Valour

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CORBAN

It was still dark when Gar shook Corban awake. Without speaking, the two of them slipped into the sword dance. Dawn crept over them soon after, picking out Vonn standing on watch, the others rising and setting about the ritual of breaking camp.

Others were sparring about them with cloth-covered weapons as Corban finished the dance.

‘Where are Halion and Marrock?’ Corban asked, noticing their absence.

‘They left in the dead of night with Camlin,’ Vonn answered his question. The young warrior had been withdrawn and silent since the book had been taken from him. ‘My guess is another visit to our pursuers. Maybe just scouting, though I guess at more.’

Gar grunted an agreement.

Corban didn’t know how to feel about that. He had hated the last night attack, especially the killing from shadows. Even though he knew it was an act driven by survival, it had still felt like cowardice. But there had been a sense of camaraderie that had grown amongst them because of it, of risks taken, danger shared. Part of him felt disappointed at being left out this time.

‘Do not look so disappointed,’ Vonn said with a bitter twist to his lips. ‘I offered to go with them but they refused me. Perhaps they do not trust me.’

Being Evnis’ son will not help you, and keeping the book a secret did you no favours, either.

‘Trust has to be earned,’ Gar said.

‘Aye. As does honour,’ Vonn replied, then walked away.

Corban shared a look with Gar.

‘Corban,’ Brina called him, hovering close by with Heb.

‘It’s time we started,’ Brina said.

He saw she had the book they had taken from Vonn in her hands.

‘Learning to be an Elemental, you mean.’

‘Yes, Ban.’

He felt scared suddenly, as if he were standing at the opening of a dark tunnel. ‘Why do you want to teach me?’ he asked suspiciously.

‘Because you’re expendable,’ Brina snapped. ‘If something goes wrong and you end up melted it won’t matter too much.’ She strode away.

Heb sighed. ‘It’s a compliment, Corban,’ he said.

‘Is this something to do with what Gar said — about me being chosen.’ There had been a number of silent stares at Corban since Gar’s shocking confession. He’d even caught Dath and Farrell looking at him oddly. ‘You should pay it no mind, you know. Gar’s clearly confused. .’ he trailed off, knowing that Gar did not seem the type to be confused about anything.

Heb regarded him silently. ‘Not for Brina’s part.’

‘Then why me?’

‘Brina likes you, Corban.’ Heb smiled, Corban snorted. ‘You must understand: there is a gateway to great power contained in that book, something that must be guarded. In the wrong hands untold damage could be done. Brina trusts you. Do you think she would want to teach just anyone — Dath, for example, or Farrell?’

‘I don’t know,’ Corban said.

‘Not even Edana or Marrock. You are the only one she will consider teaching. Brina trusts you.’

He felt strangely pleased at that thought. Honoured, even. ‘All right, then,’ he said to Heb. Together they followed Brina into the cover of the trees.

‘I’ll take the risk of being melted,’ Corban said to her, ‘though my mam may have something to say about that.’

Brina’s lips twitched.

‘We’ll start with a lesson,’ Heb said.

‘Of course you will,’ Brina muttered.

‘Once all were Elementals,’ Heb continued, ignoring her. ‘It was part of the All-Father’s design; giants and men were the overseers or guardians of creation, and so they were gifted a certain authority over that creation — specifically the elements of fire, water, earth and air.’

‘That is how we summoned the mist, during our escape from Dun Carreg,’ Brina interjected.

Corban nodded thoughtfully. ‘How did you learn these powers? Were you born with them?’

‘It is not something that just happens, like clicking your fingers,’ Brina said. ‘A bairn is not just able to wield a sword.’

‘No,’ Corban said, ‘but some take to it better than others.’

‘There may be something in what you say,’ Heb conceded, frowning. ‘This book talks of two paths to power. One is the way that Brina and I know a little of. The other. .’

‘The other we shall not speak of,’ Brina said.

Heb regarded her a moment, then shrugged. ‘Suffice to say that blood seems to be important. There are suggestions that some bloodlines are stronger; perhaps a purer lineage from the first men. And then there is the use of actual blood; from a living body-’

‘I said we will not speak of that,’ Brina snapped.

‘As you wish. You must understand, Corban, that this is not set out plain. Brina and I have spent years putting scraps of knowledge together.’

‘We studied and learned,’ Brina said. ‘There is value in reading, as I have always told you, though it took us years, decades, to discover even a small portion of what is contained in this book.’

‘So how do I make mist rise from the ground?’ He liked the thought of that, remembering the escape from Dun Carreg — a thick mist enveloping them, hiding them from their attackers. That could be a handy trick to know. He felt a glimmer of excitement.

‘In essence, the act of elemental control can be broken down to two parts,’ Heb said in his loremaster’s voice. ‘You have to believe it, and then you have to speak it.’

‘So if I tell mist to rise from the ground, then it will? It cannot be that simple.’

‘Well, yes and no,’ Heb said with a faint smile. ‘Your words show you are defeated already — you do not believe it will happen. I do not mean that you think it might happen, and so give it a try. You have to believe it, absolutely, as you believe a chair will support your weight before you sit upon it, or that an apple will fall to the ground when you drop it.’

‘And there is common sense,’ Brina added.

‘Yes, you must be aware of your surroundings. For example, you could not command a mist to arise from a desert. Mist is moisture, water. In Dun Carreg Brina and I commanded the moisture in the ground to rise up. If it had not been there to begin with, then nothing would have happened. You understand?’

‘Yes.’ Corban nodded. It did make sense to him. This is becoming interesting.

‘So, then, I have to believe whatever it is that I want to happen, and then I just speak it.’

‘Yes,’ Heb said.

‘Though it’s still not quite that simple,’ Brina said.

Of course it isn’t.

‘You have to speak it in this language,’ Heb said, taking the book from Brina and opening it. It was full of runes, a script that Corban recognized from the inscription carved into the archway of Stonegate, back in Dun Carreg.

‘Is that giantish?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ Brina said.

‘It is much more than that,’ Heb said. ‘It is the first language. The tongue of angels, giants, men. It is the language of Elyon, the Maker.’

‘So I have to learn giantish.’ Inwardly, Corban groaned.

‘Yes,’ Brina said. She smiled.

There was a rustling in the undergrowth and Storm appeared. She nudged him, making him stagger, and then she growled, looking through the trees.

‘What is it?’ Corban said, then saw three figures appearing from the underbrush. He recognized Halion. Immediately Corban knew something was wrong — the figure in the middle was being supported, half carried.

Marrock.

He was waxen pale, one arm hanging limp, blood dripping from it.

‘What happened?’ Corban called as he ran to them, to help carry the injured man into their camp.

‘Wounded during our raid,’ Halion breathed. ‘Think he was mauled by one of their hounds.’

‘It’s not that bad,’ Marrock said.

‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Brina snapped. She sent Corban running for her pack as she examined Marrock’s arm.

‘Everyone be ready to ride,’ Camlin called out, marching through the camp. ‘We need t’move. Think we’ve been tracked.’

All the mounts were saddled and ready.

When Corban returned to Brina she was pouring water from a skin over the wound. Corban caught a sight of frayed flesh and white bone amidst the blood. Brina took her pack from Corban, rummaged inside it a moment, then unstoppered a jug of something, muttered, ‘This is going to sting,’ and poured it over the wound. Marrock drew in a sharp breath and Brina bandaged his forearm, placing leaves over the bite-marks.

A horn call rang out behind them, answered by the baying of hounds, much louder than Corban would have liked.

‘We must leave,’ Halion said.

‘Dath, string your bow and follow me,’ Camlin said, mounting a saddled horse. Dath looked about nervously, then followed the woodsman.

‘Can you ride?’ Brina asked Marrock, who was drenched in sweat. He nodded and was hastily assisted into a saddle, then they were all riding hard away from the sound of their pursuers.

They rode through broken woodland all day, the land changing from meadows and wide valleys to rolling hills, the trees turning to pine as they rose steadily higher. In the distance, to the north-west, Corban could see a dark smudge on the horizon: mountains. Corban kept checking over his shoulder, hoping for Dath and Camlin’s return.

At highsun they stopped briefly to rest their mounts, then set off again. The afternoon passed. As the sun dipped into the horizon they were strung in a line behind Halion, who was keeping the horses cantering, making the most of the soft pine-needles that covered the ground, allowing a good speed.

We’ve made good time, covered a lot of ground. Surely we’ve widened the gap between us, Corban thought. But where are Camlin and Dath?

Then Marrock fell from his saddle, sliding like a sack of grain onto the pine-covered ground.