Valley of Shields

by Duncan Lay

‘Are you expecting the Velsh to strike us, sir?’ Ruttyn asked, although Caelin tried to wave him down.

  ‘On the contrary. I am expecting supplies and fresh horses. I sent for them but we marched so fast through the forest that I fear they will not arrive until tomorrow.’

  ‘Fresh horses, sir?’

  ‘You can begin the march home. I need to get back to Cridianton and explain to the king what went wrong,’ Edmund said grimly.

  A look passed between the two of them and Caelin drew himself up and saluted.

  ‘It has been an honour serving with you, sir,’ he said softly.

  Lord Retsu held up his hand as they reached the edge of the forest.

  ‘We go no further. They will not be back,’ he stated. His warriors had pressed the humans hard, keeping them moving and killing more than a hundred of them over the last day. But he did not have enough warriors to pursue any further. Outside of the trees, they would be revealed as a small band — and vulnerable to the humans. From what he had heard from Gaibun’s warriors, whose duty he had taken over, the Forlish were more than capable fighters.

  ‘We return back to Dokuzen,’ he told his warriors.

  ‘Lord, will you challenge Jaken for leadership? You were appointed clan leader of Tadayoshi by Lord Daichi. If Tadayoshi is to provide the Elder Elf, it should be you,’ one said.

  ‘I shall be happy to stay clan leader of Tadayoshi, while Lord Jaken is Elder Elf. Dokuzen does not need more fighting — it needs to be united behind one, strong leader,’ Retsu said loudly, knowing his words would reach Jaken’s ears.

  In truth, he had not decided what his course of action would be. Of the twelve clans, only five were loyal to Jaken, although he had no doubt Jaken would be replacing many of the other clan leaders with elves belonging to him. He was certain of one thing — Jaken was the wrong elf to lead Dokuzen into this new world, where there was no magical barrier and humans lusted after the wealth and knowledge of the elves. But until he had spoken to some of the other clan leaders, he did not have a clear path ahead. Especially as many of them had a similar mindset to fools like Moshin. It was hard to think clearly as well, when Noriko kept intruding into his mind. He told himself he only acted for the good of Dokuzen but the lure of Noriko was always there, an insistent pull that he had to fight. If Jaken was dead and he was Elder Elf, then they could finally be together — he forced his mind back to the task at hand.

  ‘We shall watch the gaijin from the trees and when we are sure they have indeed gone, we shall return home. We have been away from our loved ones for too long.’

  Asami looked up at the priest of Aroaril.

  ‘And you are so sure? So early?’ she asked. ‘It is not merely a cold, or a stomach upset?’

  Father Hiroka stared at her. ‘I do not lie,’ he said stiffly. ‘You asked for my help and I have told you. Most people are happy with such news.’

  Asami sank back on her couch, mind working furiously. ‘My apologies, Father. Thank you for your help.’

  Hiroka bowed. ‘My congratulations to you and Gaibun. I hope to see all three of you in my church soon.’

  Asami closed her eyes as he left. Why now? For years she had kept Gaibun out of her bed and the one time they had been together she was pregnant. She had known something was different, felt it in the magic — and now Hiroka had confirmed it. Gaibun would be overjoyed and Sendatsu, devastated. As for her … she just felt empty. She needed time to get her head around this, come up with a way forwards.

  She desperately wished she could talk to Rhiannon and even considered sending a bird to her — but then her need for help was swamped by her anger at Rhiannon’s betrayal. She would never ask for help there.

  ‘My lady, Lord Sendatsu is here,’ her maid announced.

  Asami sat up. What was it with Sendatsu and arriving at the worst possible moment — might he have seen Hiroka leaving?

  ‘Tell him I am resting and to come back tomorrow,’ she instructed.

  But, a few moments later, she could hear Sendatsu shouting at her maid, demanding to see Asami immediately.

  ‘I am in here,’ Asami called. ‘There is no need to bully my maid.’

  Sendatsu hurried in, although she stayed on the couch.

  ‘Are you sick? What is the matter?’ he asked.

  ‘It is nothing.’ Asami waved him away. ‘It is not important. A reaction from too much magic yesterday. Or perhaps some of my own cooking.’ She offered him a ghost of a smile but he did not smile back, even at their favourite joke. ‘What happened with your father? Were you able to make him understand the truth?’ she asked.

  Sendatsu shook his head tiredly. ‘He will not listen. He plans to rule all these lands and will use the lie of elven superiority to bring all of Dokuzen, even the clans that hate him, behind his idea. There is no way he will acknowledge we are human under those circumstances. And maybe he never will. It is against everything he believes in. Worse, he is completely under the thumb of Sumiko. I never thought to see the day.’

  ‘There is something very suspicious about that. Every time I spoke to her, her voice dripped with venom when she spoke of Jaken. She told me a story of how Jaken humiliated her beloved father and she swore revenge on him.’

  ‘It is strange indeed.’

  ‘You should tell your father about that — he obviously does not realise that whatever she has agreed to with him, she is playing a longer game. Like the way she promised me that she would not hold a grudge over our fight, only to spring the trap on us in front of everyone. The offer she made to Rhiannon and myself — I fear she plans to depose your father and rule.’

  ‘He will not listen to me — and I do not care whether he is brought down by Sumiko,’ Sendatsu said. ‘Although how can that happen? He is the saviour of Dokuzen. It would take something extraordinary for the people to lose trust in him.’

  ‘How can you not care? Don’t tell me this is a return to the bad old Sendatsu, who let everyone else push him around and went along with whatever was decided for him —’

  ‘No. I have had enough of going along with whatever my father thinks. I am leaving Dokuzen, rather than stay here.’

  Asami gasped. ‘What?’

  ‘If my father will not acknowledge the debt we owe the Velsh, if he will not accept the truth of the past and what we have done to these lands, then I will. I shall do what I can to help the Velsh and make up for the betrayal and murder of the past. And I want you to come with me. Together we can right this wrong and restore magic to the world out there.’

  Asami stared at him in shock.

  ‘It makes perfect sense. It is not safe for you to stay here any longer. Sumiko seeks revenge for her humiliation and she will not stop until she has it. You will be her next target — and it is obvious that my father will let her do what she wants. For all we know, your death was the price of her cooperation.’

  Asami shook her head. ‘She will not do that to me. I am no threat to her.’

  ‘It is too much to risk.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘If you will not leave for your own sake, then leave for my sake,’ Sendatsu said, taking her hand.

  ‘Sendatsu …’

  ‘You once said it did not matter where we were, as long as we were together. This is our chance! The old order is gone — you can leave Gaibun, you can leave Dokuzen and we can create a new future for ourselves.’

  Asami looked into his eyes and managed to hold herself together only with the greatest of effort. Meanwhile, her mind was racing. Father Hiroka would tell Gaibun he was to be a father. Gaibun would never give her up, never leave her. If she travelled to Vales with Sendatsu, Gaibun would come hunting for them, determined to have his wife and child back. He would never let them go.

  ‘I cannot go with you,’ Asami said.

  ‘What?’

  She forced a smile. She had to do this. Gaibun would not stop until he had revenge and she did not put it past him to arrive with a dozen warriors at his back. Leavi
ng with Sendatsu would be a death sentence for him. And, she admitted, perhaps for her and the child she carried. If Sumiko thought Asami and Rhiannon were working together again, she would do anything to destroy them, for they were the only ones who threatened her. But Sendatsu would not understand that, would insist he could protect them all, when that was impossible. No, this was the only way.

  ‘After the way you slept with humans — with Rhiannon — do you really expect me to trust you again and give up everything to help the Velsh?’ she said.

  Sendatsu’s jaw dropped. ‘I thought I explained that! And I thought you respected the Velsh.’

  ‘Well, you thought wrong!’

  ‘Asami, you cannot be serious!’

  ‘I will not leave Dokuzen with you. Now, you should leave. You are no longer welcome here.’

  ‘Asami, please.’ He kneeled beside her, tears rolling down his face, and she felt her heart break. But she managed to keep it from her face. She turned away, so she did not have to look at him.

  ‘Goodbye, Sendatsu.’

  ‘I don’t accept this, I can’t believe we could end like this,’ Sendatsu pleaded.

  ‘It is time for you to go,’ she told him. ‘I need to rest.’

  Slowly he got to his feet and walked out. She kept her face pressed into the back of the couch and only when she heard the front door close did she allow herself to cry.

  ‘We need to think about dealing with the Velsh,’ Sumiko said.

  Jaken poured her tea and sat back in his chair. ‘The Velsh? They are no threat to us. We can finish them off whenever we want — it is the Forlish I want to punish. We drove them back this time. I don’t intend to give them a second chance.’

  ‘The Forlish are nothing, able to be snapped up in a moment. We faced their finest soldiers and defeated them with just a few hundred of our warriors. They will be too scared to face us again, when we have our full strength. Our arrows will slaughter them and then the magic will send them running. They are not the real threat to Dokuzen.’

  Jaken sipped his tea, an amused look on his face. ‘So that little invasion was nothing?’

  ‘The Forlish are mindless fools, driven by the sword. But the Velsh have dangerous ideas that could destroy us all.’

  Jaken shook his head. ‘Just because they have one girl with a little magic, and an old book that says we are all the same? Nobody will believe them. And, even if they did, there are not enough Velsh to stop us.’

  ‘Exactly!’

  Jaken raised an eyebrow. ‘So what have I missed?’

  ‘There are few Velsh, which means they must seek help. They have the knowledge of magic and how to find it in other humans. Imagine the reaction of other human tribes when the Velsh come calling. A message that there is no such thing as elves, that magic is there for all. A tale of how the elves have hoarded the magic behind their borders in Dokuzen, how it is there for any human, now that will spread like wildfire through the human lands. And the Velsh know the elven style of fighting thanks to your son and Gaibun. Every gaijin will want to know those secrets. While you are trying to destroy the fools of Forland, the other human lands will be arming themselves and learning magic. By the time we have finished taking our revenge on the Forlish, it will be too late for Dokuzen.’

  ‘Surely you exaggerate. Even if there are more humans with magic out there, they will not be able to find enough to threaten us, nor train them in time.’

  ‘They don’t need many more. Rhiannon has as much power as Asami and she has only been working with magic for a few moons. Give her a few more and she will be ready to challenge me. And you forget how many humans there are. There could be another dozen of them as powerful as her. And how would your warriors go against a human army ten times our size that can use magic on them?’

  Jaken drank more tea, his eyes narrowed slightly. ‘You assume a great deal there,’ he said finally. ‘I don’t agree that it will be so easy for the humans to find others with so much magic.’

  ‘It will, when their survival depends on it! We face two foes at the moment — a wounded wolf and a young snake. Of course you seek to finish the wolf off first, it seems to be the bigger threat. But turn your back on the snake and you will feel the bite of its poison and the sting of realising your mistake.’

  ‘What do you have against the Velsh? Why do you want to destroy them so much?’

  Sumiko leaned back and sipped her tea, a slight smile on her face. ‘My concern is for Dokuzen, not for the humans. You are a warrior, so you see the Forlish as the greatest threat. As well, all Dokuzen is talking about marching out to punish the Forlish and you want to lead your warriors to glory. I am a Magic-weaver, so my first thought is to defeat the magic arrayed against us. Rhiannon may only be young but she is our enemy. She thinks she is better than us. And the Velsh leader Huw does what she wants. The humans pose no threat to us with sword and bow — but an army of humans using magic is another matter.’

  Jaken inclined his head. ‘Assuming I agree with you — and your thoughts make sense — it exposes us to danger. If we deal with the Velsh first, not only will we suffer losses but we will give the Forlish time to regroup and build up their armies once more. While we stamp on the small snake, the wolf will be healing — and we shall turn around to find its teeth at our throat again.’

  ‘I completely agree.’ Sumiko finished her tea and placed the cup back on the table deliberately.

  ‘So what are you saying?’

  ‘We use our enemies against each other. Make the wolf eat the snake, then we shall finish off the wolf once it has been bitten and weakened further.’

  Jaken smiled. ‘Go on. I am fascinated to hear how we can possibly achieve that.’

  ‘The Forlish want something from Dokuzen. Magic, probably. They planned an elaborate and dangerous trap for us that only failed because I and my Magic-weavers stopped them in their tracks. We must make the Forlish king an offer he cannot refuse. He gets the magic he wants, as long as he destroys the Velsh. He will jump at the chance, for the Velsh are his enemies as well. They fought against him, after all. Once he has crushed the Velsh, we shall destroy his men and we will have removed both our enemies with less effort and harm to our own warriors.’

  Jaken looked at Sumiko over the lip of his cup for a long time.

  ‘It seems unnecessarily complicated,’ he mused. ‘Surely it is simpler to launch an overwhelming attack on the Forlish, finish them off within a couple of moons and then we can turn our attention to the Velsh, before they can find and train other humans with magic.’

  ‘Yet it will cost the lives of many warriors. The people hail you now but imagine how they will be if you can give them the world?’

  Jaken said nothing, instead pouring more tea.

  ‘The Forlish outwitted us,’ Sumiko said harshly. ‘It was not you or I but they fooled Daichi, Moshin and Konetsu, made elves look stupid — and possible to defeat. Just punishing them is not enough. We need to turn the tables on them.’

  ‘I am still not sure …’

  Sumiko stood. ‘If you do not trust me, then I shall step back and merely work as part of the Council. You can find others who can help you, supply you with the knowledge and the power to stiffen your resolve and harden your grip on power.’

  As she spoke, she released magic on him then, when he reacted, took it back just as swiftly.

  ‘I did not say that!’ Jaken surged to his feet.

  ‘Then you will listen to me?’ Sumiko stepped closer to him, weaving sinuously forwards and brushing her hand down his face.

  ‘Of course I listen to you. You are a trusted counsellor.’

  She pouted. ‘Is that all I am? If I do not feel that we are a partnership, both working together towards the same thing — the glory of Dokuzen — then I should pull away.’

  ‘Let me think about your plans,’ Jaken said.

  ‘Think hard,’ Sumiko whispered into his ear, releasing the magic once again and smiling to herself as he shuddered at the pow
er. He was helpless in her hands. Sumiko helped Jaken slip the robe off her shoulders, her mind elsewhere. Those with magic were blessed by Aroaril, marked apart as something special. Her father had told her that, many times. The elves thought they were better than humans, imagined they deserved control but she knew the real truth. Those with magic were the race apart and the ones destined to rule. Once all others had been removed, there would be nobody to challenge her.

  Huw brooded in silence.

  They had passed Retsu and his warriors a few turns of the hourglass earlier, the elves staring balefully at the Velsh as they passed by. Gaibun had spoken to his father briefly, then continued his task of escorting the Velsh out of Dokuzen. Gaibun was ahead of them now, riding with a couple of warriors, just in case they met elves coming the other way, while a few other warriors rode at the rear, again so no mistakes could be made. The elves were massively outnumbered by Huw’s dragons but that did not make it feel any less like being prisoners, escorted away from the scene of the crime.

  His dragons, for once, were silent. Usually they talked and laughed and sang while they marched or rode. Not now. They had lost too many friends to want to laugh and now all that seemed to have been for nothing.

  He did not know what to say to them. As much as he tried to tell himself the Elfarans would leave them alone, that they wanted to punish the Forlish for daring to attack Dokuzen and thinking they could destroy the elven city, he worried they would come for Rhiannon first. Magic was all that set apart Dokuzen from any other human city. The Elfarans guarded their superiority jealously and Rhiannon was a threat not just to Dokuzen but the whole illusion they had built up, the myth of the elves. That was their greatest weapon — and Rhiannon took that away from them. He remembered what his father said once: it is easier to hate someone you fear.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Rhiannon asked.

  Huw sighed. ‘I fear the Elfarans will ignore the retreating Forlish and instead come after us. Come after you, in fact. And I wonder if I should still be the leader of the Velsh. It was my decisions that led us to this.’

  ‘You had no choice. If Ward had got his hands on magic, he would have used it to crush us. We had to stop him, had to take that chance.’