The Faithful and the Fallen: Ruin Part 10

'He will choose life. He is no fool. He has dreams, delusions of n.o.bility and greatness, but when life or death are only a word apart . . .' Calidus smiled coldly.

'Are you sure?'

'As sure as it is possible to be. But one thing I have learned in this world of flesh mankind is fickle, and nothing is certain. So I have a rule: prepare for all eventualities. If he says no, then I have a lock of his hair. I need Nathair; we are too few and he has the keys to an empire within his reach. And I have worked hard to make this so; it's taken a considerable amount of time and effort to bring all of this about.'

'I can only imagine,' Uthas grunted.

'And so I would not like to see it all wasted. Nevertheless, things could go awry.' Calidus looked behind at the wain emerging into the chamber. 'Bring Salach and whoever else you think necessary if we need to dispatch Nathair's draig.'

Uthas raised an eyebrow, not relishing that thought. He remembered the creature carving a way through a ma.s.s of wyrms in the cauldron's cavern. He gestured to Salach, Eisa and another half-dozen of the Benothi. They followed.

'That would be a shame; it is a magnificent creature, and useful.'

Calidus shrugged. 'It is bonded to Nathair, would tear even me apart in his defence. If Nathair is to die, the draig must be killed too.'

'And Nathair?'

'If it comes to it, Alcyon will take care of him.'

They approached Nathair in silence. The King of Tenebral was spooning something from a bowl. When he saw them approaching he stepped closer to his draig and gave it the remnants of his meal. A long black tongue licked around the bowl, the creature nudging Nathair with its broad flat muzzle. Absently, Nathair scratched its chin and tugged on a long fang. Alcyon took a step back, his eyes fixed on Calidus.

'We are ready to leave,' Calidus said to Nathair, conversationally.

'So I see.'

'It is time for you to make your choice.'

'I'm not sure I can,' Nathair muttered, ma.s.saging his temple.

Calidus stared at him with a hint of a smile. 'You already have made it. You are just struggling with the final step. You realize if you continue on this path there can be no going back for you.'

Nathair snorted. 'You appear to know me better than I know myself.'

'I do, Nathair. We have been through much together, you and I. Risked much. Dared much. Gained much. And here we are on the brink.'

'You deceived me,' Nathair whispered. He looked intensely at Calidus, and for a moment Uthas caught a flash of real pain in the young King's eyes.

Betrayal is hard to bear. I saw that same look in Nemain's eyes when she realized the truth about me.

Calidus returned the gaze calmly.

'You know I had no choice. You would not have understood. If you were in my position you would have done exactly the same. For the greater good. Have you not done things that others would consider questionable, for the greater good?'

Nathair winced at those words, as if they brought him physical pain. 'I have,' he said, a whisper.

'And have you not withheld information, even from those you value and trust? Veradis, for example? Again for the greater good.'

'Aye.' Louder this time.

'Well, what I have done and will do is for the greater good I am offering you a chance to fulfil your vision, to see an empire bring peace to these Banished Lands.'

'Over a mountain of bodies.'

'Was there ever going to be any other way? How many have already died for your visions of peace? This is no different. You and Asroth share the same vision: a world of order, of peace, where the powerful are able to make decisions to better lives without politics or bureaucracy getting in the way. You are stumbling over concepts good and evil, right and wrong. Asroth has been depicted in the history of your world by his enemy of course you will think him evil. But he is not. He is like you, a sentient creature with the ability to choose. Our base instinct is to survive, and sometimes to survive you must fight. This is not a game; it is a fight for life or death. But I promise you this, give you my oath: if we win, we will create an empire that will be everything you ever dreamed of.' Calidus paused and stared keenly into Nathair's eyes, holding him. 'Join us. I will not lie, we need you.'

'Need me?'

'You are no fool, Nathair. I will not tell you what you already know.'

'That I control the warbands of Tenebral, and that I have forged an alliance with Helveth, Carnutan and Isiltir.'

'Exactly.' Calidus nodded. 'I have the Kadoshim, Uthas and his Benothi, Lykos and the Vin Thalun. And Rhin. A powerful force, but not all-powerful. Together, though . . .'

'With me as your puppet-king, you mean,' Nathair said. His draig turned its eyes on Calidus and gave a low, baleful rumble.

'Not as a puppet. As a king, with the others as your va.s.sals Rhin, Lykos, Uthas. These Banished Lands are too vast for one man to conquer unaided.'

'They are,' Nathair agreed.

'So join me. Together we can crush Meical and his allies. Fulfil your dream. And afterwards you will rule. More than a king, you shall be Emperor of the Banished Lands, ruler of all you have conquered. So, you see, nothing will be changed from your dreams of old.'

'And what of Asroth? What does he want?'

'Victory. Only victory. Asroth's desire is to defeat his enemies. The Ben-Elim. Meical, his Bright Star Corban and the band of brigands they've gathered about themselves. Afterwards, when they are dead ' Calidus shrugged 'then this world is yours.'

'Mine? Asroth would not rule here?'

'No. He does not wish to rule bureaucracy and administration hold little attraction for my master. All that he wishes for is to see his enemies destroyed, once and for all. To see their blood and bones ground into the earth. To make Meical and his Ben-Elim nothing but a stain upon the ground.' Calidus' mouth had constricted into a sharp line, eyes narrowed to slits.

He is remarkably convincing, thought Uthas.

'And to achieve that victory Asroth needs you. He needs about him those who share his vision, whom he can trust. And, remember, Asroth chose you, above all others.'

Uthas was studying Nathair, ready for any indication that there would be defiance. He wants to believe Calidus, longs to be the hero of his own story, and Calidus is telling him what he wants to hear. Flattery blended with a measure of truth.

'Your dreams, which you have been having for years,' Calidus continued. 'They are true. Asroth picked you out, chose you from countless others. You, Nathair, have the qualities to see this through. To make a difference. To rule. The only error in your dreams was the name that you chose to give Asroth.'

'And myself,' Nathair said, the earlier bitterness still in his voice, but weaker now, diluted by something else.

Hope.

Calidus shrugged.

'My dreams,' Nathair said, a distant look in his eyes. 'They made me feel different. Special, chosen.'

'And you are. All you need do is change your perspective on Asroth. I will not lie, he is angry. Angry at Elyon, the Great Tyrant, his hubris nothing but a cloak for his betrayal.' Calidus' face twisted with a flicker of rage, like lightning on the horizon. 'Asroth had the audacity to question Elyon, and then to challenge his wisdom. Elyon is proud, arrogant.' Calidus smiled and shrugged. 'Questioning him did not go down too well. Asroth was betrayed and cast out, along with those of us who stood beside him, we who had the impudence to wonder, to ask, to question. We were all betrayed by Meical and the Ben-Elim, with their piety and zeal, their lack of interest in the affairs of mankind. They are callous and cruel.'

'Your words, they are convincing,' Nathair frowned. 'But, how can I trust you, now?

'Would Veradis trust you, if you confessed to your past deceptions as I am confessing to mine?'

'I don't know. Perhaps. Not immediately, but if I proved myself to him . . .'

'As I shall prove myself to you. Join me and you will see. You can trust me, Nathair there is nothing hidden between us now. Ask me anything.'

'What is your plan the next step in this war?'

'To consolidate what we have. The cauldron is the greatest of the Seven Treasures; it must be kept safe. I would take it back to Tenebral, where we are una.s.sailable. And the other Treasures must be found. They are needed to break the barriers with the Other-world.'

'So you would bring Asroth into our world?'

'Aye. That is the goal. To crush our mutual enemies. That is the only way we can win.'

'And I would continue to rule Tenebral now, and be high king in your new order?'

'Yes. More than that. You would be this world's emperor. Those who help me will be rewarded. You. Uthas. Lykos. Others beneath them Rhin, Jael, Lothar, Gundul. Together we will conquer these Banished Lands and bring about a new order.'

He is wavering. Only the final step remains.

'All that you have to do is say yes.'

They stood there in silence a long while, Nathair and Calidus locked in a gaze that excluded all else. Eventually Nathair sighed, pa.s.sing a hand over his eyes.

'Yes,' he breathed. 'I will join your cause. Though I would tell you, the trust between us must be rebuilt.'

Calidus smiled. 'Do not trust in me. Trust in Asroth.'

'What do you mean? I have just given you my word.'

Calidus paused and stared at him, then he laughed. 'Oh, Nathair, your sincerity, it really is quite inspiring; I can understand why Asroth singled you out. But trust must run both ways and you must forgive me if I have a suspicious mind. How do I know that you have not given your word to prolong your life, to buy yourself time until you are reunited with Veradis and a thousand eagle-guard at your back? I wonder, will you feel as committed to this cause then?'

'Of course.'

'You will understand if I take steps to guarantee your integrity?'

'What steps?'

'You will see, in just a few moments.' Calidus strode to a pot suspended over a fire, emptied its contents and drew something from his cloak: a vial, dark liquid within it.

'What is that?' Nathair asked.

'The blood of an enemy. A powerful enemy; it is the blood of Nemain, once-Queen of the Benothi. Give me your hand.'

'Why?'

'It is time you met your new master.' Calidus stepped closer, gripped Nathair's hand and lifted it, then turned it, looking at the palm. 'You have made an oath before.' His finger traced a white scar.

'Aye. With Veradis.'

'You are about to make another.' He turned and poured the blood from the vial into the pot.

Pale morning sunshine and a chill wind filtered through the gates of Murias as Uthas stood and waited.

'Make ready,' Calidus cried, his voice filling the chamber, and for a few moments all was chaos.

This is it. The moment that the Benothi march to war alongside the Kadoshim. He took a deep breath, an effort to calm the mix of fear and excitement that coursed through him.

A hand touched Uthas' arm and he turned to see Eisa standing before the surviving fifty Benothi warriors.

'You are our leader, now. Lord of the Benothi,' she said, offering him an object.

Uthas looked closer, saw she held a necklace fashioned from wyrm fangs. They were threaded on an iron chain, bound with silver.

I am not worthy. A betrayer. A murderer.

He bowed his head, allowing her to slip the necklace onto him. It was a pleasant weight upon his neck and shoulders.

'I thank you,' he said as he raised his head. 'I will lead you to glory and a new age for the Benothi. We will hide in the shadows no more.'

Voices bellowed their approval and then they were moving out.

And not just the Benothi. I will reforge what was Sundered. The clans will join behind me. They must.

With a deep roar from Nathair's draig they left Murias, the cauldron on its great wain rolling into the spring sunshine, a dozen other smaller wains strung out behind it. A thousand of the Kadoshim marched around them. At the warband's head Nathair rode upon his draig, Calidus mounted on a Jehar stallion beside him. Uthas and Alcyon marched alongside them. Above, ravens cawed and circled, leaving their nests in Murias' cliffs, shadowing them like a dark halo.

They know death will be our constant companion.

They followed the road that led from Murias, down a slope from the mountain and into a land of rolling moors and purple heather. Calidus lifted a hand and beckoned to Uthas.

'I do not like the thought of Meical out there. He has too few numbers to defeat us, but he could still be plotting some mischief. I'm going to follow his trail, make sure he's not being cleverer than I give him credit for.'

Soon after, Calidus left their warband with a hundred of the Kadoshim. Uthas accompanied them, his shieldman Salach at his side. Nathair was instructed to keep the column moving along the road. The King of Tenebral nodded, a bloodstained linen bandage wrapped around one hand. Uthas felt a wave of pity for him, remembering how Nathair had collapsed to his knees as Asroth had scoured him, searching his soul for any hint of treachery.

'Lead us to their camp,' Calidus ordered Bune, the only Kadoshim that had survived the rushed attempt to regain the star-stone axe. He had recovered from his injury, his severed wrist bound with leather. He raised his head, sniffing, then took off at a loping run eastwards towards a line of low hills. Calidus kicked his horse into a canter and the small host followed.

'They can run, these Kadoshim,' Salach said to Uthas after they had covered three or four leagues. Uthas grunted his agreement. The Kadoshim had settled into their new bodies now, and they ran with a supple power, their stamina seeming to match the giants'.

They moved into the hills; Calidus, ordering the pace to slow, sent a dozen of the Kadoshim fanning out ahead.

'He is teaching them,' Salach observed.

'Aye, and they are quick learners.'

They crested a low hill and Calidus reined in his horse.

A dell spread before them. The gra.s.s had been flattened by many people, a section burned by a large fire. A row of cairns sat close to the stream, Uthas counted sixteen and saw that three of the cairns were bigger than the others cairns built for giants.

Asroth below, let Balur lie in one of those.