Read The Seventh Gate (The Seven Citadels ) for Free Online Page B

and the nearby
groups of towers seemed deserted.
    “Are there always so few people in Azanac?”
Gwerath shouted against the wind.
    Neeris nodded. “The Goddess demands that
there always be one Khan or Prince to honor her in Azanac. Most of them come
for no more than one month in three years. My Lord is different.”
    Before Gwerath could ask her why, Neeris
had turned her back and continued along the footbridge.
    Once inside the First Tower again, Gwerath
was struck by the noise. The wooden walls and floors of the upper chambers were
so thin that every sound carried.
    “How can you bear to live so close to each
other?” she demanded.
    “Oh, it is so much better than the
emptiness of the great Halls of Orze,” said Neeris. “Here, you need never feel
alone!”
    Gwerath remembered that when she was left
alone with Forollkin and as he came to meet her, whispered, “Where's
Gidjabolgo?”
    “Why? Are you disappointed to find only me?”
    “No! I thought he could . . . Oh, you're
teasing me.”
    Forollkin smiled. “You're easy to tease and
I like to watch you prickle, like a marsh kitten refusing to be stroked.
Gidjabolgo is listening to anyone who will talk, and trying to find out about
the temple where Kerish is held.”
    “The Khan will soon free him.”
    “We can't be sure of that.”
    “If O-grak has said he will do something,
we can be sure of it.”
    “The Khan seems to have found an admirer.”
Forollkin sat down on one of the bedrolls that were the small room's only
furnishings. “I shall never understand women.”
    “I am not women. I am Gwerath.”
    Forollkin stared up at her. “ When we met,
it troubled me that you didn't fit my idea of what women were like, but now...”
    “How many women were there before me? I
mean...”
    “I know what you mean,” said Forollkin
hastily, “er...customs are different in Galkis and what's past is past...”
    “I have never loved anyone but you.”
    “And I...”
    A curious expression clouded Forollkin's
face and he stopped speaking.
    “You were going to say that you had never
loved anyone else either, but it wouldn't be true. I do mind about the Queen,
but I mean to make you forget her.”
    Gwerath knelt down to kiss him. Forollkin
kissed her back but they broke apart when a cough from the sentry just outside
reminded them how little privacy they had.
    “Do you think we'll be ransomed?” asked
Gwerath.
    “If the Khan negotiates with Jerenac, the
Governor of Jenoza, then yes, but if he deals directly with the Emperor . . .
Rimoka would rather have us killed than freed. Even if we are returned to
Galkis, it may only be a brief respite. .The whole Empire is at war.”
    “My people are warriors, I am not afraid,”
said Gwerath, but her hands were twisting the silk of her skirt.
    “I should be afraid for you,” answered
Forollkin. “Gwerath . . .”
    “No! Don't send me away! I don't want to be
safe. I want to be with you, whatever happens.”
    Forollkin pulled her towards him and
stroked her silver hair. “I won't send you away. I promise.”
     
    *****
     
    Kerish was determined not to lie down
again. He circled the chamber, tracing the joins between the great boulders
with his fingertips. The workmanship was crude but there was nothing profane
about its ugliness. The temple seemed a natural thing, a hill of shadows; but
was the darkness to hide the forbidden beauty of the Goddess or to imprison it?
    Kerish wished he knew more about the Men of
the Five Kingdoms. In Galkis they were simply thought of as the barbarians at
the other end of the sword. He tried to remember everything about his brief
meetings with Khan O-grak. `My word on it, Prince, for your brothers the
sword, but for you, soft captivity.'  Where he had once threatened slavery,
the Khan now seemed to hint at freedom, but why? If it was only a fat ransom
that O-grak wanted, he must know that with the Emperor Ka-Litraan and Lord
Izeldon both dead, there was little chance of payment.  It was