Julien
by Engor
Chapter 23
Xarax
Three! There were three of them, and despite the odds they were well on the way towards completing what should have been an impossible task. Of course the traps were there, and the slightest wrong move would lead to their destruction.
But these three weren't making any wrong moves. They'd already completed more than thirty moves from one stone to the next, and every time they had chosen the single stone that would allow them to continue.
Xarax could sleep no longer. Xarax had to wake up properly and stretch his stiff joints. Xarax had to prepare himself to spend the last of his strength in what would probably be his final battle.
Xarax was a Haptir from Kretzlal.
There were no more flagstones. Now they were on a lawn dotted with carefully tended bushes whose blue flowers gave off a pleasant fragrance. There was no wall or fence around it, but an elegant arch of translucent green stone appeared to mark the way into the Palace grounds.
"I don't think we've got any choice," Julien said. "I think we need to go in."
They moved cautiously forward, afraid that they might have overlooked some final trap, but they passed through the jade arch without incident. None of them had the least idea that anyone else doing so would have been sliced to pieces by the blades hidden in the delicate carving that they paused to admire on their way through.
The inner garden went all the way up to the wall of the Palace, which had huge gates set into it at intervals of a hundred metres or so. The gate they were walking towards stood open, its silvery metal panels pushed flat against the wall on either side of a rectangular opening that at first glance was nothing special... except that as they got closer they saw that the gates were decorated with carvings of strange animals which seemed to be moving. They seemed to be chasing each other across the whole surface of the shining panels, and yet when Julien plucked up the courage to try actually touching something that looked a bit like a rabbit he felt only the cold hardness of immobile metal. But actually the most surprising thing abut this gate wasn't the incredible artwork, and it was Ambar who put it into words.
"Don't you think it's weird that there aren't no guards? Not even one?"
"Weird, and scary," agreed Niil. "You'd think the Emperor would be better guarded than anyone else. This can't be normal."
They walked through the entrance into a long gallery, their sandals sliding across the stone floor. Tall windows on either side of the gallery offered a view of the sky.
Eventually the gallery led them into a vast round hall whose glass floor gave you the impression that you were walking on the surface of some deep sea – each footstep made a noise like the whispering of distant surf. The domed roof was a dizzying height above them, and it was pierced by a number of round windows that allowed the sunlight to stream in.
"I hope we get to the inhabited bit soon," commented Julien. "This Sleeping Beauty's Castle thing is getting creepy."
"Sleeping Beauty?" queried Niil.
"Forget it. Let's just carry on until we find someone. Even if we get nabbed by the guards it'll give us a chance to explain ourselves and prove we're not really intruders."
Xarax
Alarm bells were ringing in his head. The enemy had entered the Palace. He was crossing the Ocean Rotunda. Xarax stretched one last time before launching himself into the galleries as fast as he could.
Xarax knew this place better than anyone, better even than the Emperor himself. Xarax was going to hurl himself on the intruders so quickly that they would have no chance of reaching the door.
Xarax could perceive something else approaching, too, something which brought back bad memories. This was definitely a bad day.
Xarax knew he was going to die, and that was a good thing. But what was going on in the Palace now was bad, as bad as it gets. The Emperor certainly would not like it, were he ever to find out – no, the Emperor would not like it at all.
Xarax was moving as fast as he could, but the thing which was approaching, the thing which was even worse than the intruders, that thing was moving even faster than Xarax. That thing had already arrived. It was fourfold.
But Xarax rushed towards it faster than ever. Xarax was not afraid.
Xarax was a Haptir from Kretzlal.
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