'I will go with him,' promised Talisman.
'You? What are you? Just a child in a man's body. How old are you, child? Seventeen? Twenty?'
'I am nineteen. And I will walk with Oshikai across the Void, to the Gates of Giragast.'
'No, it is not enough. I see that you are brave, Talisman. And you are quick and intelligent. But to pass those gates takes something more. You are asking me to risk my soul in everlasting darkness and torment, and the soul of the man I love. The mystic number is Three. Do you have a warrior here who could match Oshikai ? Is there one who would walk the Void with you?'
'I will,' said Gorkai, pushing himself to his feet. Her eyes fixed him, holding to Gorkai's gaze. 'Another brave one. But not skilled enough.'
Talisman strode to the window and leaned out over the sill. Below Druss, stripped of his jerkin, was washing himself at the well-side. The Nadir leader called out to him, beckoning him. Throwing his jerkin over his shoulder, Druss strolled to the building and climbed the stairs. As he entered, his pale blue eyes scanned the room. Gorkai was still upon his knees, and Nosta Khan was sitting below the window with a trickle of blood running from broken skin over his temple. He saw that Zhusai was tied, and said nothing.
'This man has walked the Void,' said Talisman, 'in search of his wife. He found her.'
'I can read his thoughts, Talisman. He has no loyalty to the Nadir. He is here seeking . . .' She stared hard at Druss ' . . . healing stones for a dying friend. Why would he risk the terrors of the Giragast? He does not know me.'
Talisman swung to Druss. 'This is not Zhusai,' he said. 'Her body is possessed by the spirit of Shul-sen. To free her, I must send my spirit into the Void. Will you travel with me?'
'As she said, I came here to find the jewels the shaman spoke of,' said Druss, 'and he lied to me. Why should I do this?'
Talisman sighed. 'There is no reason that I can offer you, save that the woman I love is now trapped in that dark and vile place. And Oshikai, our greatest hero, has been searching for a thousand years to find the spirit of his wife. He does not know where to look. I can tell him, but Shul-sen says the journey would see his soul extinguished. Two men cannot fight the demons there.'
'And three can?' asked Druss.
'I cannot answer that,' Talisman told him. 'She will not release the spirit of Zhusai unless I can find a man to match Oshikai. You are the only one here who has built a legend. What more can I say?'
Druss eased past him and moved to the bound woman. 'How did you die?' he asked.
'Chakata put golden spikes in . . .' She hesitated and her eyes flared wide. 'You! You and your friend released me. I see it now, back in the chamber. He came back and removed the spikes. He found my lon-tsia.'
Druss stood and looked Talisman in the eyes. 'If I go with you, laddie, I want your word on something.'
'Name it!'
'You will let me use the jewels to save my friend.'
'Is that not why you are here?' hedged Talisman.
'Not good enough,' said Druss, making for the door.
'Very well. You have my word. When we find the jewels, I will hand them to you and you may take them to Gulgothir.'
'No!' shouted Nosta Khan. 'What are you saying?'
Talisman held up his hand. 'But I want your pledge to return them as soon as your friend is healed.'
'It will be done,' said Druss.
'Come to me, blackbeard,' said Shul-sen, and Druss returned to the bed and sat. She looked deep into his eyes. 'Everything I am, or could ever be, is in your hands now. Are you a man I can trust?'
'I am,' he said.
'I believe you.' Turning her gaze to Talisman she spoke again. 'I shall return to the Dark Place, and free the soul of Zhusai. Do not fail me.'
Her eyes closed, then flickered. A long, broken sigh came from her throat. Talisman ran to the bedside, untying the cord that bound her wrists. Her eyes opened, and a scream formed. Talisman hugged her to him. 'It is all right, Zhusai. You are back with us!'
Nosta Khan moved to the bedside, and placed his hand upon her head. After a moment he said: 'She has returned. This is Zhusai. I shall now cast spells to prevent any re-entry. You did well, Talisman, to deceive her.'
'I did not deceive her,' replied the Nadir coldly. 'I shall fulfil my part of the bargain.'
'Pah! That is insane. An army is marching upon us and the destiny of the Nadir rests in your hands. This is no time to play the man of honour.'
Talisman walked to the far wall and picked up his dagger. Slowly he moved towards Nosta Khan. 'Who is the leader here?' he asked softly, his voice cold.
'You are, but. . .'
'Yes, I am, you miserable worm. I am the leader. You are my shaman. I will tolerate no further disobedience. I do not play at honour. It is what I am. My word is iron. Now and ever more. We will go now to the Shrine. You will summon Oshikai, then do what you must to send Druss and myself into the Void. Is that clear, shaman?'
'It is clear, Talisman.'
'Not Talisman to you!' thundered the warrior. 'Now is it clear?'
'It is clear . . . my Lord.'
'Why do you hold to my hand, po-et?' asked Niobe, as she and Sieben walked the ramparts of the western wall. Sieben, his passion spent during the last two hours with her, gave a weary smile.
'It is a custom among my people,' he said, lifting her fingers to his lips and kissing them. 'Lovers often walk hand-in-hand. It is, perhaps, a spiritual joining; or at least a touching that proclaims a couple are lovers. It is also considered pleasurable. Do you not like it?'
'I like feeling you inside me,' she said, withdrawing her hand and sitting back on the battlements. 'I like the taste of your tongue upon mine. I like the many delights your hands can conjure. But I like to feel free when I walk. Hand-holding is for mother and small child. I am not your child.'
Sieben chuckled, and sat back admiring the way the moonlight made her long hair shine. 'You are a delight to me,' he said. 'A breath of fresh air after a lifetime in musty rooms.'
'Your clothes are very pretty,' she noted, reaching out and stroking the blue silk of his shirt. 'The buttons contain many colours.'
'Mother-of-pearl,' he said. 'Exquisite, aren't they?' On an impulse he pulled the shirt over his head and stood bare-chested on the wall. 'Here. It is yours.'
Niobe giggled, then removed her own shirt of faded green wool. Sieben stared at her full breasts, and saw that the nipples were erect. Arousal flared afresh within him. Stepping forward he reached out to caress her. Niobe jumped back, holding the blue silk shirt to her body. 'No,' she said. 'First we talk.'
'Talk? What do you want to talk about?'
'Why no wife for you? Your friend has wife. And you are old.'
'Old? Thirty-four is not old. I am in the prime of my life.'
'You have balding patch at the crown. I have seen it.'
Sieben's hand swept up to his blond hair, pushing his fingers through to the scalp. 'Balding patch? It can't be.'
Her laughter pealed out. 'You are peacock,' she said. 'Worse than woman.'
'My grandfather had a full head of hair to his death at ninety. Baldness does not run in our family.'
Niobe slipped into the blue shirt and then moved alongside Sieben, taking his arm and pulling his hand from his hair.
'So why no wife?'
'It was a joke about the hair, yes?'
'No. Why no wife?'
'That's a difficult question.' He shrugged. 'I have known many beautiful women, but none I would wish to spend my life with. I mean, I like apples, but I wouldn't want to live on a permanent diet of them.'
'What is apples?'
'Fruit. Er . . . like figs.'
'Good for bowels,' she said.
'Exactly. But let's move on from that, shall we? What I'm trying to say is that I like the company of many women. I am easily bored.'
'You are not strong man,' she said, sadness in her voice. 'You are frightened man. Many women is easy. Make children is easy. Life with
them, help to raise them, that is hard. Watch babies die . . . that is hard. I have had two husbands. Both die. Both good men. Strong. My third will be also strong. Many babies, so some will survive.'
Sieben gave a wry smile. 'I tend towards the belief that life holds more than making strong babies. I live for pleasure, for sudden bursts of joy. For surprises. There are enough people making babies and eking out their boring lives in the harshness of deserts, or the green splendour of mountains. The world will not miss my children.'
She considered his words thoughtfully. 'My people came over the tall mountains with Oshikai. They made babies, who grew proud and strong. They gave their blood to the land, and the land nurtured their young. For a thousand years. Now there is me. I owe it to my ancestors to bring life to the land, so that in a thousand years to come there will be those with the blood of Niobe and her ancestors. You are good lover, po-et. You bring many joy-trembles in your love-making. But joy-trembles are easy; I can do that for myself. I feel great love for you. But I will not wed frightened man. I have seen strong warrior of the Curved Horn. He has no wife. I think I will go to him.'
Sieben felt her words hit him like a blow to the belly. But he forced a smile. 'Of course, lovely one. You go and make babies.'
'You want shirt back?'
'No. It suits you. You look . . . very fine.'
Without a word she left him there. Sieben shivered as a cold breeze touched his bare skin. What am I doing here, he wondered? A Nadir warrior with short hair and a pronounced widow's peak climbed to the ramparts and, ignoring Sieben, stood staring out to the west.
'A pleasant night,' remarked Sieben.
The man turned and stared at him. 'It will be a long night,' he said, his voice deep and cold.
Sieben saw a candle-flame flickering through the window of the Shrine. 'Still searching,' he said.
'Not searching,' said the man. 'My Lord, Talisman, and your friend are journeying to Giragast.'
'I fear something has been lost in the translation,' said Sieben. 'Giragast isn't a place, it is a myth.'
'It is a place,' said the man stubbornly. 'Their bodies are lying on the cold floor, their souls have gone to Giragast.'
Sieben's mouth was suddenly dry. 'Are you saying they are dead?'
'No, but they are going to the place of the dead. I do not think they will come back.'
Sieben left the man and ran to the Shrine. As the Nadir had said, Druss and Talisman were lying side by side on the dusty floor. The shaman, Nosta Khan, was sitting beside them. On top of the stone coffin was a lighted candle, marked with seven lines of black ink.
'What is happening?' he asked the shaman.
'They go with Oshikai to rescue the witch, Shul-sen,' whispered Nosta Khan.
'Into the Void?'
'Beyond the Void.' Nosta Khan glanced up at him, his eyes dark and malevolent. 'I saw you scatter the parchment to the winds. Did you also throw the knuckle-bones into the well?'
'Yes. And I burnt the hair and buried the pouch.'
'You gajin are soft and weak. Shaoshad deserved his punishment.'
'He wanted to bring Oshikai and Shul-sen back to life, to unite the Nadir,' said Sieben. 'That does not seem so terrible a crime.'
Nosta Khan shook his head. 'He wanted power, and fame. Oh, he could have raised the body, and perhaps even infused it with the soul of Oshikai. But the body would have needed the magic of jewels constantly; he would have been a slave to Shaoshad. Now, thanks to his arrogance, we have no jewels and the power of the land is lost to us. And gajin like you treat us as vermin. His lust for power sentenced us to five hundred years of servitude. He should have been left to rot for eternity.'
Sieben sat down alongside the shaman. 'Not a forgiving people, are you?'
Nosta Khan gave a rare smile. 'Our babies die in childbirth. Our men are hunted down like animals. Our villages are burnt, our people slaughtered. Why for should we forgive?'
'So what is the answer, old man? For the Nadir to mass into a huge army and hunt down the gajin like animals, burning their villages and towns, and slaughtering their women and children?'
'Yes! That is how it will begin. Until we have conquered the world, and enslaved every race.'
'Then you will be no different from the gajin you despise. Is that not so?'
'We do not seek to be different,' replied Nosta Khan. 'We seek to be triumphant.'
'A charmingly honest point of view,' "said the poet. 'Tell me, why are they travelling through the Void?'
'Honour,' said Nosta Khan admiringly. 'Talisman is a great man. Were he destined to live he would make a fine general for the Uniter.'
'He is going to die?'
'Yes,' said Nosta Khan sadly. 'I have walked the many futures but he is in none of them. Now be silent, for I have much work to do.'
From his pouch Nosta Khan removed two small, dry leaves, which he placed under his tongue. Raising his hands, bony fingers spread wide, he closed his eyes. The bodies of Druss and Talisman began to glow, radiating lights of many colours - purple around the heart, bright white pulsing from their heads, red from the lower torso, white and yellow from the legs. It was an extraordinary sight. Sieben remained silent until Nosta Khan sighed and opened his eyes.
'What did you do to them?' whispered the poet.
'Nothing,' answered Nosta Khan. 'I have merely made their life force visible. He is a powerful man, this Druss. See how the energy of his zhi dwarfs that of Talisman ? And Talisman is greater than most men.' Sieben gazed at the glowing figures. It was true. The radiance around Druss extended to almost three feet, while Talisman's flickered no more than a foot from his torso.
'What is this . . . zhi? asked Sieben.
Nosta Khan was silent for a moment. 'No man fully understands the mystery,' he said. 'The energy flows around the human body, bringing life and health. It flickers and changes when disease strikes. I have seen old men with the rheumatic in their arms where the zhi no longer flows. And I have seen mystic healers transfuse their own zhi into the sick, making them healthy again. It is connected in some way to the soul. After death, for example, the zhi flares to five times its size. This happens for three days. Then, in a heartbeat, it is gone.'
'But why have you chosen to make it visible?'
'Their souls have gone to a place of untold dangers, where they will be fighting demons. Each cut they take, each wound they suffer, will affect the zhi. I will watch, and when they come close to death I hope to be able to draw them back.'
'You mean you are not certain of your ability to do this?'
'In Giragast there is no certainty,' snapped Nosta Khan. 'Imagine a fight here. A soldier is wounded in the arm; he suffers, but lives. Another man is struck to the heart; he dies instantly. Such can happen in the Void. I can see the wounds they suffer there. But a death blow will extinguish the zhi in an instant.'
'But you said the zhi flares for three days after death,' Sieben pointed out.
'That is when the soul is within the body. Theirs are not.'
The two men lapsed into silence. For several minutes nothing happened, then Talisman's body jerked. The bright colours around him flickered, and a green glow showed on his right leg. 'It has begun,' said Nosta Khan.
An hour passed, the candle-flame burning down to the first of the black lines marked upon its shaft. Sieben found the tension hard to bear. Rising, he went outside to the eastern wall where he had left his saddle-bags. Pulling out a fresh shirt of white linen, embroidered with gold thread, he donned it. Talisman's servant, Gorkai, approached him. 'Do they still live?' he asked.
'Yes,' answered Sieben.
'I should have gone with them.'
'Why don't you come in with me? Then you'll see them for yourself."
The man shook his head. 'I will wait outside.'
Sieben left him and returned to the Shrine. The glow around Druss seemed just as strong, though Talisman's zhi was weaker now. Sieben settled himself down against the wall. It was so like Druss to voluntee
r a trip to Hell. What is it about you, my friend, he thought? Why do you revel in such unnecessary risks? Is it that you think you are immortal? Or do you believe the Source has blessed you above other men? Sieben smiled. Maybe he has, he thought. Maybe there is something indestructible in your soul. Talisman's body spasmed, bright green flaring within his zhi. Druss too shuddered, his fists clenching.
'They are in a battle,' whispered Nosta Khan, moving to his knees with hands outstretched. Talisman's zhi flickered and faded, the glow dying away. Nosta Khan shouted three words, the sound harsh and discordant. Talisman's back arched, and he groaned. His eyes opened wide, and a strangled cry came from his lips. His arm swept out, as if still holding a sword.
'Be calm!' cried Nosta Khan. 'You are safe.' Talisman rolled to his knees, his face drenched in sweat. He was breathing heavily.
'Send . . . send me back,' he said.
'No. Your zhi is too weak. You will die.'
'Send me back, damn you!' Talisman tried to rise, but slumped to his face in the dust.
Sieben ran to him, helping him to sit up. 'Your shaman is right, Talisman. You were dying. What happened there?'
'Beasts, the like of which I have never seen! Huge. Scaled. Eyes of fire. We saw nothing for the first days of travel. Then we were attacked by wolves. Great creatures, almost the size of ponies. We killed four. The rest fled. I thought they were bad enough. But, by the Gods of Stone and Water, they were puppies compared with what followed.' He shivered suddenly. 'How many days have I been gone?'
'Less than two hours,' Sieben told him.
'That is not possible.'
'Time has no meaning in the Void,' said Nosta Khan. 'How far did you get?'
'We made it to the Gates of Giragast. There was a man there. Oshikai knew him - a small shaman, with a twin-forked beard.' Talisman turned to Sieben. 'He said to thank you for the gift. He will remember it.'
'Shaoshad the Cursed,' hissed Nosta Khan.
'Cursed he may be, but we would never have mastered the demons at the Gates without him. Druss and Oshikai are . . . colossal. Never have I seen such power, such controlled rage. When the scaled beasts came I thought we were finished. Oshikai attacked them, with Druss beside him. I was already wounded and scarce able to move.' His hand moved to his side, seeking a wound. He smiled. 'I feel so weak.'