The Ruby Knight

the dusty road.
    ‘Good shot,’ Kurik said.
    ‘Not too bad,’ the archer said modestly.
    ‘Do you think anyone heard him yell?’ Sparhawk asked Tel.
    ‘That depends on how close they are. They probably won’t know what it meant, but a few of them might ride down here to investigate.’
    ‘Let them,’ the man with the bow said grimly.
    ‘We’d better go a little slowly along here,’ Tel advised. ‘It wouldn’t do to go around a corner and come face to face with them.’
    ‘You’re very good at this, Tel,’ Sparhawk said.
    ‘Practice, Sparhawk, and I know the ground. I lived up here for more than five years. That’s why Stragen sent me instead of anybody else. You’d better let me have a look around that bend in the road just ahead.’ He slipped down off his horse and took his pike. He ran ahead at a crouch, and just before he reached the bend, he eased his way into the bushes and disappeared. A moment later he reappeared and made a few obscure gestures.
    ‘Three of them,’ the man with the bow translated in a muted voice. ‘They’re coming at a trot.’ He set an arrow to his bowstring and raised the bow.
    Sparhawk drew his sword. ‘Guard Sephrenia,’ he told Kurik.
    The first man around the bend toppled out of his saddle with an arrow in his throat. Sparhawk shook his reins and Faran charged.
    The two other men were staring at their fallen companion in blank amazement. Sparhawk cut one of them out of the saddle, and the other turned to flee. Tel, however, stepped out of the bushes and drove his pike at an angle up into the man’s body. The man gave a gurgling groan and fell from his horse.
    ‘Get the horses!’ Tel barked to his men. ‘Don’t let them get back to where the other brigands are hiding!’
    His men galloped after the fleeing horses and brought them back a few minutes later.
    ‘A nice piece of work,’ Tel said, pulling his pike free of the body lying in the road. ‘No yelling, and none of them got away.’ He rolled the body over with his foot. ‘I know this one,’ he said. ‘Those other two must be new. The life expectancy of a highway robber isn’t really very good, so Dorga has to find new recruits every so often.’
    ‘Dorga?’ Sparhawk asked, dismounting.
    ‘He’s the chief of this band. I never really cared for him very much. He’s a little too self-important.’
    ‘Let’s drag these into the bushes,’ Sparhawk said. ‘I’d rather not have the little girl see them.’
    ‘All right.’
    After the bodies had been concealed, Sparhawk stepped back around the bend and signalled to Sephrenia and Kurik to come on ahead.
    They rode on carefully.
    ‘This may be much easier than I’d thought,’ Tel said. ‘I think they’re splitting up into very small groups so they can watch more of the road. We should go into the woods a ways on the left side of the road just ahead. There’s a rock-slide coming down on the right side, and Dorga usually has a few archers there. Once we get past them, I’ll send a few men around behind them to deal with them.’
    ‘Is that really necessary?’ Sephrenia asked.
    ‘I’m just following Sir Sparhawk’s advice, lady,’ Tel said. ‘Don’t leave live enemies behind you – particularly not ones armed with bows. I don’t really need an arrow in my back, and neither do you.’
    They rode into the woods before they reached the rock-slide and continued at a very careful walk. One of Tel’s men crept out to the edge of the trees and rejoined them a few minutes later. ‘Two of them,’ he reported quietly. ‘They’re about fifty paces up the slide.’
    ‘Take a couple of men,’ Tel instructed. ‘There’s cover about two hundred paces up ahead. You’ll be able to get across the road there. Work your way up along the edge of the slide and get behind them. Try not to let them make any noise.’
    The stubble-faced blond cut-throat grinned, signalled to two of his companions and rode on ahead.
    ‘I’d forgotten how much fun this is,’ Tel said, ‘- at least in good weather. It’s miserable in the winter, though.’
    They had ridden perhaps half a mile past the slide when the three ruffians caught up with them.
    ‘Any problems?’ Tel asked.
    ‘They were half-asleep,’ one of the men chuckled. ‘They’re all the way asleep now.’
    ‘Good.’ Tel looked around. ‘We can gallop for a ways now, Sparhawk. The roadsides are too open for ambushes for the next few miles.’
    They galloped on until almost noon, when