Occuda killed.'
"better and better. Is there a door at the top of those
stairs?'
'No. Just a narrow slot to push the food through.'
'Good. The lady's misbehaved a bit, but I don't think
any of us would want to starve her to death.' He looked
around at the others. 'Gentlemen,' he said to them,
'we're going to learn a new trade.'
"I don't quite follow you, Sparhawk,' Tynian admitted.
'We're now going to be stone-masons. Kurik, do you
know how to lay brick and stone?'
'Of course I do, Sparhawk,' Kurik said disgustedly.
"you should know that.'
'Good. You'll be our foreman then. Gentlemen, what
I'm going to suggest may shock you, but I don't think we
have any choice.' He looked at Sephrenia. 'if Bellina ever
gets out of that tower, she's probably going to go looking
for Zemochs or the Seeker. Would they be able to restore
her powers?'
'Yes, I'm sure they could.'
'We can't allow that. I don't want that cellar ever to be
used in that way again.'
"what are you proposing, Sir Sparhawk?' the count
asked.
'We're going to wall up that door at the top of those
stairs,' Sparhawk replied. 'Then we'll tear the stairway
down and use the stones to wall this door at the base of
the tower in as well. Then we'll conceal the door that
leads from the kitchen to that stairway inside the tower.
Occuda will still be able to feed her, but if the minstrel or
those servants ever manage to get inside the castle,
they'll never figure out how to get to that room up there.
Lady Bellina will live out the rest of her life right where
she is.'
]'That's a rather horrible thing to suggest, Sparhawk,'
Tynian said.
'Would you rather kill her?' Sparhawk asked bluntly.
Tynian's face blanched.
'That's it, then. We brick her up inside.'
Bevier's smile was chill. 'Perfect, Sparhawk,' he said.
Then he looked at the count. 'Tell me, My Lord, which of
the structures inside your walls can you spare?'
The count gave him a puzzled look.
'We're going to need building stone,' Bevier explained.
"Quite a bit of it, I think. I want the wall across that door
up there good and thick.'
*Chapter16
They removed their armour and put on the plain
workmen's smocks which Occuda provided, and then
they went to work. They knocked out a portion of the
back wall of the stable, working under Kurik's direction.
Occuda mixed a large tub of mortar, and they began to
carry building stones up the curved stairway to the door
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at the top of the tower.
'Before you begin, gentlemen,' Sephrenia said, "I'll
need to see her.'
'Are you sure of that?' Kalten asked her. "She might
still be dangerous, you know.'
That's what I have to find out. I'm positive that she's
powerless, but it's best to be certain, and I can't do that
unless I see her.'
'And I'd like to see her face one last time as well,'
Count Ghasek added. "I can't bear what she's become,
but I did love her once.'
They mounted the stairs, and Kurik prised the heavy
chain away from the door with a steel bar. Then the count
took yet another key and unlocked the door.
Bevier drew his sword.
'is that really necessary?' tynian asked Him.
"It may be,' Bevier replied bleakly.
'All right, My Lord,' Sephrenia said to the count, 'open
the door.'
The Lady Bellina stood just inside. Her wildly contorted
face was pouchy and her neck wrinkled. Her tangled
hair was streaked with grey, and her naked body sagged
in unlovely folds. Her eyes were totally insane, and she
pulled back her lips from her pointed teeth in a snarl of
hate.
'Bellina,' the count began sadly, but she hissed at him
and lunged forward with her fingers extended like claws.
Sephrenia spoke a single word, pointing her finger,
and Bellina reeled back as if she had been struck a heavy
blow. She howled in frustration and tried to rush at them
again, but suddenly stopped, clawing at the air in front of
her as if at some wall that none of them could see.
'Close it again, My Lord,' Sephrenia instructed sadly.
"I've seen enough.'
'So have I,' the count replied in a choked voice and
with tear-filled eyes as he closed the door. "She's hopelessly
mad now, isn't she?'
'Completely. Of course she's been mad since she left
that house in Chyrellos, but she's absolutely gone now.
She's no longer a danger to anyone but herself.'
Sephrenia's voice was filled with pity. 'There are no
mirrors in that room, are there?'
'No. Would that pose some threat?'
'Not really, but at least she'll be spared the sight of
herself. That would be too cruel.' She paused thoughtfully.
There are some common weeds hereabouts, I've
noticed. There's a way to extract their juices, and they
have a calming effect. I'll talk with Occuda and give him
instructions for putting them in her food. They won't
cure her, but they'll make it less likely that she'll hurt
herself. Lock the door, My Lord. I'll go back inside while
you gentlemen do what needs to be done. Let me know
when you've finished.flute and Talen trailed after her
as she walked back towards the castle.
'Hold it right there, young man,' Kurik said to his son.
'Now what?' Talen said.
'You stay here.'
'Kurik, I don't know anything about bricklaying.
'You don't have to know all that much to carry stones
up those stairs.'
'You're not serious!'
Kurik reached for his belt, and Talen hurried over to
the pile of squared-off stones at the back of the stable.
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'Good lad there,' Ulath noted. 'He grasps reality
almost immediately.'
Bevier insisted upon being in the forefront of their
work. The young Cyrinic laid building stones almost in a
frenzy.
"Keep them level,' Kurik barked at him. 'This is a
permanent structure, so let's make a workmanlike job of it.'
In spite of himself, Sparhawk laughed.
"Something amusing, My Lord?' Kurik asked him
coldly.
'No. I just remembered something, that's all.
"you'll have to share it with us later. Don't just stand
there, Sparhawk. Help Talen carry stones.'
The embrasure into which the door was set was quite
thick, since this tower was a part of the castle's fortifications.
They built one wall flush against the door as the
counts sister shrieked insanely inside and pounded
wildly against the door 'which they were sealing. Then
they began a second wall tightly against the first. It was
mid-morning when Sparhawk went into the castle to tell
'Good,' she said. The two of them went back out into
the courtyard. The rain had ceased now, and the sky had
begun to clear. Sparhawk looked upon that as a good
omen. 'He led Sephrenia to the stairs that half encircled
the tower.
Very nice, gentlemen,' Sephrenia called up to the
others, who were putting the finishing touches on the
wall they had constructed. 'Now, come down from
there. I have one last thing to do.'
They trooped down, and the small woman went on
up. She began to chant in Styric. When she released the
spell, the fresh-built wall seemed to shimmer for a
moment. Then the shimmering was gone. She came back
down. 'All right,' she said, 'you can knock down the
stairs now.'
'What did you do?' Kalten asked curiously.
She smiled. 'Your work was much better than you
might have thought, dear one,' she told him. 'The wall
you built is totally impregnable now. That minstrel or the
servants can pound on it with sledges until they're old
and grey without damaging it in the slightest.'
Kurik, who had gone back up the steps, leaned out and
looked down at them. 'The mortars completely dry,' he
reported. That usually takes days.'
Sephrenia pointed at the door at the base of the tower.
'Let me know when you finish this one. It's a bit damp
and chily out here. I think I'll go back inside where it's
Warm. '
The count, who had been more saddened by the
necessary entombment of His sister than he had readily
admitted, accompanied her back inside while Kurik
instructed his makeshift work-crew as to how to proceed.
It took them most of the rest of the day to knock down
the stone stairway leading to the now-walled-in upper
door and to seal off the lower one. Then Sephrenia came
out, repeated the spell and went back into the castle.
Sparhawk and the others adjourned to the kitchen,
which was located in a wing of the castle abutting the
tower.
Kurik considered the small door leading to the inside
staircase.
'Well?' Sparhawk asked Him.
'Don't rush me, Sparhawk.'
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"It's getting late, Kurik.'
'Do you want to do this?'
Sparhawk closed his mouth and watched without
saying a word as Talen slipped away. The boy looked
tired, and Kurik was a hard task-master. Sparhawk was
like that on occasion.
Kurik consulted with Occuda for a few moments, then
looked at his mortar-spattered crew. 'Time to learn a new
trade, gentlemen,' he said. 'You're now going to become
carpenters. We're going to build a china cabinet out from
that door. The hinges will still work, and I can fashion a
hidden latch. The door will be completely concealed.' He
thought a moment, COCked his head to listen to the
muffled shrieks coming from above. "I think I'll need
some quilts, Occuda,' he said thoughtfully. 'We'll nail
them to the other side of the door to keep the noise from
being too loud in here.'
'Good idea,' Occuda agreed. 'With no other servants
around, I'll be spending a fair amount of time in here,
and that screaming might get on my nerves.'
That's not the only reason we're doing it, but that's all
right. Very well, gentlemen, let's get to work.' Kurik
grinned. "I'll make useful people out of you all yet,' he said.
When they were done, the cHina cabinet was a solid
cabinet was a solid
piece of work. Kurik rather liberally laid a dark stain over
it, then stepped back and viewed the new woodwork
critically. 'Wax it a couple of times after the stain dries,'
he said to Occuda, 'and then skuff it up a bit. You'd
probably better scratch it in a few places as well and blow
dust into the corners. Then load it with crockery. Nobody
will ever know that it hasn't been here for a century or
more. '
'That is a very good man you've got there, Sparhawk,
ulath noted. 'Would you consider selling him?'
'His wife would kill me,' Sparhawk replied. 'Besides,
we don't sell people in Elenia.'
"We're not in Elenia.'
'Why don't we go back to that main room?'
'Not just yet, Sir Knights,' Kurik said firmly. 'First you
have to sweep the sawdust up from the floor and put the
tools away.'
Sparhawk sighed and went looking for a broom.
After they had cleaned up the kitchen, they washed
the mortar and sawdust off themselves, changed back
into tunics and hose and returned to the room with
the vaulted ceiling, where they found the counnt and
Sephrenia deep in conversation while Talen and Flute sat
not far away. The boy appeared to be teacHing the little
girl how to play draughts.
'You look much neater now," Sephrenia told them
approvingly. "you were all really very messy out there in
the courtyard.'
'You can't lay brick or stone without getting mud on
you,' Kurik shrugged.
"I seem to have picked up a blister,' Kalten mourned,
looking at the palm of his hand.
"It's the first honest work he's done since he was
knighted,' Kurik said to the count. 'With a little training,
he might not make a bad carpenter, but the rest of them
have a long way to go, I'm afraid.'
'How did you conceal the door in the kitchen?' the
count asked him.
'We built a cHina cabinet against it, My Lord. Occuda's
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going to do a few things to it to make it look old and then
fill it with dishes. We padded the back of it to muffle the
sound of your sisters screaming.'
'is she still doing that?' the count sighed.
"It wil not diminish as the years go by, My Lord,'
Sephrenia told him. "I'm afraid she'll scream until the day
she dies. When she stops, you'll know that it's over.'
'Occuda's making us something to eat,' Sparhawk said
to the count. "It's going to take him a while, so this might
not be a bad time to have a look at the chronicle you've
compiled.'
'excellent idea, Sir Sparhawk,' the count said, rising
from His chair. 'Will you excuse us, Madame?'
'Of course.'
'Perhaps you might care to accompany us?'
She laughed. 'Ah, no, My Lord. I'd be of no use in a
library.'
'Sephrenia doesn't read,' Sparhawk explained. "It has
something to do with her religion, I think.'
'No,' she disagreed. "It has to do with language, dear
one. I don't want to get into the habit of thinking in
Elene. It might interfere at some point when I need to
think - and speak - very rapidly in Styric.'
'Bevier, ulath, why don't you come with the count and
me?' Sparhawk suggested. 'Between you, you might be
able to fill in some details that will help Him pinpoint the
/>
story we need.'
They went back up the stairs and left the room. The
three knights followed the count through the dusty
hallways of the castle until they reached a door in the
west wing. The count opened the door and led them into
a dark room. He fumbled around on a large table for a
moment, took up a candle and went back into the
hallway to light it from the torch burning outside.
The room was not large, and it was crammed with
books. They stood on shelves stretching from floor to
ceiling and were piled in the corners.
"you are well-read, My Lord,' Bevier said to him.
"It's what scholars do, Sir Bevier. The soil hereabouts is
poor - except for growing trees - and the cultivation of
trees is not a very stimulating activity for a civilized man.'
He looked around fondly. 'These are my friends,' he
said. "I'll need their companionship now more than ever,
I'm afraid. I won't be able to leave this house ever again
I'll have to stay here to guard my sister.'
'The insane don't usually live for very long, My Lord,'
Ulath assured him. 'Once they go mad, they begin to
neglect themselves. I had a cousin who lost her mind one
winter. She was gone by spring.'
"It's a painful thing to hope for the death of a loved one,
Sir Ulath, but God help me, I find that I do.' The count
put his hand on a foot-thick stack of unbound paper lying
on his desk. 'My life's work, gentlemen.' He seated
himself. 'To business then. Exactly what are we looking
for?'
'The grave of King Sarak of Thalesia,' Ulath told him.
'He didn't reach the battlefield down in Lamorkand, so
we assume he fell in some skirmish up here in Pelosia or
in Deira - unless his ship was lost at sea.'
Sparhawk had never thought of that. The possibility
that Bhelliom lay at the bottom of the straits of Thalesia or
the Sea of Pelos chilled him.
'Can you generalize a bit?' the count asked. 'Which
side of the lake was the king's destination? I've broken
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my chronicle down by districts to give it some organization.'
'in all probability, King Sarak was bound for the east
side,' Bevier replied. 'That's where the Thalesian army
engaged the Zemochs.'
'Are there any clues at all about where his ship
landed?'
'Not any that I've heard,' Ulath admitted. "I've made a
few guesses, but they could be off by a hundred leagues
or so. Sarak might have sailed to some seaport along the
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