CHAPTER 21In the compound they’d had air, space beyond the bars, a chance to see the sky. Now they were in a long, narrow room, a dozen feet wide, a score high. Sacks littered the floor together with pitchers of water and buckets to take care of natural functions. A single door broke the expanse of the flanking walls. A single window, set high, cast diffused light from one end. It was narrow, barred, unglazed; an opening punched in what had once been a fortress.
Through it Varl looked at the distant field.
It lay at the edge of the city, a broad expanse faced with what had to be repair sheds, warehouses, barracks, workshops, dwellings. On it ships rested like a scatter of toys their hulls burning golden in the fading light of day. A few guards patrolled the area, slow, indifferent. Other
