David Gemmell - The Swords of Night and Day

‘More than that. In his notes Landis talks of Gamal finding Skilgannon’s soul.’

Jianna struggled to contain her feelings. Her mind swam with images, her emotions surging. Keeping her voice as calm as she could she turned towards Unwallis. ‘This is all fascinating,’ she told him. ‘We will talk later. First I will bathe. Send a rider out to meet the Black Wagon. Memnon should be here by dusk.’

On leaden legs Jianna followed Unwallis to a first floor bathroom. Soldiers were moving back and forth, pouring hot water into a blue-veined bath of marble. Unwallis walked to a nearby shelf, upon which stood jars of perfumed oils. Lifting each of the glass lids he sniffed deeply, before deciding on the scent of lavender. Carrying it to the water’s edge the grey-haired ambassador poured a small amount of oil into the steaming water. The bath was only half full, the water lapping at the second of four steps. Dipping his hand into the bath he withdrew it swiftly. ‘Fetch more buckets of cold water,’ he told the soldiers.

Jianna moved out onto a wide balcony overlooking the mountains. Reaching up she lifted clear her horned helm, laying it on a wicker table. Her long, dark hair fell free. She wanted to ask so many questions, but they would show how seriously she regarded the rebirth of Skilgannon. There could be no show of such weakness with anyone — even one as loyal as Unwallis.

She thought of the last time she had seen Olek Skilgannon. He had fought a vicious duel with the traitor Boranius, and was standing on a battlement, high above the rocks below. A madwoman also stood there, armed with an ornate black crossbow. She had tried to jump, but Skilgannon had leapt from the high ramparts, catching her, and then making a wild grab for a jutting rock. Jianna had run to the battlement’s edge and peered down. He was hanging on grimly, but he could not hold her. Her weight was dragging them both to their deaths.

‘ Let the girl go. I’ll haul you up.’

‘ I cannot.’

‘ Damn you, Olek! You’ll both die!’

‘ She is. . the last survivor. . of Perapolis.’ His blood-covered hand was giving way. He grunted and tried to cling on.

Jianna climbed over the ramparts, lowering herself to the thin ledge. Holding to a crenellation she reached down, clamping her hand over his wrist. ‘Now we all go, idiot!’ she said. Then the weight lessened. Looking down she saw that Druss the Legend had climbed out of the window of the roof hall, and was standing on the ledge below, supporting the unconscious girl. ‘Let her go, laddie! I have her.’ Freed of the weight Skilgannon swung his left arm over the lip of stone and, as Jianna made way for him, climbed back to the battlements.

Jianna took his hand and wiped away the blood. His fingers were deeply gashed, and more blood pumped from the wounds. ‘We almost died. Was she worth it?’ she asked softly.

‘ Worth more than the Witch Queen and the Damned? I would say so.’

‘ Then you are still the fool, Olek,’ she snapped. T have no time for fools.’ Yet she did not move away.

‘ We need to say goodbye,’ he said.

‘ I don’t want to say it,’ she told him. Leaning in he kissed her lips. Malanek and several soldiers arrived on the battlements. They stood back respectfully as Jianna put her arms round Skilgannon’s neck.

‘ We are both fools,’ she whispered.

With that she had swung away from him. She had looked back only once, as she rode from the citadel. High on the ramparts Skilgannon was standing with Druss.

She never saw him again, though she had followed his adventures.

At the last, when she learned he was preparing to face the might of the Zharn, she had led a Naashanite army against them, crushing two of their armies. She had thought it might give him a chance to survive.

She never knew in life whether she had succeeded. On the night after the battle she had felt unwell.

Pains struck her chest, flowing down her left arm. Her strength had failed, and she had taken to her bed.

At some point, though she could not now recall it, her life had flickered and failed.

On the balcony she shivered, remembering the dread time in the vastness of the Void. Demons had sought to kill her, and for a while she believed they would succeed. Then had come help from a bizarre quarter. Surrounded by scaled beasts, with black eyes and taloned fingers, she had seen a bright light.

Fire swept through the demons, killing several and scattering the others. Jianna had stood very still, her dagger raised. From the smoke came the Old Woman. ‘ Love blinds us to peril,’ said the hag, with a harsh laugh.

‘ You said that when I killed you,’ Jianna told her. ‘I didn’t know what it meant then, and I do not now.’

‘ Come sit in my cave, child, and we will talk.’

‘ If you want revenge do it now. I am in no mood for conversation.’

‘ Revenge? Ah, Jianna, my dove. I would never have harmed you in life, and I will not harm your spirit now. What did I mean, after you plunged the Sword of Fire into my back? I meant that I had loved you for all your life. As I loved your mother. You are blood of my blood. You are my descendant, child. The last of the line of Hewla. Now come with me. I will keep you safe.’

‘ You tried to kill Olek. He was the great love of my life.’

‘ No, he wasn’t, Jianna. Be honest with yourself. You loved power more. Otherwise you would have given it all up just to be with him. The woman in you loved him, the queen in you knew he was a danger. And so he proved. You were unwell in the palace, before leading the army against the Zharn. Your own physicians warned you to stay home and rest. You ignored them, in a vain bid to save him. He died anyway, child.’

‘ Did he win, though?’

‘ Of course he won. He was Skilgannon.’

‘ Then he is here? Somewhere?’

Fire flashed from the Old Woman’s fingers. A demon screeched, and darkness fell again.

‘ Let us talk somewhere safer.’

Jianna followed her up a steep hillside, and into a deep cave. The Old Woman gestured at the entrance and a wall of flame closed over it. By its light she sat on a rock shelf and stared at Jianna. ‘It is as well there are no mirrors here, Jianna. I fear you would not like what you would see.’

‘ What do you mean?’

‘ Look at your arm.’

In the firelight Jianna saw that, like the beasts which had attacked her, her skin was grey and scaled. ‘Why do I look like this?’ she asked, sheathing the dagger and reaching up to feel the ridged skin of her face.

‘ The evil that we do follows us. Here our spirit mirrors our true selves.’

‘ You are not scaled, and yet you lived a life of appalling evil.’

‘ Magic still operates here, child, though not as powerfully as in the world of flesh. But I am scaled and grotesque. I merely disguised it so that you would not recoil and run from me. Or, worse, strike me down with the dagger I gave you.’

‘ What happens now? Is there somewhere we must go to escape this horror?’

The Old Woman shook her head. ‘Nowhere for souls like us, kinswoman. This is where we dwell now. Yet I have hopes for you. Your bones were placed in a vault beneath the statue of you in the palace gardens. Those bones may be the key to returning to the flesh. We will see. We will survive.’

‘The bath is ready, Highness,’ said Unwallis.

Jianna strode back into the bathroom, and removed her clothes. Then she climbed into the perfumed water.