Wall of Spears (30 page)

‘After all, they could be planning to betray us. We have to be on our guard,’ Mildrith said.

Edmund glowered at her.

‘Forland is the greatest country in these lands. If we are not careful, these Velsh will be asking to see the other countries made free. All you have risked, all you have worked for, could be gone,’ Wilfrid said.

Ward smiled. ‘We shall make this alliance with the Velsh and use their magic and their men to stop these elves. But we can also keep our eyes open for opportunities later.’

Edmund opened his mouth to keep arguing but Ward silenced him with a look.

‘We shall go and tell this elf that we agree to everything he says. Who knows, we may even do so, if that is necessary to win the battle.’

Rhiannon and Asami were slowly, gently revived with honeyed water, until they could sit up by themselves and eat the food the Forlish guard had brought. It was hardly delicious — hard bread and harder cheese, with strips of dried meat — but they wolfed it down anyway.

‘What is going on? Who are all these soldiers?’ Asami asked.

‘We are with the Forlish army. I guess we had to take refuge here because Sumiko was chasing us?’ Rhiannon answered her, around a mouthful of cheese. ‘We need to get some strength back quick, because we will need magic if we are to get out of here.’

‘We had no choice. I have offered Ward a way to defeat Sumiko, by making an alliance with the Velsh, to use their magic and skills with the Forlish numbers,’ Sendatsu said.

‘He’s been like a madman,’ Gaibun put in. ‘Threatening the Forlish and making them give you food.’

‘Huw will never agree to an alliance with Ward. And what about you?’ Rhiannon asked Sendatsu. ‘You were swearing to kill every Forlishman you found after we came across that dead boy in Rheged.’

‘I don’t want to do this. But we have no choice. Sumiko is going to keep rolling south until she has trapped and crushed the Forlish. And then she can finish off the Velsh at her leisure. If we don’t stand together, we fall apart. I don’t trust Ward but we need his men,’ Sendatsu said flatly.

‘I still can’t see Huw ever agreeing to this.’

‘Do you have any other suggestions?’

Rhiannon and Asami ate in silence for a long moment, thinking.

He let them go on for as long as he dared, keeping one eye on Ward and his little group, who seemed to be having an animated discussion of their own.

‘I can barely think straight, let alone come up with a masterstroke that will bewilder Sumiko,’ Asami said.

‘Then we do this my way. Rhiannon, I need you to trust me if we are to get Huw to agree to this.’

‘Why me, more than the others?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘Because I need you to stay here with Ward while we go back to talk to Huw.’

‘What?’ she gasped, spitting out her mouthful of bread.

‘You said it yourself — Huw will never agree normally. We could talk until our tongues fall out and he will still say no. He will plan to hold Vales against Sumiko and we will all be destroyed. But if you are here as a surety of his good faith, he will bring his men south rather than risk anything happening to you.’

‘And what about me? I will be at Ward’s mercy!’ she protested. ‘And the man does not have any!’

‘We take Ward’s son, Wilfrid, as guarantee of Ward’s word. He will not do anything to see him harmed.’

‘You ask a great deal,’ Rhiannon said bitterly. ‘You want me to risk my life on Ward’s love for his son. I can tell you now, he was never fond of Wilfrid. It was the talk of the court.’

‘Well, the prince is with him now, and one of his closest advisers,’ Sendatsu said softly, keeping an eye on what Ward was doing. ‘Besides, you are no longer the helpless dancer. You have power he can only dream about.’

‘You seem to have thought of everything,’ Rhiannon said sourly. ‘But still, it is me who will be taking the greatest risk.’

‘It is a risk. But I think Ward’s desire to live, and to beat Sumiko, is far greater than the chance he will try to finish the job he started in Cridianton, when you were but a dancer and singer.’

Rhiannon shook her head as she finished another mouthful.

‘And do you think we can trust him not to turn on us even if we do win?’ she asked.

Sendatsu smiled. ‘I’m sure he is thinking he can come out of this as the eventual winner. But make no mistake, even having Ward as an ally will not guarantee victory. If we do win, it is going to cost all of Ward’s strength.’

He looked around and saw his words were striking home.

Rhiannon swallowed and drank a mouthful of water to wash out her mouth. ‘I’ll do it. I can’t believe I am saying this but, by the skies above, you are right. This is our only chance.’

‘Good.’ Sendatsu breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Here they come now.’

They stood to meet Ward and the others, the guards quickly forming a line between them.

‘Lord Sendatsu. We have a deal. We shall form an alliance and fight together, and then work to build all men up, spread the knowledge of magic and healing to every land,’ Ward announced.

‘Then we should prepare a treaty for signing,’ Sendatsu said smoothly.

‘An excellent idea.’

‘And we should exchange trusted people, as a sign of our good faith.’

Ward said nothing for a dangerously long moment. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘We have both been betrayed before. I suggest, to demonstrate our trust, we leave Rhiannon of Hamtun with you and we take Prince Wilfrid with us.’

‘No!’ Mildrith exclaimed, only to step back when Ward raised his hand.

‘Rhiannon is Forlish anyway. How does having my son make that equal?’ he demanded.

‘Rhiannon is not just the leader of the Magic-weavers, she is also close to the leader of the Velsh, Huw of Patcham.’

Ward smiled, but there was no humour there. ‘I know she is a good singer and dancer but while I have heard much about her magic, I am yet to see any.’

Sendatsu glanced at Rhiannon, who nodded and stepped forwards. At a gesture, the spears of the line of guards bent out of shape, the points bending towards the startled men’s heads. As they dropped the spears, she looked at their shields and they buckled and snapped, the boards bursting apart, so they were left holding straps attached to scraps.

‘And she is still weak from facing Sumiko,’ Sendatsu said. ‘Imagine what she could do when she was fresh and rested.’

He saw Ward step back a pace as the guards dropped what was left of their shields and drew swords. Sendatsu held his breath. This was when he would find out if Ward really was serious about an alliance.

‘Was this the sort of thing you faced in Dokuzen?’ Ward asked Edmund softly.

‘That, and worse. That is what we shall have to defeat if we face the elves in battle,’ Edmund agreed.

Ward looked at the wreckage of spears and shields and nodded.

‘But we cannot just give them Wilfrid. What if they were to use him against us? He is your last son!’ Mildrith hissed.

‘They know that. They are testing me, to see if I can be trusted,’ Ward said absently. ‘And it costs us nothing. They will want Rhiannon back for the battle, as we will get Wilfrid back.’

‘Let me go instead,’ Mildrith begged.

‘You have no value. Not like Wilfrid. You understand that, don’t you, my son?’

Wilfrid blinked. ‘Yes, Father.’

‘I would never risk you if I thought they would betray us,’ Ward vowed, surprising himself a little with his own vehemence. ‘Then it is settled.’

Sendatsu let out his breath as Ward and Wilfrid pushed their way through the line of nervous guards.

‘You realise that if this is some trick, and you harm him, I shall devote the rest of my life to making sure you die horribly and everything and everyone you love suffers?’ Ward said.

‘I would expect nothing less. He will be an honoured guest — unless you harm Rhiannon, of course.’

Ward stared at him and Sendatsu met his gaze, thankful for the many times his father had questioned him, urging him to keep his face expressionless. He had never managed it while his father was alive but now it came to him.

‘She will be treated like my own daughter,’ Ward said finally. ‘I am not happy about this, but I shall agree.’

Sendatsu kept the relief from his face. ‘Excellent,’ he said.

Ward waved and servants rushed forwards with parchment and ink. One servant bent over, a shield was placed on his back to form an instant table, and Sendatsu signed his name underneath the seal of King Ward. The seal of the Elder Elf had not been on his father’s hand — no doubt it was safely in Sumiko’s possession.

‘So we are allies, united against the traitor Sumiko until she is defeated, then we are pledged to negotiate the division of magic and healing in a peaceful manner,’ Ward said.

‘All of us — Forlish, Elfarans and Velsh,’ Sendatsu said.

‘And you are sure Huw of Patcham will agree to this?’ Ward asked sharply.

‘Without a doubt.’

‘Over my dead body!’ Huw roared.

‘Sit down and listen for a moment,’ Sendatsu said.

‘Has Sumiko put a spell on you? You make an alliance with Ward and then leave him Rhiannon to show we can be trusted?’ Huw screamed into Sendatsu’s face.

‘Keep your voice down.’ Sendatsu grabbed him by the shoulders. ‘Ward’s son Wilfrid is outside and will report back everything to his father.’

Huw glared at him, nostrils flared, eyes wild. He grabbed Sendatsu’s tunic in his fists and Sendatsu tensed himself in case Huw lost all control and attacked.

‘How could you do such a thing without talking to me? After all the Forlish have done to us?’ Huw snarled, but his voice was lowered.

‘What choice did I have?’ Sendatsu said calmly.

‘How could you let this happen? Retsu and the others — dead!’ Huw let go of Sendatsu’s tunic and Sendatsu let go of the Velshman’s shoulders, letting him step away.

‘Do you think I wanted this? I had to kill my own father, for Sumiko had so bewitched him that he thought Asami was Sumiko. Then I saw my children’s other grandfather, Ichiro, cut down by his own people’s arrows, nearly died myself; watched Retsu perish. We only escaped because Bevan sacrificed himself for us, seeing Rhiannon in danger.’

Huw grunted at that and Sendatsu smiled inwardly. He knew Huw had disliked the handsome young Magic-weaver and his obvious attraction to Rhiannon, despite the need for Bevan’s skills.

‘But the Forlish! A deal with them!’ Huw growled, stalking around the room. ‘The rest of the Council will never agree with that. Every one of us has lost friends to them, seen the smoke of their fires, buried friends and family they killed.’

‘The men who did that are all dead. We made them pay for their crimes,’ Sendatsu said reasonably.

‘You do know we cannot trust Ward. He will smile and nod, then when the battle is won, he will turn on us,’ Huw warned.

‘Of course. But having his son here means he will be loyal until then. And much can happen in a battle. His men will have to take the brunt of Sumiko’s force. We will use magic to battle Sumiko but, if his men are slaughtered in the course of victory, he is not going to be able to try anything,’ Sendatsu said, knowing he had to give Huw a way out.

‘But he was the man who gave the order for my father to be killed!’

‘Well, he did not tell them to kill your father. Just terrify your people,’ Sendatsu pointed out.

‘And there’s a difference? He thought he could use fear, rape and murder to defeat us. Now we are expected to pretend none of that happened.’

‘And, if we do nothing, then Sumiko will come north and tear Vales into pieces. She will not rest until Rhiannon is dead and every Magic-weaver is loyal only to her. Would you prefer that?’

‘Of course not.’

‘If it is any consolation, tell yourself you are doing this to protect Rhiannon. Your father would understand. It’s like a fire in the forest. Sometimes you have to set another fire, so the first one cannot get to you and is burned out on the second.’

Huw nodded and Sendatsu could see he was reluctantly coming around to the idea.

‘And this could be the way to achieve peace with Forland. If we had defeated the Forlish invasion, they would have just come back. This way they may never come at all.’

‘True.’

‘So this could be a good thing for your people, the way helping the Elfarans was going to be a good thing. And we will just take the Magic-weavers and maybe a company of dragons. Most of our warriors will never get near the battlefield and the dying.’

‘Don’t expect me to bow to the man, or spend any more time with him than I absolutely have to.’

‘Of course not. I will be the one who goes between you both. We need to find a place to fight Sumiko, where we can use our advantages against her.’ He steered Huw over to a map and stopped his flow of words. He had given Huw enough — any more and the bard would dig his heels in and nothing would happen.

‘Where are the two armies?’ Huw said, looking at the map. ‘I walked that way into Forland, when I went to perform at King Ward’s court. I wouldn’t say I know it well but there are a few places that I remember that could work. Where do you think the Forlish are now?’

Sendatsu crossed the room and opened the door, where Gaibun, and to a lesser extent Asami, were keeping a crowd of curious Velsh away from a nervous Prince Wilfrid.

‘Asami — where are the two armies?’ he asked.

Asami followed him inside and joined them at the map.

‘I have birds flying back to me even now, who will give us a better idea, but I know roughly where they were from when I opened an oaken gateway to bring us back. The Forlish were here, about eighty miles north of Cridianton, and I would say the elves were a few miles further back.’

‘Elfarans,’ Sendatsu said.

‘That might take a while to catch on,’ Asami said dryly. ‘Besides, the ones with Sumiko don’t know they are human. They still think they are elves.’

‘I would say this looks like the place.’ Huw jabbed his finger at the map, much closer to Cridianton. ‘I remember it well, because it was there I began to circle down south, so none would see me approach from the north and think I might be from barbarian Vales.’

‘What’s there?’

‘Nothing — which is perfect. It’s smooth, flat pasture land. No woodland, no rivers. Perhaps the odd stream but nothing big enough for Sumiko to use.’

‘Then we should go and tell Ward that is where we shall meet him.’

‘I’ll be bringing fifty of my best dragons,’ Huw said immediately.

‘All we really need is Prince Wilfrid to keep the peace …’

‘Make that one hundred dragons.’

‘I can only keep a gateway open long enough for about twenty,’ Asami said.

Huw sniffed. ‘All right.’

Sendatsu kept his face impassive but could not resist giving Asami a wink across the table.

‘Then let’s go and pick the ones you want.’

‘You do that. Bring Cadel and Bowen but leave Wilfrid here with Kelyn and Dafyd. Tell them to gut the bastard Forlishman if I don’t come back.’

‘What will you be doing?’

Huw gave them a lopsided smile. ‘Attempting to persuade the headmen that we should go and help the Forlish.’

‘They will understand when you explain,’ Sendatsu said hopefully.

‘You’ve really gone too far this time, Huw!’ Griff shouted, thumping the table.

‘How so? Weren’t you the one wanting to make a deal with the Forlish in the first place, so that your village would be spared any danger? How is this any different from that? I thought you’d be delighted we were talking to Ward,’ Huw fired back. He felt keenly the injustice of having to argue something that he hated — but at least having Griff to argue with made it easier. He would have had a more difficult time of it if Griff had agreed and he was attempting to persuade Dafyd, Llewellyn and the others.

‘Retsu and the other elves are really dead? All of them?’ Llewellyn asked, dumbfounded.

‘Sumiko set a trap and they fell in. Worse, she knows we helped free them and sent them down to try to take Dokuzen from her. Once she has crushed the Forlish, she will come for us.’

‘Those Forlish scum killed my parents! And you really believe we can make an alliance with them and trust them to keep it?’ The fiery headman, Powell, was next to speak. Fury was behind his every word.

Huw agreed with what he said, which made things both easier and harder. ‘They killed my father as well. And I am going to have to be the one who goes down there and shakes the hand of that bastard, then wipe the blood of Velsh children from my palm after I have done so,’ he told them, his voice shaking with anger. ‘But I will do that, if it is going to save more children. The Forlish have a big army of well-trained soldiers but no magic. Sumiko will use magic to defeat them. We have magic but only a small army. Sumiko will use her numbers to destroy us. She will not rest until every last Velshman and woman with magic is dead. Only by putting our magic with their numbers can we hope to match her.’

‘We understand, Huw,’ Dafyd said. ‘It is just we are struggling to catch up with all that has happened. We thought we were going to join with the elves and protect ourselves against Ward and his army. Now we have to do the opposite.’

Huw looked around at the shocked faces of the other headmen and nodded. ‘I hate this more than most of you. But what choice do we have? Anyway, I have had enough of talking about it, because it makes me feel sick to the stomach to ally myself with that butcher. So decide now.’

‘We cannot decide now. This is too important and there is not enough of us here,’ Griff objected.

‘We are out of time and out of choices. Decide now,’ Huw said flatly.

There was no enthusiasm but they all raised their hands, even Griff, after a moment.

Huw pushed back his chair. ‘I go now,’ he said. ‘I leave behind Forland’s Prince Wilfrid. He is the guarantee we will get Rhiannon back, so take good care of him. Unless, of course, they hurt Rhiannon, in which case I want him torn to pieces.’

Caelin may not have been scouting any more but he could not entirely rid himself of the habits ingrained from a lifetime of checking what was around. So he was the first to spot the smoke behind them.

‘What is it, sarge?’ Harald puffed.

‘The elves. They’re burning the villages they come across,’ Caelin said hollowly.

‘But what about the people?’ Ruttyn asked.

Caelin said nothing. They had been passing people for the last couple of days. At first it was isolated farms but then, as they marched further and further south, it was villages. They had marched past a small town of perhaps a thousand people just that morning. Maybe it was that going up now, making a long column of smoke to add to the small trails they had seen earlier. The cavalry had ridden ahead to warn people to run, so the villagers had loaded up carts and wagons and begun walking. Except the army had caught up and then marched right past them, seeing frightened faces of men, women and children as they fell behind, watching in horror as they were left.

Worse, some of the soldiers were beginning to fall as well. Men would drop as though they had been struck, as tendons or muscles gave up under the strain, tearing and crippling them. Some soldiers tried to help their mates along and those with a pulled muscle could keep up if their mates carried everything but their armour. But, for those with torn ankles and knees, there was no hope. The sergeants took their weapons and armour, passing it out among the others, and left them there for the elves to find.

Ward had forbidden the men to carry any wounded, or stop for ordinary people.

‘This is an army. If we are to save all of Forland, we need to preserve you and your lives. It is hard but we shall take revenge for them,’ he told the men, an order passed down from the captains to the sergeants and then to the ordinary soldiers.

It was not a popular order. Every mile cost them one or two men and, with each one they marched past, their morale slipped a little more.

‘Thank the stars above my family’s miles away from here, to the east,’ Harald said.

‘We could have sat your wife’s mother in the middle of the road and let her defeat the elves by herself,’ Caelin suggested.

‘True. That might have saved a few lives,’ Harald agreed, but his heart was not in it.

‘How can we stand back and let these people die?’ Ruttyn wondered as they stamped past another pleading family.

‘We have our orders. The king knows what he is doing. The elves are using our own tactics against us,’ Caelin said.

The other two grunted. They had all been part of the Forlish armies that had beaten the southern countries by killing and burning until the southern warriors fought to protect their people — and got slaughtered.

‘We have all seen it. In trying to save a few hundred people, a whole country is lost,’ Caelin said.

‘Where is the king? Why does he not protect us?’ a farmer called indignantly. ‘I pay my taxes, you should take me along!’

His words were ignored but he went on shouting until a cavalryman rode up to him and silenced him with a kick, leaving him whimpering on the roadside with a broken jaw.

The soldiers looked away as they marched past. Most of the other refugees cowered, learning their lesson. Some had even slumped down, giving up on running away and instead waiting for their fate. But there was one woman who held up her little girl desperately.

‘Take her! She’s no weight at all! She’ll be a good servant! Take her with you! Leave us but take the children!’ she pleaded.

Rank upon rank of Forlish soldiers lowered their heads and kept marching.

‘You are not Forlishmen! You are cowards!’ she cried. ‘If you do not fight for us, then you deserve to die!’

That was the fear every man was carrying and Caelin could see her words affecting all who heard her.

A mounted officer fifty paces down the column was one of them. He turned in his saddle and his eye fell on Caelin, marching to the side with the distinctive stripe of a sergeant on his tunic.

‘Sergeant! Shut her up!’ he ordered.

Caelin had to think hard about stopping. He had become so fixated on just putting one foot in front of the other that coming to a halt was enormously difficult. Once he had done that, he threw a salute and turned around. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Harald’s and Ruttyn’s staring eyes, then they kept going, borne along by the flood of marching men.

‘What are you going to do to me? Kill me and my daughter to save the elves the trouble?’ the woman sneered at him as he approached.

He looked in her eyes and saw no fear there, only anger. She could have run and saved herself — for a little while, of course — as he would not have pursued. But she chose to stay instead. She was a typical farmer’s wife, he guessed. Certainly no beauty; her face showed the lines of stress and years of hard work. She was barely twenty summers but she looked far older, the strain of life on the land killing her youth as surely as the invading elven host would finish the rest of her life.