Shardik

'Well, you sec, I am not, alas, the good, simple fellow that you suppose. Beneath this well-washed exterior there beats a heart as black as a cockroach and fully half as brave.'

'Well, you've evidently got something you mean to say. Tell me plainly – I'll be as secret as you like.'

'Perhaps I will. Well then, you must know that at one time, about five years ago, when Santil came through Sarkid on his march from Bekla to Ikat, I was seized with a foolish desire to take some of my fellows and join him.'

'I wonder you didn't. I suppose you jibbed at the idea of losing the estate and everything else?'

'Oh, I jibbed practically without stopping – I was jibbering, in fact. However, I had managed to get myself more or less to the point of departure when Santil himself came to see me. Yes – at the outset of a desperate campaign, with everything to be organized and Ikat to be turned into a military supply base, that remarkable man found time to come twenty miles to talk to me and then return by night. I dare say he knew I wouldn't have obeyed anyone else.' 'You obeyed him? What did he come to say?'

'He wanted me to stay where I was and put on a convincing act of benevolent neutrality to Bekla. He thought that if it were skilfully done, it would be more useful to him than leaving Sarkid to be controlled by some nominee of the enemy. He was quite right, of course. I've always hated people thinking I'd decided not to go and fight, but the advantages to Santil have been greater than anything he could expect from my shouting "Yah!" at an Ortelgan spearman. He gets to hear a great deal about the movements of Master Ged-la-Dan, and the other man, Zelda; and they find themselves in all sorts of difficulties whenever they're operating in the neighbourhood of Sarkid. You know – couriers disappear, funny accidents happen, commandeered rations seem to disagree with people and so on. Any little larks we can think of. In fact, I honestly believe that if it weren't for Sarkid, Santil's western flank would have been turned long ago and he might never have been able to hold Ikat at all. But it needs very delicate handling indeed. Ged-la-Dan's a tough, ugly customer and I've had to go to great lengths to convince him that I prefer his side to the other. For years I've kept him thinking that on balance, and because of my local influence and knowledge, it would be better to keep me than to replace me. Little does he know that my love of boyish mischief leads me to grease his stairs from time to time.' 'I see; and I suppose I might have guessed.'

'Now this next bit is the sensation of a lifetime. Your pulse will tingle with a thousand thrills – well, say five hundred. About a month ago Santil paid me another nocturnal visit, disguised as a wine-merchant, incidentally. And what he told me was that this spring, for the first time, he is strong enough both to cover Ikat and to attack northwards in force. In fact, he may at this moment have begun a march that will take him north of Bekla before he's done.' 'Not to Bekla?'

'That'll depend on the support he gets. Initially, he probably won't try to attack Bekla, but simply march into the north and see whether any of the provinces will rise for him. Of course, he may come upon a good opportunity to defeat an Ortelgan army, and if so, he's not the man to waste it.' 'And where do you come in? For obviously you do.*

'Well, as a matter of fact, I am that despicable creature, a secret agent.' 'Getaway!*

'I trust I may in due course. Does it occur to you that if something really nasty were to happen in Bekla just as Santil begins his attack, these superstitious fellows would be most upset? Anyway, it did to Santil. So I came as a delegate to the Council.' 'But what do you mean to try to do? And when?'

'Something reckless, I fancy, will be appropriate. I had considered the possibility of causing the king or one of the generals to cease to function, but I don't think it can be done. I missed rather a good chance yesterday afternoon, due to being unarmed, and I doubt whether another will present itself. But I have been considering. The destruction of the King's House and the death of the bear itself – that would have a calamitous effect. It might well tip the scale, in fact, when the news reached the army.' 'But it can't be done, Elleroth. We could never succeed in that.'

'With your help I believe we might. What I intend to do is to set fire to the roof of the Kind's House.' 'But the place is built of stone!'

'Roofs, my dear Mollo? Roofs are made of wood. You couldn't span a hall that size with stone. There will be beams and rafters supporting tiles. Look for yourself – there is even some thatch at the far end – you can sec it from here. A fire should do well if only it can get a little time to itself.'

'It'll be seen at once – and anyway the place will be guarded. How can you possibly climb up to the roof carrying a torch or whatever you're going to need? You wouldn't get near the place before you were stopped.'

'Ah, but this is where you will be so invaluable. Listen. Tonight happens to be the spring fire festival. Have you never seen it? At nightfall they extinguish every flame in the city, until there is total darkness. Then the new fire is kindled and every householder comes to light a torch from it. After that the whole place goes mad. There will be a brazier or at least a torch burning on every accessible roof in the city. They have a procession of boats on the Barb, full of lights and made to look like fiery dragons – the water reflects them, you know. Very pretty. There'll be a torchlight procession – any amount of smoke in people's nostrils and their eyes dazzled. Tonight, if ever, a fire on the roof of the King's House won't be noticed until it's too late.' 'But they don't leave the bear unguarded.'

'Of course not But this we can deal with, if you are as angry and revengeful as you say. I've already marked a place where I think I can climb to the roof; and to make sure, I've risked buying a rope and grapnel. After dark, you and I light torches and set out for the festival – armed under our cloaks, of course, and rather late. We make for the King's House and there we silently deal with any sentries we may find. Then I'll climb to the roof and start the fire. There'll almost certainly be a priestess left in the hall to attend upon the bear – perhaps more than one. If they're not silenced they'll spot the fire from below. So you'll have to go in and tackle whomever you find in the hall.' 'Why not just go in and kill the bear?'

'Have you ever seen the bear? It's stupendously large – unbelievable. Nothing but several heavy arrows could do it. We haven't got a bow and we can't risk attracting attention by trying to get one.*

'When the fire gets a grip, won't the bear simply go out into the Rock Pit?'

'If it's already in by nightfall, they drop the gate between the hall and the pit. It's in at the moment*

'I don't fancy the idea of using a sword on a woman – even an Ortelgan priestess.'

'Neither do I; but my dear Mollo, this is war. You need not necessarily kill her, but at the least you'll have to do enough to stop her raising the alarm.'

'Well, suppose I do. The roof's burning and about to fall in on the bear and you've climbed down and joined me. What do we do then?' 'Vanish like ghosts at cock-crow.*

'But where? The only access to the lower city is through the Peacock Gate. We'il never get away.'

'There's quite a fair chance, actually. Santil advised me to look into it and I did, yesterday afternoon. As you know, the city walls run south and completely encircle Crandor; but high up, near the south-east corner, there's a disused postern in the wall. Santil told me it was made by some king long ago, no doubt for some unspeakable purpose of his own. Yesterday afternoon I walked up there, as Santil suggested, and had a look at it. It was all overgrown with brambles and weeds, but bolted only on the inside. I shouldn't think anyone's touched it for years. I oiled the bolts and made sure it can be opened. If anyone's gone there since and seen what I've done, that's too bad, but I doubt they will have. I had a nasty moment coming back, when I met the so-called king and General Zelda walking in that direction, but they turned back soon after I'd passed them. Anyway, that's our best chance and we can't do better than take it. If we can get as far as the upper slopes beyond the Barb without being caught, we may very well get through that gate and reach Santil's army in two or three days. No pursuit will go faster than I shall, I promise you.'