‘Zalasta has offered us his aid, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia said then. ‘He is very wise and deeply schooled in the secrets.’

‘We would be honoured, learned one,’ Sparhawk said.

Zalasta smiled. ‘I would be of small use on your quest, Sir Sparhawk,’ he said in a slightly self-deprecating way. ‘Were you to encase me in steel, I’m sure I would wither like a flower.’

Sparhawk tapped his breastplate. ‘It’s an Elene affectation, learned one,’ he said, ‘– like pointed hats or brocade doublets. We can only hope that someday steel wardrobes will go out of fashion.’

‘I had always thought Elenes to be a humourless race,’ the Styric noted, ‘but you are droll, Sir Sparhawk. I would be of little use to you in your trek, but at some future time, I may be able to assist you in some other matter of a certain importance.’

‘Trek?’ Sparhawk asked.

‘I know not where you and my sister will go, Sir Knight, but I perceive many leagues hovering about you both. I have come to advise you both to steel your hearts and to be ever watchful. A danger avoided is sometimes preferable to a danger overcome.’ Zalasta looked around. ‘And my presence here is one of those avoidable dangers, I think. You are cosmopolitan, Sir Sparhawk, but I think that perhaps some of your comrades may be less sophisticated.’ He bowed to Sparhawk, kissed Sephrenia’s palms and then glided silently back up the shadowy side-passage.

‘I haven’t seen him in more than a century,’ Sephrenia said. ‘He’s changed – just a little.’

‘Most of us would change in that long a period, little mother,’ Sparhawk smiled, ‘– except you, of course.’

‘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.’