Norda had climbed the circular stair and been surprised to find four dark-garbed swordsmen in the library room below the tower. She had paused, sudden fear flooding her system. Such creatures as these had been the talk of the palace for days now, with their catlike eyes and their haughty manner.
The first of them bowed to her and offered her a sharp-toothed smile. His arm swept out, beckoning her to mount the stairs.
At this point Norda had no idea it was a dream. She climbed the stairs to the tower and found Beric lounging on a wide couch. He was wearing only a white robe, belted at the waist. The tower room was chilly, a cold breeze whispering from the open balcony.
Norda shivered. “You must be cold,” she said to the boy.
“Yes, Norda,” he said sweetly.
She was filled with the urge to hug him and crossed the room to sit beside him. He snuggled into her. That was when she first realized that she was dreaming. Norda felt lightheaded as he moved in close, and awash with feelings of love and contentment. It was really quite exquisite. She gazed down at his beautiful face and saw that it was swelling at the temples, large blue veins pulsing across the stretching skin of his brow. His eyes grew smaller under heavy brows, the blue changing, becoming tawny gold. He seemed to be smiling, but she saw that in reality his lips were being dragged back across his cheeks as his teeth grew longer and thicker, overlapping each other. His face was but inches from her own, and Norda frowned as it changed. She still felt great love for the boy even though he was obviously a boy no longer. Norda regretted the cheese and bread she had eaten for supper and the goblet of red wine with which she had washed it down. Cheese and wine always made her dream. But how odd that Beric should feature in her dream. Normally Norda dreamed of more potent men, men like Yu Yu Liang and Emrin. Even the Gray Man had figured in some of the more erotic dreams.
“You are not so pretty now, Beric,” said Norda, reaching up to stroke the pallid gray skin of his face. Her fingers brushed against his now-dark hair. It was more like a pelt. His own taloned hand moved across her shoulder. She glanced down and saw that the skin of his arm was scaled and gray.
Something touched her leg. Norda saw that it was a long, scaled tail with what seemed to be a claw growing from the base. She laughed.
“What is amusing, my dear?” asked the creature.
“Your tail,” she said. “Long tails.” Then she laughed again. “Emrin has a long tail. Yu Yu’s tail is shorter and thicker. They don’t have claws on them, though. I’ll not drink that Lentrian wine again, that’s for sure.”
“No, you won’t,” said the creature.
The tail slid up over her belly, the claw pricking at the skin.
“That hurts,” said Norda, surprised. “I’ve never felt pain in a dream before.”
“You never will again,” said Deresh Karany. The claw ripped into her.
Eldicar Manushan climbed the stairs and tapped lightly at the door. When he entered, he gave one glance to the shapeless husk that only moments before had been a vibrant, friendly young woman. The desiccated corpse had been carelessly flung into a corner.
Deresh Karany was standing by the balcony window, staring out into the night.
Eldicar found the melded form repugnant and realized that Deresh had let fall the charm spell. “Are you refreshed, lord?” asked Eldicar. Deresh turned slowly. His legs were twisted, the knees reversed, the feet splayed. The long tail, resting on the carpeted floor, gave him balance. His gray face twisted toward Eldicar.
“Invigorated, my friend. No more. Her essence was very powerful. It gave me a vision. Panagyn and Aric are dead. The Gray Man will be coming here. He thinks to kill us.”
“And the gateway, lord?”
“The Riaj-nor are battling to reach it.” Deresh Karany moved clumsily toward the couch. His taloned feet hooked into a rug, and he half slipped. “How I loathe this form!” he hissed. “When the gateway is open and this land is ours, I shall find a way to reverse this … this foulness.”
Eldicar said nothing. Deresh Karany had become obsessed with the twin meld and acquiring the ability to change at will. As far as Eldicar could see, he had succeeded admirably. Deresh could assume the perfect body of a golden-haired child or this powerful monstrosity, part lizard and part lion. This second form suited his personality perfectly.
“What are you thinking, Eldicar?” Deresh Karany asked suddenly.
“I was thinking of the problems of the meld, lord,” replied Eldicar. “You have mastered the twin forms. I don’t doubt you will find a way to make the larger form more … attractive to the eye.”
“Aye, I will. Have you set the guards in place?”
“Yes, lord. Three-swords and his group will be patrolling the lower access points, and Panagyn’s soldiers are watching the grounds and the other entrances. If Waylander does come, he will be captured or killed. But surely he is no threat to us. He cannot kill us.”
“He could kill you, Eldicar,” said Deresh. “I might decide not to revive you. Tell me, how did it feel to have your arm ripped off by Anharat’s demons?”
“It was agonizing, lord.”
“And that, my dear Eldicar, is why I don’t want Waylander to reach me. He cannot kill me, but he can cause me pain. I do not like pain.”
Except in others, thought Eldicar, remembering the sharp hurts of the many communions and Deresh Karany’s dismissive contempt toward his own suffering. Deresh had always insisted on communion rather than conversation. He claimed that he did not want to risk being overheard. But there had been many occasions when no one else had been close enough to eavesdrop. Even then Deresh had demanded communion. Some part of him reveled in the pain it caused Eldicar. How I hate you, he thought.
In that moment he felt a great warmth settle over him. He looked into the crooked features of his master and smiled. He knew it was the charm spell, yet he was unable to resist its power. Deresh Karany was his friend. He loved Deresh Karany and would die for him.
“Even Waylander will be unable to resist the spell,” said Eldicar. “He will love you as I do.”
“Perhaps, but we will give him to Anharat, anyway.”
“One of his demons, you mean, lord?” Eldicar could not keep the fear from his voice.
“No. You will help me prepare for the summoning.”
Even through the comforting warmth of the charm spell Eldicar felt panic rising. “Surely, lord, we do not need Anharat to kill one mortal. Would he not be insulted by being summoned for such a small task?”
“Perhaps he will,” agreed Deresh, “but then again, even the Lord of Demons must enjoy feeding occasionally. An added advantage will be to remind Anharat who is the master and who is the servant.” Deresh saw the growing terror in Eldicar and laughed. It was an ugly sound. “Fear not, Eldicar. There is a good reason for using Anharat. Ustarte is with Waylander. She knows several ward spells. She will most certainly lay one upon him. Now, if I were to summon a lesser demon and her ward spell proved effective, that demon would turn on me—or, rather, on you as my loa-chai. There is no ward spell that can turn back Anharat. Once loosed against a victim he is unstoppable.”
There was truth in that, Eldicar knew. Equally, the summoning would take a great deal of power. His heart sank as he realized what was coming.
“Pick ten of the servants,” said Deresh. “Young ones, preferably female. Bring them here two at a time.”
“Yes, lord.”
As Eldicar Manushan left the tower, he tried to think of lakes and sailboats.
But there was no refuge there.
Yu Yu stumbled just as a huge white-furred creature broke through the line before him. Song Xiu leapt across his path, sending his sword slashing through the creature’s neck. It roared and lashed out. Song Xiu grabbed Yu Yu, hauling him out of the demon’s reach. Ren Tang and Kysumu both stabbed the beast, which fell writhing to the ground. More demons swept through the breach. Yu Yu drove his blade through the neck of a serpent. Kysumu half decapitated a black Kraloth hound as it l
eapt toward his throat.
Then the mist faded back. The Riaj-nor regrouped. Yu Yu glanced around. It seemed to him that they had lost around forty of their number, and they had covered barely half a mile. The Riaj-nor fought with a savagery Yu Yu could scarcely believe. There were no war cries, no exhortations, no screams from the wounded and dying—merely blinding webs of dazzling blue light from the mystical blades as they ripped and tore into the flesh of the demonic army opposing them.
Kysumu had been right. This was no place for Yu Yu. He knew that now. He was merely a clumsy, slow human. Several of the Riaj-nor had died protecting him, and both Song Xiu and Ren Tang watched over him constantly.
“Thank you,” Yu Yu said in the brief lull.
Ren Tang grinned at him. “It is our duty to protect the pria-shath,” he said.
“I feel like a fool,” Yu Yu told him.
Song Xiu stepped in. “You are not a fool, Yu Yu Liang. You are a brave man, and you fight well. With a touch of the meld you could be very good.”
“They are coming again,” said Kysumu.
“Then let us not keep them waiting,” said Ren Tang.
The Riaj-nor swept forward. The mist rolled toward and around them. Winged creatures appeared overhead, throwing barbed darts down on the fighting men. The Riaj-nor drew daggers from their belts and hurled them up at the demons. They fell from the sky to be stabbed to death. One warrior tore a dart from his shoulder and leapt, grabbing a creature by the ankle. Huge black wings flapped furiously, but the combined weight bore both of them down. The Riaj-nor stabbed the dart through the creature’s bony chest. As it died, its talons ripped across the Riaj-nor’s throat. Blood sprayed over Yu Yu. Swinging around, he hacked off the demon’s head.
Ren Tang went down. Yu Yu leapt across his fallen body, delivering a mighty blow to the chest of the huge bearlike beast that had downed him. The blade sank deep. The creature bellowed in pain and fell back. Ren Tang rose to his feet. There was blood on his face, and a flap of skin was hanging from his temple.
The fighting was furious now. The demons were above them and all around them, but still the Riaj-nor drove forward into the mass.
More than half the Men of Clay were dead, but the demon hordes were thinning now.
Yu Yu was close to exhaustion. Ice was clinging to his wolfskin jerkin. He tripped and fell across the body of a dead Riaj-nor. Kysumu hauled him to his feet.
The mist parted.
A warm breeze blew across the ruins.
And the demons vanished.
Song Xiu put his arm around Yu Yu and pointed to a line of cliffs. “There is the gateway,” he said.
Yu Yu peered through the gloom. He could see a flickering blue light against the gray stone. But it was not the light that caught his attention.
It was the two hundred black-garbed Kriaz-nor warriors who were moving out to form a defensive line.
Yu Yu swore. “After all we’ve been through, you’d think we deserved a bit of luck,” he grumbled.
“This is luck,” said Ren Tang. “You can’t feast on the hearts of demons.”
Yu Yu looked at him but made no response. Despite the attempted lightness of tone, Ren Tang looked bone weary. Song Xiu leaned on his sword and swung to assess the remaining warriors. Yu Yu did the same. There were just over a hundred Riaj-nor left standing, and many of them carried wounds.
“Can we beat them?” asked Yu Yu.
“We don’t have to beat them,” said Song Xiu. “We just have to get through them and reach the gateway.”
“We can do that, though, hey?”
“It is why we came,” said Song Xiu.
“Let’s do it,” said Ren Tang. “And then I want to find a town and a tavern and a fat-assed woman. Maybe two.”
“Taverns or women?” asked another warrior.
“Taverns,” admitted Ren Tang. “I’m a little too tired to want more than one woman.” Putting aside his sword, he lifted the bloody flap of skin back into place, pressing his hand against the wound. Song Xiu moved alongside him, drawing a curved needle from a small pouch tucked into his waist sash. Swiftly he stitched the upper section of the wound.
“Well,” he said, “if you don’t want both women, I’ll take one.”
“Aye,” Ren Tang answered with a quick grin. “So let us not waste any more time. Let’s sweep away these ugly vermin and then get drunk.”
“Agreed,” Song Xiu said with a brief smile. Then he took a deep breath and swung to Yu Yu. “I heard what your friend told you earlier. He was wrong then, but his words are right at this time. You cannot come with us on this last fight. We will not be able to protect you. And once we break through, we will not be able to protect ourselves.”
“What do you mean?”
“As our swords touch the gateway, they will simply cease to be. They will be absorbed by the spell that was placed there.”
“Then you will all be killed,” said Yu Yu.
“But the gateway will be closed,” pointed out the Riaj-nor.
“I will not stay behind,” insisted Yu Yu.
Ren Tang stepped in. “Listen to me. Despite my hatred of them, I have to admit that these Kriaz-nor are great fighters. We cannot both battle them and look after you. Yet if you come, we will be forced to try to protect you. You see the predicament? Your presence will lessen our chance of success.”
“Do not be sad, Yu Yu,” said Song Xiu. “It was for people like you that Qin Chong and I and the others surrendered our humanity. It is pleasing to me that you are here, for it shows that we did not take this path in vain. Your friend Kysumu can come with us. He will represent humans in this encounter. It is what he wants. He has no true love of life. He knows no fears, as he knows no joys. That is why he can never be the hero you are. And that, my friend, is why you were the pria-shath. Without fear there can be no courage. You have fought beside us, ditchdigger, and we are proud to have known you.” He held out his hand. Yu Yu blinked back tears as he shook it. “Now we must fulfill our destinies,” said Song Xiu.
The Riaj-nor formed a fighting line with Ren Tang, Song Xiu, and Kysumu at the center.
Yu Yu stood by miserably as they walked slowly toward the ancient enemy.
Waylander looked into Ustarte’s golden eyes. “You are telling me that I am dying? I feel fine. There is no pain.”
“And no heartbeat,” Ustarte said sadly.
Waylander sat up and felt for his pulse. She was right. There was nothing. “I do not understand.”
“It is a talent I did not know I had until we crossed the gateway. One of my companions, a lovely child named Sheetza, was stabbed. Her heart, too, had stopped beating. I healed the wound—as I have with yours—and sent a surge of my power into her blood, causing it to continue to flow through the body. She lived for some hours, and then, as the spell faded, she died. You have a few hours left, Waylander. I am sorry.”
Keeva stepped forward from where she had been standing in the shadows of the trees. “There must be something you can do,” she said, dropping to her knees beside the Gray Man.
“How many hours?” Waylander asked.
“Ten, perhaps twelve at the most,” Ustarte told him.
“The boy must not know,” said Waylander, rising to his feet. He walked back through the trees to where Emrin and Niallad were sitting by the trail. As Niallad saw him, he scrambled to his feet.
“I did not mean to shoot,” he said.
“I know. It barely pierced the skin. Come, walk with me.” Niallad stood very still, fear showing on his face. “I will not harm you, Niall. We need to talk.” Waylander led the boy to a cluster of rocks beside a fast-flowing stream, and there they sat as the sun sank below the mountains. “Evil creeps up on a man,” said Waylander. “He starts out on a mission he believes is just, and with every killing he darkens his soul just a little more. He lives neither in the day nor in the night. And one day this man of twilight, this … Gray Man … finally steps into the dark. As a young man I tried to live a
decent life. Then one day I arrived home to find my family butchered. My wife, Tanya, my son, my two baby girls. I set out to hunt down the nineteen men who had taken part in the raid. It took me almost twenty years to find them all. I killed every one. I made them suffer as Tanya had suffered. They all died in dreadful agony. I look back on the torturer I became, and I barely recognize the man. His heart was stone. He turned his back on almost everything of value. I cannot tell you now why he—I—accepted the contract to kill the king. It no longer matters why. The simple fact is that I did accept, and I did kill him. And in killing him I finally became as evil as the men who murdered my family. I tell you all this not to excuse myself or to ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness is not yours to give. I tell you simply because it may help you in your own life. You fear being weak. I see that fear in you. But you are not weak, Niall. One of the men who slaughtered your parents was in your power, and you upheld the chivalric code. That is strength of a kind I never possessed. Hold to that, Niall. Hold to the light. Keep that code in your heart with every decision you make. And when one day you are faced with a rival or an enemy, make sure you do nothing that would bring you shame.”
With that Waylander rose, and the two of them walked back to the horses. Waylander gathered up his bow and loaded it. He called the four prisoners to him. They shuffled forward uncertainly.
“You are free to go,” he said. “If I see you again, you die. Now get out of my sight.”
The four men stood for a moment, then one walked away into the forest. The others waited to see if Waylander would shoot him. When he did not, the others followed. Waylander approached Emrin. “There should be no pursuit now,” he said. “Their horses are far away. So take the high road and bring Niall and Keeva to the capital. If the lad is strong enough, he will win over the other nobles and become the duke. I want you to stand beside him.”
“I will, sir. Where are you going?”
“Where you can’t follow, Emrin.”
“No, but I can,” said Keeva.
Waylander turned to her. “You told me you did not wish to become a killer. I respect that, Keeva Taliana. If you walk with me now, you will have to use that bow.”
Hero in the Shadows Page 36
