The Ruby Knight

down at the harbour, Thalesian, Arcian, Elenian and even a few from Cammoria.’
    ‘Are the city gates open at night?’
    ‘Not usually, but there’s that army camped outside the walls. The soldiers are going in and out of town, so the gates are open.’ Meland looked critically at the knight. ‘If you’re going down to the harbour, you’d better not wear that mail – or the sword. Talen says that you’d prefer not to be noticed. The people down there would remember someone dressed the way you are. There are some clothes hanging on those pegs over there. Find something that fits.’ Meland’s tone was abrupt.
    ‘What’s the best way to get down to the harbour?’
    ‘Go out of the north gate. There’s a wagon track that leads down to the water. It branches off the main road on the left about a half-mile out of town.’
    ‘Thank you, neighbour,’ Sparhawk said.
    Meland grunted and went back to his catalogue.
    ‘Kurik and I are going to go down to the harbour to see about a ship,’ Sparhawk told Sephrenia. ‘You’d better stay here with the children.’
    ‘As you wish,’ she said.
    Sparhawk found a somewhat shabby blue doublet hanging on one of the pegs that looked as if it might fit. He took off his mail-shirt and sword and put it on. Then he pulled on his cloak again.
    ‘Where are all of your people?’ Talen was asking Meland.
    ‘It’s night-time,’ Meland replied. ‘They’re out working – or at least they’d better be.’
    Sparhawk and Kurik went back downstairs to the tavern.
    ‘You want me to get our horses?’ Kurik asked.
    ‘No. Let’s walk. People pay attention to mounted men.’
    ‘All right.’
    They went out through the city gate and on along the main road until they came to the wagon road Meland had mentioned. Then they walked on down to the harbour.
    ‘Shabby-looking sort of place, isn’t it?’ Sparhawk noted, looking around at the settlement surrounding the harbour.
    ‘Waterfronts usually are,’ Kurik said. ‘Let’s ask a few questions.’ He accosted a passer-by who appeared to be a sea-going man. ‘We be lookin’ for a ship as is bound for Thalesia,’ he said, reverting to the sailor-language he had used in Venne. ‘Tell me, mate, could y’ maybe tell us if there be a tavern hereabouts where the ship-captains gather?’
    ‘Try the Bell and Anchor,’ the sailor replied. ‘It’s that way a couple of streets – right near the water.’
    ‘Thanks, mate.’
    Sparhawk and Kurik walked down towards the long wharves jutting out into the dark, garbage-strewn waters of the Gulf of Acie. Kurik suddenly stopped. ‘Sparhawk,’ he said. ‘doesn’t there seem to be something familiar about that ship out at the end of this wharf?’
    ‘She does seem to have a familiar rake to her masts, doesn’t she?’ Sparhawk agreed. ‘Let’s go and take a closer look.’
    They walked a ways out on the wharf. ‘She’s Cammorian,’ Kurik advised.
    ‘How can you tell?’
    ‘By the rigging and the slant of her masts.’
    ‘You don’t think -’ Then Sparhawk broke off, looking incredulously at the vessel’s name painted on her bow. ‘Well, I’ll be -’ he said. ‘That’s Captain Sorgi’s ship. What’s he doing all the way up here?’
    ‘Why don’t we see if we can find him and ask him? If it’s really Sorgi and not just somebody who bought his ship from him, this could solve our problem.’
    ‘Provided he plans to sail in the right direction. Let’s go find the Bell and Anchor.’
    ‘Do you remember all the details of that story you told Sorgi?’
    ‘Enough to get by, I think.’
    The Bell and Anchor was a tidy, sedate tavern, as befitted a place frequented by ship-captains. The taverns visited by common sailors tended to be rowdier and usually showed evidence of hard use. Sparhawk and Kurik entered and stood in the doorway, looking around. ‘Over there,’ Kurik said, pointing at a husky man with silver-shot curly hair drinking with a group of substantial-looking men at a table in the corner. ‘It’s Sorgi, all right.’
    Sparhawk looked at the man who had conveyed them from Madel in Cammoria to Cippria in Rendor and nodded his agreement. ‘Let’s drift on over there,’ he said. ‘It might be best if he saw us first.’ They went across the room, doing their best to appear to be only casually looking around.
    ‘Why, strike me blind if it isn’t Master Cluff!’ Sorgi exclaimed. ‘What are you doing up here in Deira? I thought you were going to