‘That’s what they’re doing,’ Ulath said, snapping his fingers.
‘Does he still do that?’ Tynian asked. “I was hoping you’d
cured him of it by now.’
‘Ulath likes to play leap-frog with his mind, Tynian,’
Sephrenia said calmly. ‘he’ll come back in a moment or two and
fill in the blank spaces for us.’
‘How long has it been cold up here, Khalad?’ Ulath asked.
“It wasn’t particularly warm when we got here, Sir Ulath.’
‘is any ice forming up in the inlets and along the beach at
night?’
‘Some. It isn’t very thick, though, and the tide comes in and
breaks it up before it has the chance to spread.’
‘The floating ice a mile or so out to sea isn’t breaking up,
though,’ Ulath said. “It rises and falls with the tide because it’s
not grinding up against the rocks. It’s probably almost a foot
thick out there by now. The Edomishmen aren’t building rafts
or a bridge. They’re building a pier out to that pan-ice. There’ll
be another one north of the wall as well. The Trolls will cross
the ice. We know that because they did it to get here from
Thalesia. Cyrgon’s going to march the Trolls to the pier north
of the wall and drive them out to the pan-ice. Then they’ll march
south across the ice and come ashore on this south pier.’
‘And then they’ll attack the Atans again,’ Vanion said bleakly.
‘How thick will the pan-ice have to be to support the weight of
the Trolls?’
‘Two feet or so. It should be thick enough by the time the
piers are finished – if it stays cold.’
“I think we can count on Cyrgon to make sure that it stays
cold,’ Tynian noted.
‘There’s something else, too,’ Khalad added. ‘if Cyrgon’s playing
with the weather this way, it won’t be too long before Sorgi’s
ships are locked in ice. I think we’d better come up with something,
my Lords – and fairly soon – or we’re going to be hip-deep
in Trolls again.’
‘Let’s go talk with Kring and Engessa,’ Sparhawk said.
chapter 29
%’Not even a little bit, your Majesty.’ Ulath shuddered. ‘The
point is that we don’t really want to fight them at all. We want
to steal them. We could just ignore all this construction work
here on the coast, you know. Sorgi’s ships could ferry us around
these work-gangs and put us ashore far enough north of the
escarpment so that Bhelliom won’t set off a new batch of earthquakes,
and then we could have it carry us directly to Tzada.’
‘That’s a good plan, Ulath-Knight,’ Betuana agreed, ‘except
for the ice. It’s already forming out there, you know.’
‘Aphrael,’ Sparhawk said to the Child Goddess, ‘could you
melt that ice for us?’
‘if I really had to,’ she replied, ‘but it wouldn’t be polite. The
ice is a part of winter, and winter belongs to the earth. The earth
is Bhelliom’s child, not mine, so you’ll have to talk to Bhelliom
about it.’
‘What should I ask it to do?’
She shrugged. ‘Why not just leave that up to Bhelliom? Tell
it that the ice is a problem and let it decide how to deal with it.
You’ve got a lot to learn about the etiquette of these situations,
Sparhawk.’
“I suppose so,’ he admitted, ‘but it’s the sort of thing that
doesn’t come up every day, so I haven’t had much practice.’
‘You see what I mean about those rafts, Sparhawk?’ Khalad said.
‘Those green logs lie so low in the water that you couldn’t lead
a donkey along that pier without getting him wet all the way
up to the hocks.’
‘How would you have built them?’
‘i’d have used a double layer of logs – one layer across the
top of the other.’ The two of them were lying under some bushes
on a knoll watching the Edomish peasants laboring on the rafts.
The first part of the pier was already anchored in place, and it
jutted about a quarter of a mile out into the icy water. Additional
rafts were being added to the outer end as quickly as they were
completed.
‘There’s Incetes,’ Khalad said pointing at a huge man in a
bronze mail-shirt and horned helmet. ‘He and those pre-historic
warriors he brought with him have been driving those poor
peasants to the point of exhaustion. Rebal’s running around
waving his arms and trying to look important, but it’s Incetes
who’s really in charge. The peasants don’t seem to understand
his dialect, so he’s been talking to them by hand.’ Khalad
scratched his short black beard. ‘You know, Sparhawk, if we
killed him, his warriors would vanish, and one charge by the
knights would chase Rebal and his Peasants half-way back to Edam.’
“It’s a nice idea, but how are we going to get close enough to
kill him?’
‘i’m already close enough, Sparhawk. I could kill him from
right here.’
‘He’s two hundred and fifty paces away, Khalad. Your father
said that the maximum range with a crossbow is two hundred
yards – and even that involved a lot of luck.’
‘i’m a better shot than father was.’ Khalad lifted his crossbow.
‘I’ve modified the sights and lengthened the arms a bit. Incetes
is close enough, believe me. I could stick a bolt up his nose from here.’
‘That’s a graphic picture. Let’s go talk with Vanion.’ They slid
back down the back of the knoll, mounted their horses, and
rode back to their hidden encampment. Sparhawk quickly
explained his squire’s plan to the others.
‘Are you sure you could hit him at that range, Khalad?’ Vanion
asked a bit skeptically.
Khalad sighed. ‘Do you want a demonstration, my Lord?’ he
asked.
Vanion shook his head. ‘No. If you tell me you can hit him,
then I’ll believe you.’
‘All right. I can hit him, my Lord.’
‘That’s good enough for me.’ Vanion frowned. ‘What would
you say might be the absolute extreme range of the crossbow?’
he asked.
Khalad spread his hands uncertainly. ‘i’d have to experiment,
Lord Vanion,’ he said. ‘i’m sure I could build one that would
reach out a thousand yards, but aiming it would be difficult,
and it would probably take two men a half-hour to re-cock it.
The arms would have to be very stiff.’
‘A thousand paces,’ Vanion sighed, shaking his head. He
rapped his knuckles on the chest of his suit of armor. “I think
we’re becoming obsolete, gentlemen.’ Then he straightened.
‘Well, we’re not obsolete yet. As long as we’re here anyway,
let’s go ahead and neutralize this southern pier. All it’s going
to cost us is one crossbow bolt and a single mounted charge.
The dismay it’s going to cause our enemies is worth that much
anyway.’
Kring and Tikume came riding up the hill from the beach with
Captain Sorgi clattering along beside him. Sorgi was not a very
good horseman, and he rode stiffly, clinging to the saddle-bow.
‘Friend Sorgi came ashore in one of those rowboats,’ Kring said.
‘His big boats are still about a mile out in the water.’
‘Ships, friend Kring,’ Sorgi corrected with a pained expression.
‘the little ones are boats, but the big ones are called
ships.’
‘What’s the difference, friend Sorgi?’
‘A ship has a captain. A boat operates by mutual consent.’
Sorgi’s expression grew somber. ‘We have a problem, Master
Cluff. The ice is forming up right behind my ships. I’ll be able
to bring them ashore, but I don’t think they’ll be of much use
to you. I’ve had soundings taken, and we’ll have to sail a couple
of miles out to get around the reef that runs out to sea from that
cliff. We don’t have those two miles any more. The ice is moving
inshore very fast.’
‘You’d better talk with Bhelliom, Sparhawk,’ Aphrael said. “I
think I told you that this morning.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘as a matter of fact you did.’
‘Why didn’t you do it, then?’
“I had a few other things on my mind.’
‘They get like that as they grow older,’ Sephrenia told her
sister. ‘They get mulish and deliberately put off doing things
they’re supposed to do just because we suggest them. They hate
being told what to do.’
‘What’s the best way to get around that?’
Sephrenia smiled sweetly at the warriors standing around her.
‘I’ve always had good luck with telling them to do the exact
opposite of what I really want.’
‘All right,’ the Child Goddess said doubtfully. “It sounds silly
to me, but if it’s the only way to get the job done…’ She drew’
herself up. ‘Sparhawk!’ she said in a commanding voice. ‘Don’t
you dare talk to Bhelliom!’
Sparhawk sighed. “I wonder if Dolmant could find an opening
in a monastery for me when I get home,’ he said.
Sparhawk and Vanion went off a ways from the others to
consult with the Sapphire Rose. Flute trailed along behind them.