Laromendis said, ‘I will assume you know how we came back to this world, and about our city. Should you need more detail, I will answer your questions, but for the moment, let me begin with the night we found we were betrayed.’ He took a breath, as if to focus his thoughts on painful memories. ‘We were sleeping when Tanderae, the Loremaster of the Clan of the Seven Stars, woke us and told us to follow him. We dressed quickly and left our quarters, hurrying to the main complex of the Regent’s Meet and the portal room. When we got there, three soldiers were waiting for us: the captain of the Sentinels, Egun, and two of his soldiers. To both of us, as well as the two Sentinels with the captain, Tanderae said, “The captain and I witnessed something … unbelievable, but we need you to believe us.”
‘One of the soldiers said, “Whatever the captain says will be true,” and his companion nodded. That is when Tanderae told us that the Regent Lord had summoned a creature, something from the Forbidden, within the portal room.’
‘The Forbidden?’ asked Liallan.
‘All that is known by only the most trusted loremasters and …’ Gulamendis glanced at his brother, ‘a few others about the time before the taredhel left Midkemia during the Ancient Ones’ war against the gods that the humans call the Chaos Wars.’
Liallan nodded. ‘The knowledge of the Ancient Ones is closely guarded … Yes, I understand. Say on.’
Laromendis picked up the narrative: ‘We knew enough of the ancient lore to realize the implications. The two soldiers only knew that the Forbidden was an area of history denied to the Clan of the Seven Stars by Regents’ edict since the departure from this world, but they instantly recognized there was something gravely wrong and deferred to Captain Egun’s wisdom.’
Gulamendis added, ‘Which we fervently hope will be the attitude of the rest of the Sentinels. The Lord Regent can muster some of the most powerful magic-users among his Meet, but they are few in number. More of the magicians would be opposed to anything regarding the Forbidden, so the balance would teeter on where the Sentinels stand.’
Laromendis nodded. ‘Tanderae said we would not be missed for a while, so we needed to depart that night for Elvandar. We were to tell Lord Tomas we needed him in E’bar to deal with the Regent. Understand that Tomas by his very existence was part of the Forbidden: he was the Forbidden manifest.’
Gulamendis added, ‘I knew more of the Forbidden than any other elf besides the Loremaster, by dint of my mastery of demons, for all demon-lore is considered part of the Forbidden. The only reason I am still alive is because my ability to summon, control, or destroy these infernal creatures was important in the war against the demons.’
‘I wouldn’t let that be widely known,’ said Liallan. ‘Even among the shamans it’s frowned upon.’ She smiled. ‘Place-your-head-on-a-pole frowned upon.’
‘Understood,’ Gulamendis continued. ‘Early on in the war, the demon-summoners were blamed for the attacks, and were hunted down and put to death. The Circle of Light – a society of scholars that my brother and I were members of – objected and fell into disfavour with the Regent Lord. The organization’s effectiveness was first blunted, then it was finally disbanded. Tanderae was very young when it was dissolved, as was Laromendis, and so they escaped the social stigma and political tarnish that more established members had endured.’
Laromendis nodded agreement. ‘But we were still regarded with suspicion. Tanderae was the only one from the Circle to rise in importance, because he had a powerful mentor, his predecessor.’
Gulamendis finished by saying, ‘A galasmancer named Ilderan transported us to a flag point, a magical marker left by scouts so galasmancers can create portals to a specific location to ensure no one is materialized inside a rock or twenty feet in the air.’
Laromendis said, ‘I was that scout. I placed the point flags when I scouted to the north of that valley, upon first arrival. I made an almost-complete circuit of the Bitter Sea when I first scouted for the Regent. So I knew the route to Elvandar, our first destination. We were an hour down the trail when we heard a faint booming noise, like very distant thunder. Then came a strange, shifting sensation, bordering on a moment of vertigo. So we climbed an outcrop that took us up to a rocky vantage point where no trees grew and we saw, in the sky to the south, a red beacon of light shooting into the night sky.’
‘What was it?’ asked Liallan.
‘I had no idea until a human girl, Lady Bethany of Carse, arrived at Elvandar. She carried word from Tanderae as well as coming to find her mother, and others from Crydee who had fled the Keshians during their war.
‘Tanderae’s convinced the Lord Regent and his followers were all destroyed within the red dome after the monstrosity they’d summoned arrive in E’bar.’
‘A fitting end to traitors,’ suggested Liallan with a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘So you found the elf queen.’
‘Yes,’ said Laromendis. ‘We told our story to her and her consort and they pondered it.’
‘They pondered?’ asked the leader of the Snow Leopards.
‘Until Lady Bethany arrived,’ said Gulamendis, ‘bringing word from Tanderae. Then they acted, at once sending four of their Spellweavers to aid the magicians in E’bar, with more to follow.’
Liallan turned her head and stared off into the distance for a moment. ‘How like them,’ she said. ‘They pondered. They debated. They considered.’ She sighed. ‘They live in a world where time doesn’t pass and …’ She let the words fall away. ‘So you discovered what that red light was?’
‘A beacon – at least that’s what Tanderae thought,’ Gulamendis replied. ‘What Lady Bethany had to say was disturbing, mostly because the descriptions are sketchy.’
‘Say on,’ commanded Liallan.
‘Creatures of shadow escape from the bubble of light surrounding the city,’ said Laromendis. ‘Sentinels defend the magic-casters and eventually destroy these creatures, whatever they are. We know they are not demonic. We’ve fought demons too long—’
‘So these creatures …?’
‘In your lore, do you have the Forbidden?’
‘If I understand your question, not the way you mean,’ said the leader of the Snow Leopards. ‘If you’re speaking of the Time Before, when we were in thrall to the Ancient Ones? It’s not Forbidden to speak of such things, but it’s frowned upon.’
‘Head-on-pole frowned upon?’ asked Laromendis.
She nodded.
‘In the queen’s court,’ said Gulamendis, ‘a name was given to us. Cetswaya.’
Liallan tilted her head slightly, as if curious. ‘From whom did you hear that name?’
‘A Spellweaver of the Eldar: Janil.’
‘Ah,’ said Liallan. ‘Continue.’
‘E’bar calls for magical help in battling these smoke-and-shadow beings. The Queen of Elvandar had already dispatched Spellweavers. We were told you have powerful shaman among your clans, including this Cetswaya.’
‘He is the shaman of the Ice Bears, my nephew Arkan’s clan.’
‘We have heard that name,’ said Laromendis.
‘Arkan?’
‘He was in Ylith with the queen’s son, Calis.’
‘Really?’ She fell silent. Then she told a servant, ‘Send for Arjuda.’
The young moredhel woman withdrew and Liallan asked, ‘So, my nephew?’
‘We were told by Lady Bethany,’ said Gulamendis, ‘that he met Prince Calis in Ylith, and while the city was besieged he helped defend it from the Keshians.’
‘Killing humans is never a problem,’ quipped Liallan.
‘I’m vague on the details,’ continued the demon-master, ‘but Arkan was on some errand to find a human sorcerer, and Calis, who had carried messages for the queen, decided to continue on with him. Lady Bethany said they departed together with a human woman and man.’
Liallan sighed. ‘So many disturbing things …’ She regarded the two taredhel. ‘You from the stars, you have no idea of what you left behind.’ She leaned forwa
rd on her cushion. ‘You and I are descended from the same stock. We were closest to the Ancient Ones, our masters. The Queen of Elvandar descends from those who cared for this world, and their ties to the soil are the deepest. The eldar were the librarians, the scholars, those who attempted to bring order out of the unending stream of loot and artefacts brought back to this world by our Dragon Lord masters. But we were the ones who served, who stood at their sides, who filled their beds, who endured their whims and wrath.’ She sat back. ‘And in the best and worst ways, we were the most like them. When the Chaos Wars erupted, and our masters flew to whatever fate waited for them, and we became a free people, you Star Elves vanished. You simply left.’ She looked from Gulamendis to Laromendis. ‘We stayed, while you fled.’
The brothers exchanged glances. ‘We are taught that this world was in peril, balancing on the edge of destruction, and some among our people had the art of galasmancery, and opened a portal, escaping to a world unknown to the Ancient Ones.’
Liallan said, ‘Thereby leaving the rest of us behind.’
‘We … we are not taught that way,’ said Gulamendis.
‘I doubt you would be,’ Liallan said. ‘What’s taking that old man so long?’ She leaned forward to glimpse out the open entrance to her pavilion, then turned back to the two taredhel. ‘What we began – the struggles, the clan rivalry, the brutality – all this was necessary. We forged a nation of warriors in blood and fire, and fought for supremacy with invaders from other worlds, humans, dwarves, orcs—’
‘Orcs? We’ve heard no tales of them,’ said Gulamendis.
‘We hunted them down and destroyed them utterly, as did the dwarves,’ said the ruler of the Snow Leopards. ‘Their lesser kin we let live as long as they ceased opposing us, so goblins are still around. We left the elves in Elvandar to themselves, until our own young heard the call of their queen.’ She looked at the twins. ‘Our ties to this world are profound, for we are the first race after our masters to be born of this world. Those in Aglaranna’s court are closest to those ties, so of course some would feel the tug.
‘But we cannot allow it, for we are a free people and will never bend knee to that woman. Some of us sought to emulate our masters, and some were driven mad by their ambition. Others sought to isolate themselves in the forests of the south. Others across the sea were so isolated they became like the humans who surrounded them.’ She paused. ‘But things change. If we answer E’bar’s call, we shall have a reckoning.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Laromendis.
‘Your Lord Regent, in his arrogance, sent an envoy to instruct us as to how we must behave should any of our clans venture south of the River Boundary. He dictated to clans that occupied those hills and forests in the Green Heart for centuries while you were out flying among the stars. He said, should they return home, they must bend knee to him.’
‘I suspect,’ said Gulamendis, ‘the Lord Regent will not be dictating conditions to anyone any more. If what Tanderae says he saw was true, the Lord Regent, and most of his Meet, are already dead.’
‘Then we will deal with your new masters. Who will rule?’
‘A new Meet,’ said Gulamendis. ‘Tanderae will probably be the next Lord Regent.’
Further discussion was interrupted by the arrival of a very old man wearing a robe and a necklace of charms. ‘Mistress,’ he said, bowing.
‘This is Arjuda, my shaman.’ She indicated that he should sit. ‘Now, tell him what you told me,’ she ordered, and the two brothers retold their story.
When they had finished, the shaman was silent for a very long time, then said, ‘I am troubled, Liallan. Of late I’ve had dreams, and there have been portents. I have consulted the smoke and looked into the waters.’
‘What did you see?’ she asked.
‘Time as we know it is ending and the new time will be forged by other hands if we do not act, but the risk is grave.’
‘How grave?’
‘Our people – all our kin, no matter how changed or distant – all of us stand before an abyss. From within that abyss comes a darkness so profound that it could be the end of all of us.’
Liallan was silent. Unlike some shamans, Arjuda was not given to theatrics or histrionics to add conviction to his foretelling. His skills were without question. Then she said, ‘Janil sent these two to find Cetswaya.’
‘Wise,’ said Arjuda. ‘He is among the very few I would place ahead of myself in understanding such things.’
‘Where abides Cetswaya?’
‘To the north,’ answered the old shaman. ‘As his father Arkan commanded, Antesh has taken the Ice Bears into the icelands again, to await such a time as they are safe to return.’
‘Why do I think such a time may not come?’ She rose. ‘Use your dream-magic to summon Cetswaya and his clan south,’ she instructed Arjuda. ‘Can you do that?’
‘I can try. Dream-magic between Cetswaya and myself has always been strong, but you’d do well to send a fast rider north to seek out the Ice Bears. They intend to enter the floes at the Black Ice Massive, on the shores of the frozen sea to the north of Sar-Sargoth. From there they will migrate east. The broken floes are thick with seal, walrus, and ice birds.’
‘I will send runners, for I think the shamans of the clans of the north must meet. Then we must plan to move south.’
Laromendis said, ‘You’ll aid us then?’
‘You sound surprised.’
‘I hoped, but didn’t expect. Why?’
Softly she said, ‘Because at night, I dream of dragons.’
She signalled the two Star Elves to follow her and led them and Arjuda outside.
She merely motioned and within minutes word was travelling through the camp that she would speak. A three-step platform was carried out by four strong moredhel warriors and she mounted it. Within minutes, the larger part of her people had gathered below on the hillside and down in the valley. She called out in a surprisingly strong and clear voice, ‘My people! Send the word to our brethren and our allies to gather. Send word to the humans at the Inclindel Gap, and to the Hadati tribes in the hills of Yabon, and to the eledhel in Elvandar. We will trouble them not if they do not hinder our passing, but we shall crush any who stand in our way.
‘In five days as the sun rises, the Snow Leopards will go south. We shall take the Inclindel Gap and pass through the land of the Hadati, past the borders of Elvandar, to E’bar to aid our besieged cousins, the taredhel!
‘My people, ready yourselves! The Snow Leopards march to war!’
• CHAPTER EIGHTEEN •
Travel
JIM DASHER GRIPPED THE SHEET.
The Roldem naval messenger ship Lord Archibald leaped through the combers as it swung around the southernmost point of Kingdom Island, a large, barren and uninhabited islet in the westernmost bay of the Sea of Kingdoms. It was one of the navy’s fastest cutters, and it was shadowing Prince Oliver’s fleet. Oliver had received word from his agents that Salador had marched on Silden, meaning that the coast between the two cities would be clear. It was his intention to land his army somewhere beneficial, organize them and march to confront Edward.
Over the previous few months, Jim had used every resource at his disposal to discover what he could about Oliver’s plans. Prince Oliver of Maladon and Simrick had cooperated by allowing his patience to wear thin. It had become obvious over the previous month that the Congress of Lords would not convene to crown a new king until a single clear claimant to the throne emerged.
All the voting nobles were in the field, under arms, or holed up in their castles awaiting the outcome. As the winners would vote and the losers would be in chains or dead, it was a foregone conclusion that the winning side in this conflict would end up naming the new king.
The Congress of Lords was largely a good thing in Jim’s opinion, when rival claimants agreed to adjudicate their differences peacefully; but when there was no clear claimant and the different sides had no intention of a peaceful settlement,
civil war was the result.
Oliver had made his bargain with Chadwick of Ran. When the dust settled, Chadwick’s holdings would be likely to have appreciated by more than half, as would his revenues, and he would be the richest and most powerful duke in the Kingdom. Moreover, Chadwick’s idiot son would be given Montgomery’s position of Earl of Rillanon, effectively governor of the home island, when Montgomery was named Duke of Rillanon – which would occur as soon as Oliver took the throne and the current Duke of Rillanon died. And Oliver would ensure the latter followed the former quickly, Jim was certain.
Jim was also certain that Montgomery’s tenure would be a short one, ostensibly to show forgiveness of previous rivals, though Montgomery was a threat to no one, and eventually old Monty would be replaced by one of Oliver’s favourites.
What Oliver didn’t know was Jim Dasher Jamison, Count of this, Baronet of that, occasional thief, murderer, and professional liar, had tampered with his intelligence. Jim had intercepted messages from various vassals to Oliver and had tinkered with them for over a month now. He had learned long ago that the best lie was wrapped in truth. So rather than confuse Oliver with blatant disinformation, he had lulled him with slightly altered truths.
Oliver expected an unopposed landing on a wide stretch of coast due south of Malac’s Cross, which would put him on a beach below the headlands just two miles from where the Western Highway intersected the road between Salador and Silden. From there it would be a march due west to the Fields of Albalyn. He expected to be safe on both flanks, with Duke Arthur holding both Silden and Salador. His only threat was from Charles of Bas-Tyra, since their falling out, but because Bas-Tyra’s only route to aid Edward would be through Silden, Arthur of Salador would keep him from reaching Edward before the issue was decided.