by Duncan Lay
Sendatsu did not know whether to celebrate or vomit. It was almost everything they wanted — but it would mean the elves destroying the human world. Again. While he was happy to see Ward and his brutal Forlish humbled, the other countries had surely suffered enough. Becoming slaves to the elves was hardly a fit reward. The memory of the bodies they had found was too fresh, even if the atrocity was old. And Huw would never agree to it — nor Rhiannon, for that matter. Rhiannon could be the real sticking point as well. How would his father react to discovering humans could perform magic, that they might well be the same as elves?
‘Come, don’t tell me you require more than that? What else could you possibly want?’
‘Why do we need to rule the humans? Why can we not live at peace with them?’ Sendatsu asked.
His father gave a short bark of laughter. ‘I see your time in the human world has not entirely cured you of foolishness! It is a fact of life — the strong rule and the weak bow down. We have lived at peace with the humans for the last three hundred years because of the magical barrier. Once that barrier comes down, there is only one choice — rule or be ruled. Tell me, are there not human rulers trying to bring everyone under their control?’
Images of the dead children of Rheged flashed into Sendatsu’s mind. ‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘The Forlish, the same ones who are attacking the barrier now.’
Jaken smiled. ‘Perfect! And will the Forlish be content to live at peace with us and their neighbours? Or will they look at what we have and lust for it?’
Again, Sendatsu had to admit that was possible.
‘What were your dealings with them?’
Sendatsu told something of his adventures in Vales, explaining about building the defences and fighting off the Forlish — but leaving out the parts where he slept with Rhiannon; discovered the burned temple to Aroaril and the book; the massacre they had uncovered and that Rhiannon could do magic. Still, he found the longer he spent with his father, the more he had to fight the feeling to tell Jaken everything.
‘What do the Forlish think of us? Do they know we are better than them?’
‘They only know stories about us. They think we are magical, wise beings,’ Sendatsu said.
‘Excellent. They will more readily accept us as their rulers. And their armies — how do they fight?’
‘The Forlish have the biggest army and they form a wall of shields, all overlapping and bristling with spears.’ Sendatsu saw no danger in this, at least. ‘Up close they switch to short swords, more for stabbing. They try to give their opponents no room to swing a longer sword.’
Jaken nodded. ‘Good tactics. Yet magic will shatter their shield wall and let our warriors inside. They will be no match for elves.’
‘I killed five by myself, during one battle,’ Sendatsu could not stop himself from adding.
‘Did you? I would have expected nothing less,’ Jaken said. ‘Once resistance has been crushed, we can bring peace to these troubled lands. We can help the humans live better. They will all benefit, in the long run. They will not thank us for it but their children will. Besides, there will be many who remember the elves with fondness. Most countries will probably welcome us as liberators, rather than see us as conquerors. They will be happy to accept elven rule.’
‘What will the priests of Aroaril say about us leaving Dokuzen to crush the human world?’
‘The priests will stay out of this, as they stay out of everything,’ Jaken said. ‘They are happy as long as everyone walks into a church on the seventh day of each quarter-moon and gives generously. They don’t want to know more.’
‘We should ask more of them. How can they preach doing good in church and then ignore what happens for the rest of that moon?’
‘That is ridiculous and not worthy of talking about. Now, do you agree or not?’
Sendatsu hesitated.
Jaken sighed. ‘You want to discuss it with your gaijin pets. Understandable, if still foolish. Fine. Send Gaibun with an answer by dawn and you can see your children at breakfast. They are asleep by now and I’m sure you don’t want to wake them.’
‘Wait, Father — how have they been sleeping?’
‘In the usual manner.’ Jaken shrugged. ‘I do not bother myself with that sort of thing. It is not work for a warrior.’
Sendatsu felt a chill down his back and a burst of anger in his heart at Jaken’s words.
‘One more thing,’ his father continued. ‘Sumiko and the Magic-weavers might try to contact you. They will know you came back through the barrier, after all. Listen to what they say, agree with everything and then come and tell me what they said. There is more happening in Dokuzen than I can tell you about, but all shall be revealed soon. All you need to know is there can be only one ruler in Dokuzen and that will be me.’
Sendatsu felt like taking another bath.
‘I am pleased to see you again.’ Jaken offered him a slight smile. ‘Your return signals the final victory of clan Tadayoshi. Come here!’
Sendatsu forced himself to go down on one knee, taking his father’s hand and placing it on top of his own head.
For a long moment he felt his father’s hand rest there, then Jaken reached down and raised him up.
‘I shall expect Gaibun with your answer by dawn. But make sure it is a written reply, and sealed.’
‘But surely —’
‘Do not trust Gaibun. He is playing his own game,’ Jaken warned. ‘I shall only accept a written answer.’
‘I am not a fool, Father,’ Sendatsu said stiffly.
‘Of course not! You are my son!’ Jaken slapped him on the shoulder and strode out of the room, leaving Sendatsu in more confusion than ever before.
10
We did not realise these Elfarans were building an entire city to the east, although they allowed us in to look on their work, at first. But soon those of us who journeyed to see it never returned.
Huw’s song
Sendatsu walked slowly back through the villa. His father insisted he should not trust Gaibun. From anyone else it would have been a simple warning. But with his father, things were never simple. Did that mean Gaibun was untrustworthy, or just prepared to betray Jaken?
Gaibun had always told the truth, even when it earned him punishment or lost him a contest. But his father was right: Gaibun was lying about his mistresses — and either lying to Jaken or to Asami and Sendatsu. Once lying began, it was hard to stop. Something deep inside told him he should still trust Gaibun. They had been friends for as long as he could remember — Gaibun was the brother he never had.
‘What did your father say?’ Gaibun asked and Sendatsu realised he had wandered into the garden, where everyone was waiting for him.
‘He wants us to have everything we wanted — I get my children, Huw gets freedom from the Forlish —’
‘And me?’ Rhiannon asked.
‘You get nothing. He does not believe you are possible,’ Sendatsu admitted.
‘And his price?’ Asami inquired.
‘To persuade Daichi the elves need to bring down the barrier and march into the human world to stop the attacks. And to help Jaken become the ruler of every land.’
‘And what did you say?’ Huw whispered.
‘We must give him an answer by dawn.’
‘Well, it is obvious. Sumiko will surely be arriving soon and we need to secure a deal with her first,’ Asami said.
‘But my children,’ Sendatsu said helplessly.
‘We will never agree to becoming slaves to the elves,’ Huw said. ‘I cannot forget the slave markets in Cridianton, when I lived at Ward’s palace. I watched Balians, Landish and others being sold off, families split apart, having been dragged from their home in chains. How those slaves were treated was even worse. To be a young and attractive girl or boy slave in Ward’s castle was to be trapped inside a living nightmare.’
‘And what about the magic? Your father is like the elves who killed humans centuries ago — he will not want us to challen
ge him with magic,’ Rhiannon said hotly.
‘I know! I know all that — yet he still has my children. I need to think how to get them back while stopping him.’
‘I don’t know if that is possible,’ Gaibun warned.
‘Of course it is!’ Sumiko snapped, stepping clear of the oak tree and striding towards them, oak staff in her hand.
‘I really must remember to put a ward of warning on that tree,’ Asami muttered to herself.
Sumiko stopped a few paces away from them. ‘So, do we talk here, sitting on the grass like a pack of humans, or can we go inside and speak like civilised people?’
‘Forgive me, sensei — Jaken was just here. But he has left now, so of course we shall go inside.’
‘Jaken was here? How did he know Sendatsu had returned?’ Sumiko asked.
‘He has an informer among your Magic-weavers. He has boasted of it often enough,’ Gaibun said.
Sumiko started, then composed herself. ‘Then we have no time to waste. Let us go inside,’ she instructed.
Sendatsu could see she held a book and the worries about his father were pushed aside by the thought he might be able to read the book he had found in the Velsh church.
Asami led the way back into the reception room that had so recently held Jaken, all four elves smiling as Huw and Rhiannon could not hold back little gasps of awe and surprise as they took in the beautiful walls and floors of the villa, decorated with pictures of elves and animals, and the finely carved furniture. This part was set around a central courtyard, open to the night air, where a pool rippled among perfect statues. Tall columns held up the roof around the outside of the courtyard.
Rhiannon nudged Huw angrily. ‘Humans would have had this, should have had this. But, like the magic, it has been taken from us. The elves have sat here for the last three hundred years, living in luxury, while outside, humans struggled and died.’
‘It has to change,’ Huw agreed.
The reception room was huge, a double-height ceiling and enough space for three Velsh families to live comfortably. The six of them would have been squashed in the main room of Huw’s house — here they almost vanished in the scale of the room.
More amazing still, it was lit by a mixture of candles and lamps, scores of them, providing more than enough light for an entire Velsh village — or this one room.
Asami gestured. ‘Please, take a seat.’
Huw and Rhiannon watched the four elves sink onto couches and followed suit.
‘Welcome back, Sendatsu. Have you brought me what I need?’ Sumiko asked excitedly.
Sendatsu produced the book he had carried around carefully for so long. ‘I think so. We found this in the burned-out remains of a Velsh church to Aroaril. This church was definitely made by humans, not elf-built. Not only was it burned but we found evidence of a massacre of humans there. There are memories of such an event, as well as of elves stopping humans worshipping Aroaril.’
‘Excellent! What does the book say?’
‘We don’t know, because we cannot read it,’ he admitted. ‘I showed it to many humans but none of them recognised the writing.’
‘Then how do you know you have the proof I need?’
Sendatsu swung to face Rhiannon. ‘Because I have the first human who can do magic in three hundred years with me,’ he said softly.
He worried about putting pressure on Rhiannon but she met every eye on her defiantly.
‘Can you do something for us, please?’ Sumiko asked slowly, trying to pronounce each word clearly. ‘Perhaps the flowers in the vase there …’
Sendatsu groaned inside. He knew that would be the last straw for Rhiannon but, before he could say anything, the vase smashed into a hundred fragments as the flowers exploded into life, doubling then tripling in size and taking over the entire table.
The elves jumped as the vase burst apart but Rhiannon pressed on, making the flowers keep growing and pushing across to the couch where Sumiko sat.
‘You have done enough!’ Sumiko exclaimed.
But Rhiannon looked around the room, letting all know she could do more, before sending the flowers back to their previous size, where they flopped onto the small table.
Sendatsu smiled. ‘Do you believe us now?’
‘And how do you feel after that?’ Sumiko asked Rhiannon sharply.
‘I could do it again, any time you want,’ Rhiannon said boldly, although all could see how she was working hard to keep her breathing even.
‘The only elf who has displayed more power is sitting over there.’ Sumiko pointed at Asami, her voice low.
Gaibun snorted. ‘You are saying she is as good as an elf?’
‘No. I am saying she is far better. She is completely untrained and already has the power and imagination to best all but a handful of elves. With a moon or two of intensive training, I think only Asami and I would be able to match her. And in a year — who knows? How many more like this are out there?’
‘We don’t know,’ Sendatsu admitted.
‘Well, how did you find her?’
Sendatsu smiled. ‘You could say she found me. We didn’t know she had magic until we were attacked — and then she saved us through magic.’
‘Really? So was it physical pain or emotional pain that unlocked the magic?’ Sumiko asked kindly, reaching out to take Rhiannon’s hand. ‘Please, I live to serve the magic and must know everything.’
Rhiannon naturally held back but Asami nodded her encouragement and she reluctantly admitted it was both.
‘I learned the truth about my father’s betrayal, he was hitting me and then everything came alive around me …’
‘That must have been terrible,’ Sumiko said sympathetically. ‘What did you do with your new power? Come, you are among friends here.’
‘I killed them all,’ Rhiannon said hoarsely, then bowed her head, unable to say any more.
Sumiko patted her hand gently. ‘You are very brave and I shall be delighted to help you develop your magic, help others like you among the humans. How many others are there? If their talents are not nurtured and developed, perhaps they never use it properly. And you say humans were massacred. Were they the ones with magic?’
‘We think so. Magic, or knowledge, or both,’ Sendatsu said.
‘They were betrayed. They trusted the elves — and were killed as a reward,’ Huw added.
Sumiko laid down her book on a nearby table.
‘Perhaps we should look through your book then, see if it can give us some proof,’ she suggested. ‘I need evidence of what happened three hundred years ago, so I can show the people that the Council lied and they are not to be trusted, that only the Magic-weavers have the answers to the new world that awaits us.’
‘And what about me? What about the proof elves are no better than humans?’ Rhiannon asked eagerly.
‘Better to keep you out of this. It will only complicate matters. One thing at a time,’ Sumiko suggested. ‘Your evidence?’
Sendatsu eagerly offered her the Velsh book. ‘How does this work?’ he asked.
‘In my book are examples of the forgotten languages — the tongues the different races spoke before they were all merged into one in a massive act of magic. With this we can decipher the old words. It takes some time but I have had great success with it.’ She smiled.
All waited as she opened Sendatsu’s book and then flicked slowly through her own.
‘Aha! No wonder you could not find a human who understood the words — they are written in the old elven tongue, the Nipponese we brought with us to this land,’ she mused. ‘I have made quite a study of this!’
Again there was silence as she whipped through pages, reading the two books at once. They all leaned in closer.
Sumiko slammed her book shut, her face ashen. For a long moment she said nothing, then she smiled at them. ‘This is exactly what I have been searching for,’ she said finally. ‘We threw the Council into a panic with one scroll written by an elf named Sendatsu, the first
former Elder Elf and obviously beloved of the forefathers. This looks like his book.’
‘Looks like?’
‘Listen.’ Sumiko picked up Sendatsu’s book and scanned down the page before beginning to read slowly.
‘My ancestor and the other forefathers were worried enough to make us seal ourselves away from the other human lands, where we can do no harm. But, before they could finish, they disappeared, crumbled to dust, as though the weight of history caught up with them.
‘While some of us mourned them, others planned to take control. It is they who will kill me tomorrow …’ She paused and glanced up before continuing. ‘I shall hide this book, hope one day it shall be found and history can right itself.
‘My name is Sendatsu. It means a guide or pioneer in our old language. I had hoped to lead my people to a life of peace but instead I have been led to my own doom.’ Sumiko looked up after a long, long pause. ‘And this is but the first page. Imagine what else is inside here,’ she said. ‘This is more, far more than we ever hoped for. There is no doubt, after reading this, the Council lied and has to go.’
She stood and began to pace the room. ‘I need to take this with me, get this translated tonight, find the passages that should be sent out to every district, every clan. If we do this right, the esemono will rise as one —’
‘On that point.’ Sendatsu reached over and took his book from Sumiko. ‘You promised to get my children and life back. My father was here, promising me much the same. What do you offer us? Before you get this book, we need your word.’
Sumiko’s smile was wiped off her face in an instant.
‘You put your trust in me before — why not now?’
‘I had no choice before,’ Sendatsu replied.
Sumiko took her seat again, slowly and deliberately. ‘What do you want?’