In the Realm of the Wolf (45 page)
Read In the Realm of the Wolf Online
Authors: David Gemmell
“Perhaps,” said Waylander, swinging his horse’s head and riding toward the Mountains of the Moon.
EpilogueK
ARNAK RETURNED TO
Dros Delnoch, gathered the forces there, and led them against the Ventrians, smashing their army in decisive battles at Erekban and Lentrum.
In the two years that followed Karnak took to brooding about the possibility of assassination, becoming convinced that Waylander would one day seek him out and slay him. Against the advice of Asten he once more contacted the Guild, increasing the price on the assassin’s head.
A veritable army of searchers was dispatched, but no news of Waylander surfaced in Drenan.
Until one day three of the best hunters returned, bearing a rotting head wrapped in canvas and a small ebony and steel double-bladed crossbow. Stripped of flesh, the skull and the crossbow were exhibited in the Museum at Drenan, under the inscription, cast in bronze, “Waylander the Slayer, the man who killed the king.”
One winter’s day, three years later and five after the siege of Kar-Barzac, the crossbow was stolen. In the same week, as Karnak marched at the head of the annual victory parade, a young woman with long dark hair stepped from the crowd. In her right hand was the stolen bow.
People in the crowd saw her speak to the Drenai leader just before she killed him, two bolts plunging into his chest. A rider, leading a second horse, galloped onto the Avenue of Kings, and the woman vaulted to the saddle just as Karnak’s guards were rushing to apprehend her.
The two assassins made their escape, and many were the theories surrounding the murder: They had been hired by the son of the Ventrian king, the battle monarch, whose body had been thrown in a mass grave after the defeat at Erekban. Or she
was one of Karnak’s mistresses, furious after he had discarded her for a younger, prettier girl. Some in the crowd swore they recognized the male rider as Angel, a former gladiator. None knew the woman.
Karnak was given a state funeral. Two thousand soldiers marched behind the wagon bearing his body. Crowds lined the Avenue of Kings, and many were the tears shed for the man described on his tombstone as “this greatest of Drenai heroes.”
The skull of Waylander was sold eight years later. It was bought at auction by the Gothir merchant Matze Chai, acting on behalf of one of his clients, a mysterious noble who lived in a palace in the Gothir city of Namib. When asked why a foreigner should pay such a vast amount for the skull of a Drenai assassin, Matze Chai smiled and spread his elegant hands.
“But you must know,” insisted the curator of the museum.
“I assure you that I do not.”
“But the price … It is colossal!”
“My client is a very rich man. He has invested with me for many years.”
“Was he a friend to this Waylander?”
“I gather they were close,” admitted Matze Chai.
“But what will he do with the skull? Display it?”
“I doubt it. He told me he intends to bury it.”
“Why?” asked the man, astonished. “Forty thousand Raq just to bury it?”
“He is a man who likes to choose his own endings,” said Matze Chai.
“I love David Gemmell’s work. He’s one of the best out there today, and one of the reasons that fantasy is alive and well.”
—
New York Times
bestselling author
R. A. SALVATORE
WHITE WOLF
A Novel of Druss the Legend
by David Gemmell
With each new novel, and in prose as sharp and skillfully wielded as the swords of his great heroes, David Gemmell carries to stunning new heights the swashbuckling tradition of Robert E. Howard and Robert Jordan. His action-packed stories feature unforgettable characters journeying through sorcerous worlds where love can exalt a heart or debase it, power can ennoble or corrupt, and honor is the most powerful weapon of all. Now Gemmell has written a long-awaited novel featuring his newest hero—Skilgannon—and his most popular character of all time: Druss the Legend.
Published by Del Rey
Available in paperback wherever books are sold
“Gemmell not only knows how to tell a story, he knows how to tell a story you want to hear. He does high adventure as it ought to be done.”
—Greg Keyes,
Author of
The Briar King
THE SWORDS OF
NIGHT AND DAY
A Novel of Skilgannon the Damned
by David Gemmell
With mythic sweep and epic scope, David Gemmell’s bestselling novels of magic and adventure feature brooding heroes who fight to preserve all that is good and honorable in themselves and in the worlds through which they stride like lonely giants. In times of terror and despair, theirs are the swords that carve a shining path, inspiring others to follow. Even after their deaths, their names live on.…
Published by Del Rey
Available in hardcover wherever books are sold
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