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  Sonea was indignant. “These foreigners are friends of Lindaro’s, and he answers for them. My land has been devastated, my home is on fire, my dear tutor might be… I want to know what’s happening, I want to know everything!”

  A tense silence fell on the group.

  Lindaro stood up. In a quiet voice he began to tell all he had been through with both groups, as if offering a bridge of cordiality between the two bands with whom he had shared so many vivid experiences. When the priest had finished his story the tension seemed to ease, as if dispelled by the breeze. But despite this Lasgol’s eyes remained on Komir without missing a detail, since the Norriel warrior had his eyes fixed on Yakumo and his look was… too intense…

  “Komir, please, if you don’t mind…” Lindaro pleaded.

  Komir looked thoughtfully at Lindaro for a moment.

  “All right, Lindaro, I’ll do it for you, for our friendship. I wouldn’t do it for any other man.”

  The Norriel spoke with a firm voice as he explained all that had happened since they became separated from Lindaro, and the serious situation in the West, which was the reason for their mission and what had brought them there. When he had finished there was a long silence; all remained thoughtful, mulling over his words and the events he had described. After a while Lindaro, who was looking more and more worried all the time, asked Lasgol to tell them his own story. Lasgol thought for a moment, then turned to the group.

  “I’ll be considered a traitor among my people for what I’m going to tell you, but after the atrocities I’ve witnessed I believe it’s my duty to tell you what you’re up against. Even though I believe it’s madness to confront the Norghanian army, still more so if the Nocean Empire supports them. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Rogdon is doomed.”

  Lasgol told the group everything he knew, and what his orders were. The others looked at each other with deep concern in their eyes.

  “There’s one more thing I must share with all of you,” Lasgol went on. “From the east, beyond the lakes, a new danger is approaching. An army has devastated the kingdoms of Erenal and Zangria. An army never before seen, bearing unknown emblems, men in black-laminated armor, with terrible masks. Men with slanted eyes…”

  All eyes fixed at once on Yakumo.

  The Assassin lowered his gaze to the fire, then gazed at Iruki’s face. He sighed and began to speak as if the words hurt him.

  “Yuzumi, Empress of Toyomi, known for her black soul as the Dark Lady, has arrived in Tremia. Her power is immense, her perversity as ruthless and terrifying as her limitless ambition. Black is her soul, black the destiny which awaits this land… Wherever the flag of the Dark Lady is seen, nothing but death and absolute destruction follow. The war in the west is only the least of Tremia’s problems, for if Yuzumi has landed nothing will be left standing in the whole continent. She will destroy all in her path, and blood and suffering will devour the land.”

  “Those armies that have destroyed my home: where have they come from? Where are you from, Yakumo?” asked Sonea, her cheeks red and wet with tears.

  Yakumo rose and calmly told the group about his faraway land, of the continent of Toyomi, of what had happened there with the nine kingdoms. Of the evil and horror in the ruthless heart of Empress Yuzumi, of her immense power of death. Of the suffering she would bring to Tremia, as she had already in Toyomi.

  The group listened in silence, devouring every syllable the Assassin spoke. They grew more worried and restless with each new revelation. When Yakumo had finished, nobody spoke. The silence was almost eerie.

  “But this is terrible… tragic… What are we going to do?” Lindaro said in deep dismay.

  “Haradin and the King of Rogdon are requesting the Bearers to gather together in Rilentor,” Komir said, his gaze turning to Sonea and Iruki. “That’s why we’ve come looking for you,”

  “It would make sense for us to take shelter in Rilentor and help Rogdon,” Lindaro pleaded. “It goes without saying that this power must never fall into the hands of the Dark Lady, bearing in mind what Yakumo has told us. Oh all-powerful Light, don’t let that happen!”

  “I agree with Lindaro. I’ll come with you, Norriel,” said Sonea with fierce determination. “The Dark Lady has destroyed my kingdom, and who knows how many thousands of innocents will have perished… What’ll have happened to good old Barnacus…?” she said between sobs. “I’ll do anything in my power to stop her.”

  Komir nodded, then looked at Iruki.

  The Masig in turn looked at Yakumo, as though leaving the decision to him.

  “The five Bearers must gather in Rilentor,” Lindaro said, trying to convince Iruki and Yakumo. “The united power of the five might be the key to saving not only Rogdon, but all Tremia. I’ve known Haradin for a long time, he’s the most powerful Mage on the face of Tremia and a great expert on the Ilenians. We must be with him at this critical hour and pray the Light may work a miracle.”

  “Rilentor will be besieged and destroyed. There’s no miracle that can save her from the combined attack of the armies of the Kingdom of Norghana and the Nocean Empire,” said Lasgol with absolute certainty.

  “Not as long as I’m behind its walls to defend it,” said Hartz in his deep voice. He folded his arms across his chest, as if he alone might defeat the invading armies.

  “And from the east the black tide will arrive… and everything will die in its wake…” warned Yakumo.

  “We’ll fight shoulder to shoulder until the end in Rilentor,” Kayti said, looking at Hartz. “We won’t budge.”

  “Let’s go away to the steppes, Yakumo,” Iruki said, sounding deeply troubled. “This doesn’t concern us. Let’s go to the Fountain of Life, no one will ever find us there and we’ll be safe.”

  Yakumo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. They looked at him in silence. When he opened them he looked at Iruki and said to her:

  “I’m not worthy of your love, my dearest. I’m not even worthy to walk in your footsteps, to breathe the air you breathe, and I could never decide for you. But if you ask my opinion, I’ll give it to you gladly. We can’t escape, we won’t be able to hide, since the evil of this Dark Lady has no end. It will reach us. It will reach your father, Kaune Eagle Warrior, it will reach your people. The Blue Clouds will die after suffering unimaginable horrors. The army of the Dark Lady will be crossing the Thousand Lakes; there are a thousand men already securing a way across. After that they’ll go straight to your people’s plains. Nothing will remain in the path of their lust for power. That’s why we must fight, my love. We must resist, no matter how ridiculous the efforts of our group might appear. If we hide, sooner or later her evil will reach us and everything we love will die with us. She has come to conquer the continent, and one by one she’ll overcome every one of the kingdoms in it. I know that because she’s already done it in Toyomi. There’s nowhere to hide. That’s what my heart tells me, and that’s why we must fight.”

  “Yes sir, well said!” Hartz cried, carried away by emotion, his fist in the air.

  Iruki ignored the big man and looked at her beloved.

  “So, Yakumo, we’ll fight together till victory, or death.” She turned to Komir and said: “You have my answer, Norriel.”

  Komir nodded, and gave her a slight bow.

  Once the group had made their decision, they prepared for the journey back. Lindaro, Hartz, Kayti and Komir exchanged smiles at their happy meeting. Sonea, a little apart from the others, tried to hide her tears.

  Komir hugged the man of peace one again and asked him:

  “Do you still have the Dark Medallion I gave you?”

  Hartz and Kayti turned towards Komir, surprised by the question.

  “Your mother’s medallion?” asked Hartz in puzzlement.

  “Yes. It’s important.”

  Lindaro reached for the golden chain round his neck and pulled the medallion out of his robe.

  “Here it is, my friend.”

  Komir looked at i
t, as beautiful and dark as ever.

  “Why do we need it?” Kayti asked with obvious interest.

  Komir gave her a look of distrust.

  “For some unknown reason this Ilenian medallion is linked to me. Also, Amtoko put a spell on it to hide my whereabouts from the enemy who wants to kill me.” Komir glanced towards Yakumo. Hartz and Kayti followed his gaze.

  “No, no, no. I know what you’re thinking, but Yakumo is our friend. He might have been an Assassin in his past life, but now he’s on our side,” Lindaro said, waving his hands animatedly at Komir and Hartz.

  Komir’s gaze was still fixed on the Assassin.

  “The men who tried to kill me as a baby, the ones who killed my birth parents, were Dark Assassins. Assassins with slanted eyes that Haradin killed defending me. Tell me he’s not a Dark Assassin, Lindaro, tell me, because in my soul I know he is.”

  “Take it easy, Komir, we’ll talk to him when the moment’s right.”

  “Yes, we’ll talk…” said Komir. He turned to Hartz and gave him instructions in the Norriel tongue, which nobody else understood.

  Lasgol, who had been watching the scene out of the corner of his eye, picked up his bow and went to where Yakumo and Iruki were getting ready for the journey back to the west.

  He made a sign to Yakumo in the direction of the Norriel, and the Assassin nodded.

  “You’d better be alert,” Lasgol warned him. “For some reason the green-eyed warrior doesn’t like you.”

  “I think I know the reason for that… I’m afraid… and if I’m right, then this young man is extremely important.”

  Lasgol looked at Komir without understanding Yakumo’s words, but it was clear to the Tracker that the young man oozed power from every pore.

  “Before we leave, I’d like to offer you both my most sincere and humble apologies,” Lasgol said. He looked at the couple but had to look away, because he felt such shame it humbled his soul.

  “There’s no need for you to apologize, Tracker,” Yakumo said.

  “Of course there is!” thundered Iruki, giving Lasgol a look of absolute hatred. “Do I have to remind you, he tracked us across half Tremia like a rabid dog that can’t leave its prey once it’s smelt blood?”

  Lasgol blushed at the Masig’s outrage.

  “Let me remind you, Iruki my love, that you owe him your life too…”

  “Yes, I owe that debt, but I won’t pay it because it was the result of his implacable pursuit. If the Norghanian had abandoned the chase my life wouldn’t have been in any danger,” she said, and crossed her arms with an intense glare.

  “Iruki is right. I’ve pursued you and put your lives in danger, and for that I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I was guided by my sense of honor, my duty to my country. But now I know better, I’ve learnt there are things I can’t do, orders I can’t carry out blindly as far as their ultimate consequences. There are vile actions I can’t tolerate. I will never pursue you again, or cause you any trouble, you have my word on that. What’s more, I’ll help you in everything I can. I’m forever in your debt because of all the harm I’ve done you. When I think of the barbaric torture they inflicted on you… I can’t describe the shame and remorse I feel, Yakumo, those things will never leave me. I can only apologize a thousand times, although I know it will never outweigh the pain I caused, nor will it cleanse my honor.”

  Yakumo put his hand on Lasgol’s shoulder.

  “You’re a good man, Lasgol, honorable and honest. I already knew that when you tried to save me the suffering in the torturer’s tent. I appreciated it then and I thank you now. Our paths now lead in the same direction, we’re no longer enemies since we must both fight the Dark Lady with all our might.”

  “I appreciate your words, Yakumo.”

  “What will you do?” asked the Assassin.

  “I think I should go back to my own people, much as I dislike the idea, and warn them of the danger behind them. They’ll be so intent on taking Rilentor that they’ll have neglected their rearguard. If the Dark Lady’s army comes all the way to the west, they’ll be caught unawares. I must warn them, make them see the great danger on its way from the east.”

  “I think that’s wise,” Yakumo agreed. “Go and warn the people of the snow, an unfathomable evil is coming up behind them, and will soon be upon them.”

  “And what will you say when they ask you about us?” Iruki demanded. “Will they send more bloodhounds to chase after us?”

  “No. This pursuit ends here. I’ll tell them I fought with the Assassin and had to kill him.”

  “And why will those Generals of yours believe you?” Iruki asked, unconvinced.

  Lasgol thought about this. It was quite possible that his Generals would not believe him.

  “Because he’ll have wrested from my dying lips the answer to the question they’re so anxious to know and the reason they’re after me,” said Yakumo.

  Both Lasgol and Iruki looked at him in puzzlement.

  Yakumo looked directly into Lasgol’s eyes and said:

  “The soldiers who came to kill me in the torturer’s tent: Count Volgren sent them. He’s the traitor your Generals are looking for.”

  Lasgol was stunned.

  “Are you… are you sure, Yakumo? He’s the most powerful man in the kingdom after King Thoran.”

  “I am, Lasgol. He sent them, to silence me.”

  This revelation was something Lasgol would never have imagined in a thousand years. He was unable to take in the possible consequences of that knowledge. The repercussions would be terrible. As he was trying to regain his composure, his Gift vibrated.

  Imminent danger!

  He turned. Behind him, coming out of the forest, there appeared six enormous warriors carrying spears and covered in furs.

  White tiger furs!

  “Tiger Warriors!” shouted Komir, who had already seen them. “Tiger Warriors!” he yelled, his face a mixture of hate and astonishment.

  Hartz and Kayti grabbed their weapons with the speed of expert swordsmen.

  Yakumo unsheathed his daggers. “Kill them!” he said to Lasgol, and went to confront the first of the man-hunters.

  Lasgol nocked his bow and aimed at the second man, who was coming at him at terrifying speed. The arrow caught the Tiger Warrior in the heart. He dropped the spear but kept coming. Lasgol, taken by surprise, nocked another arrow, but could not release it as the mortally wounded warrior had launched himself at him. The enemy knife searched for Lasgol’s neck as he tried to dislodge the burly warrior. The knife rose, and Lasgol thought his end must have come. A zigzagging silver flash cut off the arm and half the neck of the Tiger Warrior.

  “Now we’re even. Mother Prairie will sleep in peace tonight,” Iruki said, and offered him her hand. Lasgol took it and got back on his feet.

  “Since when have you known how to wield a sword like that?” he asked her in awe.

  Iruki shrugged. “It’s not me, it’s the sword. Ilenian magic.”

  Lasgol understood. He knelt and fitted another arrow. To his left Yakumo had already killed two warriors with his dark arts, and was fighting a third. Kayti went to his side and helped him bring down his opponent. Even with both their skills combined, they had trouble defeating him. To the right Hartz and Komir were fighting hand to hand against two huge warriors.

  “They killed my parents!” Komir yelled, dealing a series of savage strokes.

  The warrior hit Komir and knocked him to the ground. He was in trouble, and Lasgol was about to shoot an arrow when from the ground, with a fierce backstroke, Komir cut off his opponent’s leg. As he howled with pain Komir skewered him.

  Hartz, making use of his prodigious strength, impaled his adversary with his great sword.

  Komir came up to the warrior and cut off his head, with a powerful stroke.

  “I’ll have justice for my parents!”

  They all looked around them. There seemed to be no more enemy warriors; this must have been an advance group. But
more would surely come, drawn by the smell of blood and the howls of rage.

  Yakumo ordered. “We have to get out of here right away.”

  Hartz put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and signaled him to be quiet, his face unusually worried. Komir looked at his friend, struggling with his feelings, eyes burning. He paused a moment and, with an effort, he calmed himself. Nodded to his friend. Immediately both Norriel ran after the others. Before them Kayti and Lindaro, with Lasgol helping Sonea, were already running.

  “To the east, fast!” ordered Yakumo.

  “Will more come?” Iruki asked as she ran beside him.

  “Yes, Iruki, more will come, many more, and enemies more terrible still, men like me… Run! If you want to live, run!”

  Rilentor

  Gerart stared out at the morning mist from the top of the outer wall of Rilentor. Beside him Kendas strained his eyes, leaning on the parapet, trying to make out possible danger. They had followed the same routine each dawn for more than a week with growing concern, hoping they would not sight the enemy hosts and see instead the departed group. What would the new day bring? Gerart prayed for one more peaceful day of hope, for the horror of the beast of blood was inexorably approaching the last Rogdonian redoubt.

  The Prince was very much aware that nothing would stop the madness. Thousands of lives were about to end, to be added to all those already lost in this senseless slaughter on behalf of the insatiable greed of unscrupulous and amoral kings. The last Rogdonians were hiding behind the walls of Rilentor, ready to die defending their country, and he, together with his father, the King, would defend their home, their kingdom, their people, to their last breath. He would never cease in his endeavor to save them. His people were on the brink of death, of extermination, and he would fight to the last drop of blood in his body.

  “Do you see anything, Kendas?” he asked, hoping for an answer in the negative.

  Kendas shaded his eyes with his hand and scanned the wide stretch of land before the wall.