Matze Chai sat silently as Kysumu spoke. It was the longest speech he had heard from the normally laconic swordsman. ‘I am not an expert in military matters,’ said Matze Chai, ‘but it seems to me that the swords of the Rajnee must have been created originally for a purpose other than merely battling enemy swordsmen. Why else would they display such mystical properties when demons are close?’
‘I agree,’ said Kysumu. ‘It is a matter I must ponder upon.’
‘While you do so, might you explain the appearance of the loud oaf in the foul-smelling wolfskin?’ asked Matze Chai.
‘He is a ditch-digger,’ answered the Rajnee, his face expressionless.
‘We were aided by a ditch-digger?’
Kysumu nodded. ‘With a stolen Rajnee sword.’
Matze Chai looked into the swordsman’s face. ‘How was it that you happened upon him?’
‘He was one of the robbers who attacked us. I went to their camp. The rest ran away, but he stood his ground.’
‘Why was it that you did not slay him?’
‘Because of the sword.”
‘You feared it?’ asked Matze Chai, his surprise making him momentarily forget his manners.
Kysumu seemed untroubled by the remark. ‘No, I did not fear it. When a Rajnee dies his sword dies with him. It shivers and cracks, the blade shattering. The sword is linked to the soul of the bearer, and travels with him to the world beyond.’
‘Then perhaps he stole it from a living Rajnee who still hunts for it.’
‘No. Yu Yu did not lie when he said he took it from the body of a dead Rajnee. I would have known. I believe the sword chose him. It also led him to this land and, ultimately, to our campsite.’
‘You believe the swords are sentient?’
‘I cannot explain it to you, Matze Chai. I underwent five years of intensive study before I began to grasp the concept. So let me say this, by way of explanation. You have wondered since we met why I accepted this assignment. You came to me because you were told I was the best. But you did not expect me to agree to journey from the lands of the Chiatze. Not so?’
‘Indeed,’ agreed Matze Chai.
‘I had many requests to consider. As I was taught, I went to the holy place and sat, with my sword in my lap, to meditate, to request the guidance of the Great One. And then, when my mind was purged of all selfish desire, I considered the many offers. When I came to yours I felt the sword grow warm in my hands. I knew then that I had to journey to Kydor.’
‘Does the sword then yearn for peril?’ asked Matze Chai.
‘Perhaps. But I believe it merely shows the Rajnee a path towards the will of the Great One.’
‘And these paths inevitably carry you towards evil?’
‘Yes,’ said Kysumu.
‘Hardly a comforting thought,’ said Matze Chai, deciding he had no wish to elicit further explanation. He disliked excitement, and this journey had already contained too many incidents. Now, it seemed, the mere presence of Kysumu guaranteed further adventure.
Pushing thoughts of demons and swords from his mind he closed his eyes, picturing his garden and the scented, flowering trees. The image calmed him.
From outside the palanquin came a raucous noise. The ditch-digger was singing in a loud, horrible discordant voice. Matze Chai’s eyes snapped open. The song was in a broad northern Chiatze dialect, and concerned the physical endowments and unnatural body hair of a young pleasure-woman. A small pain began behind Matze Chai’s left eye.
Kysumu rang the bell and the palanquin came to a smooth halt. The Rajnee opened the door and leapt lightly to the ground. The singing stopped.
Matze Chai heard the loud oaf say, ‘But the next verse is really funny.’
Lalitia was a woman not easily surprised. She had learnt all there was to know about men by the time she was fourteen, and her capacity for surprise had been exhausted long before that. Orphaned and living on the streets of the capital at the age of eight, she had learnt to steal, to beg, to run and to hide. Sleeping on the sand beneath the wharf timbers, she had sometimes huddled in the dark and watched the cut-throats drag victims to the water’s edge before knifing them viciously and hurling the bodies into the surf. She had listened as the cheap tavern whores plied their trade, rutting with their customers in the moon shadows. On many occasions she was close by when the officers of the watch came round to collect their bribes from the tavern women, before taking it in turns to enjoy free sport with them.