I told them then of our journey to Hesperu and of our triumphant quest to find the Maitreya. A great light, I said, we had found in the far west, but along the way we had endured great darkness too. Morjin had wrought horrors everywhere - and now was planning to work the greatest of evils: to loose the Dark One upon Ea. I feared that this doom would prove too great a terror for many of the warriors staring at me to contemplate. Who really wanted to believe, or
could
believe, that the whole world - and the very universe itself - might be destroyed down to the last grain of sand?
'As always,' I said to them, 'Morjin remains the true enemy.'
My words gave the warriors pause. All through Lord Avijan's great hall, I saw brave men looking at each other in a dreadful silence.
'For now,' I continued, 'the man called Bemossed, who must be the Maitreya, keeps Morjin from using the Lightstone to free the Dark One. But he needs our help, as we need his.'
At this, a white-haired warrior named Lord Noldashan turned to me and said, 'You appear to know things that it seems would be hard for any man to know. May it be asked how you have come by such knowledge?'
'Only through great suffering!' Maram called out from beside me. 'And through great fortune, if that is the right word.'
Because it pained me to think of the torture that I had led Maram to endure in the Red Desert, and in other places, I laid my hand on his knee and squeezed it. And then I said to Lord Noldashan, and the others: 'It was Kane who told me about the Dark One named Angra Mainyu. And I do not doubt his word, for much of what he related is hinted at in the last three books of the
Saganom Elu.'
'An old book,' Lord Sharad said with a smile. 'Almost as old as Lord Noldashan - and myself.'
But Lord Noldashan, it seemed, could not be moved from his intense seriousness. He nodded at Master Juwain, and called out in lis raspy voice: 'The Brotherhood teaches that much of what is written in the
Valkariad
and the
Trian Prophecies
can be taken in different ways. And even more so with the
Eschaton.
How, then, should we take this doom that Lord Valashu's companion has told of? This Kane is a mysterious man - and an outlander, as we should not forget.'
'He is the greatest warrior I have ever known!' Lord Sharad called back. 'I was there when he slew the Ikurians beneath the Mare's Hill, and I have never seen a sword worked so!'
'Lord Sharad tells true,' Sar Vikan said. 'I fought near Sar Kane, and when his blood is up, he seems less a man than an angel of battle.'
Upon these words, I struggled to keep my face still and my gaze fixed straight ahead. I hoped my companions, too, would keep the secret of Kane's otherworldly origins.
'Man or angel,' Lord Noldashan said, 'Sar Kane might well have come by his knowledge through great quests, with a true heart, and yet have learned things that are
not
true.'
'They
are
true!' I suddenly called out. The force of my voice seemed to strike Lord Noldashan and others as with the blow of a war hammer. I fought to control myself. In some dark room of Lord Avijan's castle, I sensed, perhaps even in the great hall itself, the Ahrim waited for me - and perhaps for everyone. 'Angra Mainyu still dwells on Damoom, and he turns his dark gaze on Ea. But even if he were only legend, there is still Morjin.
He
exists, as we all know. And so do his armies.'
The men standing around me considered this. Then Lord Sharad looked at me and said, 'I think I have to believe what Kane has told, though I am loath to. But why hasn't Kane returned with you from your last quest to tell us himself?'
'Because,' I said, 'he has gone into Galda.'
'Galda! But why?'
'Because,' I told him, 'we heard that Morjin might have gone there.'
And this, I said, was a consequence of our battle with Morjin and his creatures in Hesperu. I explained more about the worst of the enemies that we had faced on our quest: the three droghuls that Morjin had sent to destroy my companions and me. As with any ghul made from a man, I said, Morjin seized the droghuls' minds and caused them to work his will, as if they were puppets being pulled by strings. But the droghuls were particularly deadly, for Morjin had made these dreadful beings from his own flesh, in his likeness, and had imbued them with a part of his power. After we - actually young Daj - had slain the third of the droghuls, a rumor had shot across the world that Morjin himself had been slain. And so Morjin had been compelled to come out of the stone city of Argattha to show himself and prove that he still lived. He had gone through the Dragon Kingdoms one by one, finally leading an army from Karabuk into Galda, where brave knights had revolted against Morjin upon the false news of his death.
'Kane,' I told Lord Sharad, 'went down into Galda so that he might take part in the rebellion.'
'You mean,' Lord Harsha said with a distasteful look, 'he went to put an arrow into Morjin's back, if he can.'
I smiled sadly at this. 'Kane would be more likely to use a knife. But, yes, he went to Galda to slay Morjin -
if
he can. And if Morjin is really there.'
'And if he is not?' Lord Avijan asked me.
'Wherever Morjin is,' I said, 'his plans will go ahead unless we do kill him. What happened in Hesperu has delayed him, but no more. Already, it is said, he has ordered a great fleet up from Sunguru and Hesperu to attack Eanna. If it takes him a hundred years, he will conquer Ea's free lands one by one until he has the Nine Kingdoms surrounded. But it will not take him a hundred years.'
As I paused to take a sip of beer, a half dozen speculations and arguments broke out among the warriors standing around me. The hall filled with the stridor of angry and confused voices. And then Lord Avijan turned to Maram and asked, 'You are from Delu - will the Delians fight if the Red Dragon attacks them?'
'Will we
fight?'
Maram called out. 'Of course we will! Ah, that is, a
few
knights and diehards will fight, while my father tries to make terms. He is no fool, and he'll no more want to stand isolated against the Red Dragon than would any other king - even, I might add. King Hadaru or King Waray, or any of the Valari kings.'
Here he glanced at me as if wishing that I would proclaim that Mesh would never go alone against the Red Dragon. But I looked down into my beer and said nothing.
'And what of the Sarni tribes?' Lord Avijan asked, turning toward Atara. 'Has the Manslayer had news of her people?'
Next to me, Atara nodded her head at this, and her white blindfold moved up and down like a signal banner. 'The Kurmak will
never
make terms with Morjin, so long as Sajagax is chief - and I think my grandfather still has a good few years left to him. He will call for the other tribes to ride with him in battle, if battle there must be. The Niuriu might join with him. Perhaps the Danladi, too, and the central Urtuk. I cannot say about the Adirii for their clans are divided. But I believe that the Manslayers will decide for Sajagax, should the Red Dragon ever attack him.'
She did not add that the fierce women warriors of the Manslayer Society, who came from all the tribes, favored making Atara their Chiefess, and Atara would certainly lead them in aid of Sajagax, if she could.
Now Master Juwain let out a long sigh as he clamped his gnarly hands around his beer mug - filled with apple cider. And he said, 'There are other ways of opposing the Red Dragon than through war.'
While the warriors listened with the great reverence they held for Masters of the Brotherhood, Master Juwain told them of much the same plan for the peaceful defeat of Morjin that he had put forth two days before in the wood where we had fought the Ahrim.
'The Maitreya,' he said, 'will light a fire in men's hearts that the Red Dragon cannot put out. In the end it will consume him.'
'This is our hope,' I added. 'But the Maitreya must first live long enough to pass on this flame.'
'The Maitreya!' Sar Jessu cried out, looking at me. 'Always, the Maitreya! Once, we believed that
you
were the great Shining One.'
At this, a hundred warriors stared straight at me. I, too, had shared in their delusion. In truth, I had engendered it.
'We believed,' Sar Jessu went on, 'that the Maitreya would lead us to victory. But now we don't want to believe in miracles - it is enough to believe in
you.'
Again, the warriors around me struck their swords against the wooden tables.
Then Lord Harsha's single eye swept around the hall as he regarded the warriors sternly. And he reminded them, 'The Shining One
will
come forth, as has been promised in the
Trian Prophecies
and the
Progressions.
Is he, then, the man Bemossed that Lord Elahad has told of? I would like to believe he is. But whoever he is, flame or no, we must look to our own swords for our defense, as we always have!'
So saying, he whipped free his long, shining kalama, and saluted me. Lord Avijan inclined his head to him, and said, 'That is my thought, too. But what, indeed, is the best course for defending Mesh?'
'There is only
one
course for us,' Sar Jessu called out. 'And it is as Lord Valashu has said: we must stop Morjin!'
'But stop him
how?'
Sar Shivalad said, turning his great, cleft nose toward Lord Harsha. 'That is the question we must decide.'
'That it
is,
lad,' Lord Harsha said, 'And here I'm in agreement with Master Juwain. Let us make Mesh strong again, as it was in the reign of King Shamesh. Then let us remember that we have destroyed or thrown back every army that tried to invade our land - even Morjin's.'
'But what of the Lightstone?' Sar Shivalad asked him.
And Lord Noldashan broke in, crying out 'Let Morjin keep it! It is a cursed thing, and it nearly destroyed our land!'
His vehemence stunned me, and I looked from Lord Noldashan to his son, Sar Jonavar, beside him. He was a tall, well-made knight, perhaps a few years older than I, and he stood gripping his gauntleted hand around the hilt of his sword as he looked at me in great turmoil.
'No, it is just the opposite,' I said to Lord Noldashan. 'The Lightstone holds marvels and miracles. In the hands of the Maitreya -'
'It nearly destroyed
you!'
Lord Noldashan shouted. 'Do not dream of leading us on impossible expeditions to win it back!'
'Do not,' Lord Sharad said, moving closer to Lord Noldashan, 'speak to Lord Valashu so. Remember why you've come here!' 'To make Valashu Elahad King of Mesh!' Lord Noldashan said. 'Not to follow him on a fool's mission!'
'I would follow him to the end of the earth!' Lord Sharad cried out.
'And I!' Lord Jessu said.
'And I!' Joshu Kadar said.
'So would I,' Sar Vikan said, drawing his sword, 'if it meant a chance to put
this
through Morjin's neck! I would think that Lord Noldashan, of all knights, would want his vengeance!'
As Lord Noldashan faced Sar Vikan and moved his hand onto his sword's hilt, I remembered that Lord Noldashan had a second son, Televar, whom I did not see anywhere in the hall.
'Peace, honored knight!' I said to Lord Noldashan as I held up my hand. 'Let us sit together and drink our beer - and cool our heads!'
'Peace!' Lord Noldashan cried out. 'Have you
truly
returned to bring peace, Lord Elahad? Or only to bring more blood, as you did a year ago when you practically called down the Red Dragon upon us?'
'Do not speak to Lord Valashu so!' Lord Sharad said again. 'Remember yourself, Lord Knight!'
'I remember,' Lord Noldashan said with a rising anger, 'whole streams on the Culhadosh Commons running red with our warriors' blood!'
'Pfahh, blood!' Sar Vikan spat out. 'When has a
true
warrior been afraid of spilling it?'
The moment that these words left Sar Vikan s mouth, his face tightened in horror, as if he could not believe that he had spoken them But it was too late. Quick as a bird, Lord Noldashan drew his sword five inches from its scabbard before Lord Avijan and others closed in and managed to clamp their hands around Lord Noldashan's arm.
'This
warrior,' Lord Noldashan said to Sar Vikan as he struggled against those who held him, 'would not be afraid to see
your
blood spilled here!'
His challenge filled my belly with a sickness as if I had eaten splinters of iron. As other warriors came up to restrain Sar Vikan from drawing his sword and setting off an inescapable duel, I felt many people looking at me. Maram and Master Juwain - and my other companions, too - were clearly distressed to witness things falling out so badly. I felt them wondering what I wondered; why had we returned to Mesh at all if we could not even keep my own countrymen from killing each other?
'Stop!' I called out to Lord Noldashan and Sar Vikan. 'Let go of your swords! We are all one people here!'
My voice fell upon them with the force of a battering ram, stunning them into motionlessness. But it did not, I sensed, touch their hearts.
Lord Avijan finally let go of Lord Noldashan, and he said to me, 'Lord Noldashan has cause for grieving and grievance, and few men more. And he raises an important question. Lord Elahad: is it your purpose to go against Morjin or to protect Mesh?'
'But they are the same thing!' I called out. 'Mesh will never be safe so long as Morjin draws breath!'
I looked around the hall at the tens of warriors weighing my words. The older ones such as Lord Noldashan and Lord Harsha, had grown to manhood in an era when the Sarni and the other Valari kingdoms posed the greatest threat to Mesh. They held a more cautious sentiment, shared by such prominent warriors as Lord Tanu: that Mesh had repelled Morjin once, and could again if we had to. They believed that the Dragon, as with bears, would be likely to leave us alone if we left him alone. Although they would fight like angels of battle, to use Lord Sharad's words. If Morjin
did
try to invade our land again, they had no liking to march out of Mesh to make war against him. Others, such as Lord Avijan, desired vengeance for Morjin's desecration of Mesh and believed that he must somehow be defeated, though they, too, feared to seek him out and bring him to battle. A smaller number of men - and these were mostly younger knights such as Joshu Kadar, Sar Shivalad and their friends - burned with the fever of our generation to annihilate Morjin from the face of the earth and make the world anew.