Part 41 (2/2)

They dismounted in the flagstoned, semi-enclosed court before the main palace, where they were met by a horde of obsequious servants.

'What does he want?' Kalten asked, holding off a determined-looking Tamul garbed in crimson silk.

'Your shoes, Sir Kalten,' Oscagne explained.

'What's wrong with my shoes?'

'They're made of steel, Sir Knight.'

'So? I'm wearing armour. Naturally my shoes are made of steel.'

'You can't enter the palace with steel shoes on your feet. Leather boots aren't even permitted-the floors, you understand.'

'Even the floors are made of sea-sh.e.l.ls?' Kalten asked incredulously.

'I'm afraid so. We Tamuls don't wear shoes inside our houses, so the builders went ahead and tiled the floors of the buildings here in the imperial compound as well as the walls and ceilings. They didn't antic.i.p.ate visits by armoured knights.'

'I can't take off my shoes,' Kalten objected, flus.h.i.+ng.

'What's the problem, Kalten?' Ehlana asked him.

'I've got a hole in one of my socks,' he muttered, looking dreadfully embarra.s.sed. 'I can't meet an emperor with my toes hanging out.' He looked around at his companions, his face pugnacious. He held up one gauntleted fist. 'If anybody laughs, there's going to be a fight,' he threatened.

'Your dignity's secure, Sir Kalten,' Oscagne a.s.sured him. 'The servants have down-filled slippers for us to wear inside.'

'I've got awfully big feet, your Excellency,' Kalten pointed out anxiously. 'Are you sure they'll have shoes to fit me?'

'Don't be concerned, Kalten-Knight,' Engessa said. 'if they can fit me, they can certainly fit you.'

Once the visitors had been re-shod, they were escorted into the palace. There were oil lamps hanging on long chains suspended from the ceiling, and the lamplight set everything aflame. The s.h.i.+fting, rainbow-hued colours of the walls, floors and ceiling of the broad corridors dazzled the Elenes, and they followed the servants all bemused.

There were courtiers here, of course-no palace is complete without them and like the citizens in the Streets outside, they groveled as the Queen of Elenia pa.s.sed.

'Don't become too enamoured of their mode of greeting, love,' Sparhawk warned his wife. 'The citizens of Cimmura wouldn't adopt it no matter what you offered them.'

'Don't be absurd, Sparhawk,' she replied tartly. 'I wasn't even considering it. Actually, I wish these people would stop. It's really just a bit embarra.s.sing.'

'That's my girl,' he smiled.

They were offered wine and chilled, scented water to dab on their faces. The knights accepted the wine enthusiastically, and the ladies dutifully dabbed.

'You really ought to try some of this, father,' Princess Danae suggested, pointing at one of the porcelain basins of water. 'It might conceal the fragrance of your armour.'

'She has a point, Sparhawk,' Ehlana agreed.

'Armour's supposed to stink,' he replied, shrugging. 'If an enemy's eyes start to water during a fight, it gives you a certain advantage.'

'I knew there was a reason,' the little princess murmured.

Then they were led into a long corridor where mosaic portraits were inlaid into the walls, stiff, probably idealised representations of long-dead emperors. A broad strip of crimson carpet with a golden border along each edge protected the floor of that seemingly endless corridor.

'Very impressive, your Excellency,' Stragen murmured to Oscagne after a time. 'How many more miles is it to the throne-room?'

'You are droll, Milord.' Oscagne smiled briefly.

'It's artfully done,' the thief observed, 'but doesn't it waste a great deal of s.p.a.ce?'

'Very perceptive, Milord Stragen.'

'What's this?' Tynian asked.

'The corridor curves to the left,' Stragen replied. 'It's hard to detect because of the way the walls reflect the light, but if you look closely, you can see it. We've been walking around in a circle for the past quarter of an hour.'

'A spiral, actually, Milord Stragen,' Oscagne corrected him. 'The design was intended to convey the notion of immensity. Tamuls are of short stature, and immensity impresses us. That's why we're so fond of the Atans. We're reaching the inner coils of the spiral now. The throne-room's not far ahead.'

The corridors of s.h.i.+fting fire were suddenly filled with a brazen fanfare as hidden trumpeters greeted the queen and her party. That fanfare was followed by an awful screeching punctuated by a tinny clanking noise. Mmrr, nestled in her little mistress' arms, laid back her ears and hissed.

'The cat has excellent musical taste,' Bevier noted, wincing at a particularly off-key pa.s.sage in the music.

'I'd forgotten that,' Sephrenia apologised to Vanion. 'Try to ignore it, dear one.'

'I am,' he replied with a pained expression on his face.

'You remember that Ogress I told you about?' Ulath asked Sparhawk, 'The one who fell in love with that poor fellow up in Thalesia?'

'Vaguely.'

'When she sang to him, it sounded almost exactly like that.'

'He went into a monastery to get away from her, didn't he?'

'Yes.'

'Wise decision.'

'It's an affectation of ours,' Oscagne explained to them. 'The Tamul language is very musical when it's spoken. Pretty music would seem commonplace, even mundane-so our composers strive for the opposite effect.'

'I'd say they've succeeded beyond human imagination,' Baroness Melidere said. 'It sounds like someone's torturing a dozen pigs inside an iron works.'

'I'll convey your observation to the composer, Baroness,' Oscagne told her. 'I'm sure he'll be pleased.'

'I'd be pleased if his song came to an end, your Excellency.'

The vast doors that finally terminated the endless-seeming corridor were covered with beaten gold, and they swung ponderously open to reveal an enormous, domed hall. Since the dome was higher than the surrounding structures, the illumination in the room came through inch-thick crystal windows high overhead. The light poured down through those windows to set the walls and floor of Emperor Sarabian's throne room afire. The hall was of suitably stupendous dimensions, and the expanses of nacreous white were broken up by accents of crimson and gold. Heavy red velvet draperies hung at intervals along the glowing walls, flanking columnar b.u.t.tresses inlaid with gold. A wide avenue of crimson carpet led from the huge doors to the foot of the throne, and the room was filled with courtiers, both Tamul and Elene.

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