‘There are forces at work here of which we know nothing,’ he said. ‘This sword,’-he looked around at the austerely decorated walls and ceiling-‘this whole castle fell to my hands by some mystery beyond my understanding and, I suspect, beyond all our knowing. I will lead you if you wish, but you must know that since my journeyings and my encounter with Oklar I have learned much about myself, including memories of a time when I was other than I am now. Of a time before when I led a great Orthlundyn army. When I led it to a defeat so total that not one of its fighters survived.’
The atmosphere came suddenly alive again. Agreth leaned across to Arinndier and whispered to him. The Lord nodded, and the two men rose quietly, Arinndier beckoning to the other Fyordyn as he did so.
‘This is an Orthlundyn matter,’ he said to Hawklan. ‘We will leave you.’
‘Stay,’ Hawklan said, sitting down and laying the sword across his knees. ‘I thank you for your courtesy, but if the Orthlundyn choose me, then I fear the Fyordyn and the Riddinvolk will gravitate to me also, whether I will it or no.’
Arinndier met the green-eyed gaze squarely. It was free from pride and ambition, and free from spurious regret and false humility. It was the gaze of a man who saw the truth and knew he could not turn from it.
‘Hear what has to be said,’ Hawklan went on. ‘So that in your turn you can decide when the time comes. I’ll take this burden willingly if it is thrust upon me, but thrust upon me it must be. I have its measure and I’ll neither seek it nor avoid it.’
Slowly, Arinndier sat down.
Then Hawklan told his listeners the history of the Orthlundyn as he had recalled it and as it had been completed for him by Andawyr and Gulda.
There was a strange, deep, quietness when he had finished. Although obviously intrigued and curious, Agreth and the Fyordyn remained silent out of courtesy. The Orthlundyn, however, remained silent because most of them seemed to have been profoundly moved by the tale. Some were openly weeping.
Hawklan waited. ‘Your minds say "How and why did we not know this history?" That, seemingly, was Ethriss’s choosing. But your hearts acknowledge its truth. It’s a tale that makes you… us… more whole.’
No one questioned him.
‘Choose your leader now,’ Hawklan said quietly.
The first to speak was Aynthinn, the elder from Wosod Heath. His manner and tone were emotional, but at odds with the prevailing solemnity. ‘I think we’ve had this conversation before, healer,’ he said, shaking his head and chuckling. ‘And it seems to be more for your benefit than ours. With your every word you confirm what we know about you. I always suspected you were an Orthlundyn deep down, for all you’re rock-blind. Now you’ve come to us at a time of need, armed with a knowledge of Him from another age… ’
Hawklan interrupted him. ‘My memories offer me no guidance or support that you yourselves have not offered,’ he said. ‘The enemy is of this time, I am of this time, and your decisions must be of this time, strength-ened perhaps by the knowledge of time past,’-he held out the sword-‘but untainted by mysterious portents, the true meaning of which is beyond us.’
Aynthinn looked at him patiently, his face becoming more serious. ‘The portents you speak of do affect us deeply, it’s true,’ he said. ‘How could they not? And the tale you’ve just told us enriches us in some way beyond immediate fathoming; we are truly in your debt. But you are the one who’s beginning to cling to the past, not we. We have no choice but to be in the present,’-his face brightened again,-‘and no one could accuse the Orthlundyn of being obsessed by history. I say again, you come armed with a true knowledge of Him from another age. And knowledge is everything. We choose you not because of your sword and your castle, or because of the value that Sumeral seems to place in you, though these things weigh with us. We choose you because we’ve known you for twenty years and we know you’re our best man.’
The simplicity of Aynthinn’s conclusion shook Hawklan, and he looked around, uncertain what to say next.
Arinndier could not forbear chuckling at his sur-prise. ‘I’ve known you for only a matter of months, Hawklan, but I’ve seen enough to recognize your worth. The High Guards must choose their own leader as need arises, but you have my sword-and those of Eldric, Hreldar and Darek.’
Dacu made an almost imperceptible hand signal. Hawklan caught the gesture and nodded an acknowl-edgement. ‘You have the word of your companions?’ he asked.
‘If you saw the gesture, yes,’ Dacu replied smiling.
Hawklan laughed, then looked at Agreth. The Rid-dinwr bowed. ‘I ride with you, Hawklan, if Urthryn will release me,’ he said. ‘I shall tell the Moot all that I’ve heard and seen. I shall tell them of my own judgement, and that of the horse you ride, which is a judgement shrewder than mine by far, and I’ve no doubt that Sylvriss too will speak about you, if she hasn’t already.’
Hawklan thanked him and stood up to return the sword to its scabbard.
As he did so, another voice spoke. ‘We are with you too, Hawklan.’ It was the Alphraan, and though their voice was soft, it filled the hall with echoing subtleties of loyalty, obedience, friendship, and many other images of support and aid. Hawklan felt the sword come alive in his hand, and looking at the hilt he saw its myriad stars twinkling and the two intertwined strands glittering brightly into its unfathomable depth. He felt Loman and Isloman looking at him.
‘Thank you,’ he said simply, as the Alphraan’s voice faded.
Then he looked back to his audience. ‘I accept the burden that the Orthlundyn wish me to carry,’ he said quietly. ‘Because I know that if I fight amongst such people then I am but one man, and if I fall, the army will be but one man less.’ There were some protests, but he silenced them with a wave of his hand. ‘It must be thus,’ he said firmly. ‘You, above all, know this. Nothing less is acceptable if we are to face Him.’
Then he turned to Agreth and the Fyordyn. ‘I accept now your personal loyalties and I offer you mine,’ he said. ‘As for your armies… ’ He shrugged. ‘There’s no haste for such decisions. Let’s see how events unfold.’
Dar-volci interrupted the proceedings with a noisy splutter and rolled over on Andawyr’s lap until his legs were in the air.
Andawyr supported him carefully to prevent him rolling off, and gave Hawklan an apologetic look.
‘Dar never did have any sense of occasion, I’m afraid,’ he said.
Hawklan smiled. ‘He’s only missing humankind planning one of its greater follies,’ he said. ‘I doubt he’d be other than dismayed at the spectacle.’
Andawyr did not reply, but looked down at the sleeping felci, with its tight closed eyes and incongru-ously gaping mouth. Gently he stroked its stomach.
Hawklan sat down and looked round at his gathered friends and countrymen. Am I about to betray you all again? he thought, but almost immediately the answer-ing thought came that though he had led the Orthlundyn to defeat, he had not betrayed them. It was little consolation, and his original thought simply transformed itself into, am I going to lead you all to defeat again?
He crushed the inner debate. It was futile. Now was now. He must learn from the past, but be uncluttered by it. Now he must tell the Orthlundyn and the others how he intended to lead them.
He leaned back in his seat.
‘My first task as your leader should be to discuss with you what strategy we must use against this powerful foe,’ he began. ‘However, I shall not do that. Instead I shall tell you what the Orthlundyn must do and I shall ask you to do it as I know you can do it… ’ He paused. ‘But without me.’
There was a brief, stunned silence, then a babble of questions filled the hall. Even Gulda and Andawyr turned to look at him in some surprise.
Hawklan raised his hand for silence.
‘This is indeed a man we go to meet,’ he said. ‘In that lies perhaps our greatest hope. But He is no ordinary man. He is, in truth, an unbelievably ancient and powerful force. A force well beyond our under-standing, that has chosen to appear as a man because only thus can it conquer the world of men. And even though His three Uhriel were once human, they are now barely so, so corrupted by power are they.