‘But now you remember it all?’
‘Yes.’
‘I did my best, Miriel… Do not read my thoughts … my life.’
‘It is too late.’
He nodded and stood. ‘Then do not hold me in too great a contempt.’
‘Oh, Father!’ Stepping forward she embraced him. ‘How could I hold you in contempt? I love you. I always have.’
Relief washed over him, and he closed his eyes as he held her. ‘I wanted you to be happy – like Krylla. I wanted a good life for you.’
‘I have had a good life. And I have been happy,’ she told him. She drew back from him and smiled, lifting her hand to stroke his cheek. ‘The packs are ready, and we should move.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Belash has found the horses and will be here soon.’
Taking hold of her shoulders he drew her in to him once more. ‘You could head south with Angel,’ he said. ‘I have money in Drenan.’
She shook her head. ‘You need me.’
‘I do not want to see you … hurt.’
‘Everyone dies, Father,’ she said. ‘But this is no longer just a private war between you and Karnak. I wonder if it ever was.’
‘What is it, then?’
‘I don’t know yet, but Karnak did not send the Brotherhood. When I killed the last man he had an image in his mind. He was thinking of a tall man, with black hair, greased to his skull. Slanted eyes, long robes of dark purple. He it was who sent them. And he is the same man who tried to hurt Krylla and me; the man who summoned the demons.’
‘From where did the Dark Knights come?’
‘Dros Delnoch, and before that Gulgothir.’
‘Then that is where the answers lie,’ he said.
‘Yes,’ she agreed, sadly.
*
Angel watched the Nadir leading the five horses across the clearing. Disgusting little savage, he thought! Everything about Belash sickened him, the slanted, soulless eyes, the cruel mouth, the man’s barbaric method of killing. It made Angel’s skin crawl. He glanced north at the distant mountains. Beyond these the Nadir bred like lice, living their short, violent lives engaged in one bloody war after another. There had never been a Nadir poet, nor an artist nor a sculptor. And never would be! What a vile people, thought Angel.
‘Uses that knife well,’ observed Senta.
‘Bastard Nadir,’ grunted Angel.
‘I thought your first wife was part-Nadir?’
‘She was not!’ snapped Angel. ‘She was … Chiatze. They’re different. The Nadir are not human. Devils, all of them.’
‘Canny fighters, though.’
‘Talk about something else!’ demanded Angel.
Senta chuckled. ‘How did you know they were coming? You walked away and fetched your sword from the cabin.’
Angel frowned, then smiled, his mood clearing. ‘I smelt horse dung – the breeze was blowing from the south. I thought they might be more assassins. I wish they had been. Shemak’s balls, but I was frightened when that spell fell upon me. I’m still not over it. To just stand, unable to move, while a swordsman approached me …’ He shuddered. ‘It was like my worst nightmare.’
‘Not something I’d like to repeat,’ agreed Senta. ‘Waylander said they were the Brotherhood. I thought they were wiped out in the Vagrian Wars.’
Angel’s pale eyes scanned the bodies. ‘Well, they obviously weren’t.’
‘What do you know of them?’
‘Precious little. There are legends of a sorcerer who founded the order, but I can’t remember his name, nor where they began. Ventria, I think. Or was it further east? They were called the Blood Knights at one time, because of the sacrifices. Or was it the Crimson Knights?’
‘Forget it, Angel. I think “precious little” covered it.’
‘I never was much of a history student.’
Belash approached them. ‘They are the Knights of Blood,’ he said. ‘The first of their temples was built in Chiatze three hundred years ago, founded by a wizard named Zhi Zhen. They became very powerful and tried to overthrow the Emperor. Zhi Zhen was captured after many battles and impaled on a golden spike. But the Order did not die out. It spread west. The Vagrian General Kaem used Brotherhood priests at the Siege of Purdol. Now they have reformed in Gothir, under a wizard named Zhu Chao.’