One of them was glancing warily around for other attackers.

I nodded pointedly, my eyes staring across the path and into the trees. The goblin closest to me, a thin, gray-skinned creature brandishing a scimitar, caught the glance but did nothing. I felt my bluff had been called. I glanced from the goblin back into the forest behind him and shouted-quite convincingly given how unoriginal the idea was-"Now!"

The goblin spun in the direction I was staring, raising his blade, and I launched myself at him, knife extended.

The leap was poor and I fell short, managing only to gash his leg as I fell. He shrieked with surprise nonetheless and collided awkwardly with the other one who, thinking he was under attack, stabbed blindly with the remains of his spear. The point caught his fellow just above the waist, bringing him to his knees as Renthrette flung herself at the other. They fell together, each clawing for the handle of the axe which had been torn free in the fall. The gray one, sensing I was upon him, turned and looked up. The blade of my knife was already sweeping toward him and his eyes met mine as it stabbed home through his vest. Almost simultaneously, Renthrette seized the axe, raised it and brought it down hard. There was a sickening splitting sound like a bursting melon, then silence.

I sat on the ground breathing hard.

"That was a terrible idea," said Renthrette after she got her breath back, "that let's-pretend-there-are-more-of-us thing. I couldn't believe you actually tried that."

"It worked, didn't it?" I reposted.

"Barely," she answered. "It's a good thing the goblins weren't exactly crack troops."

I gave her a sardonic look. I still hadn't got to her level of casualness when it came to carnage, and the idea that someone had, however briefly, really wanted to kill me, always left me a little disoriented.

"Never mind. With a bit of luck we'll get ambushed by some real pros later in the day," I remarked.

"They must have been a patrol, but they were pretty d.a.m.n casual given the fact that they were in enemy territory," she mused, ignoring me. She picked up one of the dead goblin's spears and looked it over critically. "Odd," she said.

"What?"

"See this little crosspiece just below the head? That's to stop it going in too deep. It's a hunting spear. Which means they're either just using whatever weapons they can steal regardless of their purpose-always possible for the likes of them, I suppose. ..."

"Or?"

"Or they weren't a military patrol at all."

"Hold it," I said, getting to my feet. "You're saying they were here hunting for food?"

"There probably isn't much that lives on their side of the river. Here there are probably deer, wild boar maybe. It's probably their cheese that you have in your pockets."

"So you don't think they were looking for us?"

"I wouldn't have thought so, no."

"Well, that's good," I said. "I suppose. Still, we had to attack. After all, goblins are goblins, right?"

"Of course," Renthrette answered, but she didn't look at me, and seemed strangely preoccupied.

We both fell silent and got on with readying our horses. We didn't make eye contact at all for a while, though I can't say what was going on in Renthrette's mind. I'm not really sure what I was thinking, but there was something, a feeling of anticlimax or uncertainty. I think we both sensed it in each other but chose to keep quiet, holding the feeling at arm's length as if we were warding off an unpredictable dog.

The forest ended quite suddenly two days later, and Phasdreille-the White City-was visible as soon as we stepped out of the trees. It was still a few miles off but it lay on lower ground and was spread out before us, gleaming pale and beautiful in the afternoon sun. We halted and looked at it, silent and hardly breathing. From here it looked sculpted out of alabaster, walled and towered like the citadel in a fairy tale. I had seen walled cities before but they always seemed so purposeful and strong. This place looked effortlessly una.s.sailable, as imposing as Cresdon or Ironwall, but with a grace, an unearthly dignity that sparkled on its white stone and flashed off the gla.s.s in its windows like sunlight on a waterfall. It looked like a city such as might exist above the clouds, ruled by a benign monarch whose daughters sent their suitors on quests for dragons and treasure ... an impossible place.

"Now if we can't get a decent piece of beef and some strong ale there," I remarked, "there's a problem."

But my flippancy was strained and felt curiously inappropriate. Renthrette just stared off toward the white towers as if lost in a dream, or perhaps in a memory of childhood, when such places seemed plausible.

"It's breathtaking," she whispered. "Perfect."

And, as my cynicism failed to kick in, I nodded.

We were there before sundown and the light had yellowed, turning the city to gold, which warmed and deepened as we reached a long, ornamented bridge. This spanned a wide moat filled by the s...o...b..rne and it was broad and fair, supported on smooth arches with carved capitals and lined with marble bal.u.s.trades. At its head was a gatehouse, with a pair of turrets filled with tall warriors with long, pale hair that rippled with their cloaks in the breeze.

"Who comes from Eventor?" called one of them.

"Renthrette and William from Stavis," called my companion, who always rose to occasions like this, "friends to the fair folk and to Sorrail. We seek aid and bring news from the mountains."

A door opened and three or four of them emerged.

"You have been looked for," said one. "Sorrail has been here many days and is expecting you. Welcome to Phasdreille, the White City. Enter, before it grows dark, and seek him out in the house of the king. We will send word."

The gates were framed with iron, burnished to a high shine, and paneled with a pale wood inlaid with bra.s.s, though whether this was decorative or defensive, I could not say. They opened easily, despite their great weight, and we walked our horses into the barbican and onto the twilit bridge without another word. Ahead of us, a rider cantered off across the bridge toward the gatehouse of the city, and we followed, gazing down to the river and up to the great, pale walls in an awed silence. At the far side we pa.s.sed through another pair of imposing doors and entered the town.

Even with the onset of evening, the streets seemed bright and mythically fair, the city holding an air of serenity, as unlike the squalid bustle I had been used to in Cresdon as could be imagined. There was no one else about, but the city felt cleansed rather than deserted. All was quiet and peaceful, as if the very walls were watching paternally over residents who were sleeping or gathered around their hearths with their families, watching as they had for centuries.

Sorrail met us at the entrance to the king's palace. He was handsome and smiling, pleased to see us, but he stood atop the little flight of marble steps with formal reserve. With him was an entourage of some sort, men and women dressed in vivid silks and adorned with bracelets and necklaces in which shone precious stones. They hovered at his back, their eyes upon us.

"You are most welcome to Phasdreille, home of the fair folk," said Sorrail in a rolling, modulated voice that was addressed to those at his back as well as to those in front of him. "And to the court of King Halmir, son of Velmir, you are welcome, too. Enter and feast with us. Let us find you new raiment fitting to this place, and then you can tell us your news. For as the diamond should be cut, polished, and set in gold to show off its quality, so should the doers of virtue be clad in wealth and beauty so that their worth shines forth."

At this slightly odd remark, there was a smattering of applause from those cl.u.s.tered around him. Their smiles flexed and deepened.

"Er ... thanks," I said. "I could use a change and a bite to eat."

There was a momentary pause, a series of fractional glances between them, and then more simpering smiles. If I didn't know they were glad to see us, I'd say we were being condescended to. Sorrail bowed carefully at the waist, nonchalantly adding a little flourish of the hand that invited us in: very polished. He was barely recognizable as the ranger who had met us on the road.

Just as we were ascending the stairs, a distant trumpet call echoed through the air. Everyone paused and it was answered by another, closer this time.

"It seems," said Sorrail, "that our hors.e.m.e.n have returned, and in triumph."

His tone was low, amused rather than exuberant, as if he'd just heard that a friend had won a few coins at dice. The ripple through the entourage matched his own contented swagger. I shot Renthrette a bewildered glance. Her eyes were narrowed, confused, even surprised, but further speculation was abandoned as the drumming of horse hooves swelled to a deafening pitch. The courtyard before the palace filled with fifty or sixty blond riders, caped with white, fluttering cloaks and armed with silver-tipped lances. As another smattering of polite applause broke out from the a.s.sembly of the steps, I saw one of the riders who was not uniformed as the others. His helm was full and great horns grew menacingly from each side. He bore a heavy axe, a round, crimson shield, and sat astride a great white charger. His face was pale, almost white, and his hair, when he removed the great and terrifying helm, was short and brownish. He glanced toward us and his eyes shone green as emeralds.

"Garnet!" I exclaimed. Renthrette was already running toward her brother, who swung himself to earth easily, smiling. There they embraced as the unit's captain ascended the stairs and bowed to Sorrail. I left them to their reports and hurried after Renthrette.

"h.e.l.l's teeth," I exclaimed, laughing aloud. "I never thought I'd be this pleased to see you!"

"Likewise," he grinned over his sister's shoulder. He extended his strong, thin hand and I clasped it briefly.

"I had heard you were around," he said, "but we've had no news since you set out to rescue Orgos and Mithos."

"How long have you been here?" asked Renthrette.

"Almost as long as you have, I think. I laid low in the Hide for a couple of days and then took a horse and whatever I could carry and came after you. When I got to the Black Horse I found you had already gone on ahead, but some amba.s.sador chap said he could lead me to you if I served as his escort for a few miles. I'm not sure what happened next. I think I fell asleep in the saddle or something, I don't know. It doesn't really make any sense, but when I woke I was in sight of this place and there was no sign of the amba.s.sador. I've been here ever since and, after Sorrail brought news of the rest of the party, I've been riding with the armies of Phasdreille against goblin encampments this side of the river."

"Any sign of Lisha?" Renthrette asked.

"None," said Garnet. "I don't really know where we are, let alone where she might be. Until Sorrail arrived, I thought I was by myself. Still," he added with a smile at the hors.e.m.e.n around him, "there are worse places to be. I mean, I missed you all and everything, but this place ... It's just so, I don't know, right right. It's like I should have been born here, or something. G.o.d, Renthrette, you are going to love it here. You'll never want to leave."

This last remark troubled me. Don't get me wrong: You couldn't fault the city. It gleamed with n.o.bility and courage and light and truth and, well, fairness fairness in every sense. In other words, it made concrete all that Garnet and Renthrette lived for. Here they were no longer the principled few struggling against a dark, self-interested, and vicious world. Here they were part of the majority and could be vicious on its behalf. Nor, I had to admit, could I really fault Sorrail. He was everything he had first seemed to be, and if Renthrette looked at him as the best thing since cold steel, I could hardly blame her. I had been a little confused by his odd, courtly greeting to us earlier and by the perfectly decked out little band that had been hanging on his exquisitely tailored coattails, but I suppose that was just the way things worked here. No, nothing had really shaken my faith in the place or its people but Garnet's rapturous enthusiasm for them. in every sense. In other words, it made concrete all that Garnet and Renthrette lived for. Here they were no longer the principled few struggling against a dark, self-interested, and vicious world. Here they were part of the majority and could be vicious on its behalf. Nor, I had to admit, could I really fault Sorrail. He was everything he had first seemed to be, and if Renthrette looked at him as the best thing since cold steel, I could hardly blame her. I had been a little confused by his odd, courtly greeting to us earlier and by the perfectly decked out little band that had been hanging on his exquisitely tailored coattails, but I suppose that was just the way things worked here. No, nothing had really shaken my faith in the place or its people but Garnet's rapturous enthusiasm for them.

You see, Garnet is about the worst judge of pretty much anything that I have ever come across. He couldn't tell a pint of stout from a cream sherry, and if he ever swore that someone was a great fellow, said fellow would probably slip something lethal in your pint (or sherry) before the night was out. This isn't just sour grapes on my part. Garnet and I have not always seen eye to eye, I confess, but he can be very useful to have around. If you need someone hacked to pieces, he's your man. Tell him that the friendly stranger across the room made a lewd remark about his sister, hand him an axe, then sit back and watch the fun. But a.n.a.lyze something and come to a shrewd conclusion? When camels write poetry.

Garnet is a terrible reader. I don't mean he couldn't pick up a menu and spot the salad; in fact, like his sister, he could wade through the most complex legal doc.u.ments and figure out their details with alarming rigor and clearheadedness. What he couldn't do was read between between the lines. Just like Renthrette, who had told me that the apparition in the forest hadn't the lines. Just like Renthrette, who had told me that the apparition in the forest hadn't meant meant anything, Garnet took things at face value. Neither of them looked too closely or asked too many questions, since that took valuable time away from getting their weapons b.l.o.o.d.y. They would leave this place and its rosy hue uncriticized because it offered such a neat solution to all their ethical problems. Here goodness was built in the stone of the city and the flesh of its people; across the river was evil. Their mission was clear. anything, Garnet took things at face value. Neither of them looked too closely or asked too many questions, since that took valuable time away from getting their weapons b.l.o.o.d.y. They would leave this place and its rosy hue uncriticized because it offered such a neat solution to all their ethical problems. Here goodness was built in the stone of the city and the flesh of its people; across the river was evil. Their mission was clear.

Too clear for a charlatan, actor, dramatist, cheat, and liar like me to swallow without at least looking more closely at the label.

But what really burned me up was that they seemed to be right.

The royal palace came alive before dawn. Unfortunately, since we were due to meet the king today, that meant that the banging on the door at half past five in the b.l.o.o.d.y morning was supposed to be taken seriously. The journey had taken its toll and I had slept like a particularly exhausted log right until Garnet started bludgeoning my door down.

I crawled over, threw the bolt, and admitted him with a sour grunt. He was dressed in burnished armor that, even in this miserably low light, sparkled like a box of mirrors. He wore a tunic of immaculate white linen and a matching cloak. He was cradling his great horned helm in his arm and beaming like he'd just found a bag of gold in an alley. Or at least, that's what would make me beam like an idiot. I couldn't imagine, especially with my brain still fogged with sleep, what could make him so happy short of meeting the goblin king (if there was one) in single combat.

"Ready?" he chirped.

"Hardly," I muttered, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and clambering irritably into a pair of trousers. "Do we have to meet him so b.l.o.o.d.y early? Couldn't we, like, have lunch together or something?"

"No."

"Dinner, then?"

"No," said Garnet, still cheery and indulgent with that schoolboy exuberance that occasionally takes the place of his homicidal n.o.bility. "That's not the way of things here. But you'll see. This is going to be one of the most fantastic days in your life, Will. Just wait till you see the court: the clothes, the sophistication. I could listen to them talk for hours."

"Who?"

"The courtiers," he laughed, like he was a.s.suring a four-year-old about how good a piece of chocolate was going to taste. "You'll be in your element."

"Right," I agreed hollowly, suspecting the chocolate was really spinach.

"Come on, Will. Are you going to put a shirt on?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed, parodying his childlike excitement. "That would be a wheeze."

I dressed, irritably.

"You're wearing that? that?" said Garnet, with a sour look.

"Evidently," I said, checking to be sure. "Why?"

"Don't you have anything ... you know, cla.s.sier?" cla.s.sier?"

"I thought we were adventurers," I said. "These are adventurers' clothes. Shirt and britches. Leather belt. Some bits of ring mail here and there to denote manly purpose. I thought you'd approve."

"Weren't you wearing them yesterday?"

"I was indeed," I agreed. "We adventurers are hardy folk. But the britches are fairly clean and the shirt is not actually unpleasant. Yet. Maybe when the day heats up a little ..."

"Can't you wash them?" said Garnet, like someone's grandmother.

"Not now, and I didn't have time last night. If I'd known you cared so much I wouldn't have bothered sleeping at all, then I could have spent the night running something up in pink satin and lace."

"Well, at least wash yourself. Here."

He tossed me a piece of soap shaped like a seash.e.l.l. I sniffed at it suspiciously. It smelled of rose petals, only stronger and powerfully sweet.

"It's wonderful," Garnet said. "All produced locally, I hear. There's quite a lot of soap around. They are a very clean people. They bathe daily. It's a sign of spiritual purity. But it's not just about being clean; it's also about elegance. Look how intricately that has been molded," he said, nodding at the sh.e.l.l-shaped soap, "and smell the fragrance!"

"Yes," I scowled. "Very nice. And the next time I want to go round stinking like an expensive wh.o.r.e I'll put it straight to use."

"Just get a move on," he snapped. "And brush your hair."

And so we left, him in front, striding off and making pleasant little bows every time someone pa.s.sed, me straggling after him, doing up b.u.t.tons and cursing quietly to myself.

We entered a large room, flagged with black and white marble like a chessboard and arranged with padded chairs and benches. There were torches and lanterns everywhere and it was like daylight inside, except for the wreath of smoke that hung about the ceiling. It was packed with men and women in silks and satins and jewels, many seated or reclining elegantly on pieces of furniture that looked like chairs with pretensions to couch-hood. Others were poised artistically against columns or leaning with studied nonchalance on mantelpieces. And all were engaged in hushed conversation. Occasionally there would be a ripple of laughter or a soft pattering of polite applause from restrained, gloved hands. Somewhere a wistfully plucked harp was accompanying a woman singing in a high, lilting tone about a lovelorn shepherdess.

"What the h.e.l.l is this?" I breathed to Garnet.

"It's a waiting room."

"What are all these people doing?"

"Waiting," he said, as if this was self-evident.

"For?"

"A summons from his lordship the king."

"And us?" I pressed, losing patience.

"We wait, too."

"Hold it," I whispered, venomously. "Are you telling me that you dragged me out of bed before c.o.c.kcrow so that I could stand around with this bunch of overdressed cretins for an hour?"

"More," he said.

"What?"

"More than an hour. Probably several. But being here is half the fun."

I gave him an oblique look. Was this a perverse brand of humor I had never glimpsed in my generally surly companion?