THE SACRED BAND,
by
Janet Morris and Chris Morris. Published by Perseid Press. Copyright 2010 by
Janet Morris and Chris Morris. 547 pages. Available from Amazon and Barnes
& Noble in trade paperback, Kindle and Nook editions.
Reviewed
by Joe Bonadonna. (Sanctuary and Thieves’ World are both registered trademarks
owned by Lynn Abbey are mentioned here only for purposes of this review.)
“All three hundred of the Sacred Band of
Thebes fought at Chaeronea in August of 338 BCE, and two-hundred fifty-four
skeletons lie buried there today under a granite lion. Some still argue about
the fate of the forty-six whose skeletons were not recovered. Plutarch says
that they died together, and Philip of Macedon wept to see it. Another, later,
view is that the remainder surrendered, were taken prisoner, or deserted. We
tell a different story.” — Janet and Chris Morris, in their Authors’ Notes and
Acknowledgments from The Sacred Band.
And this is the premise behind this wonderfully
rich, complex, dramatic and highly emotional epic of gods, demi-gods and Men.
This is the story of how Tempus the Black, Favorite of Enlil, Storm God of the
Armies, and the one they call Riddler, challenged the gods to rescue
twenty-three pairs of Thebans, forty-six warriors who had been fated to die.
And rescue them he did . . . Charon, Lysis and the other forty-four men of the
original Sacred Band of Thebes . . . by opening a dimensional portal from
Chaeronea to Lemuria, where they were taken, trained and made part of the
greater Sacred Band. This is the also the story of Nicodemus, who is called
Niko and Stealth, a true weapon of the gods, of his own struggle with becoming
the favorite, the avatar of a god, and his intimate relation with the goddess
Harmony.
After training and orientation, the Thebans
do their best to settle in, to become one with Tempus’s Sacred Band. But it’s
difficult for many of them, because memories of the Chaeronean battleplain,
memories of seeing friends and comrades die in a battle in which they were
fated to die keep intruding on their thoughts. Dreams of Chaeronea haunt their
hearts and give pain to their souls. Various versions of the “mantra,” Long spears, thunking into flesh. Men
staggering backward, impaled, weeping, are a recurring theme throughout
this story, as men dream of Chaeronea and that far-away field of battle. What
these survivors remember and what they suffer adds a personal and very poignant
touch to this novel, for as we turn the pages we get to know these men, these
warriors, these heroes.
Now, Tempus has plans for his new and
greater Sacred Band: to return to Sanctuary, that infamous “border town between
morality and immortality, its feet in hell and its fingers stretched up to
heaven.” Sanctuary: the center of activity in the classic Thieves’ World Series,
where I first discovered Tempus, known then as the Hell-Hound. In Sanctuary
once again, Tempus plans to settle old scores and tidy loose ends. But he and
the Sacred Band get more than they bargain for when they return to that “place
where anything may happen, and sometimes does, when wills are strong and
mysteries invoked.” For instance, there’s the warrior Kouras, soon to become a
favorite and an avatar of the god Vashanka, who once favored Tempus. How Kouras
deals with becoming one with a Storm God and his love for a girl named Shawme
is just one of the many sub-plots that grace this novel, which owes so much to
history, mythology and the sheer brilliance, talent and imagination of Janet
and Chris Morris.
A young, hot-headed warrior named
Shamshi, who has wizard’s blood, gets things going when he murders a harlot one
night. Apprehended by the Band, he is stripped naked, sewn inside the hide of
an animal, and placed on the altar of Enlil, the Storm God. “If no beast eats
him in the night, then we free him in the morning. The lesson’s done.
Punishment finished. He’s cleansed by the storm god of any taint. If the god
sends a bear or a wolf or a panther to tear him apart, then that is Enlil’s
verdict and no one interferes. But if anyone cuts him loose tonight or tries to
save him, we hunt down all of them and kill them.”
So Tempus says to his men. Harsh
treatment? Not at all. This punishment is most fitting to the crime in the
context of the novel and the world in which the Sacred Band lives. But Shamshi
has patience, and there is one who walks in dreams and shadows who has his eye
on the boy with wizard’s blood. Thus, when Shamshi is freed, he is now bound to
his savior in body, mind, heart and soul. He then sets out on the road of
vengeance, uses his skills as a warrior and some other talents and gifts and
help he has been given, and begins to pick off the Sacred Band, one by one. But
his main target, the man he feels has betrayed him, and the one he most wants
to kill is Nicodemus: Niko, whose war-name is Stealth.
Now the manhunt begins as Sham preys on
the Sacred Band, killing them with single-minded determination and cold-blooded
ruthlessness. Night after night, men die. A stable burns one night and horses
die in a very tense and moving chapter. Other powers are brought into play as
Tempus and the Band balance duty with their personal manhunt. Old friends and
comrades come to aid in the hunt: Jihan, daughter of a sea god and Tempus’s
lover; Randal the Mage, Ischade the Witch, and even Cime, Evening Star of
Lemuria and sister of Tempus, are called in to help. But there is more behind
this manhunt than just tracking down a rapist and a murderer, for the stage is
being set for a coming battle, a battle for Meridian, the realm of Askelon, entelechy
of dreams and shadows. This battle will test the Sacred Band as it has never
been tested before, and they will be hard-pressed because worlds collide in
this battle when Askelon brings Meridian to Sanctuary, and the battle becomes a
shadow, an echo of the great battle of Chaeronea. And in this battle, not only
the mettle of the Sacred Band will be put to the test, but that of the original
Sacred Band of Thebes, as well—those forty-six warriors who had been fated to die
but were rescued by Tempus. They will not only be fighting both old and new
foes, but old comrades, as well—comrades who died at the hands of the
Mesopotamians. Tempus and Niko will be tested in this battle, too. To the
limits of their skills and power, strength and endurance they will be tested. Question
is: will Enlil the Storm God come to the aid of Tempus, his avatar? And what of
Niko? Will the goddess Harmony continue to watch over him? Guard and protect
him? Can Askelon, a god himself, be defeated? And what of Shamshi? He’s a great
character because, for all that he is evil, he is also one to be pitied. He is
a victim of forces and powers beyond his understanding, as well as a
perpetrator of heinous acts. He is a pawn in the hands of something greater
than himself, a puppet and a tool used by gods and the Fates.
The
Sacred Band is
much more than great Heroic Fantasy: it is classic literature, filled with sub-plots,
a fine cast of well-drawn characters, insight and wisdom and recurring themes
of honor, faith, brotherhood and love. This novel spoke to me on a personal
level because it’s a story of pure human drama and powerful emotions. While the
characters are larger than life, they are also richly-drawn and written with
great depth of insight and humanity. What also rings true with the Sacred Band is
their military tradition, their ethos. These characters are soldiers, warriors.
They are not only mythic heroes, they are also everyday heroes; real people,
everyday people who face extraordinary odds and foes. They are true to all who
have served in any branch of the military. This is not sword and sorcery, this
is not elves and dwarves and high-concept fantasy . . . The Sacred Band has the sharp edge of reality, the harshness, the
bitterness and the danger of the real world. Love, loyalty, honor—these are the
ideals by which these characters live and die. This novel is epic in scope. It
is mythic by heritage. It is positively Homeric. This is a 5-Star novel written
by two highly-talented writers who have been around for a very long time, who
have not lost their chops and their edge, and have not slowed down. There is so
much in this novel to enjoy, so much I haven’t even touched on. All I can say
is that this is classic stuff. Buy it. Read it. You’ll see.
As Tempus and the Sacred Band would say,
“Life to you, and everlasting glory.”
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