‘See to him!’ Sparhawk barked to Berit and lunged forward to engage the Zemochs. Without their spears, the Zemochs were forced to fall back on their swords, and the advantage shifted to the Church Knights at that point. The armoured men chopped the Zemochs out of their path.

Adus assessed the situation quickly and stepped back into the archway.

‘Adus!’ Kalten bellowed, kicking a Zemoch out of his way.

‘Kalten!’ Adus roared. The brute took a step forward, his pig-like eyes hungry. Then he snarled and disembowelled one of his own soldiers to give vent to his frustration and disappeared back into the maze.

Sparhawk whirled about. ‘How is he?’ he demanded of Sephrenia, who knelt over the wounded Bevier.

‘It’s serious, Sparhawk.’

‘Can you stop the bleeding?’

‘Not entirely, no.’

Bevier lay, pale and sweating with the breastplate of his armour unbuckled and lying open like a clamshell. ‘Go on, Sparhawk,’ he said. ‘I’ll hold this doorway for as long as I can.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Sparhawk snapped. ‘Pad the wound as best you can, Sephrenia. Then buckle his armour back up. Berit, bring him along. Carry him if you have to.’

There was a splintering sound behind them in the throne-room as the booming continued.

‘The doors are giving way, Sparhawk,’ Kalten reported.

Sparhawk looked down the long arched corridor leading into the maze. Torches were set in iron rings at widely-spaced intervals. A sudden hope flared up in him. ‘Ulath,’ he said, ‘you and Tynian bring up the rear. Shout if any of those soldiers breaking down the doors come up behind us.’

‘I’ll just hold you back, Sparhawk,’ Bevier said weakly.

‘No you won’t,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘We’re not going to run through this maze. We don’t know what’s in here, so we’re not going to take any chances. All right, gentlemen, let’s move out.’

They started down the long, straight corridor that led into the labyrinth, passing two or three unlighted entrances on either side as they went.

‘Shouldn’t we check those?’ Kalten asked.

‘It’s probably not necessary,’ Kurik said. ‘Some of Adus’s men were wounded, and there are blood-spatters on the floor. We know that Adus at least went this way.’

‘That’s no guarantee that Martel did,’ Kalten said. ‘Maybe he told Adus to lead us off in the wrong direction.’

‘It’s possible,’ Sparhawk conceded, ‘but this corridor is lighted, and none of the others are.’

‘I’d hardly call it a maze if the way through it is marked with torches, Sparhawk,’ Kurik pointed out.

‘Maybe not, but as long as the torches and the blood-trail go the same way, we’ll chance it.’

The echoing corridor made a sharp turn to the left at its far end. The vaulted walls and ceiling curving upward and inward gave the twisting passages that oppressive sense of being too low, and Sparhawk found himself instinctively ducking his head.