Bridge of Swords (26 page)

‘There is no need,’ Huw interrupted.

‘Well, there’s no magic around here. Skies above, I wish there was!’ Dafyd smiled. ‘If only the elves would return to us, live among us once more.’

Then Rhiannon stood.

‘Well, they shall return! Sendatsu here has promised to take both Huw and myself to Dokuzen, where we shall meet the elven elders, tell them of events in the outside world and persuade them to come to our aid!’

Suddenly the roast pork was rising back up Sendatsu’s throat. He swallowed and tasted bile.

‘Skies above but that is the best news I have ever heard! With the elves on our side, the Velsh shall be safe, and enter a new golden age!’ Dafyd exclaimed. ‘Thank you, Sendatsu — and thank you, Huw and Rhiannon! If you can do that, we shall sing your praises forever! We shall tell everyone tomorrow — they will be delighted to hear …’

Sendatsu groaned. Seeing Huw stare at him, a smile on his face, just rubbed salt in this wound.

‘The elves are coming! The elves are coming!’ several of the children began singing and dancing, making up their own steps, while the adults clapped along. The children’s voices were the last straw. In them he could hear echoes of Mai and Cheijun, the last time he had heard them, as they had been coming down the passageway of his father’s villa. He had heard them but not seen them for that one, last time …

‘Enough!’ Sendatsu roared. ‘The elves are not coming back — they care nothing for the struggles of humans. And if you hope elves can solve all your problems and make everything golden and happy, then you are fools — the stories of the glory of the elves have been handed down from village idiot to village idiot!’

He glared around the room and a couple of the smaller children began to cry. Stunned silence greeted him from the adults.

‘Well, time we were all abed, don’t you think?’ Dafyd’s wife, Vivien, said brightly and loudly into the gap.

Instantly the family was up and about, collecting plates, treasures and children and moving as one, as though all knew what the others were doing.

In no time at all, the three of them were left alone in the room.

‘There are blankets there, and fresh straw for beds. We’ll leave you to it — you must be tired,’ Dafyd said hurriedly as he was tugged away by his wife.

‘Wait, I am sorry …’ Sendatsu called, too late, as the last of them disappeared.

‘What aren’t you telling us?’ Huw asked softly.

‘What?’ Sendatsu replied defensively.

‘Your reaction just then. It is as if there are things about the elves we do not know and you don’t wish to tell us …’

‘Well, you don’t wish me to speak to the Velsh by myself, so I count us even on that score. If I had spoken to Dafyd alone, this would never have happened. So it’s your fault as much as mine,’ Sendatsu told him sharply.

‘What about Rhiannon then?’ Huw fired back. ‘Perhaps you could tell her — I am sure she has proved worthy. After all, you are going to take her back to Dokuzen …’

Sendatsu glanced at Rhiannon and felt a new surge of guilt. But she was his best weapon — his only weapon — against Huw.

‘I want to return to Dokuzen. And I know Rhiannon wants to go also. I’m just trying to complete my mission and get back home swiftly. If you and Rhiannon do not want to go there …’

‘I want to go to Dokuzen!’ Rhiannon interrupted.

‘There you are then,’ Sendatsu pointed out, restraining the urge to wince at what he was doing. ‘It is Huw holding us back …’

‘I am trying to save lives,’ Huw spat, outraged that Sendatsu was using Rhiannon against him. Well, two could play at that game. ‘The Forlish are raiding my people every day and they killed my father. I would have thought you, Rhiannon, would want some revenge on the men who killed your father and wanted to rape you …’

Rhiannon gasped and Huw had to fight to keep his thoughts off his face. The lies were eating him up inside but he had to do whatever it took to get the elf to help his people.

‘We can do both,’ Rhiannon insisted. ‘We just have to work together, and not argue among ourselves.’

Huw and Sendatsu glared at each other.

‘We need to move faster,’ Sendatsu said. ‘We can’t spend days on one village.’

‘We should leave tomorrow,’ Huw agreed.

‘There. All settled. And we can be friends again.’ Rhiannon smiled.

Sendatsu managed something closer to a smile than grimace. ‘I am going to bed. We have another early start.’ He stood abruptly and hurried over to where the straw and blankets waited. He thumped some straw into shape and rolled himself into the rough blanket. He wanted the pair of them to go to sleep quickly, so he could say goodnight to his children. They seemed very far away at the moment. He waited as long as he dared before taking out the toys …

‘What are you doing?’ Huw demanded.

‘Nothing.’ Sendatsu tucked them away again and rolled over.

The Velsh knew far more about mining than we did. So while we were happy to pretend that we were wiser, more knowledgeable than any other humans, we were also happy to steal their knowledge. We set up our own mines with their help, we created our rice paddies with help from Breconia, we set up a fishing fleet thanks to the Skillian Islanders. We were happy to work with humans when we could take something. Giving was another matter, of course.

The village was a hive of activity when they left the next morning, as Crumliners worked on their protective wall and a couple of them practised with their finished crossbows.

Sendatsu had wanted to speak with Dafyd and the other older humans who lived in the elven homes — but Huw had insisted on doing the talking with them while Sendatsu gave the villagers a last chance to use his knowledge on the protective wall they were building.

‘They did not know anything valuable. They know nothing about Aroaril or magic,’ Huw told him as they rode away.

‘How do I know you will tell me the truth?’ Sendatsu accused. ‘What if they did know everything I seek but you plan to wait until we have visited another fifty villages before telling me?’

‘Oh, Huw wouldn’t do anything like that. He doesn’t lie,’ Rhiannon said immediately. ‘You can trust him — I do.’

Huw pasted a smile over his guilty conscience. ‘See?’ he said.

‘I think I need to talk to them anyway. There could be things you don’t understand in their replies, things that lead to new questions,’ Sendatsu said sourly. He had been unable to sing the goodnight song to the toys. This whole situation was getting worse by the day. He was now riding further away from home and getting no closer to answers. Last night Asami would have opened the gateway home for him … but he had not been there.

Now they were heading into a thick wood, which divided Crumlin from the next village.

‘Well, you can hardly blame Huw for wanting to keep Dafyd and his family away from you after the way you yelled at them last night,’ Rhiannon pointed out. ‘You have a duty to these people. All the centuries the elves have been away, we have kept alive their memories. They think you something special — and when you act like that, yelling and abusing them, it does two things. First, they begin to wonder if the old stories are true and second, they are less likely to help us. You have to remember you are a hero to them. You need to act like one all the time …’

‘I don’t care what they think about me and I don’t want to be a hero,’ Sendatsu interrupted.

‘But you should! They need you to be a hero — and you are the first elf anyone living has seen! Children will remember you and speak of you for years to come. You must think of the children next time …’

That was too much for Sendatsu, who began to laugh — because if he did not laugh, he would cry.

‘Why are you laughing? What is even funny here?’ she shouted.

Sendatsu shook his head and wiped his face. ‘There is nothing funny,’ he assured her.

‘Then what was that?’

‘You wouldn’t understand.’ He shrugged. Explaining this would reveal things he had to keep hidden.

‘Why not? Because I’m a woman, or because I’m a human?’ she accused.

Huw was thoroughly enjoying this little exchange and wondering how he might be able to provide a comforting shoulder for Rhiannon, when he heard something off in the bushes to his right.

‘Quiet!’ he snapped.

‘What? Don’t tell me you are on his side as well!’ Rhiannon stormed.

‘No — I think there’s someone out there.’ Huw gestured.

Instantly all three fell silent, watching the low bushes where Huw had pointed.

Sendatsu drew his sword slowly, keeping the sound of steel slithering out of the scabbard to a minimum, while both Huw and Rhiannon reached for the elven crossbows strapped to their saddles.

Nothing moved.

They looked around in all directions, listening as hard as they could.

Sendatsu could feel his heart pounding. The woods were silent — not a bird or an animal noise could be heard. That was not good. He glanced over his shoulder, back to Crumlin and safety. But the trail took them past huge rocks, covered in plants, as well as fallen trees and thick bushes. If anyone was waiting for them back there, they would be easy prey. But the woods ahead stretched out in front of them, miles and miles of uncertainty. It was decision time and Sendatsu knew it was pointless talking it over with Huw and Rhiannon. The humans were aiming their crossbows nervously off into the bushes — crossbows that were almost useless from horseback and in this terrain. Going back seemed the sensible option — but what if that was what the watchers wanted? Anyone who could remain unseen in the undergrowth for so long was not going to make a basic mistake like rustling bushes long enough for even someone as inexperienced as Huw to notice. Surely the intention was to make them turn back — right into the trap.

So Sendatsu did the opposite.

Before they had a chance to question him or argue, he shouted at the top of his voice and kicked his horse into a gallop. The big
Forlish horse reacted instantly, racing forwards down the trail. As he went past both Huw and Rhiannon, he slapped the rumps of their beasts with the flat of his blade, stirring them into a gallop as well.

The trail was relatively open here, being used by Crumliners for hunting and for grazing pigs among the trees, and he rode as fast as he dared, knowing the other two were close behind from the sound of the hooves beating on the earth. The back of his neck was itching and he slowed down, sure the other half of the trap was about to be sprung.

Just as he feared, four men jumped out of the undergrowth ahead, swords in hands. They were obviously Forlish raiders but whether stragglers or part of a larger group, he had no time to wonder. They spread out a little, to attack him from either side. He glanced from one to another, judging if he could crash through them — and hope to emerge safely on the other side. But all looked solid, tough men, all were handling their swords confidently so he hauled on his reins instead.

‘Off the horses!’ he shouted at Huw and Rhiannon, intending to unstrap his bow and use that to clear the way — and hope he could do that before the rest of the Forlish arrived.

But while Rhiannon managed to drag her horse to a stop with one hand — she had the packhorse tied to hers and it slowed her down — Huw’s hands were full of elven crossbow. In fact, he was barely staying in the saddle as it was. While he tried to pull on the reins, the horse did not stop and instead kept going towards the four Forlishmen, although it was slowing down so would not even have speed and momentum to crash through. However, it was doing a fine job of hiding the Forlish from Sendatsu, so he dared not loose an arrow.

Sendatsu swore and kicked his horse back into a gallop. Even as he did so he knew he could not reach Huw in time. The sensible thing would be to jump down, string his bow and wait for Huw’s fall to allow him to loose at the Forlish. He would be able to clear the way ahead and, at the very least, avenge Huw. Risking his life for a man who was stopping him from getting back home
was stupid — but Sendatsu did not think of that. He only knew he could never live with himself if he left the bard to die without trying to help him.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, brandished his sword in the vain hope the Forlish would be distracted. But they knew what they were doing. They were concentrating on killing Huw — and there was nothing Sendatsu could do. Instead of stopping he pushed his horse even harder, overtaking Huw but not fast enough …

Huw managed to get his crossbow around and worked the lever twice, as best he could from the saddle, although where the bolts went, nobody could say.

The Forlish were about to strike when arrows flickered out of the bushes to the right, throwing three of the Forlish backwards like rag dolls.

Sendatsu stared in shock at the familiar look and sound of longbow arrows striking home — but that was nothing compared to the effect it had on the last Forlishman. He forgot about Huw and instead stared in horror at what had happened to his comrades. Too late he remembered about Huw, whose horse smashed him backwards and then blundered onwards. Huw still held his crossbow and the impact knocked him from the saddle. The bard fell heavily to the ground, losing his crossbow, while his horse kept going at a trot.

Sendatsu arrived a moment later and jumped down, landing lightly beside the bard.

‘Are you all right?’ he shouted.

A dazed Huw got his arms beneath him but he was obviously winded and struggled to stand. Sendatsu hoped that was the only thing wrong with him.

‘Bastard!’

The surviving Forlishman rolled to his feet and raced across, sword held over his right shoulder, ready to be brought down in a massive blow.

Sendatsu sprang to meet him and thrust forwards even as the Forlishman began his extravagant stroke. The Forlishman ran
onto Sendatsu’s blade and died there. Sendatsu flung the body away and stared back down the trail. More Forlish had appeared from the rocks and bushes closer to the village, just as he had feared they would do. While they were running now, they were too far away to be a threat. Of more concern was how they had been saved by mysterious archers. A quick glance told him these were expert bowmen — three arrows and three Forlish had been downed instantly, impaled on the classic long arrow. One was already dead, the other two not far behind. And perhaps these archers had saved him twice, for who had given them the warning by rustling bushes in the first place?

‘Rhiannon! Quick!’ he roared, for she was still fifty yards down the trail. He turned back to Huw, who was on his knees now, and got his arm under the bard’s shoulders, supported him as he hustled him down to where both their horses waited, ten yards away.

‘Wait! The crossbow!’ Huw protested, wheezing.

Sendatsu told him what he thought of the crossbow.

‘No, we need it!’ Huw tried to turn back, fought Sendatsu’s effort to keep him moving until Sendatsu swore again, shoved the bard towards the horses and turned back to grab the crossbow. He picked it up as Rhiannon raced past him.

‘Keep going!’ he ordered. Despite his reluctance to go for the crossbow, in truth there was little risk. Those Forlish were on foot and too far away. He turned around, intending to race for his horse, when a whisper of noise made him turn again.

A sword whistled for his head in the unmistakeable dragon-tail stroke and it was only his years of practice that allowed him to block it.

‘You’re coming back with us, Sendatsu — dead or alive!’ the familiar face of Hanto snarled at him.

Sendatsu was so shocked to see Hanto he nearly dropped his guard, and deflected a tiger-claw cut only with difficulty. Sendatsu was about to launch his own attack when, behind Hanto, he saw a pair of elves racing through the bushes. Without thinking, he stepped back and levelled the crossbow at Hanto.

He knew it could not be used with one hand — and had no idea if it would work ever again after Huw dropped it — but pointed it anyway, guessing Hanto would not know it was an empty threat.

The elf instinctively dived for cover and Sendatsu used the opportunity to turn and sprint for the horses.

‘Stand and fight!’ The Forlish shouts did not scare him — in fact they reassured him. If the Forlish were that close, then Hanto and his companions could not chase him without fighting them first.

Ahead, Huw had managed to get on his horse, while Rhiannon was leading Sendatsu’s horse back towards him. He sheathed his bloody sword and leaped into the saddle.

‘Let’s get out of here!’ he roared at them.

Only as they were galloping down the trail did he wonder if they had seen him fighting another elf.

Broyle slowed to a stop, watched them ride away and cursed loudly and fluently. It had been a clever trap — but had proved too clever. He had expected the elf would be able to spot an ambush, so held his men far back from the trail. But when he had seen the trio arguing he had been unable to close in fast enough for an attack. Then the elf had been able to break out past his men. He could have sworn there was no way the elf could have got past four of his best men without a scratch but it had happened.

‘Willibald’s dying, sarge,’ his corporal, Ricbert, reported from the side of the trail.

The other three men were already dead but it was the arrows that interested Broyle.

‘It’s the same thing we saw back in the woods, with Cenred,’ Ricbert grunted.

Broyle nodded, not trusting himself to say anything. There was a bigger mystery here. The elf and his companions had help. But Broyle had seen him also exchange sword blows with one — and threaten them with one of those strange crossbows. So were they his allies or not? Broyle only knew they had killed his men, so that made them his enemies.

‘We need to get out of here and get after them,’ Broyle snapped.

‘What are we doing, sarge? There’re only seven of us now.’

‘I can count,’ Broyle said coldly. This was the third time he had been defeated. It would be the last, he swore.

‘How could he have got away?’ Hanto spat.

Taigo said nothing, because that was safest.

‘Do we finish off those humans back there?’ Jin asked.

Hanto hit him across the head. ‘No, idiot. We don’t have time to waste on them. We follow Sendatsu. Next time, we shall put arrows into his legs — see if he can run then.’

He signalled and the three elves began to lope after the horses, the fact they were running through woodland, not on the trail, making no difference to their speed.

Sendatsu finally slowed them down when they emerged from the woods, a good five miles away. Out in the open he felt safe enough to halt the horses before they became too tired — or one of the humans fell off.

‘What happened back there?’ Huw gasped. He had managed to stay on the horse but it had been a near thing once or twice.

Sendatsu had no idea where to start. He was struggling to come to terms with it himself. Hanto was out here, and obviously hunting him. It was a terrifying thought. The Council — and his father — were so desperate to silence him they had sent elves into the human world to kill him. More than that, they would have needed a Magic-weaver to help get them through the barrier. Had Sumiko turned against him, or was there a traitor in their midst? Knowing his father, that was the more likely of the two but it was still very discomforting.