Palimpsest

The walls of Nirali are held by a standing garrison, trained and salaried, answerable to the administrator council. The gates are a different matter. Gate duty is drawn by lot from the citizenship register each season and rotated monthly, treated as public service the same as road maintenance or record-keeping.

The arrangement was questioned in the city's third generation by a council member who argued the gates required professional soldiers. The response, which passed without serious opposition, was that the walls had professional soldiers, and that the gates were not a military installation. They were a door, and the city preferred to have its door answered by someone who remembered what it felt like to be on the other side of it.

— A Survey of the Free Cities. Compiled for the Cindorian Crown Advisory Council. Marked: not for distribution.

Chapter 40 Well, This is New

As the wall, built of great yellowish stone blocks, rose up before them, Kaelin had noticed that it was even higher than the walls of Marialis. And yet, because the city climbed up the mountain at whose foot it was built, toward the snowy peak, part of it could still be seen from outside. At the very top stood a wide building, hung with red drapery, that, though no palace, was plainly some place of importance. At one corner of the building stood a tall tower, and at the top of the tower an enormous red lamp. The red lantern, visible from the whole city and even from far beyond it.

As Kaelin looked at the red lantern, she had noticed that the city walls began up at the mountain's heights, behind the building at the peak, and ran all the way down to the sea. The side that stretched toward the mountains did not look very high, and the lower it went the higher the wall grew, leveling out again where it met the sea. She couldn't quite see it, but the situation on the other side seemed no different. The city must cover an immense area, she thought, taking in half the mountain as though forming a vast circle.

"The city must be almost entirely visible from the sea," Veylith said, riding her horse alongside her — as if she had guessed what Kaelin was thinking.

Kaelin, who hadn't even noticed her come up beside her, turned to Veylith on reflex. "Wouldn't that be a problem for security?"

"Having the places that can be struck visible from outside, and being an open target for ships, isn't very clever," Veylith answered. "But this place has never been seen as a fortress, and it's never been attacked."

"So it's never once been attacked, in all these centuries?"

"Not as far as I know. And I don't think there's any reason to take it, either."

"Why?"

"The city has no king, no palace, no treasury. No lands it controls, no mineral resources. Even trade isn't at any level worth mentioning. The Red Lantern is essentially a guild, and it's spread across the whole realm. Taking this place wouldn't let you control them."

"But this is the center, after all. It must still matter."

"It does matter — it's a symbol for them, and unless I'm mistaken, the place they were founded. But it isn't Nirali that keeps the Red Lantern standing. It's the Red Lantern that keeps Nirali standing."

Kaelin didn't answer that, or ask anything further. Because as they drew near the gate, the wall rising up before them had now blocked the whole view. At certain points along the wall, sentries standing with bows and arrows on their backs could now be seen far more clearly. And that, because they were walking up to the gate all but defenseless, had brought on a faint tension in all of them. The closer they came to the gate, the more carefully the archers began to watch them — the nearest had already taken their bows and arrows in hand.

The wall, standing higher than a four-story building, now filled the whole view, and the wide gate, itself higher than three men, had come into sight. As they approached the gate they had slowed and drawn together, so as not to take any risks. With Kaelin and Elis at the center, Kaelin had begun to tense even more, realizing — belatedly — that this was a deliberate arrangement.

The gate, rising straight up at the sides, curved inward from its middle and completed an arch by forming an oval at the top. They could see now that it was made of two halves that opened to either side. On each side, set almost at head height, were small barred windows. Drawing a little closer, they realized there were sentries behind them, watching the outside. In the right half of the gate there seemed to be a smaller door set into it.

"I think we'd better get off the horses now," Ravah said, walking at the front, back toward the others.

Looking at the sentries on the wall who had drawn their bows, Veylith showed she was of the same mind. "We're getting off the horses slowly," she said, calling out to all of them, and — most importantly — in a tone the sentries could hear.

They got off the horses and slowly began to walk toward the small windows in the gates. With fifteen or twenty paces to go, Veylith stopped the others and entrusted her own and Kaelin's horses to them. Then, setting a hand on Kaelin's waist, she pushed her gently forward, and only the two of them went on walking side by side.

"If anything happens, don't run back — run for the foot of the wall," Veylith whispered, trying not to move her mouth too much. Without opening her mouth, Kaelin answered with a small sound that meant yes.

"That's far enough," said the voice that came from behind the bars, stopping them a few paces off. At this Veylith and Kaelin stopped at once and, without a word, looked toward the bars.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" the voice then asked. Through the bars Kaelin could make out that he was a short-haired man, but his tone of voice showed he was much younger. And as far as she could feel, he was as tense as they were.

"We've come from Marialis. I'm Veylith, and this beside me is Kaelin. The Red Lantern administrator there sent us here," Veylith answered, one hand still at Kaelin's waist, the other up at shoulder height as if surrendering.

"I'm afraid that before I open the gate to a group that's so plainly armed, I'll need a good deal more than your name and your girlfriend's, ma'am," the sentry answered.

For a moment, faced with this answer she hadn't expected at all, Veylith couldn't put her sentence together. Just as she was about to speak, Kaelin touched her stomach with one hand and stopped her.

"There's no reason for you to be tense," Kaelin said in an exceedingly gentle tone, taking a step. Then another step. She could feel that the young man behind the bars gripped the spear in his hand much tighter. "Mistress Sereth Vahl sent us here, and I'm one of the courtesans who works for her," she said, raising her hands into the air and coming right up to the bars. "What's your name?" she asked, when not even an arm's length remained between her and the young man.

After a few uncertain seconds, the young man answered, "Jorun."

"Pleased to meet you, Jorun. I'm Kaelin Haln," she said, extending her hand toward the bars.

Gripping the spear tightly in his other hand, Jorun reached his free hand toward her hesitantly.

Kaelin took his hand through the bars and squeezed it gently. "If you look carefully, you'll see there's a bronze bracelet on my wrist," she went on, without letting go of his hand. "The Mistress gave it to me, and told me that wherever I went, the Red Lantern would open its doors to me. Can you help me with that?"

"Oh!" Jorun said, his voice suddenly going higher. "In that case there'll be no trouble between us, Miss Haln. I can bring you and your friends into the middle section, but before you enter the city I'll need to send word to Domina Orsillia."

"Call me Kaelin," she answered, and, smiling, took her hand back. Stepping back a few paces, she returned to Veylith's side. From behind the wooden gate came the sound of a bolt and a lock.

"Nice move," Veylith whispered, then, looking at her a little crossly, "But just so you know, if you keep going off on your own like that, sooner or later we're going to step on a cracked board."

"I wouldn't have tried it if you weren't behind me," Kaelin answered, whispering in the same way. "It worked, didn't it?"

Veylith gave her a pointed, knowing look from the corner of her eye, then turned her head forward. The others had come up beside them by now and were waiting for the gate to open.

"Any problems?" Ravah asked, looking toward the gate as though she weren't convinced.

"Looks like we'll be waiting a while," Veylith answered. "We can't be sure until we're inside," she said, then quickly ran her eyes over the archers, who had eased off their bowstrings. She turned back to Kaelin and, as Jorun was opening the gate, asked, "Why did you offer your left hand? If you'd offered your right, maybe he could've let go of his spear."

"And lost his trust outright," Kaelin answered. "I wasn't trying to trick him — I just needed to touch him. To calm him down and get him to listen."

"Clever," said Tivver, who'd heard this, in a tone the others could hear too.

"These sneaky little moves of yours make me prouder by the day, darling," Vaelra added, winking at Kaelin. Kaelin looked at her and smiled, but when she turned her head slightly and saw Veylith still wearing the same expression, she pulled herself together.

"You can wait inside," said Jorun, cutting their conversation off, looking at them from behind a smaller door he had opened within the great gate.

At this Veylith and Kaelin began to walk toward the gate, and the others followed after them. Kaelin went through the door first and smiled at Jorun, who was just about her own height. Jorun, in answer, flushed visibly, but when he saw Veylith and Ravah coming right behind her, his tension started to return.

When they passed under the wall, they saw that the inside was a fairly wide, tunnel-like structure, at least ten paces long. At the other end, in place of another gate, there was a metal grille of the same dimensions. The grille seemed to have been made as two pieces that opened to either side like a gate, and — as with the other gate — there was a smaller passage set into it. Beyond the grille, buildings could be seen, but it gave too narrow a view to make out any sign of the city or its people.

The wooden gate closed behind them, and Jorun drew their attention. "The other sentry went to the House to send word," he said. "Someone will come for you shortly."

"The House?" Darian repeated, curious.

"The House of Red Lantern," Jorun answered at once. "It's the seat of the city's government. Everyone just calls it the House for short."

"That big reddish building at the top?" Tivver cut in. "The one with the great lantern?"

"Yes. For generations the administrators have run everything from there."

As Darian and Tivver began to drown the young man in more questions, Vaelra joined them too. Veylith and Ravah, meanwhile, were running their eyes over the metal grille and the structures beyond it. Kaelin, for her part, saw Elis, who had been left alone by the horses, and went over to her.

"You don't need to be tense — I don't think anything's going to go wrong," Kaelin said when she reached her side.

Elis, whose eyes plainly showed her unease, answered, "I'm not tense. We just have to stay on guard until we're inside."

"A sensible choice," Kaelin said, agreeing with her — though it was certainly a lie that she wasn't tense. But the strange thing was that Kaelin couldn't feel that she was lying. Maybe she's fooling herself, she thought, because she'd seen this sort of thing before. While she was lost in these thoughts, the creak of the grille came from behind her.

When the others, crowded around Kaelin and Jorun, all looked toward the grille at once, they saw the other sentry coming, spear in hand. Kaelin hadn't noticed at all, when she'd glanced at the other set of bars outside, that this sharp-eared elf was a woman. But that wasn't what really struck her, or the others.

Behind the sentry, another man had come inside — tall, with the same sharp ears. He had pulled his long, dark hair, near to brown, into a tight gather and let it fall down his back as a single tail. But the thing that really drew the eye was that this slender man was wearing a red dress. Sleeveless, it wrapped his waist and dropped down with two slits to nearly his ankles. His sandals, matched to the dress, were just as striking.

"I'm truly very sorry for the delay," the man said, sweeping inside; his voice was quite gentle, though for some reason Kaelin had expected something much higher. "Word of you reached us a good while ago, but we weren't expecting you for at least another two or three days," he said, and then, noticing the bracelet on her arm, turned to Kaelin.

"We had to come by a somewhat different road," Kaelin answered, turning toward the man approaching her. She'd suddenly felt obliged to answer.

"You must be Miss Haln," the man said, taking Kaelin's hand and kissing it gently.

Not expecting this at all, Kaelin flushed visibly and answered, "Kaelin, please." Then, as the man released her hand, she asked, "And you?"

"Ah, please forgive my rudeness," the man said, bowing slightly before Kaelin. "I am Quivar Braxiel, Domina Orsillia's right hand. I'll be your guide as well."

"Pleased to meet you," Kaelin answered, bowing in turn without meaning to. Then, to escape the center of this strange moment, she gestured to the others. "These are the companions traveling with me." First she indicated Veylith. "This is Veylith."

"Pleased to meet you," Quivar said, at once taking Veylith's hand and kissing it gently. Veylith looked at the man strangely, as if she had no idea what to say, her eyes opened wider than usual.

"This is Ravah," Kaelin went on.

Quivar did the same to her, and added, "What a beautiful face."

Ravah felt a surprise much like Veylith's. "Well, this is new."

"This is Vaelra," Kaelin said this time, gesturing behind the man and indicating Vaelra, who was laughing at Ravah's and Veylith's reactions.

Quivar started toward her, but this time Vaelra moved first, taking his hand and kissing it the same way. "I love your dress, darling."

"Oh, thank you!" the man answered, not expecting it at all, both a little embarrassed and smiling.

Without letting go of the man's hand, Vaelra turned him gently toward Tivver and Darian. "And these are—"

"I'm Tivver, and this is Darian," Tivver cut in quickly. "We're pleased to meet you too, but there's really no need for this kissing ceremony, Mister Right Hand."

"Of course," the man said, smiling. Vaelra gave them a knowing look.

"Also," Kaelin said, calling attention back to herself, "on the road we came across a camp that had been attacked by barbarians. Elis was the only survivor of the camp," she said, indicating with her head the Elis standing to her right. "We're hoping you can help her here as well."

Quivar's smiling expression changed almost at once. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said, turning to Elis. "As for help," he went on, slipping his arm through Elis's, "that's one of the very reasons this city exists. Of course we'll help."

"I'm grateful for that," Elis answered, taking the man's arm and smiling. Seeing Elis relax at last, Kaelin felt a weight come off her own back as well.

Looking at them, Quivar said with a livelier expression, "I think you've waited here long enough. Shall we?" — gesturing with his arm through Elis's toward the gate and the city.

…

Though the men searched around the long-dead fire, they hadn't found much. Apart from the clear signs that a camp had been made, and the ashes inside a circle laid out with stones, there seemed to be nothing else to look at. At this the higher-ranking of the men moved away from the camp and headed toward the nearby hill. Without making much noise, he approached the man standing among the trees. "Looks like they left in the morning — they may have reached the city by now. Your orders?"

Baltrik, reaching toward the log at the edge of the hill, took up a jacket forgotten there and examined it from the corner of his eye. Then he raised his head and looked toward the mountain in the distance. "They're at a distance we can't reach anymore," he said, and after looking at the view a while longer, he turned and began walking toward the man. As he passed right beside him, Baltrik pressed the jacket into the man's hand. In a lower voice he added, "From here on, we'll wait for our man in the city to handle it."