Bronze Magic (Book 1) (42 page)

“Why is it your business now?” asked the prince.
“Now that is none of your business,” she said severely. When he
blinked at her in confusion, she snapped at him impatiently. “Well, go
on. Tell us your vow, all of it.”
“If you insist.” He took a deep breath, remembering the words. As
soon as he began, the words reverberated around the clearing and all
the woodfolk fell silent to listen.
“I, Tarkyn Tamadil, Prince of the
Forests of Eskuzor, give my solemn vow that I will fulfil my obligations and
responsibilities as your liege lord and will protect the woodfolk and the forests
of Eskuzor. Your just cause will be my cause and your fate will be my fate.
This is the covenant bequeathed to me by my father, Markazon Tamadil,
48th King of Eskuzor.”
A babble of discussion broke out after this, followed by the silence of
intense mind talking.
Eventually, Autumn Leaves came over and sat down next to the prince,
“You know, none of us really listened to what you vowed at the oathtaking. We were too concerned about ourselves at that stage. But you
made an even bigger commitment than we did.”
Tarkyn went to run his hand through his hair but stopped himself. He
let his hand drop to his side. “I know I did and I had no more choice than
you about doing it.”
“Yes, but you’re not our liege lord,” objected Dry Berry. “So it doesn’t
apply to us.”
The prince narrowed his eyes, “I have vowed to protect the woodfolk.
I didn’t say the woodfolk who swore the vow or who are my liegemen.
I simply said the woodfolk. As far as I’m concerned, I have made a
commitment to all of you.”
“Well, don’t think we’re going to make one in return because we’re
not,” snapped the scrawny old woodwoman.
Tarkyn raised his eyebrows haughtily, “I didn’t ask you to and I had no
intention of doing so.”
The first old woman he had spoken to, Ancient Elm, looked at him
sharply, “But you must feel pretty hard done by, now you know there are
others of us who haven’t taken the oath.”
The sorcerer waved a dismissive hand and saw fewer heads duck
instinctively for cover than previously. He ignored them and continued
with their public conversation. “I certainly feel hard done by, but it’s
not because of that.” Tarkyn broke into a rueful grin. “In fact, when I
first heard the words I had vowed, I was absolutely horrified. Having my
whole fate entwined with the fate of a people I didn’t even know…” He
glanced at Autumn Leaves. “That was another reason I drank too much
that night.”
Tarkyn looked around. Everyone was hanging on his every word.
Some were frowning at what he had just said so he moved on quickly.
“Anyway, once I came to know the people I was with and we had worked
out a way of living together, I became truly committed to the words I had
vowed. Then came the day I realised that other woodfolk existed… The
best and worst day of my life.”
Tarkyn took another sip of wine and finally looked over at Waterstone
and his group of woodfolk. “I don’t know if you are all aware of this
but, six days ago, each of these woodfolk gave me a part of their life
force to keep me alive. Then, only hours later, I worked out the existence
of the other woodfolk they had told me nothing about and felt totally
betrayed.” He took a breath to steady himself and looked around the
rest of the audience, “I now realise that, as a people, you are vowed to
secrecy. So they and you have no choice but to hold me at arm’s length.”
The prince returned his gaze to Ancient Elm and shrugged, “As a prince
among my own people, I have been used to living like that. So I suppose
I can continue as I always have.”
“And can you prove that you’re a forest guardian?” she demanded in a
total non-sequitor.
Tarkyn regarded her stonily for a moment. “Yes, I can, but I have
no intention of doing so. I proved it for the forestals. But I am not a
walking, talking freak show, here for your entertainment. Believe your
fellow woodfolk or not as you choose. I am not going to prove myself to
you.”
Ancient Elm waved a skinny hand, “Fair enough, young man. No
need to get hoity-toity.”
Another intense silence descended on the clearing as woodfolk
conferred. After several minutes, they stood up and gathered in a large
semicircle with Tarkyn at its centre. Feeling it was required of him,
Tarkyn also stood up. He towered over the two little old ladies on either
side of him.
Raging Water hobbled over to stand before him. “Tarkyn Tamadil,
Guardian of the Forest, we have considered your words and your deeds.
The vow you made to us might have been only words: but by giving your
fate into the hands of the forestals, you proved to us that you do indeed
place the welfare of the woodfolk above your own life. This being the
case, we have decided, in an unprecedented move, to ask you to become
a member of the woodfolk nation.”
Tarkyn’s heart missed a beat as he bowed his head in acknowledgement.
“I would be truly honoured.”
Thunder Storm came forward to join Raging Water. “In all the history
of the woodfolk, no outsider has ever been granted membership of the
woodfolk. So we have no ceremony for accepting you into our nation.
However, all woodfolk must be a member of a family. If all of a person’s
blood relations die, then that person, no matter what their age, is officially
adopted into a new family. All woodfolk must have kin - and we do have
a ceremony for that.”
And now Waterstone, Ancient Oak and Sparrow stepped forward and
stood beside the other two in front of Tarkyn.
Waterstone looked Tarkyn squarely in the eye and spoke formally,
“Tarkyn Tamadil, I offer you membership of my family that you may
share with us the joys and trials of kinship and that we may call upon
each other’s strength in times of need. Do you accept?”
For a heartbeat, there was silence. Then Tarkyn gave a courtly bow of
his head and spoke equally formally. “I am honoured by your offer and
I accept.”
Did he mistake it, or did Tarkyn see a slight release of tension in
Waterstone’s shoulders? Before he could be sure, his attention was drawn
to Raging Water who now addressed the whole assembly. “To establish a
new blood tie, blood must be shared.” So saying he produced a wickedly
sharp knife and advanced towards Tarkyn. For a wild moment the
thought flicked across Tarkyn’s mind that it had all been a ruse to kill
him but he decided almost simultaneously that any one of them could
have stuck a knife into him while they were talking.
“Roll up the sleeve of your right arm,” instructed Raging Water. “Now
hold out your arm, palm upwards.” He waited until both Waterstone and
Tarkyn were standing with their bared right arms held out. Then in two
swift movements, he sliced each arm from wrist to elbow.
As the blood welled up, Waterstone grasped Tarkyn’s arm near the
elbow so the two long cuts lay over each other. Tarkyn grasped the
woodman’s in return. As their blood intermingled, a deep hush fell upon
the forest. Not a leave stirred. Then a faint shudder ran through the
ground beneath them. A cascade of red and golden leaves swirled down
from the trees around them and all was still again.
Keeping his eyes firmly on the prince, Waterstone intoned, “We are
now of one blood. My kin are your kin. My ancestors are your ancestors.
Ancient Oak and I welcome you as a brother. Sparrow welcomes you as
her uncle.”
Tarkyn’s eyes narrowed slightly at the confirmation of his dawning
realisation that Ancient Oak was Waterstone’s brother. He realised he
didn’t know what he should say next. He had winged it so far but now
he was stuck. He took a breath and kept improvising. “I thank you for
your welcome. I will do all I can to bring harmony and honour to my
new family and to fight with you all against the dangers that lie ahead.”
Thunder Storm leant over and whispered in the prince’s ear. Tarkyn’s
mouth quirked a little as he added, “Waterstone, we are now of one
blood. My kin are your kin. My ancestors are your ancestors. I welcome
you and Ancient Oak as brothers and Sparrow as my niece.”
Raging Water addressed the woodfolk, “Tarkyn Tamadil, Guardian of
the Forest, is now a member of a woodfolk family and no longer an
outsider.” He turned back to Tarkyn, “Welcome to our nation.”
Tarkyn’s face relaxed into a huge smile and an enormous wave of
gratitude emanated from him, rolling over the crowd and bowling many
woodfolk over onto the ground. Tarkyn and Waterstone wrapped their
left arms around each other in an awkward bear hug as everyone crowded
around offering congratulations. Someone came forward with cloth to
bandage their right arms while Sparrow burrowed her way through the
crowd to give Tarkyn a hug.
Ancient Oak embraced him stiffly and Tarkyn grasped him warmly
in return. As they broke apart, Ancient Oak said quietly, “Welcome
to our family. I am truly proud to have you as a brother.” And Tarkyn
understood that he was proud despite, not because, Tarkyn was a prince.
“I passed your vetting process then, Ancient Oak?”
The woodman’s eyes gleamed briefly in acknowledgement, before
he replied gravely. “It is no small step to adopt a brother. So I knew
Waterstone would not make such a request lightly. It clearly mattered a
great deal to him.”
“It matters a great deal to me also.”
Ancient Oak gave a slight smile. “But although I have implicit faith in
his judgement, I preferred my welcome to be based on my own opinion.”
Tarkyn looked into the depths of the woodman’s eyes, a softer green
than his brother’s. “You have a quiet strength that rivals Waterstone’s,
don’t you? I am proud to be your brother. Thank you for your welcome.”

hen the fuss following the ceremony had subsided, Tarkyn found
himself seated with his back against a log between Autumn
Leaves and Waterstone. Despite a lifetime of adulation, he was

still dazed by the honour the woodfolk had accorded him. Sparrow
was asleep on his knee, leaning into the crook of his left arm and he
was already the worse for wear to the tune of several glasses of wine.
He leaned his head back and said dreamily, “What a long week…
Firstly, I was bashed up and nearly died from my injuries.” He rolled
his head towards Waterstone to watch his outraged expression. “And I
was nearly killed by the forestals for sweeping my hair out of my eyes.
Then I let them tie me up. I hated that bit, but what else could I do?
You can’t talk sense with frightened people. Then I endured a week of
being sidelined… Actually, I mostly expected to be dead by now but
instead, amazingly, I am now officially a woodman.” Tarkyn grinned.
He fiddled with the bandage on his right arm, his eyes idly roving
over the similar bandage onWaterstone’s arm. After a moment he said,
“You never told me Ancient Oak was your brother. More classified
information, was it?”

Waterstone shook his head and smiled, “No, I did tell you about
him… in that time when you were semi-conscious. I suppose you just
don’t remember.”

“Oh. And have we been waiting all week for Ancient Oak to arrive so
that he could be at the ceremony?”
The woodman laughed. “Partly. I could not have done it without
his agreement or without his presence at the ceremony. But for such a
momentous occasion as this, we needed a full gathering of woodfolk to
reach an accord and to witness it. So we were also waiting for people from
the more distant groups to arrive.”
“I see. So was the true purpose of this gathering to consider making
me a woodman?”
“Partly.” Autumn Leaves raised his eyebrows. “Although, in case you’ve
forgotten, there is still someone out there trying to hunt us down.”
“Oooh dear,” Tarkyn gave a gusty rather wine-soaked sigh. “I’m being
a very bad forest guardian. I had forgotten all about that.” His eyes
twinkled, “Well, almost.”
Autumn Leaves gave a grunt of laughter. “I’m not surprised. You have
other things on your mind at the moment.”
The prince looked rather owlishly at him, “And what do you think
Kosar and Jarand are going to think of their new brothers, when I tell
them about Waterstone and Ancient Oak?”
Autumn Leaves’ eyebrows snapped together before his eyes narrowed
as he realised Tarkyn was winding him up.
“Ha! Nearly had you.” Tarkyn smiled. He wagged his finger at the
woodman. “You see, old habits die hard, don’t they?” He snorted
derisively, “As if I could go anywhere near either of them, even if I wanted
to - and as if I would tell them anything, even if I did. You’re lucky I’ve
had a drink or two to mellow me, or I might have taken offence at that.”
He looked up as Rainstorm came over to join them. “Enjoyed scheming
with Ancient Oak this afternoon, did you?”
“Hi, prince,” said Rainstorm cheerily as he plonked himself down
on the grass in front of Tarkyn. “Or should I say princes?” He grinned
cheekily at Waterstone who turned a dull red. “I’m not sure about this
adoptive family thing. Do you gain Prince Tarkyn’s ancestors and kin, or
does he just get yours?”
“Rainstorm,” said Tarkyn repressively, acutely embarrassed for his
friend, “I don’t know how you managed to live to be sixteen but if you
don’t shut up, you may not make seventeen.”
Autumn Leaves, the peacemaker, waded in, “Among woodfolk, the
ancestors are combined, as I’m sure you know perfectly well. However,
since this is an exceptional situation…”
The prince looked reproachfully at Waterstone, although his eyes
were still twinkling. “Is he trying to tell me that you don’t want to share
my family?” Tarkyn shrugged, “Well, I suppose I can understand it. I
know my father was not a great hit with everyone and frankly, Kosar
and Jarand are significantly worse.You might like my mother, if you
could get her on her own. She’s really quite a kind person, intelligent
in her own way, but just too much of a pushover. Can’t stand up to
my brothers. Still, you can now lay claim to forty-eight generations of
kings and queens of Eskuzor and that has to be worth dropping into
conversations, if nothing else.”
“Yes,” persisted Rainstorm, “but does it make him a prince too?”
Tarkyn wrinkled his brow in thought. “Now that is a very tricky
question. Since you don’t have ranks among woodfolk, then I would
say no. But if Waterstone ever came among the sorcerers, then I would
say yes.”
“So what about you? Are you a prince among the woodfolk if we don’t
have ranks?”
Tarkyn rolled his head from one side to the other to look at each
of the woodmen in turn, “You can see, can’t you, what a thorn in the
side this young man is?” When they had both nodded, he continued,
“But a very astute thorn in the side.” The prince turned his head back to
regard Rainstorm, “Sometimes in life, a person has to make an executive
decision… and I’m afraid, for better or worse, I can’t get my head around
being totally equal,” He gave a crooked smile and tightened his arm
around the sleeping Sparrow, “...especially if it might involve me having
to cook.”
Rainstorm frowned, “That doesn’t answer my question.”
Tarkyn sighed, “No, it doesn’t really. I was hoping you wouldn’t notice
that. As you can see,” he added in an aside to the other two woodmen,
“persistence is another of his endearing traits.” Tarkyn sat himself up a
little straighter against the log and shifted Sparrow more comfortably
against his left shoulder. “Very well, Rainstorm. It comes down to this. I
was born and bred to be a prince and in my mind, I probably always will
be. In your mind, I don’t know, I’m probably some delusional fish out of
water.” He grinned rather sheepishly, “I keep setting out to say that I’m
not your prince but… truth is, I am. You mightn’t acknowledge it, but
my father decreed that I would be liege lord of the woodfolk… although
he was unaware that not all woodfolk had sworn that oath to me.”
Tarkyn saw Rainstorm’s eyes dilate in shock and added hastily, “No.
Don’t panic. I have no intention of ruling over you. Ask these two. Even
with the oath, we negotiate nearly everything…and you aren’t even
subject to the oath.”
A few minutes of intense mind talking ensued while Autumn Leaves
and Waterstone tried to use images of past conversations to reassure the
young woodman.
Tarkyn frowned, “Why is this taking so long?”
Waterstone laughed. “Because, for all your good intentions, you are
quite clearly exerting authority in most situations we can think of.”
The prince looked quizzically at Rainstorm. “Well, I did say I couldn’t
come to terms with being totally equal, didn’t I?”
Rainstorm scowled at him, “You had better not try to order me
around.”
Tarkyn could feel that the other two were also waiting to hear what he
was going to say. “My friend, from what I have seen of you, you make
your own judgements on the value of people’s requests to you and act
accordingly. If you do the same for me, I could ask no more.”
The young woodman raised his eyebrows and nodded. He looked at
the other two woodmen. “He’s not bad, this prince of yours. Friendly,
but with just a hint of menace!”
The sorcerer looked crushed, “What do you mean, a hint of menace? I
bend over backwards not to be intimidating.”
“Exactly,” exclaimed Rainstorm. “None of us needs to do that.” He
laughed. “You should have seen him when he first got here. We’re trying
to kill him and he’s getting crabby because people are firing arrows at him.
Not frightened, mind you, crabby. He called us a bunch of hooligans!”
Autumn Leaves and Waterstone both turned their heads to stare at
Tarkyn. Then they looked back at Rainstorm. “And exactly how close did
he come to getting himself killed?”
“Oh, he was safe enough then,” replied Rainstorm airily. “He had his
shield up at that point.” Just as the other two began to relax, he added,
“But it was on a knife edge for the best part of an hour at least - only
because he chose it to be, by relinquishing all his defences. He even made
sure his hands were tied behind him not in front, when none of us would
have known the difference.”
Tarkyn was looking steadfastly at the ground, “Ah, but in time you
would have discovered that I had made fools of you if I pretended to be
helpless with my hands tied in front.” He looked up, “Besides, I am not
in the business of giving false impressions.”
This statement, which began as a simple explanation of Tarkyn’s
actions, ended hanging in the air as an indictment of the fact that
the woodfolk sitting on either side of him had concealed the presence
of their kin from him. “So, on that topic… ” said Tarkyn slowly.
The two woodmen braced themselves as the prince picked restlessly at
the bandage on his arm. Rainstorm was intrigued to notice a wicked
little smile playing around his lips. Then, seemingly unaware of their
tension, Tarkyn continued, “So on that topic, what are we going to do
about Stormaway?”
Two relieved woodmen punched him simultaneously on the nearest
shoulder to them.
“Ow. That is a serious question,” said Tarkyn, laughing.
“You’re a bastard. Do you know that?” said Waterstone, half smiling,
half frowning. “Exactly how long are you going to make us pay?”
Tarkyn put his head on one side, a smile lurking in his eyes, while he
considered it. “Well, let me see. I had to endure total misery for nearly
twenty-four hours, deal with isolation for a week, not to mention the
previous weeks of deception. So I think you might still have a bit more
coming to you.” He put up his right hand to forestall a sudden movement
of Waterstone’s. “Now stop. You can’t punch me any more. You might
wake Sparrow!”
As Waterstone subsided, Rainstorm asked, “So who is this Stormaway?”
“There you are,” said Tarkyn, smiling at the young woodman.“At least
someone is taking me seriously. For your information, Stormaway is the
wizard who devised the spell-bound oath for my father and is my faithful
but determinedly disobedient retainer.”
Rainstorm nodded, catching on. “I know. He’s the one who thought
that woodfolk would kill you if you didn’t have the oath to protect you.”
“Yep. That’s the one.”
“He wasn’t far off, was he?” observed the young woodman dryly.
“No,” said Tarkyn, “but just far enough.” The prince rolled his head
from one woodman to the other, “So, the question remains. What are we
going to do about him?”
Rainstorm frowned. “Am I to understand he’s an outsider who knows
about woodfolk?”
Waterstone nodded.
“Well. It’s easy then. We will just have to kill him before he tells
anyone,” said the young man with an air of finality.
Tarkyn shook his head, smiling. “Much as I admire your straightforward,
bloodthirsty style, I should point out that Stormaway has already known
about woodfolk for some twelve years and if he dies, I will never be able
to find out how to release the welfare of the forest from the oath.”
Rainstorm gave this some thought, then said, “Right, then. Let’s find
out how to disarm the oath. Then we can kill him.”
Tarkyn raised his eyebrows. “If I had realised I had such simplistic
minds as this around me, I might have taken a few less chances with the
forestals.”
“Very funny,” growled the young woodman.
“Stormaway has visited us, off and on, ever since the oath was first
sworn to Tarkyn’s father,” explained Waterstone. “He was appointed as
judge of Tarkyn’s fitness to assume the role of liege lord. So he had to stay
in contact with us. Over the years, we began to use him as an agent to sell
produce to outsiders so we could buy things we don’t want to make or
can’t obtain ourselves.” He smiled at Rainstorm. “I think you’ll find that
all woodfolk products that go to outsiders are channelled through him.”
Tarkyn looked puzzled. “If everyone is using Stormaway as an agent,
why doesn’t Rainstorm know about him?”
“I can answer that myself,” put in Rainstorm. He cleared his throat
self-consciously. “I have only just reached an age where I have any interest
at all in adult affairs. So there are still a lot of things I know little about.”
Tarkyn smiled warmly at him, “Now there you are, you see. That is the
advantage of not being a prince. I’ve been forced into adult affairs ever
since I can remember. Do you know how old I was, when I first swore
that oath?` Seven.”
Rainstorm whistled. “Wolves’ teeth! You didn’t have any choice, did
you?”
The prince laughed. “No. None at all. But I wouldn’t change it now,
even if I did have.” He fiddled with his bandage again, lost in his own
thoughts for a while. Then he looked up again, “So, we still haven’t sorted
this out. What are we going to do about Stormaway?” He gave a wry
smile. “I have to warn you; he is only an hour away. So you’d better get
it sorted somehow.”
Autumn Leaves showed no surprise but heaved himself to his feet. “I’ll
go and talk to the others about it. Come on, young man. You can help
me as long as you don’t advocate killing off the prince’s loyal retainer.”
“Autumn Leaves, please let us know if there is likely to be any danger
to Stormaway,” said Tarkyn gently but firmly. “Despite my differences
with him, I really couldn’t countenance any harm coming to him, after
all his years of holding true to my father and me.”
Autumn Leaves smiled reassuringly, “Tarkyn, if we don’t want him to
find us, he won’t. We don’t need to kill him. If he is nearly here, he is
following the path we have laid out for him.”
When they had gone, Tarkyn turned his head to look at Waterstone.
“I haven’t had a chance to thank you yet,” began Tarkyn.
Waterstone shook his head, “And I haven’t had a chance to apologise
for my presumption.”
“No.” said the prince softly. “Don’t say that. I meant what I said. I
am truly honoured to be part of your family.” He looked down at his
bandage and pulled at a loose thread.
“What’s wrong? You keep fiddling with it. Is your arm hurting?”
“Hmm? No. My arm is fine.” Tarkyn threw the woodman an
embarrassed glance and looked back down. “I just like having the
bandage on there. It keeps reminding me that you...” he shrugged, “I
don’t know….that you were willing to risk me rejecting you in front of
all those people, that you are willing to have me in your family.”
Waterstone shook his head in wonder. “You’re a strange character,
young Tarkyn. One minute, you’re the most arrogant thing on two legs.
The next minute, you are so humble, it’s scary. I can’t work you out
at all.”
Tarkyn stroked Sparrow’s head and kept his eyes down. “It is one thing
to know your worth as a prince or leader among men. It’s quite another
to be accepted by someone when they don’t have to accept you and when
you know most people are either scared stiff of you or resent you.”
The woodman patted him on the shoulder. “You know, Tarkyn, I
think you’re a little out of date with your perceptions. Thunder Storm
and Autumn Leaves would have gladly taken you into their family too,
you know. I nearly had to fight them for the privilege.”
Tarkyn looked up in surprise. “Really?”
“Yes, really. None of us who knows you is frightened of you any more.
We might be frightened for you after your shenanigans with the forestals,
but not of you.”