anybody any more . ‘
‘Except for the fact that a disintegrated nation is an open invitation to
anyone nearby with anything even remotely resembling an army,’ Ambassador
Oscagne added. ‘Why would anyone want to bother, your Excellency?’ Stragen
asked him. ‘There’s nothing in Zemoch of any value. The thieves there have
to get honest jobs in order to make ends meet. Otha’s gold appears to have
been an illusion. It all vanished when Azash died.’ He smiled sardonically.
‘And you have no idea of how chagrined any number of people who’d supported
the Primate of Cimmura were when that happened.’
‘ Something rather peculiar happened to Kring’s face. ‘The savage horsemen
whose very name struck fear into the hearts of his neighbour went first
pale, then bright red. Mirtai had emerged from the women’s pavilion to
which Peloi custom had relegated her and the others. Strangely, Queen
Ehlana had not even objected, a fact that caused Sparhawk a certain
nervousness. Mirtai had taken advantage of the accommodations within the
pavilian to make herself ‘presentable’. Kring, quite obviously, was
impressed. you’ll excuse me,’ he said, rising quickly ‘ and moving directly
toward the lode-star of his life. ‘I think we’re in the presence of a
legend in the making,’ Tynian noted. ‘The Peloi will compose songs about
Kring and Mirtai for the next hundred years at least.’ He looked at the
Tamul ambassador. ‘is Mirtai behaving at all the way other Atan women do,
your Excellency? She obviously likes Kring’s attentions, but she simply
won’t give him a definite answer.’
‘The Atana’s doing what’s customary, Sir Tynian,’ Oscagne replied. ‘Atan
women believe in long, leisurely courtships. They find being pursued
entertaining, and most men turn their attention to other matters after the
wedding. For this period of time in her life, she knows that she’s the
absolute centre of the Domi’s attention. Women, I’m told, appreciate that
sort of thing.’
‘She wouldn’t just be leading him on, would she?’ Berit asked. ‘I like the
Domi, and I’d hate to see him get his heart broken.’
‘Oh, no, Sir Berit. She’s definitely interested. If she found his
attentions annoying, she’d have killed him a long time ago.’
‘Courtship among the Atans must be a very nervous business,’ Kalten
observed. ‘Oh, yes,’ Oscagne laughed. ‘A man must be very careful. If he’s
too aggressive, the woman will kill him, and if he’s not aggressive enough,
she’ll marry someone else.’
‘That’s very uncivilised,’ Kalten said disapprovingly. ‘Atan women seem to
enjoy it, but then, women are more elemental than we are.’
They left Basne early the following morning and rode eastward toward Esos
on the border between Zemoch and the kingdom of Astel. It was a peculiar
journey for Sparhawk. It took three days, he was absolutely certain of
that. He could clearly remember every minute of those three days and every
mile they travelled. And yet his daughter periodically roused him when he
was firmly convinced that he was sleeping in a tent, and he would be
startled to find that he was dozing on Faran’s back instead and that the
position of the sun clearly indicated that what had appeared to be a full
day’s travel had taken less than six hours. Princess Danae woke her father
for a very practical reason during what was in reality no more than a
one-day ride. The addition of the Peloi had greatly increased the amount of
stores that had to be carefully depleted each ‘night’, and Danae made her
father help her dispose of the excess. ‘What did you do with all the
supplies when we were travelling with Wargun’s army?’ Sparhawk asked her on
the second ‘night’ which actually consumed about a half hour during the
early afternoon of that endless day. ‘I did it the other way,’ she
shrugged. ‘Other way?’
‘I just made the excess go away.’
‘Couldn’t you do that this time too?’
‘Of course, but then I couldn’t leave it for the animals. Besides, this
gives you and me the chance to talk when nobody’s around to hear us. Pour
that sack of grain under those bushes, Sparhawk. There’s a covey of quail
back in the grass. They haven’t been eating very well lately, and the
chicks are growing very fast) right now. ‘
‘ was there something you wanted to talk about?’ he asked her, slitting
open the grain sack with his dagger. nothing special,’ she said. ‘I just
like talking with you, and you’re usually too busy.’
‘And this gives you a chance to show off too, doesn’t it?’
‘I suppose it does, yes. It’s not all that much fun being a Goddess if you
can’t show off just a little bit now and then.’ I love you,’ he laughed. .
‘Oh, that’s very nice, Sparhawk!’ she exclaimed happily. ‘Right from the
heart and without even thinking about it. Would you like to have me turn
the grass lavender for you – just to show my appreciation.’
I’ll settle for a kiss. Lavender grass might confuse the horses.’ They
reached Esos that evening. The Child Goddess so perfectly melded real and
apparent time that they fitted together seamlessly. Sparhawk was a Church
Knight, and he had been trained in the use of magic, but his imagination
shuddered back from the kind of power possessed by this whimsical little
divinity’ who, she had announced during the confrontation with Azash in the
City of Zemoch, had willed herself into existence, and who had decided
independently to be reborn as his daughter. They set up for the night some
distance from town, and after they had eaten, Talen and Stragen took
Sparhawk aside. ‘What’s your feeling about a bit of reconnoitring?’ Stragen
asked the big Pandion.
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Esos is a fair-sized town,’ the blond Thalesian replied, ‘and there’s
sure to be a certain amount of organisation among the thieves there. I
thought the three of us might be able to pick up some useful information by
getting in touch with their leader.’
‘Would he know you?’
‘I doubt it. Emsat’s a long way away from here.’
‘What makes you think he’d want to talk with you?’
‘Courtesy, Sparhawk. Thieves and murderers are
exquisitely courteous to each other. It’s healthier that way.’
‘if he doesn’t know who you are, how will he know
that he’s supposed to be courteous toward you?’
‘There are certain signals he’ll recognise.’
‘You people have a very complex society, don’t you?’
‘All societies are complex, Sparhawk. It’s one of the
burdens of civilisation.’
‘Someday you’ll have to teach me these signals.’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you’re not a thief. It’s another of those complexities we were
talking about. The point of all of this is that all we have to work with is
the ambassador’s rather generalised notion of what’s going on. I think I’d
like something a bit more specific,’ wouldn’t you?’
‘That I would, my friend.’
‘Why don’t we drift on into Esos and see what we can find out then?’
‘Why don’t we?’ The three of them changed into nondescript clothing and
rode away from the encampment, circling around to the west’ to approach the
town from that direction. As they approached, Talen looked critically at
the fortifications and the unguarded gate. ‘They seem a little relaxed when
you consider how close they are to the Zemoch border,’ he observed. ‘Zemoch
doesn’t pose much of a threat any more,’ Stragen disagreed. ‘Old customs
die hard, Milord Stragen, and it hasn’t been all that long since Otha was
frothing at the frontier with Azash standing right behind him.’ I doubt
that these people found Azash to be all that impressive,’ Sparhawk said.
‘Otha’s God didn’t have any reason to come this way. He was looking west,
because that’s where Bhelliom was.’ I .suppose you’re right,’ Talen
conceded. Esos was not a very large town, perhaps about the size of the
city of Lenda in central Elenia. There was a kind of archaic quality about
it, though, since there had been a town on this spot since the dawn of
time. The cobbled streets were narrow and crooked, and they wandered this
way and that without any particular reason. ‘How are we going to find the
part of town where your colleagues stay?’ Sparhawk asked Stragen. ‘We can’t
just walk up to some burgher and ask him where we’ll find the thieves, can
we?’
‘We’ll take care of it,’ Stragen smiled. ‘Talen, go ask some pickpocket
where the thieves’ den is around here. ‘
‘Right,’ Talen grinned, slipping down from his horse. ‘That could take him
all night,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Not unless he’s been struck blind,’ Stragen
replied as the boy moved off into a crowded byway. ‘I’ve seen six
pickpockets since we came into town, and I wasn’t even looking very hard.’
He pursed his lips. ‘Their technique’s a little different here. It probably
has to do with the narrow streets.’
‘What would that have to do with it?’