David Zindell - The Diamond Warriors

‘He isn’t on his way to invade Ishka!’ Sar Vikan called out.

I smiled at this as the others laughed grimly. Then I said, ‘It seems that there is little doubt as to where Lord Tanu is leading his army. But we don’t yet know his intentions.’

‘To raze Lord Avijan’s castle and see you murdered!’ Sar Vikan cried out again. ‘And all of us who support you. That is his intention!’

‘Here, now!’ Lord Harsha said, banging the table with his hand. ‘There’s no need for such talk! Lord Tanu is no murderer, and he is certainly not so stupid as to waste his army trying to take this castle.’

At this, Lord Sharad studied the keep’s thick walls, and said, ‘If not take it, then perhaps lay siege.’

I slowly nodded my head at this as I looked at Lord Avijan. I asked him, ‘How long could you hold out against Lord Tanu’s army?’

‘Not so long as we could have a few days ago,’ Lord Avijan said. He pointed out into the hall, whose many tables would soon be filled with hungry men eating their dinner. ‘A thousand warriors have answered your call, Lord Elahad, and that is a great many to feed. Our stores might last four months.’

‘Four months!’ Sar Jessu said. His thick black eyebrows pulled together. ‘That is a long time to lay siege. Lord Tanu might give up.’

‘He won’t give up,’ Lord Avijan said. ‘No knight in Mesh is more tenacious. You have fought under him, and should know that.’

‘Then even if he doesn’t, anything might happen in the meantime,’ Sar Jessu said. ‘Lord Tomavar might move against Lord Tanu. Or the Waashians might move against all of us.’

Here Sar Jessu turned toward me, and so did Lord Avijan, Lord Harsha and everyone else. And I told them, ‘We cannot afford to wait four months – not even one. Whatever we do, we cannot remain holed-up here behind these walls. That is what Lord Tanu wants.’

Sar Vikan, a fiery and impulsive man, called out to me, ‘But you have said that you don’t know his intentions!’

I looked at Atara, whose blindfolded face was like a clear glass giving sight of the future. I looked at Liljana, whose relentless gaze reminded me that I must always try to look into my enemies’ minds and try to think as they did – even as my father had taught me.

‘My apologies for misspeaking,’ I told Sar Vikan. ‘But surely, as Lord Harsha has said, Lord Tanu will not waste his men attacking the castle. Therefore his strategy must be to keep us immobilized here – and to divide Lord Avijan’s forces.’

‘ Your forces, now, Lord Elahad,’ Lord Avijan said.

‘We shall see,’ I said, inclining my head to him. ‘Lord Tanu can encamp his army outside the castle and block the pass leading to it. He would keep the rest of your men from joining us. And threaten them. Would they then still keep their oath to you?’

‘Certainly they would!’ Lord Avijan said. ‘They are good men, with true hearts!’

Sar Vikan, who now finally saw the line of my argument, asked Lord Avijan, ‘But if you released them from their oaths, as you released us, in such circumstances, would they then pledge their swords to Lord Elahad?’

At this, Lord Avijan looked down at the table and said nothing – and so said everything.

‘Lord Tanu would divide us,’ Lord Manthanu said to me in his deep, gravely voice. ‘And that might be the end of your chances, Lord Valashu. In my district, many warriors remain unpledged to anyone – as it is throughout Mesh. They wait to see what you will do. A victory of any sort will encourage them. But a defeat …’

He did not finish his sentence, nor did I wish him to. I did not want to think in terms of victory over my own countrymen, if that meant driving them down with swords.

Lord Noldashan rubbed at his tired eyes and said to me with a deep anxiety, ‘If you won’t stand to be besieged, does that mean that you will take the field against Lord Tanu?’

‘If he does,’ Lord Sharad said boldly, ‘Lord Elahad will find a way to outmaneuver our enemy as it was at the Culhadosh Commons!’

‘We’ll cut down any of Lord Tanu’s men who stand against us!’ Sar Vikan called out.

At this, Lord Harsha banged his fist against the table and shouted, ‘Enemy! Cut down! Have none of you listened to what Lord Valashu has been saying these last days? We cannot weaken ourselves so!’

Both Lord Sharad and Sar Vikan looked down in shame. Then I said to them, ‘No one can blame you for letting such great spirit impel you toward battle. But this must not be against Lord Tanu, nor Lord Tomavar – not if we can help it. So long as I am alive, I will not see Meshian slaying Meshian.’

Lord Avijan, perhaps the most intelligent and purposeful of the warriors at the table, asked me, ‘If you won’t stand a siege nor take the field, what will you do?’

At this fundamental question, I noticed Master Juwain looking at me keenly – along with everyone else. And I said, simply, ‘I will talk with Lord Tanu. Tomorrow, I will ride down into the pass, and try to reason with him.’

All during our council, Maram had remained uncharacteristically quiet. I worried that his beer guzzling had finally addled his wits. But now he licked his lips as he looked at me and said, ‘But Lord Tanu will be bringing his whole damn army through that pass! You can’t ride down into that river of swords! It’s too dangerous!’

I smiled at this, and I said, ‘We shall fly a banner of truce, and Lord Tanu will have to respect that. In any case, Sar Maram, I have to know.’

‘Know what… Lord Elahad?’

‘I must know what Lord Tanu truly intends.’ I paused to draw in a breath and look around the table. ‘Is he willing that we should slay each other just so that he might become king?’

Much later, after we had eaten dinner and I finally had a chance to speak with my companions about the destruction of the Brotherhood school, Lord Avijan’s emissaries returned to the castle in the dead of night. They made report of Lord Tanu’s intentions – or rather, his stated purpose in marching toward Mount Eluru. Lord Tanu, they said, had taken it upon himself to ensure Mesh’s safety. And so on the morrow, he would arrive to inspect the soundness of Lord Avijan’s castle, with or without Lord Avijan’s leave.

The next morning, as I had promised, I made ready to go forth and speak with Lord Tanu. I asked my friends to accompany me. Although we would be riding under a banner of truce – along with Lord Avijan, Lord Harsha and the other knights who had become my war counselors – I did not want to chance the children’s safety in the midst of many angry men with quick and deadly swords. Daj protested my decision, reminding me of how he had slain the third droghul and taken far greater risks before: ‘Estrella and I rode with you all the way to Hesperu, and back, and you won’t allow us to ride a couple more miles?’

Estrella brushed the curls from her dark, liquid eyes, and she looked at me as if to tell me once more that our lives were bound together, and wherever I went, she must go as well. In her quiet, sweet way, she could be a very willful girl – now almost a young woman. Even so, I had to tell her that she must remain in the castle.

In the cool air blowing off the mountains, we rode out of the castle’s south gate and down the narrow road that cut through the green hills and meadows toward the pass. I took the lead, with Lord Avijan at my one side and Sar Vikan at my other. To this fierce knight, perhaps the most bellicose of all the men in my train, I had appointed the task of holding up the white banner of truce. Just behind him rode Sar Joshu Kadar, who had taken charge of the banner showing the silver swan and seven stars of the Elahads. Then came Lord Harsha, Lord Sharad, Lord Manthanu and Jessu the Lion-Heart – followed by Lord Noldashan and his son, Sar Jonavar. I had asked other five other young knights to join us, too: Sar Shivalad, Viku Aradam, Sar Kanshar, Siraj the Younger and Jurald Evar. My companions kept pace with them only a few yards behind, with Atara pushing her horse to an easy trot in the rear. Although we expected no attack from this direction, nor at all, Atara could whip about in her saddle and fire off an arrow at any pursuer in the blink of an eye.