Sparhawk touched his ring to the lid of the box. ‘Open,’ he said.
The lid snapped up.
‘Blue Rose,’ Sparhawk said, ‘winter doth approach with
unseemly haste, and the freezing of the sea doth hinder our
design. We would proceed some distance beyond thine excellent
wall so that our movements will not perturb thy daughter.’
‘Thou’ art considerate, Anakha,’ Vanion’s voice replied.
‘His courtesy is not untainted by self-interest, Flower-Gem,’
Aphrael said with an impish little smile. ‘When thy daughter
shudders, it doth unsettle his stomach.’
‘You didn’t have to say that, Aphrael,’ Sparhawk told her.
‘Are you going to do this?’
‘No. My manners are better than that.’
‘Why did you come along, then?’
‘Because I owe Bhelliom an apology – and it owes me an
explanation.’ She looked into the golden cask, and the azure
glow from the stone illuminated her face. She spoke directly to
the stone in a language Sparhawk did not understand, although
it was somehow tantalizingly familiar. There were pauses as she
spoke, pauses during which Sparhawk presumed Bhelliom was
responding, communing directly with her in a voice which only
she could hear. At one point she laughed, peal upon peal of
silvery laughter that almost seemed to sparkle in the chill air. ‘All
right, Sparhawk,’ she said finally, ‘Bhelliom and I have finished
apologizing to each other. You can go ahead and present your
problem now.’
‘You’re too kind,’ he murmured.
‘Be nice.’
“I would not trouble thee with our trivial concerns, Blue Rose,’
Sparhawk said then, ‘but methinks the onset of the winter ice
hath been hastened by Cyrgon’s hand, and it is beyond our
power to respond.’
Vanion’s tone was stern as Bhelliom replied. ‘Methinks Cyrgon
doth need instruction in courtesy, Anakha – and perchance
in humility as well. He hath bent his will to the premature formation
of the ice. I will tweak his beard for this. There are rivers
in the sea, and he hath turned one of these aside to freeze this
coast in furtherance of his design. I will turn aside yet another
and bring the torrid breath of tropic climes to this northern shore
and consume his ice.’
Aphrael clapped her hands together with a delighted laugh.
“What’s so funny?’ Sparhawk asked her.
‘Cyrgon’s going to be a little sick for a few days,’ she replied.
‘Thou art wise beyond measure, Flower-Gem,’ she said gaily.
‘Thou art kind to say so, Aphrael, but methinks thy praise
hath some small taint of flattery to it.’
‘Well,’ she said, ‘a little, perchance, but over-fulsome praise
for those we love is no sin, is it?’
‘Guard well thine heart, Anakha,’ Bhelliom advised. ‘The
Child Goddess will steal it from thee when thou dost least expect
it.’
‘She did that years ago, Blue Rose,’ Sparhawk replied.
“I can do this myself, Sparhawk,’ Khalad whispered. “I don’t
need a chaperone.’ The two were lying behind a log atop the
knoll from which they had observed the Edomish workmen the
previous day. The work-gangs were laboring by the smoky light
of fires being fed with green wood. The moon was full, and
the smoke from the fires seemed almost to glow in its pale
light.
“I just came along to admire the shot, Khalad,’ Sparhawk
replied innocently. “I like to watch professionals in action.
Besides, I have to give Ulath the signal just as soon as you put
Incetes to sleep.’ He shivered. ‘Aren’t we just a bit early?’ he
asked. ‘the sky won’t start to get light for another hour yet. All
we’re doing here is sprouting icicles.’
‘Did you want to do this?’
‘No. I probably couldn’t even come close at this range.’
‘Then do you want to keep your mouth shut and let me do
it?’
‘You’re awfully grouchy for so young a fellow, Khalad. That
doesn’t usually set in until a man’s much older.’
‘Dealing with knights has prematurely aged me.’
‘how does this new sight of yours work?’
‘Do you know what the word “trajectory” means?’
‘Sort of.’
Khalad shook his head wearily. ‘Never mind, Sparhawk. My
calculations are accurate. Just take my word for it.’
‘You actually work it out on paper.’
‘paper’s cheaper than a bushel of new crossbow bolts.’
“It sounds to me as if you spend more time calculating and
adjusting your sights than’ you do shooting.’
‘Yes,’ Khalad admitted, ‘but if you do it right, you only have
to shoot once.’
‘Why did we come out so early, then?’
‘To give my eyes time to adjust to the light. The light’s going
to be peculiar when I make the shot. I’ll have moonlight, firelight,
and the first touches of dawn in the sky when the time
comes. It’s all changing, and I need to watch it change so that
my eyes are ready. I’ve also got to pick Incetes out and keep a
close eye on him. Killing his second cousin won’t do the job.’
‘You think of everything, don’t you?’
‘Somebody has to.’
They waited. The pale light of the full moon made the sand
of the newly emerged mile-wide beach intensely white, almost
the same as snow, and the night air was bitingly cold.
‘Keep your head down, Sparhawk, or hold your breath.’
‘What?’
‘Your breath is steaming. If somebody looks this way, he’ll
know that we’re here.’
‘They’re two hundred and fifty paces away, Khalad.’
‘Why take chances if you don’t have to?’ Khalad peered
‘intently at the ant-like figures working at the edge of the trees.
‘is Empress Elysoun still chasing Berit?’ he asked after a few
moments.
‘She seems to be branching out a bit. I think she caught him
a few times, though.’
‘Good. Berit was awfully stuffy when he was younger. He’s
in love with your wife, you know.’
‘Yes. We talked about it some years back.
“It doesn’t bother you?’
‘No. It’s just one of those infatuations young men go through.
He doesn’t really intend to do anything about it.’
“I like Berit. He’ll make a good knight – once I grind off the
remnants of his nobility. Titles make people a little silly.’ He
pointed. “It’s starting to get light off to the east.’
Sparhawk glanced out across the icy reaches of the north
Tamul Sea. ‘Yes,’ he agreed.
Khalad opened the leather pouch he had brought along and
took out a length of sausage. ‘A bite of breakfast, my Lord?’ he
offered, reaching for his dagger. ‘Why not?’
The first faint touches of light along the eastern horizon faded
back into darkness as the ‘false dawn’ came and went. No one
had ever satisfactorily explained that particular phenomenon to
Sparhawk. He had seen it many times during his exile in Render.
‘We’ve still got about another hour,’ he told his squire.
Khalad grunted, laid back against the log, and closed his eyes.
“I thought you were here to watch,’ Sparhawk said. ‘How can
you watch if you’re asleep?’
‘i’m not sleeping, Sparhawk. I’m just resting my eyes. Since
you came along anyway, you can watch for a while.’
The true dawn began to stain the eastern sky some time later,
and Sparhawk touched Khalad’s shoulder. ‘Wake up,’ he said
quietly.
Khalad’s eyes opened quickly. “I wasn’t asleep.”
‘Why were you snoring, then?’
“I wasn’t. I was just clearing my throat.’
‘For half an hour?’
Khalad rose up slightly and peered over the top of the log.
‘Let’s wait until the sun hits those people,’ he suggested. ‘That
bronze breastplate Incetes is wearing should gleam in the sunlight,
and a brighter target’s easier to hit.’
‘You’re the one doing the shooting.’
Khalad looked at the laboring Edomish peasants. “I just had
a thought, Sparhawk. They’ve built a lot of those rafts. Why
waste them?’
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Even if Bhelliom melts Cyrgon’s ice, it’s going to take Captain
Sorgi a couple of days to ferry all of us around that reef. Why
not use these rafts? Sorgi can put a good-sized force on the beach
a few miles north of the pier that’s probably being constructed
on the other side of the wall, and the rest of us can slip around
the reef from this side on those rafts, and we can jump the
people up there from both sides.’
“I thought you didn’t like these rafts.’
“I can fix them, Sparhawk. All we have to do is take two of
them, lay one on top of the other, and we’ll have one good one.
Cyrgon might have more forces up here on the North Cape than
just the Trolls. I think we’ll want to put all these rafts well out
of his reach, don’t you?’
‘You’re probably right. Let’s talk to Vanion about it.’ Sparhawk
looked at the eastern horizon. ‘The sun’s starting to come up.’
Khalad rolled over and laid his crossbow across the log. He
carefully checked the settings on his sighting mechanism and
then settled the stock against his shoulder.
Incetes was standing on a tree stump in the full light of the