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Inez says, “There is a secret room in the eaves of Sanglora, built to hide heretics during the Sidusiana.”
Lyr frowns. “The Sidusiana?”
“The battle the faith had a hundred years ago over which of the Artemian Sidu were Zai’s parents,” Elric says, smugly.
Inez nods. “There is a hidden entrance that leads to the secret rooms. You will be safe there and well hidden. But you must remain there. Any of you that would be recognised by the servants. I will bring you food daily, myself. There is a safe route in and out, but you must be cautious.”
“Especially you and I,” Damon says to Lukas.
“Your face might be known to half of Attar,” Lukas says, “but I left this city at fourteen. I am not so easily recognised.”
“I would be,” Elric says. “I am no criminal, unless I am wanted for sins of the body, but I am known in Attar.”
“Let us go inside,” Damon says, “once we are in the hidden rooms we can discuss further who can safely leave.”
Lyr walks with Damon, following Inez through the back entrance of Sanglora, past several familiar storerooms and down a long passageway. At the end of it is a small doorway hidden by a curtain. Through the door a narrow staircase leads up and up, eventually emerging into a wide low space that must be nestled in the eaves of the manor. There are three small rooms leading off it. Tiny chambers with low beds and little else.
“This will be cosy,” Elric says, then yelps as Lukas pulls him close.
“We will have to find a way to keep you quiet,” he says in a low snarl that sounds like it is more about seducing Elric than a practical consideration.
“We will not stay here long,” Damon says. “I will send word to Doroth Zain. We will bring him and the Hare here and discover what we need to know.”
Lukas turns. “That is not the only reason we are here. We are here to kill Selim.”
Inez goes pale. Lyr sees the white column of her throat move in shock. She looks at Damon with wide eyes. “No one said anything to me about killing Selim.”
“We are not here to kill Selim,” says Damon. “We are here to find out about Ur-Durik from Doroth Zain and the Hare.”
Lukas’s voice sounds loud in the low room. “Once again you would stop me killing the tyrant Emperor.” He steps towards Damon.
Damon squares up, “The person who stopped you killing Selim is the one you stick your cock into every night.”
Lyr glances at Elric.
“You cannot stop me doing what I need to do, Damon,” Lukas says, almost petulantly.
“I forbid it,” Damon says.
“You forbid it?” Lukas snaps back. “You are my brother, not my General.”
When Lyr sees Inez’s horror-struck expression. He does not think he envies her at all.
26
TOBI
Tobi feels sweet and a little sleepy, pressed close to Harok’s chest, as Embox sways back through the forest.
The sky is heavy and soft snow begins to fall, flakes landing on Tobi’s thick cloak and in his hair. Despite the cool weather, Tobi hardly feels it, with Harok’s body hot as a furnace.
When Tobi sees a strange shape in the forest, he isn’t sure, for a moment, what he sees. He straightens, sitting up on Embox’s back. He looks again. The light is starting to fade and the trees are thick, but there is a shape. A distinct shape against the trunk of a tree, only a few yards from the path where they ride.
“Irgorye,” Tobi hisses, “there’s someone watching us.”
Harok slows Embox from her gentle walk to a halt. He looks into the trees at Tobi’s direction. “It’s nothing, Suskara,” he says.
Zoran.
