Quest for Lost Heroes

'I am,' admitted Chareos. 'Especially here.' He pointed to the gate-tower. 'There it is, boy — the scene of great deeds. From there Beltzer leapt to win back the standard. There we sat talking with Tenaka Khan. And it was here we were dubbed the ghosts-yet-to-be. It is not a good feeling to be sitting here waiting for death.'

'And birth,' said Kiall. 'Okas told us the child would be a great king — perhaps the greatest who ever lived. That's something, isn't it?'

Chareos nodded and turned away. The fortress loomed around him, grim and threatening, and he could feel its memories in the cold stone, hear again the screams of the dying and the clash of iron blades.

Tanaki joined them. 'It was a false alarm,' she said. 'She is resting now. Is there any sign?'

'No,' answered Kiall. 'They just sit there and wait — I don't know what for.'

'They are waiting for Jungir Khan,' she said. 'They don't know why we took their queen, but they dare not risk anything that might cause her harm. Jungir will decide what to do.'

She walked off to the gate-tower door and pushed it open. Kiall followed her, mounting the cracked steps to ih^ tower itself, where she sat down and leaned her back against the wall.

'Well,' she said, 'you have seen your woman once more.'

He looked down at her and then knelt, taking her hand. 'She is not my woman, Tanaki. It was like seeing an old friend. I am not skilled in these matters, but I… I want you to know, before. .'He stumbled to silence.

'Before we die?' she prompted.

'Yes, before we die. I want you to know that I love you. I know you do not believe in love, but I would sooner hold your hand here for a night than live a hundred years without you. Does that sound foolish?'

'Yes,' she said, reaching out and stroking his face, 'but it is wonderfully foolish. It is beautifully foolish.' She drew him towards her, brushing her lips against his. His arms circled her. 'Would you like to make love?' she whispered.

He drew back. 'Yes, but we will not — not in this cold stone place, which reeks of death and misery. Can we just sit together, close?'

'For a man of little experience, you so often say exactly the right words,' she told him.

The sun climbed high behind them, the sky cloudless and streaked with red. 'It will be a fine day,' he said.

She did not reply.

Harokas saw them from the courtyard and sighed. Then he caught sight of Asta Khan, moving furtively from the main barracks building; he was carrying something. As Harokas squinted against the sunlight, he saw that the shaman was holding a bleached skull which he carried to the room where Ravenna lay. Harokas watched him slip inside.

The assassin strolled up to where Chareos sat. 'This would be a good time to ride off deep into Gothir lands,' he said.

Chareos shook his head. 'The woman would lose the babe. She is close to giving birth.'

Harokas sighed. 'If we stay, we will all die. And women can conceive a second time, Chareos. It would not cause the world to fall in darkness were she to lose this one child?'

'The child is special,' insisted Chareos. 'But more than that, I am meant to be here. I cannot explain it — but I have known for many years that my destiny lay here.'

'I think Asta Khan feels the same way. I have just seen him carrying an old skull into the woman's room. Truly the ways of shamen are beyond me — I am happy to say.'

'A skull?' The words of Okas came flooding back to him: 'Why are Tenaka Khan's bones buried at Bel-azar?' Chareos pushed himself to his feet and descended the broken steps, crossing the courtyard and opening the door to the old guardhouse. Ravenna was sleeping but at the foot of the bed was Asta Khan, sitting cross-legged, a skull in his lap.

'What are you doing here?' asked Chareos.

The shaman glanced up. 'Nothing that will harm the woman, Chareos. You have my word.'

'And the child?'

The child was not part of the bargain — but she will give birth to a healthy babe.'

'What is it that you are not telling me, Asta? What foulness are you planning with those. . those relics?'

'Relics? If you had any idea of what these bones. .' he stopped and forced a smile. 'I have kept my bargain with you, Blademaster. You cannot fault me. But I too have a quest — and it is worth more than my life.'

'You promise me you do not mean to harm Ravenna — or the child?'

'The child will be born,' said Asta with a secretive smile. 'He will be born strong and grow fast. He will be the Great Khan. No harm will come to him — or to the mother of his flesh.'

'Chareos!' came Kiall's voice. 'Come quickly!' The Blademaster turned from the shaman and ran back to the wall. Beyond, on the open plain, a horde was galloping towards the fortress. Leading them was a warrior dressed in black, riding a grey stallion.

'The whoreson is riding to kill me on my own horse,' exclaimed Chareos.

'See who rides beside him,' said Harokas. 'Now there is a surprise!'

On a bay stallion, his blond hair glinting in the sunlight, rode the Earl of Talgithir.

* * *

The Nadir halted some two hundred yards from the fortress and dismounted, while the Earl kicked his horse into a canter and rode up to the walls.

'Open the gate!' he called.

Chareos leaned over the ramparts. 'For what purpose?' he asked.

'Because I demand it!' roared the Earl, his face reddening. Then he recognised Chareos. 'Oh, it is you, is it, Blademaster? I should have guessed. Now open the gate — and you will all live.'

'I asked you for your purpose,' said Chareos.

'I do not need to answer to you, swordsman. I am the Earl of Talgithir, appointed by the Lord Regent.'

'And you have no jurisdiction at Bel-azar,' said Chareos. 'Talgithir is far from here.'

The Earl leaned back in his saddle and laughed. 'You have been gone for some time, Chareos. I am now the Regent's envoy to the Nadir and, as such, my orders are to be obeyed anywhere in the realm. Now will you open that gate?'

'I do not think that I will,' said Chareos. 'I care not what appointment you have received. You are a slave trader and a traitor to your people. When the Lord Regent hears of your dealings, you will hang.'

'You are hardly in a position to threaten me. But I will wait.' Swinging his horse's head, he cantered back to the Nadir.

'I don't understand this,' said Harokas. 'Why is he so calm?'

Chareos shrugged. 'I have an uncomfortable feeling we are going to find out.'

Throughout the morning the Nadir remained where they were, but as the sun reached noon and the shadows disappeared there came from the west the sound of walking horses. Chareos and Kiall ran to the western gate, dragging it open. Three hundred lancers were riding to the fortress, led by Salida.

Kiall cursed. 'That's why the Earl was so calm — his soldiers have come to meet him. Now we are truly trapped.'

'Do not be so sure,' whispered Chareos. 'Salida is no lickspittle.'

'He's unlikely to take on a Nadir army — and his own Earl,' said Kiall.

Chareos moved out before the riders. Salida drew rein and stepped from the saddle. 'Well met,' greeted the officer. 'You do turn up in the most unlikely places.' He lifted the water canteen from his saddle and drank deeply.

'The Earl is outside the fortress,' said Chareos softly. 'He is with Jungir Khan and a thousand Nadir warriors.'

'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.