‘I am,’ he said sullenly. ‘All the rest went off to die in Lamorkand. I’ll die here. That way I don’t have to walk so far. Now get out of here.’

She extended her arm and then turned it over in front of his stubbled face. The image of the serpent’s head rose from her palm, its tongue flickering. The half-blind hunchback puckered his face, turning his head this way and that in an effort to see what she was holding. Then he cried out in fright, half-rose and stumbled back over his stool, spilling his beer-keg.

‘You have my permission to offer your greeting,’ Sephrenia said in an implacable tone.

‘I didn’t know who you were, Priestess,’ he gibbered. ‘Forgive me, please.’

‘We’ll see. Is there no one else in the town?’

‘None, Priestess – only me. I’m too crippled to travel, and I can hardly see. They left me behind.’

‘We seek another group of travellers – four men and a woman. One of the men has white hair. Another looks like an animal. Have you seen them?’

‘Please don’t kill me.’

‘Then speak.’

‘Some people passed through here yesterday. They may have been the ones you’re looking for. I can’t say for sure because they didn’t come close enough to the fire for me to see their faces. I could hear them talking, though. They said they were going to Aka and from there to the capital. They stole Tassalk’s boat.’ The hunchback sat up on the floor, clasped his arms about him and began to rock back and forth rhythmically, moaning to himself.

‘He’s crazy,’ Tynian said quietly to Sparhawk.

‘Yes,’ Sparhawk agreed sadly.

‘All gone,’ the hunchback crooned. ‘All gone off to die for Azash. Kill the Elenes, then die. Azash loves death. All die. All die. All die for Azash.’

‘We’re going to take a boat,’ Sephrenia cut through his ravings.

‘Take. Take. Nobody will come back. All die, and Azash will eat them.’

Sephrenia turned her back on him and returned to where the others stood. ‘We’ll leave here now,’ she said in a steely tone.

‘What’s going to happen to him?’ Talen asked her, his voice subdued. ‘He’s all by himself here and nearly blind.’

‘He’ll die,’ she replied in an abrupt tone of voice.

‘All alone?’ Talen’s voice was half-sick.

‘Everybody dies alone, Talen.’ She resolutely led them from the stinking tavern.

Once she was outside, however, she broke down and wept.

Sparhawk went to his saddlebags and took out his map. He studied it with a frown. ‘Why would Martel go to Aka?’ he muttered to Tynian. ‘It’s leagues out of his way.’

‘There’s a road from Aka to Zemoch,’ Tynian said, pointing at the map. ‘We’ve been pushing him hard, and his horses are probably nearly exhausted.’