Wall of Spears (22 page)

‘Thank you,’ Sendatsu said fervently.

The servant kept going and they pretended to turn back, only to wait until the darkness had swallowed him up before continuing the way they had been going.

‘That was well done,’ Huw whispered.

‘Mai and Cheijun did all the work. They were the ones who calmed him down.’ Sendatsu grinned. ‘I was thinking of hitting him and running!’

The passage grew lighter, with small glass lamps holding lit candles outside three wooden doors set into the wall.

‘So, which one is the queen’s?’ Sendatsu asked.

‘Each door has a letter carved into it — U, M and W. So it has to be M for Mildrith. The others will belong to her sons. You don’t want to get too close to them. I once tried a riddle on the younger one, Uffa, and it nearly ended up with me being flogged. He didn’t understand it and hated being made to look foolish.’ Huw patted the door in the centre.

‘Let’s get this over with then.’ Sendatsu reached over and opened the door, stepping through before the others could stop him.

The new clan leaders had been found hurriedly. In some cases, where the clan’s leader had been killed during Jaken’s rise to power, this was the third in line. Unlike last time, Jaken had not been able to find elves beholden to him. The list of those who owed him favours in the clans formerly loyal to Daichi had been thin indeed and many of those sitting in the tent were staring at him suspiciously. He realised his position hung by a thread, impossible as it seemed. Just a quarter-moon ago, the people had been falling at his feet, hailing him as their saviour. But the Forlish raid, while killing less than fifty elves, had damaged him in the people’s eyes. He was still confident he could bring them back. After all, once the Forlish were destroyed and the elves the masters of these lands, there would be no danger, only slaves and riches. For now, however, he had to lean on Sumiko, much as he hated to hand over any power to anyone.

‘We have to work together, instantly. If one clan breaks ranks, or fails to follow orders, we risk everything,’ he told them.

While at least half of them clearly did not like him, they all nodded agreement.

‘While they cannot beat us, they can hurt us. As our battle with them outside Dokuzen showed, they are trained and well armed and armoured. We shall not underestimate them. We must use our magic to communicate orders instantly. That way we can take advantage of any weakness or opening in the human ranks. Sumiko will have birds flying high above the gaijin, able to see what they are doing. With this knowledge we can defeat them with greater ease.’

Again, they all nodded agreement.

‘Each of you will have a Magic-weaver by your side from now on. Lord Jaken will send his orders to me and I will send them to you. They need to be obeyed instantly,’ Sumiko said. ‘You must do what the Magic-weavers say, or elves will die.’ She looked around the tent and all nodded back, once more.

‘Anyone who fails to do this will pay with his life,’ Jaken said harshly. Now was the time to emphasise his mastery over them. ‘Is this understood?’

‘Of course, Lord Jaken,’ the new lord of Tadayoshi said instantly, followed by the rest of them.

Jaken dismissed them and Sumiko signalled to her waiting Magic-weavers, who paired up with each lord as they made their way back to their clans.

‘This will work well,’ Jaken said with satisfaction. ‘When we meet the Forlish, it will be as if the twelve clans are acting as an extension of my arm. Orders will flow like lightning from me down to the lowest warrior. The elves will fight as one, under my orders.’

‘No,’ Sumiko said.

Jaken turned, surprised. ‘But this was your idea! You are saying now it will not work?’

Sumiko’s face twisted into a wide smile, one that he had not seen before.

‘No, I am saying it will work perfectly, but I shall be the one giving the orders.’

Jaken stared at her for a long moment. He heard the words but it was as if his brain refused to understand them. ‘What do you mean? Is this some kind of jest?’

‘There is nothing to laugh about,’ Sumiko said coldly. ‘You are no longer ruling the elves — I am. I will send out the orders, my Magic-weavers will pass them on to the clan leaders and they will be obeyed, instantly. This will work so well that it will continue, long after the battle is over.’

‘Have you gone mad? The people will never accept being ruled by a Magic-weaver!’

‘The people will love me, because I shall keep them safe. And when I return triumphant, having destroyed the humans, they will never challenge me,’ she said.

‘I have heard enough!’ Jaken’s anger exploded and he went for his sword — except a blast of magic flickered out and his sword was instantly locked into its scabbard, the metal swelling until it could not be drawn.

‘Guards! Guards!’ Jaken cried angrily.

But nobody came in. He rushed to the front of the tent, at any moment expecting Sumiko’s magic to knock him over, except nothing happened. He opened the tent flap — to see a different group standing guard around his tent. Every one of them was a Magic-weaver.

‘Come back in here or I shall make you, and you won’t like that,’ Sumiko said.

For a moment, Jaken was tempted to make a run for it. If he could but get to his clan, he could end this treachery by sundown.

‘Don’t be a fool,’ Sumiko said, and he felt a tendril of magic curl around his legs. ‘Walk back or be dragged.’

Angrily, he turned and stormed into the tent, right at her.

‘You will pay for this,’ he threatened. ‘As soon as I speak to my clan you will be executed for being a trai—’

But she gestured at him and he felt his tongue turn to stone, then his legs and arms, freezing him in place.

‘I have had enough of listening to you,’ she told him coldly. ‘Now you will listen to me. You will speak to nobody. You will be riding with me tomorrow, as normal, but you will not have the power of speech. Try to run and I will kill you. Try to do anything foolish and I will kill you, do you understand?’

He could only stare mutely at her, unable to believe what was happening. Her hatred shone out of her eyes and her voice dripped with venom. Yet for the past year he would have sworn to Aroaril that her love was genuine. Since she had given him back his elfhood they had shared both passion and tenderness. Incongruously, he found himself thinking of how he had wanted to speak to Archbishop Fushimi and set aside Noriko so he could marry Sumiko. And now she wanted him dead?

She walked around him. ‘I will take that as acceptance. It is enough that you know the penalty for disobeying me. I want you to understand there is no escape for you, no way for you to turn the tables on me. The people mistrust you but are ready to accept me, thanks to the work you have done. Now I will become lord of these pitiful human lands. Magic will rule, as it was always meant to. Your fate is to watch your memory being destroyed, your power taken away. If you do not give me any trouble, then I shall let you die honourably in battle with the humans. Try to stop me and I shall ensure every last elf in Dokuzen knows you are a limp excuse for a warrior. Elves will laugh about your impotence for the next hundred years, then shudder at the manner of your death at my hands.’

Jaken’s mind raced as he tried to see a way out of this and his eyes darted from side to side, looking for a weakness in her face.

Sumiko laughed. ‘I know how your mind works. I know you are thinking I must have left a loophole for you to wriggle through, a way for my plans to be foiled. But you are wrong. I have thought of everything. Thanks to the Forlish, there is not one elf who is prepared to speak up against me. After a few days of receiving orders through Magic-weavers, the elves will accept that as normal and come to expect it. I shall not give you back your voice until you have taken a mortal wound, then I’ll let you scream your hatred and anger and frustration out all you want. Until then, you shall be silent.’

Jaken fought against the weakness of his body, trying to bring his little magic to bear to free just one hand, enough to hurl a blade at her.

‘Pitiful,’ she sneered. ‘Do you really think I would let my guard down like that? Sit down.’

She sent a chair skidding across the grass and then pushed him in the chest, toppling him into the seat.

‘I need you to know why I am doing this. Do you remember my father?’ she asked gently, staring into his eyes.

Jaken struggled helplessly against her magic, trying to tell her with his eyes how he would get free and make her pay for this. But she seemed lost in her own memories.

‘I loved him. I worshipped the ground he walked on — thought there was no better father in all of Dokuzen. I thought all respected him as I did, admired his command of the magic. Then I watched you humiliate him, make him cry with your careless arrogance and enormous pride. I swore an oath as a small girl to avenge my father, to give the Magic-weavers the power and respect they deserved and to humble you, bring you the punishment you had earned. It took far longer than I expected and the price was high indeed. I loathed your touch and had to hold back my shudders of horror every time we were together.’

She leaned in and cupped his chin in her hand. He wanted to tear himself loose, to close his ears to her words but she would not even give him this small mercy.

‘When you told me you wanted to marry, that you loved me, I went home and laughed until I cried. The great Jaken, reduced to a little boy. The impotent weakling, thinking he was strong again. After I had to go through all that to get you here, I am not going to make the mistake of letting you go at the moment of my triumph.’

Jaken looked back on the past few moons and saw a hundred tiny things he had missed. He cursed the warning signs he had ignored, the way he had dismissed Sendatsu’s concerns. He wanted to be free, to be able to talk and move, to fight back — but he also desperately wanted to say sorry to Sendatsu. If only he had listened to his son, then he would not be in this position.

‘Yes, you are seeing now what I have done, how I isolated you and backed you into this position,’ she said softly.

He glared at her helplessly but when he saw how she was enjoying that, drinking in his discomfort, he tried to shut it out, give her a mask of indifference.

‘You could have had an alliance with the Velsh but I ruined that. I sent Asami’s father to his death at the hands of the Velsh as well, ensured he would never return to help you or hinder me, while ensuring that human Magic-weaver will never stop me. And do you want to know the best part of it?’ she asked, rhetorically. ‘I was the one who brought the Forlish in. I invited your wife Noriko to the Council Chamber, made sure that all the clan leaders were taken, got that mother to pretend her son had been killed and turned the people against you. You thought you were so clever; I made you look like a fool. I want you to know it all, for you will never have the chance to tell anyone but you will have a few days to think about it and suffer. The great Jaken, the cleverest of the clan leaders, the wonderful strategist and thinker. Brought down by me.’

She leaned in and patted his cheek.

‘Thank you for this talk. I have enjoyed it more than any other we have ever had. Now I have to go and take control of the elven people. Think on that and weep. I have left you the power to cry — I hope you take advantage of it.’

Jaken could not turn his head to see her go but the magic holding him prisoner did not slacken even a fraction, although he brought everything he had against it. He slumped back, panting, bitterness threatening to overwhelm him. He knew he should be planning a way out of this but, try as he might, he could not think of one.

Sendatsu walked through the door, Mai and Cheijun holding his hands, to see an older woman in a beautiful red dress seated by the window, staring out. She sprang to her feet as soon she heard them.

‘What are you doing here? You stink! Get out this instant, or I shall call the guards and have you flogged,’ she snapped.

Sendatsu pulled down the scarf covering his face. ‘We are here at your request, to free the elven prisoners and foil Ward’s plans,’ he said.

The woman gaped, eyes flicking to the others as they walked in, revealing their faces.

‘I am Huw, High Councillor of Vales. You sent me a message and I responded,’ Huw said.

‘I am Queen Mildrith. Maybe you had better sit down,’ Mildrith said slowly.

Instead, Sendatsu crossed to the room’s main door and opened it a fraction, enough so he could peer up and down the corridor. Here, in the heart of Ward’s castle, there were no guards and he breathed a sigh of relief and shut the door, turning the key in the lock for good measure.

‘It is safe to sit down and talk,’ he told the others.

Mai and Cheijun were the first to react, rushing over to a large couch and flopping down upon it.

Mildrith watched them with an obvious mixture of surprise at the group bringing children along and horror at their stained clothing on her fine furniture.

‘Velsh? How did you get here?’ she demanded.

‘Magic,’ Rhiannon said simply.

‘But I only sent my reply a turn of an hourglass ago!’

‘That would be the magic then,’ Rhiannon said wryly.

Mildrith stared hard at her and Huw.

‘I know you both, don’t I?’ she said suspiciously. ‘You used to perform here and you, girl, you turned my husband’s head.’

‘I left so I would not have to go to his bed,’ Rhiannon said coldly.

‘We are not here as performers but as leaders of the Velsh. We need to speak to you,’ Huw said.

She nodded and gestured towards the bank of chairs in her rooms.

Huw sat down, as did Sendatsu, Gaibun and Rhiannon, while Cadel and Bowen stayed standing, one close to the door they had come through, the other next to the door Sendatsu had locked.

Sendatsu spoke first. ‘We need to rescue our friends. Much depends on this. Your husband was tricked by a group of elves. His attack on Dokuzen has allowed a new leader to take control of the elves — the traitor who let Forlish into the elven city. Your husband thinks he holds power over the elves — he is about to receive a huge shock. We need to get the prisoners out of here and back to Dokuzen and attempt to overthrow the new leader, to right the balance once more.’