Free Jango by William Nicholson

villagers before her. She could hear every word that was spoken in that encounter.
    "I am the Jahan of Jahans. Who are you?"

    "We are Nomana."
    The hooded man replied in a low voice. He sounded weary.
    "What are Nomana? Are you devils? Are you spirits from the land of the dead?"
    "We're men like you."
    "Then let us pass."
    "If you come in peace."
    "Peace!" roared the Jahan, his caged fury breaking out. "I am peace! There is no peace without order, and I am the bringer of order! In all the lands I rule there is peace, because I enforce peace!"
    The taller of the two hooded men sighed, and he raised one hand.
    "You carry a heavy burden," he said. "Peace for all, but no peace for you."
    The Jahan was silent with surprise.
    "Ask forgiveness. Seek your own peace."
    He extended two fingers and touched the air before him. Amroth Jahan sank slowly to his knees. There, kneeling on the bridge, he bent his head, groaned, and wept. Echo saw it and heard the low sobs. The men of the army lined up behind her saw and heard also. The unthinkable was happening before their eyes. No one had ever seen the Great Jahan cry.
    The two hooded men then turned and padded away over the bridge. They linked arms as they went and leaned a little towards each other, as if overcome with exhaustion. Then they were lost to sight among the crowd of villagers.
    After a few moments the Jahan rose slowly to his feet, and without brushing the tears from his eyes, he returned to his army. All watched him, in fearful uncertainty. He gazed at the massed ranks of his warriors, his cheeks still glistening, and raising his silver-handled whip, he gave the sign for the army to advance over the bridge.

    The companies of mounted warriors began to file slowly across the river. The villagers on the far side parted to let them go by.
    Echo was watching the Jahan as he climbed with weary movements into his high-wheeled chariot. One impatient wave of his hand dismissed the mirror bearers and the music makers. He turned to his three sons, who were staring at him in utter confusion. Sasha spurred his horse to the chariot's side.
    "Father, command me!" he said. "Let me avenge you!"
    The Great Jahan fixed dull angry eyes on his son.
    "For what?"
    Sasha Jahan saw that he had said the wrong thing, and not wanting to anger his father further, he bowed his head and was silent.
    "We will cross the bridge," said the Jahan. "No one bars our way. There is nothing to avenge."
    "Yes, Father."
    The Jahan and his sons then crossed the bridge in the midst of the vast Orlan army. There was no sign of the hooded strangers on the far bank. The villagers offered no resistance. The army passed on down the road in silence.
    After a little while the Jahan sent for Echo and asked that she ride with him in his carriage.
    "You saw what happened," he said to her, not meeting her eyes.

    "Yes."
    "They call themselves Nomana. Do you know them?"
    "I've heard of them."
    "What have you heard?"
    "That they are the only good people who are also strong."
    "Good, and strong."
    He said no more for a while. She watched the muscles twitching on his swarthy face.
    "I'll not forget," he said at last, speaking more to himself than to her. "They did what no one has ever done before. They made me cry."
    "They wanted you to find peace."
    "Peace? Yes, I'll find peace."
    With this the Great Jahan's face distorted in a smile of passionate cruelty: the smile of one who inflicts great pain and finds great pleasure in it.
    "My peace will be in their destruction."
    Echo said no more. But she too knew she would not forget those silent figures in gray. She had no interest in the peace they spoke of; she was interested in their power. Here was her means of escape from the Jahan, without harm to the Glimmen; and here was her means of revenge. She would find her champion among the Nomana.

5. Nothing Lasts
    A LONE AND WITHOUT OCCUPATION IN HIS CELL, S EEKER found the hours passed slowly and unmarked until they merged into a single