Warhammer-Blood on the Reik 03-Deaths Legacy by Sandy Mitchell

Author:Sandy Mitchell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2006-12-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

As Rudi and Hanna left the sanctuary of von Eckstein’s estate, the gate they’d entered the hidden house and gardens by closing behind them with a solid-sounding thunk!, the noise and stench of the city rushed in upon them again like a breaking wave. After the haven of tranquillity they’d just experienced, the shock was disorientating, even inured to the sights and sounds of the city as they’d become after their months of urban living in Marienburg.

‘Where to?’ Rudi asked, hesitating on the verge of immersing himself in the stream of hurrying figures channelled between the tall, narrow buildings he was beginning to associate with the capital city of the Empire. Hanna shrugged.

‘East, apparently,’ she said. Mathilde had given them slightly more precise directions before bidding them farewell, although they were still as vague as most instructions for finding somewhere specific in the city seemed to be. ‘If we can find the Koenigsplatz, we should be all right from there.’

‘I guess so,’ Rudi said, trying to keep a taint of doubt from his voice. After all, if the Bright College, or to be more precise the site of it, was distinctive enough to be a major landmark, it couldn’t be that hard to find. The uncomfortable thought came to him that if he was wrong, he might never find von Karien’s house either. The peculiar way the magical auras surrounding the various colleges affected the topography of the city meant that directions to anywhere always started from a particular fixed point, and would be all but useless if the landmark in question couldn’t be found.

Luckily, they were able to locate the Koenigsplatz without too much difficulty. After several minutes of shoving and sidestepping through the ever-present crush of bodies, Rudi at last caught sight of the famous statue over the heads of the crowd. The Emperor was mounted on a griffon, his sword held aloft in a suitably heroic pose, which would probably have pitched him over the creature’s neck to the ground if he’d ever been incautious enough to try it while airborne. Rudi pointed.

‘This way!’ With Hanna at his heels, he forced his way into the wide open space, finding a few square feet of relative calm in the lee of the massive plinth. He glanced up, hoping to read the inscription, but the sinking sun struck hard from the gilded lettering, rendering it unintelligible. He wasn’t even sure if this was supposed to be Karl Franz himself, or his father Luitpold. Or Magnus the Pious, come to that, whose foresight had established the Colleges of Magic in the first place. That reminded him. ‘Where to now?’

‘That way.’ Hanna pointed, following the direction indicated by the shadow of the statue, as if it was a compass needle. At first, Rudi thought she must be mistaken. The main routes in and out of the Koenigsplatz were on the north side, leading to the main gate of the city, and the south, after the thoroughfare had split in two to flow around the gigantic sculpture, as if it was a tree root in a stream.

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