The gold-armored warrior abruptly reached out with his hammer and struck a light, glancing blow against the white tile floor outside the circle of inlaid flowers. It happened too fast for Lord Garkim to catch the thought and shout a warning. He was in the act of flinging up his arms to shield his face when the trap went off.
A block of black stone fell out of nowhere from above and struck the ground directly in front of the gold- armored warrior with a bone-jarring crash. Shattered floor tiles flew across the room, hammering armor and battering exposed skin. The gold warrior fell backward, his hammer clattering to the ground beside him. The black pillar, as wide across as a man's outstretched arms and half again the height of a tall man, settled upright into the smashed tile floor with a groan, then was silent.
'Stay where you are!' roared Garkim, enraged and unnerved. 'Stay there or you will be killed!'
Several of the visitors moved anyway, grabbing the golden warrior and hauling him and his weapon away from the stone, closer to the black gate. The warrior with the staff helped the armored man to his feet.
Anger burned in Garkim's face. 'The gods curse your stupidity!' he shouted in fury at the group, now bunched defensively around the arch. 'This room is protected against all invaders using the gate! You are idiots and fools to doubt me!'
The visitors said nothing, their weapons ready. After a pause, however, the silver-clad warrior- their leader- lowered his shield and hammer. He exhaled and nodded his head, muttering instructions to his comrades. The men moved away from the black gate, eyeing it and Lord Garkim with grave suspicion.
'We will follow your directions, then,' said the leader to Garkim. 'My name is Miltiades, of Phlan. You obviously anticipated our arrival.'
'Not I,' said Garkim, forcing himself to be civil with an effort. 'Your arrival was foreseen by my liege, our emperor, the Mage-King Aetheric III of the Imperial Reaches of Doegan, who bids you welcome. I am instructed to see you safely out of this building and guide you to quarters prepared for you in the mage-king's palace.'
'I thought this was the Utter East, not some empire,' mumbled the youngest man.
'Noph,' warned the silver warrior.
'This is indeed the Utter East, or at least a part of it,' said Lord Garkim. 'It is well that you came here and not to one of our neighboring kingdoms, but we can discuss that later. For now, be assured that you are in good hands.'
The third man through the gate, the one with curly blond hair and a two-handed sword, grinned as the tip of his weapon touched the floor. 'You don't seem fond of people just coming and going through the gate,' he responded. He tilted his head briefly toward the huge block of stone to the side, then glanced back at the gate. 'Speaking of which, what's keeping Aleena?'
'Experience with gates breeds great caution,' said Garkim. 'Only a poor man or a fool fails to bar his door. Now, if you at last wish to escape this chamber, you must first look-'
He broke off and craned his neck, his gaze going past the newcomers. Something behind the visitors had changed. He hadn't yet caught what it was-he hadn't been paying attention. The newcomers, following his gaze, turned to look at the gate. Tyr's Word,' someone whispered in shock. Lord Garkim stared in astonishment, his instructions forgotten. The blackness inside the stone arch had vanished. No colors replaced it. He i could look under the arch and see the other side of I the rotunda clearly.
'The gate!' shouted the golden-armored war-i rior. He turned to the silver warrior in amaze-I ment. 'What happened to the gate?' The silver warrior shook his head, staring at the I space under the stone arch. 'That should not have I happened,' he muttered, glancing uneasily at Lord I Garkim. 'The gate should still be working, unless-' I 'Unless something happened at the other end,' said Kern suddenly. He stepped forward, tested the space under the stone arch with his hammer, I then slapped a hand against the stone arch. The prunes that covered it were dark and lifeless.: 'Where is Aleena? Did some fiend attack her?'
Noph cleared his throat. 'Uh, guys, it's okay,' he said. Everyone turned to stare at him. The youth had already put away his knife. 'Uh, Aleena, um, she stayed back.; Maybe she…'
'She what?' shouted several of the men at once.
Lord Garkim closed his eyes for a moment and f sighed.
It was going to be a day he would not soon forget.
Chapter Three
Lord Garkim could read minds, but having five strong-willed subjects made the process difficult. It proved to be easier to keep all conversations with them direct and to the point. It never hurt to first play the good host, of course, as it led to a lowering of mental barriers and swift answers later.
As Garkim and the five visitors left the vault, they pushed through a growing crowd at the top of the steps by the main door, where confused guards and two city councilors talked rapidly with several of Doegan's best wizards. Garkim had nothing left to tell them, his verbal reports already made. His mission to bring the visitors back to the palace took priority even over the gate's failure.
The visitors from Undermountain remained silent in the confusion, following Garkim's lead. They had already tied down, sheathed, or peace-bonded their weapons for the trip to the palace. A royal passenger wagon harnessed to a small, short-eared elephant awaited them on the street, with a brown-skinned Mar driver brought from the royal stables. The five visitors gave the elephant long, wide-eyed looks. Several of the men rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
'Where are your horses?' Noph asked, tearing his gaze away to look up and down the crowded street. 'Or do you only have monsters to pull your wagons?'
'Horses!' Lord Garkim laughed, leading the group down the steps from the vault's doors. 'Alas, horses do not fare well here. A few came when this land was settled, but most died from disease. What few we have left are for important business only, not for easy rides across town. The red oxen and our eternal friends, the elephants, are far more durable. You are in no danger from this beast. It is quite intelligent and friendly.'
When they reached the wagon, the newcomers crowded close to the elephant and dared to touch it. Even Miltiades was impressed. 'As you might be with us for a while,' said Garkim in a friendly tone, behind the group, 'I will tell you more about our fair realm.' He signaled, and the drover pulled down the wooden stepladder on the wagon's side. Garkim swiftly climbed aboard, seating himself on a silk-padded sideboard. 'Later, I should like to discuss your own business here, of course.'
Garkim already knew why the five were here, but it was always useful to know how far they would go to cover up the truth. Garkim had no illusions about lying. Everyone, even children, lied or shaded the truth. They did it almost every hour.
'We would like to hear about your kingdom first,' said Miltiades. He spoke politely but made the request sound like an order. 'We had an arduous journey getting to our end of the gate, and we would like to collect our thoughts while we ride.' He hesitated before boarding the wagon, giving the elephant a last long look, then climbed the steps and took his seat across from Garkim.
Garkim grimaced, thinking of the damage that metallic armor would do to the wagon's silk cushions. It could not be helped, but the visitors would be happy to dump their armor by nightfall once they'd experienced a bit more of Doegan's late-summer heat and humidity.
The seat cushions were a niggling matter, though. The visitors were without a doubt quite dangerous, and Garkim had already marked Miltiades for special attention. The holy warrior's thoughts revealed he was by far the most experienced of the group, constantly sifting through hundreds of possible actions and reactions, ever alert for betrayal or attack. He was no genius, but he was far less a fool than any of his comrades, Garkim thought.
The councilor waited until the rest of the group was aboard before ordering the elephant's driver to set off. The robed driver called out a command in Maran, prodding the beast with a hooked implement. The wagon lurched forward as the elephant took up a slow, steady pace through the street past waving vendors, yoked oxen hauling carts, and endless numbers of dusty, robed citizens. The sky was clear, and the noon sun was hot.
'To begin with,' Garkim said pleasantly, 'we properly refer to our realm as an empire, not a kingdom.' He glanced at Noph. 'As things stand now, however, all of our provinces are in rebellion and have declared themselves
