The Quest of Kadji Read Free

wear the White Crown and rule sovereign over all the plains. And the noble lords, the kugars , the fat landowners, even they our old oppressors, traitorous and ambitious and cunning, they whom the Old Emperor had put down and banished—came they not riding back, to try their power one against the other, that the strongest of them, all should seize the Khahidûr and take the name of Emperor? And was not all of the Empire of the Dragon torn asunder with civil war?”
    “Aye, Lord!”
    “Then came the miracle! Out of westerly Rashemba came word that the Prince Yakthodah lived! That assassins of the banished kugars had sought his life, but slew another thinking it was he—while the True Prince fled into hiding under a name not his. You were a child when this word first came to the plains. Like the wind of spring it was, and our hearts flowered with joy at its coming. And thence into the Empire rode the Prince, with a mighty host of the chivalry of Rashemba by his side, to drive out the usurpation of the kugars and to claim his holy father’s throne. Did not the great Kozanga raise the war standard and ride by his side? Did not the sword-brothers of the Chayyim Kozanga break the kugars at the Hills of Yush? Did not I, Zarouk, stand in the Hall of Halls and see the True Prince crowned as Dragon Emperor? Did not he name me ‘brother’ and ‘friend’ before all men?”
    “I swear that all these things are true,” the boy said solemnly.
    The old warrior heaved a sigh.
    “ Aiii , for the sword-brethren! For dark days came upon us soon after! The Dragon was not the man his father was! The wealth of his ancestors he squandered for gauds and baubles! The gold of Khôr he spent on jugglers and astrologers and magicians! Did he not spend his days in frivolity and his nights in gaming, drinking and revel? Did he not build his Dragon Guard—not from the sword-brothers of the plains—but from among the dog-knights of Rashemba? Did not he take as his Empress the foreign woman—the very daughter of the High Prince Bayazin who had lent him an army to whelm the kugars ? And did he not, once the coffers were empty, welcome back the same kugars he had broken and banished—they and their gold? Did he not trade them Kozanga land for their gold? Did he not turn against us of the Kozanga, to curry favor with the kugars . . . did he not, at the last, outlaw and banish us, forbidding that a Chayyim Kozanga should enter the gates of golden Khôr? And then, as we rode from his lands with dignity, did he not loose upon our heels the dogs of Rashemba, to ambush and slaughter us? Which he would have done, had not the Gods warned us in time with the Omen of the Wolves . . .”
    Kadji bent his head and beat his chest.
    “Lord jemadar , alas, all these things are true!”
    “Very well! Now, hearken thou, O Red Hawk, O son of my own son. In the darkness of night the War Prince of the Gods came to me in my dream and spake unto me, saying, behold, O Elder Brother of the Kozanga, the man that sits in the chair of Azakour is not the son of his blood, but a vile and cunning impostor! ”
    iv. The Red Hawk Rides
    NOON FOUND the boy Kadji half a league from the village whereat the legion had slept the night before. Alone, mounted on his favorite Feridoon pony, the youth had retraced the path the Nomads had taken in their flight from the lances of Rashemba. Now the boy reined to a halt atop the brow of a low hill to scan the horizon. Were the knights of Prince Bayazin still on the track of the brethren, or had the dogs turned back to the Dragon City—back to golden Khôr where a foul deceiver ruled from the holy chair of a thousand Emperors? The boy cursed and spat at the thought.
    The clear skies of noon shone down with a fierce light on the measureless plains below. Cold and frosty was the wind, with the touch of winter in it, but the sun burned hot and bright. Searching the horizon, Kadji found no trace of mounted warriors. No trail of dust rose to