The Last Guardian Read Online Free

patted the stallion’s neck and returned to his bed. Without a word to the men he removed his hat and lay down, pulling a blanket over him and closing his eyes.
    At the fire the young man reached for his rifle, but the leader gripped his arm and shook his head.
    The youth pulled his arm clear. “What the Devil’s wrong with you?” he whispered. “Let’s take him now. That there is one hell of a horse, and his guns … you see them guns?”
    “I saw,” answered the leader, “and I saw the man who wears ’em. You see how he rode in? Careful. He spotted you rightaways and hunkered down where you couldn’t get no shot. And all through the meal he only used his left hand. And where was his right? I’ll tell you where. Itwas inside that long coat, and it weren’t scratching his belly. Now, you leave it be, boy. I’ll think on it.”
    Toward midnight, with all the men asleep in their blankets, the youth rose silently, a double-edged knife in one hand. He crept forward toward where Shannow slept. A dark figure loomed behind him, and a pistol clubbed across the youth’s neck; he fell without a sound. The leader holstered his pistol and dragged the boy back to his blankets.
    Twenty feet away Shannow smiled and returned his own gun to its scabbard.
    The leader walked across to him. “I know you ain’t asleep,” he said. “Who the hell are you?”
    Shannow sat up. “That boy will have a sore head. I hope he has sense enough to thank you for it.”
    “The name’s Lee Patterson,” the man answered, thrusting out his right hand. Shannow smiled at him but ignored the offer.
    “Jon Shannow.”
    “Jesus God Almighty! You hunting us?”
    “No. I’m riding south.”
    Lee grinned. “You wanna see them statues in the sky, eh? The Sword of God, Shannow?”
    “You have seen them?”
    “Not me, man. They call that the Wild Lands. There’s no settlements there, no way for a man to make a living. But I seen a man once who swore he’d stood under ’em; he said it gave him religion. Me, I don’t need no religion. You sure you’re not huntin’ us?”
    “You have my word. Why did you save the boy?”
    “A man don’t have too many sons, Shannow. I had three. One got killed when I lost my farm. Another was shot down after we … took to the road. He was hit in the leg; it went bad, and I had to cut it from him. Can you imagine that, Shannow, cutting the leg from your son? And he died anyway, ’cause I left it too long. It’s a hard life, and no mistake.”
    “What happened to your wife?”
    “She died. This is no land for women; it burns them out. You got a woman, Shannow?”
    “No. I have no one.”
    “I guess that’s what makes you dangerous.”
    “I guess it does,” Shannow agreed.
    Lee stood and stretched. He looked down. “You ever find Jerusalem, Shannow?”
    “Not yet.”
    “When you do, ask
Him
a question, will you? Ask Him what the hell is the point of it all.”

4
    N U -K HASISATRA RAN FROM the temple, out onto the broad steps, and down into the teeming multitudes that thronged the city thoroughfares. His courage was exhausted, and reaction had set in; his limbs were trembling as he pushed his way through the crowds, trying to lose himself among the thousands who packed the market streets.
    “Are you a priest?” a man asked him, clutching his sleeve.
    “No,” snapped Nu. “Leave me alone!”
    “But you wear the robes,” the man persisted.
    “Leave me!” roared Nu, wrenching the man’s hand from him. Once more swallowed by the throng, he cut left into an alleyway and walked swiftly through to the Street of Merchants. There he bought a heavy cloak; it had a deep hood, which he pulled over his dark hair.
    He stopped at an eating house on the crossroads corner, taking a table by the east window, where he sat staring out onto the street, overwhelmed by the enormity of his deed. He was a traitor and a heretic. There was nowhere in the empire to hide from the wrath of the king. Even now the