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The Fief Lord drew back, a glio,” he said, a faint whine colouring in his voice

Vaelin peered into the tunnel entrance, a narrow crack in a ept cliff-face they would have barely noticed if Lord Mustor hadn’t pointed it out In the gloom of the tunnel entrance he could just e boulders sealed the passage fro The mass of rock was far too heavy to ht, the tunnel was useless

“I don’t understand it,” Lord Mustor was saying “It was as well built as it could be No-one save my father and I knew of its existence”

Vaelina hand over the surface of one of the boulders, feeling hoas s the hard edges left by a chisel “This stone has been worked loose Recently, if I’reatest secret has been betrayed, my lord,” Prince Malcius observed “If, as you say, your father favoured your brother over you, he may have felt it appropriate to share the secret with him”

“What are we to do?” Lord Mustor asked plaintively “There is no other way into the High Keep”

“Except by siege,” the prince said “And we have not the tied froe point nearby where we can view the keep without being seen?”

It was a perilous cliood ti about his blistered feet Eventually they cae outcrop of rock

“Best stay low,” Lord Mustor advised “I doubt any sentry will have eyes keen enough to see us, but we shouldn’t trust to chance” He crept to the shoulder of the outcrop and pointed “There, hardly the h Keep was hard to miss, its walls rose froh the rock Lord Mustor was right in noting the building’s lack of elegance It was devoid of any decoration, unadorned by statuary or minarets, the s of arrow slits A single banner bearing the holy white flaod snapped atop a tall lance on the bastion above the gate The only approach to the keep was a single narrow road rising steeply from the floor of the pass They were level with the top of the wall and Vaelin could see the black specks of sentries atop the battlements

“You see, Lord Vaelin?” Mustor said “It’s unassailable”

Vaelin edged closer, peering down at the base of the keep; irregular rock giving way to smooth walls The rocks aren’t a problem, but the wall? “How tall did you say the walls are, my lord?”

“Are you sure you can do this?”

Gallis the cliht on his shoulders and glanced up at the towering keep above “I do like a challenge, milord”

Vaelin pushed his doubts to the recess of his ht forget I’on of wine you proer into his boot and turning to the rock face, his hands exploring the granite for holds, dextrous fingers tracing over the irregular surface with intuitive precision After a few seconds he took hold and began to cli fluidly over the cliff, his hands and feet finding purchase seeround he paused to look down at Vaelin, s broadly “Easier than a merchant’s house by far”