"Horses are sort of fun, aren't they?" Red-Beard said. "And they do move a lot faster than we can."
"That's the good part of the task Commander Narasan dropped on me. Bent-Nose does all the running and these two sailors do the rowing. All I have to do is sit."
Red-Beard smirked. "I wouldn't spread that around too much, Keselo," he said. "If other men find out how easy life becomes when you've got a horse, they might decide to poach old Bent-Nose from you, and you'll go back to walking." He looked across the bay at the shoreline. "I sort of hate to admit this," he admitted, "but this sloop moves almost as fast as my canoe."
"I saw you and Longbow moving back and forth out in the bay of Lattash," Keselo replied. "You were both going very fast, but I'm not sure I'd care to ride in a boat made of tree-bark."
"The tribes of Zelana's Domain have been using tree-bark canoes for a long, long time, Keselo. You wouldn't want to drop a heavy rock into one of them, but they move very fast and very quiet. That's important when you're hunting. Where do you usually have your conferences with old Hook-Beak when you get down to temple bay?"
"Sorgan kept one of the ships that carried his army on down to the temple harbor," Keselo replied. "She's named the Ascension, and she serves Sorgan's purposes very well. She gives him a private place to confer with his men without worrying about being overheard, and since there's quite a bit of trickery involved in what he's doing there, privacy's fairly important. It also gives me a place to speak with him without being seen by any of Lady Aracia's priests. Of course, we don't really have to worry about that now, since Sorgan tricked her into sending all of her priests on down to the south wall of the temple to help the Maags build defenses to hold off their imaginary enemies—maybe not quite all that imaginary now, though. Veltan's been able to conjure up images of bug-things so awful that even the Maags are about half afraid of them."
The sloop heeled over sharply when they reached open water and the two sailors who'd been manning the oars stood up and reset the sails.
"Sorgan thinks of everything, doesn't he?" Red-Beard suggested.
"Actually, he listens well. Most of these deceptions come from men like Rabbit or Torl. Sorgan polishes them a bit and then waves them in Aracia's face."
Red-Beard was staring at the shoreline. "This baby really moves," he said. "Trying to keep up with her would probably sprain my shoulders if I was in my canoe."
"It's the sail, Red-Beard," Keselo explained. "Why strain yourself if the wind's doing all the work?"
It was about mid-afternoon on a cold, cloudy day when the sloop hauled into the harbor of what Keselo called temple-town, and the two skilled sailors rowed the sloop up alongside a large, squared-off Trogite ship anchored alone in the harbor. As Red-Beard probably should have anticipated, Sorgan and Veltan were standing at the rail of the Ascension watching. Red-Beard straightened and looked up at the two friends. "Zelana and Dahlaine sent me down here to advise you two that the archers of Old-Bear's tribe are in place at the upper end of Long-Pass," he called up to them.
"Come on board, Red-Beard—and you too, Keselo," Sorgan told them. "Let's avoid all this shouting back and forth. Aracia seems to be improving, but let's not get her started again."
Red-Beard and Keselo climbed up the rope ladder and joined Sorgan and Veltan on the deck of the Ascension. Then Sorgan led them all into the oversized cabin at the stern, where Rabbit and Torl were waiting.
"Will I get to see these imaginary bugs you've been showing Aracia?" Red-Beard asked Veltan.
"They couldn't be much better," Veltan replied. "My big sister's finally come to her senses, and she ordered all her priests to go help the Maags."
"They're in the way, naturally," Rabbit said, "but at least they're out of the throne room, so Queen Aracia doesn't have to listen to them all day every day."
"Is she really buying that story about invading bugs?" Red-Beard asked.
"Veltan's images look pretty real—out in the open where everybody can see them—for like maybe a half a minute or so," Sorgan's cousin Torl replied.
"I don't really want them to be in sight for very long," Veltan explained. "My sister's chubby priests wouldn't know a bug from a cow, but we don't want Aracia herself to look at them too closely or too long. Aracia's starting to come to her senses, and she knows what the bug-people really look like. If she smells this hoax of ours, her head might start to come apart, and she'll go back to being adored. That's the last thing we want. She's finally come to realize that her priests are totally worthless, and we want to keep it that way. We'll let her catch brief glimpses of our imaginary bug-people, but 'brief is the important word right now."
Then Keselo looked at Red-Beard. "I haven't been that far up the pass for quite a while now," he said. "You just came down the pass, friend Red-Beard. How many forts are in place now?"
"Eight, if I counted right," Red-Beard replied, "and there are several others being constructed right now. I'd say that poor old Mama Vlagh's going to lose a lot of puppies this time out."
"What a shame," Sorgan replied sardonically.
"We could send her a note of sympathy, Captain Hook-Beak," Keselo suggested, "but I don't think she knows how to read—or just exactly what a note is. She might just crumple it up and eat it."
Sorgan squinted. "I don't suppose that anybody happened to bring any poison with him," he said.
"We should be able to come up with something that'll kill her—or at least make her terribly sick," Red-Beard added.
"Don't rush me," Sorgan said. "I'm working on it."
"Squint-Eye and Gimpy weren't keeping very close track of all the priests Aracia sent down to the south wall to help them," Sorgan was saying the following morning after breakfast on board the Ascension, "so there was quite a bit of sneaking back to the main temple going on. The ordinary priests were more interested in getting something to eat besides beans, but the priestess Alcevan was still trying to send young priests there to kill Lillabeth."
"You said what?" Red-Beard demanded.
"We've got it all under control, Red-Beard," Rabbit said. "There are several priests who are terrified by the coming change-over. They know that Aracia will be going off to sleep before long, and then Enalla will take over. They're quite sure that Enalla will abolish the priesthood and order them to tear down the temple. This Alcevan priestess is a newcomer, and she's positive that if Lillabeth dies, so will Enalla, and Aracia will have to stay awake. There were a few attempts before Aracia sent all of her priests off to the south wall to help build the fort. Alcevan was sending novice priests back to the main temple to kill Aracia's Dreamer every chance she had, but we put a stop to that."