David Gemmell - The King Beyond the Gate

'Come, then,' he said. 'Let me see you die a second time.'

The Dark Templars moved forward, spreading in a semi-circle around him. Suddenly Tenaka was aware he was not alone. For a moment, as in his earlier dream, he believed The Thirty had come for him, but when he glanced to his left he saw a powerful, broad-shouldered Nadir warrior in goatskin tunic. Others moved alongside him.

The Templars hesitated and the Nadir beside Tenaka lifted his sword. 'Drive these shadows away,' he told his warriors. Silently a hundred hollow-eyed tribesmen surged forward and the Templars fled before them.

The Nadir turned to Tenaka. His face was broad and flat, his eyes violet and piercing. There pulsed from him an aura of power and strength that Tenaka had not seen in any living man, and he knew him then. He fell to his knees before him and bent forward his body into a deep bow.

'You know me then, blood of my blood?'

'I do, my Lord Khan,' said Tenaka. 'Ulric, Lord of Hordes!'

'I have seen you, boy. Watched you grow, for my old shaman Nosta Khan is with me still. You have not displeased me. . But then your blood is of the finest.'

'Not all have felt it so,' said Tenaka.

'The world is full of fools,' snapped Ulric. 'I fought against the Earl of Bronze and he was a mighty man. And rare. He was a man with doubts, who overcame them. He stood on the walls of Dros Delnoch and defied me with his pitiful force, and I loved him for it. He was a fighter and a dreamer. Rare. So very rare!'

'You met him, then?'

'There was another warrior with him — an old man, Druss. Deathwalker, we called him. When he fell I had his body carried to my camp and we built a funeral pyre. Imagine that. For an enemy! We were on the verge of victory. And that night the Earl of Bronze — my greatest enemy — walked into my camp with his generals and joined me at the funeral.'

'Insane!' said Tenaka. 'You could have taken him and the whole fortress.'

'Would you have taken him, Tenaka?'

Tenaka considered the question. 'No,' he said at last.

'Neither could I. So do not worry about your pedigree. Let lesser men sneer.'

'Am I not dead?' asked Tenaka.

'No.'

'Then how am I here?'

'You sleep. Those Templar maggots pulled your spirit here but I will help you return.'

'What hell is this, and how came you here?'

'My heart failed me during the war against Ventria. And then I was here. It is the Nethervoid, pitched between the worlds of Source and Spirit. It seems I am claimed by neither, so I exist here with my followers. I never worshipped anything but my sword and my wits — now I suffer for it. But I can take it, for am I not a man?'

'You are a legend.'

'It is not hard to become a legend, Tenaka. It is what follows when you have to live like one.'

'Can you see the future?'

'In part.'

'Will I… will my friends succeed?'

'Do not ask me. I cannot alter your fate, much as I might wish to. This is your path, Tenaka, and you must walk it like a man. You were born to walk it.'

'I understand, Lord. I should not have asked.'

'There is no harm in asking,' said Ulric, smiling. 'Come, close your eyes — you must return to the world of blood.'

Tenaka awoke. It was night, yet his fire still burned bright and warm and a blanket had been placed over his sleeping body. He groaned and rolled to his side, raising himself on his elbow. Ananais sat across from the fire, the light flickering on his mask.

'How are you feeling?' asked the giant.

'Good. I needed the rest.'

'Has the pain gone?'

'Yes. Did you bring food?'

'Of course. You had me worried for a while. You turned ghostly white and your pulse was slow as death.'

'I'm all right now.' Tenaka sat up and Ananais tossed him a canvas sack containing dried meat and fruit. They ate in silence. The waterfall glittered like diamonds on sable in the moonlight. Finally Ananais spoke.

'Four hundred of the Legion have joined us. Decado says they will fight true — claims his priests have read their minds. Only three did they turn away. Two hundred others chose to return to Ceska.'

Tenaka rubbed his eyes. 'And?'

'And what?'

'And what happened to those who chose to return?'

'I sent them out of the valley.'

'Ani, my friend, I am back now. I am all right. So tell me.'

'I had them slain in the valley. It was necessary, for they could have given information about our numbers.'

'This was known anyway, Ani — the Templars are watching over us.'

'All right. But even so — it is still two hundred fewer men that they will send against us in the days to come.'

Silence descended again and Ananais lifted his mask gently, probing at the angry scar tissue.

Take the thing off,' said Tenaka. 'Let the air get to the skin.'

Ananais hesitated, then he sighed and removed the leather. In the red firelight he seemed like a demon, inhuman and terrible. His blue eyes were fixed on Tenaka in a piercing stare, as if he were trying to discern some evidence of revulsion.

'Give me your view of the battle,' said Tenaka.

'It went to plan. I was pleased with Rayvan's men, and her son Lake is an asset. The black man fought well. He is a fine warrior. Given a year, I could rebuild the Dragon around these Skoda men.'

'We don't have a year.'

'I know,' said Ananais. 'I reckon two months.'

'We cannot beat them like this, Ani.'

'You have a plan?'

'Yes. But you won't like it.'

'If it means our winning, I will like it,' promised Ananais. 'What is it?'

'I mean to bring the Nadir.'

'You are right — I don't like it. In fact it stinks like rotting meat. If Ceska is bad, the Nadir are worse. Gods, man, at least with Ceska we are still Drenai. Are you out of your mind?'

'It is all we have left, my friend. We have almost a thousand men. We cannot hold Skoda and would be hard-pressed to withstand a single charge.'

'Listen to me, Tani! You know I have never held your blood against you. Not personally. I love you better than a brother. But I hate the Nadir as I hate nothing else on this earth. And I am not alone. No man here will fight alongside them. And suppose you do bring an army? What the hell happens when we win? Do they just go home? They will have beaten the Drenai army; the land will be theirs and we shall have another bloody civil war.'

'I don't see it that way.'

'And how will you bring them? There are no secret ways through the mountains, not even through the Sathuli passes. No army can come from the north save through Delnoch, and even Ulric failed to pass those gates.'

'I have asked Scaler to take Dros Delnoch.'

'Oh, Tani, you have gone mad! He is a fop and a runner who has not joined in one battle so far. When we rescued the village girl, he just buried his head in his hands and lay in the grass. When we found Pagan, he remained with the women. When we were planning yesterday's sortie, he was shaking like grass in a breeze and you told him to stay behind. And he will take Delnoch?'

Tenaka added wood to the fire, discarding the blanket from his shoulders. 'I know all these things, Ani. But it can be done. Scaler is like his ancestor, the Earl of Bronze. He doubts himself and he has great fears. But beyond those fears, if he ever sees it, there waits a fine man — a man of courage and nobility. And he is bright and quick-thinking.'

'Our hopes then rest on him?' asked Ananais.

'No. They rest on my judgement of him.'

'Don't play with words. It is the same thing.'

'I need you with me, Ananais.'

Ananais nodded. 'Why not? We are only talking about death. I will stay with you, Tani. What is life if a man cannot count on his friends when he has gone mad?'

'Thank you, Ani. I mean that.'