‘Just one,’ Mirtai said, ‘but I can take care of that.’

‘What is it, Atana?’ the excited emperor asked.

‘Someone may still have suspicions about this exchange of gifts – particularly if there’s a steady stream of them. He might try to intercept Melidere, but I’ll escort her back and forth. I’ll personally guarantee that no one will interfere.’

‘Excellent, Atana! Capital! We’d better get back, Oscagne. Subat misses me terribly when I’m not where he expects me to be. Oh, Sparhawk, please designate several of your knights to entertain my wife, Elysoun.’

‘I beg your Majesty’s pardon?’

‘Young, preferably handsome and with lots of stamina – you know the type.’

‘Are we talking about what I think we’re talking about, your Majesty?’

‘Of course we are. Elysoun enjoys exchanging gifts and favours too, and she’d be crushed if no one wanted to play with her. She’s terribly shrill when she’s unhappy. For the sake of my ears, please see to it, old boy.’

‘Ah – how many, your Majesty?’

‘A dozen or so should suffice, I expect. Coming, Oscagne?’ And the emperor of Tamuli rushed to the door.

CHAPTER 25

‘It’s a characteristic of people with a certain level of intelligence, your Majesty,’ Zalasta advised Ehlana. ‘They talk very fast because their ideas are spilling over. Emperor Sarabian may not be quite as brilliant as he thinks he is, but his is a mind to be reckoned with. The amazing thing is that he’s managed to keep it a secret from everybody in his government. Those people are usually so erratic and excitable that they trip themselves up.’

They were all gathered in the royal apartment to discuss the previous night’s startling revelation. Ambassador Oscagne had arrived early, bringing with him a diagram of the hidden passageways and concealed listening posts inside the Elene castle which was their temporary home. A half-dozen spies had been rooted out and politely but firmly invited to leave. ‘There’s nothing really personal involved, your Majesty,’ Oscagne apologised to Ehlana. ‘It’s just a matter of policy.’

‘I understand completely, your Excellency,’ she replied graciously. Ehlana wore an emerald green gown this morning, and she looked particularly lovely.

‘Is your espionage system very well-developed, your Excellency?’ Stragen asked.

‘No, not really, Milord. Each bureau of the government has its spies, but they spend most of their time spying on each other. We’re far more nervous about our colleagues than we are about foreign visitors.’

‘There’s no centralised intelligence service, then?’

‘I’m afraid not, Milord.’

‘Are we sure we cleaned all the spies out?’ Emban asked, looking a bit nervously at the gleaming walls.

‘Trust me, your Grace,’ Sephrenia smiled.

‘I didn’t follow that, I’m afraid.’

‘She wiggled her fingers, Patriarch Emban,’ Talen said dryly. ‘She turned all the spies we didn’t catch into toads.’

‘Well, not exactly,’ she amended, ‘but if there are any spies left hiding behind the walls, they can’t hear anything.’

‘You’re a very useful person to have around, Sephrenia,’ the fat little churchman observed.

‘I’ve noticed that myself,’ Vanion agreed.

‘Let’s push on here,’ Ehlana suggested. ‘We don’t want to overuse our subterfuge, but we will want to exchange a few gifts with Sarabian just to make sure that no one’s going to intercept our messages and to get the courtiers in the hallways accustomed to seeing Melidere trotting back and forth with trinkets.’

‘I won’t really trot, your Majesty,’ Melidere objected. ‘I’ll swish – seductively. I’ve found that a man who’s busy watching your hips doesn’t pay too much attention to what the rest of you is doing.’

‘Really?’ Princess Danae said. ‘I’ll have to remember that. Can you show me how to swish, Baroness?’

‘You’re going to have to grow some hips first, Princess,’ Talen told her.

Danae’s eyes went suddenly dangerous.

‘Never mind,’ Sparhawk told her.

She ignored him. ‘I’ll get you for that, Talen,’ she threatened.

‘I doubt it, your Highness,’ he replied impudently. ‘I can still run faster than you can.’

‘We have another problem,’ Stragen told them. ‘The absolutely splendid plan I conceived some months ago fell all to pieces on me last night. The local thieves aren’t going to be much help, I’m afraid. They’re even worse than Caalador led us to believe back in Lebas. Tamul society’s so rigid that my colleagues out there in the streets can’t think independently. There’s a certain way that thieves are supposed to behave here, and the ones we met last night are so hide-bound that they can’t get around the stereotypes. The Elenes in the local thieves’ community are creative enough, but the Tamuls are hopelessly inept.’

‘That’s certainly the truth,’ Talen agreed. ‘They don’t even try to run when they’re caught stealing. They just stand around waiting to be taken into custody. It’s the most immoral thing I’ve ever heard of.’

‘We might be able to salvage something out of it,’ Stragen continued. ‘I’ve sent for Caalador. Maybe he can talk some sense into them. What concerns me the most is their absolute lack of any kind of organisation. The thieves don’t talk to the murderers; the whores don’t talk to the beggars and nobody talks to the swindlers. I can’t for the life of me see how they survive.’

‘That’s bad news,’ Ulath noted. ‘We were counting on the thieves to serve as our spy-network.’

‘Let’s hope that Caalador can fix it,’ Stragen said. ‘The fact that there’s no central intelligence-gathering apparatus in the government makes those thieves crucial to our plans.’

‘Caalador will be able to talk some sense into them,’ Ehlana said. ‘I have every confidence in him.’

‘That’s probably because you like to hear him talk,’ Sparhawk told her.

‘Speaking of talking,’ Sephrenia said, ‘I think our efforts here are going to be limited by the fact that most of you don’t speak Tamul. We’re going to have to do something about that.’