The Diamond Throne

the drink was death. She taunted me with that,standing over my nerveless body with her flagrant nudity and her face contorted with hatred and contempt as she reviled me. Avenge me, my Champion. Take vengeance upon my foul sister and her twisted consort, for they have brought me low and dispossessed my true heir, the daughter I ignored and despised throughout her childhood.’
    ‘As God gives me breath, it shall be as you say, Aldreas,’ Sparhawk swore.
    ‘And when my pale little daughter ascends to her rightful place upon my throne, tell her, I pray thee, that I did truly love her’
    ‘If that, please God, should come to pass, Aldreas, I will.’
    ‘It must, Sparhawk. It must else all that Elenia hath ever been shall be as naught. Only Ehlana is the true heir to the throne of Elenia. I charge thee, do not let my throne be usurped by the fruit of the unclean coupling of my sister and the Primate of Cimmura.’
    ‘My sword shall prevent it, my King,’ Sparhawk pledged fervently ‘All three will lie dead in their own blood before this week sees its end.’
    ‘And thy life as well shall be lost in thy rush to vengeance, Sparhawk, and how will thy sacrifice restore my daughter to her rightful place?’
    Aldreas, Sparhawk concluded, was far wiser in death than he had been in life.
    ‘The time for vengeance will come in its own proper order, my Champion,’ the ghost told him. ‘First, however, I charge thee to restore my daughter Ehlana. And to that end I am permitted to reveal certain truths to thee. No nostrum nor talisman of lesser worth may heal my child, for only Bhelliom can make her whole again.’
    Sparhawk’s heart sank.
    ‘Be not dismayed, Sparhawk, for the time hath comefor Bhelliom to emerge from the place where it hath lain hidden and once again to stir the earth with its power. It moves in its own time and with its own purpose, and this is that time, for events have moved mankind to the place where its purposes may now be accomplished. No force in all the world can prevent Bhelliom from coming forth into the sunlight again, and whole nations await its coming. Be thou the one who finds it, however, for only in thy hand can its full power be released to roll back the darkness which even now stalks the earth. Thou art no longer my Champion, Sparhawk, but the Champion of all this world. Shouldst thou fail, all will fail.’
    ‘And where should I seek, my King?’
    ‘That I am forbidden to reveal. I can, however, tell thee how to unleash its power once it lies in thy grasp. The blood-red ring which adorns thy hand and that which in life adorned mine are older far than we had imagined. He who fashioned Bhelliom fashioned the rings, also, and they are the keys which will unlock the power of the jewel.’
    ‘But your ring is lost, Aldreas. The Primate of Cimmura tore the palace apart again and again searching for it.’
    A ghostly chuckle came from the sarcophagus. ‘I still have it, Sparhawk,’ Aldreas said. ‘After my dear sister had given me her last fatal kiss and departed I had moments of lucidity I concealed the ring to deny possession of it to my enemies. Despite all the desperate efforts of the Primate of Cimmura, it was buried with me. Think back, Sparhawk. Remember the old legends. At the time my family and thine were bonded together by these rings, thy ancestor gave to mine his own war spear in token of his allegiance. Thus I return it.’
    A ghostly hand rose from the sarcophagus holding a short-handled, broad-bladed spear in its grasp. The weapon was very old, and its symbolic importance hadbeen forgotten over the centuries. Sparhawk reached out his hand and took it from the ghostly hand of Aldreas. ‘I will carry it with pride, my King,’ he said.
    ‘Pride is a hollow thing, Sparhawk. The significance of the spear goes far beyond that. Detach the blade from the shaft and look within the socket.’
    Sparhawk set down his candle, put his hand to the blade and twisted the tough wood of the shaft. With a dry squeak, the two separated. He looked into the ancient steel socket of the blade. The blood-red glitter of a ruby winked back at him.
    ‘I have but one more instruction for thee, my Champion,’ the ghost continued. ‘Should it come to pass that thy quest reaches its conclusion only after my daughter joins me in the House of the Dead, it lies upon thee to destroy Bhelliom, though this shall surely cost thee thy life.’
    ‘But how may I destroy a thing of such power?’ Sparhawk