leagues,' he replied.
'That still doesn't answer my question, Sparhawk. I
need to know how long it wil take.'
He computed it. 'About twenty days.'
She frowned. 'Perhaps I can shorten that a bit,' she
said.
'What are we talking about here?' he asked her.
'Acie's on the coast, isn't it?'
'Yes.'
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'We're going to need a boat to get us to Thalesia.
Ghwerig's taking Bhelliom to his cave up in the
mountains there.'
'There are enough of us to overpower the sentries,'
Kalten said, 'and dealing with a patrol in the middle of
the night's not all that hard. We're still not so far behind
that we can't catch him.'
'We have something to do in Acie,' she told him, ' - at
least I do - and it must be done before we go after
Bhelliom. We know where Ghwerig's going, so he won't
be hard to find. Ulath, go tell WarGun that we'll accompany
him to Acie. Think up some plausible reason.'
'Yes, lady,' he said with the faintest hint of a smile.
"I wish you'd all stop doing that,' she complained. 'Oh,
by the way, on your way to Wargun's tent, ask someone
to bring us some supper.'
'What would you like?'
'Goat would be nice, but anything will do as long as it's
not pork.'
They reached Agnak just before sunset the following
day and set up their huge camp. The local citizenry
immediately closed the city gates. King Wargun insisted
that Sparhawk and the other Church Knights accompany
him under a flag of truce to the north gate. "I am WarGun
of Thalesia,' he roared at the city walls. 'I have King Soros
of Pelosia with me - as well as these Knights of the
Church. The Kingdom of Arcium has been invaded by
the Rendors, and I call upon every able-bodied man with
faith in God to join with us in our efforts to stamp out the
Eshandist heresy. I'm not here to inconvenience you in
any way, my friends, but if that gate isn't open by the
time the sun goes down, I'll reduce your walls to rubble
and drive you all into the wilderness where you can
watch your city burn down to ashes.'
'Do you think they heard him?' Kalten asked.
'They probably heard him in Chyrellos,' Tynian
replied. 'Your king has a most penetrating voice, Sir
Ulath. '
"It's a long way from one mountain top to another in
Thalesia,' Ulath shrugged. 'You have to talk very loudly
if you want to be heard.'
King WarGun grinned crookedly at him. 'Would anyone
care to wager on whether or not that gate opens
before the sun slips behind yon hill?' he asked.
'We are Church Knights, Your Magesty,' Bevier replied
piously. 'We take a vow of poverty, so we're not really in
a position to gamble on sporting events.'
King Wargun roared with laughter.
The city gate opened somewhat hesitantly.
"Somehow I knew they'd see it my way,' Wargun said,
leading the way into the city. 'Where will I find your chief
magistrate?' he asked one of the trembling gate guards.
'I-I believe he's in the councel-house, Your Majesty,'
the guard stammered. 'Probably hiding in the cellar.'
'Be a good fellow and go and fetch him for me.'
'At once, Your Majesty.' The guard threw down his
pike and ran off down the street.
"I like Lamorks,' WarGun said expansively. 'They're
always so eager to be obliging.'
The chief magistrate was a pudgy man. His face was
pale, and he was sweating profusely as the gate guard
bodily dragged him into WarGun's presence.
"I will require suitable quarters for King Soros, myself
and our entourage, Your Excellency,' WarGun informed
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him. 'This won't inconvenience your citizens all that
much, because they'll be up all night equipping themselves
for an extended military campaign anyway.'
'As Your Majesty commands,' the magistrate replied
in a squeaky voice.
'You see what I mean about Lamorks?' WarGun said.
'Soros will have smooth going down here. He'll sweep
the whole kingdom clean in a week - if he doesn't stop to
pray too often. Why don't we go someplace and get
something to drink while his excellency here empties a
dozen or so houses for us?'
After a consultation with King Soros and Patriarch
Bergsten the following morning, WarGun took a troop of
Thalesian cavalry and led them towards the west with
Sparhawk riding at his side. It was a fine morning. The
sunlight sparkled on the lake, and there was a light
breeze blowing in from the west.
"I suppose you're still not going
to tell me what you
were doing in Pelosia?' Wargun said to Sparhawk. The
Thalesian King seemed relatively sober this morning, so
Sparhawk decided to risk his mood.
'You know about Queen Ehlana's illness, of course,' he
began.
'The whole world knows about it. That's why her
bastard cousin is trying to seize power.'
'There's a bit more to it than that, Your Majesty. We've
finally isolated the cause of the illness. Primate Annias
needed access to her treasury, so he had her poisoned.'
'He did what?'
Sparhawk nodded. 'Annias is not overburdened with
scruples, and he'll do anything to reach the Archprelacy.'
'The man's a scoundrel,' Wargun growled.
'At any rate, we've discovered a possible cure for
Ehlana. It involves the use of magic, and we need a
certain talisman to make it work. We found out that the
talisman is in Lake Venne.'
his eyes
narrowed. 'What is this talisman?' WarGun asked,
"It's a kind of ornament,' Sparhawk replied evasively.
'Certain people used to wear them.'
'Do you really put that much store by all that magic
nonsense?'
"I've seen it work a few times, Your Majesty. Anyhow,
that's why we objected so much when you insisted that
we join you. We weren't trying to be disrespectful.
Ehlana's life is being sustained by a spell, but it's only
good for just so long. If she dies, Lycheas will take the
throne. '
'Not if I can help it, he won't. I don't want any throne
in Eosia occupied by a man who doesn't know his own
father.'
'The idea doesn't appeal to me either, but I think
Lycheas does in fact know who his father is.'
'Oh? Who is it? Do you know?'
'The Primate Annias.'
WarGun's eyes went wide. 'Are you sure of that?'
Sparhawk nodded. "I have it on the very best
authority. The ghost of King Aldreas told me. His sister
was somewhat profligate.'
WarGun made the sign to ward off evil, a peasant
gesture that looked peculiar coming from a reigning
monarch. 'A ghost, you say? The word of a ghost won't
stand up in any c
ourt, Sparhawk.'
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"I wasn't planning to take it to court, Your Majesty,'
Sparhawk said grimly, resting his hand on his swordhilt.
'as soon as I have the leisure, the principals will be
standing before a higher judgement.'
'Good man,' WarGun approved. "I wouldn't have
thought that a churchman would have succumbed to
Arissa, though.'
'Arissa can be very persuasive sometimes. Anyway,
this campaign of yours is directed at another one of
Annias's plots. I strongly suspect that the Rendorish
invasion is being led by a man named Martel. Martel
works for Annias, and he's been trying to stir up enough
trouble to draw the Church Knights away from Chyrellos
during the election. Our Preceptors could probably keep
Annias off the Archprelate's throne, so he had to get
them out of his way.'
The man's a real snake, isn't he?'
That's a pretty fair description.'
'You've given me a lot to think about this morning,
Sparhawk. I'll mull it over, and we'll talk some more
about it later.'
A sudden light sprang into Sparhawk's eyes.
'Don't get your hopes up too much, though. I still
think I'm going to need you when I get to Arcium.
Besides, the militant orders have already marched south.
You're Vanion's right arm, and I think he'd miss you
if you stayed away.'
Time and distance seemed to drag on interminably as
they rode west. They crossed into Pelosia again and rode
across the unending plains in bright summer sunlight.
One night when they were still some distance from the
border of Deira, Kalten was in a bad humour. "I thought
you said you were going to speed this trip up,' he said
accusingly to Flute.
"I have,' she replied.
'Really?' he said with heavy sarcasm. 'We've been on
the road for a week already, and we haven't even reached
"Deira yet.'
'Actually, Kalten, we've only been on the road for two
days. I have to make it seem longer so that WarGun
doesn't get suspicious.'
He looked at her disbelievingly.
"I've got another question for you, Flute,' Tynian said.
'Back at the lake, you were very eager to catch Ghwerig
and take Bhelliom away from him. Then you suddenly
changed your mind and said that we have to go to Acie.
What happened?'
"I received word from my family,' she told him. 'They
told me about this task I have to complete at Acie before
we can go after Bhelliom.' She made a wry face. "I
probably should have thought of it myself. '
'Let's get back to this other thing,' Kalten said
impatiently. 'How did you squeeze time together the
way you said you have?'
'There are ways,' she said evasively.
"I wouldn't pursue it, Kalten,' Sephrenia advised. 'You
wouldn't understand what she's been doing, so why
worry about it? Besides, if you keep asking her questions,
she might decide to answer you, and the answers would
probably upset you very much.'
*Chapter22
It seemed that it took them two more weeks to reach the
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foothills above Acie, the bleak, ugly capital of Deira, which
perched on an eroded bluff overlooking the original
harbour and the long, narrow Gulf of Acie. Flute advised
them that evening, however, that no more than five days
had passed since they had left the city of Agnak in
Lamorkand. Most of them chose to take her at her word,
but Sir Bevier, who was of a scholarly and resolutely Elene
frame of mind, questioned her about how this seeming
miracle had come to pass. Her explanation was patient,
although dreadfully obscure. Bevier finally excused himself
and went outside the tent for a time to look at the stars
and to establish his relations with things he had always
considered rmmutable and eternal.
"did you understand anything she said at all?' Tynian
asked him when he returned, pale and sweating to the
tent.
'A little,' Bevier replied, sitting down again, 'just
around the edges.' He looked at Flute with frightened
eyes. "I think perhaps that Patriarch Ortzel was right. We
should have no dealings with these Styric people.
Nothing is sacred to them.'
Flute crossed the tent on her grass-stained little feet
and laid a consoling hand on his cheek. 'Dear Bevier,' she
said sweetly, 'so serious and so devout. We must get to
Thalesia quickly - just as soon as I can finish what I have
to do in Acie. We simply did not have the time to plod
half-way across the continent at the usual pace. That's
why I did it the other way.'
"I understand the reasons,' he said, 'but
"I will never hurt you, you know; and I won't let
anybody else hurt you either, but you must try not to be
so rigid. It makes it so very hard to explain things to you.
Does that help at all?'
'Not appreciably.'
She raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him. 'Now
then,' she said brightly, 'everything's all right again, isn't
it?'
He gave up. 'Do as you will, Flute,' he said to her with
a gentle, almost shy smile. "I can't refute your arguments
and your kisses at the same time.'
'He's such a nice boy,' she said delightedly to the
others.
'We rather feel the same way about him ourselves,'
Ulath said blandly, 'and we have some plans for him.'
'You, however,' she said critically to the Genidian
Knight, 'are most definitely not a nice boy.'
"I know,' he admitted, unruffled, 'and you have no
idea how much that disappointed my mother - and a
number of other ladies from time to time as well.'
She gave him a dark look and stalked away, muttering
to herself in Styric. Sparhawk recognized some of the
words, and he wondered if she really knew what they
meant.
As had become his custom, WarGun asked Sparhawk
tO ride beside him the following morning as they trekked
down the long, rocky slope from the foothills of the
Deiran mountains towards the coast. "I should really get
out more often,' the king of Thalesia confided. 'After
almost three weeks coming from Agnak, I should be
nearly ready to fall out of my saddle, but I feel as if we've
been on the road for only a few days.'
'Perhaps it was the mountains,' Sparhawk suggested
carefully. 'Mountain air is always invigorating.'
'Maybe that's it,' Wargun agreed.
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'Have you given any more thought to the discussion
we had a while back, Your Majesty?' SParhawk asked
cautiously.
"I've had a lot on my mind, Sparhawk. I appreciate
your personal concern about your queen, but from a
political standpoint the important thing now is to
crush
this Rendorish invasion. Then the Preceptors of the
militant orders wil be able to return to Chyrellos and
block the Primate of Cimmura. If Annias fails to gain the
Archprelacy, Lycheas the bastard won't have any chance
of ascending the throne of Elenia. I realize that it's a hard
choice, but politics is a hard game.'
A little later, when Wargun was conferring with his
troop commander, Sparhawk relayed the gist of their
conversation to his companions.
'He's not any more reasonable when he's sober, is he?'
Kalten said.
'From his own standpoint, he's right, though,' Tynian
observed. 'The politics of the situation dictate that we do
everything we can to get all the Preceptors back to
Chyrellos before Cluvonus dies. I doubt that he cares
much one way or the other about Ehlana. There's one
other possibility, though. We're in Deira now, and
Obler's the king here. He's a very wise old man. If we
explain the situation to him, he might overrule Wargun.'
"I don't think I'd care to hang Ehlana's life on that slim a
possibility,' Sparhawk said. He turned to rejoin Wargun.
Despite Flute's assurances concerning the actual
elapsed time their journey had consumed, Sparhawk
was still impatient. The apparent slow pace nagged at
him. While he could intellectually accept what she said,
he could not come to grips with it emotionally. Twenty
days is twenty days to one's senses, and Sparhawk's
senses were strung wire-taut just now. He began to have
dark thoughts. Things had been going wrong so consistently
that seeming premonitions tugged at his mind. He
began to think about the forthcoming encounter with
Ghwerig with a great deal less certainty about the
outcome.
At around noon they reached Acie, the capital city of
the kingdom of Deira. The Deiran army was encamped
around the city, and their camp was bustling with
activity as they prepared for the march south.
Wargun had been drinking again, but he looked
around with satisfaction. 'Good,' he said. 'They're
almost ready. Come along, Sparhawk, and bring your
friends. Let's go talk to Obler.'
As they rode through the narrow, cobbled streets of
Acie, Talen pulled his horse in beside Sparhawk's. "I'm
going to drop behind a ways,' he said very quietly. "I
want to look around. Getting away in the open countryside's
very hard. This is a town, though, and there are
always lots of places to hide in towns. King Wargun's not
going to miss me. He hardly knows I'm along. If I can
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