The Diamond Throne

looked at Kalten. ‘Are you fit to ride?’ he asked.
    ‘This is hardly more than a scratch,’ Kalten assured him as Sephrenia laid a compress over the cut.
    ‘Good. I want you to go to the motherhouse at Demos. Take every man you can get your hands on and start out for Count Radun’s castle in Arcium. Stay off the main roads. We don’t want Martel to know you’re coming. Sparhawk, I want you to lead the knights from here in Cimmura. Join Kalten down there in Arcium someplace.’
    Sparhawk shook his head. ‘If we ride out in a body, Annias will know that we’re up to something. If he gets suspicious, he could postpone the whole thing and then attack the count’s castle some other time when we aren’t around.’
    Vanion frowned. ‘That’s true, isn’t it? Maybe you could sneak your men out of Cimmura a few at a time.’
    ‘It would take too long that way,’ Sephrenia told him, winding a clean bandage around Kalten’s waist, ‘and sneaking attracts more attention than riding out openly.’ She pursed her lips in thought. ‘Does the order still own that cloister on the road to Cardos?’ she asked.
    Vanion nodded. ‘It’s in total disrepair, though.’
    ‘Wouldn’t this be an excellent time to restore it?’
    ‘I don’t quite follow you, Sephrenia.’
    ‘We need to find some excuse for most of the Pandions here in Cimmura to ride out of town together If you were to go to the palace and tell the council that you’re going to take all your knights and go and repair that cloister, Annias would think you’re playing right into his hands. Then you could take wagonloads of tools and building materials to make it look genuine and leave town with them. Once you’re out of Cimmura, you can change direction with no one the wiser.’
    ‘It sounds workable, Vanion,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Will you be coming with us?’
    ‘No,’ Vanion replied. ‘I’m going to have to ride toChyrellos and alert a few friendly members of the Church Hierocracy to what Annias has planned.’
    Sparhawk nodded; then he remembered something. ‘I’m not entirely positive about this,’ he said, ‘but I think there’s someone here in Cimmura who’s been watching me, and I don’t think he’s an Elene.’ He smiled at Sephrenia. ‘I’ve been trained to recognize the subtle touch of a Styric mind. Anyway, this watcher seems to be able to pick me out no matter what kind of disguise I wear. I’m almost certain that he’s the one who set the church soldiers on Kalten and me, and that means that he has ties to Annias.’
    ‘What does he look like?’ Sephrenia asked him.
    ‘I can’t really say He wears a hooded robe and keeps his face hidden.’
    ‘He can’t report to Annias if he’s dead,’ Kalten shrugged. ‘Lay an ambush for him somewhere on the road to Cardos.’
    ‘Isn’t that a little direct?’ Sephrenia asked disapprovingly, tying the bandage firmly in place.
    ‘I’m a simple man, Sephrenia. Complications confuse me.’
    ‘I want to work out a few more details,’ Vanion said. He looked at Sephrenia. ‘Kalten and I will be riding together as far as Demos. Do you want to return to the motherhouse?’
    ‘No,’ she replied. ‘I’ll go with Sparhawk just in case this Styric who’s been watching him tries to follow us. I should be able to deal with that without resorting to murder.’
    ‘All right, then,’ Vanion said, rising to his feet. ‘Sparhawk, you and Kalten go and see to the wagons and the building materials. I’ll go to the palace and lie a little bit. As soon as I get back, we’ll all leave.’
    ‘And what would you like me to do, Vanion?’ Sephrenia asked him.
    He smiled. ‘Why don’t you have another cup of tea, Sephrenia?’
    ‘Thank you, Vanion. I believe I will.’

Chapter 8
    The weather had turned cold, and the sullen afternoon sky was spitting pellets of hard-frozen snow. A hundred cloaked and black-armoured Pandion Knights rode at a jingling trot through the heavily forested region near the Arcian border with Sparhawk and Sephrenia in the lead. They had been travelling for five days.
    Sparhawk glanced up at the sky and reined in the black horse he was riding. The horse reared, pawing at the air with his front hooves. ‘Oh, stop that,’ Sparhawk told him irritably.
    ‘He’s very enthusiastic, isn’t he?’ Sephrenia said. ‘He’s also not very bright. I’ll be glad when we catch up with Kalten and I can get Faran back.’
    ‘Why are we stopping?’
    ‘It’s close