The Diamond Warriors. David Zindell

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      Lord Harsha shrugged his shoulders as his face fell sad and grave. He muttered into his cup of brandy: ‘These are bad times, the worst of times, so who can blame an old man for wanting to see his daughter well-wed and give his grandson his first sword? Now, in your father’s day, and your grandfather’s, no one would ever have thought that –’

      ‘Lord Harsha,’ I said, with greater force. ‘Will Lord Tomavar and Lord Tanu take up arms against me?’

      With a jerk of his head, Lord Harsha downed the last of his brandy and sighed out, ‘I don’t know. Lord Tanu will be cautious, as always. Once he makes up his mind about something, though, he can strike fast and hold on like a bulldog. And Lord Tomavar …’

      ‘Yes?’ I said.

      ‘Lord Tomavar is burning for vengeance now. Full of the blood madness, do you understand? His warriors captured thirty of the Urtuk – and Lord Tomavar accused them of helping Morjin escape across the steppe with Vareva. And so he had them hacked to death.’

      ‘But that is not our way!’

      ‘No, it is not,’ he said. He let loose an even deeper sigh. ‘And so what will he do when you come forth to claim your father’s crown? That I don’t want to know, lad.’

      The sound of steel forks against earthen plates full of pie rang out into the narrow room, and echoed off the stone walls. I noticed Liljana concentrating all her attention on Behira and Joshu, while Master Juwain looked at me as if admonishing me to find a way of peace in a world full of hate and vengeful swords.

      ‘What needs to be decided,’ Lord Harsha finally said to me, ‘is what you will do. Will you go to war for your father’s throne, Valashu Elahad?’

      Would I draw my sword against my countrymen, I wondered? I sat considering this while I gripped Alkaladur’s hilt. As Lord Harsha had said, only one man could be king of Mesh.

      ‘There must be a way without war,’ I said to Lord Harsha, and everyone. ‘If I could step aside and see Lord Avijan crowned king, I would. Or even Lord Tomavar or Lord Tanu. But from what has been said here tonight, this is not possible.’

      ‘No,’ Lord Harsha agreed, ‘such a grace on your part might only make the situation worse.’

      Atara, who had said little all during dinner, now drew forth her sparkling crystal, and told us: ‘Neither Lord Tanu nor Lord Tomavar will ever be king. Nor Lord Avijan. It must be Val – or no one.’

      I tried not to smile at Atara’s seeming assurance. Most of the time, she refrained from saying such things. I could not tell if her words were a true prophecy or whether she wished the mere force of her statement to bring about the future that she willed to be.

      I drew my sword a few inches out of its scabbard, and the flash of silustria warmed my blood. And I said, ‘It must be me. I never wanted this, but what other choice is there?’

      ‘But Val,’ Maram said, ‘what will you do? Coming forth now will be dangerous – even more dangerous than we had thought. And what if Kane’s worries prove out, and you find that some of your countrymen have joined the Order of the Dragon?’

      At the mention of this secret society of blood drinkers and murderers who followed Morjin, Lord Harsha said, ‘It is bad enough to know that Prince Salmelu went over to the Red Dragon, and is now a filthy priest who calls himself by the filthy name of Igasho. For even one Valari in all the Nine Kingdoms to turn traitor this way is a disgrace.’

      He tapped his sword and said, ‘Despite what I said earlier, I won’t believe that any man of Mesh would ever dishonor himself so – I won’t! And the warriors of the Valley of the Swan are as true as diamonds.’

      ‘Yes,’ Maram agreed with a nod of his head, ‘but will they be true to Val?’

      ‘Nine of ten will be – perhaps more.’

      ‘But what of Lord Tanu, then? His army is only a two-day march away. And Lord Tomavar? How long would it take him to lead his six thousand here – a couple of days more?’

      How long, indeed, would the hot-headed Lord Tomavar need to march his army from the northwest down across our small kingdom?

      Lord Harsha frowned at this as he rubbed the lines creasing his face. He had never been a quick thinker or a brilliant one, but once he decided on a thing, his reasoning usually shone with good common sense.

      ‘We had thought,’ I said to him, ‘that we might send out a call to those who would follow me to assemble at my father’s castle.’

      Lord Harsha slowly shook his head at this. ‘That won’t do, lad. The castle is all burned out, and it would take a week even to get the gates working again. And Lord Tanu might move before you had enough warriors to man the walls.’

      He drummed his thick fingers on the table as he looked at me.

      ‘What do you suggest then?’ I asked him.

      ‘Let’s do this,’ he said, looking at Joshu Kadar. ‘Sar Joshu and I will ride out tomorrow and gather up those we absolutely trust. We’ll escort you to Lord Avijan’s castle, where you’ll be safe. And then we’ll put out the word that Valashu Elahad has returned to Mesh. Two thousand warriors have sworn oaths to Lord Avijan, and another thousand, at least, look to the weather vane to see which way the wind will blow. Let’s see how many will declare for you.’

      I thought about this for a while as I traded glances with Maram, Master Juwain and Liljana. Atara inclined her head toward me. Then I told Lord Harsha: ‘Very well, then, it will be as you have said.’

      Our decision so stirred Joshu that he whipped forth his sword and raised it up toward me. ‘Tomorrow morning I will speak with Viku Aradam and Shivalad and a dozen others! I know they’ll all ride with you, Sire!’

      This word seemed to hang in the air like a trumpet’s call. And Lord Harsha banged the table with his fist, and turned his angry eye on Joshu.

      ‘Here, now – that won’t do!’ he snapped. ‘You may call Lord Valashu “Sire” when the warriors have acclaimed him, but not before!’

      Joshu bowed his head in acquiescence of Lord Harsha’s admonishment. Lord Harsha, as he should have known, was a stickler for the ancient forms, and he believed that a king must always draw his power from the will of the warriors whom he led.

      ‘All right, then,’ Lord Harsha said as he stood up from the table and picked up the brandy bottle. He went around the table filling up everyone’s cup. He returned to his place and raised his own as he said, ‘To Valashu Elahad – may he become the next in the unbroken line of Elahad kings and protect our sacred realm!’

      After we had clinked cups and sipped our brandy, Behira stared across the table at Joshu and said, ‘Then tomorrow you’ll ride off again?’

      At this, Joshu turned toward me. I sensed that he didn’t want to wed Behira half as much as he burned to take his revenge for what had happened upon the Culhadosh Commons. As our eyes met, I felt a bright flame come alive within him.

      ‘I must serve Lord Valashu,’ he told her. ‘There will be war – if not against Lord Tanu or Lord Tomavar, СКАЧАТЬ