SHIANG
Page 30
‘You were missed in the lines, Gabriel,’ the king said. ‘We lost badly today, the worst I remember. Thomas and Sanjin have already gone down. Will you fight alongside them? Will you take the field for me tomorrow?’
Gabriel raised his head as life and taste and touch faded.
‘Go to hell, you tin-pot beggar,’ he said. ‘I too was a king. You should take the field for me.’
For an instant, his gaze flickered across Taeshin. Gabriel knew well the face he had worn. A spasm of rage showed in his eyes. Without another word, he walked down the hill, but not towards the battlefield. His feet took him away from it, out alone across the plain.
Taeshin looked to the king as he sheathed the great sword once more.
‘I should not be here,’ Taeshin said. ‘Please let me go.’
‘I cannot,’ the king replied. ‘I’m sorry. Come, I’ll find you a place in the lines. There is a battle to fight tomorrow, one we must win.’
Together, they began to walk down the hill to the grey plain. Taeshin felt he might weep, but no tears were ever shed in that place.
Tellius withdrew the Yuan sword. He held it out to Hondo and the sword saint of Shiang took the blade and bowed over it, then began to clean it with a pained expression. The blade needed to be ground and repolished by a master – and he did not imagine such a man resided in Darien.
No one attacked them, which took time to understand. Regis walked away without warning, to see the body of De Guise was properly tended and laid out with dignity. Bosin remained, as much a statue as the armour he wore, so that Hondo saw no spark of the travelling companion he had known. Tellius called one of his men across to summon Lady Sallet back to the battleground. Around them, the citizens fought the fires that still threatened to spread right across the city from that burning heart.
Tellius didn’t know who the woman was, though he was wary of interrupting her grief. He eyed her still-beaming companion with suspicion, but crouched at Marias’ side.
‘You knew this man?’ Tellius said. ‘I would like to hear your side of the story if you did.’
‘You killed him,’ she whispered. ‘No, I knew the man he was, before he was … lost. The one who attacked this city was nothing to do with me. Gabriel and the others … they were terrible men. They brought us here, from Shiang.’
‘Us?’ Tellius said.
He saw she had pressed her hands into the crook of the dead man’s neck. It was a pitiful gesture and he could not quite make it fit with all the cruelty and power he had witnessed. Tellius reached out and gripped the body’s right arm, ready to place it gently across the chest. He felt the hardness of the stone under the cloth as he did so. His eyes widened as heat sprang from it.
‘There is a stone here!’ Tellius cried out.
The response was immediate. Soldiers rushed towards him, ready for whatever threat had caused the shout.
Tellius tore at the ragged shirt, exposing the purple Bracken Stone. The flecks of gold gleamed bright in firelight and shadow. Tellius frowned at the sight of gold discs peeping out from beneath. There had always been rumours about the Bracken Stone and its master’s constant contact with it. Only Bracken and Canis wore the stones of their families. He wondered … As he reached for it, it gleamed, suddenly too bright. He turned his face from the light, but still tried to reach out and snatch it in his blindness.
The stone crumbled under his fingers, becoming dust as fine as flour, that dribbled almost like liquid. The light died away and Tellius panted hard in fear, unable to explain what had just happened. His fingers snagged on gold wires and he crumpled them into his palm as he pulled back. The great wound in the chest had closed, leaving a scar like an eye.
On top of the hill, a golden eye opened. Taeshin felt its warmth and spun round, his jaw sagging in astonishment. Not far away, Gabriel too looked back, while on the other side, Thomas and Sanjin exchanged a feverish glance. All three began to run to the peak.
Taeshin looked at the king in wild hope. The man shrugged and took position on the hillside, raising his sword.
‘Go on, boy. I’ll hold them, “tin-pot beggar” or not. And I’ll keep a place, for when I see you again.’
Taeshin didn’t have time to reply. Without a word, he scrambled back to the sole bright spot in the whole of the grey wasteland. As he ran, he prayed it would not close, with every step and breath. He did not look back at the others, even when he heard the clash of arms and the king bellow in challenge. Taeshin threw himself into the brightness.
Taeshin woke to see strangers all around him – and one who was not.
‘Marias,’ Taeshin said, coming to his feet.
The reaction to that simple movement was terrifying. Swords came up and Taeshin saw a massive figure in green armour turn to face him.
‘Please stop!’ he shouted. ‘I am not him! Whoever you are, please let her go.’
‘Taeshin?’ Marias said.
When he nodded, she began to sob. She threw her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck. That act was strange enough and Tellius raised his hand to halt Bosin before the man hammered them into the ground together.
‘How can we be sure?’ Tellius murmured to Hondo.
Taeshin heard the question and his eyes widened at the sight of the sword saint of Shiang.
‘Master Hondo?’ he said, in astonishment. ‘Forgive me, I have missed a great deal.’
To Tellius’ surprise, the young man knelt to Hondo, putting one knee into the ash and dirt. A strange expression crossed his face and Tellius saw him rub a bare hand along his side.
‘I am healed, Marias,’ Taeshin said.
Tears filled his eyes to match hers and Tellius was suddenly weary of them all.
‘Right. You are all under arrest. Hondo, take them into our custody. Return them to the Sallet estate – this grinning one included. I will hear the tale from them.’
‘Who are you to give orders to the sword saint?’ Taeshin said indignantly.
In reply, Bosin cuffed him over the back of the head.
‘King Yuan-Choji is dead. Long live the king of Shiang,’ he said stiffly.
A few paces away, Lord Regis heard and fumbled his shield, dropping it with a clang before he had it up and on his arm again.
The fires burned for three nights, killing more than a thousand people and laying waste to great sections of the city that would have to be rebuilt. One of the architects who submitted designs in the spring referred to the fires as a great dark wave of destruction. Tellius hired him without looking at his plans.
Acknowledgements
I must first thank my wife, Ella. She has been a rock, like Feist’s Tomas, while Valheru storms surge all around. I could not do this alone. I also have to thank Jillian Taylor of Penguin Random House, whose delicate midwifery played such a part in bringing this trilogy into existence.
Lastly, I would like to thank David Gemmell, for his influence on me from the earliest days. I only wish I could do it in person. I used the grey fields of Homer’s Hades in this book, just as he did – though I dare say not as well. Finally, I am grateful to anyone who ever loved one of mine: Caesar, Genghis and The Dangerous Book for Boys, or Tollins, Dunstan and The Wars of the Roses. All I ever wanted was to tell stories. Thank you for walking the path.
Conn Iggulden
THE BEGINNING
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MICHAEL JOSEPH
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
India | New Zealand | South Africa
Michael Joseph is part of the Penguin Random
House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
First published 2018
Copyright © Conn Iggulden, 2018
The moral right of the author has been asserted
‘Good-bye’ from Collected Poems by John Betjeman © 1955, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1979, 1981, 1982, 2001. Reproduced by permission of John Murray Press, an imprint of Hodder and Stoughton Limited.
Cover artwork by Larry Rostant
ISBN: 978-0-718-18679-1
Table of Contents
Title Page
By the Same Author
Dedication
Part One
1. Slave
2. Tea
3. Mercy
4. Cruelty
5. Into Dust
6. First Sword
7. Tiger
8. Forza
9. Returned
10. Militia
11. Hondo
12. High Pass
Part Two
13. Forest
14. Gabriel
15. The Red Inn
16. Assault
17. Breach
18. Contact
19. Bracken
20. Stone
21. Greens
22. Regis
23. Patchwork
24. Grey Land
25. Gabriel
Acknowledgements
Read More
Follow Penguin
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Title Page
By the Same Author
Dedication
Part One
1. Slave
2. Tea
3. Mercy
4. Cruelty
5. Into Dust
6. First Sword
7. Tiger
8. Forza
9. Returned
10. Militia
11. Hondo
12. High Pass
Part Two
13. Forest
14. Gabriel
15. The Red Inn
16. Assault
17. Breach
18. Contact
19. Bracken
20. Stone
21. Greens
22. Regis
23. Patchwork
24. Grey Land
25. Gabriel
Acknowledgements
Read More
Follow Penguin
Copyright Page