when the sun goes down in Matherion, it’s still…’
‘Please, Ulath,’ Kalten told him, ‘don’t try to explain it to me.
It just makes things worse. When people start to explain it, I
sometimes think I can actually feel the world moving under
me. I don’t like that very much. Just tell me that it’s later
there, and let it go at that. I don’t really need to know why
it’s later.’
‘He’s a perfect knight,’ Khalad told his brother. ‘He doesn’t
even want explanations.’
‘Look on the bright side of it, Khalad,’ Talen replied. ‘After
we’ve gone through the wonderful training they’ve got planned
for us, we’ll be exactly like Kalten. Think how much easier life’s
going to be for us when we don’t have to understand anything
at all.’
‘i’d guess that it’s very close to being fully dark in Matherion
by now, Sparhawk,’ Vanion said. ‘Maybe we’d better wait until
morning.’
‘i’m not so sure,’ Sparhawk disagreed. ‘The time’s going to
come sooner or later when we’re going to have to make one of
these jumps after the sun goes down. There’s nothing urgent
in the wind right now, so it’s a good time for us to answer this
question once and for all.’
‘Ah – Sparhawk?’ Khalad said.
‘Yes?’
‘if you’ve got a question, why not ask? Now that you and
Bhelliom are on speaking terms, wouldn’t it be simpler – and
safer – to just ask it first? Before you start experimenting?
Matherion’s on the coast, as I recall, and I’d rather not come
down about a hundred leagues out to sea.’
Sparhawk felt just a little foolish. He took out the small golden
box and opened the lid. He paused momentarily, casting his
question in antique Elenic. “I must needs have thine advice on
a certain matter, Blue Rose,’ he said.
‘Say thy question, Anakha.’ This time the voice came from
Khalad’s lips.
‘That’s a relief,’ Kalten said to Ulath. “I almost chewed up my
tongue with all the “thee”s and “thou”s last time.’
‘Can we safely go from one place to another when the pall of
darkness hath covered the earth?’ Sparhawk asked.
‘There is no darkness for me, Anakha.
“I did not know that.’
‘Thou hadst but to ask.’
‘Yes. I do perceive that now. Mine understanding doth grow
with each passing hour. On the eastern coast of far-flung Tamuli
there doth lie a road which doth proceed southward to firedomed
Matherion.’
‘Yes.’
‘When my companions and I first beheld Matherion, we came
in sight of it when we did crest a long hill.’
‘Yes. I share thy memory of the place.’
‘Couldst thou take us there, e’en though darkness doth cover
the face of the earth?’
‘Yes.’
Sparhawk started to reach into the box for his wife’s ring
Then he stopped. ‘We share a common purpose and thus are
comrades. It is not meet that I should compel thee and whip
thee into compliance with the power of Ghwerig’s rings. Thus
I do not command thee, but request instead. Wilt thou take us
to this place we both know out of comradeship and common
purpose?’
“I will, Anakha.
CHAPTER 16
The blur that surrounded them momentarily was that same featureless
gray, no darker than it had been when Bhelliom had
transported them in daylight. Night and day appeared to be
irrelevant. Sparhawk dimly perceived that Bhelliom took them
through some different place, a colorless emptiness that
adjoined all other places – a kind of doorway to everywhere.
‘You were right, my Lord,’ Kalten said to Vanion, looking up
at the star-studded night sky. “It Is later here, isn’t it?’ He looked
sharply at Xanetia, who swayed slightly in her saddle. ‘Are you
unwell, Lady?’ he asked her.
“It is of no moment, Sir Knight. A slight giddiness, nothing
more. ‘
‘You get used to it. The first few times are a little unsettling,
but that wears off.’
Khalad held out the box, and Sparhawk put Bhelliom back
inside. “I do not do this to imprison thee,’ he told the jewel.
‘Our enemies can sense thy presence when thou art exposed,
and this receptacle doth conceal thee from their search.’
The Bhelliom pulsed slightly in acknowledgement.
Sparhawk closed the cap over his ring, took the box from his
squire, and closed it. Then he tucked it back into its usual place
inSide his tUniC.
Matherion, ruddy with torchlight, lay below, and the pale
path of light from the newly risen moon stretched from the
horizon across the waters of the Tamul Sea to her doorstep, yet
another of the innumerable roads leading to the city the Tam’uls
called the center of the world.
‘Are you open to a suggestion, Sparhawk?’ Talen asked.
‘You sound just like Tynian.
“I know. I’m sort of filling in for him while he’s away. We’ve
been out of Matherion for a while, so we don’t know what’s
really been going on here. Suppose I slip into town and have a
look – ask a few questions, find out what we’re riding into – the
usual sort of thing.’
Sparhawk nodded. ‘All right,’ he said.
‘That’s all? just “all right”? no protests? No objections? no
hour-long lectures about being careful? I’m disappointed in you,
Sparhawk.’
‘Would you listen to me if I objected or delivered a lecture?’
‘No, not really.’
‘Why waste the time, then? You know what you’re doing and
how to do it. Just don’t take all night.’
Talen swung down from his horse and opened his saddlebags.
He took out a rough, patched smock and pulled it on over
his other clothes. Then he bent, rubbed his hand in the dirt of
the road, and artfully smudged his face. He stirred up his hair
and sifted a handful of straw from the roadside onto it. ‘What
do you think?’ he asked Sparhawk.
‘You’ll do.’ Sparhawk shrugged.
‘Spoil-sport,’ Talen grumbled, climbing back on his horse.
‘Khalad, come along. You can watch my horse for me while I
sniff around.’
Khalad grunted, and the two rode on down the hill.
‘is the child truly so gifted?’ Xanetia asked.
‘He’d be offended if you called him a child, Lady,’ Kalten
replied, ‘and he can come closer to being invisible than anybody
I know.’
They drew back some distance from the road and waited.
It was an hour later when Talen and his brother returned.
‘Things are still more or less the way they were when we left,’
the boy reported.
‘No open fighting in the streets, you mean?’ Ulath
laughed.
‘Not yet. Things are a little hectic at the palace, though. It’s
got something to do with documents of some kind. The whole
government’s in an uproar. None of the people I talked with
knew all that much about it. The Church Knights and the Atans
are still in control, though, so it’s safe to jump from here to the
courtyard of Ehlana’s castle if we want.’
Sparhawk shook his head. ‘Let’s ride in. I’m sure there are
still Tamuls inside the walls, and probably half of them are spies.
Let’s not give away any secrets if we don’t have to. Is Sarabian
still staying in the castle?’
Talen nodded. ‘Your wife’s probably been teaching him a few
tricks – “roll over’ “play dead”, “sit up and beg” – that sort of
thing.’
‘Talen.’ Itagne exclaimed.
‘You haven’t met our queen yet, have you, your Excellency?
Talen grinned. ‘i’d say that you’re in for a whole new experience,
then.’
“It has to do with setting up the new filing system, my Lord,’ the
young Pandion at the drawbridge explained in reply to Vanion’s
question. ‘We needed room to re-arrange things, so we spread
all the government files out on the lawn.’
‘What if it rains?’
‘That would probably simplify the job a great deal, my Lord.’
They dismounted in the courtyard and went up the broad
stairs to the ornately carved main door, paused briefly to put
on the cushioned shoes that protected the brittle floor-covering,
and went inside.
Queen Ehlana had been advised of their arrival, and she was
waiting for them at the door to the throne-room. Sparhawk’s
heart caught in his throat as he looked at his lovely young wife.
‘So nice of you to stop by, Sir Sparhawk,’ she said tartly before
she threw her arms about his neck.
‘Sorry we’re so late, dear,’ he apologized after they had
exchanged a brief, formal sort of kiss. ‘Our travel plans got a
little skewed.’ He was painfully conscious of the half-dozen or
so Tamuls lingering nearby trying to look very hard as if they
weren’t listening.
‘Why don’t we go on upstairs, my Queen? We’ve got quite a bit to tell you,
and I’d like to get out of this mail-shirt before it permanently embeds
itself into my skin.’
‘You are not going to wear that stinking thing into my bedroom,
Sparhawk. As I remember, the baths lie in that general
direction. Why don’t you take your fragrant friends and go make