use the wrong word, all sorts of things can go wrong.’
‘Thanks, Sparhawk. That’s all I need – something else ‘to worry about.’
‘We’ll talk with Sephrenia when we get to Sarsos. maybe she’ll agree to
train you. Flute likes you, so she’ll forgive you if you make any
mistakes.’
‘What’s Flute got to do with it?’
‘ If Sephrenia trains you, you’ll be submitting your requests to Aphrael.’
requests?’ That’s what magic is, Talen. You ask a God to do
‘ something for you.’
‘Praying?’ the boy asked incredulously. ‘Sort of.’.’. does Emban know that
you’re praying to a Styric ‘ Goddess!’
‘More than likely. The Church chooses to ignore the fact, though – for
practical reasons.’
‘he’s a hypocrite then.’ , ”.”
‘I wouldn’t mention that to Emban, if I were you. ‘ let me get this
straight. If I get to be a Church Knight, I’ll be worshipping Flute?’
‘praying to her, Talen. I didn’t say anything about worshipping.’ praying,
worshipping, what’s the difference?’
”Sephrenia will explain it.’
‘.”)’~-‘-‘she’s in Sarsos, you say? ‘
‘I didn’t say that.’ Sparhawk silently cursed his’careless tongue. ‘Yes,
as a matter of fact you did.’
‘All right, but keep it to yourself.’
‘That’s why we came overland, isn’t it?’
‘One of the reasons, yes. ‘Haven’t you got something else to do?’
‘Not really, no.’
‘Go find something – because if you don’t, I will.’
‘You don’t have to get all huffy.’ Sparhawk gave him a steady stare. ‘All
right, all right, don’t get excited. I’ll go entertain Danae and her cat.’
Sparhawk stood watching the boy as he returned to the festivities under the
canopy. It was obviously time to start being a little careful around Talen.
He was dangerously intelligent, and a slip of the tongue might give away
things that were supposed to be kept private. The discussion had raised an
issue, however. Sparhawk went back to the group gathered on the hilltop and
took Berit aside. ‘Go tell the knights that if those people out there
decide to wait until after dark to attack, I’ll take care of giving us
light to work by. If we all try ‘to do it at the same time, we might
confuse things.’ Berit nodded. Sparhawk considered it further. ‘And I’ll go
talk with Kring and Engessa,’ he added. ‘We don’t want the Atans and the
Peloi going into a panic if the sky suddenly lights up along about midnight
tonight.’
‘is that what you’re going to do?’ Berit asked. ‘It usually works out
about the best in cases like this. One big light’s easier to control than
several hundred little ones – and it disrupts the enemy’s concentration a
lot more.’ Berit grinned. ‘It would be a little startling to be creeping
through the bushes and have the sun come ‘back up again, wouldn’t it?’
‘A lot of battles have been averted by lighting up the night, Berit, and a
battle averted is sometimes even better than one you win.’ I’ll remember
that, Sparhawk.’
The afternoon wore on, and the party on the hilltop became a little
strained. There were only so many things to laugh at, and only so many
jokes to tell. The warriors round the base of the hill either spent their
time attending to equipment or pretending to sleep.
out near the road, Sparhawk met with the others about mid-afternoon. ‘If
they don’t know by now that we aren’t going any further today, they aren’t
very bright,’ Kalten noted. ,’We do look a bit settled in, don’t we?’ Ulath
agreed. ‘A suggestion, Sparhawk?’ Tynian offered. ‘Why do you always say
that?’
‘Habit, I suppose. I was taught to be polite to my elders. Even the best
of spells isn’t going to give us the same kind of light we’ll have before
the sun goes down. We know they’re out there, we’re in position and we’re ‘
tested. Why don’t we push things a bit? If we can force them to attack now,
we can fight them in daylight.’. How are you going to make somebody attack
when he doesn’t want to?’ Patriarch Emban asked. ‘.”We start making
obvious preparations, your Grace,’ Tynian replied. ‘It’s logical to start
on the field fortifications ‘about now anyway. Let’s put up the palisade
around the foot of the hill, and start digging ditches.’ And felling
trees,’ Ulath added. ‘We could clear away some avenues leading out into the
woods and pile the tree trunks up where they’ll hinder anybody ‘trying to
come through the forest. If they’re going to attack, let’s make them attack
across open ground.’ It took a surprisingly short time. The logs for the
fence around the base of the hill were already sharpened and stacked in
neat piles where they were handy. Digging them in was an easy matter. The
birch trees in the forest were all no more than ten inches thick at the
base, and they fell quickly to the axes of the warriors and were dragged
into the surrounding forest to form large, jumbled piles which would be
virtually impossible to penetrate, even for men on foot. Sparhawk and the
others went back up to the hilltop to survey their preparations. ‘Why don’t
they attack us now, before we’re ready?’ Emban tensely asked the knights.
‘Because it takes time to organise an attack, your Grace,’ Bevier
explained. ‘The scouts have to run back and tell the generals what we’re
doing, the generals have to sneak through the woods to have a look for
themselves, and then they all have to get together and argue about what
they’re going to do. They were planning an ambush. They aren’t really ready
to attack fortified positions. The business of adjusting one’s thinking to
a different tactical situation is what takes the longest.’
‘How long?’
‘It depends entirely on the personality of the man in charge. If his mind
was really set on an ambush, it could take him as long as a week.’
‘He’s dead then, Bevier-Knight,’ Engessa told the Cyrinic tersely. ‘As
soon as we saw the warriors in the woods I dispatched a dozen of my people
to the garrison at Sarsos. If our enemy takes more than two days to make up
his mind, he’ll have five thousand Atans climbing his back.’
‘Sound thinking, Atan Engessa,’ Tynian approved. He pondered it. ‘A
thought, Sparhawk. If our friend out there gets all caught up in
indecision, we can just continue to strengthen our defences around this
hill ditches, sharpened stakes, the usual encumbrances. Each improvement we
add will make him think things over that much longer – which will give us
time to add more fortifications, which will make him think all the more. If
we can keep him thinking for two days, the Atans from Sarsos will come up
behind him and wipe out his force before he ever gets around to using it.’
‘Good point,’ Sparhawk agreed. ‘Let’s get to it.’
‘I thought that being a military person just involved banging on people
with axes and swords,’ Emban conceded. ‘There’s a lot of that involved too,
your Grace,’ Ulath smiled, ‘but it doesn’t hurt to outsmart your enemy a
little too.’ He looked at Bevier. ‘Engines?’ he asked. Bevier blinked.
Ulath’s cryptic questions always took him by surprise for some reason. ‘As
long as we have some time on our hands, we could erect some catapults on
the hilltop. Attacking through a rain of boulders is’ always sort of
distracting. Getting hit on the head with a fifty pound rock always seems
to break a man’s concentration for some reason. if we’re going to set up
for a siege, we might as well do it right.’ He looked around at them. ‘I
still don’t like Sieges though,’ he added. ‘I want everybody to understand
that.’
The warriors set to work, and the ladies and the young men attending them
renewed their festivities, although their hilarity was even more forced
now. Sparhawk and Kalten were re-enforcing the breastworks atop the hill.
Since his wife and daughter were going to be inside those fortifications,
their strength was a matter of more than passing interest to the prince
consort. The party under the pavilion had begun to show gaps, and Stragen
was increasingly obliged to fill them with his lute. ‘He’s going to wear
out his fingers,’ Kalten grunted, lifting another large rock into place.
‘Stragen enjoys attention,’ Sparhawk shrugged. ‘He’ll keep playing until
the blood runs out from under his fingernails if there’s anybody around to
listen.’ Stragen’s lute took up a very old air, and he began to sing
again.. Sparhawk didn’t really have much of an ear for music, but he had to
admit that the Thalesian thief had a beautiful voice. And then Baroness
Melidere joined in. Her voice was a rich contralto that blended smoothly
with Stragen’s baritone. Their duet was perfectly balanced, smooth and rich
with the dark tones of their deeper voices. Sparhawk smiled to himself. The
baroness was continuing her campaign. Once Aphrael had alerted him to the