Free Swords: 08 - The Fifth Book Of Lost Swords - Coinspinner’s Story by Fred Saberhagen Page B

up tiles. Just to scout things out.”
           “Sure.”
           Beginning a clockwise circuit, the two young people walked closer to the Temple. As the angle from which they viewed it changed, the building began to take on a look of considerable deformity. From within the Temple’s several doorways, all dark but wide open, issued sounds that made the young Prince think vaguely of some huge spinning mechanism, and also of a crowd of humanity all speaking in low and urgent voices.
           Not that there was any crowd to be discovered when Trilby and Adrian peered over the hedge bordering the park, trying to see into the Temple’s main entrance. Where once, no doubt, some eager throngs of customers and worshippers had passed, unmarked dust had drifted on the pavement, and small plants were growing here and there. There was no visible trace of human presence.
           In the direction of the Red Temple, the indications and auras of magic, subtle and faintly ominous, were even more numerous than elsewhere in the City. But all the traces were weak and old; there was nothing that suggested clear and present danger.
           They paused to study the statues and carvings on the Temple wall, showing the usual copulations and debauchery.
           Adrian’s companion, her head on one side, was taking time to consider the art critically.
           “I intend to remain a virgin,” said Trilby at last, speaking as if more to herself than to her companion. “For the foreseeable future.”
           Maintaining virginity was a frequent goal, Adrian knew, among both males and females who intended to devote their lives, or at least their youth, to magic. He was still a year or so too young to have to confront this as a personal decision; now he only nodded and moved slowly on.
           “We’d better go slow,” said Trilby, rather unnecessarily, as they turned away from the border hedge, back into the innocent-appearing parkland.
           “Right. Take out time to scout this place, and do it properly.” Adrian felt vaguely reassured that Trilby now shared his growing reluctance to be hurried into any aspect of their mission before they could think it out thoroughly in advance.
           The park was more or less centered on a pool formed by the small river’s encounter with a low dam. Over this barrier, no more than a couple of meters high, the water rushed with a continuous if muted roar.
           “That’s not as loud as it might be,” Trilby commented.
           “Magic?” Adrian asked.
           “Magic?” repeated Trilby. Then with a shake of her head she answered her own question. “Well, of course it’s magic. At least to some extent. Like everything else we’ve come across today.”
           Bordering on the pool was the paved square from which they were expected to remove a tile. Again things were not quite as Adrian had thought to find them. It was as if the soil had somehow been extracted from underneath, and the surface from which the tile would have to be removed was concave, with its lowest central portion under half a meter or more of standing water, at about the level of the surface of the nearby pool. This encroachment of the pool was evidently not a purely recent or temporary development. Furry-looking green plants of various sizes, thriving in this damp environment, grew over much of the exposed pavement and through the water, adding at least one more minor obstacle to the job of tile removal.
           “Wow!” said Adrian suddenly, ceasing to be a coolly detached investigator.
           “What is it?”
           Probing with his powers as best he could into the earth directly beneath the pavement, Adrian confirmed what he had just detected there. “What a pool of energy. Could I ever raise an elemental here!”
           Trilby looked at him with interest. “Are you going to try it?”
           “No,