David Gemmell - Quest for Lost Heroes

An old man, near toothless, sat cross-legged on a high rock. His body was completely covered in tattooes and his lower face was stained blue, as if emulating a beard and an upturned moustache.

The woman spoke to the old man, whose face remained expressionless throughout. Finally she turned to Kiall and dropped to her knees. Taking his hand she kissed it twice, then rose and was gone.

'I am Okas,' said the old man.

'I am. .' Kiall began.

'I know who you are. What do you want of me?"

'Your help.'

'Why should I seek to aid the soul of Tenaka Khan?'

'I do not know what you are talking about,' said Kiall. 'I am seeking to rescue a woman I love — that is all.'

'Where is fat Beltzer?'

'I lost them when we were attacked.'

'By the Azhtacs, this also I know! Give me your hand.' Kiall reached out and Okas took his hand and turned it palm upwards. 'You lost your woman — and yet not your woman. And now you are on a quest you do not understand, that will determine the fate of a people you do not know. Truly, Kiall, you are a part of the World's Dream.'

'But will you help me? Chareos says you can follow spirit trails; he says that without you we will never find Ravenna.'

The old man released his hand. 'My people are finished now, the day of the Azhtacs has dawned. But soon another day will dawn, and the Azhtacs will see the destruction of their homes, the torment of their people. Yet that gives me no pleasure. And I do not wish to be here when they come for my children. I had thought to die tonight, quietly, here on this stone. But now I will come with you and die on another stone. Then I will join the World's Dream.'

'I don't know how to thank you,' said Kiall.

'Come,' said the old man, dropping to the floor beside him, 'let us find the ghosts-yet-to-be .'

Chareos dragged his sword clear of the dying Azhtac and swung to see if any of his companions needed help. Beltzer was standing over a dead warrior with axe raised. Maggrig and Finn had sheathed their knives and notched arrows to their bows. Nine dead Azhtacs lay sprawled around them. Chareos glanced up at the sun; it was almost noon and the silver-grey Gateway beckoned him.

'Where in Bar's name is Kiall?' hissed Chareos.

Finn joined him. 'I marked as many trees as I could, Chareos. I think he must be dead.'

Beltzer dropped to his knees beside a corpse and began to tug at the gold circlet the man wore on his brow. At that moment Maggrig shouted a warning and a large group of Azhtacs raced from the trees. 'Back!' shouted Chareos. Beltzer cursed and rose. Maggrig and Finn ran through the Gateway. Beltzer raised his axe and bellowed a battle-cry and the Azhtacs slowed. Beltzer turned and sprinted through the Gate, followed by Chareos.

The moonlight was bright on the other side, and the cold was numbing after the heat of the jungle. A spear flashed through the Gateway, striking the ground and half burying itself in the snow. Beltzer moved to one side of the Gateway; when an arm and a head showed through, his axe smashed into the head, catapulting the man back through the opening. Then there was silence.

'All that gold,' said Beltzer, 'and I didn't get a single piece of it.'

'You have your life,' Finn told him.

Beltzer swung on him. 'And what is that worth?'

'Enough!' roared Chareos. 'We have a comrade on the other side. Now cease your arguing and let me think.'

Within a circle of boulders, within sight of the Gateway, Maggrig lit a fire and they all gathered around it. 'You want to go back, Blademaster?' asked Maggrig.

'I don't know, my friend. We were lucky to escape the first time. I should think they would place guards on the Gate — and that makes it doubly perilous.'

'I think we should go back,' said Beltzer. 'I'm willing to risk it.'

'For the boy or the gold?' asked Maggrig.

'For both, if you must know,' Beltzer snapped.

Chareos shook his head. 'No,' he said, 'that would be foolhardy. Kiail is alone there, but he is a resourceful lad. Finn marked the trees and if he still lives Kiall will follow the trail back to the Gate. We will wait for him here.'

'And what if you are right about guards, eh?' enquired Beltzer. 'How will he get past those?'

'My guess is that they will be watching the Gate to see who passes from this side. He may have an opportunity to run at it.'

'Aren't you forgetting something, Chareos?' asked Mag-grig. 'If he chooses the wrong time, there is no knowing where the Gate will take him.'

'As I said, he is resourceful. We wait.'

For some time they sat in silence. The wind picked up, gusting the snow around them; the fire spluttered and little heat seemed to emanate from it. 'We could freeze to death waiting here,' grumbled Beltzer. 'At least it is warmer on the other side.'

'It is colder than it ought to be,' remarked Finn suddenly. 'When we left the thaw had set in. The weather should not have turned so swiftly.'

'It has not necessarily been swift,' said Chareos, drawing his cloak more tightly about his frame. 'When I first looked beyond the Gate I seemed to be there, frozen, unable to move, for an hour at least. You said it was but a few heartbeats. Well, we were beyond the gate for a day — that could be a week here, or a month.'

'It better not have been a month, Blademaster,' said Maggrig softly. 'If it is, we are trapped in this valley for the winter. And there is not enough game.'

'Rubbish!' snorted Beltzer. 'We would just pass through the Gate and wait for a few of their days, returning in spring. Isn't that right, Chareos?'

The Blademaster nodded.

'Well, what are we waiting for?' asked Beltzer. 'Let's go back and find the lad.'

Finn bit back an angry response as Beltzer pushed himself to his feet. Just then a spark lifted from the fire and hung in the air, swelling slowly into a glowing ball. Beltzer's mouth dropped open and he took up his axe. Chareos and the others stared at the floating sphere — watching, astonished, as it grew to the size of a man's head. The colour faded until the globe was almost transparent and they could see the Gate reflected there, and the snow gusting around it. Finn gasped as two tiny figures showed inside the sphere, stepping through the miniature Gateway.

'It is Okas,' said Beltzer, peering at the ball. 'And the lad with him.' He spun round, but the real Gateway was empty. The scene inside the floating sphere shimmered and changed; now they could see Finn's cabin, and a warm fire glowing in the hearth. Okas was seated cross-legged before the blaze, his eyes closed. Kiall sat at the table.

The sphere vanished.

'He found the old boy,' said Beltzer. 'He found Okas.'

'Yes, and arrived back before us,' continued Finn.

The four men stood. Chareos doused the fire and they set off through the snow.

In the cabin Okas opened his eyes. 'They come,' he said.

'I had begun to give up hope,' replied Kiall. 'Twelve days is a long time to be trapped in that jungle.'

Okas chuckled. They left before we did. But I know how to use the Gate.' He stood and stretched. A small man, no more than five feet tall, he was round-shouldered and pot-bellied. He could have been any age from sixty to a hundred, and looked as if a stiff breeze could snap his bones. Yet he had walked through the snow clad only in a loin-cloth and had appeared to suffer no discomfort, neither through cold nor exhaustion. And he left barely a print on the snow, as if his weight was no more than that of a bird. He looked up at Kiall. 'So tell me all you know about the Great Khan.'

'Why are you interested? I don't understand,' said Kiall.

'I was here when he led his armies into Drenai lands,' Okas told him. 'And again when they marched against Bel-azar. Strong man, the Khan. Great man, perhaps. But he is dead, yes?'