David Eddings - The Sapphire Rose

‘All right. I think I’m being followed.’

Her eyes narrowed.

‘I had a nightmare right after we took Bhelliom away from Ghwerig. Azash was mixed up in it and so was Bhelliom. There was something else as well though – something I can’t put a name to.’

‘Can you describe it?’

‘Sephrenia, I can’t even see it. It seems to be some sort of shadow – something dark that’s right on the very edge of my vision – like a flicker of movement to one side and slightly behind me. I get the feeling that it doesn’t like me very much.’

‘Does it only come to you when you’re dreaming?’

‘No. I see it now and then when I’m awake too. It seems to appear whenever I take Bhelliom out of its pouch. There are other times as well, but I can almost count on seeing it anytime I open the pouch.’

‘Do that now, dear one,’ she instructed. ‘Let’s find out if I can see it too.’

Sparhawk reached inside his doublet, took out the pouch and opened it. He removed the Sapphire Rose and held it in his hand. The flicker of darkness was immediately there. ‘Can you see it?’ he asked.

Sephrenia looked carefully around the room. ‘No,’ she admitted. ‘Can you feel anything coming from the shadow?’

‘I can tell that it isn’t fond of me.’ He put Bhelliom back into the pouch. ‘Any ideas?’

‘It might be something connected with Bhelliom itself,’ she suggested a bit dubiously. ‘To be perfectly honest with you, though, I don’t really know that much about Bhelliom. Aphrael doesn’t like to talk about it. I think the Gods are afraid of it. I know a little bit about how to use it, but that’s about all.’

‘I don’t know if there’s any connection,’ Sparhawk mused, ‘but somebody’s definitely interested in doing me in. There were those men on the road outside Emsat, that ship that Stragen thought might be following us and those outlaws who were looking for us on the Cardos road.’

‘Not to mention the fact that somebody tried to shoot you in the back with a crossbow when we were on our way to the palace,’ she added.

‘Could it be another Seeker perhaps?’ he suggested.

‘Something like that maybe. Once the Seeker takes control of somebody, the man becomes a mindless tool. These attempts on your life seem to be a bit more rational.’

‘Could Azash have some creature who could manage that?’

‘Who knows what kinds of creatures Azash can raise? I know of a dozen or so different varieties, but there are probably scores of others.’

‘Would you be offended if I tried logic?’

‘Oh, I suppose you can – if you feel you must.’ She smiled at him.

‘All right. First off, we know that Azash has wanted me dead for a long time now.’

‘All right.’

‘It’s probably even more important to Him now, though, because I’ve got Bhelliom, and I know how to use it.’

‘You’re stating the obvious, Sparhawk.’

‘I know. Logic’s like that sometimes. It doesn’t always happen, but these attempts to kill me usually come sometime not long after I’ve taken out the Bhelliom and caught a glimpse of that shadow.’

‘Some kind of connection, you think?’

‘Isn’t it possible?’

‘Almost anything’s possible, Sparhawk.’

‘All right then. If the shadow’s something like the Damork or the Seeker, it’s probably coming from Azash. That “probably” makes the logic a little shaky, but it’s something to sort of consider, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Under the circumstances I’d almost have to agree.’

‘What do we do about it then? It’s an interim hypothesis, and it ignores the possibility of pure coincidence, but shouldn’t we take some steps just in case there is some connection?’

‘I don’t think we can afford not to, Sparhawk. I think the first thing you should do is to keep Bhelliom inside that pouch. Don’t take it out unless you absolutely have to.’

‘That makes sense.’

‘And if you do have to take it out, be on your guard for an attempt on your life.’

‘I sort of do that automatically anyway – all the time. I’m in a nervous kind of profession.’

‘ And, I think we’d better keep this to ourselves. If that shadow comes from Azash, it can turn our friends against us. Any one of them could turn on you at any time at all. If we tell them what we suspect, the shadow – or whatever it is – will probably know what’s in their thoughts. Let’s not warn Azash that we know what He’s doing.’

Sparhawk steeled himself to say it, and when he did, it was with a vast reluctance. ‘Wouldn’t it solve everything if we were just to destroy Bhelliom right here and now?’ he asked her.

She shook her head. ‘No, dear one,’ she said. ‘We may still need it.’

‘It’s a simple answer, though.’

‘Not really, Sparhawk.’ Her smile was bleak. ‘We don’t know for sure what kind of force the destruction of Bhelliom might release. We might lose something fairly important.’

‘Such as?’

‘The city of Cimmura – or the entire Eosian continent, for all I know.’

It was nearly dusk when Sparhawk quietly opened the door to his queen’s bedroom and looked in on her. Her face was framed by that wealth of pale blonde hair fanning out on the pillow and catching the golden light of the single candle on the stand at the side of her bed. Her eyes were closed, and her face softly composed. He had discovered in the past day or so that an adolescence spent in the corrupt court dominated by the Primate Annias had marked her face with a kind of defensive wariness and a flinty determination. When she slept, however, her expression had the same soft, luminous gentleness that had caught at his heart when she was a child. Privately, and now without reservation, he admitted that he loved this pale girl-child, although he was still adjusting his conception of her in that regard. Ehlana was much a woman now and no longer a child. With an obscure kind of twinge, Sparhawk admitted to himself that he really was wrong for her. There was a temptation to take advantage of her girlish infatuation, but he knew that to do so would not only be morally wrong, but could also cause her much suffering later in her life. He determined that under no circumstances would he inflict the infirmities of his old age upon the woman he loved.

‘I know you’re there, Sparhawk.’ Her eyes did not open, and a soft smile touched her lips. ‘I always used to love that when I was a child, you know. Sometimes, particularly when you started lecturing me on theology, I’d doze off – or pretend to. You’d talk on for a while, and then you’d just sit there, watching me. It always made me feel so warm and secure and totally safe. Those moments were probably the happiest in my life. And just think, after we’re married, you’ll watch me go to sleep in your arms every night, and I’ll know that nothing in the world can ever hurt me, because you’ll always be there watching over me.’ She opened her calm grey eyes. ‘Come here and kiss me, Sparhawk,’ she told him, extending her arms.

‘It’s not proper, Ehlana. You’re not fully dressed, and you’re in bed.’

‘We’re betrothed, Sparhawk. We have a certain leeway in such matters. Besides, I’m the queen. I’ll decide what’s proper and what’s not.’

Sparhawk gave up and kissed her. As he had noted before, Ehlana was most definitely no longer a child. ‘I’m too old for you, Ehlana,’ he reminded her gently once again. He wanted to keep that firmly in front of both of them. ‘You do know that I’m right, don’t you?’

‘Nonsense.’ She had not yet removed her arms from about his neck. ‘I forbid you to get old. There, does that take care of it?’