by Duncan Lay
‘No,’ she declared, leaning down to kiss him. ‘Are we going to keep talking? For I cannot hold the magic within you forever …’
‘No need,’ he said, rolling her over.
‘Gaibun!’ Asami called, waving as he and his band of blood-spattered warriors stood staring at the frantic preparations going on around them.
He saw them and waved back, splashing through the stream to stride across the clearing, a broad grin on his face.
‘I can’t tell you how good it was to get that message from you! I was ready to go out there and die but I would much rather stay with you and live!’ he called as he approached, then, without stopping, picked up Asami, engulfing her in his arms and kissing her hard on the mouth.
Sendatsu watched in shock. He had known how Gaibun felt about Asami, of course, but he had never seen them display any affection — and certainly not like this.
Asami extricated her lips carefully from his and squirmed but he did not let her go, instead holding her close.
‘What are you doing?’ Sendatsu asked roughly, unable to stand it any more, as Gaibun tried to kiss her anew.
‘What do you mean?’ Gaibun looked up. ‘I left here expecting to die and have come home learning that not only will I live, but Dokuzen should be saved. So I am greeting my wife.’
‘That was not just a greeting,’ Sendatsu said.
‘We are married. What is your problem?’ Gaibun demanded.
‘You know what,’ Sendatsu snarled. ‘You have been man and wife in name only, you have flaunted mistresses in front of her and you know only too well of how Asami and I feel about each other —’
‘Enough! Both of you! I am here, you know!’ Asami snapped.
But they ignored her, staring at each other.
‘You can feel what you want about my wife. But we are married in more than just name now. Your chance has come and gone,’ Gaibun spat.
‘What?’ Sendatsu demanded.
‘I said enough!’ Asami pushed Gaibun back and faced Sendatsu. ‘Go and do something else. Gaibun and I need to talk.’
‘But this is something we all need to talk about, something we should all sort out together,’ Sendatsu argued.
‘There is nothing to sort out. We are married and you are not,’ Gaibun said.
Asami gestured and they were both pushed backwards by her powers.
‘I am not going to be fought over!’ she cried, glaring at them both.
They both tried to talk at once and she silenced them with another gesture.
‘I am not your property. Sendatsu, walk away now!’
‘At least tell me this — are you and Gaibun now sharing a bed?’ Sendatsu asked, unable to keep the thought out of his mind or the words from spilling from his mouth.
Neither said anything but Gaibun’s triumphant smile told him most of the story — and the fact Asami could not meet his eyes explained the rest.
‘I do not have to answer that question and you should not have asked it.’
‘No matter. You have answered it,’ he said roughly.
‘You have no right to judge me! You have hardly been faithful!’
‘I was married!’ Sendatsu protested.
‘As am I,’ Asami reminded him.
‘And then there were the human women as well …’ Gaibun interjected.
Sendatsu turned on him furiously. ‘You call yourself my friend and you say that?’
Gaibun pointed at him. ‘Be very careful what you say next. I have done nothing but help you, all my life. Now you wish me dead and seek to take my wife for your own. Apologise now, take my hand and admit your mistakes and you shall keep my friendship —’
‘My sword take your friendship!’
Gaibun smiled coldly. ‘Any time, brother. Just say the word.’
‘Stop!’ Asami clapped her hands and the two of them were knocked to the ground. ‘Sendatsu, walk away now or I swear by Aroaril that I shall never speak to you again!’
Sendatsu forced himself to his feet. ‘With pleasure,’ he said bitterly.
‘He is a fool.’ Gaibun stood as Sendatsu stalked off.
‘Don’t talk to me any more,’ Asami told him.
‘What? Was anything I said wrong?’
‘Yes. And no,’ Asami said, her eyes on Sendatsu.
‘We don’t need him.’
She whipped around. ‘That is for me to decide. I can walk away from you both, you know.’
Gaibun’s face whitened. ‘We are married,’ he said stiffly. ‘I meant every word I said to you before I left. I love you and would make a life with you.’
‘If that is what I want,’ she reminded him.
‘So you tell me you are really considering leaving Dokuzen, your work with the magic, everything and everyone you know and living in some filthy hut with Sendatsu in a grubby human village?’
‘I never said that either,’ she said. ‘But I shall not be used as some piece in a game between the two of you. Get your warriors fed and rested, for we shall be fighting the Forlish here tomorrow.’
She walked away, not looking back, needing space and time to clear her head. Gaibun would never let her go, while Sendatsu was hurt and jealous. Suddenly the Forlish did not seem like the biggest problem she faced.
She sighed. At least it was time to bring through the Velsh. The task would force her to clear her mind and would also bring Rhiannon through. She needed to talk to her about Sendatsu, and about Gaibun. Rhiannon would be able to help.
Sendatsu seethed as he walked. He had spent three years with Kayiko and then there had been Rhiannon — but that was not the same! How could Asami not see what Gaibun was up to? He was not doing this because he loved Asami, he was doing this because he wanted to hurt Sendatsu.
Deep inside, he could see the double standard in his feelings. But they were still his feelings and he could not put them aside. His life would not be complete without Asami. How could Gaibun hope to keep them apart?
‘Sendatsu! Where have you been?’ his father boomed.
Sendatsu turned slowly. Jaken was the last person he wanted to talk to now.
‘Looking for you,’ he said sourly.
‘Well, you have found me!’ Jaken seemed unnaturally ebullient and strangely happy for someone who was about to face a huge army of gaijin. ‘Get Gaibun and I shall talk you through our strategy for tomorrow.’
‘I’ll send someone to get him,’ Sendatsu said.
‘Cheer up! We are about to become heroes, and beloved of Dokuzen!’
30
So we lived in mud and blood, struggling to survive, lost without magic or Aroaril, our young and old and women dying for the lack of magic. The Elfarans stole so much from us.
Huw’s song
Edmund chafed at every delay but, after the attacks yesterday, he accepted they could not press on like before. But Dokuzen had to be close, he could feel it. The rough road they were following was looking more used, while his scouts could see the smoke from a large settlement rising above the trees, still some distance ahead.
His men were hungry and tired, for rations were short, while few men had slept well, fearing more attacks out of the darkness. While most of the victims of the first attack had been killed, this time it seemed the elves had tried to wound as many as possible. He had not wanted to waste time and effort bringing along the wounded, so had left a small guard with them back at the campsite. It might have doomed them to a swift death at the hands of the elves but he could have his revenge once Dokuzen was in his hands.
‘Push on! We have to take the city today!’ he ordered.
This was the third day. The elven army had to be hurrying home and might somehow use magic to get there faster. He had heard nothing more from Wulf, no warning that the elves were using magic to speed up their progress, so he could only hope the man had done his job well, led the elven army far from its home.
Retsu urged his warriors on. They had the pick of the horses, and maintained a fast pace, while behind them th
e rest of the elven host hurried as fast as they could. That host was fading fast from sight, while the elven forest was growing larger. But not large enough. They would not make it that day — and he had to leave a little in reserve for when they arrived. It would do nobody any good if they walked into Dokuzen and did not have the energy to fight.
He thought of his wife and son, as well as friends and family left behind. There was no need to encourage his warriors. They all had the same thoughts and his main job was keeping them in hand, preventing them running or galloping back as fast as the horses could move.
Huw stepped through the oaken gateway once more, marvelling that such a strange way of travel, something he would never have considered just a few moons ago, was now becoming commonplace.
‘High Councillor Huw! On behalf of Dokuzen I welcome you!’ Jaken stepped forwards. ‘Your warriors will be right behind you?’
Huw gestured for an answer, to where Cadel, then Bowen, Tadd and more dragons stepped out of the tree, letting go of the oaken staff that held the gateway open and was being propped up by Asami — and Rhiannon, on the human side.
All had swords and the first few had the bows they had cut and shaped at Sendatsu’s direction, although the rest would be carrying elven-style crossbows. Huw was not sure they would be of much use but they were better than nothing. Some of them were even better than the earlier versions — a Powys carpenter had worked on Kelyn’s original design and turned it into a twin crossbow, which loosed two bolts instead of one each time the lever was pulled. It was even more impressive in the number of bolts it pumped out, although they had no more power than the single crossbows and the range was even less. Still, at ten yards or so, they were deadly. Huw hoped they might prove the difference, although only about fifty of his dragons carried them.
‘We are here to help you defeat the Forlish,’ Huw said loudly.
‘And your help will be most welcome. Lord Huw, I want you and Sendatsu to array your warriors along the wall we have built. Once that has begun, join me and we shall discuss how the battle will go on the morrow.’
Huw bowed, something he had mastered at the court of King Ward, and Jaken inclined his head, before walking away.
‘Well, all seems to be going well,’ Huw said, edging across to Sendatsu.
‘That’s what you think,’ Sendatsu said bitterly, staring at Asami as she kept the gateway open.
‘What is it?’ Huw asked.
‘Nothing,’ Sendatsu replied curtly. ‘Nothing you need to know about anyway.’
‘Is it your father? I know you two have not been close —’
‘If it were only so simple!’
‘Talk to me! Come now, we have been through enough together to earn trust, have we not?’
‘It doesn’t matter. Follow me.’ Sendatsu led Huw, as well as Cadel, Tadd and Bowen, down to the fire-blackened shell of the old tombs.
‘Does everything appear all right with the deal we made? Do you think your father will go back on his word, or use us to weaken and slow the Forlish?’
‘He has said nothing to make me worry,’ Sendatsu admitted. ‘Which is strange in itself!’
‘It’s just the way you were behaving, it seemed as if there was something terribly wrong,’ Huw said.
‘It is nothing to worry about,’ Sendatsu insisted. ‘It is between Asami and myself.’
‘Ah.’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Well, have you spoken to Gaibun at all?’
‘No, and nor will I,’ Sendatsu spat.
Huw sighed. ‘It would be nice if things went simply, for once,’ he said. He thought of Rhiannon, using her powers to secretly help Asami bring the Velsh through the gateway, and of the growing thaw between them. They were talking more and surely that had to be a good sign?
‘This is it,’ Sendatsu told him, breaking Huw’s daydream.
Sumiko, Asami and the other Magic-weavers, helped by several hundred elves, had reorganised the stones so now, instead of a jagged rubble, it formed a rough wall that stretched for nearly one hundred yards along the edge of the stream, about chest height on a man, while behind it they had raised the earth, so you could stand on the earthen bank and reach over the wall.
‘The Forlish will have more than enough men to wrap around either side of this wall,’ Huw warned as they walked across to it.
‘I know.’
‘And the Forlish love attacking walls. It is their expertise.’
‘We know.’
‘Well, do you know what the plan is? Because we’re in the middle of nowhere here and it looks to me like those Forlish will storm out of the trees and roll over the top of us.’
‘From up here,’ Sendatsu told Cadel. ‘Keep two companies in reserve — you take one and watch the left side, Bowen will do the same on the right, in case they look like breaking through.’ He glanced over at the dragons taking up places along the wall and swore softly.
‘Who brought Gareth? I thought he was supposed to be left behind?’ He pointed to the young dragon who flew into a berserk rage every time he fought.
‘We might need him,’ Cadel said.
‘And he might get good men killed,’ Sendatsu replied. ‘He will stand with me and Huw. We need to keep him away from the Forlish.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Cadel said, without sounding it. ‘But we might need him.’
Sendatsu glared at the young dragon. ‘I hope not. Tell him yourself. He’s not going in the front line. I have to take Huw to see my father, and then we might get all our questions answered.’
Asami breathed carefully, trying to pace herself. Keeping the gateway open for so long would normally have been impossible, but Rhiannon was on the other side, effectively halving the effort. Still, the sweat was beginning to drip off her head and she could feel the tiredness steal through her. She forced herself to concentrate. Not much longer, surely? A seemingly endless stream of Velsh had been pouring out of the tree.
‘We are the last group,’ one of them told her, in his strange accent. It took her a few moments to understand him, then she nodded gratefully.
Finally Rhiannon stepped through, her face flushed and her chest heaving as though she had run a race.
‘Well done!’ Asami hugged her and let the gateway close with a sigh of relief.
‘It is so good to see you again,’ Rhiannon told her warmly.
‘Come, sit, let us rest.’ Asami tottered around the other side of the tree, where she had left food and water.
They ate and drank hungrily, until their bodies were not crying out for food.
‘Let’s not do that again in a hurry,’ Rhiannon said with a groan.
Asami sighed. ‘Agreed.’
‘Do we need to see anyone or be anywhere?’
‘Not for a while. I’ve hardly done anything else, telling the others I have to open the gateway for the Velsh by myself. All will expect me to be so exhausted I cannot do anything else this night,’ Asami explained.
‘And what of Sumiko? Do you think she will betray my secret to Jaken? Will she try to get revenge for what we did to her?’
‘I don’t know,’ Asami said. ‘She said all the right words to me, made all the right promises. Jaken has certainly not said anything, so she obviously has not told him. But I am sure she plays her own game. She will not have given up all her plans so easily. She will hope to turn something here to her advantage. I cannot see her allowing Jaken to rule over the elves without a fight.’
‘What shall we do? What shall I do?’
‘First, we need to defeat the Forlish. All of us are agreed that they must be stopped before anything else. They are the greatest danger.’
‘It is strange,’ Rhiannon said. ‘I am Forlish and I was proud of it. And yet I fight against my own people and would do anything to see them defeated.’
‘It goes to show there are good people everywhere. It all comes down to the leaders. They are the ones who decide how a nation behaves.’
‘So what does that mean for you, with Jaken to rule?’
‘A good question,’ Asami said.
‘Is there a way to change things? Do we have to do what our elders expect, what our leaders want?’
Asami laughed. ‘Now that is too deep a question to consider, especially after what we have just done!’
‘Well, what do you wish to talk about then?’
Asami grinned. ‘Enough of this talk of politics! I want to talk about something more important. Like you and Huw.’
Rhiannon smiled. ‘He is very careful to be both kind and considerate. We talk more about the Velsh, and the way they are going, and the past, than about ourselves.’
‘But you have forgiven him?’
‘Mostly. When it happened I never thought I could look at him again. I know he is sorry. I know he did it to protect me. The part I am struggling with is why he took so long to admit everything.’
‘So there is hope?’
Rhiannon smiled. ‘I find I miss him, and what we had together.’
‘And he is the High Councillor of Vales. If all goes well here, he will be named Elf Friend and many benefits will begin to flow into Vales. He will become a powerful man indeed and many women will seek his hand — and not just those from Vales.’
‘I know all that,’ Rhiannon snapped. ‘But I am not going to make a decision based on others. That was what I did all those years with my father, what I did with Huw the first time. I will do something because it is right for me.’
Asami smiled and patted her friend’s shoulder. ‘As you should. Well said. But don’t wait too long or you might lose your chance at happiness. That doesn’t come around too often.’
‘Oh, you mean like with you and Sendatsu?’ Rhiannon teased.
Asami’s face fell and Rhiannon hugged her quickly.
‘What is it? I thought to make a funny comment, not have you crying.’
‘It is not you. It is my own choices that have led me here.’ Asami sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.
‘Tell me.’
So Asami explained. ‘And we both knew he was going out to die and his last wish was to share a night with me,’ she finished. ‘He had been so kind and considerate, when Sendatsu was infuriating and unthinking, I could not say no.’
