Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

Berdine turned through the pages of the book she held. "I don't recall. It was nothing I understood at the time so I didn't devote a lot of effort to it. I'd have to go study it again to refresh my memory." She squinted in recollection. "It seemed like there was something buried at the places called central sites. I can't remember if it said what was buried."

The Mord-Sith stood frozen in her same pose as she studied the little book. "I was hoping this might give me a clue."

Verna let out a heavy sigh as she glanced around at the library.

"Berdine, I would love to stay and spend time researching all these books. I would truly like to know what this library and the others here at the palace contain, but there are more pressing matters at hand. We need to get back to the army and my Sisters."

Verna took a last look around. "Before I go, however, there is one thing here at the People's Palace that I would like to check on. Maybe you can help me."

Berdine reluctantly closed the book and replaced it on the shelf. She carefully closed the glass door.

"All right, Prelate. What is it you want to see?"

CHAPTER 30

Verna paused at hearing the single, long peal of a bell.

"What was that?"

"Devotion," Berdine said, stopping to look back at Verna as the deep toll reverberated through the vast marble and granite halls of the People's Palace.

People, no matter where they seemed to be headed, turned and instead moved toward the broad passageway from where the deep, resonant sound of the bell had come. No one looked to be in a hurry, but they all very deliberately walked toward the slowly dying sound of the bell.

Verna puzzled at Berdine. "What?"

"Devotion. You know what a devotion is."

"You mean a devotion to the Lord Rahl? That devotion?"

Berdine nodded. "The bell announces that it is time for the devotion." Pensively, she gazed off in the direction of the hall where people were headed.

Many of the gathering crowd were dressed in robes of a variety of muted colors. Verna assumed that white robes with gold or silver banding on them were the mark of officials of one sort or another who lived and worked at the palace. They certainly had the manner and bearing of officials. Everyone from those administrators to messengers in tunics trimmed in green and carrying leather satchels with an ornate letter «R» on them, standing for the House of Rahl, continued their casual conversations even as they made their way to the convergence of wide halls. Other people who worked at any of the countless variety of shops were dressed more appropriately for their profession, whether it was working at leather, silver, pottery, cobbling, or tailoring, providing the many foods and services, or doing any of the various palace work from maintenance to cleaning.

There were a number of people dressed in the simple clothes of farmers, tradesmen, and merchants, many with their wives and some with children. Like those Verna had seen in the lower levels within the great plateau atop which sat the People's Palace or at the markets set up outside, they appeared to be visitors come to trade or make purchases. Others, though, were dressed in finery for their sojourn to the palace. From what Verna had learned from Berdine, there were rooms that guests could rent if they wished to stay for an extended period. There were, as well, quarters for the many people who lived and worked at the palace.

Most of the people in robes walked calmy, as if this were just another part of their day. Those dressed in finery tried to look just as calm and not stare at the exquisite architecture of the palace, but Verna saw their wide eyes wandering. The simply dressed visitors, as they fell in with the flow of all the people making their way toward the fork that would take them to the passageway with the bell, openly peered about at everything, at the towering statues of men and women in proud poses carved from variegated stone, at polished two-story fluted columns soaring past balconies, at the spectacular black granite and honey-onyx floors.