of the entirety of someone’s heart and soul. Whenever Sparhawk
was engaged in a dispute with his daughter, he was always very
careful to keep at least one piece of furniture between them.
‘Things aren’t working out the way I thought they would,’
Ulath said in a gloomy voice. ‘The Trolls are learning to hide
from arrows and crossbow bolts.’
‘Even a Troll is bound to learn eventually,’ Talen said. Talen
seemed fully recovered from his tumble out of the maple tree,
although he still complained of headaches occasionally.
‘No,’ Ulath disagreed. ‘That’s the whole point. Trolls don’t
learn. Maybe it’s because their Gods don’t learn – or can’t. The
Trolls that are walking around right now know exactly what the
first Troll who ever lived knew – no more, no less. Cyrgon’s
tampering with them. If he alters the Trolls to the point that
they can learn things, mankind’s going to be in serious trouble.’
‘There’s something more, too, isn’t there, Ulath?’ Bevier asked
shrewdly. ‘You’ve had your “theological expression” on your
face for the past several days. You’re tussling with some moral
dilemma, aren’t you?’
Ulath sighed. ‘This is probably going to upset everybody, but
try to consider it on its merits instead of just going up in flames
about it.’
‘That doesn’t sound too promising, old boy,’ Stragen murmured.
‘You’d better break it to us gently.’
“I don’t think there is a gentle way, Stragen. Betuana’s dispatches
are getting more and more shrill. The Trolls won’t come
out in the open any more. The mounted Atans can’t get at them
with lances, and the arrows and crossbow bolts are hitting more
trees than Trolls. They’re even setting grass-fires so they can
hide in the smoke. Betuana’s right on the verge of calling her
people home, and without the Atans, we don’t have an army
any more.’
‘Sir Ulath,’ Oscagne said, “I gather that this gloomy preamble
is a preparation for a shocking suggestion. I think we’ve all been
sufficiently prepared. Go ahead and shock us.’
‘We have to take the Trolls away from Cyrgon,’ Ulath replied,
absently scratching Mmrr’s ears. ‘We can’t let him continue to
teach them even rudimentary tactics, and we definitely don’t
want them cooperating with each other the way they have been.’
‘And how exactly are you going to take totally unmanageable
brutes away from a God?’ Stragen asked him.
“I was sort of thinking along the lines of letting their own Gods
do it. The Troll-Gods are available, after all. Ghwerig imprisoned
them inside Bhelliom, and Sparhawk’s got Bhelliom tucked
away inside his shirt. I’d imagine that Khwaj and the others
would do almost anythi’ng for us if we promise to give them their
freedom.’
‘Are you mad?’ Stragen exclaimed. ‘We can’t turn them loose!
That’s unthinkable!’ He droPPed the Pair of gold coins he always carried
now.
‘i’d be more than happy to consider alternatives – if anyone
can come up with some. The threat to Atan is serious enough,
but the longer Cyrgon dominates the Trolls, the more they’re
going to learn from him. Sooner or later, they’ll go back to Thalesia.
Do we really want a trained army of Trolls outside the gates
of Emsat? We’ve got at least some small advantage if we deal
with the Troll-Gods. We hold the key to their freedom. But we
don’t really have anything Cyrgon wants – except Bhelliom itself.
I’d rather deal with the Troll-Gods, myself.’
‘Why don’t we just have Sparhawk take Bhelliom to northern
Atan and exterminate the Trolls with it?’
Sparhawk shook his head. ‘Bhelliom won’t do that, Stragen.
It won’t obliterate an entire species. I know that for certain.’
‘You’ve got the rings. You could force it to do as you say.’
‘No. I won’t do that. Bhelliom isn’t a slave. If it cooperates,
it’s going to have to be willingly.’
‘We can’t just turn the Troll-Gods loose, Sparhawk. I may be
a thief, but I’m still a Thalesian. I’m not going to just sit by and
let the Trolls over-run the entire peninsula.’
‘We haven’t even talked with the Troll-Gods yet, Stragen,’
Ulath told him. ‘Why don’t we see what they have to say before
we decide? No matter what, though, we’re going to have to do
something very soon. If we don’t, we’re going to start seeing long
columns of Atans marching out of their barracks on their way
back home.’
Danae slipped down from Ulath’s lap and retrieved Stragen’s
coins. ‘You dropped these, Milord,’ she said sweetly. Then she
frowned. ‘is it my imagination, or is one of them just a little
lighter than the other?’
Stragen looked at her with a slightly sick expression on his
face.
It was somewhat later, and Sparhawk and Vanion were escorting
Sephrenia back to her room. They reached the door and stopped.
‘Oh, this is absurd!’ Sephrenia suddenly burst out in an exasperated
tone of voice. ‘Vanion, go get your things and come
back home where you belong!’
Vanion blinked. “I…’
‘Hush,’ she told him. Then she glared at Sparhawk. ‘And not
a word out of you, either!’
‘Me?’
‘You have packing to do, Vanion,’ she said. ‘Don’t just stand
there gawking.’
‘I’ll get right at it.’
‘And don’t take all day.’ She threw her arms up in the air.
‘Men. Do I have to draw pictures for you? I did everything short
of lighting signal fires and blowing trumpets, and all you wanted
to talk about was the weather – or fish. Why wouldn’t you ever
get to the point?’
‘Well – I…’ he floundered. ‘You were very angry with me,
Sephrenia. ‘
‘That was then. This is now. I’m not angry any more, and
I want you to come back home. I’m going to go have a word
with Danae, and I want to see you back in our room when I
return.’
‘Yes, dear,’ he replied meekly.
She glared at him for a moment, and then she spun on her
heel and went off down the hall, talking to herself and waving
her hands in the air.
‘Well, Krager’s back,’ Talen reported as they gathered again later
that afternoon. ‘One of the beggars saw him slipping in through
the back gate of the Cynesgan embassy about two hours ago staggering
might be a better word for it, though. He was roaring
drunk.’
‘That’s the Krager we’ve come to know and love,’ Kalten
laughed.
“I can’t understand how Zalasta can put any faith in a known
drunkard,’ Oscagne said.
‘Krager’s very intelligent when he’s sober, your Excellency,’
Sparhawk explained. ‘That was the only reason Martel put up
With him.’ He scratched at his cheek. ‘Could we prevail on you
to go back to that look-out near the embassy, Anarae?’
Xanetia started to rise from her chair.
‘Not right now,’ he smiled. “It usually takes Krager all night
to sober up, so tomorrow morning should be soon enough. I
think we’ll want to know what instructions he brings to the
Cynesgan ambassador.’
‘There’s something else, too,’ Stragen added. ‘We’ve never
really been sure if Krager knows that we’re using criminals to
gather information for us. He knew that we were getting help
from Platime in Cimmura and that we had contact with thieves
and the like in other cities in Eosia, but we should find out if
he’s made the connection between the two continents yet.’
‘he sort of hinted that he knew when he talked with me after
we put down the coup,’ Sparhawk reminded him.
“I don’t want to disgard the entire apparatus on the basis of a
hint, Sparhawk,’ Stragen said, ‘and I really need to know if he’s
aware of the fact that we can use certain criminals for things
other than spying.’
“I shall probe his mind most closely,’ Xanetia promised.
‘Where are Vanion and Sephrenia, Sparhawk?’ Ehlana asked
suddenly. ‘They should have been here an hour ago.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry, dear. I meant to tell you about that. I excused
them for the rest of the day. They have something important to
take care of.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
“I am, dear – right now.”
‘What are they doing?’
‘They’ve resolved their differences. I’d imagine they’re discussing
that right now – at some length.’
She flushed slightly. ‘Oh,’ she said in a neutral sort of way.
‘What finally got them back together again?’
He shrugged. ‘Sephrenia got tired of the estrangement and
told Vanion to come back home. She was very direct about it and
she even managed to twist it around so that it was all his
fault. You know how that goes.’
‘That will do, Sir Knight,’ she said firmly.
‘Yes, your Majesty.’
‘Would this Krager person know where Zalasta is right now,
Prince Sparhawk?’ Oscagne asked.
‘i’m sure he does, your Excellency. Zalasta probably doesn’t
Want him to know – Krager being what he is, and all – but it’s
very hard to hide things from Krager when he’s the least bit
sober.’
‘He could be enormously valuable to us, Prince Sparhawk.