Tahn (44 page)

Netta jerked her head upward at Tahn’s voice, her heart pounding thunderously within her.
He thinks he is prepared to kill Samis tonight,
she realized.
By his own hand, or that of our guards. But I know it is not really what he wants, not even for this villain. More blood now, even such guilty blood, will plague him. There is surely another way, dear God, to be free of the man!

Tahn waited in silence, knowing one shout would be enough. He’d be there in the darkness, there was no question in his mind.

“Well,” the voice finally came. “You make yourself a handy target, standing there in the gate alone.”

“You’ve no archers today, or I’d have known already.”

“You’re not thinking,” Samis scolded. “I could have thrown my knife.”

“It’s not your way. Not until you’ve railed at me first.”

There were men now behind Tahn, and men coming on the wall. Soon there would be men outside the gate, circling behind Samis, searching for others, and closing him in.

But the old man seemed to understand that. “Tell your guards to relax,” he said. “I’ve come to bring you something. You can receive a guest without supervision, can’t you?”

“They will do nothing beyond my say,” Tahn told him.

“How coldhearted you can be. I’ve earned no audience with you? Even though I saved your life and gave you sixteen years of my own to make you what you are?” Somewhere in the darkness he laughed. “Ah, Tahn. You will always hate me. To the day you die.”

“You came for a reason,” Tahn replied. “You might as well show yourself and let us be done with it.”

Again he laughed. “Indeed! We have been bitter long enough. It is time this foolish feud was ended, as it should be, just you and me. I am brave enough. Are you?”

Samis stepped from the shadows toward Tahn. He had a slight limp and was looking strangely gray. “I am alone,” he said. “And I brought you an old friend.” He tossed Tahn’s sheathed sword carefully so that it landed a few feet in front of him. “Now you are ready to fight me honorably, if you have it in you.”

“You’re not well,” Tahn told him. “I would kill you easily.”

“Perhaps not. You’re not that good, and you’re still weak. I can tell it in your stance. But if you did manage it, isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

Tahn’s stomach was a knot. He
had
always wanted it. He had waited for the day. But that was before. Now, he remembered his prayer that God help him not to shed blood again.

But the guards were ready. He could accomplish the deed with his hand or with his word, and it would be almost the same. And this was not just anyone. This was Samis. They would never be completely safe as long as he was alive.

“You try my patience, boy!” Samis yelled. “Pick up your sword like a man. This has been a long time coming. We have both known it!”

Tahn looked down at the weapon at his feet.

“You never wanted anything more than this,” Samis taunted. “You remember, don’t you, three years ago? You told me then how you longed to face me down. After you killed that wretched worm in this very house! Now there you stand as if you owned the place. Haughty devil! You think tying your tail to Netta Trilett has gained you something? But you know she has caused you nothing but pain. What a fool you are to think they would accept you. You’re just a useful slave to them until they tire of you and throw you out. You’re nothing! I put up with you longer than anyone else ever could. Fight me, Tahn! We both know it is what you want!”

Netta’s heart pounded. She was close enough to the wall to hear the awful words. But she ran to the gate, needing to see Tahn, praying that he could bear this as God would see it best.

With a steel he hadn’t expected, Tahn leaned slowly down and lifted the sword. He could see Samis step closer with a gleam of expectation. Surely he knew what he was up against with the guards standing by. He must have come knowing it would be the end, wanting it to be.

Tahn looked up at his teacher with turmoil in his heart. It would be easy to finish and easy to justify. But that prayer, his own prayer, would not let go of him.

“Draw the blade, Tahn,” Samis told him coolly. “You will appreciate the feel of it in your hand again. It is part of you, isn’t it?”

Tahn shook his head. “You gave me this sword when I was ten,” he said. “You can have it back.” He hurled the weapon through the air, and it landed in the dust at Samis’s side.

“You wish to carry your hate for me burning in you to your grave, Tahn? I have offered you the opportunity to purge it and avenge yourself of me! Would you walk away from the one thing you’ve wanted most in your life?”

Tahn took a deep breath. “What I wanted most was the peace God has given. I wanted to be loved, and I found that with him too. You need God now. You have nothing else.”

“They’ve filled you with a lot of drivel, haven’t they? You will see one day how much God and the Triletts really care for you. You remember the pain the lady caused you, don’t you? You were days at it, weeks, weren’t you, Tahn? You remember!”

Tahn stood still, watching him. It hurt to let him go on and not silence this monster with his own hand. Indeed he did remember. Everything. And it made him shudder.

“There will only be more of it, Tahn,” Samis continued. “Your friends will betray you as you have betrayed me. And you will deserve the knife in your back!”

“I’ve heard enough,” Tahn told him. “Leave us.”

Samis laughed. “You’re afraid of me still! You are a coward not to fight me. And so dishonest. You know you want it.”

“No,” he said slowly. “I want to forgive you and go on with the life God has given.”

“You talk like an old woman! Fight me, boy, or I shall kill you, I swear it!”

Tahn shook his head. “God take pity on you,” he said. “Just let him leave,” he told the soldiers and turned back to the gate.

But Samis was not to be denied so easily. He pulled the knife from his belt and flung it at Tahn with all the strength he could muster. It struck him at his left shoulder.

Tahn clutched the rail and cried out with the sudden pain. He could hear the soldiers rushing at Samis.

“Stop!” he told his men. “Let him go!”

He turned and saw Lucas for the first time, standing beneath a tree, watching. Suddenly Lucas was raising his arm and bowing his head in salute.

“Come and take him,” Tahn told him. “And be gone from here.”

The soldiers stood in disbelief. Why would he let them go?

Lucas rushed forward and lifted Samis from the ground where the soldiers had knocked him down. It was clear then that Samis was weaker than he acted. He looked truly old. He was muttering as Lucas led him away toward their horses.

Netta ran to Tahn and lended her arm for support.

“I told you to go,” he said, suddenly exhausted.

The guard named Josef was at Tahn’s other side, and Netta looked up at him. “Help me get him to the house.”

But another soldier approached who thought the lady’s presence might be the reason for Tahn’s behavior. “Shall we follow and overtake them?” he asked.

“No. I said let them go. It’s over.” He took a deep breath, realizing suddenly that he’d reached a hand to Samis when he told him he needed God.
Let him hear it,
he prayed,
before it’s too late.
God would be willing to reach out his own hand, even to Samis.
He did save my life once,
Tahn thought.
There must be something in there somewhere to redeem.

“Just keep watch,” Tahn told the soldiers. “In case he returns.”

Josef pulled Samis’s knife free and threw it on the ground. Netta held the wound with her fine lace kerchief. “Tahn,” she said softly. “Let us take you to the house.”

Lucas led his master through the trees, but he stopped and offered him water when Samis suddenly started sweating.

He was panting for breath. But the soldiers hadn’t hurt him, Lucas knew that. This must be something else.

“He’s no different than I am,” Samis was mumbling. “He’s a killer at heart. It’s his hate of me, that’s what it is! He won’t accept any plan of mine. But he’d fight me when my back’s turned.

If he knew I didn’t want it. Curse him! I’ll find a way.”

“No!” Lucas told him. “Don’t you know when it’s enough? We are lucky to be leaving alive. He should have told his men to kill you on the spot.”

Samis stared at him and clenched his fists. Lucas was right, of course. Tahn could easily have had him killed. Why had he not?

Surely it was what Lucas had said at Valhal, that Tahn would either kill him or walk away in pity. Pity! The thought enraged him. “Curse you, Tahn Dorn! May your friends destroy you!”

Lucas just stared at him.

“Get out of my way, you fool!” Samis yelled. “You’re just like him! You’re enjoying this. That’s why you’ve stayed with me. You want to watch me waste away. I curse you! I won’t have your pity. Leave me, or I will kill you in Tahn’s stead!”

In a fury, he shuffled away from Lucas as quickly as he could move. There was such a pounding in his chest, such a terrible headache again. The night was whirling around him, and he hated life and the thought of death. There must be victory to be found in this somewhere. There must be!

He had known where the horses were, but now he couldn’t see them. He pressed on past them through the trees, cursing under his breath.

“Samis!” Lucas called, intending to direct him.

“Leave me alone!”

His breathing came hard now. The weakness and dizziness rushed over him mercilessly, but he wouldn’t give in to them, nor to Lucas’s call. He walked on with faltering steps. He didn’t see the old tree he’d come to until he fell against it, suddenly too weak to stand. He grasped at the trunk for a moment, pain tearing at his skull. Then his right arm gave way, and he sunk slowly to the ground, now drenched in sweat.

“Sir?”

It was Lucas, following as usual. He stood there, just watching. What he must be thinking! There the old man goes. Another spell. Let him die in such misery.

He wanted to yell at him again, but he could not find his voice. Even his body betrayed him. Even his face felt like it was tearing away and leaving him. He could not make his mouth form the words he wanted to use.