Free Drenai Series 03 - Waylander by David Gemmell Page B

assessment.'
    'But the Source will be with me?'
    'Perhaps. Perhaps not.'
    'I thought you said I was chosen for this task. What is the point of having aid from a God without power?'
    'A good question, Waylander. I hope you learn the answer.'
    'Where is the Armour?'
    'I hid it in a deep cave high up the side of a tall mountain.'
    'Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Where?'
    'Do you know the Nadir Steppes?'
    'I am not going to like this.'
    'I take it that you do. Well, two hundred miles west of Gulgothir is a range of mountains . . .'
    'The Mountains of the Moon.'
    'Exactly. At the centre of the range is Raboas . . .'
    'The Sacred Giant.'
    'Yes,' said Orien, grinning. 'And that's where it is.'
    "That is insane. No Drenai has ever penetrated that far into Nadir lands.'
    'I did.'
    'Why? What purpose could you have had?'
    'I wondered that at the time. Put it down to a whim, Waylander; you know about whims. Will you fetch the Armour?'
    Tell me, Orien, how much of a mystic are you?'
    'What do you mean?'
    'Can you see the future?'
    'In part,' admitted Orien.
    'What are my chances of success?'
    'That depends on who accompanies you.'
    'Then let's say that the Source chooses the right company.'
    The old man rubbed his ruined sockets and leaned back.
    'You have no chance,' he admitted.
    "That's what I thought.'
    'But that is no reason to refuse.'
    'You are asking me to ride a thousand miles through hostile lands swarming with savages. You tell me that the Brotherhood are also seeking the Armour? Do they know it is in Nadir lands?'
    'They know.'
    'So they will be hunting me also?'
    "They are alfeady hunting you.'
    'Agreed. But they don't know where I'm going. If I set off on this quest of yours, they'll soon find out.'
    'True.'
    'So ... there will be Nadir warriors, warrior wizards and Vagrian troops. And if I get through those I have to scale the Sacred Giant, the holiest place on the Steppes, and risk myself in the bowels of a dark mountain. Then I merely have to ride out again, burdened down with half a ton of armour.'
    'Eighty pounds.'
    'Whatever!'
    'There are also the werebeasts who live in the caves of Raboas. They don't like fire.'
    'That's comforting,' said Waylander.
    'So will you go?'
    'I am beginning to understand your comments concerning foolishness,' said the warrior. 'But yes, I will go.'
    'Why?' asked Orien.
    'Does there have to be a reason?'
    'No. But I am curious.'
    'Then let us say it's in memory of a dog that should not have died.'

6
    Dardalion closed his eyes. Danyal was asleep beside the sisters and the young priest released his spirit to the Void. The moon was an eldritch lantern and silver light bathed the vast Sentran Plain, while the forest of Skultik spread like a stain from the Delnoch mountains.
    Dardalion hovered below the clouds, his mind free of doubts and cares. Normally when he soared he found himself clothed in shimmering robes of pale blue. But now he was naked and, try as he might, no robes appeared. He didn't care. In the blink of an astral eye he was garbed in silver armour, a white cloak flowing from his shoulders. By his side hung two silver swords and as he drew them exhilaration flooded him. Far to the west, the camp-fires of a Vagrian army blazed like fallen stars. Dardalion sheathed his swords and flew towards them. More than ten thousand men were camped in the foothills of the Skoda mountains. Eight hundred tents lined the area in ranks of four and a wooden corral had been hastily erected for two thousand horses. Cattle grazed on the mountainside and a sheep-pen had been built beside a fast-moving stream.
    Dardalion moved south over rivers and plains, hills and forests. A second Vagrian force was camped outside Drenan - no fewer than thirty thousand men and twenty thousand horses. The city gates of oak and bronze had been sundered, and no citizens could be seen within its walls. To the east of the city a vast trench had been carved from the earth and Dardalion swooped towards it - then veered