The Longsword Chronicles: Book 03 - Sight and Sound Read online

  “I think old Arramin is the only one of us who was truly looking forward to this journey. And as much as the canal and the great wheels may have brought him joy, I think even he would admit that everything else has broken his heart.”

  “At least he had the canal and the great wheels,” Gawain muttered, and with a last look at the Wheel of Thal-Marrahan, sat down, rested his head in the corner of the metal cabin, and closed his eyes.

  oOo

  19. Weasel

  For the next three days, life settled back into a familiar routine, though the presence of the Southguard and their elfwizard was a source of constant tension. The elves kept themselves to themselves, and, becoming accustomed to travelling aboard the barges, seemed more than happy to do so. It was usually only when the horses were led ashore and taken for a run in the day-time that any contact was made between two parties, and what contact there was, though courteous, was brief.

  Nor were relations between Raheen and Elvendere improved by the numerous ‘snowballs of lightning’ which fizzed up and down the canal between the soolen-Viell and his superiors in the north. Allazar insisted there was nothing to be done about them, and that it would be unseemly for Gawain to lodge any kind of protest. They were, after all, guests in the forest.

  It was just before dawn on the fourth day north from the wheel when Gawain, peering through the starboard porthole in the forward deckhouse, suddenly swore, and heaved on the lever to disengage the royal barge from the chain.

  “Movement ahead, starboard side!” he announced, and as Tyrane picked up his crossbow and cocked it, gave a shrill whistle of alarm.

  It was enough to rouse all aboard instantly, and the sound carried south along the canal to the two barges following at three chain-lengths intervals. Arramin, surprisingly, was the first to arrive at the deckhouse, his staff at the ready, though Allazar was hot on his heels and the two Callodon scouts took a kneeling position amidships, their ‘bows resting on the starboard gunwale.

  “Your light of Aemon, Arramin, in the trees a hundred yards ahead!”

  At once, the elderly wizard thrust his staff forward, began muttering under his breath, and a brilliant cone of light shone forward, illuminating a broad swath of the tree line beyond the eastern bank of the canal. There were figures there, several of them, though they stepped further back into the shadows when the light exposed them.

  There was a sudden fizzing, and then an abrupt popping sound, and a ball of white fire burst into existence in the air above the trees illuminated by Arramin’s beam. The ball hovered, bright as any full moon, and the figures, six of them, advanced from the trees into the light, to stand in line abreast on the tow-path as the light began to fade.

  “Aaron’s Candle!” Allazar announced, “And those are elves.”

  “And this Keeve of the soolen-Viell is either no soolen-Viell, or their Order has advanced greatly during their thousand years of elvishness.”

  “Allazar?”

  “Master Arramin is correct, Longsword. The soolen-Viell is… was equivalent to a D’ith pat, and Aaron’s Candle is a tool not usually mastered until the rank of D’ith Met.”

  “So this Keeve is a liar, or…”

  “Or the Viell are become more powerful than once they were.”

  “Neither,” Eldengaze rasped, taking them all by surprise in the gloom as the flare that was Aaron’s Candle guttered and winked out. “This is Elvendere. There are six more beyond those on the bank. And twelve to the west, opposite them.”

  “Can you make one of these candles, Allazar?”

  “I believe so, Longsword.”

  “Then please do. Big, and bright, and right over the heads of the elves lurking in the trees on our side of the canal.”

  Allazar grinned in the gloom, and eased between Gawain and Elayeen to the port side of the barge. He planted the Dymendin staff on the deck, chanted quietly, and with a stunning woosh a bubble of white lightning shot forward into the pre-dawn gloom. Suddenly, with a report louder than any signal maroon, it was day again. An immense ball of light burst into being above the trees a hundred yards ahead, at least ten times the size of the Candle launched by the elfwizard.

  “And there they are,” Allazar smiled, “Exactly as your lady described.”

  Sure enough, a dozen elves stepped forward onto the tow-path, dazzled, arms thrown up to shield their eyes from the brilliant orb hovering forty feet above their heads. Footfalls on the tow-path drew their attention, and a group of eight Sutengard ran past the royal barge, calling ahead to the strangers, ordering them to stand still.

  The elves on both banks held their bows aloft and horizontal, as Elayeen had done at the staging pool at the wheel, clearly a sign of peaceful intention and compliance.

  “More Sutengard, I’d say,” Allazar opined.

  “We’ll see,” Gawain muttered, “Sun’s coming up.”

  “I thought it already had,” Tyrane muttered, earning a delighted ‘thank you’ from Allazar.

  Gawain turned his attention to Elayeen, who was as usual standing with her bow propped on her left boot. Kahla and Jaxon were standing further back, by the horses. She must have made her own way forward from the aft deckhouse when the alarm had been raised. He studied her eyes in the fading light of Allazar’s great candle, and the rising grey of dawn. Still her pupils were pinpoints, and the balloon of hope that had been building in his chest suddenly deflated. She could see the horses by their life-lights, and everyone else for that matter, and almost two weeks aboard the barge had made it familiar territory for her.

  “What did you mean, Elayeen, when you said ‘this is Elvendere’?”

  Her face swung towards him. “This is the domain of the Viell.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “Their power is strongest here.”

  “Ah!” Arramin exclaimed, “I believe I understand, my lords! In the great forest, the Viell are able to draw upon the natural energies of their domain which in foreign lands are otherwise unavailable to them. Oh dear, yes, of course! I’m sure I have read something along those lines…”

  The elderly wizard trailed off, his attention wandering the apparently endless bookshelves of his mind in search of the knowledge he sought. Everyone else’s attention, however, was drawn to the two elves running back along the tow-path. One stopped beside the barge while the other continued on to report to the soolen-Viell waiting on the bank further south.

  “My lords,” the Southguard announced, “They are Sutengard, patrolling the outskirts of Minyorn. Two of them are of Ostinath and known to us, but the others are from Minyorn.”

  “Minyorn?” Allazar asked on behalf of those aboard.

  “A small province to the northeast. Since the attacks in the west, most of the new settlements have been abandoned, the people seeking shelter in Ostinath. Minyorn is quite large though, and older, and east of the canal. The people there elected to stay, and to defend themselves if need be.”

  “I shall speak to them,” Eldengaze rasped, and summoned Kahla forward to be helped ashore.

  The guard on the tow-path looked stunned.

  “My lady,” Allazar said quietly, “Is this really necessary? They are a patrol, merely…”

  Elayeen, about to step up onto the port side walkway, snapped her head around, her gaze fixed on the wizard, who promptly gasped in surprise before she pinned him.

  “I shall speak to them,” Eldengaze repeated, and then released the wizard, turning her attention to her footing, and stepping ashore.

  The elf guardsman at once stepped back and moved to the south, nervously touching his right hand to his heart in a hesitant and confused salute. Elayeen spoke briefly with Kahla and then strode alone towards the Sutengard ahead. Those elves from the barge already there and who were talking with their comrades from the north saw her approach, and immediately drew back, disassociating themselves from the newcomers.

  “I like this not,” Allazar whispered at Gawain’s right shoulder.

 
; Gawain tilted his head a little, and whispered back: “Nor I. She has become something. Or is becoming something. Something about which there is little to like.”

  He stepped ashore, a signal of solidarity with his Queen, the result of years of regal training. Part of him was astonished by the sight of her striding with such grace, purpose, and confidence towards the eighteen elves some eighty yards ahead. But another part of him shuddered. She held her bow in her left hand, parallel with the tow-path, in a manner which all would recognise as ‘in readiness.’ It was not a friendly gesture on her part.

  The grey of dawn was turning to pale blue, wisps of cirrus spreading like ribbons overhead from the east, white harbingers of a change in the weather to come. Allazar left the barge to stand beside Gawain, thanking the elf and dismissing him at the same time. The guardsman gave another half-hearted and hesitant salute before hurrying back down the tow-path to rejoin his comrades and the soolen-Viell waiting quietly there, watching events unfold but taking no part in them.

  “What is her intent, do you think?” the wizard asked softly.

  “I have no idea, and neither, it seems, do they.”

  “At least our lady seems more talkative now that we are in Elvendere proper, have you noticed? Her speech seems less abrupt.”

  “Yes, it had crossed my mind. When she snuck up on us earlier I thought… well it doesn’t matter what I thought. She is still Eldengaze. Worse, if that be at all possible.”

  Allazar sighed. Elayeen had come to a halt beside the six remaining elves from the expeditionary force, and it seemed that with a simple flick of her head towards the south, she dismissed them, for they promptly saluted and began jogging back down the tow-path.

  “We must not judge her too harshly, my friend, for in truth, we know very little about modern elven society. It may be that, as your Queen and as daughter of Thal-Hak, she must exert her authority in ways we might consider… surprising.”

  “Horse-feathers. That is not Elayeen. Elayeen is incapable of the kind of cruelty we have witnessed. Her heart beat in my breast, Allazar, when we were alone together I felt her, I knew her… That is not Elayeen. That is Eldengaze. And what is she doing?”

  Elayeen had stopped a dozen or so paces from the group, and had beckoned one of the elves forward. She had motioned him to stand facing her, his back to the trees, and she with her back to the canal. The elf seemed rooted to the spot, his hand frozen near his heart in salute, looking as though he were listening intently to whatever Elayeen was saying.

  From time to time, the pinned elf gave a nod, and seemed to speak a few words too. Then he seemed to sag, and Elayeen stepped sideways, taking a pace away from him. The elf promptly ran forward, launched himself from the tow-path, and dove into the canal. Those to the south who were watching were completely stunned, and, it seemed, those on the eastern bank too, for they surged forward to line the tow-path there, waiting for their comrade to appear. Appear he did, swimming competently and powerfully in spite of his boots, wet clothing, and the longbow strapped across his back. In moments, it seemed, he’d crossed the forty feet of water separating the two banks, and as he reached out to touch the wall of the tow-path, powerful hands grasped his wrists, casually heaving him from the water. It looked to Gawain as though that particular feat was a well-practiced drill, for certainly none of the elves here on the west bank seemed overly concerned for their comrade.

  On the eastern side, the drenched elf spoke urgently with the group gathered around him. Another held up a hand, volunteering, and the group parted to allow the two elves, one dry, the other soaked, to run into the woodlands.

  On the western side, Elayeen called another forward, spoke a sentence or two to him, and then she turn on her heel and began striding back along the tow-path. Gawain’s instincts seemed to surge, and his hand automatically flitted to the quiver of arrows at his hip, fingers fiddling with the bead on the end of his arrow-string.

  “Peace, Longsword,” Allazar said softly, “Our lady is in no danger.”

  “I told her to be careful. Turning her back on them like that is not being careful.”

  “They are her people, after all.”

  “She is faranthroth, Allazar, you seemed to have forgotten that. So too has she.”

  “Yet she is your queen, Longsword, and that alone should be enough to command respect from any of the kindred, including elfkind. Until we reach Shiyanath and the Council of Kings, it might be wisest to allow her the freedom to treat with her people as she sees fit. We are strangers here, she is not.”

  “She terrifies them. In her brother Gan’s province, when she nursed me back to health, both she and Gan were entirely at the mercy of elf whitebeards. Now she practically rips off their faces without a second thought.”

  “I doubt the soolen-Viell compares to those of his Order you saw there. And she hardly ripped off his face. We’ll speak of this later, though, for here she comes.”

  Gawain nodded as Allazar stepped forward towards Elayeen, now within earshot, but she waved him away. Kahla took her hand, and with Jaxon heaving on a chain to keep the barge steady against the tow-path wall, Elayeen stepped back aboard.

  “We may proceed,” Eldengaze announced, “We have no reason for further delay here.”

  With a shrug for Allazar and a wave to the elves in the convoy, Gawain used his boot to push the barge away from the side until the chain was engaged, and the vessel at once picked up speed. Ahead, both groups of elves stood patiently lining the banks, and watching as the barges picked up speed and slid towards them. Gawain and Allazar jumped back aboard, and with Arramin at the controls, watched carefully as their vessel slipped quietly past the patrols on both sides of the canal without further ado.

  When all three barges had passed the patrols and the elves ashore had disappeared into the woodlands, Gawain turned to Elayeen.

  “What did you speak to them about, Elayeen?”

  “Minyorn. I sent word to my cousin there.”

  “Word?”

  “Of our coming. To be passed to my father in Shiyanath.”

  “Oh. Do you have news of your family there, in Minyorn?”

  “All is well there. It is day now. You should sleep. Your light blocks my vision ahead.”

  Gawain blinked back his anger, and forced himself to remember that it was only he and Allazar who heard the awful rasp of Eldengaze in Elayeen’s voice.

  “Very well. Arramin, the watch is yours. We’ll proceed for half an hour then put in for ladies’ convenience and to allow the horses ashore. At that time, I want word passed back to the Sutengard to patrol ahead, just in case there are any more surprises lurking in the trees north of us. I want our people close to this barge at all times from now on. I’d rather the Sutengard stumble into one of their patrols, not us, there’s less chance of mistakes being made. No more excursions ashore after dark either, horses back aboard at dusk.”

  “I’ll pass the word back to the soolen-Viell, Longsword. I have some questions I should like to ask him at the same time.”

  “Thank you, Allazar.”

  The wizard cast another glance towards Elayeen, then turned and left the deckhouse, leaping nimbly ashore to await the barge bearing the elfwizard. Gawain nodded at Tyrane, and the two men retired to the aft deckhouse, Gawain pausing only briefly to reassure Gwyn that her hooves would know dry land soon.

  “Freenmek, my lord?” Tyrane opened a box as Gawain settled on the bench, looking out of the rear porthole and watching as Allazar spoke with the soolen-Viell at the prow of the vessel three lengths behind them.

  “Yes, thank you. I have a feeling we might need our strength soon.”

  “Ostinath?”

  “Yes. Something has changed, and it’s more than Allazar’s feeling after Terryn found traces of the elves back in the south.”

  “The wizard had a feeling?”

  “Sorry… Yes. On the day of reunion, when Terryn and Arramin caught up with us, you recall the scout mentioned finding traces of pe
ople at the bottom of the eastern slope of the ridge. Allazar and I spoke of it, later. He said he had a feeling, growing like a seed, a feeling that the world all around us is changing.”

  “War will do that.”

  “It’s more than that. I said at the time it was those honey-bars everyone was eating. Or perhaps it was just that after the nine of us being alone together so long, the prospect of meeting strangers was unsettling. He didn’t seem convinced, and now, neither am I.”

  “If I may be bold?”

  “Please do.”

  “My lord, is it your lady’s behaviour towards her people that may have caused this new concern?”

  “In part, yes.”

  Tyrane nodded, and while Gawain munched a mouthful of freenmek, the Captain of Callodon pondered his next words carefully.

  “My lord,” he said softly, after a long and thoughtful pause, “I can offer an observation which I hope you will understand is made in confidence, and I am trusting in your discretion. It makes me a little uncomfortable speaking so freely thus.”

  “Of course, Tyrane.”

  “I have told you of the near disaster which occurred at Harks Hearth, when his Majesty King Brock attempted to circumvent his own laws by demanding entry into that well-guarded outpost town.”

  “Yes, I remember. It was a good story, and a good lesson.”

  “You’ll remember his Majesty’s pride in his men, and how they stood fast to their duty, and how he spared them his royal ire next morning?”