Sparhawk smiled beatifically around at his friends. ‘See,’ he said to them. ‘I told you I knew what I was doing.’

Later that day, Sparhawk and Ehlana met with Emperor Sarabian and Foreign Minister Oscagne to discuss their findings to date. ‘Is it at all possible that anyone in the government might have noticed people using this sign and counter-sign, your Excellency?’ Sparhawk asked Oscagne.

‘Quite possible, Prince Sparhawk.’ Oscagne replied. ‘The interior ministry’s got spies everywhere, but their reports probably won’t surface for six months to a year. They’re great paper-shufflers over at Interior.’

‘Subat’s got his own spies,’ Sarabian said moodily, ‘but he wouldn’t tell me if he’s discovered anything. I doubt that he’d tell me if someone had cut the Isle of Tega adrift and towed it away.’

‘All the traditions of the Prime Ministry tell him to protect you, your Imperial Majesty,’ Oscagne told him. ‘Despite that little talk you had with him, you’ll still probably have to pry information out of him. He devoutly believes that it’s his duty to spare you the anguish of hearing unpleasant news.’

‘If my house is on fire, I’d rather not be spared the anguish of finding out about it,’ Sarabian said tartly.

‘I have informants in the other ministries, your Majesty. I’ll put them to work on it. Speaking of that, by the way, Interior’s been getting a great many reports of disturbances – far more than we were experiencing previously. Kolata’s at his wits end.’

‘Kolata?’ Sparhawk asked.

‘The Minister of the Interior,’ Sarabian said, ‘the empire’s chief of police. He’s almost as good at keeping secrets from me as Subat is. What’s afoot now, Oscagne?’

‘The graveyards have been spitting out their dead, your Majesty. Someone’s been digging up the recently deceased and re-animating them. They shamble about moaning and blank-eyed. Whole villages in Edom have been abandoned because of them. The werewolves are running in packs in Daconia, the vampires in the jungles of Arjuna are flocking up like migratory birds, and the Shining Ones are terrorising the region around Dasan. Add to that the fact that the Trolls are on the march in northern Atan and that the town of Sarna’s been attacked twice by what appear to be Cyrgai, and we have some fair evidence that things may be coming to a head. In the past, these disturbances were sporadic and localised. Now they’re becoming general.’

‘Wonderful,’ Sarabian said sourly. ‘I think I’ll just go into exile somewhere.’

‘You’ll miss all the fun, your Majesty,’ Sparhawk told him.

‘What fun?’

‘We haven’t even begun to take counter-measures yet. We might not be able to do too much about vampires and the like, but we can definitely move against the Trolls and the Cyrgai. Engessa’s been training the local Atans in certain Elene tactics. I think Engessa’s Atans might be able to deal with the Trolls and the Cyrgai,’ Sparhawk said.

Sarabian looked a bit surprised. ‘Atan Engessa’s the commander of the garrison at Cenae in Astel,’ he said. ‘He doesn’t have any authority here in Matherion.’

‘As a matter of fact he does, your Majesty,’ Sparhawk disagreed. ‘I gather that he’s received a special commission from King Androl – or Queen Betuana, more than likely. Other Atan commanders have been ordered to follow his suggestions.’

‘Why doesn’t anybody ever tell me these things?’

‘Imperial policy, your Majesty,’ Oscagne smiled. ‘If you were to know too much, you might start interfering with the government.’

‘Anyway,’ Sparhawk continued, ‘Engessa was very impressed with our tactics in the encounters we had on our way here. We’ve been training some of his Atans in Western techniques.’

‘That’s surprising,’ Sarabian said. ‘I wouldn’t have expected Atans to listen to anybody when it came to military matters.’

‘Engessa’s a professional, your Majesty,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘Professionals are always interested in technical advances in weaponry and tactics. We rounded up some very large draught-horses so that we could mount a number of his Atans, and Kalten and Tynian have been giving them instruction with the lance. That’s the safest way to deal with Trolls, we’ve found. Bevier’s taken another group in hand, and he’s teaching them how to construct and use siege-engines. When we encountered those Cyrgai outside Sarsos, Bevier’s catapults broke up their phalanx. It’s very hard to maintain a military formation when it’s raining boulders. Oh, there’s something else we should be aware of. Khalad found a tree outside town that was riddled with short steel arrows. Someone’s been practising with a crossbow.’

‘What’s a crossbow?’ Sarabian asked.

‘It’s a Lamork weapon, your Majesty.’ Sparhawk scribbled a quick sketch. ‘It looks something like this. The limbs are much stronger than those of an ordinary long-bow, so it has greater range and penetrating power. It’s a serious threat to an armoured knight. Someone here in Matherion’s working on a way to counter the advantage our armour gives us.’

‘It’s beginning to sound as if I’m hanging on to my throne by my fingertips,’ Sarabian said. ‘Could I appeal to you for political asylum, Ehlana?’

‘I’d be delighted to have you, Sarabian,’ she replied, ‘but let’s not give up on Sparhawk just yet. He’s terribly resourceful.’

‘As I was saying before,’ Sparhawk continued, ‘we can’t do too much about the ghouls or werewolves or the Shining Ones or vampires, but I think we might be able to give the Trolls and the Cyrgai a few surprises. I’d like for the Atans to have a bit more training with mounted tactics and the use of Bevier’s engines, and then I think it might be time to let our opponent know that he’s not going to win this in a walk. I’d particularly like to decimate the Trolls. Our enemy’s relying rather heavily on the Troll-Gods, and they’ll leave the alliance if too many of their worshippers get killed. I think that early next week we might want to mount a couple of expeditions – one up into Troll-country and another down to Sarna. It’s time to make our presence known.’

‘And this local business?’ Oscagne asked. ‘All this fascination with the hidden city of the mind?’