"You have failed your Emperor," said Zhu Chao. "He set you a simple task and you have behaved like an incompetent. A few Nadir to kill and you baulk at the test."
"Those few Nadir," said Altharin coldly, "have boxed themselves behind three narrow pa.s.ses. I have lost more than two hundred men trying to force a way through them, and your famed Brotherhood have enjoyed no more success than I. One old man broke their attack."
"You dare to criticise the Brotherhood?" hissed Zhu Chao. "You are worse than incompetent. You are a traitor!"
"I serve the Emperor - not you, you puffed up ..."He groaned and sagged into the arms of Powis, a long-handled knife jutting from his ribs.
Eyes wide with shock, Powis took the dying general in his arms, lowering him to the floor. He looked up at the white-haired figure of Innicas. "You have killed him!" he whispered.
Altharin tried to speak, but blood bubbled from his lips and his head sagged back. Innicas leaned down and dragged the knife clear, wiping it clean on the dead General"s tunic of silk. Powis rose, hands trembling.
"Do nothing rash, boy!" said the image of Zhu Chao. "The order for his death came from the Emperor himself. Go and fetch Gallis. Tell him the Emperor has promoted him."
Powis stepped back then gazed down at the corpse upon the floor. "Do it now!" ordered Innicas.
Powis stumbled back and ran from the tent.
"There is another pa.s.s, Lord, thirty miles to the north," said Innicas.
"Take one hundred men - the best we have. The Nadir will try to reach Kar-Barzac. Catch them in the valley. They will be stretched thin, some already at the fortress, others trying to fight a rearguard. The women and children will be in a column on open ground. Destroy them! We"ll see how well the Nadir fight when there is nothing left to fight for."
"As you order it, Lord, so will it be," said Innicas, bowing.
"Have you reached Gracus and the others?"
"No, Lord. But Zamon is waiting in the mountains with their horses. He said they arrived safely.
They are planning to move below ground. Perhaps the magic of Kar-Barzac prevents communication."
"They are there - that is what matters," said Zhu Chao. "All is as we planned it. The Ventrians have landed in the south. The Drenai, without Karnak, have fallen back in disorder. Our own troops are waiting to sweep down on to the Sentran Plain. But much of what we need for future control lies in Kar-Barzac. Do not fail me, Innicas!"
"You may rely on me, my lord."
"Let it be so."
The Gothir, dragging and carrying their wounded with them, fell back as the sun drifted low behind the mountains. Senta slumped to the ground, Belash beside him. "I hate to admit it, but I"m getting tired," said the swordsman.
"I also," admitted Belash. The Nadir leaned his head back against the black rock of the wall. "The attacks were more fierce today." He rubbed his tired eyes. "We will fall back in two hours."
"How far is it to this fortress?"
"We will be in the valley by the dawn," said Belash glumly.
"You don"t sound too enthusiastic, my friend."
"It is a place of much evil." Belash opened the pouch at his side and removed the bones, which he held pressed between his palms. He sighed. "I think Belash will die there," he said.
"What are those things?" asked Senta, seeking to change the subject.
"The right hand of my father. He was killed, a long time ago now, and still I am no closer to avenging him."
"What happened?"
"He had ponies to sell and rode to the market at Namib. A long way. He went with my brother and Anshi Chen. Only Anshi survived the attack. He was behind the herd, and when the raiders struck, Anshi fled."
"That"s why there is such anger between you? Because he was a coward?"
"He is no coward!" snapped Belash. "There were too many of the raiders, and it would have been stupid to fight. No, Anshi and I loved the same woman. She chose him. But he is a fine chieftain, may my tongue turn black for admitting it. I tried to track the raiders. I found my father"s body, took these bones and buried the rest. But the tracks were too old. Anshi watched as my father was struck down. He saw the man who dealt the death blow; he described him to me. I have lived since then in the hope of finding him - a white-haired warrior, with eyes the colour of blood."
"There"s still time," said Senta.
"Maybe." Belash levered himself to his feet, and wandered away along the wall, speaking to the defenders, kneeling beside the wounded and the dying.
Senta stretched himself out, lying back with his head on his hands, watching the stars appear in the darkening sky. The air was fresh and cool, the bonded rocks below his back feeling almost soft.
He closed his eyes. When he opened them again Miriel was beside him. He smiled, "I fell asleep,"
he said. "But I dreamt of you."
"Something lascivious, I have no doubt."
He sat up and stretched. "No. We were sitting in a field by a stream, beneath the branches of a willow. We were holding hands. Like this." Reaching out he took her hand, raising it to his lips.
"You never give in, do you?" she said, pulling back from his touch.
"Never! Why don"t you kiss me, beauty? Just the once. To see if you like it."
"No."
"You cut me to the bone."
"I think you"ll survive."
"You are frightened, aren"t you? Frightened of giving. Frightened of living. I heard you with Angel last night, offering yourself to him. It was a mistake, beauty, and Angel was right to say no.
Insane, but right. What is it you fear?"
"I don"t want to talk about this," said Miriel, making to rise. Reaching out he lightly touched her arm.
"Talk to me," he said softly.
"Why?" she whispered.
"Because I care."
She sank back and for a while, said nothing. He did not press her, but sat beside her in silence.
At last she spoke. "If you love someone you open all the doors into your heart. You let them in.
When they die you have no defences. I saw my father"s pain when ... when Mother was killed. I don"t want that pain. Ever."
"You can"t avoid it, Miriel. No one can. We are like the seasons - we grow in spring, mature in summer, fade in the autumn and die in the winter. But it is foolish to say, "It is springtime but I will grow no flowers for they must fade." What is life without love? Perpetual winter. Cold and snow.
It"s not for you, beauty. Trust me."
His hand stroked her hair and he leaned in close, his lips brushing her cheek. Slowly she turned her head and his mouth touched hers.
An arrow sailed over the wall, and the sound of pounding feet echoed in the pa.s.s.
"The Gothir have immaculate timing," he said, rising up and drawing his sword.
Angel was uneasy as he stood on the rim of the valley, looking out over the moonlit gra.s.sland and the gentle hills. In the distance he could see the turrets and walls of Kar-Barzac, close to a wide flat lake the colour of old iron. Nadir women and children were moving down into the valley in a long, shuffling line, many of them dragging carts piled high with their possessions. Angel switched his gaze to the rearing mountains that circled the valley, scanning the twisted peaks. This was all open ground, and he thought of the defenders manning the three pa.s.ses, and prayed the rearguard would hold. For if the Gothir forced their way through any one pa.s.s ...
He closed his mind to the pictures of carnage.
Most of the Nadir warriors had ridden ahead to the fortress, the majority of those remaining defending the pa.s.ses. Only thirty men rode with the women and children, shepherding them towards Kar-Barzac. Angel swung into the saddle and rode down the hill, his mood lifting as he saw the mute Nadir boy marching beside an overloaded cart, Angel"s cloak upon his scrawny shoulders and in his right hand a length of wood, shaped like a sword. The cloak was dragging in the dust. Angel rode alongside the boy and leaned down, lifting him in the air and perching him on the saddle behind him. The boy grinned and waved his wooden sword in the air.
Touching heels to the gelding Angel galloped the horse towards the front of the line where Belash rode beside the Nadir war chief, Anshi Chen. The two warriors were deep in conversation.
Anshi looked up as Angel approached. He was a stocky man, running to fat, and his dark eyes showed only hostility as the Drenai reined in.
"We are moving too slowly," said Angel. "It will be dawn soon."
Belash nodded. "I agree, but many are old. They can move no faster."
"They could if they left those carts behind."
Anshi Chen sniffed loudly, then hawked and spat. "Their possessions are their lives," he said.
"You would not understand that, Drenai, for yours is a land of plenty. But each of those carts carries far more than you see. A lantern of bronze may be just a light in the dark to you, but it might have been made by a great-grandfather a century ago, and prized ever since. Every item has a value far greater than you can comprehend. Leaving them behind would be a knife in the soul to any family here."
"It is not a knife in the soul that concerns me," said Angel. "It is a knife in the back. But this is your war." Swinging the horse"s head he rode back along the line.
There were more than three hundred people filing on to the valley floor, and he guessed it would be another two hours before the last of them reached the fortress. He thought of Senta and Miriel back at the wall, and Waylander on his lonely journey to Gulgothir.
The stars were fading now, the sky lightening.
And his unease grew.
The white-haired Innicas moved back from the shelter of the boulder to where his brother knights waited. "Now," he told them. "The moment is here." Gathering the reins of his black stallion he vaulted into the saddle, drawing the black sword from the scabbard at his side. One hundred warriors mounted their horses and waited for his order. Innicas closed his eyes, seeking the Communion of Blood. He felt the flowing of the souls, tasted their anger and their need, their bitterness and their desires. "Let not one Nadir live," he whispered. "All dead. Gifts to the Lord of All Desires. Let there be pain. Let there be fear and anguish. Let there be despair!" The souls of his knights fluttered in his mind like black moths, circling the dark light of his hatred. "What do we need?" he asked them.
"Blood and death," came the reply, hissing in his mind like a host of snakes.
"Blood and death," he agreed. "Now let the spell grow. Let fear flow out over our enemies like a flood, a raging torrent to drown their courage."
Like an invisible mist the spell rolled out, drifting over rock and shale, down on to the valley, swelling, growing.
The one hundred Knights of Blood ended the communion and rode from their hiding-place, fanning out into a fighting line, swords at the ready.
Angel felt the cold touch of fear, his mind leaping back to the day at the cabin when the Brotherhood had first appeared. Dragging on the reins he swung the horse to face the south, and saw the enemy silhouetted against the sky, their black cloaks flowing in the breeze, their swords raised high. Belash saw them at the same time, and shouted to Anshi Chen.
As the spell of fear roiled over them women and children began to wail and run, scattering across the valley. Some threw themselves to the ground, covering their heads with their hands.
Others merely stood, frozen in terror. Shia was walking in the centre of the column when the spell struck. With trembling hands she lifted her bow from her shoulder and clumsily notched an arrow to the string.
Angel felt the mute boy"s arms tighten around him. Swinging in the saddle he lifted the child, lowering him to the ground beside a hand-drawn cart. The child looked up at him, his eyes wide and fearful. Angel drew his sword and forced a smile. The child pulled his stick from his belt and waved it in the air.
"Good lad!" said Angel.
The thirty Nadir outriders galloped their mounts to where Belash and Anshi Chen were waiting.
Angel joined them. "Their spell of fear will not hold once the killing starts!" said Angel. "Trust me!"
"There are too many of them," muttered Anshi Chen, his voice trembling.
"There"ll be less before long," snarled Angel. "Follow me!" Kicking his horse into a gallop he charged at the black line.
The Brotherhood swept forward, and the thunder of hoofbeats echoed in the valley like the drums of doom. Anger swept through Angel. Behind him were women and children and if, as was most likely, the Brotherhood did break through he did not want to be alive to see the slaughter. He did not glance back to see if the Nadir were with him. He did not care. Battle fever was strong upon him.
The black line came closer, and Angel angled his horse towards their centre. Belash came galloping alongside, screaming a Nadir war cry.
Three hors.e.m.e.n closed on Angel. Ducking under one wild cut he slashed his sword into the helm of a second knight. The man was catapulted from the saddle. Belash"s horse went down, but the Nadir leapt clear and rolled to his feet. A sword-blade glanced from his shoulder. He leapt and dragged the rider from the saddle, plunging his own blade deep into the man"s belly.
The small wedge of Nadir riders was surrounded now, and the wings of the Brotherhood line, some forty men, swept on towards the women and children.
Shia watched them come, fear surging inside her, and drew back on her bowstring. Her first shaft pierced the neck of the leading horse. It fell and rolled, hurling its rider clear, but bringing down two following horses. Other knights swerved to avoid colliding with the fallen. A second shaft sank into the neck of a knight. He swayed in the saddle for a moment, before toppling to the ground.
Shia notched a third arrow - then heard the thunder of hooves from behind her! So close!
Spinning she saw a score of riders in silver armour, white cloaks fluttering behind them. They galloped through the refugee line and bore down on the Brotherhood. Shia could not believe what she was seeing. Like silver ghosts they had come from nowhere, and in their wake the spell of fear vanished, like ice under sunlight.
On the far side of the field Angel cut his way clear of the ma.s.s and saw the white knights hammer into the Brotherhood. Exultant now he turned again and drove his mount back into the melee. Swords clashed all around him, but he was oblivious to danger. His horse went down and he hit the ground hard, a hoof clipping his temple. Losing his grip on his sword Angel rolled. A blade slashed down at him, but he ducked under it, then hurled his weight at the rider"s horse. Off-balance the beast fell, tipping the knight to the earth. Angel scrambled across the fallen horse. The knight was struggling to rise when Angel"s boot cracked into his helm. The chinstrap ripped and the helm fell clear. The knight tried in vain to stab his attacker, but Angel"s fist smashed into his face, spinning him round. Angel"s hands closed on his throat like bands of iron. Dropping his sword the knight grabbed at the fingers. But all strength fled from him.
Angel dropped the corpse and gathered up the knight"s sword.
Anshi Chen hacked his blade towards the neck of an attacker, but the man part-blocked the blow, the sword striking the side of the helm and dislodging the visor. As it came clear, hanging from the helm like a broken wing, Anshi recognised the albino face. "Belash!" he cried. "It is him, Belash!"
Innicas" sword swept out, the blade plunging into Anshi"s belly. Belash, hearing the cry, swung and saw Innicas deliver the death blow. All reason fled from the Nadir, and he let out a terrible scream of hate. A horse reared alongside him. Belash leapt at the rider, dragging him from the saddle. Not stopping to slay the man Belash took hold of the pommel and vaulted to the beast"s back. Innicas saw him, felt his rage, and quickly scanned the battle line.
The Brotherhood were broken.