‘But you’re not going to explain it to me, are you?’

‘No, Your Grace, I don’t think so. How’s Ehlana?’ he asked his squire.

‘Difficult,’ Kurik grunted. ‘Unprincipled. Abrasive. Wilful. Overbearing. Demanding. Sneaky. Unforgiving – just your average, run-of-the-mill young queen. I like her, though. She reminds me of Flute for some reason.’

‘I wasn’t asking for a description, Kurik,’ Sparhawk said. ‘I was inquiring as to her health.’

‘She seems fine to me. If there was anything wrong with her, she wouldn’t be able to run that fast.’

‘Run?’

‘She seems to feel that she missed a great deal while she was asleep, so she’s trying to catch up. She’s had her nose in every corner of the palace by now. Lenda’s seriously contemplating suicide, I think, and the chambermaids are all in a state of despair. You can’t hide a speck of dust from her. She may not have the best kingdom in the world when she’s finished, but she’s certainly going to have the neatest.’ Kurik reached inside his leather vest. ‘Here,’ he said, pulling out a very thick packet of folded parchment. ‘She wrote you a letter. Give yourself time to read it, My Lord. It took her two days to write it.’

‘How’s the home guard idea working out?’ Kalten asked.

‘Quite well, actually. Just before I left, a battalion of church soldiers arrived outside the city. The battalion commander made the mistake of standing too near the gate when he demanded admittance. A couple of citizens dumped something on him.’

‘Burning pitch?’ Tynian surmised.

‘No, Sir Tynian,’ Kurik grinned. ‘The two fellows make their living draining and cleaning cesspools. The officer received the fruit of their day’s labour – about a hogshead full. The colonel – or whatever he was under all of that – lost his head and ordered an assault on the gate. That’s when the rocks and burning pitch came into play. The soldiers set up camp not too far from the east wall to think things over, and late that night a score or so of Platime’s cut-throats climbed down ropes from the parapet and visited their camp. The soldiers didn’t have too many officers left the following morning. They milled around out there for a while, and then they went away. I think your queen’s quite safe, Sparhawk. As a group, soldiers aren’t very imaginative, and unconventional tactics tend to confuse them. Platime and Stragen are having the time of their lives, and the common people are beginning to take a certain pride in their city. They’re even sweeping the streets on the off chance that Ehlana might ride by on one of her morning inspections.’

‘Those idiots aren’t letting her out of the palace, are they?’ Sparhawk exclaimed angrily.