Ashling

by Isobelle Carmody

  The boy had formidable subtlety and I wondered what the father must be like, to have such a son.

  "She is not visibly deformed," Malik conceded with ill grace. "But what of those she represents? No doubt they have sent her precisely because she was the most comely among them. After all, they would not send a monster, would they?"

  "There are none among us whom you would see in a crowd and know as Misfits," I said. "None of us is physically deformed."

  I stopped for this speech soured my mouth. I could not compromise what I believed, not even to win these people.

  I looked directly into Malik's eyes. "But were such a one to come among us, grossly deformed or not, we would not turn them away excepting that they were deformed of spirit or soul."

  From the comer of my eye, I saw the Sadorian shift involuntarily as if the words held some goad, but her face when I looked was impassive.

  "See!" Malik declared. "She has said that she and her kind would accept grossly deformed mutants, as long as they possess these Talents. And how many generations before we would be reduced to a herd of howling beasts with such a philosophy? Rather the Council should continue to prevail than that. The thought of allowing mutants to exist alongside normal decent Landfolk is an obscenity to me, and one I could never condone.

  "But," he went on quickly, striding to the center of the room, "if your own values and decency are not enough to let you see what the ultimate outcome of this alliance must be, then think on this: these Misfits are little more than children for all the abilities they claim. Is that not so?"

  He shot me a look of icy interrogation.

  "The majority of us are young, that's true, but..."

  "There you are. Condemned out of her own mouth," Malik cried. "Are we to act as wet-nurses to monstrous children in the very midst of battle? Is it not a burden rather than an asset that we would gain in shackling ourselves to her people?"

  "Youth means nothing," Elii said sharply. "I was a youth when I set up my rebel group. It's guts and brains that count, not age—and this girl sounds to me as if she has enough of both. I've no love for mutants, but she is no freak and if her people can do what she says they can, then they would give us an advantage the Council and the soldierguards could never counteract."

  There was a moment in which I thought Elii had actually won them over for me.

  "Your brain is surely addled from whitestick," Malik snarled. "Oh, yes, by all means invite these freaks to fight alongside you, Elii. And while you are at it, employ the cripples and the scum that clog the lanes of every city street and would as soon cut our throats as guard our backs. But in the remote chance that you would win with such a force, remember that you will not easily set them aside when war is done.

  "I will seek out instead the best and worthiest to fight behind me and, though my force be less in number, it will prevail for it will be made up of true humans, not distorted copies and ghastly shadow creatures. Every one of my force shall know what they are and be proud of it."

  "Your instinct for drama never ceases to enliven our meetings," Brydda said, as if the whole of Malik's impassioned diatribe had been nothing more than a puppet show for the rebels' amusement. "However, it might be as well to point out that this meeting is not to decide the future of the human race, but merely to ascertain if this girl's people can aid us when we rise against the Council."

  His dry business-like tones diminished the effect of Malik's wild rhetoric, but the gray-eyed rebel was not done yet.

  He stepped up to Brydda, his eyes narrowed. "I am not a fool," he hissed. "You want these Misfits to join us and you connive with soft words and wiles to this end for some secret purpose of your own that eludes my reasoning." He swung to face the others. "Ask yourselves that too, my comrades. Why does Brydda Llewellyn support an alliance with them? Is it that he seeks control of the rebel forces with their help?"

  "My father also favors an alliance," Dardelan said coldly. "Do you also claim Bodera had secret purposes?"

  Malik gave him a startled look, as if a duck had suddenly defended itself against a vicious dog.

  "Do we need them?" Cassell asked, and the others turned to stare at the older man.

  "I ask if we need these Misfits, regardless of how useful they will be. Can we win without them? It seems to me that is a question we ought to be addressing."

  "There are more soldierguards than there are of our people," Brydda said. "The simple answer is that we need everyone that we can get."

  "No!" Brocade shrieked. "I say we dare not take them among us, no matter how great is our need. Misfits are despised by Lud. If we accept them, it is the same as rejecting Lud and we will be punished with another plague or some worse thing than that. Lud will visit disaster on us and perhaps because of their eldritch aid, we will lose when we would have won."

  I cast a look around the room and saw that all of the rebels, even Elii, were looking thoughtful. I had underestimated fat Brocade badly.

  I swallowed, and found my mouth dry with fear and tension and too many empty words. In that moment I glanced at Malik. His eyes looked straight into mine, filled with naked loathing. His eyelids fell like shutters over the expression, but the hatred was burned irrevocably into my mind. In that instant, I understood that there would be no winning Malik's vote and no compromise. Not ever.

  "Cassell was right in asking if we need them. I say we do not! This is a war we will wage and, to win it, we need only strong, committed adults, good armor and weapons and the warriors to use them. But most of all we need strong centralized leadership."

  The others were all nodding approval, the question of alliance shunted neatly aside.

  "I say we strike soon, before the new intake of soldier-guards is fully trained," Malik went on forcefully, and I realized he was on the verge of taking over the meeting and perhaps the rebellion. With his smooth handsome face and eyes that glowed with confidence, he looked the picture of a leader of men. I knew then, as if by futuretell vision, that if Malik assumed the mantle of leadership now, after the rebellion, Misfits would be doomed. He and his people would hunt us down and destroy us.

  The rebels had begun to argue and discuss the merits and disadvantages of different seasons to mount a successful rebellion. I glanced at Brydda but his face was blank and unhelpful. Well, he had warned me that I could not expect his aid—especially not when Malik had practically accused him of using us to seize leadership.

  I noticed that alone of all those in the room, the Sadorian woman was watching me from her shadowy corner, yellow eyes glinting. This reminded me vividly of Maruman and, oddly, gave me the courage to do what I did next.

  "The question of alliance has not yet been voted upon," I said loudly and firmly.

  Malik gave me an irritated look. "Children should be at play, not meddling in the affairs of their elders and betters."

  I was fleetingly puzzled, then I realized he would not want anything to remind the rebels of the powers I had earlier outlined. Well, I would play his game and beat him at it.

  "Then let us speak plainly as children are wont to do," I said, still loudly. "You, Malik, wish to set yourself up as the leader of the rebellion and of all these others sitting here, because you think you are better than them, and because you desire the power that would accrue to such a position after the battles are over."

  Malik flushed, then whitened, to hear me name his ambitions so nakedly and shorn of all softening or justification. Even Brydda looked aghast. It seemed that in the world of men and battles, only the truth was too shocking to be mentioned aloud.

  But Malik was caught because, without looking like a fool or a liar, he could not deny what I had said, when every person in the room knew it must be true.

  "Each person has their expertise," he said at last, through clenched teeth. "Mine is to lead."

  For a moment the capricious balance of power was tilted in my favor. I looked into Gwynedd's blue eyes. "What of Tardis? Does he also not possess the ability to lead? What of..."
I stretched my memory. "What of Yavok and indeed of any one of you in this room? Are you not all leaders of your groups because you possess exactly that same expertise to lead as Malik? And, in that case, why should he be set above you?"

  "One must rule in wartime," Malik snapped. "In the end, a single person must be put above the rest A rebellion must have a commander to whom all intelligence is sent. Once the battle begins, only one person can direct its course; can have the power to say go or stay, fight or retreat. A horse cannot have two heads or ten and, if it must have one, then give it the one who knows the trail best. I am a warrior. I know tactics and I know the feel of battle."

  "Malik is right. Sooner or later we must choose one to lead us in battle and that is his strength," Elii said.

  It was well said, but I had a final card to play in this game of words and Elii had brought me neatly to it

  "Why choose at all when, with my people by your side, each of you may lead your own forces and confer whenever you need? With farseekers to link you, there is no need for one warlord! Why not go on as you have begun— each ruling your own people, and conferring through mine when there is need? And then, when the war is won, choose one among you whose gift is peacetime rule, if you decide it is necessary."

  "It makes sense," said Elii. "If each of us conducts our own share of the war, then what need have we of a leader in the aftermath of the rebellion? Could we not continue to rule our own provinces?"

  "Bodera sent Brydda here to convince us with his silver tongue to join together because divided we were nothing more than thorns in the Council's side. With great eloquence he spoke of the need for us to be welded into a single unit with a single aim. Remember those words? And now he would have us splinter into tiny groups. Do you not wonder why? Could it be that divided we will be easier for him and his mutants to conquer?" Malik demanded.

  Brydda stood up, his own face showing anger for the first time. "I did not know Misfits like Elspeth existed when this was begun. But since they do, it seems to be wise to look at what they can offer us. But the decision is not mine to make, whatever Malik implies. It is yours and I am nothing more than Bodera's and Dardelan's man."

  "All I am offering is the means for you to retain independence," I said.

  "I, for one, know my master would prefer to retain control of our people," said Gwynedd in a thin, ironic voice. "It would surprise me if any rebel leader would say they wished someone to rule over them."

  "Without having to decide who is going to run things, we might better concentrate on winning our battle," Dardelan put in.

  "So speaks the wisdom of the ages," Malik sneered.

  "I speak for my father," the young man said quietly.

  "Again, I offer an alliance with my people," I said. "We will allow ourselves to be dispersed among you.... "

  "No!" Malik snapped, banging his hand on the table. "Who is this girl to offer alliance to us? Is she the ruler of her people? I think not. Why does not her master come among us, or is he so grossly distorted that he cannot be seen?"

  "Some of us have met him," Cassell said mildly. "He is not a Misfit at all."

  "Well, what sort of man is he that chooses to rule freaks? And I ask you again, how do we know that these mutated brats can do what she claims? I want more than children who can whisper to one another across the Land, in exchange for accepting this girl and her freakish kin as comrades. I want warriors who can fight."

  Jakoby rose and, so great was her natural presence, we all looked up at her. "You wish to see if she and hers can match your people in battle, Malik? Is that it? And if they could, what then? Would you accept them as allies and equals?'

  "I would accept a cow if it could prove itself my equal," he snapped.

  The others laughed and, though I kept my face still and calm, I seethed inwardly.

  "Then there is a way to solve this matter." Jakoby turned her glowing golden eyes to me. "In Sador, we have a tiling called the Battlegames. It is a series of ritual contests which run between dawn and dusk on a single day. I offer you this as a way of solving this deadlock. By it, you will learn if this girl and her people can turn their talents to winning war." She looked at me. "And your people will have the chance to prove yourselves and gain the alliance you seek. If you fail, then it is as well that this alliance does not come to pass."

  "You said contests. Who would be contesting with whom?" I asked, my mind reeling at the swiftness of this new possibility.

  Jakoby shrugged. "An equal number of those who would test you. His people." Her eyes flicked to Malik.

  "Where would these Battlegames be held? And when?" I asked, stalling as I tried to decide what to do.

  "I do not see the point of playing games," Brocade interpolated querulously.

  I did not take my eyes from the Sadorian woman.

  "A trial of honor is fitting at such an impasse," she said calmly, glancing at Brocade. "As to when and where, I offer Sador and the next Battlegames on behalf of my people. And whatever the conclusion of the Battlegames, the occasion may well be used to decide our own final strategy in dealing with the Council and its soldierguards."

  That rendered all of them silent and thoughtful.

  After a long minute Malik nodded, his eyes glittering with triumph. Perhaps he was seeing that as a victor of this mock battle, he would naturally assume leadership of the rebels. I had probably played right into his hands.

  "Then it is agreed that your two peoples shall meet at the Battlegames, and that the fate of the alliance between you shall rest upon the outcome?" Jakoby asked.

  "Done," Malik said savagely.

  I stared at him helplessly, wanting to ask for time to think, yet knowing I must not hesitate. If I refused the contest now, Malik would win by default. Yet to agree without consulting the others went against everything that Guildmerge stood for.

  I thought of Malik's eyes, filled with open hatred, and knew there would be no other way to get him to agree to an alliance. And so, truly, there was no choice after all.

  "All right," I said softly.

  There was a little hiatus, then a babble of talk.

  "I do not think fighting among ourselves is ..." Dardelan began.

  "My master would agree that this is fair, I mink.... "

  Gwynedd said.

  "It solves one thing, certainly," Cassell said musingly. "The need for us to meet together to plan the rebellion has been pressing for some time. Can it be organized for all of the rebel leaders to come to Sador?" Here he looked to Brydda.

  Jaw clenched ominously, the big rebel nodded. "I will send birds out and the groups who have their own will have sent replies by the morrow as to whether they will journey to Sador or be guided by those who will go, and whither they will assign their vote or go with the majority on decisions."

  "How long would such a journey take?" Cassell asked. "I do not like the idea of being away from the Land for too many days. Indeed, I do not like the seas at all."

  "Isn't Sador very far and the road to it dangerously close to the Blacklands?" Brocade asked.

  "By road it is far, but by sea it is two or three days only," Jakoby said.

  "By sea!" Dardelan murmured, his eyes wide.

  "We should think about this.... " Brydda cautioned.

  "I have thought it through and it seems to me that this is a good idea," Elii said decisively. "I have no love for sea travel either, but it is a journey of two days that we talk of. If these Misfits beat Malik at this contest, it is worth whatever the bother afterward to let them stand with us. If they fail, then it does not matter. More importantly to my mind, we will be able to organize the rebellion once and for all."

  The others nodded at this blunt common-sense pronouncement with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

  "Well then, it seems we are to journey to Sador together—let us hope the ship does not sink, or the rebellion will be scuttled before it begins. At least this mock battle should be amusing," Cassell said, as if I had volunteered to bring a troop
of clowns or tumblers to perform for them.

  "What is to keep Sador from treachery when we are all in their hands?" Brocade asked querulously.

  Jakoby gave him a look of scathing violence. "Were you not a barbarian, I would cut your tongue out for that insult," she hissed. "Sadorians do not betray allies."

  Brocade stared up at her like a stunned rabbit.

  "You do not have any honor," she said, leaning toward him like a poisonous snake about to strike. "Yet you understand fear too well, for I think you are old friends." She stared into his eyes and he grew so pale I wondered that he had not fainted.

  At last she withdrew a fraction.

  "You have no reason to fear, for since we of the plains desire none of your squalid little Land there would be no point in our hostaging or slaying those of you who would choose to come. My people will join you in your battle simply to keep these Herders and the like from infesting the plains. As you know, that is the price of our aid." Her eyes flicked contemptuously around the room, finally coming to settle with less fury on Brydda. Then she frowned, seeming to have some unexpected thought.

  "It comes to me that I am at fault in this," she said at last. Her voice was calmer now, but colder than the sound of the Brildane howling in the icy wastes of the highest mountains. "Long have we of the tribes known that you are a people who do not know honor. Therefore I should not have expected you to recognize it. As a token of faith that you will understand, I will leave my own daughter in this city, and I shall not come for her until you are returned from Sador. Is this acceptable?"

  Dardelan stepped forward and bowed to the Sador chief. "Lady, I need no proof of your good will. But I offer my father's house where your daughter may stay in fitting comfort. She will be guarded as carefully as if she were my own sister," he said earnestly.

  I blinked back sudden tears; this was me sort of romantic gesture Matthew would have made under the circumstances.

  The cold light in Jakoby's eyes softened. "I think you will find a daughter of Sador does not need much protecting."