X

LEGEND by David A. Gemmell

‘The worst were a bunch of captured Sathuli. They just kept chanting the same bloody verse over and over again. We let them go in the end – we thought that if they sang like that when they got home, they’d break the fighting spirit of their tribe in a week.’

‘Now look here, old horse,’ said Bowman, ‘I am a man not easily thrown. Give me an answer – any answer! Lie if you like. But tell me why you travel to Delnoch.’

‘Why do you want to know?’

‘It fascinates me. A man with half an eye could see that Delnoch will fall, and you’re a man with enough experience to know the truth when you see it. So why go?’

‘Have you any idea, laddie, how many such lost causes I have been involved in during the past forty or so years?’

‘Precious few,’ said Bowman. ‘Or you would not be here to tell of them.’

‘Not so. How do you decide a battle is lost? Num­bers, strategic advantage, positioning? It’s all worth a sparrow’s fart. It comes down to men who are willing. The largest army will founder if its men are less willing to die than to win.’

‘Rhetoric,’ snorted Bowman. ‘Use it at the Dros. The fools there will lap it up.’

‘One man against five, and the one disabled,’ said Druss, holding his temper. ‘Where would your money go?’

‘I’m ahead of you, ol’ man. What if the one was Karnak the One-Eyed. Yes? Well, then my money would be on him. But how many Karnaks are there at Dros Delnoch?’

‘Who knows? Even Karnak was unknown once. He made his name on a bloody battlefield. There will be many heroes come the last at Dros Delnoch.’

‘Then you admit it? The Dros is doomed,’ said Bowman, grinning in triumph. ‘At the last, you said.’

‘Damn you, boy! Don’t put words in my mouth,’ snarled Druss, cursing himself. Where are you now, Sieben, he thought? Now that I need you with your glib words and ready wit.

‘Then don’t try to treat me like a fool. Admit that the Dros is doomed.’

‘As you say,’ admitted Druss, ‘anyone with half an eye could see it. But I don’t give a damn, laddie. Until the actual moment when they cut me down, I shall still be looking to win. And the gods of war are fickle at best. Where do you stand on the matter?’

Bowman smiled and refilled both goblets. For a while he was silent, enjoying the wine and the old man’s discomfort.

‘Well?’ said Druss.

‘Now we come to it,’ answered Bowman.

‘Come to what?’ said Druss, ill at ease under the young archer’s cynical gaze.

‘The reason for this visit to my woods,’ said Bowman, spreading his hands, his smile now open and friendly. ‘Come now, Druss, I’ve too much respect for you to fence any longer. You want my men for your insane battle. And the answer is no. But enjoy the wine anyway.’

‘Am I so transparent?’ asked the old warrior.

‘When Druss the Legend takes a stroll through Skultik on the eve of the End, he’s looking for more than acorns.’

‘Is this all you want from life?’ asked Druss. ‘You sleep in a wattle hut and eat when you can find game. When you cannot, you starve. In winter you’re cold. In summer the ants crawl into your clothes and the lice prosper. You were not made for a life like this.’

‘We are not made for life at all, old horse. It is made for us. We live it. We leave it. I’ll not throw my life away in your bloody madness. I leave such heroics to men like you. All your years have been spent in one squalid war after another. And what has changed? Have you thought that if you had not defeated the Ventrians fifteen years ago at Skeln, we would now be part of a mighty empire and they would have had to worry about the Nadir?’

‘Freedom’s worth fighting for,’ said Druss.

‘Why? No one can take away the freedom of a man’s soul.’

‘Liberty, then?’ offered Druss.

‘Liberty is only valued when it is threatened, therefore it is the threat that highlights the value. We should be grateful to the Nadir, since they heighten the value of our liberty.’

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159

Categories: David Gemmell
curiosity: