2 - The Ruby Knight

by The Ruby Knight [lit]

  intentions are unfriendly.'

  'How many?'

  'it's very hard to tell, Sparhawk. At least a dozen, but

  probably fewer than a score.'

  'Take the children and ride back to the edge of the

  water.' He looked at his companions. 'Let's see if we can

  flush them out,' he said.

  'i don't want them following US.'

  The knights advanced across the muddy field at a

  walk, their lances lowered. Berit and Kurik flanked them

  on either side.

  The Zemochs were hiding in a shallow trench less than

  a hundred yards from the beach. When they saw the

  seven Elenes resolutely bearing down on them, they rose

  with their weapons in their hands. There were perhaps

  fifteen of them, but the fact that they were on foot put

  them at a distinct disadvantage. They made no sound,

  uttered no war cries, and their eyes were empty.

  'The Seeker sent them, ' Sparhawk barked. 'Be care ful. '

  As the knights approached, the Zemochs shambled

  forward, and several even blindly hurled themselves on

  the lance points. 'Drop the lances!' Sparhawk commanded.

  'They're too close!' He cast aside his lance and

  drew his sword. Again the men controlled by the Seeker

  charged in eerie silence, and paid no attention to their

  fallen comrades. Although they had the advantage of

  numbers, they were really no match for the mounted

  knights, and their doom was sealed when Kurik and

  Berit outflanked them and came at them from the rear.

  The fight lasted for perhaps ten minutes, and then it

  was over.

  'is anybody hurt?' Sparhawk asked, looking around.

  'Several, I'd say,' Kalten replied, looking at the bodies

  lying in the mud. 'This is getting to be a little too easy,

  Sparhawk. They charge in almost asking to be killed.'

  'i'm always glad to oblige,' Tynian said, wiping his

  sword with a Zemoch smock.

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  'Let's drag them back to that trench they were hiding

  in,' Sparhawk said. 'Kurik, go back and get your spade.

  We'll cover them over.'

  'Hide the evidence, eh?' Kalten said gaily.

  There may be others around,' Sparhawk said. 'Let's

  not announce that we've been here.'

  'Right, but I want to make sure of them before we start

  dragging. I'd rather not have one wake up when my

  hands are occupied with his ankles.'

  Kalten dismounted and went through the grim business

  of 'making sure of them. Then they all fell to work.

  The slippery mud made dragging the inert bodies easier.

  Kurik stood at the edge of the trench scooping mud over

  the corpses with his spade.

  'Bevier,' Tynian said, 'are you really so attached to that

  lochaber?'

  'it's my weapon of choice,' Bevier replied. 'Why do

  you ask?'

  'it's a little inconvenient when the time comes to tidy

  up. When you lop off their heads like that, it means we

  have to make two trips with each one.' Tynian bent over

  and picked up two severed heads by the hair as if to

  emphasize his point.

  'How droll,' Bevier said drily.

  After they had dropped all the bits and pieces of the

  Zemoch bodies and their weapons in the trench and

  Kurik had covered them with mud, they rode back to the

  beach, where Sephrenia sat on her horse, carefully

  keeping Flute's face covered with the hem of her cloak

  and trying to keep her own eyes turned away. 'Have you

  finished?' she asked, as Sparhawk and the others

  approached.

  'it's all over,' he assured her. 'You can look now.' He

  frowned. 'Kalten just raised a point. He said that this was

  getting to be almost too easy. These people just charge in

  without thinking. It's as if they want to be killed.'

  That's not really it, Sparhawk,' she replied. The Seeker

  has men to spare. It will throw away hundreds just to kill

  one of us - and hundreds more to kill the next one.'

  'That's depressing. If it has so many, why is it sending

  them out in such small groups?'

  'They're scouting Parties. Ants and bees do exactly the

  same thing. They send out small groups to find what the

  colony is looking for. The Seeker is still an insect, after all,

  and in spite of Azash, it still thinks like one.'

  'At least they're not reporting back,' Kalten said, ' none

  of the ones we've met so far, anyway.'

  'They already have,' she disagreed. 'The Seeker knows

  when its forces have been diminished. It may not know

  precisely where we are, but it knows that we've been

  killing its soldiers. I think we'd better leave here. If there

  was one group out there, there are probably others as

  well. We don't want them converging on us.'

  Ulath was talking seriously to Berit as they rode out at

  a trot. 'Keep your axe under control at all times,' he

  advised. 'Don't ever make a swing so wide that you can't

  recover instantly.'

  'i think I see,' Berit replied seriously.

  'An axe can be just as delicate a weapon as a sword - if

  you know what you're doing,' Ulath said. 'Pay attention,

  boy. Your life might depend on this.'

  'i thought the whole idea was to hit somebody with it

  as hard as you can.'

  'There's no real need of that,' Ulath replied, ' - not if

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  you keep it sharp. When you're cracking a walnut with a

  hammer, you hit it just hard enough to break the shell.

  You don't want to smash it into little bits. It's the same

  with an axe. If you hit somebody too hard with one,

  there's a fair chance that the blade's going to hang up in

  the body somewhere, and that leaves you at a definite

  disadvantage when you have to face your next opponent.'

  'i

  didn't know an axe was that complicated a weapon,'

  Kalten said quietly to Sparhawk.

  'i think it's a part of the Thalesian religion,' Sparhawk

  replied. He looked at Berit, whose face was rapt as he

  listened to Ulath's instruction.

  'i hate to say this, but we've probably lost a good

  swordsman there. Berit's very fond of that axe, and

  Ulath's encouraging him."

  Late in the day the lake-shore began to curve towards

  the north-east. Bevier looked around, getting his

  bearings. 'I think we'd better stop here, Sparhawk,' he

  advised. 'As closely as I can tell, this is approximately

  where the Thalesians came up against the Zemochs.'

  'All right,' Sparhawk agreed. 'i guess the rest is up to

  you, Tynian.'

  'First thing in the morning,' the Alcione Knight replied.

  "Why not now?' Kalten asked him.

  'it's going to start getting dark soon,' Tynian said, his

  face bleak. 'i don't raise ghosts at night.'

  'Oh?'

  "Just because I know how to do it doesn't mean that I

  like it. I want lots of daylight around me when they start

  to appear. These men were killed in battle, so they won't


  be very pretty to look at. I'd rather not have any of them

  coming up to me in the dark.'

  Sparhawk and the other knights scouted the general

  area while Kurik, Berit and Talen set up camp. The rain

  was slackening slightly as they returned.

  'Anything?' Kurik asked, looking out from under the

  sheet of canvas he had erected at an angle over the fire.

  'There's some smoke a few miles off to the south,'

  Kalten replied, swinging down from his horse. 'We

  didn't see anybody, though.'

  'We'll still have to post a watch,' Sparhawk said. 'if

  Bevier knows that this is the general area where the

  Thalesians were fighting, we can be fairly sure the

  Zemochs will too, and the Seeker probably knows what

  we're looking for, so it's certain to have people in this

  area. '

  They were all unusually quiet that evening as they sat

  under Kurik's makeshift canvas cover that kept the rain

  from quenching their fire. This place had been their goal

  in the weeks since they had left Cimmura, and very soon

  they would find out if the trip had served any real

  purpose. Sparhawk in particular was anxious and

  worried. He definitely wanted to get on with it, but he

  respected Tynian's feeling in' the matter. 'is the process

  very complicated?' he asked the broad-shouldered

  Deiran. 'Necromancy, I mean?'

  'it's not your average spell, if that's what you mean,'

  Tynian replied. 'The incantation's fairly long, and you

  have to draw diagrams on the ground to protect yourself.

  Sometimes the dead don't want to be awakened, and

  they can do some fairly nasty things to you if they're

  really upset.'

  'How many of them do you plan to raise at a time?'

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  Kalten asked him.

  'One,' Tynian said very firmly. 'I don't want a whole

  brigade of them coming at me all at once. It might take a

  little longer, but it's a great deal safer.'

  "you're the expert, I suppose.'

  The morning dawned wet and dreary. The rain had

  returned during the night. The sodden earth had already

  received more water than it could hold, and rain-dimpled

  puddles stood everywhere.

  'A perfect day for raising the dead,' Kalten observed

  sourly. 'it just wouldn't seem right if we did it in the

  SUnshine. '

  "well,' Tynian said, rising to his feet, 'i suppose we

  might as well get started.'

  'Aren't we going to eat breakfast first?' Kalten

  objected.

  "you really don't want anything in your stomach,

  Kalten,' Tynian replied. 'Believe me, you don't.'

  They walked out into the field.

  They don't seem to have been doing as much digging

  here,' Berit said, looking around. 'Maybe the Zemochs

  don't know where the Thalesians are buried after all.'

  "we can hope,' Tynian said. 'I guess this is as good a

  . place to start as any.' He picked up a dead stick and

  prepared to draw a diagram on the sodden ground.

  "Use this instead,' Sephrenia advised, handing him a

  coil of rope. 'A diagram drawn on dry ground is all right,

  but there are puddles here, and the ghosts might not see

  the whole thing.'

  'We really wouldn't want that to happen,' Tynian

  agreed. He began to lay out the rope on the ground. The

  design was a strangely compelling one with obscure

  curves and circles and irregularly shaped stars. 'is that

  about right?' he asked Sephrenia.

  'Move that one slightly to the left,' she said, pointing.

  He did that.

  'Much better,' she said. 'Repeat the spell out loud. I'll

  correct you if you do anything wrong.'

  'just out of curiosity, why don't you do this,

  Sephrenia?' Kalten asked her. 'You seem to know more

  about it than anybody.'

  'I'm not strong enough,' she admitted. 'What you're

  really doing in this ritual is wrestling with the dead to

  compel them to rise. I'm a little small for that sort of

  thing.'

  Tynian began to speak in Styric, intoning the words

  sonorously. There was a peculiar cadence to his speech,

  and the gestures he made had a slow stateliness to them.

  His voice grew louder and more commanding. Then he

  raised both his hands and brought them together sharply.

  At first nothing seemed to happen. Then the ground

  inside his diagram seemed to riPPle and shudder.

  Slowly, almost painfully, something rose from the earth.

  'God!' Kalten gasped In horror as he stared at the

  grotesquely mutilated thing.

  'Talk to it, Ulath,' Tynian said from between clenched

  teeth. 'I can't hold it here very long.'

  Ulath stepped forward and began to speak in a harshly

  guttural language.

  'Old Thalesian,' Sephrenia identified the dialect.

  'Common soldiers at the time of King Sarak would have

  spoken it.'

  The ghastly apparittion replied haltingly in a dreadful

  VOice. Then it made a jerky pointing motion with one

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  bony hand.

  'Let it go back, Tynian,' Ulath said. 'I've got what we

  need. '

  Tynian's face was grey and his hands were shaking.

  He spoke two words in Styric, and the apparition sank

  back into the earth.

  'That one didn't really know anything,' Ulath told him,

  'but it pointed out the spot where an earl is buried. The

  earl was in the household of King Sarak, and if anyone

  around here knows where the king's buried, he would.

  It's right over there.'

  'Let me get my breath first,' Tynian said.

  'is it really that difficult?'

  'You have no idea, my friend.'

  They waited while Tynian stood gasping painfully

  After a few moments he coiled up his rope and

  straightened. 'All right. Let's go and wake up the earl.'

  ulath led them to a small knoll that stood nearby.

  'Burial mound,' he said. 'it's customary to raise one

  when you bury a man of importance.'

  Tynian laid out his design atop the mound, then

  stepped back and began the ritual again. He finished it

  and clapped his hands once more.

  The apparition that rose from the mound was not as

  hideously mutilated as the first had been. It was dressed

  in traditional Thalesian chain-mail and had a horned

  helmet on its head. 'Who art thou who hast disturbed my

  sleep?' it demanded of Tynian in the archaic speech of

  five centuries past.

  'He hath brought thee once again into the light of day

  at my urging, My Lord,' Ulath replied. 'I am of thy race

  and would speak with thee.'

  'Speak quickly then. I am discontent that thou hast

  done this thing.'

  'We seek the resting place of His Majesty King Sarak,'

  Ulath said. 'Knowest thou, My Lord, where we might

  search?'

  "His Majesty doth not lie on this battlefield,' the ghost

  responded.

  Sp
arhawk's heart sank.

  'Knowest thou what befell him?' Ulath pressed

  'His Majesty departed from his capital at Emsat when

  word reached him of the invasion of Otha's hordes,' the

  earl declared. 'He took with him a small party of his

  household retainers. The rest of us remained behind to

  marshal the main force. We were to follow when the

  army was gathered. When we arrived here, His Majesty

  was nowhere to be found. None here knoweth what

  befell him. Seek ye, therefore, elsewhere.'

  'One last question, My Lord,' Ulath said. 'Knowest

  thou perchance which route it was His Majesty's intention

  to follow to reach this field?'

  'He sailed to the north coast, Sir Knight. No man - alive

  or dead - knoweth where he made landfall and disembarked.

  Seek ye therefore in Pelosia or Deira, and return

  me to my rest.'

  'Our thanks, My Lord,' ulath said with a formal bow.

  'Thy thanks have no meaning for me,' the ghost said

  indifferently.

  'Let him go back, Tynian,' Ulath said sadly.

  Once again, Tynian released the spirit as Sparhawk

  and the others stood looking at each other, their faces

  filled with chagrin.

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  *Chapter9

  Ulath walked over to where Tynian sat on the wet

  ground with his head between his hands. 'Are you all

  right?' he asked. Sparhawk had noticed that the huge,

  savage Thalesian was strangely gentle and solicitous

  with his companions.

  'I just feel a little tired, that's all,' Tynian replied.

  "you can't keep doing this, you know,' Ulath told him.

  'I can hold out for a little longer.'

  Teach me the spell,' Ulath urged. 'I can wrestle with

  the best - alive or dead.'

  Tynian smiled wanly. 'I'll wager that you could, my

  friend. Have you ever been bested?'

  'Not since I was about seven,' Ulath said modestly.

  That was when I crammed my older brother's head into

  the wooden well-bucket. It took our father two hours to

  get him out of it. My brother's ears got caught. He always

  had those big ears. I sort of miss him. He came out

  second-best in a fight with an Ogre.' The big man looked

  at Sparhawk. 'All right,"he said, 'now what?'

  'We certainly can't search all of northern Pelosia or

  Deira,' Kalten said.

  That's fairly obvious,' Sparhawk replied. 'We don't

  have time. We've got to get more precise information

  somehow. Bevier, can you think of anything that might

  give us a clue of where to look?'