Again, when the gargoyles bringing up the rear had emerged from the chasm, Ithinia concluded her tune and the fissure rumbled and closed.
Again, a crowd had gathered, but stood well back from the newly arrived strangers.
"Prince Sammel of Ashthasa!" Ithinia called. "Come forth and hear me!"
"This is Ashthasa?" Emmis whispered.
"I suppose so," Lar said. "I've never been here before."
This time they had a wait before at last the doors of a large white building swung open and a young man in gaudy green-and-gold robes emerged, attended by half a dozen spearmen in gleaming golden helmets.
Again, Ithinia and the other wizards introduced themselves, Lar, Lord Ildirin, the theurgist, and the demonologist. Then Ithinia had Annis dragged forward.
"This woman," Ithinia announced, "conspired with three Lumethan agents who attempted to assassinate the Vondish ambassador to Ethshar of the Spices."
The man in the elaborate robes replied, "Not by my orders; I assigned her to watch the ambassador, not kill him." He spoke Ethsharitic well, better than any of the Lumethan lords.
"I didn't try to assassinate anyone!" Annis protested – unlike the Lumethan magicians she hadn't been gagged, since she had no magic to call upon. "I just didn't try to stop it! And I told Emmis, who did stop it!"
"Then I see no crime," the prince replied. "Why have you come here so dramatically?"
"To inform you that your concerns about Vondish expansion are groundless, and warn you that you are not to interfere in the Empire's trade negotiations with the Hegemony. And to return you your spy, who is no longer welcome in Ethshar of the Spices."
"You are saying that the Wizards' Guild will guarantee that the Vondish Empire will not attempt to extend itself into Ashthasa?"
"We are saying that the Wizards' Guild will guarantee that the Vondish Empire will not attack Ashthasa without provocation, nor will we permit the Empire to use warlockry against any of its neighbors under any circumstances. We would suggest, however, that you do not provoke the Empire."
"I am not a fool, my lady," the prince replied. "Even without magic, the Empire could swallow Ashthasa in mere hours; we will not provoke them. Thank you for your assurances!"
He and Ithinia exchanged bows.
Then a guardsman cut Annis' bonds and gave her a shove. She took a few steps, then stopped to turn and glare at the Ethsharites. No one paid her much attention as Ithinia drew a flute from her sleeve.
This time Emmis had been watching closely. He knew she had put the flute that had brought them from Lumeth to Ashthasa in her right sleeve, yet she drew this one from her left. And it was chased in silver, where the others had been plain wood.
How many flutes did she have in there?
Again, she began to play; again, the music behaved unnaturally, the ground shook, and a fissure opened.
Emmis waved to Annis as he marched into the waiting passage; she waved back.
Then he had once again turned that strange corner onto the magical staircase, and was on his way somewhere – perhaps back to Ethshar, perhaps somewhere else.
He didn't bother asking Lar where he thought they were bound; they would find out soon enough.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The sun seemed even brighter here than it had in Ashthasa, even though it was now well down the western sky and the walls of the houses and shops were a slightly darker shade of golden-yellow. Once again they had emerged in a public square, but this one was hard-packed earth, rather than being paved with stone, and appeared to have little in the way of city around it. A white marble palace loomed over them on one side, while the other three sides of the square mostly had just a few open-fronted shops shaded by brightly-colored awnings. A broad road led out of the square directly opposite the doors to the palace, and Emmis could see that it led, perhaps half a mile away across a valley, to a castle built of dark red stone, looking like something out of a picture book about the Small Kingdoms.
Well, that was reasonable enough, since they were presumably somewhere in the Small Kingdoms. Emmis could not see how they had any business anywhere other than Ethshar and the Small Kingdoms, and this definitely wasn't Ethshar of the Spices.
"Semma!" Lar exclaimed, as they climbed up out of the fissure.
"Is that where we are?" Emmis asked, looking around. The crowd here was smaller than the ones that had gathered in Lumeth and Ashthasa, which seemed peculiar; wasn't this the heart of an empire, where the others were little more than city-states?
"Yes!" Lar said, pointing. "That's the Imperial Palace, where the Council meets, and over there is Semma Castle, where the Regent lives – and where I live."
That was interesting; Emmis studied the castle. It didn't look terribly appealing. He noticed it had a rather sprawling village clustered around it, where the palace only seemed to have this one square's worth of homes and businesses near it. "I would have thought the Regent would live in the Imperial Palace," he said.
Lar turned up a palm. "He doesn't like being that close to the Imperial Council."
That struck Emmis as slightly odd, but then, much of what Lar had told him about Lord Sterren seemed a little odd.
The gargoyles clambered up out of the fissure, and Ithinia lowered her flute and tucked it into her right sleeve. "We have come to address the Imperial Council!" she proclaimed.
The crowd murmured, and someone opened the palace door and slipped inside.
Lar bestirred himself and hurried to Ithinia's side, with Emmis trotting after him. "They may not be in session," the ambassador said.
"I know that," the wizard replied.
"And the Regent may be in the castle, over there."
Ithinia turned to glare at him. "Yes?"
"Should I go see if he's there?"
"Your Excellency, I would think that an earthquake splitting open the market square and allowing a party of magicians to emerge would draw his attention, wherever he is."
"Well…" Lar could not really argue with that, and subsided. Emmis thought the ambassador was just eager to get a good look at his home, now that he was unexpectedly back here.
The door of the palace opened again, and a youth in a black-and-silver tunic emerged and ran across the square, circling around the visitors and heading full-tilt toward Semma Castle.
"We could go inside," Lar suggested. "The Council doesn't make anyone wait out here in the sun."
Ithinia turned to glare at him. "If I wanted you to play native guide, Your Excellency, I would have asked you."
The palace doors opened again, but this time both valves swung wide, and a soldier in a red-and-gold uniform emerged. He saluted Ithinia and the other wizards, then cleared his throat.
"Lady Kalira, Chancellor and Vice-Regent of the Empire of Vond, welcomes you and invites you all to come inside and be made comfortable." He spoke Ethsharitic with only a very slight accent, less than Lar's.
"We have come to speak to the full Council," Ithinia replied.
"The full Council is not here, honored visitor. A messenger has been sent to the Regent, but at present only Lady Kalira and three other Councillors are in attendance."
Ithinia frowned, then turned to confer quietly with the other wizards. As they spoke, Emmis noticed the soldier staring at Lar. He had the expression of someone trying to figure out where he knew a face from.
He also noticed that Lord Ildirin did not look happy. Despite his vigor, Ildirin was a very old man, and they had been doing a great deal of standing around in the sun; Emmis thought he was probably exhausted.
One of the other wizards – Serem, was it? – pointed to Ildirin just then, and Ithinia nodded.
Then she turned back to the messenger and said, "We will accept the Chancellor's invitation, with the understanding that our business here is not private, and that members of the public must be admitted."