The Saphire Rose by David Eddings

It was several days later when they came over a hill to look down at the lead-grey expanse of the Gulf of Merjuk stretching before them, half-shrouded by mist and the chill drizzle, and huddled on the near shore was a sizeable cluster of low buildings.

‘That would be Albak,’ Kalten said. He wiped at his face and peered down at the town intently. “I don’t see any smoke,’ he noted. ‘No, wait. There’s one live chimney – right near the centre of town.’

.We may as well go down there,’ Kurik said. ‘We’re going to have to steal a boat.’

They rode down the hill and entered Albak. The streets were unpaved and clogged with slushy snow. The snow had not been churned into soupy muck, a clear indication that the town was uninhabited. The single column of smoke, thin and sickly-looking, rose from the chimney of a low, shed-like building facing what appeared to be a town square. Ulath sniffed at the air. ‘A tavern, judging from the smell,’ he said.

They dismounted and went inside. The room was long and low with smoke-stained beams and mouldy straw on the floor. It was cold and damp and smelled foul. There were no windows, and the only light came from a small fire flickering on a hearth at’ the far end. A hunchbacked man dressed in rags was kicking a bench to pieces to feed the fire. ‘Who’s there?’ he cried out as they entered.

“travellers,’ Sephrenia replied in Styric, her tone strangely alien. ‘We’re looking for a place to spend the night.’

‘Don’t look here,’ the hunchback growled. “This is my place.’ He threw several pieces of the bench into the fireplace, pulled a greasy blanket about his shoulders and sat back down, pulling an open beer-keg closer to him and then extending his hands towards the feeble flames.

‘We’ll gladly go somewhere else,’ she said to him. “We need a little information, though.’

‘Go and ask somebody else.’ He squinted at her. His eyes were oddly disconnected, looking off in different directions, and he looked to one side of her in that peculiar way of the nearly-blind.

Sephrenia crossed the straw-littered floor and faced the unrtvil hunchback. “You seem to be the only one here,’ she told him.

“I am,’ he said sullenly. “All the rest went off to die in Lamorkand. I’ll stay here. That way I don’t have to walk so far. Now get out of here.’

She extended her arm and then turned it over in front of his stubbled face. The image of the serpent’s head rose from her palm, its tongue flickering. The half-blind hunchback puckered his face, turning his head this way and that in an effort to see what she was holding. Then he cried out in fright, half-rose and stumbled back over his stool, spilling his beer-keg.

‘You have my permission to offer your greeting,’

Sephrenia said in an implacable tone.

“I didn’t know who you were, Priestess,’ he gibbered.

“Forgive me, please.’

“We’ll see. Is there no one else in the town?’

‘None, Priestess – only me. I’m too crippled to travel.

and I can hardly see. They left me behind.’

‘We seek another group of travellers – four men and a woman. One of the men has white hair. Another looks like an animal. Have you seen them?’

“Please don’t kill me.’

“Then speak.’

‘Some people passed through here yesterday. They may have been the ones you’re looking for. I can’t say for sure because they didn’t come close enough to the fire for me to see their faces. I could hear them talking, though.

They said they were going to Aka and from there to the capital. They stole Tassalk’s boat.’ The hunchback sat up on the floor, clasped his arms about him and began to rock back and forth rhythmically, moaning to himself.

“He’s crazy,’ Tynian said quietly to Sparhawk.

“Yes,’ Sparhawk agreed sadly. ‘All gone,’ the hunchback crooned. “All gone off to die for Azash. Kill the Elenes, then die. Azash loves death.

All die. All die. All die for Azash.’

.We’re going to take a boat,’ Sephrenia cut through his ravings.

‘Take. Take. Nobody will come back. All die, and Azash will eat them. ‘

Sephrenia turned her back on him and returned to where the others stood. ‘We’ll leave here now,’ she said iD a stealy tone.

‘What’S going to happen to him?’ Talen asked her, his voice subdued. ‘He’s all by himself here and nearly blind.’

‘He’ll die,’ she replied in an abrupt tone of voice.

All alone?’ Talen’s voice was half-sick.

‘everybody dies alone, Talen.’ She resolutely led them from the stinking tavern.

,Once she was outside, however, she broke down and wept.

Sparhawk went to his saddlebags and took out his map.

He studied it with a frown. ‘Why would Martel go to Aka?’

he muttered to Tynian. ‘It’s leagues out of his way.’

there’s a road from Aka to Zemoch,’ Tynian said, pointing at the map. ‘We’ve been pushing him hard, and his horses are probably nearly exhausted.’

‘Maybe that’s it,’ Sparhawk agreed. ‘And Martel’s never been very fond of going across country. ‘

“Will we follow the same route?’

“I don’t think so. He doesn’t know much about boats, so he’ll wallow around out there in the gulf for several days.

Kurik’s a sailor though, so he can take us straight across.

he should be able to make it from the east shore to the ‘