'Sleep is always better after love-making.'
By the afternoon of the following day the group came to the last outcrop of rocks before the steppes. Nuang sent out scouts, and the last of the water was doled out to the women and children. Druss, Nuang and the boy, Meng, climbed the rocks and scanned the bleak, apparently empty steppes. There was no sign of any enemy.
After an hour the scouts returned to report that the Lancers had moved on. The riders had followed their tracks to a water-hole in a deep gully, which had been drunk dry and was now deserted.
Nuang led his weary people to the hole, and there made camp. 'They have no patience, these gajin,' he told Druss as they stood beside the mud-churned water-hole. 'It is a seep, and yet they allowed their horses to ride into it. Had they waited and taken only a little water at a time, it would have fully nourished both men and mounts. Now? Ha! Their horses will have barely wet their tongues, and will be useless to them by sunset.'
Several of the Nadir women began digging in the mud and the gravel below, slowly clearing the hole. Then they sat back and waited. After an hour the small seep began to fill.
Later Nuang sent out scouts once more. They returned an hour before dusk. Nuang spoke to them, then moved to where Druss and Sieben were saddling their horses. 'The gajin have cut to the north-west. My men saw a great cloud of dust there. They rode as close as they dared — and saw an army on the march. For why is an army here? What is here for them to fight?'
Druss laid his huge hand on the old man's shoulder. 'They are riding for the Valley of Shul-sen's Tears. They seek to pillage the Shrine.'
'They want Oshikai's bones?' asked the old man, incredulously.
'How far is it to the Shrine?' Druss asked.
'If you take two spare mounts and ride through the night to the north-east, you will see its walls in two days,' said Nuang. 'But the gajin will not be far behind you.'
'May your luck be good,' said Druss, holding out his hand. The Nadir leader nodded, and shook hands.
Sieben moved away to where Niobe stood. 'I hope we meet again, my lady,' he said.
'We will or we won't,' she said, and turned away from him. The poet walked to his horse and vaulted to the saddle. Druss mounted the mare and, leading two spare ponies, the two men left the camp.
Even before Nosta Khan's arrival at the Shrine, news of the Gothir invasion had reached the four camps. A rider from the Curved Horn tribe came in, his pony lathered in sweat. Galloping to the tents of his own people, he leapt from the saddle. A cavalry group had attacked two Curved Horn villages, slaughtering men, women and children. Thousands more soldiers were heading towards the valley, he said.
The leader of the Curved Horn contingent, a middle-aged warrior named Bartsai, sent for the other leaders and they gathered at noon within his tent: Lin-tse of the Sky Riders, Quingíchin of the Fleet Ponies, andàKzun, the shaven-headed war chief of the Lone Wolves. They sat in silence as the rider told of what he had seen — a Gothir army on theàmarch, killing all Nadir in their path.
'Itàmakes no sense,' said Kzun. 'Why have they made war upon the Curved Horn?'m
'And why is their army heading for this valley?' put in Lin-tse.
'Perhaps more importantly,' said Quing-chin, 'we should be asking ourselves what we intend to do. They are less than two days from us.'
'Do?' queried Bartsai. 'What can we do? Do you see an army around you? We have fewer than one hundred and twenty men.'
'We are the guards of the Sacred Shrine,' said Lin-tse. 'Numbers mean nothing. Were we but four, we should fight.'
'You speak for yourself!' snapped Bartsai. 'I see no point in throwing away our lives. If there are no warriors here then the gajin will pass by the Shrine. There is nothing here for them, save the bones of Oshikai. No treasures, no plunder. Therefore we keep the Shrine safe by fleeing.'
'Pah!' sneered Lin-tse. 'What more could be expected from a Curved Horn coward?'
Bartsai surged to his feet, snatching a curved dagger from his belt as Lin-tse reared up, reaching for his sabre. Quing-chin jumped between them. 'No!' he.shouted. 'This is madness!'
'I will not be insulted in my own tent,' shouted Bartsai, glowering at the taller Lin-tse.
'Then do not talk of flight,' said Lin-tse, slamming his sabre back into its scabbard.
'What else is there to talk of?' asked Kzun. 'I do not wish to run from gajin. Neither do I wish to throw away the lives of my men needlessly. I have no love for the Curved Horn, but Bartsai is a warrior who has ridden in many battles. He is no coward. Neither am I. What he says is true. Whatever their purpose, the gajin are looking to kill Nadir. If there are none of us here, they must move on. We should draw them further into the steppes, away from water. Their horses will die there.'
The tent-flap opened and a small man stepped inside. He was old and wizened, and wore a necklace of human finger-bones.
'Who are you?' asked Bartsai warily, aware from the bones that the man was a shaman.
'I am Nosta Khan.' Moving forward he sat between Kzun and Bartsai. Both men moved sideways, making more room for him. 'You now know the threat facing you,' said the shaman. 'Two thousand Gothir warriors, led by Gargan Nadir Bane, are marching upon this holy place. What you do not know is why, but I shall tell you. They come to destroy the Shrine, to raze the walls, take the bones of Oshikai and grind them to dust.'
'For what purpose?' asked Kzun.
'Who can read the minds of the gajin?' said Nosta Khan. 'They treat us like vermin, to be destroyed at their whim. I care nothing for their reasons, it is enough that they are coming.'
'What do you advise, shaman?' asked Lin-tse.
'You must appoint a war leader, and resist them with all your might. The Shrine must not fall to the gajin.'
'Stinking round-eyed vermin!' hissed Kzun. 'It is not enough that they hound us and kill us. Now they wish to desecrate our holy places. I will not suffer this. The question is, which of us should lead? I do not wish to sound arrogant, but I have fought in thirty-seven battles. I offer myself.'
'Hear me,' said Quing-chin softly. 'I respect every leader here, and my words are not intended to cause insult. Of the men here in this tent only two could lead, myself and Lin-tse, for we were both trained by the gajin and we well know the ways of the siege. But one among us here is a man who understands the strategies of gajin warfare better than any other.'
'Who is this. . hero?' asked Bartsai. Quing-chin turned towards Lin-tse. 'Once he was named Okai. Now he is called Talisman.'
'And you believe this man can lead us to victory?' put in Kzun. 'Against a force twenty times our number?'
'The Sky Riders will follow him,' said Lin-tse suddenly.
'As will the Fleet Ponies,' added Quing-chin. 'What tribe is this man from?' Bartsai asked. 'Wolfshead,' Lin-tse told him. 'Then let us go to him. I wish to see him myself before I commit my men to him,' said Bartsai. 'In the meantime I will send out riders, for there are many Curved Horn villages close by. We will need more fighters.'
Zhusai had endured a troubled night, with strange dreams filling her mind. Men were dragging her through a twisted landscape, chaining her in a dark, gloomy chamber. Names were screamed at her: 'Witch! Whore!' Blows struck her face and body.
She had opened her eyes, her heart hammering in panic. Jumping from her bed she had run to the window, throwing it open and breathing deeply of the cool night air. Too frightened to return to sleep, she had walked out into the open yard before the Shrine. Talisman and Gorkai were sitting there as she approached and Talisman rose. 'Are you well, Zhusai?' he asked, taking her arm. 'You are very pale.'