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Outside, Egyl and third squad were still waiting, as were the Deforyans.
Egyl& we ll need someone trustworthy to carry that chest back.
Yes, sir. Egyl turned in the saddle. Waris, forward!
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The scout took the chest, setting it before him. Then Alucius mounted
Wildebeast and offered a last nod to the two marshals on the stone steps above
the mounting blocks.
Egyl did not speak until they had left the palace courtyard and were riding
southward on the main street, back toward the lancer post. The star, sir?
Oh& that. It s the Star of Gallantry. The Landarch didn t want to give out
several hundred. So he gave it to me and told me to wear it for everyone.
I d wager he didn t put it quite that way, sir.
Close enough, Alucius said. And that s what we ll tell everyone.
And the chest, sir?
Two golds for every trooper or two for the families of those who didn t make
it.
It s something, Egyl allowed.
The Landarch apologized that it couldn t be more, but he is supplying us with
food and more ammunition for the return. He made it quite clear to the
marshals that we are to have whatever supplies we think necessary.
Kind of him. Egyl s voice was dry.
I don t think we want to overstay our welcome. We ve made him very nervous.
I can see that. Even without what you did, sir, our five companies killed
more of the nomads than their twenty-five did.
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The Lord-Protector has something like a hundred companies. I d guess that the
Landarch has the strength of maybe fifteen companies at the moment. I d be
worried, too.
Egyl chuckled. Did you tell the Landarch about the other road?
Alucius grinned. I forgot to mention that. So did Majer Draspyr.
Sir& Egyl laughed.
They weren t too interested in Black Ridge. If they re curious enough,
they ll find out. We left traces. If not& Alucius shrugged. We need to get
ready. There s a majer coming to see what we need in the way of supplies this
afternoon. Talk to all the squad leaders and acting squad leaders. Make sure
we have a list of everything that we really need especially how much
ammunition, and spare packhorses and horses for the supply wagons.
Yes, sir. I d started on that already.
Good. Once again, Alucius recalled how fortunate he d been to have
experienced squad leaders like
Longyl and Egyl. His face sobered as he thought of Longyl& and Heald.
76
In the wide bedthat was so empty without Wendra beside him, Alucius turned
over in the darkness.
Quickly, he sat up, reaching for his sabre. Even with his night vision, the
figure standing inside the doorway was dim, and scarcely larger than a
ten-year-old child.
Overcaptain& you will not need any weapons. You may bring them if you wish.
Alucius frowned. The woman had not actually spoken, and her lifethread was
solid green, its solidity unlike that of any person he had met. Yet his Talent
told Alucius that she meant no harm. He was still wary.
Please dress and follow me. There is something you should know before you
leave Dereka.
Alucius considered, then slipped out of bed and pulled on his trousers, tunic,
and boots. He did belt on his sabre. As he dressed, the cloaked woman remained
just inside the door, unmoving.
He stepped toward her, catching a sense of amusement as his fingers brushed
the hilt of his sabre.
You will not need that, but bring it as you wish.She turned and touched the
ancient light-torch bracket, one that had been modified to hold an oil lamp.
Noiselessly, a section of the stone wall opened, but only about half a yard.
Without looking back, the woman stepped through the aperture. A yard back
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inside the opening was another bracket, this one holding a light-torch. The
woman pointed to the light-torch. Alucius took down the light-torch and
thumbed it on, although he did not need its narrow bright beam to see the
steep stone steps on the far side of the small windowless chamber. The steps
led straight down. A faint glow suffused all the walls and the floors, and
Alucius realized that where he stood had been constructed entirely of gold
eternastone.
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The small woman glided down the steps, again without looking back. After
glancing back over his shoulder to see that the entrance remained open,
Alucius followed. He could sense that no one had been in the stairwell for
years, if not for far longer, yet there was no dust, and the air was neither
stale nor musty. Did the eternastone preserve the air as well? The steps
continued downward, for the equivalent of three stories, if not more.
Two yards beyond the bottom of the stone steps was another square stone
archway two stone pillars, topped by an oblong stone lintel. Alucius continued
to follow the woman who was, he realized, somehow akin to either a soarer or
the wood spirit who had given him the key to unlocking the torque of the
Matrial. Yet she had no wings, and there were no trees nearby, not in Dereka.
Beyond the archway was a long chamber whose high-vaulted ceiling rose a good
five yards above
Alucius s head. The chamber was more than fifteen yards in length, and about
six in width. There were no windows, and the walls were covered with artwork
of some sort.
Look closely&
Alucius pointed the beam of the light-torch at the mural that ran all the way
around the wall, then realized it was not a single mural, but a series of
scenes, each two yards long, and a yard in height. The colors were as vibrant
and as fresh as the day they were laid down. They had to be because Alucius
couldn t have imagined them as any brighter than they were. Each scene was
incredibly lifelike.
He forced himself to begin with the first one, to the left of the archway,
which depicted a ship without sails, its curved cutwater throwing back water
and foam to suggest a great speed. At a jackstaff flew a pennant Alucius had
never seen, one with two crossed scepters, both metallic blue, if subtly
different in design, set in a sharp eight-pointed, brilliant green star. From
the size of the figures at the forward rail, the vessel was close to two
hundred yards in length. The star was the same shape as those used by the
Landarch, and a match in shape to the Star of Gallantry.
The second panel was of a creature with leathery blue wings, folded back along
its body. Beside the pteridon stood a warrior in glittering blue armor holding
a blue metallic lance. His face was luminescent white, his eyes violet, and
his hair and eyebrows shimmering black.
In the third panel, a sandy-haired and tanned figure stood lashed to a
T-shaped metal frame in the middle of a circular stone dais. The man s mouth
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