Valley of Shields

by Duncan Lay

  ‘Can we fight you now?’ Cheijun asked, brandishing his wooden sword.

  Sendatsu mock-growled and assumed a defensive stance as they rushed at him.

  20

  It was not just us who were fooled by these Elfarans. They travelled south, to other countries, making sure the lies spread before them, all the time behind the smiling face of friendship.

  Huw’s song

  The fishing boat rocked gently from side to side. The sweating, groaning crew pulled their catch aboard, encouraging each other.

  Jaken ignored the activity and looked out towards the sea. North and east of Dokuzen lay the huge lake that led their river out to the sea. From here up to the northern coastline were hills and mountains, as well as the iron and coal mines that kept the city supplied. Magic, as well as three hundred years of hard work, had turned the surrounding lands into rice paddies, while the lake that fed out to the sea was a rich source of fish, the rocky edge to the far north ideal for octopus, seaweed and shrimp. But the boats never went beyond the rocky heads that guarded this lake, and the elven lands behind it. The cliffs made the entrance to the sea treacherous, turned it into a natural barrier as strong as the magical one to the south and west. The passage to the sea was narrow, and the volume of water leaving and entering the lake so high, that it created a current no boat could hope to steer through. The rocks would destroy anyone foolish enough to try. Magic could get you out — but would leave the Magic-weaver so drained that a second would be needed to bring the boat home again.

  Given the lake was full of fish, that seemed pointless.

  Jaken had once owned a fleet of fishing boats, which were now the property of Daichi, and he had been ordered to work aboard them, as punishment for plotting.

  But while he had chains on his wrists and ankles, making it impossible to escape, he had no intention of labouring like a slave. And the crews of the boats, formerly his workers, were not going to order him to do anything.

  Each morning, guards took him to a new boat, but they had no intention of going aboard a smelly, small fishing boat, and with feet chained, he obviously could not swim away. So they left him aboard in the care of the crew. Jaken found a warm, or dry, spot to sit, depending on the weather, and relaxed while the crew worked.

  ‘Do you require anything, Lord Jaken?’ the captain asked nervously, sidling up close.

  ‘Something to eat, and also a cup of lake water and a small, dead fish,’ Jaken instructed.

  ‘Lord?’

  ‘I am hungry. Afterwards, I need to splash myself with lake water and fish guts, so it appears to my captors that I have been working aboard this boat, and will be too tired to plot anything once ashore,’ Jaken explained.

  The captain did not understand but it was more important to merely obey. To a humble fisherman, the plots and workings of the lords were a mystery anyway. Far better to keep out of it.

  Jaken looked again towards the sea. At first, after his capture, he had wanted to end his shame. But this exile had given him time to think and hope. The pieces of his plan were scattered but they still existed, as did the possibility of revenge. And Daichi had made the mistake of giving him the time and space he needed. There were plenty of guards watching him now, but that would change. And while they were supposedly the only armed warriors for miles around, calling fishermen unarmed when they all carried long knives and gaff hooks — and had been trained to fight, as all elves had — was drawing a long bow, so to speak. Especially as they were all loyal to the only clan leader most had known, despite the proclamation about his disgrace. He merely had to be patient.

  Edmund called a halt.

  ‘Get the camp set up. We shall rest here for a day before splitting the army in two,’ he ordered.

  They had made good time travelling north but he wanted the horses to be fresh, as well as ensuring the wagon train did not lag too far behind. Progress had been swift on good roads but that would all change soon enough. Up here, there were no towns and few villages and the roads would deteriorate into mud and dirt. Once they cut into Velsh land, it would get even worse, for the hills would slow the baggage train. The two thousand cavalry would not have it much easier than the foot soldiers as they had to swing off to the east and into almost deserted territory. Their progress would be slow, both because of the terrain and also because the officers there needed to know the ground for when they were running from the elves.

  ‘The Forlish army has been too used to victory, and driving our enemies before us. None of us are used to defeat. But you are going to have to be prepared for it. Nobody has even seen an elf for three hundred years, let alone fought one. We know they have magic, bows that can loose arrows ten times faster than a crossbow and reach just as far. You have to draw them far enough away from Dokuzen that we can smash through and seize the city before they realise their mistake.’ Edmund paused and looked around the tent. He dearly wanted to command the cavalry, make sure this was done properly. But his dying king had sworn him to seize Dokuzen and find the secret of elven immortality. Edmund would do anything for his king, the man who had raised him out of a gutter, put a uniform on his back, gold in his pockets and land to his name.

  ‘You may want to fight the elves. You might think this is the challenge the Forlish army has been waiting for. But that is not your job. If you try to fight them and they defeat you with magic, or bows, or superior numbers when we are too close to their city, it will all have been for nothing. Your deaths, the rise of Forland — everything will be gone because of you. And you better hope the elves kill you cleanly because if you survive and I catch up with you, I’ll make your deaths something to keep small children awake at night.’

  He looked into their eyes and hoped he had said enough. He had chosen the steadiest, most sensible officers he had. They would be led by a friend and trusted comrade, Captain Wulf. But keeping men in order during a retreat, even a planned retreat, was the hardest thing for an army to do. He had seen it often enough from the other side. Force even a proud, confident army to retreat and they often became a rabble.

  ‘You have to keep your men in check and keep clear of the elves, while making it look convincing. Turn and fight but break contact as early as you can, draw them out. Once you are safely clear, we shall smash into Dokuzen and destroy any resistance. If we have swords at the throats of their families, the elves will do anything we say. The gold, the magic — it will all be ours and we can share it out back in Cridianton.’

  He left them drinking to success and went for a walk around the camp, trying to guess the mood of the men he would take into Dokuzen. Unlike those who needed to draw out the elves, these soldiers needed to be ready to fight and everything he heard filled him with relief. The men saw this as a chance to show how good they were and have bards write songs about them for a hundred years.

  ‘The elves won’t know what is going to hit them,’ he told his aide, Orsa, with a smile. ‘Another half-moon and we shall be at the gates of Dokuzen itself!’

  Caelin had come to a different conclusion.

  ‘Have you found a latrine that needs digging?’ he asked Ruttyn and Harald.

  Ruttyn grinned. ‘Why, have we got to go on another patrol where we will probably die?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘So why the need for a new latrine?’

  ‘We’re going on two patrols where we’re going to die.’

  ‘Come on, sarge, we’re the ones who are supposed to do the jokes,’ Harald protested.

  Caelin shook his head. ‘I’m serious. When the army splits in two tomorrow, we’re going into Dokuzen with Captain Wulf and then, if we survive that, we have to ride round to join Captain Edmund’s force that will take Dokuzen. He asked for us specially.’

  ‘Bugger digging a latrine. I need to find one — quick,’ Ruttyn said.

  ‘Well, look on the bright side. We’ve got the best chance of meeting a beautiful elven maid,’ Harald suggested.

  ‘And why would she be interested in us?’ />
  ‘They’ve not had a man in three hundred years — they’re probably bloody desperate by now.’

  Caelin shook his head. ‘Another jest like that, my lad, and I’ll leave you for the elves to find!’

  Every day Rhiannon found a new way to use her magic. Asami had been given years of special lessons by Sumiko and other top Magic-weavers and now she passed that on to Rhiannon. It seemed that controlling your magic was not about limiting what you did — rather it was about testing yourself to see how far you could go, so you knew you would succeed even before you tried something.

  ‘I think you are ready to go out into your world and search for others like you,’ Asami told her.

  ‘Do you really think so? Isn’t there more I should be doing?’

  Asami smiled. ‘There is nothing more. Besides, you are to dance for the Council later today. After that, we might struggle explaining why a gaijin is still here in Dokuzen.’ She winked, to take any sting from the words.

  ‘Gaijin, is it, pointy-ears?’ Rhiannon pushed her friend.

  ‘Careful where you put those huge human hands! They could squash me,’ Asami protested.

  Rhiannon patted her on the head. ‘Well, you are almost too small to see,’ she teased.

  They laughed until Asami held up her hand.

  ‘Seriously, you pick up magic faster than any elf I have met.’

  ‘That’s because I had the best teacher,’ Rhiannon said.

  Asami made a face. ‘You won’t say that when you see how far the rest of my students have advanced. Anyone with real ability was taken off to work in the mines. No matter how hard I work with them, they don’t seem to get better.’

  Rhiannon chuckled. ‘Then that is the fault of the student, not the teacher. You can’t give people what they never had.’

  ‘I shall miss you.’ Asami hugged her friend.

  ‘And I shall miss you — more than I can say. But we both have magic, we can visit each other whenever we want.’

  ‘I would like that,’ Asami admitted.

  ‘And you’ll come and join us when the Forlish march.’

  ‘True.’

  Rhiannon was looking forward to returning to Vales. The magic she had learned filled her with a buzzing sense of exultation. She felt everything was going her way. Best of all, she was also going to dance for the Elven Council, the highest elves in the land!

  For her, magic would always be tied up with her father. It was through him she had found and learned about the power she possessed. Of course it had been used to kill him but once she had danced for the elves, completing the dream they had together, she was sure she could resolve that. Talking to Asami made things easier, learning magic made it better, but only when she had done this could she really lay her father to rest.

  ‘We were supposed to be working on your singing and dancing but never did. The summons from the Council could arrive at any moment — do you want to run through anything with me now?’ Asami offered.

  Rhiannon smiled. ‘There is no need. I have practised my singing and dancing so much in my life, it is second nature to me.’

  ‘Are you really sure you don’t want to go through it with me? I am not the most skilled dancer by any means but I have employed some of the best at the parties I held and I know what they look like —’

  ‘What are you trying to say?’ Rhiannon demanded. ‘If you are my friend, talk to me truly!’

  Asami sighed. ‘Well then, I don’t think you should do this. I think you should leave for Vales now.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘The Council will expect only the very best. I don’t know what has survived in your world of our culture but they have become used to a certain style, in both singing and dancing. It is very particular to us.’

  Rhiannon bristled. ‘So you’re saying the gaijin is not good enough?’

  ‘I would never say you were a gaijin — or that you were not good enough. Just you may not give the Council what they expect. They think you have been trained in the elven style for the past moon. You want their approval, I understand that, but they may not give you what you seek. I know you have issues with your father but you have powers far beyond what they imagine, are better at magic than every clan leader combined. You don’t need to do this —’

  ‘But I do,’ Rhiannon interrupted. ‘I have to.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I have told you about my father, and how I killed him with magic —’

  ‘You didn’t!’

  ‘Please. I killed him with magic. But if I do this, then I can move on with my life. I can say my years with him were not a waste,’ Rhiannon explained, almost in tears.

  Asami took her hand. ‘You don’t want to hear this but you are my friend, so I have to tell you. His death will always haunt you and you need to find a way to accept it, a little at a time. A grand gesture is not going to wipe away what you went through. And, deep down, you know that’s true.’

  Rhiannon bit her lip and squeezed Asami’s hand. ‘But I have to try,’ she said hoarsely. ‘I cannot come so close to this dream and then walk away. I will never forgive myself.’

  ‘That is the problem,’ Asami said urgently. ‘You think you need to forgive yourself. But it is your father who should have begged forgiveness for what he did to you. He is gone. One day you might be able to come to terms with killing him with magic but that day is not now. It is too soon. Maybe if you had a daughter of your own …’

  ‘Just what I need.’ Rhiannon tried to sniff back tears.

  Asami opened her arms and embraced Rhiannon until the tears dried up. For a moment Rhiannon felt she should tell Asami the truth about Sendatsu, that the elven maid had earned the right to the full truth. But she could not.

  ‘I still have to try,’ Rhiannon said finally, in a small voice.

  ‘I know,’ Asami sighed. ‘But first, send a couple of birds south to see how that Forlish army is moving.’

  ‘It’s hardly a challenge,’ Rhiannon grumbled.

  A few days ago they had discovered a huge Forlish army stretching back more than ten miles along the road, moving slowly north. They had monitored its progress but it was crawling — the baggage train at the end barely reached the vanguard’s position by the end of the day.

  ‘Look, they are still a moon away at least at their rate of advance but Sendatsu and Huw need to know about their progress, in case they launch their cavalry forwards or something.’

  ‘How do you know about that?’ Rhiannon asked.

  Asami smiled a little. ‘We all had to learn such things. And then I spent too much time with Gaibun and Sendatsu!’

  ‘Well, if I am leaving tomorrow, yet the Forlish are still a moon away, what are you going to do?’

  ‘Train my new students as best I can — and join you when they cross over into Vales. At least with the magic, we can keep in touch easily enough.’

  Rhiannon summoned a pair of crows to search for the Forlish army once again. The simple magic task relaxed her and she felt ready, and eager, for what the day would bring. She played with the birds for a short while, having them obey her every command.

  ‘Rhiannon! Send them now!’ Asami called, walking across to her, a scroll in her hand.

  Rhiannon sent the birds south then turned to her friend.

  ‘They want to see you within the turn of an hourglass,’ Asami said grimly.

  ‘Come on, you will see how I can dance and sing!’ Rhiannon told her.

  ‘I wouldn’t miss it for anything,’ Asami said.

  Huw knew he should be afraid, knew he should be sick at heart, but still, he had to restrain a shout of triumph. After he had won over Griff and the rest of the opposing headmen, everything had begun to fall into place. Details still needed to be worked out but progress came fast, given fresh impetus by the news from Dokuzen. A Forlish army was marching north. It was moving slowly, would take perhaps another moon to arrive, but it was on its way. Even the headmen most determined to argue whether the tax should be one
part in ten, or twelve, or eight, were prepared to compromise in the face of the approaching storm.

  But, of course, while the Forlish advance helped finish the discussions quickly, it also created far greater problems, which they needed to address now.

  ‘I welcome you all to the first meeting of the Great Council of Vales.’ Huw relished the words as they rolled off his tongue and out across the crowd.

  Around the table sat the various headmen, as well as Sendatsu, Gaibun and the three leaders of the Dragon Warriors, Tadd, Bowen and Cadel, while behind them were not just the people of Patcham but of Crumlin, and many others from nearby villages, who had travelled to see this historic event.

  They had sung along with ‘Land of My Fathers’, then cheered as the flag was raised, even though there was no wind and it hung limply against the flagstaff.

  But that cheer was nothing compared to the one that erupted now, as headmen shook each other’s hands, patted backs and waved to the crowd.

  ‘And, as the Great Council’s first act, we call on Huw ap Earwen to lead this new country!’ Kelyn shouted.

  Again there was a roar, interspersed with chants of ‘King Huw!’

  ‘My friends!’ Huw waved his hands but it took some time to calm them all down. ‘We have never had a king in Vales. And nor should we. I do not want to be a king — I shall be the High Councillor, nothing more, to serve only as long as this Great Council wants and needs me.’

  ‘He can call himself what he wants, but he has the army and he has the power. I would call that a king,’ Gaibun muttered.

  ‘Names are important.’ Sendatsu shrugged. ‘At least he didn’t call himself the Shepherd, as Dafyd was suggesting as late as last night.’

  Gaibun shuddered. ‘And I thought Elder Elf sounded foolish!’

  Huw walked among them, shaking hands, patting backs and embracing allies and former foes alike. His handshake with a smiling Griff raised huge cheers before he returned to his seat at the head of the table.