The Ruby Knight

embrasure. Below, the catapults began to thud, hurling their burning missiles over the wall and into the midst of the besieging army while other engines showered the ships in the river. Even from this distance, Sparhawk could hear the soldiers coughing and choking on the dense cloud of lavender smoke coming from the burning balls of pitch, naphtha and Sephrenia’s powder. The smoke rolled across the field in front of the castle, sparkling with that firefly glitter. Then it engulfed the knoll where Gerrich, Adus and the Seeker were standing. Sparhawk heard an animal-like screech, and then the black-robed Seeker burst from the smoke, flogging its horse mercilessly. It seemed unsteady in its saddle, and it was holding the edge of its hood tightly across its face with one pale claw. The soldiers who had been blocking the road leading from the castle gate came reeling out of the smoke, coughing and retching.
    ‘All right, My Lord,’ Sephrenia said to Alstrom, ‘lower the drawbridge.’
    Alstrom signalled again, this time with a green cloth. A moment later, the drawbridge boomed down.
    ‘Now, Flute,’ Sephrenia said, and began to speak rapidly in Styric even as the little girl raised her pipes.
    The mass of illusory men in the courtyard, who had until now been rigidly immobile, seemed to come to life all at once. They rode out through the gate at a gallop and plunged directly into the smoke. Sephrenia passed her hand over the basin of water Berit had brought to the tower and peered intently into it. ‘Hold them, gentlemen,’ she said. ‘Keep them intact.’
    A half-dozen of Gerrich’s soldiers who had escaped from the smoke stood coughing, retching and digging at their eyes on the causeway leading away from the castle. The illusory army rode directly through them. The soldiers fled screaming.
    ‘Now we wait,’ Sephrenia said. ‘It’s going to take a few minutes for Gerrich to get his wits together and realize what seems to be happening down there.’
    Sparhawk heard startled shouts coming from below and then bellowed commands.
    ‘A little faster, Flute,’ Sephrenia said quite calmly. ‘We don’t want Gerrich to catch up with the illusion. He might begin to grow suspicious if his sword goes through the Baron here without any effect.’
    Alstrom was staring at Sephrenia in awe. ‘I would not have believed this possible, My Lady,’ he said in a shaking voice.
    ‘It did turn out rather well, didn’t it?’ she said. ‘I wasn’t entirely positive I could pull it off.’
    ‘You mean -’
    ‘I’ve never done it before, but we can’t learn without experimentation, can we?’
    On the field below, Gerrich’s troops were scrambling into their saddles. Their pursuit was disorganized, a chaos of galloping horses and brandished weapons.
    ‘They didn’t even think to charge that open drawbridge,’ Ulath noted critically. ‘Very unprofessional.’
    ‘They aren’t thinking very clearly just now,’ Sephrenia told him. ‘The smoke does that to people. Are they all clear of the area yet?’
    ‘There are a few still floundering around down there,’ Kalten advised. ‘They seem to be trying to catch their horses.’
    ‘Let’s give them time to get out of our way. Continue to hold the illusion, gentlemen,’ she said, looking into her basin of water. ‘It’s still a couple of miles to those woods.’
    Sparhawk clenched his teeth. ‘Can’t you speed things up a bit?’ he asked her. ‘This isn’t easy, you know.’
    ‘Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, Sparhawk,’ she told him. ‘If the images of those horses start to fly, Gerrich is going to get very, very suspicious – even in his present condition.’
    ‘Berit,’ Kurik said, ‘you and Talen come with me. Let’s go down and get the horses ready. I think we all might want to leave in a hurry.’
    ‘I’ll go with you,’ Alstrom said. ‘I want to talk with my brother before he leaves. I’m sure I’ve offended him, and I’d rather have us part friends.’
    The four of them went on down the stairs.
    ‘Just a few minutes longer now,’ Sephrenia said. ‘We’re almost to the edge of the woods.’
    ‘You look as if you just fell into a river,’ Kalten said, glancing at Sparhawk’s sweaty face.
    ‘Oh, shut up,’ Sparhawk said irritably.
    ‘There,’ Sephrenia said finally. ‘Let it go now.’
    Sparhawk let out an explosive breath of relief and released the spell. Flute lowered her pipes and winked at him.
    Sephrenia continued to look