Kurik stepped back outside and brought in a torch. “Fresh candles?’ he asked Sephrenia.
“Definitely,’ she replied. “Let’s not awaken Ehlenna to a dark room. ‘
Kurik and Berit replaced the burned-out candle-stubs with fresh tapers. Then Berit looked curiously at the young queen he had served so faithfully without ever having seen her. His eyes grew suddenly wide as he stared at her, and he seemed to catch his breath. His look was one of totally appropriate veneration, but there was, Sparhawk thought, perhaps a bit more to it than simPle resPect. Berit was about the same age as Ehlana, and she was very beautiful, after all.
‘That’s much better,’ Sephrenia said, looking around at the candlelit throneroom. ‘Sp’arhawk, come with me.’ She led him to the dais upon which the throne stood.
Ehlana sat as she had for all these months. She wore the crown of Elenia on her pale, blonde head, and she was enfolded in her state robes. Her eyes were closed, and her face serene.
.Just a few more moments, my queen,’ Sparhawk murmured.
Strangely, his eyes were filled with tears, and his heart was in his throat.
“Remove your gauntlets, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia told him. “You’ll want the rings to touch Bhelliom when you use it.’
He took off his mailed gauntlets, then reached inside his surcoat, removed the canvas pouch and untied the drawstring.
‘All right, gentlemen,’ Sephrenia said then to the surviving knights, “take your places.’
Vanion and the other five Pandions spaced themselves out around the throne, each of them holding his own sword and that of one of his fallen brothers.
Sephrenia stood beside Sparhawk and began to form the incantation in Styric, her fingers weaving an accompaniment.
The candles dimmed and flared almost in time to the sonorous spell. At some time during her incantation, the room became gradually filled with that familiar smell of death. Sparhawk tore his eyes from Ehlana’s face to risk a quick look around the circle of knights. Where there had been six before, there were now twelve. The filmy shapes of those who had fallen one by one in the preceding months had returned unbidden to take their swords one last time.
‘Now, Sir Knights,’ Sephrenia instructed the living and the dead alike, ‘point your swords at the throne.’
And she began to speak a different incantation. The tip of each sword began to glow, and those incandescent points of light grew brighter and brighter until they surrounded the throne with a ring of pure light.
Sephrenia raised her arm, spoke a single word, then brought the arm sharply down. The crystal encasement surrounding the throne wavered like water, and then it was gone.
Ehlana’s head sagged forward, and her body began to tremble violently. Her breathing was suddenly laboured, and the heartbeat which still echoed through the room faltered. Sparhawk leaped up onto the dais to go to her aid.
‘Not yet,’ Sephrenia told him sharply.
‘But -‘
“Do as I say.’
He stood helplessly over his stricken queen for a minute that seemed to last for an hour. Then Sephrenia stepped forward and lifted Ehlana’s chin with both her hands. The queen’s grey eyes were wide and vacant, and her face was twisted grotesquely.
“Now, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia said, “take Bhelliom in your hands and touch it to her heart. Be sure the rings are touching the stone. At the same time, command it to heal her. ‘
He seized the Sapphire Rose in both hands, and then he gently touched the flower gem to Ehlana’s breast.
‘Heal my queen, Bhelliom-Blue-Rose!’ he commanded in a loud voice.
The enormous surge of power coming from the jewel between his hands sent Sparhawk to his knees. The candles flickered and dimmed as if some dark shadow had passed over the room. Was it something fleeing?
Or was it perhaps that shadow of dread that followed him and haunted all his dreams? Ehlana stiffened, and her slender body was slammed against the back of her throne. A hoarse gasp came from her throat. Then her wide-eyed stare was suddenly rational, and she gazed at Sparhawk in astonishment.
“it is done!’ Sephrenia said in a trembling voice, and then she slumped weakly down on the dais.
Ehlana drew in a deep, shuddering breath. ‘My Knight!’
she cried out feebly, extending her arms to the blackarmoured Pandion kneeling before her. Though her voice was weak, it nonetheless was full and rich, a woman’s voice now and not the childish one Sparhawk remembered. ‘Oh, my Sparhawk, you have come back to me at last.’ She laid her trembling arms about his armoured shoulders, inserted her face beneath his raised visor and kissed him lingeringly.
‘Enough of that for now, children,’ Sephrenia told them.
“Sparhawk, carry her to her chambers.’
Sparhawk was very disturbed. Ehlana’s kiss had been anything but childlike. He tucked Bhelliom away, removed his helmet and tossed it to Kalten. Then he gently picked up his queen. She put her pale arms about his shoulders and her cheek to his. ‘O, I have found thee,’ she breathed, ‘and I love thee, and I will not let thee go.’
Sparhawk recognized the passage she was quoting, and it seemed wildly inappropriate. He grew even more troubled. There was obviously a serious mistake here somewhere.
*Chapter 4
Ehlana was going to be a problem, Sparhawk decided as he removed his armour not long after he had presented himself to his queen the following morning. Though she had never been far from his thoughts during his exile, he found that he had to make a number of difficult adjustments. When he had left, their relative positions had been clearly defined. He was the ‘adult, she was the child. That had changed now, and they were both treading the unfamiliar ground of the monarh and subject relationship.
He had been told by Kurik and others that the girl he had raised almost from babyhood had shown remarkable mettle during the few months before Annias had poisoned her. Hearing about it was one thing, experiencing it was another. This is not to say that Ehlana was ever harsh or peremptory with him, for she was not. She felt, he thought – and hoped – a genuine affection for him, and she did not give him direct commands so much as give the impression that she expected him to accede to her wishes.
They were functioning in a grey area, and there were all sorts of opportunities for serious missteps on either side.
Some recent incidents were perfect examples of that sort of thing. In the first place, her request that he sleep in a chamber adjoining hers was, he felt, highly inappropriate, even slightly scandalous. When he had tried to point that out, however, she had laughed at his fears. His armour, he reasoned, had provided some small defence against wagging tongues. Times were troubled, after all, and the Queen of Elenia needed protection.
As her champion, Sparhawk had the obligation, the right even, to stand guard over her. -When he had presented himself to her that morning once again in full armour, however, she had wrinkled her nose and suggested that he change clothes immediately. He knew that was a serious mistake. The Queen’s Champion in armour was one thing, and no one with a reasonable regard for his own health would be likely to make an issue of Sparhawk’s proximity to the royal person. If he were dressed in doublet and hose, though, that would be quite another thing. The servants were bound to talk, and the gossip of palace servants had a way of spreading throughout the city. Sparhawk looked dubiously into the mirror. His doublet was silver-trimmed black velvet, and his hose were grey.
The clothing bore some faint resemblance to a uniform, and the black half-boots he had chosen had a more military appearance than the pointed shoes currently in fashion at court. He rejected the slender rapier out of hand and belted on his heavy broadsword instead. The effect was slightly ludicrous, but the presence of the heavier weapon quite clearly stated that Sparhawk was in the queen’s apartments on business.
“That’s absolutely absurd, Sparhawk,’ Ehlana laughed when he returned to the sitting-room where she lay prettily proped uP by pillows on a divan and with a blue satin coverlet across her knees.
‘My Queen?’ he said coolly.
‘The broadsword, Sparhawk. It’s completely out of place with those clothes. Please take it off at once and wear the rapier I ordered to be provided for you.’
‘if my appearance offends you, Your Majesty, I’ll withdraw. The sword, however, stays where it is. I can’t protect you with a knitting needle.’
Her grey eyes flashed. ‘You -‘ she began hotly.
“my decision, Ehlana,’ he cut across her objections.
‘Your safety is my responsibility, and the steps I take to insure it are not open to’discussion.’
They exchanged a long, hard stare. This would not be the last time their wills would clash, Sparhawk was sure.