The Diamond Throne

All you’ll have to face at Dabour are several thousand howling fanatics. Here in Jiroch, you’ll have to face Lillias, and she’s much, much more dangerous.’

Chapter 21
    They left Voren’s house quietly about half an hour later. Sparhawk looked closely at Sephrenia as they mounted their horses. Although it was scarcely past noon, she already looked weary. ‘Could this thing that’s after us stir up a waterspout on the river?’ he asked her.
    She frowned. ‘It’s hard to say,’ she replied. ‘Normally, I’d say no, there’s not enough open water. But the creatures of the underworld can overcome some natural laws if they choose.’ She thought a moment. ‘How wide is the river here?’ she asked.
    ‘Not very,’ he replied. ‘There’s not enough water in the whole of Rendor to make a wide river.’
    ‘The river banks would make it very hard to direct a spout,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘You saw how erratically the one that destroyed Mabin’s ship was moving.’
    ‘We’ll have to chance it, then,’ he said. ‘You’re too exhausted to ride all the way to Dabour, and it’s going to get hotter as we ride south.’
    ‘Don’t take unnecessary chances just for my sake, Sparhawk.’
    ‘It’s not entirely for your sake,’ he told her. ‘We’ve lost a lot of time already, and going by boat is faster than riding. We’ll stay close to the river bank in case we need to get off the boat in a hurry.’
    ‘Whatever you think best,’ she said, slumping slightly in her saddle
    They rode out into the teeming street where black-robed nomads from the desert mingled with the more brightly garbed city dwellers and the merchants from the northern kingdoms. The street was filled with noise and with those peculiarly Rendorish scents spices, perfumes and the pervading odour of smoking olive oil.
    ‘Who’s this Lillias?’ Kurik asked curiously as they rode down along the street towards the river.
    ‘It’s not important,’ Sparhawk replied shortly
    ‘If this person is dangerous, I’d say that it’s fairly important for me to know about it.’
    ‘Lillias isn’t dangerous in that particular way.’ ‘We’re talking about a woman, I gather.’ It was obvious that Kurik did not intend to be put off. Sparhawk made a sour face ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I was here in Jiroch for ten years. Voren set me up in a little shop where I went by the name Mahkra. The idea was that I could drop out of sight so that Martel’s hirelings couldn’t find me. In order to keep busy, I gathered information for Voren. To do that, I needed to look like all the other merchants on that street. They all had mistresses, so I needed one, too. Her name was Lillias. Satisfied?’
    ‘That was quick. The lady has a short temper, I take it?’
    ‘No, Kurik. She has a very long one. Lillias is the kind of woman who nurses grudges.’
    ‘Oh, that kind. I’d like to meet her’
    ‘No, you wouldn’t. I don’t think you’d care for all the screaming and dramatics.’
    ‘That bad?’
    ‘Why do you think I slipped out of town in the middle of the night? Do you suppose we could drop this?’ Kurik started to chuckle ‘Excuse me for laughing, my Lord,’ he said, ‘but as I recall, you weren’t exactly brimming with sympathy when I told you about my indiscretion with Talen’s mother’
    ‘All right. We’re even, then.’ Sparhawk clamped his lips shut and rode on, ignoring Kurik’s laughter
    The docks that jutted out into the muddy flow of the Gule River were rickety affairs and they were draped with smelly fishnets. Dozens of the wide-beamed river boats that plied the stream between Jiroch and Dabour were moored to them. Dark-skinned sailors clad in loincloths and with cloths wound about their heads lounged on their decks. Sparhawk dismounted and approached an evil-looking one-eyed man in a loose-fitting, striped robe. The one-eyed man stood on the dock bawling orders at a lazy-looking trio of sailors aboard a mud-smeared scow.
    ‘Your boat?’ the knight asked.
    ‘What of it?’
    ‘Is it for hire?’
    ‘That depends on the price’
    ‘We can work that out. How many days to Dabour?’
    ‘Three, maybe four days, depending on the wind.’ The captain was assessing Sparhawk and the others with his good eye. His surly expression changed, and he smiled an oily smile ‘Why don’t we talk about the price, noble sir?’ he suggested.
    Sparhawk made some pretence at haggling, then dipped into the pouch of coins Voren