‘Oh,’ at bunch. You shoulda tole me ‘bout ape-face right off. They rode thoo here ‘bout daylight yestiddy mornin’. ’At ’ere gorilla ye was talkin’ about, he clumb down off’n his horse an’ he come in here bellerin’ fer ale. He don’t talk none too good, does he?’

‘It usually takes him about half a day to think up an answer when somebody says hello to him.’

The tavern keeper cackled shrilly. ‘At’s him, all right. He don’t smell none too sweet neither, does he?’

Kurik grinned at him and spun a coin across the counter to him. ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he said. ‘He isn’t too much worse than an open cesspool. Thank you for the information, my friend.’

‘Y’ think ye’ll be able t’ ketch up with ‘em?’

‘Oh, we’ll catch them all right,’ Kurik replied fervently, ‘sooner or later. Were there any others with them?’

‘No. Jist ‘em five. ‘Ceptin’ fer the gorilla, they all had ther cloaks pulled up ‘round ther heads. ‘At’s probably how come I couldn’t see the one with the white hair. They was movin’ along at a purty good clip, though, so’s iff’n ye wants t’ ketch ‘em, yer gonna have t’ push yer horses some.’

‘We can do that, my friend. Thanks again.’ And Kurik and Sparhawk went back out into the street. ‘Was that more or less what you needed to know, My Lord?’ Kurik asked.

‘That old fellow was a gold-mine, Kurik. We’ve gained a bit of time on Martel, we know that he doesn’t have any troops with him, and we know that he’s going towards Motera.’

‘We know something else too, Sparhawk.’

‘Oh? What’s that?’

‘Adus still needs a bath.’

Sparhawk laughed. ‘Adus always needs a bath. We’ll probably have to pour about a hogshead of water on him before we bury him. Otherwise, the ground might just spit him back out again. Let’s go on back to the inn.’

When Sparhawk and Kurik re-entered the low-beamed common room of the inn, however, they found that their party had expanded slightly. Talen sat all innocent-eyed at the table with a number of hard stares focused on him.

Chapter 21

‘I’m a royal messenger,’ the boy said quickly as Sparhawk and Kurik approached the table, ‘so don’t start reaching for your belts, either of you.’

‘You’re a royal what?’ Sparhawk asked him.

‘I’m carrying a message to you from the queen, Sparhawk.’

‘Let’s see the message.’

‘I committed it to memory. We really wouldn’t want messages like that falling into unfriendly hands, would we?’

‘All right. Let’s hear it then.’

‘It’s sort of private, Sparhawk.’

‘That’s all right. We’re among friends.’

‘I can’t see why you’re behaving this way. I’m just obeying the queen’s command, that’s all.’

‘The message, Talen.’