In Treachery Forged (The Law of Swords)

by Tatum, David A

  “Not now, no,” Euleilla agreed. “You haven’t been trained to use all your power, however. You’re still just a Potential. Give it a few years of pushing your limits and you’ll be more than capable of handling the standard tests. You’re slightly behind me now, but only because of experience, not power. I’m probably at my limit of magical development, but you still have far to go.”

  Maelgyn shook his head. “I’m not nearly that powerful, but I doubt I’ll convince you otherwise. Anyway, back to this whole thing about your family, Yergwain – you say you have family records back to the founding of Svieda?”

  Yergwain nodded, slightly startled by the change in topic. “Yes, Your Highness. I can assure you that we do.”

  “And your family has been in the Barony the entire time?”

  “Indeed. We have an ancient tradition of nobility, I assure you.”

  “And this line of nobility is of Sviedan nobility, correct?” Maelgyn asked, leaning over to the nobleman intently.

  “Correct,” Yergwain replied, his courteous tone nevertheless hinting at the resentment that the implied insult had upon him.

  “Then your family records are either wrong, or incomplete,” Maelgyn finally sighed, leaning back. “Because there were no noble families without mages until about three hundred years ago, and Svieda is a lot older than three hundred years.”

  “Our records are not wrong!” Yergwain finally spat, finally letting his anger get past his civility. “My family has been Sviedan Nobility since the founding.”

  Lord Valfarn, himself, looked disturbed. “Your highness,” he said, swallowing slightly. “I have seen Yergwain’s family records, myself. His family really is a noble line, I am sure of it.”

  “Truthfully, I don’t doubt that,” Maelgyn agreed. “Sir Leno’s abilities with magic tend to make me believe there has been a lot of potential in his bloodline, since most higher ranked mages come from families of noble decent. But what I suspect is that someone destroyed any records that might have existed about mages in your family for some unknown reason. His family could not have been a noble family without raising many mages until around three hundred years ago, because the law required that all noble families train at least one child in the art of magic.”

  Yergwain looked disturbed by that. “It did? But the history books don’t say—”

  “Whose history books?” Maelgyn asked, raising a curious eyebrow. “I have been reading history books at the Royal Castle of Svieda for the past several years of my life, and I assure you I’m correct.”

  The baron flushed. “Milord, while I’m certain that the Royal Castle had a much more extensive library than any I have had access to, none of the histories in the Sopan Province libraries mention anything like that.”

  “How odd,” Maelgyn commented. “Every history of that period in the Royal Castle library mentions it. Even fairly common books I’m sure the libraries of Sopan should have mention it.”

  “Perhaps,” Gherald said, “We could adjourn to the library at some point, and take a look at these books? It might be a better idea than spoiling our dinner arguing the point.”

  Maelgyn slowly nodded. “Yes... I believe a stop in the library will be in order.”

  The library was small by Maelgyn’s standards, but well filled with books of all kinds. Many of them looked to be well read, but few were of much age. Sopan Province was still young, for Svieda, and nothing in the library was older than the province itself as far as he could tell. Yet it contained many books, both rare and common. He recognized a number of them from his time in the Royal Castle Library, and went to those first.

  Maelgyn had left for the library immediately after having finished his dinner while most of the others had retreated to their beds. Only Euleilla, Lord Valfarn, and the curious pair of Senator Gherald and Lord Yergwain had accompanied him. However, he was alone in his search through the texts, as only he knew what he was looking for.

  The others glanced through the library as well, however, looking for something to entertain themselves. Valfarn, Gherald, and Yergwain all found something to read on their own. Euleilla, on the other hand, merely took a seat and started magically playing with her metal bracers, dissolving them into geometric oddities with varying degrees of complexity.

  Yergwain frowned at her. “Why aren’t you reading?” he asked.

  Euleilla shrugged. “I need to practice magic at all times.”

  “In a library?” he persisted.

  “Why not?”

  A deep frown came upon the baron’s face, one which concerned Maelgyn as he noticed it. What is Yergwain thinking? he wondered.

  “Can you read?” the baron asked disdainfully.

  Euleilla twitched, but showed no other outward reaction. Valfarn had stiffened, looking at Yergwain in horror, but the baron took no notice of it. Maelgyn, on the other hand, felt outrage at the accusation. “Excuse me, Lord Yergwain,” he growled. “But that is my wife you are talking to. Show her the proper respect.”

  Yergwain spun on him, showing in his face that he shared his friend Mathrid’s biases, even if it was more subtle. “Your highness, I’ve given her the respect due her in public, and will continue to do so, but we are not in public. If Valfarn had decided against you, it would have been my responsibility to determine whether this woman was worthy of being the highest ranking Lady in the province. It is not my decision now, but it might have been... and I deserve to know if there is something which would have made me say no.”

  “You deserve nothing of the sort,” Valfarn snapped, recovered. “It was not your choice, it was mine. And it will never be your choice. I—”

  “Relax, everyone,” Euleilla commanded, restoring her bracers to her forearms. Everyone immediately shut their mouths and spun on her.

  “Euleilla?” Maelgyn said quietly.

  “I can read,” she said softly, but with a power in her voice that made them all pay attention. “But not any of these books.”

  “Why not? Do you read a different language?” Yergwain demanded, still defiant but less sure.

  “No-one here may speak of it out of this room,” Euleilla noted.

  “Unless you want to lose your tongues,” Maelgyn added, suddenly knowing what she was about to do. “This may come out to the public some day, but for the moment we wish it to remain a secret, and I will use whatever authority I have to protect it.”

  Yergwain nodded his head in acceptance. Gherald, however, smiled. “I, perhaps, should leave. I have no doubts as to her highness’ worth.”

  “Thank you, Gherald” Euleilla nodded thankfully. “My husband and Lord Valfarn may stay, as they already know. Anyone may leave who does not wish to know.”

  Yergwain hesitated. “Just what kind of secret are we talking about here? Are... are you even human? Or are you some Elven creation? Or... or a Merfolk shapeshifter who—”

  The door slammed behind Gherald’s departing form, startling him into silence.

  “Elven? Merfolk? No,” Euleilla laughed. “I am definitely human. A Merfolk or an Elf would be able to heal themselves from this.” She lifted her bangs, revealing the scars where her eyes should be. “I do have a difficult time reading for a reason. However, if you’re willing to mix the ink with some magic powder, I can read by ‘seeing’ the words with my magic. My foster father did that for me a lot, and so I have no problem reading and or writing with the same special inks. But not a single book in this entire library was made in such a way as to allow me to view it, and so I try to find other things to interest me.”

  Yergwain tensed, seemingly unable to keep his eyes off those scars until she lowered her bangs again. “My lady Euleilla, I will keep your secret. However, if I had known of this, and it had been my decision, I would not have affirmed Prince Maelgyn’s choice in wives. A blind peasant, whose only redeeming qualities as far as the nobility is concerned are being the foster-daughter of yet another peasant and a talent for magic? You are hardly the sort of person our nation expects for s
uch a position.”

  “Then we can be glad,” Maelgyn growled, “That it was not your decision. The question is, now that you know, are you willing to serve under me, in the position your rank has bestowed upon you?”

  Yergwain stiffened, and then returned to his books. “My family honor is at stake,” he said, unable to look at them. “So yes, I will serve.”

  Valfarn went to the door, and allowed Gherald to return. “Well, it doesn’t look like Lord Yergwain was too pleased by the secret,” the senator chirped. “Probably means good news for me. Now, how about we get back to our research? I’m immensely curious about those laws you say we had....”

  Chapter 20

  “This is bizarre,” Maelgyn said, looking intensely at the book in his hands. After the tension brought about by Yergwain’s outburst, he’d decided to continue searching the texts just as Gherald had suggested. So, he’d pulled out a tall stack of books from the shelves, sat down, and started reading.

  “What is?” Gherald said, looking up. Yergwain was looking quite tense, still, and Valfarn hadn’t turned the page once in his own open book as he’d opted to glare at the insolent baron instead. Not even the Sword Prince’s sudden exclamation was enough to distract his gaze.

  “These books,” Maelgyn answered. “They... aren’t right. They’re different from the copies of the same books in the royal library. Some passages are changed, others completely omitted. There are a few things in these books I’d never seen in the royal library. You might expect minor discrepancies in different copies of an illuminated manuscript, which was what I was expecting, but these particular books were produced with a printing press – they should be identical to every other copy of these books. Something is very wrong, here.”

  That attracted everyone’s attention. “What sort of things were changed?” Valfarn asked, curious. “And what were they changed to say?”

  “Well,” Maelgyn began, “I see alterations to all of the historical texts dealing with issues prior to Sopan Province’s induction into Svieda. I’d almost say that it was changed to present a pro-Porosian viewpoint, and in doing so it obscures a number of the things which made Svieda unique. For example, our tradition of training a great number of mages for both military and civilian use, much of the story of our founding, the story of the rebellion of Abindol, and a few things which seem otherwise irrelevant. Even the legend of Sword King Agaeb IV and Queen Amberry is completely removed from the texts. I don’t get any of it.”

  “Agaeb IV and Amberry? Hmm... a few hundred years ago? I don’t recall anything particularly interesting in their history....” Gherald muttered.

  “Well, I do,” Valfarn gaped. “I named my children after them! The Sword King whose peasant bodyguard became his queen is a story which always seemed like a romantic’s fantasy! The legend was a favorite of mine growing up – my grandmother told it to me often in my youth, and she said she heard the story from one of the Swords in her youth – but I never believed that Queen Amberry was ever really a peasant. Do you mean to say that story might have some basis in fact?”

  “Quite a bit of truth,” Maelgyn replied. “At least, if the Royal Library’s history texts are correct. Whether they are the correct ones, or these are, I don’t know. Given some of the other omissions, I suspect that these are the altered copies, but I can’t be sure.”

  “So the big question is, why did they do it?” Euleilla asked. “Altering common history texts which any learned traveler would know, and so drastically they cannot help but notice it? How did they manage it, and why even bother when it is so easily discovered?”

  “You said it was pro-Porosian,” Yergwain considered. “What are some of the differences between the Royal accounts and this one, and how are the Porosians featured?”

  “I must admit that I am a bit ignorant in this,” Gherald sighed. “I am aware that the Porosians are an ancient nation, but why would they even be interested in us? Are they even still around as a significant power?”

  Maelgyn sighed. “Well... let’s see if I can explain human history in five minutes or less, first, since that’ll make explaining the differences easier.”

  Valfarn looked unhappy, but nodded. “If you believe it necessary, your highness, then please – enlighten us.”

  Maelgyn took a deep breath. “In the earliest days of recorded history, each race controlled only one nation. The Dwarves ruled Mar’Tok and later expanded outwards. The Nekoji spread from the western coast of the Orful River through much of what is now Oregal. The Merfolk controlled the sea. The Dragons, created by the Elves, held their homes in various mountain ranges of the island chain now known as the Borden Isles. The Elves have lived throughout the known world, possibly covering all of these lands at one point, but at the time they lived in the mountains to the far north.

  “And then there was the Human race, which slowly evolved a civilization around Lake Poros, surrounded by other the other races – south of the Elven lands, north of the Dwarven lands, and east of the Nekoji lands. Poros grew strong in spite of – or perhaps because of – a war between the Elves and the Dwarves in which Poros was the middle ground. As those two nations’ powers waned, Poros strengthened its borders in an effort to prevent those two races’ incursions. It was during this war the decline of both the Elves and the Dwarves began.

  “Eventually the borders of each power converged in a small territory known as ‘Squire’s Knot.’ At that intersection, disaffected Elves, Dwarves, Humans and Nekoji created a small nation that has since been a neutral power – a haven for those of all races who tired of warring against one another.

  “This is where the first discrepancy in these historical accounts appears. The books here claim that Poros continued expansion southward, controlling much of what is now Svieda. In the Royal texts, only a small fraction of our territory was ever controlled by Poros: The mouth of the Orful River in Sopan and parts of the Duchy of Largo. All of Svieda’s holdings east of Squire’s knot, including the Royal Province, were largely uninhabited. Apparently, an ancient enemy of the Elves once held much of Sviedan lands, and no race dared to try and reclaim that territory, but that race has long since vanished from the world.

  “Before Svieda’s founding, the Nekoji went to war with the Porosians. The reasons given for the war sound unusual, both in the texts here and in the ones I’ve read in the Royal Castle. Something about a ‘trade of skills’ that never took place, but the records do not explain what that means. Eventually, the Dwarves joined the war as well, but not until after the Humans had established a fairly large presence on the other side of the Orful River.

  “The war with the Nekoji ended quickly once the Dwarves entered the fight. Poros, fighting on two fronts, started drawing back its borders. They were never strong enough to cross the river again... but they left people behind. Those men and women who had settled or who were stationed on the other side of the Orful River started creating a number of city-states, some of which surprisingly still exist today in the disputed region between Oregal and the Orful River.

  “Some human settlements on the Porosian side of the river also began to form their own governments and raise their own armies when it became clear Poros had abandoned them. So was born what today is known as the Bandi Republic, as well as the then-Kingdoms of Largo, Stanget, and Rubick, and some of the nations which make up the western half of the Sho’Curlas ‘Alliance.’

  “Poros itself – or rather, the core of Poros – survived intact. It took the construction of heavy fortifications and the invention of a competitive cavalry force, but eventually Humanity learned how to defend itself against the Dwarves. Poros remained the only human settlement of any great power, despite these fledgling offshoots, but only for a short time. For reasons which are lost to history, a power struggle broke out shortly after the fall of the last of the Elven kingdoms. Dozens of Porosian states, divided by clan, struggled for power over the kingdom.

  “As the civil war went on for hundreds of years, many of the clans
decided to leave Poros rather than to continue the fight endlessly. Among them were the Six Clans, whose names you might recognize – Glorest, Happaso, Abindol, Leyland, Sycanth, and Svieda. Initially, the Six Clans met in Squire’s Knot. By coincidence, they met with a royal member of the Rubick Kingdom – which, by then, had become the largest human power south of Poros. He was there to discuss treaty terms with the nations of Stanget and Largo. Largo, in particular, was in desperate need of assistance as they were in a war on two fronts. The Six Clans, due to their size and strength, were asked to join these negotiations.

  “As a treaty of alliance was discussed, the head of Clan Svieda fell in love with and eventually married the Prince of Rubick. A number of additional arranged marriages took place over the next couple of generations binding the Six Clans and the royal families of Largo, Stanget, and Rubick together. The Six Clans wanted their own territory, though, and began to colonize the lands east of Rubick – the first people to stake a claim on the territory since the Elven Kingdoms fell.

  “This is where these texts really start to diverge. The books from this library claim that the lands of Svieda, Sycanth, Abindol, Happaso, Glorest, and Leyland were already in Porosian hands, but this must be false. I’ve been to some of the places these books claim were built by Poros and they simply aren’t old enough to be ancient Porosian.

  “Eventually, long after the Six Clans had left, Poros settled down into four separate, relatively stable fragments, all claiming to be the rightful claimant to the throne of Poros. Their war hasn’t formally ended after millennia of fighting, but most of the fighting and the continued fragmentation has ended. Most of the outside world labels these claimants as North, South, East, and West Poros – names which are now largely misnomers, as North Poros is now more west than West Poros, and East Poros is the northernmost fragment, but the names have stuck. All four have control over part of the coast on Lake Poros and some plains beyond, but they have been slowly shrinking for hundreds of years.