‘Well,’ Tynian said, ‘now that we’re alone –’
‘Let’s talk for a few moments first,’ Sparhawk said. He raised his voice. ‘Domi,’ he called, ‘would you join us for a moment, please?’
Kring rode up the hill, an inquiring look on his face.
‘Now then,’ Sparhawk began, ‘Martel seems to think that Azash will want us to get through without any difficulty, but Martel might be wrong. Azash has many servants, and He may very well loose them on us. He wants Bhelliom, not any satisfaction He might get from a personal confrontation. Kring, I think you’d better put out scouts. Let’s not be taken by surprise.’
‘I will, friend Sparhawk,’ the Domi promised.
‘If we should happen to encounter any of the servants of Azash, I want all of you to fall back and let me deal with them. I’ve got Bhelliom, and that should be all the advantage I’ll need. Kalten raised the point that we might just overtake Martel. If we do, try to take Martel and Annias alive. The Church wants them to stand trial. I doubt that Arissa or Lycheas will offer much resistance, so take them as well.’
‘And Adus?’ Kalten asked eagerly.
‘Adus can barely talk, so he wouldn’t be of much value in any trial. You can have him – as a personal gift from me.’
They had gone perhaps another mile when they found Stragen sitting under a tree. ‘I thought perhaps you’d got lost,’ the slender thief drawled, rising to his feet.
‘Do I sense a volunteer here?’ Tynian suggested.
‘Hardly, old boy,’ Stragen said. ‘I’ve never had occasion to visit Zemoch, and I think I want to keep it that way. Actually, I’m here as the queen’s messenger, and her personal envoy. I’ll ride along with you as far as the Zemoch border, if I may, and then I’ll return to Cimmura to give her my report.’
‘Aren’t you spending a great deal of time away from your own business?’ Kurik asked him.
‘My business in Emsat sort of runs itself. Tel’s looking out for my interests there. I need a vacation anyway.’ He patted at his doublet in various places. ‘Oh yes, here it is.’ He drew out a folded sheet of parchment. ‘A letter for you from your bride, Sparhawk,’ he said, handing it over. ‘It’s the first of several I’m supposed to give you when the occasion dictates.’
Sparhawk moved Faran away from the others and broke the seal on Ehlana’s note.
‘Beloved,’ it read. ‘You’ve been gone for only a few hours, and I already miss you desperately. Stragen is carrying other messages for you – messages which I hope will inspire you when things aren’t going well. They will also convey to you my unbending love and faith in you. I love you, my Sparhawk. Ehlana.’
‘How did you get ahead of us?’ Kalten was asking when Sparhawk rejoined them.
‘You’re wearing armour, Sir Kalten,’ Stragen replied, ‘and I’m not. You’d be amazed at how fast a horse can run when he’s not burdened with all that excess iron.’
‘Well?’ Ulath asked Sparhawk, ‘do we send him back to Chyrellos?’
Sparhawk shook his head. ‘He’s acting under orders from the queen. There’s an implicit command to me involved in that as well. He comes along.’
‘Remind me never to become a royal champion,’ the Genidian Knight said. ‘It seems to involve all sorts of politics and complications.’
The weather turned cloudy as they rode northeastwards along the Kadach road, although it did not rain as it had the last time they had been there. The southeastern border country of Lamorkand was more Pelosian in character than it was Lamork, and there were few castles atop the surrounding hills. Because of its proximity to Chyrellos, however, the landscape was dotted with monasteries and cloisters, and the sound of bells echoed mournfully across the fields.
‘The clouds are moving in the wrong direction,’ Kurik said as they were saddling their horses on the second morning out from Chyrellos. ‘An east wind in mid-autumn is very bad news. I’m afraid we’re in for a hard winter, and that’s not going to be pleasant for the troops campaigning on the plains of central Lamorkand.’
They mounted and rode on towards the northeast. About mid-morning, Kring and Stragen rode forward to join Sparhawk at the head of the column. ‘Friend Stragen here has been telling me some things about that Tamul woman, Mirtai,’ Kring said. ‘Did you ever get the chance to talk to her about me?’
‘I sort of broke the ice on the subject,’ Sparhawk said.
‘I was afraid of that. Some of the things Stragen told me are giving me some second thoughts about the whole notion.’
‘Oh?’
‘Did you know that she has knives strapped to her knees and elbows?’
‘Yes.’
‘I understand that they stick out whenever she bends one of her arms or legs.’
‘I think that’s the idea, yes.’
‘Stragen tells me that once when she was young, three ruffians set upon her. She bent an elbow and slashed one across the throat, drove her knee into the second one’s crotch, knocked the third down with her fist and knifed him in the heart. I’m not entirely sure that I want a woman like that for a wife. What did she say? When you told her about me, I mean?’
‘She laughed, I’m afraid.’
‘Laughed?’ Kring sounded shocked.
‘I sort of gather that you’re not exactly to her taste.’
‘Laughed? At me?’
‘I think your decision’s wise, though, friend Kring,’ Sparhawk said. ‘I don’t think you two would get along very well.’
Kring’s eyes, however, were bulging. ‘Laughed at me, did she?’ he said indignantly. ‘Well, we’ll just see about that!’ And he whirled his horse and rode back to join his men.
‘That might have worked out if you hadn’t told him about the laughing,’ Stragen observed. ‘Now he’ll go out of his way to pursue her. I sort of like him, and I hate to think of what Mirtai’s likely to do to him if he gets too persistent.’
‘Maybe we can talk him out of it,’ Sparhawk said.
‘I wouldn’t really count on it.’
‘What are you actually doing here, Stragen?’ Sparhawk asked the blond man. ‘In the southern kingdoms, I mean?’
Stragen looked off towards a nearby monastery, his eyes distant. ‘Do you want the real truth, Sparhawk? Or would you like to give me a moment or two to fabricate a story for you?’