The King Rolen's Kin: The Uncrowned King - By Rowena Cory Daniells Page 0,17

down here.'

'It's worse than that,' Feldspar whispered. He glanced to the other boys and dropped his voice even further. 'There's a rich Affinity seep, here in Halcyon's Sacred Heart. It'll draw the Merofynian Power-worker. He'll find the entrance eventually. He'll force the lock.'

Lenny's fingers tightened on Fyn's hand, his fearful eyes glistening in the light of the sacred lamp.

Fyn squeezed the boy's hand. 'It's all right. There's another way out of Halcyon's Heart. Sylion's way.' Fyn prayed he was right. Yesterday, when he'd listened to the ceremony, he'd heard a woman's voice in Halcyon's Sacred Heart. Since no woman was allowed to enter the abbey and the woman had answered the abbot as his equal, he'd guessed she was the abbess of Sylion. If only the abbot had had time to tell him how to find the Sylion passage.

A boy muttered something about being trapped like rats on a sinking ship. Others took up the cry.

'Quiet!' Fyn leapt onto the back of Wintertide's dais, silently asking his old teacher's forgiveness. 'This is Halcyon's Sacred Heart. Unless we want to remain here and end up like the monks, we must keep going. Follow me.' He nodded to Feldspar and Joff, who herded the boys and acolytes together.

Fyn jumped down, then led them through the kneeling monks. The boys' many candles reflected off the gleaming surfaces of the natural columns, flickering like fiery pearls. At the far side of the chamber there was a wall of carved stone embossed with Halcyon's symbols, the goat, the grain and the foenix.

Fyn studied the carvings intently. The hidden entrance to Sylion's passage had to be here. He wished the abbot had told him how to find it. He could hear the boys whispering behind him.

'Quiet,' Feldspar ordered.

'Yeah, quiet,' Lenny ordered. 'Fyn's thinking.'

Fyn smiled grimly. Then he saw a single sylion, the embodiment of the god. The sinuous lizard had been carved dancing on a bed of flames. The god of winter sometimes took the form of a sylion to walk amongst them, bringing frosts in spring and autumn, and blizzards in winter. This man-sized lizard could quench the flames of the hottest fire with its icy breath. Fyn stroked the carving's embossed surface, felt it give and pushed in. Lenny gasped as a panel slid open.

Fyn hid his relief and turned to others. 'This way.'

'But I haven't got any boots and I'm tired,' the skinny boy muttered.

'We're all tired and I haven't even got a shirt,' Fyn said. 'But we have to keep going.'

Fyn looked into the dark passage. Unlike the way down into Halcyon's Sacred Heart, he hadn't memorised this path. Somehow, he had to lead the boys through the mountain and out the other side. Then he had to slip past the Merofynians to warn his father. At least Piro was safe in Rolenhold.

Piro went very still like the trapped mouse she was.

Cobalt dismissed the warder with a wave of his hand. 'Get out and shut the door after you. The queen needs privacy.'

Autumnwind backed out, closing the door with a final, soft click.

Cobalt gestured to the king. 'There he is, Myrella.'

She ran across the room to the bed. 'Rolen, can you hear me?'

There was no response. She lifted the king's hand and squeezed it, pressing the fingers of her other hand to his cheek. 'Rolen. I'm here.'

'He can't hear you. He's taken a double dose of dreamless-sleep.'

The queen straightened up, slowly turning to face Cobalt, her face stiff and formal. 'Then why did you tell me he wanted to see me?'

Cobalt stepped closer. Her mother was even smaller than Piro, only coming up to the middle of his chest. He lifted one hand to the queen's face, brushing away an errant curl. She did not flinch, instead she glared at him.

'So imperious, Myrella.' His voice was soft and rich with amusement and the thrill of power. 'I can remember a time when you held me in your arms.'

'As you wept over your bride's murder,' she snapped, then thrust past him, going to the fireplace, a mere body-length from where Piro hid. 'I ask again, what do you want from me?'

'Little Piro has eluded all my best efforts to catch her. Where is she?'

The queen laughed. 'What makes you think I know?'

'Because I know that you both have Affinity.'

Piro gave a little start of fear, making the keys at her waist clink ever so softly. She covered them immediately, but it was enough to make both Cobalt and her mother glance in her