David Gemmell - The Last Guardian

'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.

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.

'Damn if you ain't as stupid as you look,' she stormed. 'Get back and lie down. You break those stitches and I won't put them back.'

Samuel giggled, and Steiner smiled down at the blond boy. 'Don't she get fired up easy?' Samuel nodded, his eyes flicking to his mother.

'Suit yourself,' said Beth. 'If you're so anxious to be up and moving, climb down and help Mary with the breakfast. We're leaving in an hour.'

Shannow arrived as the injured man was negotiating the painful climb down. Clem was out of breath by the time he made it to the ground and clung to the brake, his face chalk-white. Shannow took his arm and helped him to the cook-fire. 'Always there to rescue me, Shannow. I'm starting to look on you as a mother.'

'I'm surprised you're alive, Steiner. You must be tougher than I gave you credit for.'

Clem managed a weak grin, then lay back as Shannow sat beside him. 'I hope you have purged yourself of the wish to kill me?'

'I have that,' Steiner answered. 'It would be downright bad manners. What was all the commotion during the night?'

'The reptiles were wiped out. Your friend Bull can give you the details.'

A sentry gave out a shout of warning and" Shannow left Steiner and ran to the perimeter. More than a hundred of the bears were moving slowly across the open ground. One man levelled a rifle, but Shannow shouted, 'Don't shoot!' and reluctantly he laid down the weapon. The beasts were of prodigious size, with massive shoulders and hairless snouts. Their arms were out of proportion to their bodies, and hung low to the ground before them. Mostly they walked on their hind legs, but occasionally they dropped to all fours. Shannow climbed over the perimeter log and walked out to meet the animals.