The Ruby Knight

groups, an’ the Zemochs, they had things pretty much their own way. There was a pretty fair number of runnin’ fights up there when this group or that of the Thalesians got theirselves waylaid. But then the main body of the Thalesian army landed, an’ they turned things around. Say, I got some homebrewed beer back there. Could I interest you in some?’
    ‘I wouldn’t mind,’ Sparhawk said, ‘but the boy’s a bit young.’
    ‘Got some milk, if that’d suit you, young feller,’ Wat offered.
    Talen sighed. ‘Why not?’ he said.
    Sparhawk thought things over. ‘The Thalesian King would have been one of the first to land,’ he said. ‘He left his capital before his army did, but he never got as far as the battlefield.’
    ‘Then most likely he’s layin’ somewhere up there in Pelosia or maybe someplace in Deira,’ Wat replied. He rose to fetch beer and milk.
    ‘It’s a big stretch of country,’ Sparhawk winced.
    ‘That it is, friend, that it is, but yer followin’ the right trail. There’s them in Pelosia an’ Deira as takes the same pleasure in the old tales as me’n old Farsh does, an’ the closer y’ get to wherever it is this king yer lookin’ fer is buried, the better yer chances are gonna be of findin’ somebody as kin tell y’ what y’ want to know.’
    ‘That’s true, I suppose.’ Sparhawk took a sip of beer. It was cloudy, but it was about the best he had ever tasted.
    Wat leaned back in his chair, scratching at his chest. ‘Fact of the matter is, friend, that the battle was just too big fer any one man t’ see it all. I pretty much know what went on around here, an’ Farsh, he knows what went on down around the village an’ on south. We all know in a general sorta way what happened overall, but when y’ want to get down to specifics, y’ gotta talk with somebody as lives fairly close to where it actual happened.’
    Sparhawk sighed. ‘It’s just a matter of pure luck, then,’ he said glumly. ‘We could ride right past the man who knows the story and never even think to ask him.’
    ‘Now, that’s not entirely true, friend,’ Wat disagreed. ‘Us fellers as like to swap stories, we knows one another. Old Farsh, he sent y’ t’ me, an’ I kin send y’ on to another feller I know in Paler up there in Pelosia. He’s gonna know a lot more about what went on up there than I do, an’ he’ll know others as knows even more about what went on close t’ where they live. That’s what I meant when I said y’ was followin’ the right trail. All y’ need t’ do is go from feller t’ feller until y’ git the story y’ want. It’s a lot faster’n diggin’ up all of northern Pelosia or Deira.’
    ‘You might be right at that.’
    The wall-eyed man grinned crookedly. ‘Not meanin’ no offence, yer worship, but you gentle-folk think that us commoners don’t know nothin’, but when y’ stack us all together, there’s not very much in this world we don’t know.’
    ‘I’ll remember that,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Who’s this man in Paler?’
    ‘He’s a tanner, name of Berd – silly name, but Pelosians is like that. His tanyard’s just outside the north gate of the city. They wouldn’t let him set up inside the walls on accounta the smell, y’ know. You go see Berd, an’ if he don’t know the story y’ want to hear, he’ll probably know somebody as does – or at least somebody as kin tell y’ who y’ oughtta talk to.’
    Sparhawk rose to his feet. ‘Wat,’ he said, ‘you’ve been a real help.’ He handed the fellow a few coins. ‘The next time you go to the village, have yourself a few tankards of beer, and if you run into Farsh, buy him one too.’
    ‘Why, thankee, yer worship,’ Wat said. ‘I most surely will. An’ good luck in yer search.’
    ‘Thank you.’ Then Sparhawk remembered something. ‘I’d like to buy some firewood from you, if you can spare any.’ He handed Wat a few more coins.
    ‘Why, certainly, yer worship. Come along to the barn, an’ I’ll show you where it’s stacked.’
    ‘That’s all right, Wat,’ Sparhawk smiled. ‘We’ve already got it. Come along, Talen.’
    The rain had stopped entirely when Sparhawk and Talen came out of the house, and they could see blue sky out over the lake to the west.
    ‘You had to go and do that, didn’t you?’ Talen said in a disgusted tone of voice.
    ‘He was very helpful, Talen,’ Sparhawk said defensively.
    ‘That has nothing to do with it. Did we really get very