Inhaltsangabe
They called him Bane the Bastard - though none said it to his face. Born of treachery, his name a curse, he grew up among the warriors of the Rigante. They valued his skills in war, but they feared the violence in his heart. And when, as a Wolfshead and Outlaw, he left Rigante lands, they breathed sighs of relief. But Bane would return, the destiny of the Rigante in his hands, the fate of the world resting on his skills with a blade. Midnight Falcon continues the tale of the Rigante, which began in Sword in the Storm, and tells the epic story of Bane, the bastard son of Connavar the King, and his quest for vengeance in a world of blood, honour, betrayal and love.
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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor
David A. Gemmell's first novel, Legend, was first published in 1984 and went on to become a classic. His most recent Drenai and Rigante novels are available as Corgi paperbacks; all are Sunday Times bestsellers. Widely regarded as the finest writer of heroic fantasy, David Gemmell lived in Sussex until his death in July 2006.
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Parax the Hunter had always despised vanity in others, but he knew now just how stealthily it could creep up on a man. The thought was as cold and bitter as the wind blowing over the snowcapped peaks of the Druagh mountains. From his saddlebag Parax drew a woolen cap, which he pulled over his thinning white hair. His old eyes gazed up at the majesty of Caer Druagh, the oldest mountain, but he could no longer make out the sharp, jagged ridges or the distant stands of pine. All he could see now was the misty whiteness of the peaks against the harsh, grainy blue of the sky.
His weary pony stumbled, and the old man grabbed at the pommel of his saddle. He patted the pony’s neck and gently drew rein. The beast was eighteen years old. She had always been strong and steadfast, a mount to be trusted. Not anymore. Like Parax she was finding this one hunt too many.
The old man sighed. At thirty he had been at the peak of his powers, one of the foremost trackers in all the lands of the Keltoi. It did not make him boastful, for he knew he had been gifted with keen eyes and an intuitive mind. His own father, himself a great hunter and tracker, had taught him well. At five the young Parax could identify over thirty different animals by track alone: the leaping otter, the ambling badger, the cunning fox, and many more. His talent had been almost mystical. Men said he could read a man’s life in the blade of grass crushed beneath a boot heel. That was nonsense, of course, but Parax had smiled upon hearing it, not recognizing the birth of vanity in that smile. What was true, however, was his ability to read a man from the trail he left; where he made his camp and placed his fire showed how well or little he understood the wilderness, how often he rested his mount, how swiftly he moved, how patient he was in the hunt. All these things spoke of a man’s character, and once Parax understood his prey’s character, he would find him no matter how cleverly he hid his trail.
By the time he was thirty-five Parax’s fame had spread to the lands of the Perdii, whose king, Alea, recruited him to the royal household. Even then he did not allow undue pride to color his personality. At fifty, in the service of Connavar the King, he allowed himself what he considered to be a quiet satisfaction in his achievements. Although his eyes were marginally less keen, his reading of trails still seemed almost magical to those who watched him. Even at sixty he could still follow a trail as well as any man, for by then he had a lifetime of acquired skills to give him an edge over younger men. Or so he believed, and in that belief vanity grew like a hidden weed unnoticed in his heart. Now past seventy, he had known for some years he was no longer preeminent, no longer even competent. The knowledge hurt the old man, but not as badly as the conceit that made him deny its truth to the man he loved most: the king.
Parax had served Connavar for over twenty years, from the day the young warrior had rescued him from the slave lines of Stone and brought him back to the towering mountains of Druagh. He had ridden beside him when the youngster became laird, and then war chief, and finally the first high king in hundreds of years. He had been beside him on that bloody day at Cogden Field when the invincible army of Stone had been crushed by the might of Connavar’s Iron Wolves. He shivered again. Connavar the King had trusted Parax, and now age and increasing infirmity had made the old man betray that trust.
“Find the boy Bane,” the king had said, “before the hunters kill him—or he kills them.”
Parax had looked into the king’s odd-colored eyes, one green and one tawny gold, and he had longed to admit the truth, to say simply, “My skills are gone, my friend. I cannot help you.”
But he could not. The words clung within his throat on talons of false pride. He was one of the king’s trusted advisers. He was Parax, the greatest hunter in the known world, a living legend. The moment he voiced the truth he would become merely a useless old man to be discarded and forgotten. Instead he had bowed awkwardly and ridden from Old Oaks, his mind in torment, panic lying heavily upon him. His fading eyes could no longer read the trails, and he had been forced to follow the hunting pack for days, hoping they would lead him to the young outlaw.
Then had come the final ignominy. He had lost the hunting pack. Twenty riders!
Parax had wept then, tears of bitterness. Once he could have tracked a sparrow in flight; now he could not find the spoor of twenty horses. He had been following about a mile behind them but had dozed in the saddle. His paint pony, tired and thirsty, had scented water and pulled away from the trail, wandering to the east. Parax had awoken with a start as the pony climbed a steep, wooded hillside. The old man had almost fallen from the saddle. Heavy clouds had obscured the sun, and Parax had had no idea where he was. The pony had led him to a bubbling stream, where Parax had dismounted.
His back ached, and his mouth was dry. Kneeling, he cupped water into his hands and drank.
“Outlived my usefulness,” he said aloud. The pony whinnied and stamped its foot. “You know how old I am?” he asked his mount. “Seventy-two. I once trailed a robber for three weeks. Caught him on the high slopes, up in the rocks. The king paid me twenty silver coins and named me the prince of trackers.” Removing his old woolen cap, he splashed water to his face and beard. He was hungry. There were muslin-wrapped slices of smoked bacon in his pack, along with black bread and a small round of cheese. He wanted to unpack them and prepare a fire, but then the late-afternoon sun broke through the clouds, and he dozed, his head resting on a round rock.
He dreamed of better days before his eyes failed, days of laughter and joy after the young king had driven the Stone soldiers from the northland. Laughter and joy, except for the king himself. The Demon King, they called him, because of his ferocity and because men recalled the terrible revenge he had taken for his wife’s murder. Connavar, then a mere Rigante laird, had single-handedly wiped out the murderer’s village, burning it to the ground and killing men, women, and children. From that day on Parax had never heard him laugh, had never seen joy in his eyes.
In his dream Parax saw the king, standing in the moonlight on the battlements of Old Oaks. Only now there were ghosts floating around them both, a young woman with long dark hair and a pale face and a giant of a man with a braided yellow beard. They were reaching out to the king. His scarred features paled as he saw them. Parax knew them both. The girl was his dead wife, Tae, and the man was his stepfather, Ruathain.
“You broke your promise, my husband,” said the ghost of Tae.
Connavar bowed his head. “Oh, Tae,” he said, “I am so ashamed.”
“Will you still take me riding?”
Connavar gave out a groan and fell to his knees. Parax stood silently by, knowing the cause of the king’s grief. He had promised to ride with Tae to a distant lake but on his way home had met with a woman he once had loved. Arian had held to him, and he had bedded her. Hours later, upon his return to Old Oaks, he discovered that Tae had ridden out with Ruathain and had been killed during a surprise attack by men who had a blood feud with his stepfather. Connavar remained on his knees, head bowed. The giant figure of Ruathain loomed over him. “Family is everything, Conn. I thought I taught you that.”
“You did, Big Man. I never forgot it. I have looked after Wing and Bran, and Mam.”
“And Bane?”
Connavar’s...
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