Bridge of Swords

by Duncan Lay

  ‘I know, sensei. It seemed to me that Jaken had it all planned. He wants us to think the books have been destroyed. I should have got at least some of them out — I am sure magic was used to keep them all in there,’ Asami agreed.

  Sumiko kneeled down, let a handful of dirt trickle through her fingers. She straightened back up and the first shoots began to push through the ground, easing their way back into patterns.

  ‘We shall let Jaken enjoy his victory for a little while,’ she mused. ‘The books have not been destroyed. I did not think Jaken would have left such power waiting for anyone to steal. You proved it. His first response was to burn the tombs, not capture the thieves. He even let you get away with the tale of the fire. Surely it would have been easier for the vaunted Border Patrol to grab you than it was to let you go. So we know he must have the books and it has cost us nothing.’

  ‘So what now?’

  ‘Now it gets difficult. It all depends on whether Jaken told the Council everything or whether he plays his own game. If he told them, it is within their chambers. But, if I know Jaken, he will hide it from the Council. I think they are in his villa somewhere.’

  ‘So how do we get them out?’

  ‘I do not know yet,’ Sumiko admitted. ‘Give me time to think on our next move. Jaken is a cunning and dangerous opponent. He has been a step ahead of us. We must not only catch up but overtake him.’

  ‘As you wish, sensei. My apologies for not succeeding.’

  Sumiko nodded briefly, let Asami walk away before turning back to her plants. She let them grow while her mind wandered.

  ‘Sensei — can I help?’ Oroku asked gently.

  ‘No, this is something I need to do,’ Sumiko replied absently. ‘We have learned something of value — Jaken underestimates us, and he also knows the value of what is in those books. Best of all, it did not even cost us the girl to discover it. We can still use her.’

  ‘Do you think she begins to suspect our motives?’

  ‘She has no choice but to trust us.’ Sumiko smiled. ‘She has to cling to hope, for it is all she has left.’

  ‘Has Asami said anything about the Magic-weavers’ plans?’

  Gaibun shook his head. It was a treacherous path he was walking but he knew the prize at the end was worth it.

  ‘No, sir. Today is the first time she has gone back to see Sumiko.’

  Jaken chuckled. ‘The fools! They think I will forget about them! They might be gifted with magic but they failed the test when it comes to thinking.’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘They know the books have not been destroyed. I will give them that, at least. But to imagine I would be so crude as to see this as my final victory — do they think me human?’

  ‘I wouldn’t know, sir.’

  Jaken looked Gaibun up and down critically. ‘You would be wondering why I didn’t destroy the books. Or at least I hope you are — or I have sadly misjudged you as my heir apparent.’

  ‘I have wondered about it, sir,’ Gaibun admitted.

  ‘Good. So I shall tell you. But breathe a word of this to another soul and you shall wish for Sendatsu’s fate.’

  Gaibun nodded hastily.

  ‘There are many lies in the books. But there is also a great truth. A truth I discovered. We did not seal ourselves away from the humans because we were afraid of them.’ Jaken paused, relished the anticipation the young elf could not keep from his face. ‘It was the other way around. Our forefathers wanted to seal us away to protect the humans. They feared we would rule the humans, treat them like slaves. With our knowledge and magic, we could fashion an empire across this continent. And, once I control the Council, that is what we shall do.’

  He smiled at the shock on Gaibun’s face. ‘I have kept the books under close guard since I discovered what lay in there. Until now I could not act, because I needed to control the Council. That is within our grasp. Once Daichi is out of the way, I shall rule and bend the Magic-weavers to me. With their help, we shall break out of the magic barrier around Dokuzen and rule this pitiful continent from sea to sea. I shall be the emperor and you will be my right hand.’

  Gaibun bowed low.

  ‘I long to see the day,’ he said hoarsely.

  ‘It will come soon,’ Jaken said complacently. ‘Once the Magic-weavers think I have been lulled into stupidity, they will try to take the books. I shall stop them and use that as my reason to take control of the Council.’

  ‘You honour me today, sir.’ Gaibun bowed again.

  ‘I treat you like a son,’ Jaken corrected. ‘One I can be proud of.’

  Even the youngest dragons could tell something had changed in camp. They woke to hear Huw singing — a deep, rumbling joyful greeting to the dawn. The smile their leader wore was infectious and many of them, particularly the ones who had been with them from the start, grinned at each other and winked at the sight of Huw and Rhiannon together.

  ‘You are a lucky man.’ Sendatsu nudged him.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You look like the cat that has swallowed the cream!’

  Huw flushed a little.

  ‘You two deserve each other,’ Sendatsu told him solemnly. Part of him felt a pang. If only he and Asami could be together … He put that thought away and tried to concentrate on Huw’s happiness instead. ‘See, I told you there was nothing to worry about.’ He slapped Huw on the arm. ‘You told her the truth and look what happened!’

  For the first time that morning, Huw’s smile faltered.

  ‘What?’ Sendatsu stopped in horror. ‘You didn’t tell her!’

  ‘I meant to. I started to, but then things got distracted …’ Huw said helplessly.

  ‘You idiot!’ Sendatsu groaned. ‘How could you bed her without telling her the truth first?’

  ‘Well, when she’s not wearing anything, and grabs hold of you, it’s bloody hard to stop!’ Huw flared.

  Sendatsu opened his mouth, then nodded his agreement. ‘All right. But how do we get out of this mess? If you tell her now, she is just going to think you tricked her into bed — even though you didn’t get anywhere near a bed — just the same way I did.’

  ‘Well, perhaps when we have made everything official, sworn our love to one another and Walked The Tree at Midwinter, she will listen then?’ Huw said hopefully.

  ‘That’s assuming we can keep it a secret as long as then,’ Sendatsu said darkly.

  Huw thought about that for a moment.

  ‘Well, maybe I should go and talk to her now. Sit her down and explain everything? I mean, she seduced me, not the other way around.’

  Sendatsu’s face showed his struggle.

  ‘I know I’m the one who’s been telling you to be honest but now I have some truth for you. If you tell her the morning after, you have to be prepared for her to walk away. She might have been the one who seduced you but that was a huge decision for her. After what I did, for her to make that commitment to you was enormous. She placed her trust in you. If you throw it back in her face the next morning, she might walk away and never come back.’

  ‘I don’t want that to happen! I don’t know what I would do then,’ Huw moaned.

  ‘But she needs the truth. She deserves it. If you truly love her, you have to give her the truth and trust her — and hope.’

  Huw’s face twisted in an agony of indecision.

  ‘Do you think she will really walk away, after last night?’ he ventured.

  Sendatsu sighed. ‘You have to be prepared for it. I hurt her badly. All this time she has seen you as the trustworthy one. In a way, that makes your lies even worse.’

  Huw looked away. He wanted to be honest with Rhiannon. After all, he had saved her back in Cridianton — just not from quite the same fate as he had described. But the thought of being without her … If the night where he had sat in his father’s chair, listening to Sendatsu and Rhiannon, had been the worst of his life, last night had been the best. Losing her now, in the moment of winning her …


  ‘I can’t do it,’ he confessed.

  ‘Man, you have to!’ Sendatsu urged. ‘If you don’t tell her, she will find out somehow. The lie between you will sour and poison everything you have.’

  Still Huw agonised.

  ‘What are you two talking about?’ Rhiannon greeted warmly.

  They both jumped, guiltily, but she did not notice, as she was too caught up in her own happiness. Last night Huw had sworn his love for her, had promised they would Walk The Tree together at Midwinter. She had believed him utterly. It all made sense now. She had been foolish, naïve when she fell into bed with Sendatsu. Her head had been full of dreams about Dokuzen, as well as her own ambitions. But Sendatsu’s betrayal, while bitter, had at least opened her eyes to what was right in front of her. Without that, she might still be ignoring Huw and his obvious love for her — something real and not the product of a fairy tale.

  ‘About the training,’ Huw answered quickly and although Sendatsu gave him a warning look, he said nothing.

  ‘Well, hadn’t we better begin? The day is getting away from us,’ Rhiannon pointed out.

  ‘Of course!’ Huw raced off instantly.

  He was silent, thinking, as they rode towards the next village.

  ‘Is there something the matter? Are you regretting last night?’ Rhiannon asked finally, after they had ridden for several miles without saying a word.

  Huw turned and his smile was instantly genuine. ‘I could never regret last night. And I meant every word that I said,’ he said hoarsely.

  Rhiannon laughed. ‘Good! I was getting worried there — thought you might be thinking of that big-breasted blonde back at Merthyr. What is a blonde doing in a Velsh village anyway? Must be some Forlish blood there!’

  ‘No — of course not!’ Huw snorted. ‘I hardly noticed her anyway!’

  ‘So you did notice her then?’ Rhiannon teased.

  Huw fumbled and flustered for a moment, until Sendatsu came to his rescue.

  ‘How about a song to ease the march?’ he called.

  Huw gratefully eased his lyre out and the two of them began to play and sing.

  Sendatsu watched them, worried for Huw — and for Rhiannon when she found out the truth.

  ‘Pick up your feet! And I want to see any riders drawing their bows. You never know when we could meet more Forlish!’ he shouted at the dragons.

  He found Huw was even more sensitive to the knowledge he held, and the danger the truth posed to his relationship with Rhiannon. So they headed back east, through Gwent and towards the tree outside Pontypridd, where he could again see Asami. Sendatsu was barely even bothering to ask people about what happened when the elves left, magic, or Aroaril now. His plan to seize his children and escape with Asami was forming, day by day. He had no intention of telling Huw he planned to take two squads of his best dragons into Dokuzen and escape with his children and Asami. This dream was beginning to consume his thoughts. Even though he could not find the answers Sumiko wanted, this would ensure he would see his children again. Keeping this from Huw was a warm glow inside, enabled him to get through each day.

  And these began to blur. On and on they went, from village to village. Spreading the word until it began to spread before them. Now they rode into villages to be greeted by home-made dragon flags, as well as young men eager to become dragons. It began to take on a life of its own, with even the most doubting village chief forced to hand over men, food, horses and any weapons and agree to the idea of a united Vales in the face of such excitement among his people. And, with the numbers and knowledge of the young dragons, they could now throw up a wall around a village in a day, then ride on, the job done. From the northern coast, where Forlish, Landish and Balian boats were filled with iron, tin and coal, to the mining villages that dug the raw materials out of the ground, back into the farming villages of Gwent they spread the word. Many of these villages had suffered from the raids, had been living in fear — and Huw gave them back hope. He gave them a symbol to unite behind, a song to rally them and the knowledge one of their own had defeated the Forlish three times now. He even had an elf following him!

  Sendatsu was also trying to spread his knowledge around these villages. After all, if he was to find a home somewhere quiet out here, he should make sure the people were happy to have him as a neighbour — and he might need their help as well. Every day he was noticing things being done by the Velsh that could be easily changed, make them healthier and let them live longer. Sensible things like ensuring the water was clean and boiled before drinking, cleaning their knives between chopping up raw meat and carving cooked joints. Not pissing inside their own homes and making sure their dung pits were far enough away from where they slept. He had tried to talk to them about the importance of cleaning as well, but there was only so much the humans were willing to take in. It was enough of a struggle to try to get clean clothes for himself, as well as take a bath more than every few days. But he was determined the dragons would not get sick and he made every effort to see they kept clean, had their latrine pits a long way from their campsites and boiled everything from food to water. Even so, at every village, one or two went down with stomach troubles and there was little that could be done to help.

  Certainly there was a woman or two in every village who had some skill with herbs — but that did not always do the trick. And, as for the rest of the Velsh, herbs were of no use if a tree had crushed your legs.

  Once again he wished he knew how to bring back the worship of Aroaril here or, better yet, find new evidence of it.

  They did not want to leave anyone behind, so the sick were carried on the backs of horses until they recovered. Never staying in the one place more than a day seemed to help — although the dragons grumbled at being asked to make new camps and dig new pits every day.

  Their crowning moment was when they ran across a small group of Forlish, no more than a score — and destroyed them. The dragons now numbered over three hundred and the raiders stood no chance.

  Villages were now repelling other raiders — two attacks had been turned back by the massed crossbows — and reports of bands of raiders were few and far between. Smoke was no longer staining the sky. The Velsh were beginning to talk about the peace afterwards.

  It was a heady time for Huw, between the acceptance of the villages, the feeling they were really making progress in protecting the people, the development of the dragons and, most importantly of all, Rhiannon.

  He had not told her the full story about what had happened back in Cridianton but he was almost ready to. He was nearly confident enough she would listen to the truth.

  He was worried about Sendatsu leaving them, for he could sense the elf’s desire to see his children again far outweighed his willingness to help the Velsh. It was tempered, somewhat, by the knowledge many of the young dragons were almost ready to pass on his knowledge and in fact were even now helping out the new recruits.

  Once they had gone back through Gwent it would also be time to travel again into the most southerly province, Rheged. After their earlier experience there, Huw was dreading it. With so many dragons behind them, he knew it would be very different this time but no doubt it had been devastated. There were few raiders around Powys and Gwent was well protected, which meant they had to be all down there.

  Sometimes Sendatsu hoped this westward march would give him something he could offer to Sumiko and Asami. He also wondered if Asami had lived up to her promise and found another way to bring him home. If not, he would take in his dragons. They weren’t actually his, more Huw’s, but he was confident the dragons were loyal enough that they would follow him wherever he went.

  He admired Huw for what he was doing. The young bard had been nobody, had no training and his father had been a farmer. Yet he was bending the whole of Vales to his vision of a united country. He had not only seized responsibility, he had embraced it. Sendatsu admired him for it — but did not want to copy him. No, he wanted a quiet life, with his children.

&
nbsp; If only Huw would take his advice and be truthful with Rhiannon …

  ‘Maybe we shouldn’t do anything,’ Gaibun suggested. ‘If the Magic-weavers try anything, Jaken plans to seize control of the Council and then summon the clans and use them to crush the humans. When he does that, he will end the barrier. We can use the confusion to bring Sendatsu back.’

  Asami gaped at him. She had listened to his words with growing horror. ‘And having Jaken as Elder Elf, watching him ride out of Dokuzen and crush the humans, turn them into our slaves will be a good thing?’ she finally gasped.

  ‘What choice do we have? To put our faith in the Magic-weavers is a mistake. Jaken knows they plan to come after him — he wants them to do it. He will use it as his excuse to take control of the Council, tell everyone that Daichi was not strong enough to keep the Magic-weavers in line.’

  ‘But this is wrong. So wrong. The humans will welcome us with open arms — and we shall destroy their lives. I can’t be a part of that.’

  ‘So what do you suggest? If we join with Sumiko, we doom ourselves. Jaken is a step ahead of the Magic-weavers.’

  ‘I don’t know, but I cannot help Jaken turn himself into an emperor. Our forefathers would be turning in their tombs.’

  ‘If only we could get word to Sendatsu,’ Gaibun pondered.

  Asami sighed. ‘Thank you for telling me this. I know Jaken’s offer must be tempting and I can give you nothing in return.’

  ‘I told you I would show you I have changed,’ Gaibun said stoutly. ‘You mean so much more to me than a promise from Jaken. He tricked and betrayed my father, insulted his honour. Does he really think I will turn my back on everything my family taught me for personal gain?’

  ‘He believes everyone thinks as he does,’ Asami said bitterly. ‘But you are right when you say the Magic-weavers are not prepared for him. I’ll talk to Sumiko. Carefully. We have to do something, find a way to stop Jaken’s plans. I fear time is running out for Sendatsu.’ She touched Gaibun’s arm. ‘Thank you again. Your actions are proving you have changed. I don’t know what the future holds for us but I am willing to forget the past.’