bleak. "I'm afraid we're completely encircled,' he said.
'A truce, perhaps?' Bevier suggested. "It's customary
in Arcium to grant safe passage to women and Churchmen
before pressing a siege.'
'Unfortunately, Sir Bevier,' •Alstrom replied, 'this is not
Arcium. This is Lamorkand, and there's no such thing as
a truce here.'
'Any ideas?' Sparhawk asked Sephrenia.
'A few, perhaps,' she said. 'Let me have a try at your
excellent Elene logic. First, the use of main force to break
out of the castle is quite out of the question, wouldn't you
say?'
'Absolutely. '
'And, as you pointed out, a truce would probably not
be honoured?'
"I certainly wouldn't want to gamble His Grace's life or
yours on a truce.'
"then there's the possibility of stealth. I don't think
that would work either, do you?'
TOO risky,' Kalten agreed. 'The castle is surrounded,
and the soldiers will be on the alert for people trying to
sneak out.'
'Subterfuge of some kind?' she asked.
"not under these circumstances,' Ulath said. 'The
men surrounding the castle are armed with crossbows.
We'd never get close enough to tell them stories.'
That leaves only the arts of Styricum, doesn't it?'
ortzel's face stiffened. "I will not be a party to the use of
heathen sorcery,' he declared.
I was afraid he might look at it that way,' Kalten
murmured to Sparhawk.
'I'll try to reason with him in the morning,' Sparhawk
replied under his breath. He looked at Baron Alstrom.
"it's late, My Lord,' he said, 'and we're all tired. Some
sleep might clear our heads and hint at other solutions.'
"well said, Sir Sparhawk,' Alstrom agreed. 'My
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servants will convey you and your companions to safe
quarters, and we shall consider this matter further on the
mOrrOW.'
They were led through the bleak halls of Alstrom's
castle to a wing that, while comfortable, showed little
sign of use. Supper was brought to them in their rooms,
and Sparhawk and Kalten removed their armour. After
they had eaten, they sat talking quietly in the chamber
they shared.
I could have told you that Ortzel would feel the way he
does about magic. The Churchmen here in Lamorkand
feel almost as strongly about it as Rendors.'
"if it'd been Dolmant, we might have talked our way
around him,' Sparhawk agreed glumly.
'Dolmant's more cosmopolitan,' Kalten said. 'He grew
up next door to the Pandion Mother-house, and he
knows a great deal more about the secrets than he lets
on.' There was a light rap on the door. Sparhawk rose and
answered it. It was Talen. 'Sephrenia wants to see you,'
he told the big knight. 'All right. Go to bed, Kalten. You're •
still Llooking a bit
the worse for wear. Lead the way, Talen.'
The boy took Sparhawk to the end of the corridor and
tapped on the door.
'Come in, Talen,' Sephrenia replied.
'How did you know it was me?' Talen asked curiously
as he opened the door.
'There are ways,' she said mysteriously. The small
Styric woman was gently brushing Flute's long black
hair. The child had a dreamy look on her small face, and
she was humming to herself contentedly. Sparhawk was
startled. It was the first vocal sound he had ever heard
her utter. 'if she can hum, why is it she can't talk?' he
asked.
'Whatever gave you the idea she can't talk?' Sephrenia
continued her brushing.
"She never has.'
'What does that have to do with it?'
'What did you want to see me about?'
"It's going to take something rather spectacular to get
us out of here,' she replied, 'and I may need your help
and that of the others to manage it.'
'All you have to do is ask. Have you got any ideas?'
'A few. Our •first problem is Ortzel, though. If he
bows his neck on this, we'll never get him out of the
"Suppose I just hit him on the head before we leave and
tie him across his saddle until we're safely away?'
'Sparhawk,' she chided him.
"It was a thought,' he shrugged. 'What about Flute
here?'
'What about her?'
"She made those soldiers on the docks at Vardenais
'and the spies outside the chapterhouse ignore us.
Couldn't she do that here too?'
'Do you realize how large that army outside the gate is,
Sparhawk? She's just a little girl, after all.'
'Oh. I didn't know that would make a difference.'
'Of course it does.'
'Couldn't you put Ortzel to sleep?' Talen asked her
"you know, sort of wiggle your fingers at him until he
drops off?"
"It's possible, I suppose.'
'Then he won't know you used magic to get us out of
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Eddings, David - Elenium 2 - The Ruby Knight.txt
here until he wakes up.'
"interesting notion, ' she conceded. 'How did you come
up with it?'
I'm a thief, Sephrenia,' he grinned impudently. "I
wouldn't be very good at it if I couldn't think faster than
the other fellow.'
However we manage Ortzel is beside the point,'
Sparhawk said. 'Our main concern is getting Alstrom's
co-operation. He might be a little reluctant to risk his
brothers life on something he doesn't understand. I'll
talk with him in the morning.'
"be very persuasive, Sparhawk,' Sephrenia said.
"I'll try. Come along, Talen. Let the ladies get some
sleep. Kalten and I have a spare bed in our room. You can
sleep there. Sephrenia, don't be afraid to call on me and
the others if you need help with any spells.'
"i'm never afraid, Sparhawk - not when I have you to
protect me.'
"Stop that,' he told her. Then he smiled. 'Sleep wel
Sephrenia.'
'You too, dear one.'
'Good night, Flute,' he added.
She blew him a little trill on her pipes.
The following morning, Sparhawk rose early and went
back into the main part of the castle. As chance had it, he
encountered Sir Enmann in the long, torchlit corridor.
'How do things stand?' he asked the Lamork knight.
Enmann's face was grey with fatigue. He had
obviously been up all night. 'We've had some successes,
Sir Sparhawk,' he replied. 'We repelled a fairly seriOUS
assault on the castle's main gate about midnight, and
we're moving our own engines into place. We should be
able to begin destroying Gerich's siege machines - and
his ships - before noon.'
'Will he pull back at that point?'
Enmann shook his head. 'More likely, he'll begin
digging earthwork fortifications. It's probable that the
siege wil be protracted.'
Sparhawk nodded. "I thought that might be the case,'
he agreed. 'Have you any idea
where I might find Baron
Alstrom? I need to talk with him - out of the hearing of
his brother.'
'My Lord Alstrom is atop the battlements at the front of
the castle, Sir Sparhawk. He wants Gerich to be able to
see him. That may goad the count into some rash move.
He's alone there. His brother is customarily in chapel at
this hour.'
'Good. I'll go talk with the baron then.'
It was windy atop the battlements. Sparhawk had
drawn his cloak about his armour to conceal it, and the
wind whipped it around his legs.
'Ah, good morning, Sir Sparhawk,' Baron Alstrom
said. His voice was weary. He wore a full suit of armour,
and the visor of his helmet had that peculiar pointed
construction common in Lamorkand.
'Good morning, My' Lord,' Sparhawk replied, staying
back from the battlements. 'is there somewhere back out
of sight where we can talk? I'm not sure it's a good idea to
let Gerich know that there are Church Knights inside
your walls just yet, and I'm sure he has a number of
sharp-eyed men watching You.'
"the tower there above the gate,' Alstrom suggested.
'Come along, Sir Sparhawk.' And he led the way along
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Eddings, David - Elenium 2 - The Ruby Knight.txt
the parapet.
The room inside the tower was grimly functional. A
dozen crossbowmen stood at the narrow embrasures
along its front, unloosing their bolts at the troops below.
"you men,' Alstrom commanded, "I have need of this
room. Go shoot from the battlements for a while.'
The soldiers filed out, their metal-shod feet clinking on
the stone floor.
"we have a problem, My Lord,' Sparhawk said when
the two of them were alone.
I noticed that,' Alstrom said drily, glancing out of one
of the embrasures at the troops massed before his walls.
Sparhawk grinned at this rare flash of humour in a
usually dour race. 'That particular problem is yours, My
Lord,' he said. 'Our mutual one is what we're going to do
about your brother. Sephrenia got directly to the point
last night. No purely natural effort is going to effect his
escape from this siege. We have no choice. We have to
use magic - and His Grace appears to be unalterably
against it."
"I would not presume to instruct Ortzel in theology.'
nor would I, My Lord. Might I point out, however,
that should His Grace ascend to the Archprelacy, he's
going to have to modify his position - or at least learn to
look the other way when this sort of thing happens. The
four orders are the military arm of the Church, and we
routinely utilize the secrets of Styricum in completing our
tasks.'
"I'm aware of that, Sir Sparhawk. My brother, however,
is a rigid man and unlikely to change his views.'
Sparhawk began to pace up and down, thinking fast.
Very well, then,' he said carefully. 'What we'll have to do
to get your brother out of the castle will seem unnatural to
you, but I assure you that it will be very effective. Sephrenia
is highly skilled in the secrets. I've seen her do things that
verge on the miraculous. You have my guarantee that she
will in no way endanger your brother.'
"I understand, Sir Sparhawk.'
'Good. I was afraid that you might object. Most people
are reluctant to rely on things they don't understand.
Now, then, His Grace will in no way participate in what
we may have to do. To put it bluntly, he'd just be in the
way. All he's going to do is take advantage of it. He will in
no way be personally involved in what he considers a
sin.'
'Understand me, Sir Sparhawk, I am not opposed to
you in this. I will try reason with my brother. Sometimes
he listens to me.'
'Let's hope this is one of those times.' •Sparhawk
glanced out of the window and swore.
'What is it, Sir Sparhawk?'
'is that Gerich standing on top of that knoll at the rear
of his troops?'
The Baron looked out of the embrasure. "It is.'
'You might recognize the man standing beside him.
That's Adus, Martel's underling. It seems that Martel's
been playing both sides in this affair. The one that
concerns me, though, is that figure standing off to one
side - the tall one in the black robe.'
"I don't think it poses much of a threat, Sir Sparhawk. It
seems to be hardly more than a skeleton.'
"you notice how its face seems to glow?'
'Now that you mention it, yes, I do. Isn't that odd?'
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Eddings, David - Elenium 2 - The Ruby Knight.txt
'"its more than odd, Baron Alstrom. I think I'd better go
and talk with Sephrenia. She needs to know about this
immediately. '
Sephrenia sat beside the fire in her room with her
ever-present teacup in her hands. Flute sat cross-legged
on the bed, weaving a cat's cradle of such complexity that
Sparhawk pulled his eyes away from it lest his entire
mind become lost in trying to trace out the individual
strands. "we've got trouble,' he told his tutor.
"I noticed that,' she replied.
"it's a little more serious than we'd thought. Adus is
out there with Count Gerich, and Krager's probably
lurking around somewhere in the background.'
"martel's beginning to make me very tired.'
'Adus and Krager don't add that much to the problems
we've already got, but that thing, the Seeker, is out there
too.'
'Are you sure?' She came quickly to her feet.
'it's the right size and shape, and that same glow is
coming out from under its hood. How many humans can
it take over at any one time?'
"I don't think there are any limits, Sparhawk, not when
Azash is controlling it.'
'Do you remember those ambushers back near the
Pelosian border? How they just kept coming even
though we were cutting them to pieces?'
"yes.'
If the Seeker can gain control of Gerich's whole army,
he'll mount an assault that Baron Alstrom's forces won't
be able to withstand. We'd better get out of here in a hurry,
Sephrenia. Have you come uP with anything yet?'
"there are a few possibilities,' she replied. 'The
presence of the Seeker complicates things a bit, but I
think I know a way to get around it.'
"I hope so. Let's go and talk with the others.
It was perhaps a half-hour later when they all gathered
again in the room where they had first met the previous
day. 'Very well, gentlemen,' Sephrenia said to them. 'We
are in great danger.'
"The castle is quite secure, Madame,' Alstrom •assured her.
'in five hundred years it has never once fallen to
siegers.'
"I'm afraid things are different this time. A besieging
army usually assaults the walls, doesn't it?'
"that's the common practice, once the siege engines have
weakened the fortifications.'
"after the assau
lting force has taken heavy casualties,
they normally fall back, don't they?'
"that's been my experience.'
"Gerrich's men will not fall back. They will continue
their attack until they overwhelm the castle.'
"how can you be so sure?'
"you remember the figure in the black robe I pointed
out to you, My Lord?' Sparhawk said.
Yes. It seemed to cause you some concern.'
With good reason, My Lord. That's the creature that's
been pursuing us. It's called a Seeker. It's not human,
it's subject to Azash.'
Beware of what you say, Sir Sparhawk,' Patriarch
ortzel said ominously. The Church does not recognize
the existence of the Styric Gods. You are treading very
close to the brink of heresy.'
just for the purposes of this discussion, let's assume
that I know what I'm talking about,' Sparhawk replied.
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Eddings, David - Elenium 2 - The Ruby Knight.txt
"setting Azash aside for the moment, it's important for
you and your brother to understand just how dangerous
that thing out there really is. It will be able to control
Gerich's troops completely, and it will hurl them against
this castle until they succeed in taking it.'
'Not only that,' Bevier added bleakly, 'they will pay no
attention to wounds that would incapacitate a normal
man. The only way to stop them is to kill them. We've
met men under the Seeker's control before, and we had
to kill every last one of them.'
"Sir Sparhawk,' Alstrom said, 'Count Gerich is my
mortal enemy, but he's still an honourable man and a
faithful son of the Church. He would not consort with a
creature of darkness.'
"it's entirely possible that the count doesn't even know
it's there,"'Sephrenia said. 'The whole point here, however,
is that we're all in deadly peril.'
"why would that creature join forces with Gerrich?'
Alstrom asked.
'As Sparhawk said, it's been pursuing us. For some
reason, Azash looks upon Sparhawk as a threat. The
Elder Gods have some ability to see into the future, and
its possible that Azash has caught a glimpse of something
he wants to prevent. He's already made several
attempts on Sparhawk's life. It's my belief that the Seeker
is here for the express purpose of killing Sparhawk - or at
the very least preventing his recovering Bhelliom. We
must leave, My Lord, and quickly.' She turned to Ortzel.
I'm afraid, Your Grace, that we have no choice. We're
compelled to resort to the Arts of Styricum.'