The Diamond Warriors Read online

  ‘If you stand for me as king,’ I started to say to the fifteen thousand warriors assembled around the square, ‘I will –’

  ‘He will betray you!’ Lord Tomavar cried out, interrupting me with an unforgivable rudeness. ‘As he betrayed all of us at the Elahad castle! How could our women and children have been slaughtered like animals? How could they? It is only because Valashu Elahad deserted the castle! Out of his criminal pride! And then lied about it, putting the blame on Lord Lansar Raasharu, a great and noble man, whom King Shamesh loved and trusted as much as he did myself!’

  ‘No, that is not true!’ I cried out. ‘I thought my father was dead and that my brother had summoned me, and I wanted only to –’

  ‘You wanted to usurp your own father! By gaining glory on the battlefield, you hoped your renown would lead you to stand before the warriors! In place of your father, killed in the very battle you brought down upon us!’

  His words drove me to a fury. I felt my spleen pouring out poisons into my blood and a sick heat tormenting my brain. A terrible pressure built inside my throat. I opened my mouth to draw in air and deny his vile accusations. And in that moment, the Ahrim struck. It came out of nowhere, a boiling blackness that fell over my face and eyes. For three long, bitter beatings of my heart, I could not hear nor could I see. And then the Ahrim’s icy cold substance seemed to gather about my neck. It clamped down, hard, like a iron fist, squeezing the very breath from my throat with such a crushing force that I could barely speak:

  ‘My … father,’ I gasped out, ‘I … loved … like …’

  ‘Do you see?’ Lord Tomavar called out, pointing at me. ‘He chokes on his own lies!’

  I wanted to kill him, then. He stood glaring at me in his dark, doubting manner, and I wanted to whip free my sword and plunge the point straight through his slanderous mouth. And then I recalled a much darker encounter with a much greater enemy, far away. In Hesperu, with the help of my friends and a great, good man, for one shining moment, I had managed to transmute my hate into something beautiful and bright. I felt this grace still warm and alive somewhere inside me. It made me believe in myself. This certainty of power and purpose had nothing to do with the delusion that I might be infallible or the destined Maitreya, but only that like any man I could keep the evil inside myself at bay and exert my will to do the right thing.

  ‘Lord … Tomavar!’ I gasped out. ‘Your … heart …’

  I must not, I told myself, regard this man as my enemy. My father had believed in him and trusted him, and so must I. All men, as I knew too well, could be driven mad by hatred and a rage for revenge.

  ‘Your … heart,’ I tried to tell him again.

  But my desire to see him healed was not enough. The Ahrim only tightened its hold upon me, and I could not speak. And so I took a step closer to him, holding out my hand. I thought only of resting it upon his chest, and trying to drive away his doubts, as I had with the warriors in Lord Avijan’s hall. Lord Tomavar’s hatred, though, ran deeper than a gorge cut into the earth; I could touch neither it nor him. The anguish in his black eyes warned me to stay away from him even as he drew his sword from its scabbard, and nearly cut off my hand.

  ‘Stand back, Elahad!’ he cried out. ‘Don’t try your trickery on me!’

  ‘He draws!’ Sar Vikan called back from beside me. ‘Lord Tomavar draws on Lord Elahad! A challenge has been made!’

  According to the laws of the Valari, any warrior who drew his sword on another made an irrevocable challenge to a duel.

  ‘He draws!’ Sar Vikan called out again. The thirst for blood I heard in his voice made me sick. ‘Let them fight, here and now, sword to sword! Let honor be satisfied!’

  His words were like a flaming brand held to spilled oil. Lord Sharad, who had never liked Lord Tomavar, called out, ‘Let them fight! Let honor be satisfied!’

  And then Sar Jessu and Sar Shivalad and half a thousand warriors standing behind me called out that Lord Tomavar and I must face each other sword to sword, and thousands of Lord Tomavar’s own men called out the same thing – along with even many of Lord Tanu’s men. So did Lord Ramanu’s men call for a duel, and Lord Bahram’s and Lord Kharashan’s followers and the mob of free warriors to the north. Their voices thundered out into the square:

  ‘Honor! Honor! Honor!’

  ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’

  Lord Tomavar stared at his long, gleaming kalama as if in horror of what he had done – but also in great gladness, as if relieved of a terrible burden. I tried to give him a way out of the bottomless chasm quickly opening up before us. I gasped out, ‘A … mistake. Put … away … your … sword.’

  But sometimes there can be no going back. Lord Tomavar’s great head swept right and left as he listened to the roar of the warriors: ‘Honor! Honor! Honor!’

  ‘Let honor be satisfied!’

  ‘Fight – let them fight!’

  ‘A duel to the death! Let the victor be king!’

  At last, Lord Tomavar looked at me. And he shouted out: ‘I will not put away my sword! I call upon you to draw your sword, so that we might settle this matter honorably. Let it be as the warriors say: let the victor be king!’

  A great cheer seemed to shake the very earth. And I forced out a few, choked-off words: ‘But … I … won’t …’

  ‘You must accept the challenge,’ Sar Jalval shouted on Lord Tomavar’s behalf. ‘Or else be called a coward! And if coward you be, then leave this field now, and let no man in Mesh give you salt, bread or fire!’

  Now it seemed that almost every warrior or knight gathered about the square shouted out that this must be. I heard the men loyal to me crying out, ‘Lord Valashu Elahad – Champion, Champion! The Elahad for King of Mesh!’

  This is not my will, I thought. This is not only my will.

  Then Lord Avijan stepped forward and said to Lord Tomavar, ‘Fight, if you must, but your duel will not settle who sits on Mesh’s throne. The warriors still must decide who will be king.’

  Lord Tomavar, whose mind could race as swiftly as a greyhound when pressed, considered this only for a moment. ‘All right then, let this be the way of things: Lord Elahad will ask your warriors to stand for me if I am the victor in our duel. And if Lord Elahad prevails, my warriors shall be free to stand for him.’

  Lord Tomavar gambled like a player rolling the dice. But it was a fair enough game. If I fell beneath Lord Tomavar’s sword, then the two thousand men who marched behind my banner, standing for Lord Tomavar, would give him the edge over Lord Tanu. Even if many of them refused this realignment, then Lord Tomavar still might find that most of the free warriors would support him, and give him the numbers he needed. And if I put my sword into Lord Tomavar, then I still might hope to win his warriors – and many others.

  ‘All … right,’ I choked out, accepting Lord Tomavar’s challenge. ‘Let … it … be.’

  I made it known to Lord Avijan that he should go among our warriors and tell them of what we had decided here. Then, surrounded by my guardians, I walked off the field to return to my pavilion, where I would remove my armor and prepare for the duel. My companions all came with me. When we stood alone beneath my tent’s glowing black silk, Kane growled out to me, ‘So, it’s come to this, then! Well, kill him quickly, Val. Ha – I should have killed the Tomavar for you when I had the chance!’

  I put on my best tunic and belted it. Then Master Juwain took out his green crystal and held it to my throat. After a while, he sighed out to me: ‘I’m afraid my varistei has no power over the thing that attacks you. At least, I can’t sense how it might be driven away. Are you any better at all?’

  ‘No … not … better,’ I whispered.

  ‘The Ahrim might indeed choke you to death. Perhaps you should withdraw from the duel.’

  ‘No … impossible.’

  ‘Then perhaps you should wait until your airways clear and your voice returns.’

  I shook my head at this. ‘No … time.’

  Just then Lor
d Avijan came into the pavilion and announced: ‘The warriors did not want to do as you have asked them, Lord Valashu. But since you asked them, they are willing. Though none of us can bear to see Lord Tomavar become king.’

  ‘Thank … you,’ I croaked out.

  ‘How did it come to this?’ Lord Avijan said to me. ‘This is no time for you to lose your voice! If only all the warriors could but have heard you, they would know that you speak the truth.’

  At this, for no reason that I could understand, Liljana drew out her blue gelstei and looked at it strangely.

  ‘Well,’ Lord Avijan said, ‘things are as they are. The warriors do not believe they will have to stand for Lord Tomavar. Neither do I. Everyone remembers what you did at the tournament.’

  At the great tournament in Nar two years before I had defeated Lord Dashavay, the greatest swordsman in the Nine Kingdoms, to become that year’s champion.

  ‘I’ve always said,’ Lord Avijan continued, ‘that duels are a plague upon our people. This one, it seems, however, must really be fought. And so, may you fight like the heroes of old, Valashu Elahad, and send Lord Tomavar back to the stars!’

  With that, he clasped my hand and went back outside to make arrangements with Lord Tomavar’s seconds for our duel.

  Then I whispered, ‘I … must … not … kill …’

  I pressed my hand to my throat, burning as if I had inhaled a lungful of the Red Desert’s fiery dust. I seemed to be losing my power of speech altogether.

  ‘Lil … jana,’ I gasped.

  I tried to make her understand that she should use her blue crystal to take the words off the top of my mind and speak them for me – but to delve no deeper into my more private thoughts. She nodded her head in agreement with this. Then she positioned her little whale figurine near my temple. We waited for her to speak.

  ‘Val says’ she told everyone, ‘that he must not slay Lord Tomavar.’

  At this, Daj looked at me, amazed, and then turned to Estrella, who smiled as she nodded her head in agreement. But Master Juwain only seemed puzzled, even as Kane scowled and Maram took hold of my arm.

  ‘You have to kill him,’ he told me. ‘It’s a barbaric thing, and I agree with Lord Avijan, but that’s the way of you Valari and your damned duels.’

  ‘So, Val – so,’ Kane said.

  I looked at Liljana, who had closed her eyes. And then she told my other friends: ‘Val must not come to the kingship over Lord Tomavar’s dead body. Meshians must not slay Meshians. And Valari must not slay Valari!’

  ‘But you Valari have always slain Valari!’ Maram called out to me. ‘Ever since the Star People came to earth and Aryu slew Elahad!’

  ‘Never again,’ Liljana said. ‘The Valari must be as brothers, and sisters – or else Morjin will destroy us all.’

  ‘As Val has said,’ Atara intoned, nodding her head, ‘so it must be.’

  Although she seemed almost icy cool in her manner, I could sense her terrible fear for me.

  ‘But Val,’ Maram said, squeezing my arm more tightly, ‘what will you do? You can’t just walk back out on that field and cross swords with Lord Tomavar in the hope that he will apologize, or just give up. If you do, he’ll destroy you!’

  I swallowed hard against the burning dryness in my throat, and I heard Liljana speak my words: ‘There must be a way – there is always a way.’

  At this, Kane picked up my scabbarded sword where I had set it on the council table. He pressed it into my hand as he growled at me, ‘There is a way! Strike this into Tomavar’s damn heart!’

  ‘No,’ Liljana told him, as I shook my head.

  ‘Do it, damn you! Do what must be done!’

  ‘No, I must not kill him,’ I heard myself say – and Liljana, too.

  Then Daj, afraid for me, stepped up to Kane and said, ‘But Val has advantages. He is younger than Lord Tomavar, and quicker.’

  ‘So what if he is?’ Kane snapped. ‘Tomavar is older and more experienced.’

  ‘But Val has the better sword!’

  ‘And Tomavar the longer reach.’

  ‘But Val was Champion! I saw King Waray put the gold medal around his neck.’

  ‘Did you see Val fight Lord Tomavar at that tournament?’ Kane asked, looking down at Daj. ‘When men cross swords, who lives or dies can turn on a glint of the sun off of cold steel.’

  ‘But Val can’t die!’ Daj said. ‘He can’t! He’s the best swordsman on all of Ea, and no one has ever stood up to him.’

  Kane, of course, had stood up to me, and more, but Daj did not need to comment upon this, as Kane had no vainglory that must be fed.

  ‘Val has faced many in battle,’ Kane agreed, ‘and most of them no longer move. But none of his enemies, save Salmelu, has been Valari. As most of the men Tomavar has killed have been.’

  ‘But I know Val can kill Lord Tomavar!’

  ‘And I know it, too,’ Kane told him. ‘But he must fight to kill. If he only defends against Tomavar’s attack, trying to tire him, he’ll throw away all his advantages. So, his life, too. Sooner or later, Tomavar’s sword will cut its way through. Then he’ll kill Val, and that is that.’

  The tent grew quiet then, for it seemed that Kane had pronounced a sentence of death. I could only shake my head at this, and whisper, ‘There … must … be … a … way.’

  As I clasped my hand to my throat, I prayed that this might be so.

  8

  After that, I swept up my sword and led the way back out into the square. When we reached its center, the various knights and lords gathered there had already formed themselves into a great circle. Lord Harsha stood there waiting for me, and Lord Sharad, Lord Manthanu and my other counselors. Sar Jonavar and Sar Shivalad took their places there, too, as with the rest of my guardians. They joined Lord Vishand and those who followed Lord Tornavar. At the edge of the circle, I bowed my head to Lord Eldru, Lord Ramjay, Sar Shagarth, and Lord Manamar, who had accompanied Lord Tanu. Lord Tanu himself had agreed to oversee the duel. He stood inside the ring of honor with Lord Tomavar, and his seconds: Sar Jalval and Lord Arajay Solval. Lord Avijan would act as my second, as would Maram, who bitterly regretted this honor, saying to me, ‘I had to stand by once in this capacity as Salmelu nearly cut your head off. Don’t make me watch Lord Tomavar put his sword into you!’

  Despite his protests, he stayed close to me as Lord Sharad and Lord Noldashan stepped aside for us to enter the circle. My other companions – Kane and Atara excepted – had to stand outside it since they were not warriors. Although Daj objected to this, citing his deeds in battle, Lord Tanu directed him to wait farther out on the grass with Liljana, Master Juwain and Estrella. No child, he said, could be part of the ring of honor, and I breathed deeply in relief to see him walk over to Estrella and take her hand as they waited for the duel to begin.

  ‘A challenge has been made!’ Lord Tanu called out in his crabby, high-pitched voice.

  Maram and I, with Lord Avijan, stood facing him on his left, while beside us to his right gathered Lord Tomavar, Sar Jalval and Lord Arajay Solval. Lord Tomavar had already drawn his kalama, which he passed on to Maram. It took Maram only a few moments to wipe down the long, shining blade with a brandy-soaked cloth. Then I unsheathed Alkaladur, whose shimmering length of silustria needed no cleansing. Even so, I handed it to Lord Avijan, who gave it to Lord Arajay so that the rituals could be completed.

  When our swords had been returned to us, Lord Tanu directed us to close our eyes for a few moments of meditation. Then he called out to the ring of knights surrounding us: ‘Are the witnesses ready?’

  I watched as many grim-faced men nodded their heads.

  ‘Are the combatants ready?’

  Lord Tomavar’s eyes grew as cold as balls of obsidian. ‘I am ready to live or die.’

  ‘And I, too,’ I said, looking at him.

  Lord Tanu now motioned for Maram and the other seconds to rejoin everyone else in the circle, and he did so as well. And then he called out: ‘A ch
allenge has been made and accepted. You must now fight to defend your honor. In the name of the One and all of our ancestors who have stood on this earth before us, you may begin.’

  As Lord Tomavar drew back his sword and faced me across twenty feet of crushed grass, the thousands of warriors and others gathered around the square grew so quiet that I could almost hear their breathing. My breath came hard and heavy, forced through the painful chute of my throat. I drew back my bright blade behind my head, waiting. I felt my heart driving at my chest like a great, mailed fist. The kirax burning along my blood sent shoots of fire into every part of my body. I did not know which I feared more: Lord Tomavar killing me or me killing him.

  For a while we circled each other, measuring distances and feeling each other out. Lord Tomavar moved with a practiced grace that chilled me. Though he might be a complicated man, with his willingness to sacrifice himself for his warriors in battle at odds with his overweening conceit, none of this conflict or any other showed in the easy, natural way that he stepped right or left, or shifted his sword about. Indeed, even his torment over his missing wife seemed to have melted from his mind. I had rarely seen anyone so relaxed, as if he didn’t care if he lived or died. He flowed over and around the little bumps of the lawn almost like water.

  Then something inside him suddenly tightened, as with the pull of a man’s body on the rope of a grappling hook. He sprang at me in a whirl of bright and furious steel. I jumped back a few paces to avoid the slice of his sword. It was barely enough, for his long arms and legs gave him a great reach, and his sword’s point streaked through the air only an inch from my face. Again, he cut at me, and again I moved out of the way, and then we met each other in a clash of his steel blade against Alkaladur’s shimmering crystal. Middling old he might be, but the years hadn’t robbed him of his strength. The shock of the blows that he struck against me ran through my sword with a terrible force and nearly shattered my arm bones. I struggled to turn my blade right or left and beat aside his ferocious attack. The sound our swords clanging against each other rang out into the morning air like bells.