‘And what if he commands that I kill you?’
‘Then you must kill me, Ingis.’
‘We are all fools,’ said the Nadir general bitterly. ‘Honour? What does Saddleskull know of honour? I curse the day I swore to serve him!’
‘Go now. Put these thoughts from your mind,’ ordered Tenaka Khan. ‘A man makes mistakes, but he lives by them. Foolish it may be, on occasion. But in the main it is the only way to live. We are what we say, only so long as our words are iron.’
Ingis rose and bowed. After he had gone Tenaka refilled his goblet and leaned back on the thick cushions scattered round the rug.
‘Come out, Renya!’ he called. She stepped from the shadows of the sleeping section and sat beside him, taking his hand.
‘I feared for you when the warrior made his challenge.’
‘My time is not yet.’
‘He would have answered the same,’ she pointed out.
‘Yes, but he was wrong.’
‘And have you so changed? Are you now infallible?’
‘I am home, Renya. I feel different. I cannot explain it, and I have not yet tried to rationalise it. But it is wonderful. Before I came here I was incomplete. Lonely. Here I am whole.’
‘I see.’
‘No, I do not think that you do. You think I criticise you; you hear me talking of loneliness and you wonder. Do not misunderstand me. I love you and you have been a source of constant joy. But my purpose was not clear, and therefore I was what the shamen called me as a child: the Prince of Shadows. I was a shadow in the world of stone reality. Now I am a shadow no longer. I have a purpose.’
‘You want to be a king,’ she said sadly.
‘Yes.’
‘You want to conquer the world.’
He did not answer.
‘You have seen Ceska’s terror and the folly of ambition. You have seen the horror that war brings. Now you will bring a greater horror than Ceska could ever dream of.’
‘It does not have to be horror.’
‘Do not fool yourself, Tenaka Khan. You have merely to look beyond this tent. They are savages -they live to fight … to kill. I don’t know why I’m talking like this. You are beyond my words. After all, I am just a woman.’
‘You are my woman.’
‘I was. Not any longer. You have another woman now. Her breasts are mountains, and her seed waits out there to spill across the world. What a hero you are, great Khan! Your friend is waiting for you. In the blindness of his loyalty, he expects to see you riding on a white horse at the head of your Nadir. Then the evil will fall and the Drenai will be free. Imagine his surprise when you rape his nation!’
‘You have said enough, Renya. I will not betray Ananais. I will not invade the Drenai.’
‘Not now, maybe. But one day you will have no choice. There won’t be anywhere else.’
‘I am not yet the Khan.’
‘Do you believe in prayer, Tenaka?’ she asked suddenly, tears in her eyes.
‘Sometimes.’
‘Then think on this: I pray that you lose tonight, even if it means your death.’
‘If I lose, it will,’ said Tenaka Khan.
But she had already moved away from him.
*
The ancient shaman squatted in the dust, staring intently into a brazier of coals on an iron stand. Around him sat the chieftains of the Nadir, the warlords, the masters of the Horde.
Away from the crowd, within a circle of stones, sat the three kinsmen: Tsuboy Saddleskull, Shirrat Knifespeaks and Tenaka Khan.
The warlords studied each other with rare interest. Saddleskull was a blocky, powerful figure, with a braided top-knot and a wispy forked beard. He was stripped to the waist and his body gleamed with oil.
Knifespeaks was slimmer and his long hair, streaked with silver, was tied at the nape of the neck. His face was oblong accentuated by the drooping moustache, and mournful. But his eyes were sharp and alert.
Tenaka Khan sat quietly with them, staring up at the tomb which was shining silver in the moonlight. Saddleskull cracked his fingers noisily and tensed the muscles of his back. He was nervous. He had planned for years to take control of the Wolves. And now – with his army stronger than his brother’s – he was forced to gamble his future on a single throw. Such was the power of the shamen. He had tried to ignore Asta Khan, but even his own warlords – respected warriors like Ingis – had urged him to seek their wisdom. No one wanted to see wolf rend wolf. But what a time for Tenaka the Mongrel to come home. Saddleskull cursed inwardly.