He looked around him – his companions were all sleeping. Then he glanced down and shock hit him hard: his own body lay there, wrapped in its blankets. He began to shiver.
Was this death?
Of all the cruel jests fate could play . . .
A faint stirring, like the memory of yesterday’s breeze, caused him to turn. At the edge of the trees stood six men in dark armour, their black swords in their hands. They advanced on him, spreading out in a half-circle. Tenaka reached for his own blade but could not touch it; his hand passed through the hilt as if it were mist.
‘You are doomed,’ said a hollow voice. ‘The Chaos Spirit calls.’
‘Who are you?’ asked Tenaka, ashamed that his voice quavered.
Mocking laughter came from the dark knights.
‘We are Death,’ they said.
Tenaka backed away.
‘You cannot run. You cannot move,’ said the first knight. Tenaka froze. His legs would not obey him and still the knights came closer.
Suddenly a feeling of peace swept over the Nadir prince and the knights halted their slow advance. Tenaka glanced left and right. Beside him stood six warriors in silver armour and white cloaks.
‘Come then, you dogs of darkness,’ said the silver warrior nearest him.
‘We will come,’ replied a dark knight. ‘But not when you call.’ One by one they backed away into the trees.
Tenaka turned slowly, lost and frightened, and the silver warrior who had spoken placed his hand on the Nadir prince’s shoulder.
‘Sleep now. The Source will protect you.’
Darkness settled over him like a blanket.
*
On the morning of the sixth day they cleared the trees and entered the broad plains stretching from Skultik to Skoda. In the distance, to the south, was the city of Karnak, but only the tallest spires could be seen as white pinpoints against a green horizon. The snow lay in white patches now, the spring grass groping for the sunlight.
Tenaka held up his hand as he saw the smoke.
‘It cannot be a grass fire,’ said Ananais, shielding his eyes from the harsh sunlight.
‘It’s a village burning,’ said Gal and, walking alongside. ‘Such sights are all too common these days.’
‘Yours is a troubled land,’ said Pagan, dumping his huge pack on the ground at his feet and laying his saddlebags upon it. Attached to the pack was a bronze-edged shield of stiffened buffalo hide, an antelope horn bow and calf-hide quiver.
‘You carry more equipment than a Dragon platoon,’ muttered Ananais.
‘Sentimental reasons,’ answered Pagan, grinning.
‘We’d best avoid the village,’ said Scaler. His long hair was greasy with sweat and his lack of fitness was telling on him. He sat down beside Pagan’s pack.
The wind shifted and the sound of drumming hooves came to them.
‘Spread out and lie low,’ said Tenaka. The companions ran for cover, dropping to their bellies in the grass.
A woman crested the top of a small hill, running at top speed, her auburn hair flowing behind her. She was dressed in a skirt of green wool and wore a brown shawl. In her arms she carried a small babe whose piping screams carried to the travellers.
As the woman ran on, she cast occasional panic-stricken glances over her shoulder. The haven of the trees was an eternity away as the soldiers cantered into view, but still she ran, cutting towards the hidden Tenaka.
Ananais swore and stood up. The woman screamed and veered left – into the arms of Pagan.
The soldiers reined their mounts and the leader dismounted. He was a tall man, dressed in the red cloak of Delnoch, his bronze armour burnished to a sheen.
“Thank you for your help,’ he said, ‘though we did not need it.’ The woman was quiet now and in her despair she buried her head against Pagan’s broad chest.
Tenaka smiled. There were twelve soldiers, eleven of them still mounted. There was nothing to be done except to hand back the woman.
Then an arrow flashed into the neck of the nearest rider and he pitched from the saddle. Tenaka’s eyes flared in shock. A second arrow buried itself in the chest of another soldier and he too fell back, his horse rearing and hurling him from the saddle. Tenaka drew his sword, plunging it into the officer’s back, for the man had turned as the arrows struck home.