your singleness of purpose, dear one,’ she told him.
“It means the same thing, doesn’t it?’
‘Yes, but it sounds nicer.’
‘Set out some markers, Khalad,’ Vanion instructed. He looked
around. ‘There aren’t any sticks lying around, so pile uP
heaps of rock and mark them with scraps of colored cloth. Let’s
get an absolute reference on the position of the sun this
evening so that we don’t make the same mistake again tomorrow
morning.’
‘i’ll take care of it, my Lord.’
‘They’re back,’ Kalten said, roughly shaking Sparhawk awake.
‘Who’s back?’ Sparhawk sat up.
‘Your glowing friends. They want to talk with you again.”
Sparhawk rose to his feet and followed his friend to the edge
of the camp.
“I was standing watch,’ Kalten said quietly, ‘and they just
appeared out of nowhere. Itagne’s stories are entertaining
enough, but I don’t think they’re all that accurate. The Shining
Ones don’t shine all the time. They crept up on me in the dark,
and they didn’t start to glow until they were in place.’
‘Are they still staying back a ways?’
Kalten nodded. ‘They’re keeping their distance. There’s no
way we could rush them.’
There was no fog this time, and there were only two of the
Shining Ones standing about twenty yards from the picketed
horses. The eerie glow emanating from them still blurred their
features, however.
‘Thy peril increases, Anakha,’ that same hollow, echoing voice
declared. ‘Thine enemies are seeking thee up and down in the
land.’
‘We haven’t seen anyone, neighbor.’
“It is the unseen enemy which is most perilous. It is with their
minds that thine enemies seek thee. We urge thee to accept our
offer of sanctuary. It may soon be too late.’
“I wouldn’t offend you for the world, neighbor, but we’ve
only got your word for this unseen danger, and I think you may
be exaggerating a bit. You said that Bhelliom’s directing my
steps, and Bhelliom has unlimited power. I’ve tested that myself
a few times. Thanks for your concern, but I still think I can take
care of myself and my friends.’ He paused a moment and then
plunged ahead on an impulse. ‘Why don’t we just cut across
all this polite chit-chat? You’ve already admitted to a certain
self-interest here. Why don’t you come right out and tell me
what you want and what you’re prepared to offer in exchange?
That might give us a basis for negotiation.’
“your charm’s positively blinding, Sparhawk,’ Kalten
muttered.
“we will consider thy proposal, Anakha.’ The echoing voice
was cold.
“do that. Oh, one other thing, neighbor. Stop tampering with
our direction. Deceit and trickery at the outset always seem to
get negotiations off on the wrong foot.’
The glowing Delphae did not respond, but receded back into
the desert and slipped out of sight.
Then you do believe me, don’t you, Sparhawk?’ Sephrenia
said from just behind the two knights. ‘You realize how unprincipled
and dishonest those creatures are.’
‘Let’s just say that I’m keeping an open mind on the subject,
little mother. You were absolutely right about what you said
earlier, though. We could blindfold Vanion, spin him around in
circles for a day or so, and he’d still come out pointing due
north.’ He looked around. ‘is everybody awake? I think we’d
better start considering options.’
They returned to the place where their beds were laid out
on the hard, uncomfortable gravel. ‘You’re really very clever,
Sparhawk,’ Bevier said. ‘The fact that our visitors didn’t deny
that accusation you pulled out of the air suggests that
Sephrenia’s been right about them all along. They have been
misdirecting us.’
‘That doesn’t alter the fact that the Cyrgai are out there,’ Ulath
reminded him, ‘and the Cyrgai are definitely our enemies. We
may not know what the Delphae are really up to, but they ran
off the Cyrgai for us last night, and that sort of inclines me to
like them.’
‘Could that have been some sort of collusion?’ Berit asked.
‘That’s very unlikely,’ Itagne said. ‘The Cyrgai traditionally
have a sublime belief that they’re the crown of creation. They’d
never agree to any ruse that put them in a subservient position
– not even for the sake of appearances. It’s just not in their racial
make-up.’
“He’s right,’ Sephrenia agreed, ‘and even though I hate to
admit it, an alliance of that sort would be totally out of character
for the Delphae as well. There could be no common ground
between them and the Cyrgai. I don’t know what the Delphae
are doing in this business, but they have their own agenda.
They wouldn’t be cat’s paws for anyone else.’
‘Wonderful,’ Talen said sardonically, ‘now we’ve got four
enemies to worry about.’
‘why worry at all?’ Kalten shrugged. ‘Bhelliom can put us
down on the outskirts of Matherion in the space between two
heartbeats. Why don’t we just go away and leave the Cyrgai and
the Delphae here in this wasteland to resolve their differences
without us?’
‘No,’ Sephrenia said.
‘Why not?’
‘Because the Delphae have misdirected us already. We don’t
want to go to Delphaeus.’
‘They’re not going to be able to fool the Bhelliom, Sephrenia,’
Vanion disagreed. ‘They might have been able to confuse me,
but Bhelliom’s an entirely different matter.’
“I don’t think we can take that chance, dear one. The Delphae
want something from Sparhawk, and it’s obviously going to
involve Bhelliom. Let’s not deliver them both into Delphaeic
hands. I know that it’s tedious and dangerous, but let’s keep our
feet on the ground. Bhelliom moves through a vast emptiness. If
the Delphae can deceive it, we could come out of that emptiness
almost any place.’
‘What’s an eclogue?’ Talen asked. They were riding toward what
they hoped was the east the following morning, and Itagne was
continuing his rambling discourse on Delphaeic literature.
“It’s a sort of primitive drama,’ he replied. “It usually involves a
meeting between two shepherds. They stand around discussing
philosophy in bad verse.’
‘i’ve known a few sheep-herders,’ Khalad said, ‘and philosophy
wasn’t their usual topic of conversation. They’re far more
interested in women.’
‘There’s some of that involved in eclogues as well, but it’s so
idealized that it’s hardly recognizable.’ Itagne tugged thoughtfully
at one earlobe. “I think it’s some sort of disease,’ he mused.
‘The more civilized people become, the more they romanticize
the simple bucolic life and ignore the dirt and grinding toil
involved. Our sillier poets grow all weepy-eyed about shepherds
and shepherdesses, of course. It wouldn’t be nearly as much
fun without the shepherdesses. The aristocracy periodically
becomes enamored of the pastoral tradition, and they go to great
lengths to act out their fantasies. Emperor Sarabian’s father even
went so far as to have an idealized sheep-farm built down near
Saranth. He and his court used to go there in the summer-time
and spend months pretending to watch over flocks of badly
over-fed sheep. Their rude smocks and kirtles were made of
velvet and satin, and they’d sit around all moony-eyed
composing bad verse and ignoring the fact that their sheep were
wandering off in all directions.’ He leaned back in his saddle.
‘Pastoral literature doesn’t really hurt anything. It’s silly and
grossly over-sentimental, and the poets who become addicted
to it tend to be a bit heavy-handed when they ladle on the moral
lessons. That’s always been the problem with literature – finding
a justification for it. It really doesn’t serve any practical purpose,
you know.’
‘Except that life without it would be sterile and empty,’ Bevier
asserted.
“It would indeed, Sir Bevier,’ Itagne agreed. ‘Anyway, Delphaeic
literature – which probably doesn’t have anything at all
to do with the real Delphae – grew up around these ridiculous
literary conventions, but after several centuries of that nonsense,
the potentials of the pastoral tradition had been pretty much
exhausted, so our poets began to wander afield – like untended
sheep, if I may extend the metaphor. Sometime during the last
century, they began to posit the notion that the Delphae practice
a non-Styric form of magic. That really upsets my Styric colleagues
at the university.’ Itagne looked back over his shoulder
to make sure that Sephrenia, who still rode in the rear with Berit,
was out of earshot. ‘Many people find something fundamentally
irritating about Styrics. The pudding of smug superiority and
accusatory self-pity doesn’t cook up very well, and the favorite
form of Styric-baiting on the university campus is to mention
“Delphaeic magic” to a Styric and then watch him go up in
flames.’
‘Can you think of anything at all that might explain
Sephrenia’s reaction to the Delphae?’ Vanion asked with
troubled eyes. ‘i’ve never seen her behave this way before.’
“I really don’t know Lady Sephrenia that well, Lord Vanion,
but her explosion the first time I mentioned Delphaeic literature
provides some clues. There’s a very brief passage in “Xadane”
that hints that the Delphae were allied with the Styrics during
the war that was supposed to have exterminated the Cyrgai.