He bowed his head and asked the shade of Gilmer for forgiveness.
A slight movement caught his battle-sharpened eye as someone stirred behind a fluted column. Kieron's sword whispered as it slid from the scabbard, the gemmed hilt casting shards of light into the dimness of the colonnade.
Treading softly, Kieron eased his tall frame into the shadows, weapon alert. The thought of assassination flashed across his mind and he smiled grimly. Could it be that Landor had his hirelings after him already?
Kieron saw the shadowy shape slip from the colonnade out onto the great curving terrace that bordered the entire west wing of the Palace. Eyes narrowed under his black brows, the lord of Valkyr followed.
The stars gleamed in the moonless night, and far below, Kieron could see the flickering torchlights of the Imperial City fanning out to the horizon like the spokes of some fantastic, glittering wheel. The dark figure ahead had vanished.
Kieron sheathed his sword and drew his poniard. It was far too dark for swordplay, and he did not wish to risk letting the assassin escape. Melting into the shadows of the colonnade again, he made his way parallel to the terrace, alert for any sign of movement. Presently, the figure appeared again beside the balustrade, and the Valkyr moved swiftly and quietly up behind. With a cat-like movement, he slipped his free arm about the slight shape, pulling it tight against himself. The poniard flashed in his upraised hand, the slender blade reflecting the starlight.
The weapon did not descend…
Against his forearm, Kieron felt a yielding softness, and the hair that brushed his cheek was warm and perfumed.
He stood transfnxed. The girl twisted in his grasp and broke free with a gasping cry. Instantly, a blade gleamed in her hand and she had launched herself at the Valkyr furiously. Her voice was tight with rage.
"Murdering butcher! You dare…!"
Kieron caught her upraised arm and wrenched the dagger from her grasp. She clawed at him, kicking, biting, but never once calling aloud for aid. At last Kieron was able to pin her to a column with his weight, and he held her there, arms pinioned to her sides.
"You hellcat!" he muttered against her hair. "Who are you?"
"You know well enough, you murdering lackey! Why don't you kill me and go collect your pay, damn you!" gritted the girl furiously. "Must you manhandle me too?"
Kieron gasped. "I kill you!" He caught the girl's hair and pulled her head back so that her features would catch the faint glow of light from the city below. "Who are you, hell-cat?"
The light outlined his own features and the Arms of Valkyr on the cHasp of his cloak at his throat. The girl's eyes widened. Slowly the tenseness went out of her and she relaxed against him.
"Kieron! Kieron of Valkyr!"
Kieron was still alert for some trick. Landor could have hired a female assassin just as well as a man.
"You know me?" he asked cautiously.
"Know you!" She laughed suddenly, and it was a silvery sound in the night. "I loved you… beast!"
"By the Seven Hells, you speak in riddles! Who are you?" the Valkyr demanded irritably.
"And I thought you had come to kill me," mused the girl in self-reproach. "My own Kieron!"
"I'm not your Kieron or anyone else's, Lady," said Kieron rather stiffly, "and you'd better explain why you were watching me in the Hall of Emperors before I'll let you go."
"My father warned me that you would forget me. I did not think you would be so cruel," she taunted.
"I knew your father?"
"Well enough, I think."
"I've had a hundred wenches — and known some of their fathers, too. You can't expect me to.."
"Not this wench, Valkyr!" the girl exploded furiously. The tone carried such command that Kieron involuntarily stepped back, but still keeping the girl's, hands pinned to her sides.
"If you had spoken so on Kaidor, I'd have had the skin stripped from your back, outworld savage!" she cried.
Kaidor! Kieron felt the blood drain away from his face. This, then, was. . Alys.
"Ha! So you remember now! Kaidor you can recall, but you have forgotten me! Kieron, you always were a beast!"
Kieron felt a smile spreading across his face. It was good to smile again. And it was good to know that Alys
was. . safe.
"Highness…"
"Don't 'Highness' me!"
"Alys, then. Forgive me. I could not have known you. After all it has been eight years.. "
"And there have been a hundred wenches. ." mimicked the girl angrily.
Kieron grinned. "There really haven't been that many. I boasted."
"Any would be too many!"
"You haven't changed, Alys, except that you…"
"Have grown so? Spare me that!" She glared at him, eyes flaming in the shadows. Then suddenly she was laughing again, a silvery laugh that hung like a bright thread in the soft tapestry of night sounds. "Oh, Kieron, It ts good to see you again!"
"I thought to hear from you, Alys, when we reached Earth — but there was nothing. No word of any kind. I was told you were in seclusion still mourning Gilmer."
Alys bowed her head. "I will never stop mourning him." title looked up, her eyes suddenly bright with unshed tears. "Nor will you. I saw you kneeling inside. I thought then Mat it might be you. No one kneels to Gilmer now but the old comrades." She walked to the balustrade and stood leoking out over the lights of the Imperial City. Kieron watched the play of emotions over her face, caught suddenly by her beauty.
"I tried to reach you, Kieron — tried hard. But my servants have been taken from me since I was caught spying on Ivane. And I'm kept under cover now, permitted out onHy after dark — and then only on the Palace grounds. Ivane has convinced Toran that I'm dangerous. The peopHe like me because I was father's favorite. My poor stupid little brother! How that woman rules him.. I"
Kieron was aghast. "You spied on Ivane? In heaven's name, why?"
"That woman is a born plotter, Kieron. She isn't satisfied with a Consort's coronet. She's brewing something. I Emissaries have come to her from certain of the star-kings and others. ."
"Others?"
Alys' voice was hushed. "A warlock, Kieron! He has been seeing Ivane privately for more than a year. An awful man!"
Superstition stirred like a quickening devil inside the Valkyr. The shuddering horror of the dark and bloody tales he had heard all his life about the warlocks who clung to the knowledge of the Great Destroyer rose like a wave of blackness within him.
Alys felt the same dark tide rising in her. She moved closer to Kieron, her slim body trembling slightly against his. "The people would tear Ivane to pieces if they knew," she whispered.
"You saw this warlock?" asked Kieron sick with dread. Alys nodded soundlessly.
Kieron fought down his fears and wondered uneasiHy what Ivane's connection could be with such a pariah. The warlocks and witches were despised and feared above all other creatures in the Galaxy.
"His name?" Kieron asked.
"Geller. Geller of the Marshes. It is said that he is a conjurer of devils. . and that he can create homunculi! Out of the very filth of the marches! Oh, Kieron!" Alys shuddered.
An awful plan was forming in Kieron's mind. He was thinking that Ivane must be stripped of the spells and powers of this devil-man. With such powers at her command there might be nothing impossible of attainment. Even the crown of the Imperium itself…
"Where," Kieron asked slowly, "can this warlock be found?"
"On the street of the Black Flame, in the city of Neg on Kalgan."
"Kalgan!" Kieron's heart contracted. Was there a connection? Kalgan! What had Ivane to do with that lonely planet beyond the dark veil of the Coalsack? Was it coincidence? Out of all the thousands of worlds in space.. Kalgan.