The Ruby Knight

utilitarian Thalesian peasant garb, and they all carried weapons as if they knew how to use them. They were uniformly blond and had the bleak faces of men with little concern for the politer amenities of life.
    When the sun came up, they increased their pace. Sparhawk knew that having Tel and his cut-throats along might slow them considerably, but he was grateful for the additional safety they provided for Sephrenia and Flute. He had been more than a little concerned about their vulnerability in the event of an ambush in the mountains.
    They passed briefly through farm country, and neat farmsteads stood here and there along the road. An attack was unlikely in such a well-populated area. The danger would come when they reached the mountains. They rode hard that day and covered a considerable distance. They camped some way from the road and left again early the following morning.
    ‘I’m starting to feel a little saddle-weary,’ Kurik admitted as they set out at first light.
    ‘I thought you’d be used to it by now,’ Sparhawk said.
    ‘Sparhawk, we’ve been riding almost constantly for the last six months. I think I’m starting to wear out my saddle with my backside.’
    ‘I’ll buy you a new one.’
    ‘So I can have all the entertainment of breaking it in? No thanks.’
    The country became more rolling, and they could clearly see the dark green mountains to the north now. ‘If I can make a suggestion, Sparhawk,’ Tel said, ‘why don’t we make camp before we get up into the hills? There are robbers up there, and a night attack could cause us some inconvenience. I doubt that they’d come down onto this plain, though.’
    Sparhawk had to admit that Tel was probably right, even though he chafed at the delay. The safety of Sephrenia and Flute was, after all, of far more importance than any arbitrary time limits.
    They stopped for the night before the sun set and took shelter in a shallow dell. Tel’s men were very good at concealment, Sparhawk had noticed.
    The next morning they waited for daylight before setting out. ‘All right,’ Tel said as they rode along at a trot. ‘I know some of the fellows who hide up here in the mountains, and they’ve got some favourite places for their ambushes. I’ll let you know when we start to get close to those places. The best way to get through them is to ride at a gallop. It takes people in hiding in ambush by surprise, and they usually need a minute or two to get on their horses. We can be well past them before they can give chase.’
    ‘How many of them are there likely to be?’ Sparhawk asked him.
    ‘About twenty or thirty altogether. They’ll split up, though. They’ve got more than one place, and they’ll probably want to cover them all.’
    ‘Your plan isn’t bad, Tel,’ Sparhawk said, ‘but I think I’ve got a better one. We ride through the ambush at a gallop the way you suggested until they start to come after us. Then we turn on them. There’s no point in letting them join forces with others farther up on the trail.’
    ‘You’re a bloodthirsty one, aren’t you, Sparhawk?’
    ‘I’ve got a friend from up here in Thalesia who keeps telling me that you should never leave live enemies behind you.’
    ‘He may have a point there.’
    ‘How did you learn so much about those fellows up here?’
    ‘I used to be one of them, but I got tired of sleeping out of doors in bad weather. That’s when I went to Emsat and started working for Stragen.’
    ‘How far is it from here to Heid?’
    ‘About fifty more leagues. We can make it by the end of the week if we hurry along.’
    ‘Good. Let’s go then.’
    They rode up into the mountains at a trot, keeping a wary eye on the trees and bushes at the side of the road.
    ‘Just ahead,’ Tel said quietly. ‘That’s one of their places. The road goes through a gap there.’
    ‘Then let’s ride,’ Sparhawk said. He led the way at the gap. They heard a startled shout from the top of the bluff on the left side of the road. A single man stood up there.
    ‘He’s there alone,’ Tel shouted, looking back over his shoulder. ‘He watches the road for travellers and then lights a fire to signal on up ahead.’
    ‘Not this time he won’t,’ one of Tel’s men growled, unslinging a longbow from across his back. He stopped his horse and smoothly shot an arrow at the lookout atop the bluff. The lookout doubled over when the arrow took him in the stomach and toppled off the bluff to lie motionless in