The Wizard's Curse (Book 2) (26 page)

“I can do it from the side,” Rainstorm replied flatly.

Tarkyn promptly moved into the centre of the pool. Suddenly there was a splash from the side and Autumn Leaves came up gasping next  to Tarkyn.

Tarkyn looked at him in astonishment, “Good heavens, Autumn Leaves. I didn’t realise the depths of your heroism.”

The big woodman smiled self-deprecatingly. “I owe you one. Besides, maybe I have a bit more covering to keep me warm.”

Tarkyn gave a sudden shudder, “Nothing will keep you warm in this.”

“Right. That’s it. I’m in,” said Rainstorm, jumping off the other edge. As soon as his head emerged, he yelled, “Aagh! Tarkyn, you’re mad. Why did I let you talk me into this? It’s horrendous.”

Tarkyn laughed, “I didn’t talk you into it. You just didn’t want to be shown up by Autumn Leaves.”

“Ugh,” He shivered and gave a cheeky grin, “You’re right. Bad for the image, you know.”

It was probably the world’s quickest hair wash but Tarkyn emerged feeling clean and revitalised. As the three of them sat shivering on the grass, with towels wrapped around them, a constrained silence fell on the group.

Finally Tarkyn said, “Executions aren’t common among woodfolk, are they?” He looked around and saw solemn head shakes all around him.

Autumn Leaves cleared his throat. “Actually, I have never known of one before. To be honest, it was really quite shocking. I felt sick for quite a while afterwards.”

“You felt sick?” said Rainstorm derisively, “That could have been me. I’ve hit Tarkyn. I nearly vomited on the spot.”

Waterstone kept his own council but his face had become tight and shuttered.

“I knew you people would struggle with it,” said Tarkyn, “That’s why I asked Danton to do it.”

“It was wise not to put the forest at risk.” Waterstone’s small comment spoke volumes.

Tarkyn looked at him, “One of those times when your principles would be in conflict with the welfare of the forest?”

Waterstone shrugged, “I don’t know, to be honest. I felt pretty murderous about the whole thing. If you’d asked, I might have said yes, but I have never had to follow an order to kill. It would feel like handing over the key to my conscience.”

“I’ll remember that,” said Tarkyn thoughtfully. “Actually, I suppose I already knew that, which is why I left you out of it and directed Danton to do it.”

“But Danton, don’t you have any qualms about following an order like that?” asked Waterstone.

Danton shook his head decisively. “No, none.” He would have said more but after glancing around the woodfolk’s faces, he subsided.

“Go on,” urged Waterstone, “Say what you were going to say.”

Danton shrugged, “I know you find me amusing, but I would always do anything for Tarkyn without question. I willingly entrust him with my conscience.” He gave a little smile, “Actually I would have struggled more if he ha
d
forbidde
n
me to kill those men.”

Autumn Leaves frowned at Danton, “You know Danton, I’ve formed the wrong impression about you. I thought you weren’t a good marksman.”

Danton looked surprised, “I have never said that.”

“Well, why did you get Waterstone to fire the slingshot at that young sorcerer yesterday if you could have done it yourself?”

Danton smiled as realisation dawned, “Oh, I could easily have hit him, but not without killing him. I don’t have your amazing delicacy of touch that allows you to judge the power of your shot so well that you can knock someone out without killing them. No,” he added casually, “I’m always deadly accurate in every sense of the word.”

There was a short silence as everyone digested this information and re-adjusted their views about Danton.

Tarkyn looked in some amusement at the thoughtful woodfolk, “I did explain to you that Danton was an elite guard. He just hasn’t had much need until now to use his skills.”

Danton frowned, “I don’t see why you found the execution so upsetting. Any one of you would have defended Tarkyn if they had still been attacking him when we came round from the drugged wine.”

Autumn Leaves waved a hand from under his towel, “Oh, that’s different. Then it’s in the heat of the moment. I would have killed them without a second thought if I had caught them attacking Tarkyn.” He paused as he thought about it, “I would kill to keep someone safe or to protect the woodfolk if someone saw us, but I couldn’t do it to protect someone’s consequence.” He shot an apologetic glance at Tarkyn then dropped his eyes.

After an uncomfortable silence, Tarkyn said gently, “Autumn Leaves, I thank you for your honesty. I would rather we talked about it than have it hanging between us all.” He drew his damp towel around himself and shivered. “It is partly about consequence but it is more about protection. Anyone who finds themselves as a ruler of men will face more attacks than other people.”

“Unless of course you have an egalitarian society like ours,” put in Waterstone dampeningly, “In which case the whole argument should be redundant.”

“But obviously it is not,” countered Tarkyn, “with me among you.” He shrugged, “I could argue that I, as your forest guardian, am worth protecting unequivocally. But in the end, I think that I would be trying to argue something that is actually a matter of belief. Danton and I, in fact all sorcerers, have grown up with the belief that the Royal Family is sacrosanct. Any attack on a member of the Royal Family is regarded as treason.” Finding himself surrounded by closed faces on the four woodfolk, the prince threw his hands up, sending his towel flying off his shoulders. “You see? How can you understand? You don’t even have any form of government to commit treason against.” Tarkyn dragged his towel back up and pulled it around himself. “Waterstone is probably right. My arguments don’t hold water in your society.” He smiled wryly, “And you are probably right, Autumn Leaves. It is more about consequence than anything else.”

“So why didn’t you have Waterstone and Rainstorm summarily executed then?” asked Autumn Leaves, keeping his voice carefully neutral.

“Don’t, Autumn Leaves”, said Tarkyn gently. “I wouldn’t do that to people who have treated me with respect and kindness – not when it’s only a matter of a temper outburst. I am not as extreme in my interpretation of the law as I could be. I don’t need to be, when no one among you has ever been deliberately cruel. And I don’t feel that my consequence is threatened by any of you. Danton may disagree with that….?”

Tarkyn threw a glance at Danton, who gave a minute shake of his head. “No, Tarkyn. I did think that, but I don’t any longer. At least, not in woodfolk terms.”

“You all respect me, and I respect you. But, even allowing for different cultures, those dead men back there showed utter contempt for me and subjected me to systematic brutality.” He shrugged, “I cannot allow that. Whether you agree with me or not, I simply cannot, and will not, countenance that. Rainstorm and Waterstone have always respected me, maybe not always as a prince, but always as a person. Both of them only attacked me briefly and in anger, not in cold-blooded premeditation. I can dint my expectations enough to allow for that. But, as a prince of the realm, I can’t allow the deliberate violation of my person to go unpunished.”

“They stepped over one of your boundaries, didn’t they, prince?” said Rainstorm, with some satisfaction.

“They did more than step over it, Rainstorm. They threw themselves over, well beyond any hope of recovery.” Tarkyn looked around them, “But surely they crossed over your boundaries too? What would you have done if they had attacked Waterstone, for instance, as they attacked me? It wasn’t a fight, you know. They bound my hands behind me, then held me between them and took turns in belting me savagely.”

Rainstorm’s eyes narrowed, “So how many times did they hit you?”

Tarkyn gave a short laugh. “Too many times.” Seeing no change in Rainstorm’s intensity, Tarkyn sighed and gave in, “I don’t know. I lost count. Maybe sixteen, twenty times, before the eagle arrived and fought them off. It was pretty dreadful, to be honest.”

Sickened glances passed between the four woodfolk before Waterstone said slowly, “I concede your point, Tarkyn. You are more of a target than any of us. Maybe you did need to react with such force.” He shook his head, “Nothing like this has ever happened before. No one has ever been so brutal and woodfolk have never stood by and allowed someone to be attacked like that. Even if a fight has broken out, bystanders will only let it go so far before intervening.”

“I personally think they deserved to be killed,” said Summer Rain, much to everyone’s surprise. She spread her hands. “What else could you do with them? To have acted like that, they represent a threat to everyone. If you exiled them, what guarantee would you have that they wouldn’t come back and prey on the outskirts of our forest? I would say the same thing whether it were Tarkyn or Rainstorm. We have never had to deal with brutality like that.” She nodded her head at the blond sorcerer, “And I would like to thank you for doing our dirty work for us.”

Danton gave a tight smile and nodded in response. He quelled his automatic response to say that it had been a pleasure, realising the possible misinterpretation.

Tarkyn broke in at this point, “I would have to admit that when I told Danton to kill them, my decision was not wholly objective. I was outraged and vengeful, however I may have appeared on the outside.”

Finally, Waterstone eased up and gave a small smile, “I think just
a
littl
e
of your outrage made its way to the surface in your confrontation with the mountainfolk,” he said ironically. “I would not say that you came across as calm and objective. But to be frank, I think we would all have had concerns for your sanity if you had.”

After a short companionable silence, Tarkyn asked, “I know we don’t share the same values over this, but are you all right with me again?”

“Tarkyn, after what has happened to you, you shouldn’t have to be talking us into supporting you. I think the question should be, ‘Are you all right with us?’” replied Autumn Leaves caustically. “I feel that we’ve let you down badly. We should have been much more on our guard than we were.”

Tarkyn gave a wry smile, “True. Probably not the best idea for absolutely everyone to start drinking as soon as we arrived, given that we were worried about their reactions.” He shrugged, “Still, it’s easy to be wise with hindsight, isn’t it? I guess we’ll know better next time.”

His liegemen all noticed that he said ‘we’ not ‘you’.

“Come on,” said Summer Rain bracingly, “We have sat here freezing for long enough. These three are going to catch a chill if we stay here much longer. We must go back to the firesite.

As they helped Tarkyn to his feet, Autumn Leaves asked, “So will you go back to their firesite and pretend all is well with you? What happened to your dislike of creating false impressions?”

Tarkyn subjected the woodman to a long stare as he considered his response. “Maybe we all have limits to our honesty. Once I had managed to drag myself back upright, I was determined to remain standing. I’m afraid my pride wouldn’t allow me to give in to them and fall apart before their eyes. I think I was true to myself and honest in showing them who I really am. All I hid was my body’s reaction, not the reaction of my spirit.”

Autumn Leaves’ face broke into a broad smile. “Great answer! I wish I could think of things like that to say.”

Tarkyn gave a slight smile and shook his head, “Autumn Leaves, where would I be without you to keep me honest? Having set myself a standard for honesty that you seem to find unacceptably high, I can see that you have now appointed yourself as watchdog to ensure I meet it.”

“I just keep checking that you’re not a hypocrite. It’s hard to believe that anyone can have such implacably high standards.”

Tarkyn shook his head, smiling, “So, do I have your permission to put on a brave front or should I wince at every twinge?”

“Oh no. Be brave,” said Autumn Leaves without hesitation. His eyes twinkled, “That is, after all, the true reflection of your spirit.”

Tarkyn glanced at Autumn Leaves, then looked away hunching his towel up around his shoulders. “Hmph.”

Waterstone watched him with some amusement. “You don’t know what to say, do you?”

“Can’t a man be a little discomforted without having a commentary on it?” asked Tarkyn in some exasperation.

“I’ll take that as a no, then, will I?” The woodman smiled across at Danton, his new ally. “How come this prince of yours can live a lifetime surrounded by flattery then be left speechless by a throwaway line from Autumn Leaves?”

Tarkyn gave a short laugh. “You know perfectly well I could never trust a word that was said to me at court. It was everybody’s daily business to flatter me. It didn’t mean anything, it was just a big game.”

Danton looked steadily at the prince before saying, “Actually, some people meant what they said. Just as some people were trustworthy. I am eternally grateful to Waterstone for breaking through your mistrust but a little saddened that during all those years I have been with you, I was unable to do so myself. And I do beg your pardon for wasting your time with comments I have made. Clearly they meant more to me than they did to you.” He gave a slight bow, “Excuse me, I think I’ll go on ahead and make sure there is somewhere comfortable for you to sit.”