Bronze Magic

by Jennifer Ealey

  With a wave of his hand, the sorcerer released his spell. Rainstorm’s face suffused with chagrin and tears sprang to his eyes. He looked around wildly at everyone, then turned on his heel and ran.

  “Ooh dear,” said Tarkyn quietly, “I think I may have been a little too harsh.”

  “My lord, how could you say so?” said Danton hotly, as he rubbed his bruising jaw. “He tried to attack you. He should be severely punished.”

  “He already has been,” said the prince ruefully. “He is still young and his emotions are undisciplined, not unlike my own, I would have to say.” Then Tarkyn turned on his liegeman and let fly. “But you, Danton, have no excuse. You presume to order these people around and to impose you own expectations on them, in direct contradiction to my own. I am very displeased. You have had the barefaced audacity to come in here and throw your weight about without even consulting me on my wishes. You are welcome to your own expectations but you have no right to impose them on anyone else.”

  Danton bowed stiffly. “I beg your pardon, Your Highness. I will strive to do better.”

  Tarkyn took a deep breath and relented, “I’m sure you will. You did well not to retaliate. Now, let me see to that jaw of yours.”

  “In what way, Sire?”

  The prince gave a short laugh. “To heal it, Danton. One of those new skills I was mentioning.” Tarkyn put his hand on the guardsman’s shoulder. “Close your eyes. Now take the power I am sending you and direct it into the damaged tissue of your jaw.”

  Danton hesitated briefly but then did as he was asked. After a couple of minutes, he opened his eyes and gazed in amazement at the prince. “That was impressive. I’ve never come across anything like that before.”

  After a moment, Danton turned his attention to Waterstone, made him a small bow and said formally, “Waterstone, I apologise for not heeding your words and for trying to impose my opinions on you.” He ran a shaky hand across his forehead. “To tell you the truth, I feel a little out of my depth. All the rules I am used to do not seem to apply here and suddenly, I do not know how I should behave.” He looked at his prince, “The last thing I want to do is offend you, Sire. Perhaps if you could spare the time, at some point, to explain your expectations….”

  “I will, Danton, but not now. You all need to get some rest. I suspect everyone’s tolerance levels will improve after some sleep. Meanwhile, I need to go and repair a young woodman’s opinion of himself. I believe we are all meeting at lunchtime to work out our course of action. So, Danton, I will see you in three hours’ time.”

  Tarkyn walked off into the forest in the direction the feisty young woodman had taken. He wandered aimlessly for a while then thought about where he himself tended to go when he was upset and headed down towards the stream. The waters were still higher than they had been when he first saw them, but the stream was well within its banks and burbling calmly across the rocks. Tarkyn followed the stream around a bend and then, clearing a small overhang of bushes, came upon Rainstorm and North Wind, sitting on the bank of the stream, deep in conversation.

  The prince sketched a small bow and said, “My apologies for intruding,” and stepped back, preparing to leave them to it.

  Rainstorm threw him a black look. “No. Please don’t feel you have to stay. I wouldn’t expect you’d want to speak to us any more, now that you have a fellow sorcerer to talk to.”

  As Tarkyn paused, working out how to respond, he was startled by North Wind saying, “I don’t think his sorcerer friend is feeling much happier than you at the moment. To give him his due, the prince threw his weight around in both directions.”

  Rainstorm stared angrily across the water. “I bet he didn’t call Danton a coward.”

  As North Wind met Tarkyn’s eyes, the prince indicated himself and then pointed away with a query. North Wind shook his head and pointed downwards, indicating that he should stay. Tarkyn sat down quietly behind them with his back to a tree.

  “I don’t think you’re a coward. Hot-headed maybe, but not a coward,” said the prince quietly.

  Rainstorm sent him a smouldering look over his shoulder. “Oh yeah, right. You think I would knowingly attack someone who couldn’t hit back. In my experience, that’s a coward.”

  “I presume from this, that you didn’t know Danton had agreed not to use any violence?”

  “That’s not the point, Your Highness. The point is that you thought I might have known and still attacked him.” Rainstorm picked up a stone and threw it with some violence into the stream.

  North Wind again surprised him. “The prince said you either forgot or didn’t know when you hit Danton.”

  Tarkyn raised his eyebrows, “You must have been listening closely. I didn’t think you would be able to hear from the other side of the clearing.”

  North Wind gave a wry grin, “Autumn Leaves relayed the confrontation to me.”

  “I might have known our peacemaker would be in this somewhere.” Tarkyn looked at Rainstorm’s stiff back and grimaced, “Rainstorm, Danton overstepped the mark and so did you. It happens to all of us some time or other. That’s when we find out where the limits really are.”

  “You’re bloody lucky the prince didn’t belt the living daylights out of you, charging him like that,” put in North Wind. “I would have, in his position.”

  “You couldn’t lay a finger on me if I didn’t want you to,” sneered Rainstorm at his friend, determinedly unbending.

  “I meant if I was the prince, you grumpy bastard,” he said, rolling his eyes in the prince’s direction.

  Tarkyn gave an answering smile but held his peace. A long silence ensued, broken occasionally by the splash of stones being thrown into the water. Tarkyn found himself a stick and kept himself amused by breaking it slowly into little pieces. North Wind glanced at him after a particularly loud crack as a piece of stick broke off and saw what he was doing. A slow smile dawned on his face and his eyes went out of focus. A moment later Rainstorm looked around too.

  Tarkyn laughed quietly. “Would you like to see another one?” he asked, as he dropped the last of the first stick and picked up another.

  “Very funny, Your Highness,” scowled Rainstorm.

  The prince’s smile faded. “Don’t call me that. I like you calling me ‘prince’. Don’t take what Danton said to heart. He just doesn’t understand yet.” Tarkyn proceeded to destroy his second stick as he talked. “And Rainstorm, I do thank you for standing guard all night long last night. It was a long, long night for you who stayed awake. Embarrassingly, despite my best efforts, I’m afraid I slept through most of it.”

  Finally Rainstorm began to unbend. “I don’t know how you could have, with that unknown quantity sitting so near.” He threw another stone into the water. “You wouldn’t be much good as a lookout,” he added as a final jab.

  Tarkyn shook his head ruefully. “I must have felt safe enough with you all guarding me. I told you, princes are a constant drain on the people around them. On the bright side, it’s lucky I wasn’t as overtired as the rest of you or I might have waded in and returned your attack.”

  “I am not overtired,” stated Rainstorm baldly.

  Tarkyn raised his eyebrows. “Aren’t you? It’s probably the adrenalin then. Because the others have all gone to have a rest before the lunchtime meeting.”

  “Have they?” Suddenly Rainstorm yawned. “Blast! I wish you hadn’t said that. Now I am tired and there’s not enough time to sleep before lunchtime. If I go to sleep now, I’ll feel awful when I wake up in an hour’s time.”

  “You’ll just have to hang on until this afternoon,” said North Wind sympathetically.

  Tarkyn frowned suddenly, “You know, North Wind, I had picked you out as a rebellious young character like our friend here but you aren’t behaving like that at all anymore.”

  “No audience,” put in Rainstorm with a cheeky grin at his friend. “I think there might be someone he is trying to impress.”

  North Wind jabbed him in the
ribs and turned a dull red.

  “I see,” said Tarkyn thoughtfully. “Might I suggest that she would probably be a lot more impressed by what I’ve seen of you here, than what I saw of you previously? Though, to give you your due, at least you had the courage to speak to me which was more than anyone else did for a while.”

  “Anyway,” said North Wind, with a poisonous look at his friend, “Rainstorm has it all wrong. I was baiting you because I thought you were going to rip into us.” The young woodman shrugged and tinge of resentment underlined his next words. “Besides, I can’t be as rebellious as Rainstorm is, because I’m under oath.”

  “You see? You still don’t understand,” said the prince in some exasperation. “I hardly ever give orders. I make requests, just as you do, and I listen when there is an objection.”

  “You ordered Tree Wind to come forward last night and ordered us to see you this morning,” objected North Wind.

  “Blast! So I did.” Tarkyn ran his hand through his hair. “But if you worked with me instead of against me, I wouldn’t have to.”

  North Wind raised his eyebrows in derision. “That’s just the same as saying, ‘Either you co-operate or I’ll force you to.’”

  “No,” snapped Tarkyn, “It’s the same as saying, ‘Give me the same respect as you would give another woodman.’”

  “But you’re not just another woodman!” retaliated North Wind.

  Tarkyn’s eyes flickered and he went very still.

  North Wind smiled faintly, “You are a woodman and you deserve to be, but you’re a lot more than that. It’s no good trying to pretend it’s any different.”

  Tarkyn shook his head in confusion, “I am trying to make the oath as inconspicuous as possible.”

  North Wind’s smile broadened. “Maybe you are, but it is there all the same. Even aside from the oath, you are the guardian of the forest with powers way beyond ours. And however people may react, it is obvious that you are, and will be, pivotal to our survival against these hunters of woodfolk.” The woodman shrugged. “So I just can’t see that you’re going to be respected only to the same extent as any other woodman. You’re bound to be respected more, if you see what I mean.”

  “Perhaps. But at the moment, the same would be a good start,” said Tarkyn dryly.

  North Wind chuckled, “Oh, I think you’ve sorted that little issue out amongst my lot. I don’t think you’ll find them going against you without good reason in the future.”

  “What’s so funny?” asked Tarkyn frowning.

  “Your masterly argument that by giving you a fair hearing we would protect our independence.”

  “Don’t you agree with it?”

  North Wind was still smiling. “Oh yes, it’s a brilliant argument. Of course, it doesn’t take into account that you’re better at getting your point across than most of us. But in essence, what you said is true.”

  Tarkyn looked at him uncertainly. “I was not trying to mislead you, you know.”

  The young woodman shook his head. “I didn’t think you were. I think you have created a level playing field and it is now up to us to resist your arguments if we want to.”

  Rainstorm huffed, “At least your opinion isn’t disregarded because of your age, prince, like mine is.”

  “I don’t think that is entirely true. Sun Shower referred to me as a young upstart, as I recall. And Raging Water treats me like a young puppy most of the time. I didn’t realise I was battling against that as well.” Tarkyn raised his eyebrows, “So all is not as equal as it seems, after all? I wondered what authority you were rebelling against, seeing there are no ranks.”

  North Wind and Rainstorm met each other’s eyes and nodded simultaneously.

  “Oh yes. Parents and older people must be given greater respect,” confirmed North Wind. “So annoying!”

  Tarkyn thought back to a conversation he had had with Waterstone. “But does the respect for your opinion not depend on the experience you can bring to the discussion? In which case, isn’t there a greater likelihood that an older person will have relevant experience to back up their opinion?”

  Rainstorm looked disgusted. “You sound just like my parents.”

  Tarkyn laughed. “Sorry about that. I am just trying to understand woodfolk society. In my society, rank comes before age. So courtiers deferred to me from a very young age. As far back as I can remember, even adults would bow when I entered a room.”

  Rainstorm eyes grew round. “What a wonderful concept. I would have loved that.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. It’s not as great as it sounds. Don’t forget, both my parents and my brothers outranked me. If I threw my weight around too much, my nanny would get one of them and I would have to submit anyway and apologise for being uncivil.”

  Rainstorm crowed, “That would be embarrassing!”

  The prince gave a wry smile. “It was. I didn’t let it happen more often than I had to, I can tell you.”

  Tarkyn became aware that North Wind was studying him with a slight frown on his face. The prince raised his eyebrows slightly in query.

  “I am beginning to realise how big the concessions are that you are making,” said North Wind slowly. “That oath was designed to ensure that you would be deferred to as Danton defers to you, wasn’t it?”

  Tarkyn nodded shortly and transferred his gaze to look out into the waters of the stream. “Yes. It was.”

  “You don’t have to negotiate with us at all. Far from fighting to have your opinions considered, you could just dictate your wishes, couldn’t you?” pressed North Wind.

  Again Tarkyn nodded. “Yes. I could.”

  “Not to me, he couldn’t,” said Rainstorm.

  Now the prince did look around. He grimaced. “I’m afraid I have bad news for you on that front. Unless I am much mistaken, you are now also under the bounds of the oath.” Seeing the look of horror on Rainstorm’s face, Tarkyn continued quickly, “I don’t know how or why, but when you threatened to attack me there was a warning rush of wind just as there was when Tree Wind attacked me.”

  Rainstorm’s face was white. “You bastard. You have tricked us all!”

  Tarkyn lifted his hands, palms outwards. “No, Rainstorm. I promise you. I haven’t. Anyway, it may not be true. It has only happened once. It may be coincidence.”

  Far from being mollified, Rainstorm sneered, “Let’s test it then, shall we?”

  So saying, Rainstorm drew his legs up under himself and launched himself at the prince. Tarkyn rolled quickly out of the way and came up into a crouch. The wind came roaring through the trees. Ignoring it, Tarkyn swivelled to face the woodman just as he threw himself towards the prince. Tarkyn raised an arm across his body and thrust outwards to deflect Rainstorm’s impetus sideways, sending him sprawling on the edge of the stream. The trees around them were thrashing under the onslaught of the wind. Leaves scattered around them and whirls of dust were thrown up from the banks of the stream.

  Rainstorm lifted himself onto one elbow, took in the mayhem around him and bowed his head in despair. As the air around him quietened, he rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his arms. For several minutes, his shoulders shook silently.

  Tarkyn turned a stricken face to North Wind. Once again, Tarkyn gestured at himself and pointed away to suggest he should leave. This time, North Wind shrugged uncertainly in response. The prince considered the barrier that would exist between Rainstorm and himself if he left now, and decided to stay.

  After a while, when Rainstorm’s shoulders had stilled, Tarkyn said quietly, “Rainstorm, first and foremost, I am your friend. I promise you, I did not contrive this. It must have happened when your people said that all woodfolk were one and that you must uphold the honour of those who had sworn the oath. Either then or when I was accepted as a woodman. I don’t know. I didn’t design the oath and I have no power over it, just as I told you.”

  Silence greeted this sally.

  Tarkyn continued, “I am truly sorry this has happen
ed. I hate the destruction that is built into the oath. I can only say that I don’t want anything to change between us. You and I have already worked out rules of engagement. There is no need for them to change.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” came a muffled voice, “You haven’t just lost your freedom and your autonomy and your independence.” Another sob issued forth.

  “Actually, I have. In the society I come from, I have.” After that, Tarkyn gave up on words and sent forth waves of fellow feeling. North Wind’s eyes widened and he smiled.

  A few minutes later, Rainstorm sat up and vigorously rubbed the palms of his hands over his eyes. He dropped his hands and presented red eyes to his companions. He sniffed and managed a shaky smile, “So. That’s the worst news I’ve had all week. Actually, it’s the worst news I’ve had in all my life.” He sniffed again. “No offence meant, prince.”

  Tarkyn gave a short, bitter laugh. “None taken. I will try to remember it’s the concept and not the person you object to.” Something in his tone of voice turned his sentence into a query.

  Rainstorm nodded firmly. “Yes, prince. It’s not you. I suppose if this had to happen, it’s better that it’s you than some power-mongering sorcerer.”

  “I would think so. I think that my brothers would be a poor substitute, for instance, if you were hoping to maintain your independence.”

  “So, welcome to the club, Rainstorm,” said North Wind, trying to conceal a smirk and failing signally.

  “It is you who are not in the club,” retorted Rainstorm, making a swift recovery. “You are not a member of the home guard, as I am, regardless of the oath.”