and he let it out explosively. No one is ever really prepared
for a meeting with a wolf, and even though he knew it was
imaginary, he nonetheless felt the instinctive chill.
The moon rose, casting its pale light over the dark
forest. Sparhawk looked up and saw the clouds coming
in. Gradually, they obscured the moon and inexorably
continued to build up. 'Oh, fine,' he muttered. 'That's all
we need - more rain.' He shook his head and walked on,
his eyes probing the darkness around him.
Somewhat later, Tynian relieved him, and he went
back to his tent.
'Sparhawk.' It was Talen, and his shaking of Sparhawk's
shoulder was light as he woke the big Pandion.
'Yes.' Sparhawk sat up, recognizing the note of
urgency in the boy's voice.
'There's something out there.'
"I know. Wolves.'
'This wasn't a wolf - unless they've learned to walk on
their hind legs.'
'What did you see?'
"It was back in the shadows under those trees. I
couldn't see it very well, but it seemed to have a kind of
robe over it, and the robe didn't fit very well.'
'The Seeker?'
'How would I know? I only caught a glimpse of it. It
came to the edge of the woods and then dropped back
into the shadows. I probably wouldn't even have seen it
except for the glow coming off its face.'
'Green?'
Talen nodded.
Sparhawk started to swear.
'When you run out of words, let me know,' Talen
offered. "I'm a pretty good swearer.'
'Did you warn Tynian?'
'Yes.'
'What were you doing out of bed?'
Talen sighed. 'Grow up, Sparhawk,' he said In a tone
far older than his years. 'No thief ever sleeps more than
two hours at a time without going out to look around.'
"I didn't know that.'
'You should have. It's a nervous life, but it's a lot of
fun.'
Sparhawk cupped his hand about the back of the
young fellow's neck. "I'm going to make a normal boy out
of you yet,' he said.
'Why bother? I outgrew all that a long time ago. It
might have been nice to run and play - if things had been
different - but they weren't, and this is much more fun.
Go back to sleep, Sparhawk. Tynian and I'll keep an eye
on things. Oh, by the way, it's going to rain tomorrow.'
But it was not raining the following morning, though
murky clouds obscured the sky. About mid-afternoon,
Sparhawk reined Faran in.
'What's the trouble?' Kurik asked him.
There's a village down there in that little valley.'
"what could they possibly be doing out here in these
woods? you can't farm with all these trees in the way.'
"we could ask them, I suppose. I want to talk with
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them anyway. They're closer to Ghasek than the people
back in Venne were, and I'd like to get a little more
up-to-date information. There's no point in riding into
something blind if you don't have to. Kalten,' he called.
'Now what?' Kalten demanded.
'Take the others and keep on going. Kurik and I are
going down to that village to ask a few questions. We'll
catch up with you.'
"All right.' Kalten's tone was abrupt and slightly surly.
'What's the matter?'
'These woods depress me.'
'They're only trees, Kalten.'
"I know, but do there have to be so many of them?'
'Keep your eyes open. That Seeker's out there someplace.'
Kalten's eyes brightened. He drew his sword and
tested its edge with his thumb.
'What have you got in mind?' Sparhawk asked him.
'This might just be the chance we've been waiting for
to get that thing off our backs once and for all. Otha's bug
is very skinny. One good stroke should cut it in two. I
think I'll just hang back a little bit and set up an ambush
of my own.'
Sparhawk thought very quickly at that point. 'Nice
plan,' he seemed to agree, but somebody has to lead the
others to safety.'
'Tynian can do that.'
'Maybe, but do you feel like trusting Sephrenia's wellbeing
to somebody we've only known for six months and
who's still recovering from an injury?'
Kalten called his friend a number of obscene names.
'Duty, my friend,' Sparhawk said calmly. 'Duty. Its
stern call pulls us away from various entertainments. Just
do as I asked you to do, Kalten. We'll take care of the
Seeker later.'
Kalten continued to swear. Then he wheeled his horse
and rode off to join the others.
'You were right on the edge of a fight there,' Kurik
commented.
"I noticed that.'
'Kalten's a good man in a fight, but he's a hot-head
sometimes. '
Then the two of them turned their horses and rode on
down the hill towards the village.
The houses were made of logs, and they had sod roofs.
The villagers had made some effort to clear the trees
surrounding their community, creating stump-dotted
fields extending perhaps a hundred paces back from
their houses.
"they've cleared the land,' Kurik observed, 'but about
all I see are kitchen gardens. I still wonder what they're
doing out here.'
That question was answered as soon as they rode into
the place. A number of vilagers were laboriously sawing
boards from logs lying atop crude trestles. Stacks of
warped green lumber beside the houses explained the
purpose of the village.
One of the men stopped sawing, mopping at his brow
with a durty rag. ~there's no inn here,' he said to
Sparhawk in an unfriendly tone.
"we're not really looking for an inn, neighbour,'
Sparhawk said, 'just some information. How much
further is it to the house of Count Ghasek?'
The villagers face went slightly pale. 'Not far enough
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away to suit me, My Lord,' he replied, eyeing the big
man in black armour nervously.
"what's the trouble, friend?' Kurik asked him.
'No sensible man goes near Ghazek,' the villager
replied. 'Most people don't even want to talk about it.'
"We heard some of the same sort of thing back in
Venne,' Sparhawk said. 'What's going on at the count's
house anyway?'
"I couldn't really say, My Lord,' the man said
evasively. "I've never been there. I've heard some stories,
though.'
'Oh?'
'People have been disappearing around there. They're
never seen again, so nobody really knows for sure what
happened to them. The count's serfs have been running
away, though, and he's not reputed to be a hard master.
Something evil is going on in his house, and all the
people who live nearby are terified.'
'Do you think the count's responsible?'
"It's not very likely. The count
's been away from home
for the past year. He travels around a lot.'
'We heard that about him.' Sparhawk thought of
something. , 'Tell me, neighbour, have you seen any
Styrics lately?'
'Styrics? No, they don't come into this forest. People
up here don't like them, and we make the fact well
known.'
"I see. How far did you say it is to the count's house?'
"I didn't say. It's about fifteen leagues, though.'
'A fellow in Venne said it was forty leagues from there
to Ghasek,' Kurik told him.
The villager snorted derisively. 'City folk don't even
know how far a league is. It can't be much over thirty
from Venne to Ghasek.'
'We happened to see somebody back in the woods last
night,' Kurik said in a mildly conversational tone. 'He
was wearing a black robe and had his hood up. Could
that have been one of your neighbours?'
The sawyers face went very, very' pale. 'Nobody
around here wears that kind of clothes,' he said shortly.
'Are you sure?'
'You heard me. I said nobody in this district dresses
like that.'
"It must have been some traveller then.'
'That must be it.' The villagers tone had become
unfriendly again, and his eyes were a little wild.
'Thank you for your time, neighbour,' Sparhawk said,
turning Faran around to leave the vilage.
'He knows more than he's saying,' Kurik observed as
the two of them were passing the last houses.
'right,' Sparhawk agreed. 'The Seeker doesn't own
him, but he's very, very much afraid. Let's move right
along. I want to catch up with the others before dark.'
They overtook their friends just as the sky to the west
took on the ruddy glow of sunset, and they made camp
beside a silent mountain lake not far from the road.
'You think it's going to rain?' Kalten asked after they
had eaten supper and sat around the fire.
'Don't say that,' Talen said. "I only just got dry from all
that rain in Lamorkand.'
'it's always possible, of course,' Kurik said in reply to
Kalten's question. "It's the time of year for it, but I don't
smell very much moisture in the air."
Berit came back from where they had picketed the
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horses. "Sir Sparhawk, there's somebody coming.'
Sparhawk came to his feet. 'How many?'
"I only heard one horse. Whoever it is is coming down
the road from the direction we're going.' The novice
paused. 'He's pushing his horse very hard,' he added.
~that's not too wise,' ulath grunted, ' - considering
the dark and the condition of that road.'
"Should we put out the fire?' Bevier asked.
"I think he's already seen it, Sir Bevier,' Berit replied.
'Let's see if he decides to stop,' Sparhawk said. 'One
man all by himself isn't much of a threat.'
"unless it's the Seeker,' KUrik said, shaking out his
chain-mace. 'All right, gentlemen,' he said in his gruff,
drill-sergeants voice, 'spread out and get ready.'
The knights automatically responded to that note of
command. They all instinctively recognized the fact that
Kurik probably knew more about close fighting than any
man in the four orders. Sparhawk drew his sword,
suddenly feeling an enormous pride for his friend.
The traveller reined in his horse on the road not too far
from their camp. They could all hear the horse panting
and gasping for breath. 'May I approach?' the man out in
the darkness pleaded. His voice was shrill and seemed to
hover on the very brink of hysteria.
'Come on in, stranger,' Kalten replied easily after a
quick glance at Kurik.
The man who came riding out of the darkness was
flamboyantly, even gaudily dressed. He wore a wide-brimmed,
plumed hat, a red satin doublet, blue hose and
knee-length leather boots. He had a lute slung across his
back, and except for a small dagger at his waist, he
carried no weapons. His horse lurched and staggered
with exhaustion, and the rider himself appeared to be in
much the same condition. 'Thank God,' the man said
when he saw the armoured knights standing around the
fire. He swayed dangerously in his saddle and would
have fallen had not Bevier jumped forward to catch him.
'The poor fellow seems to be just about played out,'
Kalten said. "I wonder what's chasing him.'
'Wolves, maybe.' Tynian shrugged. "I expect he'll tell
us just as soon as he gets his breath.'
'Get him some water, Talen,' Sephrenia instructed.
'Yes, ma'am.' The boy took a pail and went down to
the lake.
"just lie back for a few moments,' Bevier told the
stranger. 'You're safe now.'
'There's no time,' the man gasped. 'There's something
of vital urgency I must tell you.'
'What's your name, friend?' Kalten asked him.
"I am Arbele, a minstrel by' profession,' the stranger
replied. "I write poetry and compose the songs I sing for
the entertainment of lords and ladies. I have just come
from the house of that monster, Count Ghasek.'
'That doesn't sound too promising,' ulath muttered.
Talen brought the water, and Arbele drank greedily.
'Take his horse down to the lake,' Sparhawk told the
boy. 'Don't let him drink too much at first.'
'right,' Talen said.
'Why do you call the count a monster?' Sparhawk
asked then.
'What else would you call a man who seals up a fair
damsel in a tower?'
'Who is this fair damsel?' Bevier asked, his voiCe
strangely intent.
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'His own sister!' Arbele choked in a tone of outrage. 'A
lady incapable of wrongdoing.'
'Did he happen to tell you why?' Tynian asked.
'He rambled out some nonsense, accusing her of foul
misdeeds. I refused to listen to him.'
'Are you sure about this?' Kalten's tone was sceptical.
'Did you ever see the lady?'
'Well, no, not really, but the count's servants told me
about her. They said that she's the greatest beauty in the
district, and that the count sealed her in that tower when
he returned from a journey. He drove me and all the
servants from the castle, and now he proposes to keep
his sister in that tower for the rest of her life.'
'Monstrous!' Bevier exclaimed, his eyes afire with
indignation.
Sephrenia had been watching the minstrel very
closely. 'Sparhawk,' she said urgently, motioning him
away from the fire. The two of them walked off, and
Kurik followed them.
'What is it?' Sparhawk asked once they were out of
earshot.
'Don't touch him,' she replied, 'and warn the others to
avoid him as well.'
"I don't quite follow.'
"Something's wrong with him, Sparhawk,' Kurik said
'His eyes aren't right, and he's talking a little
too fast.'
'He's infected with something,' Sephrenia said.
'A disease?' Sparhawk shuddered back from the word.
In a world where plagues were rampant, that word rang
in human imagination like the clap of doom.
'Not in the sense you mean,' she replied. 'This is not a
physical disease. Something has contaminated his mind
- something evil.'
'The Seeker?'
"I don't think so. The symptoms aren't the same. I've
got a strong feeling that he might be contagious, so keep
everybody away from him.'
'He's talking,' Kurik said, 'and he doesn't have that
wooden face. I think you're right, Sephrenia. I don't
beLieve it's the Seeker. It's something else.'
'He's very dangerous just now,' she said.
'Not for long,' Kurik said bleakly, reaching for his
mace.
'Oh, Kurik,' she said in a resigned tone of voice, 'stop
that. What would Aslade say if she found out you were
assaulting helpless travellers?'
'We really don't have to tell her, Sephrenia.'
'When will the day come when Elenes stop thinking
with their weapons?' she said in exasperation. Then she
said something in Styric which Sparhawk did not
recognize.
"I beg your pardon?' he said.
'Never mind.'
'There's a problem, though,' Kurik said seriously. 'if
the minstrel's infectious, then Beviers got it too. He
touched him when he fell off his horse.'
"I'll keep an eye on Bevier,' she said. 'Perhaps his
armour protected him. I'll know better in a little while.'
'And Talen?' Sparhawk asked. 'Did he touch the
minstrel when he brought him that pale of water?'
"I don't think so,' she said.
'Could you cure Bevier if he's caught it?' Kurik asked.
"I don't even know what it is yet. All I know is that
something has taken possession of that minstrel. Let's go
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back and try to keep the others away from him.'
"I charge you, Knights of the Church,' the minstrel was
saying in strident tones, rride forthwith to the house of
the wicked count. Punish him for his cruelty, and free his
beautiful sister from her undeserved punishment.'
"yes!' Bevier said fervently.
Sparhawk looked quickly at Sephrenia, and she
gravely nodded to advise him that 'Bevier had been
infected. 'Stay with him, Bevier,' he told the Arcian. 'The
rest of you, come with me.'
They walked a short distance from the fire, and
Sephrenia quietly explained.
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