David Gemmell - Legend

"It will be pointless giving you a test of strength," said Pinar, "for you are built like a bull. But war, as you know, is a test of stamina. Do you wrestle?"

"I have been known to," said Druss, doffing his jerkin.

"Good! Then you may test your skill, one at a time, against three men of my choice. Do you agree?"

"All too simple against these soft, fat runners," said Druss. An angry murmur arose from the crowd but Pinar silenced them with a raised hand.

"Dorian. Hagir. Somin. Will you give old father here a trial?"

The men were the first three Dross had met at the bar. Dorian removed his cloak and tied his shoulder-length hair behind his neck with a leather thong. Druss, unnoticed, tested his knee: it was not strong.

"Are you ready?" asked Pinar.

Both men nodded and immediately Dorian rushed the older man. Druss lashed out, grabbing the other's throat, then stooped to push his right hand between the man's legs and lifted. With a grunt and a heave, he hurled him ten feet through the air to land like a sack on the hard-packed earth. Dorian half rose, than sat back shaking his head. The crowd hooted with laughter.

"Who's next?" asked Druss.

Pinar nodded to another youngster; then, observing the fear on the lad's face, he stepped forward. "You have made your point, greybeard. You are strong and I am at fault. But Gan Orrin will not allow you to fight."

"Laddie, he will not stop me. If he tries, I will tie him to a fast horse and send him back to his uncle." All eyes turned as a hoarse cry split the air.

"You old bastard!" Dorian had gathered up his longsword and was advancing Towards Druss, who stood with arms folded, waiting.

"No," said Pinar. "Put up your blade, Dorian."

"Back off or draw your sword," Dorian told him. "I have had enough of these games. You think you are a warrior, old man? Then let us see you use that axe. Because if you don't, I will put some air in your belly."

"Boy," said Druss, his eyes cold, "think well about this venture. For make no mistake, you cannot stand before me and live. No man ever has." The words were spoken softly, yet no one disbelieved the old man.

Except Dorian.

"Well, we shall see. Draw your blade!"

Druss slipped Snaga from its sheath, his broad hand curling round its black haft. Dorian attacked!

And died.

He lay on the ground, head half-severed from his neck. Druss hammered Snaga deep into the earth, cleansing the blade of blood, while Pinar stood in stunned silence. Dorian had not been a great swordsman, but he was certainly skilled. Yet the old man had batted aside the slashing sword and in one flowing motion had returned the attack — all without moving his feet. Pinar looked down at the body of his former companion. You should have stayed at the Dros, he thought.

"I did not want that to happen," said Druss, "but I gave him fair warning. The choice was his."

"Yes," said Pinar. "My apologies for speaking the way I did. You will be a great help to us, I think. Excuse me, I must help them to remove the body. Will you join me for a drink?"

"I will see you in the long bar," said Druss.

The tall dark-haired youngster whom Druss had been scheduled to wrestle approached him as he walked through the crowd.

"Excuse me, sir," he said. "I am sorry about Dorian. He's hot-tempered. Always has been."

"Not any more," said Druss.

"There will be no blood feud," said the man.

"Good. A man with wife and daughters has no place losing his temper. The man was a fool. Are you a friend of the family?"

"Yes. My name is Hagir. Our farms are close. We are… were… neighbours."

"Then, Hagir, when you get home I hope you will see that his wife is cared for."

"I am not going home. I'm going back to the Dros."

"What changed your mind?"

"With respect, you did, sir. I think I know who you are."

"Make your own decisions, don't place them on my shoulders. I want good soldiers at Dros Delnoch, but also I want men who will stand."

"I didn't leave because I was frightened. I was just fed up with the crazy rules. But if men like you are prepared to be there, I will stick it out."

"Good. Join me for a drink later. Now I am going to have a hot bath."

Druss pushed his way past the men in the doorway and went inside.

"Are you really going back, Hagir?" asked one of the men.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

"But why?" urged another. "Nothing has changed. Except that we shall all be on report and probably flogged."

"It's him — he's going there. The Captain of the Axe."

"Druss! That was Druss?"

"Yes, I am sure of it."

"How sickening!" said the other.

"What do you mean, Somin?" asked Hagir.

"Dorian — Druss was Dorian's hero. Don't you remember him talking about him? Druss this and Druss that. It is one reason he joined up — to be like Druss, and maybe even to meet him."

"Well, he met him," said Hagir sombrely.

Druss, dark-haired Pinar, tall Hagir and blunt-featured Somin sat at a corner table in the long room of the inn. Around them a crowd gathered, drawn by the legend of the grizzled old man.

"Just over nine thousand, you say. How many archers?"

Dun Pinar waved a hand. "No more than six hundred, Druss. The rest are remnants of cavalry lancers, infantrymen, pikers and engineers. The bulk of the complement is made up of volunteer fanners from the Sentran Plain. They're plucky enough."

"If I remember aright," said Druss, "the first wall is four hundred paces long and twenty wide. You will need a thousand archers on it. And I don't just mean a thousand bows. We need men who can pick a target from a hundred paces."

"We just haven't got them," said Pinar. "On the credit side, we do have almost a thousand Legion Riders."

"Some good news at least. Who leads them?"

"Gan Hogun."

"The same Hogun who routed the Sathuli at Corteswain?"

"Yes," said Pinar, pride in his voice. "A skilled soldier, strong on discipline and yet worshipped by his men. He's not very popular with Gan Orrin."

"He wouldn't be," said Druss. "But that's a matter we shall settle at Delnoch. What of supplies?"

"There we have a few problems. There is enough food for a year, and we discovered three more wells, one as far back as the keep. We have close to six hundred thousand arrows, a multitude of javelins and several hundred spare mail-shirts.

"But the biggest problem is the town itself. It has spread from Wall Three down to Wall Six, hundreds of buildings from wall to wall. There is no killing ground, Druss. Once over Wall Six, the enemy has cover all the way to the keep."

"We will tackle that, too, when I arrive. Are there still outlaws in Skultik?"

"Of course. When have there not been?" answered Pinar.

"How many?"

"Impossible to say. Five or six hundred, perhaps."

"Do they have a known leader?"

"Again, hard to say," said Pinar. "According to rumour, there is a young nobleman who heads the largest band. But you know how these rumours grow. Every outlaw leader is an ex-nobleman or a prince. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking they are archers," said Druss.

"But you cannot enter Skultik now, Druss. Anything could happen. They could kill you."

"True. All things could happen. My heart could give out, my liver fail. Disease could strike me. A man cannot spend his life worrying about the unexpected. I need archers. In Skultik there are archers. It's that simple, boy."

"But it's not that simple. Send someone else. You are too valuable lose like this," Pinar told him, gripping at the old man's arm.

"I'm too long in the tooth to change my ways now. Direct action pays off, Pinar. Believe me. And there's more to it, which I will tell you about some other time.

‘Now,’ he said, leaning back and addressing the crowd, ‘you know who I am, and where I am heading. I will speak plainly to you; many of you are Runners, some are frightened, others are demoralised. Understand this: When Ulric takes Dros Delnoch the Drenai lands will become Nadir lands. The farms you are running to will be Nadir farms. Your wives will become Nadir women. There are some things no man can run from. I know. At Dross Delnoch you risk death. But all men die. Even Druss. Even Karnak the One-Eyed. Even the Earl of Bronze. A man needs many things in his life to make it bearable. A good woman. Sons and daughters. Comradeship. Warmth. Food and shelter. But above all these things, he needs to be able to know that he is a man.

"And what is a man? He is someone who rises when life has knocked him down. He is someone who raises his fist to heaven when a storm has ruined his crop — and then plants again. And again. A man remains unbroken by the savage twists of fate.

"That man may never win. But when he sees himself reflected, he can be proud of what he sees. For low he may be in the scheme of things: peasant, serf, or dispossessed. But he is unconquerable.

"And what is death? An end to trouble. An end to strife and fear.

"I have fought in many battles. I have seen many men die. And women too. In the main, they died proud. Bear this in mind, as you decide your future." The old man's fierce blue eyes scanned the faces in the crowd, gauging reaction. He knew he had them. It was time to leave.

He bade his farewells to Pinar and the rest, settled his bill despite the protestations of the innkeeper and set off for Skultik.

He was angry as he walked, feeling the stares on his back as the inn emptied to watch him go. He was angry because he knew his speech had been a falsehood, and he was a man who liked the truth. Life, he knew, breaks many men. Some as strong as oak wither as their wives die, or leave them, as their children suffer or starve. Other strong men break if they lose a limb; or worse, the use of their legs or their eyesight. Each man has a breaking point, no matter how strong his spirit. Somewhere, deep inside him, there is a flaw that only the fickle cruelty of fate can find. A man's strength is ultimately born of his knowledge of his own weakness, Druss knew.

His own fear was of dotage and senility. The thought of it set him to trembling. Did he really hear a voice at Skoda, or was it merely his own terror booming inside him?

Druss the Legend. Mightiest man of his era. A killing machine, a warrior. And why?

Because I never had the courage to be a farmer, Druss told himself.

Then he laughed, dismissing all sombre thoughts and self doubt. It was a talent he had.

Today had a good feel about it. He felt lucky. If he kept to known trails he would certainly meet outlaws. One old man alone was a package not to be missed. They would be a sorely inefficient lot if he were to pass through the forest unnoticed — and unattended.

The woods were becoming thicker now, as he reached the outskirts of Skultik. Huge, gnarled oaks, graceful willows and slender elm interlinked their branches for as far as the eye could see — and greatly beyond, Druss knew.

The noon sun made shafts of shimmering light through the branches and the breeze carried the sounds of miniature waterfalls from hidden streams. It was a place of enchantment and beauty.

To his left a squirrel ceased its hunt for food and gazed warily at the old man as he marched past. A fox crouched in the undergrowth and a snake slithered beneath a fallen trunk as he approached. Overhead birds sang, a chorus full of the sounds of life.

Throughout the long afternoon Druss marched on, occasionally bursting into song, full-bodied and lusty versions of battle hymns from a score of nations.

Towards dusk he became aware that he was being watched.

How he was aware he could never explain. A tightening of the skin on his neck, a growing awareness that his back made a broad target. Whatever it was, he had learned to trust his senses in the matter. He loosened Snaga in her sheath.