‘I like enemies.’ Kalten grinned. ‘They give you a reason to keep your sword sharp.’

Nashan looked at Sephrenia. ‘Is there something afoot in Styricum?’ he asked her.

‘What exactly do you mean?’

‘The city is suddenly awash with Styrics,’ he replied. ‘They say that they’re here to seek instruction in the Elene faith.’

‘That’s absurd.’

‘I thought so myself. The Church has been trying to convert the Styrics for three thousand years without much success, and now they come flocking to Chyrellos, of their own accord begging to be converted.’

‘No sane Styric would do that,’ she insisted. ‘Our Gods are jealous, and they punish apostasy severely.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Have any of these pilgrims identified their place of origin?’ she asked.

‘Not that I’ve heard. They all look like common rural Styrics.’

‘Perhaps they’ve made a longer journey than they’re willing to reveal.’

‘You think they might be Zemochs?’ Sparhawk asked her

‘Otha’s already infested eastern Lamorkand with his agents,’ she replied. ‘Chyrellos is the centre of the Elene world. It’s a logical place for espionage and disruption.’ She considered it. ‘We’re likely to be here fora while,’ she observed. ‘We have to wait for the arrival of the knights from the other orders. I think that perhaps we might spend the time investigating these unusual postulants.’

‘I can’t really get too much involved in that,’ Sparhawk disagreed. ‘I have things far more important on my mind just now. We’ll deal with Otha and his Zemochs when the time comes. Right now I have to concentrate on restoring Ehlana to her throne and preventing the deaths of certain friends.’ He spoke obliquely, since he had kept to himself the details of what she had told him had taken place in the throne room in Cimmura.

‘It’s all right, Sparhawk,’ she assured him. ‘I understand your concern. I’ll take Kalten with me, and we’ll see what we can turn up.’

They spent the remainder of the day in quiet conversation in Nashan’s ornate study, and the following morning Sparhawk dressed in a mail coat and a simple hooded robe and rode across town to Dolmant’s house, where the two of them carefully went over what had happened in Cimmura and Arcium. ‘It would be futile to level any direct charges at Annias,’ Dolmant said, ‘so it’s probably best to omit any references to him – or to Harparin. Let’s just present the affair as a plot to discredit the Pandion Order and leave it at that. The Hierocracy will draw its own conclusions.’ He smiled faintly ‘The least damaging of those conclusions will be that Annias made a fool of himself in public If nothing else, that might help to stiffen the resolve of the neutral patriarchs when the time comes to select a new Archprelate.’