The Shining Ones

‘How did you manage that?’ Berit demanded.

‘Sheer luck, actually. I was outside looking around. The wind blew me down a narrow lane and pinned me up against the door of the shop at the end. I thought I’d step inside to get my breath, and the first thing I saw in there was a familiar face. Our mysterious Rebal’s a respected shopkeeper here in Jorsan. He told me so himself. He doesn’t look nearly as impressive when he’s wearing an apron.’

‘A shopkeeper?’ Bevier asked incredulously.

‘Yes indeed, Sir Knight – one of the pillars of the community, to hear him tell it. He’s even a member of the town council.’

‘Did you manage to get his name?’ Vanion asked.

‘Of course, my Lord. He introduced himself just as soon as the wind blew me through the door. His name’s Amador. I even bought something from him just to keep him talking.’

‘What does he deal in?’ Berit asked.

Talen reached inside his tunic and drew out a bright pink strip of cloth, wet and somewhat bedraggled. ‘Isn’t it pretty?’ he said. ‘I think I’ll dry it out and give it to Flute.’

‘You’re not serious,’ Vanion laughed. ‘Is that really what he sells?’

‘May muh tongue turn green iffn it ain’t, yer Preceptorship,’ the boy replied, imitating Caalador’s dialect. ‘The man here in Edom who has all the Tamuls trembling in their boots is a ribbon clerk. Can you imagine that?’ And he collapsed in a chair, laughing uproariously.

‘How does it work?’ Sparhawk asked the next day, turning the ring over and looking at the underside.

‘It’s the mounting of one of those rings people use when they want to poison other people’s food or drink,’ Khalad replied. ‘I had the goldsmith take it off the original ring and mount it on ours so that the cover fits over the ruby. There’s a little hinge on this side of the mounting and a latch on the other. All you have to do is touch the latch – right here.’ He pointed at a tiny lever half concealed under the massive-looking setting. The hinge has a little spring, so this gold cap pops open.’ He touched the lever, and the half-globe covering the ruby snapped up to reveal the stone. ‘Are you sure that the ring will work if you’re only touching Bhelliom with the band? With that cap in the way, touching the stone to anything might be a little tricky.’

‘The band does the job,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘This is very clever, Khalad.’

‘Thank you. I made the goldsmith wash out all the poison before we installed it on your ring.’

‘The old ring had been used?’

‘Oh, yes. One of the heirs of the Edomish noblewoman who’d previously owned it sold it to the goldsmith after she died. I guess she had a lot of enemies. She did at first, anyway.’ Khalad chuckled. The goldsmith was very disappointed with me. He really wanted to be alone with your ring for a while. That ruby’s worth quite a lot. I didn’t think Bhelliom would respond to a piece of red glass, though, so I kept a close eye on him. You’d probably better find out if the ring will still open the box anyway, just to be on the safe side. If it doesn’t, I’ll go back to the goldsmith’s shop and start cutting off his fingers. I’d imagine that after he loses two or three, he’ll remember where he hid the real ruby. It’s very hard to do finely detailed work when you don’t have all ten fingers. I told him I’d do that right at the outset, so we can probably trust his integrity.’

‘You’re a ruthless sort of fellow.’

‘I just wanted to avoid misunderstandings. After we make sure that the ring still opens the box, you’d better take it to Flute and find out if the gold’s thick enough to shield the ruby. If it isn’t, I’ll take it back to the goldsmith and have him pile more gold on that cap. We can keep doing that until it does what we want it to do.’

‘You’re very practical, Khalad.’

‘Somebody in this group has to be.’

‘What did you do with Kalten’s florin?’

‘I used it to pay the goldsmith. It covered part of the cost. You still owe me for the rest, though.’

‘I’m going to be in debt to everybody before we get home.’

‘That’s all right, Sparhawk,’ Khalad grinned. ‘We all know that you’re good for it.’

‘That does it!’ Sparhawk said angrily, after he had taken a quick look out the door of the common-room. It was two days later, and they had all just come downstairs for breakfast. ‘Let’s get ready to leave.’

‘I can’t bring the ship back in this storm, Sparhawk,’ Flute told him. The little girl still looked wan, but she was obviously recovering.

‘We’ll have to go overland, then. We’re sitting here like ducks in a row just waiting for our friend out there to gather his forces. We have to move.’

‘It’s going to take months to reach Matherion if we go overland, Sparhawk,’ Khalad objected. ‘Flute’s not well enough to speed up the trip.’

‘I’m not that sick, Khalad,’ Flute objected. ‘I’m just a little tired, that’s all.’

‘Do you have to do it all by yourself?’ Sparhawk asked her.

‘I didn’t quite follow that.’

‘If one of your cousins happened along, could he help you?’ She frowned.

‘Let’s say that you were making the decisions, and he was just lending you the muscle.’

‘It’s a nice idea, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia said, ‘but we don’t have one of Aphrael’s cousins along.’

‘No, but we’ve got Bhelliom.’

‘I knew it would happen,’ Bevier groaned. ‘The accursed stone’s unhinged Sparhawk’s mind. He thinks he’s a God.’

‘No, Bevier,’ Sparhawk smiled. ‘I’m not a God, but I have access to something very close to one. When I put those rings on, Bhelliom has to do what I tell it to do. That’s not exactly like being a God, but it’s close enough. Let’s have breakfast, and then the rest of you can gather our belongings and get them packed on the horses. Aphrael and I will hammer out the details of how we’re going to work this.’

Chapter 7 (#ulink_94792e96-8d7e-564f-a285-b7ba55286a63)

The wind was screaming through the streets of Jorsan, driving torrents of rain before it. Sparhawk and his friends wrapped themselves tightly in their cloaks, bowed their heads into the wind, and plodded grimly into the teeth of the hurricane.

The city gates were unguarded, and the party rode on out into open country where the wind, unimpeded, savaged them all the more. Speech was impossible, so Sparhawk merely pointed toward the muddy road that led off toward Korvan, fifty leagues to the north.

The road curved round behind a low hill a mile or so outside of town, and Sparhawk reined in. ‘Nobody can see us now,’ he shouted over the howling wind. ‘Let’s try this and see what happens.’ He reached inside his tunic for the golden box.

Berit came galloping up from the rear. ‘We’ve got riders coming up from behind!’ he shouted, wiping the rain out of his face.

‘Following us?’ Kalten demanded.

Berit spread his hands uncertainly.

‘How many?’ Ulath asked.

‘Twenty-five or thirty, Sir Ulath. I couldn’t see them very clearly in all this rain, but it looked to me as if they were wearing armor of some sort.’

‘Good,’ Kalten grated harshly. ‘There’s not much fun in killing amateurs.’

‘What do you think?’ Sparhawk asked Vanion.

‘Let’s have a look. They might not be interested in us at all.’

The two turned and rode back along the muddy road a couple of hundred yards.