Quest for Lost Heroes

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

For sixteen hours Chareos lay close to death, scarcely breathing. Asta Khan stayed by his side, pouring a foul-smelling potion between his lips and rubbing his limbs, forcing the blood to circulate. Chien-tsu offered his help, but Asta waved him away.

'Is he doing any good?' Kiall asked the Kiatze warrior.

'I have never seen anyone work harder. I could almost believe he actually cares whether Chareos lives or dies. Almost.'

Kiall returned to the guardhouse where Ravenna had given birth to twin boys, healthy and strong. Tanaki was still at the bedside, but both women were asleep. Kiall was about to leave her there when Tanaki opened her eyes; she smiled wearily and stood, moving in to his embrace.

'What now?' she asked, looking up at him.

'Now we wait for the Lord Regent's answer.'

One of the babes began to cry and Tanaki went to where he lay with his brother in a makeshift crib, lifting him clear. She carried him to Ravenna, pulled back the blanket and held him to Ravenna's breast. The mother did not stir from her sleep.

Tanaki rubbed the babe's back and returned him to the crib. The other babe awoke but did not cry. Tanaki lifted him also and carried him to Ravenna. He too drank lustily.

'It is a pity Ravenna was not the woman of Chareos,' said Tanaki.

'Why?'

'He could have challenged Jungir Khan to single combat for her. It is the Nadir custom and the Khan could not have refused. That way, we could have avoided a war.'

'I could challenge him,' said Kiall.

Fear flashed into Tanaki's eyes. 'You will do no such thing! I have seen you in action and you are not one half as skilful as Jungir. He would cut you into pieces.'

'I could strike a lucky blow,' he argued.

'Luck does not enter into a contest of that nature. Put the idea from your mind.'

He paused in the doorway. 'I do love you,' he said. 'You know that?'

'Yes. I know.'

He left her then and walked to the ramparts where Salida was standing with Harokas and Chien-tsu. Glancing back at the unconscious Chareos, he saw the shaman was still beside him.

'I think his heart gave out,' said Harokas.

'He is not a young man,' Salida said, 'but I hope he pulls through.'

The Nadir began to stir, rising from their camp-fires and saddling their horses. Salida glanced at the sky. It was almost time.

A rider came galloping through the western gate, leaping from the saddle of his lathered mount. He ran to Salida, handing him a scroll of parchment sealed with green wax and stamped with the Lord Regent's seal. Salida walked away from the others, removed his battle gauntlets and opened the scroll. He sniffed loudly and read the document slowly; then he rolled it once more and tucked it into his belt.

Pulling on his gauntlets, he returned to the others.

The Nadir began to ride forward with Jungir Khan at their head. They halted below the battlements and Jungir looked up.

'You have your answer, Captain Salida?'

'I do, Highness. I am instructed to hold this fortress in the name of the Gothir people, and to deny access to any foreign power.'

'Then it is war,' said Jungir, drawing his sword.

'Wait!' shouted Kiall. 'May I speak, Highness?'

'Who are you, boy?' called Jungir.

'I am Kiall. Ravenna was my woman, stolen from my village. We were betrothed. Now I demand the right of combat to decide what happens to her.'

Jungir leaned back in the saddle, his dark eyes fixed on Kiall. 'You wish to challenge me directly?'

'It is my right, and the Nadir custom so to do.'

Jungir glanced to his left, watching the men around him. Each of them knew the custom and he felt, with certainty, that the boy's daring appealed to them.

'And when you lose?' called Jungir Khan. 'What then? I get my woman back — and what else?'

'I can speak only for Ravenna, sire.'

'Very well. Come down — and we will fight, man to man. And I promise not to kill you slowly, for you have followed your woman as a man should.' A grunt of approval came from the Nadir warriors around him.

Inside the fortress Asta Khan heard the exchange. As Kiall descended the rampart steps Asta ran to him, grabbing his arm.

'What do you want?' asked Kiall, trying to pull away.

'Listen to me, fool, there is no need to die! I will help you in this battle, if you trust me.'

'I want no trickery, or magic,' said Kiall.

'No tricks,' Asta assured him. 'Just say these words after me. Will you do that?'

Kiall shrugged. 'What are they?'

'Merely a good luck charm which will open you to a friend. Trust me, Kiall. Can you not see I am with you? I am fighting to save the life of Chareos. Does that mean nothing? I am your friend.'

'Speak the words,' said the former villager.

Asta Khan closed his eyes, and began to chant:

Nadir we

Youth born,

Blood letters,

Axe wielders

Victors still.

Kiall spoke the words. 'What do they mean?'

'Life,' whispered a cool voice inside his mind and Kiall reeled back. 'Do not be afraid,' said the voice of Tenaka Khan. 'I am the warrior who aided you against the demons and I will aid you now. I want you to relax, to allow me to live — for but a brief moment. It is all I ask, in return for the aid I gave you.'

Kiall could feel the rising tension in him, like a pressure building. 'Give way, Kiall. And let me save your friends.'

'It is my fight,' he argued weakly.

'Jungir Khan poisoned me,' said Tenaka. 'He poisoned his own father. You must allow me my hour of revenge.'

'I… I don't know.'

'Trust me. Relax,' said Tenaka and Kiall felt himself give, felt the power of Tenaka Khan flow through his veins. Their memories merged, and Kiall felt the thrill of countless battles — saw the fall of the mighty Dros Delnoch, experienced the great love the Khan had known for Kenya, the Joining Child. But more than this, he felt the confidence of the warrior born. He tried to will himself forward, but found to his terror that he could no longer control his limbs. His arms stretched out, his lungs filled with air.

'Oh,' came his voice, 'oh, it is good to breathe again!'

Tenaka Khan moved to the postern gate. At that moment Tanaki ran from the guardhouse. 'Kiall!' she screamed, 'oh, please don't do this.'

She flung herself into his arms and Tenaka kissed the top of her head.

'I will come back,' he said softly. 'He cannot beat me.'

'But he can. He is the greatest swordsman since my father. There is not a man alive — save perhaps Chareos — who could best him.'

'Did you love your father?' he asked.

'You know that I did. More than anything.'

'And do you love me?' he asked. Trapped behind his own eyes, Kiall despaired of the answer.

'Yes,' she said simply. 'I am for you, Kiall. Now and always.'

'Your father loved you,' he said. 'You were the joy Kenya left. . him. Watch from the battlements — and fear nothing. Kiall will come back to you. I promise, Naki.'

He turned to the gate, opened the bolts and walked towards the waiting horde. For a moment Tanaki was stunned. He had seemed so different, and he had used her pet name — the name she carried as a child. She swung to Asta Khan.

'What have you done?' she shouted. The old man said nothing, but returned to the still form of Chareos. The Blademaster opened his eyes.

'I kept my bargain,' whispered Asta. 'Will you keep yours?'

'I will," answered Chareos. 'What is happening?'

'Kiall has gone outside to battle with Jungir Khan.'

'By the Source, no,' groaned Chareos. 'Help me to the battlements.' The wiry shaman pulled Chareos to his feet and half carried him to the steps. Painfully Chareos eased his way up to the ramparts.

Out on the valley floor Tenaka Khan strode out confidently to meet his son. Jungir carried the jewelled blade given to him by Chien-tsu. Tenaka drew the cavalry sabre, tested it for weight and then hurled it aside. He walked past the surprised Jungir, halting before an old man on a grey pony.

'They told me on the battlements that you were Subodai, the oldest friend of Tenaka Khan,' he said.

The grim-eyed old man nodded his head.

'Would you loan me one of the short swords Tenaka gave you on your last meeting.'

The old man looked closely at the figure of Kiall, at the stance and the tilt of the head, at the grey eyes that fixed to his own. He shivered and drew his sword, reversing it and handing it to the young man without a word. Tenaka turned and swung the blade twice. He returned to Jungir Khan.

'When you are ready, Highness,' he said.

Jungir launched a lightning thrust. Tenaka parried it — and stepped in close. 'Did you think the poison would keep me from you, my son?' he whispered.

Jungir blanched. His face darkened and he attacked again — and again. But each time the dazzling blade of Tenaka Khan blocked his approach. As the battle moved further from the watching warriors, Jungir aimed a wild cut. Tenaka blocked it, and stepped inside once more.

'Asta smuggled my bones here years ago. Yet I can still taste the poison from your cup.'

'Stop it!' screamed Jungir. His sword lowered a fraction and Tenaka Khan leapt forward, twisting the blade from his grasp. It fell in the dirt ten paces away.

'Pick it up,' ordered Tenaka. Jungir scrambled for the blade and ran at Tenaka, offering no defence. Before he could stop himself Tenaka instinctively rammed his sword home into his son's chest. Jungir sagged against him.

'I loved you, Father,' he said, 'and you never cared for me. Not once.'

Tenaka seized his son and sank with him to the earth, tears filling his eyes. 'Oh, my son! I was so proud of you. But I wanted you to be a strong man — a Nadir man. And I never showed my feelings — save for Tanaki. Yet I loved you — and your brothers. Jungir. . Jungir!'

But the Khan was dead.

Tenaka stood with head bowed by the body. He wrenched the sword clear and flung it from him, then he knelt by his dead son.

The old general rode forward and dismounted. He walked now with a limp, but he was the same man Tenaka Khan had rescued all those years before.

'Who are you?' hissed the general. 'Who?'

'I am merely a man,' said Tenaka, turning to stare at the battlements and his only daughter. The foolish boy had given him life, and he had used it to kill the last of his sons. And he knew, in that moment, that he could not rob his daughter of her love. No, better finally to accept death and fly in search of Jungir. 'Kiall, come forth,' he said softly.

Kiall found the tension lifting from him. He stretched and turned back to the general. 'I thank you for the use of your sword, sir. The spirit of Tenaka Khan bade me ask for it.'

'Just for a moment. .' said the general. He shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. Return to your fortress; you will die soon enough.'

Asta Khan leapt to the battlements. 'Subodai!' he called.

'What is it, warlock?'

'The son of the Khan is born!'

'Is this true?' Subodai hissed at Kiall.

'Yes. In the night.'

'I will bring him to you," shouted Asta. 'Do not attack.'

Kiall walked back to the fortress, where two soldiers opened the postern gate. Asta was moving towards the gatehouse when Chareos stopped him.

'Wait,' he said. 'I will bring out the child.'

Chareos walked into the guardhouse, where Ravenna was awake with one child at her breast, the other sleeping.

He sat beside her. 'I do not know how to say this, my lady. But, to avert the war, I promised one of your sons would be Khan. And now I am trapped by that promise.'

She looked at the anguish in his eyes and reached out a hand to him.

'One of them is born to be Khan. The other would be slain — it is the Nadir way,' she said. 'Let Asta have what he wants. I will raise the other.' She lifted the babe from her breast and kissed him tenderly. Take him before I change my mind.'

'I will help you raise him, I swear it.' He took the babe. 'Now let there be no sound. Asta must not know there are twins."

He walked to the door and out into the sunlight. Asta ran forward, holding out his thin arms for the child.

'A new Great Khan,' he said gleefully. Chareos passed the babe to him and it began to howl, but Asta leaned down and whispered in his ear. The babe quietened, and fell asleep.

'I did what I had to do,' said Asta. 'But I am grateful to you, Blademaster.' Chareos nodded, and watched the shaman walk out to the waiting army.

Within minutes they had departed the valley. As Chareos sat down in the sunshine and sagged back against the wall, Salida joined him.

'I would not have believed the Lord Regent could be so heroic,' said Chareos.

'No,' said Salida, lifting the parchment from his belt and tossing it to Chareos' lap. The Blademaster opened it. The message was simple.

Give Jungir Khan all he asks for.

'I think we did that, don't you?' observed Salida.