armies is beyond purely human capabilities. You can take my word for that.
I tried it once and made a horrible mess of it. It took me weeks to get
them all back into the ground again.’
‘We’ve faced Gods before,’ Vanion shrugged. ‘We stared across a border at
Azash for five hundred years.’
‘Now who’s blase?’ Sephrenia said. ‘Just defining the solution, love,’ he
replied. ‘The Church Knights were founded for just such situations. We
really need to identify our enemy, though. Gods have worshippers, and our
enemy’s inevitably utilising his worshippers in this plan. We have to find
out who he is so that we’ know who his adherents are. We can’t disrupt his
plans until we know whom to attack. Am I being obvious?’
‘yes,’ Sparhawk told him, ‘but logic always is right at first. I’ like the
notion of attacking his worshippers. If we do that, he’s going to have to
stop what he’s doing and concentrate on protecting his own people. The
Strength of a God depends entirely on his worshippers. If we start killing
his people, we’ll diminish him with every sword-stroke.’ barbarian,’
Sephrenia accused. ”Can you make her stop doing that to me, Vanion?’
Sparhawk appealed. ‘She’s called me both a pagan and ‘ a barbarian so far
today.’
‘ well, aren’t you?’ she said. maybe, but it’s not nice to come right out
and say it like that.’ It’s the presence of the Trolls that has concerned
me ,since you told me about it at Sarsos,’ Zalasta told them. ‘They are not
drawn from the past, and they have but recently come to this part of the
world from their ancestral home in Thalesia. I know little of Trolls, but
it was my understanding that they are fiercely attached to their homeland.
What could have provoked this migration?’
‘Ulath’s baffled,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘I gather that the Thalesians are so
happy that the Trolls have left that they didn’t pursue the matter.’
‘Trolls don’t habitually co-operate with each other,’ Sephrenia told them.
‘One of them might have decided on his own to leave Thalesia, but he’d
never have persuaded the rest to go with him.’
‘You’re raising a very unpleasant possibility, love,’ Vanion said. They
all looked at each other. ‘is there any way they could have got out of
Bhelliom?’ Vanion asked Sephrenia. ‘I don’t know, Vanion. Sparhawk asked me
the same question quite some time ago. I don’t know what spell Ghwerig used
to seal them inside the jewel. Troll-spells aren’t the same as ours.’
‘Then we don’t know if they’re still inside or if they’ve somehow managed
to free themselves?’ She nodded glumly. ‘The fact that the Trolls banded up
and left their ancestral home all at the same time suggests that something
with sufficient authority over them commanded them to leave,’ Zalasta
mused. ‘That would be their Gods, all right.’ Vanion’s face was as glum as
Sephrenia’s. ‘Trolls wouldn’t obey anyone else.’ He sighed. ‘Well, we
wanted to know who was opposing us. I think we may have just found out.’
‘You’re all full of light and joy today, Vanion,’ Sparhawk said sourly,
‘but I’d like something a little more concrete before I declare war on the
Trolls.’
‘How did you force the Troll-Gods to stop attacking you in Zemoch, Prince
Sparhawk?’ Zalasta asked him. ‘I used the Bhelliom.’
‘It rather looks as if you’ll have to use it again. I don’t suppose you
happened to bring it with you, did you?’ Sparhawk looked quickly at
Sephrenia. ‘You didn’t tell him?’ he asked with a certain surprise. ‘It
wasn’t necessary for him to know, dear one. Dolmant wanted us all to keep
it more or less to ourselves, remember?’
‘I gather that it’s not with you then, Prince Sparhawk,’ Zalasta surmised.
‘Did you leave it in some safe place in Cimmura?’
‘It’s in a safe place all right, learned one,’ Sparhawk replied bleakly,
‘but it’s not in Cimmura.’
‘Where is it then?’
‘After we used it to destroy Azash, we threw it into the sea.’ Zalasta’s
face went chalk white. ‘in the deepest part of the deepest ocean in the
world,’ Sephrenia added.
CHAPTER 21
‘It is along the north coast, Ehlana-Queen,’ Norkan translated Queen
Betuana’s reply. ‘These shaggy ones you call Trolls have come across the
winter ice in large groups for the past two years. At first our people
thought they were bears, but it was not so. They avoided us at first, and
the snow and fog of winter made it hard for our people to see them clearly.
When there were more of them here, they grew bolder. It was not until one
of them was killed that we realised they were not bears.’ King Androl was
not present. Androl’s intellectual gifts were not profound, and he much
preferred to let his wife deal with state matters. The Atan King looked
very impressive, but he was at his best in ceremonial situations where no
surprises were likely to come up. ‘Ask her if they’ve seen any Trolls
farther south,’ Sparhawk murmured to his wife. ‘Why don’t you ask her?’
‘Let’s keep things sort of formal, Ehlana. This is technically a
conversation between the two of you. I don’t think the rest of us are
supposed to join in. Let’s not take a chance of violating a propriety we
don’t know about.’ Ehlana posed the question, and Oscagne translated. ‘No,’
Norkan repeated Ehlana’s answer. ‘The Trolls appear to have settled in the
forests along the north slopes. So far as we know, they haven’t come deeper
into Atan.’
‘
‘Warn her that Trolls are very good at hiding in forests,’ Ulath advised.
‘So are we,’ the reply was translated. ‘Ask her if some advice on tactics
would offend her,’ the Genidian Knight said then. ‘We Thalesians have had
many experiences with Trolls – most of them bad.’
‘We are always willing to listen to the voice of experience,’ came the
Atan queen’s reply. ‘When we encounter Trolls in Thalesia, we usually stay
back a ways and shoot some arrows into them,’ Ulath informed Ehlana. ‘It’s
hard to kill them with arrows, because their fur and their hides are so
thick, but it’s a good idea to slow them down if you can. Trolls are much,
much quicker than they look, and they have very long arms. They can snatch
a man out of his saddle quicker than the man can blink.’ Ehlana went
through the formality of repeating his words. ‘What does the Troll do
then?’ Betuana’s expression was curious. first he pulls off the man’s head.
Then he eats the rest of him. Trolls don’t like to eat heads for some
reason.’ Ehlana choked slightly on that. we do not use the bow in war,’
Norkan translated Betuana’s flowing Tamul. ‘We only use it in the hunt ‘for
creatures we intend to eat.’ well,’ Ulath said a bit dubiously, ‘you could
eat a Troll if you wanted to, I guess. I won’t guarantee the flavour,
though.’
‘I refuse to repeat that, Sir Ulath!’ ~Ehlana exclaimed. :’)))) ‘Ask her
if javelins would be acceptable in the Atan culture,’ Tynian suggested.
‘Javelins would be quite all right,’ Norkan replied. ‘I’ve seen the Atans
practising with them.’ Betuana spoke to him rapidly and at some length. ‘
)’)’Her Majesty’s asked me to translate in narrative,’ norkan told them.
‘The sun is well up, and she knows you should be on the road. Oscagne tells
me that you’re planning to take the road leading to Lebas in Tamul proper.
Atan society’s organised along clan lines, and each clan has its own
territory. You’ll be passed along from clan to clan as you ride east. It’s
a breach of etiquette for one clan to intrude on the, territory of another,
and breaches of etiquette are avoided at all costs here in Atan.’
‘I wonder why,’ Stragen murmured. ‘Oscagne,’ Norkan said then, ‘as soon as
you reach civilisation, send me a score or so of imperial messengers with
fast horses. Her Majesty wants to keep in close contact with Matherion
during the crisis.’
‘Very good idea,’ Oscagne agreed. Then Betuana rose, towering over all of
them. She affectionately embraced Ehlana and then Mirtai, clearly
indicating that it was time for them to continue their journey eastward. ‘I
will cherish the memory of this visit, dear Betuana,’ Ehlana told her. ‘And
I will as well, dearly-loved sister-queen, Betuana replied in almost
flawless Elenic. Ehlana smiled. ‘I wondered how long you were going to hide
your understanding of our language, Betuana,’ she said. ‘You knew?’ Betuana
seemed surprised. Ehlana nodded. ‘It’s very hard to keep your face and your
eyes from revealing your understanding while you’re waiting for the
translation. Why do you keep your knowledge of Elenic a secret?’
‘The time the translator takes to convert your words into human speech
gives me time to consider my reply,’ Betuana shrugged. ‘That’s a very
useful tactic,’ Ehlana said admiringly. ‘I
wish I could use it in Eosia, but everybody there speaks Elenic, so I