The Ruby Knight

‘I was sort of considering going along,’ the Preceptor replied, smiling. ‘Sparhawk might let me hold his cloak while he kicks in the gate. I don’t think anybody’s assaulted Hell lately.’

‘You too?’ She covered her face with her hands. ‘Oh, dear,’ she sighed. ‘All right then, gentlemen,’ she said, giving up, ‘if you’re all so bent on this, we’ll try it – but only on one condition. If we do find Bhelliom, and it restores Ehlana, we must destroy it immediately after the task is done.’

‘Destroy it?’ Ulath exploded. ‘Sephrenia, it’s the most precious thing in the world.’

‘And also the most dangerous. If Azash ever comes to possess it, the world will be lost, and all mankind will be plunged into the most hideous slavery imaginable. I must insist on this, gentlemen. Otherwise, I’ll do everything in my power to prevent your finding that accursed stone.’

‘I don’t see that we’ve got much choice here,’ Ulath said gravely to the others. ‘Without her help, we don’t have much hope of unearthing Bhelliom.’

‘Oh, somebody’s going to find it all right,’ Sparhawk told him firmly. ‘One of the things Aldreas told me was that the time has come for Bhelliom to see the light of day again, and that no force on earth can prevent it. The only thing that concerns me right now is if it’s going to be one of us who finds it, or some Zemoch, who’ll carry it back to Otha.’

‘Or if it rises from the earth all on its own,’ Tynian added moodily. ‘Could it do that, Sephrenia?’

‘Probably, yes.’

‘How did you get out of the chapterhouse without being seen by the Primate’s spies?’ Kalten asked Sparhawk curiously.

‘I threw a rope over the back wall and climbed down.’

‘How about getting in and out of the city after the gates were all closed?’

‘By pure luck the gate was still open when I was on my way to the cathedral. I used another way to get out.’

‘That garret I told you about?’ Talen asked.

Sparhawk nodded.

‘How much did he charge you?’

‘A silver half-crown.’

Talen looked shocked at that. ‘And they call me a thief. He gulled you, Sparhawk.’

‘I needed to get out of the city.’ Sparhawk shrugged.

‘I’ll tell Platime about it,’ the boy said. ‘He’ll get your money back. A half-crown? That’s outrageous.’ The boy was actually spluttering.

Sparhawk remembered something. ‘Sephrenia, when I was on my way back here, something was out in the fog watching me. I don’t think it was human.’

‘The Damork?’

‘I couldn’t say for sure, but it didn’t feel the same. The Damork’s not the only creature subject to Azash, is it?’

‘No. The Damork is the most powerful, but it’s stupid. The other creatures don’t have its power, but they’re more clever. In many ways, they can be even more dangerous.’

‘All right, Sephrenia,’ Vanion said then, ‘I think you’d better give me Tanis’s sword now.’

‘My dear one –’ she began to protest, her face anguished.

‘We’ve had this argument once already tonight,’ he told her. ‘Let’s not go through it again.’

She sighed. Then the two of them began to chant in unison in the Styric tongue. Vanion’s face turned a little greyer at the end when Sephrenia handed him the sword and their hands touched.

‘All right,’ Sparhawk said to Ulath after the transfer had been completed. ‘Where do we start? Where was King Sarak when his crown was lost?’

‘No one really knows,’ the big Genidian Knight replied. ‘He left Emsat when Otha invaded Lamorkand. He took a few retainers and left orders for the rest of his army to follow him to the battlefield at Lake Randera.’

‘Did anyone report having seen him there?’ Kalten asked.

‘Not that I’ve ever heard. The Thalesian army was seriously decimated, though. It’s possible that Sarak did get there before the battle started, but that none of the few survivors ever saw him.’

‘I expect that’s the place to start then,’ Sparhawk said.

‘Sparhawk,’ Ulath objected, ‘that battlefield is immense. All the Knights of the Church could spend the rest of their lives digging there and still not find the crown.’

‘There’s an alternative,’ Tynian said, scratching his chin.

‘And what is that, friend Tynian?’ Bevier asked him.

‘I have some skill at necromancy,’ Tynian told him. ‘I don’t like it much, but I know how it’s done. If we can find out where the Thalesians are buried, I can ask them if any of them saw King Sarak on the field and if any know where he might be buried. It’s exhausting, but the cause is worth it.’

‘I’ll be able to aid you, Tynian,’ Sephrenia told him. ‘I don’t practise necromancy myself, but I know the proper spells.’

Kurik rose to his feet. ‘I’d better get the things we’ll need together,’ he said. ‘Come along, Berit. You too, Talen.’

‘There’ll be ten of us,’ Sephrenia told him.

‘Ten?’

‘We’ll be taking Talen and Flute along with us.’

‘Is that really necessary?’ Sparhawk objected. ‘Or even wise?’

‘Yes, it is. We’ll be seeking the aid of some of the Younger Gods of Styricum, and they like symmetry. We were ten when we began this search, so now we have to be the same ten every step of the way. Sudden changes disturb the Younger Gods.’

‘Anything you say.’ He shrugged.

Vanion rose and began to pace up and down. ‘We’d better get started with this,’ he said. ‘It might be safer if you left the chapterhouse before daylight and before this fog lifts. Let’s not make it too easy for the spies who watch the house.’

‘I’ll agree with that,’ Kalten approved. ‘I’d rather not have to race Annias’s soldiers all the way to Lake Randera.’

‘All right, then,’ Sparhawk said, ‘let’s get at it. Time’s running a little short on us.’

‘Stay a moment, Sparhawk,’ Vanion said as they began to file out.

Sparhawk waited until the others had left, and then he closed the door.

‘I received a communication from the Earl of Lenda this evening,’ the Preceptor told his friend.