David Gemmell - Wolf in Shadow

Lewis remained silent, his thoughts whirling. Sarento sat statue-still, his dark eyes locked on Lewis' face.

'One thing, sir,' said Lewis at last. 'As we build and grow, the Stone will need even more power.

Yes? Do we fuel it with death for ever?'

'A good point, Lewis, and it proves that I was right about you. You have intellect. The answer is yes. But we do not have to be demonic. Man is a natural hunting, killing animal. He cannot survive without wars. Think back on your history — it is a kaleidoscope of cruelty and terror. But from each war man progressed. For war establishes unity. Take Rome — they conquered the world in blood and fire. But only then could civilization take root. After conquest there was unity. With unity came law. With law came culture. But not just the Romans, Lewis. The Macedonians, the British, the Spaniards, the French, the Americans. There will always be those who desire war. We will give that atavistic need a positive purpose.'

Lewis stood and saluted. 'Thank you, sir, for sharing this knowledge. Will that be all?'

'No. The reason I have taken you in to my confidence is a delicate one. I told you that Shannow must die. In all probability the Zealots will succeed. But Shannow is Rolynd. He may escape. He may return. I want you to find him and kill him, should the Zealots fail.'

Aware that Sarento was studying his reaction Lewis merely nodded, keeping his face blank.

'Can you do this thing?'

‘I’ll take one of the rifles,' replied Lewis.

For five days the riders had tried tentative attacks, but now on the sixth their leader went berserk, and the Hellborn mounted their horses and thundered into the pass, through the cross-fire which decimated their ranks and on to the trench where Gambion waited with ten men.

Through the cloud of dust sent up by the pounding hooves of their horses the Hellborn bore down on the waiting men.

'Fire!' screamed Gambion and a ragged volley smashed into the first line of riders, bringing down men and horses. A second volley hammered into the horsemen; then Gambion's men broke and ran for the second trench.

Above them, with three riflemen, Janus cursed. He stood and emptied his rifle into the surging ranks of the enemy. Only Gambion remained in the first trench; his rifle empty, he tugged his pistols clear and shot a man from the saddle. Now the dust swirled above him. A horse leapt over him, then a second. He fired blindly into the dust. A hoof clipped the top of his skull and he fell as shots hammered into the dirt beside him.

Janus screamed at the running men to take up positions and they responded, dropping down beside the three men in the second trench. Shells tore once more into the Hellborn and they broke and ran.

'After them!' shouted Janus, sweeping up a rifle and leaping the earthworks. Some seven men followed him, the rest hunkered down behind the relative safety of the earthworks. Janus knew the next few moments would be crucial in the battle. If they did not push the Hellborn outside into the canyon, they would spread up on to the hillside and outflank the defenders. He ran to the first trench and waited for his men to join him.

Together!' he shouted. 'Volley fire. But only at my signal.'

The men settled their rifles to their shoulders. 'Now!' A volley shrieked through the dust clouds.

'Again!' Three times more they fired into the fleeing Hellborn. Janus led his men further into the pass, aware that their position was perilous should the Hellborn turn, but in the billowing dust the enemy had no idea how many men pursued them. At last Janus stood in the mouth of the pass itself and watched the Hellborn galloping out of range.

‘Take up positions,' he ordered the men around him.

‘I’m out of bullets,' a man told him.

'I've only got two rounds left,' said another.

'Strip the dead,' said Janus. 'But be careful — some of them may only be wounded.'

They gathered what ammunition they could from the fallen riders and returned to their positions.

Janus sprinted back to the first trench where Gambion was sitting up holding his head.

'You ought to be dead,' Janus told him and Gambion looked up at the blond youngster and grinned broadly.

'It'll take more than a kick from a horse.'

'We are almost out of ammunition — we can't hold much longer, Ephram.'

'We have to.'

'Be reasonable, man. When the bullets are gone, then so are we.'

'We've held this long, and we've made them pay. Just four more days.'

'What do you want us to do? Throw rocks at them?'

'Whatever it takes.'

‘There are only twenty-two men left, Ephram.'

'But we've taken over a hundred of them bastards.'

Janus gave up and ran back to the pass, climbing high on to the ridge and shielding his eyes, trying to see the enemy. They had dismounted and were seated in a circle around two officers.

Janus wished he had a long-glass to study the situation more closely. It seemed to him that one of the officers had a pistol in his hand and that the barrel was in his mouth. The crack of the pistol drifted to him and he watched the officer topple sideways.

Gambion joined him. 'What's happening out there?'

'One of their leaders has just killed himself.'

'Good for him!'

'What kind of people are they, Ephram?'

‘They ain't like us, that's for sure. By the way, I done a count and we've roughly fifteen shells per man. Good enough for a couple more attacks.'

Janus chuckled. 'Your head's bleeding,' he said.

'It'll stop. You think they'll come in again today?'

'Yes. One more charge. I think we should take a chance on stopping it dead.'

'How?'

'Line everyone across the pass and hit them with ten volleys.'

'If they break through, there'll be nothing to back us.'

'It's up to you, Ephram.'

Gambion swore. ‘I’ll buy it. Damn, but I never thought to see the day when a boy would give me orders.'

'And a child shall lead them,' said Janus.

'What?'

'It's from the Bible, Ephram. Don't you ever read it?'

'I don't read — but I'll take your word for it.'

'Do it fast. I think they're coming in again.'

Gambion and Janus slid down the slope, calling the men to them. They came reluctantly for the most part and gathered in a ragged line.

'You'd better stand this time, by God!' yelled Gambion.

The riders came on at full gallop. The guns of the defenders bellowed, echoing up into the pass, and the rolling thunder of the volleys drowned the sound of galloping hooves.

The pass was black with cordite smoke and as it cleared Gambion watched the last of the Hellborn cantering away out of range. Fewer than fifty men remained of the three hundred who launched the attack on the first day, while seven defenders were dead and two wounded.

'We'd better gather some ammunition,' said Janus. 'Send ten men to strip the bodies.'

Gambion did so, while the other defenders kept a wary eye on the retreating riders.

'We did well today,' said Gambion. 'You believe in God now?'

Janus cursed. It was the first time Gambion had heard him swear.

'What is it?'

Janus pointed to where, on the far side of the valley, a column of riders could be seen.

'Shit!' hissed Gambion. 'How many?'

'I don't know. Five hundred maybe.'

The scavengers returned with sacks of bullets and some extra pistols. One of them moved alongside Gambion.

They didn't have more than five shells apiece. Ain't enough to hold that bunch.'

'We'll see.'

'Well I ain't staying,' said the man. 'I done my share.'

'We've all done our share, Isaac. You want to run out on God?'

'Run out on him? He ain't doing us no favours here, is he? There must be four, five hundred more of them sons of bitches and we ain't even got enough shells for them all.'