhausting battle besides; but hecertainly wouldn't sleep now. "But I would like to bathe. With luck-"

He nodded to Wildulf, who he thought would understand.

"-I'll scrub off some of the memories as well as what splashed me during the fight."

He looked around the room more generally. "Lord Tadai, Admiral Zettin," he said. "You and your staffs will continue working with Earl Wildulf and his officials on the details of Sandrakkan's return to full membership in the kingdom. If there're any questions for me, I'll deal with them when I return from the Temple of the Shielding Shepherd where I'll be accompanying Lady Liane."

"And where I'll be accompanying both of you," said Lord Attaper grimly. "And every bloody one of my men will be with us!"

Cashel wasn't afraid of heights-or long drops either, which'd been more to the point when he gathered guillemot eggs on the sheer islets off the coast of Haft. Even so it made his lips purse to look down from the top of the… well, what would you call it?

"Ma'am?" he said aloud. "Mistress Mab? Is this a cave we're going down into?"

"An artificial cave," Mab said. "It was the Lower Commons, back in the days when men lived on these levels. The Upper Commons is the plaza on the roof of the city, and the King carved this from the fabric of mountain itself while he was building the Ronn."

The Sons had been looking down into the cavern, all but Manza who'd taken one glance and jerked back from the railing. When Mab spoke, they'd turned to watch her instead. None of them spoke, but they didn't look comfortable.

Truth to tell, Cashel didn't like the view either. It was less the height than the shadows, gray on gray on gray-and none of them soft shades like those of a normal twilight.

Aloud he said, "Well, there's water, at least. I could use a drink."

"After I purify it," Mab said in a thin undertone. "This high it might be all right; but again, it might not. I don't care to take chances."

So speaking, she took what seemed a flat disk from the purse on her belt and gave it a shake. The plate slipped into a cup, its slanting walls locked open in tiny steps.