The Saphire Rose by David Eddings

Mirtai, however, was not of normal size. She towered a good hand’s-breadth above Sparhawk. She wore a white satin blouse with full sleeves and a garment that was more like a knee-length kilt than a skirt, belted at her waist. She wore black leather boots and had a sword at her side. Her shoulders were broad and her hips lithely slender. Despite her size, she seemed perfectly proportioned. There was, however, something ominous about her expressionless gaze. She did not look at Sparhawk the way a woman would normally look at a man. She was an unsettling sort of person.

Sparhawk, stiffly correct, offered his steel-clad arm to his queen and escorted her out through the nave and to thE marble steps outside the Basilica. There was a ringing tap on his armoured back as they stepped out onto the broad landing at the top of the stairs. He looked around.

Mirtai had rapped on his armour with one knuckle. She took a folded cloak from off her arm, shook it out and held it for Ehlana.

‘Oh, it’s not really that cool, Mirtai,’ Ehlana objected.

Mirtai’s face went flinty, and she shook the cloak once commandingly.

Ehlana sighed and permitted the giantess to settle the cloak about her shoulders. Sparhawk was looking directly at the bronze woman’s face, so there could be no question about what happened next. Without changing expression, Mirtai gave him a slow wink. For some reason, that made him feel a great deal better. He and Mirtai were going to get along very well, he decided.

Since Vanion was busy, Sparhawk escorted Ehlana, Sephrenia, Stragen, Platime and Mirtai to Sir Nashan’s study for their discussions. He had spent the morning preparing and sharpening a number of scathing remarks that verged just on the edge of being treasonous.

Ehlana, however, had studied politics since childhood, and she knew that one needs to be quick – even abrupt when one’s position is none too strong. ‘You’re unhappy with us,’ she began before Sparhawk even had the door closed. ‘You feel that I have no business being here and that my friends here are at fault for allowing me to place myself in danger. Is that more or less it, Sparhawk?’

‘Approximately, yes.’ His tone was frosty. “

“Let’s simplify things then,’ she went on quickly.

‘Platime, Stragen and Mirtai did, in fact, protest most violently, but I’m the queen, so I overrled them. Do we agree that I have that authority?’ Her tone had an edge to it, a note of challenge.

“She really did, Sparhawk,’ Platime said in a conciliatory tone. ‘Stragen and I yelled at her for an hour about it, and then she threatened to have us thrown into the dungeon.

She even threatened to revoke my pardon.’

‘Her Majesty is a very effective bully, Sparhawk,’

Stragen concurred. “Don’t ever trust her when she smiles at you. That’s when she’s the most dangerous, and when the time comes, she uses her authority like a bludgeon. We even went so far as to try to lock her in her apartment, but she just told Mirtai to kick the door down.’

Sparhawk was startled. ‘That’s a very thick door,’

he said.

‘It used to be. Mirtai kicked it twice, and it split right down the middle. ‘

Sparhawk looked at the bronze woman with some surprise.

‘It wasn’tt difficult,’ she said. Her voice was soft and musical, and it was touched with just the faintest tinge of an exotic accent. ‘Doors inside of houses dry out, and they split quite easily if you kick them just right. Ehlana can use the pieces for firewood when winter comes.’ She spoke with quiet dignity.

‘Mirtai is very protective of me, Sparhawk,’ Ehlana said. “I feel completely secure when she’s around, and she’s teaching me to speak the language of the Tamuls.’

‘Elene is a coarse and ugly language,’ Mirtai observed.

“I’ve noticed that,’ Sephrenia smiled.

‘I’m teaching Ehlana the Tamul tongue so that I will not be ashamed to have my owner clucking at me like a chicken.’

‘I’m not your owner any longer, Mirtai,’ Ehlana insisted.

‘I gave you your freedom right after I bought you.’

Sephrenia’s eyes were outraged. ‘Owner.” she exclaimed.

‘It’s a custom of Mirtai’s people, little sister,’ Stragen explained. ‘She’s an Atan. They’re a warrior race, and it’s generally believed that they need guidance. The Tamuls feel that they aren’t emotionally equipped to handle freedom. It seems to cause too many casualties.’

‘Ehlana was ignorant to’ even make the suggestion,’

Mirtai said calmly.

‘Mirtai.” ~Ehlana exclaimed.

‘Dozens of your people have insulted me since you became my owner, Ehlana,’ the Tamul woman said sternly.

‘They would all be dead now if I were free. That old one Lenda even let his shadow touch me once. I know that you’re fond of him, so I’d have regretted killing him.’ She shrugged philosophically. “Freedom is very dangerous for one of my kind. I prefer not to be burdened with it.’

‘We can talk about it some other time, Mirtai,’ Ehlana said. ‘Now we have to pacify my champion.’ She looked Sparhawk full in the face. ‘You have no reason to be angry with Platime, Stragen or Mirtai, my beloved,’ she told him. ‘They did everything they could to keep me in ‘Cimmura. Your quarrel is with me and with me alone.

Why don’t we excuse them so that we can scream at each other privately?’

‘I’ll go along with them,’ Sephrenia said. ‘I’m sure you’ll both be able to speak more freely if you’re alone.’ She followed the two thieves and the bronze giantess from the room. She paused at the door. “One last thing, children,’

she added. “Scream all you want, but no hitting – and I don’t want either of you to come out of here until you’ve resolved this.’ She went out and closed the door behind her.

.Well?’ Ehlana said.

‘You’re stubborn,’ Sparhawk said flatly.

‘It’s called being strong-willed, Sparhawk. That’s considered to be a virtue in kings and queens.’

‘What on earth possessed you to come to a city under siege?’

“You forget something, Sparhawk,’ she said. ‘I’m not really a woman.’ He looked her slowly up and down until she blushed furiously – he owed her that, he felt. ‘Oh?’ He knew he was going to lose this fight anyway.

“Stop that,’ she said. ‘I’m a queen – a reigning monarch.

That means that I sometimes have to do things that an ordinary woman wouldn’t be allowed to do. I’m already at a disadvantage because I’m a woman. If I hide behind my own skirts, none of the other kings will take me seriously, and if they don’t take me seriously, they won’t take Elenia seriously either. I had to come here , Sparhawk You understand that, don’t you?”

He sighed. “I don’t like it, Ehlana, but I can’t argue with your reasoning.’

‘Besides,’ she added softly, “I was lonesome for you.’

“You win,’ he laughed.

“Oh good,’ she exclaimed, clapping her hands together delightedly. “I just adore winning. Now, why don’t we move right on into the kissing and making up?’

They did that for a while. ‘I’ve missed you, my stern-faced champion,’ she sighed. Then she banged her knuckles on his cuirass. “I didn’t miss this though,’

she added. She gave him an odd look. ‘Why did you have such a strange expression on your face when that Ick fellow -‘

“Eck,’ he corrected.

‘Sorry – when he was talking about the little girl who guided him through Arcium to King Wargun?’

“Because the little girl was Aphrael.’

‘A Goddess? She actually appears before ordinary ~people? Are you absolutely sure?’

He nodded. ‘Absolutely,’ he told her. “She made him more or less invisible, and she compressed a ten-day journey into three. She did the same things for us on a number of occasions.’

“How remarkable.’ She stood, idly drumming her fingertips on his armour.

‘Please don’t do that, Ehlana,’ he said. ‘It makes me feel like a bell with legs.’

‘Sorry. Sparhawk, are we really sure we want Patriarch Ortzel on the Archprelate’s throne? Isn’t he awfully cold and stern?’

“Ortzel’s rigid, right enough, and his Archprelacy’s going to cause the militant orders some difficulty. He’s violently opposed to our using magic, for one thing.’

‘What earthly good is a Church Knight if he can’t use magic?’

‘We do have other resources as well, Ehlana. Ortzel wouldn’t have been my first choice, I’ll admit, but he holds strictly to the teachings of the Church. No one like Annias will ever get into a position of any kind of authority if Ortzel’s in charge. He’s rigid, but he follows Church doctrine to the letter. ‘

‘Couldn’t we find somebody else – somebody we like a little more?’

‘We don’t select Archprelates because we’re fond of them, Ehlana,’ he chided. “The Hierocracy tries to select the man who’ll be best for the Church.’

“Well, of course it does, Sparhawk. Everybody knows that.’ She turned sharply. ‘There it is again,’ she said with exasperation.

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