‘That’s your final decision, my Lord Abbot?’ Sparhawk asked.

‘I’m afraid it is, Sir Sparhawk.’ ‘Oh, all right. Let us know as soon as he’s completed his penance. Then we’ll kill him.’ ‘Of course, Sir Sparhawk.’

After the violently trembling Elius had been taken away by a pair of burly monks, the three men in the room began to laugh.

‘That was rare, my Lord,’ Sparhawk congratulated the abbot. ‘It was exactly the right tone.’

‘I’m not a complete novice at this sort of thing, Sparhawk,’ the abbot said. He looked at the big Pandion shrewdly ‘You Pandions have a reputation for brutality, particularly where questioning captives is concerned.’

‘It seems to me I’ve heard some rumours to that effect, yes,’ Sparhawk admitted.

‘But you don’t really do anything to people, do you?’

‘Not usually, no. It’s the reputation that persuades people to co-operate. Do you have any idea how hard – and messy – it is actually to torture people? We planted those rumours about our order ourselves. After all, why work if you don’t have to?’

‘My feelings exactly, Sparhawk. Now,’ the abbot said eagerly, ‘why don’t you tell me about the naked lady – and the bridge –and anything else you might have run across? Don’t leave anything out. I’m only a poor cloistered monk, and I don’t really get much fun out of life.’

Chapter 20

Sparhawk winced and drew his breath in sharply. ‘Sephrenia, do you have to dig straight in?’ he complained.

‘Don’t be such a baby,’ she told him, continuing to pick at the sliver in his hand with her needle. ‘If I don’t get it all out, it’s going to fester.’

He sighed and gritted his teeth together as she continued to probe. He looked at Flute, who had both hands across her mouth as if to stifle a giggle.

‘You think it’s funny?’ he asked her crossly.

She lifted her pipes and blew a derisive little trill.

‘I’ve been thinking, Sparhawk,’ the abbot said. ‘If Annias has people in Jiroch the same as he has here in Cippria, wouldn’t it be safer just to go around it and avoid the possibility of being recognized?’

‘I think we’ll have to chance it, my Lord,’ Sparhawk said. ‘I’ve got a friend in Jiroch I need to talk with before we go upriver.’ He looked down at his black robe. ‘These ought to get us past a casual glance.’

‘I think it’s dangerous, Sparhawk.’

‘Not if we’re careful, I hope.’

Kurik, who had been saddling their horses and loading the pack mule the abbot had given them, came into the room. He was carrying a long, narrow wooden case. ‘Do you really have to take this?’ he asked Sephrenia.

‘Yes, Kurik,’ she replied in a sad voice. ‘I do.’ ‘What’s in it?’