David Gemmell - The Swords of Night and Day

Agrias himself was taken, and the war in the north was over in just under twelve days. There were still pockets of resistance to overcome, mainly in the Drenai lands to the west. This, however, was a relatively simple matter. The Legend Riders had a few thousand doughty fighters, but no Jiamads, and no reserves to call upon.

Jianna opened the flaps of her tent and stepped out into the moonlight. The two guardsmen saluted.

Several of her generals were waiting outside, and she saw Unwallis walking across the campsite towards her tent. He had been hurt by her rejection of him. It amazed her that he could have considered becoming a regular lover again. The man was old, and lacked the stamina she had once enjoyed in him. Bedding him was not a mistake she would make again.

Agrippon, the Senior General of her Eternals, bowed as her gaze fell upon him. Jianna liked him. She had tried to seduce him several years ago, but he was a married man, and ferociously loyal to his wife.

She felt that with a little extra effort she could have broken down this resistance, for he was obviously besotted with her, but she rather liked his stolid honesty and his attempt to be true. So she had drawn back, and now treated him with sisterly affection. Summoning him to her tent she told the guards to admit no-one else until she ordered it.

‘Sit down, Agrippon,’ she bade him. ‘What are the figures?’

‘Just over a thousand dead. Eleven thousand enemy corpses — not counting their beasts.’

‘And my guards?’

‘We lost only sixty-seven men, with another three hundred bearing light wounds.’

‘Excellent.’

‘As indeed was your battle plan, Highness.’ The compliment was clumsily made, but she sensed his sincerity. Agrippon was not a man given to compliments.

She gazed at the black-bearded soldier, and wondered if she should reconsider her sisterly demeanour. The battle had been exciting and Jianna felt the need to have the tension relieved. He grew uncomfortable under her direct gaze and rose from his seat.

‘Will that be all, Highness?’

‘Yes, thank you, Agrippon. Convey my congratulations to your officers. Will you have Unwallis attend me?’

‘Of course, Highness,’ he said, bowing.

After the general had left the statesman ducked under the tent flap. He too bowed.

‘How did you enjoy your first battle?’ she asked him. He had ridden alongside her at the centre of the army, looking faintly ludicrous in a gilded breastplate and overlarge helm.

‘It was terrifying, Highness, but having survived it, I wouldn’t have missed it for all the wine in Lentria.

I thought we were trapped.’

She laughed. ‘It would take someone with more skill than Agrias to trap me.’

‘Yes, Highness. Might I ask what your plans are for him? I thought. .’

‘You thought I would have had him killed immediately.’

‘Indeed, Highness. He has been a thorn in our sides for many years now.’

‘I expect he is contemplating his situation even as we speak. We will allow that contemplation to continue.’

‘Exquisitely cruel, Highness,’ he said with a sigh. ‘He is an imaginative man, and will be considering all the horrors that could come his way.’

‘Indeed so. You wanted to see me. Do you have news?’

‘We have been questioning some of the captured officers. It seems that the Legend Riders attached to Agrias — some three hundred of them — left his service two weeks ago. One of the riders is fond of a local whore. She was, in turn, fond of the particular officer we questioned.’

‘For the sake of my sanity,’ said Jianna sharply, ‘can we cease talking of fondness . I am not a temple maiden. The whore was humping both men, and probably a score of others. What did she say?’

‘That the leader of the Legend Riders had found some mysterious armour, important to them. In bronze. And that a mystic voice had compelled him to leave Agrias’s service and follow a man with two swords.’

‘The Armour of Bronze,’ said Jianna. ‘It was a legend even in my own time.’ She shivered suddenly.

‘I do not like this, Unwallis. Too many damned portents. A Reborn Druss the Legend, carrying his axe, Skilgannon rediscovered, and now the Armour of Bronze. Perhaps that cursed prophecy is not so far-fetched.’

‘The Eternal Guards you sent should be close to the temple site by now. And there are two hundred Jiamads with them. Some of the latest and most powerful. Even with a few hundred Legend Riders Skilgannon will lose.’

‘That would be a first,’ said Jianna. ‘Leave me now, Unwallis. I need to think.’

‘Yes, Highness,’ he said, with a deep bow. He looked at her and suddenly smiled. ‘May I say something?’

She sighed. ‘Make it brief.’

‘My thoughts are clearer now, and I apologize that my behaviour has been. . foolish. Your gift to me at the palace was exquisite, and I am very grateful. I feel, though, that my attitude since has caused a breach between us. I would like that breach to be sealed. I am, once more, merely Unwallis. And your friend, Highness.’

Jianna was touched, and felt herself relax. ‘You are a good friend.’ Stepping forward she kissed his cheek.

He reddened, bowed once more, and departed. Jianna walked to the rear of her tent, and opened a small, ornate box of carved ebony. From it she took an ancient bronze amulet, covered now in green verdigris. Holding tightly to it she whispered Memnon’s name.

At first there was no response, then it was as if a breeze whispered into the tent, though none of the lanterns flickered. Jianna felt cold and shivered once more. By the far wall an image formed, at first like a shadow against the white, silk-covered canvas. Then it shimmered and Memnon’s image appeared, pale and translucent.

‘There is a problem, Highness?’ he asked.

‘Skilgannon is close to the temple site. He has a small force with him.’

‘I know this, Highness. Legend Riders, and a troop of Jiamads. Be not concerned.’

‘Can we not bring the plan forward?’

‘No, Highness. Timing is essential. Vital, in fact. All will be as you wish it to be. When my messenger comes to you, leave the camp and follow him. I will appear to you then, and ensure that all is well.’

‘The Eternal Guard will not attack until the time is right.’

‘I am with the general. He understands fully what we intend. Be at ease, Highness. Enjoy your victory.

There will be another for you to savour very shortly.’

For Harad the long, slow trip on the barges was a time for quiet grief. He sat on the narrow deck, surrounded by Jiamads, and watched the land drift slowly by.

Harad had chosen to travel with the beasts because they didn’t talk much, and he found the lightness and banter of the Legend Riders hard to bear. Almost everything had been hard to bear since Charis’s death.

Harad even felt surprise when he heard birdsong coming from the rushes on the eastern bank. It seemed somehow inconceivable that birds should still be singing, or that the sun still shone from a clear blue sky.

The weight of his grief was colossal. But he did not share it, even with Askari, who would occasionally join him, and sit in merciful silence.

They had hired five barges, each pulled by oxen for the first forty miles of the journey. After that, so Skilgannon had been told by the merchant, they would leave the oxen behind and navigate the wider waterways through the mountains until they met the river Rostrias. The soldiers had surrendered all their coin, and Stavut had sold his wagon and contents. Even so they had been far short of the hiring charge, and the cost of the provisions necessary for the trip.

Stavut had haggled with the Master Merchant for some hours, while Decado steadily lost patience. He was all for commandeering the vessels. Skilgannon urged him to stay calm. The Master Merchant was also the local commander of the Corisle militia, and though it would not have been difficult to overcome them Skilgannon wanted to avoid unnecessary deaths. Harad had looked closely at Decado. He seemed paler than usual, and kept rubbing his eyes.