The Ruby Knight Part 11

"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 ma.s.s 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 Gerich'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 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 b.a.l.l.s 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 Gerich, 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 ma.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 Gerich'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 Gerich 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 Gerich 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, Gerich'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, Gerich 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 into her basin. "Gerich's about a mile from the edge of the trees," she reported. "I think we should let him get well into the woods before we leave."

"Whatever you say," Sparhawk replied, leaning wearily against a wall.

It was about fifteen minutes later when Sephrenia set her basin on the floor and straightened. "I think we can go down now," she said.

They descended to the courtyard where Kurik, Talen and Berit had the horses. The Patriarch Ortzel, stiff lipped and pale with anger, was with them, and his brother was at his elbow. "I shall not forget this, Alstrom," he said, pulling his black ecclesiastical robe tighter about him.

"You may feel differently after you've had time to think about it. Go with G.o.d, Ortzel."

"Stay with G.o.d, Alstrom," Ortzel replied, more out of habit, Sparhawk thought, than from any real sense of emotion.

They mounted and rode out through the gate and on across the drawbridge. "Which way?" Kalten asked Sparhawk.

"North," Sparhawk replied. "Let's get clear of this place before Gerich comes back."

"That's supposed to be a number of days."

"Let's not take any chances."

They rode north at a gallop. It was late afternoon by the time they reached the shallow ford where they had first encountered Sir Enmann. Sparhawk reined in and dismounted.

"Let's consider our options," he said.

"What precisely did you do back there, Madame?"

Ortzel was saying to Sephrenia. "I was in the chapel, and so I did not see what happened."

"A bit of deception is all, Your Grace," she replied.

"Count Gerich thought he saw your brother and the rest of us escaping. He gave chase."

"That's all?" He looked surprised. "You didn't - " He left it hanging. "Kill anybody?"

"No. I strongly disapprove of killing."

"That's one thing we agree about anyway. You're a very strange woman, Madame. Your morality seems to coincide rather closely with that laid down by the true faith. I would not have expected that from a heathen.

Have you ever given any thought to conversion?"

She laughed. "You too, Your Grace? Dolmant's been trying to convert me for years now. No, Ortzel. I'll remain faithful to my G.o.ddess. I'm far too old to change religions at this stage in my life."

"Old, Madame? You?"

"You wouldn't believe it, Your Grace," Sparhawk told him.

"You have all given me much to consider," Ortzel said.

"I have followed what I perceived to be the letter of Church doctrine. Perhaps I should look beyond that perception and seek guidance from G.o.d." He walked a little way upstream, his face lost in thought.

"It's a step," Kalten muttered to Sparhawk.

"A fairly big one, I'd say."

Tynian had been standing at the edge of the shallow ford looking thoughtfully towards the west. "I have an idea, Sparhawk," he said.

"I'm willing to listen."

"Gerich and his soldiers are all searching that forest, and if Sephrenia's right, the Seeker will be unable to give chase for at least a week. There won't be any enemies on the other side of this river."

"That's true, I suppose. We should probably have a look around on the other side before we get overconfident, though."

"All right. That's the safest way, I suppose. What I'm getting at is that if there aren't any troops over there, it won't take more than a couple of us to escort His Grace safely to Chyrellos while the rest of us go on to Lake Randera. If things are quiet, we don't all have to ride to the Holy City."

"He's got a good point, Sparhawk," Kalten agreed.

"I'll think about it," Sparhawk said. "Let's go on across and have a look around before we make any decisions."

They remounted and splashed on across the shallow ford. There was a thicket on the far side. "It's going to get dark soon, Sparhawk," Kurik said, "and we're going to have to make camp. Why don't we hole up in that thicket for the night. Once it gets completely dark, we can come out and look for campfires. No group of soldiers is going to set up for the night without building fires, and we'll be able to see them. That would be a lot easier and faster than riding up and down the river all day tomorrow trying to flush them out."

"Good idea. Let's do it that way then."

They made camp for the night in the centre of the thicket and built only a small cook-fire. By the time they had finished eating, night had fallen over Lamorkand.

Sparhawk rose to his feet. "All right," he said, "let's go and have a look. Sephrenia, you and the children and His Grace stay here out of sight." He led the way out of the thicket. Once they were clear of the trees, he and his companions fanned out, all of them peering intently into the night. The clouds obscured the moon and stars and made the darkness almost total.

Sparhawk moved around the thicket. On the far side he b.u.mped into Kalten.

"It's darker than the inside of your boots out here," Kalten said. "did you see anything?"

"Not a glimmer. There's a hill on the back side of these trees, though. Kurik's going up to the top to look around."

"Good. I'll trust Kurik's eyes any time."

"Me too. Why don't you get him knighted, Sparhawk? When you get right down to it, he's better than any of us."

"Aslade would kill me. She's not set up to be the wife of a knight." Kalten laughed as they moved on, straining their eyes into the blackness.

"Sparhawk." Kurik's voice came from not far away.

"Over here."

The squire joined them. "That's a fairly high hill," he puffed. The only light I saw was coming from a village a mile or so to the south."

"You're sure it wasn't a campfire?" Kalten asked him.

"Campfires make a different kind of light than lamps shining through a dozen windows, Kalten."

"That's true, I suppose."

"I suppose that's it, then," Sparhawk said. He raised his fingers to his lips and whistled, a signal for the others to return to the camp.

"What do you think?" Kalten asked as they pushed their way through the stiffly rustling brush towards the centre of the thicket where the dim light of their banked cook-fire was scarcely more than a faint red glow in the darkness.

"Let's ask His Grace," Sparhawk replied. "It's his neck we'll be risking." They entered the brush-clogged encampment and Sparhawk pushed back the hood of his cloak. We have a decision to make, Your Grace," he told the patriarch. The area appears to be deserted. Sir Tynian has suggested that two of us could escort you to Chyrellos in as much safety as the whole group. Our search for Bh.e.l.liom must not be delayed if we're to keep Annias off the Archprelate's throne. The choice is up to you, though."

"I can go on to Chyrellos alone, Sir Sparhawk. My brother is overly concerned about my well-being. My faith alone will protect me."

"I'd rather not gamble on that, your Grace. You'll recall that I mentioned that something was pursuing us?"

"Yes. I believe you called it a Seeker."

"Exactly. The creature is ill now because of the fumes Sephrenia created, but there's no way to be positive of how long its illness will last. It wouldn't look upon you as an enemy, though. If it should attack, run away. It's Unlikely that it would follow you. I think that under the circ.u.mstances, though, Tynian's right. Two of us will be sufficient to ensure your safety."

"As you see fit, my son."