The light dimmed and the figure disappeared. The two humans sat in silence for several moments, then Karis rose from the bed. ‘What have you done, Saro? What has your evil brought us to?’
‘Evil?’ he sneered. ‘What is evil? All men of power are called evil by their enemies. It means nothing, it is just a word.’
‘The Eldarin said our world is finished. He promised desolation and horror.’
‘He lied!’
‘Why would he lie? What would be his purpose?’ Karis shook her head. ‘No, Sirano, his words rang with the truth. You destroyed the Eldarin. You plunged the world into war. And now you have unleashed an evil force that might destroy us all.’
‘What evil force? I tell you he lied, and I’ll tell you why. It was because he knew I had him! And I will have his power!’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Karis. ‘And you no longer have me.’
‘We have a contract!’
‘The unearned monies will be returned to you. My men and I will leave with the dawn.’
‘As you will,’ he said. ‘Perhaps when you come back to me on bended knee I will forgive you, Karis.’
She laughed at him. ‘You will need to be immortal, Saro, to live long enough to see that day. Now be so kind as to leave me in peace. I need some sleep.’
The door closed behind Sirano and Karis stood silently, listening as the sound of his footsteps receded. Once sure he was not coming back, she moved swiftly to the large wardrobe and took from it her riding clothes: breeches of brown oiled leather and a shirt of thick, cream-coloured wool, knee-length boots with a two-inch heel, and a sleeveless leather jerkin, the shoulders and upper back reinforced by a delicately wrought cape and hood of tiny mail rings. Moving to the mirror by the bedside she brushed back her shoulder-length black hair, drawing it tightly into a ponytail which she tied at the nape of her neck. Without the softening effect of her hair hanging loose Karis looked older, and she stared hard at her reflection. The dark eyes had seen too much pain, and it showed in the guarded gaze. Leaning forward, she lifted her hand to her temple. A single grey hair shone there. Angrily she plucked it out. Twenty-eight is not so old, she reminded herself.
‘Move yourself,’ she said, aloud. ‘You don’t have time to stare into mirrors.’
Once the shock of her defection had worn off, Sirano would take steps to stop her. Of all the mercenary leaders Karis was, quite simply, the best. She knew it. He knew it. He would not allow her to join one of his enemies, and Karis had no wish to be strapped to an altar and sacrificed to the Pearl.
Looping her sword-belt around her slender waist and twirling her sheepskin riding cloak about her shoulders,
she took a last look around the room. The dagger she had hurled at the Eldarin ghost lay against the far wall. She sheathed it in the hidden scabbard of her right boot. Lastly she opened the small chest by the far wall and took from it a heavy pouch containing forty gold pieces, which she thrust deep into a hidden pocket inside her jerkin. Gathering her hunting-bow and quiver, she walked from the room, moving silently along the corridor and down the winding stairs to the courtyard door.
At the stables she bridled and saddled Warain, the strongest and fastest of her geldings. It irked her to leave behind the other two, but they were stabled at the barracks and fetching them would add an hour she could not afford. Warain’s great grey head nuzzled her, and she rubbed his broad brow with her knuckles and then led him from the stall.
A bleary-eyed stableboy rose from his bed of straw. ‘Can I help you, sir?’ he asked.
Karis loomed over the child, then took his chin in her hand. ‘Do I look like a man to you, boy?’ she asked him.
He blinked nervously. ‘I’m sorry, ma’am. I was half asleep.’
Karis shook her head, annoyed at the irritation she felt. The boy was probably not yet past puberty, but even so … ‘Go and fill me a small sack of grain,’ she ordered him. He ran off to the far end of the stable, returning with the feed-sack moments later. Looping it over the high pommel of the saddle, Karis ruffled the boy’s hair. ‘Do not mind me, child. It has been a long and exhausting day.’