by Duncan Lay
‘It was more important to ensure the park was guarded. And some of the other clan leaders might want to see the evidence for themselves. I have more than enough spare beds at my home anyway.’ Retsu accepted tea gratefully, sipped, then spat it out again.
‘What?’
‘It is Noriko — what is she doing here?’ Retsu ignored his still-tender leg to jump to his feet and hurry over to where Noriko sat on the bench reserved for guests of the clan leaders. Was she here at Jaken’s request or was there some other reason?
‘My lady.’ He offered her a short bow. ‘As always, it is a pleasure to see you.’
‘Lord Retsu. Thank you for your invitation to be here today.’ She stood and bowed in return.
He hid his confusion behind another bow. He might be struggling to make sense of the fog in his mind but he knew full well he would never dare invite the wife of the Elder Elf to be his guest at anything, let alone a Council meeting.
‘I must admit I was surprised to receive such an invitation — surprised and delighted. With my husband absent and likely to be so for many moons, I wanted to show you how much your offer means to me,’ she said politely, yet Retsu could feel the heat in her gaze.
Tired as he was, he felt himself respond and it took all his iron will to not give in.
‘My lady, we must talk. After the Council meeting,’ he said in the end. He had to know who had sent that invitation. Was this some trick of Jaken’s, or something else entirely? Jaken knew only too well how Retsu felt about Noriko but it had hardly been secret knowledge among the elves of their generation.
‘Lord Retsu. We are about to start!’ A call from behind put an end to his random thoughts. He did not have the time nor the ability to make sense of this now. But there was no rush.
‘Go to your duty. I shall be waiting for you,’ Noriko said with a gentle smile.
They bowed briefly and then Retsu took his place at the Council table, forcing a smile of welcome to his face. There were few people in the audience, for there was no Elder Elf present. But it was the clan leaders who mattered.
‘My lords, I have news of a horrifying betrayal. Lady Sumiko has been secretly working with the Forlish and plans to bring them into the heart of Dokuzen,’ he began.
He glanced around the table to see the reactions, trying to gauge if any were in league with Sumiko. From their faces and shouts of anger, it looked like they were all as shocked as he had been.
‘My lords, I call on Asami, former leader of the Magic-weavers, to explain.’
He sat down and rubbed his shaking leg. He could see it now. Sumiko and Jaken disgraced and Noriko free at last. It was all within his grasp.
‘Something is happening in those trees over there!’
The call went up and down the line and Council Guards converged on the stand of trees where Asami had seen Oroku disappear. Guards stood carefully, staying in cover as much as possible, but nocking arrows and bending their bows. The Forlish were about to receive a terrible surprise.
Edmund burst into another world. The lushness and beauty of the plants around him hit him like a blow. He had seen nothing like it before. He forgot where he was for a few moments, until a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and forced him to the ground.
‘Stay down, sir, let us look around,’ a familiar voice muttered and he looked back to see Caelin and his ever-present pair of scouts behind him.
‘That was a horrible way to travel,’ Ruttyn muttered. ‘I never want to do that again. Well, once more of course, to go back.’
‘I loved it.’ Harald chuckled. ‘It’s the perfect way to get rid of the wife’s mother!’
Caelin shoved them out to his left. ‘Secure the area,’ he hissed. ‘We don’t know who might be around.’
More Forlish were stepping through now and Caelin sent them in all directions, forming a tight ring around the oak tree.
‘What’s that?’ Ruttyn hissed and they dropped to one knee, crossbows out.
A figure stepped out from behind some large bushes and Caelin tensed, fearing this would signal some elven attack that would kill them all.
‘When I signal, loose your arrows and keep loosing until none of them move,’ the Council Guard officer ordered, then stepped out of the bushes, his arm raised.
‘Wait!’ a frightened voice squeaked and a figure ran towards him, hands in the air.
‘What are you doing here? I have archers hidden in the trees and one signal from me will see you riddled with arrows!’
‘But I was just looking for the sword I dropped here yesterday. It was a gift from my friend Tokosai, a favoured nephew of the Elder Elf Daichi and I —’
The officer blinked in surprise at the flow of nonsense from what he guessed was a young noble, judging by his fine clothes. ‘Slow down and explain yourself! Do you know that a band of gaijin raiders could be coming through here at any moment?’
‘Gaijin?’ the noble squealed. ‘Where?’
The officer looked around. Not here, obviously. So where were they?
‘Spread out again. Keep watching. I shall interrogate the fool,’ he ordered.
‘I thought you wanted to speak to me …’ the noble began, but trailed off when he realised the officer’s meaning.
‘If this is the best the gaijin can do, we have little to fear,’ the officer told his warriors.
An elderly elf, dirt staining his strange grey trousers and flowing top, holding cut flowers in his hands, stared at Caelin in surprise.
‘Come here! Are you alone?’ Caelin hissed, waving him closer. ‘Are you with the traitors?’
The elf backed away, raising his hands, his eyes wide in terror.
‘Don’t be a fool. We won’t hurt you if you talk but we’ll fill you full of bolts before you take two steps,’ Caelin warned him but the elf turned and ran, all the same.
‘Stop him!’ Edmund ordered.
Crossbows twanged and the bolts converged on the elf, slamming into his back and sending him tumbling over.
‘Spread out and search this place. Make sure there are no others,’ Edmund hissed. ‘The traitor Oroku told us he would have allies here, so search carefully.’
‘Do you think that was one, sir?’ Ruttyn gestured towards the fallen elf.
‘I bloody hope not, or we’re all in the shit.’
Caelin took the lead, as he knew he was supposed to do. Now he was here, the fear was gone and all he thought about was the task at hand.
They were in some sort of beautiful garden, bounded by high stone walls. At one end was what looked like stables and store rooms, there was some other strange structure and then what was unmistakeably a house, although nothing like any house Caelin had seen before. The best stone masons and carpenters in Forland could not have come close to anything like this.
Instinctively, he started his search there, easing into a beautifully tiled corridor.
‘Sarge, I can smell dead bodies,’ Ruttyn whispered.
Caelin grinned wolfishly. ‘I’m making you into a scout after all!’
Caelin, Harald and Ruttyn worked together as they checked the rooms, one watching the corridor while two darted into each room, confirming it was empty. The reek of death, of blood, brains and bowels became stronger with every pace.
‘Something is very wrong here,’ Ruttyn muttered, as each room yielded nothing yet the smell of death grew chokingly thick.
Caelin nodded. Worse, it was hard to keep watching for enemies when everything you saw made you want to gasp, from the richness of the furnishings and the amazing pictures on the wall, to the glorious tiles on the floor. It was literally like stepping into another world. Not even King Ward could live like this.
Then they turned a corner to discover the source of the stench.
‘What happened here?’ Ruttyn choked, as they gazed at the blood spattered across the walls and ceiling, the pools of it across the floor, and the jumble of bodies filling the corridor.
‘The skies above know,’ Caelin said gr
imly. ‘We have to finish our search first.’
They stepped over and across the bodies.
‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was the wife’s mother that did it — talked them to death,’ Harald offered, but nobody was in the mood for a joke.
They followed the trail of death back to the wreckage of the front door, where more bodies waited, but dared go no further.
‘Something is very wrong here. Back to Captain Edmund, fast as we can,’ Caelin ordered.
The other two needed no encouraging and they were swiftly back in the garden, panting, where Edmund stood close to a nervous-looking Oroku.
‘The place is full of bodies. Looks like there was a battle here last night,’ Caelin reported.
‘Do you want to tell us what is going on?’ Edmund asked Oroku.
‘This was to be the meeting place. My enemy who tried to stop me yesterday lives here. My sensei was to send a large party of warriors to kill her and secure this as a safe place for us to use and also so the Elder Elf would have someone to blame for helping the Forlish.’
‘Only something went badly wrong,’ Edmund mused.
‘There’s probably twenty bodies in there,’ Caelin said. ‘But everything else is deserted.’
‘So who was the little man with the dirty hands?’ Edmund looked over towards the body of the elf they had shot down earlier.
‘Perhaps her gardener?’ Harald ventured.
Everyone turned to look at him.
‘Well, sir, he’s not the sort of warrior you’d leave behind to guard the place. He didn’t have anything more threatening than a small spade on him.’
‘This is pointless. It is obvious your mistress’s plan has failed. For all we know, there are hundreds of warriors moving in on us now,’ Edmund declared. ‘You will reopen the gateway and take us back to the king.’
Oroku blanched. ‘We cannot go! We have to complete the mission!’
‘This was a fool’s errand when we had the advantage of surprise. We have lost that and we cannot risk losing anything else. We are leaving. Now.’
Oroku drew himself up. ‘I cannot do that. We still have surprise. They would not have left a gardener here otherwise. We would have stepped out into a hail of arrows. They must think we are coming into the city through the park, where I left. It is miles away and we can sack the chamber and get back here before they realise their mistake.’
‘Too risky. We are leaving,’ Edmund said flatly.
Oroku hissed with anger. ‘You will never get another chance to get what you want out of Dokuzen. Fail here and both my mistress and the Elder Elf will turn on you.’
‘Perhaps this Elder Elf might want to hear what you and your mistress have been up to,’ Edmund countered. ‘Now open the gateway or —’
‘No!’ Oroku cried.
‘You realise your life hangs by a thread?’ Edmund asked dangerously.
‘It is your lives that hang in the balance. Kill me and you will be stuck here. And believe me when I say Dokuzen will not be merciful. Your deaths will make children shudder. But follow me now and I swear I shall get you back to your families, heroes to your people and victorious for your king.’
Edmund stared into Oroku’s eyes and could see no weakness there. He cursed as he realised there was no way back, except through him.
‘We follow you now. But you will be the first to die if there is a trap waiting for us,’ he warned.
‘We shall all be safe. The trap is in the wrong place,’ Oroku insisted.
Edmund waved to his men.
‘Cloaks on, hoods up and weapons hidden. We have to move fast,’ he told them, then grabbed Oroku by the shoulder. ‘Lead the way, up front with my scouts.’
Oroku glared at him but joined Caelin, Harald and Ruttyn.
‘Don’t worry. They always give us the dangerous jobs but we always come out of it alive,’ Harald told him confidently.
13
How do you recognise the truth when it is right in front of you? Many strange and wondrous things are happening in our world, now the magical barrier is gone. Lies and truth have become so mixed up that it is hard to tell one from the other. I can’t help you there, my son. It is up to every one of us to search for the truth.
Lord Ichiro shook his head, obviously disbelieving Asami and Retsu’s tale. As he was both the leader of clan Chenjaku and father to Sendatsu’s dead wife, Kayiko, he was a key ally of Jaken and one Asami knew had to be won over. However, he had interrupted her almost as soon as she had begun.
‘Even Sumiko would not stoop so low,’ Ichiro told the Council.
‘You forget — the Magic-weavers have a history of deceit and betrayal. They have been outside society for three centuries for just such a reason,’ Retsu fired back. ‘We must send a message warning Lord Jaken and demanding the return of Lady Sumiko for trial for treason.’
‘We will need evidence to put our names to that,’ Ichiro said flatly.
‘Of course.’ Retsu nodded. ‘Let Lady Asami continue.’
Asami forced herself to ignore the tiredness that seemed to have settled into her bones. ‘Yesterday I tried to talk to Sumiko’s deputy, a Magic-weaver called Oroku, as he was preparing to open an oaken gateway in the park. He admitted he was going to see the Forlish, on a mission for Sumiko. Before he could tell me the rest of the plot, I was attacked and he escaped.’
‘We need more than that,’ Ichiro said impatiently.
‘Last night, both Lord Retsu and I were attacked in my home by Sumiko’s men. We were nearly killed and were saved only though the arts of Father Hiroka. These two events are connected. With the army out chasing the gaijin, the city would be vulnerable — but only to an attack helped by magic. They plan to bring in a group of Forlish, to pretend the humans have magic, and terrify the people so that they will turn from Jaken and beg Sumiko to protect them. The evidence is rotting in my home — but also willing to talk to you now.’ Asami signalled and Council Guards brought in the two surviving attackers, hands tied behind their backs and their hoods taken off to reveal their faces.
‘Tell the Council who you are, if you want to live to see nightfall. Be truthful and we shall be merciful. Lie and you shall finish the day lying in your graves,’ she told them.
With only a little prompting, the two admitted they had been sent to kill Asami on the orders of Jimai, along with many others.
‘So we have Oroku going to see the Forlish and Jimai trying to have you killed. But where is Sumiko in all of this?’ Ichiro summed up.
‘Do you really think Jimai and Oroku would do anything without Sumiko’s approval?’ Asami challenged.
‘It is not what I believe but what Lord Jaken will believe. And the evidence of a conversation nobody else heard, a pile of bodies and the admission of a pair of esemono is not going to get him to turn on Lady Sumiko.’
‘Then let us bring Jimai here and make him answer the questions. We have evidence against him,’ Asami said reasonably, keeping her frustration well hidden.
‘But what of the threat to bring Forlish here? How can we stop them if that is the case?’
‘We have the remaining company of Council Guards watching the park. That is where Oroku escaped and where they will bring the Forlish in, so as many people can see them as possible,’ Retsu said reassuringly.
‘Then send two guards from our door to bring Jimai to us. If he is willing to give up his sensei, then we can offer him a deal.’
Asami looked at Retsu, who nodded. It was a start, at least.
Caelin could feel a thousand eyes on him as he walked through the streets of Dokuzen. Not that there were that many elves around; in fact, there were hardly any. And the few they did see passed by without offering the strange group more than a glance. It all set his teeth on edge.
‘Why are they not more curious?’ he whispered to Oroku, unable to take it any longer.
‘Because we are wearing the cloak of the esemono, the common labourers and the lowest of the low. We are be
neath their attention. To talk to us would be dishonourable for them,’ Oroku hissed back.
‘This is a strange place indeed,’ Caelin murmured.
‘Wondrous!’ Harald corrected. ‘If only I could persuade the wife’s mother that she should never talk to me again because I am so below her —’ A nudge in the ribs from Ruttyn silenced him.
The tall stone houses, the statues, the beautiful gardens seemed to blur for Caelin, so it seemed as if he was walking in a dream world. How could this be real? Only the wood of his crossbow, in his hand beneath the cloak, and the aimless chatter of Harald gave him something to hold on to.
‘How far?’ he hissed at Oroku, unable to take much more of this. Coming here with violence felt all wrong and he should apologise for what they were about to do to this beautiful city.
‘That’s it there.’ Oroku pointed at a building that towered over all the others, a magnificent creation of wood, stone and marble that made everything in Cridianton look like a peasant’s hut.
Edmund pushed through the ranks of the men until he was at their shoulder.
‘We take out any guards as quickly and silently as possible. We want prisoners, not bodies, so we only kill those who fight back. Even then, try to wound rather than kill,’ he whispered.
‘They will not show you the same mercy,’ Oroku warned.
‘We need hostages to make your Elder Elf give us what we want. Dead bodies just mean vengeance,’ Edmund told him coldly. ‘Now lead on.’
‘Perhaps I should wait here …’
‘You will be coming with us.’ Edmund gripped Oroku’s arm and the Magic-weaver forced a smile.
‘Of course.’
‘Chenjaku Konichi Jimai, you are talking to not only your clan leader but almost the entire Elven Council. We command you to tell us the truth. We can offer you a deal,’ Lord Ichiro said persuasively.
Jimai laughed, a wild sound. ‘A deal? The moment I open my mouth to you, I am dead. Sumiko will kill me before you can ask a single question.’
‘We can protect you. I can protect you,’ Asami offered.
‘You don’t understand.’ Jimai looked left and right over his shoulders. ‘By the time I told you anything, it would be too late.’