f feet beyond its closed door. At the fourth level the stairs
ended at the corridor itself, with no door to mask them.

Fortunately the long hallway was deserted. Dylara turned to her right
and hurried along, ears and eyes alert for the first sign that she was
not alone. Past a score of doors and around several corners the corridor
led and in all that time she encountered no one.

It seemed very still here on the fourth level of Vokal's palace. The
almost eerie silence seemed to press down upon her spirits like some
weighty and invisible hand. She could hear her heart pounding and the
whisper of her breathing. The floor underfoot was now covered with a
thick carpeting of some woven material and her sandals pressed
soundlessly into it.

She had reached a point only a few yards from another bend in the hall
ahead of her when she caught the faint sound of voices in that
direction--voices which seemed to be growing louder.

Instantly she whirled to retrace her steps, then halted again. It was a
long way back to where the corridor had last jogged; the owners of those
voices might come into view before she could reach it.

There was a door in one wall almost even with where she stood now. It
might open onto a room filled with guards, or it might not open at all.
There was no time to weigh her chances.

She released the latch and pushed lightly against the wood.

She came into a large, low-ceilinged room, lighted by candles in
beautifully carved wooden brackets affixed to the walls. Polished tables
and luxuriously covered chairs stood about the carpeted floor. A door
stood slightly open in one of the side walls, disclosing the foot of a
wide bed, the covers rumpled as though some one had been sleeping there
moments before. Several windows open and unbarred, permitted a panoramic
view of a large section of Ammad, and one of them came all the way down
to the floor to permit entry to a small balcony.

As Dylara stood there, drinking in the beauty of the room, voices
sounded suddenly loud and clear from just outside the door. A moment
later the latch moved under an unseen hand and the door itself swung
wide. But even as the latch moved, Dylara was across the room, through
the balcony entrance and crouching there, out of sight.

"... one, then call me immediately."

"As the noble Vokal commands."

The silver-haired nobleman closed the door, muttered something under his
breath, and crossed to where an earthen jug of wine