The Ruby Knight

stay down in Rendor until all those cousins got tired of looking for you.’
    ‘Why, I believe it’s Captain Sorgi,’ Sparhawk said in mock astonishment to Kurik.
    ‘Join us, Master Cluff,’ Sorgi invited expansively. ‘Bring your man as well.’
    ‘You’re very kind, Captain,’ Sparhawk murmured, taking a chair at the seamen’s table.
    ‘What happened to you, my friend?’ Sorgi asked.
    Sparhawk put on a mournful expression. ‘Somehow the cousins tracked me down,’ he said. ‘I was lucky enough to see one of them in a street in Cippria before he saw me, and I bolted. I’ve been on the run ever since.’
    Sorgi laughed. ‘Master Cluff here has a bit of a problem,’ he told his companions. ‘He made the mistake of paying court to an heiress before he got a look at her face. The lady turned out to be remarkably ugly, and he ran away from her screaming.’
    ‘Well, I didn’t exactly scream, Captain,’ Sparhawk said. ‘I’ll admit that my hair stood on end for a week or so, though.’
    ‘Anyway,’ Sorgi continued, grinning broadly, ‘as it turns out, the lady has a multitude of cousins, and they’ve been pursuing poor Master Cluff for months now. If they catch him, they’re going to drag him back and force him to marry her.’
    ‘I think I’d rather kill myself first,’ Sparhawk said in a mournful tone of voice. ‘But what are you doing this far north, Captain? I thought you plied the Arcian Strait and the Inner Sea.’
    ‘I happened to be in the port of Zenga on the south coast of Cammoria,’ Sorgi explained, ‘and I ran across the opportunity to buy a cargo of satins and brocade. There’s no market for that sort of merchandise in Rendor. They all wear those ugly black robes, you know. The best market for Cammorian fabrics is in Thalesia. You wouldn’t think so, considering the climate, but Thalesian ladies are passionate for satins and brocades. I stand to make a tidy profit on the cargo.’
    Sparhawk felt a sudden surge of elation. ‘You’re going to Thalesia then?’ he said. ‘Might you have room for some passengers?’
    ‘Do you want to go to Thalesia, Master Cluff?’ Sorgi asked with some surprise.
    ‘I want to go anywhere , Captain Sorgi,’ Sparhawk told him in a desperate-sounding voice. ‘I’ve got a group of those cousins no more than two days behind me. If I can get to Thalesia, maybe I can go up and hide in the mountains.’
    ‘I’d be careful, my friend,’ one of the other captains advised. ‘There are robbers up in the mountains of Thalesia – not to mention the Trolls.’
    ‘I can outrun robbers, and Trolls can’t be any uglier than the lady in question,’ Sparhawk said, feigning a shudder. ‘What do you say, Captain Sorgi,’ he pleaded. ‘Will you help me out of my predicament again?’
    ‘Same price?’ Sorgi asked shrewdly.
    ‘Anything,’ Sparhawk said in apparent desperation.
    ‘Done then, Master Cluff. My ship is at the end of the third wharf down from here. We sail for Emsat with the morning tide.’
    ‘I’ll be there, Captain Sorgi,’ Sparhawk promised. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse us, my man and I have to go and pack a few things.’ He rose to his feet and extended his hand to the seaman. ‘You’ve saved me again, Captain,’ he said with genuine gratitude. Then he and Kurik quietly left the tavern.
    Kurik was frowning as they went back out into the street. ‘Do you get the feeling that somebody may be tampering with things?’ he asked.
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘Isn’t it peculiar that we just happened to run across Sorgi again – the one man we can usually count on to help us? And isn’t it even more peculiar that he just happens to be going to Thalesia – the one place we really want to go?’
    ‘I think your imagination’s running away with you, Kurik. You heard him. It’s perfectly logical that he should be here.’
    ‘But at just the right time for us to run across him?’
    That was a somewhat more troubling question. ‘We can ask Flute about it when we get back up to the city,’ he said.
    ‘You think she might be responsible?’
    ‘Not really, but she’s the only one I know of who might have been able to arrange something like this – although I doubt if even she could have managed it.’
    There was, however, no chance to speak with Flute when they returned to the loft above the seedy tavern, because a familiar figure sat across the table from Meland. Large and grossly bearded and wearing a nondescript cloak,