Even that, though, was preferable to being possessed outright by the sword's malevolent power, whatever it was.
He might never find the Book of Silence. His oath to the Forgotten King might lead to nothing. He could not believe, however, that possession of the sword would lead to nothing.
He might somehow contrive to avoid delivering the book, if he did find it. If he worded his oath carefully, he might manage that-or if he broke his oath. He stopped his chain of thought abruptly at that point, and looked at that idea.
No overman, it was said, had ever broken a sworn oath, in all the thousand years since the species first came to exist. Garth certainly had not, though he had taken advantage of poor wording on occasion and events beyond his control had sometimes betrayed him.
To break an oath was said to be an offense against the gods-not just whatever gods one might swear by, but any others that might be listening. Garth would once have dismissed this as superstitious human nonsense; now that he was no longer firm in his atheism, he considered it, but dismissed it eventually, anyway. Surely the gods had better things to do than to interfere in mortal affairs over mere words.
Furthermore, he had already defied and offended several gods-Tema, Aghad, Andhur Regvos, Sai, and even The God Whose Name Is Not Spoken. He had defiled their temples and slain their priests, yet no harm had befallen him as a result. He did not need to worry about offending gods, he was quite certain.
But to break an oath would be to destroy his own honor, his family's honor, and the honor of his clan and of his entire species. Never again would anyone trust him, nor would he deserve trust. He would be outcast forever from Ordunin and all the Northern Waste, a disgraced exile. That is, this would be so if it became known that he had broken his word.
Even if it did not become common knowledge, though, he would know. His honor would be gone. He would be nothing; he would be no true overman. He would be no better than the lowest human in the alleys of Skelleth.
Ordinarily, he would never even have considered such an action. When the only other choices he faced involved nothing but widespread death, however, he had to consider the possibility. He owed it to the innocents that he might be consigning to death. Was his personal honor worth more than their lives?
Tradition said it was; the legends and tales he had heard in his youth said that nothing was more important than honor. There were stories of overmen and even humans who had died rather than be dishonored, who had allowed friends and family to die, who had slain friends and comrades, all in the name of honor.
It was still too early to be so pessimistic, he told himself. He would first ask the Wise Women what he could do to free himself of the sword. If they told him that only the Forgotten King could free him, then he would swear the oath-and most probably, he would keep it. He could not go against all he had been taught.
He hoped, though, that Ao would tell him of another way in which he could be free.
He studied the hills to his left; he was nearing the point at which the road turned northward again, leading over the next few ridges into a much wider valley, beyond which he would have to cross another, higher range of hills-a range that came much closer to being mountains.
The snow hid the details of the ground, but he was fairly certain he recognized an irregular peak ahead. His turn was just to the nearer side of that.
The sun was low in the west. He would have to consider making camp soon; the daylight had faded sufficiently for the glow of the sword's gem to be visible without turning his head. It seemed to be flickering oddly.
It had been a very strange day. First the three wizards had appeared and then vanished after a brief battle; then later a flock of ravens-unusual in itself, since in his experience ravens tended to be solitary-had swooped down within inches of him before veering off and fleeing, in what he suspected was an omen of some sort. He had felt a series of minor discomforts, which he thought might be unpleasant side-effects of the sword's hold on him; there had been a brief choking, a slight fever, and various prickings and pricklings. Each time the sword's glow had brightened briefly. Each had passed quickly, however, without harming him.
Koros growled faintly, and Garth looked carefully at the surrounding terrain. A faint blue mist was forming ahead of him.
He called a command, and Koros stopped.
The blue fog thickened into a sphere of solid smoke and then spread out to either side. Garth watched and saw vague figures within it.
The smoke continued to spread, and Garth realized that he was not going to be facing three wizards this time, but a small army. Already he could see at least a dozen humans.
Then suddenly the smoke cleared, and he had no time to count his attackers. Without knowing how it came to be there, he saw that the great broadsword was in his hand, and a ball of orange fire was coming directly toward him.
The sword moved in his hands, and the ball was consumed by a greater burst of flame.
More attacks were coming at him, several at once; there was a drifting black smoke, another ball of fire, and a shimmering transparent something that slid down the air toward him. The sword blazed into white flame in his hands and twisted to meet each one.
Overhead clouds gathered. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
A dark exultation grew within him with each threat he met and countered; when he sent a fourth fireball bouncing back toward its creator and skewered a whimpering batlike thing, he could contain it no longer and burst into roaring laughter. Lightning spilled across the sky above him, and thunder blended with his mirth.
Still the attacks came; the staff that he had fought earlier was sending wave after wave of flame toward him, while other magic tore the air around him and shook the ground beneath his feet.
He laughed again. Didn't these fools know who and what he was? As ravens dove out of the sky at him, to be incinerated by the sword's fire, he bellowed, "I am Bheleu, god of destruction! Death and desolation follow me as hounds; cities are sundered at my touch, and the earth itself shattered) Who are you that dare to affront me thus?"
His warbeast was shifting beneath him; the unnatural assault had upset it. With a wave of the sword he absorbed its consciousness into his own, making its body a part of him.
"I am Shandiph, Master of Demons, Chairman of the Council of the Most High!" someone answered him; the words were almost lost amid the roar of flame and thunder. "We have come to take the Sword of Bheleu from you, Garth, and thereby prevent the Age of Destruction!"
"Garth?" The overman-thing laughed, and the warbeast growled. "I am Bheleu, fool! Garth is nothing. Garth is my tool and nothing more. He was born that I might live through him. My time is come at last, and nothing can prevent it!"
"You are Garth of Ordunin, an overman who had the misfortune to acquire a sword you could not control, and we are here to take it from you!"
Garth heard the wizard's words, somewhere beneath the conscious self that called itself Bheleu. He struggled to regain control of his body; the god did not even notice.
"I am Bheleu, the destroyer, and I will destroy you all!"
The wind screamed, and the entire world seemed to vanish in a blinding flash of blue-white light. When Garth could see again, Bheleu's hold on him seemed weaker. He looked around and saw that there had been some sort of immense discharge of energy; several wizards were down, injured or dead.
He struggled again to regain control, vaguely aware that around him the surviving wizards were shouting, screaming, and crying.