what I had in mind, SparhawkKnight.’
‘Me too. Done then?’
‘Done.’ The two of them clasped hands. ‘Should we tell them?’ the Atan
asked, the faintest hint of a smile touching his face. ‘They’re having a
lot of fun,’ Sparhawk grinned. ‘Why don’t we let them play it out? We can
find out how close our guess was. Besides, these negotiations are very
important to Kring and Mirtai. If we were to agree in just a few minutes,
it might make them feel cheapened.’
‘You have been much in the world, SparhawkKnight,’ Engessa observed. ‘You
know well the hearts of men – and of women.’
‘No man ever truly knows the heart of a woman, Engessa-Atan,’ Sparhawk
replied ruefuly. The negotiations between Tynian and Ehlana had reached the
tragic stage, each of them accusing the other of ripping out hearts and
similar extravagances. Ehlana’s performance was masterful. The Queen of
Elenia had a strong flair for histrionics, and she was a highly skilled
orator. She extemporised at length upon Sir Tynian’s disgraceful
niggardliness, her voice rising and falling in majestic cadences. Tynian,
on the other hand, was coolly rational, although he too became emotional at
times. Kring and Mirtai sat holding hands not far away, their eyes filled
with concern as they hung breathlessly on every word. Tikume’s Peloi
encircled the haggling pair, straining to hear. It went on for hours, and
it was nearly sunset when Ehlana and Tynian finally reached a grudging
agreement – thirty horses – and concluded the bargain by spitting in their
hands and smacking their palms together. Sparhawk and Engessa formalised
the agreement in the same fashion, and a tumultuous cheer went up from the
rapt Peloi. It had been a highly entertaining day all round, and that
evening’s celebration was loud and long. ‘i’m exhausted,’ Ehlana confessed
to her husband after they had retired to their tent for the night. ‘Poor
dear,’ Sparhawk commiserated. ‘I had to step in, though. You were just
being too meek, Sparhawk. You’d have given her away. It’s a good thing I
was there. You’d never have managed to reach that kind of agreement.’
‘I was on the other side, Ehlana, remember?’
‘That’s what I don’t understand, Sparhawk. How could you treat poor Mirtai
so disgracefully?’
‘Rules of the game, love. I was representing Kring.’
‘i’m still very disappointed in you, Sparhawk.’
‘Well, fortunately, you and Tynian were there to get it all done properly.
Engessa and I couldn’t have done half so well.’
‘It did turn out rather well, didn’t it – even though it took us all day.’
‘You were brilliant, my love, absolutely brilliant.’
‘I’ve been in some very shabby places in my life, Sparhawk,’ Stragen said
the next morning, ‘but Pela’s the absolute worst. It’s been abandoned
several times, did you know that? Maybe abandoned isn’t the right word.
‘Moved’ is probably closer to the truth. Pela exists wherever the Peloi
establish their summer encampment. ‘
‘i’d imagine that sends the map-makers into hysterics.’
‘More than likely. It’s a temporary town, but it absolutely reeks of
money. It takes a great deal of ready cash to buy a cattle-herd.’
‘Were you able to make contact with the local thieves?’
‘They contacted us actually,’ Talen grinned. ‘A boy no more than eight
lifted Stragen’s purse. He’s very good – except that he doesn’t run very
well. I caught him within fifty Yards. After we’d explained who we were, he
was very happy to take us to see the man in charge.’
‘Has the thieves’ council made any decision as yet?’ Sparhawk asked
Stragen. ‘They’re still mulling it over,’ Stragen replied. ‘They’re a bit
conservative here in Daresia. The notion of cooperating with the
authorities strikes them as immoral for some reason. I sort of expect an
answer when we get to Sarsos. The thieves of Sarsos carry a great deal of
weight in the empire. Did anything meaningful happen while we were gone?’
‘Kring and Mirtai got betrothed.’ That was quick. I’ll have to congratulate
them.’
‘Why don’t you two get some sleep,’ Sparhawk suggested. ‘We’ll be leaving
for Sarsos tomorrow. Tikume’s going to ride along with us to the edge of
the steppes. I think he’d like to go a bit farther, but the Styrics at
Sarsos make him nervous.’ He rose to his feet. ‘Get some sleep,’ he told
them. ‘I want to go have a talk with Oscagne. ‘ The Peloi encampment was
quiet. It was early summer now, and the midday heat kept the nomads inside
their tents. Sparhawk walked across the hard-packed earth toward the tent
shared by Ambassador Oscagne and Patriarch Emban. His chain-mail jingled as
he walked. Since they were in a secure encampment, the knights had decided
to forego the discomfort of their formal’ armour. He found them sitting
beneath a canopy at the side of their tent eating a melon. ‘Well-met, Sir
Knight,’ Oscagne said as the Pandion approached. ‘That’s an archaic form of
greeting, Oscagne,’ Emban told him. ‘i’m an archaic sort of fellow, Emban.’
‘I was curious about something,’ Sparhawk said, joining them on the shaded
carpet. ‘It’s a characteristic of the young, I suppose,’ Oscagne smiled.
Sparhawk let that pass. ‘This part of Astel seems quite different from what
we ran into farther west,’ he observed. ‘Yes,’ Oscagne agreed. ‘Astel’s the
melting-pot that gave rise to all Elene cultures – both here in Daresia and
in Eosia as well.’
‘We might want to argue about that some day,’ Emban murmured. ‘Daresia’s
older, that’s all,’ Oscagne shrugged. ‘That doesn’t necessarily mean that
it’s better. Anyway, what you’ve seen of Astel so far is very much like
what you’d encounter in the Elene Kingdom of Pelosia, wouldn’t you say?’
‘There are similarities, yes,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘The similarities will
stop when we reach the edge of the steppes. The western two-thirds of Astel
are Elene. From the edge of the steppes to the Atan border, Astel’s
Styric.’
‘How did that happen?’ Emban asked. ‘The Styrics in Eosia are widely
dispersed. They live in their own villages and follow their own laws and
customs.’
‘How cosmopolitan are you feeling today, Emban?’
‘You’re planning to insult my provincialism, I take it.’
‘Not too much, I hope. Your prototypical Elene is a bigot.’ Oscagne held
up one hand. ‘Let me finish before you explode. Bigotry’s a form of
egotism, and I think you’ll have to concede that Elenes have a very high
opinion of themselves. They seem to feel that God smiles particularly for
them.’
‘Doesn’t He?’ Emban feigned surprise. ‘Stop that. For reasons only God can
understand, the Styrics particularly irritate the Elenes.’
‘I have no trouble understanding it,’ Emban shrugged. ‘It’s their superior
attitude. They treat us as if we were children.’
‘From their perspective, we are, your Grace,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘Styrics
have been civilised for forty thousand years. We got started somewhat
later.’
‘For whatever the reason,’ Oscagne continued, ‘the initial impulse of the
Elenes has been to drive the Styrics out – or to kill them. That’s why the
Styrics migrated to Eosia much earlier than you Elenes did. They were
driven into the wilderness by Elene prejudice. Eosia was not the only
wilderness, however. There’s another that exists along the Atan border, and
many Styrics fled there in antiquity. After the Empire was formed, we
Tamuls asked the Elenes to stop molesting the Styrics living around
Sarsos.’
‘Asked?’
‘We were quite fir – and we did have all )those Atans with nothing else to
do. We’ve agreed to let the Elene clergy deliver thunderous denunciations
from the pulpit, but we garrison enough Atans around Sarsos to keep the two
peoples separate. It’s quieter that way, and we Tamuls are extraordinarily
fond of quiet. I think you gentlemen are in for a surprise when we reach
Sarsos. It’s the only truly Styric city in the entire world. It’s an
astonishing place. God seems to smile in a very special way there.’
‘you keep talking about God, Oscagne,’ Emban noted. ‘I thought a
preoccupation with God was an Elene conceit.’
‘You’re more cosmopolitan than I thought, your Grace.’
‘just exactly what do you mean when you use the word God, your
Excellency?’
‘We use the term generically. Our Tamul religion isn’t very profound. We
tend to think that a man’s relationship with his God – or Gods – is his own
affair.’
‘That’s heresy, you know. It would put the Church out of business.’
‘That’s all right, Emban,’ Oscagne smiled. ‘Heresy’s encouraged in the
Tamul Empire. It gives us something to talk about on long, rainy
afternoons.’
They rode out with a huge Peloi escort the following morning. The party
moving northeasterly looked not so much like an army on the march as it did
a migration. Kring and Tikume rode more or less by themselves for the next
several days, renew’ ing their blood-ties and discussing an exchange of
breeding-stock. Sparhawk attempted an experiment during the ride from Pela
to the edge of the steppes, but try though he might, he could not detect