LITMIR.BIZ

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legions of Atans meeting us at the Astel border might be looked upon as a sign of his Majesty’s appreciation, wouldn’t you say?’

      ‘That’s really not a bad idea, Kalten.’

      ‘I’m not totally stupid, Sparhawk. Now, Ehlana’s going to expect you to rant and rave and wave your arms at her. She’s ready for that, so don’t do it. She is going along. We’ve lost that fight already, wouldn’t you say?’

      ‘Unless I chain her to the bed.’

      ‘There’s an interesting idea.’

      ‘Never mind.’

      ‘It’s tactically unsound to fight a last stand unless you’re trapped. Give her that victory, and then she’ll owe you one. Use it to get her to agree not to do anything while we’re in Tamuli without your express permission. That way we can keep her almost as safe as she’d be if she stayed home. There’s a good chance that she’ll be so happy that you didn’t scream at her that she’ll agree without thinking it all the way through. You’ll be able to restrict her movements when we get there – at least enough to keep her out of danger.’

      ‘Kalten, sometimes you amaze me,’ Sparhawk told his friend.

      ‘I know,’ the blond Pandion replied. ‘This stupid-looking face of mine is very useful sometimes.’

      ‘Where did you ever learn so much about manipulating royalty?’

      ‘I’m not manipulating royalty, Sparhawk. I’m manipulating a woman, and I’m an expert at that. Women are born negotiators. They love these little trades. If you go to a woman and say, “I’ll do this for you if you do that for me,” she’ll almost always be willing to talk about it at least. Women always want to talk about things. If you keep your eye on what you really want, you’ll almost always come out on top.’ He paused. ‘Metaphorically speaking of course,’ he added.

      ‘What are you up to, Sparhawk?’ Mirtai asked him suspiciously when he approached the suite of rooms Dolmant had provided for Ehlana and her personal retinue. Sparhawk carefully let the smug expression slide from his face and assumed one of grave concern instead.

      ‘Don’t try to be clever, Sparhawk,’ she told him. ‘If you hurt her, I’ll have to kill you, you know.’

      ‘I’m not going to hurt her, Mirtai. I’m not even going to yell at her.’

      ‘You’re up to something, aren’t you?’

      ‘Of course I am. After you lock me inside, put your ear to the door and listen.’ He gave her a sidelong look. ‘But you do that all the time anyway, don’t you?’

      She actually blushed. She jerked the door open. ‘Just get in there, Sparhawk!’ she commanded, her face like a thundercloud.

      ‘My, aren’t we testy tonight?’

      ‘Go!’

      ‘Yes, ma’am.’

      Ehlana was ready for him, that much was fairly obvious. She was wearing a dressing-gown of a pale rose that made her look particularly appealing, and she had done things with her hair. There was a barely noticeable tightness about her eyes, though.

      ‘Good evening, love,’ Sparhawk said calmly. ‘Tedious day, wasn’t it? Conferences can be so exhausting at times.’ He crossed the room, pausing to kiss her almost perfunctorily in passing, and poured himself a glass of wine.

      ‘I know what you’re going to say, Sparhawk.’ she said.

      ‘Oh?’ He gave her an innocent look.

      ‘You’re angry with me, aren’t you?’

      ‘No. Not really. What made you think I’d be angry?’

      She looked a bit less sure of herself. ‘You mean you’re not? I thought you’d be raging by now – about my decision to pay a state visit to Tamuli, I mean.’

      ‘No, actually it’s a very good idea. Of course we’ll have to take a few precautions to ensure your safety, but we always have to do that, so we’re sort of used to it, aren’t we?’

      ‘What kind of precautions are we talking about here?’ Her tone was suspicious.

      ‘Nothing all that extreme, dear. I don’t think you should go walking in the forest alone or visiting thieves’ dens without some sort of escort. I’m not talking about anything out of the ordinary, and you’re used to certain restrictions on your movements already. We’ll be in a strange country, and we don’t know the people. I know that you’ll trust me to sort of nose things out, and that you won’t argue with me if I tell you that something’s too dangerous. We can all live with that, I’m sure. You pay me to protect you, after all, so we won’t have any silly little squabbles about security measures, now will we?’ He kept his tone mild and sweetly reasonable, giving her no reason to raise any questions about exactly what he had in mind when he spoke of ‘security measures’.

      ‘You know much more about that sort of thing than I do, my love,’ she conceded, ‘so I’ll leave all that entirely in your hands. If a girl has a champion who just happens to be the greatest knight in the world, she’d be foolish not to pay attention to him, now wouldn’t she?’

      ‘My feelings exactly,’ he agreed. It was a small victory, to be sure, but when one is dealing with a queen, victories of any kind are hard to come by.

      ‘Well,’ she said, rising to her feet, ‘since we’re not going to fight, why don’t we go to bed?’

      ‘Good idea.’

      The kitten Talen had given to Princess Danae was named Mmrr, and Mmrr had one habit that particularly irritated Sparhawk. Kittens like to have company when they sleep, and Mmrr had found that when Sparhawk slept, he curled up slightly and that the space just behind his knees was a perfect place for her to nest. Sparhawk customarily slept with the covers pulled tightly around his neck, but that was no real problem. A cold, wet nose touched to the back of his neck caused him to flinch away violently, and that involuntary movement would always open just enough of a gap for an enterprising kitten. Mmrr found the whole process quite satisfactory and even rather amusing.

      Sparhawk, however, did not. It was shortly before dawn when he emerged from the bedroom, tousled, sleepy-eyed and just a bit out of sorts.

      Princess Danae wandered into the large central room absently dragging Rollo behind her. ‘Have you seen my cat?’ she asked her father.

      ‘She’s in bed with your mother,’ he replied shortly.

      ‘I should have known, I suppose. Mmrr likes the way mother smells. She told me so herself.’

      Sparhawk glanced around and then carefully closed the bedroom door. ‘I need to talk with Sephrenia again,’ he said.

      ‘All right.’

      ‘Not here, though. I’ll find someplace.’

      ‘What happened last night?’

      ‘We have to go to Tamuli.’

      ‘I thought you were going to do something about Drychtnath.’

      ‘I am – in a way. It seems that there’s something – or someone – over on the Daresian continent that’s behind Drychtnath. I think we’ll be able to find out more about him there than we ever would here. I’ll make arrangements to have you taken back to Cimmura.’

      She pursed her small mouth. ‘No, I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘I’d better go along with you.’

      ‘That’s absolutely out of the question.’

      ‘Oh, Sparhawk, do grow up. I’m going along because you’re going to need me when we get there.’ She negligently tossed Rollo over into a corner. ‘I’m also going because you can’t stop me. Come up with some reason for it, Sparhawk. Otherwise you’ll have to explain to mother

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