‘We ran into a group of sportive fellows,’ Kalten replied lightly. He looked down at his cloak. The blood is all theirs.’
‘What happened?’ she asked Sparhawk.
‘Adus tried to ambush us when we got to the inn,’ he told her. ‘He had a group of waterfront toughs with him.’ He paused reflectively. ‘You know, we’ve been running across Krager just about every time we turn around. Once – or even twice – might have been sheer coincidence, but it’s starting to happen just a little too frequently, and every time we try to follow him, there’s some kind of ambush.’
‘You think it’s deliberate?’ Tynian asked.
‘It’s beginning to look that way, isn’t it?’
‘Would this Martel put a friend in such danger?’ Bevier sounded surprised.
‘Martel doesn’t have any friends,’ Sparhawk told him. ‘Adus and Krager are hirelings, nothing more. They’re useful, but he feels no particular attachment for them. I don’t think he’d shed many tears if something happened to Krager.’ He began to pace up and down, staring thoughtfully at the floor. ‘Maybe we can turn the tables on him.’ He looked at Kalten. ‘Why don’t you let yourself be seen in the streets of Madel?’ he suggested. ‘Don’t take too many chances, but let people know you’re in town.’
‘Why not?’ Kalten shrugged.
Tynian grinned. ‘Martel and his hirelings don’t know the rest of us, so we can sort of loiter along behind Kalten without attracting attention. Is that the idea?’
Sparhawk nodded. ‘If they think Kalten’s alone, it might bring them out into the open. I’m getting a little tired of Martel’s game, so maybe it’s time for us to play a few of our own.’ He looked at Bevier’s cousin. ‘How excited do the local authorities get about street brawls, my Lord?’ he asked.
Lycien laughed. ‘Madel is a seaport, Sir Sparhawk. Brawling is second nature to sailors. The authorities don’t pay much attention to their little scuffles – except to remove the bodies, of course. Public sanitation, you understand.’
‘Good.’ Sparhawk looked at his friends. ‘You may not get a chance at Krager or Adus, but you might be able to divide Martel’s attention. That could be what it takes to get Kurik and Sephrenia and me aboard a ship unnoticed. I’d rather not have to keep looking over my shoulder when we get to Cippria.’
‘About the only tricky part is going to be getting you to the harbour without being seen,’ Kalten said.
‘It won’t be necessary to go to the harbour,’ Lycien said. ‘I have some warehouses on the river about five miles from here. A fair number of independent sea captains deliver cargoes to me there, and I’m sure arrangements for your passage can be made without any need for going into the city’
‘Thank you, my Lord,’ Sparhawk said. ‘That solves a problem.’
‘When do you plan to leave?’ Tynian asked. ‘I don’t see much point in delaying.’
‘Tomorrow, then?’
Sparhawk nodded.
‘I need to talk with you, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia said. ‘Would you mind coming to my room?’
He followed her out of the door, slightly puzzled. ‘Is it something we can’t discuss in front of the others?’ he asked her. ‘It might be better if they don’t hear us arguing.’
‘Are we going to argue?’
‘Probably.’ She opened the door to her room and led him inside. Flute sat cross-legged on the bed, her dark eyebrows knit in concentration as she wove the intricate mesh of a cat’s cradle out of a strand of wool yarn. It was far more complex than the one Talen had made when he had demonstrated it to her. She looked up, smiled at them, and proudly extended her little hands to show them her handiwork.
‘She’ll be going with us,’ Sephrenia said.
‘Absolutely not!’ Sparhawk said sharply.
‘I told you we’d argue about this.’
‘It’s an absurd idea, Sephrenia.’
‘We all do many absurd things, dear one.’ She smiled affectionately at him.
‘Don’t do that,’ he said. ‘You’re not going to win me over that way.’
‘Don’t be tiresome, Sparhawk. You’ve been around her long enough to know that she always does what she decides to do, and she’s decided that she’s going with us to Rendor.’
‘She won’t if I have anything to say about it.’
‘That’s the whole point, Sparhawk. You don’t. You’re dealing with something you can’t understand. She’s going to come with us in the end anyway, so why not just give in gracefully?’
‘Gracefulness is not one of my strong points.’
‘I’ve noticed.’
‘All right, Sephrenia,’ he said flatly. ‘Just who is she, anyway? You recognized her the first moment we saw her, didn’t you?’
‘Of course.’
‘Why of course? She’s only about six years old, and you haven’t left us Pandions for generations. How could you possibly know her?’
She sighed. ‘Elene logic always clouds an issue with facts. The child and I are kindred in a rather peculiar sense of the word. We know each other in a way you couldn’t begin to comprehend.’
Thanks,’ he said dryly.
‘I’m not belittling your intelligence, dear one,’ she told him, ‘but there’s a part of Styric life you’re not prepared to accept –either intellectually or philosophically’
He frowned slightly, his eyes narrowed in thought. ‘All right, Sephrenia,’ he said, ‘let me have a try at the Elene logic you’re so fond of dismissing. Flute is a child, hardly more than a baby.’
The little girl made a face at him.
He ignored that and went on. ‘She suddenly appeared in an uninhabited region near the Arcian border far from any kind of human habitation. We tried to leave her at that nunnery south of Darra, and she not only managed to escape but also got a goodly distance ahead of us even though we were travelling at a gallop. Then she somehow managed to persuade Faran to let her on his back, and Faran won’t let anybody near him except me unless I tell him to. When she met Dolmant, you could tell by his face that he sensed something very unusual about her. Not only that, you bully full-grown knights like a drill-sergeant, but any time Flute decides to do something or go someplace, you give in without a fight. Wouldn’t you say that all of that suggests that she’s not an ordinary child?’