David Gemmell - The Swords of Night and Day

Nice to know blood can run true, don’t you think?’

‘You have merely said what you are not going to do,’ pointed out Skilgannon.

‘I have not made up my mind.’

‘Let me know when you do.’

‘You’ll be the first, kinsman.’

Skilgannon cleaned his blades then sheathed them.

‘Our swords are very similar,’ said Decado. ‘Is that how you knew of my obsession?’

‘Yes. It is the same for me. These blades are possessed, Decado. They make us more violent. They have the capacity to unhinge us, turn us into madmen. They call for blood and death. It is hard to resist them. Yours are more dangerous than mine. The Swords of Night and Day were created by a witch named Hewla. She was extraordinarily talented, but the blades she made were merely copies of a more ancient and deadly pair. You carry those. The Swords of Blood and Fire.’

‘I was a killer before I carried them,’ said Decado sadly. ‘I cannot blame the swords for what I became.’ He looked up at Skilgannon. ‘Jianna told me you killed the last man to carry these. She talked of you often. I found myself growing jealous of a man long dead. I used to hope that someone would bring you back — just so that I could kill you, and show the world you were not as great as they believed.’

‘And now?’

‘Pretty much the same,’ said Decado, with a smile.

Askari felt a tingling sensation in her fingers. Then feeling returned. Slowly she opened her right hand, pressing the tip of her index finger against the thumb. The tingling swept up along her right forearm. She lay quietly, her head throbbing, as slowly her body came once more under her control. With a groan she sat up. Skilgannon moved to her side. ‘Welcome back,’ he said. ‘What were they?’

‘Decado called them Shadows. A different form of Jiamad.’

‘I have never seen anything move so fast. One moment it was yards away, the next. .’ She glanced down at her green shirt. There was a small hole in the shoulder, drying blood upon it.’. . it bit me. As I fell I saw it spin and fly at Harad. Is he all right?’

‘He killed it, but it stunned him also. He is still sleeping.’

‘Oh, it is not sleep,’ she said, with a sudden shiver. ‘I heard everything. Your conversation with Decado, the crackling of wood upon the fire. I just could not move.’

By the fire Decado stirred. Rolling smoothly to his feet he swung his black scabbard over his shoulders and moved alongside Skilgannon and Askari. She found the intensity of his gaze disturbing. ‘Stop staring at me,’ she said.

Decado laughed. ‘Hard not to. The resemblance is. . uncanny.’

‘And that is all it is,’ she snapped. ‘I am not like her.’ On the far side of the fire Harad sat up. Then he pushed himself to his feet, staggered, and walked out into the open. Skilgannon rose and followed him.

Askari remained with Decado. ‘Now it is you staring at me,’ he said.

‘I have heard tales of you. None of them good. You must be a very sad and bitter man.’

‘Nonsense. I am as happy as anyone else.’

‘I cannot believe that.’

‘It is true. My childhood was a time of great joy and laughter. I was the most popular child in my village. And now I am known for my wit and my charm. You have any food here?’

‘No.’

‘Ah well, no matter.’

‘How did those creatures move so fast?’ she asked him.

‘It is mostly beyond my understanding. They are fashioned, I understand, from creatures with hollow bones, very light. Bats, birds, something like that. Terrifying, aren’t they?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘They do what they are bred to do. They are merely dangerous. You are terrifying.’

She struggled to stand. Instantly Decado reached out a hand to support her. She brushed it away angrily.

‘Do not touch me!’

‘Are you afraid you might be more like her than you think?’

‘Meaning?’

‘She enjoyed my touch.’

‘Perhaps that is because you are so alike,’ said Askari. ‘You are both monsters.’

‘There is that,’ he agreed amiably.

‘And if she enjoyed your touch so greatly, why does she now want you dead?’

‘A lovers’ spat,’ he said. ‘You know how it is. Boy meets girl, girl wants boy dead. An everyday story, really.’

Despite the lightness of tone she saw the pain in his eyes. For a moment she felt sympathy, but the feeling was quickly replaced by a burst of anger. ‘Well, for once I hope she gets what she wants. You are evil, and the world would be better off without you in it.’

‘True enough,’ he answered. Walking away from her he went to his horse, and stepped into the saddle. Askari followed him out. Skilgannon and Harad were standing close by.

‘I expect we shall meet again,’ said Decado.

‘As enemies or friends?’ Skilgannon asked him.

‘Who knows? If you are heading north be aware that a large company of soldiers and Jems is ahead of you. Advance column for the main army. The last battle against Agrias is close now. Jianna wants to end the war this side of the ocean.’ With that he turned his mount and rode off.

‘I don’t like him,’ said Harad.

‘He doesn’t like himself,’ Askari told him. ‘Which shows he is capable of good judgement.’

Skilgannon smiled. ‘Even so, I am glad he was here when the Shadows attacked. What did you talk about?’

‘Jianna. I told him I was not like her.’ She looked into his sapphire eyes. ‘I am not, am I?’

‘I cannot give you the answer you want to hear,’ he said. ‘When I first knew her she was just like you.

Brave — indeed fearless — and loyal and beautiful. She was her own woman, with a strong, independent mind. We used to talk about how we would change the world. When she became Queen of Naashan she would make the land like a garden, and every citizen would live in peace and prosperity. Those were her dreams.’

‘So why did she change?’

‘She became Queen of Naashan,’ he said simply.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘It took me a while,’ he told her. ‘Mostly people obey the laws of their respective lands for one simple reason. If they break them they will suffer for it. The thought of suffering deters them from wrongdoing. It is an age-old principle. Kill someone, and you yourself will be killed. Rob someone and you will be punished. You might lose a hand, or be branded upon the brow, or indeed hanged. The question is, what happens when you are the law, when your actions are unchallenged, your decisions final and beyond appeal? When you are surrounded by people who agree with your every word and every deed? You become like a god, Askari. It is but a small step from that to tyranny.’

‘I would not be like that. I know the difference between right and wrong.’

‘I believe you. I also believe that if Jianna had been born in the high mountains, and grown to womanhood here, she would have said the same. That is beside the point, though. You are not Jianna.

You were not raised in a duplicitous court. You did not see your parents murdered by traitors. You did not have to fight huge battles in order to win back a kingdom. I do not defend what she became. I will not simplify it, either, by holding to the view that she was merely a devil in human flesh, or a monster.’

‘That is because you love her!’ she said, anger flaring again.

‘Perhaps so. But I will do all in my power to end her reign, even if by doing so I condemn her to death. I can do no more than that.’

‘No,’ she said, her voice softening. ‘No-one could ask more than that.’

Stavut sat apart, the horror of the day clinging to him like the blood-drenched shirt he wore. He had wandered away from the pack, needing to be alone. The sun was setting in a blood red sky, and Stavut thought how apt it was, that such a day should end with a crimson sky. The colour of rage.