The Ruby Knight
Heid,’ he said. ‘My men and I’ll be turning back here. I believe there’s still a price on my head in Heid. It’s all a misunderstanding, of course, but explanations are tiresome – particularly when you’re standing on a ladder with a noose around your neck.’
‘Flute,’ Sparhawk said back over his shoulder, ‘has Talen done what he came here to do?’
‘Yes.’
‘I rather thought so. Tel, would you do me a favour and take the boy back to Stragen? We’ll pick him up on our way back. Tie him very tightly and loop a rope about his ankles and under his horse’s belly. Jump him from behind and be careful, he’s got a knife in his belt.’
‘There’s a reason, I suppose,’ Tel said.
Sparhawk nodded. ‘Where we’re going is very dangerous. The boy’s father and I would rather not expose him to that.’
‘And the little girl?’
‘She can take care of herself – probably better than any of the rest of us.’
‘You know something, Sparhawk,’ Tel said sceptically, ‘when I was a boy, I always wanted to become a Church Knight. Now I’m glad I didn’t. You people don’t make any sense at all.’
‘It’s probably all the praying,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘It tends to make a man a little vague.’
‘Good luck, Sparhawk,’ Tel said shortly. Then he and two of his men roughly jerked Talen from his saddle, disarmed him and tied him on the back of his horse. The names Talen called Sparhawk as he and his captors rode off to the south were wide-ranging and, for the most part, very unflattering.
‘She doesn’t really understand all those words, does she?’ Sparhawk asked Sephrenia, looking meaningfully at Flute.
‘Will you stop talking as if I weren’t here?’ the little girl snapped. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, I do know what the words mean, but Elene is such a puny language to swear in. Styric is more satisfying, but if you really want to curse, try Troll.’
‘You speak Troll?’ He was surprised.
‘Of course. Doesn’t everyone? There’s no point in going into Heid. It’s a depressing place – all mud and rotting logs and mildewed thatching. Circle it to the west, and we’ll find the valley we want to follow.’
They by-passed Heid and moved up into steeper mountains. Flute watched intently and finally pointed one finger. ‘There,’ she said, ‘we turn left here.’
They stopped at the entrance to the valley and peered with some dismay at the track to which she had directed them. It was a path more than a road, and it seemed to wander quite a bit.
‘It doesn’t look too promising,’ Sparhawk said dubiously, ‘and it doesn’t look as if anybody’s been on it for years.’
‘People don’t use it,’ Flute told him. ‘It’s a game-trail – sort of.’
‘What kind of game?’
‘Look there.’ She pointed.
It was a boulder with one flat side into which an image had been crudely chiselled. The image looked very old and weathered, and it was hideous.
‘What’s that?’ Sparhawk asked.
‘It’s a warning,’ she replied calmly. ‘That’s a picture of a Troll.’
‘You’re taking us into Troll country?’ he asked in alarm.
‘Sparhawk, Ghwerig’s a Troll. Where else did you think he’d live?’
‘Isn’t there any other way to get to his cave?’
‘No, there isn’t. I can frighten off any Trolls we happen to run across, and the Ogres don’t come out in the daytime, so they shouldn’t be any problem.’
‘Ogres too?’
‘Of course. They always live in the same country with Trolls. Everybody knows that.’
‘I didn’t.’
‘Well now you do. We’re wasting time, Sparhawk.’
‘We’ll have to go in single file,’ the knight told Kurik and Sephrenia. ‘Stay as close behind me as you can. Let’s not get spread out.’ He started up the trail at a trot, with the spear of Aldreas in his hand.
The valley to which Flute had led them was narrow and gloomy. The steep walls were covered with tall fir trees so dark as to look nearly black, and the sides of the valley were so high that the sun seldom shone into this murky place. A mountain river rushed down the centre of the narrow gap, roaring and foaming. ‘This is worse than the road to Ghasek,’ Kurik shouted over the noise of the river.
‘Tell him to be still,’ Flute told Sparhawk. ‘Trolls have very sharp ears.’
Sparhawk turned in his saddle and laid a finger across his lips. Kurik nodded.
There seemed to be an inordinate number of dead white snags dotting the dark
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