The Seventh Gate (The Seven Citadels ) Read Online Free PDF Page A

will not forget them.”
    Valorkis talked for some time about his
family and suddenly exclaimed, “Ah, that's reminded me of the sixth verse of
that song. There was a time when my son used to sing it over and over.
    Open the gate, Open the gate!
    What have you for a key?
    Open the gate, Open the gate!
    All that I ever shall be!'
    It's just a child's song Highness, but it
seemed to comfort him when his mother died.”

Chapter
2
    The Book of the Emperors: Love
     
    And he smiled and said to them, “Do not think that I mean
you to crush all desire as you strive for purity. Desire for our own happiness strengthens
our will to attain what Zeldin would have us seek. Therefore desire fiercely!”
    But they could not tell whether he spoke in jest.
     
     
    After a calm voyage the ships of Oraz were
first into the great harbor of Azanac. Heavily guarded, O-grak's prisoners were
allowed on deck to watch the perilous entry through the Teeth of Kir-Noac. The
air was heavy with summer and through the haze the sacred island seemed nothing
but a barren rock. It was Gidjabolgo who realized that they were already
looking at the famous temple of Idaala. A humped darkness sprawled towards the
edge of a cliff, above the purple sea. Vast boulders thrust against each other
as if the temple was held together by hatred of itself.
    No city surrounded the Place of the Goddess
but the travelers soon saw that what they had taken for pinnacles of rock were
towers that rose in slender columns and then swelled out, like half-opened
flowers. The towers stood in groups of three, joined by slender bridges high
above the ground.
    Gwerath jumped as the Khan suddenly boomed
in her ear, “Well, Plainswoman, I hope you're not afraid of heights.”
    “Men live in those?”
    “There was a time,” said O-grak, “when all
our people were mewed up in such towers. They still build them in Fangmere,
where discomfort is a virtue. In Orze, the halls are broad enough even for my
bulk, but here we keep to the old ways, to please the Goddess.”
     
     
     
    *****
     
    Kerish was brought ashore just before dusk,
with barely a moment's warning. As they took him, Valorkis crawled to his
chains' full length to implore a blessing. Kerish clasped his hand and murmured
the ancient words. Then the Brigands wrenched them apart.
     
    *****

    As Kerish climbed the path from the harbor
towards the cliff of Idaala, Az seemed as desolate as Roac itself. Then he
began to notice that tiny speckled flowers grew in the crevices in the dark
rock and the same bright birds that nested in Jenoza, perched here among the
thorn bushes.
    Quesheg strode in front of the Prince,
flanked by two of his men, while three more marched behind. In the fading
sunlight, old bloodstains showed clearly on their cloaks and the clean glitter
of their axes seemed beautiful in comparison. They walked in silence but
occasionally one of the Brigands would leave the path and stoop to gather
flowers for his goddess.
    The temple itself seemed no more than a
mound of stones and Kerish could not guess how far it extended. There was no
gate in the outer wall, only a jagged gap between two ancient boulders. Beyond
lay a large enclosure, cluttered with the mean huts of collared slaves and pens
of bleating animals, awaiting sacrifice.
    The Brigands hurried past towards the inner
wall, where three fire-pits smoldered. The smoke was black and rank and charred
bones jutted from the ashes. Against the wall stood a huge copper bowl,
surrounded by withered bunches of flowers and a cloud of flies. Beside the bowl
crouched two slaves, blinded for service to the Goddess, and a third, grosser
figure. His pale bulk was clothed in nothing but a black loincloth and a gold
slave-collar, but his hands and feet were stained crimson as the cloaks of
Fangmere and his face was hidden by a dark veil.
    The Brigands knelt and crawled forward
through the dust to offer the flowers they had gathered. The gold-collared
priest accepted the bunches