Elfsorrow

Chapter 7

Baron Blackthorne was holding the latest report on the state of his lands handed to him by a trusted aide. He'd ushered the young man to a seat opposite him while he cast his eye down the summary sheet. It was a mild spring evening outside, though in the cool drawing room at Blackthorne Castle a fire roared in the grate between the fifty-one-year-old baron and his aide.

'Have a glass of wine, Luke,' he said, indicating the decanter of young Blackthorne red on the table in front of him. 'It's ageing well. We'll get a good price for it in a couple of years.'

'Thank you, my Lord,' said Luke.

He reached forward and grabbed the decanter, topping up Blackthorne's glass before filling his own. Blackthorne watched Luke sit back down on the hard armchair and a smile crossed his lips. The transformation in Luke had been remarkable. Blackthorne had encountered him first in the midst of the Wesmen wars as a scared sixteen-year-old who had lost all his family. He'd been struck then with the youth's pragmatism and straight talking and had made good on a promise to develop him. Luke's farming days were behind him but his experience on the land and his remarkable head for figures and organisation had made him absolutely indispensable.

Blackthorne was used to making people nervous. He was aware of his stature and the stern air lent him by his black hair, beard and hard angular face, and he exploited his advantages. Luke, though, had no fears and was one of the few who would challenge him. Blackthorne respected and admired him for it.

He took a sip of wine and looked down the page. 'Am I going to like this?' he asked.

'Yes, Baron,' said Luke. 'Very much. Mostly.'

'Quick precis then,' he said. 'I'll read the detail later.'

Luke ordered his analytical mind before speaking. Blackthorne relaxed into his chair to listen, a finger idly scratching at his beard, which contained an irritating amount of grey these days. But then it had been a hard winter, even in Blackthorne.

'Grain supplies are holding up well and will see us through to first harvest at current population levels. We're still monitoring two bakeries for possible black market sell-on but the others are clear. The scurvy outbreak has been contained. The mages are confident of no further spread and our shipment of oranges began to offload in the bay yesterday.

'We've taken in two hundred more refugees, all families with children, and have now closed the town to more. Out in the fields, the planting is almost complete and spring crops should be ready for harvest in ten days or so. That'll help vegetable supplies. By your order, mounted militia are patrolling the ripening fields, but since the first theft we've had no trouble and the refugee areas are being closely watched.

'Livestock isn't so good, though it's not awful. The dairy herds are fine but we saw a marked depletion in breeding stock during the last two seasons, as you know. New calves, piglets and lambs are all down by up to seventy per cent. You'll see I've made a recommendation in the report that we sell on all excess at the premium it'll command and use the money to buy whatever surplus breeding stock we can find and start aggressively rebuilding our herds. If we play it right, we can establish a very strong market position when this thing blows over.'

'But eat bread and vegetable stew in the meantime, eh?' Blackthorne grimaced.

'Not entirely, my Lord. We've had some success with the rabbits of late.' Luke smiled.

'Ah yes,' said Blackthorne. 'Those.'

It had seemed a grand idea at the time. Capture a few rabbits and breed them. Quick and easy meat, so they thought. Minimal effort and the children of the town had been excited at the prospect of helping. But they had proved susceptible to disease, and they dug. My, how they dug, forcing the fencing to be hammered ever deeper. Blackhorne had been about to abandon the whole project.

'What's different?'

'Well, the mages have isolated the most common disease and devised a treatment for their drinking water that keeps them healthy. And they've also placed a border ward around the fence to a depth of twenty feet. Apparently, it's a low drain spell and is harmless. Just undiggable.'

'Good. Excellent.' Blackthorne smiled. Where would they be without mages?

'The figures are all inside. Shall I wait while you read them?'

'No, no. Thank you, Luke, that's excellent. I'll come to you with any questions.' Luke made to rise. 'Take your time. Finish your wine.'

'Thank you, my Lord.'

'And think on this, as I am. Now the colleges are at war, will the conflict spread here? And if it does, how many refugees will be pushed ahead of it? And when you've made that guess, tell me how you think our defences should be aligned and how our stores would be best protected.'

'That possibility hadn't occurred to me,' said Luke. 'We seem so far away.'

'My job to think ahead, yours to tell me how we deal with it. Take your time.'

Luke stared into his wine. Denser walked with his head bowed despite the beauty of the morning. Time was short and The Unknown didn't really appreciate what he'd asked him to do: try and get Erienne to see reason beyond her grief. There was seldom an instant when he wasn't pained by memories of their daughter, but he had chosen not to torture himself with the type of guilt with which Erienne had become so familiar. He didn't want her to stop grieving; he just wanted her to understand that Lyanna's death had been beyond their control. But today wasn't quite like every other day. Today he had to persuade her to leave Herendeneth.

He knew where he'd find her; it was where she spent most of her time. Either tending the grave or lying by it, perhaps singing Lyanna a song or crying into the grass. Sometimes, mercifully, she slipped into sleep.

This morning, Erienne was watering the flowers as Denser approached from slightly behind and to her left. She had a bucket and a cup and was gently pouring water on to the vibrant blooms and into the earth around them, occasionally reaching in to pull up a weed or pick out a dead leaf. Finishing her task, she filled the cup again and poured the contents over her head and face, the water splashing onto her light-weave clothes and running in rivulets down her face. Three times she refilled the cup, then shook her head to send a fine spray of water into the air. She pushed her hands over her face and through her hair.

Gods falling, but she was beautiful. The water had soaked her shirt; the material clinging to the curve of her breasts and the wet hair hanging down her back were bewitching. Denser sighed. For now, he consigned such thoughts to his dreams. He knew Erienne felt desire too but it was up to her to come to him; she knew he would be waiting.

As always, she heard him approach and half turned, the corners of her mouth turned up just slightly.

'I'm sorry I closed the door last night,' she said.

Denser smiled and shook his head. It hadn't been the first time he'd slept elsewhere. 'Don't worry, love.'

'I missed your breathing.'

'Did you?' Denser sat beside her, surprised at her willingness to talk. So often, this was the hardest thing for her. Seeing the grave brought everything back so clearly.

'Everyone has to have something real,' she said, pushing a strand of hair away from her mouth. 'Something that's there the next time you want it.'

'And I'll always be there.'

'But I know why you're here now. Right now.'

'I assumed you would. You know he's right, don't you?' asked Denser, looking for the flash of anger in her eyes. It wasn't there. At least, not yet.

'But no one asked me, did they? You all just assumed I'd go along. That I'd leave her here alone.' She reached out a hand to pat the ground and the tears were there so suddenly. 'How can you ask that of me? She's my daughter.'

Denser put out an arm but Erienne shied away, wiping at her face with her fingers.

'She'll never be alone. She'll be safe until you return, I'll see to that.'

Erienne made a derisory sound in her throat. 'Going to have one of the Protectors look after this bed, are you? It'll be ruined in a day.'

Denser wasn't sure if she was joking or not. 'There are the Guild elves.'

'If I'm not here, those witches will meddle. Spoil what I've done.' There was the flash and it saddened Denser's heart.

'Erienne, they haven't even the strength to walk here. Nerane can do it. She has the right touch, don't you think?'

Erienne shrugged but said nothing, just stared down at the grave.

'Erienne?' She looked up at him. 'Please? We need you. The Raven isn't complete without you.'

'You'd leave me, would you? If I said no?'

'I'm Raven,' said Denser.

'You're my husband first, you bastard!' she snapped out. 'But The Unknown snaps his fingers and you go running. Fine.'

'When I asked for his help, he was there. For both of us,' said Denser quietly. 'And he left his family to do it. Balaia needs what we can give it.'

'I've lost everything,' said Erienne as if engaged in another conversation.

'Not quite. There's me, there's The Raven and there's Balaia. You'll never lose me but we have to fight for our country.'

Erienne looked hard at him then, trying to discern any insincerity. 'You really think The Raven can help, don't you?'

'Don't you?' replied Denser, and shrugged.

'We don't always win, do we?' said Erienne, her voice threatening to break again.

'No we don't. But we're there nonetheless.'

'And you will go whether I do or not?'

'Oh, love, it's not a choice I want to make. But we've our lives together for ever and I want us to have a country to live in that's worthy of you.'

'Denser, you're so honourable sometimes,' she chided gently, a smile brief as a blink on her lips. 'But you're asking me to leave her and I don't know that I can do that.'

'You'll be among your most trusted friends,' said Denser, and this time she didn't shy away from his arm but allowed him to draw her close. Denser felt a thrill at her beautiful wet hair smell so close to him. 'Here, you'll be alone. With us, you'll never be so.'

'I'll be a burden. Hardly the Raven mage you all remember. I haven't got concentration enough to heal a cut.'

'You'll be fine.' Denser felt he was edging the argument. 'And if you're not with me, I'll fear for you here.'

Erienne tensed and pulled away. 'Another lever to get me off the island and away from my daughter. Convenient indeed.'

Denser cursed silently. 'Don't be angry, please. I don't think The Unknown had much choice. They'd have come here sooner or later anyway. At least now they'll do some good too.'

'Like forcing me from here, you mean.'

'Like freeing Protectors and helping dragons,' said Denser more sharply than he'd intended. He took a breath and softened his tone. 'Look, right now, no one but we and the Al-Drechar know what you carry. And one day I'm sure you'll be open to the hope it offers. But if Xetesk finds out you have the spirit of the One within you, they'll stop at nothing to exploit you. You know that.'

'You've got all the cards, haven't you?' Erienne stood up and brushed herself down, her stare cold. 'Bet you all think you're being very clever, don't you?'

'Erienne, this isn't about forcing you from Lyanna, surely you see that? It's about-'

'Fighting for bloody Balaia again. Yes, I know.' Denser all but flinched at the hardness in her tone. 'Well look where helping other people has got me. Three dead children. When's someone going to help me for a change? When's someone…'

She crumpled into a heap, her sobs shuddering her body, huge breaths heaving in and out. Denser pulled her onto his lap, stroking her hair and whispering close to her ear, biting hard on his own sorrow lest it overcome him too.

'We'll help you,' he said. 'But you have to let us in. And you have to start to let go. Please let me in, Erienne. Please.' 'How many of them were there?' Captain Yron wiped a hand across his face and looked over the scorched carnage in front of the temple. He had been very lucky, slipping round what was apparently a ForceCone and diving aside just as the doors exploded, killing thirty of his people in an instant. Even so, he'd had the hair scorched from his chin and half his head. It itched like hell.

'Nine, sir,' said his just-promoted second in command, a drawn and scared youth called Ben-Foran. The boy had smears of black over his face and a long burn down the left side of his chin and neck.

'Dear Gods, is that all? Are you sure there are no more?'

'As sure as we can be, sir. But they can just melt into the forest.' Ben-Foran's eyes were everywhere. Yron couldn't blame him. In all they'd lost eighty-five men to wards, swords and poisoned arrows. Such ferocity he'd never known before. Yron was aware of the Al-Arynaar, of course, but they weren't supposed to be so fierce, unlike the elite TaiGethen. More a ceremonial guard. And if rumour and intelligence could be so wrong about the Al-Arynaar, what about their reportedly far more dangerous cousins?

'Well, let's make sure our perimeter defence is sound. As many as possible will sleep inside tonight,' he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the beautifully cool temple. 'We'll be all right.'

Ben-Foran looked past him. 'Are they nearly finished in there?'

Yron looked round at his two remaining mages, searching for more wards and traps. They'd been in there hours, and the sun had been unrelenting since the pre-dawn rains.

'Gods, I hope so, son,' he said. He clapped the boy on the shoulder and turned him round. 'Come on. Let's check the living and honour the dead, what's left of them.'

An insect bit into his arm. He slapped at the creature, the third he had felt in the last few minutes. Gods knew how many had gone unnoticed. He caught the expression on Ben-Foran's face. Both men scratched at their arms instinctively. He knew what the boy was thinking. Cuts, blisters and insect stings meant nothing in Balaia but everything here. And only two mages to keep almost fifty men well. They would have to be very careful.

The pyre was still burning on the centre of the apron when Yron finally got his first look inside the temple that had cost them so dear. All but the two mages and Ben-Foran were outside, awaiting the signal that meant relief from the oppressive heat and humidity of the early afternoon.

Inside, it was almost cool, chilly in comparison. The stone was deep and carried little heat, and the flow of cold water into the pool, undoubtedly from some underground spring, gave the temple a refreshing atmosphere. It was, Yron conceded as he looked up at the splendidly detailed statue, a very pleasant place to be. At that moment almost perfect in fact.

'The light is beautiful,' said Ben-Foran.

Yron turned. Ben was indicating the shafts of coloured light filtering through the glass blocks and windows at the top of the temple walls and set into the base of the dome roof. The effect had clearly been lessened by the destruction of the doors but he could see what the boy meant.

'Not just decorative, either,' said Erys, a clever young mage archivist with very bright red hair he should have kept shorter. If he had been a soldier, Yron could have forced him to.

'Used in ceremony, you think?' suggested Yron.

'Much more than that. They open and close doors at the back of the temple.'

Yron raised his eyebrows. 'Really? I think you'd better show me that.'

Erys led the captain around the statue into a short corridor. It was dark but for light spilling out from two open doorways.

'Both of these opened while we were in here, and a third closed,' said Erys. 'We thought it was a trap at first but Stenys is convinced it's the lights passing across particular areas of the statue. We'll monitor it.'

Yron glanced into one of the rooms. It was a shrine of sorts. A carved figure sat in an alcove surrounded by incense sticks. A few parchments lay stacked on a low table. A single cushion was propped against the back wall.

'Anything of interest here?'

Erys shook his head. 'I don't think so but we'll take everything anyway. There are some more likely papers next door but we'll have to wait for the real prize.'

Yron stared at him blankly.

'There must be a dozen rooms at least,' the mage explained. 'And we don't know when they'll open.'

Yron snorted. 'Then let's take the walls down. I'm not waiting here a day longer than I have to. I'm being eaten alive. And some of them out there won't last. You've seen the fever.'

'I know.' Erys nodded. 'And we'll do everything we can. But there's something you don't understand. Come and see.'

He led Yron back through the temple to the doors. Ben-Foran had wandered back outside to organise something.

'Here,' said Erys, indicating the stone lintel and the pillars that had once housed the doors. 'Notice anything interesting?'

Yron gave the elaborate carvings and engravings on the stonework a cursory glance and rubbed a hand across the smooth insides where the door frame had sat flush. He shrugged.

'Well, it doesn't seem too damaged.'

'Captain, it isn't damaged at all. I mean, there aren't even any scorch marks. Not here, not anywhere on the temple stone. I know that ward was focussed out but even so…'

'Meaning?'

'It's why we were so long earlier. We've probed the structure. Every stone in this temple is bound to every other by a force we can't fathom. It's magic of some sort, but ancient. Really ancient. The only thing not bound in is the statue they built this place round – presumably because it's marble.'

'So you're saying it's strong, is that it?'

'Oh, it's much more than strong,' said Erys. 'If you scratch away the lichen and plant growth on the outside, it hardly even looks old. For one thing, I don't think any spell or tool we've got can do the job. And for another, if by some mischance we did damage the structure, the binding magic would snap any hole shut. Rather violently.'

'Terrific,' muttered Yron. 'Welcome to your new home.' He scratched at his arms, feeling the lumps of the insect bites. He faced the mage. 'Right, I want you two to examine every parchment you find immediately each of these bloody doors opens. Finding a text on repelling insects would go down very well right now.'

Erys chuckled. 'We'll do what we can. Unfortunately, much of it's in an ancient elven dialect we can't read.'

'Well, this gets better,' said Yron dryly. 'How will you know when you've found what Dystran wants?'

'We won't,' he said. 'Not necessarily anyway, though we expect to recognise enough to help us. But we're still taking pretty much everything that's not nailed down. Just in case.'

Yron looked for a sign that Erys was joking. He plainly wasn't. The captain nodded.

'Right, I'll catch up with you later. Let me know about anything else you find.' He switched his attention outside. 'Ben! Get your arse over here!'

'Sir!' The new lieutenant jogged up.

'Right. Here's what I want. Log every cut, blister and infected bite. List every man with the fever. Give it all to Stenys to work through. Next, I need eight of the fittest to go back to the camp and bring back enough canvas to cover this entrance and set up a stores tent. They are also to bring shovels, wood axes and picks and I want as much food as they can load onto the pack animals, assuming the stupid things are still alive. They have a remarkably developed instinct for uncovering danger.

'Anyway. The camp guard and the mage are to stay there, look after the sick and the rest of the kit. If that dimwit girl can keep any of them alive, it would be a real bonus. I want the eight back here by midnight so they'd better get a move on. Meanwhile, you mark out pitching and shit-hole areas, organise a firewood party and set a ring of four fires around this entrance. I don't want anything unwelcome disturbing my sleep. Looks like we could be here for a while. All clear?'

Ben-Foran nodded. 'Yes, sir.'

'Good. I'll be inside exercising my rank privilege and watching you all get hot and tired. We'll all sleep in there tonight but anyone pissing in the pool gets staked out for the jaguars. Oh, and Ben, remind the firewood party to wear gloves and be careful where they're putting their hands. If it moves when you pick it up, it isn't a stick.'

Ben-Foran grinned. 'Yes, sir.'

'Good. Now get to it. The light'll fade quickly.' Yron turned and strode back into the glorious cool of the temple. 'Dear Gods, what did I do to land this dog's arse of a command?'