He drew back. ‘Yes, but we will not – not in this cold stone place, which reeks of death and misery. Can we just sit together, close?’
‘For a man of little experience, you so often say exactly the right words,’ she told him.
The sun climbed high behind them, the sky cloudless and streaked with red. ‘It will be a fine day,’ he said.
She did not reply.
Harokas saw them from the courtyard and sighed. Then he caught sight of Asta Khan, moving furtively from the main barracks building; he was carrying something. As Harokas squinted against the sunlight, he saw that the shaman was holding a bleached skull which he carried to the room where Ravenna lay. Harokas watched him slip inside.
The assassin strolled up to where Chareos sat. ‘This would be a good time to ride off deep into Gothir lands,’ he said.
Chareos shook his head. ‘The woman would lose the babe. She is close to giving birth.’
Harokas sighed. ‘If we stay, we will all die. And women can conceive a second time, Chareos. It would not cause the world to fall in darkness were she to lose this one child?’
‘The child is special,’ insisted Chareos. ‘But more than that, I am meant to be here. I cannot explain it – but I have known for many years that my destiny lay here.’
‘I think Asta Khan feels the same way. I have just seen him carrying an old skull into the woman’s room. Truly the ways of shamen are beyond me – I am happy to say.’
‘A skull?’ The words of Okas came flooding back to him: ‘Why are Tenaka Khan’s bones buried at Bel-azar?’ Chareos pushed himself to his feet and descended the broken steps, crossing the courtyard and opening the door to the old guardhouse. Ravenna was sleeping but at the foot of the bed was Asta Khan, sitting cross-legged, a skull in his lap.
‘What are you doing here?’ asked Chareos.
The shaman glanced up. ‘Nothing that will harm the woman, Chareos. You have my word.’
‘And the child?’
The child was not part of the bargain – but she will give birth to a healthy babe.’
‘What is it that you are not telling me, Asta? What foulness are you planning with those . . . those relics?’
‘Relics? If you had any idea of what these bones . . .’ he stopped and forced a smile. ‘I have kept my bargain with you, Blademaster. You cannot fault me. But I too have a quest – and it is worth more than my life.’
‘You promise me you do not mean to harm Ravenna – or the child?’
‘The child will be born,’ said Asta with a secretive smile. ‘He will be born strong and grow fast. He will be the Great Khan. No harm will come to him – or to the mother of his flesh.’
‘Chareos!’ came Kiall’s voice. ‘Come quickly!’ The Blademaster turned from the shaman and ran back to the wall. Beyond, on the open plain, a horde was galloping towards the fortress. Leading them was a warrior dressed in black, riding a grey stallion.
‘The whoreson is riding to kill me on my own horse,’ exclaimed Chareos.
‘See who rides beside him,’ said Harokas. ‘Now there is a surprise!’
On a bay stallion, his blond hair glinting in the sunlight, rode the Earl of Talgithir.
*
The Nadir halted some two hundred yards from the fortress and dismounted, while the Earl kicked his horse into a canter and rode up to the walls.
‘Open the gate!’ he called.
Chareos leaned over the ramparts. ‘For what purpose?’ he asked.
‘Because I demand it!’ roared the Earl, his face reddening. Then he recognised Chareos. ‘Oh, it is you, is it, Blademaster? I should have guessed. Now open the gate – and you will all live.’
‘I asked you for your purpose,’ said Chareos.
‘I do not need to answer to you, swordsman. I am the Earl of Talgithir, appointed by the Lord Regent.’
‘And you have no jurisdiction at Bel-azar,’ said Chareos. ‘Talgithir is far from here.’
The Earl leaned back in his saddle and laughed. ‘You have been gone for some time, Chareos. I am now the Regent’s envoy to the Nadir and, as such, my orders are to be obeyed anywhere in the realm. Now will you open that gate?’