The Ruby Knight

finishing touches on the wall they had constructed. ‘Now, come down from there. I have one last thing to do.’
    They trooped down, and the small woman went on up. She began to chant in Styric. When she released the spell, the fresh-built wall seemed to shimmer for a moment. Then the shimmering was gone. She came back down. ‘All right,’ she said, ‘you can knock down the stairs now.’
    ‘What did you do?’ Kalten asked curiously.
    She smiled. ‘Your work was much better than you might have thought, dear one,’ she told him. ‘The wall you built is totally impregnable now. That minstrel or the servants can pound on it with sledges until they’re old and grey without damaging it in the slightest.’
    Kurik, who had gone back up the steps, leaned out and looked down at them. ‘The mortar’s completely dry,’ he reported. ‘That usually takes days.’
    Sephrenia pointed at the door at the base of the tower. ‘Let me know when you finish this one. It’s a bit damp and chilly out here. I think I’ll go back inside where it’s warm.’
    The count, who had been more saddened by the necessary entombment of his sister than he had readily admitted, accompanied her back inside while Kurik instructed his makeshift work-crew as to how to proceed.
    It took them most of the rest of the day to knock down the stone stairway leading to the now-walled-in upper door and to seal off the lower one. Then Sephrenia came out, repeated the spell and went back into the castle.
    Sparhawk and the others adjourned to the kitchen, which was located in a wing of the castle abutting the tower.
    Kurik considered the small door leading to the inside staircase.
    ‘Well?’ Sparhawk asked him.
    ‘Don’t rush me, Sparhawk.’
    ‘It’s getting late, Kurik.’
    ‘Do you want to do this?’
    Sparhawk closed his mouth and watched without saying a word as Talen slipped away. The boy looked tired, and Kurik was a hard task-master. Sparhawk was like that on occasion.
    Kurik consulted with Occuda for a few moments, then looked at his mortar-spattered crew. ‘Time to learn a new trade, gentlemen,’ he said. ‘You’re now going to become carpenters. We’re going to build a china cabinet out from that door. The hinges will still work, and I can fashion a hidden latch. The door will be completely concealed.’ He thought a moment, cocking his head to listen to the muffled shrieks coming from above. ‘I think I’ll need some quilts, Occuda,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘We’ll nail them to the other side of the door to keep the noise from being too loud in here.’
    ‘Good idea,’ Occuda agreed. ‘With no other servants around, I’ll be spending a fair amount of time in here, and that screaming might get on my nerves.’
    ‘That’s not the only reason we’re doing it, but that’s all right. Very well, gentlemen, let’s get to work.’ Kurik grinned. ‘I’ll make useful people out of you all yet,’ he said.
    When they were done, the china cabinet was a solid piece of work. Kurik rather liberally laid a dark stain over it, then stepped back and viewed the new woodwork critically. ‘Wax it a couple of times after the stain dries,’ he said to Occuda, ‘and then scuff it up a bit. You’d probably better scratch it in a few places as well and blow dust into the corners. Then load it with crockery. Nobody will ever know that it hasn’t been here for a century or more.’
    ‘That is a very good man you’ve got there, Sparhawk,’ Ulath noted. ‘Would you consider selling him?’
    ‘His wife would kill me,’ Sparhawk replied. ‘Besides, we don’t sell people in Elenia.’
    ‘We’re not in Elenia.’
    ‘Why don’t we go back to that main room?’
    ‘Not just yet, Sir Knights,’ Kurik said firmly. ‘First you have to sweep the sawdust up from the floor and put the tools away.’
    Sparhawk sighed and went looking for a broom.
    After they had cleaned up the kitchen, they washed the mortar and sawdust off themselves, changed back into tunics and hose and returned to the large room with the vaulted ceiling, where they found the count and Sephrenia deep in conversation while Talen and Flute sat not far away. The boy appeared to be teaching the little girl how to play draughts.
    ‘You look much neater now,’ Sephrenia told them approvingly. ‘You were all really very messy out there in the courtyard.’
    ‘You can’t lay brick or stone without getting mud on you,’ Kurik shrugged.
    ‘I seem to have picked up a