Chapter 14: No Moon At All

"Do you think that Neal is all right?" Amy sounded as worried as she looked. It was growing late, and Neal was still with Prince Arragin.

"I'm sure that he can take care of himself," Jewel reassured her, then stiffened as she heard a faint scratching from the back of their tent. A hand signal alerted Amy, and their knives glistened in the flickering lamplight.

"Stand easy," a hoarse whisper cautioned. "Remember me?"

"Jal?" It was Amy who first recognized the burly soldier who squirmed in under the back edge of the tent. "Jal of Borresk?"

"It's me all right, but keep it low, will you? There's too many big ears around here what's got flapping tongues attached. You've got yourselves in a real tough spot, this time."

"You mean Dalliktan?" Amy's whisper was very soft, her expression worried.

"Yeah, but not just him. Prince Arragin's just as bad. They've been poking and prodding at each other all along, each one just waiting for a chance to make trouble for the other one. Dalliktan's afraid that Arragin's got himself ambitions in the direction of the throne, and he's probably right. Dalliktan's solid behind the King. He'll do anything he can to pull the Prince down, and Arragin knows it." Jal dusted himself off, sitting down where his shadow wouldn't fall on the tent wall. "He's cooking up some kind of trouble, but I don't know what it is. I'm not in too good a position to try and find out right now, neither."

"Why are you worried," Jewel asked. "Whose side are you on, and how come you're here in camp instead of dead, or hiding out in the woods someplace?"

"Me and a few of my buddies saw right away how the fighting was going. We saw our chance and scrammed for the woods, and stayed hid out until the last of the ships had left for Harbassass with Prince Arragin's wounded soldiers and prisoners. Then, as soon as it looked safe, we came in and surrendered. Said we'd been out on patrol. Arragin signed us up into his army, and here we are. Why am I worried? That's another story. Did you find a lump in your stew, this morning?"

"And if we did?"

"That was from me. The MotherGoddess has more friends than you might guess, and the word's been passed to help you folks out. Besides, if Arragin and Dalliktan do get into it with each other, it could be that the Prince will be forced to wind up on Her side."

"I wouldn't count on it." Jewel smiled, a wry twist of her full lips. "Prince Arragin doesn't care much for women of any kind. Big, muscular men are what get to him."

"Yeah, I've heard stories. Oh, you mean like Nurm? You could have a real problem there all right, not that it's anything too unusual with the old nobility. We'll just have to hope that Nurm can take care of himself."

"So, what else have you learned about Dalliktan's plans?" Jewel reluctantly changed the subject away from what was really worrying her the most.

"Mostly, just that he's a real little monster, even worse than what he looks like. Try to stay as far away from him as you can. Big or little, a mad kingshark would be safer to tangle with. His followers have been just a little too cocky, lately. It's like they was just waiting for a good excuse to cut Arragin down to size. It's got something to do with that temple of his, up on the hill."

"Yes, we saw it when we took the grand tour."

"The temple's right up on the top, in that clump of trees. Me and a few of my friends have been doing some scouting, but we can't get near enough during the day to do any good. At night, we might be able to do something, but it's too hard to get out of the camp, past the sentries."

"What do you think he's hiding?"

"I don't know, but it seems like even his own priests are scared of it. I've heard rumors, of course, but it's mostly just been a few of the younger priests muttering to each other about demons and 'the wrath of the Old God.' Then they go kind of greenish around the gills, and shut up real quick."

"I've got a hunch that this could be really important. Maybe I'd better take a look for myself at what they've got hidden up there." Jewel frowned at the shadows cast on the tent wall by the lamp as it flickered, running low on oil. She had no inkling of why she needed to find out about this thing, she only knew with a sure knowledge that it was something that had to be done. "There's plenty of time for me to scout it out and be back before sunup, and I'm the best one of us here for the job."

"But... !"

"You can't!" Amy protested. "Let one of us go, instead."

"I'm going." Jewel cut their protests short. "With my dark skin and hair, I'm hard to see at night, and I'm betting that I can see in the dark better than either of you two." Holding the blade of Jal's knife in the flame of the lamp, she blackened it with soot. A length of soft dark fur made a cloak to cover her brown tunic, and she was ready. "I'll try to make it back here before dawn. If I don't make it in time, I'll hide out in the woods until tomorrow night and then sneak in past the sentries after dark."

"And if the priests catch you?" Amy's voice was unsteady.

"We'll just hope that they don't, but it could happen. If I don't come back, don't try to rescue me, you'd just be throwing your own lives away for no good reason."

As Jewel expected, avoiding the sentries was child's play; they were watching the camp's boundaries for intruders, not for escapees from the camp. The time that had passed since they had anything to watch out for also played a part in soothing the nerves of the patrolling soldiers. Once away from the camp she circled around to approach the temple hill from one side, moving easily through the darkness under a sky filled with stars.

"Good thing this world doesn't have a moon," she muttered as she climbed the hill. "It's too light for comfort, as is."

The ground was rough at first, its natural contours further distorted by holes where stumps had been grubbed out. Some attempts had been made to smooth the dirt, but they hadn't accomplished much. Once in among the remaining trees the going was easier and she was again just another shadow, darkness moving through darkness.

The temple was less imposing up close than it had been from a distance. As far as she could see it was simply a rough structure of hewn logs, with no attempt at beauty or even particularly good workmanship. She estimated its size as being thirty feet on a side, with no windows in the back or either side wall. The front was mostly one huge doorway that gaped darkly. Dirt was banked loosely against the inwardsloping sides of the building, and she had no trouble climbing to the roof. Nothing there either, she found. Nothing but a slanting roof of logs covered with dirt and a heavy blanket of sod.

This was a temple? She shook her head in disgust. It was like none she had ever seen or heard about. Jal had mentioned guards, but the woods seemed to be deserted. Nobody was about, she would swear to that. Only the normal night sounds troubled the air. Maybe the temple really was deserted. Could Dalliktan have feared Arragin's wrath enough to have fled? Not too likely; hardly even probable.