They paused just before the corridor turned sharply to the left. Ulath edged to the corner, pulled off his helmet and took a quick look, his head darting out and back once. ‘Empty,’ he said shortly. ‘It seems to turn right about ten or fifteen paces further on.’

They moved on around the corner and crept along the short passage. Again they stopped at the corner, and Ulath popped his head out again. ‘It’s a kind of an alcove,’ he whispered. ‘There’s an archway that opens out into a wider corridor. There’s a lot of light out there.’

‘Did you see anybody?’ Kurik asked him.

‘Not a soul.’

‘That should be the main corridor out there,’ Bevier murmured. ‘The stairs that lead up out of the maze to the real route to the temple should be fairly close to the end of the labyrinth – either at the throne-room or at the temple.’

They rounded the corner into the alcove, and Ulath again took a quick look. ‘It’s the main corridor, all right,’ he reported, ‘and there’s a turn a hundred paces off to the left.’

‘Let’s go up to that corner,’ Sparhawk decided. ‘If Bevier’s right, the hallway beyond the corner should lead out of the maze. Sephrenia, you stay in here with Talen, Bevier and Berit. Kurik, you guard the door. The rest of us will go and have a look.’ He leaned close to his squire and whispered. ‘If things start to go wrong, get Sephrenia and the others back to the room at the foot of the stairs. Slide the wall shut and lock it.’

Kurik nodded. ‘Be careful out there, Sparhawk,’ he said quietly.

‘You too, my friend.’

The four knights stepped out into the broad, vaulted corridor and crept along towards the torchlit corner ahead. Kalten followed the rest of them, turning often to keep watch to the rear. At the corner, Ulath briefly poked out his head. Then he stepped back. ‘We might have known,’ he whispered disgustedly. ‘It’s the throne-room. We’re right back where we started from.’

‘Is there anybody in there?’ Tynian asked.

‘Probably, but why bother them? Let’s just go on back to that staircase, slide the wall shut again and leave the people in the throne-room to take care of their own entertainment.’

It was as they were turning around that it happened. Adus, followed by a score of Zemoch soldiers, burst from a side passage not too far from the entrance to the alcove, and he was bellowing at the top of his lungs. Cries of alarm echoed into the corridor from the throne-room itself.

‘Tynian! Ulath!’ Sparhawk snapped, ‘hold off the ones in the throne-room! Let’s go, Kalten!’ Then he and his blond friend dashed back towards the opening where Kurik stood guard.