The Ruby Knight Read Online Free PDF Page B

that much.’ Sephrenia’s tone was almost clinical. ‘Bhelliom, however, is another matter – and so is Azash. If we fail and put the stone into that foul God’s hands, we will doom the world forever. Is it worth the risk?’
    ‘I’m the queen’s champion,’ Sparhawk reminded her. ‘I have to do whatever I possibly can to save her life.’ He rose and strode across the room to her. ‘So help me God, Sephrenia,’ he declared, ‘I’ll break open Hell itself to save that girl.’
    ‘He’s such a child sometimes,’ Sephrenia sighed to Vanion. ‘Can’t you think of some way to make him grow up?’
    ‘I was sort of considering going along,’ the Preceptor replied, smiling. ‘Sparhawk might let me hold his cloak while he kicks in the gate. I don’t think anybody’s assaulted Hell lately.’
    ‘You too?’ She covered her face with her hands. ‘Oh, dear,’ she sighed. ‘All right then, gentlemen,’ she said, giving up, ‘if you’re all so bent on this, we’ll try it – but only on one condition. If we do find Bhelliom, and it restores Ehlana, we must destroy it immediately after the task is done.’
    ‘ Destroy it? ’ Ulath exploded. ‘Sephrenia, it’s the most precious thing in the world.’
    ‘And also the most dangerous. If Azash ever comes to possess it, the world will be lost, and all mankind will be plunged into the most hideous slavery imaginable. I must insist on this, gentlemen. Otherwise, I’ll do everything in my power to prevent your finding that accursed stone.’
    ‘I don’t see that we’ve got much choice here,’ Ulath said gravely to the others. ‘Without her help, we don’t have much hope of unearthing Bhelliom.’
    ‘Oh, somebody’s going to find it all right,’ Sparhawk told him firmly. ‘One of the things Aldreas told me was that the time has come for Bhelliom to see the light of day again, and that no force on earth can prevent it. The only thing that concerns me right now is if it’s going to be one of us who finds it, or some Zemoch, who’ll carry it back to Otha.’
    ‘Or if it rises from the earth all on its own,’ Tynian added moodily. ‘Could it do that, Sephrenia?’
    ‘Probably, yes.’
    ‘How did you get out of the chapterhouse without being seen by the Primate’s spies?’ Kalten asked Sparhawk curiously.
    ‘I threw a rope over the back wall and climbed down.’
    ‘How about getting in and out of the city after the gates were all closed?’
    ‘By pure luck the gate was still open when I was on my way to the cathedral. I used another way to get out.’
    ‘That garret I told you about?’ Talen asked.
    Sparhawk nodded.
    ‘How much did he charge you?’
    ‘A silver half-crown.’
    Talen looked shocked at that. ‘And they call me a thief. He gulled you, Sparhawk.’
    ‘I needed to get out of the city.’ Sparhawk shrugged.
    ‘I’ll tell Platime about it,’ the boy said. ‘He’ll get your money back. A half-crown? That’s outrageous.’ The boy was actually spluttering.
    Sparhawk remembered something. ‘Sephrenia, when I was on my way back here, something was out in the fog watching me. I don’t think it was human.’
    ‘The Damork?’
    ‘I couldn’t say for sure, but it didn’t feel the same. The Damork’s not the only creature subject to Azash, is it?’
    ‘No. The Damork is the most powerful, but it’s stupid. The other creatures don’t have its power, but they’re more clever. In many ways, they can be even more dangerous.’
    ‘All right, Sephrenia,’ Vanion said then, ‘I think you’d better give me Tanis’s sword now.’
    ‘My dear one –’ she began to protest, her face anguished.
    ‘We’ve had this argument once already tonight,’ he told her. ‘Let’s not go through it again.’
    She sighed. Then the two of them began to chant in unison in the Styric tongue. Vanion’s face turned a little greyer at the end when Sephrenia handed him the sword and their hands touched.
    ‘All right,’ Sparhawk said to