The Shining Ones. David Eddings

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СКАЧАТЬ with you just now. People we love do irritate us from time to time, you know.’

      ‘I’m sorry,’ she said in a contrite little voice.

      ‘I’ll get over it. Are we finished here? Can we mount up and start back?’

      ‘In just a moment,’ she said, seeming suddenly to remember something. Her eyes narrowed and began to glint dangerously. ‘You!’ she said, leveling a finger at Talen. ‘Come here!’

      Talen sighed and did as he was told.

      ‘What did you think you were doing?’ she demanded.

      ‘Well – I was afraid you’d fall.’

      ‘I wasn’t the one who was going to fall, you clot! Don’t you ever do anything like that again!’

      Talen could have agreed with her. That would have been the simplest way, and it would have avoided an extended scolding. He did not, however. ‘No, Flute. I’m afraid it’s not going to be that way. I’ll jump in every time I think you’re in danger.’ He grimaced. ‘It’s not really my idea. I want to be sure you understand that I haven’t completely lost my mind. It’s just that I can’t help myself. When I see you do something like that, I’m moving before I even think. If you’re really serious about trying to keep me alive, don’t do things like that when I’m around, because I’ll try to stop you every single time – regardless of how stupid it is.’

      ‘Why?’ she asked him intently.

      ‘I guess it’s because I love you.’ He shrugged.

      She squealed with delight and swarmed up into his arms. ‘He’s such a nice boy!’ she exclaimed, covering his face with kisses.

      They had gone no more than a mile when Kalten reined in sharply, filling the air with sulphurous curses.

      ‘Kalten!’ Vanion snapped. There are ladies present!’

      ‘Take a look behind us, my Lord,’ the blond Pandion said.

      It was the cloud, inky black, ominous, and creeping along the ground like viscous slime.

      Vanion swore and reached for his sword.

      ‘That won’t do any good, my Lord,’ Sparhawk told him. He reached inside his tunic and took out the gleaming box. ‘This might, though.’ He rapped the band of his ring against the box-lid.

      Nothing happened.

      ‘You have to tell it to open, Sparhawk,’ Flute instructed.

      ‘Open!’ Sparhawk commanded, touching the ring to the box again.

      The lid popped up, and Sparhawk saw the Bhelliom nestled inside. The Sapphire Rose was perfect, eternal, and it glowed a deep blue. It seemed strangely resentful as Sparhawk reached in and lifted it out, however. ‘We all know who we are,’ he told the stone and its unwilling inhabitants. ‘I’m not going to speak to you in Trollish because I know you can understand me, no matter what language I use. I want you to stop this nonsense with that cloud, and I want you to do it right now! When I turn round to look, your little patch of private darkness had better be gone. I don’t care how you do it, but get rid of that cloud!’

      The Sapphire Rose grew suddenly hot in his hand, and it seemed almost to writhe against his fingers. Flickers of red, green, orange and purple, all interspersed with streaks of white, stained the azure petals of Bhelliom as the Troll-Gods trapped within the gem fought to resist. Bhelliom, however, appeared to exert some kind of over-control, and those ugly flickers were smothered as the jewel began to burn more brightly.

      Then there was a sudden, violent jolt which numbed Sparhawk’s arm to the shoulder.

      ‘That’s the way!’ Kalten shouted with a sudden laugh.

      Sparhawk turned in his saddle and saw that the cloud was gone. ‘What happened?’

      ‘It sort of flopped around like a fresh-caught eel,’ Kalten laughed again, ‘and then it flew all to pieces. What did you do, Sparhawk? I couldn’t hear what you said.’

      ‘I let our blue friend and its tenants know that the cloud was starting to irritate me. Then I sort of hinted at the fact that I get ugly when I’m irritated.’

      ‘They must have believed you.’

      Flute was staring at Sparhawk in open astonishment. ‘You broke all the rules!’ she accused him.

      ‘I do that sometimes. It’s quicker to cut across the formalities once in a while.’

      ‘You’re not supposed to do it that way.’

      ‘It worked, didn’t it?’

      ‘It’s a question of style, Sparhawk. I’m technically in charge here, and I don’t know what Bhelliom and the Troll-Gods are going to think of me after that.’

      He laughed, and then gently put Bhelliom back into its box. ‘Nice job,’ he told it. They were going to have to work together, after all, and a little encouragement now and then never hurt. Then he firmly closed the lid. ‘It’s time for some speculation, gentlemen,’ he said to the others. ‘What can we make of this?’

      ‘They know where we are, for one thing,’ Talen offered.

      ‘It could be the rings again,’ Sephrenia noted. That’s what happened last time. The cloud – and the shadow – were concentrating on Sparhawk and Ehlana right at first because they had the rings.’

      ‘Bhelliom’s closed up inside the box,’ Sparhawk said, ‘and so are the Troll-Gods.’

      ‘Are they still inside the jewel?’ Ulath asked him.

      ‘Oh, yes,’ Sparhawk said. ‘I could definitely feel them when I took Bhelliom out.’ He looked at Aphrael, phrasing his next question carefully. There were still some things that needed to be concealed. ‘I’ve heard that a God can be in more than one place at the same time.’ He left it a little tentative.

      ‘Yes,’ she replied.

      ‘Does that apply to the Troll-Gods as well?’

      She struggled with it. ‘I’m not sure,’ she admitted. ‘It’s a fairly complicated business, and the Troll-Gods are quite limited.’

      ‘Does this box confine them in the same way that chain-mail pouch did back in Zemoch?’

      She shook her head. ‘It’s different. When they’re encased in gold that way, they don’t know where they are.’

      ‘Does that make a difference?’

      ‘You have to know where you are before you can go someplace else.’

      ‘I’ll take your word for it.’ He made a face. ‘I think we may have blundered again,’ he said sourly.

      ‘How so?’ Bevier asked him.

      ‘We don’t really have any absolute СКАЧАТЬ