Midnight Quest Read Free Page A

sight in front of him. This man looked unmistakably Ramathan to him. He stepped forward and put a calming hand on Dan’s neck. “Easy, old Dan, easy.”
    The stallion snorted and tossed his head, no doubt irritated that he couldn’t attack the strangers like he wanted to.
    “You’re out at an odd time of the morning,” Sarvell stated. He was fairly sure this was the man he needed to meet, but it never hurt to be cautious.
    “Eh, well, I had a late night visitor that would no leave a man be,” he responded in a voice deep enough to vibrate mountains. “So afore she skelped me, I took to the road. Are you Sarvell Sorpan?”
    “I am,” Sarvell answered with a sigh of relief. “Elahandra did not tell me your full name. In fact, she didn’t give any idea of where to meet up with you.”
    “Rialt Axheimer,” he responded. “Fortunately for us both, I had a notion or two of which route you would take.” With a tired grunt, he dropped out of the saddle. “Well, Sarvell Sorpan, be you biding here until the gates are properly open?”
    “That is my plan, yes. Gate guards at this hour are notoriously difficult to get past.”
    “Eh, there be truth. We have a lot of work to do, if we be to rescue the priestess tonight, and I think we be short on time. How about you start a fire, so I can make us a cup, and we can make some plans?”
    Sarvell looked at the bag of tea that Rialt pulled out of his saddlebag and in the back of his mind, a heavenly choir broke out into song. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
     

Chapter Two
    This wasn’t Sarvell’s first visit to Belthain, so the swarm of guards on practically every city street wasn’t a surprise.
    “The city be crawlin’ with the varlets,” Rialt observed in a distinctly disgruntled tone.
    But apparently it was Rialt’s.
    “The ministers’ policies upset more than just your clan,” Sarvell murmured to him. “It makes the politicians a little nervous if they’re not surrounded by guards.” His focus wasn’t really on his response, but on the city streets. From this rooftop vantage, he could clearly see the route of several patrols. In the nicer sections of town, the guards did not go around in pairs, but singly.
    Rialt was not studying the streets. His eyes were focused on Belthain Castle, narrowed slightly against the setting sun’s rays. “That be a well-fortified castle.”
    Sarvell nodded in grim agreement. “I wish we’d had more time to plan this. Going in with just the two of us and no backup plan sits ill with me.”
    “Eh.” Rialt relaxed back onto his haunches, thoughtfully scratching at his beard. “It be going to be a mite difficult to sneak in.”
    “It will be much easier to just walk in.” Sarvell grinned at his companion when Rialt gave him a dubious look. “No, I’m not talking crazy. Correct me if I’m wrong, but your clan is always on the outs with the ministers for one reason or another.”
    Rialt nodded, a little sourly.
    “So no one would think twice about it if a city guardsman had a chained Ramathan in tow, taking him to the dungeon, right?”
    “We would no catch a second glance,” Rialt said slowly. “You will need a uniform.”
    “I’ll need more than that. I’ve never been inside that castle before. I have no idea where the dungeons are. I need to know the names of the gate guards, their superior, and who’s on shift in the dungeon as well.” Sarvell leaned forward slightly, studying a guardsman as he walked by. He looked about the right size…
    “For such an honest man, you be a bit too handy about the finer details of breaking into a place.”
    Sarvell shot him a look of mock-innocence. “Hey, every boy gets into scrapes growing up.”
    Rialt snorted. “Scrapes, be it?”
    Sarvell decided, for the sake of his dignity, that it was safer not to defend himself. He pointed to the tall guard walking alone. “Him.”
    “Off we be, then.” Rialt rose and started running along the rooftops, crouched low