2 - The Ruby Knight

by The Ruby Knight [lit]

of Elenia? Sparhawk grimly began to think of armies and

  invasions. If Ehlana died, he vowed to himself that he

  would obliterate Zemoch and leave Azash weeping alone

  in the ruins without one single human to worship Him.

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  They reached the city of Venne not long after noon of

  the following day and returned through the gloomy

  streets to the now-familiar inn. "why don't we just buy

  this place?' Kalten suggested as they dismounted in the

  courtyard. 'I'm starting to feel as if I've lived here all my

  life. '

  'Go ahead and make the arrangements,' Sparhawk

  told him. 'Kurik, let's walk down to the lake-shore and

  see if we can find a boat before the sun goes down.'

  The knight and his squire walked out of the innyard

  and down the cobbled street that led towards the lake.

  'This town doesn't get any prettier when you get to know

  it,' Kurik observed.

  'We're not here for the scenery,' Sparhawk growled.

  'What's the matter, Sparhawk?' Kurik asked. 'You've

  , been in a foul humour for the last week or more.'

  "time, Kurik,' Sparhawk sighed, 'time. Sometimes it's

  "'almost as if I can feel it dribbling through my fingers. We

  were within no more than a few feet of Bhelliom, and

  then we had to pack up and leave. My queen is dying

  inch by inch, and things keep getting in my way. I'm

  starting to feel a very powerful urge to hurt some people. '

  "don't look at me.'

  Sparhawk smiled faintly. "I think you're safe, my

  friend,' he said, putting his hand affectionately on

  Kurik's shoulder. 'if nothing else, I'd hate to make

  wagers on the outcome if you and I ever had a really

  ,serious disagreement.'

  ' There's that, too,' Kurik agreed. Then he pointed.

  'Over there,' he said.

  'Over there what?'

  That tavern. People with boats go in there.

  'How do you know that?'

  " just saw one go in. Boats tend to leak, and the men

  who own them try to seal up the seams with tar. Anytime

  you see a man with tar on his tunic, you can be fairly sure

  that he has something to do with boats.'

  "you're an absolute sink of information sometimes,

  Kurik.'

  'I've been around in the world for quite a long time,

  Sparhawk. If a man keeps his eyes open, he can learn a

  great deal. When we go inside, let me do the talking. It'll

  be faster.' Kurik's stride suddenly took on a peculiar roll,

  and he banged open the tavern door with unnecessary

  force. 'Hello there, mates,' he said in a raspy voice. 'Have

  we chanced by luck on a place where men as works on

  the water be accustomed to gather?'

  'You've found the right place, friend,' the barman said.

  'Praise be,' Kurik said. "I hate to drink with landsmen

  All they can talk about is the weather an' their crops, an'

  once you've said it's cloudy an' that the turnips is

  growin', you've exhausted the possibilities of conversation.'

  The men in the tavern laughed appreciatively.

  'Forgive me if I seem to pry,' the barman apologized,

  'but you seem to have the speech of a salt water man.'

  'indeed,' Kurik said, 'an' sore do I miss the smell of

  brine an' the gentle kiss of spray upon my cheek.'

  'You're a long way from any salt water, mate,' one tarsmeared

  fellow sitting at a table in the corner said with an

  odd note of respect in his voice.

  Kurik sighed deeply. 'Missed me boat, mate,' he said.

  'We made port in Apalia, sailin' down from Yosut up in

  Thalesia, an' I went out on the town an' got sore took by

  the grog. The Cap'n was not one to wait for stragglers, so

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  he upped an' sailed with the mornin' tide an' left me

  beached. As luck had it, I fell in with this man,' he

  clapped Sparhawk familiarly on the shoulder, 'an' he

  give me employment. Says he needs to hire a boat here in

  Venne an' he needed someone as knew the way of boats

  to make sure he doesn't wind up on the bottom of the

  lake. '

  'Well, now, mate,' the tarry man in the corner said

  with narrowed eyes, 'what would your employer be

  willing to pay for the hire of a boat?'

  "Twould only be for a couple of days,' Kurik said. He

  looked at Sparhawk. 'What thinkee, Cap'n? Would a

  half-crown strain your purse!'

  "I could manage a half-crown,' Sparhawk replied,

  trying to conceal his amazement at Kurik's sudden

  alteration.

  'Two days, you say?' the man in the corner said.

  'Dependin' on the wind and weather, mate, but it'S

  always that way on the water, isn't it?'

  'Truly. It could just be that we can do some business

  here. I happen to own a fair-sized fishing'boat, and the

  fishing hasn't been very good of late. I could hire out the

  boat to you and spend the two days mending my nets.'

  'Why don't we just nip on down to the water's edge an'

  have a look at your vessel?' Kurik suggested. "It might

  just could be that we could strike a bargain.'

  The tar-smeared fellow drained his tankard and rose to

  his feet. 'Come along then,' he said, moving towards the

  door.

  'Kurik,' Sparhawk said quietly in a pained tone, 'don't

  spring surprises like that on me. My nerves aren't as

  good as they used to be.'

  'Variety keeps life interestin', Cap'n,' Kurik grinned as

  they left the tavern in the wake of the fisherman.

  The boat was perhaps thirty feet long, and it sat low in

  the water.

  "She appears to have a leak or two, mate,' Kurik noted,

  pointing at the foot or so of water standing in the hull.

  'We 'were just patching her, ' the fisherman apologised.

  I hit a submerged log and sprung a seam. The men as

  works for me wanted to get something to eat before they

  came back to finish up and bail her out.' He patted the

  boat's hull affectionately. "She's a good old tub,' he said

  modestly. "She responds to the helm well, an' she can

  take whatever kind of weather this lake can throw at her. '

  'An' you'll have her patched by mornin'?'

  "Shouldn't be no trouble, mate.'

  'What thinkee, Cap'n?' Kurik asked Sparhawk.

  'Looks all right to me," Sparhawk replied, 'but I'm no

  expert. That's what I hired you for.'

  'All right then, we'll try her, mate,' Kurik told the

  fisherman. 'We'll come back down come sun-up an'

  settle up then.' He spat on his hand, and he and the

  fisherman slapped their palms together. 'Come along,

  Cap'n,' Kurik told his lord. 'Let's find us some grog an'

  supper an' then a bed. 'Twill be a long day tomorrow.'

  And then with that rolling swagger, he led the way up

  from the lake-front.

  'Would you like to explain all that?' Sparhawk asked

  when they were some distance away from the boatowner.

  'It's not too difficult, Sparhawk,' Kurik said. 'Men who

  sail on lakes always ha
ve a great deal of respect for saltwater

  sailors, and they'll go out of their way to be

  acomodating."

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  'but how did you ever learn to talk that

  waY?'

  "I went to sea once when I was about sixteen. I've told

  you that before.'

  'Not that I remember, no.'

  "I must have.'

  ]'Maybe it slipped my mind. What possessed you to go to sea?'

  "aslade." Kurik laughed. "She was about fourteen then

  and just blossoming out. She had that marrying sort of

  look in her eye. I wasn't ready yet, so I ran away to sea.

  Biggest mistake I ever made. I hired on as a deck-hand on

  the leakiest bucket on the west coast of Eosia. I spent six

  months bailing water out of the bilges. When I got back to

  shore, I swore I'd never set foot on a ship again. Aslade

  was very happy to see me again, but then she's always

  been an emotional girl.'

  'Was that when you decided to marry her?'

  "Shortly after that. When I got home, she took me up to

  her father's hayloft and did some fairly serious persuading.

  Aslade can be very, very persuasive when she sets

  her mind to it.'

  'Kurik.!' Sparhawk was actually shocked.

  'Grow up, Sparhawk. Aslade's a country girl, and

  most country girls have already started to swell when

  they get married. It's a relatively direct form of courtship,

  but it has its compensations.'

  'in a hayloft?' Kurik smiled. "Sometimes you have to improvise,

  Sparhawk.'

  *Chapter19

  Sparhawk sat in the room he shared with Kalten, poring

  over his map while his friend snored on a nearby bed.

  Ulath's idea of a boat was a good one. Sephrenia's

  statement that it would indeed evade the Seekers most

  dangerous means of tracking them down was reassuring.

  They could return to that lonely mud beach where

  the Earl of Heid slumbered and resume their interupted

  search without looking over their shoulders for signs of a

  hooded figure sniffing at the ground behind them. The

  Zemoch skull Berit had found on the murky bottom had

  almost precisely pinpointed Bhelliom's location. With

  only a little luck, they would be able to find it within the

  space of a single afternoon. They'd have to return here to

  Ven for the horses, however, and that was the

  problem. If, as they had surmised, the Seekers blankminded

  cohorts were lurking in the fields and woods

  around the town, they'd have to fight their way out.

  Under ordinary circummstances, fighting would not have

  concerned Sparhawk, it was what he had trained a

  lifetime to do. If he had Bhelliom in his possession,

  however, it would not only be his own life he would be

  risking, but Ehlana's as well, and that was unacceptable.

  Moreover, as soon as Azash sensed Bhelliom's reemergence,

  the Seeker would hurl whole armies against

  them in a desperate attempt to seize the jewel.

  The solution was simple, of course. All they had to do

  was to come up with a way to convey the horses to the

  west side of the lake. Then the Seeker could haunt the

  region around Venne until it grew old and died without

  causing Sparhawk and his friends any further inconvenience.

  The boat which he and Kurik had hired,

  though, would not be capable of carrying more than two

  horses at a time. The notion of making eight or nine

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  separate trips half-way down the lake to deposit the

  horses on some lonely beach on the west side of the lake

  made Sparhawk almost want to scream with impatience.

  hiring several boats was an alternative, though not a

  very good one. A single boat probably would not attract

  attention, a fleet of them, though, would. Perhaps they

  could find someone dependable enough to herd the

  horses down the west shore. The only problem with that

  was that Sparhawk was not sure whether the Seeker

  could identify the smell of the horses as well as that of the

  people who rode them. He scratched absently at the

  finger which bore his ring. The finger seemed to be

  throbbing for some reason.

  There was a light tap on the door.

  "I'm busy,' he said irritably.

  'Sparhawk.' The voice was light and musical, and it

  had that peculiar lilt that identified the speaker as Styric.

  Sparhawk frowned. He didn't recognize the voice.

  'Sparhawk, I need to talk with you.'

  He rose and went to the door. To his astonishment, it

  was Flute. She slipped into the room and closed the door

  behind her.

  'So you can talk?' he asked, surprised.

  'Of course I can.'

  ~y haven't you then?'

  "It wasn't necessary before. You Elenes babble far too

  much.' Although her voice was that of a little girl, her

  words and inflections were peculiarly adult. 'Listen to

  me, Sparhawk. This is very important. We must all leave

  immediately. '

  "It's the middle of the night, Flute,' he objected.

  'How terribly observant of you,' she said, looking

  towards the darkened window. 'Now please be still and

  listen. Ghwerig has retrieved Bhelliom. We have to

  intercept him before he can get to the north coast and

  sneak aboard a ship bound for Thalesia. If he evades us,

  we'll have to follow him to his cave in the mountains of

  Thalesia, and that would take quite a while.'

  'According to Ulath, nobody even knows where the

  cave is.'

  "I know where it is. I've been there before.'

  'You what?'

  'Sparhawk, you're wasting time. I have to get out of

  this city. There's too much distraction here. I can't feel

  what's happening. Put on your iron suit and let's go.'

  Her tone was abrupt, even imperious. She looked at him,

  her large, dark eyes grave. 'is it possible that you're such

  a total lump that you can't feel Bhelliom moving through all

  the world? Isn't that ring telling you anything?'

  He started slightly and looked at the ruby ring on his

  left hand. It still seemed to be throbbing. The small child

  standing in front of him seemed to know far too much.

  'Does Sephrenia know about all this?'

  'Of course. She's getting our things together.'

  'Let's go and talk with her.'

  'You're beginning to irritate me, Sparhawk.' Her dark

  eyes flashed, and the corners of her bow-like pink mouth

  turned down.

  ,I'm sorry, Flute, but I still have to talk with Sephrenia.'

  She rolled her eyes upward. 'Elenes,' she said in a tone

  so like Sephrenia's that Sparhawk almost laughed. He took

  her hand and led her from the room and down the hallway.

  Sephrenia was busily stowing clothing, both hers and

  Flute's, in the canvas bag sitting on the bed in her room.

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  'Come right in, Sparhawk,' she said to him as he paused

&
nbsp; in the doorway. "I've been expecting you.'

  'What's going on, Sephrenia?' he asked in a baffled

  tone of voice.

  'Didn't you tell him?' she asked Flute.

  'Yes, but he doesn't seem to believe me. How can you

  tolerate these stubborn people?"

  They have a certain charm. Believe her, Sparhawk,'

  she said gravely to him. "She knows what she's talking

  about. Bhelliom has emerged from the lake. I felt it

  myself, and now Ghwerig has it. We have to get out into

  open country so that flute and I can sense which way

  he's going with it. Go rouse the others and have Berit

  saddle our horses.'

  "you're sure about this?'

  "yes. Hurry, Sparhawk, or Ghwerig will get away.'

  He turned quickly and went back out into the hall. This

  was all moving so rapidly that he did not ' have time to

  think. He went from room to room, waking the others

  and instructing them all to gather in Sephrenia's room.

  He sent Berit to the stable to saddle the horses, and last of

  all he woke Kalten. "

  what's the problem?' the blond Pandion asked, sitting

  up and rubbing sleepily at his eyes.

  "Something's come up,' Sparhawk replied. 'We're

  leaving.'

  'in the middle of the night?'

  "yes. Get dressed, Kalten, and I'll pack our things.'

  "what's going on, Sparhawk?' Kalten swung his legs

  over the edge of the bed.

  'Sephrenia will explain it. Hurry, Kalten.'

  " Grumbling, Kalten began to dress while Sparhawk

  ~ jammed their spare clothing into the pack they had

  brought up to their room. Then the two of them went

  back down the hall, and Sparhawk rapped on the door to

  Sephrenia's room.

  'Oh do come in, Sparhawk. This is no time to stand on

  ceremony.'

  "Who's that?' Kalten asked.

  'Flute,' Sparhawk replied, opening the door.

  'Flute? She can talk?'

  The others had already gathered in the room, and they

  were all looking at the little girl they had thought was

  mute with some astonishment.

  'To save time, gentlemen,' she said, 'yes, I can talk, and

  no, I didn't want to before. Does that answer all the

  tiresome questions? Now listen very carefully. The

  Troll-Dwarf Ghwerig has managed to get his hands on

  Bhelliom again, and he's trying to take it to his cave up in

  the mountains of Thalesia. Unless we hurry, he'll get

  away from us.'

  'How did he get it out of the lake when he hasn't ever

  been able to do it before?' Bevier asked.

  'He had help.' She looked around at their faces and