26 The Dark SunTHE FIRST FIGURES ENTERED Val-zajjhak’s hall. A far-off door closed softly, two pairs of boots grated on the stone flags. Ilissos glanced over at the sunken area before the dais where he was sitting and thought in brighter days it would have made a charming pool about the depth of a man’s waist. There, the eager fish would have darted under the floating blooms of waterlilies, and the gracious sunlight would have been flung against the walls and ceiling by the endless ripples. Now, the Syrgan watched the two men, cloaked and shapeless, hesitate by the arid, empty space, the afternoon light squeezing through shuttered windows
Val-zajjhak sat at the edge of the raised dais. He was leaning forward in his chair, gripping the staff against his shoulder, utterly still. Ilissos cou
