Magician’s End (40 page)

The third night, they found a camp of moredhel, a band of hunters from a clan Chovech called ‘Thunder Buffalo’, who offered them a place at their fire. Like Chovech, these Dark Elves were taciturn around strangers, though they did appear curious about their distant cousins from the stars. Chovech spoke little, but occasionally he would volunteer an observation. Before going to sleep the third night, he said, ‘They’re curious how two men, so big and apparently powerful, have delicate hands like women.’

The brothers took the remark in silence, glancing at one another. Just before falling asleep, Laromendis whispered, ‘Well, we are among primitives.’

The fourth day found them arriving at a recently erected palisade of wood. ‘Here we are,’ said Chovech, leading them through the gate. ‘The Hamandien. We are the Snow Leopards.’

The brothers were impressed by the size of the community. There were easily fifty tents behind the palisade. A very large tent of stitched hides stood in a small clearing, and before it was a forge where a smith was working iron.

‘Where is Liallan?’

Chovech pointed up a gully where a rough path had been pounded out by horses’ hooves. ‘That way. You ride for maybe half a day, then if you get lost, ask.’

The guide obviously saw his work as finished, so the brothers started up the gully. When they reached the peak, they stopped. ‘Gods of the stars,’ said Gulamendis.

‘Indeed,’ said his brother.

Arrayed below in a shallow valley were at least three hundred more tents. ‘There’s a lot of them, aren’t there?’

‘This is one clan?’ asked Laromendis.

‘I don’t think we’ll have trouble finding this Liallan,’ said Gulamendis, pointing to a huge pavilion on a rise overlooking the camp.

His brother nodded and they set off.

The ride would have been shorter had there been a direct route, but it was nearly sundown before they arrived before Lillian’s pavilion. When they reined in before it, a pair of guards looked at them with an unspoken question.

‘I think we are expected,’ said Gulamendis. They dismounted.

One of the guards vanished inside and returned five minutes later. He held open a large flap and they entered. The pavilion was sprawling, several big tents placed together and divided one from another by curtains. The exterior was like the rest, of overlapping leather hides fitted around the tent poles, but the interior was opulent, to the tastes of the taredhel. Beneath their feet were colourful woollen rugs and heavy furs to keep at bay the chill of the ground below.

A woman stood waiting, and both brothers recognized the authority with which she carried herself. They were forced to crouch slightly, given their height, but they executed full bows before the mistress of the Snow Leopards.

‘Welcome,’ she said in a voice that was soft and melodic.

She motioned for them to sit and she sat in one elegant motion. The brothers glanced at one another. This woman was no primitive. She would have blended in with the most murderous politics of the Regent’s Meet, if it still existed.

‘Your coming was foretold,’ she said. A pair of servants, young moredhel women, appeared and trays of food were placed before the brothers. Prince Calin had told them of moredhel hospitality, so each took a delicacy from the trays and ate. It was a welcoming gesture that guaranteed their safety so long as they were under Lillian’s roof.

‘Then you know our reason for being here?’ asked Laromendis.

‘No,’ answered Liallan. All elves looked young until the last forty or fifty years of their life, so she was obviously old by elven standards, for there were tiny lines around her eyes and the edges of her mouth. Her raven hair had a hint of grey at the temples, but her body still looked slender and fit in her red woollen trousers, blouse of fine cream silk, and black leather vest. Both brothers drew the same conclusion: that she could at will be stunningly seductive or efficiently murderous. She smiled and said, ‘I only knew you were coming. Now, tell me why.’

Laromendis said, ‘I will assume you know how we came back to this world, and about our city. Should you need more detail, I will answer your questions, but for the moment, let me begin with the night we found we were betrayed.’ He took a breath, as if to focus his thoughts on painful memories. ‘We were sleeping when Tanderae, the Loremaster of the Clan of the Seven Stars, woke us and told us to follow him. We dressed quickly and left our quarters, hurrying to the main complex of the Regent’s Meet and the portal room. When we got there, three soldiers were waiting for us: the captain of the Sentinels, Egun, and two of his soldiers. To both of us, as well as the two Sentinels with the captain, Tanderae said, “The captain and I witnessed something … unbelievable, but we need you to believe us.”

‘One of the soldiers said, “Whatever the captain says will be true,” and his companion nodded. That is when Tanderae told us that the Regent Lord had summoned a creature, something from the Forbidden, within the portal room.’

‘The Forbidden?’ asked Liallan.

‘All that is known by only the most trusted loremasters and …’ Gulamendis glanced at his brother, ‘a few others about the time before the taredhel left Midkemia during the Ancient Ones’ war against the gods that the humans call the Chaos Wars.’

Liallan nodded. ‘The knowledge of the Ancient Ones is closely guarded … Yes, I understand. Say on.’

Laromendis picked up the narrative: ‘We knew enough of the ancient lore to realize the implications. The two soldiers only knew that the Forbidden was an area of history denied to the Clan of the Seven Stars by Regents’ edict since the departure from this world, but they instantly recognized there was something gravely wrong and deferred to Captain Egun’s wisdom.’

Gulamendis added, ‘Which we fervently hope will be the attitude of the rest of the Sentinels. The Lord Regent can muster some of the most powerful magic-users among his Meet, but they are few in number. More of the magicians would be opposed to anything regarding the Forbidden, so the balance would teeter on where the Sentinels stand.’

Laromendis nodded. ‘Tanderae said we would not be missed for a while, so we needed to depart that night for Elvandar. We were to tell Lord Tomas we needed him in E’bar to deal with the Regent. Understand that Tomas by his very existence was part of the Forbidden: he was the Forbidden manifest.’

Gulamendis added, ‘I knew more of the Forbidden than any other elf besides the Loremaster, by dint of my mastery of demons, for all demon-lore is considered part of the Forbidden. The only reason I am still alive is because my ability to summon, control, or destroy these infernal creatures was important in the war against the demons.’

‘I wouldn’t let that be widely known,’ said Liallan. ‘Even among the shamans it’s frowned upon.’ She smiled. ‘Place-your-head-on-a-pole frowned upon.’

‘Understood,’ Gulamendis continued. ‘Early on in the war, the demon-summoners were blamed for the attacks, and were hunted down and put to death. The Circle of Light – a society of scholars that my brother and I were members of – objected and fell into disfavour with the Regent Lord. The organization’s effectiveness was first blunted, then it was finally disbanded. Tanderae was very young when it was dissolved, as was Laromendis, and so they escaped the social stigma and political tarnish that more established members had endured.’

Laromendis nodded agreement. ‘But we were still regarded with suspicion. Tanderae was the only one from the Circle to rise in importance, because he had a powerful mentor, his predecessor.’

Gulamendis finished by saying, ‘A galasmancer named Ilderan transported us to a flag point, a magical marker left by scouts so galasmancers can create portals to a specific location to ensure no one is materialized inside a rock or twenty feet in the air.’

Laromendis said, ‘I was that scout. I placed the point flags when I scouted to the north of that valley, upon first arrival. I made an almost-complete circuit of the Bitter Sea when I first scouted for the Regent. So I knew the route to Elvandar, our first destination. We were an hour down the trail when we heard a faint booming noise, like very distant thunder. Then came a strange, shifting sensation, bordering on a moment of vertigo. So we climbed an outcrop that took us up to a rocky vantage point where no trees grew and we saw, in the sky to the south, a red beacon of light shooting into the night sky.’

‘What was it?’ asked Liallan.

‘I had no idea until a human girl, Lady Bethany of Carse, arrived at Elvandar. She carried word from Tanderae as well as coming to find her mother, and others from Crydee who had fled the Keshians during their war.

‘Tanderae’s convinced the Lord Regent and his followers were all destroyed within the red dome after the monstrosity they’d summoned arrive in E’bar.’

‘A fitting end to traitors,’ suggested Liallan with a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘So you found the elf queen.’

‘Yes,’ said Laromendis. ‘We told our story to her and her consort and they pondered it.’

‘They pondered?’ asked the leader of the Snow Leopards.

‘Until Lady Bethany arrived,’ said Gulamendis, ‘bringing word from Tanderae. Then they acted, at once sending four of their Spellweavers to aid the magicians in E’bar, with more to follow.’

Liallan turned her head and stared off into the distance for a moment. ‘How like them,’ she said. ‘They pondered. They debated. They considered.’ She sighed. ‘They live in a world where time doesn’t pass and …’ She let the words fall away. ‘So you discovered what that red light was?’

‘A beacon – at least that’s what Tanderae thought,’ Gulamendis replied. ‘What Lady Bethany had to say was disturbing, mostly because the descriptions are sketchy.’

‘Say on,’ commanded Liallan.

‘Creatures of shadow escape from the bubble of light surrounding the city,’ said Laromendis. ‘Sentinels defend the magic-casters and eventually destroy these creatures, whatever they are. We know they are not demonic. We’ve fought demons too long—’

‘So these creatures …?’

‘In your lore, do you have the Forbidden?’

‘If I understand your question, not the way you mean,’ said the leader of the Snow Leopards. ‘If you’re speaking of the Time Before, when we were in thrall to the Ancient Ones? It’s not Forbidden to speak of such things, but it’s frowned upon.’

‘Head-on-pole frowned upon?’ asked Laromendis.

She nodded.

‘In the queen’s court,’ said Gulamendis, ‘a name was given to us. Cetswaya.’

Liallan tilted her head slightly, as if curious. ‘From whom did you hear that name?’

‘A Spellweaver of the Eldar: Janil.’

‘Ah,’ said Liallan. ‘Continue.’

‘E’bar calls for magical help in battling these smoke-and-shadow beings. The Queen of Elvandar had already dispatched Spellweavers. We were told you have powerful shaman among your clans, including this Cetswaya.’

‘He is the shaman of the Ice Bears, my nephew Arkan’s clan.’

‘We have heard that name,’ said Laromendis.

‘Arkan?’

‘He was in Ylith with the queen’s son, Calis.’

‘Really?’ She fell silent. Then she told a servant, ‘Send for Arjuda.’

The young moredhel woman withdrew and Liallan asked, ‘So, my nephew?’

‘We were told by Lady Bethany,’ said Gulamendis, ‘that he met Prince Calis in Ylith, and while the city was besieged he helped defend it from the Keshians.’

‘Killing humans is never a problem,’ quipped Liallan.

‘I’m vague on the details,’ continued the demon-master, ‘but Arkan was on some errand to find a human sorcerer, and Calis, who had carried messages for the queen, decided to continue on with him. Lady Bethany said they departed together with a human woman and man.’

Liallan sighed. ‘So many disturbing things …’ She regarded the two taredhel. ‘You from the stars, you have no idea of what you left behind.’ She leaned forward on her cushion. ‘You and I are descended from the same stock. We were closest to the Ancient Ones, our masters. The Queen of Elvandar descends from those who cared for this world, and their ties to the soil are the deepest. The eldar were the librarians, the scholars, those who attempted to bring order out of the unending stream of loot and artefacts brought back to this world by our Dragon Lord masters. But we were the ones who served, who stood at their sides, who filled their beds, who endured their whims and wrath.’ She sat back. ‘And in the best and worst ways, we were the most like them. When the Chaos Wars erupted, and our masters flew to whatever fate waited for them, and we became a free people, you Star Elves vanished. You simply left.’ She looked from Gulamendis to Laromendis. ‘We stayed, while you fled.’

The brothers exchanged glances. ‘We are taught that this world was in peril, balancing on the edge of destruction, and some among our people had the art of galasmancery, and opened a portal, escaping to a world unknown to the Ancient Ones.’

Liallan said, ‘Thereby leaving the rest of us behind.’

‘We … we are not taught that way,’ said Gulamendis.

‘I doubt you would be,’ Liallan said. ‘What’s taking that old man so long?’ She leaned forward to glimpse out the open entrance to her pavilion, then turned back to the two taredhel. ‘What we began – the struggles, the clan rivalry, the brutality – all this was necessary. We forged a nation of warriors in blood and fire, and fought for supremacy with invaders from other worlds, humans, dwarves, orcs—’

‘Orcs? We’ve heard no tales of them,’ said Gulamendis.

‘We hunted them down and destroyed them utterly, as did the dwarves,’ said the ruler of the Snow Leopards. ‘Their lesser kin we let live as long as they ceased opposing us, so goblins are still around. We left the elves in Elvandar to themselves, until our own young heard the call of their queen.’ She looked at the twins. ‘Our ties to this world are profound, for we are the first race after our masters to be born of this world. Those in Aglaranna’s court are closest to those ties, so of course some would feel the tug.

‘But we cannot allow it, for we are a free people and will never bend knee to that woman. Some of us sought to emulate our masters, and some were driven mad by their ambition. Others sought to isolate themselves in the forests of the south. Others across the sea were so isolated they became like the humans who surrounded them.’ She paused. ‘But things change. If we answer E’bar’s call, we shall have a reckoning.’