Free The Hidden City by David Eddings Page A

it.’ Berit gently explored his new face with cringing fingertips, wincing as he did.
    â€˜I
still
can’t tell them apart,’ Kalten marveled, staring first at Berit and then at Sparhawk.
    â€˜That was sort of the idea,’ Sparhawk told him.
    â€˜Which one are you?’
    â€˜Try to be serious, Kalten.’
    â€˜Now that we know how it’s done, we can make some other changes as well,’ Sephrenia told them. ‘We’ll give you all different faces so that you’ll be able to move around freely –
and
we’ll put men wearing
your
faces here in the palace. I think we can all expect to be watched, even after the Harvest Festival, and this should nullify that particular problem.’
    â€˜We can make more detailed plans later,’ Vanion said. ‘Let’s get Berit and Khalad on their way first. What’s the customary route when someone wants to go overland from here to Beresa?’ He unrolled a map and spread it out on the table.
    â€˜Most travelers go by sea,’ Oscagne replied, but those who don’t usually cross the peninsula to Micae and then take a ship across the gulf to the mainland.’
    â€˜There don’t seem to be any roads over there,’ Vanion frowned, looking at the map.
    â€˜It’s a relatively uninhabited region, Lord Vanion,’ Oscagne shrugged, ‘salt marshes and the like. What few tracks there are wouldn’t show up on the map.’
    â€˜Do the best you can,’ Vanion told the two young men. ‘Once you get past the Tamul Mountains, you’ll hit that road that skirts the western side of the jungle.’
    â€˜I’d make a special point of staying out of those mountains, Berit,’ Ulath advised. ‘There are Trolls there now.’
    Berit nodded.
    â€˜You’d better have a talk with Faran, Sparhawk,’ Khalad suggested. ‘I don’t think he’ll be fooled just because Berit’s wearing your face, and Berit’s going to have to ride him if this is going to be convincing.’
    â€˜I’d forgotten that,’ Sparhawk admitted.
    â€˜I thought you might have.’
    â€˜All right then,’ Vanion continued his instructions to the two young men, ‘follow that road down to Lydros, then take the road round the southern tip of Arjuna toBeresa. That’s the logical route, and they’ll probably be expecting you to go that way.’
    That’s going to take quite a while, Lord Vanion,’ Khalad said.
    â€˜I know. Evidently Krager and his friends want it to. If they were in a hurry, they’d have instructed Sparhawk to go by sea.’
    â€˜Give Berit your wife’s ring, Sparhawk,’ Flute instructed.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Zalasta can sense the ring, and if he can, Cyrgon can, too – and Klæl will
definitely
feel it. If you don’t give Berit the ring, changing his face was just a waste of time.’
    â€˜You’re putting Berit and Khalad in a great deal of danger,’ Sephrenia said critically.
    â€˜That’s what we get paid for, little mother,’ Khalad shrugged.
    â€˜I’ll watch over them,’ Aphrael assured her sister. She looked critically at Berit. ‘Call me,’ she told him.
    â€˜Ma’am?’
    â€˜Use the spell, Berit,’ she explained with exaggerated patience. ‘I want to be sure you’re doing it right.’
    â€˜Oh.’ Berit carefully enunciated the spell of summoning, his hands moving in the intricate accompanying gestures.
    â€˜You mispronounced
“Kajerasticon”
,’ she corrected him.
    Sephrenia was trying without much success to suppress a laugh.
    â€˜What’s so funny?’ Talen asked her.
    â€˜Sir Berit’s pronunciations raised some questions about his meaning,’ Stragen explained.
    â€˜What did he say?’ Talen asked curiously.
    â€˜Just never mind what he said,’ Flute told him primly. ‘We’re not here to