Eric frowned. "If we have been made fools, Freka must answer for this!"
"And now," asked Kieron grimly, "do we enter the city in peace or do we cut our way in?"
Eric signalled his men to swing in beside the ranked Valkyrs and the whole mass of armed men moved through the fading afternoon toward the gates of the Imperial City.
It was dusk by the time the cavalcade reached the walls of the Imperial Palace. Kieron called a halt and ordered his men to rest on their arms. Taking only Nevitta and Alys with him, he joined Eric of Doorn in challenging the
Janizaries of the Palace Guard.
They were passed by the stolid Pleiadenes without comment, for the lord of Doom was known as a vassal of the Imperial Ivane. Faces set, the small party strode up the wide curving stairway that led into the Hal! of the Great Throne. The courtiers had been warned by the shouts of the people in the streets that something was happening, and they had already begun to gather in the Throne Room.
He had come a long way, thought Kieron, from the day when he had stood before the Throne begging an audience with Toran. Now, everything hung on his one chance to prove his case — and Alys'—to the assembled nobles.
Kieron noted with some concern that the Palace Guards were gathering too. They covered each exit to the chamber, cutting off retreat.
By now, the Hall of the Great Throne was jammed with courtiers and star-kings, all tensely silent — waiting. Nor did they wait long.
With a blast of trumpets and a rolling of tympani, Ivane entered the Throne Room. Some of the courtiers kneHt, but others stood in confusion, looking from Alys to Ivane and back again.