David Gemmell - Echoes of the Great Song

Methras kissed her cheek. 'Of course. He loves me for my mind,' he said.

'What he needs—' she began.

Methras held up his hand. 'If the phrase the love of a good woman is hovering on your lips, do not say it. You are far too intelligent to be caught in that cliche.'

'What I was going to say is that he needs the guidance of someone he can trust. He has a way with money, but he is like a straw in the wind. You could help him, Methras, and become rich yourself.'

'I have no interest in wealth or power,' he said. 'I am a soldier. It suits me well.'

'You are very much like your father,' she told him.

'Too much — and not enough,' he said sadly.

Moving through the house, he entered the wide living area. Two men were seated in the archway leading to the front garden. Pendar, as always, was immaculately and expensively dressed. His pearl-grey tunic and leggings were woven from heavy silk, his shoes crafted from lizard-skin. He was tall, very slim and still boyish, his hair dyed with streaks of gold. The man beside him was more strongly built, with wide shoulders and powerful hands. His beard was silver and yellow.

'My dear friend,' said Pendar, as Methras entered. Moving smoothly across the room he embraced the soldier and kissed his cheek. 'It is so good to see you. How are you?'

'Fit and well, Pendar. Who is your friend?'

'Not a friend, exactly,' said Pendar. 'More a business acquaintance. He is a fine man. Trustworthy. His name is Boru. He is of the Banis-baya, a tribe who dwell close to the Well of Life.'

Boru rose and moved forward, his hand outstretched. Methras shook it briefly.

'Good as it is to see you, my friend,' said Methras, turning once more to Pendar, 'I must tell you that I am very weary, and was looking forward to some sleep this afternoon.'

'We won't keep you long,' said Boru. 'I understand you have just returned from a long voyage.'

'Yes, to the southern ice. It was successful.'

'By which you mean…?' asked Boru.

'We found what we were looking for,' he answered. 'That would seem to me to constitute a successful trip.'

'As I understand it, Vagars died upon the ice,' said Boru, 'and what was found made the Avatars more powerful than they were before. Some might argue that as a great failure.'

'A soldier of the empire would not argue so,' Methras pointed out.

'He might,' said Boru. 'These are changing times. The hourglass of history is about to be spun. Some men believe that within a few years these cities will once again be controlled by Vagars. What then will befall those loyal to the old empire?'

Methras did not reply. Ignoring Boru, he turned to Pendar. The golden-haired man was about to speak, but Methras lifted his hand and shook his head. 'Say not a word, my friend. It is best you leave, and when you return come alone. What I have not heard I cannot report.'

'He is right,' said Boru. 'We are wasting our time here.'

'No, it is my time you are wasting,' snapped Methras. 'Leave now.'

Boru swung on his heel and stalked from the room. Pendar stood still for a moment, confused. Methras put his hand on his friend's slender shoulder. 'Walk with care, Pendar, for the road you travel is very dangerous.'

'Boru is right,' said Pendar softly. 'The days of the Avatar are coming to an end. Once they are overthrown all their friends and allies will be killed. I do not want to see you hurt.'

'How can you believe the Vagars will be allowed to rule their own cities? If the Avatars fall then the Erek-jhip-zhonad or the Patiakes will conquer them, and they will have merely exchanged masters. Stay out of politics, Pendar. It will destroy you.'

'Their own cities?' countered Pendar. 'Do you not mean our own cities? Or is your Avatar blood taking hold? You are like me, a half-breed, caught between two races. If the truth was discovered even now we would both be crystal-drawn. The Avatars will never accept us. I will not give my loyalty and my life to people who would wish me dead if they knew of my blood. They are the enemy, Methras. One day you will see it too.'

'They are not all enemies. There is Talaban.'

'Ah yes,' said Pendar, with a mischievous smile, 'the beautiful Talaban. Do not be deceived, my dear. He is still a member of the god-race, and his long life is maintained by the deaths of Vagars, crystal-drawn against their will.'

'You must go now,' said Methras.

Pendar nodded, and gathered up his heavy black cloak. 'I think of you often,' he said. Methras walked past him and out into the late afternoon sunshine.

He stood there for some time, until he heard the two horsemen ride away. His mother joined him, linking her arm through his.

'Did he want you to work with him?' she asked.

'Yes.'

'Will you?'

'I don't believe that I will.'

'You could be making a mistake,' she said.

'One of us is,' he agreed.

The problems facing Anu were many. His 600 workers had begun work on the pyramid in good spirits, making jokes about the seemingly perpetual sunshine. After ten days, with the sun having inched its way to its first noon, the mood among the Vagars had changed. Anu felt the tension. It was bizarre to work for hours with the sun almost frozen in the sky, to sleep for five hours, and to awake with the sun still high. It jangled the nerves. Many men reported sick, others found difficulty in sleeping. Tempers flared, and on the fourth day one man slammed a hammer into the skull of a co-worker. One of the Avatar guards slew the murderer. Separated from the holding magic of the chest the two bodies rotted instantly, becoming covered in maggots. A hundred workers saw the scene, and it frightened them. Accelerating time, as Anu was discovering, produced a host of allied problems.

Bread became stale within minutes, fruit rotted even before it could be removed from the barrels. Grass grew at twenty times the speed. A man could sit and watch it grow. Anu eventually solved the food problem by adjusting the power of the chest to encompass the supplies. The same method was used on the plants and grasses that grew in the valley. But even so the mood among the hired men was deteriorating. Thirty had so far asked to be relieved, and this request was granted. They trooped home on the next occasion that Anu slowed the Dance to allow supplies into the valley.

At Shevan's suggestion he sent a request for fifty whores to be brought in, and built a series of huts for them on the edge of the valley. The service provided by the whores was free. The men were given special coins of baked clay, which the women collected against payment from the Treasury at the end of their allotted service.

This mollified the workforce for a while. Then came the interminable twenty-day night. Now the men grew more fractious, and several fights broke out. One of the workers committed suicide during this first period of night.

This puzzled Anu for a while, until he concluded that sunlight was somehow important to the brain, and without it men became depressed. Along with the services of the women he now allowed strong drink and opiates to be offered to his workers, and organized dances, competitions and other forms of entertainment for those who had finished their labours.

By the thirtieth day the foundations of the pyramid — a deep and perfect square of limestone blocks, stretching for 750 feet on each side — were finally laid in place. Anu arranged an impromptu party, allowing the men to vote for a Foundations King. The winner — a foreman named Yasha — was crowned with laurel leaves and carried around the foundations, which were then inscribed with his name. Anu liked Yasha, a big man, wide-shouldered and tall, with a booming laugh and a powerful way with other men. He was an imposing figure and his crew of thirty were the best by far.