‘I wouldn’t make any wagers on this one,’ Bevier said. ‘It came up just a little too quickly to suit me, and it’s forced us to take shelter. We’re pinned down in these ruins, you know.’
‘He’s right,’ Berit agreed. ‘Don’t we almost have to assume that somebody’s raised this storm to delay us?’
Kalten gave him a flat, unfriendly stare, a fair indication that he had not yet shaken off his suspicions about the young man and Queen Ehlana’s maid.
‘I don’t think it’s going to be much of a problem,’ Ulath said. ‘As soon as we get back on board that ship, we’ll be able to outrun the hurricane.’
Aphrael was shaking her head.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked her.
‘That ship wasn’t built to ride out a hurricane. As a matter of fact, I’ve already sent it back to where it came from.’
‘Without even telling us?’ Vanion objected.
‘My decision, Vanion. The ship’s no good to us in this kind of weather, so there was no point in putting the crew in danger.’
‘It seemed well made to me,’ Ulath objected. ‘The builders must have taken high winds into account when they designed her.’
She shook her head. ‘The wind doesn’t blow where that ship came from.’
‘There are winds everywhere, Flute,’ he pointed out. ‘There’s no place on this entire world where the wind doesn’t blow now and …’ He broke off and stared at her. ‘Where does that ship come from?’
‘That’s really none of your business, Sir Knight. I can bring it back after the storm passes.’
‘If it passes,’ Kalten added. ‘And I wouldn’t be at all surprised that when it does, this broken-down barn’s going to be surrounded by several thousand armed fanatics.’
They all looked at each other.
‘I think maybe we’d better move on, storm or no storm,’ Vanion said. He looked at Flute. ‘Can you still … ? I mean, will this wind interfere?’
‘It won’t make it any easier,’ she admitted glumly.
‘I don’t want you to hurt yourself,’ Sephrenia told her.
Flute waved her hand as if brushing it aside. ‘Don’t worry about me, Sephrenia.’
‘Don’t try to hide things from me, young lady.’ Sephrenia’s tone was stern. ‘I know exactly what all this wind’s going to do to you.’
‘And I know exactly what trying to carry it around will do to our mysterious friend out there. Trying to chase us with a hurricane on his back will exhaust him far more than carrying ten people on horseback will exhaust me – and I’m faster than he is. They don’t call me the nimble Goddess for nothing, you know. I can run even faster than Talen, if I have to. Where would you like to go, Lord Vanion?’
The Preceptor looked around at them. ‘Back to Jorsan?’
‘It’s probably as good as any place in a hurricane,’ Kalten said. ‘At least the beds are dry.’
‘And the beer is wet?’ Ulath smiled.
‘That did sort of enter into my thinking,’ Kalten admitted.
The wind shrieked around the corners of the building, but the inn was a sturdy stone structure, and the windows had stout shutters. Sparhawk chafed at the delay, but there was no help for it.
Sephrenia had put Flute to bed immediately upon their return to the inn, and she hovered over the little girl protectively. ‘She’s really concerned,’ Vanion reported. ‘I guess there are limits after all. Flute’s trying to make light of it, but I know exhaustion when I see it.’
‘She won’t die, will she?’ Talen asked in a shocked voice.
‘She can’t die, Talen,’ Vanion replied. ‘She can be destroyed, but she can’t die.’
‘What’s the difference?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Vanion admitted. ‘I am sure that she’s very, very tired. We shouldn’t have let her do that.’ He looked around the hallway outside the room where Sephrenia was tending the weary little Goddess. ‘Where’s Kalten?’ he asked.
‘He and Ulath are down in the tap-room, my Lord,’ Bevier replied.
‘I should have known, I guess. One of you might remind them that I won’t go easy on them if they’re unwell when we set out, though.’
They went on downstairs again and periodically checked the weather outside. If anything, the wind actually began to blow harder.
Sparhawk finally went back up and knocked lightly on the door to Sephrenia’s room. ‘Could I have a word with Flute?’ he asked when his tutor came to the door.
‘No. Absolutely not,’ she whispered. ‘I just got her to sleep.’ She came out into the hallway, closed the door, and set her back protectively against it.
‘I’m not going to hurt her, Sephrenia.’
‘You can make safe wagers on that all over Daresia,’ she told him with a steely glint in her eyes. ‘What did you want to ask her?’
‘Could I use Bhelliom to break up this storm?’
‘Probably.’
‘Why don’t I do that, then?’
‘Did you want to destroy Jorsan? – and kill everybody in town?’ He stared at her.
‘You have no real idea of the kind of forces involved in weather, have you, Sparhawk?’
‘Well, sort of,’ he said.
‘No, I don’t think you do, dear one. Whoever raised this hurricane is very powerful, and he knows exactly what he’s doing, but his hurricane is still a natural force. You could use Bhelliom to break it up, certainly, but if you do, you’ll release all that pent-up force at one time and in one place. You wouldn’t even be able to find pieces of Jorsan after the dust settled.’
‘Maybe I’d better drop the idea.’
‘I would. Now run along. I have to keep watch over Aphrael.’
Sparhawk went back down the hallway feeling a little like a small boy who had just been sent to his room.
Ulath was coming up the stairs. ‘Have you got a minute, Sparhawk?’ he asked.
‘Of course.’
‘I think you’d better keep a close eye on Kalten.’
‘Oh?’
‘He’s beginning to have some murderous thoughts about Berit.’
‘Is it getting out of hand?’
‘You knew about it, then? – about the feelings he has for your wife’s maid?’
Sparhawk nodded.
‘The more he drinks, the worse it’s going to get, you know – and there’s nothing else to do during this storm except drink. Is there any real substance to those suspicions of his?’
‘No. He just pulled them out of the air. The girl’s very, very fond of him, actually.’
‘I sort of thought that might be the case. Berit was already having enough trouble with the Emperor’s wife without going in search of more. Does Kalten do this very often? Fall desperately in love, I mean?’
‘So far as I know, it’s the first time. He’s always sort of taken affection where he could find it.’