The Ruby Knight

the courtyard and back down the narrow track to the foot of the crag.
    ‘I wonder what’s going to happen to him,’ Talen said rather sadly as they rode along.
    ‘He has no choice,’ Sephrenia said. ‘He has to stay there until his sister dies. She’s no longer a danger, but she still has to be guarded and cared for.’
    ‘I’m afraid the rest of his life is going to be very lonely,’ Kalten sighed.
    ‘He has his books and chronicles,’ Sparhawk disagreed. ‘That’s all the company a scholar really needs.’
    Ulath was muttering under his breath.
    ‘What’s the trouble?’ Tynian asked him.
    ‘I should have known that the Troll at Lake Venne was there for some specific reason,’ Ulath replied. ‘I could have saved us some time if I’d investigated.’
    ‘Would you have recognized Ghwerig if you’d seen him?’
    Ulath nodded. ‘He’s dwarfed, and there aren’t very many dwarfed Trolls about. She-Trolls usually eat deformed cubs as soon as they’re born.’
    ‘That’s a brutal practice.’
    ‘Trolls aren’t famous for their gentle dispositions. They don’t even get along with each other most of the time.’
    The sun was very bright that morning, and the birds sang in the bushes near the deserted village in the centre of the field below Count Ghasek’s castle. Talen turned aside to ride into the village.
    ‘There won’t be anything in there to steal,’ Kurik called after him.
    ‘Just curious, that’s all,’ Talen called back. ‘I’ll catch up with you in a couple of minutes.’
    ‘Do you want me to go and get him?’ Berit asked.
    ‘Let him look around,’ Sparhawk said. ‘He’ll complain all day if we don’t.’
    Then Talen came galloping out of the village. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were wild. When he reached them, he tumbled from his horse and lay on the ground retching and unable to speak.
    ‘We’d better go and have a look,’ Sparhawk said to Kalten. ‘The rest of you wait here.’
    The two knights rode warily into the deserted village with their lances at the ready.
    ‘He went this way,’ Kalten said quietly, pointing at the tracks of Talen’s horse in the muddy street with the tip of his lance.
    Sparhawk nodded, and they followed the tracks to a house that was somewhat larger than the others in the village. The two dismounted, drew their swords and entered.
    The rooms inside were dusty and devoid of any furniture. ‘Nothing at all in here,’ Kalten said. ‘I wonder what frightened him so much.’
    Sparhawk opened the door to a room at the back of the house and looked inside. ‘You’d better go and get Sephrenia,’ he said bleakly.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘A child. It’s not alive, and it’s been dead for a long time.’
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Look for yourself.’
    Kalten looked into the room and made a gagging sound. ‘Are you sure you want her to see that?’ he asked.
    ‘We need to know what happened.’
    ‘I’ll go and get her then.’
    The two went back outside. Kalten remounted and rode out to where the others waited while Sparhawk stood near the door of the house. A few minutes later, the blond knight returned with Sephrenia.
    ‘I told her to leave Flute with Kurik,’ Kalten said. ‘We wouldn’t want her to see what’s in there.’
    ‘No,’ Sparhawk replied sombrely. ‘Little mother,’ he apologized to Sephrenia, ‘this will not be pleasant.’
    ‘Few things are,’ she said resolutely.
    They took her inside the house to that back room.
    She took one quick look and then turned aside. ‘Kalten,’ she said, ‘go and dig a grave.’
    ‘I don’t have a shovel,’ he objected.
    ‘Then use your hands!’ Her tone was intense, almost savage.
    ‘Yes, Sephrenia.’ He seemed awed by her uncharacteristic vehemence. He left the house quickly.
    ‘Oh, poor thing,’ Sephrenia mourned, hovering over the desiccated little body.
    The body of the child was withered and dry. Its skin was grey, and its sunken eyes were open.
    ‘Bellina again?’ Sparhawk asked. His voice seemed loud, even to himself.
    ‘No,’ she replied. ‘This is the work of the Seeker. This is how it feeds. Here,’ she pointed at dry puncture marks on the child’s body, ‘and here, and here, and here. This is where the Seeker fed. It draws out the body’s fluids and leaves only a dry husk.’
    ‘Not any more,’ Sparhawk said, his fist closing about the haft of Aldreas’s spear. ‘The next time we meet, it dies.’
    ‘Can you afford to do that,