‘Are you sure?’ Sparhawk whispered to his squire.
Kurik nodded. ‘It was definitely smoke, Sparhawk,’ he replied in a low voice, ‘and somebody was doing a very bad job of frying bacon.’
‘There isn’t much we can do but wait,’ Sparhawk said sourly. ‘I don’t want to blunder into anybody.’ He tried to shift his position, but he was wedged in between the trunks of two scrubby trees.
‘What’s the matter?’ Kurik whispered.
‘There’s water dripping off a limb just over me. It’s running down the back of my neck.’
Kurik gave him a long, speculative look. ‘How are you feeling, My Lord?’ he asked.
‘Wet. Thanks for asking, though.’
‘You know what I mean. I’m supposed to keep an eye on you. You’re the key to this whole business. It doesn’t really matter if the rest of us start feeling sorry for ourselves, but if you start having doubts and fears, we’re all in trouble.’
‘Sephrenia’s like a mother hen sometimes.’
‘She loves you, Sparhawk. It’s only natural for her to be concerned.’
‘I’m a big boy now, Kurik. I’m even married.’
‘Why, I do believe you’re right. How strange that I missed that.’
‘Very funny.’
They waited, straining their ears, but all they could hear was the sound of water dripping from tree-limbs.
‘Sparhawk,’ Kurik said finally.
‘Yes?’
‘If something happens to me, you’ll look after Aslade, won’t you? – and the boys?’
‘Nothing’s going to happen to you, Kurik.’
‘Probably not, but I need to know anyway.’
‘You’ve got a pension coming – quite a sizeable one, actually. I may have to sell off some acreage to cover it. Aslade will be well taken care of.’
‘That’s assuming you survive this trip as well,’ Kurik said wryly.
‘You don’t have to worry about that, my friend. It’s in my will. Vanion will see to it – or Ehlana.’
‘You think of everything, don’t you, Sparhawk?’
‘I’m in a dangerous line of work. I’m sort of obliged to make provisions – just in case of accidents.’ Sparhawk grinned at his friend. ‘Is this particular subject designed to cheer me up in some obscure way?’ he asked.
‘I just wanted to know, that’s all,’ Kurik said. ‘It’s good to have your mind at rest about such things. Aslade should be able to set the boys up in trades of their own then.’
‘Your boys already have a trade, Kurik.’
‘Farming? Sometimes that’s a little dubious.’
‘I wasn’t talking about farming. I’ve talked with Vanion about them. Your oldest boy’s probably going to be entering his novitiate when this business is all over.’
‘That’s ridiculous, Sparhawk.’
‘Not really. The Pandion order always needs good men, and if they’re at all like their father, your sons are some of the best. We’d have had you knighted years ago, but you wouldn’t even let me talk about it. You’re a stubborn man, Kurik.’
‘Sparhawk, you –’ Kurik broke off. ‘Somebody’s coming!’ he hissed.
‘This is pure idiocy,’ a voice from the other side of the thicket said in the crude mixture of Elene and Styric that identified the speaker as a Zemoch.
‘What did he say?’ Kurik whispered. ‘I can’t follow that gibberish.’
‘I’ll tell you later.’
‘Why don’t you go back and tell Surkhel that he’s an idiot, Houna?’ the other voice suggested. ‘I’m sure he’ll be very interested in your opinion.’
‘Surkhel is an idiot, Timak. He’s from Korakach. They’re all either insane or feeble-minded there.’
‘Our orders come from Otha, not from Surkhel, Houna,’ Timak said. ‘Surkhel’s just doing what he’s told to do.’
‘Otha,’ Houna snorted. ‘I don’t believe there is an Otha. The priesthood just made him up. Who’s ever seen him?’
‘You’re lucky I’m your friend, Houna. You could get yourself fed to the vultures for that kind of talk. Stop complaining so much. This isn’t so bad. All we have to do is ride around looking for people in a countryside where there aren’t any people. They’ve all been rounded up and sent off to Lamorkand already.’
‘I’m tired of all the rain, that’s all.’
‘Be glad it’s only raining water, Houna. When our friends encounter the Church Knights on the plains of Lamorkand, they’ll probably run into cloudbursts of fire – or lightning – or poisonous snakes.’
‘The Church Knights can’t be that bad,’ Houna scoffed. ‘We’ve got Azash to protect us.’
‘Some protection,’ Timak sneered. ‘Azash boils Zemoch babies down for soup-stock.’
‘That’s superstitious nonsense, Timak.’
‘Have you ever known anybody who went to his temple and came back?’
A shrill whistle came from some distance off.
‘That’s Surkhel,’ Timak said. ‘It’s time to move on, I guess. I wonder if he knows how irritating that whistling is?’
‘He has to whistle, Timak. He hasn’t learned how to talk yet. Let’s go.’
‘What did they say?’ Kurik whispered. ‘Who are they?’
‘They seem to be a part of a patrol of some kind,’ Sparhawk replied.
‘Looking for us? Did Martel manage to send people out in spite of everything?’
‘I don’t think so. From what those two said, they’re out to round up everybody who hasn’t gone off to war. Let’s gather up the others and move on.’
‘What were they saying?’ Kalten asked as they set out again.
‘They were complaining,’ Sparhawk said. ‘They sounded like soldiers the whole world over. I think if we push aside all these horror-stories, we’ll find that Zemochs aren’t really all that much different from common people the world over.’
‘They worship Azash,’ Bevier said stubbornly. ‘That makes them monsters by definition.’
‘They fear Azash, Bevier,’ Sparhawk corrected. ‘There’s a difference between fear and worship. I don’t really think we need to embark on a war of total annihilation here in Zemoch. We need to clean out the fanatics and the elite troops – along with Azash and Otha, of course. After that, I think we can leave the common people alone to pick out their own theology, whether it’s Elene or Styric’