2 - The Ruby Knight

by The Ruby Knight [lit]

even taller than ulath. 'And is this the meeting thou hast

  promised, Azash?"she demanded contemptuously. 'if

  so, then I am ready.'

  'Ssso, Sssephrenia,' the hateful voice said, 'we meet

  again and all unexsspectedly. Thisss may be thy lassst

  day of life.'

  'Or thine, Azash,' she replied with calm courage.

  'Thou canssst not dessstroy me.' The laugh was

  hideous.

  'Bhelliom can,' she told the thing, 'and we will deny

  Bhelliom unto thee and turn it to our own ends. Flee,

  Azash, if thou wouldst cling to thy life. Pull the rocks of

  this world over thine head and cower in fear before the

  wrath of the Younger Gods.'

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  'isn't she pushing this a little?' Talen said in a strangled

  voice.

  'They're up to something,' Sparhawk murmured, '

  "who?"

  "Sephrenia and Flute. They're deliberately goading that

  thing into doing something rash.'

  'Not while I have breath!' Bevier declared fervently,

  couching his lance.

  'Hold your ground, Bevier!' Kurik barked. 'They know

  what they're doing! God knows, none of the rest of us

  do.'

  'And art thou ssstill continuing thine unwholesssome

  dalliencsse with these Elene children, Sssephrenia?' the

  voice of Azash said. 'if thine appetite isss ssso vassst,

  come thou unto me, and I ssshall give thee sssurfeit.'

  'That is no longer within thy power, Azash, or hast

  thou forgotten thy unmanning? Thou art an abomination

  in the sight of all the Gods, and that is why they cast thee

  out, emasculated thee and confined thee in thy place of

  eternal torment and regret.'

  The thing on the exhausted horse hissed in fury, and

  Sephrenia nodded calmly to Flute. The little girl lifted her

  pipes to her lips and began to play. Her melody was

  rapid, a series of skittering, discordant notes, and the

  Seeker seemed to shrink back. "It ssshall avail thee not,

  Sssephrenia,' Azash declared in a shrill voice. 'There isss

  yet time.'

  Thinkest thou so, mighty Azash?' she said in a

  taunting voice. 'Then thy endless centuries of confinement

  have bereft thee of thy wits as well as thy

  manhood.'

  The Seeker's shriek was one of sheer rage.

  'impotent godling,' Sephrenia continued her goading,

  'return to foul Zemoch and gnaw upon thy soul in vain

  regret for the delights now eternally denied thee.'

  Azash howled, and Flute's song grew even faster.

  Something was happening to the Seeker. Its body

  seemed to be writhing under its black robe, and terrible,

  inarticulate noises came out from under its hood. With an

  awful jerking motion it clambered down from its dying

  horse. It half staggered forward, its scorpion claws

  extended.

  Instinctively, the Church Knights moved to protect

  Sephrenia and the little girl.

  'Stay back!' Sephrenia snapped. "It cannot stop what is

  happening now.'

  The Seeker fell squirming to the road, tearing off the

  black robe. Sparhawk suppressed a powerful urge to

  retch. The Seeker had an elongated body divided in the

  middle by a waist like that of a wasp, and it glistened with

  a pus-like greyish slime. Its spindly limbs were jointed in

  many places, and it did not have what one could really

  call a face, but only two bulging eyes and a gaping maw

  surrounded by a series of sharp-pointed, fang-like

  appendages.

  Azash shrieked something at Flute. Sparhawk recognized

  the inflections as Styric, but - and he was forever

  grateful for the fact - he recognized none of the words.

  And then the Seeker began to split apart with an awful

  riPPing sound. There was something inside it, something

  that squirmed and wriggled, trying to break free.

  The rip in the Seeker's body grew wider, and that which

  was inside began to emerge. It was shiny black and wet.

  Translucent wings hung from its shoulders. It had two

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  huge protruding eyes, delicate antennae and no mouth.

  It shuddered and struggled, pulling itself free of the

  now-shrunken husk of the Seeker. Then, finally fully

  emerging, it crouched in the dirt of the road, rapidly

  fanning its insect wings to dry them. When the wings

  were dry and flushed with something that might even

  have been blood, they began to whir, moving so rapidly

  now that they seemed to blur, and the creature that had

  been so hideously born before their eyes rose into the air

  and flew off towards the east.

  'Stop it!' Bevier shouted. 'Don't let it get away."

  "It's harmless now,' Flute told him calmly, lowering

  her pipes.

  'What did you do?' he asked in awe.

  The spell simply speeded up its maturing,' she

  replied. 'My sister was right when she taught me that

  spell. It's an adult now, and all of its instincts are bent on

  breeding. Not even Azash can override its desperate

  search for a mate.'

  'What was the purpose of that little exchange of

  insults?' Kalten asked Sephrenia.

  'Azash had to be so enraged that He would begin to

  lose his control of the Seeker so that Flute's spell would

  work,' she explained. That's why I threw certain unpleasant

  realities in His face.'

  'Wasn't that a little dangerous?'

  'Very.' she admitted.

  will the adult find a mate?' Tynian asked flute in an

  awed voice. "I'd hate to see the world crawling with

  seekers.'

  "It will find no mate,' she told him. "It is the only one of

  its kind on the surface of the earth. It no longer has a

  mouth, so it can no longer feed. It will fly around in its

  desperate search for a week or so.'

  'And then?'

  'And then? And then it will die.' She said it in a

  chillingly indifferent voice.

  *Chapter20

  They dragged the husk of the Seeker off the road and

  returned to the trees to await Ghwerig. 'Where is he

  now?' Sparhawk asked Flute.

  'Not far from the north end of the lake,' she replied.

  'He's not moving right now. It's my guess that now that

  the fog has burned off, the serfs have gone to the fields.

  There are probably so many people about that he has to

  hide.'

  'That means that he's likely to come through here after

  nightfall, doesn't it?'

  "It's probable, yes.'

  "I'm really not very exCited about meeting a Troll in the

  dark.'

  "I can make light, Sparhawk - enough for our purposes, anyway.'

  "I'd appreciate it.' He frowned. 'if you could do that to

  the Seeker, why didn't you do it before?'

  There wasn't time. It always came on us by surprise. It

  takes a while to prepare oneself for that particular spell.

  Do you really have to talk so much, Sparhawk? I'm trying

  to concentrate on Bhelliom.'

  'Sorry. I'll go
and talk with Ulath. I want to find out

  exactly how to go about attacking a Troll.'

  He found the big Genidian Knight dozing under a tree.

  'What's happening?' Ulath said, one of his blue eyes

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  opening.

  'Flute says that Ghwerig's probably hiding right now.

  He's not moving, at any rate. He's likely to come past

  here sometime tonight.'

  Ulath nodded. 'Trolls like to move around in the dark,'

  he said. 'It's their customary hunting time.'

  'What's the best way to deal with him?'

  'Lances might work - if we all charge him at the same

  time. One of us might be able to get in a lucky thrust.'

  'This is a little too serious to be trusting to luck.'

  "It's worth a try - for a start, anyway. We'll probably

  still have to fall back on swords and axes. We'll need to be

  very careful, though. You have to watch out for a Troll's

  arms. They're very long, and Trolls are much more agile

  than they look.'

  'You seem to know a great deal about them. Have you

  ever fought one?'

  'A few times, 'yes. It's not really the sort of thing you

  want to make a habit of. Has Berit still got that bow of

  his?'

  'i think so, yes.'

  'Good. That's usually the best way to start on a Troll slow

  him down with a few arrows and then move in to

  finish up.'

  'Wil he have any weapons?'

  'Maybe a club. Trolls don't really have the knack of

  working in iron or steel.'

  'How did you ever learn their language?'

  'We had a pet Troll in our chapterhouse at Heid. Found

  him when he was a cub, but Trolls are born knowing how

  to speak their language. He was an affectionate little rascal

  at least at first. Turned mean on us later on, though. I

  learned the language from him while he was growing up.'

  'You say he turned mean?'

  "It wasn't really his fault, Sparhawk. When a Troll

  grows up, he starts to get these urges, and we didn't have

  time to hunt down a female for him. And then his

  appetite started to get out of hand. He'd eat a couple of

  cows or a horse every week.'

  'What finally happened to him?'

  'One of our brothers went out to feed him, and he

  attacked. The brothers couldn't have that, so we decided

  that we'd have to kill him. It took five of us, and most of

  us had to take to our beds for a week or so afterwards.'

  'Ulath,' Sparhawk said suspiciously, 'are you pulling

  my leg?'

  "would I do that? trolls aren't really too bad - as long

  as you've got plenty of armed men around you. An arrow

  in the belly usually makes them kind of cautious. It's the

  Ogres you've got to watch out for. They don't have

  enough brains to be cautious.' He scratched at his cheek.

  "there was an Ogress once who developed an unreasoning

  Passion for one of the brothers at Heid,' he said. "She

  wasn't too bad-looking - for an Ogress. She kept her fur

  fairly clean and her horns shiny. She even used to polish

  her fangs. They chew granite to do that, you know.

  Anyhow, as I was saying, she was wildly in love with this

  knight at Heid. She used to lurk in the woods and sing to

  him - most awful sound you ever heard. She could sing

  all the needles off a pine tree at a hundred paces. The

  knight finally couldn't stand it any more, and he entered

  a monastery. She just pined away after that.'

  'Ulath, I know you're pulling my leg now.'

  'Why, Sparhawk,' Ulath protested mildly.

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  Then the best way to get Ghwerig out of the way is to

  stand back and shoot him full of arrows?'

  'For a start. We'll still have to get in close though. Trolls

  have very tough hide and thick fur. Arrows don't usually

  penetrate very deep, and trying to do it in the dark is

  going to make it very tricky.'

  'flute says she can make enough light for us.'

  "She's a very strange person, isn't she? - even for a

  Styric?'

  'That she is, my friend.'

  'How old do you think she really is?'

  "I have no idea. Sephrenia won't even give me a clue. I

  do know that she's much, much older than she appears

  to be, and much wiser than any of us can guess.'

  'After the way she got that Seeker off our backs, I don't

  think it would hurt us to do as she says for a while.'

  "I'd agree to that,' Sparhawk said.

  'Sparhawk,' the little girl called sharply, 'come here.'

  "I just wish she wouldn't be so imperious all the time,'

  Sparhawk muttered, turning around to answer the

  summons.

  'Ghwerig's doing something I don't understand,' she

  said when he rejoined her.

  'What's that?'

  'He's moving out onto the lake.'

  'He must have found a boat,' Sparhawk said. 'Ulath

  tells us that he can't swim. Which way's he going?'

  She closed her eyes in concentration. 'More or less to

  the north-west. He'll miss the city of Venne and come out

  on the west side of the lake. We're going to have to ride

  on down there if we're going to intercept him.'

  "I'll tell the others." Sparhawk said. 'How fast is he

  moving?'

  'Very slowly right now. I don't think he knows how to

  row a boat very well.'

  'That might give us a little time to get there before he

  does. '

  They broke their minimal encampment and rode south

  on the Alaris road along the west sid

  on the Alaris road along the west side of Lake Venne as

  twilight settled over western Pelosia.

  'Will you be able to pinpoint his approximate landing

  place from the sense you're picking up from Bhelliom?'

  Sparhawk asked Flute, who rode in Sephrenia's arms.

  'To within a half-mile or so,' she replied. "It gets more

  precise as he gets closer to shore. There are currents and

  winds and that sort of thing, you understand.'

  'is he still moving slowly?'

  'Even more so. Ghwerig has certain difficulties with his

  shoulders and hips. It makes rowing very difficult for him.'

  'Can you make any kind of guess about when he'll

  make it to shore here on the west side of the lake?'

  'in his present condition, not until well after daybreak

  tomorrow. At this point he's fishing. He needs food.'

  'With his hands?'

  Trolls are very, very fast with their hands. The lake surface

  confuses him. Most of the time, he's not even

  sure which way he's going. Trolls have a very poor sense

  of direction - except for north. They can feel the pull of

  the pole through the earth. On water, though, they're

  almost helpless.'

  'We've got him then.'

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  'Don't plan the victory celebration until after you've

  won the fight, Sparhawk,' she said tartly.

  'You're a very disagreeable little girl, Flute. Do you

  know
that?'

  'But you do love me, don't you?' she said with

  disarming ingenuousness.

  'What can you do?' he asked Sephrenia, helplessly.

  "She's impossible.'

  'Answer her question, Sparhawk,' she suggested.

  "It's more important than you realize.'

  'Yes, God help me,' he said to Flute, "I do. There are

  times when I want to spank you, but I do love you.'

  'That's all that's important,' she sighed. Then she

  snuggled up in Sephrenia's protective robe and went

  promptly to sleep.

  They patrolled a long stretch of the western shore of

  Lake Venne, peering out into the darkness that had

  settled over the lake. Gradually during the long night,

  Flute narrowed the area of their patrol, bringing them

  closer and closer together.

  'How can you tell?' Kalten demanded of her a few

  hours past midnight.'

  'Would he understand?' Flute asked Sephrenia.

  'Kalten? Probably not, but you can try to explain it, if

  you'd like.' Sephrenia smiled. 'We all need a bit of

  frustration in our lives from time to time.'

  "It feels differently when Bhelliom's moving at a

  diagonal than when it's coming at you head-on,' Flute

  tried.

  'Oh,' he said dubiously, 'that makes sense, I suppose.'

  'See,' Flute said triumphantly to Sephrenia, "I knew

  I could make him understand.'

  'Only one question,' Kalten added. 'What's

  diagonal?'

  'Oh dear,' she said, pressing her face against

  Sephrenia in a gesture of despair.

  'Well, what is it?' Kalten appealed to his fellow

  knights. 'Let's swing south a bit, Kalten, and keep an eye on the

  lake,' Tynian said. 'I'll explain it to you as we go along.'

  'You,' Sephrenia said to Ulath, who had a faint smile

  on his face, 'not a word.'

  "I didn't say anything.'

  Sparhawk turned Faran and rode slowly back towards

  the north, looking out at the dark waters.

  The moon rose late that night, and it cast a long,

  glittering path across the surface of the lake. Sparhawk

  relaxed a bit then. Looking for a Troll in the dark had

  been a very tense business. It seemed somehow almost

  too easy now. All they had to do was wait for Ghwerig to

  reach the lake-shore. After all the difficulties and setbacks

  that had dogged them since they had set out in

  search of bhelliom, the idea of just being able to sit and

  wait for it to be delivered to them made Sparhawk a little

  uneasy. He had an ominous suspicion that something

  was going to go wrong. If all the things that had