The Damned 02 - The Swords Of Night and Day by David Gemmell Page B

same question. Perhaps the Eternal is tiring of him, and wanted him away from Diranan. I really don’t know. But let us talk of you, Landis. You know the peril you are in.’
    ‘I know. Old habits die hard, my friend. I found some artefacts and could not resist experimenting with them. As you could see, my Jiamads are not of the highest quality.’
    ‘You told the Eternal you wanted a quiet life away from the turmoil of empire. She granted you these lands.’
    ‘Does she now want them back?’
    ‘Of course not. The Eternal merely wants right of passage through them, so that our armies can clear the north of traitors.’
    ‘Come now,’ said Landis, ‘you know that the fastest way to the north is across the plain and through the ruins. You already have an army camped below the southern pass. To send a force this way would take an extra month, and for what? So speak plainly, Unwallis. What does the Eternal really want from me?’
    ‘You do not need me to scribble it on a tablet of clay. You were the most senior of her advisers, and the longest-serving. Even I do not know how long you were in her service. But longer than Agrias. And who are we fighting? The same Agrias who swore to serve her for life. Agrias who has caused us untold harm. More than a hundred thousand dead in battle, and five times that starved or fallen to disease.’
    ‘You are saying she fears I will become another Agrias?’ Landis laughed. ‘Nothing could be further from the truth. I want no power, other than that which I wield here.’
    ‘Do you still love her, Landis?’
    ‘You of all people should not have to ask this. Of course I love her. She was my life, and my dream.
    She was everything to me, from the moment I first saw her statue.’ Landis sighed. ‘I shared her bed for many years.’ He shrugged. ‘Aye, and I was also forced to share her with whatever lover she took a liking to. None of that mattered. I would give a hundred years of life merely to share that bed one more night.’
    ‘As would I - though I do not have a hundred years to spare,’ said Unwallis. ‘You did warn her about Agrias. I remember that.’
    ‘You remember what else I told you?’

    ‘I remember. I am still not convinced. But that is in the past and not relevant. The Eternal wishes to be sure of your loyalty. She wants a small force in your lands to protect the borders. Would that be so terrible, Landis? A few soldiers, a few Jiamads.’
    Landis filled a goblet with wine, and sipped it before answering. ‘Yes it would. Agrias has several armies in the north. If the Eternal’s forces come here Agrias will hear of it. Then the war will spread to my lands, which, at present, are mercifully free of terror.’
    Unwallis took a deep breath. ‘Then let us move on to another point, and one of great delicacy. The tomb of Skilgannon.’
    ‘What about it? It was empty.’
    ‘Not the cave, Landis, but the site a half-mile distant on the dry island.’
    ‘It wasn’t him. I dug there and found some old bones, but the artefacts in the grave were of the wrong age.’
    ‘One of your diggers reported that you found two swords in a single scabbard.’
    ‘Not so. We found a massive axe, double-headed, which had not rusted, and a few pots containing gold coins. The coins were of the late Drenai period, and stamped with image of King Skanda. I still have some of them, should you wish to see them.’
    ‘Why do you have ward spells over your domain, Landis?’ The question was asked softly and Unwallis watched his old friend closely. Landis did not look him in the eye.
    ‘I do not like being watched. I am a private man and it irked me to have Memnon spying on me. I never liked the man. I live in hopes that the Eternal will realize he is a snake and place his head upon a spike.’
    ‘Yes, yes,’ said Unwallis. ‘No-one likes Memnon. But let us run over the facts. Like Agrias you are creating Jiamads. You refuse the Eternal the right to cross your lands. You have cast