Diamond Warriors

delayed him, but no more. Already, it is said, he has ordered a great fleet up from Sunguru and Hesperu to attack Eanna. If it takes him a hundred years, he will conquer Ea's free lands one by one until he has the Nine Kingdoms surrounded. But it will not take him a hundred years.'

As I paused to take a sip of beer, a half dozen speculations and arguments broke out among the warriors standing around me. The hall filled with the stridor of angry and confused voices. And then Lord Avijan turned to Maram and asked, 'You are from Delu — will the Delians fight if the Red Dragon attacks them?'

'Will we fight?' Maram called out. 'Of course we will! Ah, that is, a few knights and diehards will fight, while my father tries to make terms. He is no fool, and he'll no more want to stand isolated against the Red Dragon than would any other king — even, I might add. King Hadaru or King Waray, or any of the Valari kings.'

Here he glanced at me as if wishing that I would proclaim that Mesh would never go alone against the Red Dragon. But I looked down into my beer and said nothing.

'And what of the Sarni tribes?' Lord Avijan asked, turning toward Atara. 'Has the Manslayer had news of her people?'

Next to me, Atara nodded her head at this, and her white blindfold moved up and down like a signal banner. 'The Kurmak will never make terms with Morjin, so long as Sajagax is chief — and I think my grandfather still has a good few years left to him. He will call for the other tribes to ride with him in battle, if battle there must be. The Niuriu might join with him. Perhaps the Danladi, too, and the central Urtuk. I cannot say about the Adirii for their clans are divided. But I believe that the Manslayers will decide for Sajagax, should the Red Dragon ever attack him.'

She did not add that the fierce women warriors of the Manslayer Society, who came from all the tribes, favored making Atara their Chiefess, and Atara would certainly lead them in aid of Sajagax, if she could.

Now Master Juwain let out a long sigh as he clamped his gnarly hands around his beer mug — filled with apple cider. And he said, 'There are other ways of opposing the Red Dragon than through war.'

While the warriors listened with the great reverence they held for Masters of the Brotherhood, Master Juwain told them of much the same plan for the peaceful defeat of Morjin that he had put forth two days before in the wood where we had fought the Ahrim.

'The Maitreya,' he said, 'will light a fire in men's hearts that the Red Dragon cannot put out. In the end it will consume him.'

'This is our hope,' I added. 'But the Maitreya must first live long enough to pass on this flame.'

'The Maitreya!' Sar Jessu cried out, looking at me. 'Always, the Maitreya! Once, we believed that you were the great Shining One.'

At this, a hundred warriors stared straight at me. I, too, had shared in their delusion. In truth, I had engendered it.

'We believed,' Sar Jessu went on, 'that the Maitreya would lead us to victory. But now we don't want to believe in miracles — it is enough to believe in you.'

Again, the warriors around me struck their swords against the wooden tables.

Then Lord Harsha's single eye swept around the hall as he regarded the warriors sternly. And he reminded them, 'The Shining One will come forth, as has been promised in the Trian Prophecies and the Progressions. Is he, then, the man Bemossed that Lord Elahad has told of? I would like to believe he is. But whoever he is, flame or no, we must look to our own swords for our defense, as we always have!'

So saying, he whipped free his long, shining kalama, and saluted me. Lord Avijan inclined his head to him, and said, 'That is my thought, too. But what, indeed, is the best course for defending Mesh?'

'There is only one course for us,' Sar Jessu called out. 'And it is as Lord Valashu has said: we must stop Morjin!'

'But stop him how?' Sar Shivalad said, turning his great, cleft nose toward Lord Harsha. 'That is the question we must decide.'

'That it is, lad,' Lord Harsha said, 'And here I'm in agreement with Master Juwain. Let us make Mesh strong again, as it was in the reign of King Shamesh. Then let us remember that we have destroyed or thrown back every army that tried to invade our land — even Morjin's.'

'But what of the Lightstone?' Sar Shivalad asked him.

And Lord Noldashan broke in, crying out 'Let Morjin keep it! It is a cursed thing, and it nearly destroyed our land!'

His vehemence stunned me, and I looked from Lord Noldashan to his son, Sar Jonavar, beside him. He was a tall, well-made knight, perhaps a few years older than I, and he stood gripping his gauntleted hand around the hilt of his sword as he looked at me in great turmoil.

'No, it is just the opposite,' I said to Lord Noldashan. 'The Lightstone holds marvels and miracles. In the hands of the Maitreya — '

'It nearly destroyed you!' Lord Noldashan shouted. 'Do not dream of leading us on impossible expeditions to win it back!'

'Do not,' Lord Sharad said, moving closer to Lord Noldashan, 'speak to Lord Valashu so. Remember why you've come here!' 'To make Valashu Elahad King of Mesh!' Lord Noldashan said. 'Not to follow him on a fool's mission!'

'I would follow him to the end of the earth!' Lord Sharad cried out.

'And I!' Lord Jessu said.

'And I!' Joshu Kadar said.

'So would I,' Sar Vikan said, drawing his sword, 'if it meant a chance to put this through Morjin's neck! I would think that Lord Noldashan, of all knights, would want his vengeance!'

As Lord Noldashan faced Sar Vikan and moved his hand onto his sword's hilt, I remembered that Lord Noldashan had a second son, Televar, whom I did not see anywhere in the hall.

'Peace, honored knight!' I said to Lord Noldashan as I held up my hand. 'Let us sit together and drink our beer — and cool our heads!'

'Peace!' Lord Noldashan cried out. 'Have you truly returned to bring peace, Lord Elahad? Or only to bring more blood, as you did a year ago when you practically called down the Red Dragon upon us?'

'Do not speak to Lord Valashu so!' Lord Sharad said again. 'Remember yourself, Lord Knight!'

'I remember,' Lord Noldashan said with a rising anger, 'whole streams on the Culhadosh Commons running red with our warriors' blood!'

'Pfahh, blood!' Sar Vikan spat out. 'When has a true warrior been afraid of spilling it?'

The moment that these words left Sar Vikan s mouth, his face tightened in horror, as if he could not believe that he had spoken them But it was too late. Quick as a bird, Lord Noldashan drew his sword five inches from its scabbard before Lord Avijan and others closed in and managed to clamp their hands around Lord Noldashan's arm.

'This warrior,' Lord Noldashan said to Sar Vikan as he struggled against those who held him, 'would not be afraid to see your blood spilled here!'

His challenge filled my belly with a sickness as if I had eaten splinters of iron. As other warriors came up to restrain Sar Vikan from drawing his sword and setting off an inescapable duel, I felt many people looking at me. Maram and Master Juwain — and my other companions, too — were clearly distressed to witness things falling out so badly. I felt them wondering what I wondered; why had we returned to Mesh at all if we could not even keep my own countrymen from killing each other?

'Stop!' I called out to Lord Noldashan and Sar Vikan. 'Let go of your swords! We are all one people here!'

My voice fell upon them with the force of a battering ram, stunning them into motionlessness. But it did not, I sensed, touch their hearts.

Lord Avijan finally let go of Lord Noldashan, and he said to me, 'Lord Noldashan has cause for grieving and grievance, and few men more. And he raises an important question. Lord Elahad: is it your purpose to go against Morjin or to protect Mesh?'

'But they are the same thing!' I called out. 'Mesh will never be safe so long as Morjin draws breath!'