You’ll be leaving from here – with me. Get one thing very clear, Annias. I won’t wait for you – not ever. If you start to fall behind, I’ll leave you.’
“There are things I have to have, Martel.’
“I’m sure there are. I can think of a few offhand myself – your head for one – and Lycheas says that the blond ape who runs with Sparhawk has developed an unwholesome passion for hanging people. I know Kalten well enough to realize how clumsy he is. He’s almost certain to botch the job, and being the guest of honour at a botched hanging isn’t my idea of a pleasant way to pass an afternoon.’
‘How many men did you bring here into this cellar?
Annias’s voice was fearful.
“About a hundred, that’s all.’
‘Are you mad? We’re right in the middle of an encampment of Church Knights!’
‘Your cowardice is starting to show, Annias.’ Martel’s voice was thick with contempt. “That aqueduct isn’t very wide. Would you really want to have to clamber over the top of a thousand well-armed mercenaries when the time comes to start running?’
‘Run? Where can we run to? Where can we possibly go?’
‘Where else? We go to Zemoch. Otha will protect us.’
Colonel Delada drew in his breath with a sharp hiss.
“Be still, man,’ Sparhawk muttered.
Martel rose to his feet and began to pace up and down his face ruddy in the candlelight. ‘Try to follow me on this, Annias,’ he said. ‘You gave Ehlana darestim, and darestim’s always fatal. There’s no cure, and ordinary magic could not have reversed the effects. I know that because I was trained in magic by Sephrenia myself.’
‘That Styric witch!’ ~Annias said from between clenched teeth.
Martel seized him by the front of his robe and half-lifted him from his chair. ‘Be very careful what you say, Annias,’
Martel said from between his teeth. ‘Don’t insult my little mother, or you’ll wish that it was Sparhawk who caught you. As I said, he’s basically a gentle sort of person.
I’m not. I can do things to you Sparhawk would never dream of.’
‘Surely you don’t still have any feeling for her.’
‘That’s my business, Annias. All right then. If only magic could have cured the queen and ordinary magic wouldn’t have worked, what does that leave us?’
‘Bhelliom?’ Annias guessed, rubbing his hand over the wrinkles Martel’s fist had gathered up in the front of his robe.
‘Precisely. Sparhawk’s somehow managed to get his hands on it. He used it to cure Ehlana, and more than likely he’s still got it with him. It’s not the sort of thing you leave lying around. I’ll send the Rendors out to knock down the bridges over the Amrk. That should delay Wargun for a while and give you and me more time to run. We’d better go north for a little way and get out of the main battle zone before we turn east towards Zemoch.’ He grinned mirthlessly. ‘Wargun’s always wanted to exterminate the Rendors anyway. If I send them out to destroy the bridges, he’ll get his chance, and God knows I won’t miss them all that much. I’ll order the rest of my troops to make a stand against Wargun on the east bank of the river. They’ll engage him in a splendid battle – which might even last for a couple of hours before he butchers the lot of them’. That’s about all the time you and I and our friends are going to have to get clear of this place. We can count on Sparhawk to be right behind us, and we can be absolutely sure that he’ll have Bhelliom with him. ‘
‘How do we know that? You’re guessing, Martel.’
‘Do you mean to say that you’ve been around Sparhawk for all these years and haven’t got to know him yet? I’m not trying to be insulting, old boy, but you’re an absolute idiot, do you know that? Otha’s massed in eastern Lamorkand, .and he’ll be marching into western Eosia within a matter of days. He’ll slaughter everything in sight – men, women, children, cattle, dogs, wild animals and even fish. Preventing that is the primary duty of the Church Knights, and Sparhawk’s what they had in mind when they founded the four orders. He’s all duty and honour and implacable resolve. I’d give my soul to be a man like Sparhawk. He’s got the one thing in his possession that will absolutely stop Otha cold. Do you really think there’s anything in the world that would prevent him from bringing Bhelliom with him? Use your head, Annias.’
“What good’s it going to do us to run if we know that Sparhawk’s right behind us with Bhelliom in his hands!
He’ll obliterate Otha and us along with him.’
“Not very likely. Sparhawk’s moderately stupendous but he’s not a God. Azash, however, is, and Azash has wanted Bhelliom since before the beginning of time.
Sparhawk will chase us, and Azash will be waiting for him. Azash will destroy him in order to take Bhelliom from him. Then Otha will invade. Since we’ll have done such a tremendous service for him, he’ll reward us lavishly.
He’ll put you on the Archprelate’s throne and give me the crown of any Elenian kingdom I choose perhaps even all of them. Otha’s lost his hunger for power in the last thousand years or so. I’ll even set Lycheas up as Regent – or even King – of Elenia, if you want – although I can’t for the life of me think of any reason you’d want that.
Your son’s a snivelling cretin, and the sight of him turns my stomach. Why don’t you have him strangled, and then you and Arissa can try again? If you both concentrate, you might even be able to produce a real human being instead of an eel.’
Sparhawk felt a sudden chill. He looked around.
Though he could not see it, he knew that the shadowy watcher which had followed him from Ghwerig’s cave was somewhere here in the room. Could it possibly be that merely the mention of Bhelliom’s name was enough to summon It?
‘But how do we know that Sparhawk will be able to follow us?’ Annias was asking. “He doesn’t know about our arrangement with Otha, so he won’t have the faintest idea of where we’re going.’
‘You are naive, aren’t you, Annias?’ Martel laughed.
Sephrenia can listen in on a conversation from at least five miles away, and she can arrange to have everyone in the room with her hear it as well. Not only that, there are hundreds of places in this cellar that are within earshot of this room. Believe me, Annias, one way or another, Sparhawk’s listening to us at this ,very moment.’ He paused. “Aren’t you, Sparhawk?’ he added.
*Chapter 15
Martel’s question hung in the musty dimness. “Stay here.’
Sparhawk whispered bleakly to Delada. He reached for his sword.
“Not very likely,’ the colonel replied, his tone just as grim. He also drew his sword.
It was really neither the time nor the place for arguments.
‘All right, but be careful. I’ll take Martel. You grab Annias.’
The two of them stepped out of their place of concealment and walked towards the single candle Guttering on the table.
“WHy, if it isn’t my dear brother Sparhawk,’ Martel drawled. “So awfully good to see you again, old boy.’
‘Look quickly, Martel. You aren’t going to be seeing much of anything for very long.’
“I’d love to oblige you, Sparhawk, but I’m afraid we’ll have to postpone it again. Pressing business, you understand.’ Martel took Annias by the shoulder and pushed him towards the door. ‘Move!’ he snapped. The two of them went quickly out as Sparhawk and Delada rushed forward, swords in hand.
‘Stop.’ Sparhawk snapped to his companion.
‘They’re getting away, Sparhawk!’ Delada objected.
‘They already have.’ Sparhawk said it with a hot disappointment souring his mouth. ‘Martel’s got a hundred men out there in those corridors. We need you alive, colonel.’
Sparhawk whistled shrilly even as he heard the rush of many feet in the corridor outside. ‘We’ll have to defend the door until Kurik and the guardsmen get here.’
The two of them went quickly to the rotting door and took their places, one on either side of it. At the last moment, Sparhawk stepped out into plain view a few feet back from the arched opening in the massive stone wall. His position gave his sword full play, but the soldiers rushing through the entrance were hampered in their swings by the rocks of the sides and top of the archway.
Martel’s mercenaries discovered very quickly what a bad idea it was to rush up on Sparhawk when he was angry, and Sparhawk was very angry at that point. The bodies piled up in the doorway as he savagely vented his rage on the scruffy-looking soldiers.