The Rings of Salammis

Mala - Part 3

     It should have been an easy journey. The road they were on was one of the city's most important; a wide avenue lined with trees and gardens and overlooked by large, magnificent buildings, and it ran straight to the tower. All they had to do was follow it. Indeed, as they passed the first and only bend they could see it ahead of them, the road running towards it as straight as a speeding arrow. They could see figures moving busily behind the narrow windows and taking the air on the balconies that ringed it, their long, flowing robes blowing in the wind, made so small by the distance that the full size of the tower was brought home to them for the first time.

     Thomas gasped in astonishment. "It's huge!" he said breathlessly. "I mean, just look at it! It's huge!"

     "Battleaxe Tower is bigger," pointed out Matthew. "You've seen it."

     "Maybe," conceded the wizard, "but that tower over there looks bigger. There's something about it. Something that makes it look bigger than its actual size."

     Matthew started to laugh, but it died in his throat as he realised that Thomas was right. Battleaxe Tower was just a great pile of stone, but Mala's Tower of Sorcery was more than that. It had a presence that the fortress lacked. A palpable sense of being the home of forces beyond the ability of ordinary men to imagine. The mundane citizens of Mala would look up at it and tremble in fear as they imagined the great and terrible secrets it must contain. It would make them feel small and trivial. It would make them feel like lesser beings, creeping timidly in the shadows of giants, and that in turn would make them grow angry. People didn't like being made to feel like that, and it all contributed to the growing tensions that were soon destined to erupt into the Massacre of the Mages.

     Before they could reach the tower, though, they were stopped by a crowd ahead of them. A line of guardsmen was holding back the traffic and people had gathered around to see what was going on.

     "Looks like some kind of demonstration," said Thomas. "I have a vague memory of looking at a map of old Mala once, in the University library perhaps, and I've got an idea some of the merchant headquarters are along this street. I know there were a number of disputes over trade monopolies at about this time. Is that someone shouting up there? If we listen to what they're saying..."

     "Who cares what it's about?" said Matthew, however. "All that matters is that we can't go this way. Is there another road we can take?"

     "All the roads in this part of the city go to the tower," said the wizard. "We should be able to take any of these side roads and turn back towards the tower at the next turning. How about that road there?"

     Matthew shrugged, and they set off between two large stone buildings, certain that the diversion would cost them no more than a couple of minutes.

     They followed it for a few dozen yards and turned south again at the next large road they came to, but it came to a dead end and they were forced to retrace their steps, looking for an alternative route. The only other main road they could find led further north, though, not at all the direction they wanted to go, so with some trepidation they took a smaller road, littered with junk and rubbish, that led away between a pair of huge granite buildings, one of which seemed to be a museum of some description. Thomas longed to go in and look around, but the shadows were lengthening and the eastern sky was growing dark. With a sigh of nervous apprehension, therefore, he led the way into the narrow, dangerous feeling road.

     They knew they'd made a mistake before they'd gone fifty yards. Ahead of them the road narrowed to a dingy alleyway, almost impassable in places with heaped rubbish, and they could feel tiny, sharp pairs of eyes staring at them from every turn. Something was rustling around in a pile of rubbish, something that looked superficially like a rat but which was the size of a small dog. It looked up at them with evil, slitted eyes, bared a pair of long, yellow teeth and then scurried off into the darkness with the pattering of heavy, clawed feet.