‘Tell me the real reason you wish to stand beside him,’ said Talisman.
Nuang’s old eyes narrowed, and he took a deep breath. ‘I have seen him fight and he is deadly. Many gajin will die around him. If I am there, men will see me fight. I cannot reach a hundred, but it will seem like it to those watching. Then, when they sing the songs of this defence, my name will live on. You understand?’
‘Nuang and the Deathwalker,’ said Talisman softly. ‘Yes, I understand.’
‘Why do you call him that?’
‘He and I walked the Void. It is a good name for him.’
‘It is very fine. Nuang and the Deathwalker. I like this. Can it be so?’
‘It can. I shall also watch you, old man, and keep count.’
‘Ha! I am happy now, Talisman.’ Nuang stood and nibbed his buttocks. ‘I don’t like these chairs.’
‘The next time we talk, we will sit on the floor,’ promised Talisman.
Nuang shook his head. ‘Not much talking left. The gajin will be here tomorrow. Is your woman staying here?’
‘Yes.’
‘As it should be,’ said’Nuang. ‘She is very beautiful and sex with her will aid you in the times ahead. Bear in mind, however, that her hips are very small. The first birth for such women is always hard.’
‘I will bear that in mind, old one.’
Nuang strode to the door. He stopped there for a moment, then looked back at Talisman. ‘You are very young. But if you live you will be a great man – I know these things.’
Then he was gone.
Talisman moved to a second door at the back of the room and emerged into the hospital. Sieben was spreading blankets on the floor, and a young Nadir woman was sweeping the dust from the room.
‘All ready here, general,’ said Sieben brightly. ‘Plenty of thread and sharp needles. And bandages – and the most disgusting-smelling herbs I’ve ever come across. I would think the threat of them alone will have wounded men rushing back to the walls.’
‘Dried tree fungus,’ said Talisman. ‘It prevents infection. Do you have any alcohol?’
‘I do not have the skill to operate. There will be no need to get men drunk.’
‘Use it for cleaning wounds and implements. This also helps to prevent infection.’
‘Maybe you should be the surgeon,’ said Sieben. ‘You seem to know a lot more than I do.’
‘We had lessons on military surgery at Bodacas. There were many books.’
As Talisman walked away, the Nadir woman approached him. Not conventionally pretty, she was devastatingly attractive. She moved in close. ‘You are young for a general,’ she said, her breasts touching his chest. ‘Is it true what they say about you and the Chiatze woman ?’
‘What do they say?’
‘They say she is pledged to the Uniter, and that you cannot have her.’
‘Do they? And if it is true, how does that concern you?’
‘I am not pledged to the Uniter. And no general should have to worry about both heads, above and below. It is said there is not enough blood in any man to fill both heads at the same time. Perhaps you should empty one, so that the other may function?’
Talisman laughed aloud. ‘You are one of Nuang’s women . . . Niobe?’
‘Yes. Niobe,’ she said, pleased that he remembered her name.
‘Well, Niobe, I thank you for your offer. It is a great compliment and it has lifted my spirits.’
‘Is that a no or a yes?’ she asked, bemused.
Talisman smiled, then swung away and walked out into the sunlight. As Niobe turned back to Sieben, the poet chuckled.
‘By Heavens, but you are a brazen hussy. What happened to the warrior you had your pretty eye on?’
‘He has two wives, and one pony,’ she said. ‘And bad teeth.’
‘Well, don’t despair, there are almost two hundred others to choose from.’
She looked at him, then cocked her head. ‘There is no-one here. Come, lie with me.’
‘There are men, my darling, who would feel hurt and humiliated to be second choice to a man with one pony and bad teeth. I, on the other hand, have no qualms about accepting such a graceless offer. But then the men of my family have always had a weakness for attractive women.’