Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy #1) - Robert Jackson Bennett Page 0,145

don’t know,> said Clef.

Sancia looked around, wondering where in the hell Ziani could have hidden the imperiat. There weren’t many shelves here—only the big stone desk in the middle. She walked over to it and started ripping through the drawers. All of them were full of conventional things, like papers and pens and inkwells. “Come on, come on,” she whispered.

whispered the Mountain.

asked Clef.

said Clef.

said the Mountain.

asked Clef.

said the Mountain.

Sancia stopped.

“What?” she shouted out loud.

said Clef faintly.

said the Mountain.

* * *

Sancia stood in the office, dumbstruck. “Clef…” she whispered. “What’s he talking about?”

Clef was silent for a long, long time. he said quietly.

said the Mountain,

Sancia felt dizzy. She slowly sat down on the ground. “Clef…are you…”

he said, frustrated.

“But you…You could be…”

She sat there, unnerved. She’d heard so many tales of how Crasedes the Great had tapped a stone with his wand, and made it dance, or tapped the seas with its tip, and parted the waters…to imagine this had not been some silly magic stick, but her friend, the person who’d saved her time and time again…

said Clef. He sounded upset.

said the Mountain, sounding surprised.

“Yes!” said Sancia.

said the Mountain.

“A trapdoor!” said Sancia. “Brilliant!” She sprang and ran over to the desk.

said the Mountain.

She stopped. “What? Where is it?>

said the Mountain.

Her heart plummeted. “He…he took it out into the campo? It’s gone? We did all this for nothing?”

said the Mountain.

demanded Clef.

said the Mountain,

Sancia stood completely still as she listened to this.

“He what?” she whispered.

said the Mountain.

asked Clef.

said the Mountain.

Sancia swallowed. “How many?” she croaked. “And are they armed?”

Everything felt distant and faint. “Oh God,” she whispered. “My God, my God…It…It’s a trap. It was a trap, a trap all along!”

demanded Clef quickly.

said the Mountain.

said Clef.

She ran to the balcony door and heaved at the knob, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked!” she cried. “Why won’t it open?”

said the Mountain.

“Open it!” she screamed. “Open it now, now!”

said the Mountain.

said Clef.

She grabbed him and did so. But the door did not spring open as she’d expected. It moved—but only barely.

said the Mountain.

said Clef, groaning like he was trying to pull a cart up a hill. It seemed like the Mountain was a formidable opponent.

said the Mountain. She imagined the whole of the building leaning against the door, every brick and every column.