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good reason to want to stop us reaching Castle Midnight. Sorry I can't be more specific, but the
Cas-tle's lousy with magic-users of one kind or another. Still, look on the bright side.'
Jordan looked at him suspiciously. 'What bright side?'
'Since they're trying this hard to kill us, they must be convinced that you're really Prince Viktor. Our
scheme is working.'
'Terrific,' said Jordan. 'Wonderful. I notice none of these powerful enemies was mentioned when
Roderik first offered me the role.'
Gawaine chuckled, and moved away from the quietened horses to look out over the open moor. Jordan
went after him, shaking his head disgustedly. I should have asked for a hundred thousand ducats, when 1
had the chance ... He came to a halt
beside Gawaine, and the two men stood in silence together. The moor seemed quiet and peaceful after
the storm's passing.
'Did the High Warlock really give you that axe?' said Jordan finally.
'It was a long time ago,' said Gawaine. He didn't look round, but as he spoke his eyes were far away,
watching yesterday once more. 'I was a Captain in the guards, fighting for the Forest Kingdom in its
Border War with Hillsdown. It was a messy little war, and no good came of it. But I was in the right
place at the right time, so I ended up a hero. King John knighted me, and the Warlock made me this axe.
It's a good axe. Its edge never dulls, and I haven't found anything yet that can even mark the metal. More
importantly, the blade cancels out all offensive magic in my vicinity. All in all, it's some axe. Which is
probably why I've stayed alive so long at Castle Midnight.'
Jordan looked at Gawaine thoughtfully. The Border War had come to its inconclusive end some
thirty-six years ago. If Gawaine had been a Captain then, that would put him in his late fifties now. At
least. For a man that age, he was in extraordinarily good shape. He was also extraordinarily modest.
Kings don't knight commoners for simple acts of bravery; whatever Gawaine did, it must have been very
impressive. And yet there had been something in Gawaine's voice all the time he'd been speaking, a quiet
edge of bitterness . . . For no good reason he could name, except perhaps his actor's instinct for truth
and fallacy, Jordan suddenly felt he could trust this man.
'Tell me the truth,' he said quietly. 'What exactly have I let myself in for, Gawaine? Can I trust these
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people I'm working for?'
Gawaine said nothing for a long time, staring out over the moor. 'You're being paid a great deal of
money,' he said finally. 'Do your job well, and keep your eyes and ears open, and you'll walk away from
this a rich man. That's all you need to know.'
Jordan waited a while, but the knight had nothing more to say. Jordan sucked at his lower lip
thoughtfully. It wasn't difficult for him to read the tension and frustration in Gawaine's stance.
The knight wasn't necessarily lying to him, but there was certainly a great deal he wasn't prepared to say
straight out.
'You swore an oath to protect Prince Viktor,' he said suddenly. 'You even followed him into exile from
the Court, and followed him back to Castle Midnight when most of his other supporters wouldn't. Now
you're risking your life to help put him on the throne. What's he really like, Gawaine? Roderik's been
giving me Viktor's life history till it's coming out of my ears, including everything he's said and done from
the cradle onwards, and everyone he's ever known, but I need more than that. What kind of man is
Viktor?'
Gawaine looked at Jordan for the first time. His gaze was steady, but tired. 'Viktor ... is the best of a
bad bunch. Lewis is vile, Dominic is insane, and Viktor has been badly used. His brothers plotted against
him, the woman he loved betrayed him, and he's spent most of his life trying to be something he was
never suited to be. You keep calling him a villain, but he isn't. He's done . . . deplorable things, yes, but
only because in some matters he is too weak and easily led. As the son of a minor Lord or Baron, with
lesser responsibilities and burdens, he might have done quite well. But he never had the strength of
character or purpose to be a successful Prince of Redhart. He lacks the pragmatic, ruthless nature that
such a position demands. Of the three Princes, Viktor is undoubtedly the most human. He's made fewer
enemies than anyone else at Court, but then he's also achieved the least. He's brave enough, when he has
to be, and I've taught him everything I know about the sword and the axe. He's killed seven men in duels,
and I've never once known him back down from a quarrel.'
Jordan shook his head. 'Weak, easily led, lacking strength of character . . . and this is the man you want
to make King?'
Gawaine shrugged. 'The way things are, he'll either be King or he'll be dead, and all his followers with
him. And as King, he should be ... better advised.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]