Days Of Light And Shadow (43 page)

At the bottom of the stairs a guard wordlessly handed him a cuirass, and though he could have told the man it would have been pointless against the accuracy of rangers with their longbows, he put it on. It felt good to be in armour again. Even borrowed armour. He made sure though to tighten the side straps all the way so that it didn’t flap freely as he walked.  If he couldn’t persuade the guards to wear their armour correctly at least he could show them by example.

Then he walked to the open gate and stood there waiting for the rangers to finally arrive.

Three hundred paces from the gate the captain of the patrol held up a hand and they slowed to a trot, something that surely helped everyone to relax, though he could still hear Master Formain somewhere in the battlements overhead, muttering away angrily. He really wanted to let loose with his cannon.

Then the captain of the rangers left his party trotting slowly behind as he kicked his horse lightly and cantered by himself for the last part of the trip. He was there to give the introductions, which was as it should be. Iros waited patiently for him to arrive.

Before he reached him though, an orange striped wolf broke from the pack and streaked for him yipping frantically, and Iros’ heart nearly stopped beating as he recognised her.

“Saris!” He barely had time to put up his arms before she leapt on him, knocking him to the ground, and started nuzzling him frantically. But he didn’t mind as he lay there in the dirty street being licked to death, not when he had his faithful hound back.

“Saris!” Tears of joy welled up in his eyes and ran down his cheeks, and he simply didn’t care if anyone noticed. He’d thought she was dead. Killed in the fire that had destroyed the mission. Or more likely by Y’aris’ watchmen as they stuck arrows in everyone they could find, before setting the fire. Sophelia had told him the sorry tale. And just having Saris back was more than a miracle. It was a gift from the Divines themselves.

“Lord Iros of Drake.” The captain greeted him formally as he lay in the street being affectionately mauled by his hound, and even Iros could hear the amusement in his voice. But he didn’t really care. He did eventually manage to find his way back up to his feet though. Just in time to see the rest of the patrol reach them.

“I am, captain. And you are?”

“Captain Maydan of the Black Otters at your service.” Black Otters, just as their colours said. Iros knew the patrol. They were one of three patrols that had chapters in Leafshade, and he’d seen them riding many times. He’d never spent any time with them, much as he might have liked to. An envoy couldn’t be seen drinking in a common inn with rangers, it would have looked very bad to the high born. But it was the captain’s last three words that caught his attention. At his service? Maybe it was just a polite greeting, but it suggested all sorts of strange possibilities.

“And what brings you to Greenlands captain?”

“The Elder bid us to come. She said to bring these elves to you. She said you could take care of them where others could not.” The captain gestured with a finger and his troop parted, the riders in the middle column suddenly appearing from their midst. It was a well rehearsed move. But that was nowhere near as surprising as the fact that he recognised some of them.

“The Divines be praised!” Iros was shocked as he saw the somewhat drawn face of his father in law staring at him from under a ranger’s leather helm. And immediately behind him was his mother in law, Freylin. He recognised her from the wedding. Behind them he guessed were their two other daughters, Sophelia’s sisters. He’d never met them but they had all the family traits and they surely didn’t look like they’d ever held a sword in their lives. All were dressed as rangers. All were looking tired and dishevelled from their long trip. And when he looked a little more closely, all of them were looking worried.

Maybe that made sense. They were high born elves arriving in a foreign land. A human land, here after a war between their peoples had just ended, and they probably considered his people as little more than savages. And by the looks of things they had fled their home. The chances were that they couldn’t go back. For whatever reason they were stuck in Greenlands. They had no need to worry though.

“Soldier.” He turned to the nearest of his guards. “Find my wife immediately. Tell her that her family is here.” The man took off as fast as his feet could carry him up the dusty road, his armour flapping as he ran.

“And tell the servants to prepare some quarters for them.” He yelled the last at the man’s disappearing back, hoping he heard. Hoping too that he’d learn to tie down his armour before he returned. It was embarrassing. Then he turned back to his guests.

“Tenir, Freylin, you and your daughters are always welcome here.” Iros managed a small bow to them as was only proper, though he was still wondering why they’d come. Why like this. And what had happened.

“I thank you.” Tenir spoke for them. He spoke for the family as was proper. But he didn’t sound grateful. Underneath his polite thanks Iros could hear what sounded like deep sadness. Even bitterness. But it wasn’t for him at least. Something had clearly happened in Leafshade. Something bad.

“And my daughter?” Freylin interrupted and spoke over her husband, something that wasn’t normally done. But she probably had cause. There had been no true communications established between the realms since the war had ended, pigeons sent to Elaris did not return, and only a few brave or exceptionally greedy traders had risked the journey. And a new mission had not yet been decided on. King Herrick from what he had heard, was wavering on the matter. At least until he had Finell before him on bended knee.

“She’s well. Happy, I think. Learning to enjoy her life as a married woman in a strange land. And building a terrace garden.” And she was happy, even if he wasn’t completely sure how she could be. But some days he caught her humming to herself when she thought she was alone, and he liked that. He wanted her to be happy. Whether it was working in her gardens as she set about greening the entire castle, balcony by balcony, speaking with the servants as she decorated the castle, or simply spent time with him, she was one elf he wanted to be happy.

But if her family had come here as some sort of refugees, that might not make her heart jump for joy.

“Then we must see her. Come.” With no more than that Freylin pressed her heels into the flanks of her horse, flicked the reins, and immediately trotted past her bemused looking husband, before setting off at a steady canter after the soldier he’d sent running to the castle. Tenir and his daughters stared at her disappearing figure, before he made a polite apology and then the three of them set off after her. And after them a few more elves gave chase. All of which left Iros standing there at the gate with the captain, all his questions unanswered. And he still had to ask them.

“Captain what’s happened? Why is my wife’s family come? And why are they dressed as rangers?”

“House Vora is no more. The high lord sought to lock them away in the dungeon with their son. We had to act to save them before they were gone forever.” But he didn’t look happy about it, and Iros knew well that there was always a tension between the rangers and the high born. Then again with that scarred face, the captain probably didn’t look happy at the best of times. Not that Iros could talk. Though they were healing finally, the scars that covered him from head to foot were surely even less pretty. Some days he wondered how Sophelia could stand to look at him save actually touch him.

“Herodan’s been locked away?” Unfortunately it wasn’t unexpected. Not after what he’d heard in the Royal Chamber. He’d always been in danger. The captain nodded but said nothing more. What was there to say?

“And Finell has turned on the rest of his House? On his own family?”

“Finell has turned on all the houses. His prison is so full that the noble houses are emptying. The streets as well. Everyone is an enemy. Everyone is locked away. He is having to hire more guards just to hold them all. His paranoia consumes all Lord Drake.” It was a day for surprises Iros discovered as another of the rangers answered him and he recognised the voice.

“Pita?” It was him, dressed in ill-fitting leather armour, and he rushed over to help the boy to the ground before wrapping him up in his arms. “I thought you were dead.”

“Not I and not Mya either. The elders hid us in the grove along with many others.”

“Bless them.” Iros was surprised to discover tears welling up in his eyes as he hugged Pita some more and then Mya as well when he helped her down. But he didn’t care. Not when at least a few of the people he’d said a final goodbye to were returning to him, after he had lost so much. “Bless them all.”

“A prayer to Silene and a candle would not go amiss either Lord Drake. The elders have marched into battle with Finell eleven days past, and we have no word of how the fight went.” But his face said it all. He was worried. So was Mya. He could see her long face poking out from under her leather helm.

“The elders are clever people Pita. They would not risk a fight without a plan. And besides, what elf would ever harm one of the Grove?” But was he saying it to reassure Pita, or himself? And did he even have time to wonder when he had a troop of rangers in Greenlands, and word of some sort of uprising in Elaris. Something King Herrick needed to hear of soonest.

“Still we can speak more of this later. For the moment follow the others up the road. And take Mya with you. Introduce yourselves to Alsa at the castle and tell her that I have asked for you both to be given quarters. In the morning we’ll make plans for you both to travel on to your families.”

Iros watched as the two of them mounted up and then waved as they disappeared up the street, chasing the others. He would have desperately liked to have gone with them, but there were other matters to deal with first. Like a party of rangers in his town.

“Captain, thank you for bringing my friends and my wife’s family safely here. It could not have been an easy journey, and I am in your debt. Is there anything I can do for you in return?”

“We will need quarters as well.”

“For the night?”

“Longer.” The captain smiled at him, laughing silently at his discomfort. He surely knew that having a party of well armed elves in town would cause problems.

“You intend staying for a while?” That seemed odd to Iros. The rangers had their own chapter houses throughout the elven realm, and they seldom wandered beyond. But something had changed if they were in human lands. Especially if they were thinking of setting up a chapter house in Greenlands. And he had the very strange feeling looking at their faces that that was exactly what they were planning. That was why he’d said he was at his service.

“The Elder has so instructed us and we serve.”

“Trekor Aileth?” It still made little sense to him that she could be both a swamp witch of mixed blood who would be mocked and jeered at in the streets of Leafshade and also a respected elder. Sophelia had tried to explain it to him. Tried and failed. After all if a human was treated as dirt off the soul of one’s shoe in their pretty city, and those of mixed blood as something even less, then surely someone of part troll blood would have been loathed. And yet he had to admit, the woman had a presence about her. And a sense of humour that appealed.

“The same. She has instructed our chapter to find lodgings within your fine city, and to sortie out from here.”

“You’re going to be patrolling Greenlands?” That seemed wrong to him somehow, just after a terrible war that had claimed so many lives, when the aggressors had been the elves. And if it seemed wrong to him then he had no doubt that the people would know the same. And some of them would show it, whether in fear or anger. Surely the man had to know that.

“Yes. Our service continues. We must protect the people and the lands. All the people, and all the lands.”

“From what captain? These are peaceful lands, brigands are few, dangerous animals not too many more. And the only enemy the people have known is your own. You will not be welcomed.”

“And yet we must be here. The elders have spoken and it has been agreed. When the abominations once more walk the world, we must stand.” By the Divines Iros wished he hadn’t added the last. It was bad enough to keep hearing the reports of the attacks, but when the captain could speak it so openly, as if it was common knowledge, that just made it worse.