confirms all his pronouncements. That’s a guess, of course, but it’s
probably not too far off the mark.’
‘It’s an elaborate hoax then?’
‘if that’s what you want to believe, your Grace.’
‘But you don’t believe it’s a hoax, do you, Sparhawk?’
‘I’ve been trained not to actively disbelieve things, your Grace. Whether
the apparition of Ayachin is real or some trick is beside the point. It’s
what the people believe that’s important, and I’m sure they believe that
Ayachin’s returned and that Sabre speaks for him. , That’s what makes Sabre
so dangerous. With the apparition to support him, he can make people
believe anything. That’s why I have to find out everything about him that I
can. I have to be able to know what he’s going to do so that I can counter
him.’
‘I’m going to behave as if I believe what you’ve just told me, Sparhawk,’
Morsel said in a troubled voice. ‘I really think you need some spiritual
help, though.’ His face grew grave. ‘We know who Sabre is,’ he said
finally. we’ve known for over a year now. At first we thought as you do that
he was no more than a dielinkd fanatic with a taste for melodrama. We
expected the Tamuls to deal with him, so we didn’t think we had to do
anything ourselves. I’ve had some second thoughts on that score of late,
though. On the condition that neither of you will reveal anything I say
except to another clergyman, I’ll tell you who he is. Do I have your word
on that condition?’
‘You have, your Grace,’ Emban swore. ‘And you, Sparhawk?’
‘Of course.’
‘Very well, then. Sabre’s the younger brother-in-law of a minor nobleman
who has an estate a few leagues to the east of Esos.’ It all fell into
place in Sparhawk’s mind with a loud clank. ‘The nobleman is a Baron Kotyk,
a silly, ineffectual fool. Sabre’s a melodramatic adolescent named Elron.’
CHAPTER 13
‘That’s impossible!’ Sparhawk exclaimed. Morsel was taken aback by his
sudden vehemence. ‘We have more than ample evidence, Sir Sparhawk. The
serf who reported the fact has known him since childhood. You’ve met
Elron, I gather.’
‘We took shelter from a storm in Baron Kotyk’s house,’ Emban explained.
‘Elron could be Sabre, you ‘know, Sparhawk. He’s certainly got the right
kind of mentality. Why are you so certain he’s not the one?’
‘he couldn’t have caught up with us,’ Sparhawk said lamely. Morsel looked
baffled. we saw Sabre in the woods on our way here,’ Emban told him. ‘It
was the sort of thing you’d expect – a masked man in black on a black horse
outlined against the sky – silliest thing I ever saw. We weren’t really
moving all that fast, Sparhawk. Elron could have caught up with us quite
easily.’ Sparhawk could not tell him that they had, in fact, been moving
far too rapidly for anyone to have caught them – not with Aphrael tampering
with time and distance the way she had been. He choked back his objections.
‘It just surprised me, that’s all,’ he lied. ‘Stragen and I spoke with
Elron the night we were there. I can’t believe he’d be out stirring up the
serfs. He had nothing but contempt for them.’
‘A pose, perhaps?’ Morsel suggested. ‘Something to conceal his real
feelings?’ I don’t think he’s capable of that, your Grace. He was too
ingenuous for that kind of subtlety.’
‘Don’t be too quick to make judgements, Sparhawk,’ Emban told him. ‘if
there’s magic involved, it wouldn’t make any difference what kind of man
Sabre is, would it? Isn’t there some way he could be rather tightly
controlled?’
‘Several, actually,’ Sparhawk admitted. ‘i’m a little surprised you didn’t
consider that yourself. You’re the expert on magic. Elron’s personal
beliefs are probably beside the point. When he’s speaking as Sabre, it’s
the man behind him – our real adversary who’s talking.’
‘I should have thought of that.’ Sparhawk was angry with himself for
having overlooked the obvious – and the equally obvious explanation for
Elron’s ability to overtake them. Another God could certainly compress time
and distance the same way Aphrael could. ‘Just how widespread is this
contempt , for the serfs, your Grace?’ he asked Morsel. ‘Unfortunately,
it’s almost universal, Prince Sparhawk,’ Morsel sighed. ‘The serfs are
uneducated and superstitious, but they’re not nearly as stupid as the
nobility would like to believe. The reports I’ve received tell me that
Sabre spends almost as much time denouncing the serfs as he does the Tamuls
when he’s speaking to the nobility. ‘Lazy’ is about the kindest thing he
says about them. He’s managed to half-persuade the gentry that the serfs
are in league with the Tamuls in some vast, dark plot with its ultimate
goal being the emancipation of the serfs and the redistribution of the
land. The nobles are responding predictably. First they were goaded into
hating the Tamuls, and then they were led to believe that the serfs are in
league with the Tamuls and that their estates and positions are threatened
by that alliance. They don’t dare confront the Tamuls directly because of
the Atans, so they’re venting their hostility on their own serfs. There
have been incidents of unprovoked savagery upon a class of people who will
march en masse into heaven at the final judgement. The Church is doing what
she can, but there’s only so far we can go in restraining the gentry.’
‘You need some Church Knights, your Grace,’ Sparhawk said in a bleak tone
of voice. ‘We’re very good in the field of justice. If you take a
nobleman’s knout away from him and apply it to his own back a few times, he
tends to see the light very quickly.’
‘I wish that were possible here in Astel, Sir Sparhawk,’ Morsel replied
sadly. ‘Unfortunately-‘ It was the same chill, and that same annoying
flicker at the edge of the eye. Morsel broke off and looked around quickly,
trying to see what could not really be seen. ‘What -?’ he started. ‘It’s a
visitation, your Grace,’ Emban told him, his voice tense. ‘Don’t dislocate
your neck trying to catch a glimpse of it.’ He raised his voice slightly.
‘Awfully good to see you again, old boy,’ he said.’We were beginning to
think you’d forgotten about us. Was there something you wanted in
particular? Or were you just yearning for our company? We’re flattered, of
course, but we’re a little busy at the moment. Why don’t you run along and
play now? We can chat some other time.’ The chill quite suddenly turned
hot, and the flicker darkened. ‘Are you insane, Emban?’ Sparhawk choked.
‘I don’t think so,’ the fat little Patriarch said. ‘Your flickering friend
– or friends – are irritating me, that’s all.’ The shadow vanished, and the
air around them returned to normal. what was that all about?’ Morsel
demanded. The Patriarch of Ucera just insulted a God – several Gods,
probably,’ Sparhawk replied through clenched teeth. ‘For a moment there,’we
all hovered on the brink of obliteration. Please don’t do that again, Emban
– at least not without consulting me first.’ He suddenly laughed a bit
sheepishly. ‘Now I know exactly how Sephrenia felt on any number of
occasions. I’ll have to apologise to her the next time I see her.’ Emban
was grinning with delight. ‘I sort of caught them off balance there, didn’t
I?’
‘Don’t do it again, your Grace,’ Sparhawk pleaded. ‘I’ve seen what Gods
can do to people, ‘and I don’t want to be around if you really insult
them.’
‘Our God protects me.’
‘Annias was praying to our God when Azash wrung him out like a wet rag,
your Grace. It didn’t do him all that much good, as I recall.’
‘That was really stupid, you know,’ Emban said then. ‘i’m glad you realise
that.’
‘Not me, Sparhawk. I’m talking about our adversary. Why did it reveal
itself ‘ at this particular moment? It should have kept its flamboyant
demonstration to itself
and just listened. It could have found out what our plans are. Not only
that, it revealed itself to Morsel. Until it appeared, he only had our word
for the fact of its existence. Now he’s seen it for himself.’
‘Will someone please explain this?’ morsel burst out. ‘It was the
Troll-Gods, your Grace,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘That’s absurd. There’s no such
thing as a Troll, so how can they have Gods?’
‘This may take longer than I’d thought,’ Sparhawk muttered half to
himself. ‘As a matter of fact, your Grace, there are Trolls.’
‘Have you ever seen one?’ Morsel challenged. ‘Only one your Grace. His
name was Ghwerig. He was dwarfed, so he was only about seven feet tall. He
was still very difficult to kill.’
‘You killed him?’ Morsel gasped. ‘He had something I wanted,’ Sparhawk
shrugged. ‘Ulath’s seen a lot more of them than I have, your Grace. He can
tell you all about them. He even speaks their language. I did for a while