Quest for Lost Heroes (40 page)

'There is a treaty being negotiated. It does not concern you,' said Salida.

'There is a
slight
problem,' Chareos told him.

Salida walked to a boulder and sat down. 'Somehow, I did not doubt it,' he said wearily. Chareos joined him and swiftly outlined the journey into Nadir lands, and the secrets they had discovered concerning the Earl's dealings with the Nadren. Lastly he told of the rescue of Ravenna and the imminent birth.

'What is it you have against me, Chareos?' asked Salida. 'Why must you turn up like a bad smell, just when life is looking good? I have had a rise in pay and I now command three hundred men. We have a treaty in prospect and my career is golden. Now you tell me the Earl is a traitor - and you have kidnapped the Nadir Queen. Excellent!'

'What will you do?'

'What would you have me do?' snapped Salida. 'The Lord Regent is expecting a treaty - a treaty he believes will safeguard the Gothir nation. Do you think he will risk a war because of a stolen peasant girl?'

'It is your decision, my friend,' said Chareos softly. 'All Jungir Khan wants is my life, and the lives of my friends. Such a small price to pay for peace, is it not?'

'For the guarantee of peace I would pay more than that,' hissed Salida. The Captain stood and looked to his men. 'Dismount!' he called. 'Take the horses inside. Beris!' A young officer came forward. 'Twenty groups to the wall, eight groups in reserve. Let the others look to the horses and prepare some food.'

'Yes, sir. Sir?'

'What is it?'

'Are we here to fight? I thought we were to accompany the Earl back to New Gulgothir with the treaty.'

'So did I, my boy. Isn't life full of nice surprises?' He turned back to Chareos. 'I assume you have the proof to back up your accusations?'

'Of course: the finest proof of all, the word of the Nadir Queen and the man who collected the Earl's profits. And lastly, the Nadir Princess who dealt with him.'

'This is insane, Chareos. You know that, don't you?'

'I know that you're a better man than the one you serve.'

'You can forget the compliments,' snapped Salida, marching into the fortress and ascending the battlement steps. Seeing Harokas, he scowled.

'Welcome, Salida, old friend,' greeted Harokas. The soldier grunted and watched his men fan out along the wall.

The Nadir rose as the line of armoured men took up their positions. Once more the Earl mounted his bay and galloped to the wall.

'Good to see you, Salida,' he called. 'Arrest those people and open the gate.' Behind him the Nadir had mounted and were riding slowly forward.

'You have been named as a traitor,' answered Salida. 'I ask you now to surrender yourself to me. You will be taken to New Gulgothir for trial before the Lord Regent.'

'Are you mad?' stormed the Earl. 'Who accuses me? Chareos? A man I forgave for murder?'

'I do,' said Harokas. 'You trafficked in slaves - and I collected your gold. The Princess Tanaki is also here. Answer that -
my lord
.'

'I need not answer to you. Come, Salida, think of your position. You have three hundred men. There are a thousand here - and a thousand thousand still to be called upon. You cannot prevail. Open the gates - and we will ignore this . . . this insubordination.'

'I ask you again, my lord, to surrender yourself.'

'I'll see you dead, you miserable cur!' the Earl shouted.

Jungir Khan spurred the grey alongside the nobleman. 'Why are they not opening the gate to you?' he asked mildly.

They are traitors,' snarled the Earl. 'Kill them all!'

'You cannot even control your own captain,' said Jungir. 'How then can you serve me?'

The Earl started to answer, but Jungir's hand flashed up - and the curved dagger blade plunged into the Earl's heart. Slowly he slid from the saddle. Jungir rode the grey stallion forward.

'Who commands this castle?' he called.

'I, Salida.'

'I am Jungir Khan. Come down, I wish to speak with you. It is not fitting that two commanders should negotiate in this manner.'

On the wall Harokas turned to Salida. 'Don't listen to him; it is a trick. Once the gate is open, they will storm through.'

These broken walls would not stop them,' answered Salida. He strode down the rampart steps and ordered the gate to be opened. Chareos walked with him and waited in the gateway.

As Salida walked on to the open ground Jungir touched his heels to the grey - which suddenly reared up, almost toppling him from the saddle. He clung on grimly as the stallion ducked its head and bucked. Jungir wrenched the beast's head and the horse fell - the Khan leaping from the saddle and falling to the dust. The stallion - ears flat to its skull, eyes rolling - lashed out at the Nadir leader, who fell back. The horse reared above him, hooves ready to smash his skull, as Chareos ran forward. 'Be calm, Grey One,' he called. To me!' The stallion swung to the sound of his voice and trotted away from the fallen Khan. Chareos stroked the beast's long neck.

Jungir rose and brushed the dust from his breeches. He was acutely aware that his men would be avidly watching what followed. The Khan had lost face. Worse, he had been rescued by the enemy.

'Are you all right, my lord?' Salida asked.

'I am well. You!' called the Khan to Chareos. 'You may keep the horse. It is a gift.' He swung back to Salida. 'Now, Captain, you say the dead man was a traitor. I have dealt with him. Now I ask you to return to me my property. To refuse will be taken as an act of war against the Nadir people. Is this what you wish, Captain?'

'No, Highness, it is not,' answered Salida. 'But you are standing on Gothir lands and Bel-azar is a Gothir fortress. Will you be so kind as to wait for me to seek orders from my superiors in Gulgothir? I will send a rider - and an answer will be forthcoming within the day?'

'I could take this ruin within an hour,' said Jungir.

'The Nadir are indeed a ferocious enemy,' Salida agreed. 'But allow me the day.'

For a moment Jungir was silent. He walked away, as if considering the request, and glanced at his warriors. The incident with the stallion had worried them. The tribesmen put great weight on omens; the horse had unseated the Khan and now stood in the gateway, allowing itself to be petted by the tall, dark-eyed warrior there. A good shaman would find a positive omen, even in this bizarre circumstance, but Shotza was dead and Asta Khan was standing on the ramparts in full view of the Nadir. If Jungir gave the order his men would attack, but they would do so less willingly, fearing bad omens. And if they should fail to take the walls swiftly there was a chance that - believing the gods were against them - they would turn on their leader. Jungir thought it through. The risk of failure was remote - but on a day like this? He swung back to Salida. 'Men should have time to consider their actions,' he said. 'I give you your day. But hear this: not one person is to leave the fortress - save for your messenger. And all who are not soldiers will be handed over to me. Otherwise I will destroy you all. Let that message be carried to the Lord Regent.'

The Khan strode back through his lines, the Nadir flowing after him. They stopped and made camp a half-mile from the wall.

'You are a man with nerve,' Harokas told Salida.

'And you will need to be,' said Salida, 'if the Lord Regent sends the message I expect him to.'

*

The day wore on, dusk shadows stretching across the valley. The Nadir lit camp-fires and Salida ordered most of the men back from the ramparts. The soldiers started their own cook-fires and Salida brought a bowl of thick soup to where Chareos sat on the wall.

The Blademaster accepted it and put it aside to cool. 'I am sorry, Salida. Once more I seem to have caused trouble for you.'

Salida shrugged. 'I am a soldier, Chareos. Trouble is what I am paid for. But - and I hope you will not take this amiss - when this is over I do not want to see you again.'

'In the circumstances that is understandable,' agreed Chareos with a wry smile. He looked down on the body of the Earl. 'Strange, he was a man of many talents and yet he always told me he envied my role at Bel-azar. He often said he would like to have had the chance to fight here. And he did ... on the wrong side.'

'
That
is a question of perspective, Chareos. The wrong side is the losing side. We have yet to see which side we are on.'

'What do you think the Lord Regent will decide?'

'Let us wait and see,' said Salida, looking away.

'My thoughts exactly,' agreed Chareos. 'He will sell us out. Better that, I suppose, than a costly war he cannot win.'

An ululating chant began in the guardhouse and Salida shivered. 'I do not like that man,' he said. 'Like all Nadir shamen, he reeks of death.'

Tanaki joined them on the battlements, Kiall beside her. That is a birth chant,' she said. 'I'll go down and help.'

Chareos yawned and stretched out on the battlements. He was weary and his bones ached. Rolling his blanket for a pillow, he lay down in the shadows and tried to sleep.

'
Defend the babe, Blademaster
,' came the voice of Okas.

Chareos awoke with a start. Salida had returned to his men and only six sentries walked the walls. Chareos sat up. Asta Khan had promised him the mother and the babe would be safe. What then was the danger? He recalled again the words of Okas back in Tavern Town.

'
Why do the bones ofTenaka Khan lie buried at Bel-azar?
'

Tenaka Khan - The King Beyond the Gate, the Prince of Shadows. A man Asta believed should never have died. Now the shaman sat in the birth room, holding to the skull of the Great Khan. Chareos' mouth was dry and the thoughts tumbled together. What had Asta said? 'No harm will come to the mother of his flesh.'

What of his spirit, his soul?

He glanced down at the guardhouse. In there, at this very moment, Asta Khan was waiting to slay the child's soul. Chareos rose and ran down the rampart steps.

He had reached the guardhouse door and was about to enter when he heard a sound from behind and swivelled, but too late. Asta's dagger slashed out to nick the skin of his face. As the little shaman jumped back Chareos tried to draw his sabre, but his limbs were sluggish and heavy.

'I knew,' whispered Asta Khan, 'that you would divine my purpose. But it is too late for you, Chareos. Die in peace.'

The poison flooded his veins. His legs gave way, and he did not feel himself hit the ground.

Asta pulled the body to the side of the building, then returned to his place at the bedside. He sat on the cold floor and closed his eyes, his spirit soaring free.

Ravenna was moaning with the pain of the contractions, Tanaki beside her. Kiall was asleep by the far wall, but he awoke and sat up. 'What is happening?' he asked.

'Her water's broken. The babe will be born any time now,' answered Tanaki.

'What can I do?'

'What all men do at this time - nothing,' she answered, a smile robbing the words of venom. Kiall rose and walked from the room. Outside the night was fresh and clear. Most of the soldiers were asleep, save the guards on the walls. He looked around for Chareos, but there was no sign of the Blademaster. Seeing Chien-tsu rise from his blankets, Kiall strolled over to him.

The little warrior stretched and lifted his sword-belt into place, the long blade hanging between his shoulder-blades. His servant slept on, snoring softly.

'Where is Chareos?' asked Chien.

'On the wall, I think.'

'Let us hope so,' said Chien, trotting towards the rampart steps. They searched the wall and the gate-tower. Chien seemed anxious now. He turned to stare back into the fortress, his eyes alighting on the still figure by the guardhouse wall. Both men ran to the body and Chien turned it over, feeling for a pulse.

'What happened to him?' asked Kiall.

'I do not know. I heard his soul cry out. It woke me.'

'Look, there is a cut to his face.'

'It could have happened when he fell,' said Chien. 'We must get him to a fire. His body is cold, but the heart still beats.'

*

Chareos awoke to a bleak landscape - the sky a pitiless grey, the land devoid of life. A dead tree stood like a skeleton on the brow of a distant hill, and a light shone there. Chareos shook his head. He had no recollection of travelling to this barren land. As he walked towards the light wolves howled in the distance, the sound eerie and hollow. Chareos climbed the hill and sat by the light, which was emanating from a point just above the ground. He reached out to touch it, but a voice stopped him.

'It is fragile, Chareos, and pure,' said Okas and Chareos turned. The Tattooed Man smiled and held out his hand. Chareos took it.

'What is the light?' asked the Blademaster.

There are two lights,' said Okas. 'They are the souls of the twins Ravenna carries.'

'They are beautiful,' Chareos whispered.

'All children have bright souls, but these two are special. They will change the world, Chareos. For good or ill.'