Lycheas looked uncertainly at the primate, but Annias shook his head slightly. The pimpled young man flushed.
The Prince Regent merely wished to examine the ring, Sir Sparhawk, the churchman said smoothly. We have sought its mate, the ring of King Aldreas, but it seems to be missing. Would you have any idea where we might find it?
Sparhawk spread his hands. Aldreas had it on his finger when I left for Cippria, he replied. The rings are not customarily taken off, so I assume he was still wearing it when he died.
No. He was not.
Perhaps the Queen has it then.
Not so far as were able to determine.
I want that other ring, Lycheas insisted, as a symbol of my authority.
Sparhawk looked at him, his face amused. What authority? he asked bluntly. The ring belongs to Queen Ehlana, and if someone tries to take it from her, I imagine that Ill have to take steps. He suddenly felt a faint prickling of his skin. It seemed that the candles in their gold candelabras flickered slightly and the blue-draped council chamber grew perceptibly dimmer. Instantly, he began to mutter under his breath in the Styric tongue, carefully weaving the counterspell even as he searched the faces of the men sitting around the council table for the source of the rather crude attempt at magic. When he released the counterspell, he saw Annias flinch and he smiled bleakly. Then he drew himself up. Now, he said, his voice crisp, lets get down to business. Exactly what happened to King Aldreas?
The Earl of Lenda sighed. It was the falling-sickness, Sir Sparhawk, he replied sadly. The seizures began several months ago, and they grew more and more frequent. The King grew weaker and weaker, and finally He shrugged.
He didnt have the falling-sickness when I left Cimmura, Sparhawk said.
The onset was sudden, Annias said coldly.
So it seems. Its rumoured that the Queen fell ill with the same affliction.
Annias nodded.
Didnt that strike any of you as odd? Theres never been a history of the disease in the royal family, and isnt it peculiar that Aldreas didnt develop symptoms until he was in his forties, and his daughter fell ill when she was little more than eighteen?
I have no medical background, Sparhawk, Annias told him. You may question the court physicians if you wish, but I doubt that youre going to unearth anything that we havent already discovered.
Sparhawk grunted. He looked around the council chamber. I think that covers everything we need to discuss here, he said. Ill see the Queen now.
Absolutely not! Lycheas said.
Im not asking you, Lycheas, the big knight said firmly. May I have that? He pointed at the parchment still lying on the table in front of the primate.
They passed it down to him, and he ran through it quickly. Here it is, he said, picking out the sentences he wanted. You are commanded to present yourself to me immediately upon your return to Cimmura. That doesnt leave any room for argument, does it?
What are you up to, Sparhawk? the primate asked suspiciously.
Im just obeying orders, your Grace. Im commanded by the Queen to present myself to her and Im going to do precisely that.
The door to the throne room is locked, Lycheas snapped. The smile Sparhawk gave him was almost benign. Thats all right, Lycheas, he said. Ive got a key. He put his hand suggestively on the silver-bound hilt of his sword.
You wouldnt!
Try me.
Annias cleared his throat. If I may speak, your Highness? he said.
Of course, your Grace, Lycheas replied quickly. The crown is always open to the advice and counsel of the Church.
Crown? Sparhawk asked.
A formula, Sir Sparhawk, Annias told him. Prince Lycheas speaks for the crown for as long as the Queen is incapacitated.
Not to me, he doesnt.
Annias turned back towards Lycheas. It is the advice of the Church that we accede to the somewhat churlish request of the Queens Champion, he said. Let no one accuse us of incivility. Moreover, the Church advises that the Prince Regent and all of the council accompany Sir Sparhawk to the throne room. He is reputed to be adept at certain forms of magic, and to protect the Queens life we must not permit him to employ precipitously those arts without full consultation with the court physicians.
Lycheas made some pretence of thinking it over. Then he rose to his feet. It shall be as you advise, then, your Grace, he declared. You are directed to accompany us, Sir Sparhawk.
Directed?
Lycheas ignored that and swept regally towards the door.
Sparhawk let Baron Harparin and the fat man in red pass, then fell in beside Primate Annias. He was smiling in a relaxed fashion, but there was little in the way of good humour in the low voice that came from between his teeth. Dont ever try that again, Annias, he said.
What? The primate sounded startled.
Your magic. Youre not very good at it in the first place, and it irritates me to have to waste the effort of countering the work of amateurs. Besides, churchmen are forbidden to dabble in magic, as I recall.
You have no proof, Sparhawk.
I dont need proof, Annias. My oath as a Pandion Knight would be sufficient in any civil or ecclesiastical court. Why dont we just leave it there? But dont mutter any more incantations in my direction.
With Lycheas in the lead, the council and Sparhawk went down a candlelit corridor to the broad double doors of the throne room. When they reached the doors, Lycheas took a key from inside his doublet and unlocked them. All right, he said to Sparhawk. Its open. Go present yourself to your Queen for all the good its going to do you.
Sparhawk reached up and took a burning candle from a silver sconce jutting from the wall of the corridor and went into the dark room beyond the doors.
It was cool, almost clammy inside the throne room, and the air smelled musty and stale. Methodically, Sparhawk went along the walls, lighting candles. Then he went to the throne and lit the ones standing in the candelabras flanking it.
You dont need that much light, Sparhawk, Lycheas said irritably from the doorway.
Sparhawk ignored him. He put out his hand, tentatively touched the crystal which encased the throne, and felt Sephrenias familiar aura permeating the crystal. Then slowly he raised his eyes to look into Ehlanas pale young face. The promise that had been there when she had been a child had been fulfilled. She was not simply pretty as so many young girls are pretty; she was beautiful. There was an almost luminous perfection about her countenance. Her pale blonde hair was long and loosely framed her face. She wore her state robes, and the heavy gold crown of Elenia encircled her head. Her slender hands lay upon the arms of her throne, and her eyes were closed.
He remembered that at first he had bitterly resented the command of King Aldreas that had made him the young girls caretaker. He had quickly found, however, that she was no giddy child, but rather was a serious young lady with a quick, retentive mind and an overwhelming curiosity about the world. After her initial shyness had passed, she had begun to question him closely about palace affairs, and thus, almost by accident, had begun her education in statecraft and the intricacies of palace politics. After a few months they had grown very close, and he had found himself looking forward to their daily private conversations during which he had gently moulded her character and had prepared her for her ultimate destiny as Queen of Elenia.
To see her as she was now, locked in the semblance of death, wrenched at his heart, and he swore to himself that he would take the world apart if need be to restore her to health and to her throne. For some reason it made him angry to look at her, and he felt an irrational desire to lash out at things as if by sheer physical force he could return her to consciousness.
And then he heard and felt it. The sound appeared to grow more pronounced, and it grew louder moment by moment. It was a regular, steady thudding sound, not quite like the beating of a drum, and it did not change nor falter, but echoed through the room, its volume steadily increasing as it announced to any who might enter that Ehlanas heart was still beating.
Sparhawk drew his sword and saluted his queen with it. Then he sank to one knee in a move of profoundest respect and a peculiar form of love. He leaned forward and gently kissed the unyielding crystal, his eyes suddenly filling with tears. I am here now, Ehlana, he murmured, and Ill make everything all right again.
The heartbeat grew louder, almost as if in some peculiar way she had heard him.
From the doorway he heard Lycheas snicker derisively, and he promised himself that should the opportunity arise, he would do a number of unpleasant things to the Queens bastard cousin. Then he rose and went towards the door again.
Lycheas stood smirking at him, still holding the key to the throne room in his hand. As Sparhawk passed the prince, he reached out and took the key. You wont need this any more, he said. Im here now, so Ill take care of it.
Annias, Lycheas said in a voice shrill with protest.
Annias, however, took one look at the bleak face of the Queens Champion and decided not to press the issue. Let him keep it, he said shortly.
But
I said to let him keep it, the primate snapped. We dont need it anyway. Let the Queens Champion hold the key to the room in which she sleeps. There was a vile innuendo in the churchmans voice, and Sparhawk clenched his still-gauntleted left fist.
Will you walk with me as we return to the council chamber, Sir Sparhawk? the Earl of Lenda said, placing a lightly restraining hand on Sparhawks armoured forearm. My steps sometimes falter, and its comforting to have a strong young person at my side.
Certainly, my Lord, Sparhawk replied, unclenching his fist. When Lycheas had led the members of the council back down the corridor towards their meeting room, Sparhawk closed the door and locked it. Then he handed the key to his old friend. Will you keep this for me, my Lord? he asked.
Gladly, Sir Sparhawk.
And if you can, keep the candles burning in the throne room. Dont leave her sitting there in the dark.
Of course.
They started down the corridor.
Do you know something, Sparhawk? the old man said. They left a great deal of bark on you when they were giving you the last polishing touches.
Sparhawk grinned at him.
You can be truly offensive when you set your mind to it. Lenda chuckled.
I can but try, my Lord.
Be very careful here in Cimmura, Sparhawk, the old man cautioned seriously in a low voice. Annias has a spy on every street corner. Lycheas wont even sneeze without his permission, so the primate is the real ruler here in Elenia and he hates you.
Im not overly fond of him, either. Sparhawk thought of something. Youve been a good friend here today, my Lord. Is that going to put you in any kind of danger?
The Earl of Lenda smiled. I doubt it. Im too old and powerless to be any kind of threat to Annias. Im hardly more than an irritation, and hes far too calculating to take action against me for that.
The primate awaited them at the door to the council chamber. The council has discussed the situation here, Sir Sparhawk, he said coldly. The Queen is quite obviously in no danger. Her heartbeat is strong, and the crystal which encloses her is quite impregnable. She has no real need of a protector at this particular time. It is the command of the council, therefore, that you return to the chapterhouse of your order here in Cimmura and remain there until you receive further instructions. A chill smile touched his lips. Or until the Queen herself summons you, of course.
Of course, Sparhawk replied distantly. I was about to suggest that myself, your Grace. Im just a simple knight, and Ill be far more at ease in the chapterhouse with my brothers than here in the palace. He smiled. Im really quite out of place at court.
I noticed that.
I thought you might have. Sparhawk briefly clasped the hand of the Earl of Lenda by way of farewell. Then he looked directly at Annias. Until we meet again, then, your Grace.
If we meet again.
Oh, we will, Annias. Indeed we will. Then Sparhawk turned on his heel and walked on down the corridor.
Chapter 3
The chapterhouse of the Pandion Knights in Cimmura lay just beyond the eastern gate of the city. It was, in every sense of the word, a castle, with high walls surmounted by battlements and with bleak towers at each corner. It was approached by way of a drawbridge which spanned a deep fosse bristling with sharpened stakes. The drawbridge had been lowered, but it was guarded by four black-armoured Pandions mounted on war horses.
Sparhawk reined Faran in at the outer end of the bridge and waited. There were certain formalities involved in gaining entry into a Pandion chapterhouse. Oddly, he found that he did not chafe at those formalities. They had been a part of his life for all the years of his novitiate, and the observance of these age-old ceremonies seemed somehow to mark a renewal and a reaffirmation of his very identity. Even as he awaited the ritual challenge, the sun-baked city of Jiroch and the women going to the wells in the steel-grey light of morning faded back in his memory, becoming more remote and taking their proper place among all his other memories.
Two of the armoured knights rode forward at a stately pace, the hooves of their chargers booming hollowly on the foot-thick planks of the drawbridge. They halted just in front of Sparhawk. Who art thou who entreateth entry into the house of the Soldiers of God? one of them intoned.
Sparhawk raised his visor in the symbolic gesture of peaceable intent. I am Sparhawk, he replied, a soldier of God and a member of this order.
How may we know thee? the second knight inquired.
By this token may you know me. Sparhawk reached his hand into the neck of his surcoat and drew out the heavy silver amulet suspended on the chain about his neck. Every Pandion wore such an amulet.
The pair made some pretence of looking carefully at it.
This is indeed Sir Sparhawk of our order, the first knight declared.
Truly, the second agreed, and shall we then uh He faltered, frowning.
Grant him entry into the house of the Soldiers of God, Sparhawk prompted.
The second knight made a face. I can never remember that part, he muttered. Thanks, Sparhawk. He cleared his throat and began again. Truly, he said, and shall we then grant him entry into the house of the Soldiers of God?