LEGEND by David A. Gemmell

‘It was a pretty offer he made,’ said Orrin, as the three men made the long walk back to the Keep. ‘Word will spread. Talks with Abalayn . . . One empire of Drenai and Nadir . . . Clever!’

‘Clever and true,’ said Hogun. ‘We know from his record that he means it. If we surrender, he will march through and harm no one. Threats of death can be taken and resisted – offers of life are horses of a different colour. I wonder how long it will be before the burghers demand another audience.’

‘Before dusk,’ predicted Druss.

Back on the walls, Gilad and Bregan watched the dust from the Nadir horsemen dwindle into the distance.

‘What did he mean, Gil, about riding to Drenan for discussions with Abalayn?’

‘He meant he wants us to let his army through.’

‘Oh. They didn’t look terribly fierce, did they? I mean they seem quite ordinary really, save that they wear furs.’

‘Yes, they are ordinary,’ said Gilad, removing his helm and combing his hair with his fingers, allowing the cool breeze to get to his head. ‘Very ordinary. Except that they live for war. Fighting comes as naturally to them as farming does to you. Or me,’ he added as an afterthought, knowing this to be untrue.

‘I wonder why?’ said Bregan. ‘It has never made much sense to me. I mean, I understand why some men become soldiers: to protect the nation and all that. But a whole race of people living to be soldiers seems . . . unhealthy? Does that sound right?’

Gilad laughed. ‘Indeed it sounds right. But the northern steppes make poor farmland. Mainly they breed goats and ponies. Any luxuries they desire, they must steal. Now to the Nadir, so Dun Pinar told me at the banquet, the word for stranger is the same as the word for enemy. Anyone not of the tribe is simply there to be killed and stripped of goods. It is a way of life. Smaller tribes are wiped out by larger tribes. Ulric changed the pattern; by amalgamating beaten tribes into his own, he grew more and more powerful. He controls all the north­ern kingdoms now, and many to the east. Two years ago he took Manea, the sea kingdom.’

‘I heard about that,’ said Bregan. ‘But I thought he had withdrawn after making a treaty with the king.’

‘Dun Pinar says the king agreed to be Ulric’s vassal and Ulric holds the king’s son hostage. The nation is his.’

‘He must be a pretty clever man,’ said Bregan. ‘But what would he do if he ever conquered the whole world? I mean, what good is it? I would like a bigger farm and a house with several floors. That I can understand. But what would I do with ten farms? Or a hundred?’

‘You would be rich and powerful. Then you could tell your tenant fanners what to do and they would all bow as you rode past in your fine carriage.’

‘That doesn’t appeal to me, not at all,’ said Bregan.

‘Well, it does to me,’ said Gilad. ‘I’ve always hated it when I had to tug the forelock for some passing nobleman on a tall horse. The way they look at you, despising you because you work a smallhold­ing; paying more money for their hand-made boots than I can earn in a year of slaving. No, I wouldn’t mind being rich – so pig-awful rich that no man could ever look down on me again.’

Gilad turned his face away to stare out over the plains – his anger fierce, almost tangible.

‘Would you look down on people then, Gil? Would you despise me because I wanted to remain a farmer?’

‘Of course not. A man should be free to do what he wants to do, as long as it doesn’t hurt others.’

‘Maybe that’s why Ulric wants to control every­thing. Maybe he is sick of everyone looking down on the Nadir.’

Gilad turned back to Bregan and his anger died within him.

‘Do you know, Breg, that’s just what Pinar said, when I asked him if he hated Ulric for wanting to smash the Drenai. He said, “Ulric isn’t trying to smash the Drenai, but to raise the Nadir.” I think Pinar admires him.’