Diamond Warriors Read Free Page A

times. So long as he draws breath, he will never suffer kings such as Val to arise while he himself is cast down.'
    'No, I'm afraid you are right,' Master Juwain said, nodding his head at her. 'And here we must look to Bemossed, too. I believe that he is the Maitreya. And so I must believe that somehow he will heal Morjin of the madness that possesses him. I know this is his dream.'
    And I knew it, too, though it worried me that Bemossed might blind himself to the totality of Morjin's evil and dwell too deeply on this healing that Master Juwain spoke of. Was it truly possible, I wondered? Could the Great Beast ever atone for the horrors that he had wreaked upon the world - and himself - and turn back toward the light?
    It took all the force of my will and the deepest of breaths for me to say, 'I would see Morjin healed, if that could be. But I will see him defeated.'
    'Oh, we are back to that, are we?' Maram groaned. He looked at me as he licked his lips. 'Why can't it be enough to keep him at bay, and slowly win back the world, as Master Juwain has said? That would be a defeat, of sorts. Or - I am loath to ask this - do you mean he must be defeated defeated, as in -'
    'I mean utterly defeated, Maram. Cast down from the throne he falsely claims, reviled by all as the beast he is, imprisoned forever.' I gripped my sword's hilt as a wave of hate burned through me. 'Or killed, finally, fittingly, and even the last whisper of his lying breath utterly expunged from existence.'
    As Maram groaned again and shook his head, Master Juwain said to me, 'That is something that Kane might say.'
    My friends stood around regarding me. Although I was glad for their companionship, I was keenly aware that we should have numbered not eight but nine. For Kane, the greatest of all warriors, had ridden off to Galda to oppose Morjin through knife, sword and blood, in any way he could.
    'Kane,' I told Master Juwain, 'would say that I should stab my sword through Morjin's heart and cut off his head. Then cleave his body into a thousand pieces, burn them and scatter the ashes to the wind.'
    Maram's ruddy face blanched at this. 'But how, Val? You cannot defeat him in battle.'
    'We defeated him in Argattha, when we were outnumbered a hundred against nine,' I told him. 'And on the Culhadosh Commons when he sent three armies against us. And we defeated his droghuls and his forces in the Red Desert - and in Hesperu, too.'
    'But that was different, and you know it!' Maram's face now heated up with anger - and fear. 'If you seek battle, none of the Valari kings will stand with you. And even if they did, Morjin will call up all his armies, from every one of his filthy kingdoms. A million men, Val! Don't tell me you think Mesh's ten thousand could prevail against that !'
    Did I truly think that? If I didn't, then I must at least act as if I did. I looked at Atara, whose face turned toward me as she waited for me to speak. Then it came to me that bravura was one thing, while truly believing was another. And knowing, with an utter certainty of blood and breath that I could not fail to strike down Morjin, was of an entirely different order.
    'There must be a way,' I murmured.
    'But, Val,' Master Juwain reminded me, 'it has always been your dream to bring an end to these endless battles - and to war, itself.' For a moment I closed my burning eyes because I could not see how to defeat Morjin other than through battle. But neither could I imagine any conceivable force of Valari or other free people defeating Morjin in battle. Surely, I thought, that would be death.
    'There must be a way,' I told Master Juwain. I drew my sword then. My hands wrapped around the seven diamonds set into its black jade hilt while I gazed at Alkaladur's brilliant blade. 'There is always a way.'
    The silver gelstei of which it was wrought flared with a wild. white light. Somewhere within this radiance, I knew, I might grasp my fate - if only I could see it.
    'You will never,' Master Juwain