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"THERE THEY ARE," FINN said. "The great gates of Gilgin." The gates, with their twin towers, loomed in the distance. The Inquisitional Palace, rising into the sky, was the only thing visible of the city behind them. The noon sun shimmered on the road ahead. From his hiding place in a copse off the side of the road, Finn watched an oxcart bearing two barrels of ale ride up to the intersection and turn towards the city. Henge and Elina lay at his sides.
The past day and a half had been a mad rush for Gilgin. At first, their main concern had been getting away from Roldin's garrison. Then, as they drew closer to Gilgin, keeping Henge out of sight became the biggest worry. They had taken several detours through forests to avoid villages, which had taken them hours out of the way. If Ragnur had guessed they were making for Gilgin, then he would be close behind them.
"How are we getting in?" Henge asked.
A group of monks came down the road from Gilgin and turned left.
"We can't," Elina said. "There's too much traffic on the road here to get in unnoticed."
"We could try sneaking in somewhere else," Henge said. "The southern gate used to get a lot less traffic."
Finn shook his head. "The southern gate is indeed less used, but is by no means deserted."
"You're a soldier from here," Elina said. "You must know some less well-known ways into and out of the city."
"I do," Finn said, "but it would take too long to get there from here. And I don't think the owners of those passages would look kindly on a Manhir walking through their entrances."
"We can rule out sneaking in, then," Henge said. "Do you have another idea?"
"I'm working on it."
"We could try hiding in a cart," Elina said. "Like the brewer's cart that passed us earlier."
Henge scraped his hand over his head. "I'm not sure I'd fit. And what are the odds of a suitable cart passing us in the next few hours?"
Elina sank to the ground. "I knew this was a bad idea."
"There's always a way," Finn said encouragingly. "We just don't know it yet."
"How do people normally get in?" Henge asked.
Finn looked up. "What do you mean?"
"Say you're a regular person planning to do some shopping in Gilgin. How would you get in?"
"You'd simply walk through the gates and go about your business."
"So they're just standing open, and anyone can go through?" Henge asked.
"There are some guards at the gate who keep an eye on things, but generally anyone who looks reputable or wealthy enough can get in."
Henge rubbed his chin.
"What are you thinking?" Finn asked.
Henge started grinning.
"No," Elina said. "No way."
Henge's grin widened. "That's exactly what I'm thinking."
"You can't just walk in there like it's the most normal thing in the world," Elina protested.
"We'd have the element of surprise," Finn noted.
"You can't seriously be considering this!"
"Think about it," Finn said. "The guards will never have seen a real Manhir before. If Henge carries me, then we can be at the gates before the guards realize what's going on."
"You're crazy, both of you." Elina looked from Henge to Finn and back. "How are we going to get out again?"
"We'll figure that out once we get there."
Henge shrugged. "It's not like we have any other options left. It's either go now, or leave and find a place to hide."
"I understand if you don't want to come," Finn said to Elina. "The Inquisition doesn't know who you are. Just disappear, and you'll be fine."
Elina looked shocked. "No! We're in this together. If you both agree that this is the best option, then I'll follow your lead."
"This is the best option I can see," Henge said. Finn nodded in agreement.
Elina stood. "Fine. Let's get this over with, then."
They waited until the road was clear before moving out, marching side by side towards the gates of Gilgin. The central gate rose to twice Henge's height, and three carts could ride abreast through them. To either side, two smaller gates offered foot traffic and handcarts access into the city. Two towers rose to the sky on either side of the gatehouse. The brewer's cart, which had passed them earlier, stood in the shadow of the towers with four guards talking to the driver. Another cart waited in line behind it.
They came within bowshot of the gates. From here to the walls, there was no more cover. Finn's heart hammered in his chest. He wore a determined grin. He looked up at Henge. "Shall we?"
Henge nodded.
"You take the two guards on the left," Finn said. "I'll focus on the guards on the right. Elina can come after and help whoever needs it."
Elina sighed. "Sure. Let's go."
Henge went down on one knee. Finn slung his axe on his back and scrambled onto the Manhir's back. He pressed his face against the warm, smooth surface and held tight as Henge broke into a trot. Elina ran after them.
The gates loomed above them.
Finn could make out the wording on the barrels, Leif's Dark Ale, when a surprised shout went up from one of the guards. "Hey! What's that?"
Henge leapt and landed on one of the guards to the left of the cart, knocking him to the ground. Finn dropped off Henge's back and ran around the cart, drawing his axe. The two guards there raised their own axes, and Finn attacked the closest one. He jumped aside to avoid Finn's strike. Finn took a swipe at the guard's head, and this time the guard stepped back. He attacked the guard once more, and again the guard retreated.
The guard was drawing him out, Finn realized, to create an opening for his companion to attack Finn's rear. Finn feigned a strike at the guard, spun around, and launched a series of strikes at the second guard. He managed to block the strikes, but was forced back against the brewer's cart. This gave Finn the opening he needed. He swung at the guard's head. When the expected block came, he pulled his axe back and jabbed his axe-head into the middle of the guard's face. The man crumpled against the cart.
Finn turned, looking for the other guard; he raised his axe just in time to block a swipe that would have taken his head off. The attack unbalanced him, and he stumbled to one knee. The guard pressed his advantage, drawing back his axe for the next attack. Finn saw it coming, but knew he would be too slow to stop it.
The guard collapsed; Elina had struck down the guard with her staff. Finn nodded at her. "Thanks," he gasped in relief. "I was a goner."
She gave him a quick smile.
Henge appeared at the head of the cart. "My side is clear as well. Let's hurry into the city."
Finn hurried towards him. "Can you carry both of us?"
Henge nodded and got down on one knee. Finn clambered back onto Henge's back, and Henge took Elina under one arm. Then he straightened and thundered through the gate into the city.
Gilgin spread out in front of them. A caravan station sat beside the road, recognizable from the smell of donkey manure. A sign on one side of the road announced the Traveler's Inn. The Axe Head lay across the street from it. A man who came out of a side street as they passed gave a shout and jumped back.
"Straight ahead," Finn shouted in Henge's ear. "Keep following the main road."
Henge ran forward, then round a bend and slowed to a stop. Ahead, the road led down a steep incline to the lower parts of Gilgin. From there, it ascended to the Inquisitional Palace presiding high over Gilgin. Turrets and domes adorned the outer façade, the roofs and walls inlaid with lapis lazuli and mother of pearl.
Finn pointed at the palace. "That's our destination. Just stick to the main road."
"I know." Henge's voice shook. "I helped built it." He shook his head. "Now, for the final leg. Let's go!" He sprang in motion and barreled down the road like an avalanche.
The streets were more crowded here. Carts were out on the road, supplying the shops lining the main street. Men and women wandered around, gossiping with friends in the streets or going about their business. All jumped aside when they saw Henge bearing down on them. As they reached the lowest point in Gilgin, a horn rang out. Their pursuers had arrived.
Henge started up the slope towards the Inquisitional Palace. The palace's stone gates, lined with statues of long dead kings and Manhir, stood open. They were halfway up the slope when a unit of soldiers emerged, armed and ready for battle. They had, no doubt, been roused by the horn call. Finn tapped Henge on his shoulder. "Put us down and hide there." Finn pointed to a small alley. "I've got an idea."
Finn ran up the road as soon as Henge was out of sight. He waved his arms and shouted at the soldiers. "Hurry, quick!" He drew up to the front of the unit. "We're under attack! You're needed at the gates!"
The commander at the front of the unit looked at Finn. "Captain Trollarvik? What are you doing here? We were told you'd gone rogue."
"Would I be here if I had?" Finn pointed across the city. "The Rebellion has overrun the gates, dressed as Inquisition troops. My orders were to come get you. We need to hold them before the break into Gilgin proper!"
The commander looked doubtful. "I don't know. Our orders were to guard the palace."
Finn clapped his hands together. "There won't be much of a palace to guard if you wait here. What are you waiting for, Aarno? Hurry!"
The commander nodded. He turned to his unit. "You heard the man. Double time. For Gilgin!"
The unit hurried down the road. Finn waved Elina and Henge over as soon as the unit had passed the alley where Henge and Elina were hiding. Together, they hurried through the gates of the Inquisitional Palace.
The anteroom of the palace was grand. The floor and walls were of polished marble; a corridor where four Manhir could have walked abreast ran straight ahead, deeper into the palace. Arched doorways lined the hallway. Two corridors ran off in different directions, an intersection visible some way down the hall. Curved staircases ran up along the wall to second and third floors.
Henge walked straight ahead to the large corridor. "Follow me. The Vein is this way."
Finn and Elina followed him down the corridor. Statues of past Inquisitional leaders, holding axes or swords, lined the passage. A double oaken door sat at the far end; when he reached it, Henge pushed against the doors, which swung open silently.
They entered a circular room that could hold a hundred people with room to spare. Veins of red rubies spiraled up the walls to a dome high above; a patch of sunlight shone through an opening in the center of the dome. Dozens of arched niches adorned the wall between the ruby veins, running all the way to the top of the room. Each niche contained a large standing stone. A handful of Inquisition flags stood spread around the room, looking small and insignificant in the majestic hall.
"They're all here," Henge said at his side, in a tone of awe.
"Who?" Finn asked.
Henge pointed at the stones lining the wall. "My people."
"What are they doing here?" Finn asked.
"They're hibernating, like I was in the quarry," Henge said. "But I don't know why. They should have woken up long ago."
"Can you wake them?" Finn asked.
"I don't know." Henge walked towards the closest Manhir. "But I'll try."
"I've heard about this place," Elina said from Finn's other side. She walked to the center of the room, staring around the room. "It's the Inquisition's inner sanctum, used in their most sacred ceremonies."
"It's not theirs," Henge said over his shoulder, standing next to a Manhir. "We found it and built this palace around it just before the Ochloroc War started. The crystals amplify magic here, making it flow stronger. It's what powered Gilgin's defenses. The only new things here are the flags and that seal you're standing on."
Finn looked at his feet. A round disk three feet across lay in the middle of the room, depicting a person standing above a Manhir.
Shouts came down the corridor. "Hurry up and wake your friends," Finn said. "We've got company." He grabbed a flagpole and ran to the doors. He slammed them shut and wedged the flagpole between the handles.
Finn looked over his shoulder. Henge still stood in front of one of the Manhir, Elina at his side. He was running his hands over the stone and whispering to it.
Someone pushed against the doors. Finn heard a curse on the other side, and leaned his weight into them. Something slammed into the doors with an echoing BOOM. The flagpole groaned. "Think faster!" Finn shouted. "I can't hold them for long."
More shouting came from the other side of the door. Something slammed into the doors again. A couple of splinters broke off the flagpole.
"I can't reach them," Henge said mournfully. "Something's blocking them."
"Can I help?" Elina asked.
"It's like with the rock I showed you," Henge said. "They each have their own spark. Just a nudge should wake them."
Elina walked over to the next Manhir. She placed the palms of her hands against it and laid her ear against its chest.
The soldiers on the other side of the door slammed into it again. The doors gave Finn a nudge. The flagpole was held together by just a couple of strands of wood now. They would get through on their next push.
Finn pulled out the flagpole and jumped back. "Keep trying!" he called to Henge and Elina as he drew his axe. "I'll hold them off as long as I can."
On the other side of the room, Henge was humming something unintelligible.
The door burst open and two soldiers tumbled into the room. They fell to Finn's axe. Finn strode to the center of the doorway, axe at the ready. He blocked one man's strike, and another's. The soldiers in the corridor attacked him from both sides, and tried to get around him. Finn lashed out at a man in the corridor; his blow glanced of the soldier's vambrace.
He cast a quick look over his shoulder. Nothing had happened. Henge stood in the center of the room. There he sat on one knee, with one hand splayed in the middle of the Inquisitional seal. "Hurry!" Finn urged him.
A soldier attacked him in a flurry of blows. Finn was forced a step back, and then another. He parried the next blow and struck at the soldier, who jumped back. Finn swung his axe in wide arcs in front of him, keeping the entrance clear.
Someone blocked Finn's axe with a shield. The force of his blow shattered the top of the shield, but the break in his rhythm gave another soldier the opportunity to jump through the doorway. He quickly circled around to Finn's back; Finn half turned to keep him in view. This opened the doorway to more soldiers. Finn had no choice but to abandon the doorway. He gave a wild swing at the soldier behind him, forcing the man to leap aside.
Finn ran to Henge at the center of the room. "They're in!"
Elina turned and joined Henge as well as the Manhir looked up. When he saw the soldiers pouring through the doorway, surrounding them, he stood. "Any luck?" Finn asked between breaths.
"No," Henge said. "There is no magic flowing here. I can't reach them or the Vein."
Elina shook her head in frustration.
They put their backs to each other, facing the ring of soldiers around them. The guards hesitated to attack them, eyeing the towering Manhir.
Ragnur walked in then, and stopped just outside the ring of guards. "I'm both impressed with how far you've gotten and disappointed with what you have done, Finn," the old man pronounced. "There is nothing I can do for you anymore, lad. The penalty for aiding a Manhir is dismemberment. You should have just vanished. This was all pointless. The Inquisition sealed the Manhir away long ago."
Finn looked around. There had to be some escape somewhere. He tightened his grip on his axe. "You're lying," Henge stated.
"Just look at your feet," Ragnur sneered. "Our seal amidst all these Manhir is proof enough of the Inquisition's power."
Henge started laughing. It was a deep, rumbling sound. "Proof? I recognize my people's work when I see it. That seal wasn't made by the Inquisition!"
"What?" Finn glanced up at Henge. Why would the Manhir add a seal to the Vein of the Gods?
"Enough," Ragnur said. "I will not let you poison any more minds, Manhir. Arrest them."
One soldier jumped at Henge, swinging his axe. Henge deflected the strike with his arm and swatted him away.
Finn glanced at the seal beneath his feet. He thought back to the Oracle's words that had led them here: leeching the gods. What if they needed to draw not blood but magic to heal the Manhir? Maybe the seal stopped the flow of magic. Without hesitating, Finn raised his axe and brought it down in the middle of the seal. It shattered in a flash of light.
The Inquisitional guards threw up their arms against the flash, and took a step back, while Henge looked at Finn, surprised. He dropped to a knee, and placed his hand on the ground again. He closed his eyes.
"No!" a shout came from behind Finn.
Grating noises filled the room. Henge looked at the Manhir lining the room. A tear ran from his eye, a smile on his stony lips. Around the room, the Manhir were stirring.
Ragnur looked around him. When the first Manhir stepped away from the wall, he turned and fled the room, the Inquisitional soldiers following on his heels.