Angaria sat on the couch with a scowl on his face. “Well?” he demanded in way of greeting.
Hannah resisted the urge to snap at the fool of a man. She was in too good a mood to let him ruin it for her. “I finally have some news.”
Angaria blinked in surprise, and his mask of anger slipped a bit, but then it was right back in place. “Really? Like what? And please don’t tell me that news of another royal bastard is what got you all excited.” He gave her a disgusted look. “Not that you need much to get you excited.”
At any other time, Hannah would have most certainly taken offense, but not today. “Several of the heretics are coming to Telur.” Hannah said the words quietly, but they had a profound affect on Angaria.
He sat upright, his eyes boring into her. “What? Which ones?”
Hannah smiled, enjoying the look of longing on the duke’s face. Part of her wanted to toy with the man, but she felt it would be an unwise move. It almost seemed that Angaria’s urgency was unhinging him. “The former Guardians Prince Del-Atock A'bamani, Aaron Imes, and the magician Cassandra.”
Angaria studied her for a moment. The surprise was gone from his face, replaced with doubt and suspicion. “For what purpose?”
Hannah did not answer immediately, but instead she walked around and sat in the lone chair. She could sense Angaria’s mood and decided not to try the man just now. “Apparently, they believe that something called Ocklamoor is stored in the temple.”
“Ocklamoor?” Angaria repeated.
There was something in his tone that made Hannah think he had heard the name before. She considered asking him about it, but decided that not knowing was probably safer for her. “That’s what the king told Aldon.”
Angaria’s eyes narrowed at that. “And why would the king suddenly entrust such valuable information to the prince?”
Hannah smiled and crossed her legs, exposing quite a healthy bit of leg in the process. “The king has sent young Aldon all around the city today delivering messages and such.”
“He used the prince as a messenger?”
“It seems that the king didn’t trust these messages to just anyone.”
Angaria looked less than convinced. “And exactly what were these messages?”
Hannah shrugged. “Increasing the guards at the gates, and placing some other very loyal guards at a secret entrance to the city. Oh, it seems the king’s torturers are out of the city and he sent Aldon to several noble houses trying to find a suitable replacement.”
Angaria frowned. “Doesn’t make any sense. Surely Darion knows he won’t be allowed to keep these prisoners.”
“But,” Hannah said quietly, “perhaps the king does not intend to tell the church that the heretics have been captured.”
After a moment, Angaria nodded. “How’s the prince?” he asked.
The question caught Hannah by surprise and she blinked several times. “He’s fine, sleeping at the moment.”
“How long will he be asleep?” Angaria demanded.
Hannah considered how best to answer. The truth was that the drug was losing its affect on Aldon, but she hated to admit that. Besides, as the drug started losing its potency, they had simply began increasing the dosage. Finally, she shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I would guess at least several hours.”
Angaria nodded and stood. He waved his hand at her robe. “Put on something more respectable.”
Hannah took a deep breath, hating the duke immensely. “Why?” she demanded.
Angaria did not take offense but instead he grinned. “One does not wear a robe to an audience with the high priest.”
Chapter 24
Little more than a quarter hour after Hannah reported about the returning heretics to Angaria, she rejoined him in the small sitting room at the base of the stairs. While he was waiting for her, he appeared anything but patient. He had been sitting in a chair that allowed him to watch the stairs, but at her appearance, he climbed to his feet.
Angaria looked her up and down as she reached the last step, and it gave Hannah the feeling of a child being examined by a parent. He needn’t have bothered though; she was wearing one of the most modest outfits she currently owned. Her dark blue dress was full-length, up tight against her throat and dragging around her feet on the floor. Long sleeves covered her arms, and the dress was somewhat loose, not hugging the curves of her body. The temple was the last place she wanted to appear sultry. Her hair still appeared disheveled, but it was the best she could do in the short time she had been given.
Apparently, Duke Angaria found her clothes satisfactory, because he didn’t even bother mentioning them. “The prince?” he asked in way of greeting.
“Sleeping like a baby,” Hannah answered as she reached the main floor and began steering the duke toward the main entrance.
“Are you sure?” Angaria asked, refusing to be budged.
“No, but your sorcerer is. He says we have at least two hours.” She quit trying to lead Angaria toward the door and instead propped her hands on her hips. “Is there something else we need here? I thought we were short on time.”
Angaria looked confused for a moment, then his eyebrows slanted down, showing his moodiness. “No. Why do you ask?”
Hannah waved in the direction of the main entrance. “Why don’t we leave then? How many guards should I take?”
Shaking his head, Angaria seemed to have caught on. “No guards. You and I will make this trip alone.” He pointed at the double doors of the main entrance. “And we will not be going that way.”
“No guards?” Hannah repeated a bit fearfully. She never went anywhere without guards. Who knew what the common rabble that infested the streets might do to them.
Brief amusement played across Angaria’s face, but it disappeared quickly. “I make this trip frequently. We have nothing to worry about unless we draw undue attention to ourselves, like taking a squad of guards.”
It was obvious that Hannah did not like the idea but after a moment she nodded. “Why not out that way?” she asked, once again pointing to the main entrance.
“Undoubtedly, it is being watched,” Angaria replied. “You forget that you have one of the princes of Telur spending the night here. I would imagine that Jared has assigned several spies to watch your estate, with or without the king’s permission.”
Hannah’s eyes widened for a moment, and then she grew angry. “He wouldn’t dare,” she said quietly.
In answer, Angaria laughed. “I would be surprised if you don’t have spies on your household staff.” It looked like Hannah could go on stewing in her anger for a while, but Angaria did not let her. “Now,” he said, clapping his hands, “lead us out the back, by a way that is rarely used.”
Agminion sat in the shadows of a large tree. Most of the streets within Telur were cobblestone and not very wide. However, the streets in the noble section were wide and had trees lining the sides. He said a silent prayer of thanks for the trees as they made his assignment much easier.
He had arrived at this spot an hour or two after nightfall. He wore clothes made of a nice, expensive material, but more importantly they were black. On his meandering way to this spot just behind Countess Hannal Lells’s estate, he had been spotted by several small groups of the Telurian Guard; however, they paid him not a bit of attention. His nice clothes had gotten him access to these streets, and as the sun went down, they helped him avoid detection. He wasn’t afraid of being spotted by someone on one of the estates’ grounds, as all the nobles had enclosed their properties within high, thick walls. He had been more worried that the city guard might notice him.
There wasn’t much traffic in the noble section, and even less of it was on foot. He considered using sorcery to mask himself, making him blend in with the shadows, but he had decided against it. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision.
After spending a quarter of an hour nervously looking around, it dawned on him that the trees were quite large and bushy. No sooner had the idea occurre
d to him than he quickly climbed up into the lower branches. From where he sat, he had an excellent view of both the street and the rear of the countess’s estate. It was Dagan’s esteemed opinion that Prince Aldon’s news would force Angaria to leave the estate and go straight to the temple. If he did make that journey, they suspected he would want as much privacy as possible.
From time to time, city guards walked the street, but while they searched the shadows of the walls, not a one of them looked up in the trees.
He had been sitting in the tree for several hours when something began inside the estate that nearly made him fall out of the tree. Someone starting using sorcery on one of the upper floors. Not the tear-a-building-down type of sorcery, but small, elegant touches. He swallowed hard, remembering his desire to use sorcery to hide himself, but he was grateful that he had refrained. If he hadn’t, then he would have betrayed himself to the sorcerer in the building.
The sorcery was used steadily for a time, then every quarter of an hour or so it was used again. Agminion’s forehead wrinkled as he tried to decipher what this other bit of sorcery meant; he was still trying to deduce what was going on when a section of the rear wall slid open.
The opening of the rear wall was so unexpected that Agminion nearly gasped, just managing to stop himself. He was across the street from the countess’s estate, but it was late and it had gotten quiet.
Two figures emerged from the opening — a man and a woman. Both wore long dark cloaks. Agminion smiled to himself at the sight of the cloaks. I wager I know who you are, he thought.
The opening in the wall slid shut, and Agminion got his first really good look at the portal. It wasn’t an ordinary door, and he guessed it was some sort of secret entrance.
The door closed silently, and the two figures looked both ways along the street and then turned heading north.
Agminion smiled. North was exactly the way he had suspected them to go. The Golden Square was northeast of their current location. The Golden Square was a large area in Telur that was owned by the church. It was called the Golden Square because of the tremendous number of golden displays, statues, and decorations that adorned the buildings of the church property, both inside and out.
Agminion waited until the couple turned off the main street several hundred yards away before he dropped from his tree and hurried after. He was careful to stick to the shadows that lined one side of the street, and he moved as silently as a middle-aged sorcerer could. All in all, he was fairly proud of himself.
He reached the point where the couple had left the main street and his heart sank. They had turned into a small and rather short alley that ran between two lesser nobles’ estates. It was dark, but even with the poor light Agminion could see it was empty. They must have rushed through and out onto the next street. He assumed they would turn left, but maybe they had gone right. It was also possible there was another secret entrance in one of these walls and perhaps they had secretly entered one of these estates.
He bit his lip in frustration, unsure of what to do. It should be easy to find Angaria and Hannah, but that would involve using sorcery. He glanced back the way he had come. He guessed he was nearly three hundred yards from Hannah’s estate. If he was careful, then perhaps the other sorcerer wouldn’t notice him.
Agminion took a calming breath, then carefully reached out with his spirit. Despite the numerous people in the estates on both sides of the alley, he quickly recognized Angaria’s presence several streets over. He had never met Countess Lells before, but the king had introduced him to the duke earlier in the day.
He took a deep breath and let go of his spirit. Elated, he rushed in the direction of Duke Angaria and Countess Lells.
Agminion used sorcery to check on the location of the Duke several more times over the next half hour. The two proceeded on a generally northeast trek, exactly the direction he would have expected. He tried to remain close, but not too close. The last thing he wanted was for the duke to spot him and recognize him.
It was a dark night, the sliver of a moon not giving much light. On several occasions, he passed others out on the streets. Two of them were undoubtedly nobles, judging by their carriage and driver. There were several others who, like him, were on foot, but they ignored him, and he repaid the lack of attention appropriately. He also spotted several groups of guards walking the streets; they looked him over, but apparently decided he belonged here because they didn’t bother him.
At long last they reached the area that belonged to the church. In addition to the Golden Square, the church owned a good deal of the surrounding land and buildings. There were an enormous number of people employed by the church and many of them lived in the plain buildings that surrounded the temple. In addition, many businesses that catered to the church members also strove to get a place of prominence in the area immediately surrounding the temple.
The streets in this area were deserted, but he assumed there would also be guards making their rounds here. If he was spotted, he assumed that his clothes would not be enough to keep him from being questioned.
Agminion also became more leery of using sorcery this close to the temple. It had already been proven that the church used sorcerers, and he didn’t want to alert them to his presence.
He scanned for the duke one more time and then frowned. He had expected Angaria to use the main entrance to the square, which was located on the eastern side, but either he intended to circle completely around the temple square, or he was not headed to the main gates. Angaria and the woman were still south and west of the main temple heading due north.
Sighing, Agminion let go of his spirit and hurried to catch up. From now on, he had to use his normal senses.
It took him only several minutes to bring the couple into view. Like him, they were trying to stay to the shadows as they traveled, but that was the only sign they didn’t belong. Looking too furtive would only draw unwanted attention.
Agminion nearly panicked when he spotted Angaria and the woman. On the one hand, he couldn’t use sorcery because it might be noticed, but then again, if he could see Angaria then it was possible that they might spot him as well.
Agminion stood in the shadows for several moments, trying to decide what to do. He was breathing hard and he could feel his heart beating fast. Finally, he threw caution aside and used his spirit to blend him into the shadows. If there was a sorcerer in the temple, then they were probably aware of his presence. He swallowed hard and hurried after the couple.
Angaria and Hannah walked in silence; neither had spoken since they left her estate. There had been others out on the street, but with the exception of the city guard, none of them paid the couple the least bit of attention.
Angaria wasn’t overly worried. He didn’t expect any trouble getting to the temple or getting back to Hannah’s estate. He knew that Darion was having him followed, but some of those spies were also working for him and the church. He was confident that none of them knew of the secret entrance they had used to make this journey, and he felt confident no one would know about this little trip.
He glanced up at the enormous temple structure off to his right. The high priest, Dalin Olliston, had nearly had Angaria executed on several occasions, but Angaria fully expected that this new bit of information would at least partially redeem his failures. He knew that nothing short of Flare’s death or capture would completely re-ingratiate him with the high priest.
He was amazed that Flare had managed to avoid capture for this long, but even more than that, it was unbelievable that none of his friends had been caught. On several occasions, Angaria had suspected that someone within the church was helping them, but he had looked into the idea and his suspicions had proven unfounded.
He tried to remain cautious in his optimism, but the thought of finally getting his hands on three of the heretics made him swell with pride. It was as if they were already in custody.
Another thought occurred to him and it dampened his mood. If the heretics managed
to get away again, there would be no saving his head. The high priest might cut his throat himself. He pushed those thoughts away; he would just have to make sure that the heretics did not get away.
“Shouldn’t we be on the other side of the temple?” Hannah asked, intruding on Angaria alternating brooding and euphoria. “I mean, the only entrance is on that side.”
Angaria looked up, a tad bit annoyed on having his thoughts interrupted. He sighed, remembering he still needed this whore. “That is an incorrect statement,” he said simply. They were still several streets away from the temple, walking parallel to the wall. Deciding that this was as good a spot as any, Angaria turned down a small cobblestone street that led straight toward the temple.
Hannah looked confused, and then she glanced up at the temple that now loomed over them. “Incorrect?” she repeated vaguely. Realization slowly dawned on her, and she smiled at Angraia. “You mean there’s another entrance?”
He nodded. Then suddenly he stopped walking and turned toward her, this had the affect of bringing his face right up next to hers. He was much taller than her and he towered over her. “Listen to me carefully. This is a secret that is not shared easily. If you ever break this trust, then —”
“Are you threatening me?” Hannah demanded, her features suddenly turning angry. The fury in her face hid her normal sultry looks and made her look older, less attractive.
Strangely, Angaria did not respond in kind. He smiled and shook his head. “No, I’m not threatening you. Consider it a threat from Olliston himself.”
That checked Hannah’s anger, and she pulled back from the duke. “What?”
“I’m simply relaying the threat that he made to me when he told me of the entrance,” Angaria said. It was true, and he very much believed the priest was capable of murder. In fact, he wasn’t sure that Hannah would be allowed to leave the temple alive tonight. Angaria didn’t much care; if she died, that was one less problem for him to have to deal with.
Victory and Defeat: Book Five of the Restoration Series Page 23
