Part 5 (2/2)
The cook shook his head.
”No, no. The doors cannot be opened, save by the Empress. In my father's time, under the old Emperor, the doors were always open, and I am sure we cleaned it most thoroughly. It is not neglect, Masters, not at all. I am sure the Cleaners would be very happy, most ecstatic to clean the Audience Chamber again...”
”Can you show us where the doors to the Audience Chamber are?” asked Tal. ”Can we get to them through Underfolk ways?”
”I am a.s.signed here,” said the cook nervously, casting an eye back over all the other Underfolk working over the fires and at the benches. ”I cannot leave. But I could send one of our waiters, if it please you, Masters.”
”Stop this 'Master' and 'if it pleases you' stuff,” said Crow, some of his old anger returning. ”You'll be free soon. The Icecarls have invaded the Castle and will win. The Chosen are losing.”
The cook trembled at Crow's words and didn't answer. The confusion in his eyes was clear enough. He had only ever known one world and could not imagine it changing.
”A waiter will be fine,” said Tal gently. ”As long as he knows the way.”
The cook bobbed and nodded and hurried off, calling out a name.
”I hope the doors are still closed,” said Tal.
”Why?” asked Crow. ”How will we get in?”
”I'd forgotten that the Empress never had the Violet Keystone,” explained Tal. ”Mercur--the old Emperor she deposed--managed to escape with it. He died in the heatways, and that's how we got the stone that Ebbitt split in two for Milla and me.”
”So?”
”I bet you need the Violet Keystone to open the doors to the Audience Chamber and to get into the Violet Tower. That's why the doors have been shut since Mercur's time. If they're open now, it means Sus.h.i.+n has already used the half he stole from me to get in.”
Crow nodded thoughtfully.
”What do we do if we run into Sus.h.i.+n?” he asked. ”I mean, if he's still there?”
”Hit him with everything we can,” said Tal. ”You can do a Red Ray of Destruction, can't you?”
”Yes,” admitted Crow. Even though he was an Underfolk, he had stolen a Sunstone and had been secretly trained by Ebbitt and Lector Jarnil.
”Then do that,” said Tal. ”There's a spell I've been meaning to try on him, too, if I can do it. The Violet Unraveling.”
”What does that do?” asked Crow.
”It dissolves anything it touches,” Tal answered grimly. ”I only wish I'd been confident enough to try it on him before.”
The cook came hurrying back through the kitchen, dodging the workers as they moved between stove and bench and swung open ovens or sharpened knives. A young Underfolk boy, no more than six or seven years old, trailed after him, surrept.i.tiously picking his nose. He stopped when he saw Tal looking at him and whipped his hands behind his back into the approved posture of a servant.
”This is Edol,” said the cook. ”He will show you through the serving ways to the Audience Chamber.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
”I.
can't truly say I have experienced this delightful ride before,” replied Ebbitt, a moment after he landed with Milla in the metal bucket. ”But I have read about it.”
”I hope what you read is true,” said Milla. ”I do not like traveling this way, stuck to these metal rails. Even a Selski may be steered.”
The other Icecarls in the bucket murmured their agreement.
The sloping sides of the bucket were too high to see over easily, so Milla ordered a s.h.i.+eld Maiden to climb up on the broad shoulders of Jarek to look ahead. Odris slid up and poked her head out so she could see, too.
”How will we know when to get out?” asked Milla. ”Is there some sign or mark?”
”When the locomotor slows then we will know,” said Ebbitt. ”If the locomotor speeds, then we have gone past our needs.”
Milla scowled and turned away. She had to think. If the main host had indeed arrived below and was attacking, then the rest of her advance guard would be relieved in time. Tal would probably be all right, since Ebbitt was sure Crow would rescue him, and she had a low opinion of Fashnek. But Sus.h.i.+n had half the Violet Keystone and with it he could finally destroy the Veil. He might already have done it, for all they knew down here. Down here in this metal box, trapped traveling in a straight line to who knew where...
”What's ahead?” she suddenly asked.
”It is very dark,” answered the s.h.i.+eld Maiden. ”I think... I think the rails ahead go down.”
”Down?” asked Ebbitt and Milla at the same time.
”Yes,” answered the s.h.i.+eld Maiden. ”Definitely. I can see a locomotor ahead, but not the buckets it pushes--now it has disappeared, too. It must be a steep slope.”
”Perhaps I misremembered,” mused Ebbitt, ducking his head and scratching under his breastplate. ”Was it ascends or descends for the Underfolk corridor I mentioned before? Ascends, descends, upends, depends... oops--”
He turned to Milla and bowed deeply.
”I fear, my dear, that I have been unclear. We need to disembark from this equipage before it descends.”
”Our first bucket is already over the edge,” reported the s.h.i.+eld Maiden.
”Everybody out!” Milla shouted. ”Jump!”
She jumped up and got astride the rim of the bucket, swinging her legs over to jump clear. Icecarls jumped around her, but at the last instant Milla hesitated. Someone was missing. She looked back down and saw Graile still lying there, asleep, with her Spiritshadow sprawled next to her.
Milla looked ahead. The next bucket had started down the slope. It had to be an almost vertical drop, she realized, as the buckets disappeared immediately from sight.
”Graile!”
The Chosen did not stir.
Milla jumped back inside, shouting for Odris.
”What?” came a plaintive cry from the Spiritshadow, calling from some distance back along the path. She had obeyed Milla's order to jump.
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