Moonlight shone down, illuminating the open ground. Harad was down, as was Askari. Decado looked at Skilgannon and smiled. ‘Quick, aren’t they?’
There were three skeletal bodies lying on the earth. Snaga was embedded in one, a second lay close to Decado, and the third was the one slain by Skilgannon. ‘And now do we fight?’ he asked Decado.
‘If you really want to,’ replied the swordsman. ‘For myself I would like to sit beside a fire and relax.
Perhaps stroke my sword hilts for a while.’
‘How many more of these creatures are there?’
‘None close, I think. They travel in threes. More will come, though.’
Skilgannon moved alongside Askari and knelt down. Her face was unnaturally pale, her eyes open.
Reaching out he touched her throat. There was a faint pulse. ‘She is not dead,’ said Decado. ‘The venom in their darts and daggers merely paralyses. Close her eyes for her, and let her sleep. She will awake in an hour or so, with a ghastly headache.’
He stepped to where Harad lay. ‘Now that is a strange sight,’ he said. ‘I would have wagered all I have that a huge clod with an axe would not have been able to kill a Shadow.’ Placing a booted foot under Harad he flipped the axeman to his back. Sheathing his swords, he dropped to one knee and closed Harad’s eyes. Then, ignoring the fallen man, he walked over to the dying fire and added a few sticks. Skilgannon joined him.
‘Why did you aid us?’ he asked.
‘Actually, kinsman, it was the other way round. The Shadows were hunting me. So, how does it feel to be alive again, after all these centuries?’
‘Why were they hunting you?’
‘I fell out of favour with the Eternal. She ordered my death. Strange, really. She only had to ask me and I would have killed myself for her.’ Decado sighed. ‘According to legend you loved her too, so you’ll know what I mean.’
‘What do you intend to do now?’ said Skilgannon, ignoring the comment.
‘Well,’ said Decado, ‘I could follow your historic example and join a monastery. I don’t think so, though. My namesake did that too, you know. He was after your time. He became a warrior of the Thirty, in the days of Tenaka Khan. He was known as the Ice Killer — the greatest swordsman of his age.
Of any age. I suppose he would have been your. . what. . great-great-grandson. Something like that.
Nice to know blood can run true, don’t you think?’
‘You have merely said what you are not going to do,’ pointed out Skilgannon.
‘I have not made up my mind.’
‘Let me know when you do.’
‘You’ll be the first, kinsman.’
Skilgannon cleaned his blades then sheathed them.
‘Our swords are very similar,’ said Decado. ‘Is that how you knew of my obsession?’
‘Yes. It is the same for me. These blades are possessed, Decado. They make us more violent. They have the capacity to unhinge us, turn us into madmen. They call for blood and death. It is hard to resist them. Yours are more dangerous than mine. The Swords of Night and Day were created by a witch named Hewla. She was extraordinarily talented, but the blades she made were merely copies of a more ancient and deadly pair. You carry those. The Swords of Blood and Fire.’
‘I was a killer before I carried them,’ said Decado sadly. ‘I cannot blame the swords for what I became.’ He looked up at Skilgannon. ‘Jianna told me you killed the last man to carry these. She talked of you often. I found myself growing jealous of a man long dead. I used to hope that someone would bring you back — just so that I could kill you, and show the world you were not as great as they believed.’
‘And now?’
‘Pretty much the same,’ said Decado, with a smile.
Askari felt a tingling sensation in her fingers. Then feeling returned. Slowly she opened her right hand, pressing the tip of her index finger against the thumb. The tingling swept up along her right forearm. She lay quietly, her head throbbing, as slowly her body came once more under her control. With a groan she sat up. Skilgannon moved to her side. ‘Welcome back,’ he said. ‘What were they?’
‘Decado called them Shadows. A different form of Jiamad.’
‘I have never seen anything move so fast. One moment it was yards away, the next. .’ She glanced down at her green shirt. There was a small hole in the shoulder, drying blood upon it.’. . it bit me. As I fell I saw it spin and fly at Harad. Is he all right?’
‘He killed it, but it stunned him also. He is still sleeping.’
‘Oh, it is not sleep,’ she said, with a sudden shiver. ‘I heard everything. Your conversation with Decado, the crackling of wood upon the fire. I just could not move.’
By the fire Decado stirred. Rolling smoothly to his feet he swung his black scabbard over his shoulders and moved alongside Skilgannon and Askari. She found the intensity of his gaze disturbing. ‘Stop staring at me,’ she said.
Decado laughed. ‘Hard not to. The resemblance is. . uncanny.’
‘And that is all it is,’ she snapped. ‘I am not like her.’ On the far side of the fire Harad sat up. Then he pushed himself to his feet, staggered, and walked out into the open. Skilgannon rose and followed him.
Askari remained with Decado. ‘Now it is you staring at me,’ he said.
‘I have heard tales of you. None of them good. You must be a very sad and bitter man.’
‘Nonsense. I am as happy as anyone else.’
‘I cannot believe that.’
‘It is true. My childhood was a time of great joy and laughter. I was the most popular child in my village. And now I am known for my wit and my charm. You have any food here?’
‘No.’
‘Ah well, no matter.’
‘How did those creatures move so fast?’ she asked him.
‘It is mostly beyond my understanding. They are fashioned, I understand, from creatures with hollow bones, very light. Bats, birds, something like that. Terrifying, aren’t they?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘They do what they are bred to do. They are merely dangerous. You are terrifying.’
She struggled to stand. Instantly Decado reached out a hand to support her. She brushed it away angrily.
‘Do not touch me!’
‘Are you afraid you might be more like her than you think?’
‘Meaning?’
‘She enjoyed my touch.’
‘Perhaps that is because you are so alike,’ said Askari. ‘You are both monsters.’
‘There is that,’ he agreed amiably.
‘And if she enjoyed your touch so greatly, why does she now want you dead?’
‘A lovers’ spat,’ he said. ‘You know how it is. Boy meets girl, girl wants boy dead. An everyday story, really.’
Despite the lightness of tone she saw the pain in his eyes. For a moment she felt sympathy, but the feeling was quickly replaced by a burst of anger. ‘Well, for once I hope she gets what she wants. You are evil, and the world would be better off without you in it.’
‘True enough,’ he answered. Walking away from her he went to his horse, and stepped into the saddle. Askari followed him out. Skilgannon and Harad were standing close by.