Part 14 (1/2)

Not Always To The Strong

The flat stone jutted up out of the log-and-thong vise like the gray tooth of some giant predator. Squinting along its surface, Turek set his cutter carefully against a small protrusion and hit it a sharp blow. A chip of the stone fell away, and for the hundredth time Turek ran his fingertips along the cutting edge. Almost done, he decided; by noon he should have a functioning hoe again. He spotted another flaw, and had just set his cutter again when the knock came at his door.

He paused, listening, wondering if he'd imagined it. Visitors these days were few and far between, especially since one of Javan's spanking new Mindlight Masters had taken up residence in Keilberg, eliminating the villages last real need for a Shadow Warriors services. It was conceivable that someone from one of the farms to the west had come to ask his help, but even they seemed to prefer to walk the two extra miles into Keilberg. That it might be someone merely interested in Turek's company was unlikely in the extreme.

The knock came a second time, too loudly to be imagination. Putting down his tools, Turek got up and went to answer the door.

There were two of them; big men, both, dressed in gray cloaks and the dust of a long journey. The man in front was perhaps twenty-five, his companion a couple of years younger. ”Master Turek, the Shadow Warrior?” the first man asked politely.Turek studied him a moment before answering. From his coloring and accent Turek would guess him to be a northman, possibly from the Lazuli region... Javan's home territory, where his Mindlight school was centered. The old feelings, long buried, began to churn again within him. ”I am Turek,” he acknowledged coldly.

”And you?”

The other didn't so much as move a single muscle-but Turek suddenly felt as if he'd tried to push over an eighty-year-old plains oak. The young man's aura of authority remained untouched by Turek's mild hostility; his eyes held a pride the Shadow Warrior had seen only rarely in his fifty years. Here was a man whose internal power bent to no one, and Turek's first suspicion vanished like dew under that steady gaze. Whoever he might be, he was emphatically no Mindlight Master.

”I am Krain,” the man identified himself, ”ruler of Masard, to the north. My aide, Pakstin. We'd like to talk with you, if you're free.”

Something about his att.i.tude suggested that he expected Turek to say no. But Turek had no interest in a battle of wills. Stepping to one side, he gestured them in.

The meeting area of the house was small and modestly furnished; Turek never entertained much. ”Please sit down,” he said, indicating the room's two chairs.

”Pakstin will stand,” Krain said as he sank into one of the straw-filled contour chairs, his aide taking up position beside him.

Shrugging, Turek took the other seat. ”What can I do for you?” he asked.

”Ask rather what we can do for each other,” Krain answered. ”I've come here to offer you a permanent position in Masard.”

”I see,” Turek managed. It wasn't exactly the sort of response he'd been expecting. ”To what do I owe this offer?”

”To my regret at seeing the n.o.ble brotherhood of Shadow Warriors in decline,” the other said. ”At Masard we are dedicated to improving the lives of our people by expanding the number and quality of tools available. Naturally, such attempts multiply the growth of Shadows in the region.”

”Naturally.” What the Shadows were and where they had come from was unknown, but the one absolute truth on Vesper was that everything made by man sooner or later grew a thick coating of Shadow. Invisible, intangible-but unpleasantly real. ”And so naturally you need to hire more Shadow Warriors to deal with it. Right?”

”Of course.”

Turek leaned back a bit more in his chair and favored the other with his most sardonic smile. ”Sure you do. I don't know what kind of fool you take me for, Krain, but you're on the wrong road. In the first place, anything a Shadow Warrior can do for you one of Javan's swarm of eager young Mindlight Masters can do faster and easier-and Masard is practically next door to his Lazuli school. And in the second place, there must be dozens of Shadow Warriors closer to you than I am. Are you really going to try and persuade me that you had to come all the way down here-personally-to find one to hire?” He shook his head. ”Try again.”

”Very good.” Krain's expression showed a pleased sort of satisfaction. ”Very good indeed. You're quicker than most I've talked to. I'd begun to wonder if fighting Shadow diminished the mental faculties after a time. Tell me, would you like to be revenged on Javan?”

Turek stiffened. Memories flooded back.... ”What would I want vengeance for?” he asked carefully.

”For destroying your livelihood, for starters.” Krain's eyes swept the room carefully, his gaze lingering for a moment on the new hoe blade clearly visible through the open workroom door. ”Ten years ago you would have had someone else making your tools and growing your food in exchange for your services against Shadow. You would have been the most valuable man in the entire Keilberg region. Javan's Mindlight technique ruined all that, usurping five generations of Shadow Warrior authority on Vesper.”

”We never had any real authority,” Turek disagreed quietly. ”Nor did we desire any. Our desire was to serve the people, to help limit the Shadows that would otherwise force them to live like animals. Javan simply found a better and faster way to do that. Why shouldn't it replace our method?”

Krain shrugged, his eyes on Turek's face. ”Yet I understand that your method eliminated Shadow at a high cost to your personal comfort and even, shall we say, to your long-term mental health. Why would you endure that if not for the prestige the blue cloak gave you?”

Turek shook his head; there was no answer he could give that would satisfy the other. ”You spoke of revenge?”

”Yes.” Krain leaned forward slightly. ”As you stated, the power to destroy Shadow has s.h.i.+fted to Javan and his people, and with it has gone control over Vespers technological growth. I submit that Javan is not qualified to make the decisions that such control will require.”

The young northman stopped, but the message underlying his words was clear enough. ”Pa.s.sing up for the moment the question of whether or not your qualifications are better than his, what makes you think you can gain the influence you want anyway? Javan's probably got a couple of hundred students at any given time, and with all of them running around Lazuli destroying Shadows the village can probably support a population of over a thousand by now. Few of them are going to take kindly to interference or pressure from Masard.”

”I won't be going to Lazuli alone,” Krain said. ”My army numbers nearly three hundred, and is well trained.”

”So what? Fighting sticks are fighting sticks, no matter how expert your men are.”

”True-but we have something a bit better than fighting sticks.” He gestured to Pakstin, still standing by his seat. In a single smooth motion the aide threw back his cloak, reached across to his left hip, and pulled out- A three-foot-long sword.

Turek had seen swords before, of course; carved wooden things, usually, sometimes with sharp bits of stone embedded in their edges. Glorified clubs, really; but this one was different. Its handle was wooden, but its blade had the smooth sheen of pure metal, and even from several feet away it was clear that the point and edges were sharp. ”Impressive,” he murmured. ”Probably draws Shadow like crazy, too.”

”Why not check it for yourself?” Krain suggested.

Turek frowned, then shrugged. ”All right. Hold it steady, Pakstin.”

Closing his eyes, Turek set his mind into the proper pattern and dilated his pupils. He snapped them open for a second, then squeezed them shut again; and on the afterimage the Shadow was very clear. It was a good two feet in diameter, surrounding the sword like a black coc.o.o.n. Opening his eyes, Turek studied Pakstin's face briefly. Gripping the sword hilt, his hand in the middle of a Shadow of that size, the northman should be feeling a fair amount of discomfort-and, sure enough, the signs of tension were there. But just barely. Pakstin clearly had a good deal of self-control. If all of Krain's men were so well disciplined...

”How long would you estimate the Shadow has been growing?” Krain asked, breaking Turek's train of thought.

”Oh, six hours or so. Maybe twelve if the metals not too well refined.”

The other shook his head, a slight smile on his face. ”We had a Mindlight Master clean it-and the blanket it was wrapped in at the time-in Paysan three days ago.”

”Three days?” Turek hunched forward, interested in spite of himself. ”What kind of metal is that?”

”First of all, it's an alloy, not a pure metal-a combination of copper and tin, actually-which should make it a little closer to a natural material. But the key, I think, is the fact that oriflamme bones are mixed into the molten metal during the alloying process. They don't seem to decrease the metals strength appreciably, and the extra impurity dramatically decreases the rate of Shadow growth.”

Turek nodded slowly as Pakstin sheathed his blade again. It made sense, he supposed-a metal loaded with impurities was certainly less advanced than a pure metal would be, and that seemed to be the only criterion Shadow cared about. But there was something else that was not quite right about this scheme, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. ”So I presume what you're asking me to do is to come to Masard and keep Shadows off your weapons while you beat Lazuli into submission. Right?”

”Actually, I'm hoping there will be no fighting at all, that the village will recognize the futility of resistance,” Krain said offhandedly. ”But you're not just being hired for this single operation. You and the other three Shadow Warriors who've joined me will have honored positions in my realm, regaining the prestige you once held.”

-And the missing piece fell into place. ”These swords of yours,” Turek said slowly, ”you make them yourself?”

Krain nodded, the pleased look back on his face. ”We have a group of smiths right in Masard turning out ten blades a day.”

”With your new Shadow Warriors standing by to keep Shadows away from the final product,” Turek nodded. ”But you can't be making the metal itself, because to get an alloy strong enough for a sword blade you'd have to start with almost pure copper and tin. Three Shadow Warriors couldn't even begin to keep up with the Shadows that would grow-never mind the advanced smelters you'd also have to have.” He gestured toward the hidden sword. ”Someone in Lazuli developed this alloy, didn't they? Someone with a Mindlight Master or two standing over his shoulder. What did you do, sneak into the village and steal some of the metal?”

”More or less.” If Krain felt any guilt over his action he hid it well. ”But don't worry about that-we have enough to make all the swords we'll need to bring Javan to his knees. And after that we'll have both the smelter and the Mindlight Masters and can make all the weapons we'll ever need.” The northman leaned back in his seat. ”But I think you've heard enough to make your decision. What say you, Master Turek?”

Turek held the others gaze for only a second. Then, almost of their own accord, his eyes s.h.i.+fted left to stare out the window as he remembered that day in Akkad-so long ago!-when Javan had once and for all proved his new technique... and had totally humiliated Turek in the process. He could still feel the stabbing pain of Javan's ”psychic light”-the light which only Turek, because of his years as a Shadow Warrior, had been able to see... could still feel the shame of fainting in front of the crowd, and then awakening to discover the huge Shadow had been completely destroyed by that single blast. He'd hated Javan for a long time after that-and the knowledge that such feelings were unjustified had only made them worse. But of course the hatred had long since died... hadn't it?

And now he was being offered vengeance... and the chance to once more do something that would affect people's lives. Krain had been right-he missed the prestige of the blue cloak. Missed it more than he'd realized... perhaps more than was good for him....

Krain was still watching him when Turek brought back his gaze. ”Yes,” the Shadow Warrior said firmly. ”I'll come with you.”

They left the next morning, picking up provisions in Keilberg on their way. It was a good ten-day trip to Masard; but though the two northmen were agreeable enough companions, Turek learned far less about them during the journey than he'd expected to. Krain, particularly, seemed unwilling to talk about his personal life and ambitions, and was adept at s.h.i.+fting the conversation whenever Turek tried to draw him out. Such reticence surprised the Shadow Warrior; he would have expected a would-be conqueror-especially one so young-to be more given to self-centered boasting. As a partial result, a great deal of their talk centered on Masard and the surrounding region, so that by the time they reached the village Turek felt almost as if he were coming home, even though he'd never before visited the area. Perhaps, he thought, that was the goal Krain had had in mind.

Masard was a huge village by Vesperian standards, its adobe buildings sprawling over several square miles and its population approaching the eleven- hundred mark. Krain's residence was on the northern edge, and as the three men walked through the village Turek kept his eyes open for signs of war preparations.

Surprisingly, he saw none.