Elfsorrow

Chapter 20

'Why won't you let Denser and Erienne help you?' Ilkar was fast losing his patience.

He'd seen The Raven to his house – it had been almost exactly the same as when he'd last seen it – and had sought out Kild'aar very soon after, suddenly anxious to be anywhere else than in his past. But his enquiries into how many villagers were actually sick were met with vague estimates and his offers of help with a blank refusal. The house they were headed for was no more than fifty yards across the village but this was the third time he'd asked.

'Because you must understand first,' said Kild'aar.

'I understand already,' he replied. 'People in my village are dying and you won't let two brilliant mages try and save them because of your intractable distrust of every non-elf. I don't remember it being this way when I left.'

'Ilkar, you have been away a very long time. And you've been with strangers for all that time. You are the one who has changed, not us. Even your skin is light. And now we're seeing good reasons why we've been ever suspicious.'

'But you need help.'

'It can wait,' snapped Kild'aar. 'Gyal's tears, Ilkar, you come wandering back into our village a hundred years after you left it and you expect us to accept you with open arms? And your Balaian friends? Maybe over there people are quick to trust. Here, as you well know, trusting the wrong people has led to so much harm.'

Ilkar had to concede the point though he would never admit it to her. They had never seen eye to eye. Truth was, Ilkar hadn't seen eye to eye with anyone. Except his brother. And even that bond was gone now. Buried under a hundred years of separation.

'What happened to my parents?' he asked.

Kild'aar stopped briefly. 'They died of old age, not knowing whether their son was alive or dead. Whether he had made a success of his talent or whether he had perished in the Mana Bowl or in some petty conflict of the Balaians. Perhaps the question should be, what happened to you?'

'It's a long story,' said Ilkar.

'And one we don't have time for at the moment,' said Kild'aar, setting off again across the soaking village. The rain was beginning to ease at last, blue cracks in the heavy grey sky.

'What is it you want me to see?' Ilkar struggled to keep up with the sudden pace, slipping on the muddy ground, unused to the texture underfoot, his reactions dulled by his absence. Kild'aar, of course, looked as if she were walking on flat dry rock.

She led him to a house on the southern periphery of the village. On the porch sat an elf dressed in jet black with a face painted in black and white halves. At his feet a panther lay, licking its paws.

'What the hell is going on?' demanded Ilkar. 'What are they doing here?'

'Waiting for answers,' replied Kild'aar.

'Fine,' said Ilkar. 'So what's inside?'

'You'll see.'

'Gods, but you're frustrating, Kild'aar.'

'Any particular God? Or just that amorphous deity Balaians always invoke?'

'Now I'm remembering why I didn't come back sooner.'

Kild'aar pushed open the door. 'I'd hate to disappoint your memories, Ilkar. Room to the left.'

She waited while he went in. The room was lit by heavily scented candles set on the floor and on low tables. Otherwise it was bare but for a high-legged bed in its centre on which lay a shrouded figure. Ilkar turned, frowning, but was ushered on. He walked to the head of the bed, the sweet scents filling his head, and pulled back the shroud.

On the bed lay an elf of about his age, though it was hard to tell in truth. His face was wrinkled as if the moisture had been leached from it, a trail of blood ran from his nose and another from the corner of his mouth. There was no relaxation in death, as if the pain that had gripped him as he lost his fight for life had endured beyond. Ilkar knew him.

'There was nothing we could do,' said Kild'aar as Ilkar replaced the shroud. 'He was all but dead when he was brought in. Nothing we did, magical or herbal, did anything at all bar relieving his pain a little. Everyone here knows the agony in which he died and they know our helplessness. All that lie sick know their fate unless we can find a way to save them. That's why we're so scared. Who's next?'

'Then let Erienne help,' urged Ilkar. 'She is the best healer mage I've ever met. She's saved my life before now. Let her examine him, find out what she can. Please, Kild'aar, trust me on this.'

Kild'aar shrugged. 'We'll see. Come.' She led Ilkar to the room next door. It was similarly bare though the shutters had been opened to let in natural light. On a table under the window sat a bowl of water draped with cloths. A single bed was pushed against a wall and on it an elf lay on his stomach, head to one side. A sheet covered him to his waist and his back was largely swathed in bandages, heaviest on his left shoulder.

'Oh dear Gods,' said Ilkar, rushing to the bedside and kneeling down to stroke the hair away from his face. It felt hot. 'Not him too.'

'No,' said Kild'aar. 'His fever was caused by an infected wound and it's broken now. He'll live. For now at least.'

Relief flooded Ilkar and he exhaled heavily, his breath playing over the prone elf's face.

'Rebraal,' he whispered. 'Can you hear me?'

The elf's eyes flickered open, narrowed against the light and steadied. He frowned.

'Are you real?' he asked, voice no more than a croak.

'Yes, I am. What happened to you?'

'You're not real. I'm still fevered. You're a shade.' He seemed to be talking to himself, his words barely distinct.

'No. The fever's broken. Kild'aar says you're recovering. It really is me, kneeling in front of you.' Ilkar smiled.

Rebraal's face darkened. 'Shade or real, let me tell you this. You're too late. A century too late. Where were you when the strangers came and took Aryndeneth? Where were you when I was shot? We needed you. You promised to return. It was your destiny as it is mine. Get out of here. I don't know you.'

'Rebraal, I understand your anger. But my destiny changed. There was other work I had to do. But it doesn't stop me being your brother.'

'You betrayed me. You betrayed the Al-Arynaar. You are not my brother.' He turned his head away. 'Go back to your other destiny.'

Ilkar put a hand on Rebraal's back.

'Please, Rebraal. I can help you. I've brought people with me. We'll take the temple back.'

'I want nothing that you can give. We don't need your help. Go.' Ilkar felt Kild'aar's touch on his shoulder. He looked up, his brief joy at seeing his brother extinguished. There was a lump in his throat and he shook his head to clear his mind, a cascade of emotions surging through him. His parents were dead, as he had expected, and he felt little grief at their passing. But Rebraal. Rebraal was only a little older than him and Ilkar's love for his hero had never dimmed though his brother had often been far from his thoughts. And now he had been dismissed. Disconnected. He stood and strode from the house.

'What did you expect?' asked Kild'aar after him. 'He thought you'd abandoned him. You were supposed to join the Al-Arynaar. It's why you went to train in Julatsa.'

Ilkar rounded on her. 'No, it isn't!' he shouted, then checked his voice. 'It's what you all assumed. You, him, my parents. You never let me speak my mind, you never considered what I actually wanted. I never, ever wanted to follow Rebraal and my father into the Al-Arynaar. I admired them for their sacrifice but I didn't want to do the same.'

Kild'aar frowned. 'So why did you go to train?'

Ilkar almost laughed. 'Because I wanted to be a mage. Because I felt the calling so strongly I could never deny it. You have no idea the release I felt when I left here and the elation I felt every day I was training. I knew what you would all feel when I didn't return but I couldn't come back to explain because you'd never have let me leave.'

'Didn't you believe in what the Al-Arynaar represented?'

'Of course I did,' said Ilkar. He pushed a hand through his hair, searching for the words that would help her understand. 'But I was never driven enough to spend my life defending something I thought would never be attacked. I know how hollow that sounds now but I wanted more.'

Kild'aar shook her head. 'How can there be anything more than the honour of defending your faith?'

'It wasn't what I wanted. Why can't you understand that? Why can't Rebraal?'

Ilkar felt like telling her his life story, or at least the last decade of it. But she wouldn't want to hear about how his and The Raven's search for Dawnthief halted the Wytch Lords, or how their sealing of the Noonshade rip stopped Balaia being overwhelmed by dragons. Both actions had done more to protect the elven faith than guarding Aryndeneth. The trouble was, they were too isolated here. To Kild'aar, and to so many rainforest villagers, events on Balaia were of no importance.

All they knew or cared about the Northern Continent was Julatsa and the training it could give elves who felt the mage calling. And even then, most village elders would shrug at the demise of the college, blaming the elves who had stayed there for their stupidity in doing so. It was a paradox, but one the elven elders would face comfortably.

'Your head was turned from true sight on Balaia,' she said. 'And Rebraal will blame you in part for the loss of the temple.'

'Then persuade him to let me help put it right,' said Ilkar. He pointed at his father's house. 'You don't know it, but in that house you've got the most talented warriors and mages on Balaia. They are The Raven and they can make a difference.'

'We have heard the name,' said Kild'aar, unimpressed. 'Our mages who did return as they promised brought word of you. We don't need the help of mercenaries. We need believers. Rebraal is right, you should go.'

Ilkar felt his cheeks colouring, very aware that his paler skin tone from decades on Balaia now set him apart from his own roots. It was useless talking to Kild'aar. And while to a certain extent he could understand their sense of betrayal, he couldn't fathom their obduracy in the face of a genuine offer of help.

'Let me tell you exactly how it's going to be,' said Ilkar, his frustration getting the better of him at last. 'We're here to take mages back to Julatsa, because if we don't there will be no college for you to send your precious defenders to train at. Then where will your Al-Arynaar be, eh? And we will find mages with or without your help. Secondly, we are going to help the sick in this village and we are going to help return the temple to the hands of the Al-Arynaar. We are The Raven and this is what we do. Now you can try and stop us, but consider who is betraying the elven race and faith then.

'Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some organisation to attend to.'

He turned and strode back to his father's house, his desire to prove Kild'aar wrong, to prove that those he loved were not mere strangers to be despised, burning hot within him. Heryst rubbed his hands over his face and leaned back in his chair in the great hall in the tower of Lystern. He seemed to have spent most of his time here in the last few days, meeting senior mages, desperately seeking a solution.

He felt the weight of responsibility bearing him down. In the many clear and frightening moments he experienced when he was alone, he saw himself as the only man truly capable of halting the appalling spiral of the war. But the chances for peace were slipping through his fingers and there was seemingly nothing he could do. His delegation in Xetesk was making no progress and all he heard from Dordover were demands to ally to save Balaia. And they were demands he was finding it increasingly hard to refuse.

'You're tired, Heryst,' said Kayvel, who sat next to him, an unfailing support. 'You should rest.'

'It's not even dark yet,' he replied. 'How can I be tired?'

'It might be something to do with the fact that, to my certain knowledge, you haven't slept for three days, my Lord,' chided Kayvel gently. 'Take an hour. It won't hurt.'

'I'm afraid there isn't time,' said Heryst.

He could feel war advancing like a virus. The hideous events in Arlen were still so fresh. The spell Xetesk had used was a statement, if any such was still needed, of their intention to crush Dordover. And would they stop? Vuldaroq was sure they would not. Heryst was scared he was right.

The violent clearance of the refugees from the gates of the dark college was another clear message and now there were reports of the fighting moving into college lands. Dordovan and Xeteskian supply hamlets and farmland were being fired, college militias were strung out defending vulnerable lands and the opportunities for conflict were growing by the day. And behind it all was that nagging feeling that Selik and the Black Wings would be the only real beneficiaries if the four colleges were dragged into all-out conflict.

It was time for big decisions.

'I'm going back to Dordover,' he said.

'My Lord?'

'I want you to contact Rusau in Xetesk, make sure he keeps up the pressure to meet the Lord of the Mount. But mind him to leave the moment he feels he is under threat.'

'And what will you be saying to Vuldaroq?'

'That we have to look to protect what is left of the balance of the colleges. That we must despatch forces to the defence of Julatsa and that we must consider a blockade of Xeteskian lands. It may be the only way to force them into negotiation. We all understand what they are trying to do and we cannot let them have free run of everything they need through Arlen. And that includes the return of the mages from Herendeneth. We are not strong enough to take them on alone.'

'You will ally?'

'I will take practical steps to ensure Lystern is not destroyed.'

'Ever the politician.'

'I have entered alliance with Dordover before. I will not make the mistake of such a formal arrangement again.' Yron didn't know how long they been running when they at last collapsed off the path, legs like jelly and lungs heaving in tortured chests; he thought they had at least bought themselves an hour or two. But he knew they couldn't stop. Heading off at a gentler pace once they'd got their breath back, he led Ben-Foran east, away from the camp and towards a tributary of the River Shorth that would lead them eventually to the main force of the river and then to the estuary itself.

As they moved, he urged Ben to be as quiet as he was able, to disturb as little as he could and to keep his eyes peeled for anything that might indicate they were being followed. He knew all were futile gestures but it kept Ben from thinking about what had happened at the temple.

He wondered if Ben thought they had left the threat behind them, whether the boy considered the possibility of others in their path. This consumed Yron now, as they tramped through dense forest, ducking branches, vines and great dangling leaves and picking a path as best they could, trying to follow the sun through the thick canopy above when the cloud cleared.

Yron looked at his hands, thankful he'd ordered Ben to don his gloves too. The leather was caught and torn by thorns and bark and the Gods knew what else. His leggings had fared no better and he was pretty sure some snags had penetrated the material to scratch his skin. His light leather coat had kept the worst from his upper body and arms but his face was cut in half a dozen places he could feel and no doubt marked in many others he couldn't. It raised a problem. Two problems, actually.

At their next rest stop, perched on a hollow log that Yron first checked for anything poisonous, he tackled them.

'Ben, look at me,' he said. 'Now, describe every cut you see.'

'Eh?'

'I'm going to do the same for you. We don't need infection and we don't need blood traces.'

'Eh?'

'Are you practising some primate mating call, Ben?' asked Yron. 'And it's "Eh, Captain." '

'I'm sorry, sir, but don't we just have to rest and go? You've nothing but a couple of thorn scratches. Nothing to waste time over.'

Yron cleared his throat and stood up, stepping over to a rubiac plant he'd just spied and plucking the fruits from it. 'Ben, take this as more teaching. Teaching which won't be a waste of time because we're both going to survive this. Always, always plan to survive. And in an environment like this planning is everything. Now tell me, what are we going to do when we get to the river?'

'Jump in, you said,' replied Ben-Foran dubiously. He shivered. 'Something like that. To shake our scent from those panthers.'

'Correct. And it's a dangerous enough move at the best of times. But these aren't the best of times. I counted eight scratches on your face that have drawn blood. Eight scratches that unless we treat before we jump in the river will attract not only every water-borne disease you can think of and twenty you can't, but the even more unwelcome attention of piranhas. And believe you me, these are not the sort of little fishes you want to go swimming with if you're cut.'

'Oh, I see.'

'I'm glad,' said Yron. 'So we take half an hour here. Count our cuts, pick the fruit, make the poultices and apply. All right? Good.'

'Sir?'

'Yes, Ben.'

'Are we going to survive this?'

'Do you consider yourself lucky, Ben?'

The younger man shrugged. 'Recently, yes.'

'Me too. So I think we can. As long as our luck holds. And if you believe that, you'll do something else for me right now.'

'What's that, sir?'

'Keep your hands exactly where they are,' said Yron. 'Don't put the left one down because there's what I believe to be a taipan sliding right by your thigh.'