fortress, that is another matter. As you saw, the two gates are guarded by day and locked by night. There are sentries on the walls, and lookouts in the towers.”
“How many?” asked Eskodas.
“When I was here before, there were five near the main gate.”
“How did you get out with the child?”
“He was a small boy. I hid him in a sack and carried him out just after dawn, draped behind my saddle.”
“I can’t see Druss fitting in a sack,” said Sieben.
Varsava moved to sit alongside the poet. “Do not think of him as you knew him, poet. He has been over a year in a tiny, windowless cell. The food would be barely enough to keep him alive. He will not be the giant we all knew. And he’s likely to be blind - or insane. Or both.”
Silence fell upon the room as each man remembered the axeman they had fought alongside. “I wish I’d known sooner,” muttered Sieben.
“I did not know myself,” said Varsava. “I thought they’d killed him.”
“It’s strange,” put in Eskodas, “I could never imagine Druss being beaten - even by an army. He was always so - so indomitable.”
Varsava chuckled. “I know. I watched him walk unarmed into a hollow where a dozen or so warriors were torturing an old man. He went through them like a scythe through wheat. Impressive.”
“So, how shall we proceed?” Sieben asked.
“We will go to the main Hall to pay our respects to the Lord Cajivak. Perhaps he won’t kill us outright!”
“Oh, that’s a good plan,” said Sieben, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“You have a better?”
“I believe that I have. One would imagine that a sordid place like this would be short of entertainment. I shall go alone and announce myself by name; I will offer to perform for my supper.”
“At the risk of being considered rude,” said Eskodas, “I don’t think your epic poems will be as well received as you think.”
“My dear boy, I am an entertainer. I can fashion a performance to suit any audience.”
“Well, this audience,” said Varsava, “will be made up of the dregs of Ventria and Naashan and all points east and west. There will be Drenai renegades, Vagrian mercenaries and Ventrian criminals of all kinds.”
“I shall dazzle them,” promised Sieben. “Give me half an hour to make my introductions, then make your way into the Hall. I promise you no one will notice your entrance.”
“Where did you acquire such humility?” asked Eskodas.
“It’s a gift,” replied Sieben, “and I’m very proud of it.”
Druss reached the second level and paused at the top of the stairwell. He could hear the sounds of many people moving around, the scrape of pans being cleaned and of cutlery being prepared. He could smell fresh bread cooking, mixed with the savoury aroma of roasting beef. Leaning against the wall, he tried to think. There was no way through without being seen. His legs were tired, and he sank down to his haunches.
What to do? “
He heard footsteps approaching and pushed himself upright. An old man appeared, his back hideously bent, his legs bowed. He was carrying a bucket of water. His head came up as he approached Druss, his nostrils quivering. The eyes, Druss saw, were rheumy and covered with an opal film. The old man put down the bucket and reached out. “Is it you?” he whispered.
“You are blind?”
“Almost. I told you I spent five years in that cell. Come, follow me.” Leaving the bucket, the old man retraced his steps, round a winding corridor and down a narrow stair. Pushing open a door, he led Druss inside. The room was small, but there was a slit window that allowed a shaft of sunshine. “Wait here,” he said. “I will bring you some food and drink.”
He returned within minutes with a half-loaf of fresh baked bread, a slab of cheese and a jug of water. Druss devoured the food and drank deeply, then leaned back on the cot-bed.
“I thank you for your kindness,” he said. “Without it I would be worse than dead; I would have been lost.”
“I owed a debt,” said the cripple. “Another man fed me, just as I fed you. They killed him for it - Cajivak had him impaled. But I would never have found the courage had the goddess not appeared to me in a dream. Was it she who brought you from the dungeon?”
“Goddess?”
“She told me of you, and your suffering, and she filled me with shame at my cowardice. I swore to her that I would do all in my power to help you. And she touched my hand, and when I awoke all pain had gone from my back. Did she make the stone disappear?”
“No, I tricked the jailer.” He told the man of the ruse, and his fight with the guards.
“They will not be discovered until later tonight,” said the cripple. “Ah, but I would love to hear their screams as the rats come at them in the dark.”
“Why do you say the woman in your dream was a goddess?” asked Druss.
“She told me her name, Pahtai, and that is the daughter of the earth mother. And in my dream she walked with me upon the green hillsides of my youth. I shall never forget her.”
“Pahtai,” said Druss softly. “She came to me also in that cell, and gave me strength.” He stood and laid his
