The humans hadn’t been here. It was deserted anyway. Few elves lived here for long and those that did had long run into the forest to seek sanctuary. The maze led on to the Kirith Marsh. Treacherous to any who blundered into it unknowing, but perfect access to the beaches and harbourside if you knew where to tread.
Katyett, her Tai and the groggy mage moved on, their trail already cooling like the blood of their kills.
Chapter 31
If I stand by you in battle, I will die before I let you die. That is my pledge. If we all pledge this, we cannot be defeated. They saw the western sky light up. The windows of the panorama room on the upper floor of the left arm of Shorth’s temple looked directly towards the Ultan. They had been granted the freedom of the upper floor, but this chamber, light and warm, decorated for joy and furnished in luxury, was where they spent almost all of their time.
They were not, Garan said, prisoners. They had the run of the temple, just not the wider city, which remained under total curfew. Indeed he had insisted that the business of the temple carry on as normal, or as close to normal as anything could in the city. It was a partnership for control of Calaius, he said. Balaia’s college of magic at Triverne wanted to forge a long-term alliance with the elves of Calaius for mutual benefit. But in the short term that meant control of the country had to pass to the military and magical power of Balaia.
He said.
‘TaiGethen,’ said Sildaan, feeling a sadness she had not expected. ‘I hope they survived that.’
‘Why?’ said Llyron. ‘We’re as good as dead anyway.’
‘I’d rather die on the blade of an elf than of a human,’ said Sildaan. ‘At least then we’d know our land was free of man.’
‘Such sentiments sound hollow coming from your mouth,’ said Llyron. ‘And Shorth will be unimpressed.’
‘Why are you talking this way?’
Both turned from the window to see Helias wringing his hands as he paced up and down. A performance of cringing anxiety that would not have looked out of place in the Hausolis Playhouse.
‘Because, Helias, we have been betrayed by men and I suppose we should have guarded against it,’ said Hithuur from a seat as far from the Tuali former Speaker as it was possible to get.
‘How could we have done that?’ asked Llyron, her face angry at the implied slur.
Sildaan was interested in the answer too, although she was in silent agreement with her fellow priest. Besides the fifteen Senserii, who were elsewhere in the temple and perhaps no longer alive, no professional elven fighters had been approached by the conspirators, let alone recruited.
‘You trusted the fact that money would buy loyalty.’
‘As it has in the past, yes. What is your point?’
‘This place is too rich for human mercenaries to leave with nothing but a few coins to show for the job,’ said Hithuur. ‘I hate to say it but we should have bought the loyalty of Helias’s Tuali reserve militia. A hundred or so angry farmers and sailors would have been handy right now.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Helias. ‘None of you are getting it. It just doesn’t matter.’
Llyron favoured Helias with a withering glare. ‘Because?’
‘Because we are where we are, and because we are still in the best negotiating position of any group on Calaius.’
‘And I thought by your rather painful display of fear that you, like us, felt us to be prisoners on death row for knowing too much,’ said Llyron.
Sildaan, though, was thinking. ‘This is a tough country, my priest. I think we should hear the Tuali out.’
Llyron waved a hand and went to recline on a long cushion-covered couch.
‘You understand, Sildaan, I knew you would. I’m pacing up and down looking for an angle while you’re all talking of certain death and facing the unbound fury of Shorth. And I think I have one.’ Helias paused and massaged the sides of his nose with his index fingers. ‘Calaius is an impossible country to rule unless by consent. It is too big, too complex and too dangerous outside the cities. I don’t believe for one moment that the humans want to rule us for any longer than is absolutely necessary.’
‘They’ve sent another two thousand men. The mercenaries we hired were clearly given to us by this city-of-magic place,’ said Sildaan. ‘It is an invasion.’
‘It is a statement of intent and power,’ countered Helias. ‘With magic and muscle, we now know they can take our cities as and when they choose. And they can also back any future government with this power. Look at it logically. If you’re a Balaian, do you want to live here fighting every day to stay alive, or do you want to enjoy the massive wealth of Calaius using a puppet government?’
Sildaan exchanged glances with Llyron, whose mask of disgust had slipped to one of contempt.
‘You want to tithe this whole country to men?’ she said.
‘For now, yes. Look, right now… right now this is about saving our lives. Tut and look as shocked as you want. Call me a coward. I’ve no problem with that; I’m just telling the truth. The reason we are alive is that we are useful. The moment that stops, we are dead. The moment we become a threat? Dead.
‘So yes, let them set the taxes. Agree to run the economy to deliver. Govern. We already have the system in place to keep the threads working at what we want for how much we want. The thread segregation system is perfect for that. For a few years they’ll leave a heavy presence, but when they think they have us in their pockets, they’ll reduce and reduce because men are expensive to keep here.
‘And all the time we can work to increase our fighting strength. Over time, we can train a whole new army. Men will lose focus on us if we keep sending them their taxes. And as the old ones die and new ones take over, that focus will get ever more blurred. And us? Well, you are immortal; I’ve got a couple of thousand years left if I’m careful.
‘It doesn’t matter if it takes a hundred years. Two hundred. We have time. They do not. And when we are strong enough, we simply stop sending them their coin. By that time the elves will be behind us. Their hatred of man will be at such a pitch that they will be baying for conflict. And we will preside over victory. Hate turns to love when slavery turns to freedom.’
Sildaan knew Helias was talking complete sense. She could see both Llyron and Hithuur knew it too, distasteful as it was.
‘But before you start there’s one big problem out there,’ said Hithuur. ‘The forest is untameable by us or by man. Never mind what we’ve been trying to do, it is too vast to police and it is where rebellion will inevitably arise. And then of course there are the TaiGethen and the Silent Priesthood. How do you deal with them?’
Helias spread his arms. ‘Hey, I’m a negotiator, not a soldier. Garan and his people can sort it out. After all, if you want to own the jungle, you have to deal with the predators.’ Katyett pushed the mage in front of them. They were closing on the warehouse. Burned buildings were all around them. Few sounds other than wails and angry shouts could be heard beyond the restless noise of the ocean.
‘Shout for help if you want. Run if you desire. Just know that you will die and we will escape and your death will have been a complete waste.’
‘What I want is you tell me what you want,’ said the mage. He was called Palant. It was at least the tenth time he had rephrased the question. ‘Then will I help.’
His elvish was passable. A bit confused but mostly comprehensible. He had a broad bruise growing across his chin and lower jaw and he had several chipped teeth. A headache too, probably, and he kept on working his jaw from side to side to relieve the aching and stiffness.
‘You plant those traps of magic – what did you say they are called?’