The Longsword Chronicles: Book 01 - King of Ashes

by GJ Kelly

  "Then we may indeed be doomed." Gawain opined. "I fear my last encounter with Thal-Hak did not go well, and since it is appears that the forest is truly ruled by whitebeards, we cannot count on elven longbows to hold the enemy at bay."

  "My father is not so weak as to be ruled by wizards, mithroth." Elayeen announced from the door. "Nor is my brother."

  Gawain looked up at her, sheepishly. "Forgive me, Elayeen miheth. But you do not recall the disarray which prevailed when last I was there."

  Elayeen strode across the room regally, and sat on the floor beside Gawain's legs, while Merrin picked up Travak from Rak's lap and sat beside her husband.

  "Dinner will be ready in an hour. You will stay, Allazar." Merrin said quietly. It was not a question, and the wizard nodded politely.

  "Meeya and Valin told me all that had transpired after you trespassed Elvenheth for me, mithroth. They and I are somewhat more familiar with Elvendere's governance than perhaps you are. Truly, the wizards there are not as powerful as you fear."

  "Yet one called Yonas turned assassin when I bore you from the forest, and he did so at the urging of wizards. And was it not your land's whitebeards who have for so long poisoned the minds of all elves against Threlland?"

  "Yes," Elayeen conceded, gazing up at him firmly. "But the thalangard are commanded by the crown, and do not take orders from wizards."

  "Indeed?" Gawain frowned. "Yet Meeya and Valin were ordered here to kill me, by wizards."

  It was Elayeen's turn to look sheepish for a moment. "True. But the wizards took advantage of my friends' grief for me. You yourself told my brother, so Meeya has said, that you would burn all Elvendere to ashes if anyone hindered my recovery. Is this not so?"

  "I may have said something along those lines." Gawain mumbled.

  "At the time, you doubtless meant the threat. Meeya and Gan certainly believed you did. Yet, you were...upset. Can you not see then, how easy it would have been for the wizards to use the thalangard's grief for me to their own ends?"

  "Perhaps."

  "But now Valin and Meeya ride for home, in company with four friends of this land. When they arrive, and the people learn the truth, Threlland may count upon my father's aid."

  "Always assuming Juria will permit them to cross the plains." Rak pointed out.

  "If not, then my father will simply send his forces north to the farak gorin, and along that approach to Threlland. I do not believe you should all be so downcast." Elayeen asserted.

  "It is difficult not to be," Merrin sighed, "Knowing as we do now that six hundred of the enemy are camped in our lands, and may attack at any moment. And we with so few men-at-arms to defend us."

  "In truth," Gawain said firmly, "I do not believe they will simply rise up and attack Threlland. Their task is to hold the line at the farak gorin when the breach is made, and thus permit time for Morloch's northern army to muster on the scree."

  "That is some comfort," Rak sighed, "Yet our lands are invaded, and we can do nothing. Alone, all our lands will perish. It is only through union and alliance that the south will prevail, as you yourself have said so often, Traveller."

  "Which means," Gawain sighed, "We are truly in the hands of whitebeards, for it is they who have for so long kept the lands apart."

  "I still believe you judge my brethren too harshly, Longsword." Allazar muttered sadly. "We may not harm the races of Man, by act or omission."

  "We have had this discussion before, Allazar." Gawain grumbled, and reached down to caress Elayeen's hair. It was an absent-minded gesture on his part, but it was not lost either on Elayeen or the others. "And you know I can never trust you or your kind, whether you be friend or no."

  "That your countenance remains light cheers me, Longsword, when you say such things."

  "In truth, it has occurred to me that I cannot fight Morloch alone, nor can I take responsibility for all lands, nor all wizards. It's odd, but I have felt strangely calm of late."

  "Perhaps you are simply tired. Ours was a long and perilous journey." Rak offered, smiling.

  Gawain shrugged, and slipped his fingers deep into Elayeen's silken tresses. "I don't know. Perhaps. Or perhaps this strange aquamire as Allazar calls it has run its course?"

  Elayeen gazed up at him, curiously, and gently drew his hand from her hair, and held it lightly in hers.

  "Perhaps." Allazar agreed. "I do not know. Yet, was it not plainly if briefly evident when Eryk of Threlland was here yesterday?"

  "True." Rak agreed, his eyes, and the others', drawn to Elayeen as she stroked Gawain's hand.

  Gawain sighed, and glanced down at his Lady. "Well. I do know that if we don't eat soon, I may waste away to nothing."

  "Mithroth..." Elayeen gasped. "Oh...mithroth!"

  "What?" Gawain asked, suddenly alarmed at the depth of amazement and passion in Elayeen's eyes.

  Elayeen reached up, and with trembling fingers, brushed his brow and the side of his face. "Mithroth..."

  Gawain frowned, as with a gasp Allazar leapt to his feet, his face looming close to Gawain's.

  "Have a care, whitebeard, just because I haven't killed you yet doesn't mean you're my friend..."

  "By the Teeth!" Allazar cried, "It cannot be!"

  "What cannot be?"

  Elayeen drew Gawain's knife from his boot, and held the polished blade to his face, as Rak and Merrin and Allazar crowded in on him.

  "What?" Gawain cried, holding Elayeen's hand so that he could steady the blade and see his reflection. Then he too caught his breath. Running from above his right temple, plainly visible as Elayeen held back his blond locks, fine strands of deepest black ran from root to tip in his hair.

  "Miheth," Elayeen sighed, tears welling as she gazed at him with profound love, "Truly, you are become mithroth...truly."

  "Is this possible?" Rak asked, amazed, as Gawain sat dumbfounded.

  "Clearly," Allazar muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Though I have never heard of a human becoming throth thus."

  "Yet it is true." Elayeen sighed happily, kneeling beside Gawain, braiding the black strands while Gawain simply stared at her.

  "Clearly." Allazar muttered again. "Perhaps it has always been so, yet because of Elvendere's isolation from the other races, the knowledge has been lost. Or perhaps elves and the Raheen share a common history..."

  "What must I do?" Gawain suddenly blurted, his eyes wide.

  "Do?" Elayeen giggled, "Why, you must immediately run to Elvenheth, and pluck a sweetberry from the oldest tree in the forest, and eat it in the beams of a full moon."

  "In truth?" Gawain stared at her, agog.

  She laughed, and all but Gawain succumbed to the lilting sound of elven happiness. "No, mithroth. You must do nothing more than you do already." Her fingers flitted deftly, her hands brushing his cheek as she wove the black braid.

  "Do what, already?"

  She paused, and smiled. "Love me, and be near, always."

  "It would appear, my Lady," Rak smiled at Merrin, "That the home-coming feast you are preparing for us is now much more."

  "Aye, my Lord." Merrin smiled happily. "We must send word. "

  "Send word? Word of what?" Gawain asked, blinking, as Elayeen sank back on her legs to admire her handiwork.

  "Word of your wedding feast, my brother." Rak beamed. "Honour to you, and to your Queen."

  oOo

  39. Becalmed

  The feast to celebrate their homecoming, and the union of Raheen and Elvendere, remained something of a blur to Gawain. He was dazed, and though the two days and nights which followed the celebrations were spent joyously and mostly in the tender company of his bride, still he felt confused, and vaguely ill at ease.

  Three days after the feast, he left his lady sleeping soundly, and crept out of the house in the early hours, so that he could greet the dawn from the Point overlooking the farak gorin. As the sun rose into a clear blue sky, he made his remembrance, and in his mind, told the shades of The Fallen of his marriage to Elaye
en of Elvendere, and of his throth.

  Footsteps on the frost-spangled grass alerted him to Allazar's arrival, and he opened his eyes.

  "You improve, wizard, by degrees. But you have a long way to go before you could count yourself truly stealthy."

  "A fine morning, Longsword. I did not expect to find you here this day."

  "No?"

  "Indeed. I believe in Elvendere it is the custom for newly-weds to spend at least seven days and nights alone together. In Callodon, to appear publicly without your bride before five days and nights have passed would be considered a bad omen. And..."

  "And?"

  Allazar stepped forward to stand beside Gawain, and gazed out towards the Teeth. "And, my friend, in Raheen, the custom was for the happy couple to remain five days and nights with one another before greeting the day together."

  Gawain sighed. "I know. But this is Threlland, and they have no such customs. Indeed, I still find it hard to believe I have a wife. Elayeen braided my hair, and thus I am married? It is all very strange, especially since...since we have been together so long."

  "Not so long, my friend. Not really."

  "Long enough for this." Gawain murmured, and reached up to finger the black braid in his hair.

  "Aye. It troubles you?"

  Gawain shrugged, and sat upon the boulder he'd used so recently as a wind-break for his fire. "In truth, I do not know what to make of it. At a stroke, I am now slave to her. Chained to her by this...throth. You described it as both blessing and curse. I am forced to agree with you."

  "Ah." Allazar smiled, and sat beside the young man. "Are you sure it is not your agreeing with me which causes you discomfort?"

  Gawain shook his head. "No, but that's worrying in itself, isn't it? There was a time when I would have fumed at the prospect of proving a whitebeard correct. Now look at me. I feel...Allazar I feel as if I am becalmed. I can see the rocks all around me, I know the wind when it comes will drive me into peril, and yet I can sit and do nothing."

  "This becalming you speak of has another word, Longsword. Perhaps it is just because you are unfamiliar with the feeling that it troubles you so. The word is 'contentment', or perhaps, 'peace'. It has been a long time since you knew such feelings."

  "Yet the enemy is there. Hammering away at the Teeth. Sitting in their tents in the Barak-nor and the Gorian wastelands, daily slaughtering innocent captives for their vile and despicable diet. And here sit I, 'content'? At 'peace'? How is this possible?"

  "You are become throth, Longsword. It is a strange process and one which I know little of. Even the brethren in Elvendere know not what to make of it. It simply is."

  "I do not believe I like it. Once, long ago, my brother and I discovered a passage that led to the wine-cellars. We did as boys would. For days afterwards both he and I wandered the Keep like daylight shades, our heads feeling as though stuffed with down and horsehair. So it feels to me now. I know joy when I am with Elayeen, and such rapture I cannot describe when we are alone together at night. Yet it in the day, it all seems to fade into this woolly vagueness that robs me of all desire to action. I do not believe I like it, Allazar."

  "It will pass. Your body needs time to adjust to this new dependency, that is all."

  "Dependency? Allazar, I have not yet seen twenty summers! Part of me screams in protest that I must spend the rest of my life chained by invisible bonds to Elayeen. Part of me screams that it is not fair, it is not just, that if anything should befall her, I should waste away and die." Gawain drew in a deep breath, and then turned to stare desperately at the wizard, whispering: "I love her dearly, Allazar, how could I not? Yet there is a small and shameful part of me that resents her for making me throth."

  The wizard nodded, and patted the young man on the shoulder. "I believe I understand, my friend. You are young, and the binding is not yet complete. This disquiet, this becalming, shall pass, and all will become clearer again. Is not the Lady Elayeen as she always was to you, in spite of throth and the braid she wears so proudly? She is not become some vacant slave to these bonds you dread, and neither shall you be. It is as she has said. Love her, and be near, always. This does not mean you must spend every waking moment with her hand in yours."

  Gawain sighed. "I know. And I know that my words are shameful, much less the thoughts that plague me. Yet, I do not like this feeling. There," he nodded at the distant Teeth as the farak gorin shimmered in the sunlight, "There lies our enemy, and I cannot summon the strange aquamire to give the clarity I would have when thinking of them and their plans against us. For this too, I find myself resentful. This is no time to be wandering Tarn wrapped in the soft down of love and tenderness."

  "Perhaps it is precisely the time, Longsword. Soon enough, there will be little time for such gentle moments. Relish them, my friend, while you can, as do all who know of the threat we face. Just as a condemned man must live a lifetime in the hours he has remaining, so must we all with war waiting beyond the horizon."

  "Well. I may have no choice in the matter. Soon our friends will gather for breakfast, and when Elayeen smiles at me across the table, I know I shall be slave again to the eyes that have haunted mefor so long. And my mind will vanish, and I will forget this conversation."

  Allazar smiled. "Well, I suspect the day might bring excitement of a different kind. Word reached me late last night that General Karn approaches Tarn, in company with three of my brethren from the Castle Town. Eryk sent fast riders ahead of him, and already the General and his staff make haste to Rak's quiet town. This may be the last morning you and your Lady might spend in peace, my friend. Do not squander it sitting alone on this bleak watch."

  Allazar stood, and turned to walk away.

  "Wait," Gawain called, "I'll accompany you. I'm sure Rak would welcome the news you bring over breakfast."

  Allazar smiled, and together they walked the frosty track down to Tarn.

  "This is good news." Rak enthused while Merrin spoon-fed Travak. "There can be no doubt that Eryk proceeds apace. General Karn is a good man."

  "So I have heard at the inn." Allazar agreed, relishing the fresh-cooked gammon heaped upon his plate.

  Gawain ate without appetite, and when he glanced across the table at Elayeen, he felt a twinge of guilt on seeing hurt and confusion in her eyes.

  "What say you, Traveller?" Rak asked quietly.

  "I do not know this General, though it would appear his reputation is sound." Gawain mumbled. "It is the wizards that accompany him that disquiet me."

  "I would be unsettled if their imminent arrival did not disquiet you, Longsword." Allazar smiled.

  "Even so. Before any discussion begins in their presence, I would have them disrobe."

  "Mithroth!" Elayeen gasped.

  Gawain frowned, trying to shake the woolliness from his brains. "You know what I mean, Allazar. They must open their robes. If I see strange writing on their bodies or a black crystal lens about their necks..."

  "I know what you mean, Longsword. Have no fear."

  Gawain shrugged, and toyed with his food. "I don't trust whitebeards. They should all be made to expose their breast, that all can see they are not Morloch's spies." he mumbled.

  "And if I had been a wizard, mithroth, that night you found me trapped and hurt?" Elayeen smiled playfully.

  "He would probably have left you there, my lady." Allazar mumbled through a mouthful.

  "Besides," Rak said quickly, "I do not think that venerable wizards will take kindly to such a suggestion, irrespective of their gender."

  Gawain sighed, and pushed his plate away. "I do not care whether they take kindly to it or not, and neither should anyone else, for that matter."

  "Does something ail you, mithroth?" Elayeen said quietly, her eyes wide with concern.

  "No. I am just...not myself, this morning. I think I shall bathe. What time is the General expected?"

  "Late this afternoon." Allazar announced, his plate swept clean.

  "I thank you, friend Allazar.
" Merrin announced with a twinkle in her eye as she removed his plate. "For the briefest moment, I thought my cooking offended."

  Gawain missed her glance at his own plate, and stood, and left the table.

  Later, as he dressed in fresh clothes, Elayeen knocked gently on the door and entered.

  "Mithroth," she whispered hesitantly, "Have I offended you?"

  "No, of course not." Gawain mumbled, trying desperately to understand the question.

  "I awoke to find you gone from my side," she said softly, nervously entwining her restless fingers. "And at breakfast you barely spoke. If I have wronged you somehow, you would tell me?"

  "You have not wronged me, Elayeen," Gawain muttered, sitting on the bed to pull on his boots. "I am just not myself today. I can't think. Properly."

  Elayeen crossed the room to sit beside him. "It is the throth, miheth, nothing more. I felt...strange, when first it came upon me. It will soon pass."

  "I wish it would pass soon. I don't like it. I don't like not understanding things when people say things. By the Teeth, I can't even make my own words make sense!"

  She reached out and took his hand, and then slipped her arm around his shoulders. "It will pass soon, miheth."

  Gawain sighed as she drew his head to her shoulder, and began stroking his hair.

  "In Elvendere, when I became ithroth, you were lying ill from the Black Rider's shaft. You had recovered a little, and the wizards came and said it was not meet for me to remain at your side. When I was alone in my room, feeling...lost, and confused, I think I hated you. For making me throth."

  "Hated me?"

  She squeezed his hand. "I think so. I can't remember clearly. You were kind to me, and gentle, when you found me in the forest. You were strong, and carried me all the way to my people, and said kind things. Later, when the scouts brought you to us, and told us of your dreadful battle, I nursed you, and you called my name so many times in your fever. And I became ithroth. I could not believe I had become so, to a human, and to so terrible a warrior. And I knew you would not love me, and that you would leave me as soon as you were well, and that I would die in Faranthroth."