Eddings, David - Elenium 2 - The Ruby Knight.txt
the ruby knight
David Eddings
the Ellenium
book 2
Ehlana, Queen of Elenia, has been poisoned. A deep enchantment
sustains her life, but it will end soon. Then Sparhawk, Knight of the
Queen's Champion, learns where to get to cure for the poison. He and
his companions set forth on a dangerous quest to find the antidote
e
before the queen should perish and the peace ends....
Prologue
A history of the House of Sparhawk
From the Chronicles of the Pandion Brotherhood
It was in the twenty-fifth century when the hordes of
Otha of Zemoch invaded the Elene kingdoms of western
Eosia and swept all before them with fire and sword in
their march to the west. Otha appeared invincible until
his forces were met on the great,' smoke-shrouded
battlefield at Lake Randera by the combined armies of the
western kingdoms and the concerted might of the
Knights of the Church. The battle there in central
Lamorkand is said to have raged for weeks before the
invading Zemochs were finally pushed back and turned
to flee for their own borders.
The victory of the Elenes was thus complete, but fully
half of the Church Knights lay slain upon the battlefield,
and the armies of the Elene kings numbered their dead
by the scores of thousands. When the victorious but
exhausted survivors returned to their homes, they faced
an even grimmer foe - the famine which is one of the
common results of war.
The famine in Eosia endured for generations, threatening
at times to depopulate the continent. Inevitably,
social organization began to break down, and political
chaos reigned in the Elene kingdoms. Rogue barons paid
only lip service to their oaths of fealty to their kings.
Private disputes often resulted in ugly little wars, and
open banditry was common. These conditions generally
prevailed until well into the early years of the twenty-seventh
century.
It was in this time of turmoil that an acolyte appeared at
the gates of our Mother-house at Demos expressing an
earnest desire to become a member of our order. As his
training began, our Preceptor soon realized that this
young postulant, Sparhawk by name, was no ordinary
man. He quickly outstripped his fellow novices and even
mastered seasoned Pandions on the practice field. It was
not merely his physical prowess, however, which so
distinguished him, since his intellectual gifts were also
towering. His aptitude for the secrets of Styricum was the
delight of his tutor in those arts, and the aged Styric
instructor guided his pupil into areas of magic far beyond
those customarily taught the Pandion Knights. The
Patriarch of Demos was no less enthusiastic about the
intellect of this novice, and by the time Sir Sparhawk had
won his spurs, he was also skilled in the intricacies of
philosophy and theological disputation.
It was at about the time that Sir Sparhawk was
knighted that the youthful King Antor ascended the
Elenian throne in Cimmura, and the lives of the two
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young men soon became intricately intertwined. King
Antor was a rash, even foolhardy youth, and an outbreak
of banditry along his northern border enraged him to the
point where he threw caution to the winds and mounted
a punitive expedition into that portion of his kingdom
with a woefully inadequate force. When word of this
reached Demos, the Preceptor of the Pandion Knights
dispatched a relief column to the north to the King's aid,
and among the knights in that column was Sir Sparhawk.
King Antor was soon far out of his depth. Although no
one can dispute his personal bravery, his lack of experience
often led him into serious tactical and strategic
blunders. Since he was oblivious to the alliances between
the various bandit barons of the northern marches, he
oft-times led his men against one of them without giving
thought to the fact that another was very likely to come to
the aid of his ally. because of This, King Antor's already seriously
outnumbered force was steadily whittled down by surprise
attacks directed at the rear of his army. The barons
of the north gleefully outflanked him again and again as
he charged blindly forward, and they steadily decimated
his reserves.
And so it stood when Sparhawk and the other Pandion
Knights arrived in the war-zone. The armies which had
been so sorely pressing the young king were largely
untrained, a rabble recruited from local robber-bands.
The barons who led them fell back to take stock of the
situation. Although their numbers were still overwhelming,
the reputed skill of the Pandions on the battlefield
was something to be taken into account. A few of their
number, made rash by their previous successes, urged
their allies to press the attack, but older and wiser men
advised caution. It is certain that a fair number of the
barons, young and old alike, saw the way to the throne of
Elenia opening before them. Should King Antor fall in
battle, his crown might easily become the property of any
man strong enough to wrest it from his companions.
The barons' first attacks on the combined forces of the
Pandions and King Antor's troops were tentative, more
.in the nature of tests of the strength and resolve of the
Church Knights and their allies. When it became evident
that the response was in large measure defensive, these
assaults grew more serious, and ultimately there was a
pitched battle not far from the Pelosian border. As soon
as it became evident that the barons were committing
their full forces to the struggle, the Pandions reacted with
their customary savagery. The defensive posture they
had adopted during the first probing attacks had been
clearly a ruse designed to lure the barons into an all-out
confrontation.
The battle raged for the better part of a spring day, and
late in the afternoon when bright sunlight flooded the field,
King Antor became separated from the troops of his
household guard. He found himself horseless and hardpressed,
and he resolved to sell his life as dearly as possible.
It was at this point that Sir Sparhawk entered the fray. He
quickly cut his way through to the king's side, and, in the
fashion as old as the history of warfare, the two stood back
to back, holding off their foes. The combination of Antor's
headstrong bravery and Sparhawk's skill was convincing
enough to hold their enemies at bay until,
by mischance,
Sparhawk's sword was broken. With triumphant shouts
the force encircling the two rushed in for the kill. This
proved to be a fatal error.
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Snatching a short, broad-bladed battle-spear from one
of the fallen, Sparhawk decimated the ranks of the
charging troops. The culmination of the struggle came
when the swarthy-faced baron who had been leading the
attack rushed in to slay the sorely wounded Antor and
died with Sparhawk's spear in his vitals. The baron's fall
demoralized his men. They fell back and ultimately fled
the scene.
Antor's wounds were grave, and Sparhawk's only
slightly less so. Exhausted, the two sank side by side to
the ground as evening settled over the field. It is
impossible to reconstruct the conversation of the two
wounded men there on that bloody field during the early
hours of the night, since in later years neither would
reveal what had passed between them. What is known,
however, is that at some point during their discussions,
they traded weapons. Antor bestowed the royal sword of
Elenia upon Sir Sparhawk and took in exchange the
battle-spear with which Sir Sparhawk had saved his life.
The king was to cherish that rude weapon to the end of
his days.
It was nearly midnight when the two injured men saw
knowing if the torch-bearer was friend or foe, they
struggled to their feet and weakly prepared to defend
themselves. The one who approached, however, was not
an Elene, but was rather a white-robed and hooded Styric
woman. Wordlessly, she tended their wounds. Then she
spoke to them briefly in a lilting voice and gave them the
pair of rings which have come to symbolize their lifelong
friendship. Tradition has it that the oval stones set in the
rings were as pale as diamond when the two received
them, but that their mingled blood permanently stained
the stones, and they appear to this day to be deep red
rubies. Once she had done this, the mysterious Styric
woman turned without a further word and walked off
into the night, her white robe glowing in the moonlight.
As misty dawn lightened the field, the troops of
Antars household guard and a number of Sparhawk's
fellow Pandions found the two wounded men at last, and
they were borne on litters to our Mother-house here at
Demos. Their recovery consumed months, and by the
time they were well enough to travel, they were fast
friends. They went by easy stages to Antor's capital at
Cimmura, and there the king made a startling announcement.
He declared that henceforth the Pandion
Sparhawk would be his champion and that so long as
both their families survived, the descendants of
Sparhawk would serve the rulers of Elenia in that
capacity.
As inevitably happens, the king's court at Cimmura
was filled with intrigues. The various factions, however,
were taken aback somewhat by the appearance at court
of the grim-faced Sir Sparhawk. After a few tentative
attempts to enlist his support for this or that faction had
been sternly rebuffed, the courtiers uncomfortably
concluded that the King's Champion was incorruptible.
Moreover, the friendship between the king and
Sparhawk made the Pandion Knight the King's confidant
and closest adviser. Since Sparhawk, as we have pointed
out, had a towering intellect, he easily saw through the
oft-times petty scheming of the various officials at court
and brought them to the attention of his less-gifted
friend. Within a year, the 'court of King Antor had
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become remarkably free of coruption as Sparhawk
imposed his own rigid morality upon those around him.
Of even greater concern to the various political factions
in Elenia was the growing influence of the Pandion order
in the kingdom. King Antor was profoundly grateful, not
only to Sir Sparhawk, but also to his champion's brother
knights. The King and his friend journeyed often to
Demos to confer with the Preceptor of our order, and
major policy decisions were more often made in the
Mother-house than in the chambers of the royal council
where courtiers had customarily dictated royal policy
with an eye more to their own advantage than to the
good of the kingdom.
Sir Sparhawk married in middle life, and his wife soon
bore him a son. At Antor's request, the child was also
named Sparhawk, a tradition which, once established,
has continued unbroken in the family to this very day.
When he had reached a suitable age, the younger
Sparhawk entered the Pandion Mother-house to begin
the training for the position he would one day fill. To
their fathers' delight, young Sparhawk and Antor's son,
the crown prince, had become close friends during their
boyhood, and the relationship between king and
champion was thus ensured to continue unbroken.
When Antor, filled with years and honours, lay on his
death-bed, his last act was to bestow his ruby ring and
the short, broad-bladed spear upon his son, and at the
same time the elder Sparhawk passed his ring and the
royal sword on to his son. This tradition has also
persisted down to this very day.
It is widely believed among the common people of
Elenia that for so long as the friendship between the royal
wil prosper and that no evil can befall it. Like many
superstitions, this one is to some degree based in fact.
The descendants of Sparhawk have always been gifted
men, and in addition to their Pandion training, they have
also received special instruction in statecraft and
diplomacy, the better to prepare them for their
hereditary task.
Of late, however, there has been a rift between the
royal family and the house of Sparhawk. The weak King
Aldreas, dominated by his ambitious sister and the
Primate of Cimmura, rather coldly relegated the current
Sparhawk to the lesser, even demeaning position as
caretaker of the person of Princess Ehlana, possibly in
the hope that the champion would be so offended that he
would renounce his hereditary position. Sir Sparhawk,
however, took his duties seriously and educated the
child who would one day be queen in those areas which
would prepare her to rule.
When it became obvious that Sparhawk would not
willingly give up his post, Aldreas, at the instigation of
his sister and Primate Annias, sent the Knight Sparhawk
into exile in the Kingdom of Rendor.
Upon the death of King Aldreas, his daughter Ehlana
ascended the throne as queen. Hearing this news,
Sparhawk returned to Cimmura only to find that his
young queen was gravely ill and that her life was being
sustained only by a spell cast by the Styric sorceress
Sephrenia - a spell, however, which could keep Ehlana
alive for no more than a year.
In consultation, the Preceptors of the four militant
orders of Church Knights decided that the four orders
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must work in concert to discover a cure for the queen's
illness and to restore her to health and power, lest the
corrupt Primate Annias achieve his goal, the throne of
the Archprelacy in the basilica of Chyrellos. To that end,
the Preceptors of the Cyrinics, the Alciones and the
Genidians dispatched their own champions to join with
the Pandion Sparhawk and his boyhood friend Kalten to
seek out the cure which would not only restore Queen
Ehlana, but also her kingdom, which suffers in her
absence with a grave malaise.
Thus it stands. The restoration of the queen's health is
Vital not only to the Kingdom of Elenia, but to the other
Elene kingdoms as well, for should the venial Primate
Annias gain the Archprelate's throne, we may be sure
that the Elene kingdoms will be wracked by turmoil, and
our ancient foe, Otha of Zemoch, stands poised on our
eastern frontier ready to exploit any divisions or chaos.
The cure of the queen who is so near to death, however,
may daunt even her champion and his stalwart companions.
Pray for their success, my brothers, for should
they fail, the whole of the Eosian continent will inevitably
fall into general warfare, and civilisation as we know it
will cease to exist.
PART ONE
Lake Randera
*Chapter1
It was well after midnight, and a dense grey fog had crept
in off the Cimmura River to mingle with the pervading
wood-smoke from a thousand chimneys to blur the
nearly deserted streets of the city. The Pandion Knight,
Sir Sparhawk, nonetheless moved cautiously, keeping to
the shadows whenever possible. The streets glistened
with moisture, and pale, rainbow-coloured haloes surrounded
the torches trying feebly with their guttering
light to illuminate streets into which no sensible man
ventured at this hour. The houses lining the street
Sparhawk was following were hardly more than looming
black shadows. Sparhawk moved on, his ears even more
than his eyes wary, for in this murky night sound was far
more important than sight to warn of approaching