People in the streets stopped and stared at the riders. There was no animosity here, only curious gazes. There were more women than men, Shannow noticed, and they were tall and well-formed
— their clothes mainly hide, beautifully embroidered.
He halted his horse. 'I seek the Dark Lady,' he said, removing his hat and bowing. The nearest woman smiled and pointed to the east.
'She is in the High Tower with Oshere,' she answered.
'God's peace upon you,' Shannow told her.
'The Law of the One be with you,' she replied.
The horses' hooves clattered on the cobbled street. 'In my time, no beasts were allowed into this quarter,' said Nu. 'The residents found the smell of manure less than appealing.'
A bent and crippled shape loomed before them, and Shannow's mind was hurled back to Shir-ran.
His stallion reared, but he calmed it with soft words. The Man-beast ambled past, not able to lift his huge, misshapen head.
'Poor soul,' said Nu, as they walked their horses on.
The street widened into a statue-lined road that stretched, arrow-straight, towards a tall palace of white marble. 'Pendarric's summer home,' explained Nu. 'It also houses the temple.' The road ended at a colossal stairway more than a hundred paces wide, slowly rising to an enormous archway.
'The Steps of the King,' said Nu. Like the road the steps were lined with statues, each one carved from marble and each bearing a sword and a sceptre. Shannow urged on the stallion and rode the steps; Nu dismounted and led the mare after him. As the Jerusalem Man reached the archway a slender black woman moved from the shadows to greet him. Shannow recalled the moment he had first seen her, carrying her son from the wreck of the resurrected Titanic. 'Amaziga? You are the Dark Lady?' he said as he climbed down from the saddle.
'The same, Shannow. What are you doing here?' He noted the tension in her voice, the lack of warmth in her eyes.
'Am I such an unwelcome visitor?'
'There are no evils here for you to slay, I promise you that.'
'I am not here to kill. Do you think me such a villain?'
'Then tell me why you are here.'
Shannow saw a movement behind her, deep in the shadows of the archway. A young man appeared; once he must have been strikingly handsome, but now his face was distended and his shoulders bowed. Guiltily Shannow averted his eyes from the man's deformities. 'I asked you a question, Shannow,' said Amaziga Archer.
'I came to warn you of impending perils — and also to see the Sword of God. But it would be pleasant if we could talk inside somewhere.' Nu reached the archway, saw Amaziga and bowed low. 'This is my companion, Nu-Khasisatra. He is from Atlantis, Amaziga, and I think you should hear what he has to say.'
'Follow me,' she said, turning on her heel and striding back through the archway. The deformed man followed her silently, Nu and Shannow bringing up the rear. They found themselves in a wide, square courtyard; Amaziga crossed it, passed a circular fountain and continued on through a huge hallway. Shannow tethered his stallion and Nu's mare in the courtyard and entered the building. It was ghostly quiet within, and their footsteps created eerie echoes.
They mounted a long circular staircase and emerged into a room where Amaziga had already seated herself behind a mahogany desk on which were scattered papers, scrolls and books. She looked younger than Shannow remembered, but her eyes seemed full of sorrow.
'Say what you want to say, Jerusalem Man. Then leave us in whatever peace remains.'
Shannow took a deep breath, stilling the rise of anger he felt. Slowly he told her of the attack on the township of Pilgrim's Valley, and their flight beyond the fractured Wall. He spoke of the woman, Sharazad, and the Parson, and the fears that she was some evil goddess. And he told her of Pendarric. She listened without comment, but her interest grew when Nu began his tale; she questioned him sharply, but his soft-spoken answers seemed to satisfy her. At last, when both men had finished, she asked the deformed man to fetch some drink. Neither Shannow nor Nu had stared at him, and after he had gone Amaziga fixed her eyes on the Jerusalem Man.
'Do you know what is happening to him?' she asked.
'He is turning into a lion,' Shannow answered, holding her gaze.
'How did you know?'
'I met a man, named Shir-ran, who suffered the same horror. He rescued me, gave me aid when I needed it, healed my wounds.'
'What happened to him?'
'He died.'
'I said what happened to him?' Amaziga snapped.
'I killed him,' said Shannow.
Her eyes grew cold, and her smile chilled Nu. 'Now that has a familiar ring, Shannow. After all, how many stories are there concerning the Jerusalem Man when he doesn't kill something — or someone? Have you destroyed any communities lately?'
'I did not destroy your Home Base; Sarento did that when he sailed the Titanic. I merely blocked the power of the Motherstone. But I will not argue with you, Lady, nor debate my deeds. I will leave now and seek the Sword.'
'You must not, Shannow! You must not go near it.' The words hissed from her. 'You do not understand.'
'I understand that the gateway between past and present must be closed. Perhaps the Sword of God will close it. If not, when the disaster befalls Atlantis we could be dragged down with it.'
'The Sword of God is not the answer you seek. Believe me.'
'I will not know until I have seen it,' Shannow told her.
Amaziga's hand came up from below the desk and in it was held a Hellborn pistol. She cocked it and pointed the barrel at Shannow. 'You will promise me to stay away from the Sword — or you will die here,' she said.
'Chreena!' came a voice from the doorway. 'Stop it! Put the pistol away.'
'You don't understand, Oshere. Stay out of this!'
'I understand enough,' said the Man-beast, moving clumsily forward and placing the silver tray on the desk. His deformed hand closed over the pistol, gently removing it from her grasp. 'Nothing you have told me about this man suggests he is evil. Why would you wish to harm him?'
'Death follows wherever he rides. Destruction! I can feel it, Oshere.'
She stood and ran from the room and Oshere laid the pistol on the desk. Shannow leaned forward and uncocked it. Oshere eased himself into the chair Amaziga had used, his dark eyes fixed on the Jerusalem Man.
'She is under great strain, Shannow,' he said. 'She thought she had found a way to cure me, but it was only a temporary respite. Now she must suffer again. She loved my brother, Shir-ran, and he became a beast. Now…' He shrugged. 'Now it is my turn. Your arrival made her distraught. But she will gather her strength arid consider what you have said. Now, have some wine, and rest. I will see your horses are taken to a field nearby where there is good grass. Through that door you will find beds and blankets.'
'There is no time to rest,' said Nu. 'The end is near, I can feel it.'
Shannow pushed himself wearily to his feet. 'I had hoped for aid. I thought the Dark Lady would be a person of power.'
'She is, Shannow,' Oshere assured him. 'She has great knowledge. Give her time.'
'You heard Nu. There is no time. We will ride on to the Sword — but first Nu needs to search the Temple sanctuary.'
'Why?' Oshere asked.
'There could be something there that will help me to return home,' Nu told him.
The sound of gunshots came from close by, followed by screams of terror.
'You see!' shouted Amaziga Archer from the doorway, pointing at Shannow. 'Where he rides, death always follows.'
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
The Parson rode boldly into the clearing where twenty-three survivors of the Daggers' force had gathered. Several were wounded, their scaled limbs bound. Others were keeping watch, rifles poised, for any attack from the Bears. Holding the Bloodstone high, the Parson guided his mount in amongst his enemies and voiced the single word that his God had commanded him.