Diamond Warriors

call upon every particle of my being to defeat Morjin! And I will call upon you. You are Valari, descended all from Elahad himself and his brethren from the stars. We are brothers and sisters, warriors of the sword and the spirit. If our spirits are one, then the very fire of the stars shall be ours. If we are one, even if there is only one chance in all the universe of what we most desire, we shall set our sight on that and nothing else, and make it be.'

I told them, too, that if fate called me, I would die for them, as all must die for their dream.

For a while it seemed that no one moved. Liljana's blue crystal carried my words out for all to take in, not just with their ears but with a deeper sense. My passion to fight Morjin became their passion, not because I struck it into them as I had the truth with Lord Tomavar, but because they opened their hearts to me. Did the valarda, I wondered, dwell within all women and men, waiting to be awakened?

'Very well!' Lord Ramjay suddenly shouted as he drew his sword. 'Then I, too, will stand for Valashu Elahad!'

'And I!' Sar Shagarth shouted back.

'And I stand for Valashu Elahad!' Sar Jalval and Lord Vishand called out, as with one voice.

For a while, Liljana's crystal gave me to hear hundreds of conversations that had broken out around the square like the rumbles of a storm. I listened as warriors recounted my victories where I had led in battle: over Baron Narcavage and his assassins in King Kiritan's garden; over Morjin and his guards in his throne room when my friends and I had claimed the Lightstone; over the rogue Akhand clan of the Adirii tribe on the Wendrush; over the treacherous Duke Malatam and his five hundred knights at Shurkar's Notch in Alonia; and, of course, over Morjin's three armies at the Culhadosh Commons, which many now claimed that we won only because of me. Then Lord Tanu, finally deeming that enough had been said, held up his hand and called for the warriors to make their way to the various edges of the square: north, if they would stand for either the Lords Ramanu, Bahram and Kharashan; south if they favored Lord Tanu; west for Lord Tomavar; and east if they wanted me to be king. The warriors, however, ignored him, As one, almost all of them, from every direction, broke ranks and rushed into the square, crying out, 'Valashu Elahad — Valashu Elahad for king!'

As they pressed in closer. Lord Tanu turned about estimating numbers. And then he shouted: 'It is done! The warriors acclaim Valashu Elahad as our king!'

'Valashu Elahad!' ten thousand men called out at once. 'The Elahad for king!'

'Elahad! Elahad! Elahad!'

Then Lord Arajay Solval looked down at my bare hand, still gripping my sword, and he said, 'But there is no ring!'

I, too, looked down at my hand. In Hesperu, Kane had broken apart my lord's ring for its four diamonds so that we might purchase a slave named Bemossed. Every king of Mesh, for ages, had worn on his finger a ring of five brilliant and perfect diamonds.

'Lord Elahad,' Lord Solval announced, 'cast down his father's ring upon the Culhadosh Commons, and so there is no ring!'

'No, you are wrong!' Lord Harsha's gruff voice blared out. He stepped closer to me, and reached out his fist. When he opened his hand, everyone could see sparkling at its center my father's old ring. 'I kept this on that terrible day against this great day, which I always hoped would come.'

So saying, after I gave Kane to hold my sword, Lord Harsha grasped my hand and slid the ring down upon my finger. It fit perfectly. I held up my hand for everyone to see the five bright diamonds, once worn by my father and my grandfather's grandfathers.

'With this ring,' Lord Harsha intoned, repeating the ancient formula, 'go forth in the name of the Shining One as King of Mesh and never forget from where you came.'

'Valashu Elahad!' Lord Avgan shouted. 'King of Mesh — King Valamesh!'

'Valamesh! Valamesh!' thousands of warriors cried out. 'King Valamesh!'

Kane gave me back my sword, which I held blazing up to the sun. Then the warriors and knights all drew their swords and pressed in closer to me, not as a mob, but arrayed as ring around ring around sparkling rings, like those that circle the great planet Shahar. They pointed their swords up toward mine, and the reflection of bright steel off of silustria cast a cone of silver and light up into the sky.

And the acclaim continued with shouts that seemed to shake the very earth: 'Valamesh! Valamesh! Valamesh!'

After what seemed a long time, the warriors quieted and broke their circles to allow my friends to pass. Estrella danced up to me with great delight filling her lively face, while Liljana came closer and kissed my hand. Straight across from me, Atara stood as proud as a queen, smiling and weeping, without tears. Kane beamed like the very sun. As for Maram, he shouted for a whole barrel of brandy to be opened so that we might celebrate the moment.

'But what shall I call you now?' he said to me. ''Sire' is how I addressed my father, and 'Valamesh' has a strange ring to it.'

'Call me 'friend,' I said to him, smiling and clasping his hand.

Then Joshu Kadar, standing nearby, bowed his head to me and said, 'I shall call you the 'King of Swords!' To fight as you did today — that was the most wondrous swordwork I have ever seen!'

Kane, hearing this, nodded his head at me. 'So it was.'

A king, my father once said, lived in order to fulfill his duties, and my first was a happy one. I motioned for Sar Vikan and Sar Jessu to come closer. I took out two silver rings that I had reserved for this moment; each shone with four diamonds, and were the rings of lords. After bidding Sar Vikan and Sar Jessu to take off their old rings, I slipped these new ones in turn down around their fingers. Then I called out, 'Only a king can make a master knight into a lord, and it is long since time that both of you received these rings. Stand and be recognized! Lord Vikan Arval! Lord Jessu the Lion-Heart!'

Many warriors struck their swords together and cried out, 'Vikan Arval, Jessu the Lion-Heart, Lords of Mesh!'

Now many women and children from Hardu, Lashku and Godhra, and other towns, began making their way through the circles of soldiers in order to honor me. A few of the outlanders who had set up camp here also pressed in for a better look, even though Sar Shivalad and Sar Kanshar and my other Guardians kept them at a good distance. One man, however, would not be discouraged by the fence of swords surrounding me. He pushed himself right up against the flat of Sar Shivalad's kalama, and called out to me in a strong, deep voice, 'King Valamesh, indeed. As you desired, Valashu Elahad, it has come to be.'

Then he threw back the hood of his traveling cloak to reveal a fine, weathered face as dark as chocolate and wreathed in wavy white hair and a great flowing beard. He had the wisest eyes I had even seen.

'Grandfather!' I cried out. 'You are safe!'

I motioned for Sar Shivalad and Sar Jurald to lower their swords. Then Abrasax, the Master Reader and the Grandmaster of the Great White Brotherhood whom his intimates called 'Grandfather,' stepped closer to me. Others of his ancient order accompanied him: Master Virang, with his deep almond eyes and whimsical old face; the stolid Master Storr, whose title was Master Galastei; Master Nolashar, the Music Master; Master Yasul and Master Matai. I did not see Master Okuth among them, and my first fear would soon be proved true: that on their perilous journey from the Valley of the Sun where Morjin's men had destroyed their school, the Seven had now become only six.

'Master Okuth,' Abrasax said by way of explanation, 'died so that your friend might live.'

And with that he stepped aside so that Bemossed might come forward. The man I had befriended in Hesperu looked at me with the same large, luminous eyes that haunted my dreams. His face, soft yet handsome, had lost none of its gentleness, though deep lines creased his dark skin, especially across his forehead, tattooed with a black cross marking him as one of the despised Hajarim. But no man on Ea, I thought, could be more revered or more welcome in Mesh than he.

'Bemossed!' I called out, rushing up to embrace him. 'You are alive!'

'And you are a king!' he said, bowing his head to me. The smile that broke upon his face seemed as natural and bright as the sun.

Then Vareva stepped over to us, and she said to Bemossed, with relief and familiarity, 'We came just in time.'

'Thank you for leading us here,' he told her, turning his smile upon her.