The King Beyond the Gate

'Don't mock me, barbarian!'

'Very well. What would you have me do? Re-sell you to a Ventrian?'

'Marry me.'

'And then, I take it, you will love and adore me?'

'No. But I will sleep with you and try to be good company.'

'Now there is an offer that's hard to refuse. A slave girl who offers her master less than he paid for, at a much greater price. Why should I do it?'

'Why should you not?'

They had wed two weeks later and ten years of their life together had brought him joy. He knew she did not love him, but it didn't matter. He did not need to be loved, he needed to love. She had seen that in him from the first, and played on it mercilessly. He never let her know that he understood the game, he merely relaxed and enjoyed it. The wise man, Kias, had tried to warn him.

'You give too much of yourself to her, my friend. You fill her with your dreams and your hopes, and your soul. If she leaves or betrays you, what will you have left?'

'Nothing,' he had answered truthfully.

'You are a foolish man, Tenaka. I hope she stays by you.'

'She will.'

He had been so sure: But he had not bargained for death.

Tenaka shivered and drew his cloak about him as the wind picked up.

He would take the girl to Sousa and then head on for Drenan. It would not be hard to find Ceska, nor to kill him. No man is so well protected that he becomes safe. Not as long as the assassin is prepared to die. And Tenaka was more than prepared.

He desired death, longed for the bleak emptiness and the absence of pain.

By now Ceska would know Tenaka was on his way. The letter would have reached him within the month, travelling as it did by sea to Mashrapur and then north-east to Drenan.

'I hope you dream of me, Ceska. I hope I walk in your nightmares.'

'I don't know about him,' said a muffled voice, 'but you walk in mine.'

Tenaka spun to his feet, his sword flashing into the air.

Before him stood the giant in the black mask.

'I have come to kill you,' he said, drawing his longsword.

* * *

Tenaka edged away from the fire, watching the man, his mind clearing and his body easing into the smooth confident fluidity of combat.

The giant twirled his sword and spread his arms wide for balance. Tenaka blinked as recognition hit him.

'Ananais?' he said.

The giant's sword whistled for his neck, but Tenaka blocked the cut and jumped back.

'Ananais, is it you?' he said again.

The giant stood silently for a moment. 'Yes,' he said, at last. 'It is I. Now defend yourself!'

Tenaka sheathed his sword and walked forward. 'I could not fight you,' he said. 'And I know not why you should desire my death.'

Ananais leapt forward, hammering a fist to Tenaka's head and pitching him to the snow.

'Why?' he shouted. 'You don't know why! Look at me!'

He wrenched the leather mask from his face and in the flickering firelight Tenaka saw a living nightmare. There was no face, only the twisted, scarred ruin of features. The nose was gone, and the upper lip, jagged white and red scars criss-crossing the remaining skin. Only the blue eyes and the tightly-curled blond hair showed evidence of humanity.

'Sweet gods of light!' whispered Tenaka. 'I didn't do that… I never knew.'

Ananais moved forward slowly, lowering the point of his sword to touch Tenaka's neck.

'The pebble that caused the landslide,' said the giant cryptically. 'You know what I mean.'

Tenaka lifted his hand and slowly pushed aside the sword-blade.

'You will have to tell me, my friend,' he said, sitting up.

'Damn you!' shouted the giant, dropping his sword and hauling Tenaka to his feet, dragging him forward until their faces were inches apart. 'Look at me!'

Tenaka gazed steadily into the ice-blue eyes, sensing the edge of madness lurking there. His life hung on a thread.

'Tell me what happened,' he said softly. 'I am not running away. If you desire to kill me, so be it. But tell me.'

Ananais released him and turned, seeking his mask, presenting his broad back to Tenaka. And in that moment Tenaka knew what was required of him. Sadness filled him.

'I cannot kill you,' he said.

The giant turned again, tears flowing from his eyes.

'Oh, Tani,' he said, his voice breaking, 'look what they did to me!' As he sank to his knees, hands covering the ruined face, Tenaka knelt beside him in the snow and embraced him. The giant began to weep, his chest heaving, his sobbing loud and painful. Tenaka patted his back as if he were a child and felt his pain as if it were his own.

Ananais had come not to kill him, but to die at his hand. And he knew why the giant blamed him. On the day the order to disband the Dragon had been served, Ananais had gathered the men ready to march on Drenan and depose Ceska. Tenaka and the Dragon Gan, Bans, had defused the situation, reminding the men that they had lived and fought for democracy. Thus the revolution was over before it had begun.

And now the Dragon was destroyed, the land in ruins and terror stalked the Drenai.

Ananais had been right.

Renya watched silently until the sobbing ceased, then she stood and walked to the two men, pausing to add fuel to the dying fire. Ananais glanced up and saw her, then scrabbled for his mask.

She moved to his side, kneeling by him, then gently touched the hands that held the mask in place. Curling her fingers around his hands, she pulled the mask clear, her dark eyes fixed only to the giant's own.

As the ruined face came into view Ananais closed his eyes and bowed his head. Renya leaned forward and kissed his brow, then his scarred cheek. His eyes opened.

'Why?' he whispered.

'We all have scars,' she said. 'Better by far for them to be worn on the outside.' She rose and returned to her bed.

'Who is she?' asked Ananais.

'She is hunted by Ceska,' Tenaka told him.

'Aren't we all?' commented the giant, replacing bis mask.

'Yes, but we will surprise him,' said Tenaka.

'That would be nice.'

'Trust me, my friend. I mean to bring him down.'

'Alone?'

Tenaka grinned. 'Am I still alone?'

'No! Do you have a plan?'

'Not yet.'

'Good. I thought perhaps the two of us were going to surround Drenan!'

'It might come to that! How many of the Dragon still live?'

'Precious few. Most followed the call. I would have done so too, had it reached me in time. Decado still lives.'

'That is good news,' said Tenaka.

'Not really. He has become a monk.'

'A monk! Decado? He lived to kill.'

'Not any more. Are you thinking of gathering an army?'

'No, it would do no good against the Joinings. They are too strong, too fast — too everything.'

'They can be beaten,' said Ananais.

'Not by men.'

'I defeated one.'

'You?'

'Yes. After we disbanded I tried farming. It didn't work out. I had heavy debts and Ceska had opened the arenas for combat games, so I became a gladiator. I thought I would have maybe three fights and earn enough to settle my debts. But I enjoyed the life, you know? I fought under another name, but Ceska found out who I was. At least, that's what I assume. I was due to fight a man named Treus, but when the gates opened there stood a Joining. Gods — he must have been eight feet tall.

'But I beat him. By all the demons in Hell, I beat him!'

'How?'

'I had to let him come in close and think he had won. Then I gutted him with my knife.'

"That was an awful risk,' said Tenaka.

'Yes.'

'But you got away with it?'

'Not quite,' answered Ananais. 'He tore off my face.'

* * *

'I really thought I could kill you, you know?' said Ananais as they sat together by the fire. 'I really believed it. I hated you. The more I saw the nation suffer, the more you came into my mind. I felt cheated — as if all I had ever lived for had been ruined. And when the Joining. . when I was injured… I lost my mind. My courage. Everything.'