The King Beyond the Gate

'Your friends will care,' she said.

He pulled his arm from her comforting touch and glared at her through angry eyes.

'I have no friends! I never had.'

21

The emperor sat within his tent of silk surrounded by his captains. His warmaster, Darik, was beside him. The tent was huge, split into four sections: the largest, where the warriors now sat, had room for fifty men though only twenty were present.

Ceska had grown fat over the years and his skin was pasty and blotched. His dark eyes glittered with feral intelligence and it was said that he had learned the ways of the Dark Templars and could read minds. His captains lived in a state of cold dread around him, for often he would suddenly point at a man and scream 'Traitor!' That man would die horribly.

Darik was his most trusted warrior, a general of great guile, second only to the legendary Baris of the Dragon. A tall man in his early fifties, slender and wiry, Darik was clean-shaven and looked younger than his years.

Having heard the reports, and the numbers of the slain, Darik spoke: "The raids seem casual, haphazard, yet I sense unity of thought behind them. What do you say, Maymon?'

The Dark Templar nodded. 'We are almost through their defences, but already we can see a great deal. They have walled the two passes known as Tarsk and Magadon. And they expect aid from the north, though without great confidence. The leader, as you expected, is Ananais, though it is the woman Rayvan who binds them together.'

'Where is she?' asked the emperor.

'Back in the mountains.'

'Can you get to her?'

'Not from the Void. She is protected.'

'They cannot protect all her friends?' suggested Ceska.

'No, my lord,' agreed Maymon.

'Then soul-take someone close to her. I want the woman dead.'

'Yes, my lord. But first we must break through the Void wall of The Thirty.'

'What of Tenaka Khan?' snapped Ceska.

'He escaped to the north. His grandfather, Jongir, died two months ago and there is civil war brewing.'

'Send a message to the Delnoch commander, ordering him to watch closely for any Nadir army.'

'Yes, my lord.'

'Leave me now,' said the emperor. 'All except Darik.'

The captains gratefully obeyed, walking out into the night. Around the tent stood fifty Joinings, the largest and most ferocious beasts in Ceska's army. The captains did not look at them as they passed.

Inside the tent Ceska sat silently for several minutes.

'They all hate me,' he said. 'Small men with small minds. What are they without me?'

'They are nothing, sire,' said Darik.

'Exactly. And what of you, general?'

'Sire, you can read men like an open book. You can see into their hearts. I am loyal, but the day you doubt me I shall take my life the instant you order it.'

'You are the only loyal man in the empire. I want them all dead. I want Skoda to be a charnel-house that will be remembered for eternity.'

'It shall be as you command, sire. They cannot hold against us.'

'The Spirit of Chaos rides with my forces, Darik. But it needs blood. Much blood. Oceans of blood! It is never satisfied.'

Ceska's eyes took on a haunted look and he lapsed into silence. Darik sat very still. The fact that his emperor was mad worried him not at all, but Ceska's deterioration was another matter. Darik was a strange man. Almost totally single-minded, he cared only for war and strategy and what he had told the emperor was the literal truth. When the day came — as come it must — that Ceska's madness turned on him, he would kill himself. For life would have nothing more to offer. Darik had never loved a single human being, nor been entranced by things of beauty. He cared not for paintings, poetry, literature, mountains nor storm-tossed seas.

War and death were his concerns. But even these he did not love — they merely maintained his interest.

Suddenly Ceska giggled. 'I was one of the last to see his face,' he said.

'Who, my lord?'

'Ananais, the Golden One. He became an arena warrior and a great favourite with the crowds. One day as he stood there acknowledging their cheers, I sent in one of my Joinings. It was a giant beast, a three-way breed of wolf, bear and man. He killed it. All that work and he killed it.' Ceska giggled again. 'But he lost face with the crowd.'

'How so, sire? Did they like the beast?'

'Oh no. He just lost face. It's a jest!'

Darik chuckled dutifully.

'I hate him. He was the first to sow seeds of doubt. He wanted to lead the Dragon against me, but Baris and Tenaka Khan stopped him. Noble Baris! He was better than you, you know.'

'Yes, sire. You have mentioned it before.'

'But not as loyal. You will stay loyal, won't you, Darik?'

'I will, sire.'

'You wouldn't want to become like Baris, would you?'

'No, sire.'

'Isn't it strange how certain qualities remain?' mused Ceska.

'Sire?'

'I mean — he is still a leader, isn't he? The others still look to him — I wonder why?'

'I don't know, sire. You look cold — can I fetch you some wine?'

'You wouldn't poison me, would you?'

'No, sire, but you are right — I ought to taste it first.'

'Yes. Taste it.'

Darik poured wine into a golden goblet and drank a little. His eyes widened.

'What is it, general?' asked Ceska, leaning forward.

'There is something in it, sire. It is salty.'

'Oceans of blood!' said Ceska, giggling.

* * *

Tenaka Khan awoke in the hour before dawn and reached for Renya, but the bed was empty. Then he remembered and sat up rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He seemed to recall someone saying his name, but it must have been a dream.

The voice called again and Tenaka swung his legs from the bed and gazed around the tent.

'Close your eyes, my friend and relax,' said the voice.

Tenaka lay back. In his mind's eye he could see the slender, ascetic face of Decado.

'How long before you reach us?'

'Five days. If Scaler opens the gates.'

'We will be dead by then.'

'I can move no more swiftly.'

'How many men do you bring?'

'Forty thousand.'

'You seem changed, Tani.'

'I am the same. How fares it with Ananais?'

'He trusts you.'

'And the others?'

'Pagan and Parsal are dead. We have been forced back to the last valleys. We can hold for maybe three days — no more. The Joinings are everything we feared.'

Tenaka told him of his ghostly meeting with Aulin and the words of the old man. Decado listened in silence.

'So you are the Khan,' he said at last.

'Yes.'

'Farewell, Tenaka.'

Back at Tarsk, Decado opened his eyes. Acuas and The Thirty sat in a circle around him, linking their powers.

Each of them had heard the words of Tenaka Khan, but more importantly each had entered his mind, sharing his thoughts.

Decado took a deep breath. 'Well?' he asked Acuas.

'We are betrayed,' answered the warrior priest.

'Not yet,' said Decado. 'He will come.'

'That is not what I meant.'

'I know what you meant. But let tomorrow look after itself. Our purpose here is to aid the people of Skoda. None of us will live to see the events thereafter.'

'But what is the point?' asked Balan. 'Some good should come of our deaths. Are we merely helping them to exchange tyrants?'

'And what if we are?' said Decado softly. 'The Source knows best. If we do not believe that, then it is all for nothing.'