‘What have we unleashed here?’ he kept asking himself. And he had no answer.
After just under an hour’s riding they stood before a great shoulder of rock. At its base it was surrounded by pine trees with straggly patches of grass clinging to its heights. Culleneron
at the head of the column disappeared into the trees, plunging downhill along a narrow path. The other elves followed.
‘Where are they going?’ Cedric asked. ‘I can’t see any way forward.’
‘It is Bleneshea Axenat,’ Itheya replied. ‘The Pass of the Knife. Never has a place been so aptly named.’
They were near the rear of the column but eventually it was their turn to begin the climb downhill. The path was stony and lined with bracken, meaning Morgan had to concentrate on keeping
control of his horse. When he did look up he started with surprise. It could not be seen at a distance but now he could see that the rock ahead was riven in two by a fissure that extended its full
length but never at any point exceeded ten feet across. Itheya noticed his expression.
‘Some say long ago a bolt of lightning greater than one ever seen before or since struck this mountain side, splitting the entire range in two. Others say it was a rare example of Zhun
himself acting to change the world while others say it is just the action of water or of extreme cold on vulnerable rock. I have no answer; I leave it to the likes of Terath to explain such things.
This pass, however, crosses the entire range and never gets wider than that you can see here.’
‘Where is the entrance on the other side of the mountains?’ Morgan asked. ‘I have lived around the Seven Rivers all my life and know nothing of this pass.’
‘As it should be.’ Itheya looked at him, obviously pleased with the ingenuity of her people. ‘The cleft on the other side is concealed as this one is. We patrol it regularly
and make it appear to humans that it is blocked, should any of you notice it and try to enter. I will have to ask the two of you to swear never to reveal its location for there have been occasions
when a curious human has wandered into it and we have either had to drug them and release them far away or, as a last resort, kill them. As to where it exits, it is close to a river and waterfall;
the river runs for some miles before it passes through a large human city, full of stone and no trees. It then joins a larger river after entering the woods to the west. The city has a high wall
and a plateau at its centre on which is built a large fortification or dwelling; I do not know the difference.’
‘Felmere? It sounds like Felmere. So this exits near the Fel. I have travelled there many times and never knew of this place. No wonder some of us call you the Wych folk.’
‘It is not a name we like. We are not witches. But then we have worse names for you, so we cannot claim the high ground here. Stay close, Morgan. I hope you do not mind confined
spaces.’
She led her horse into the cleft with Morgan following close behind. He felt he was being swallowed by the mountain, delving into a river of stone. He looked up at the tiniest strip of light, a
sliver of radiance in the gloom around him. The only sound was the heavy breathing of elf, man and horse and the clopping of a thousand hooves echoing and resounding off the unending cliffs.
‘We get trolls here occasionally,’ said Itheya in hushed tones. ‘They try to pick off any stray elves or horses. They are unlikely to attack such a large group but we cannot
afford to let up our guard.’
‘Why is there no snow overhead?’ asked Cedric ‘We fled Claw Pass just as the snows were getting heavy there. The pass is closed now.’
‘Terath can explain. It has something to do with the stone raising the temperature here; you will notice the cliffs are very wet, as is the ground under us. Snow becomes water – see
our breath is steaming. All our bodies will make it humid for us; see how sticky and uncomfortable our clothes will become.’
‘Do you know Culleneron very well?’ Morgan asked .‘Can you trust him?’
She craned her neck to see Morgan. ‘Yes, he can be trusted. He is a brave warrior, although he could use this’ – she tapped her head – ‘a little more. It is
perfectly likely that we will wed at some time in the future. I will make sure that it is a long time in the future if I can.’
‘Will that mean the end of any post-festival trysts? I could barely sleep for your noise that night.’
Her eyes narrowed. She was the ice queen again. ‘That was the dancer who helped me during Armentele. It was an easy way to thank him. Other than that, it is no business of yours. I had
thought that you had drunk enough not to be wakened by me; otherwise it would not have happened. Anyway, you woke me enough that night with your shouting.’
‘What shouting?’
‘You were dreaming, obviously. You kept shouting out Lisbeth all the time. Is this a human name? Your wife perhaps?’
‘Yes to both questions, if you must know.’ It was Morgan’s turn to be defensive.
‘I didn’t know you were married.’ Cedric sounded surprised. ‘You have never mentioned her before.’
‘She is dead. Therefore it is not worth mentioning.’
‘Oh my boy, I am so sorry. I should not have been so glib.’
‘That is all right, Cedric; you were not to know. I am one of many anyway. You should know, Itheya, that you are entering a country of widows and widowers; my situation is hardly unique
there.’
Her expression had softened. She said nothing, though; it was as if she could not find the right words. She contented herself with a slight nod, which he returned. She then continued on her way,
her back high in the saddle, Cedric gripping on to her, Morgan following on behind.
The hours passed. A human party would have stopped for a quick lunch but there was no sign of this with the elves. The stone floor of the pass was wet and covered in loose shale chippings,
slowing their progress but not prohibitively so. Morgan could tell they were proceeding much faster than they had on the equivalent journey north where the ettins had ended Rozgon’s life.
The light, or what little there was, was starting to fade. He was expecting torches to be lit among the procession; indeed, some were but most of the elves had glowstones which they held tied on
to their spears. The humidity Itheya had spoken of became a lot more noticeable once these were illuminated. Morgan did feel sticky and uncomfortable; he wondered how they were all going to sleep
in this narrow cleft. He decided to ask Itheya; the first time they had spoken in hours.
‘It is not easy,’ she replied. ‘We tend to sleep on the horses but they need rest, too, so we stay on the horses for some hours then stand in the wet to give the horses sleep.
It will not be restful but it will be our only night here so we make the best of it that we can.’
Morgan grunted. ‘I see.’
‘Cedric is asleep,’ she said. ‘At least
he
is rested.’
‘Good,’ said Morgan. ‘If anyone needed it, then it was him. Thanks for being so attentive with him.’
‘He has much ahead of him, and he is the oldest one here, except maybe for Terath.’
Morgan did not reply. They continued on for a little while when she spoke again.
‘I mentioned earlier the human city that this river runs through.’
‘Felmere.’ Morgan replied.
‘Felmere. What is it like living in such a place, surrounded by stone and dead wood, full of dirt and little clean water?’
‘Bear in mind, I am a country dweller myself. I grew up on a farm close to a small village. I have visited places like Felmere many times, though, and have little love for such places if I
am being honest. There is dirt, a press of unwashed bodies, piles of dung and other spoil. All of it causes a miasma that you would find very displeasing, I am sure.’
‘But why do your people choose such a life?’
‘Many reasons. There is more money in cities; better opportunities to get rich. In bad years people in the country can starve – I should know. Both have their strong and weak points.
Personally, though, a nice country house by the river with apple trees and abundant fish would be close to paradise for me. Maybe one day.’
‘Your people do not store food for the bad times?’
‘In a ten-year war such reserves were used up long ago. It is down to the local baron. Some are wise and store grain; others sell the excess for whatever reason. As I say, there is no easy
or simple answer to any of your questions; there are as many answers as there are people.’
She ran a hand through her hair. ‘I am sorry for being flippant with you earlier – I mean about your wife.’
‘No need. As I recall, I was the flippant one; you simply gave as good as you got.’
‘Do you miss her?’
‘Of course. The passage of time helps but I will always miss her.’
She stopped her horse to let him move alongside her; there was just enough room.
‘My father I love, of course, but I have never loved a man in the way you obviously loved your wife. As you said earlier, maybe one day, but it has not happened for me yet.’
‘I am sure it will, Itheya. What restricts you, I suppose, is your status and your duty. You cannot form friendships as most of us do and when you do marry; it is as likely to be for the
good of the tribe as anything else.’
Her voice was barely a whisper. ‘You are right. of course, but my duty has brought me close to someone I have started to care about a great deal.’
She pressed her face to within inches of his. her lips close to his ear.
‘Nothing can come of it, as you well know; it is little short of treachery for a princess to consort with one not of her kind. If the barrier did not exist, though, then at least on her
part she would be happy for things to get as close as they were possible to get.’ She gave a quick look round, ensuring no one could see her in this darkness, then leaned forward and kissed
him gently on the cheek. She was as soft as goose down and her warm breath smelled like a light floral wine.
‘Your destiny is to lead your tribe,’ Morgan replied as quietly as he could. ‘It is something I could never be part of.’
‘I know,’ she whispered back, ‘but I felt it was for the best if I told you the way I feel. I do not know if you share these feelings and I suppose it is not important either
way, but you know my heart now for good or ill. I will not mention this again.’
‘Thank you for your honesty. For my part, let me say that you are a princess and it would be presumptuous of me to declare such high feelings for you. Let me also say, though, that since I
lost my wife I have never felt as close to someone as I have with you. I was actually jealous that night after the festival when I heard you with someone else, but, as you say, this goes no
further. It ends here and I will speak no more of it either.’
She smiled slightly; it made her lip slightly crooked. ‘As we are being honest, here I must confess that my capricious nature overtook me that night. Part of me wanted to incite such
feelings in you; another part of me took this man to my room to stop me from doing what I really wanted.’
‘And what was that?’
‘I was a little affected by the drink and I wanted to come to your room that night. I wanted you, Morgan, Zhun help me. The scandal would have ruined me, so instead I collected this man
and used him instead.’
‘You could not just have slept alone?’
She sounded surprised. ‘Alone? No. I like sex too much. All of my people do. I know it is not the way with your people and your religion would chastise me for my morals, but fortunately
for me mine says otherwise. Maybe it is because we have so few children that we see things differently, I hear humans can have vast families, so I can understand disapproval of such behaviour, but
I still feel sorry for you. You miss out on so much.’
‘You learned this from the missionary you held here?’
‘Yes, he was always criticising my flighty behaviour, which only made me behave even more appallingly.’
‘How did he betray you?’
Her expression changed; she became sombre as well as sad. ‘That is you being direct again. I will tell you, but not now; it is not the time and it is not a happy tale. I thank you for your
honesty tonight; I feel the better for it. But now the army is stopping and it is time to get what rest we can.’
The evening passed just as she said it would. The elves appeared to sleep on their horses without difficulty, their heads bowed, their breathing low and steady. Itheya slept in that manner even
with Cedric slumped on to her back, his snoring booming off the high rock. For Morgan, however, sleep was a completely unattainable ideal. He was saddle-sore enough as it was and did not have
enough confidence not to think he would fall off the saddle as soon as sleep took him. Eventually he got off the poor old horse and tried sleeping while leaning against the mountain. Exhaustion led
him to have little cat naps; he would suddenly come to, to see that he had slumped part way down the rock and had to stand up again. In this way a long, sticky and uncomfortable night passed. At
one point, he saw Itheya climb off her horse, make sure Cedric was comfortable and lean against the mountain just as he had done. At another he caught her looking at him; they both smiled at each
other but nothing more was said.
At long last a thin sliver of blue-grey light appeared in the world high above them. Instantly Itheya was awake; she gave Morgan a gentle slap to wake him, then tugged Cedric’s sleeve
before hopping on to her horse.
‘I lead our forces today. Come with me.’
There was barely enough room to squeeze past the other elves, who were either still asleep or just beginning to stir and check their mounts and equipment. Fortunately the pass widened for a
brief period, enabling them to speed up a little. Morgan wondered if the stop here was deliberate, so that any emergency redeployment could be affected with minimum fuss. In no time at all they
were at the head of the column. Terath greeted them warmly and Culleneron was already sitting stiffly on his horse. After a brief verbal exchange he rode back down the column to take his place with
the Ometahan.
Cedric spoke to Itheya. ‘It is for you to lead today, my girl. The last thing you need is some dull old cripple hanging on to you. I feel a lot better today so give me my horse and let me
ride alone.’