‘I don’t care what he says,’ she told him. ‘I will never feel for another man what I feel for you. Never!’
‘Nor I for any woman. Let us sit together for a while, Zhusai. I need to feel the touch of your hand.’ He led her to the small bed. She took his hand and kissed it, and he felt the warmth of her tears falling to his skin. ‘When all else fails,’ he whispered, ‘Nosta Khan will take you from here to a place of safety. He has great magic and he will lead you through the Gothir. You will live, Zhusai.’
‘I don’t want to live without you. I will not leave.’
Her words touched Talisman, but they also made him fearful. ‘Do not say that, my love. You have to understand that, for me, your safety would be like a victory. I could die happy.’
‘I don’t want you to die!’ she said, her voice breaking. ‘I want to be with you, somewhere deep in the mountains. I want to bear your sons.’
Talisman held her close, breathing in the perfume of her hair and skin, his fingers stroking her face and neck. He could find no words, and a terrible sadness smote him. He had thought his dreams of Nadir unity were more important than life itself. Now he knew differently. This one, slender woman had shown him a truth he had not known existed. For her he could almost betray his destiny. Almost. His mouth was dry, and with a great effort he released his hold on her and stood. ‘I must go now,’ he said.
She shook her head and rose alongside him. ‘No, not yet,’ she told him, her voice controlled. ‘I am Chiatze, Talisman. I am trained in many things. Remove your shirt.’
‘I cannot. I gave my word to Nosta Khan.’
She smiled then. ‘Take off your shirt. You are tense and weary, your muscles knotted. I shall massage your shoulders and neck. Then you may sleep. Do this for me, Talisman.’
Shrugging off his goatskin jerkin, he doffed his shirt, unbuckled his sword-belt and sat back on the bed. She knelt behind him, her thumbs working at the knots in his muscles. After a while she ordered him to lie down on his stomach. He did so, and she rubbed perfumed oil into his back. The scent was delicate, and Talisman felt his tension flowing from him.
When he awoke she was lying beside him under a single blanket. Her arm was resting on his chest, her face next to his on the pillow. The dawn sun was shining through the window. Lifting her arm, Talisman eased himself from the bed and stood. She awoke. ‘How are you feeling, my Lord?’ she asked him.
‘I am well, Zhusai. You are very skilled.’
‘Love is magic,’ she said, sitting up. She was naked, the sunlight turning her skin to gold.
‘Love is magic,’ he agreed, dragging his gaze from her breasts. ‘You did not dream of Shul-sen?’
‘I dreamed only of you, Talisman.’
Pulling on his shirt and jerkin he looped his sword-belt over his shoulder and left the room. Gorkai was waiting below.
‘Two riders coming,’ he said. ‘Could be Gothir scouts. One carries a great axe. You want them dead or alive?’
‘Let them come. I have been expecting them.’
Druss reined in the mare before the western wall and stared hard at the jagged crack that ran down it. ‘I have seen better forts,’ he told Sieben.
‘And friendlier welcomes,’ muttered Sieben, staring up at the bowmen who stood on the ramparts, aiming down at them. Druss grinned and tugged on the reins and the mare walked on. The gates were old and half-rotted, but he could see that the hinges had been recently cleaned of rust. The ground was scored under both gates in deep semi-circles, showing they had been closed recently.
Touching heels to the mare, he rode into the compound and dismounted. He saw Talisman walking towards him. ‘We meet again, my friend,’ he said. ‘No robbers this time hunting you?’
‘Two thousand of them,’ Talisman told him. ‘Lancers, infantry and archers.’
‘You had better set some men to soak those gates,’ said Druss. ‘The wood is dry. They’ll not bother to smash them. They’ll set fire to them.’ The axeman cast his experienced eye over the defences, impressed with what he saw. The ramparts had been restored, and a fighting platform raised beneath the crack in the western wall. Rocks and boulders were set on each rampart, ready to be hurled down on advancing infantry. ‘How many men do you have?’