Szshark leapt from the undergrowth with a serrated dagger in his hand. He landed on the bear's back and the knife plunged into the beast's right eye. It fell with a great crash. Bull scrambled to his feet and ran back for the pony, the reptile moving alongside. Reaching his mount, Bull scrambled into the saddle, dragging the reins clear. From all around him came the sounds of huge bodies crashing through the undergrowth. Szshark hissed and waited, his bloody dagger raised.
Instinctively Bull stretched out a hand.
'We'd best get out of here,' he shouted. Szshark reached up, took the hand and vaulted up behind Bull. The little pony took off down the deer trail as if its tail was on fire. They emerged on to open ground and galloped clear of the trees.
'Much good fighting,' said Szshark. 'Many soulss.'
Bull dragged on the reins and glanced back. The bears had halted by the tree-line and were gazing after them. He allowed the pony a short breather and then headed in a walk towards the camp-site.
'I ain't sure as how you'll be too welcome, Szshark,' he said. 'The Parson's likely to boil you in oil.' The reptile said nothing, its wedge-shaped head resting on Bull's shoulder. 'You hear me?'
There was no movement and Bull cursed and rode on. The sentries allowed him through, then saw his passenger. Word swept the camp-site faster than a fire through dry grass. Bull climbed down, twisting to catch Szshark's falling body. He laid him on the grass, then saw the awful talon cuts on his shoulders and back. Blood seeped to the ground as Szshark's golden eyes opened.
'Many soulss,' he hissed. He blinked and looked up at the faces gazing down. His eyes misted, his scaled hand reached up and took Bull's arm. 'Cut out my heart,' he said. 'You…' The golden eyes closed.
'Why did you bring this demon here?' asked the Parson.
Bull stood. 'They're all dead, Parson, God be praised. This one was Szshark; he rescued me back in the woods. There's creatures there, damn big — ten, twelve feet tall. Look like bears. They wiped out the reptiles. The woman's dead too.'
'Then we can return to Pilgrim's Valley,' said Beth McAdam. 'Now that's what I call a miracle.'
'No,' said the Parson. 'Don't you understand? We were led here, like the children of Israel. But our work is only beginning. There is the Great Whore to be destroyed, and the Sword of God to be loosed over the land. Then, in truth, God will bless us, the wolf will lie down with the lamb and the lion eat grass like the cattle. Don't you see?'
'I don't want no more fighting,' declared Beth. 'I'm going home tomorrow.' Murmurs of agreement came from the listeners. 'Listen, Parson, you've done right proud by all of us. If it weren't for you, we'd all be dead. I'm grateful — and I mean that. You're always welcome in my home. But that's where I'm going — home. I don't know anything about this whore of yours, and I don't care a damn about some sword.'
'Then I will go on alone,' said the Parson. 'I will follow God's path.'
He walked away from the group and saddled a horse.
Shannow moved across to him. 'Be sure of God's path, Parson, before you attempt to ride it,' he said.
'I have the Gift, Shannow. No harm will befall me. Won't you ride with me? You are a man of God.'
'I have other plans, Parson. Take care.'
'My destiny lies with the Sword, Shannow. I know it. It fills my mind, it swells my heart.'
'God be with you, Parson.'
'As He wills,' replied the other, stepping into the saddle.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Araksis pushed the computations from him and stared at the midday sun. He was a frightened man. He had been four hundred and twenty-seven years old, sick and dying, when Pendarric first had him summoned to the winter palace at Balacris. But the Sipstrassi had changed his life. The King had healed him, given him back his lost youth. Yet since that time there had been many astrologers, and seventeen had been put to death for causing the King displeasure. It was not that Pendarric did not wish to hear bad omens, rather that he expected the astrologers to be exact in their predictions. However, as all initiates knew, the study of the Fates was an art, not a science.
Now Araksis faced the same predicament as many of his erstwhile colleagues. He sighed and rose, gathering his parchments.
A doorway appeared in the wall and he stepped through, holding his head high, pulling his slender shoulders back.
'Well?' said the King.
Araksis spread the parchments on the table before Pendarric. 'The stars have moved, sire — or rather, the world has shifted. There is great difficulty in deciding how this occurred. Some of my colleagues believe that the world — which as we know, spins around the sun — gradually changed its position. I myself tend towards the theory of a cataclysm that tipped the earth on its axis. We exhausted two Stones in an effort to discover the truth. All we could determine for certain is that the land you showed us was once below the ocean.'
'You are aware of the prophecies of the man Nu-Khasis-atra?' asked the King.
'I am, sire. And I thought greatly before bringing this theory to you.'
'He says the earth will topple because of my evil. Are you telling me you concur with his blasphemy?'
'Majesty, I am not a leader, nor a philosopher; I am a student of the Star-magic. All I can say on the question you raised is that all the evidence points to Atlantis resting for thousands of years on the sea bed. How this will occur I cannot determine. Or when. But if Nu-Khasisatra is right, it will happen soon. He said the year's end would see the doom of Atlantis — that is six days from now.'
'Has there ever been a king with more power than I, Araksis?'
'No, sire. Not in all recorded history.'
'And yet this cataclysm is beyond my control?'
'It would appear so, sire. We have seen the future City of Ad, and our own Star-tower encrusted with seashells and the muck of oceans.'
'Serpiat will be leading his legions through into that world in three days. Then we will see. Is it possible that we can learn from the future and alter the present?'
'There are many questions hidden in the one, sire. The future will tell us what happened. But can we change it? In the future the cataclysm has already taken place. If we avert it, then we change the future, and therefore what we have seen cannot exist. Yet we have seen it.'
'What would you advise?'
'Close all the gateways, and hold all the City Mother-stones in readiness for any shift in the earth.
Focus all the power of Sipstrassi on holding the world in balance.'
'All the world? That would take all the power we have. And what are we without Sipstrassi?
Merely men… men who will decay and die. There must be another way. I will wait for Serpiat's report.'
'And Sharazad, sire?'
'She is dead… killed by stupidity. Let us hope it is not an omen. What do my stars show?'
Araksis cleared his throat. 'There is nothing I can tell you that is not already obvious, sire. This is a time of great stress, and greater peril. A journey is indicated, from which there is no return.'
'Are you speaking of my death?' stormed the King, drawing a gold-adorned dagger and holding it to the astrologer's throat.
'I always swore to be truthful, majesty. I have remained so,' whispered Araksis, staring into the gleaming eyes of the monarch. 'I do not know.'
Pendarric hurled the astrologer from him.
'I will not die,' he hissed. 'I will survive — and so will my nation. There is no other law in the world than mine. There is no other God but Pendarric!'
Clem Steiner hauled himself up from the bed in the wagon and pulled on his shirt. His chest wound dragged on the stitches and his leg felt numb, but he was healing well. He dressed slowly and climbed over into the driver's seat. Beth was fixing the traces to the oxen but she stopped as she saw him.