would be better to do so at night when he's sleeping.'
'But he doesn't sleep/ Daj said. 'He stays up all night reading his books. Or playing chess with himself. Or.. other things.'
'And during the day?' I asked, looking for some ray of light driving down the airshafts that opened upon the street.
'During the day,' Daj said, 'he could be anywhere in the city.'
I pulled my cloak more tightly about myself as he said this. I felt the eyes of many people about the street watching us.
'Anywhere except the throne room,' Liljana said.
'Yes, that's right,' Daj said, nodding toward the iron gate. 'The doors are almost always open when Lord Morjin is holding court.'
'Almost always?' Liljana asked him.
Daj nodded his head. 'Yes, sometimes he holds… private audi ences.'
I felt my heart beating like a hammer and sweat running beneath the padding of my armor. I said, 'All right, the throne room is likely empty, as we stand here talking.
And our friends, if they haven't been taken, are likely waiting somewhere for night to fight their way into it.'
'And if they have been taken?' Maram asked.
I tried not to look at the heated iron running through the sizzling pig or listen to the scream building inside me. I said, Then all the more reason that we should hasten to find this secret passage that Daj has told of And if our friends are safe, we'll no doubt find them outside one of the gates tonight after we've completed our quest'
Everyone agreed that it would be best if we attempted the secret passage now, before we were discovered or our courage foiled And so Daj led the way into the district to the northwest of the palace. Here the streets were narrow and twisted like tunnels that would have contused an ant. Nobles, mostly, lived here between the shops of the bakers, vintners and others who served their needs. The stares of these people as we quickly passed by disquieted all of us. But we moved along without any trouble until we came to another square, much smaller than that of the Red Fountain.
Here, on a great wooden cross caked with layers of old blood, a nearly naked man had been crucified for all to see. A crowd had gathered to watch his death throes, and for a moment we joined them. I couldn't take my eyes off the man's head, which was slumped down against his chest as if he were watching his heart's last flame about to be blown out.
Almost against my will, I found my hand sliding beneath my cloak and gripping the hilt of my sword. And then Kane's steely fingers gripped my arm as he shook his head and told me, 'You can't save everyone, Val.'
'But what was his crime?' I whispered to him.
No one around us seemed to know. One old woman, likely the wife of some great lord, gathered in her silks and told her attendant that she believed the condemned man had somehow insulted Morjin.
'Come, now,' Kane saillpulling at my arm. 'Let's take our revenge on Morjin by stealing from him what he covets most.'
I nodded my head, and we pushed our way out of the crowd. Daj led us onto a dim street that turned toward the north, in the direction of the great stairs. But then it turned again, west and south. We walked on a little way. Then Daj pointed at an open doorway next to a butchery where many fly-blown chickens and lambs were hung. It was an unusual doorway, the rock on either side of it being carved with standing dragons that framed it like pillars. It gave into a little chamber that was one of Argattha's many sanctuaries. Inside, as we found, was little more than a single glowstone hanging from the low ceiling. This one light, Daj said, symbolized the Light of the One. The meaning of our passage through the pillars was clear: that the way toward the One was through the way of the Dragon.
'People are supposed to come here and meditate,' Daj told us. We stood at the center of the deserted chamber, staring at a tapestry of various Elijin and Galadin on the far wall. 'But no one ever comes.'
'Why not?' Maram asked him.
'Because it's said that Lord Morjin seeks his sacrifices from the most faithful and finds them in the sanctuaries.'
Such tales, I thought, were an excellent way of keeping the sanc tuaries empty – so that Morjin could reserve them for his private use.
With Maram standing watch in the doorway, we moved over to the tapestry, and Liljana held it away from the wall. Behind it was a door, barely perceptible as such: a crack ran horizontally through the black rock just above the level of our heads, while two others cut lengthwise framing a large basalt slab. If pushed against, I thought, it would revolve and open onto the secret passage.
I pushed against it now, but it was like pushing against a solid wall, and the door did'nt move. and Daj said to me, 'You have to know the password.'
'I presume you know what this is?' Kane said to him.
'Yes, there's a door like this at the other end of the passage – in Lord Morjin's rooms. One time, I hid there and watched him use it. And then followed him here.'
'Brave boy,' I said, nodding my head in acknowledgement of his feat.
'Yes, you're a brave little spy,' Kane said, grinning savagely. 'Well, let's see if Morjin has kept the password. What is it?'
'Memoriar-damoom,' Daj said softly. 'I don't know what it means.'
'It means,' Kane said, translating the ancient Ardik, ' 'Remember Damoom.' '
He stood directly facing the door and spoke the word clearly, louder this time. And from within the door came a clicking sound as of a lock being slid open.
As Maram hurried across the room to view this marvel, Kane's grin grew larger, and he said, 'In the Age of Law, many locks were made thusly. Song stones, keyed to a word or a voice, turn at the touch of the right sound and set the locking mechanism in motion.'
Now he set his hand against the edge of the door and leaned his weight into it. The part that he pushed against swung inward smoothly while the left edge of the slab revolved out into the room. Beyond the opening lay a dark tunnel.
'So,' he said.
He started straight into the tunnel, followed by Daj and me. But when it came Maram's turn to step forward, he hesitated and said, 'Ah, I don't like the look of this at all.'
'Come,' I said, turning back toward him. 'Where's your courage?'
'Ah, where indeed, my friend? I'm afraid that almost all of that coin has been spent.'
'There's always more,' I said to him.
'For you, perhaps, but not for me. After all, I'm no Valari.'
'What do you mean?'
'Well, I mean that for you Valari, courage is a birthright. You breathe it in as easily as others do air.'
'No, you're wrong, Maram,' I told him, shaking my head. My belly churned as if I had swallowed a nest of writhing snakes. 'Courage never gets to be a habit. Each time… it gets harder to find. As it is now for me.'
'For you?'
'Yes,' I said, glancing at Kane and Liljana. And then I looked straight at Maram.
'Without you by my side, I don't know how I'd ever be able to do this.'
'Do you really mean that?'
I clasped his hand in mine and smiled at him. 'Will you come with me this last mile?'
He hesitated another long moment before slowly nodding his head. And then he sighed out 'All right, then, I'll come. But this has to be the last time.'
Then he, too, stepped into the tunnel, followed by Liljana, who had so arrayed the tapestry that it fell back over the door as we pushed it shut. Darkness swallowed us; for a moment we stood nearly blind beneath the black shroud of night. Then I drew my sword. Daj stared at the glowing blade in wonder, but seemed too afraid to ask by what miracle it gave light. All that he said was: 'The last time I was here, all I had was a candle. But this is better.'
