pride and power and position were safe, and spake they each in praise of
Starkad and offered him good gold beyond measure for the deed he had done.
‘Cold, however, was the hero’s heart, and he looked upon the little men he
had served, recalling with ‘ tears the great man he had slain at their
bidding. ‘Lordlings of the Church,’ quotha then. ‘Think ye that mere gold
will satisfy me as payment for what I have done in your behalf?’
”But what else may we offer thee?’ they asked in great perplexity. ”I
would have Drychtnath’s forgiveness,’ quoth Starkad. ”But that we may not
obtain for thee,’ they said unto him, ‘for dreaded Drychtnath lieth low in
the House of the Dead from whence no man returneth. Pray, mighty hero, tell
us what else we may offer thee in recompense for this great service thou
hast provided us.’
”But one thing,’ quoth Starkad in deadly earnest. ”And that is what?’
they asked. ‘
”your heart’s blood,’ quoth Starkad. And, so saying, sprang he to the
massy door and chained it shut with chains of steel that none might escape
him. Then drew he forth Soritha, Dread Drychtnath’s bright blade, which he
had brought with him to Chyrellos for just this purpose. And then took the
hero Starkad his payment for the deed he had done on the plains of the
Peloi. ‘And when he had finished collecting that which was owed him, the
Church of Chyrellos lay headless, for not one of her princes saw the
setting of the sun that day, and sorrowing still that he had slain his
friend, Starkad sadly took his leave of the Holy City and never returned
there more. ‘But it is ‘ said in dark-forested Lamorkland that the oracles
and the auguries speak still of the mighty Drychtnath and of the day when
the War-God Hrokka will relent and release the spirit of Drychtnath from
his service as one of the Immortal Thanes in the hall of Heroes that he may
come once more to Lamorkland to take up again that grand design. Then how
the blood will flow, and then how the kings of the world will tremble as
once again the world shakes beneath the mighty stride of Dread Drychtnath
the Destroyer, and the crown and throne of the world shall lie in his
immortal grip, as was from the beginning intended.’ Ortzel’s voice fell
silent, indicating that he had reached the end. ‘That’s all?’ Talen
protested vehemently. ‘I skipped over a great ‘number of passages,’ Ortzel
conceded, ‘battle descriptions and the like. The Lamorks of antiquity had
an unhealthy fascination with certain kinds of numbers. They wanted to know
how many barrels of blood, pounds of brains and yards of entrails were
spilled out during the festivities.’
‘But the story doesn’t end right,’ Talen complained. ‘Drychtnath was the
hero, but after Starkad murdered him, he turned into the hero. That isn’t
right. The bad people shouldn’t be allowed to change over like that.’
‘That’s a very interesting argument, Talen – particularly coming from you.’
‘i’m not a bad person, your Grace, I’m just a thief. It’s not the same at
all. At least the churchmen all got what was coming to them.’
‘You have a long way to go with this one, Sparhawk,’ Bevier observed. ‘We
all loved Kurik like a brother, but are we really sure that his son has the
makings of a Church Knight in him?’
‘i’m working on that,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘So that’s what Drychtnath’s all
about. Just how deeply do the commons in Lamorkand believe in the story,
your Grace?’
‘It goes deeper than belief, Sparhawk,’ Ortzel replied. ‘The story’s in
our blood. I’m wholly committed to the Church, but when I hear The
Drychtnathasaga, I become an absolute pagan – for a while at least. ‘
‘Well,’ Tynian said, ‘now we know what we’re uP against. We have the same
thing going on in Lamorkand as we have in Render. We’ve got heresies
springing up all around us. It still doesn’t solve our problem, though. How
are Sparhawk and the rest of us going to be able to go to Tamuli without
insulting the emperor?’
‘i’ve solved that problem already, Tynian,’ Ehlana told him.
‘I beg your Majesty’s pardon?’
‘It’s so simple that I’m almost ashamed of you all that you didn’t think
of it first.’
‘Enlighten us, your Majesty,’ Stragen said. ‘Make us blush for our
stupidity.’ ,’it’s time for the western Elene Kingdoms to open
communications with the Tamul Empire,’ she explained. ‘We are neighbours,
after all. It’s politically very sound for me to make a state visit to
Matherion, and if you gentlemen are all very nice to me, I’ll invite you to
come along.’ She frowned. ‘That was the least of our problems. Now we’ll
have to address something far more seriOUS.’
‘And what is that, Ehlana?’ Dolmant asked her. ‘I simply don’t have a thing
to wear, Sarathi.’
CHAPTER 6
Sparhawk had learned to keep a tight rein on hiS emotions during the years
since his marrage to the Queen of Elenia, but his smile was slightly fixed
as the meeting broke up. Kalten fell in beside him as they all left the
council chamber. ‘I gather that you’re less than pleased with our queen’s
solution to the problem,’ he observed. Kalten was Sparhawk’s boyhood
friend, and he had learned how to read that battered face. ‘You might say
that, yes,’ Sparhawk replied tightly. ‘Are you open to a suggestion?’
‘I’ll listen.’ Sparhawk didn’t want to make any promises at this point.
‘Why don’t you and I go down into the crypt under the Basilica?’
‘Why?’
‘I thought you might want to vent certain feelings
before you and your wife discuss the matter. You’re a bit savage when
you’re angry, Sparhawk, and I’m really very fond of your wife. If you call
her an idiot to her face, you’ll hurt her feelings.’
‘Are you trying to be funny?’
‘Not in the least, my friend. I feel almost the same way about it as you
do, and I’ve had a very colourful education. When you run out of
swear-words, I’ll supply some you might not have heard.’
‘Let’s go,’ Sparhawk said, turning abruptly down a side corridor. They
passed through the nave’ quickly, perfunctorily genuflecting to the altar
in passing, and descended into the crypt that contained the bones of
several aeons’ worth of Archprelates. ‘Don’t bang your fists on the walls,’
Kalten cautioned as Sparhawk began’ to pace up and down, swearing and
waving his arms in the air. ‘You’ll break your knuckles.’
‘it’s a total absurdity, Kalten!’ SParhawk said after he had shouted
profanities for several minutes. ‘it’s worse than that, my friend. There’s
always room in the world for absurdities. They’re sort of fun actually, but
this is dangerous. We have no way of knowing what we’re going to encounter
in Tamuli. I love your wife dearly, but having her along is going to be
inconvenient.’
‘inconvenient?’ I’m trying to be polite. How does ‘bloody hindering
awkward’ strike you?’
‘it’s closer.’
‘you’ll never persuade her to stay home though. I’d give that up as a lost
cause beFore I even started. She’s obviously made up her mind, and she
outranks you. You probably ought to try to put the best face on it avoid
the embarrassment of being told to ‘ shut your mouth and go to your room.’
Sparhawk grunted. ‘ I think our best approach is to talk with Oscagne.
We’ll be taking the most precious thing in Elenia to the daresian continent
where things are far from tranquil. Your wife’s going there as a personal
favour to the Emperor of Tamuli, so he’s obligated to protect her. An
escort of a few dozen legions of Atans meeting us at the Astel ,border
might be looked upon as a sign of his majestys appreciation, wouldn’t you
say?’
‘ That’s really not a bad idea, Kalten.’ I’m not totally stupid, Sparhawk.
Now, Ehlana’s going to expect you to rant and rave and wave your arms at
her. She’s ready for that, so don’t do it. She is going along. We’ lost
that fight already, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Unless I chain her to the bed. ‘There’s an interesting idea.’
‘Never mind.’
‘It’s tactically unsound to fight a last stand unless you’re trapped. Give
her that victory, and then she’ll owe you one. Use it to get her to agree
not to do anything while we’re in Tamuli without your express permission.
That way we can keep her almost as safe as she’d be if she stayed home.
There’s a good chance that she’ll be so happy that you didn’t scream at her
that she’ll agree without thinking it all the way through. You’ll be able
to restrict her movements when we get there – at least enough to keep her
out of danger.’
‘Kalten, sometimes you amaze me,’ Sparhawk told his friend. ‘I know,’ the
blond Pandion replied. ‘This stupidlooking face of mine is very useful