Eddings, David – Tamuli – 02 – The Shining Ones

I’ll try to stop you every single time – regardless of how stupid

it is.’

‘Why?’ she asked him intently.

“I guess it’s because I love you.’ He shrugged.

She squealed with delight and swarmed up into his arms.

‘He’s such a nice boy,’ she exclaimed, covering his face with

kisses.

They had gone no more than a mile when Kalten reined in

sharply, filling the air with sulphurous curses.

‘Kalten!’ Vanion snapped. ‘There are ladies present!’

‘Take a look behind us, my Lord,’ the blond Pandion said.

It was the cloud, inky black, ominous, and creeping along the

ground like viscous slime.

Vanion swore and reached for his sword.

‘That won’t do any good, my Lord,’ Sparhawk told him. He

reached inside his tunic and took out the gleaming box. ‘ThiS

might, though.’ He rapped the band of his ring against the

box-lid.

Nothing happened.

‘You have to tell it to open, Sparhawk,’ Flute instructed.

‘Open,’ SParhawk commanded, touching the ring to the box

again. The lid popped up, and Sparhawk saw the Bhelliom nestled

inside. The Sapphire Rose was perfect, eternal, and it glowed a

deep blue. It seemed strangely resentful as Sparhawk reached

in and lifted it out, however. ‘We all know who we are,’ he told

the stone and its unwilling inhabitants. ‘i’m not going to speak

to you in Trollish because I know you can understand me, no

matter what language I use. I want you to stop this nonsense

with that cloud, and I want you to do it right now. When I turn

round to look, your little patch of private darkness had better

be gone. I don’t care how you do it, but get rid of that cloud!’

The Sapphire Rose grew suddenly hot in his hand, and it

seemed almost to writhe against his fingers. Flickers of red,

green, orange and purple, all interspersed with streaks of white,

stained the azure petals of Bhelliom as the Troll-Gods trapped

within the gem fought to resist. Bhelliom, however, appeared

to exert some kind of over-control, and those ugly flickers were

smothered as the jewel began to burn more brightly.

Then there was a sudden, violent jolt which numbed Sparhawk’s

arm to the shoulder.

‘That’s the way.” Calten shouted with a sudden laugh.

Sparhawk turned in his saddle and saw that the cloud was

gone. ‘What happened?’

“It sort of flopped around like a fresh-caught eel,’ Kalten

laughed again, ‘and then it flew all to pieces. What did you do,

Sparhawk? I couldn’t hear what you said.’

“I let our blue friend and its tenants know that the cloud was

starting to irritate me. Then I sort of hinted at the fact that I get

ugly when I’m irritated.’

‘They must have believed you.’

Flute was staring at Sparhawk in open astonishment. ‘You

broke all the rules!’ she accused him.

“I do that sometimes. It’s quicker to cut across the formalities

once in a while.’

‘You’re not supposed to do it that way.’

“It worked, didn’t it?’

“It’s a question of style, Sparhawk. I’m technically in charge

here, and I don’t know what Bhelliom and the Troll-Gods are

going to think of me after that.’

He laughed, and then gently put Bhelliom back into its box.

‘Nice job,’ he told it. They were going to have to work together,

after all, and a little encouragement now and then never hurt.

Then he firmly closed the lid. “It’s time for some speculation,

gentlemen,’ he said to the others. ‘What can we make of this?’

‘They know where we are, for one thing,’ Talen offered.

“It could be the rings again,’ Sephrenia noted. ‘That’s what

happened last time. The cloud – and the shadow – were concentrating

on Sparhawk and Ehlana right at first because they had the rings.”

Bhelliom’s closed up inside the box,’ Sparhawk said, ‘and so

are the Troll-Gods.’

‘Are they still inside the jewel?’ Ulath asked him.

‘Oh, yes,’ Sparhawk said. “I could definitely feel them when

I took Bhelliom out.’ He looked at Aphrael, phrasing his next

question carefully. There were still some things that needed to

be concealed. ‘i’ve heard that a God can be in more than one

place at the same time.’ He left it a little tentative.

‘Yes,’ she replied.

‘Does that apply to the Troll-Gods as well?’

She struggled with it. ‘i’m not sure,’ she admitted. “It’s a fairly

complicated business, and the Troll-Gods are quite limited.’

‘Does this box confine them in the same way that chain-mail

pouch did back in Zemoch?’

She shook her head. “It’s different. When they’re encased in

gold that way, they don’t know where they are.

‘Does that make a difference?’

‘You have to know where you are before you can go someplace

else.’

‘i’ll take your word for it.’ He made a face. “I think we may

have blundered again,’ he said sourly.

‘How so?’ Bevier asked him.

‘We don’t really have any absolute proof that the Troll-Gods

are in league with our enemy. If they’re trapped inside this box

with Bhelliom and can’t get out, they couldn’t be, could they?’

‘That was Ghworg in the mountains of Atan,’ Ulath insisted.

‘That means that he’s out and about at least.’

‘Are you sure, Ulath? Those peasants around the bonfire were

convinced that the big’ fellow in the ancient armor was Incetes

too, you know.’

‘All the evidence points to it, Sparhawk. Everything we’ve

seen this time is just like it was last time, and it was the TrollGods

then, wasn’t it?’

‘i’m not even positive about that any more.’

‘Well, something had to have enough authority over the Trolls

to make them migrate from Thalesia to the north coast of Atan.’

“Just how smart do you have to be in order to be a Troll? I’m

not saying that it was something as crude as the hoax Rebal

foisted off on those peasants, but…’ Sparhawk left it hanging.

‘That would be a fairly complex hoax, dear one,’ Sephrenia

murmured.

‘But not quite impossible, little mother. I’ll drop the whole

line of thought if you’ll just tell me that what I’m suggesting is

impossible. ‘

‘Don’t throw it away just yet,’ she said, her face troubled.

‘Aphrael,’ Sparhawk said, ‘will this gold box keep our friend

out there from being able to locate Bhelliom?’

She nodded. ‘The gold shields it. He can’t hear it or feel it,

so he can’t just move toward the sound or the sense of it.’

‘And if I put Ehlana’s ring in there as well? Would the box

shield that too?’

‘Yes, but your own ring’s still out in the open where he can

feel its location.’

‘One thing at a time.’ He touched his ring to the lid of the

box. ‘Open,’ he said.

The latch clicked, and the lid raised slightly.

Sparhawk removed Ehlana’s ring from his finger and put it

inside the box. ‘You look after it for a while,’ he told the Bhelliom.

‘Please don’t do that, Sparhawk,’ Vanion told him with a

pained look.

‘Do what?’

‘Talk to it like that. You make it sound like a real being.’

‘Sorry, Vanion. It helps a little if I think of it that way. Bhelliom

definitely has its own personality. ‘ He closed the lid and felt the

latch click.

‘Ah – Flute?’ Khalad said a bit tentatively.

‘Yes?’

‘is it the box that keeps Bhelliom hidden? Or is it the fact that

the box is made out of gold?’

“It’s the gold, Khalad. There’s something about gold that

muffles Bhelliom and hides it.’

‘And it works on queen Ehlana’s ring as well?’

She nodded. “I can’t hear or feel a thing.’ She stretched her

open palm out toward the box Sparhawk was holding. ‘Nothing

at all,’ she confirmed. “I can feel his ring, though.’

‘Put a golden glove on him,’ Kalten shrugged.

‘How much money did you bring along, Sir Kalten?’ Khalad

asked. ‘Gold’s expensive, you know.’ He squinted at Sparhawk’s

ring. “I don’t have to cover his whole hand,’ he said,

‘just the ring itself. ‘

‘i’ll have to be able to get at it in a hurry, Khalad,’ Sparhawk

cautioned.

‘Let me work on it. Does anyone have a gold florin? That

would be about the right size.’

They all opened their purses.

Kalten looked around hopefully, then sighed. he reached into

his purse. ‘You owe me a gold florin, Sparhawk,’ he said, handing

the coin to Khalad.

‘i’m in your debt, Kalten,’ Sparhawk smiled.

‘You certainly are – one gold florin’s worth. Shall we move

on? It’s starting to get chilly out here.’

The wind had come up, gusty at first, but blowing steadily

stronger. They followed the trail on down the slope until they

were riding along the upper edge of a long, sandy beach with

the wind screaming and tearing at them and the salt spray stinging

their faces.

‘This is more than just a gale!’ Ulath shouted over the screaming

wind. “I think we’ve got a hurricane brewing.’

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