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Tokage countered with the tokto, the short metal
weapon with a clawed trident at each end.
Tokage jerked his wrist and the thin blade
emanating from the inside of Bonneduce the
Last's wrist snapped. Immediately he reversed the
tokho, dragging it across the little man's chest.
Bonneduce the Last groaned inwardly with the
pain. He reached up and pulled Tokage down
from his high saddle. The black beast leapt high
in the air as the little man jabbed it with a
powerful strike.
Into the mire of the grisly battlefield.
"Feel what it is like to be down here in the
quagmire of death, Tokage," Bonneduce the Last
said.
Tokage lurched, slipping across the curvature of
a partially buried helm under his boot sole.
Bonneduce the Last attacked, a thin-bladed
stiletto pushed forward.
In the instant of his attack he understood the
nature of the other's ruse.
He ignored the blade which bloomed in
Tokage's fist, concentrating on what he knew he
had to do.
He felt the cold metal like a fire as it pierced
his armor and the flesh of his shoulder.
Perception narrowed as he consciously dulled
the agony which swept through him as Tokage's
arm descended.
The point of his stiletto pierced Tokage's right
eye at the precise instant he felt the shock wave
of the other's cruel blade.
A peculiar warmth suffused his body and, as he
completed the strike, he had time to remember, a
feeling denied him for many centuries. It was all
he wished for.
Then Tokage's blade swept relentlessly through
his torso, splitting his spine.
He toppled over, his blood spilling out,
mingling with the entrails, the bones, of the
warriors piled beneath his body.
His eyes stared upward. The great black and
crimson banners filled a hazy sky. Dimly he was
aware of the prickle of the sleet against his
upturned face. It filled him with a sudden, bright
passion and, unaccountably, he wept.
Slowly, the banners seemed to settle over him
like a shroud.
* * *
DAI-SAN 225
Dripping from the river's moisture, the Sunset
Warrior climbed the high shore, shaking the
encroaching enemy warriors from him almost as if
they were drops of water.
Seizing the reins of Kiri's abandoned luma, he
swung into the saddle and dug his boot heels into
the foam-flecked flanks.
In a silver shower, he sped along the near bank,
upriver to where the enemy had broken through
the defences and was pouring across the plain
toward Kamado.
Onto the field of battle he plunged, screaming as
he went, drawing Aka-i-tsr~chi, and indeed his
wake across the undulating plain was an explosion
of blood and bones. He leapt barriers of broken
bodies, barricades of war horses and fallen pikes.
Corpses clung to him, their corded muscles
twitching in death, their legs flapping like shredded
banners against his steed's flanks, slowing him
down. He hacked at their limbs, shedding them
like great, frozen tears.
The fluttering of the Salamander's standards
bloomed before him out of the driving sleet. He
passed a ragged fence of waving pikes.
And then he caught sight of the huge frame
clothed in ebon armor and ebon robes. He rode a
black beast. As he watched the Salamander bent to
the side for a moment, reaching down to wipe his
blade upon the tattered clothing of a warrior who
had died upon his feet because there was no longer
any space for his body to fall.
Perhaps he heard the insistent drumming of the
Sunset Warrior's luma approaching, for the
Salamander's huge head turned and his cruel
obsidian eyes focused on the oncoming rider.
He spent no time in identifying the figure but
wheeled his mount, calling to his guard. He took
off over the plain toward the bank of the river, his
ebon banners rippling in his wake.
The Sunset Warrior topped the last rise and
sped across the shallow valley to the spot where
the Salamander had stood. He missed Rikkagin
Aerent atop the pile of the dead but he saw the
still form of Bonneduce the Last and although he
longed to overtake the Salamander now he knew
that he could not.
Dismounting even as he drew back on the reins,
he ran over the jellied earth. He knelt almost knee
deep in the viscous slime and picked the small
body off the ground.
"Oh, my friend, what has he done to you?"
There was no response and the Sunset Warrior
felt his heart breaking. He had thought he was
beyond all that. And at last
226 Eric ~ Lustbader
he understood. As Ronin he had cut himself off
from any more hurt after he killed K'reen.
Because of that he had not seen the love that
MaLsu had for him. Worse he had not un-
derstood his own love for her until it was too late.
To live was to feel. Thus he wept for Bonneduce
the Last.
The little man opened his eyes. He felt the life
leaking out of him yet was glad to see the strange,
terrifyingly fierce face so close above him. He felt
the enormous strength of the arms which held
him tightly and was comforted. Only then did he
feel the tears mingling with the sleet on his face.
"Do not mourn for me, old friend, there is no
time." He closed his eyes, heard the harsh rustle
of his own breathing. His lungs were beginning to
fill up with his own fluids. "There is much to tell
you before I die, so listen to me now. Your old
nemesis, the Salamander, is known to me. When
I was given the Rhyalann, sent on my quest, I
thought all of my folk had perished." He coughed
and the Sunset Warrior wiped the pink spittle
from his dry lips. "He is Tokage, my liege. It was
he whose unquenchable thirst for power caused
the creation of The Dolman. Yes. Yes. It is true."
His voice was harsh and insistent. "For all these
cons I thought him dead, destroyed by the very
thing he had caused to be born. But I was wrong.
He was too clever to die. He made a pact with
The Dolman. It is his master now and it has made
him immortal, given him great power." His head
went slack and his eyelids fluttered as he fought
for a few more momenus of life. Time, he
thought, you were always my enemy.
"My friend, there is a chance for you now. I
know it. He has not been told what you have
become. He calls you Ronin still. The Dolman
has kept the knowledge from him. He believes he
can win against that horror but even he does not
understand what he unleashed. He cannot face
that fact." He was wracked with coughs and he
thought: Must hold on just a little longer. He
clung to the Sunset Warrior like a child.
"Rikk-Rikkagin Aerent, did you see him?"
"No."
"Tokage felled him near here. Find him. I do
not think that he is dead. He tried to destroy
Tokag6. Such a hero."
"I will find him."
"And Moeru?"
"Somewhere on the battlefield."
"No. No. She must be beside you " He became
agitated.
"Calm yourself, my friend."
"Tokage told me. The Dolman attacked
dor-Sefrith while
DAI-SAN 227
he was otherwise occupied. That is is how he
put it "
"What does that "
"The Dolman attacked him while the process of
change "
"Mine."
"Yes."
"I see, but "
Bonneduce the Last's body convulsed, his entire
frame shuddering as if a titanic struggle were
taking place within him. The worn face drained of
all colon The Sunset Warrior was drenched with
his blood. And there was little left. Only this:
"Tokage is dor-Sefrith's father." The voice was
but a dry rattle. "The Dolman killed his son.
As as Tokage wished."
The Sunset Warrior knelt in the chill quagmire
holding the dead man. He got to his feet, slowly,
slowly.
A shout came to him over the tumult of the
battle and he spun about.
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