Elves: Beyond the Mists of Katura (6 page)

‘Forgot to mention that, did he?’ said Ulysan.

‘What possessed you to think I’d agree to the TaiGethen sailing for Balaia?’ asked Auum.

‘We didn’t understand it,’ said Faleen. She shrugged. ‘But when the muster is called, the TaiGethen come.’

Auum nodded. ‘Yniss bless you, Faleen. How many of us are here?’

‘Two hundred and twenty-seven.’

Auum blew out his cheeks not knowing whether to be furious or impressed. He settled on the latter. The TaiGethen never failed to respond. But Takaar had much to answer for.

‘I’ll talk to you all in due course. But I need to see Takaar and this Stein first.’

The TaiGethen were gathered to welcome Auum when he walked into the warehouse. He acknowledged their cheers and the songs with a wave but his eyes were fixed on the elf who stood behind a long
table covered in parchments. He straightened and spread his arms in a gesture of welcome with that damned beatific smile on his face.

‘Auum. More trials await the greatest among elves. And we must greet such challenges with energy, humour and an unswerving faith in our power and our gods.’

‘I feel sure the entire elven nation is calmed by the knowledge that you have stepped up to marshal the defence of Calaius.’

Takaar’s smile flickered briefly before firming once more. ‘I have merely done what needed to be done while awaiting your arrival.’

‘Really?’ said Auum.

He walked up to the table and cast his gaze over the parchments, seeing cargo manifests, lists of names, racking plans and what appeared to be a list of ingredients for some of Takaar’s
most potent poisons. Some ingredients were ticked, many were not.

‘On learning of a threat to Calaius, would you not have mustered the TaiGethen and made this place your centre of operations?’

‘What I would have done is not panic the entire city! There is an evacuation going on without any order and without a plan. Thousands are putting themselves at needless risk by fleeing to
the rainforest totally unprepared. Do you have a parchment dealing with that?’

Takaar looked at him blankly. ‘We have enemies to face. Our people must be trusted to look after themselves.’

‘We must keep them safe from harm. That is our duty. You have pushed them into harm’s way. All the Al-Arynaar you have gathered will be redeployed to advise and aid the population of
Ysundeneth.’

Anger flashed across Takaar’s face. ‘They have more important tasks.’

‘There is no more important task than the safety and security of our people.’ Auum sighed. ‘Look, let’s not do this wrong. Right now I can see panic across the city,
ships in the harbour and my people gathered here for no particular purpose. Talk to me, Takaar. What do we face? Where is Stein?’

‘See, I told you he would believe me,’ said Takaar, looking to his right, apparently addressing his other self. He frowned. ‘Tell him, Auum. You do believe me, don’t
you?’

Auum noted Takaar’s lieutenants – Drech was one, he didn’t recognise the other – switch their attentions to the table. Drech gave the merest shrug and Auum wished, not
for the first time, that he was more than the tacit leader of the Il-Aryn.

‘I believe that not even you would call a muster without cause.’

Takaar looked to his right again.

‘Well I
would
call it a ringing endorsement. And we must be ready or we will be swept aside.’

Auum waited while Takaar descended into spitting and muttering, the mad elf’s hands clenching a piece of parchment and finally ripping it into pieces.

‘Takaar, where is Stein?’ asked Auum gently, cursing himself for a fool for not seeing Takaar’s delicate state sooner. ‘Why did you send your adepts to Balaia to train
with humans? With our enemies?’

Takaar focused on him briefly before laughing at something his other self had said.

‘Well we can agree there,’ he said. ‘No combat magic on Herendeneth. Only place to go is Julatsa.’

Auum frowned. ‘And Julatsa is . . . ?’

‘The human magical college and city most closely aligned to the Il-Aryn in terms of ethics and magical constructions.’

Takaar was so far within himself, Auum doubted he had heard Drech’s answer. With a tip of his head he indicated Drech should come around the table and speak with him. But before he moved,
Auum pointed at Takaar’s other lieutenant.

‘You, make sure he has water to hand and a place to sit when he comes back to himself.’

The
iad
bobbed her head nervously. Takaar stared at Auum through faraway eyes.

‘Where are you going? We have so much to discuss. So much work to do.’

‘It’s all under control,’ said Auum. ‘Just one question: how many of your adepts are in Julatsa right now?’

Takaar smiled broadly. ‘The programme is working so well. Our adepts have been welcomed by the Julatsans. They have shared their knowledge in return for the best of training in key
castings where our lore and energies connect.’

Auum felt his heart rate increasing and a crawling sensation across his shoulders.

‘How many, Takaar?’

‘Our current success currently numbers four hundred and seventeen.’

Auum gaped, he couldn’t help himself. He licked his lips, trying to frame a response, but his mind was struggling to comprehend the ramifications of that number. It was beyond his darkest
fears, potentially catastrophic beyond measure. And all the while Takaar smiled at him as if he’d made a decision that would bring them peace for eternity.

‘It is truly amazing, isn’t it?’ said Takaar. ‘What do you say, Auum?’

Auum felt his control slip and he had no desire to regain it. He reached out and grabbed Takaar by his collar, hauling him across the table. Papers and weights scattered across the stone
warehouse floor. Takaar’s feet caught on the table edge, tipping it over to hit the ground with a resounding crack.

Auum turned and pushed Takaar ahead of him, pushing him up against a wall with enough force to shake off dust and rattle the contents of nearby shelving. Takaar’s smile was gone now,
replaced by an expression of pained confusion. Auum spoke quietly though he knew every eye in the warehouse was on them.

‘I’ll tell you what I say. I say that you have trapped more than half of your magical strength on an enemy continent an ocean away from here. Four hundred and more who you have
promised to the defence of Calaius should the day come. I say that you have left our people vulnerable, and yet your answer is to send more of our defenders after those surely already lost.

‘I say that once again you have demonstrated your utter unsuitability to be in any position of influence or power. I am done with you.’

Takaar laughed in his face. ‘You should be pleased, shouldn’t you? Four hundred of the adepts you so hate and wish had never been created, able to cast the magic you despise and deny
can help us, are overseas. Now’s your chance to show us how the mighty TaiGethen alone can defend Calaius from what is coming.’

‘And what is coming?’ asked Auum. ‘No, strike that. I don’t want to hear any more from you. I’ll ask the question of someone capable of answering it.’

He let Takaar go and the mad elf sank to his haunches, back to the wall. Auum turned on his heel and strode towards Drech, who was standing with Ulysan and a human: Stein. Auum ignored
Takaar’s taunting and abuse and the angry stares of his acolytes.

‘Get him out of here,’ said Auum to Ulysan.

‘Got a point, though, hasn’t he?’ said the big TaiGethen.

Auum shrugged. ‘Yes. Magic is damaging, as he proves daily. Those four hundred should be wearing the cloak of the Al-Arynaar, shouldn’t they? I wish they were not Il-Aryn but they
are. And at the base of it all, we need bodies here when our enemies attack.’

Another tirade of abuse struck Auum’s broad back.

‘I’ll find him a place to lie down,’ said Ulysan.

Auum turned to Stein, appraising the human carefully. He was a confident man, confident enough not to be cowed by the presence of the TaiGethen. His bearing was proud and his features, bold and
prominent, reminded Auum of his ancestor of seven hundred years past. But it was his eyes that truly marked him of the line of the first Stein. And it was the birthmark across his palm that granted
him the right to speak.

‘Sorry about the altercation,’ said Auum. ‘Takaar and I have our . . . differences. What is it?’

Stein was smiling and he was shaking his head gently, musing on something.

‘I’m sorry. This may be hard for you to comprehend, but you and Takaar are elves whose tales have been told, whose names and deeds have been passed down through the generations of
our family for hundreds and hundreds of years. And here you stand, free of the ravages of time, at least physically. For me it is simply amazing that you can have lived for so long. For you, of
course, it is normal.’

Auum thought for a moment before holding out his hand in the way he remembered humans did. Stein took it and shook it, a broad smile breaking out on his face.

‘If my history is correct, you would not shake the first Stein’s hand.’

‘Perhaps I’ve grown soft over the centuries,’ said Auum. ‘You risked your life to come here to warn us of invasion or worse. For that I thank you.’

‘Yes, but it isn’t altruism that brought me here. We need your help. We must have your help. And whatever else you believe about Takaar, he is right about the need to take
ship.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you cannot beat what is coming on the shores of Calaius.’

‘And you’re honest too. Your elvish is excellent, by the way,’ said Auum. He glanced about him. Ulysan was leaning over Takaar, speaking quietly and firmly. ‘This is not
the place for this discussion. We’ll go to the harbour master’s house. Drech, I need you too. Faleen, take the rest of the TaiGethen, find as many cloaks as you can. We need to quell
the panic. Tais, my friends, we move.’

Auum sat at an ancient pitted and scarred wooden table in the harbour master’s kitchen. The master had a cauldron of guarana and lemon-grass infusion on the embers and
all three present had steaming mugs of the invigorating drink in front of them. Stein had eyed his with some suspicion but on trying it declared himself an instant convert.

The harbour master having withdrawn and with Ulysan standing just outside to deflect Takaar after his avowed intent to join the meeting, Auum, Drech and Stein could talk openly.

‘If there was one thing you humans taught us during the decades of slavery it was that we cannot afford to kill each other,’ said Auum. ‘Yniss knows we struggle with this every
day, but at last the threads work together and they have done ever since the filth of your past left us. In all the time your people were occupying my country, only two of you showed you had a
soul. Garan, who I will admit was misunderstood in his dealings with Takaar, and the first Stein. You might be the third.’

Stein nodded but could not keep the hurt look from his face.

‘I understand that the memories of our past atrocities are still fresh for you but you have to understand—’

‘I have to understand nothing. I have some respect for you, but I will not commit any forces to your aid unless I believe there is a direct threat to the elves. Takaar believes there is,
and that worries me. Now you have to lay out the facts and convince me.’

Stein held up his hands. ‘That is nothing more than I had expected to do.’

‘Good. Your war should have ended with your Sundering battles hundreds of years ago. Perhaps you should have learned our lesson, eh?’

‘Some of us did, believe me. And now we are forced into alliances much as you were.’ Stein paused to take a lengthy swallow of his infusion and looked over at Drech. ‘Before I
start, how much have you discussed our magic colleges with Auum?’

‘I have never spoken about human magic with either Drech or Takaar. It is of no interest,’ said Auum flatly.

Stein opened his mouth and then closed it again, getting a little edgy. Auum knew he was being confrontational but it did no harm for the human, however welcome, to understand where he was and
in whose presence he sat.

‘Right,’ said Stein and a brief smile played over his face, masking his anxiety. ‘With respect, Auum, I think you need to know a little background before I can properly explain
the magnitude of the threat that we, and as a direct result you, now face.’

Auum shrugged. ‘If you must.’

‘I’ll be brief. The Sundering was the inevitable consequence of our differing approaches to magic, its learning and its casting. Four schools of thought, ethics and morals emerged
over the course of time; then there are your old friends Ystormun and the Wytch Lords.

‘I doubt there would have been a battle, let alone a full-blown mage war, if the Wytch Lords had not been determined to cling on to Triverne. Obviously, that could not be
allowed.’

‘Obviously,’ said Auum.

Drech chuckled. ‘It was the location of the heartstone – the artefact that focuses all human magical power.’

‘Was?’ Auum felt cheered by the implication.

‘During the conflict Triverne and the stone were destroyed. It set back magical research and use by – I don’t know – three hundred years.’

Auum bit back a childish comment and suppressed a smile too. Instead, he spread his hands.

‘Let’s skip to the outcome, or by the time you get around to our problems your enemies will be docked at wharf one.’

‘As was already agreed, each faction set up its own college, but there was no stone to split so we all had to make our own. They were the work of generations. But at least the Wytch Lords
had been defeated, diminished and banished way into the west to dig dirt with the Wesmen.’

Auum let the reference to Wesmen go. ‘So what happened? I had no idea Takaar was sending elves to Julatsa – your college, I presume? – but not even he would send them into the
teeth of a breaking war.’