A figure in bronze armour walked up to him. ‘Are you in command?’ he said, lifting off his helm.
‘Loosely speaking,’ admitted Pendar. The man was incredibly handsome, his hair dyed gold at the temples, his eyes large and violet.
‘I am Ammon. I trust my arrival was timely?’
‘It was indeed, sir. However, there is another army besieging Pagaru. Your aid would be most welcome.’
Ammon gazed about the battlefield. ‘Where are the Avatars?’ he asked.
‘All dead. They charged the enemy and destroyed their base.’
‘That was the thunder we heard,’ said Ammon. ‘I thought the skies had fallen. All dead, you say?’
‘It was a valiant charge. Glorious to behold.’
‘I am sorry to have missed it,’ said Ammon. ‘This means then that the Lady Mejana controls the city?’
‘Yes and no. She holds power until we can elect a ruling council.’
‘I think you will find you need a king,’ said Ammon. ‘But such thoughts can wait for another day.’
Sofarita called Methras to her as the first ten of the Avatar soldiers, along with Questor Ro, climbed into the silver longboat and headed for the moonlit shore. ‘You must sail back as swiftly as we came,’ she warned him. ‘If all goes well this will be the last voyage of the Serpent.’
‘The last voyage? I don’t understand. There should be power in her for years yet – even with the Music.’
‘Not for much longer. Anu’s pyramid will not feed the stones, but draw the power from them. That is its purpose. He foresaw the coming of the Crystal Queen. If the Serpent is still at sea when the pyramid is complete she will wallow and sink.’
‘How then will we come back for you?’
‘You will not.’
Turning away from him she walked to the deck rail and stood beside Talaban and Touchstone. The tribesman was scanning the shoreline. The silver longboat returned. Talaban climbed down the rope ladder, followed by Touchstone and the remaining ten Avatar bowmen. Sofarita climbed last. Her joints ached with the effort and there was a flaring pain in her left hip.
Talaban helped her down.
The longboat swung and headed for shore. ‘Will you tell me now what has happened in Egaru?’ said Talaban.
‘They have defeated the invader,’ she said. ‘But at great cost.’
He gave a grim smile. ‘Damn the cost. Rael is a fine strategist.’
‘Was,’ she said. ‘He is dead. And the cost was greater than you could imagine. All the Avatars died with him.’
The men in the boat were silent as she told the story of the destruction of the Library and the last charge, and of how Viruk had galloped his mount through the line of beasts, drawing them into destruction. She told them also of Ammon’s flight from the city to gather the remnants of his army, and how they had arrived in time to turn the battle.
The longboat came to a stop at the shore, but no-one moved. ‘We are the last of our race,’ said Talaban. Sofarita gazed at the faces of the men in the boat. The expressions were thoughtful and heavy with sadness. There was no arrogance in them now. They were no longer the god-race, merely men who had lost their families and their loved ones.
Touchstone broke the silence. Laying his hand on Talaban’s arm he said, ‘Kill Almecs now. Yes?’
Talaban did not reply, but he stepped over the side of the boat and waded to the shore. The other Avatars followed him, joining the first group and telling them of the disaster. Questor Ro ran to the boat and took Sofarita’s hand.
Once ashore she took a deep breath. There is no going back, Questor Ro,’ she said.
‘I am where I want to be,’ he told her. ‘Is it true they are all dead?’
‘Yes, it is true.’
He stood silently for a moment. ‘We became selfish, but it was not always so. We gave the world civilization, the written word, architecture, poetry, learning. I hope when men remember us they remember the good with the bad.’
They will not remember you, Ro,’ she told him. ‘Not as men. You will first become legends, and then the gods you dreamed of being. That is, if we win.’