“Ah, Sir Kormak, tomorrow, if the Holy Sun wills it, we shall free those lands over there from the Shadow,” he said. He spoke loudly and confidently for the benefit of anyone who might overhear them, then he nodded towards the river and said, “Come, walk with me a little, I would consult with you.”
Once they were out of earshot of the camp, and strolling along the river side, he said, “I am troubled, Sir Kormak.”
“Troubled, Master?”
“None of the scouts I sent ahead of us have reported. None of their messenger birds have arrived. None of my spies have reported. Some of them very competent men.”
“The elves know these woods, Master, and they are swift and cruel.” He had told Graydon as much but the old man had not listened. He supposed he might not have either were their positions reversed.
“It is worrying. We go into the fight with no more intelligence than we had when you brought word to us a month ago.” He spoke as if this were Kormak’s fault. “The Lords bicker among themselves and we have heard nothing from the Kayoga you claim will aid us.”
“The men will settle down once they have a foe in front of them and the prospect of war. The sight of the Shadowblight will remind them of what they are facing. And the elves will show. It is as much in their interests as ours to do so.”
“I wish I shared your confidence.” Kormak studied Graydon quietly. He was sure the Master would rather have been back at his Chapter House in Westergate, scheming with the nobles and eating off silver dishes. He probably missed his bed. Graydon’s thin lips quirked into a wintery smile. “Still we must make the best of things. For the first time in decades, the nobility of western Taurea must take us seriously. Tithes will be paid on time this year, I am sure.”
“As you say, Master.”
“Wars are not fought with swords alone, Sir Kormak. Swords must be paid for and all the spells and alchemicals as well. I would see this matter settled quickly and well.”
“I suspect that will be up to our foes. I doubt they will have any inclination to make things easy for us.”
“Indeed. I am sure they will prove most recalcitrant. Nonetheless, the Shadow must be opposed and we are here to do it.”
Why was the old man telling him what he already knew, Kormak wondered. “I understand you have been summoned by Lord Rhys.”
Some spies had certainly not disappeared, Kormak thought. A pity they were used for spying on their own people. It seemed the Master had known about the summons before Kormak himself had.
“Make it clear to him that we are facing a terrible foe here. That care must be taken or lives or souls will be lost.” He sounded suddenly deadly serious and sincere and he must have noticed the change in Kormak’s attitude. “Oh yes, Sir Kormak. You are not the only one here who ever held a dwarf-forged sword, or passed through a Blight. This is not my first Burning.”
There was a cold glint in his eye. “I did not want to believe you, you know, when you first brought news of what was going on here. I prayed that you were wrong but I can see now you were right. Those woods over there have an odd stink to them, and my men would not all fail to report. I wanted to spend my old age in peace. It seems that the Holy Sun has other plans.”
“It is often the way Master Graydon.”
“Come, brother, let us pray.” The man surprised Kormak by dropping to his knees and calling for the Sun’s blessing. Kormak did the same.
Kormak walked through the gathering darkness towards the Commander’s pavilion. Outside minstrels played, jesters tumbled and elegant ladies of the night paraded their charms. The warriors of the noble’s bodyguards paid close attention to everything. Two grizzled-looking veterans stood at the tent flap and watched everything with hawk-like eyes.
The tent was as large as many houses, and emblazoned with the gryphon symbol. It fluttered on small triangular flags on the support hawsers as well. A proud man and wealthy was Lord Rhys, so much was obvious.
Inside he could hear a nobleman’s voice rumbling on and on. It was rich and mellow and profoundly self-satisfied and Kormak knew that it belonged to Baron Enderby. “I say we sweep these savages aside with our cavalry and hunt them through the woods.”
The words had the confidence of the fool. “I do not think cavalry charges work all that well in forests,” said another voice, light and supercilious. It belonged to Lord Magnus.
All heads turned to face Kormak as entered. He bowed his court bow to each of them in turn and received nods of acknowledgement in return. “Ah here is our returned hero,” said Magnus without altering his tone in the slightest. He always referred to Kormak in this way. He knew that Kormak had saved the life of King Brand on the field of Aeanar and seemed determined to be ironic about it.
“Here is a man who has spent time among the savages,” said Baron Enderby running his hand through the short black beard that covered his double chins. “Tell him that they will not be able to resist a swift merciless charge.”
Could he really be so stupid, Kormak wondered, or was it just an act? “They would not if we could bring them to stand their ground against one but I fear that unless we give them reason to they will simply flee before us and ambush us. It is what they are good at and they know the land.”
“Dishonourable cowardice,” said Enderby.
“But what we can expect,” said Kormak. He looked at Lord Rhys. “You wished to speak to me, Sire.”
The tall white-haired old man belonged to the same generation as Graydon. He had the look and the reputation of a man who had spent his life in the field in the service of his king. His eyes were rheumy. He seemed tired as no doubt he had every reason to, if he had to spend so much time in the company of his allies.
“I wanted to make sure that your Order is in readiness,” he said.
“Master Graydon assures me that this is so,” Kormak said to remind him that the matter really should have been taken up with the Master of the Chapter House and not a wandering Guardian. Lord Rhys smiled bleakly.
“And I wanted to go over what you have told us one last time, just in case I have missed anything.” What he really meant was in case Kormak had missed anything but he was too polite to say so.
“We will face elves and spiders and corrupted humans,” Kormak said. “We will face things from the Blight as well no doubt. They are always drawn to defend their territory when moves are made against it. No one knows why.”
“Doubtless the evil of the Shadow fills them and forewarns them,” said Enderby.
“Doubtless,” sneered Magnus.
“They will not stand and fight against our army. It would be madness for them to do so if they had any other option. Formal warfare is not what they are trained for and not what they excel at. They will strike at us however they can, sniping and ambushing our men, hoping to break our morale. They will, I believe, attempt to capture as many of our troops as possible and carry them off to their tree city, there to corrupt them.”
All of the men present tried to conceal their fear at that statement. Some of them were more successful than others.
Lord Rhys nodded at this. “Go on.”
“How do we bring them to battle?” Magnus asked. For once he was not sneering.
“We can’t unless they choose to make a stand and there is no reason for them to do so. They have fought using hit and run tactics since men entered these lands.”
“You still maintain there is only one way to make them fight then,” said Lord Rhys.
“Yes. We must go into the Blight and attack their home, the Stump of Mayasha. We must burn the forest and the tree. It is the only thing they will stand and defend. It is the heart of the evil.”
“It is also in a Shadowblight,” said Lord Rhys dryly. “Which both you and Master Graydon have given me to understand in no uncertain terms is a place of supreme danger to both body and soul.”
“That is nothing short of the truth.”
“Yet you would still advise that we go there?”
“If we move swiftly and are careful we can do so. It would mean the men obeying utterly the strictures my Order place on them, and it would mean rituals of purification when we leave the place. The alternative is to cordon the area off, burn a clear corridor around the Blight to prevent it from spreading.”
“But this will take time and require guards to be set on the land indefinitely,” said Baron Magnus.
“You understand perfectly,” said Kormak, unable to prevent himself from echoing the Baron’s own dry, mocking tone. He saw the man look at him sidelong. Kormak doubted the Baron would challenge him to a duel. He was too much of a stickler for the prerogatives of his rank, and only a fool would seek a fight with a swordsman of Kormak’s known skill. Still there were other ways the Baron might seek revenge.
“We should attack,” said Enderby. “Bring the heathen to battle and burn out this Blight. We can be home by the Lantern Festival and celebrating our victory.”
“I am not so sure,” said Magnus.
“Surely you do not fear these savages?” said Enderby.
“I fear nothing,” said Magnus. “I merely wish to see this thing done properly and with least risk to our immortal souls.”
“It is the Blight you fear then,” said Enderby. His tone held the light mockery of one child taunting another.
“Enough,” said Lord Rhys clearly at the end of his patience. “We must, at least, attempt to bring them to battle. We will sweep through the Settlements, see what we find and then cross into the Blight. Sir Kormak, you mentioned the possibility of these other elves aiding us. Have there been any developments?”
So this is what this meeting was really about. “No, Sire.”
“Then I think we should assume that we must proceed without their aid.”
“Good,” said Enderby. “I have never trusted any of the inhuman scum. Along the border we have a saying: the only good elf is a dead elf.” Kormak wondered how many times Enderby had ever seen an elf or walked his borders with them.
“There are good and bad elves as there are humans,” said Kormak.
“Next you will be telling us there are good and bad Old Ones,” said the Baron.
“There are those too.”
“Do you think there is good and bad evil as well? Do you extend your tolerance as far as the Shadow, Sir Kormak?” Enderby smiled as if he had scored a point.
“I extend my tolerance as far as fools,” Kormak said. Magnus made a blowing sound. Perhaps he was suppressing laughter.
The Baron reddened. “I do not like your tone, Guardian.”
Kormak smiled at him coldly. “Perhaps you would like to do something about it.”
“Sir Kormak,” said Lord Rhys in a chiding voice. “Now is neither the time nor place for this. Baron Enderby I do not think you realise how much you insulted the Guardian. He is a man who has spent his life opposing the Shadow. If it was not for him, we would not be here now.”
To Kormak’s surprise, the Baron bowed and said, “You are right, Sir Kormak. I spoke out of turn. I fear my enthusiasm to get to grips with our foe has unsettled me.”
“We will be getting to grips with them soon enough. Sir Kormak, is there anything else you need to tell us?”
“If we encounter any humans in the Settlements or beyond they must be taken to my Order for questioning. There can be no exceptions. Anyone we meet is a potential enemy, a potential spy.”
“Understood,” said Lord Rhys. The others nodded.
“And once we are in the Blight no one eats or drinks anything save what we brought with us and that only after it has been blessed by my brethren. All of your men, all of your knights must obey this on peril of Interdict and the damnation of their souls.”
“We have told them this enough already,” said Lord Rhys. “As have your brethren, but one more time cannot hurt. Well, that is all, gentlemen. I bid you goodnight. Sleep well. Tomorrow we enter hostile territory.”
They departed for their tents.
Kormak awoke. He sensed someone standing over him in the darkness. He noticed a distinctive scent.
“Gilean,” he said. He was already reaching for his sword, just in case it was not.
“Guardian,” she said, hunkering beside him.
“I was wondering whether your incense worked or whether I just had a particularly vivid dream.”
“It worked but we have been busy. There is war under the eaves of Greatwood. Weaver’s people encroach on Kayoga lands. They have their turncoat humans, they have the spiders and they gather the Lost. We are pressed hard.”
“The Army of the Morning is here,” said Kormak. “You have allies.”
“That is a good thing to know.”
“I am glad you are here.”
“You seem to be the only one. There were a number who I suspect would have shot me gladly if they had seen me.”
“All elves look alike to us. We cannot tell the Lost from the Children of the Green.”
“I suspected as much which is why I slipped through unnoticed. My people will provide you with scouts to guide you and warn you of ambushes but we must ensure they are not slaughtered by mistake.”
“A recognisable symbol would help. Your arrows are green although I doubt the eyes of most here are keen enough to spot that.”
“Speak with your leader, have him provide us with tokens, those gryphons on the hawsers of his tent would be useful. Or we could use some of your Order’s dragon signs.”
“Those would be more useful, I think. They would remind men you are our allies and under the Order’s protection. I can also get you those by nightfall tomorrow, if I start right away.”
“That would be good.”
“Meet me at the Eastern edge of the camp. I will see that the sentries are warned.”
“As you say.” There was something hesitant in her manner so Kormak asked, “How goes the war?”
“Weaver has grown strong in her shadowy web,” Gilean said. She sounded weary and Kormak resisted the urge to ask any more questions.
“Till tomorrow then,” she said eventually and then she was gone, leaving only the faint scent of forest blossoms behind her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE STREETS OF Green Oak were eerily quiet. There were a few rotting bodies with skeletons picked clean. Webs covered the entrances to the buildings, small spiders scuttled everywhere. The village bore no resemblance to the bustling township he had first seen on his arrival in the Settlements what felt like decades ago although it was just over a month.