Vanion nodded. ‘There’d be too much chance of them being discovered if they crept into the cellar any sooner.’

‘This is fitting together even more tightly.’ Dolmant seemed pleased with himself on that score. ‘We make Sparhawk and Colonel Delada wait on the walls for the first boulders. When they start crashing down, the two of them go down to the cellar to eavesdrop on the conversation between Martel and Annias. If the Archprelate’s guard can’t hold the entrance to the aqueduct, Sephrenia will collapse the tunnel. We block the secret attack, get the evidence against Annias, and we may very well capture Annias and Martel themselves. What do you think, Vanion?’

‘It’s an excellent plan, Your Grace,’ Vanion said with a straight face. Sparhawk also saw a number of gaps. The years seem to have clouded Dolmant’s strategic sense in a few areas. ‘I can only see one drawback,’ Vanion added.

‘Oh?’

‘Once those engines batter down the walls, we’re likely to have hordes of mercenaries here in the inner city with us.’

‘That would be a bit inconvenient, wouldn’t it?’ Dolmant conceded with a slight frown. ‘Let’s talk with Colonel Delada anyway. I’m sure something will turn up.’

Vanion sighed and followed the Patriarch of Demos from the room.

‘Was he always like that?’ Sparhawk asked Sephrenia.

‘Who?’

‘Dolmant. I think he’s pushing optimism about as far as it can be pushed.’

‘It’s your Elene theology, dear one,’ she smiled. ‘Dolmant’s professionally committed to the notion of Providence. Styrics look upon that as the worst form of fatalism. What’s troubling you, dear one?’

‘A perfectly good logical construction has fallen apart on me, Sephrenia. Now that we know about Perraine, I don’t have any way at all to connect that shadow with Azash.’

‘Why are you so obsessed with hard evidence, Sparhawk?’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Just because you can’t logically prove a connection, you’re ready to discard the whole idea. Your reasoning was fairly tenuous to begin with anyway. About all you were really doing was trying to distort things to make your logic fit your feelings – a sort of a justification for a leap of faith. You felt – you believed – that the shadow came from Azash. That’s good enough for me. I’m more comfortable with the notion of trusting your feelings than your logic anyway.’

‘Be nice,’ he chided.

She smiled. ‘I think it’s time to discard logic and start relying on those leaps of faith, Sparhawk. Sir Perraine’s confession erases any connection between that shadow you keep seeing and the attempts on your life, doesn’t it?’

‘I’m afraid so,’ he admitted, ‘and to make matters even worse, I haven’t even seen the shadow lately.’

‘Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it’s not still there. Tell me exactly what you felt each time you saw it.’