The Ruby Knight

for now,’ she replied as Kurik lifted her up to Sephrenia.
    Berit blinked. ‘She knows how to talk!’ he exclaimed.
    ‘Please, Berit,’ she said to him, ‘don’t repeat the obvious. Let’s go, Sparhawk. I can’t pinpoint Bhelliom’s location until we get away from here.’
    They rode out of the innyard and into the foggy street. The fog was thick, hovering just this side of rainy drizzle, and it carried with it the acidic reek of the peat-bogs which surrounded the lake.
    ‘This isn’t a good night for coming up against a Troll,’ Ulath said, falling in beside Sparhawk.
    ‘I doubt very much that we’ll run across Ghwerig tonight,’ Sparhawk said. ‘He’s on foot, and it’s a long way from here to where he found Bhelliom – that’s assuming he’s even coming this way.’
    ‘He almost has to, Sparhawk,’ the Genidian said. ‘He wants to get to Thalesia, and that means he’s got to get to a seaport on the north coast.’
    ‘We’ll know better which way he’s moving once we get Sephrenia and Flute out of town.’
    ‘My guess would be Nadera,’ Ulath speculated. ‘It’s a bigger seaport than Apalia, and there are more ships there. Ghwerig’s going to have to sneak on board one. It’s not likely that he could book passage. Most sea-captains are superstitious about sailing with Trolls aboard.’
    ‘Would Ghwerig understand enough of our language to find out which ships are going to Thalesia by eavesdropping?’
    Ulath nodded. ‘Most Trolls have a smattering of Elene and even Styric. They usually can’t speak any language but their own, but they can understand a few words of ours.’
    They passed through the city gate and reached the fork in the road north of Venne shortly before daybreak. They looked dubiously at the rutted track that led up into the mountains towards Ghasek and ultimately to the seaport at Apalia. ‘I hope he doesn’t decide to go that way,’ the white-cloaked Bevier said with a shudder. ‘I don’t really want to go back to Ghasek.’
    ‘Is he moving at all?’ Sparhawk asked Flute.
    ‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘He’s coming north along the lake-shore.’
    ‘I don’t quite understand this,’ Talen said to the little girl. ‘If you can sense where Bhelliom is, why didn’t we just stay at the inn until he got closer with it?’
    ‘Because there are too many people in Venne,’ Sephrenia told him. ‘We can’t get a clear picture of Bhelliom’s location in the middle of all that welter of thoughts and emotions.’
    ‘Oh,’ the boy said, ‘that makes sense – I suppose.’
    ‘We could ride down the lake-shore and meet him,’ Kalten suggested. ‘Save us all a lot of time.’
    ‘Not in the fog,’ Ulath said firmly. ‘I want to be able to see him coming. I don’t want to get surprised by a Troll.’
    ‘He’s going to have to pass through here,’ Tynian said, ‘- or at least very close to here – if he’s headed towards the north coast. He can’t swim across the lake, and he can’t go into Venne. Trolls are a little conspicuous, or so I’m told. When he gets closer, we can ambush him.’
    ‘It’s got some possibilities, Sparhawk,’ Kalten said. ‘If we’ve got his probable line of travel pinpointed, we can catch him unawares up here. We can kill him and be half-way to Cimmura with Bhelliom before anyone is any the wiser.’
    ‘Oh, Kalten,’ Sephrenia sighed.
    ‘Killing is what we do, little mother,’ he told her. ‘You don’t have to watch if you don’t want to. One Troll more or less in the world isn’t going to make all that much difference.’
    ‘There could be a problem, though,’ Tynian said to Flute. ‘The Seeker’s going to be hot on Ghwerig’s heels just as soon as it gathers up enough men, and it can probably sense Bhelliom in the same way you and Sephrenia can, can’t it?’
    ‘Yes,’ she admitted.
    ‘Then you’re forgetting that we may have to face it just as soon as we dispose of Ghwerig, aren’t you?’
    ‘And you’re forgetting that we’ll have Bhelliom at that point and that Sparhawk has the rings.’
    ‘Would Bhelliom eliminate the Seeker?’
    ‘Quite easily.’
    ‘Let’s pull back into those trees a ways,’ Sparhawk suggested. ‘I don’t know how long it’s going to take Ghwerig to get here, and I don’t want him coming up on us while we’re all standing in the middle of the road talking about the weather and other things.’
    They withdrew into the shadowy cover of a stand of trees and