The King Beyond the Gate

"The King Beyond The Gate" is a fantasy novel by David Gemmell. It was published in 1985. It was the second book published by Gemmell, after "Legend", published a year earlier. The book is set in the same fictional world as "Legend", that of the Drenai, but is not a sequel in the usual sense as the events of the two books take place around a century apart. Thus the main protagonists of "Legend" are long since dead and play little part in "The King Beyond the Gate", other than passing mentions. This set a precedent for the entire Drenai series, in which very few characters appear in more than one novel, the gaps between novels sometimes running to centuries, giving a more epic, historical flavour to the series.

The King Beyond the Gate takes place a century after Legend takes place. The Drenai are under the rule of Ceska, a mad emperor. Ceska has a force of Joinings to help keep him in power. Joinings are werebeasts, created by merging animal with man. He also has support from the Dark Templars. The Templars are fighting priests without equals. Only one man can stop him... Tenaka Khan.

This book details the rise of Tenaka Khan, decended from both Ulric (The great khan) and Rek (Earl of bronze). It is the story of the true Nadir uniter.