The Eternal Champion

'No,' I said, 'it was I who suggested it.'

Roldero swung his horse around in disgust.

'Peace!' he spat as he and his comrades headed back to the camp. 'Our Champion's gone mad!'

Arjavh rubbed his lips with his finger. 'Already, I see, there is trouble.'

They fear me,' I told him, 'and they'll obey me. They'll obey me-for a while, at least.'

'Let us hope so,' he said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR THE PARTING

This time there were no cheering crowds in Necranal to welcome me, for news of my mission had gone ahead of me. The people could hardly believe it but where they did believe it, they disapproved. I had shown weakness, in their eyes.

I had not seen lolinda, of course, since she had become Queen, She had a haughty look now as she strode about her throne room, awaiting me.

Privately I was a little amused. I felt like the man who, as an old rejected suitor, returns to see the object of his passion married and become a shrew. I was, therefore, somewhat relieved…

It was a small relief.

'Well, Erekose,' she said, 'I know why you are here-why you have forsaken your troops, gone against your word to me that you would destroy every Eldren. Katorn has told me.'

'Katorn is here?'

'He came here as soon as he heard your pronouncement from the battlements of Loos Ptokai where you stood with your Eldren friends.'

'lolinda,' I said urgently. 'I am convinced that the Eldren are weary of war. That they never intended to threaten the Two Continents at all. They want only peace.'

'Peace we shall have. When the Eldren race is perished!'

'lolinda, if you love me, you will listen to me, at least.'

'What? If I love you? And what of the Lord Erekose? Does he still love his Queen?'

I opened my mouth, but I could not speak.

And suddenly there were tears in her eyes. 'Oh, Erekose…' Her tone softened. 'Can it be true?'

'No,' I said thickly. 'I still love you, lolinda. We are to be married…'

But she knew. She had suspected, but now she knew. However, if peace could result from my action, I was still prepared to pretend, to lie, to declare my passion for her, to marry her…

'I still want to marry you, lolinda,' I said.

'No,' she said. 'No. You do not.'

'I will,' I said desperately. 'If peace with the Eldren comes about…'

Again her wide eyes blazed. 'You insult me, my lord. Not on those terms, Erekose. Never. You are guilty of High Treason against us. The people already speak of you as a traitor.'

'But I conquered a continent for them. I took Mernadin.'

'All but Loos Ptokai-where your wanton Eldren bitch waits for you.'

'lolinda! That is not true!'

But it was true.

'You are unfair…' I began.

'And you are a traitor! Guards!'

As if they had been prepared for this, a dozen of the Imperial Guards rushed in, led by their Captain, Lord Katorn. There was a hint of triumph in his eyes and then, at once, I knew why he had always hated me. He desired lolinda.

Then I knew that whether I drew my sword or not, he would slay me where I stood.

So I drew my sword. The Sword Kanajana. It glowed and the glow was reflected in Katorn's black eyes.

'Take him, Katorn!' cried lolinda. And her voice was a scream of agony. I had betrayed her. I had failed to be the strength she needed so desperately. 'Take him. Alive or dead. He is a traitor to his kind!'

I was a traitor to her. That was what she really meant. That was why I must die.

But I still hoped to save something. 'It is untrue…' I began. But Katorn was already cautiously advancing, his men spreading out behind him. I backed to a wall, near a window. The throne room was on the first storey of the palace. Outside were the private gardens of the Queen. 'Think, lolinda,' I said. 'Retract your command. You are driven by jealousy. I'm no traitor.'

'Slay him, Katorn!'

But I slew Katorn. As he came rushing at me, my sword flicked across his writhing, hate-filled face. He screamed, staggered, his hands rushed up to his head and then he toppled in his golden armour, toppled and fell with a crash to the flag-stones.

He was the first human I was to slay.

The other guards came on, but more warily. I fought off their blades, slew a couple more, drove the others back, glimpsed Queen lolinda watching me, her eyes full of tears, and leapt to the sill of the window.

'Goodbye, Queen. You have lost your Champion now.'

I jumped.

I landed in a rosebush that ripped at my skin, broke free and ran hastily towards the gate of the garden, the guards behind me.

I tore the gate open and rushed down the hill and into the twisting streets of Necranal, with the guards in pursuit, their ranks joined by a howling pack of citizens who had no idea why I was wanted or even who I was. They chased me for the sheer pleasure of the hunt.

So it was thus that things turned. lolinda's pain and jealousy had clouded her mind. And soon her decision would be the cause of more bloodshed than even she had demanded.

But now I ran, blindly at first, and then towards the river. My crew, I hoped, were still loyal to me. If they were, then there was a faint chance of escape. I gained the ship just before my pursuers. I leaped aboard screaming:

'Prepare to sail!'

Only half the crew was aboard. The rest was on shore, in the taverns, but those remaining hurriedly shipped out the oars while we held the guards and the citizens at bay.

Then we shoved off and began our hasty flight down the Droonaa River.

It was some time before they managed to commandeer a ship for pursuit and by that time we were safely outdistancing them. My crew asked no questions. They were used to my silences, my actions which sometimes seemed peculiar. But, a week after we were on course over the sea, bound for Mernadin, I told them briefly that I was now an outlaw.

'Why, Lord Erekose?' asked my captain. 'It seems unjust…'

'It is unjust, I think. Call it the Queen's malice. I suspect Katorn spoke against me, making her hate me.'

They were satisfied with the explanation and, when we put in at a small cove near the Plains of Melting Ice, I bade them farewell, mounted my horse and rode swiftly for Loos Ptokai, knowing not what I should do when I got there. Knowing only that I must let Arjavh have the information concerning the turn events had taken.

We had been right. Humanity would not let me show mercy.

My crew bid me farewell with a certain amount of affection. They did not know-and neither did I-that they were soon to be killed because of me.

Now I crept into Loos Ptokai. I sneaked through the great siege camp that we had constructed there and, at night, entered the city of the Eldren.

Arjavh rose from his bed when he heard I had returned.

'Well, Erekose?' He looked searchingly at me. Then he said: 'You were not successful, were you? You have been riding hard and you have been fighting. What happened?'

I told him.

He sighed. 'Well, our advice was foolish. Now you will die when we die.'

'I would rather that, I think,' I said.

Two months passed. Two ominous months in Loos Ptokai. Humanity did not attack the city immediately and it soon emerged that they were awaiting orders from Queen lolinda. She, it appeared, had refused to make a decision.

The inaction was oppressive in itself.

I fretted often at the battlements, looking out over the great camp and wishing that the thing would start and be finished. Only Ermizhad eased my unhappiness. We openly acknowledged our love now.

And because I loved her, I began to want to save her.