Khalad?’
“I thought it would be the quickest way, my Lord.’ Khalad
held out his hand, and Sparhawk removed the ring and gave it
to him. ‘Thank you,’ Khalad smiled. ‘Your faith in me is very
touching.’
‘Well said,’ Ulath murmured.
Later, after Sparhawk and Ulath had carried Kalten upstairs
and put him to bed, they all gathered in the common-room for
supper. Sparhawk spoke briefly with the innkeeper and had
Sephrenia’s meal taken upstairs to her.
‘Where’s Talen?’ Bevier asked, looking around.
‘He said he was going out for a breath of fresh air,’ Berit
replied.
‘in a hurricane?’
“I think he’s just restless.’
‘Or he wants to go steal something,’ Ulath added.
The door to the inn banged open, and the wind blew Talen
inside. he was wearing doublet and hose under his cloak, and
a rapier at his side. The weapon did not seem to encumber him
very much. He set his back against the door and strained to
push it shut. He was soaked through, and his face was streaming
water. He was grinning broadly, however. “I just solved a mystery,’
he laughed, coming across to where they sat.
‘Oh?’ Ulath asked.
‘What would it be worth to you gentlemen to know Rebal’s
real identity?’
‘How did you manage that?’ Berit demanded.
“Sheer luck, actually. I was outside looking around. The wind
blew me down a narrow lane and pinned me up against the
door of the shop at the end. I thought I’d step inside to get my
breath, and the first thing I saw in there was a familiar face.
Our mysterious Rebal’s a respected shopkeeper here in jorsan.
He told me so himself. He doesn’t look nearly as impressive
when he’s wearing an apron.’
‘A shopkeeper?’ Bevier asked incredulously.
‘Yes indeed, Sir Knight – one of the pillars of the community,
to hear him tell it. He’s even a member of the town
council.’
‘Did you manage to get his name?’ Vanion asked.
‘Of course, my Lord. He introduced himself just as soon as
the wind blew me through the door. His name’s Amador. I even
bought something from him just to keep him talking.’
‘What does he deal in?’ Berit asked.
Talen reached inside his tunic and drew out a bright pink strip
of cloth, wet and somewhat bedraggled. ‘isn’t it pretty?’ he said.
“I think I’ll dry it out and give it to Flute.’
‘You’re not serious,’ Vanion laughed. ‘is that really what he
sells?’
‘May muh tongue turn green iffn it ain’t, yet Preceptorship,’
the boy replied, imitating Caalador’s dialect. ‘The man here in
Edam who has all the Tamuls trembling in their boots is a ribbon
clerk. Can you imagine that?’ and he collaPsed in a chair, laughing
uproariously.
‘How does it work?’ Sparhawk asked the next day, turning the
ring over and looking at the underside.
“It’s the mounting of one of those rings people use when they
want to poison other people’s food or drink,’ Khalad replied. “I
had the goldsmith take it off the original ring and mount it on
ours so that the cover fits over the ruby. There’s a little hinge
on this side of the mounting and a latch on the other. All you
have to do is touch the latch – right here.’ he pointed at a
tiny lever half concealed under the massive-looking setting. ‘The
hinge has a little spring, so this gold cap pops open.’ he touched
the lever, and the half-globe covering the ruby snapped
up to reveal the stone. ‘Are you sure that the ring will work
if you’re only touching Bhelliom with the band? With that cap
in the way, touching the stone to anything might be a little
tricky.’
‘The band does the job,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘This is very clever,
Khalad.’
‘Thank you. I made the goldsmith wash out all the poison
before we installed it on your ring.’
‘The old ring had been used?’
‘Oh, yes. One of the heirs of the Edomish noblewoman who’d
previously owned it sold it to the goldsmith after she died. I
guess she had a lot of enemies. She did at first, anyway.’ Khalad
chuckled. ‘The goldsmith was very disappointed with me. He
really wanted to be alone with your ring for a while. That ruby’s
worth quite a lot. I didn’t think Bhelliom would respond to’ a
piece of red glass, though, so I kept a close eye on him. You’d
probably better find out if the ring will still open the box anyway,
just to be on the safe side. If it doesn’t, I’ll go back to the goldsmith’s
shop and start cutting off his fingers. I’d imagine that
after he loses two or three, he’ll remember where he hid the
real ruby. It’s very hard to do finely detailed work when you
don’t have all ten fingers. I told him I’d do that right at the
outset, so we can probably trust his integrity.’
‘You’re a ruthless sort of fellow.’
“I just wanted to avoid misunderstandings. After we make
sure that the ring still opens the box, you’d better take it to Flute
and find out if the gold’s thick enough to shield the ruby. If it
isn’t, I’ll take it back to the goldsmith and have him pile’ more
gold on that cap. We can keep doing that until it does what we
want it to do.’
‘You’re very practical, Khalad.’
“‘somebody in this group has to be.”
‘What did you do with Kalten’s florin?’
“I used it to pay the goldsmith. It covered part of the cost. You
still owe me for the rest, though.’
‘i’m going to be in debt to everybody before we get home.”
‘That’s all right, Sparhawk,’ Khalad grinned. ‘We all know
that you’re good for it.’
‘That does it!’ SParhawk said angrily, after he had taken a quick
look out the door of the common-room. It was two days later,
and they had all just come downstairs for breakfast. ‘Let’s get
ready to leave. ‘
“I can’t bring the ship back in this storm, Sparhawk,’ Flute
told him. The little girl still looked wan, but she was obviously
recovering.
‘We’ll have to go overland, then. We’re sitting here like ducks
in a row just waiting for our friend out there to gather his forces.
We have to move.’
“It’s going to take months to reach Matherion if we go overland,
Sparhawk,’ Khalad objected. ‘Flute’s not well enough to
speed up the trip. ‘
‘i’m not that sick, Khalad,’ Flute objected. ‘i’m just a little
tired, that’s all.’
‘Do you have to do it all by yourself?’ Sparhawk asked her.
‘I ‘didn’t quite follow that.’
‘if one of your cousins happened along, could he help you?’
She frowned.
‘Let’s say that you were making the decisions, and he was
just lending you the muscle.’
“It’s a nice idea, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia said, ‘but we don’t have
one of Aphrael’s cousins along.’
‘No, but we’ve got Bhelliom.’
“I knew it would happen,’ Bevier groaned. ‘The accursed
stone’s unhinged Sparhawk’s mind. He thinks he’s a God.’
‘No, Bevier,’ Sparhawk smiled. ‘i’m not a God, but I have
access to something very close to one. When I put those rings
on, Bhelliom has to do what I tell it to do. That’s not exactly like
being a God, but it’s close enough. Let’s have breakfast; and
then the rest of you can gather our belongings and get them
packed on the horses. Aphrael and I will hammer out the details
of how we’re going to work this.’
CHAPTER 7
The wind was screaming through the streets of Jorsan, driving
torrents of rain before it. Sparhawk and his friends wrapped
themselves tightly in their cloaks, bowed their heads into the
wind, and plodded grimly into the teeth of the hurricane.
The city gates were unguarded, and the party rode on out
into open country where the wind, unimpeded, savaged them
all the more. Speech was impossible, so Sparhawk merely
pointed toward the muddy road that led off toward Korvan,
fifty leagues to the north.
The road curved round behind a low hill a mile or so outside
of town, and Sparhawk reined in. ‘Nobody can see us now,’ he
shouted over the howling wind. ‘Let’s try this and see what
happens.’ He reached inside his tunic for the golden box.
Berit came galloping up from the rear. ‘We’ve got riders
coming up from behind!’ he shouted, wiping the rain out of his
face.
‘Following us?’ Kalten demanded.
Berit spread his hands uncertainly.
‘How many?’ Ulath asked.
‘Twenty-five or thirty, Sir Ulath. I couldn’t see them very
clearly in all this rain, but it looked to me as if they were wearing
armor of some sort.’
‘Good,’ Kalten grated harshly. ‘There’s not much fun in killing
amateurs.’
‘What do you think?’ Sparhawk asked Vanion.
‘Let’s have a look. They might not be interested in us
at all.’
The two turned and rode back along the muddy road a couple