Bronze Magic (Book 1) (48 page)

“Stars above, Tarkyn,” breathed Waterstone, “You really have been
hiding your light under a bushel, haven’t you? No wonder you’re
used to people standing up when you walk into a room. That was
awe-inspiring.”
“Thanks.” Tarkyn finally let his grin take over. “I’m glad the silence
didn’t go on for too much longer. I might have started laughing.”
“Your Highness, that would have ruined the effect,” rumbled Thunder
Storm with mock severity.
“I know,” said the prince, grinning broadly. “That’s why I managed to
control myself.”
Summer Rain frowned at him reprovingly, “Sire, I do not think your
levity shows respect for these woodfolk.”
“That’s why I hid it, Summer Rain.” He explained patiently. “And if
they had shown me respect in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to make
that speech.”
It was not long before they were joined by Rainstorm and Ancient
Oak.
“I think I’ll revert to my first impressions of you and then some,” said
Ancient Oak as he sat down. “Stars, if I hadn’t spent the day with you, I’d
be quaking in my boots by now.”
Rainstorm was jubilant. “I can’t believe you actually did it. Every last
one of them shut up and listened to you from start to finish. Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.”
“Why, thank you, my friend,” said Tarkyn laconically. “It’s a pity I
didn’t make a bet with you. I never doubted for a second I could do it.”
As the night wore on, more and more people plucked up the courage to
come and speak to the prince. Gone were the mutterings of the afternoon.
Tree Wind’s oath-bound woodfolk had been effectively silenced, since no
one wanted to be a party to damaging the forest or betraying the oath. All
the other woodfolk realised their worst fears had already been and gone,
and they were still free.
“Sometimes people just need to know where they stand,” said Tarkyn,
in an aside to Waterstone.
“Spoken like a true despot, my lord,” replied the woodman with a
grin.
Tarkyn laughed.
“Young man,” came a scratchy old voice. Tarkyn turned to find
Ancient Elm addressing him, “You have a very persuasive turn of phrase.”
“Why thank you, Ancient Elm.”
“I also wanted to thank you for showing us your journeys with the
birds,” the old lady continued, “although I now have a nasty bruise on
my hip which I suspect was really owed to Tree Wind.”
Tarkyn was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry. You’re right of course. That
was thoughtless of me. I didn’t think of anyone getting hurt. Is Dry Berry
all right?”
“I think so. She hurt her wrist a bit but she’ll get over it.”
The forest guardian shook his head. “No. That’s not good enough.
Where is she? I will have to sort this out.”
“Hello young man. Looking for me?” cackled another familiar dried
up old voice. “What do you have to sort out?”
“Your wrist.”
Dry Berry lifted her scrawny arm and waggled her hand. She gave a
slight wince but said stoically, “It’s just a slight sprain. I’ve had a lot worse
in the past. It’ll heal in time.”
Tarkyn looked at them both. “Would you let me heal you please? After
all, you wanted to see a forest guardian at work…and I really don’t want
you going around telling everyone that I hurt you and then did nothing
about it.”
The two old women looked at each other, then back at him. “Go right
ahead,” said Ancient Elm.
“I’m fairly new at this. So we’ll just have to see how it goes,” said Tarkyn,
belatedly realising he hadn’t actually tried to heal anyone but himself before.
“Now, close your eyes and focus on the injured part. I will send you a little
of my
esse
and you must direct it to the part you want to repair.”
The forest guardian placed a hand on each of their shoulders, closed
his eyes and focused down inside himself to the seat of his power. He
drew it up and out along his arms, through his hands and into the two
bony shoulders. After a minute, Tarkyn opened his eyes and took his
hands away.
“How’s that?” he asked hopefully. “Any better?”
The two old woodwomen opened their eyes and experimentally rubbed
the relevant parts of their anatomies. Then their faces wreathed in smiles.
“Well done, young man.” Ancient Elm stood up. “I appreciate that.
I have a long way to travel tomorrow and I’ll be more comfortable now
on the journey. It has been a pleasure to meet you and I hope we keep
in touch.”
Dry Berry frowned at him. “For a minute there, I thought you were
going to go back on your word and meant to make us all take the oath.
But I have now realised you can get exactly what you want without the
oath. You’re a dangerous young man but I think you’re honest. I’m glad
I met you…and I’m glad you are one of us now.” She gave a little cackle.
“To be frank, I wouldn’t want you with the opposition.”
Tarkyn gave a short laugh. He stood up to say goodbye and performed
a small bow for them “Unless I mistake the matter, you two were
gatekeepers for the decision to allow me to join the woodfolk. That being
the case, I owe you a debt of gratitude and will not forget you.”
As they walked away, he heard Dry Berry whisper to Ancient Elm. “See
what I mean. Not much passes him by. Dangerous young man, indeed.”
“Oh stop fussing, Dry Berry. You always think the worst of people….”
Their last words were lost as they disappeared into the darkness beyond
the firelight.
Tarkyn turned back from watching them to find Raging Water waiting
to speak to him.
“Tarkyn, my boy, the legends of the forest guardians make hard acts
to follow. But from what I have seen of you, you are well on your way
to outstripping them all. Masterly performance this evening. Masterly.”
Tarkyn put his hands on his hips and looked quizzically at the gnarly, old
woodman. “Raging Water, I am not an actor. I meant every word I said.”
The woodman smiled knowingly. “I know you did, my boy, even if it
did strike you as amusing afterwards. But I also know you would no more
kill a woodman than kill yourself. Mmm. Perhaps that’s a bad example,
after the other day, but you know what I mean. You didn’t say ‘Listen or
I’ll kill you.’ You just pointed out that you had more firepower.”
The prince grinned. “True. Anyway, I could hardly threaten to kill
anyone when I’ve promised to protect you all, now could I?”
“Precisely. Anyway, it was clearly the best thing to do. You weren’t
going to be listened to properly while all the factions were fighting it
out.” He hesitated a moment and lowered his voice. “By the way, I saw
how you healed Ancient Elm and Dry Berry. I think your older brother
could do with bit of that. Nothing serious, you understand. But I think
he’ll be a bit stiff and sore tomorrow without it.”
“Thanks. I’ll see what I can do, now that I know I can do it. It’s more
a matter of whether he’ll let me.”
Raging Water nodded understandingly before giving the prince one
of his hearty thumps on the back. “Well my lad, I’m sorry you’re going.
I would come with you but I’m getting a bit old for travelling long
distances. We forestals aren’t such great ones for travelling anyway. But
I think Falling Branch and Rainstorm may be going with you. I’ll keep
in touch with you, never you fear.” He leaned in towards the prince.
“Try not to get too melancholy. You have a fine bunch of woodfolk there who
are travelling with you. I can see why you wanted to get on well with them.”
“I have you to thank for that.” Tarkyn smiled and sent him a wave
of gratitude. “I’m not sure why you did it but I know it was you who
organised everyone to consider having me join the woodfolk.”
Raging Water raised his eyebrows. “Don’t you know? After all you had
been willing to sacrifice; I couldn’t bear to see you so resigned to being
lonely. It just didn’t seem fair.”
Tarkyn frowned. “How did you know I felt like that? I didn’t tell you.”
The woodman just looked at him and smiled.
“Oh no.” said Tarkyn, turning a delicate pink as realisation hit. “Oh,
that is so embarrassing. My blasted feelings! It’s this forest guardian
thing. I can transmit feelings intentionally but sometimes they seem to
transmit themselves without me even knowing it’s happening. Oh dear.
Did anybody else notice?”
Raging Water laughed. “I am tempted to lie to you to save you further
embarrassment but I won’t. The entire community noticed. Everyone
stopped and watched you help Autumn Leaves across the stream.”
“Oh stars!” groaned Tarkyn. “That’s why everyone was suddenly so
friendly.”
The woodman nodded. “You see? We’re a kindly bunch, really,” he
said, grinning.
Tarkyn lifted his head and sighed. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t tell me
this until after my performance, as you call it. I don’t think I could have
stood up there and been so forceful, knowing I’d made such a fool of
myself.”
“It’s not foolish to feel like that.”
Tarkyn looked at him derisively. “Perhaps not. But it is foolish to shout
it out to everyone in sight.”
Raging Water shrugged. “What can I say? I don’t think you’re foolish.
If I had, I wouldn’t have helped you to become a woodman. I think you’re
strong, courageous, very clever and just a little emotionally volatile;
perhaps call it passionate. Does that sound better?”
“It sounds,” said Tarkyn slowly, “like a euphemism, which is exactly
what it is.” The prince straightened his shoulders. “Anyway, forget it. It
can’t be undone. Thank you for your kind words and your kind deeds.
I am glad there will be someone in this neck of the woods with sound
common sense. I promise we’ll keep in touch.”

ny plans for an early departure were thwarted by a howling gale that
lashed the trees, bringing down branches and thrashing leaves off
slender stems. Driving rain found its way through any chinks in the

Tarkyn sat cross-legged in one corner of his shelter listening to the rain
drumming on the roof. Sparrow was sitting beside him, constructing a
complicated series of forest paths in the hard dirt of the floor.

He leant over her creation, frowning, “So where is the big road we
crossed?”
“Down there,” explained Sparrow patiently.
“Why is it there? We should be on that side of it, shouldn’t we?”
The little girl rolled her eyes. “Tarkyn, you are hopeless with directions.”
The prince shook his head and smiled. “I know, Sparrow. I wasn’t
brought up in a forest like you were. So why is the road down there?”
Sparrow frowned at him. “Because when you left us, you went straight
back over the road we had all carefully crossed the day before.”
“Did I? I didn’t even see the road.”
“Oh well done!” replied Sparrow with the awful sarcasm of the preadolescent. “
And
luckily you went in completely the wrong direction.”
Tarkyn burst into laughter. “And now I have no idea where we were,
where we are now or where we’re going. So, start again. Where are we on
your map?”
The little girl pointed to a spot about ten miles north west of their
previous campsite.
“Right. So where were we and where are we going?” Tarkyn studied
it with a frown of concentration. “Well, it could be worse. At least we’ve
come a bit to the west.”
Sparrow’s eyes twinkled with laughter. “Yes, about six miles west.
Marvellous! And only eight miles too far north. Daddy told me.”
“Well,” said Tarkyn in a thoughtful tone of voice. “When it all comes
down to it, I think you should blame the owl. He’s the one who chose to
bring me to these particular woodfolk when I was looking for people who
hadn’t sworn the oath.”
Sparrow frowned at him severely. “I think you’re being naughty again.
I think Dad would say you’re trying to get out of it.”
Tarkyn smiles sunnily at her. “He’d be right.” Confronted by Sparrow’s
admonitory stare, he threw up his hands, “All right, all right. I’m sorry
I’ve made everyone walk all that extra distance. Satisfied?”
Sparrow gave a sharp nod, her mouth tightly compressed to stop
herself from laughing.
The sound of running footsteps outside was followed by someone
scrambling their way through the brush screen that served as a door. A
sodden woodman plunged inside, to land sprawled on the floor.
“Hello,” said Sparrow. “You’re sopping.” She turned to the prince.
“Have you got a towel anywhere?”
Tarkyn reached into a pile in the corner, extracted a towel and threw
it to their visitor.
“Thanks,” said the woodman as he set about drying himself off and
pushing the wet hair out of his eyes.
“Stars above. Your shelter must have leaked a lot,” said Sparrow
sympathetically.
The woodman nodded. “It did. We only arrived here yesterday and with
all that was going on, we didn’t really put as much time into our shelters
as we should have. Just our luck that the weather has come up so badly.”
Sparrow gave a puzzled frown, “What was going on yesterday?”
“Oh, you know,” replied the woodman, “That bloody prince throwing
his weight around; beginning with a taster in the morning and finishing
with a double whammy in the evening.”
In the dim corner of the shelter, Tarkyn smiled evilly. “Yes,” he said, at
last attracting the woodman’s attention. “I was quite proud of the double
whammy.”
The woodman’s eyes widened in alarm. He made a dive for the door
but Tarkyn’s barrier reached it first.
“Not so fast, my friend,” said the prince, an undercurrent of threat in
his voice. “We can’t have you running around in this heavy rain. You’ll
catch your death of cold.”
Sparrow turned her gaze from the woodman to the prince and frowned
at him. “Stop being so mean, Tarkyn. You’re scaring him.”
Tarkyn looked steadily at her for a moment. “Hmph.” Then he
shrugged and smiled at her. “You’re right, young one. I suppose he has a
right to his opinions – I’m not letting him go, though.”
Sparrow smiled cheerily at the trapped woodman. “Well, that’d be
silly, wouldn’t it? You don’t want to get wet again, do you?”
The woodman turned a stricken face towards the prince. “My lord. I
apologise for my rash words. I didn’t mean to offend you.”
Tarkyn raised his eyebrows. “Of course you didn’t. You didn’t intend
me to hear what you were saying. But please don’t compound your
transgression by offering me an empty apology.”
Suddenly the prince leaned forward in the gloom to study the
woodman’s face. “Oh Stars above! You’re Running Feet, aren’t you?”
“I’m surprised you remember me,” replied the woodman bitterly.
Tarkyn grimaced. “Oh, I remember you, all right. I have nightmares
about levitating you and threatening to drop you. I was so angry at being
unable to leave the forest and I thought you people were to blame. But
that is no excuse. I should never have done it.” He sighed. “You above
anyone, have every right to a poor opinion of me… I apologise yet again
for frightening you, then and now. I will release the shield on the door
but I would ask you to stay. It’s absolutely throwing it down out there.”
The hunted look did not disappear from the woodman’s face.
Tarkyn frowned. “I’m not ordering you to stay, only offering. If it
makes you feel any better, I’ll contract to stay up this end and you can
stay down there.” Given the restricted size of the shelter, this amounted
to little more than a gesture of goodwill. He turned to Sparrow, “Do we
have anything to eat?” When Sparrow nodded, he asked, “Could you get
it out please and offer some to our guest – if he’s staying, that is.”
At Running Feet’s reluctant nod, Sparrow rooted around in the corner
and produced some bread and cheese with two plates. She gave one to
Running Feet, saying, “It’s okay, you have this plate. Tarkyn and I will
share.”
Running Feet looked askance at the offered plate. “I think I should
be sharing with you,” he said to Sparrow. “His Highness should have his
own plate.”
“No. Don’t worry. I share all the time with my uncle,” Sparrow grinned,
“mainly because he never gets his own.”
Running Feet was nonplussed by this answer and accepted the offered
plate with reluctance.
“Oh, for goodness’ sakes!” exclaimed the prince, losing patience. “It’s
only bread and cheese. You two have a plate each and I’ll just hold mine.
There. Are we all happy?”
Running Feet looked anything but happy, but wisely held his peace.
When they had finished their austere meal, Tarkyn went back to studying
Sparrow’s map.
“If we cut the diagonal again,” he said, “we can get to a place 12 miles
due west of our last campsite and we will only have travelled 20 miles.”
Sparrow chortled. “That’s great, isn’t it? Only eight extra miles.”
“Ah yes, you may laugh, but that’s only eight extra miles altogether”
said Tarkyn, smiling. “And if we don’t cut the diagonal, it will be further,
I promise you.”
Sparrow peered down at her reconstruction of the forest paths and
became more serious. “But where are the paths taking us? That’s the
question. You can’t just go in a straight line if it leads you through a bog
or over a cliff.”
Despite himself, Running Feet leaned in to have a look. “We’ve just
come from over that way.” He said, studying Sparrow’s diagram. He
raised his eyebrows. “You’ve made a pretty good job of this, young lady.
Look. There’s the way we came. You have to go around a small brambly
patch here and there’s a long exposed area of heather there. You really
have to skirt around it even though it’s easy walking because you are
too far from cover. But basically, His Highness is right. You can cut the
diagonal to get you back over the road. There’s quite a good place to cross
just where it bends down to the southwest before straightening out to
head west again. See? There.”
“Running Feet, where’s the encampment?” asked Tarkyn.
The woodman glanced at the prince then drew an extra line in the
dirt that extended the map out to the west. “About here,” he said, “Pretty
much due north of the point where you will turn to head south over the
mountains.”
“How far due north of our path?”
Running Feet screwed up his face while he considered it. “Twelve,
maybe fourteen miles due north. Not far. You’ll have to take extra care
around there. They may have riding patrols that far south. They certainly
will have them near the road and that will only be two or three miles
north of your path.”
Tarkyn whistled. “That’s going to be dangerous, especially for the
littlies like this one,” he said, ruffling Sparrow’s hair.
“I’m not little. I fought against the wolves.”
Tarkyn transferred his gaze to give her his full attention, “When it
comes to men as big as me on horse back, we’re all going to feel little. And
I don’t want any heroics from you, young lady. You make sure you stay
with one of us all the time. You promise? I wouldn’t want to lose you.”
Sparrow looked at him for a serious moment then climbed up onto his
cross-legged lap and leant against him. Tarkyn put his arms around her
and gave her a kiss on the top of the head. “Don’t worry, little one. We’ll
look after you. That’s why it’s good to talk to people like Running Feet
who can tell us what to expect.”
The prince looked up to find Running Feet watching him with a
strange expression on his face. Tarkyn frowned, “Is anything wrong?”
The woodman shook his head. “No. No, you’re just a little unexpected,
that’s all.”
Tarkyn smiled and gave Sparrow a little squeeze. “Oh, don’t be fooled
by this. I’m still the same arrogant, autocratic bastard you all love to hate.
No one’s bad all the time.”
Finally, an answering smile dawned on the woodman’s face. “I’m
beginning to think you’re not very bad at all.”
Tarkyn gave a wry grin. “Coming from you, that is high praise
indeed. You know, I never set out to be bad. In fact, to be honest, the
only really bad thing I have done is what I did to you. Everything else
is a matter of opinion.” He looked down at the top of Sparrow’s head.
“And let’s face it; at least I’m not as bossy as this little madam.” For
which statement, he received a jab in the ribs. “Ow. Just as well my ribs
are healed, isn’t it?”
“You are so more bossy than me,” came a muffled voice. “Running
Feet said so.”
The prince raised his eyebrows at the woodman who looked mildly
horrified at this turn of events. “Now look at the trouble you’ve landed
me in.” Tarkyn addressed the top of Sparrow’s head again. “Okay. Maybe
yesterday I was more bossy. But I’m not usually.”
Sparrow lifted her head and Tarkyn was relieved to see she was
laughing. “Oh yes you are. Daddy says so. But,” she added kindly, “he
says you’re not as bossy as you used to be.”
“Waterstone: Fount of all wisdom,” explained Tarkyn. He frowned. “I
really don’t know what you woodfolk found to talk about before I came
along. I seem to be a source of constant entertainment for all of you.”
Unexpectedly, Sparrow’s eyes met Running Feet’s and they grinned at
each other.
The prince sighed. “Well, that says it all, really. By the way Running
Feet, just to put you out of your misery, we all realised I had come on too
strongly yesterday morning. So I decided I might as well say everything
I needed to say and then leave. Hence your double whammy.” Tarkyn
smiled reminiscently. “Even Waterstone was shocked by that little effort,
especially by what I said to Tree Wind and your group.”
He paused, then asked Running Feet, “Have you spoken much to
Waterstone or to any of the others who have been with me?”
Running Feet hesitated then shook his head. “Not very much. To be
honest, I didn’t really want to know.”
“Have any other people in the harvesters and gatherers?”
Running Feet shrugged, “Not much. Maybe Ancient Oak, but he
tends to keep his own counsel. Generally, I think everyone has been
trying to ignore the fact that you are here and that the oath has been
invoked.”
“Blast it!” exclaimed the prince. He waved a reassuring hand when
he saw Running Feet flinch. “Don’t worry. I’m not angry with you.
But I’ve just realised that I have seriously overestimated how much you
communicate to each other with your mind talking. I thought everything
that was happening with us was being communicated to you.” He took
a deep breath. “No wonder there is still so much resentment among you.
You’re still back with your impressions of me from the first day. In fact, all
you’ve had to work with, is me losing my temper and threatening everyone
and, as I found out only two days ago, the fact that I inadvertently forced
another forty hapless individuals to take that blasted oath.” He looked at
Running Feet. “On top of that, there are people like you and Tree Wind
who would have been feeding the resentment.”
Seeing the shutters go down in Running Feet’s face, Tarkyn continued
quickly. “Oh, I don’t blame you. I don’t know what Tree Wind’s particular
problem is, but you have every justification for undermining me.” He
sighed, “The question is, what are we going to do about it?” Tarkyn
waved his hand impatiently. “Stop looking so worried. I’m not going to
do anything to you. I want your help to reduce the resentment.”
“Why should I help you?” Surprisingly, this was not said belligerently.
The prince stared at him. Finally he said, “Not for my benefit
particularly, if that’s what you’re wondering – although I can’t say I enjoy
being the focal point for all that antagonism.” Tarkyn frowned.“I suppose
there are three main reasons. Firstly, if I request your cooperation as
your forest guardian, I don’t want resentment to undermine the safety
of woodfolk or the forest - which is what I saw happening yesterday.
Secondly, I don’t want the people with me to become unfairly isolated
from other woodfolk because I am with them.” He paused and the side of
his mouth lifted into a self-deprecatory smile. “And thirdly, I really don’t
want you living in dread of how I might treat you all, under the terms of
the oath.”
Running Feet raised his eyebrows. “I’m impressed. Those are very
persuasive reasons.”
Tarkyn looked at him quizzically, “What did you think I’d say? That
you owe it to me because of the oath?”