The Saphire Rose by David Eddings

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*Chapter 5 ,

Is she asleep?’ Vanion asked when Sparhawk emerged from Ehlana’s bedroom.

Sparhawk nodded. ‘Did Lycheas tell you anything useful?’

he asked.

‘A number of things – mostly verification of things we’ve already guessed,’ Vanion replied. The Preceptor’s face was troubled, and the strain of bearing the swords of the fallen knights still showed on him, although he looked more vigorous now. ‘My Lord of Lenda,’ he said, “is the queen’s apartment here secure? I’d rather not have some of the things Lycheas told us becoming general knowledge.’

‘The rooms are quite secure, My Lord,’ Lenda assured him, ‘and the presence of your knights in the corridors will probably discourage anyone who’s aflicted with a burning curiosity. ‘

Kalten and Ulath entered, and they both had vicious grins on their faces. “Lycheas is having a very bad day,’

Kalten smirked. “Ulath and I were recalling a number of lurid executions we’d seen in the past while we were escorting him back to his cell. He found the notion of being burned at the stake particularly distressing.

“And he almost fainted when we raised the possibility of racking him to death,’ Ulath chuckled. ‘Oh, by the way, we stopped by the palace gate on our way back here. The church soldiers we captured are repairing it.’ The towering Genidian Knight set his axe in the corner. sSome of your Pandions have been out in the streets, Lord Vanion. It seems that quite a number of the citizens of Cimmura have dropped out of sight.’

Vanion gave him a puzzled look.

‘They seem a bit nervous for some reason,’ Kalten ‘explained. “Annias has been in control of the city for quite a while now, and some people, nobles and commons ALIke, always have their eyes open for the main chance.

They went out of their way to accommodate the good Primate. their neighbours know who they are, though, and there have been a few incidents, I understand.

When there’s a sudden change of power, many people want to demonstrate their loyalty to the new regime in some visible way. There appear to have been several spontanEoUs hangings and a fair number of houses are on fire. Ulath and I suggested to the knights that they put a stop to that at least. Fires do tend to spread you know.’

‘I just love politics, don’t you?’ Tynian grinned.

‘Mob RUle should always be suppressed,’ the Earl of Lenda said critically. ‘The mob is the enemy of any goveRNmeNt. ‘

‘By the way,’ Kalten said curiously to Sparhawk, ‘did you really Propose to the queen?’

“It’s a misunderstanding.’

‘I was fairly sure it was. You’ve never struck me as the marrying kind. She’s going to hold you to it anyway, though, isn’t she?’

‘I’m working on that.’

‘I wish you ALL the luck in the world, but quite frankly, I don’t hold out much hope for you. I saw some of the looks she used to throw your way when she was a little girl. You’re in for an interesting time, I think.’ Kalten was grinning. ‘IT’s such a comfort to have friends.’

‘IT’s time you settled down anyway, Sparhawk. You’re getting ‘to be too old to be running around the world picking fights with people. ‘

‘You’re as old as I am, Kalten.’

“I know, but that’s DIFFERENT.’

“Have you and Ulath decided who gets to dispose of Lycheas yet?’ tynian asked.

‘We’re still discussing it.’ Kalten gave the big Thalesian a suspicious look. ‘Ulath’s been trying to foist a set of dice on me. ‘

‘Foist?’ Ulath protested mildly.

‘I saw one of those dice, my friend, and it had four sixes on it.’

‘That’s a lot of sixes,’ Tynian noted.

“It is indeed.’ Kalten sighed. “To be honest with you, though, I don’t really think Ehlana’s going to let us kill Lycheas. He’s such a pathetic lump that I don’t think she’ll have the heart. Oh well,’ he added, ‘there’s always Annias. ‘

‘And Martel,’ Sparhawk reminded him.

‘Oh yes. There’s always Martel.’

‘Which way did he go after Wargun chased him away from Larium?’ Sparhawk asked. ‘I always like to keep track of Martel. I wouldn’t want him to get himself into any trouble.’

‘The last time we saw him, he was going east,’ Tynian said, shifting the shoulder plates of his heavy Deiran armour.

‘East?’

Tynian nodded. “We thought he’d go south to Umanthum, but we found out later that he’d moved his fleet to Sarrinium after the burning of Coombe – probably because Wargun has ships patrolling the straits of Arcium. He’s Most likely back in Rendor by now. ‘

Sparhawk grunted. He unhooked his swordbelt, laid it on the table and sat down. “What did Lycheas tell you?’

he asked Vanion.

“Quite a bit. It’s fairly obvious that he didn’t know everything Annias was doing, but surprisingly, he’s managed to pick up a great deal of information. He’s brighter than he looks.’

‘He’d almost have to be,’ Kurik said. “Talen,’ he said to his son, ‘don’t do that.’

‘I was just looking, father,’ the boy protested.

‘Don’t. You might be tempted.’

‘Lycheas told us that his mother and Annias have been lovers for years now,’ Vanion told them, “and it was Annias who suggested to Arissa that she attempt to seduce her brother. He’d come up with a rather obscure bit of Church doctrine that appeared to permit a marriage between them. ‘The Church would never permit such an obscenity,’ Sir Bevier declared flatly.

‘The Church has done many things in her history that don’t conform to contemporary morality, Bevier,’ Vanion said. ‘At one time, she was very weak in Cammoria, and there had been a tradition of incestuous marriages in the royal house of that kingdom. The Church made allowances in order to continue her work there. Anyway, Annias reasoned that Aldreas was a weak king, and Arissa would be the real ruler of Elenia if she married him.

Then, since Annias more or less controlled Arissa, he’d be the one making the decisions. At first that seemed to be enough for him, but then his ambition began to run away with him. He started eyeing the Archprelate’s throne in Chyrellos. That was about twenty years ago, I gather. ‘

‘How did Lycheas find out about it then?’ Sparhawk asked him. ‘He used to visit his mother in that cloister at Demos,’

Vanion replied. ‘Arissa’s reminiscences were rather wideranging, I understand, and she was quite candid with her son.

“That’s revolting,’ Bevier said in a sick voice.

‘Princess Arissa has a peculiar kind of morality,’ Kalten told the young Arcian.

At any rate,’ Vanion said, “Sparhawk’s father stepped in at that point. I knew him very well, and his morality was much more conventional. He was greatly offended by what Aldreas and Arissa were doing. Aldreas was afraid of’ him, so when he suggested a marriage to a Deiran Princess instead, Aldreas rather reluctantly agreed. The rest is fairly well known. Arissa went into an absolute fury and ran off to that brothel down by the riverside – sorry about that, Sephrenia.’

“I’ve heard about it before, Vanion,’ she replied. Styrics are not nearly as unworldly as you Elenes sometimes believe.

“Anyway, Arissa stayed in the brothel for several weeks, when she was finally apprehended, Aldreas had no choice but to confine her in that cloister. ‘

”’””that raises a question,’ Tynian said. ‘Considering the amount of time she spent in that brothel and the number of customers she had, how can anyone be sure just who Licheas’s father was?’

“I was just coming to that,’ Vanion replied. ‘She assured Licheas during one of his visits that she was pregnant before she went to the brothel. Aldreas married the Deiran Princess, and she died giving birth to Queen Ehlana. Lycheas was about six months old at the time, Annias was doing his best to get Aldreas to legitimize Licheas, and make him his heir. That was too much even for Aldreas, and he flatly refused. It was about at that time that Sparhawk’s father died, and Sparhawk here took his ‘Hereditary position as King’s Champion. Annias began to grow alarmed at Ehlana’s progress after Sparhawk took charge of her education. By the time she was eight, he decided that he had to get her champion away from her before he could make her so strong that he wouldn’t be able to control her. That’s when he persuaded Aldreas to send Sparhawk into exile in Rendor, and then he sent Martel to Cipria to kill him to make sure he’d never come back and complete Ehlana’s education.’

‘But he was too late, wasn’t he?’ Sparhawk smiled.

‘Ehlana was already too strong for him.’

‘How did you manage that, Sparhawk?’ Kalten asked.

“You’ve never really been what you’d call a very inspiring teacher.’

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