Read Drenai Saga 02 - The King Beyond the Gate for Free Online Page A

to
be
loved; he needed
to
love. She had seen that in him from the first and had played on it mercilessly. He had never let her know that he understood the game; he had merely relaxed and enjoyed it. The wise man, Kias, had tried to warn him.
    “You give too much of yourself to her, my friend. You fill her with your dreams and your hopes and your soul. If she leaves or betrays you, what will you have left?”
    “Nothing,” he had answered truthfully.
    “You are a foolish man, Tenaka. I hope she stays by you.”
    “She will.”
    He had been so sure. But he had not bargained for death.
    Tenaka shivered and drew his cloak about him as the wind picked up.
    He would take the girl to Sousa and then head on for Drenan. It would not be hard to find Ceska or to kill him. No man was so well protected that he became safe. Not as long as the assassin was prepared to die. And Tenaka was more than prepared.
    He desired death, longed for the bleak emptiness and the absence of pain.
    By now Ceska would know that Tenaka was on his way. The letter would have reached him within the month, traveling as it did by sea to Mashrapur and then northeast to Drenan.
    “I hope you dream of me, Ceska. I hope I walk in your nightmares.”
    “I don’t know about him,” said a muffled voice, “but you walk in mine.”
    Tenaka spun to his feet, his sword flashing into the air.
    Before him stood the giant in the black mask.
    “I have come to kill you,” he said, drawing his longsword.
    Tenaka edged away from the fire, watching the man, his mind clearing and his body easing into the smooth confident fluidity of combat.
    The giant twirled his sword and spread his arms wide for balance. Tenaka blinked as recognition hit him.
    “Ananais?” he said.
    The giant’s sword whistled for his neck, but Tenaka blocked the cut and jumped back.
    “Ananais,
is
it you?” he said again.
    The giant stood silently for a moment. “Yes,” he said at last. “It is I. Now defend yourself!”
    Tenaka sheathed his sword and walked forward. “I could not fight you,” he said. “And I know not why you should desire my death.”
    Ananais leapt forward, hammering a fist to Tenaka’s head and pitching him to the snow.
    “Why?” he shouted. “You don’t know
why
? Look at me!”
    He wrenched the leather mask from his face, and in the flickering firelight Tenaka saw a living nightmare. There was no face, only the twisted, scarred ruin of features. The nose was gone, along with the upper lip, jagged white and red scars crisscrossing the remaining skin. Only the blue eyes and the tightly curled blond hair showed evidence of humanity.
    “Sweet gods of light!” whispered Tenaka. “I didn’t do that … I never knew.”
    Ananais moved forward slowly, lowering the point of his sword to touch Tenaka’s neck.
    “The pebble that caused the landslide,” the giant said cryptically. “You know what I mean.”
    Tenaka lifted his hand and slowly pushed aside the sword blade.
    “You will have to tell me, my friend,” he said, sitting up.
    “Damn you!” shouted the giant, dropping his sword and hauling Tenaka to his feet, dragging him forward until their faces were inches apart. “
Look
at me!”
    Tenaka gazed steadily into the ice-blue eyes, sensing the edge of madness lurking there. His life hung on a thread.
    “Tell me what happened,” he said softly. “I am not running away. If you desire to kill me, so be it. But tell me.”
    Ananais released him and turned, seeking his mask, presenting his broad back to Tenaka. And in that moment Tenaka knew what was required of him. Sadness filled him.
    “I cannot kill you,” he said.
    The giant turned again, tears flowing from his eyes.
    “Oh, Tani,” he said, his voice breaking, “look what they did to me!” As he sank to his knees, hands covering the ruined face, Tenaka knelt beside him in the snow and embraced him. The giant began to weep, his chest heaving, his sobbing loud and painful. Tenaka patted his back as