It puts him in place in case Berit and Khalad do, in fact, have to ride all the way down there, your Grace, Vanion said. And Stragen and Talen have contacts in Beresa, so theyll probably be able to find out just who else is in town.
Emban checked that off his list. Next. Sir Kalten, Sir Bevier and Master Caalador will sail south on a different ship and go into the jungles of Arjuna.
Caalador nodded. Ive got a friend in Delo who has contacts with the robber bands in those jungles, he said. Well join one of those bands, so well be able to keep an eye on Natayos and pass the word if Scarpas army starts to move.
Right. Emban checked that off. Next. Sir Ulath and Sir Tynian will go to the Tamul Mountains to stay in touch with the Trolls. He frowned. Why is Tynian going there? he asked. He doesnt speak Trollish.
Tynian and I get along well, Ulath rumbled, and Ill get terribly lonely if theres no one around to talk with but Trolls. You have no idea of how depressing it is to be alone with Trolls, your Grace.
Whatever makes you happy, Sir Ulath. Emban shrugged. Now then, Sephrenia and Anarae Xanetia will go to Delphaeus to advise Anari Codon about all these recent developments and to explain what were doing.
And to see what we can do to make peace between Styricum and the Delphae, Sephrenia added.
Emban checked off another item. He said, Lord Vanion, Queen Betuana, Ambassador Itagne and Domi Kring will take the five thousand knights and go to Western Tamul proper to join with the forces they have in place in Sarna and Samar.
Where is Domi Kring? Betuana asked, looking around for the little man.
Hes standing guard over Mirtai, Princess Danae said. Hes still about half afraid she might try to kill herself.
We could have a problem there, Bevier observed. Under those circumstances, Kring might not be willing to leave Matherion.
We can get along without him if we have to, Vanion said. I can deal with Tikume directly. Having Kring around would make it easier, but I can make do without him if he really thinks that Mirtai might do something foolish.
Emban nodded. Emperor Sarabian, Foreign Minister Oscagne and I will stay here in Matherion to hold down the fort, and the Child Goddess will keep us all in touch with each other. Have I left anything out?
What do you want me to do, Emban? Danae asked sweetly.
Youll stay here in Matherion with us, your Royal Highness, Emban replied, to brighten our gloomy days and nights with the sunshine of your smile.
Are you making fun of me, your Grace?
Of course not, Princess.
To say that Mirtai was unhappy would have been the grossest of understatements. She was in chains when Kring brought her into the council chamber with a hopeless kind of look on his face. Nothing I say even reaches her, the Domi told them. I think shes even forgotten that were betrothed.
The golden Atan giantess would not look at any of them, but sank instead to the floor in abject misery.
She has failed her owner. Betuana shrugged. She must either avenge or die.
Not quite, your Majesty, Sparhawks daughter said firmly. She slipped down from the chair in the corner from which she had been watching the proceedings. She deposited Rollo in one corner of the chair and Mmrr in the other and crossed the room to Mirtai with a businesslike look on her small face. Atana Mirtai, she said crisply, get up off the floor.
Mirtai looked sullenly at her, then slowly rose, her chains rattling.
In my mothers absence, I am the queen, Danae declared.
Sparhawk blinked.
Youre not Ehlana, Mirtai said.
Im not pretending to be. Im stating a legal fact. Sarabian, isnt that the way it works? Isnt my mothers power mine while shes away?
Welltechnically, I suppose.
Technically my foot. Im Queen Ehlanas heir. Im assuming her position until she returns. That means that I temporarily own everything thats hersher throne, her crown, her jewels, and her personal slave.
Id hate to have to argue against her in a court of law, Emban admitted.
Thank you, your Grace, Danae said. All right, Atana Mirtai, you heard them. Youre my property now.
Mirtai scowled at her.
Dont do that, Danae snapped. Pay attention. I am your owner, and I forbid you to kill yourself. I also forbid you to run off. I need you here. Youre going to stay here with Melidere and me, and youre going to guard us. You failed my mother. Dont fail me.
Mirtai stiffened, and then she broke her chains with an angry wrench of her arms. It shall be as you say, your Majesty, she snapped, her eyes blazing.
Danae looked around at the rest of them with a smug little smile. See, she said. Now that wasnt so hard, was it?
4
It was a small, single-masted coastal freighter with a leaky bottom and patched sails. It definitely did not skim the waves.
Berit and Khalad wore their mail-shirts and travelers cloaks and they stood in the bow looking out across the leaden expanse of the Gulf of Micae as the wretched vessel wallowed along.
Is that coast up ahead? Berit asked hopefully.
Khalad looked out across the choppy water. No, just a cloudbank. Were not moving very fast, my Lord. We wont make the coast today, Im afraid. He looked aft and lowered his voice. Stay alert after the sun goes down, he instructed. The crew of this tub is made up of waterfront sweepings, and the captain isnt much better. I think we should take turns sleeping tonight.
Berit glanced back along the deck at the assortment of ruffians loitering there. I wish I had my axe, he muttered.
Dont say things like that out loud, Berit, Khalad muttered. Sparhawk doesnt use a war-axe. Krager knows that, and one of these sailors may be working for him.
Still? after the Harvest Festival?
Nobodys ever figured out a way to kill all the rats, my Lord, and it only takes one. Lets both behave as if were being watched and every word we say is being overheardjust to be on the safe side.
Ill be a lot happier once we get ashore. Did we really have to make this leg of the trip by sea?
Its the custom. Khalad shrugged. Dont worry. We can hold off these sailors if we have to.
Thats not whats bothering me, Khalad. This scow waddles through the water like a whale with a sprained back. Its making me queasy.
Eat a piece of dry bread.
Id rather not. This is really miserable, Khalad.
But were having an adventure, my Lord, Khalad said brightly. Doesnt the excitement make up for the discomfort?
No. Not really.
Youre the one who wanted to be a knight.
Yes, I knowand right now Im trying to remember why.
Patriarch Emban was very displeased. This is really outrageous, Vanion, he protested as he waddled along with the others toward the chapel in the west wing. If Dolmant ever finds out that Ive permitted the practice of witchcraft in a consecrated place of worship, hell have me defrocked.
Its the safest place, Emban, Vanion replied. The pretense of sacred rites gives us an excuse to chase all the Tamuls out of the west wing. Besides, the chapels probably never really been consecrated anyway. This is an imitation castle built to make Elenes feel at home. The people who built it couldnt have known the rite of consecration.
You dont know that it hasnt been consecrated.
And you dont know that it has. If it bothers you all that much, Emban, you can re-consecrate it after we finish.
Embans face blanched. Do you know whats involved in that, Vanion? he protested. The hours of prayingthe prostration before the altarthe fasting? His chubby face went pale. Good God, the fasting!
Sephrenia, Flute, and Xanetia had slipped into the chapel several hours earlier, and they were sitting unobtrusively in one corner listening to a choir of Church Knights singing hymns. Emban and Vanion were still arguing when they joined the ladies.
Whats the problem? Sephrenia asked.
Patriarch Emban and Lord Vanion are having a disagreement about whether or not the chapels been consecrated, little mother, Kalten explained.
It hasnt, Flute told him with a little shrug.
How can you tell? Emban demanded.
She gave him a long-suffering look. Who am I, your Grace? she asked him.
He blinked. Oh. I keep forgetting that for some reason. Is there actually a way you can tell whether or not a place has been consecrated?
Well of course there is. Believe me, Emban, this chapels never been consecrated to your Elene God. She paused. There was a spot not far from here that was consecrated to a tree about eighteen thousand years ago, though.
A tree?
It was a very nice treean oak. Its always an oak for some reason. Nobody ever seems to want to worship an elm. Lots of people used to worship trees. Theyre predictable, for one thing.
How could anybody in his right mind worship a tree?
Who ever said that religious people were in their right minds? Sometimes you humans confuse us a great deal, you know.
Since there was an exchange of features involved in most cases here, Sephrenia and Xanetia had experimented a bit to alter the spell which had imprinted Sparhawks face on Berit. No exchange was necessary for Sparhawk, however, so they modified him first. He sat beside his old friend, Sir Endrik, a veteran with whom he, Kalten and Martel had endured their novitiates.
Xanetia approached them with the color draining from her features and that soft radiance suffusing her face. She examined Endrik meticulously, and then her voice rose as she began to intone the Delphaeic spell in her oddly accented, archaic Tamul. Sephrenia stood at her side simultaneously casting the Styric spell.
Sparhawk felt nothing whatsoever as Xanetia released her spell. Then at the crucial instant, Sephrenia extended her hand, interposing it between Sir Endriks face and Xanetias and simultaneously releasing the Styric spell. Sparhawk definitely felt that. His features seemed to somehow soften like melting wax, and he could actually feel his face changing, almost as wet clay is changed and molded by the potters hand. The straightening of his broken nose was a bit painful, and the lengthening of his jaw made his teeth ache as they shifted in the bone.
What do you think? Sephrenia asked Vanion when the process had been completed.
I dont think you could get them any closer, Vanion replied, examining the two men closely. How does it feel to be twins, Endrik?
I didnt feel a thing, my Lord, Endrik replied, staring curiously at Sparhawk.
I did, Sparhawk told him, gingerly touching his re-shaped nose. Does the ache go away eventually, Anarae? he asked.