‘You’re such a nice boy, Sparhawk.’ She sighed. ‘It all seems so long ago. Zalasta was always so serious when he was a child. Even then he was wise beyond belief. His grasp of the secrets is profound.’

‘What’s this trek he was talking about?’

‘Do you mean to say you can’t feel it? You can’t feel the distance stretching in front of you?’

‘Not noticeably, no.’

‘Elenes,’ she sighed. ‘Sometimes I’m surprised that you can even feel the seasons turn.’

He ignored that. ‘Where are we going?’

‘I don’t know. Not even Zalasta can perceive that. The future lying before us is dark, Sparhawk. I should have known that it would be, but I didn’t think my way completely through it, I guess. We are going somewhere, though. Why aren’t you with Ehlana?’

‘The kings are all being solicitous. I can’t get near her.’ He paused. ‘Sephrenia, she can see it too – the shadow, I mean. I think it’s probably because she’s wearing one of the rings.’

‘That would stand to reason. Bhelliom’s useless without the rings.’

‘Does it put her in any kind of danger?’

‘Of course it does, Sparhawk, but Ehlana’s been in danger since the day she was born.’

‘Isn’t that just a little fatalistic?’

‘Perhaps. I just wish I could see this shadow of yours. I might be able to identify it a little more precisely.’

‘I can borrow Ehlana’s ring and give them both to you,’ he offered. ‘Then you can take Bhelliom out of the pouch. I can almost guarantee that you’ll see the shadow at that point.’

‘Don’t even suggest that, Sparhawk,’ she shuddered. ‘I wouldn’t be much good to you if I were to suddenly vanish – permanently.’

‘Sephrenia,’ he said a bit critically, ‘was I some sort of an experiment? You keep warning everybody not to touch Bhelliom, but you didn’t even turn a hair when you were telling me to chase it down and take it away from Ghwerig. Wasn’t I in a certain amount of danger too? Did you just wait to see if I’d explode when I put my hands on it?’

‘Don’t be silly, Sparhawk. Everyone knows that you were destined to wield Bhelliom.’

‘I didn’t.’

‘Let’s not pursue this, dear one. We have enough problems already. Just accept the fact that you and Bhelliom are linked. I think that shadow should be our concern right now. What is it, and what is it doing?’

‘It seems to be following Bhelliom – and the rings. Can we discount the things Perraine was trying to do? Wasn’t that Martel’s idea – one that he came up with on his own?’

‘I don’t know that we’d be safe to assume that. Martel was controlling Perraine, but something else may have been controlling Martel – without his even knowing it.’

‘I see that this is going to be another of the kind of discussions that give me headaches.’

‘Just take precautions, dear one,’ she told him. ‘Don’t relax your guard. Let’s see if we can catch up with Ehlana. She’ll be upset if you’re not attentive.’

They were all somewhat subdued when they gathered together that evening. This time, however, they did not gather in the Pandion chapterhouse but rather in a large over-decorated chamber attached to the Archprelate’s personal apartments. The room was normally the site of the meetings of the highest councils of the Church, and they had assembled there at Sarathi’s personal request. Tynian, Sparhawk noticed, was conspicuously absent. The walls of the room were panelled, and it was adorned with blue drapes and carpeting. A very large religious fresco decorated the ceiling. Talen looked up and sniffed disdainfully. ‘I could do a better job than that with my left hand,’ he declared.

‘There’s a thought,’ Kurik said. ‘I think I’ll ask Dolmant if he’d like to have the ceiling of the nave here in the Basilica decorated.’

‘Kurik,’ Talen said with some shock, ‘that ceiling’s bigger than a cow pasture. It’d take forty years to paint enough pictures to cover it.’

‘You’re young,’ Kurik shrugged, ‘and steady work might keep you out of trouble.’

The door opened, and Dolmant entered. They all rose from their seats and genuflected.

‘Please,’ Dolmant said wearily, ‘spare me. People have been doing that ever since the overclever Queen of Elenia jammed me into a seat I didn’t really want.’

‘Why, Sarathi,’ she protested, ‘what a thing to say.’

‘We have things to discuss, my friends,’ Dolmant said, ‘and decisions to make.’ He took his seat at the head of the large conference table in the centre of the room. ‘Please sit down, and let’s get to work.’

‘When would you like us to schedule your coronation, Sarathi?’ Patriarch Emban asked.

‘That can wait. Let’s push Otha off our doorstep first. I don’t think I’d care to have him attend. How do we proceed?’

King Wargun looked around. ‘I’ll throw out some ideas and see how the rest respond,’ he said. ‘The way I see it, we’ve got two options. We can march east until we run into the Zemochs and then fight them in open fields, or we can move out until we find suitable terrain and stop and wait for them. The first option would keep Otha farther away from Chyrellos, and the second would give us time to erect field fortifications. Both approaches have their advantages, and they both have their drawbacks as well.’ He looked around again. ‘What do you think?’ he asked.

‘I think we need to know what kind of a force we’re facing,’ King Dregos said.

‘There are a lot of people in Zemoch,’ old King Obler said.

‘That’s God’s own truth,’ Wargun scowled. ‘They breed like rabbits.’

‘We can expect to be outnumbered then,’ Obler continued. ‘If I remember my military strategy correctly, that would almost compel us to take up defensive positions. We’ll have to erode Otha’s forces before we can go on the offensive.’

‘Another siege,’ Komier groaned. ‘I hate sieges.’

‘We don’t always get what we want, Komier,’ Abriel told him. ‘There’s a third option, however, King Wargun. There are many fortified keeps and castles in Lamorkand. We can move out, occupy those strongholds in force and hold them. Otha won’t be able to by-pass them, because if he does, the troops inside will be able to come out and decimate his reserves and destroy his supply trains.’