The Ruby Knight

the Alcione Knight’s face, and he seemed to be slowly recovering. Sparhawk nudged Faran into a canter and led his friends through the dreary landscape.
    It was mid-afternoon by the time they passed the last signs of excavations. ‘There’s some kind of a village down there by the lake, Sir Sparhawk,’ Berit said, pointing.
    ‘It’s probably not a bad place to start,’ Sparhawk agreed. ‘Let’s see if we can find an inn down there. I think it’s time for us to have a hot meal, get in out of the rain and dry out a bit anyway.’
    ‘And a tavern, perhaps,’ Kalten added. ‘People in taverns usually like to talk, and there are always a few old men around who pride themselves on how well they know local history.’
    They rode on down to the shore of the lake and into the village. The houses were uniformly run-down, and the cobbled streets were in disrepair. At the lower end of town a series of docks protruded out into the lake, and there were nets hanging on poles along the shore. The smell of long-dead fish permeated the air in the narrow streets. A suspicious-eyed villager directed them to the only inn the village had, a very old, sprawling stone building with a slate roof.
    Sparhawk dismounted in the innyard and went inside. A fat man with a bright red face and raggedly cut hair was rolling a beer barrel across the floor towards a wide door near the back. ‘Have you any empty rooms, neighbour?’ Sparhawk asked him.
    ‘The whole loft is empty, My Lord,’ the fat man replied respectfully, ‘but are you sure you want to stop here? My accommodations are good enough for ordinary travellers, but they’re hardly suitable for the gentry.’
    ‘I’m sure they’d be better than sleeping under a hedge on a rainy night.’
    ‘That’s surely true, My Lord, and I’ll be happy to have guests. I don’t get many visitors at this time of year. That tap-room back there is about the only thing that keeps me in business.’
    ‘Are there any people in there at the moment?’
    ‘A half-dozen or so, My Lord. Business picks up when the fishermen come in off the lake.’
    ‘There are ten of us,’ Sparhawk told him, ‘so we’ll need quite a few rooms. Do you have someone who can see to our horses?’
    ‘My son takes care of the stables, Sir Knight.’
    ‘Warn him to be careful of the big roan. The horse is playful, and he’s very free with his teeth.’
    ‘I’ll mention it to my son.’
    ‘I’ll get my friends then, and we’ll go upstairs and have a look at your loft. Oh, incidentally, do you happen to have a bath-tub? My friends and I have been out in the weather, and we’re a little rusty-smelling.’
    ‘There’s a bath-house out back, My Lord. Nobody uses it very often, though.’
    ‘All right. Have some of your people start heating water, and I’ll be right back.’ He turned and went back outside into the rain.
    The rooms, though a bit dusty from lack of use, were surprisingly comfortable-looking. The beds were clean and seemed bug-free, and there was a large common-room at one end of the loft.
    ‘Very nice, actually,’ Sephrenia said, looking around.
    ‘There’s a bath-house as well,’ Sparhawk told her.
    ‘Oh, that’s just lovely,’ she sighed happily.
    ‘We’ll let you use it first.’
    ‘No, dear one. I don’t like to be rushed when I bathe. You gentlemen go ahead.’ She sniffed at them critically. ‘Don’t be afraid to use soap,’ she added, ‘- lots and lots of soap – and wash your hair as well.’
    ‘After we bathe, I think we’ll want to change into plain tunics,’ Sparhawk advised the others. ‘We want to ask these people questions, and armour’s just a bit intimidating.’
    The five knights pulled off their armour, took up their tunics and trooped with Kurik, Berit and Talen down the back stairs in the padded and rust-splotched undergarments they wore beneath their steel. They bathed in large, barrel-like tubs, and emerged feeling refreshed and cleansed.
    ‘This is the first time I’ve been warm for a week,’ Kalten said. ‘I think I’m ready to visit that tap-room now.’
    Talen was pressed into service to carry their padded undergarments back upstairs, and he was a little sullen about it.
    ‘Don’t make faces,’ Kurik told him. ‘I wasn’t going to let you go into the tap-room anyway. I owe that much to your mother. Tell Sephrenia that she and Flute can have the bath-house now. Come back down with her and guard the door to make sure they’re not