The Ruby Knight

pursuing us. What they’ll actually be chasing, however, will be an illusion.’ She smiled briefly. ‘Some of the best magic is illusion,’ she said. ‘You trick the mind and the eye into believing wholly in something that’s not really there. Gerrich will be absolutely convinced that we’re trying to take advantage of the confusion to bolt. He’ll follow with his army, and that should give us plenty of time to slip your brother away to safety. Is that forest on the horizon fairly extensive?’
    ‘It goes on for several leagues.’
    ‘Very good. We’ll lead Gerrich in there with our illusion and let him wander around amongst the trees for the next few days.’
    ‘I think there’s a flaw here, Sephrenia,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Won’t the Seeker come back just as soon as the smoke clears? I don’t think an illusion would deceive it, would it?’
    ‘The Seeker won’t come back for at least a week,’ she assured him. ‘It will be very, very ill.’
    ‘Should I signal the troops manning the catapults?’ Alstrom asked.
    ‘Not yet, My Lord. We have other things to do first. Timing is very important in this. Berit, I’ll need a basin of water.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am.’ The novice went towards the stairs.
    ‘Very well, then,’ she continued. ‘Let’s get started.’ She patiently began to instruct the Church Knights in the spell. There were Styric words Sparhawk had not learned before, and Sephrenia adamantly insisted that each of them repeat them over and over until pronunciation and intonation were absolutely perfect. ‘Stop that!’ she commanded at one point when Kalten tried to join in.
    ‘I thought I could help,’ he protested.
    ‘I know just how inept you are at this, Kalten. Just stay out of it. All right, gentlemen, let’s try it again.’
    Once she was satisfied with their pronunciation, she instructed Sparhawk to weave the spell. He began to repeat the Styric words and to gesture with his fingers. The figure that appeared in the centre of the room was vaguely amorphous, but it did appear to be wearing Pandion black armour.
    ‘You didn’t put a face on it, Sparhawk,’ Kalten pointed out.
    ‘I’ll take care of that,’ Sephrenia said. She spoke two words and gestured sharply.
    Sparhawk stared at the shape before him. It was much like looking into a mirror.
    Sephrenia was frowning.
    ‘Something wrong?’ Kalten asked her.
    ‘It’s not too hard to duplicate familiar faces,’ she replied, ‘or those of people who are actually present, but if I have to go look at the face of everybody in the castle, this could take days.’
    ‘Would these help?’ Talen asked, handing her his sketch pad.
    She leafed through the pages, her eyes widening as she turned each page. ‘The boy’s a genius!’ she exclaimed. ‘Kurik, when we get back to Cimmura, apprentice him to an artist. That might keep him out of trouble.’
    ‘It’s only a hobby, Sephrenia,’ Talen said, blushing modestly.
    ‘You do know that you could make far more as a painter than as a thief, don’t you?’ she said pointedly.
    He blinked, and then his eyes narrowed speculatively.
    ‘All right. Now it’s your turn, Tynian,’ Sephrenia told the Deiran.
    After each had created a mirror image of himself, she led them to an embrasure overlooking the courtyard. ‘We’ll build the large illusion down there,’ she told them. ‘It might get a little crowded if we tried to do it up here.’
    It took them an hour to complete the illusion of a mass of armed and mounted men down in the courtyard. Then Sephrenia went through Talen’s sketch pad again and put a face on each figure. Then she made a broad sweep of her arm, and the images of the Church Knights joined the illusion below.
    ‘They aren’t moving,’ Kurik said.
    ‘Flute and I will take care of that,’ Sephrenia told him. ‘The rest of you will need to concentrate to keep the images from breaking up. You’ll have to hold them together until they reach that forest over there.’
    Sparhawk was already sweating. Building a spell and then releasing it was one thing. Holding one in place was quite something else. He suddenly realized how much strain Sephrenia was bearing.
    It was early afternoon by now. Sephrenia looked through the embrasure at Count Gerrich’s troops. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘I guess we’re ready. Signal the catapults, My Lord,’ she said to Alstrom.
    The baron took a piece of red cloth out from under his sword-belt and waved it out of the