Warrior (The Key to Magic)
“all the...out of the...but has left the Lower City..."The first voice was male, but otherwise nondescript."...Plaza...and what about the...?"This voice was also male and one that Purhlea thought sounded familiar. He risked poking his head out to get a look with his eye. A short, dry passage sloped sharply up to an open, thick-plank door. With the source of the light out of sight to the left, no one was visible in the stone-walled room beyond. Trying to make no sound, he slid around the corn...er and crept up to the door."... and the Library is sealed," the first voice said. "I talked to an acolyte of the Temple of Mhokh who said that armsmen of the Imperial Army had barricaded themselves inside, but I have no confirmation of that. Our source in Hwraldek's household says that an official proclamation of the Council of Patriarchs will be issued in the morning, naming Hwraldek as interim viceroy."The second voice said, "Has there been any mention of purges?"Purhlea was sure of it now. That was Erskh, titular Grand Commandant of the Viceroy’s Personal Guard."None," the first voice replied. "It seems that the whole Privy Council is involved, but none of them are openly participating.""No overtures were made to me," Erskh mused. "My exclusion can only mean that they did not believe my cooperation necessary. Complete the preparations for my escape from the city. I want to be able to leave at a moment's notice."Purhlea turned about and signaled Khraake and Lhot to come up and then stepped through the door and immediately pivoted left. Walled in moldy stone, the cellar room was five spaces square and bare save for the simple table that held up the lamp. A narrow stairway led upward in the far corner. Erskh, dressed in lounging robes of white and crimson, and his unnamed fellow, whose rough shirt, trousers, and boots were, like Purhlea's and the two guardsmen's, smeared with filth from tramping through the sewers, stood alongside the table.Purhlea's entrance shocked the two men into silence. Erskh's jowly face blanched."Make no alarm," Purhlea warned, advancing to point his sword squarely at the Grand Commandant."Oh, oh...MoreLess
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