Elves: Beyond the Mists of Katura (38 page)

‘Just a little more . . . Ulysan.’

‘What?’

‘You’re in. Yniss preserve you, you’re in! You’ve done it! Now come on, keep moving just like you are and come up where I am.’

‘Auum.’

‘What?’

‘You’re facing the wrong way. That’s a poor way to start a race.’

‘What?’

Ulysan’s desire to get away from the seat of his terror gave him strength and pace on the climb that Auum could only wonder at. By the time he’d turned himself the right way, Ulysan
was past him and up into the wider final section of the fissure. Auum tried to close the gap, but Ulysan was practically climbing hand over hand, his legs propelling him upwards at a reckless
pace.

Auum was only too happy to let him have his head. He climbed in Ulysan’s wake, feeling the ache in his muscles and the emotional fatigue draining his strength. But his relief kept him
moving. He saw Ulysan crawl over the lip of the fissure and stand, looking back down, shooing away the figures that came to his side.

Auum moved up the last few feet. Hands clamped over his wrists and hauled him bodily out of the fissure and onto a freezing cold, wind-blown and snow-covered plateau. He thought there might have
been a cheer, but Ulysan’s embrace eclipsed it. The big TaiGethen crushed him in his arms and against his chest. His breath heaved in and sobs shook his body.

‘Thank you. Dear Yniss, thank you for Auum. Thank you.’

‘It’s all right, Ulysan,’ said Auum. ‘You’re safe now.’

‘Safe,’ said Ulysan, and the word must have sounded like blessed peace because the strength went from his legs and Auum let them both sink to the ground, still locked together.
‘Safe.’

Auum didn’t register for how long, but there they stayed until hands and gentle voices ushered them into the warm.

There was no desire to move further that day. They rested in the sanctuary that magic provided. Ulysan slept for the most part, and Auum watched him in case the nightmares took
him. With night falling and the TaiGethen scouts returned from the ice shelf Merrat and Grafyrre had found the day before, their course was set for the morning. Stein sat down next to Auum,
bringing two cups of hot broth.

‘How’s he doing?’

Auum’s smile was fragile, his lips trembling despite his best efforts.

‘I don’t know,’ he said, putting a hand on Ulysan’s shoulder.

‘He’s your best climber,’ said Stein. ‘You don’t have to tell me, but what happened in there?’

‘We all have our demons,’ said Auum.

Stein held up his hands. ‘Then there’s you too. You were down there with him the whole time and yet you’re trying to pretend you aren’t affected. Talk to me, Auum, let it
out. The tension is radiating from you.’

Auum thought for a moment, wondering if what he wanted to say – and to a human of all people – represented betrayal.

‘You will never repeat what I am going to tell you,’ said Auum.

‘I am your brother. I will never betray you.’

‘We’ll make an elf out of you yet,’ said Auum. He paused to gather his thoughts. ‘Ulysan was young when it happened. It was back on Hausolis, the old elven homeland. A
freak set of circumstances . . . He was exploring a cave system when there was a rockfall that trapped him and Ellarn. There had been heavy rainfall too, and while they were trapped another storm
struck the hills. Water poured down the tunnel they were in. It was powerful enough to loosen all the earth and rock that had trapped them. They were washed back down towards the sinkhole
they’d climbed. Ulysan managed to grip on to a root and stop himself going over the edge but Ellarn was swept down. His body was never found.’

‘Who was Ellarn?’ Stein had to clear his throat to speak.

‘He was Ulysan’s younger brother. Ulysan was teaching him how to climb.’

‘How did he get out?’

‘I can’t imagine the suffering he went through,’ said Auum, wiping his eyes. ‘Clinging on for hours in the dark, calling out for Ellarn but only hearing his own voice
echoing back his grief. He was rescued when it was plain he and Ellarn were long overdue and in trouble.’

‘Who rescued him?’

‘He doesn’t know,’ said Auum. ‘One day he’ll remember.’

‘How long ago was this?’

Auum blew out his cheeks. ‘More than three thousand years.’

Stein gasped. ‘It all came back when he thought he’d got stuck in the fissure? Such a long time to hold on to such pain.’

‘Immortality has its curses.’

You are making the right choice. I am certain Auum will forgive you.

Takaar had moved quickly, resting and eating sparingly, following the trail left by Auum and his ill-fated force. Word had reached Julatsa of considerable numbers of Wesmen landing on the
northern and southern beaches, moving inland towards the colleges. No doubt they would skirt Xetesk in the south and lay siege to Lystern. It gave yet more impetus to his mission.

‘And if Auum does not, you will get what you want: I’ll be dead.’

I really can’t lose.

Night was full and the shadows were deep in the gently rolling land to either side. Takaar’s ears picked out all manner of sounds: animals, birds and the rustling of breeze across grass
but no enemies. His eyes pierced the darkness easily though his long vision was denied him by the night. He’d stop soon, eat and rest for an hour before pushing on until dawn gave him a
clearer view of his progress.

You must be very satisfied. Here you are, after all this time, running to save not only the elven race from invasion but humans from destruction too. An opportunity for redemption worth
waiting a thousand years for.

‘You make it sound as if I sat around wasting the intervening years. Just look at what I have achieved.’

In Il-Aryn terms a great deal. In terms of elven harmony almost nothing.

‘I care nothing for that.’

Oh, but weren’t you credited with its creation?

‘And look where it got us. The hatred never died; it just festered in our souls. Even I accept it was a mistake. You cannot force such things on people, they have to evolve.’

You’re admitting a mistake?

Takaar didn’t answer. Auum’s trail was going to take him across a river at the mouth of Triverne Lake. He wondered if he should follow, if the passage of a lone elf would go
unnoticed if enemies were still waiting there, as Stein had claimed.

Travelling this side of the lake brought him closer to the colleges and he couldn’t afford to be seen until he had reached his destination. Takaar stopped. Several figures rose and moved
towards him. He had thought them a tumble of rocks, so still had they been.

Oh dear.

‘I will not die here,’ said Takaar, letting his mind seek the energies needed to create a killing force beneath his enemies’ feet.

‘You cannot cross the river. The enemy is waiting.’

Oh. Your deserters. Do you think they’ve come to finish the job they lacked the courage to finish at the manse?

Takaar flapped a hand at his tormentor for silence while he oscillated between anger and relief.

‘Gilderon,’ he said. ‘Tired of your personal quest, are you? Taken to thieving on the plains of Balaia instead?’

Gilderon led the Senserii to Takaar and they knelt before him, their ikari held in their right hands and away from their bodies. Their heads remained bowed while Gilderon spoke for them.

‘We seek your forgiveness. You saved us and gave us purpose yet we thought you had lost that purpose. We were wrong. We should have trusted you, had faith in you. We are sorry and wish
only to serve as your guardians once more. Please hear us.’

‘How did you find me?’

‘We overtook a wagon carrying Auum’s wounded to Julatsa. They had recent contact with Kerela, who told them the path you were travelling. Our first task was to ensure you did not
cross the river. So we waited. Your safety is everything.’

That must swell your ego to previously unheard-of proportions.

‘They are the lost seeking a path, just as before,’ said Takaar.

They are betrayers who deserted you on the eve of a great discovery.

‘I discovered nothing.’

You discovered your own purpose, which is why we are here. You needed them then and they were gone. They will do it again.

‘Still your babbling,’ spat Takaar. ‘You sow this poison because you fear that with their aid I might actually survive.’

That is their purpose.

Before him, the Senserii had not moved. They among all elves accepted him and his tormentor and never questioned. Yet his tormentor was right: they had abandoned him in a dangerous country to go
and join Auum, whom he hated above all elves. But what was he doing but making the same journey now? Takaar smiled inwardly. Who had been right and who wrong if the conclusion was identical? They
awaited his mercy or his wrath and they would accept either without flinching.

Oh, how it must pain you, the agony of such decisions. Decisions such as only the gods can make and be assured they are right. You know what you have to do, what you always do to those who
betray you.

‘You have my forgiveness and my gratitude for admitting your error and seeing clearly to your true path, which is at my side for the greater glory of elves.’

His tormentor screamed inside him. The Senserii rose and he allowed them to kiss his hands.

You think mercy is a godlike quality and indeed it is, but it must be meted out correctly, as must punishment. And you have not done so. You will never be among gods; you do not have the wit
or the wisdom!

‘Mercy is always wise.’

That’s an assertion you might want to save for Auum.

They would be off the mountains today and down among the foothills in Wesman lands. It didn’t matter that the dangers there probably outweighed those of the snow, ice,
wind and rock; elves were not born to these conditions and knowing they would soon become memories had lifted everyone’s spirits.

They ate a spare breakfast at first light before readying themselves for the last leg of the journey. Rith came and sat beside Auum.

‘You saved all our lives,’ said Auum. ‘Bless you.’

‘I didn’t come here to garner compliments.’

Auum chuckled. ‘I’m sure you didn’t. What’s on your mind?’

‘What happens if the Wesmen turn us down?’

Auum was surprised by the directness of her question and had to pause to gather his thoughts.

‘Well, we’d be out of options. No choice but to go home, prepare and pray.’

‘But you’re not considering that eventuality.’ Rith didn’t smile. ‘No, of course you’re not. But even if they do listen to us and rebel, what then? Even
without the shamen to aid them, who is strong enough to take on the Wytch Lords?’

‘Has this been keeping you awake at night?’

‘I just want to be able to reassure the Il-Aryn that we’re doing the right thing.’

Auum nodded. ‘It’s the only thing to do, Rith. We have to believe the Wesmen don’t want to be in thrall to the Wytch Lords, and if we convince them to rebel, we’re most
of the way there. And Ystormun and his cadre? Well, that’s where our Julatsan friends come in. Human magic must defeat them. Stein says there is a way and I trust him.’

‘But it doesn’t solve the problem with Dawnthief.’

‘No, it doesn’t. But it means our people are safe in their homes, at least for now. One step at a time is all we can make.’

Rith nodded but Auum could see she was unconvinced.

‘We must have faith,’ said Auum. ‘And belief. If you think of a better plan, don’t keep it to yourself.’

At last Rith smiled. ‘I won’t.’

Outside the barrier the snow had abated but the wind was still high. Stein was relying on it dropping enough to allow flying as they moved down the ice shelf. It was critical that it did. Merrat
had reported that the drop at the end was sheer for more than a thousand feet. The face was possible to descend but realistically only for the TaiGethen.

Auum walked with Ulysan at the rear of the group on the journey across the plateau to the ice shelf. It was a strange landscape, snow-blown and with hundreds of small rounded peaks, like fingers
or capped chimneys, some no taller than an elf. They wove in and out of them, heading west under a partially blue sky and in a wind that, though still strong, was no longer gale force.

‘I will not miss this cold,’ said Auum.

Ulysan nodded. ‘Nor I.’

Auum sighed. He’d been setting Ulysan up for the entire walk and the big TaiGethen’s voice had remained flat.

‘I am almost afraid to say this, but the one thing I wish for right now is to hear one of your appalling jokes.’

Ulysan shrugged. ‘They’ll come back.’

‘Anything I can do to help?’

‘Nothing you haven’t already done.’ Ulysan shook his head. ‘You know, for a moment I was back there in that hole in the Arish complex. I could even hear the rush of water
. . . and my brother’s scream. I looked, but it was dark and then I saw you and you had my hands and you brought me back. I’d have fallen without you.’

‘But I was there and you didn’t. Don’t you forget you owe me.’

Ulysan said nothing. Ahead, the group was gathering at the edge of the shelf. Before he joined them to look for himself, Auum could see the tension in many bodies, and when he saw it, he could
understand why.

It was vast and a blinding white that left him wishing for cloud. Its far edge was lost in the horizon and it stretched to either side as far as he could see. The near edge behind which they
stood resembled a sculptor’s vision of a wave rearing in the sea before crashing in on itself. It must have been formed by the prevailing wind blowing loose snow up the incline and freezing
it to ice. It was spectacular but also a distraction from the dangers beyond it.

Merrat and Grafyrre had been depressingly accurate in their assessment of the slope. It looked to Auum to be twenty degrees from the horizontal and was smooth and treacherous for the most part,
punctuated sparingly by low ridges of ice like ripples caught on a frozen sea.