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on her face disappeared as she saw the small body
he held. She reined in, her mount reared, and she
patted its glistening hide. She was covered with
blood and gore, her breastplate dark and running,
her leggings sopping wet. Her hair flew from the
confines of her dented helm.
"Okami also," she said.
He nodded.
"Rikkagin Aerent is wounded somewhere near.
Can you spare someone?"
"Now perhaps yes."
She pointed downriver, toward the sea so many
kilometers away.
"See there!" Her voice held a measure of
excitement.
He peered through the sleet. Sailing up the river
was a fleet of ships of a strange configuration all
flying the same flag: black bars on a maroon field.
"It is Moichi!" Her voice a cry of delight. "His
people come to join the Kai-feng!"
And the Sunset Warrior, feeling the enormous
weight of the small body Iying against his chest,
thought: But still, too late for some.
The Da`-San
` OW he left them to it.
For him no longer the battle of man against man.
For him the Salamander and The Dolman.
For him the world had ceased to spin on its
axis. The seasons were frozen, the sun invisible,
the moon gone. For now the ultimate purpose of
his life was before him.
All else fell away. A dream only.
Thus did he pursue the whipping banners of the
rampant ebon lizard, tail in its open mouth,
crimson flames licking at its body. And he
recalled words from the ancient mythology of his
world: Thus the Salamander, rising from the living
flames, eschews death to command, in league with
Evil.
Across the death-strewn plain he rode, pushing
the luma past even its enormous limits. Its
forelegs became battering rams as it flung aside
the living and the dead alike, jumping piles of
corpses black with buzzing furry flies, careening
past death struggles, decapitations,
disembowelings, past massacres and stalemates
until at last it collapsed under him, tumbling with
him down the slope of the near bank, greasy with
mud and blood and entrails.
He leapt, uncoiling his powerful leg muscles,
and hit the lapping water in a flat, economical
dive, hurling himself outward, not down into the
depths.
He surfaced nearly a third of the way across,
shaking his head free of water, and kicked
scissor-fashion with his legs, his limbs working in
concert, establishing a rapid rhythm.
Came up out of the water, calling, calling, even
as he launched himself up the steep incline of the
far shore. And he heard the thunder of its hoofs
and he loped across the hard ground to meet it.
He mounted his crimson luma in one wide
sweep of his parted legs. It reared, snorting, and
he spoke to it softly,
228
DAI-SAN 229
crooning, and it took off after the rapidly
disappearing banners.
Sang softly to it as it ran easily, effortlessly, over
the wide field, away from the charcoal wood, and
now its speed increased until they were fairly
flying. And together they rejoiced in the passion of
wind and sleet against their bodies.
Find her Bring her.
Within the high yellow walls of Kamado, Hynd
knew of Bonneduce the Last's passing. Rather
than mourning, he felt only the warmth of their
long years of friendship. He had known of the
little man's vast torment and he was happy now
that at last the pain had been stripped away, shed
like the old and lifeless skin of a snake.
Find her Bring her.
He prowled the narrow, deserted streets, past all
the dark, dead gods, pillared as if crucified.
Angrily, he sought an answer to a question beyond
him.
Find her Bring her.
The last thought glowing in his mind before the
silken cord had been severed by Bonneduce the
Last's death. A banner rippling against the skies of
his mind.
Obviously he had meant Moeru. There was no
doubt of that.
Abruptly he reined in, squinting ahead.
Six horsemen, including the two
standard-bearers. And between them the
coal-black creature upon whom sat
He pulled hard on the reins. The luma leapt
into the air, wheeling. He cursed himself for a fool
as he dug his boot heels into his luma's gleaming
flanks, heading back across the barren plain
toward the verge of the ebon forest.
It was not the Salamander who rode that
devilish thing, though the figure was fully as huge
and was dressed in his black robes. The wind had
shifted, coming directly at him from the party
ahead, and he had caught the horrid stench of the
thing which rode the monster.
Decoyed.
And now behind him, the fourth Makkon
pounded its great malformed fists against the
steaming coat of the creature upon whose back it
rode And it left the standard-bearers and the
guards behind as it took off after the Sunset
Warrior.
* * *
230 Elic ~ Lustbader
They both had seen the incompleteness that
first moment when the Sunset Warrior had
galloped into Kamado but there was nothing to
say. Even if they could have told him which they
both knew they could not what was there to say?
DorSefrith was the only one and he was dead
now.
At long last all the gods were gone, all the wise
men used up, all the hosts of the mages dreaming
their endless dreams.
We are left alone now to make our own
decisions, thought Hynd. If we die, then it will be
by our own hands. And if we live, then we will
have earned all that we shall inherit. This world
with its day and its night. Perhaps even the stars.
Down the refuse-strewn streets he ran, his
round tail flying, and rats shrieked, scampering
from his path. Out of the high gates and onto the
vast field.
He knew now what he had to do. He wondered
if the same could be said for the Sunset Warrior.
He left the panting luma at the edge of the
dead forest and went in on foot.
Before the fire caused by the coming of The
Dolman, the forest had been dense. In death it
remained difficult to penetrate. Remarkably, none
of the branches or trunks had been destroyed by
the unnatural conflagration, only the foliage, so
that now the wood had. more than ever, the
appearance of a maze.
He ignored the muffled sounds behind him,
keeping to an imaginary path that took him due
north. Time and again, he was obliged to make
circuitous detours. He did not use his sword or
any other weapon for he was quite determined to
give his foes no advantage whatsoever and this
included any forewarning of his approach. The
sounds of his cleaving the brittle branches would
be heard a kilometer away. Now and then a
thought threatened to intrude upon his
consciousness or perhaps feeling was the more
appropriate word. But his mind was narrowing as
his concentration heightened and the wisp of
intuition was thrust aside, losing itself on a
sudden gust of wind.
At length he came to a clearing. The sleet had
ceased but the day was darker now, oppressive
and colder than ever. He peered up at the violent
skies, watching for a moment the heavy amber
clouds stretched across the world like the taut
skin of a fevered animal. He thought briefly of
Kukulkan, the lord of light, writhing in his domain
far above the destruction encompassing the world
Here the sun did not exist.
DAI-SAN 231
He whirled even before he heard the crashing
behind him. He drew Aka-i-tsuchi.
There was green mist among the trees, pale and
opalescent, swirling, fuming, rolling into the tiny
glade. Behind the mist, a dark, hulking shape,
looming. Orange eyes like blazing beacons.
The fourth Makkon.
The Salamander's robes, torn and muddy,
streamed open, fluttering to the earth. The reek of
the MakLon scent filled the clearing. The long [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]