G. J. Kelly

King of Ashes

Prologue

"I am called by many names. To some, I am simply "Traveller.” To others, "Longsword,” or "DarkSlayer,” or both. Some even call me friend, but they are few in number and decreasing as the years pass.

"I have another name, one which my father gave me and by which my family, and my people, knew me. But they are all dead now, and have been these many long years. This name I will tell you now, for it no longer matters, though there was a time when I kept it secret even from friends, and for a time, even from the one I came to love…

"I am Traveller. I am Longsword, DarkSlayer. I am Gawain, son of Davyd, King of Raheen, and this is my story."

The DarkSlayer, as told to the Bard-Chronicler Lyssa of Callodon.

1. Traveller

The kingdom of Raheen rests atop a plateau overlooking the Sea of Hope, at the southernmost tip of the land. Famed for its horses, which have graced many a fine cavalry, and famed for its impregnability, for it has never been invaded. Of all the seven kingdoms, Raheen has endured longest, and in relative tranquillity. The less said about the Gorian Empire in the west, and its lamentable history, the better.

Gawain, second son of King Davyd of Raheen, was tending to his own horse Gwyn when a page approached in great excitement, and informed the prince that the King requested his presence in the Great Hall at once.

"Please tell my father I'll be there shortly,” Gawain answered softly, brushing tangles from Gwyn's fine blonde mane.

The page nodded, and departed. King Davyd would understand the delay, for there is no duty more solemnly undertaken than caring for one's horse in Raheen. The bond between horse and rider is formed at such an early age, and is a mystical thing.

Gwyn herself was gangling colt when she had chosen Gawain. The young prince had been sitting on the banks of a sluggish stream, being taught how to fish by an old man, when he'd almost been bowled into the water by a sudden and unexpected shove in the back. He'd stumbled, regained his balance, and turned to find himself staring into the blazing blue eyes of the colt, and thus the bond was formed.

"You've been chosen, your Highness." the old fisherman had smiled. "Honour to you."

"Aye,” Gawain had replied, almost struck dumb with awe, "Honour indeed!"

That was two years ago. Now, at just over eighteen years of age, Gawain possessed complete understanding of Gwyn, and she of him. Reins were virtually superfluous to the Raheen, a bonded horse knew its rider's intentions long before a rein could be tugged this way or that, or heels kicked or knees pressed.

Gawain finished brushing Gwyn's lustrous mane and stepped back admiringly. The horse whinnied approvingly.

"Elve's Blood and Dwarfspit, you're ugly.” Gawain said softly, shaking his head in mock sorrow.

Gwyn turned her blue-eyed gaze to him, and snorted before walking slowly, head held high, back to her stall.

"I mean it!" Gawain laughed. "Ugly as a sack full of worms. Hideous. I don't know why I deign to ride such a grotesque beast."

Gwyn ignored him, as usual, and with a final chuckle Gawain left the stables and strode across the cobbled courtyard to the castle Keep. Now that his duty was complete, it would not do to keep his father waiting.

The Great Hall was cavernous, even when filled with people, which it wasn't now. It was early evening, court business was over, and even the ceremonial guards on duty beside the massive oaken doors had gone off duty, leaving the mighty iron-braced portals ajar.

Gawain's boots echoed eerily as he strode towards the thrones, past rows of benches and low tables, all unoccupied. Clearly whatever was about to transpire was a matter of considerable gravitas, in spite ofthe absence of courtiers or ambassadors or subjects of any station. Just his father, his mother, and his older brother, seated in their rightful places, and Cordell, the Lord High Chamberlain. None of them were smiling at Gawain's approach.

In fact, he thought, they looked really rather serious. He stiffened his back, and studied Cordell's eyes for any hint of what was to come. It was no good trying the same with his family, they'd long since learned the secret of regal inscrutability, as had he himself.

Was that the slightest hint of anxiety in the crow's feet around old Cordell's eyes, Gawain wondered, and then started desperately trying to remember if he'd done anything to warrant a punishment…

But it was too late. Already the benches and tables gave way to the Circle of Justice, wherein stood the sword. Accused and accuser, in disputes brought before the king, would stand to each side of the longsword which stood in the exact centre of the polished marble floor, its tip buried a full two hand-spans in the cold and lustrous stone. Petitioners took station before it, so that this potent symbol stood betwixt them and the ultimate power that the throne represented. Gawain, a prince of the realm, stood likewise, encircled by the strange symbols etched in the floor, some ancient wizard language laid down long ago in history, so long ago that not even today's whitebeard wizards understood their meaning.

"You summoned me, your Majesty."

"I did. Is your duty complete?"

"It is."

"Good."

There was a pause. No-one's eyes would meet Gawain's, it seemed, even though he stood six feet and two inches tall, the pommel of the longsword between him and the thrones barely reached his breastbone.

King Davyd shifted. The thrones, of inlaid marble, were not the most comfortable of seats, in spite of their luxurious velvet cushions.

"Lord Chamberlain," he announced, "If you would."

Cordell cleared his throat, and Gawain directed his gaze firmly at the elderly statesman.

"Your Highness," he began, his sonorous voice resonating through the hall. "You have reached the age of majority these two weeks past. And now has come the time which must be endured by all sons of the Royal House of Raheen."

Gawain was stunned. He was second in line to the throne, surely the ancient traditions did not apply? He hadn't given it a first thought, let alone a second one!

"Father?" he asked, softly.

But King Davyd simply drew in a breath, and let it out in a sigh as Cordell continued.

"Thus it has been, thus it is, and thus ever shall. By Royal Decree, Prince Gawain, son of Davyd, you are henceforth banished from the Kingdom of Raheen, not to set foot on its most treasured soil until a period of one year and one day has passed. This, in the King's name, this, in sight of the sword, this is judgement."

"Be it so ordered.” King Davyd announced, though his voice was tinged with sadness.

"Can this truly be so?" Gawain asked. "Is my brother ill?"

"No brother, I am not.” Kevyn answered firmly.

"Then am I not entitled to know the reason for this judgement?"

"Gawain," his mother said quietly. "It is custom. Your brother shall be king…"

"Not for some considerable time I hope." Kevyn mumbled sincerely. None could imagine a day so dread as the death of their father.

"Thus, on his majority, he was banished for a year and a day, to learn the world, and its ways. So too must you be."

"As you well knew.” Davyd grumbled.

"I knew it not, father.” Gawain stepped forward around the sword. "Or I would have cherished these two weeks past. If I had known…” he trailed off. How could he have known? Kevyn was four years his senior. Gawain remembered, could it have been four years ago? He remembered his brother's departure, seated proud upon Jakar, a magnificent black stallion, riding off towards the sole route out of Raheen and down onto the plains of Callodon below.

"When the sun rises tomorrow, Gawain of Raheen, it must not find you in our land.” Cordell announced, and with a bow, and a final sad smile, turned, and left the Great Hall by way of the king's door.

"You've about an hour to make ready.” Davyd said softly, standing, and striding the three steps down to the Circle of Justice. "You should make the most of them."

"I'm sorry father…If I had known…” A lump was forming in the back of Gawain's throat.

"No matter. You will return to us in a year and a day. And regale us with tales of adventure and startling heroism, just like your brother did."

With that, Davyd hugged his son, smiled, and made to turn away. Then he checked himself, and gazed at his second-born. "I have always been proud of you. I know you will do well. Remember who you are, and be true to yourself, and to Raheen."

"I will, father.” Gawain said, with as much princely strength as he could muster.

His mother kissed him, but said nothing. She simply smiled, her eyes betraying her love and her sorrow and her pride, and then she took Davyd's arm, and left.

"Well, G'wain. Off you go."

"Thanks Kev. Thanks for telling me."

Kevyn shrugged. "You know the traditions as well as I."

"When have they ever applied to the second-born?"

"Now, I suppose. Why, don't you think you can survive a year and a day in the downlands?"

"Of course I can. I'm not an idiot."

"No you're not. Want some advice?"

"You know I do."

"So did I when I was banished. No-one gave me any. Good luck."

"Thanks. Thanks a lot."

Kevyn's face cracked into a grin. "You'll be all right. You know how I keep saying I let you win whenever we fight?"

"Yes."

"Well, on the grounds that you'll probably end up on a Gorian slaver within a month or two, I might as well admit that you always beat me fair and square."

"You might mention that to father after I've gone."

"Not a chance."

Kevyn hugged his younger brother, clapped him on the shoulders, and headed for the door.

"Oh!" he shouted, his youthful exuberance echoing around the hall. "I will give you one good tip before you go!"

"What's that?"

"Don't eat yellow snow!"

And with that, Kevyn was gone, the king's door slamming behind him.

Gawain sighed, and fought back the tears which pricked at his eyes. Banished. He should have seen it coming. He should have spent the last two weeks at home, with his friends and family, not gallivanting all over Raheen on Gwyn, camping out, enjoying the summer…But he had, and had lost the chance to prepare himself for the sudden absence now forced upon him.

His hands rested on the sword of justice, and then he leaned his chin on the pommel. It was a good thing really, this banishment. All future kings had to endure it. Had to spend a year and a day abroad in the six strange kingdoms that lay below the plateau. It prepared them for rule, forced them to accept that there was a world beyond the sheer edges of Raheen. Made them come to terms with the differences between the races that populated the land. It was a good thing.

Except now. Now that it was Gawain's turn to go. The Keep had been emptied. He should have known. The excitement in the young page's voice and attitude was obvious now. Apart from Gawain's family and the Lord High Chamberlain, that was the last Raheen subject who would speak or acknowledge Gawain's presence until the sun rose a year and a day from now.

If Gawain survived. He drew the sword from its slot in the floor, and hefted it one-handed. Just. The point dipped alarmingly, and he instantly grasped the hilt in classic two-handed stance.

Well, he thought, raising its tip high above his head. It'd take more than lowlanders to prevent his homecoming. There were no horsemen, no horses, that could match a Raheen. No archers, not even Elves with their famed curved bows, who could match a skilled Raheen arrow-thrower. No swordsmen, except perhaps the Household Guard of Callodon, and maybe the praetorians of the Gorian Empire, that could match Gawain. He hoped. Kevyn had said so, anyway.

He studied his reflection in the polished blade. Short golden-blond hair, piercing steel-grey eyes, the strong jawline. It was a strong face, but young, and soon to be shown to the world beyond Raheen for the first time.

He slipped the longsword back into its rightful place, and turned on his heel. He didn't have much time to gather his belongings, saddle Gwyn, and make the Downland Pass before daybreak.

***

At the foot of the Downland Pass, just as dawn was breaking, Gawain and Gwyn turned to watch the orange bloom on the horizon, knowing only too well that high above, at home, the sun had been shining for the best part of an hour already.

Gawain sighed as the first rays of day sliced through the gloom and warmed his face, and he closed his eyes, remembering The Fallen as he'd been taught by an old soldier so long ago. He'd been five, or six, he couldn't remember. It was the morning of his birthday, and he'd imagined that the day would bring a thousand magnificent Raheen stallions crashing down the castle walls in their haste to choose him…so he'd risen early, and gone out onto the battlements…

There were no horses thundering across the plain, even when he'd stood on a bench to look over the parapet wall. Just a one-eyed old soldier, hoisting the flag atop its pole for the break of day. So the child Gawain had turned, and watched the horizon, waiting for dawn, and hoping for horses.

The old soldier finished running up the flag, and then walked quietly over to stand beside Gawain. After a few moments, the boy had looked up and was surprised to see that the soldier had closed his one good eye, and looked for all the world like he was asleep on his feet.

"What are you doing?" Gawain had asked, a little in awe of the soldier and the scars on his face.

"There are those," the old soldier had said, "Who cannot see the dawn, your highness. I do this for them all."

"Why can't they see the dawn? Is it because they got their eyes hurt like you?"

"No, your highness. They are The Fallen. Old friends, and friends I never met. Those that were slain in battle, so that you and me might stand here free men, and watch the sun rise, and feel its warmth upon our faces in peace."

Gawain had thought about it for a moment, and nodded seriously, and turned his young face to the dawn, and closed his eyes. It didn't seem right that The Fallen wouldn't be able to do that again, just so that he could.

Now though, as Gwyn's ears twitched, Gawain opened his eyes and turned towards the sound. There were a number of inns on the well-worn track that led from the guardhouse at the bottom of the Downland Pass, and from their direction he could hear the faint sounds of stirring life.

In an hour or so, the road would be bustling. Merchants and travellers seeking to make the long climb up to Raheen, and merchants and travellers beginning to make their way down. It would be wise for Gawain to leave before the bustle started, and Gwyn seemed to agree, for she set off at a trot heading north, away from the Pass, leaving the Sea of Hope in the wake of the dust her hooves kicked up on the sun-baked track.

It was a week later, still in the kingdom of Callodon and still heading north, that Gawain came upon a farmer and his family, and their cart with its broken wheel.

They were on a rutted road in the middle of a small forest, and the farmer was desperately attempting to lift the wagon and refit the wheel at the same time, while his wife and daughter looked on helplessly.

At Gawain's approach the farmer ceased his futile struggling, and looked up nervously.

"Good day to you, Serre.” The older man called.

"Good day, Serre, and well met." Gawain replied politely, and Gwyn slowed to an amble, and came to a halt a little way off from the stricken family. "You've suffered a sad mishappenstance,” Gawain said quietly, eyeing the wheel and looking back along the track. He could see no rocks in the ruts. "Is the axle broken?"

"No Serre, the kingpin slipped.” the farmer responded, sounding hurt, and eyeing Gawain's weapons uneasily.

"May I help? Perhaps if I lift the cart, and you replace the wheel?"

"I would be obliged at that, Serre, if it's no trouble."

"It's no trouble, I assure you.” Gawain smiled, and swung himself gracefully out of the saddle, ignoring the stirrups and jumping down athletically. Entirely for the benefit of the farmer's daughter whose flame-red hair was, to Gawain, the most stunning colour he'd seen.

The cart was laden with sacks of what the young prince assumed was corn or grain, and although he'd hoped to raise it high enough with nothing but a gentle heave and a smile for the lass all the while, it wasn't so easy as that. In the end, he found the only way to lift the axle sufficiently was to get his back under the wagon and heave with all the strength in his legs.

After much grunting and a deal of sweat from both Gawain and the farmer, urged on by the two ladies, the wheel was back in its rightful place.

"Dwarfspit and Elve's Blood that was heavy work Serre!" the farmer ginned, breathing heavily.

"Aye,” Gawain gasped, struggling to stand upright and convinced there would be a crease in his spine for weeks, "But it's done and sound, or it will be once the kingpin is hammered back in."

"My name is Allyn,” the farmer announced, offering his hand. "Thank you, traveller."

"Well met, Allyn,” Gawain replied, reaching out to clasp the man's forearm. "How did you know my name?"

Allyn's smile turned to a frown, and Gawain grinned. "Traveller by nature, Traveller by name.”

"Ah!” Allyn's frown disappeared in an instant. "Well met then, friend Traveller! Will you take a little ale? It's from my own hops and is better than some you'll find in Callodon's inns."

"Aye, thanks, I will."

And so they quenched their thirsts from a small keg hefted by Allyn's daughter. It was good ale, Gawain acknowledged, though it probably tasted the better for the red-headed smile that accompanied it.

"Where's my manners!” Allyn exclaimed suddenly, noticing the way Gawain stole a glance over the rim of his cup as they stood by the repaired wheel. "This is my first-born, Lyssa. And this is my wife, Karin."

"Well met, my ladies.” Gawain smiled, and revelled in one of the smiles he received in return. "Do you travel homeward, or to market?"

"To market," Allyn announced, draining his cup and handing it back to Lyssa. "In the town of Jarn, which lies at the other end of this forest."

"And you, friend Traveller, where are you bound?" Lyssa asked quietly, earning a reproachful glance from her father.

"North,” Gawain said, likewise surrendering his cup, and wishing he could reveal his given name. But it was forbidden. He was not permitted to reveal his identity whilst in the Banishment, nor even to say or possess anything that would declare him to be Raheen. "I've heard Elvendere lies in that direction, and I've a yearning to see the elves with my own eyes."

"Elves!” Allyn exclaimed. "You'll not see them, but you might see their arrows all right, if you set foot in Elvendere! Never was a land so jealously guarded."

"In truth?"

"In truth. I saw dwarves once, at Callodon castle, years ago when his majesty ascended the throne. But no elves came."

"Everyone knows that to set foot in Elvendere is never to return.” Lyssa said, her soft voice rich with concern.

Gawain shrugged. "Well. Perhaps I'll head north-east then, and find a warmer welcome in the Black Hills."

"Dwarves.” Allyn grunted, hammering in the kingpin with his fist. "They're not so bad. Suspicious lot though. And they're not as small as you might think, Traveller."

"No?"

"No. Smaller than most men, but I've seen other humans smaller than dwarves too, during the fair at the castle. These days though, I don't know. Seems people everywhere are becoming elvish. When I was your age, Traveller…"

"Allyn, don't carry on so! Friend Traveller doesn't want to hear all your stories about the castle."

"Yes dear," Allyn sighed to his wife, and winked at Gawain as he turned back to the kingpin.

"Here, let me." Gawain offered, and drew his sword.

It slipped from its scabbard with an ominous and unmistakable swish, and Allyn stepped back a pace. The sword was heavy, and its twin edges glistened wickedly in the morning sunshine. Gawain flipped it deftly so the blade stood erect, and set about hammering the kingpin with the pommel.

Three stout blows and the tapered kingpin that held the wheel to the axle was not only wedged firmly in place, but its uppermost end splayed like a tent-peg too often struck with a mallet.

"That shouldn't break free in a hurry.” Gawain smiled, slipping the blade back into its sheath with practised ease.

"No indeed.” Allyn muttered.

Gwyn snorted once, and Gawain looked up the track, his eyes narrowing.

"What is it, friend Traveller?” Lyssa asked, sidling closer to her mother and father.

Gawain shrugged. "Someone approaches. Far off."

"Well, we'd best be off to market ourselves, if we're to sell our grain.” Allyn announced.

"I'll accompany you, if you have no objection friend Allyn? We go in the same direction, and I would be glad of the company."

Lyssa blushed.

"Aye! I have no objection, friend Traveller, if you're sure we won't slow you down any?"

"I'm sure. I have plenty of time, and I doubt the elves and dwarves will disappear for wont of an hour or two on my journey."

"We'll be off then."

Allyn and his family clambered aboard the wagon, and with a snap of the reins the great workhorse pulled the cart onto the road and into the ruts, and with Gawain riding on Allyn's side of the track they set off northward.

"Here come the someones you spoke of." Allyn said softly as they crested a slight rise a few minutes later. Then the farmer's face turned dark, and he spat.

"Ramoths!"

"Who?” Gawain asked, eyeing the distant party approaching them.

"Vermin, if you ask me. Or any decent folk that're left in Callodon. And the rest of the land, come to that."

"What are Ramoths?” Gawain frowned, desperately trying to recall if his brother Kevyn had mentioned them so many years ago.

"Not what. Who…"

"Hush husband!” Karin protested, nudging him sharply with her elbow, and he fell silent.

But Gawain could see from his expression that the approaching Ramoths, whatever or whoever they might be, would never find a warm welcome at Allyn's farm.

As the group approached, Gwyn's tail swished restlessly, sensing the tension rising in her mount. Lyssa noticed the young man's hands too, as they flitted unconsciously, checking sword, and knife, and arrows. She frowned at the latter, for in spite of the quiver of yard-long shafts that hung, with their goose-feather fletching behind Gawain's right hip, he had no bow.

"Make way!" came a call from ahead.

"…who the Dwarfspit do they think they are…” Gawain heard Allyn mumble angrily.

"Make way for the emissary of Ramoth!" came another shout.

Gawain's right hand rested lightly on the pommel of the heavy shortsword that hung from his left side. To any casual observer, it was a casual pose. A warrior would know different.

As the Ramoths drew nearer their cries of "Make way!" grew more frequent, and intensely more irritating. The road was rutted, and the cart wheels were in the ruts. There was plenty of room for the Ramoths to pass down the left side of the wagon, but still they called out.

Gawain noted their number with a military eye. Six riders on horseback, two at the rear of the procession, two at the flanks, and two, who were doing the shouting, in the vanguard. In the middle, a group of eight men carried a covered sedan chair upon their shoulders, and at the very front of them all, a man (or at least it looked like a man) with a shaven head, dressed in long white robes, carrying a pole at the top of which was a strange symbol in iron.

It looked like a coiled snake, but with a grotesquely large head, in which were set two black stones for eyes.

"Make way! Make way there! The emissary of Ramoth approaches!"

"What does he expect me to do, drive into the trees?" Allyn grumbled, and spat, and with a stubbornness born of years waiting for crops to grow and for the turning of the seasons, he drew his cart to a halt.

"Leave this to me." Gawain said softly, but the quiet command left the family in no doubt that friend Traveller was not one whose orders were to be questioned, for all his youth.

"Make way! Make…"

"You make way.” Gawain called back, and the approaching party came to an abrupt halt some thirty paces from the cart, the shaven-headed pole-carrier a mere ten from Gwyn's flaring nostrils.

"Make way for the emissary of Ramoth.” A mounted guard said, clearly amazed that anyone would challenge their right of way.

"There's room for both of us on this road. The wagon is in the ruts. If you wish to pass peacefully, then do so. But do so quietly. Your constant shouting is irritating my horse. And me."

The guard advanced his horse, and eyed Gawain. "Who refuses to make way for Ramoth?" he growled.

"I.” Gawain replied, smiling. Gwyn snorted, and nodded her head. "And my horse.” Gawain added, the smile broadening into a grin.

A hand appeared through the curtains on the sedan chair, and seemed to motion forwards impatiently.

"It looks to me," Gawain nodded towards the gesticulation, "That your employer is anxious to move on. Pass in peace, Serre, or you pass away."

The guard's eyes narrowed, and his horse fidgeted. "Move on," he said after another hesitant look into Gawain's eyes.

And so they passed, in silence, on the other side of the track, the mounted guards eyeing Gawain suspiciously until they had gone by, and even then they cast the occasional glance over their shoulders until they were out of sight.

Allyn let out a huge sigh. "Remind me, wife, when we reach Jarn, to buy friend Traveller a mug of the finest ale money can buy in all Callodon."

Gawain grinned. "There was no danger, Allyn. For all their bluster, they are empty casks that make most sound."

"Nevertheless my friend, there are few enough these days that will stand up to them. Vermin, I say. And you stop elbowing me, woman, I am a free man like friend Traveller here, and entitled to my opinion!"

They set off again, and Gawain felt himself rather enjoying his new role of protector to such honest folk, and the admiring glances he earned from one of them in particular.

"You still haven't told me who they are." Gawain remarked.

"They're a bane. A curse that's sweeping the land. That one? In the chair?"

"The emissary?"

"Aye. So they call themselves. Emissaries!” Allyn spat towards the trees. "There's one in every big town and some of the smaller ones too. That one just gone will be on his way south, perhaps even as far as Raheen. Or to Raheen itself, may the gods protect them."

On hearing the name of his homeland, and Allyn's earnest plea on behalf of his countrymen, he felt his hackles rise.

"But who are they? Dwarfspit, Allyn, tell me before I go mad!"

"They claim to do the will of an ancient god named Ramoth," Lyssa explained as the cart rumbled on. Her soft voice carried a lilting charm, which seemed to command an audience. Even Gwyn appeared to take care lest her clopping footfalls interrupt the girl as she spoke. "Who, they say, was powerful and feared even in the time of the giants.

"When giants ruled the world, and dwelt within the mountains we revere as the Dragon's Teeth, the god Ramoth lived in the dark and barren lands bounded in by the mountains. It is said that in those days all the gods lived north of the mountains, and it was a wondrous place.

"The giants were jealous, so the gods made a pact with them, and gave them all the lands south of the Dragon's Teeth to rule, and all the races of men that lived there.

"So the world was at peace. But in time, the gods fought amongst themselves for dominion of their lands. It was a terrible war. Ramoth, so it is said, sought out the giants, and begged them to help him, and in return promised to do their bidding for ever.

"While the giants gathered to consider his offer, the other gods discovered Ramoth's plans, and brought their terrible powers down upon the giants and the Dragon's Teeth.

"For hundreds of years the war raged. In the end, nothing was left. The gods and the giants were destroyed, though some say giants still slumber, healing their wounds, deep beneath the Dragon's Teeth."

"And today?" Gawain prompted.

"Today," Lyssa continued, looking off into the distance, towards the unseen mountains so far beyond the northern horizon, "Today the Ramoths say that the god survived, protected somehow by dark wizard magic. And that he lives still, and that they do his bidding. They say that the time is coming when Ramoth will be released from the Dragon's Teeth, and claim all this land as his own. It is their duty, they say, to prepare us for his coming."

Gawain's eyebrows arched in surprise. "Is that why they keep shouting 'Make way! Make way!'?"

Allyn laughed heartily. "Ah, friend Traveller, you've a rare sense for a jest!"

Lyssa blushed, and Gawain instantly felt guilty. "But why are people so afraid of them? I didn't see much to be frightened of. I doubt that snake on the pole would frighten anyone other than a weakly child."

"They say they do terrible things.” Lyssa looked down at her hands, and fell silent.

"Aye.” Allyn agreed. "There's more and more fools join 'em every day. In every big town, in every kingdom, except perhaps Elvendere and Raheen. And maybe also the empire, but who's to know about that? They build towers, in which the emissary dwells, right at the top, or so they say. Soldiers guard the towers, and huts spring up all around them. What goes in on there is anybody's guess."

"What do you mean?"

"Strange ceremonies, so it's told. Things not fit for decent ears, friend Traveller, you'll catch my meaning."

Gawain didn't, exactly. But given Lyssa and Karin's blushes, he imagined it was a subject not fit for discussion in their presence. He decided not to press the point.

But a few moments later Allyn spoke up again. "I don't know what the attraction is. Everywhere they go, those vermin somehow attract once-decent folk to them. I've heard talk that rich folk's sons and daughters join up with 'em, and give away their riches and themselves, and once taken, can never be persuaded back to family.

"I've heard that poor folk see their honest and decent children suddenly up, and a-hop and a-skip down the lane after these vile creatures, never to be seen again.

"And for why? No-one knows. The Ramoths, they gather at their towers, behind closed doors. In the day, they go about the towns and villages, telling how we must all prepare for the day when their great snake-eyed master bursts forth from the mountains to claim his lands. By night, who knows?"

"And this is permitted?" Gawain was agog.

"Permitted? Who is to stop them? Everywhere they go, they go with their armed escorts. You've seen them for yourself, friend."

"But the king…"

"The king?” It was Allyn's turn to stare wide-eyed with surprise. "What king dare raise arms against them, when they count kings sons and daughters, and noblemen and high-born among their number?"

Gawain fell silent, deep in thought. My father, he thought. My father is one king that would raise arms against them. If that emissary is indeed bound for Raheen, he'd best learn to fly in the weeks it takes to get there. For he'll be tossed off the cliffs into the Sea of Hope in the blink of my father's eye!

2. Jarn

It was about an hour after the passing of the Ramoths on that forest track that events unfolded which would separate the travellers without Allyn making good his promise to buy Gawain a mug of Callodon's finest ale.

The trees were thinning, and they were still discussing the Ramoths.

"I still do not understand why so many people would simply give up everything they have and follow after these Ramoths."

"Well, Traveller, they do. As you'll see when we reach Jarn, and as you'll see wherever your journeys take you."

Gawain shook his head sadly, and foolishly ignored the swishing of Gwyn's tail and her pricked ears. He was simply too engrossed in thought, too unfamiliar with the lowlanders and their ways to imagine such things as Ramoths, or even people that believed in old gods, might actually exist.

"I see nothing at all attractive about them whatsoever." He announced, with conviction.

"I see a lot that's attractive!" a harsh voice called, and men appeared from the trees and bushes each side of the track.

They stepped into the road in front of the cart, and when Gawain glanced over his shoulder he saw two more. Gwyn was snorting derisively, and he knew that his steed was chastising him for not paying attention to her warnings.

"And I takes what I like!" the speaker announced, leering at Lyssa.

Gawain's eyes flicked this way and that, while his right hand rested on his quiver of arrows…

The leader, or at least the one that was doing the most talking, stood in the middle of the road now, flanked by two men on each side. He was the tallest of them, bearded as they all were, and wearing his long unkempt hair tied back with a leather thong. All save one carried broadswords, either with their blades resting casually on shoulders, or points resting idly on the hard and dusty track. All except the one who carried a cocked crossbow.

"What's in the cart?” the leader demanded, and spat in the dirt. "And I don't mean the two beauties."

The crossbowman was the biggest threat, Gawain knew, given the distance between the brigands and the cart.

Gawain's fingers seemed to fiddle idly, and Lyssa couldn't understand what the tall and golden-haired traveller was doing. She saw for the first time a slender thong wrapped around Gawain's wrist, and stared wide-eyed as the young man's fingers deftly wrapped the free end of the cord around a shaft, just in front of the fletching.

"Grain for market. We are lowly farmers, that's all. You'll find nothing of value.” Allyn called, anger and fear edging his voice, though it trembled when he spoke.

"Oh I see plenty of value, humble farmer. I see much that I like! Step down! And you, boy," he called to Gawain, "Down from that beast."

Gawain smiled. The Raheen bowstring was secure around the shaft. It would take but the blink of an eye to withdraw the shaft from its quiver and hurl it with deadly effect. Surely even these dullard lowlander brigands knew of Raheen arrow-throwers and their prowess?

"Are you deaf or simple-minded?" the leader called, slipping the broadsword off his shoulders and waving it threateningly. "I said down from that beast!"

Gawain grinned. From the corner of his eye he could see Allyn, Karin, and Lyssa clambering down from the cart, on the far side. The great workhorse and the cart now stood between the family and the crossbowman…

"I'm neither, brigand. I'm simply amazed to find in Callodon not one, but seven simpletons so careless of their lives."

The leader hesitated a fraction of a second, staring up at Gawain from fifteen paces away. Smiles were frozen on unwashed faces, and confused glances were exchanged. Then the leader laughed, a barking sound possessing no mirth.

"Kill him, Edvard. And the farmer. Take the two women back to camp, the young one's mine,” he said, and the crossbowman grinned and began to bring up his weapon.

Gawain's right arm was a blur, moving backwards and forwards too fast for the eye to follow. There was a snapping sound, followed by a whizz, and then a solid thunk!

And then a click and a twang as the crossbow fired harmlessly, the steel bolt whizzing off into the forest. All eyes snapped to Edvard, standing agog, staring down at the yard-long shaft sticking half a yard from his chest as his crossbow fell from his limp fingers.

Eyes flicked back to Gawain, noted the string dangling from his right wrist, and then flicked back at the sound of Edvard's body crumpling into the dust.

What happened next happened with such speed and ferocity that Allyn would struggle to find words to describe it for years to come. Gwyn, like a mighty battle-charger, sprang forward, forelegs flailing and hooves smashing into the men standing to the leader's right. Gawain's sword flashed, and the brigand leader was cleaved practically in two.

Gawain's horse seemed to dance, high-kneed, bringing him easily to striking distance of the two remaining men and trampling carelessly on the fallen remains of their leader. Two strokes of Gawain's blade and they fell where they stood.

Almost instantly, Gwyn leapt around and charged forward towards the two brigands who'd blocked their retreat. One instantly dropped his sword and began running down the road, but the other remained rooted to the spot until Gwyn's hooves smashed him to the ground. A brief thundering of hooves, and Gawain was leaning out of the saddle, his sword flashing in the afternoon sunshine, and the last brigand lay dead in the middle of the track.

Gwyn came to a skittering halt, and turned, her head bobbing and blood-spattered forelegs pawing at the dusty track. She let out a triumphant whinny; her chosen mount and his friends were safe. All was well.

But it wasn't. Gawain sheathed his sword, surveyed the carnage in front of him, and the realisation of what he'd done gripped his insides like an iron fist. This had been no Raheen training session. This had been real combat, and real death.

He shot a glance towards Allyn and his family, standing huddled behind the cart, their eyes wide with shock and terror. But worst of all, the look of unutterable horror that shone from Lyssa's eyes as she stared at Gawain made his heart seem to freeze within him. It was the same expression he'd seen on her face when the brigands stepped out in front of them, their crude and deadly intent obvious for all to see. Now she was regarding Gawain with the same horror.

Gwyn sensed Gawain's confusion and strife, and she took two paces forward, hesitantly. Then stopped when Gawain saw the family hug each other closer.

He sighed, and closed his eyes, the sun warming his face. Seven men had fallen, he knew, at his hands. Seven men, who would no longer see the dawn, or feel the first rays of morning sunshine upon their faces.

Gwyn snorted and whinnied, and Gawain's eyes snapped open. Serves them right, he thought coldly. Were it not for Gawain, then Allyn would be laying in the dust, and Karin and Lyssa would have suffered a fate far worse than death at the hands of those vile and despicable brigands.

He steeled himself, stiffened his back, and remembered who he was. He was Gawain, son of Davyd, King of Raheen, and no common lowlander bandit would draw steel against him and live. His father had said "My son. Remember who you are. Honour is as important as duty. Let no-one offend you twice."

Gawain nodded, and Gwyn strode regally to the cart, completely careless of the bodies in the road.

"Are you hurt, friend Allyn?"

"No Serre…"

"And your family?"

"No Serre."

"Very well. I shall escort you to Jarn. There may be more brigandry in this forest, and I would see you safe to your destination."

Allyn simply nodded, and with a great deal of clumsy hesitation, the family clambered into the cart once more. None of them would meet Gawain's eyes, and the remainder of the journey passed in silence.

When they reached the outskirts of Jarn the road widened, and became cobbled, and busy with people coming and going. Gawain glanced down at the farmers, noting the rigid set of their expressions and the way they started straight ahead, and he sighed.

"Well, friend Allyn, you and yours are safe now in Jarn. I shall bid you farewell, and hope that your journey home is safe and speedy."

Allyn cleared his throat and looked up at the young man. "Thank you, friend Traveller. Speed your journey, too."

Gawain nodded his head respectfully at the two ladies, but neither would look at him. So he brought Gwyn to a halt on the busy cobbled street, and watched the cart and the girl with the flame-red hair until they were lost in the throng.

Lowlanders. Strange people, Gawain thought. His brother Kevyn had said so often enough when he'd returned from his Banishment.

"They call you 'friend' all the time," Kevyn had said, "Even though you've only just met. At first, I thought it was because they were friendly people! Then I realised that it was more of a prayer than anything else. Like, if they say it enough, you won't turn out to be an enemy. Strange people."

Strange indeed, Gawain acknowledged silently. For one thing, how could there be brigandry in Callodon? There had been no war betwixt the kingdoms since before Gawain was born. It was true that the Gorian Empire to the west was continuously testing the strength of its borders, but not even the empire would seriously risk conflict with the combined might of the seven kingdoms.

There were no brigands in Raheen. And so there shouldn't be any anywhere else, except perhaps in the empire. Everyone knew that the Emperor was a cruel tyrant, and taxed his people into early graves. Brigandry was understandable in the empire. But not in the lowlands, surely?

Gwyn ambled along the cobbled street, used to going her own way while her mount was lost in thought, but at a fork in the main road she stopped, and waited patiently.

Gawain awoke from his reverie and glanced around at his surroundings. There were people everywhere, it seemed, all going about their business quietly. No rushing, no bustling, no cries from the merchants advertising their wares. Just a muted sense of purpose as the lowlanders went about their way.

Which road to take? The left fork seemed to lead straight to a market square, and that was where most of the traffic was going to and fro. The right led off towards rows of buildings; inns, dwellings, and the more expensive shops.

"Make way!" a distant voice called above the general hubbub, and Gawain turned his head. Approaching the market from the other side of town, visible above the heads of pedestrians and riders and carts and wagons, a small symbol, atop a slender pole.

Gawain's face set, and Gwyn set off down the left fork.

"Make way!" he heard again, and as he entered the market square he noticed that the crowds of shoppers were indeed parting, giving way to a small procession striding towards them. Ramoths.

Gawain brought Gwyn to a halt to the side of a fruit stall, and watched, quietly.

There was no sedan chair in this procession. Just a group of white-robed shaven-headed Ramoths, the pole-bearer at the front. They were flanked, though, by six armed men, openly carrying curved swords which they used to shove animals and people further back from the procession.

In the distance, through the parted crowd, Gawain saw a wooden tower rising high above the trees from a clearing at the northern outskirts of the town…

The Ramoth procession came to a halt in the centre of the square, the pole-bearer planting the slender standard with an audible rap on the cobbles. The robed followers formed a circle around it, facing outwards, and began ringing tiny bells and chanting while the armed guards eyed the crowd with disdain, keeping their swords at the ready.

Gawain stared, eyes full of wonder at the strange spectacle. As people passed by, one or two of the robed followers would step forward, and accost them, speaking quietly and urgently. He couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance, and was just deciding to dismount and move closer when a voice from behind him said:

"Curse them all."

Gawain looked around and down at the man who'd spoken. It was a Callodon guardsman, the king's crest emblazoned in black and gold on his tunic.

"The Ramoths?"

"Aye."

Gawain dismounted, and moved closer to the guardsman. "I am a traveller, and have only seen these Ramoths once before, on the road this morning."

"Then you must have come from afar, traveller, not to have seen this scum more than once."

"A long way, in truth."

"You're lucky. Look at 'em. Tinkling their bells and accosting good folk in the streets with their ravings."

"Does Callodon permit this then?” Gawain asked, his eyes on the Ramoths.

"His majesty despises them, as all good men do. But the wizards at court, pox on their white beards, say that it is wisest not to offend."

"Why?"

The guard shrugged. "Who knows with wizards? I wouldn't give a dwarf's spit for any of 'em, but you know what they're like."

Gawain did. Wizards were practically a law unto themselves, even in Raheen. "Surely there's a reason why they'd advise such a strange course?"

"I'm just a guardsman in the protectorate of Jarn, friend traveller. I'm not privy to decisions of court at Callodon castle. But," the guard sighed and shook his head as more passers-by were interrupted by the Ramoths, "It's said that Morloch himself is involved with this lot."

"Morloch?"

"Aye. The dark wizard himself. I had it from a nobleman merchant some months ago. There was a meeting of the wizard's council, at which his majesty was present. The whitebeards say that Morloch yet lives, and that it is he controls this Ramoth creature these vermin adore so much."

Gawain shook his head sadly. "I heard that this Ramoth is an ancient god from beyond the Dragon's Teeth."

"The lies and rumours abound, and spread like disease. For myself, I believe the world is gone mad. All this talk of gods, and Morloch, and whitebeards advocating 'do nothing' while good people are accosted and assaulted. Look you there!"

Gawain had seen. An old man carrying a basket of cabbages on his back had attempted to pass by the Ramoths, and two of the robed acolytes had taken him by the arms and began talking at him. He was clearly alarmed, and wanted nothing but to be on his way, and began struggling. But he was too weak to break free of their grip, and ceased his struggles altogether when a Ramoth soldier approached and glared at him.

"I care not for this, nor for whitebeards and their advocation to turn a blind eye. I must do my duty by this good man, even if it cost my life.” The guardsman straightened his tunic, loosened his sword in its scabbard, and took a deep breath.

Gawain was touched by the honest officer's honour, and offended by the treatment of the old man he was witnessing. The world may indeed be going mad, but Gawain would never forget his father's instructions.

"I shall be glad to watch over your back, guardsman."

"Thank you, friend traveller! But I warn you, expect no help from these good people if it comes to a fight. Those Ramoths are vicious, and renowned for it."

With that, the guard stepped forward into the square, striding purposefully and with great authority towards the Ramoths and the old man they harried.

The Ramoth guards spotted the uniformed officer instantly, and Gawain saw their lips move, giving a quiet alert to the others.

"And you," Gawain patted Gwyn on the neck, "Watch my back too." and strode off after the guard.

By the time the guard reached the Ramoths, Gawain was a mere five paces behind him and the robed figures had dragged the old man into the midst of the circle of soldiers.

"Release that man," the guard ordered. "In the name of the king!"

A hush fell over the square, and two Ramoth soldiers advanced a pace. Gawain advanced two, making it clear that his arm and his weapons were ready to support the Callodon officer. His movement, and his smile, earned a curious stare from the Ramoths.

"There is no king but Ramoth, friend.” A shaven-headed woman announced, "You should make way for him in your heart."

"Release that man," the guard said again, louder, himself taking a pace forward, "Or make way for my blade in yours. This is Callodon. I serve Callodon's King, and in his name I say no-one shall treat the king's loyal subjects so villainously. Let him go."

"We do not fear death, friend. We mean no harm here, we are spreading the word and the will of Ramoth." the woman replied, smiling, bells on her bracelets tinkling as she waved a slender hand to encompass everyone in the square.

"Release him."

"Be at peace, brother, let Ramoth speak to you."

The guard drew his sword, and Gawain's hand shifted to rest on the grip of his own. He was pleased to see that the point of the officer's weapon trembled not once, but hovered, poised threateningly, as steady as a rock.

The four other Ramoth soldiers eased forward through the robed acolytes, forming a protective line between them and the guard.

"Release that man now or by this sword I swear I shall free him myself."

A deathly hush fell across the square, broken only by sounds of animals and livestock. There was a rustling, and Gawain knew instinctively that the crowds were easing further away from the conflict brewing in the middle of the market.

Gawain studied the soldiers before him, and noted the resolve in their expressions and the tightness of their grip on their weapons. They would not easily back down. Everything seemed to hinge on the bald woman with the jangling bracelets and bells.

She smiled, a sickly smile that did not reach her blank and lifeless eyes, and was about to speak when Gawain took yet another pace forward.

His movement worked. All eyes swung in his direction, including the empty gaze of the Ramoth woman.

"I'd do as he says, were I you.” Gawain said quietly. "I know him of old. He is relentless."

"We must all face the world and endure, brother." The woman announced, "It is the will of Ramoth."

"Indeed? I would have thought that Ramoth would prefer his followers alive to spread his word, rather than spreading their blood all over the cobbles.” Gawain sighed dramatically. Then he drew his sword. "But have it your own way."

The six Ramoth guards took an involuntary step backwards, and raised their blades as Gawain advanced to stand side-by-side with the Callodon guardsman. Then they looked to the woman, waiting for her response.

Moments ticked by as hearts beat rapidly and steel faced steel.

"Beware you Ramoths!" a familiar voice shouted from the crowd. It was Allyn, the farmer, unseen among the throng. "That warrior slew seven single-handed but a few hours ago!"

The Ramoth soldiers stared at Gawain's blade, and at the tall young man standing so casually before them. But Allyn's words galvanised the old man in the centre of the Ramoth circle.

"Let me go!" the old man pleaded, struggling anew against the two followers who still held his feeble arms in a tight grip.

The woman turned and regarded him for a few moments. "There is no room in this one's heart for our Master," she sighed, "He is unworthy and cannot make way. Release him, and chant for him against the day when Ramoth comes."

The two robed figures immediately released their grip, and as the old man scurried away into the crowd as fast as his ancient legs and his heavy basket would allow, the Ramoths began humming, and jangling their bells, eyes closed.

The officer took a pace backwards, and sheathed his sword, keeping his eyes on the soldiers all the while. Gawain sheathed his own blade, and together the two men withdrew, back to the fruit-stall where Gwyn swished her tail and twitched her ears, blue eyes ever watchful.

"Thank you, friend traveller." The guard sighed. "That was a perilous moment."

"It was. But honour and duty are sometimes hard taskmasters."

"Indeed.” The guard studied Gawain with a professional eye as the Ramoths began marching away towards their tower, still chanting and ringing their bells.

He saw the bloodstains on Gawain's tunic, and the blood spatters on Gwyn's forelegs and chest.

"Tell me, friend traveller, and friend indeed you be by your honourable actions. The voice calling from the crowd, did the unknown man speak truth?"

"He did.” Gawain acknowledged.

"Then duty binds me again. I must ask you, who were these men you killed, and why were they slain?"

"I know not who they were. Brigands, by speech and deed. They meant to slay an honest family in my company. I prevailed."

"Brigands, you say? Describe them."

"I heard one name. Edvard. The leader was a tall man, bearded, with long grey hair tied back with a leathern thong."

"Stanyck, by the sounds of it, and his band of cut-throats. As much a bane in these parts as are the Ramoth. Where did this take place?"

"In the forest, less than an hour's ride on a horse with good wind."

"I have such a horse. In the name of the king, friend traveller, I command you to remain in Jarn until my return from the scene."

"Am I then in custody?” Gawain asked, arms folded.

"No. There is an inn of good repute, you may remain there in comfort if I have your promise that you shall remain there, and your arm on it."

"Then here's my promise and my arm.” Gawain clasped the guardsman's forearm, and he his, and allowed himself and Gwyn to be led to the inn, describing in detail the attack earlier in the day.

The officer left them at the inn and went off to his duty, and Gawain set about his. Gwyn needed a good washing and rub-down, and he needed time to reflect on all that had transpired in so short a time since his Banishment.

When Kevyn had returned after his year and a day in the downlands, his stories of adventure and fighting and the strange ways of lowlanders had seemed almost too impossible to believe. Kevyn had travelled north, almost as far as the Dragon's Teeth, and had even ventured west, to the border with the Gorian empire. That was four years ago. But in none of his stories had he made mention of Ramoths, or old gods.

There were brigands, and ruffians, and bandits who would attack and rob a defenceless victim on some lonely road or backstreet. The downland kingdoms simply did not enjoy the tranquillity and order that Raheen and its subjects took for granted. According to Kevyn, he'd been attacked on numerous occasions, and obliged to kill the foolish ruffians that so offended him and his honour.

Now Gawain knew what it was to kill. It was not pleasant, far from it. As he wiped and brushed the gore from Gwyn's forelegs, it is true that he felt a certain pride; pride in his horse, in his training, and skill, and how it had come to the fore in such critical circumstances. Proud too, that a family of lowland farmers would see the sunrise another day thanks to him.

But there was sorrow too, and disgust which threatened tears when he remembered the look of horror Lyssa had bestowed on him. In his mind's eye, it had seemed to Gawain that the young girl, she could be no more than a year younger than he, might have preferred to have died at the hands of those brigands rather than witness such efficient and ruthless slaying from a young man to whom she'd just served with her father's ale…

What would his father say? He would probably place a hand on Gawain's shoulder, and nod sternly, and remind his son of duty, and honour, and the ancient law that no man should be suffered to draw steel against a crown of Raheen.

His mother, though, would understand her son's turmoil. There would be no preaching, no platitudes. Just an understanding look that would say "It is right that you live, and wrong that others should strive to see that you don't. Be a friend to all, except to those who would be enemies, and if they should choose to be the latter, be utterly ruthless that you may return home, to those who love you."

There were those, Gawain knew, who had in the past regarded Raheen with envious eyes, and there were those who yet did so. In the past, when dark wizardry inspired evil acts, there were even those who, like Stanyck the brigand, "liked what they saw" and tried to "take what they like". The Fallen had sacrificed all in those dark days to keep Raheen safe, and who was Gawain to give up meekly, and allow some filthy brigand to rob him of his life, and thereby offend the ghosts of those who died so long ago that Raheen might be free, and prosper?

As for the guardsman, and the confrontation with the Ramoth, well.

"Your pardon, Serre," a young voice called from the inn's stable door, "Are you the friend who aided my grandfather this day?"

Gawain turned, and looked at the young man framed in the sunshine at the threshold. "I did nothing, but stand by an honourable guardsman about his duty."

"Then you are the friend who aided my grandfather. My thanks, Serre, from all our family."

"Your thanks are misplaced, Serre, and should rightly go to the king's officer."

"Tallbot? Why? It's his job to protect us."

"Not his job, Serre, but a duty, which he carried out with honour at the risk of his own life. I think you wrong him sorely."

The youth, not much older than Gawain himself, looked down at the straw and shuffled a little, shame-faced. "My apologies, Serre, but you are not of Jarn, and do not know Tallbot as I do."

"Ah. You have grounds to dislike your town's guardsmen I see."

The youth shrugged. "They are guardsmen."

"And you are young, and have felt their hand on your arm I'd wager."

The young man shrugged, and grinned, and nodded.

"Well then. You have paid the wages of your deeds, and they have done their duty, in the king's name. Today that duty spared your grandfather further assault, and it was this Tallbot who would've paid for your kin's liberty with the highest coin any man can give, be he king or commoner. I still say, your thanks are misplaced."

"I still thank you, Serre." the boy turned to go, but paused and added, "But I shall thank Tallbot too, when next I see him."

"Soon, I shouldn't wonder, he'll be returning to this inn to speak with me before long."

The youth nodded, and wandered off into the street.

"You're an ugly creature, Gwyn.” Gawain grinned, adding a final few strokes of the brush on the horse's mane. "Eat some oats, you brute, I doubt you could become any fatter and uglier on them."

And with that the prince left the stable, and went into the inn for food and ale.

It was quiet inside, just a few customers. The lunchtime rush was over, and there were a few hours yet until the market and shops closed for the evening. Gawain took a table in the corner of the large room, and sat down to a meal of roast beef and potatoes. What few patrons there were treated him to some curious glances, but then politely ignored him.

Tallbot the guardsman returned to the inn two hours later, and didn't seem in the slightest surprised to find Gawain sitting quietly waiting for him.

"Well met friend traveller.” Tallbot greeted him.

"Well met. Will you sit?"

"Aye, thank you. My name is Tallbot, friend. And I release you from your bond. You are free to go on your way."

"Thank you, Serre Tallbot. I am called Traveller, for that is what I am, and what I do."

"Then I have known your name all this day, yet known it not. I found the scene as you described, and have it from a fellow guardsman that a farmer by the name of Allyn presented himself at our post this afternoon, and described the events just as you did yourself."

"He was kind to do so."

"He seems a good man. There are fewer and fewer these days. Now Serre, I have but one more duty to perform in this matter, which I fear an honourable young man such as yourself might find distasteful."

"If it is duty, Serre Tallbot, you must proceed."

"There is bounty to be paid, if you would have it. Three gold crowns, for the brigand Stanyck and his outlaw band."

"I have coin of my own, Serre Tallbot, and would not profit from such events."

"As I thought. Yet duty obliged me to tell you."

"There are, I'm sure, worthy causes to which three gold would be put to good use."

"There are. I shall see that they do, Serre Traveller. Evening approaches, and the nearest village is a good many hours ride. Will you stay in Jarn tonight?"

"I think I shall."

"A wise decision I think, since the route north out of town will take you by the Ramoth tower, and after today I do not think it would be well for you to pass that way except in broadest daylight."

"They are strange people. How will it go with you, after today's confrontation?"

Tallbot shrugged. "Word has been sent from the post to the Commander at Callodon castle. I stand by my duty, and whatever comes of it."

"I was thinking more of the Ramoths rather than your king's reaction to the news."

"They know the limits now. If they choose to cross them again, then so be it. The whitebeards may advise the king to do nothing, but the king is his own man and if his peace is threatened, there's not a wizard in the land will stay his hand."

Tallbot stood, and extended his hand, and Gawain rose to take it.

"I'll bid you safe journey, friend Traveller, wherever your road takes you."

"Thank you, friend Tallbot. Honour to you."

"May I offer a word of caution?"

"Of course."

"It is said that the Ramoth emissaries have some dark means of communicating with each other. I know not how, or even if it be truth. If it is, then you may be sure that word of your part in today's confrontation will spread before you. You might do well to avoid the Ramoth, wherever you come across them."

"I go north and east, to the black hills."

"It matters not where you go, friend. This snake-headed curse is everywhere. Good journeys, Serre."

"Honour to you."

3. Wandering

Tallbot, guardsman of Callodon, had been right. Everywhere Gawain travelled, he came across the Ramoth. Smaller villages, and those hamlets that were far from the larger towns and castle towns, escaped the ugly snake-towers the Ramoth erected in the larger places, but few escaped wandering Ramoth disciples who seemed to roam at will throughout the six downland kingdoms.

Gawain neither avoided them nor sought them out for confrontation in his slow but steady journey north and east. He had hoped, when he journeyed out of the kingdom of Callodon and into the land of Juria, that he would find that kingdom free of Ramoths, but it was not so.

Besides, he knew, if the Ramoths were spreading south from the Dragon's Teeth like spilled black wine on a tablecloth, if anything their presence and influence would increase the further north he travelled.

When he reached the broad expanse of the Jurian plains, the sight of so much verdant and unbroken grassland filled his heart with sudden sorrow; homesickness for Raheen. But here, in Juria, it was beef that languished on the rich grasses, not proud Raheen horses.

The plains marked a turning-point on his travels. From here, he could guide Gwyn to the north-west, and thus towards the southern tip of Elvendere's mighty forest, or north-east, towards the high black hills that were home to the dwarves.

For a while he simply sat, feeling a little sorry for himself and his lack of real adventure since Jarn, months ago, and feeling homesick. Nights were drawing in, summer was slowly fading, and he still had eight more months of his Banishment to endure. He stared hard due north, but no matter how he strained his eyes, the Dragon's Teeth were still invisible, far below the horizon.

"Well, Gwyn. What's it to be? Elves or dwarves?"

Unhesitatingly, Gwyn set off, heading to the north-west, towards distant Elvendere. Gawain smiled. Gwyn hadn't made the decision on her own, he knew. He'd never seen an elf, and since Kevyn had (although not in Elvendere), he felt obliged to try. And if elves guarded their land as jealously as Allyn had asserted, perhaps like Raheen it would be a land untouched by Ramoths and their despicable towers.

For a full month Gawain rode slowly and deliberately, occasionally stopping at a hamlet or farmhouse, seeing far more cows than people on the Jurian plains. Only when the boiling green forest began to bubble up on the horizon, marking the southern tip of Elvendere, did people and homes begin to proliferate.

When he came upon what was clearly a well-used track, Gawain followed it, and was surprised to find it led to a fortified town. A great palisade wall, formed from whole trunks of trees, surrounded the town, and even from a distance it was an impressive sight.

But on drawing closer, Gawain's military eye spotted the flaws in the security, noted the lack of guards on the walls and gates, the dilapidated air about the place, and wondered why it had been built in the first place.

They were still a day or two's ride from Elvendere, and though elves might protect their land as vigorously as the Raheen or any other kingdom, they were generally considered a peace-loving and noble people, not given to war and certainly unlikely to attack a Jurian outpost.

When Gawain rode through the wide open gates of the town wall, he still found no obvious answer for the fortifications. The town was much like any other, although the buildings were all of wood and none of stone. There was a market square, inns and shops and dwellings, people going about their business just as they did in any of the downland kingdoms.

He spotted a guard lounging on a bench close to what looked like an official building, and so he dismounted and wandered over to the lacklustre figure.

"Good day, Serre," Gawain called.

The guard looked up, and shrugged, clearly bored. "Good day."

"What town is this? I am a traveller, recently out of Callodon, and know not this place."

The guard snorted. "This is Ferdan. You're in Ferdan, fortress town, barracks to the Royal Jurian Foresters of his majesty's army."

"Royal Jurian Foresters?"

"Aye. Hard to believe isn't it, friend traveller recently out of Callodon? Seeing as how most of Juria is flat open plains. But west lies the border with the Gorian empire, which is marked by forestland. And we, the Royal Jurian Foresters, are charged with keeping that part of the border safe. Our glorious mounted cavalry take care of the rest of the border, where there are no trees. Answer your question?"

"After a fashion, Serre, yes it does. I thought the forest in the distance was Elvendere."

"Bits of it is."

"Bits of it?"

"Follow the track that runs past the gates you just came in. It'll take you to the forest. The road then swings due west, straight towards the empire. All the bits of forest south of the road are Jurian territory. All the bits to the north are Elvendere territory."

"I've heard the elves guard their lands jealously."

The guard slouched, and yawned, and shrugged. "Wouldn't know about that. Never seen one."

"You're a Royal Jurian Forester, and never seen an elf?"

"No, I'm a Royal Jurian Forester who's spent the last two years guarding these offices and answering every simpleton's question that comes through that gate. Anything else I can do for you, traveller recently out of Callodon, or may I return to my duty?"

Gawain stared at the indolent man, thought twice about saying anything further, and simply turned away. In the market, he bought some dried beef and bread, and then headed out through the gates without wasting a moment more in the lacklustre town of Ferdan.

Instead he turned north along the track, and deciding that Gwyn needed to stretch her legs after weeks of slow wandering, he settled into the stirrups and allowed her to gallop away from the apathetic town.

By nightfall, he'd reached the point in the track where it swung sharply west, and still hadn't seen anyone. No sign of Jurian Foresters, no patrols, no travellers. He paused a moment, and as moonlight began bathing the forest in a shimmering silver light, he dismounted and set up camp some three hundred paces from the tree line. Elven bowmen were good, but three hundred paces would test even their famed bows.

Gawain made no fire though. He simply removed the saddle from Gwyn's back, spent the best part of an hour tending her after her hard run, and then settled onto his blankets, cloak drawn around his shoulders, to eat his frugal evening meal.

It would be a chilly night, he knew. The moon was full and bright, the stars sparkling and twinkling, not a cloud in the sky. Autumnal leaves were already blowing in the breezes and it wouldn't be long before winter's breath left its silver traces on the leaves and grasses before morning sunshine melted it away.

Gwyn seemed more alert than usual, though she gave no alarm of imminent danger or approach. Gawain watched her, moonlight sparkling in her blue eyes and shimmering off her blonde mane and tail. Something in the air, perhaps, reminding her of home? There were forests in Raheen too, and many a night spent under the stars like this.

Too many. Gawain remembered how he'd wasted the two weeks after his birthday, camping out in the forests, galloping around during the day, testing his hunting and tracking skills. The guard at Ferdan had irritated him. In Raheen, foresters were proud and noble warriors, intimately in tune with life in the woodlands, able to move through the trees without sound.

They could track anything, hunt any prey, animal or human. If a detachment of Raheen Foresters were assigned to guard this border, all Juria could sleep safe in their beds knowing that no-one, not even a Gorian praetorian, could slip through unseen and unchallenged.

Gawain sighed, and drew a small brown bottle from his pack. One thing the Jurians could do, apart from farm and raise beef, was make brandy. He popped off the cork, and took a small swallow from the bottle, holding the burning liquid in his mouth while he put the stopper back in and packed it away again. Then he swallowed, revelling in the warmth that flooded through him as the brandy, like liquid gold, coursed its way to his stomach.

One swallow would keep the chill of winter at bay for a day. Two would keep you warm for a week. Three, and you wouldn't care what season it was until the next one came around, assuming you actually came around yourself. So he'd been told by a jovial and red-faced merchant in Juria's castletown, weeks ago. Gawain believed him, as he settled down to sleep, sword close at hand.

He woke suddenly, shot a glance at Gwyn, and then looked for the moon. Dawn was still hours away. Gwyn was staring at the Elvendere side of the forest, ears pricked forward and alert, and she bobbed her head once in that direction.

Soundlessly, Gawain rose. After so much practice it took minutes to pack his belongings and saddle the horse, and then he was mounted, an arrow in hand and string tight around the shaft ready for throwing, as Gwyn padded slowly and cautiously towards the tree-line.

Gawain frowned. He knew that if Gwyn had sensed the slightest threat, she would be far more restless, charged with aggressive energy. Instead, she was moving slowly and deliberately, cautiously perhaps, but not stealthily, towards the trees. With every step, Gawain expected to hear the sighing whizz of an elf arrow, but none came.

Ten paces from the tree-line, Gwyn stopped, and stared into the darkness beyond. Gawain listened, cocking his head this way and that, as the horse's ears did likewise.

Then he heard it. A small sound, feeble and sibilant, like a gasp or a sudden intake of breath…

Gawain dismounted, unstrung his arrow and replaced it in its quiver, and with a deft flip of his arm wrapped the string back around his wrist. Then he stepped forward, listening.

Another gasp, coming from the trees a few paces beyond an old oak. Gawain held his hands out at his sides, showing that he carried no weapons. As he stepped to the side of the tree, he caught his breath, and froze.

4. Elvendere

She was laying on the ground, long blonde hair shimmering silver in the moonlight, her slender back to him but her head twisted, staring at him over her shoulder. She was, Gawain thought, the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

But it was apparent that she did not feel the same way about him, and as he stood rooted to the spot, awestruck and filled with wonder, the elf was reaching with outstretched fingers for her bow, which lay on the ground just inches from her grasp.

Gawain stared for a few more moments, and then realised what was happening. The elf was hurt, her right calfskin boot trapped in some sort of hole in the ground, and the gasps that he'd heard were of pain and anguish. Even now, as he couldn't help his eyes admiring the sweep of her leg from her knee to the short green deerskin skirt, she was struggling to reach her weapon.

"Peace, my lady," Gawain said softly, "I mean you no harm."

She stared at him, dark eyes wide with fear and glistening with tears, and then tried once more to regain her weapons.

Gawain stepped forward carefully, testing the ground ahead of him with his booted feet before trusting his weight to the undergrowth. It must be a very clever trap that would catch an elf, he thought, and with all his own forestry skills, he was not so arrogant as to believe that he could pass unharmed where an elf had not.

It didn't take long. Twice the ground gave way to reveal a small pit, at the bottom of which sharpened sticks waited to pierce any unwary foot that fell upon them. And all the while she gasped in pain, trying in vain to arm herself. Gawain moved around her, and knelt by her bow, and the dagger laying beside it he had not seen until now. She was facing him, hand outstretched, and her tear-filled eyes showed the depths of her despair.

"Peace,” Gawain said softly again, and reached down, picking up the dagger by its slender blade, and then he held it out to her, so that the weapon's grip was within her easy reach.

She stared at it, and then back at Gawain. He nodded, and offered it to her again. Her fingers trembled when they touched the handle, and then closed around it, and Gawain released his hold.

She was still staring at him, still holding the knife with its point trembling towards his heart, when he moved her bow so that it lay close to her.

"Peace.” He said again, and carefully moved towards her trapped leg.

The elf sat up, clutching the knife, and Gawain knew he must move carefully. It would be a simple matter for her to thrust the dagger into his heart. Slowly, he moved the undergrowth and fallen leaves, exposing the rim of the pit into which she'd stepped. He glanced up at her, and she met his stare. He couldn't tell whether her eyes were brown, or black, or hazel, the moonlight was deceptive.

He thought she must be about the same age as himself, or a year either side. He didn't know. For all he knew, elves lived to be hundreds of years old and this one could be thrice his age. But he didn't think so. Finally, she glanced down at her leg, and then back into Gawain's eyes.

"This will hurt you, my lady." He said softly, gently, and she nodded.

Gawain reached into the hole. One of the sharpened sticks had pierced the elf's foot, and come clean through the top of her boot. He looked up at her, and again she nodded.

As gently as he could, Gawain supported her foot with one hand, and grasped the bloody stick with the other, trying to lift both at the same time, to spare her pain. If her gasps and sighs were anything to go by, it wasn't working as well as he'd hoped, and she gave a choking cry when finally the trap released her.

Gawain lifted her leg gently, and without thinking reached for the knife in his belt to cut away her blood-drenched boot. The moment his hand touched the hilt though, he saw the flash of moonlight on metal, and her point was inches from his face.

"Peace," he said, as calmly as he could. It was all well and good remembering ancient decrees to "suffer no man to draw steel against a crown of Raheen", but this was certainly no man, and he couldn't blame her for her fear and mistrust.

He did his best to ignore her blade as he slowly drew his own. When he slipped its point into the leg of her boot at her knee, understanding replaced fear, and she sat back.

The boot was soft and cut easily, and in no time at all Gawain was holding the slender elven foot in his hand. Blood oozed from both sides of the wound, and since he was no healer, he thought it best not to attempt to remove the spiteful stake. Instead, he carefully ran his fingers over her ankle and shin, feeling for any sign of broken bones as he'd been taught. Broken bones were something that Raheen horsemen did understand.

It was only when he noticed the goose-flesh on her calf and thigh that Gawain suddenly realised that her blade trembled not through fear, but doubtless through shock and cold.

He cocked his head over his shoulder and hissed "Hai, Gwyn!" prompting another bout of alarm from his patient until the horse padded into view.

Gwyn picked her way through the exposed traps, and Gawain stood and retrieved a pack from her saddle. From it he took the small bottle of Jurian brandy, and offered it to the wounded girl.

"Brandy," he explained, "Jurian brandy. It'll warm you."

She took the bottle with her free hand, and sniffed at the cork as Gawain took a blanket from his saddle-roll, and spread it gently over her legs. She drew it up under her chin gratefully, and finally relinquished her hold on the dagger.

Gawain smiled as she sipped from the bottle and grimaced. Then her glorious eyes seemed to widen in wonder as the brandy took effect.

Gawain bandaged her foot as best he could, and then gazed at her.

"I can't leave you here.” He said softly. "It could be hours before your friends come looking for you. And whoever made these traps could come this way too."

She cocked her head, and blinked.

"Well." Gawain announced, smiling. "I always wanted to meet an elf, and see Elvendere. The least I can do for your not stabbing me is to take you home."

She said nothing, but simply gazed at him. Gwyn snorted, and Gawain surveyed their surroundings. The branches were too low for them to ride.

"I hope you can understand me, my lady,” Gawain smiled, stowing his pack back in the saddle. "Because if you don't, I might not see my home again, nor you yours."

He picked up her bow, and she watched as he hung it on the saddle. Perhaps she had understood, he didn't know for certain. But when he stooped, and gently took her in his arms, and lifted her from the cold forest floor, the dagger she had so desperately sought earlier remained on the ground.

To Gawain, she felt as light as a feather, and he knew as he carried her through the forest, north and away from the Ferdan track, that if she were able to stand, the top of her head would barely reach his shoulder.

She didn't seem to mind being carried, perhaps because the brandy she had sipped was unknown to her and left her feeling warm and safe. But after only a few dozen paces her arm slipped up from under her blanket and wrapped around his neck, and when Gawain looked down, her eyes were closed.

He walked for two hours, Gwyn threading her way through the trees behind him. And when the sun came up, and raucous birdsong filled the air, he turned to face east, his eyes closed, remembering The Fallen for a few moments. When he opened them and started walking again, he glanced down and was sure he saw her eyelids close, and that she'd been watching him.

An hour after dawn Gwyn gave a warning snort, but Gawain carried on walking. He had no doubt that his progress through the trees was now under the watchful eye of unseen elves, but there was nothing he could do about it. Until they emerged from hiding, and until he could hand the girl back into the care of her own people, he was honour-bound to continue.

He never heard them, nor saw them, but like Gwyn, he knew they were there. Not until the trees began to thin, and a clearing became visible ahead, did he see any sign of Elvendere's residents.

But there, ahead in the clearing, a small group of elves, male and female, stood quietly, their hands resting on their longbows, obviously waiting for him. The girl was still asleep, or feigning sleep, when he glanced down at her. No matter. A few more strides, and he was in the clearing, standing face to face with a dozen heavily-armed elves.

"Peace," Gawain said, "Your friend is hurt, and is in need of a healer."

One of the elves handed his bow to a comrade, and stepped forward, and Gawain handed the girl into his care.

"See-eelan!" the man called, and Gawain was amazed when ropes dropped from the branches above and around him, and elves slid down to the ground. They paid no attention to him at all, but hurried to tend the injured elf.

"Well.” Gawain announced. "I am glad your friend is safe. I hope she recovers soon.”

Receiving nothing but curious stares by way of reply, Gawain turned, shrugged at Gwyn, and began to walk away.

"Wait!” a voice called. It was a woman's voice, clear and high and sweet.

Gawain turned, and was surprised to see the elf he had tended sitting up, holding on to the healers attending her.

"My lady?"

"My name is Elayeen."

Gawain smiled. Her eyes were hazel-green in the sunshine, and her hair more silver than gold. "I am called Traveller, my lady Elayeen. Well met, and honour to you."

"Well met, Traveller, and…thank you.” Elayeen smiled, but Gawain thought he detected a hint of sadness about her expression.

With that, the healers lifted her, and carried her away into the trees. Gawain nodded at the others and turned again, only to find his way blocked by more elves.

One of them pointed east, and Gawain decided it might be best to take that direction. He had no desire to offend these strange people who, apart from their fair looks and the slight points to their ears, were no different to any other men and women he'd seen.

Six of them, three men and three women, silently escorted him as he moved through the forest. Within an hour the trees began to thin, and to his surprise Gawain could see open green plains in the distance.

A seventh elf appeared just as he reached the tree line. He was tall for an elf, or so it seemed to Gawain, and had about him an almost regal air. The other elves certainly seemed to defer to him, and to afford him great respect.

"You are called 'Traveller'?" the elf asked in a lilting voice.

"Yes."

"Then well met, Traveller. I thank you for helping my sister."

"I hope she will soon recover."

"I am told that the wound looks worse than it truly is. She was careless."

"The traps were well-made."

"And old. There are many such in the region, set long ago by Jurians to forestall Gorian intruders. Elayeen was careless, and has told me so."

"You have spoken to her?"

"I have. We move quicker through the forest than you humans, though you move well."

"Thank you."

"Elayeen is precious to me. To all my family. We are in your debt."

"No debt is owed. Your sister was the first elf I ever saw, and that is a memory I shall carry with me as long as I live. For that, I am grateful."

"She was the first elfin you have ever seen. In our land, the female is elfin, the male, elf."

"Forgive my ignorance."

"There is nothing to forgive. How could you know? My name is Gan, and I have a gift for you. Should there come a time when you need my help, come to Elvendere. When you are challenged, say this: 'Eem frith am Gan-thal.' You will not be harmed, and I shall come. This I swear."

"I thank you for your gift, friend Gan. But I know how precious your lands are to you. I shall not lightly return to trouble you."

Gan studied Gawain, and then nodded. It was clear to Gawain that the whole business seemed distasteful to the elf, and so with a final slight bow, Gawain called Gwyn forward, and stepped out onto the plains of Juria. When he turned and looked back, the elves were gone.

"Strange people.” Gawain sighed, climbing into the saddle. "Wonder what the dwarves are like?"

5. The Black Hills

Suspicious, farmer Allyn had said. Suspicious indeed if the drawn steel and cocked crossbows were anything to go by as Gawain slowed his horse and approached the camp.

Since leaving Elvendere four weeks ago, he'd travelled north-east across the lush plains of Juria, and was almost at the river which marked the border with the kingdom of Mornland when he'd spotted a campfire glowing in the distance.

Winter was fast approaching, and a bitter northerly wind swept down from the distant Dragon's Teeth and cut through the cloak Gawain drew tightly about him, and if it hadn't been for the tantalising odours of roasting beef wafting from the camp, he'd have passed it by without a second thought. It was not wise to approach a camp in darkness, even in a land as friendly as Juria, and even so close to Mornland, renowned for its gentle people and their gentle ways.

However, a diet of hare and rabbit had become tedious, and although Gwyn was certainly fond of the rich grass that covered the northern plains like a thick green blanket, Gawain's stomach overruled his head, and so he'd taken a bee-line course for the camp and its suggestion of warmth and hospitality…

Only to find himself now confronted by a dozen heavily armed men, all eyeing him with the greatest of suspicion as wood crackled in the flames and meat sputtered on a crude spit.

"Peace, and well met." Gawain called, thirty paces from the line of steel directed at him.

"Who are you, stranger, and what mean you here?" a gruff voice called back through the gloom.

Gawain knew why they were suspicious, and had their positions been reversed, he'd have felt likewise. From his vantage, high upon Gwyn's back and looking into the camp, he could clearly see the men silhouetted against the bright flames of their fire. Clear enough to make them out, and to see that most were of small stature though broadly built, two were females, and three were taller and more slender humans.

From their point of view, though, they could see nothing but darkness stretching to infinity, and hear nothing but Gwyn's footfalls and Gawain's voice. For all they knew, there could be a hundred brigands out there.

"I am Traveller, by name and nature. I am alone, and though armed, I mean you no harm."

"Come closer then, Traveller, until we bid you stop. Have a care, though, there are bolts a-plenty strung and aimed at your heart!"

Gawain smiled to himself. Aimed at his heart? From what he could see, the closest would pass him harmlessly by a good twenty paces. However, hungry and chilled though he was, he had no intention of offending the strangers at their camp, and for all he knew, they could be brigands themselves. It was for that reason an arrow was gripped, tightly strung and ready for throwing, in his right hand, and his sword was loose in its scabbard.

As he drew nearer, he could see that these travellers were no brigands, and could see two other reasons why they were so suspicious. They were carrying large bundles of goods, which were neatly stacked by their horses, and one of the women was evidently with child.

Gwyn walked slowly and cautiously, ears pricked and tail swishing. At the first offensive move from the campers, Gawain knew his horse would charge to the left and flail the tight knot of men with her hooves, leaving him free to use his right arm…

"Stop there, Traveller!" the voice called again, and this time Gawain could see that it came from one of the dwarves, a thick-set and burly man of perhaps twenty years, curly black hair framing his square-jawed face. He was by no means a fearsome-looking man, but the battle-axe clenched casually in his right hand was handled with the same careless ease Gawain displayed with his own weapons.

"Peace, and well met." Gawain responded, again.

"That arrow you hold tells a different story."

"Your axe is also eloquent, friend."

"I am Rak, of Tarn, in the kingdom of Threlland. Which you call the Black Hills."

"Well met then, Rak of Tarn. I am Traveller. I can claim no birthright, nor homeland, but am recently of Callodon, and Juria, and Elvendere. I ride north-east, to your homeland, by way of Mornland's northern way."

"You go to Threlland? Why?"

Gawain smiled, unstrung his arrow and slipped it back into its quiver. "To see dwarves. But you have spared me the journey, friend Rak."

Weapons were lowered, though not abandoned, but Gawain and Gwyn were both relieved to see his smile returned.

"Step down then, Traveller, and take a closer look at what you seek on such a cold winter's night."

Gawain slipped from the saddle and walked the few paces to Rak, and then extended his arm. Rak paused a moment, staring hard up into Gawain's eyes, and then seemingly satisfied, extended his own.

"Well met Traveller. If it's true you're recently of Elvendere, then you're the first human I've met able to make that claim."

"It's true, though I was hardly a guest in their land."

"Few are. They are a suspicious lot, those elves, and keep themselves to themselves."

Gawain grinned in spite of himself. "I've heard much the same thing."

Rak smiled, a brief flicker of humour, before stepping to one side and holding out his hand towards the fire. "Will you warm yourself, and eat with us?"

"Thank you," Gawain sighed, "In truth I would not have disturbed your peace, but for the smell of roasting beef which I could not resist."

More laughter, releasing the pent-up tension, and the whole group moved closer to the fire while one of the women fetched a plate, and cut a hunk from the roasting meat before offering it to Gawain.

"Eat your fill, Traveller, we've already supped and there's more than enough."

"I thank you. As hungry as I've been for such fare, I am but one man, and could not slaughter a steer simply for myself. Such waste would be crime."

"Aye. They may travel light and fast who go alone, but there are advantages in company."

While Gawain ate, Rak introduced his friends. They were merchants, mostly, though Gawain understood that Rak himself was something of an ambassador, or emissary, and therefore had some high standing in both Mornland and Juria. His wife, Merrin, was travelling with him, and it was she who was expecting their first-born.

"For some time we have lived at court in Juria," Rak explained, "But my lady Merrin wishes our child to be born at home in Tarn, and thus we travel in caravan with these noble merchants."

Gawain understood, and remembering his own home, shivered a little in spite of the warmth from the fire.

"Have some Jurian brandy," Rak offered a familiar bottle, "It'll warm you better than any fire."

Gawain accepted with thanks, and revelled in the sudden glow that coursed through his veins by the time he'd handed the bottle back. Then he smiled.

"You've not had it before?" Rak looked surprised.

"Oh yes," Gawain stared into the fire, "I was remembering my encounter with the elves. It was a cold night, though warmer than this…"

And so he told them the story of his meeting with Elayeen, and Gan. They listened attentively and appreciatively, for although the night was pitch black it was still too early for sleep.

When he'd finished, Rak shook his head in wonder. "I've seen elves twice before. Both times at court. Once in Juria, and once in Mornland. Both times we invited them to Threlland, but both times they declined. Now that the cursed Ramoths are wandering the land, I'd be surprised to see any more. Elves want nothing to do with the other races of man and if they know of the Ramoths, then they'll shut themselves in their forest and not venture out for a hundred years."

"The Ramoths have made their way into the Black Hills?" Gawain asked.

"Everywhere, it seems. Sometimes I wish we dwarves could be more elvish in our ways."

"Are there many followers then, in your land?"

"No!" Rak looked horrified. "We may not be as elvish as the elves, but we don't take too kindly to strangers strolling in and building high towers all over the place. A man such as yourself is about the highest we care to look up to, for the sake of our necks."

Some of the other dwarves chuckled, and Gawain smiled. Elayeen would be a good three or four inches taller than Rak, and the top of her head would barely reach his shoulder.

"Our wizards advised his majesty to tolerate their presence," Rak continued, "And not to offend this creature Ramoth and the dark wizard Morloch. But the day these shave-head chanting imbeciles count a crowd of dwarves among their number is the day the Dragon's Teeth fall and Ramoth himself darkens the sun!"

Gawain nodded. "I first saw them in Callodon, heading south towards Raheen."

"They'll get short shrift there, I daresay. The Raheen may be aloof, and look down on us all from their lofty perch, but they're a good people, and their king is not one who'll readily allow Ramoths to taint his lands."

"You know the Raheen?” Gawain asked, trying to contain the sudden beating of his heart at the mention of his homeland from this broad-shouldered yet thoughtful man.

"Aye. My father took me once, and I actually stood in the Great Hall there. I was young then, perhaps four or five. It was after the Pellarn war, before that great western kingdom was swallowed up by the Gorian Empire. I saw Davyd of Raheen, though of course I never spoke with him. I met Brock of Callodon there too, though that was before his father died and he ascended to Callodon's throne."

Gawain desperately tried to remember, but it was hopeless. Rak was a good two or three years older than himself, and so Gawain would likely have been a mere infant when these events occurred.

"I did not know that dwarves had visited so far south."

"Oh yes, we get around here and there. Back then, when Pellarn was overrun by the Gorian praetorians, Raheen and Callodon gave as much aid as they could to keep Pellarn free of the imperial yoke. When the kingdom fell, it was Raheen and Callodon held the border, and stopped the Gorian advance.

"For some time afterwards Davyd of Raheen tried to unite the seven kingdoms, to form an alliance which would support each other, to keep the empire at bay."

"It failed."

"Aye. The elves were content within their great forest, for one thing. They seem to think nothing can get in or out of there without their express permission. Threlland sent my father as ambassador to Raheen to pledge dwarvish support, but we're so far away there was little we could do. Without Juria's consent, and Mornland's too, we could not send military aid across those borders and down into Callodon.

"Eventually the wizards announced that they'd read their great prophecies, consulted the stars, and generally mumbled in their damned white beards and come to the conclusion that the empire would advance no further. So Davyd's attempts at alliance simply waned, and nothing came of it.

"But I did stand in the Great Hall, and I did see him, and young prince Brock of Callodon. It was then that I decided I would follow in my father's footsteps. There is a whole world, and Threlland is but a small part of it. We must none of us become so elvish that we turn our backs on our neighbours."

Nods of agreement from the merchants mimicked Gawain's own, and he found himself drawn to this strange man. A dwarf, yes, powerfully built and doubtless more than able to wield that battle-axe of his to great and deadly effect, but a diplomat too, and surprisingly forthcoming for a member of a race considered by all others to be 'a suspicious lot'.

"I have travelled much of late," Gawain said quietly, "and find that most people, perhaps even the elves, have a great deal in common. But I wish the whitebeards that lurk behind all thrones were not so feared and respected."

"Why so?"

"I fear they made a mistake all those years ago. True, the Gorian empire has not advanced any further east since Pellarn fell. But these Ramoths seem to me to be a greater threat than even the Gorian praetorians, and had King Davyd's alliance succeeded, there might not be so many high towers growing like malevolent Dwarfspit trees all over the land."

"Aye, Traveller, you may be right. They're a poisonous lot for sure, and like the sap of a Dwarfspit tree, one touch is deadly."

Merrin rose quietly, and bade them all goodnight before retiring to a small tent that had been erected for her comfort. Rak watched her go, a soft light in his eyes.

"Will it be soon?” Gawain asked.

"We should reach Tarn in time, weather permitting. Our lands lie on the western foothills of Threlland. Three weeks, if there's no snow, and we'll be home."

"I should still like to see Threlland. Would I be welcome there?"

Rak's eyebrows arched, and then he glanced at his travelling companions. No-one gave any hint of objection. "Aye, if your mind's set on it, why then journey with us, Traveller, and I'll show you the Black Hills."

Gawain smiled. One day, he thought to himself, not so many months from now, he would be home. Seated by the fire, his family around him, and he would tell of Rak of Tarn, and in the telling, perhaps rekindle his father's old dreams of alliance. It hurt a little, to know that lowlanders considered the Raheen to be aloof, but he took comfort from Rak's assertion that they were also considered to be 'good people'.

When the hour drew late, the dwarves and the three Jurian merchants retired to bed, sleeping under simple canvas shelters. Gawain unsaddled Gwyn, drew out his bedroll, and elected to sleep by the hearth of the campfire and its glowing embers. He was keenly aware that several pairs of dwarvish eyes watched him all the while, until at last they were content that he was settled and no threat.

He didn't blame them. For all Gawain knew, the goods in those great bundles could be anything from casks of Jurian brandy to precious gemstones, or even goldweave silkcloth from the east coast principality of Arrun. On his travels, Gawain had heard frightening tales of despicable brigandry, whereby a lone bandit would befriend a caravan of merchants, and then betray them from within…

It was in that darkest hour of night, when death is known to stalk the unwary in their beds, that Gawain snapped awake and heard Gwyn's quiet snuffling snort of alarm. The fire was out, just the faintest glow of dull purple from its ashy heart. He listened, cocking his head this way and that, trying to identify the threat and the direction from which it came.

With a rising sense of disgust, Gawain realised that it was raining, and the sounds were being muffled. Still he listened, and steeled himself. They were being surrounded, on at least four sides judging by the clink of harness and the occasional metallic noises he discerned through the pitter-patter of cold rain.

Gawain hissed through his teeth, hoping to alert his new-found friends. They gave no sign of stirring. He hissed again, and still nothing.

"Hai, Gwyn." he whispered, knowing that the horse would hear and understand. She let out a single snort, loud enough for all to hear in the camp. Gawain doubted that the unseen enemy would regard it with any sense of alarm.

Still no movement from his friends, no sign that they'd heard.

Dwarfspit and Elve's Blood! Gawain thought. Are these dwarves deaf?

He slowly slipped the heavy blanket off, and turned onto his stomach.

"Rak!" he whispered. "Rak!” In the direction of Merrin's tent, and the black shape outside its flap where he knew Rak was sleeping.

Still nothing. Gwyn snorted again, and Gawain knew that the danger was imminent. He felt around on the ground until his fingers touched the smooth surface of a pebble, and he hurriedly prised it from the wet soil. Slowly, trying to make little sound, he tossed it at the slumbering dwarf fifteen paces away. It hit the black shape, and Gawain could've sworn he saw movement.

He hissed again. Nothing.

Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a blade being drawn from a sheath, out in the darkness. There was nothing else to be done now.

"Alarm!" Gawain yelled, jumping to his feet, drawing his sword with his right hand and his knife with his left.

Black shapes were suddenly rushing into the camp from all sides, and Gawain knew that the dwarves must now fend for themselves, as he must fend for himself.

The nearest shape lunged at Gawain with what seemed a familiar curved blade. He dodged it easily, and screaming "The Fallen!" the battle-cry taught him by the old one-eyed soldier so long ago, he cut his attacker down with a single flashing sweep of his own sword.

Another was on him in an instant, but was too close to use his curved blade with any effect. Gawain sank his knife to its hilt in the attacker's stomach, angled upwards, and felt the dying man's hot and rancid last breath explode into his face.

"The Fallen!" he yelled again, pushing the body away and racing to the tent in which Merrin lay.

Screams and the clash of steel rent the night, and Gawain heard the awful but thrilling sound of Gwyn screaming a battle-cry of her own. It was a high-pitched whinny of outrage that her chosen mount was in jeopardy, and it was followed by the sound of a mighty, thudding impact. One of the attackers would never rise again, his chest crushed by a devastating kick from Gwyn's hind legs.

There seemed to be no end of them, these black-clad brigands. They were brutal and savage, but utterly lacking in skill at arms. Their lack was their loss, and Gawain met every attack with the deft skill of years of royal training.

Once he saw Rak from the corner of his eye, the battle-axe gleaming in the faint light of pre-dawn as the leaden sky turned a steely hue.

Cries, screams, and the clash of steel against steel, and then it became strangely silent, the din of furious battle replaced by nothing but heavy, laboured breathing in the night, and then a distant sound of hooves as one, then two riders fled south.

Gawain remained where he was, his back to Merrin's tent, his heavy sword held poised en guarde in his right hand, the knife ready in his left. His breathing was even, slow and deep, all senses alert, eyes peering into the false dawn, scanning for the slightest movement, ears cocked for the slightest sound.

There was a sudden break in the clouds, like a tear in sackcloth, and silvery-grey light illuminated the campsite. Gawain glanced around hurriedly. Merrin sat in the tent's opening, one hand clutched to her mouth, a dagger in the other as she gazed fearfully up at Gawain and then down at the six bodies scattered on the ground in front and beside him.

He saw Rak, standing six paces away, battle-axe clenched in both hands, an expression of unspeakable rage on his bloodstained face.

By the horses, bodies lay around the bundles of goods as if they were part of the merchants’ baggage, Gwyn standing over them, pumping her head up and down as though nodding and saying "I warned you, did I not?" at the corpses.

The sky lightened still further, and Gawain counted the standing. Eleven, and Merrin at his feet made twelve. They had survived the assault.

Dawn broke, weak and insipid as ever in winter. There was no sun to warm his face, but Gawain turned east, and closed his eyes anyway. The Fallen… he remembered, standing motionless as the drizzle washed over him and his pulse slowed. His biggest fear during the fighting was that, in the darkness, he might mistake friend for enemy, and slay one of the dwarvish company, or one of the three taller Jurians. He had not, and for that, he was grateful to all The Fallen for guiding his blade, through the teachings of old soldiers like the one-eyed veteran of the Pellarn war.

"Traveller!” It was Rak's voice, anguished.

Gawain turned, and sheathed his weapons.

"Are you hurt?” Merrin asked, her voice trembling and fearful.

"No, my lady. And you?"

"I am unharmed."

"Traveller!” Rak gasped again, and when Gawain looked up he saw that the company was drawing closer, some nursing wounds but all staring around the ground at the campfire and near Merrin's tent.

"Rak, are you injured?" Gawain asked, wide-eyed.

But the blood was washing from Rak's face in the drizzle, and was clearly not his own.

"Eight.” said Karl, one of the dwarves. "Elve's Blood and Dwarfspit. I count eight."

Gawain followed their eyes, and noted the bodies strewn from the campfire where he had been sleeping, and to Merrin's tent. Eight there were. He could not remember having killed so many, it was all a desperate blur.

"Our lives are yours, Traveller.” Rak choked, moving to slip an arm around Merrin's shoulders as she rose from the tent. "This is a debt we can never repay."

"There is no debt.” Gawain announced softly, again seeing horror in the eyes of women, and this time in the eyes of men as they surveyed the carnage Gawain had inflicted on their attackers. "For I fear I may have brought this attack upon you."

"You? How so?"

"I have seen weapons such as these before." Gawain sighed, kicking one of the curved swords. "They are carried by Ramoth guardsmen, and I may have offended them in Callodon some months past."

"Then you have not brought this upon us. The Ramoths travel south, not north." Rak announced firmly.

"If these are their guardsmen, it was our goods they wanted, friend Traveller, not you, and we carry a rich cargo."

"True.” Rak confirmed. "And how could they know you were with us? More likely they are simple brigands."

"With such weapons?" Gawain asked softly.

"Ramoth guardsmen are little more than mercenaries. It takes money to hire the likes of them, not the empty promises of ancient gods. This is still Juria, Traveller, wide open plainsland. No place for brigands to hide in ambush. Most likely they saw our fire last night, and made their plans against us in the darkness."

"Aye, saw our fire as you did, Traveller." Karl insisted.

"Our lives are yours, Traveller." Rak insisted. "If not for you, it would be us laying cold on this wet grass."

"Your lives are your own, my friends," Gawain announced, looking at them all. "And I am glad for your company."

"My lord," Merrin shuddered, turning to her husband, "Let us leave this place?"

"Aye. Threlland lies yonder, and I yearn for home."

Gawain walked slowly towards the ashes of the campfire to collect his bedroll and cloak.

"Traveller," Rak called. "Last night you said you could make no claim for birthright or homeland. I tell you now, you shall always have a home in Threlland, on the western slopes of that fair kingdom, in Tarn. In truth, this I swear on my beloved wife, and our unborn child."

Gawain turned to face them again, and smiled, and nodded his heartfelt gratitude. Still, he couldn't help the lump in his throat, and the memories of Raheen that Rak's sincere words summoned forth. In six months, when these plains were basking in summer sunshine again, Gawain would be home. He could use his own name again, he could wear the bright red and gold colours of Raheen, and could proudly declare his heritage.

Until then, he was Traveller, and home, and his name, and all things Raheen, were forbidden him.

6. Tarn

They travelled for two weeks, that strange mixture of Jurian, Dwarf, and Raheen, crossing the river at a sluggish ford guarded by cheerful Mornlanders on the one side and somewhat less cheerful Jurians on the other.

It was there that Gawain noted the deference shown to Rak by the guards on both sides of the river, and he began to suspect that Rak's quiet insistence that he was "just a minor emissary" was little more than modesty on the dwarf's part.

On the Mornland side of the river, plains soon gave way to rolling chalk hills, and lush grass became bush and shrub, and then orchards and vineyards. According to Varn, one of the Jurian noblemen merchants travelling with the caravan, Mornland's wines and cider were justifiably envied even by the inhabitants of Arrun, where the sun, they said, shone brighter and warmer than anywhere else in the land.

They were crossing the northernmost reaches of Mornland's domain, and the hills grew steeper as they went, and it grew considerably colder. The trees and shrubs provided some shelter from the wind, more than could ever be had on the plains they'd left behind them, but they also carried with them a greater threat. The entire company were considerably more vigilant than they had been before the attack in Juria, and they were learning to pay more attention to both Gawain and Gwyn whenever the latter pricked her ears or snorted out of turn.

It was clear that they all regarded Gawain with a mixture of profound friendship, and fear. Their evening conversations around their campfire were quiet but good-humoured, and though Gawain knew that his questions must have seemed strange to his new comrades, they never voiced any surprise or concern.

For someone who called himself Traveller, he seemed to know very little about the lowlanders and their customs, and seemed very anxious to learn.

Rak had obviously decided that Gawain was on some sort of quest or adventure, having spent his life in some remote southern or eastern province, and was happy to provide as much information as he could. Besides, Gawain's right arm had spared his wife and unborn child from harm that fateful night, and though the younger man was far too tall ever to be considered a brother, there seemed to be a recognition of a kindred spirit in both men.

"So you believe it's the wine and the cider that explain these Mornlanders being so cheerful all the time?” Gawain frowned, and then noticed the smiles around him as they rode. "Ah. I see."

"Take no offence, Traveller," Rak grinned, "sometimes we fear you are too serious in your thirst for knowledge and would lighten your burden with a little laughter."

"I heard once that dwarves were not noted for their sense of humour." Gawain said sourly, but the gleam in his eye belied his tone.

"I heard it said that giants had no sense of humour at all.” Rak countered, looking up at him.

They laughed, but not for long. Gawain suddenly frowned.

"What is it?" Rak asked quietly.

"Your people live closest to the Dragon's Teeth."

"Aye. You can see them from Tarn. There's a broad stretch of badland that runs down from the Teeth like a river of stone, and washes right up against Threlland's northern slopes here in the east, and Elvendere's northern reaches in the west. Although, the elven forest is thin there and I doubt any of our elvish cousins dwell therein.

"We call the badland area 'farak gorin', which means 'land of nothing' in our language. Little grows there, the ground is spiteful sharp, and runs all the way down to Juria's plains."

"Do you believe in these old myths? Giants, and gods, and Ramoth?"

Rak smiled, and shrugged. Often, in the evenings when they made camp and huddled around the fire for warmth, Traveller had steered the conversation to the Ramoths.

"I do not.” Rak sighed. "But I suppose I can see the attraction for those that do."

Gawain looked horrified. "You can?"

"Of course. What man is ever truly content? Those who toil in the fields or at the looms will envy a king his castle and his luxury. A king will protest the weight of the crown that circles his head, and envy the simplicity of life enjoyed by those that toil in the fields or at the looms.

"You have travelled, and met the three races of man. Have you met any yet, man, dwarf or elf, that would not better his lot?"

"You and Merrin seem perfectly content." Gawain offered.

"We are. But not perfectly. In Juria, we yearn for home. In Tarn, I yearn to serve not only my king and my homeland in Juria, but to bring back Raheen's dream of alliance. The seven kingdoms are become six with the loss of Pellarn to the empire, yet still we talk of seven, refusing to admit the loss. I would have them all back, and standing together side by side."

"That is a worthy ambition."

"It is. But there are few who would agree. Would it not be easier then, for one with ambition to pin his hopes upon a myth? To believe the lies of the Ramoths, and thus pass the responsibility for the dream to some ancient god? To say "Ramoth will make this happen if I make way for him?”

"Madness."

"I agree. But there are those of little strength all too willing to allow some imagined ancient power to fill the void between wanting and having. Willing to believe that a few chants and the jingling of tiny bells will bring them fruits without labour."

"Even among your people? You said the Ramoths would find no followers in Threlland."

"We are a practical people. We have mined ore in these hills for countless centuries. From us comes the steel that has shaped this world of ours. It is difficult to believe in giants and ancient gods when you tunnel in the darkness in these highlands.

"And in truth, Traveller, in all the holes we have dug, we never have found a single giant 'healing his wounds', nor an ancient god snoring against the day of judgement."

"You haven't dug in the Dragon's Teeth though."

"Once we did, so it is told. But no ore was found. Only hard rock and pain."

"And Morloch?"

"Morloch is another creature altogether. That he exists I have no doubt."

Gawain was shocked. "In truth?"

"In truth. We have our whitebeards and their mumbling magic. Is it so beyond your ken to imagine another whitebeard, but one with evil intent?"

Gawain admitted it was not.

"Our perch is as lofty as Raheen itself, here in the Black Hills, and we see what we may see."

"We are in Threlland? Now?” Gawain looked around for some feature which might mark a border. There was none.

"Aye. And Tarn, and home, is on yonder slopes, far off yet, but my heart sings to see them. Look, Traveller, there below the clouds. Those are the western slopes, and there you'll always find a welcome at the mention of my name."

"You said you see what you may see, from those heights."

"I did."

"What do you see?"

"A blackness, sometimes, beyond the Dragon's Teeth. A darkness that seems to draw light into itself. And we have seen these Ramoths, marching south across the farak gorin, in ones and twos. They can only come from one place."

"The Teeth."

"Aye. Or beyond."

Snow fell the next day, and once the snowfall began it seemed unlikely to stop. It was bitterly cold, but Jurian brandy and good humour, and the obvious high spirits of the dwarves, kept the chill from their bones.

Even Merrin seemed to glow with an inner light once they were in sight of their homeland. Gawain smiled too, knowing how he would feel when the time came to guide Gwyn's unerring hooves up the rocky incline of the Downland Pass, and home.

They were met by dwarvish riders two days out of Tarn, and there was something of a celebration in the greetings that were exchanged. The riders stayed in camp with them overnight, and then hurried ahead to bring news to Tarn of Rak's return. It was clear that Rak was something of a celebrity in his home town.

Tarn, when they reached it in almost blizzard conditions, was blazing with lighted torches and great bonfires set to guide their way through the incessant snowfall. Amid the enthusiastic shouted welcomes that greeted them in the snow-blown town square, Merrin went into labour, and she and Rak were rushed off to a large stone-built house vaguely discernible through the strengthening flurries.

Welcoming hands and voices led Gawain and his steed to a nearby stable, and safe inside Gawain set about his duty to his horse. It had been a long time since she'd been properly scrubbed and brushed, and the young man's hosts were slightly perplexed that he seemed to prefer his grooming chores to their company.

Eventually though, his duty done, Gawain allowed himself to be led to the inn and a hot meal in company with the Jurian merchants. He was given a room at the inn, and lodged there for two days and nights before Rak himself appeared, joyfully proclaiming the birth of his first-born son.

The inn erupted, and ale began flowing. Amidst the back-clapping and the shaking of hands and clenching of arms, someone called out "What will you name him, Rak?"

"Aye! The name Rak! What's his name!"

"Is he well? And Merrin?"

Laughing, and accepting a tankard of ale thrust into his hand, Rak shouted "He is well! And my beloved also, though it was a hard birthing. Both are resting."

"The name! The name!" cried others.

Gawain, almost having to stoop under the dwarvishly low ceiling, smiled down at his friend, who was suddenly and proudly staring up at him. A hush fell over the assembled company, and then Rak spoke.

"We have named him Travak, to honour our brother."

All eyes swung up to Gawain, and heads nodded approvingly.

"Travak, in our language," the innkeeper explained, handing Gawain a tankard, "means 'he who journeys'."

"Or he who strives, or quests." Another said quietly.

Gawain felt his heart swell. Nothing in his eighteen years of regal training had prepared him for an honour such as this. He raised his tankard, smiled at Rak, and said:

"Honour to Travak, son of Rak and Merrin, of Tarn, in Threlland."

A mighty cheer went up, echoing the toast, and ale flowed long into the night.

When Gawain awoke next morning, head throbbing painfully, he found himself in a strange but comfortable room quite unlike his at the inn. He dimly recalled Rak inviting him to stay at his house, and the two of them stumbling, laughing, through the snow in the early hours of the morning, noisily attempting to keep as quiet as possible.

When, a few days later, Merrin and Rak proudly presented their son, all wrapped in warm swaddling, Gawain could not hold back the tears which suddenly welled in his eyes. The tiny life cradled gently in its mother's arms reminded him of spring, and home, and family, and he knew he must leave Tarn soon.

"I would give Travak a gift." Gawain said, wiping his eyes.

"You have, Traveller.” Merrin answered gently, "but for you, he would not have seen this world."

"But I would like to. Rak, do you have quill and ink?"

"Yes, of course…" Rak look puzzled, but took Gawain to a small oaken desk, and politely left him there, writing for some moments.

Finally, Gawain sealed the folded parchment closed with wax, and wrote the name "Travak" on the front before handing it to Merrin.

"This is my gift for your son. When he is old enough, and if he has a yearning to live up to the name you gave given him in honour to me, give him this?"

"I shall." Merrin replied, accepting the letter with a puzzled look, but as solemnly as the occasion seemed to dictate. "It shall remain sealed until then, Traveller. Our word on it."

"Thank you."

Winter's fierce grip held the highlands in a choking white strangle-hold for four weeks, and the snow drifted as deep as Gawain was tall. No-one but Gawain seemed concerned at the passing of time, or that the track down to the lowlands was impassable.

But Gawain knew that it had taken seven months to journey this far north, and though he had not ridden hard, he needed to leave soon to make the Downland Pass at the appointed hour, and not a minute later. Seeing Rak and Merrin and the gurgling infant Travak enjoying simple family life left Gawain yearning for Raheen, and he knew he could not stay away for a moment longer than was necessary.

There was so much he wanted to tell his father, let alone his mother and brother. The knowledge that at least one ambassador of Threlland sought to resurrect Davyd's old dream of Alliance might be enough for his father to act again. King Brock of Callodon would certainly rally to the cause, and it might even be possible to gain an audience with Elvendere…though Gawain did not wish to take advantage of Gan's grudging 'gift'.

When, after the sun had shone warmly for three consecutive days, Gawain walked into breakfast looking serious and sad at the same time, Rak suddenly looked up.

"You are leaving." he said simply.

"I must. The worst of the snow is over, and I have a long way to go."

"Where do you journey, my friend?" Rak asked, his voice deep with concern, and Merrin's eyes were wide with anxiety.

"South.” Gawain answered, noting the relief in their faces. "In four months, I must be in Callodon."

Rak sighed, and nodded. "At least the worst of my fears have been allayed."

"Fears?"

"I had thought you might be on a fool's errand. North, to the Teeth."

"No. I saw them yesterday afternoon, from the peak. I saw the farak gorin, where even now the snow melts surprisingly quickly…” Gawain's voice trailed off, and he stared away, out of the window.

"And?” Rak promptly gently.

"And I saw a darkness beyond, as you described. As if something there would draw the very sun from the sky."

Rak nodded. "The whitebeards in Threlland Keep say it is merely an illusion, created by distance and heat, as a candle's flame does."

"The whitebeards say many things. I sometimes think that if only we would stop listening to them, the world would be better place."

7. Homeward

A small crowd gathered in the square the next morning, waiting to see Gawain off. Word of his deeds on the Jurian plains had of course spread throughout the town shortly after his arrival, and so great was the respect in which Rak was held there, Tarn did indeed feel as welcoming as any place could be away from home.

Gwyn was laden with supplies for his journey, and Merrin had seen to this personally. The poor horse, stabled for so long, looked to be sagging in the middle with the weight of food hung on the saddle. But she didn't protest. She knew their next destination as well as her mount, and her tail swished, anxious to be homeward bound.

The goodbyes were dwarvishly short. A clasping of hands or forearms, a clap on the back from Rak, and a polite kiss on the cheek from Merrin while Travak gurgled and grinned toothlessly in her arms.

Gawain's heart was at once heavy, yet light. He was, and would have said if asked, glad to go, but sorry to leave. He paused at the end of the cobbled road leading out of the square, and turned Gwyn for what might be the last look at his friends, and the town of Tarn, in Threlland, which we call the Black Hills. And with a final wave, he turned once more, and rode out onto the track that led down the slopes, towards the lower hills of Mornland, and Juria beyond.

The going was slow at first, heavy snow-drifts still had some melting to do before the earth beneath could be trusted at anything more than a fast walk. But when he reached the river border-crossing between Mornland and Juria, and with the weight of supplies diminishing each day, he let Gwyn set her own pace.

After so long in stables, and remembering the vast open plain, Gwyn broke into a canter, and then with a joyful whinny, began to gallop. Snow flew from her hooves as she thundered southwards, scattering cattle before her.

For a few fleeting moments, Gawain thought about Ferdan, and the southern end of Elvendere to the west, and of Elayeen, but Raheen was in his blood, and Gwyn's, and their track remained unrelenting, due south.

The great Raheen mare would've run all day and all night, homeward bound. On a number of occasions they did just that. But the need for rest demanded sleep and food, and though the snows had melted without trace by the time they were halfway across Juria's flatlands, there was still a long way to go, and it would be madness to lame Gwyn at any time, let alone now.

Gawain avoided other people whenever he could. Time was pressing. Spring was everywhere, it seemed, and had come earlier than expected this year. With the lengthening of the days they both knew that the Banishment was soon to be at an end. Home was waiting, and Gawain had seen all he had wanted to see of the lowlands and its peoples.

In moments of quiet reflection before sleep, he considered his Banishment, and all he had learned. There was a world, Rak had said, and it was true that each kingdom was but a part of it. Most in Raheen had never left that hallowed homeland, had never felt the need. Few from the lowlands visited Raheen, and those that did were mostly merchants who came, traded, and left with profit, and had no time for anything else.

The lowlands were dangerous lands, he knew that for himself, though it had been said often enough in Raheen. Brigands, thieves, and villains were abundant here. But so were good honest folk. Were the dwarves truly "a suspicious lot"? Were the elves worthy of the derogatory term "elvish", used more often than not to mean insular, inward-looking, aloof and isolationist? And could not the same be said for Raheen, graced by good fortune through simple geography?

True, Gawain had recourse to resort to the use of weapons more times in the lowlands than ever in Raheen. Once would have been more times than ever in Raheen. But now he knew why so much emphasis had been placed on combative skills during his upbringing. Everyone from his father down to the humblest Raheen commoner knew that one day each prince of the realm would be Banished for a year and a day, in the downlands, to live amongst lowlanders, alone. Gawain’s mistake had been to imagine the tradition applied only to the first-born.

But there were honourable people here, below Raheen's towering plateau. Men like Tallbot, a simple officer in the protectorate of Jarn, proud to be in the service of Callodon and willing to lay down his life in the defence of Jarn's humblest citizen. Men like Rak, a dwarf in race and, compared to Gawain, in stature, but a towering figure compared to most around him even in Juria's court. Even farmers, like Allyn, who spoke out against the Ramoths for good people, and did his duty by standing up for Gawain with Jarn's protectorate guard.

And all this was now under dark threat. Not from the west, not from the despised Gorian empire, but from the north, and these strange shaven-headed Ramoths, and their tales of ancient gods and dark magic, their jingling bells and their stony-eyed snake symbols.

As Gawain rode steadily south, and the days became longer, he knew he must take up his father's old dream. The seven kingdoms, though six in reality since the loss of Pellarn, must stand united against the Ramoths. The whitebeards, who preached tolerance through some irrational fear of some mythical dark wizard, whose name was used to frighten children into being good, must be ignored. No king must be persuaded to suffer his people to endure the Ramoths' insidious scourge.

Gawain's determination rose with each black tower he passed in his passage south. There were more of them than he remembered as he followed the main merchant's road towards Juria's castletown, and yet more as he crossed the border into Callodon. It seemed that no large town had escaped this slow and insidious infection.

Twice, as Gwyn thundered down the road, he saw Ramoth guardsmen brutalising bystanders. Twice he reined in, and twice he sat astride his steed with weapons drawn until the Ramoths beat a retreat. Nor did he receive any thanks. Instead, the victims scuttled away like terrified animals, rushing for the cover of some dark doorway.

In Callodon it grew steadily worse. Ramoth guardsmen openly patrolled the roads, armed and intimidating. Callodon guardsmen kept their weapons sheathed, and looked the other way. Gawain was stunned.

At Jarn, he found the main square of the once-thriving market town all but empty. The inn was closed, its windows boarded shut. And when, although so close to home, he stopped to ask after Tallbot of Jarn, he received nothing more than a shake of the head from a frightened woman who scurried off down the street, terrified.

It was as though some dread plague had swept through the town, and all were dead or dying. The small building which had served as the Protectorate of Jarn's headquarters was closed. Gawain knew not what to make of it.

On the way out of town though, he caught sight of a gaunt young man, beckoning urgently from a doorway. Gawain dismounted, and cautiously approached.

"You don't remember me, Serre?" the sallow young man asked nervously.

Gawain started, shocked when he realised that this was the same young man who, less than a year ago, had stood framed in the inn's stable doorway, full of youthful vigour.

"I do, Serre. How is your grandfather, and what has come to pass in Jarn?"

The young man, who seemed old beyond his years, caught his breath, and sobbed. "My grandfather is dead, Serre, these six months past."

"My heart grieves for your loss, Serre, in truth." Gawain said softly. "Yet speak, what of Jarn? When last I passed through here, the town was alive and bustling."

"It lives no more Serre! I fear none of us will!"

"Why? Dwarfspit, Serre, where is Tallbot, of the protectorate? I would speak with him."

"Tallbot is dead. Slain."

Gawain's patience with the young man was wearing thin. "Slain? By whom? Speak, Serre! Speak!"

"By the Ramoth! In the square! He stood against them, and they cut him down. The cobbles ran red with his blood…But he killed two of them before he died, and it was in the name of the king he swore when he breathed his last…"

"What of the king? Does he do nothing?"

"What can we do Serre? The king can do nothing, lest Morloch breathe upon us! Oh Serre! For the mercy you showed my grandfather I beg you, go back whence you came! Flee this place! Flee Callodon and speed your journey!"

The youth hurried away, and was gone. Gawain stood transfixed, astounded. The world was mad. Callodon was mad, and worse, its inhabitants raving, if Jarn was any indication.

"You there!" A sneering voice called.

Gawain turned. Three Ramoth guardsmen approached, on foot, their curved swords glinting in the morning sunshine.

"Well met." Gawain answered, a strangely familiar pulse beginning to throb at his temples as he strode towards them purposefully.

The arrogant swaggers and the sneers faltered.

"Who are you, what's your business here?" One of the guards demanded.

"I am friend to Tallbot of Jarn, an honourable officer in the service of Callodon, foully slain by Dwarfspit vermin scum who looked very much like you, and in his name I claim vengeance."

The three guardsmen blanched and braced, but it was too late. Gawain's sword was out of its sheath as the word "vengeance" was out of his mouth, and the three men lay dead upon the cobbles before the echo faded in the square.

Gawain stared down at them, his heart aching for a man he had barely known. "Make way." he said coldly, and then strode back to Gwyn, mounted, and left the sickly town of Jarn in the dust from her hooves.

Tallbot struck down by the Ramoths, and Callodon does nothing? An officer in the king's own service, yet the crown sits idle in the castletown while Jarn bleeds its life out, and dies slowly at the hands of Ramoth mercenaries.

There was only one place to go, the one bastion of sanity in all of the southlands. Home. Raheen. Gawain cast a quick glance at the sun. In three weeks the banishment was over. In three weeks, he'd be camped at the foot of the Downland Pass, waiting for the dawn that would mark the time when he could scream out his name, and fly up the defile to his family's embrace.

Then tell Raheen of this vile Ramoth cult, and of Callodon's plight, and then Raheen cavalry, the finest in the world, would bring sanity and order back to the lowlands side by side with Callodon's colours for the first time since the Pellarn war.

Gwyn sensed Gawain's anger and determination, and thundered down the forest track where so long ago they had slain Stanyck and his brigand band. Thundered past the spot where Gawain had come across Allyn and his family, and their broken wagon.

The track was empty, and if any brigands remained lurking in the forest, they had the good sense not to show themselves. It was baffling. The rutted track was a main thoroughfare to and from the market at Jarn. To see it so barren and lifeless was unnerving.

Gawain eschewed the roadside inns on his journey ever southward. They seemed cold and uninviting, and ill used. Some were completely abandoned. Instead, he made a simple camp at the roadside, Gwyn asleep on her feet and he sleeping fitfully, his sword in hand and resting ready across his lap.

He was in the saddle before dawn, and as landmarks became increasingly familiar, even Gwyn seemed more and more desperate to reach Raheen, and leave this ominous place behind, a distant memory.

So hard did they ride, they reached the cluster of inns at the foot of the Downland Pass in darkness, in the early hours of the morning. Gawain dismounted, and taking care not disturb any travellers who might be slumbering at the inns, he walked across the grass almost to the exact spot he'd greeted his first dawn in lowland Banishment a year ago.

He sat, chewing on a hunk of dried meat, and reached inside his jerkin for the string on which he'd counted the days. Every dawn since his banishment, he added a knot to the slender threads. Twelve threads in all made up the string, and while Gawain chewed, he counted the knots. It wouldn't do to ascend the pass a day or two early, and were it not for the string it would be easy to make such a mistake.

He counted again, to make sure. Then he counted again, peering at the threads in the shimmering moonlight. It was warm, and salt-laden breezes from the Sea of Hope carried with them a familiar scent of home. How often had he stood on the cliff tops outside Narrat, on the southernmost tip of Raheen? Countless.

Dwarfspit, he'd miscounted. He was tired, and so was Gwyn, but this close to home it didn't matter. He counted again.

Five times he counted, and five times he got the same answer. Perhaps some sixth sense had regulated Gwyn's pace on the journey homeward, or perhaps it was mere happenstance. But when this day's dawn broke, the Banishment would be over. He would fly up the Downland Pass the moment the sun’s rays broke over the eastern horizon.

8. Morloch's Breath

No, Gawain thought after a few hours of fitful sleep, not the moment that the sun's rays break over the eastern horizon!

Now!

Already the sky was taking on the steely grey of false dawn. And Gawain knew that Raheen would enjoy the new day's sunshine long before the lowlanders felt the first of the sun's rays upon their faces. Besides, it would take time to scale the Pass, and if he set off now, he would be rising with the sun, and thus would not break the order of his Banishment.

Gwyn sensed his excitement and bobbed her head frantically. She wanted his weight in the saddle and to be off.

"So be it then, Ugly!" Gawain whispered, patting her neck and playfully tugging her ears. "Time to remind all of Raheen how truly bloated and hideous you really are."

And then he added, gently, "Thank you Gwyn, for carrying me this long year and a day. You were the only thing Raheen I had, apart from myself."

Then he swung up into the saddle, and they moved quietly towards the bottom of the pass. No stirring from the inns, and Gawain frowned when he realised he should hear horses from the corrals. But they were empty. He shrugged.

But at the Pass, he paused by the empty guardhouses. There should be a contingent of Raheen border guards and their Callodon counterparts here, challenging him at the trestle barricades…

There were none. With a rising sense of trepidation and a dry mouth, he stared about him as Gwyn weaved through the trestles, and began the ascent. She was sure-footed, even in the gloom, but seemed to pick her way cautiously, almost hesitantly. Gawain urged her on with a quiet word for the first time in his memory.

It must be a joke, he thought. A practical jest, dreamed up by Kevyn…on the day of Gawain's return, we'll all pretend not to notice…We'll all hide and when he gets to the top…

By the time they were two thirds of the way up, the sky to the east was blooming a ruddy orange, as if a distant conflagration was engulfing the Sea of Hope. Gwyn's ears pricked this way and that, as if she were straining to hear some expected call. She probably was, for there would be herds of Raheen horses atop the plateau. Summer was often the season when most steeds chose their mounts.

With every step Gwyn took, it seemed, the sky lightened. Gawain knew he must be patient, and allow the horse to set her own pace. Not for nothing had Raheen remained unconquered in centuries without the use of dark magic. The Pass was barely wide enough for two horses to cross each other safely.

Nearing the crest was a sharp bend, and Gawain paused as the first rays of sunshine blazed over the horizon like an immense broadsword sweeping the land. He turned his face to them, offered a brief remembrance to The Fallen, and then allowed Gwyn to follow the bend in the track and begin the last gentle ascent to the top of the plateau.

Something, Gawain knew, was very wrong. This last slope ran broad and gently, and almost arrow-straight to the top of the plateau. Gwyn stepped out, breaking into a trot briefly, but then slowing again, her own confusion mingling with her rider's. When they had left Raheen a year and a day ago, there had been a large shed at the top of the track wherein, by agreement between Raheen and Callodon, all goods and travellers in and out were recorded and examined by the border guards.

The shed was not there. It had stood there for longer than Gawain could remember, painted bright red and gold on one side and black and gold, Callodon's colours, on the other. Now it was gone.

Gawain's heart beat louder in his chest. A stiff salt breeze whipped in from the Sea of Hope that lay sparking in the distance, and Gawain thought he saw a fine white mist flurrying at the top of the track. Still Gwyn maintained her slow advance, her gaze swinging this way and that.

Then Gawain urged her forward, and in a sudden bursting gallop, they rushed to the top of the Downland Pass, and came to an abrupt halt.

Gawain could not believe his eyes. This was a dream, he thought, some cruel nightmare from which he'd wake at any moment, and find himself still camped at the foot of the plateau…

But it was no dream, and as Gwyn let out a short whinny of confusion and bobbed her head, Gawain took a single choking breath, and eased her forward onto Raheen's hallowed soil.

But there was no soil. There was nothing. For as far as the eye could see, nothing but a fine white ash covering the land like the dust of ages in some derelict building.

There should be a copse of tall silvertrees half a mile dead ahead. There was nothing. Just a relentless expanse of ash. There should be bustling inns and a guardhouse, trading posts and warehouses all around him. Nothing. Ash.

Gwyn advanced slowly again, her head swinging this way and that just as Gawain's did, tiny clouds of white dust enveloping her hooves as she walked. The bustling market town of Downland had gone, completely and utterly, and in its place, a layer of ashes.

Contours in the land were recognisable, but alien. The cobbled road that led from Downland, south-west through villages and farmland all the way to Raheen castletown, was clearly visible as a shallow depression in the stark white blanket before him. Even the ruts in the track, worn by the wagon-wheels of centuries, were plain to see.

But all around…all around, where there should be rolling green and verdant lands, hamlets and villages, travellers and traders, trees and bushes and houses, all around, nothing. But ashes.

Gawain's heart hammered, his eyes fogged with tears, and abject terror clutched his innards like an iron fist. Gwyn let out a long, shrill whinny, and then fell silent, head and ears scanning as if expecting a reply.

"On Gwyn, on!” Gawain cried, and the horse launched into a headlong charge down the cobbled track, a cloud of dust in her wake.

It was a charge born of terror and Gawain hunched forward over Gwyn's neck, wind whipping the tears from his eyes as the horse's mane lashed his face. Onward, practically flying, the world was reduced to nothing but ash and wind and the sound of her hooves smashing on the cobbles like glaciers shattering…

Onward, for an eternity. Gawain saw but did not believe the foul and sluggish river idling below them as they thundered over the Farin Bridge. The water was a rancid white-brown ooze, where once it rushed pure crystal towards the far western falls. It was only perhaps a mile further downstream of this vile discharge that Gwyn had chosen Gawain, the young prince sitting fishing in the sunshine with a nameless old man…

Onward, the terrain unceasingly white, and were it not for the blue sky it would be easy for horse and rider to lose their senses, blinded by the unrelenting sameness of it all. Contours, visible only by the shadows they cast. Not one tree. Not one blade of grass. And total silence, save for the sound of their furious charge towards castletown…

Castletown! The Keep and The Great Hall! Gawain hastily wiped his eyes on his sleeve and stared ahead. Far away, on the horizon, a familiar shape. Tiny, at this distance, but Gawain knew it as he knew his own hand. The Keep, rising tall and proud. The horse, her eyes straining to find something familiar in this awful, empty landscape, saw it too, and incredibly, her pace increased…

Raheen! Was all that Gawain could think. The name, and all it meant. Home. Family. Friends and people. Towns and villages. Forests, lakes, rivers and streams. All the verdant beauty, every tree he'd climbed as a child, every stone, every field, every blade of grass on the hallowed soil that had borne his weight for eighteen years.

Raheen! Everything he was, everything he'd ever known. The face of every man, woman and child he'd ever seen.

Raheen! Gone. Everything. Utterly.

Except for the Keep, looming closer in the distance! The Keep had endured for countless centuries. Surely nothing could harm those mighty walls?

Gwyn was slowing, and some small part of his mind knew why. This thundering charge, this eternal gallop through an unrelenting and devastated landscape had taken hours to bring them this close to home. A year and a day ago, so very long ago, and it had taken hours to reach the Downland Pass before daybreak. She was running her heart out, and was killing herself.

Raheen! Blazed in his mind. Gwyn and himself. In this desert of ash, they were all Raheen, except the Keep, and Castletown…

He tried desperately to crush the terror that held him like a vice, tried to find reason in this nightmare world around him. He had to slow Gwyn.

No sooner had he thought the words, the horse's desperate charge subsided to a gallop, and then reluctantly eased to a canter. They had reached the walls surrounding the outskirts of Castletown…

But there were no walls. Just rubble, hidden under a sheet of vile white ash. They were not built strong like the Keep! Gawain thought. They'd been little more than a gesture, a mere symbol to express a concept, that Castletown would be a bastion, a last refuge against attack. But everyone knew there would be no attack. Raheen was impregnable. One way in, and the same way out.

The Keep was built stronger. But even now, from a distance of perhaps three miles, Gawain could see that it stood not proud and tall and arrow-straight, but seemed to lean at a terrible angle to the horizon.

The world was white and blue, and The Keep was all that stood apart from the two, neither of one nor the other.

Tears welled and streamed unnoticed down Gawain's face as they neared his home. Great rents were visible in the battlements, and the once grey and shimmering stone was blackened and scorched. No flag fluttered gracefully from the top tower. No one-eyed old soldier proudly stood guard there, where so many years ago Gawain had peeped over the walls, waiting for horses.

Nothing. All around, just small bumps and swellings in the white sheet where once the tall stone buildings of Castletown had stood. Far off, far up in the blue, seagulls wheeled and screeched to each other. Down here, down in the whiteness, nothing but The Keep, tilted, ruined, blasted.

The great iron gates lay shattered, visible only as a criss-cross pattern under the ash-sheet. The vast wooden doors were gone. In the courtyard, nothing. The stables, where Gawain had groomed his horse on his last day in Raheen before the Banishment, were gone.

Gwyn's hooves, clopping on the hidden cobbles, seemed to hesitate again. The building she'd come to know as her home simply wasn't there, and let out a low whinny which echoed mournfully from the scorched walls surrounding them.

Gawain patted her neck, and eased her forward, up the steps towards the gaping hole where once vast oaken doors gave admittance to the Great Hall.

It was light inside. Sunshine streamed in through rents in the walls. The Great Hall was cavernous, even when filled with people, which it wasn't now. There were no low tables, no benches. No proud banners, no flags and no rich tapestries. Nothing but ash.

Ahead stood the three thrones of Raheen, marble, scorched and cracked. No velvet cushions to soften their edges. Gwyn stood in the unfamiliar surroundings, and let out another low and heart-breaking whinny, and slowly sank to her knees in the dust, head down, breathing for all the world in great sobbing gasps.

Gawain slipped from the saddle and stood, head bowed, tears streaming, his hand resting lightly on the animal's head.

In this once mighty room, he had last heard his given name spoken. By his father, mother, and brother. Who would speak it now?

No-one. Ever.

Something glinted dully as Gawain knelt beside Gwyn, and for a few moments his heart leapt, believing, hoping, he'd seen movement, something alive. But when he looked up, there was nothing. Until he realised that a slender shadow, somehow familiar, was being cast in the white-strewn floor.

He stood, and approached the thrones, his booted footfalls echoing, a sad parody of his proud gait a year and a day before.

The Sword of Justice, coated in ash, stood before the thrones. Gawain gasped, and marvelled, and wiped away the tears that blurred his vision. Smothered in the ash that clung to everything, he hadn't seen it until now.

He blew on its handle, ash flew, and the familiar pommel glinted in the afternoon summer sunshine streaming in through shattered windows and broken walls.

His hand trembled when he reached out to touch it, to confirm its reality, and he knew that if he grasped thin air instead of the hard leather grip, he would go mad. But the sword was real. It had endured, where all of Raheen had been blasted to ash.

He drew it from its slot in the marble floor, and hefted it. The Sword of Justice. He'd hefted it thus on the day of his Banishment. The last day he'd seen Raheen, before this…this something had annihilated his everything. Apart from himself and Gwyn, this was the only thing Raheen left in the world of white and blue, of dust and sky.

He raised its heavy blade, both hands about the handle, and gave a single, choking cry:

"Raheeeeeeeeeeen!"

And then fell to his knees, and wept, his heart shivering into a thousand cold shards within his chest as total loss enveloped him, chilling him to the very marrow in spite of the warmth of summer noon.

Later, the tears spent, he stood, clutching the longsword. He turned a full circle, as if the ghosts of all Raheen were assembled around him, and if they were, then they would have known despair, for Gawain's expression was terrible to behold.

He raised the sword again, then struck the heavy blade against the ash-covered floor. Dust flew from the sword, revealing its former glory. Then he raised it high above his head, beams of sunlight lancing through the gloom and chasing ghosts around the shattered walls.

"By this blade I swear,” Gawain said coldly, his voice echoing back at him, strangely distorted, "Justice. And vengeance. For my home. For my people. I am Gawain, son of Davyd, King of Raheen."

The sunshine seemed to flicker and fade, and a breeze wafted through the Great Hall. Gwyn leapt to her feet and let out a great screeching whinny. The ground beneath Gawain's feet seemed to shift, and a new light filled the room. All around him, a glowing, emanating from the strange symbols etched in the scorched marble floor, etched into the Circle of Justice.

"The Fallen!” Gawain cried, and the sword seemed to become suddenly lighter in his hands, so light he could hold it aloft with one hand, and wield it with ease.

Again Gwyn whinnied, and pawed at the stone floor, the sound echoing like the applause of ten thousand ghosts as the ground shook, ash billowed, and a terrible resolve gathered up the pieces of Gawain's shattered heart, and bonded them together with a single, cold purpose as relentless as sunset.

9. Ramoth's Eye

Sunset found Gwyn and Gawain at the foot of the Downland Pass. There was no food to be had in Raheen. No water. No grass for Gwyn. There was nothing in Raheen. There was no Raheen. Only ashes.

The inns clustered at the foot of the pass were abandoned, but the wells were full, and both Gawain and Gwyn drank their fill. Food too, in one of the traveller's rests, a testament to the rapidity of their abandonment. Jars of preserves, kegs of ale and skins of wine, mouldy bread and the rotting remains of a wild boar decaying on a spit above a fire long since dead.

It was difficult to tell when the place had been abandoned, for the layers of dust over everything had a ghastly similarity to the ash high above on the plateau.

Gawain did not care when it had happened. Whether a day, a week, or a year ago. He only knew that Raheen, all that he had loved and cherished, all that defined him, shaped him, made him Gawain, was gone.

All he cared about now was his oath, and the cold fire which raged within him. Justice. And vengeance. For Raheen.

While Gwyn grazed, Gawain gathered provisions from the abandoned kitchens, bundled them into sacks, and tied them to his saddle. It was while he was fetching a jar of dried beef that he spotted an ancient Pellarn longsword hanging above the empty fireplace at one of the inns, and he took it down, examining the leather and iron-bound scabbard. The sword itself was rusted and blunt, useless. It was the scabbard that held his interest.

Outside in the fresh air he unstrapped the Raheen Sword of Justice from his saddle, and tried it in the scabbard. It was a loose fit, but not bad, and with a few judicious blows from the pommel of his knife upon the iron rivets, he tightened the scabbard's hold on his new blade, and strapped it around his neck so that the sword's pommel stuck up behind his right shoulder.

He reached up, grasped the hilt, and drew the blade in a single flowing motion. Then sheathed it, and continued practising drawing and sheathing the longsword until he was satisfied.

He didn't know why it felt so light in his hand. Whitebeard magic, probably, from the days when whitebeards did something useful for the land and its people. In truth, he didn't care. It was light, that was all that mattered, not the reason for it. He could wield it as deftly as his old shortsword, which experience had taught him was very deftly and effectively indeed. The extra length and superior steel the longsword afforded simply meant that he could allow a greater distance between himself and any attacker stupid enough to offend him.

Someone had. Someone had offended him greatly. The ash that clung to him and Gwyn was testament of that. And when he found that someone…

But he wouldn't find anyone here. He patted Gwyn, climbed into the saddle, and turned his back on the dead plateau, heading back along the track that only yesterday he had thought not to see again.

Hours later they were riding through a small copse in the shimmering moonlight, when they heard the sound of an axe striking wood. Gwyn turned towards the sound, and a short time later they emerged into a small clearing. A poorly-dressed man was chopping firewood, hastily and badly from the look of it, and so intent was he at his labour he did not hear Gawain's approach until he was within easy striking distance of the longsword.

He suddenly stopped, his back to Gawain, and his shoulders slumped. Then he turned slowly, his axe abandoned. When he saw Gwyn and Gawain, he fell to his knees in abject terror…

"Oh Serre! Serre my lord! Do not slay me I beg you! I am but a poor man, and needed the wood for cooking!"

Gawain frowned, until it dawned on him that his appearance must be truly horrifying. He and Gwyn, still covered in white ash, shimmering in the moonlight in this woodland glade…

"Rise, and gather your wits.” Gawain commanded, "And do so quickly. I'm in no mood to converse with a babbling idiot."

"Serre! Yes Serre!" the woodcutter scurried to his feet, still staring up the tall white rider.

"You live nearby?"

"I do, Serre, humbly, in a hut yonder, with my wife…"

"How long?"

"Serre?"

"How long have you lived here?"

"Many years…"

"Tell me, woodcutter. And tell me true. What has become of Raheen? The truth, or my blade."

The woodcutter sighed and shook his head, staggered back a pace or two, and sat heavily on a log.

"Speak.” Gawain ordered.

"It was Morloch's Breath."

"Morloch's Breath? What is this madness?"

"No madness, Serre, in truth. Many months ago, Ramoth sent an emissary to Raheen. He was sent away, and was much angered. Later, another emissary came. He too was sent away.

"I used to take wood to the inns at the Pass, some hours ride from here, and heard it from there that Raheen had warned the Ramoths not to return, lest they offend the king a third time."

"And?"

"And in midwinter, a third emissary came, in company with a host of guardsmen and chanters. There was fighting at the foot of the pass, and the Ramoths, it was said later, made it to the top.

"But the Raheen do not…did not…take well to offence, and the Ramoths were destroyed. The emissary was cast off the cliffs into the sea…

"In spring, some three months ago it was, a great host of Ramoths assembled on the plain at the foot of the pass. They brought with them representatives of all the lands. I even saw elves in their number, this I swear.

"They began chanting. They said that Ramoth was angered at the vile treatment of his emissaries. They said that even Morloch, the greatest wizard that lives, bows before Ramoth, and that to appease the god, Raheen must be punished."

"Punished…"

"So they said. And they began a great chanting, Serre, the like of which you've never heard! And ringing of bells, and swaying, and chanting…it grew cold, and dark, and suddenly a wind blew up as if from in their very midst.

"There was a flash of light, as sunlight glinting from a shield, high above the throng, high up above us all, from Raheen."

Gawain remained motionless in his saddle, staring down at the man. "And then?"

"And then a wind blew in from the Sea of Hope, and we saw a great cloud we took to be snow billowing from the cliff tops, streaming like windblown snow…

"It is done, the Ramoths said. Morloch's Breath has touched Raheen. Raheen is no more. Behold, they said, the fate of those who do not Make Way…"

Tears welled in the man's eyes, and his shoulders shook at the memory. Still Gawain sat motionless, waiting.

"Men were sent up the Pass. Men from all races. They came back hours later, covered head to foot in ashes, and in tears. Some were driven mad by what they had seen. Raheen is gone, they cried. Gone."

"The Ramoths did this."

The man nodded.

"Thank you."

The man looked up, wracked with emotion and puzzlement, but Gawain had already turned away, heading for the track through the trees.

Ramoths. The nearest tower was outside the small town of Stoon, about two hours fast ride north. Close enough, and it was not yet midnight…

Gwyn set a good pace, glad to feel soil beneath her hooves, to see trees and grass and life about her. Only when they approached the outskirts of the town, and passed the travellers inn that marked the beginning of population, did they slow, and come to a halt.

Gawain checked his weapons, clenched his teeth, and they set off at a quiet walking pace towards the silhouette of the tower rising above the trees to the east. When they emerged from the tree-line, Gawain paused again, eyeing the terrain.

There were two long huts either side of the tower, which rose like a charred black finger, pointing at the moon. A low wooden palisade fence marked a boundary around the Ramoth enclosure, but it was little more than symbolic in military terms. Barrels of oil blazed at intervals around the perimeter, and outside the huts. Two Ramoth guardsmen stood at arms by the entrance.

Two. Futile. Gawain strung an arrow from his quiver, and held another ready in his left hand. Then he allowed Gwyn to set off down the slope and out of the trees, into full view.

The guards spotted Gawain at once, and even from a hundred paces he could see them exchanging curious looks. He must indeed have presented a spectacle, shimmering a brilliant white in the moonlight astride a mighty white horse. The guards may have been mercenaries, but if they'd heard enough talk of ancient gods and dark wizards, then whitebeards only knew what they made of the lone figure ambling towards them.

At fifty paces Gawain threw his first arrow and was stringing the second by the time the first guard fell to his knees. The second shaft was in flight while the guard on his feet was still watching his comrade sink lifeless to the earth. A few moments later, both were dead, and Gawain entered the Ramoth enclosure unchallenged. He left Gwyn outside, keeping watch, while he picked his way silently towards the tower.

There was a low door set in the base of the tower, and Gawain paused, listening, his ear to the wood. After a few moments, he lifted the latch, and swung it open slowly, lest its hinges squeal. They did not, and from the smell of the wood, this structure was quite new. Probably built in the aftermath of Raheen's destruction.

Stairs wound their way upward, spiralling around the centreline of the tower. He didn't bother unsheathing either the shortsword hanging from his left hip, or the longsword from his back. They would be useless on the stairway. Instead, his right hand hovered lightly over the hilt of his knife as he made his way upward.

At the top, the stairs opened out onto a single room which took up the whole of the top of the tower. A great circular bed lay in the middle of the room, surrounded by hanging lace curtains. The air was rich with the smell of sickly incense, and sconces around the walls provided an eerie dull light.

A large black table, topped by black candles and a familiar snake-like symbol stood at the foot of the bed, facing the doorway in which Gawain stood.

There were shapes writhing on the bed, dark silhouettes and shadows dancing on the lace curtains. Gawain drew his longsword, and advanced slowly.

A floorboard groaned under his weight, and he paused, noting the sudden stillness from the bed…a curtain was flung back, and a shaven-headed woman appeared, naked, eyes dull and lifeless, vacant. Another curtain swished open, and a second woman appeared, almost identical to the first. And then a third…

Gawain advanced, oblivious to the disgust which tried vainly to compete with his cold rage. A fourth figure then rose up. A man, dressed in a short white robe, and wearing a strange amulet on a chain around his neck.

All four pushed through the curtains, to stand facing Gawain. Of them all, only the man's eyes held any life, any emotion. The women gazed vacuously, without fear, without any trace of feeling or awareness of danger.

"Who dares disturb the emissary of Ramoth?" the man's lilting voice lisped.

"I do." Gawain glowered.

"Foolish. Make way for Ramoth, and he shall spare you."

"Tell him to make way for me. I shall spare none of you."

"He sees all, and hears all." The emissary replied, and glanced down at his amulet.

Gawain, longsword poised ready to strike, watched, fascinated. The front of the amulet was crusted over like the bark of a tree, but as he watched, a crack appeared in the middle of the amulet, and then opened, the two halves peeling back like eyelids, to reveal a glistening dark eye within.

"He sees all, and hears all. What he sees, my brothers see. What he hears, my brothers hear." the emissary repeated, leering arrogantly.

"Good. They have offended me. Tell them all I'm coming." And with that, Gawain struck, the longsword whistling over the top of the female's heads as it severed the emissary's. Another stroke felled the blood spattered wenches, who died without a sound, seemingly careless of their fate and their master's.

Gawain stepped forward over the headless corpse of the emissary, and gazed down into the black eye-amulet.

"I am coming for you next." He said, his voice flat and utterly unperturbed. And then he thrust the point of his longsword into the eye-amulet, bursting it and impaling the corpse's lifeless heart.

On his way out of the tower, he placed his booted foot against a barrel of blazing oil, and overturned it, the flaming liquid gushing forth into the base of the vile wooden tower. Then he strode to the long huts, and kicked over the oil-barrels blazing outside of them. Within moments, the tower and the huts were ablaze, and Gawain was striding towards the gates, and to Gwyn, whose blue eyes sparkled with the light from the conflagrations behind him.

He mounted, cast a satisfied eye around the blazing camp, and turned, and rode off into the night, heading north. There was another tower, he knew, at Jarn…

10. Longsword

If the eye of Ramoth had indeed seen all and heard all, then it was a poor messenger. Or merely an amulet, blind and deaf, some trick of wizardry intended to impress simpletons.

By the time Gawain had retraced his steps to Jarn he had expected to find a Ramoth army laying in wait outside the town. Instead he found a handful of mounted Ramoth guardsmen ambling along the familiar rutted track.

They barely had time to offer an arrogant "you there!" before Gwyn charged into them, and Gawain's longsword reaped another crop of justice and vengeance on the long road north.

It was evening as Gawain rode away leaving the mercenaries lifeless in his dust, and he had determined to wait until full darkness before destroying the Jarn Tower. Gwyn veered off the track some distance later, and they settled in the trees to eat and rest.

In the weeks since leaving the plateau, Gawain had ridden Gwyn through every river and stream they had come across, and groomed his horse and himself to remove all traces of ash and dust from them. In the silent hours before sleep, he had brooded, and drawn up his simple plans of attack upon the Ramoth. It was not a military campaign of which his tutors would be particularly impressed. He would simply ride in, destroy, and ride out. If he died in the attempt, so be it. All of Raheen was gone. He and Gwyn, and the longsword, were all that was left of his homeland.

The ghosts of his people cried out for justice and vengeance, but also cried out for Gawain, too. He did not wish to keep them waiting too long.

And if word spread of Gawain's advance upon the Ramoth, perhaps other men would take up arms against them too?

While he chewed on stale bread and dried beef, Gawain knew that he could count on no support. The seven kingdoms had been made five. Pellarn had fallen to the Gorian Empire, and Raheen had been wiped from the face of the land in a single moment. Which of the five remaining kingdoms would take a stand with such a terrible fate hanging over them? None.

Gawain was alone. And ever would be.

When it was time to go, he mounted Gwyn, and turned her north-west through the trees. The thirst for vengeance and justice that drove him hadn't completely addled his brains; he would not blindly attack the tower without first sighting its defences.

The Ramoths were fools. An hour or more later, as he gazed motionless from the trees at the tower and the blazing oil-barrels in the Ramoth enclosure, he quietly acknowledged their stupidity. For reasons known only to themselves, the towers were built near copses, woods, or forests. He presumed it was a vanity, building the tower taller than the tallest tree, and in a place where such comparisons could easily be made. Or it might have been simple practicality, for the structures were of wood, and building close to the source spared the transporting of materials.

It didn't matter, and it aided Gawain's surveillance.

There was no army, no fortress. Just more guards than at Stoon. No matter.

He'd remembered the attack on the dwarven caravan so long ago, far away on the Jurian plains. He'd been impressed by how difficult it had been to spot the attackers, thanks to their black attire. It was a cowardly thing, not the act of an honourable foe. But Gawain dismounted, and from the packs on his saddle he pulled the black cloths and garments he'd made.

The large cloth he draped over Gwyn, covering the shining blonde main and tail. The black hood and gloves were for himself, and he drew the coal-black cloak tighter around him.

Quietly, and thus hidden from view on this moonless night, they stole across the open ground to the Ramoth encampment…

Why the Ramoth mercenaries patrolled outside of their palisade wall he neither knew nor cared. Perhaps the interior of the encampment was purely for devotees of the vile cult, or perhaps the guards were simply loath to be near the long huts and the tower, and wished to distance themselves from whatever foul practices were alleged to take place in there.

But it made Gawain's task of gaining entry unannounced that much easier. Only one of the half-dozen patrolling guards actually saw the shadowy figure that killed him, or the shadowy horse behind it, and even he fell silently.

Inside the compound, the Ramoths had made one slight change. When Gawain pressed his ear to the low door, he heard, after a few moments, a slight shuffling of feet. He grinned cruelly, and slipped his shortsword from its sheath, held it above his head, and stepping to the side of the doorway, rapped on it three times.

Sure enough, the door swung quietly open, and a shaven head, stooping low, emerged…only to be parted from its accompanying shoulders a heartbeat later.

Gawain stepped over the body, sheathed his blade, and crept up the spiral stairs…

There were two more robed acolytes at each side of the doorway when Gawain strode into the room, and felled them both. The emissary, a woman, was kneeling in front of the black table at the foot of her bed, and at the sound of her two servants being slain she looked up, surprise wide in her eyes.

Gawain's nostrils recoiled at the sickly odour of incense that smouldered in a bowl on the table, and as the woman stood he strode forward, longsword in hand.

"You!" She gasped.

"I. Who else."

The eye-amulet hanging between her breasts cracked, and began to open. Gawain decided to wait.

"Ramoth sees you." the emissary said.

"Good. I told him I was coming. Perhaps now he'll start to believe me."

And he brought the longsword down, practically cleaving the emissary in two from shoulder to hip.

He left the tower and the long huts blazing in the still night air, pausing at the tree line to watch the conflagration and listen to the screams of its victims. It would shine like a beacon for all the inhabitants of Jarn to see. While they cowered in their homes and hovels, dreading Morloch's Breath, he, Gawain of Raheen, would breathe a fire of his own, and from the funeral pyres of towers and long huts, he would spread the ashes of Ramoths as they had the ashes of Raheen.

With his face set grim, and his stony heart hard against the destruction that lay behind and waited before him, Gawain turned Gwyn east, towards Callodon's castletown, and the largest Ramoth encampment in the kingdom.

Three miles along the road east, and with the sky still glowing in the west, Gwyn snorted. Riders were approaching, and fast. Gawain simply halted in the middle of the road, drew the longsword, and waited.

They were carrying torches when they hove into view some distance off, and Gawain could see flashes of gold in the guttering light they gave off. They were Callodon guardsmen, and they began slowing their gallop a few moments later. Gawain had removed the blackening cloths, and although the night was moonless, there was a grey cast to the low clouds…except behind him, where they flickered a dull reddish orange…

Eight riders, he counted, waiting patiently, sword still in hand, its point almost touching the ground and still as light as a feather.

When they drew up, they held their torches aloft, horses fidgeting nervously, harness and sheathed weapons jangling.

"Is it him?" a voice asked, tremulously.

"I don't know!"

"It must be. Look at the sword."

Still Gawain and Gwyn waited, motionless.

"You there…Serre."

"Yes?" Gawain answered.

"It's said, that is to say, reports have been received…"

"Dwarfspit, Erik, let me. You there, be you the longsworded stranger seen at Stoon, where the tower of Ramoth was burned?"

"I am a longsworded stranger. And I was at Stoon. Just as I was at Jarn, a few hours ago."

"Dwarfspit and Elve's Blood!"

"Take care, guardsmen of Callodon, " Gawain said softly, but all the more menacingly for it, "lest you offend me."

"You slew the emissary of Stoon? And fired the tower?"

"And the emissary of Jarn. And fired the tower."

The eight riders glanced nervously at one another, and then their gaze rested on the one called Erik, who blanched in the pale torchlight.

"Well then, stranger. We have our duty to perform, though we may die for it."

Gawain cocked his head, and flexed his right arm, remembering the words spoken by Tallbot of Jarn, so long ago.

"What is your duty, guardsman?"

There was a pause. Nervous hands crept towards weapons. Horses jigged nervously and Gwyn's tail thrashed.

"We are to take you to Brock of Callodon, our king."

"Am I in custody then?"

Fingers closed around hilts.

"Will you come?" Erik suddenly asked.

"I will suffer no man to draw steel against me. If you bid me come to your king, and if your blades remain sheathed, then I shall sheath mine, and come."

"In truth? Your word on it?"

"My word on it."

"Erik! What good is his word?" someone hissed.

"Have a care, guardsmen. I am easily offended. The Ramoths of Stoon and Jarn offended me recently. You see the results floating in the night breezes."

Ashes were indeed drifting, even this far downwind of the blaze dying in the west.

"Well then, stranger. If you will put up your blade, ours will remain in scabbard. My word on it."

Gawain flipped the longsword over his shoulder, the tip unerringly finding the scabbard.

"Then on. I would meet this Brock, who sits idle while his people suffer.” Gawain eased Gwyn forward, and he allowed himself to be flanked by the guardsmen before they set off at a fast pace, east.

But they did not make straight for the castletown. On crossing a small bridge spanning a fast-flowing river, Erik swung his horse onto the more southerly of two tracks, and it was the northerly that led directly to castle Callodon.

"Where is this Brock, then, if not at the castle town?" Gawain asked.

"Yonder is our headquarters. Word will be sent to his majesty, who will doubtless come to us. It is not safe to talk openly of the Ramoths at Callodon Keep."

Gawain fell silent, and thoughtful, pondering an uncertain future. However, it mattered not. He would have taken this route anyway. This fork in the road had only taken him a few more miles away from the Tower of Callodon. He could easily make up the time.

The headquarters turned out to be little more than a ramshackle group of log cabins, and day was breaking when they reined in and dismounted.

"Wait here, Serre, while I report to my commander."

"Be sure, guardsman, to tell him of our bond. I shall keep to my word, if he honours yours."

Erik looked up into the young man's eyes as the first light of dawn spilled over the land. Then he nodded earnestly, before hurrying off to the larger of the buildings.

Gawain stepped away from the horses, and the group of nervous and inquisitive guardsmen, and turned to the sun, closing his eyes. "Raheen," was his new remembrance. All were The Fallen, now.

Doors banged a few moments later, and Gawain opened his eyes, surveying the countryside with a disinterested eye. He didn't care for it. What did it matter that Callodon had trees, and fields, and the morning chatter of dawn chorus birdsong? Raheen was ashes.

"That is he?" a loud voice almost laughed.

"Yes, Serre."

"Don't look like much to me, Serre," another voice rasped. "And why, Corporal, is that prisoner armed?"

Gawain turned slowly, facing them. To his left, the group of seven guardsmen that had escorted him stood nervously, awaiting orders.

In front of him, a well-presented officer, clearly the commander, with Erik beside him, standing on the stoop of the cabin. But five more guardsmen had emerged onto the grass, and the speaker, a bearded sergeant, scratched his chin, and turned to glare at Erik.

"Well man?"

"He gave his word, Sergeant, as I explained to the commander."

"Oh did he indeed? Orders, Captain? Shall we disarm him?"

"May as well. I doubt the king would be impressed to find a prisoner armed to the teeth thus."

"Serre…!" Erik protested, but already the sergeant and four other guardsmen were advancing on Gawain.

"Have a care, Callodon, let you offend." Gawain announced.

"Oh really, well pardon me your high and mighty, but you are a prisoner of the King's Own Guard and that means you do as we say! Off with those weapons, now."

Gawain remained still, and then sighed as the five advancing men drew steel. He drew his longsword, and flourished it one-handed, casually, as one might swat at a fly with a stick.

"Come then, if you're so anxious to die."

They backed away a pace, aware of the tremendous reach that the weapon gave the tall young man.

"Serre!" Erik urged, "This man has left a trail of death in his wake from Stoon to Jarn! Single-handed!"

The Captain hesitated, and the five guardsmen stared at the dead-eyed golden-haired youth who waited patiently for their advance.

"He will put up his blade if our men do likewise! His word on it! Serre!"

But the thundering of hooves drew everyone's attention to the far end of the dirt road. Everyone's except Gawain's.

Horses whinnied, and came rumbling to a halt. Gawain fixed his cold gaze on the loud-mouthed Sergeant, who, staring wide-eyed away to his left, suddenly bobbed his head and seemed thoroughly confused.

"Is that him?" a deep voice boomed.

"Yes, Sire!" the Captain called, "My men have captured him as ordered."

"Captured him? Doesn't look like it to me! Looks more like he's captured you!" And then the deep voice broke into rumbling laughter.

"You there," the voice said. "Longsword! Put up yer blade, man, and let's talk like civilised people, eh?"

Gawain turned his head, and noted the speaker for the first time.

He was a large man, thick-set, with a powerful barrel chest and heavily-muscled arms. A great black beard billowed from his chin, and there was humour in the flushed face and dark eyes that shone in the morning sun. The cloak he wore was black and gold, the colours of Callodon, and a band of gold circled his head, struggling to contain unruly black hair.

"Come on, longsword, haven't got all day!" he bellowed cheerfully, hands on hips.

"You are Brock, of Callodon." Gawain said, lowering his blade, but keeping it directed at the Sergeant. The gesture did not go unnoticed by the gathering.

"I am. And you, longsword, what are you called?"

Gawain paused a moment before answering. "Some call me Traveller, but Longsword is as good a name as any."

"Suit yourself. Longsword it is then. Will you put up, or kill us all?"

Gawain shrugged, utterly indifferent. But sheathed the blade with a speed and deftness that was so casual as to be breathtaking given the size of the heavy weapon.

"All's well then, Captain, call yer dogs off. And fetch us some breakfast, there's a good man. What are you lot doing standing around?” This last was directed at the seven former escorts that had ridden in with Gawain.

"They were my escort, Callodon. Of all here before your arrival, excepting their corporal there, the most honourable."

"Honourable, eh? How so?"

"They kept their word, and their blades sheathed."

"Is this so, Captain?"

"The corporal did mention something of the sort, Sire."

"And you decided not to honour the word given on your behalf, eh? Speak up man!"

"I…"

"Enough. Go get the breakfast. Corporal, you and yer men patrol the area. You I can trust to ensure we're not spied upon."

"Sire!" Erik beamed, and hurried off to detail the patrol.

"Now then, Longsword of…?"

"Recently of Threlland."

"Threlland? Yer as much a dwarf as I, and more a giant. So be it. Come then Longsword. You've done a busy night's work at Jarn, if my reports are to be believed. Let's sit and break fast."

Gawain paused, noting that as the general soldiery that had escorted the king dispersed, a robed man with neatly clipped white hair stood some paces behind the king. Gawain's eyes narrowed, and he glowered.

"Take no notice of Allazar. He follows me around like a puppy everywhere I go."

"I have no truck with whitebeards.” Gawain said forcefully.

"I have no beard.” Allazar replied. "And I sympathise."

"He's something of a radical, is wizard Allazar. Even the other wizards don't like him much. He's as trustworthy as any man in these troubled times, Longsword, and my word on it."

Gawain studied the wizard for a moment longer. "Then tell him to unfold his arms, and expose his breast."

"Elve's Blood! That's a strange demand for a stranger to make of a king's wizard! Why should I so order?" Brock gasped, surprised.

"Because if he doesn't, I'll cut his arms off myself and expose not only his breast but what lies beneath it."

"Dwarfspit, I'm beginning to think I may have made a mistake in seeking you out! Are you a madman?"

But Allazar simply unfolded his arms, slipped the robes from his shoulders, and stood naked to the waist as Gawain had demanded.

"I stand corrected," Brock mumbled, "Yer both mad."

Gawain nodded, and turned on his heel, walking towards the table were food was hastily being laid out.

When they were seated, Brock, Gawain, and Allazar, the King of Callodon became serious.

"You burned out the Ramoth emissaries in both Jarn and Stoon."

"I did."

"Why?"

"Because nobody else would do it." Gawain announced pointedly, and Brock flinched.

"Nobody else has cut off my head and served it on a dinner plate either. Does that mean you will?"

"You haven't offended me. Yet."

Brock paused, a slice of ham poised by his lips. "And the Ramoth did? Offend you?"

"I had it from a Callodon farmer named Allyn, a year ago. The Ramoths offend all decent people, everywhere. Except, it seems, the whitebeards, and the kings they command."

"You go too far, friend." Allazar chided. "Wizards do not command kings."

"Not in bloody Callodon they don't, that's for certain!" Brock grunted.

"Yet you," Gawain accused, "Stand idly by, and do nothing, while your long-time neighbour and friend and ally, Raheen, is blasted from the land."

Brock's eyes closed, and he swallowed hard. When he opened his eyes again, there was profound sadness in them, and in his voice.

"I would have given my life for Davyd of Raheen. I would have given everything. Everything except Callodon. That is why we are powerless now against them. I cannot risk Morloch's Breath, I will not see Callodon's lands a wasteland."

"You have seen Raheen?"

"No. I could not bear to see it thus. I shall see it ever as I did in my youth, when Raheen and Callodon fought side by side to save Pellarn, when all others abandoned her to the Empire."

Gawain looked off into the distance, south. The plateau was still faintly visible through the morning haze, far on the horizon.

"That is why," Callodon continued, "I can do nothing. I cannot take actions which would bring Morloch's Breath down upon my people."

Gawain ate without appetite, chewing the food as he mulled Brock's words.

"I have said, Sire, and I shall say it yet again," Allazar said quietly, "Morloch sleeps. The energies he expended in destroying Raheen leave him feeble, and all but powerless."

"Yes, well your whitebearded brethren don't agree with you, Allazar, and not for the first time.” Brock rumbled, on the verge of anger. He thumped the table. "Dwarfspit, d'you think I'd stay my hand for a heartbeat where these filthy shave-heads are concerned? Do you think I would allow anything at all that so much as looked like their foul black-eyed snake-symbols in all of Callodon if I could be absolutely sure that no harm would come of it?"

"Why did you want to speak to me?" Gawain asked suddenly.

Brock sighed. "To give you this.” And from inside his cloak, he drew a rolled calfskin, bound with a leather strap. He handed it to Gawain with a trembling hand.

Gawain took it, undid the strap, and unrolled the skin to see a beautifully inlaid map of the kingdoms. Then his eye noted the small black spots, seared into the calfskin, probably with a hot iron.

"What is this?"

"Those marks show the positions of the Ramoths' filthy towers. All of them, between here and the Dragon's Teeth."

"Thank you, Brock of Callodon. This is a fine gift indeed."

"Gift? It's most likely your death-warrant. Never have I seen a youth so bent on bringing about his own demise."

"There'll be at least one less tower in the land before I'm ready to pass." Gawain said firmly. "Watch the sky west of castletown tonight if you need proof."

"I shall. This is a risk I take, Longsword. If you're captured, if they find I have given you this, then Callodon is dust."

"I will not be captured.” Gawain said coldly, and with a certainty that made Brock shiver in the warm summer air. "How accurate is this?"

"It is accurate." Allazar asserted.

"Whitebeards made this?" Gawain sneered.

"No. I did."

Brock nodded. "On my orders. Before Raheen…Before we knew of Morloch's Breath."

Gawain studied the map. So many burned dots. It would take a long, long time…

11. Juria

When Queen Elspeth of Callodon retired to bed that night, she pleaded with her husband to come away from the window and sleep. But Brock refused. For hours he stood at the window, revelling in the cool breezes that tickled his beard. Only when he saw the western sky suddenly flare orange, and then glow a dull red, did he smile, and close the window, and retire to his bed.

Gawain sat in the saddle, studying the map again, in the glow from the burning Ramoth camp a hundred paces away. There were four more between castletown and the border with Juria.

In the distance, he thought he could still hear screaming above the roar of the flames and the crackling of burning logs. He rolled the map, tied it with the strap, and stuffed it under his tunic before turning Gwyn north again.

So many black dots upon the map. It would take a lifetime to destroy them all. And it seemed that the honourable Callodon guardsman Tallbot had been right, so long ago. The Ramoths did have some dark means of communication. Although no army of Ramoth guards swept down upon him, they were becoming more alert.

Four more towers lay in ashes by the time Gawain crested the hills that marked the border between Callodon and Juria, and each had been more testing than the last. Guards had been doubled, and now patrolled within their palisade perimeters as well as without. It did not spare the emissaries from Raheen vengeance, but it did prompt Gawain to reconsider his former and somewhat simplistic tactics.

The problem was, he knew, there was only one Gawain, and dozens of Ramoth towers between Callodon and the Dragon's Teeth. By the time he got to the vile wooden spire in Threlland, these crazed and relentless Ramoths would have rebuilt the towers in the southlands.

Nor could he expect any assistance, nor did he. Since the fall of Pellarn some sixteen years ago, the hastily assembled armies mobilised in each kingdom had dwindled. No need for armies in peacetime, and the whitebeards had assured their kings that the empire would cease its westward thrust once it had Pellarn in its dark clutches.

Of course, the kings had believed them, and of course, it takes coin to maintain an army. Thus, after such a lengthy peace, there simply were no armies. Most of the royal honour-guards each kingdom maintained had never seen combat. Most of the military, if they could be called that, were simple town guardsmen the like of Tallbot, charged with maintaining the King's Peace in their protectorates. Warriors they were not.

Thus the astonishment at Gawain's prowess with sword and arrow. Thus the fear in the Callodon patrol's eyes when they faced him outside Jarn. Thus the apparent ease with which the Ramoth towers fell, and the ease with which Gawain knew they would be rebuilt.

The cold rage which had boiled within him faded as Gwyn strode along the winding track through the woods atop Callodon's border hills. That rage now simmered, glowing darkly like the strangeness he'd seen beyond the Dragon's Teeth from the slopes of Tarn, in Threlland. It drew the light in, that strangeness, as if it would draw the sun from the very skies. Gawain's quest for justice and vengeance simmered likewise, drawing the life from his eyes and his complexion, leaving him hard-faced, stone-hearted, and single-minded.

North then, he'd decided. By way of Juria's castletown. According to the map, there was one tower waiting to be razed between him and Juria's capital. It lay on the outskirts of a small town called Bardin. It shouldn't take long. But the journey to the Dragon's Teeth would take longer, and that, Gawain knew, was the well-spring of the foul flow of robed chanters that plagued the land and called down destruction upon his homeland. Ramoth, and Morloch. Cut off the head, and the snake dies.

"Make way!" came a familiar call from ahead.

Gawain's mouth set in a cruel, thin smile. He'd seen Gwyn's warning signals and had expected simpleton brigands to emerge from the trees ahead as the ground sloped gently downwards towards the Jurian side of the border.

"Make way for Ramoth's Emissary!" he heard again, and Gwyn picked up her pace, rounding a bend in the track at a trot.

Ahead lay the border-post, little more than a collection of cabins. A trading-post, an inn, and several huts for the Callodon and Jurian border-guards, who even now were dragging aside the wooden trestles that blocked the road and marked the official border-crossing.

Gwyn, in response to her master's grim intent, slowed to an amble, continuing down the track even as the Ramoth procession began to wend its way upwards towards them.

The procession was identical to the one Gawain had seen on his first encounter with these despised vermin. A pole-carrier, eight robed acolytes bearing a sedan chair, and six mounted mercenaries. He brought Gwyn to a halt in the middle of the track, and waited, some two hundred paces away.

One of the Jurian border-guards spotted him as they were replacing the trestles in the wake of the Ramoth procession, and Gawain saw an arm raised, finger pointing in his direction. Still the procession advanced.

Replacements, Gawain thought, no doubt hastily assembled and hurrying to Stoon, or Jarn, or more likely the Callodon castletown. Ramoth must be anxious to reinforce his position in the minds of Callodon.

"Make way!" came the call again, this time directed at Gawain, who stood in plain view, simply waiting.

Behind the Ramoths, border-guards of both sides met in a small group, all faces turned up the slope towards Gawain.

"Make way for the emissary of Ramoth!"

Gawain blinked, flexed his shoulders, and checked his feet in the stirrups. Gwyn snorted derisively.

The procession slowed a little, bells jingling.

"Make way there!" the lead mercenary yelled, face flushed with indignation. And spurred his reluctant horse forward.

The main procession was a hundred paces away now, still moving forward. The mercenary was much closer, his skittish stallion jigging almost sideways up the slope to the solitary figure blocking the track.

"You! Out of the way or be a bloody carpet on which my master'll walk!"

Gawain didn't move, and simply transferred his gaze from the sedan chair to the Ramoth guardsman now a mere ten paces away. There was not the slightest hint of recognition in the mercenary's eyes. Only malice, arrogance, and blood-lust.

Gwyn lunged forward as Gawain whipped the longsword from over his shoulder, cutting the mercenary down. Gawain didn't so much as look behind him as the onlookers below gazed dumbstruck while the guard's body slipped from the saddle and the horse bolted off towards Callodon, dragging the corpse behind it.

The Ramoth guardsmen were still fumbling for their weapons when Gwyn smashed into the pole-carrier and crashed into the group of chair-bearing acolytes. Gawain's blade flashed in the sunlight, and screams mingled with the clash of steel.

The two mounted guards either side of the sedan chair were cut down in moments, taken completely unawares by the reach of Gawain's sword. Gwyn kicked and stamped, the longsword rose and fell, and the border-guards below stood agog.

One of the mounted guardsmen in the procession's rearguard must have realised who this madman was that brought such violent and remorseless death into their midst, and jumped from the saddle, discarding his sword. He'd almost made it to the border crossing when he heard the thundering of hooves on the track behind him, and the snorting counterpoint of Gwyn's excited breath.

Twenty paces from the trestles and the watching border-guards, Gawain leaned from the saddle, and the longsword swept down in a massive arc. Blood from the terrible wound the blade inflicted on the fleeing mercenary sprayed the track, almost to the trestles.

Gwyn came to an abrupt halt some five paces from the crossing, showering the border-guards with grit and dust and small pebbles. Gawain gazed down at them, blade held high and dripping blood. It was as though they weren't there, so cold and dismissive was the look they received.

Then the mighty horse and its awful rider had turned, and were charging back up the slope, towards the figure climbing shakily from the overturned sedan…

The emissary of Ramoth, a tall and gangling man with close-cropped hair, gazed at the carnage around him, the eye-amulet hanging from his neck wide open, as if mirroring the stunned expression on the man's face.

Recognition, when he saw Gawain, told the younger man everything he wanted to know. This emissary had come from the north, and yet knew Gawain's face. The dark wizardry in the eye-amulet was real, Tallbot of Jarn had been correct. The emissaries could communicate with one another.

"You!" The emissary sneered. "Ramoth sees you!"

"Tell him to prepare, scum. Tell him he will not wait long for my coming. I have a gift for him, and I am anxious to deliver it."

"He sees all, and hears all!" the man screamed, pointing an accusing finger. But the emissary's voice was shrill with fear and dread, and Gawain smiled.

The acolytes might be mindless, vacant followers, but the emissaries were not so vacuous. They valued their lives, unlike their followers. Terror, Gawain knew instinctively, would make for a valuable ally in this quest.

"Good," he replied, and Gwyn nodded. "Then this conversation is at an end."

The sword swung lazily, destroying both the emissary and the eye-amulet.

Gawain turned again, and Gwyn began walking slowly to the crossing. In the distance, he saw two Jurian riders galloping away across the plains, probably to the castletown itself. But already the Callodon guards were hastily dragging the heavy wooden trestles aside at his approach.

The Jurians, realising what their Callodon counterparts were doing, rushed to open their side of the track. All stood as far to the sides of the track as they could as Gawain ambled slowly past them, sheathing his blade and eyeing them disinterestedly.

A mile further down the track he allowed himself a faint grin. Word of his approach was spreading far ahead of him. In black towers all across the land, Ramoth emissaries would suffer. They would sleep fitfully, all of them, surrounded by their mercenaries. They would know fear. They would know that the mercenaries would make for poor bodyguards. They would take to their lofty towers, and hopefully stay there.

Which meant that the ordinary folk in these lands would be spared the constant cries of "make way" and "open your heart". Spared the jingling of loathsome bells in their market squares.

Yes, Gawain thought, fear and terror do indeed make for good allies in this quest. Not very noble, and certainly not honourable. But a lone warrior must make use of any weapon, any ally, and Gawain was certainly alone.

He reached the outskirts of the Jurian town of Bardin four days after crossing the border. It was here that Gawain decided to try a new tactic, to test the strength of his new allies. It was night when he reached the copse beside which the tower had been constructed. He and Gwyn slept lightly, waiting for the dawn.

After his remembrance, the first rays of sunshine warming his face, he ate a frugal breakfast, checked his weapons, and took to the saddle. When he rode out of the tree-line it was broad daylight, a glorious summer's morning.

The tower lay some three hundred paces from the trees, and he simply sat on his horse, motionless, staring at the tower and the guards at the palisade gate.

They saw him instantly he emerged from the trees, and he could hear their calls of alarm. Within moments, a dozen mercenaries were lined at the gate. Gawain simply sat there, and watched.

He could hear a muted chanting coming from the long huts flanking the tower, and half expected dark wizardry to assail him, but nothing happened. If Ramoth's followers were entreating their god to rid them of the unknown longsword warrior outside their gates, he was deaf to their pleas. If Morloch, the half man half mythical dark wizard were in league with Ramoth, then the whitebeard Allazar must be correct, and his powers all but spent after wreaking such total destruction on Raheen. No blast of fire, no thunderbolts, no dark magic blew Gawain from his saddle.

Nothing but the distant murmuring of futile chanting, and the stares of worried mercenaries to interrupt this otherwise fine morning.

Still Gawain remained motionless, idly watching the shadow he and Gwyn cast on the grass. A bumblebee, laden with pollen and struggling against the weight, droned by towards the trees behind the rider and his steed. Gawain admired its tenacity and strength of purpose. Few humans would labour so strenuously for their queen and their fellows without reward.

A few moments later, the Ramoth mercenaries let loose with bow and crossbow. Their optimism was little more than a sign of their desperation; all the shafts and bolts fell harmlessly a good fifty paces in front of Gawain. He sniffed the air, and Gwyn bobbed her head almost disparagingly.

A skylark twittered cheerfully somewhere above them, a much more pleasing sound on the ear than the twang of bowstrings and the irritating chanting from the long huts.

More arrows and bolts flew his way, and still they fell harmlessly short. Gawain smiled to himself, and Gwyn ambled slowly forward, almost to the line of spent arrows in the lush grass. There they stopped. And waited.

More time passed, and Gawain smiled again as more shafts fell harmlessly short. Then he drew his longsword, slowly and deliberately, allowing the sun to sparkle and glint on the blade.

It was too much for two of the mercenaries, who turned and ran into the compound, only to return moments later on horseback, charging through their former comrades and galloping off to the east, away from the tower, away from the solitary rider who sat so menacingly still, watching and waiting, longsword in hand.

It was enough. No sooner had the two riders become lost on the horizon in the glare of the morning sun than the sound of raised voices drifted to Gawain's ears on the gentle breeze. One of the mercenaries could be seen clutching at the tunics of the others as they bolted for the compound and their horses, until finally he stood alone. The man appeared to consider his prospects a moment longer, then he too hurried for his horse.

When last he saw them, the Ramoth mercenaries were charging towards the sun as fast as their steeds could carry them.

Gawain then eased his own horse forward, grim resolution etched on his features…

12. Allies

Three days north of the Jurian town of Bardin and the shattered remains of its Ramoth tower, Gwyn snorted anxiously. In the distance, a large party of riders were charging towards them at the gallop.

Here in the open plains there was no cover, nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. Gawain eyed the approaching throng and sighed. If they were enemy, it may not go well for him. He might fell a few with his arrows, and slay yet more with the sword, but one man against twenty is slim odds in a cavalry encounter. Not once did he consider fleeing. Instead, he strung an arrow, and waited.

The riders slowed when they neared, and formed a single broad line, light gleaming on their emblazoned tunics and metal helms. Jurian honour-guards, armed with cavalry swords and short lances. Not very good odds at all.

Yet the points of their lances were held up, unwavering, pointing skyward. An encouraging sign. As was the slender rider in the middle of the line, who carried no lance at all, and whose long, ink-black hair billowed around her like a cape in the breeze.

They came to a halt a hundred paces off, and they eyed him nervously as he regarded them with a coldly professional eye. The rider nearest to the girl handed his lance to a comrade, and eased forward, but came to a halt well clear of the longsword's reach. Still, he hadn't seen the arrow Gawain was holding until he was ten paces from the younger man.

Eyeing the shaft with a look of disgust at having brought the whole party within deadly range, the officer nodded a brief acknowledgement to Gawain.

"Serre. I am Captain Jerryn, of the Royal Jurian Guard."

"Well met, Captain."

"Well met. You are the one called Longsword."

"I am known by that name in Callodon."

"You slay the Ramoth, and fire their towers."

"I do."

"Then, Serre, speaking for myself, honour to you. Speaking for my lady, her most royal highness Hellin, first-born of Willam, King of Juria, you are commanded to stay your hand against the Ramoth in the castletown of Juria."

"I am commanded?"

Jerryn grimaced. "Aye. On pain of death."

Gawain sighed. "That is your lady? Hellin of Juria?"

"It is."

"I would speak with her."

"You may not do so armed."

"I may not be disarmed."

"Then you may not speak."

"My word on it, Captain. My weapons shall rest idle, and blades sheathed.” Gawain unstrung the arrow and returned it to its quiver.

Jerryn paused a moment. "We have it from Callodon that you are an honourable man."

"You have it correctly."

"Wait here."

Jerryn turned his horse and cantered back to the line. Gawain watched as he seemed to speak earnestly to the princess, and after some time, and some consultation with other officers, the girl nodded.

Jerryn rode back, and Gawain could tell from the man's expression that an agreement had been reached.

"You may speak," he announced, "But must dismount. And your horse must remain here, we have heard of its nature."

"Agreed." Gawain announced, his voice flat. Then he slipped from the saddle, patted Gwyn on the neck, and calmly walked towards the line, Jerryn mounted a few paces behind him.

The girl dismounted, and with an escort of one lancer, began walking towards Gawain. In the middle ground between Gwyn and the column of lancers, they met, and stood a respectful few paces apart.

"You are Longsword.” She said softly, her pale young face showing signs of nervous tension, though her large brown eyes looked close to tears.

"I am. Well met, Hellin of Juria. Honour to you, and to the crown."

She tilted her head, acknowledging the formal salute. "It is for the crown I speak, and it is for the crown I command you stay your hand against the tower in Castle Town."

"So have I heard from your Captain. But no-one commands my blade but me, and it is my arm that stays it, or lets it loose. Long dead are those that once commanded my actions."

"Then my command to you is in vain?"

"If you fear Morloch's Breath, lady, look to Callodon. It still stands."

"It is not Morloch's Breath we fear, Serre. Some time past, a wizard came to our court, and spoke most persuasively. He said that Morloch spent his Breath upon Raheen. He too guided our eyes towards Callodon, and spoke of the destruction you have wrought upon the Ramoth there, without dire consequence to that fair land. It is not Morloch we fear."

"Then what?"

Hellin's eyes watered unashamedly. "My father's very life is in your hand, Serre. This is why We command you, stay your blade, in Castle Town at least."

"Juria's life depends upon this? How so? Is he then a prisoner of these vermin, or has he lost his mind, and now follows that vile snake-symbol to the tinkling of tiny bells?"

She grew angry then, and the anger quelled the outburst of tears that threatened flood. "You may not speak to me thus of my father! No Jurian Crown would follow these cursed Ramoth! They are a disease!"

Gawain stood unperturbed. "Then tell me, Hellin of Juria, in simple words that the simplest of men could understand. Why should I pass Juria by, and allow this disease to infest these plains at such cost?"

Hellin drew in a breath, and wiped her eyes on a small white handkerchief. "The emissary of Ramoth alone keeps my father from death. All healers who have been summoned are at a loss. No healing art can save Juria, save that of the Emissary in Castle Town. If you kill him, you kill my father too!"

Gawain studied the woman in front of him. That she was telling the truth was evident. Whether there was indeed truth within that truth remained to be seen.

"And the whitebeards, what say they?" he asked, unable to disguise his loathing of all wizards.

"They too are powerless, and know not the nature of my father's illness."

"Powerless is indeed a word I would use in the same breath as 'wizard'. Yet they can make nothing of the cure this filthy Emissary peddles?"

"The cure is kept with him. A green liquid, in a phial, which he administers once each week. Without it, my father succumbs to terrible convulsions, and has to be carried to his bed like a child. He is wasting away before our very eyes, and the only relief to be had is from this Emissary's medicine."

Gawain gazed off into the distance. Justice and vengeance, he knew, could be every bit as cruel as duty, and honour.

"You will honour my command? Now that you know the reason for it?" she asked, as regally as possible, but the plea was clear in her eyes.

Gawain remembered the day of his Banishment, when his mother had said "Your brother shall be king," and Kevyn had replied "Not for some considerable time, I hope!” None could imagine a day so dread as the death of their father.

"Yes," he lied. "For Juria, I shall."

The relief that flooded through the young woman was so obvious it was like a signal to the lancers behind her, and there was a sighing of leather and a clinking of tackle as riders relaxed in their saddles. For the briefest moment, Gawain actually thought she might reach out her arms and hug him…

Instead she smiled weakly, and said "Thank you, Longsword. Speed your journeys."

Gawain bowed, his face expressionless, and watched as she returned to the line with her escort.

Jerryn dismounted behind him, and Gawain turned.

"You have done a noble thing this day, Serre. I hope none of us live to regret such nobility."

"When did Juria fall ill?" Gawain asked quietly, intensely.

Jerryn frowned. "Some time past. Not long after we received news from Callodon that the tower in the castletown there had been razed, and a longsword warrior was scything Ramoths like a reaper in the fields. Why ask you?"

"Why have you not?"

Jerryn frowned. But movement behind Gawain caught his eye, and he suddenly held out his hand. "The Crown is preparing to leave. I must rejoin the column. Honour to you, Longsword. Would that I did not have duty, and could join you on your quest. These Ramoths took from me a sister, and I would see them all burn."

"Where is your sister, friend Jerryn, at the tower in Castle Town?"

The officer's eyes clouded with grief. "No. She is gone. She and her husband raised beef, and took two fine bulls and six milk cows to Raheen, hoping to trade for a breeding pair of Raheen horses. They did not return."

"Then you have my sorrow for your loss, and my arm, friend Jerryn."

Jerryn nodded, and mounted, and within moments was hurrying back to the column. Gawain watched them go, noting that Hellin of Juria looked back at him twice as they cantered away.

"Hai, Gwyn." He called softly, and waited for his horse to pad quietly up beside him. "Eat your fill of this lush grass, you ugly nag. It'll be a slow ride to the Castle Town, I need time to think."

Two days south of the castletown the land was broken by the vineyards that produced the famed Jurian brandy so warming in winter. Gawain had made his decision, and drawn up his plans. He would have to leave Gwyn outside the walled town, and enter by stealth in darkness. If he were seen by any guardsmen, it would not go well for any on both sides.

What he did not expect to see coming towards him on the rutted track that ran between the vineyards was the familiar figure of a robed and near shaven-headed wizard, riding a tired horse far too quickly for the heat of the day. Gawain's hand reached up, and brushed the hilt of the longsword, as if to ensure that it was still there. It was, as ever.

"Longsword!" Allazar announced, reining in.

"Whitebeard. Do you detest horses so much you would kill them thus?"

Allazar looked puzzled for a moment, and then took in the sweat that teemed from his steed. He quickly dismounted, and Gawain did likewise.

"There is a stream through the vines, take it there." Gawain commanded, all his Raheen senses recoiling in disgust at the poor treatment the animal had received.

"I had to find you." Allazar said, as if defending his own poor judgement, "And one horse is small price to pay for finding you so quickly."

"I have no time for whitebeard mumblings and warnings. And if this warning concerns Juria's Crown, and what might ensue when I slay the Ramoth emissary in Castle Town, you have half killed this once-fine beast for nothing."

Allazar frowned. "I know nothing of Juria. All was well when last I visited the court."

"So," Gawain said, pushing Allazar aside to unsaddle the poor animal at the edge of the stream, "It was you the princess Hellin spoke of when she told of a wizard who spoke persuasively some time past."

"I have spoken thus, and was travelling on to Mornland, and Threlland, and would have journeyed to Arrun also."

"Kind of you to prepare the way for my coming." Gawain sneered, "Since now every kingdom guard is on the alert for one of my description."

"You need not fear guardsmen, Longsword. It is Morloch you must fear from this day forth."

"Morloch!" Gawain laughed, mirthlessly. "I go to him willingly. All he has to do is wait a while and he can greet me personally. And I him."

"He does not wait. Nor does he intend to greet you, nor allow you to set foot on the farak gorin or the Dragon's Teeth beyond."

Allazar spoke with a curious command and such earnest severity that Gawain paused from rubbing down the near-exhausted animal, and looked up.

"He told you this, I suppose."

"In a manner of speaking. Morloch is weak, his powers at a low ebb after smiting Raheen with his foul Breath. But weak though he may be, he still has power. Your relentless destruction of the Ramoth emissaries, and your relentless journey north, threaten Morloch. The more Ramoths you destroy, the more hope you bring to ordinary people. They become stronger, when they see how weak the Ramoth are against a single warrior."

"Good. Then I may speed my journey to the Teeth and leave these vile towers to ordinary men-at-arms."

"No. Stronger the people may be. Warriors they are not. I am but one man too, and few will pay me any heed when so many of my brethren gainsay me at court."

"Whitebeard politics do not concern me, Allazar. I have no sympathy for you, or any of your kind."

"I require no sympathy. I suspect you do not, too. But the paths we both walk have a similar purpose. Friends we may never be, Longsword, but we both hope to see the end of this Ramoth curse, and that makes us allies, however reluctant."

"I require allies as much as I require your sympathy, wizard. If that's all you've come to tell me, then by rights I should cut you down for this poor horse's needless suffering."

"Morloch is sending Black Riders against you."

"Let them come, and save your sympathy and warnings for the mercenaries foolish enough to take coin in order to face my blade. They will not live to spend it."

"They are not mercenaries, Longsword. These creatures are born of Morloch. Black Riders, once men, now filled with dark wizardry. They are men no more, but relentless creatures of death. And they have but one purpose. Your destruction. He is loosing them like dogs upon you, and already they come."

"If they were once men, then they can die like men. Dark wizardry or not, nothing is immortal."

"True. But like you, Longsword, they do not fear death. Nor do they live. They have no need of life, and exist for one purpose, and one purpose only. And they will not stop coming."

"Then by Dwarfspit and Elve's Blood, let them come. With luck they'll fight better than the living do. I grow tired of testing my blade against inferior skill."

"Bluster. You know your skill, and have no need to test it."

Gawain let Allazar's horse go, cooling in the breeze and drinking its fill. "And what of your skill, Allazar? What of the whitebeards? You say we share a purpose to rid the land of the Ramoths, yet what do you and your lacklustre do-nothing brethren actually do, to this end?"

"We are forbidden to use our powers against the races of man. We may not kill by such means."

"Then curse you all. If the Ramoths offend you as much as you claim, then pick up a sword and start hacking, and by your example lead other men to do likewise!"

Allazar stepped back a pace away from the anger that flared so suddenly in the young man, as Gawain continued to rage:

"You sicken me, all of you. You come from who knows where, mumbling in your beards, reading your great books of prophecy, gazing at the stars and painting strange symbols on the ground around you. You slither like snakes into all the kingdoms, and with soft words and obscure rites you connive your way to Kings' Councils…yet what do you do for men? Nothing.

"What did you do for Raheen? Nothing. So many of you, so many mumbling whitebeards. And when one of your own, from his nest of vipers beyond the Teeth, raises his hand against the races of man, what do you do? Nothing.

"You may be forbidden to kill men, whitebeard, but where was all your magic when wizardry was called down upon Raheen? Morloch kills by the thousands, yet you sit idly by, and mumble, and advise Kings to do nothing."

Gawain turned on his heel, and gazed away across the vineyards.

"You do not know, you cannot know, what we do." Allazar said softly.

"I have eyes. I see you do nothing.” He turned, and glowered at the wizard. "From where I stand, from what my eyes have seen, for all the whitebeard robes and chanting and ritual, it is only the lack of bells and snakes that separates you from the Ramoths. At least they are honest in their intent."

Allazar looked stunned. "You think this? In truth?"

Gawain stared back, no need of a reply.

"Are we truly regarded thus?" Allazar gasped aloud, though the question was not intended for Gawain. His answer had already been given.

"Prove me wrong, whitebeard. Go to Juria's Castle Town. Wait for me there. You know my destination as well as I."

With that, Gawain mounted Gwyn, and with a final disparaging look at the wizard, whose anguish was clear to see, they ambled back to the track, and began their slow progress north.

A short distance from the town's high walls, Gawain took a room at an inn, and waited for nightfall. Gwyn was safely stabled, though she clearly did not appreciate being abandoned by her mount in such rude surroundings.

When darkness fell, Gawain took his darkcloths from his pack, and dressed quickly and deliberately, and standing in front of a polished mirror in the lamplight, he smiled to himself. Only his eyes were visible, peeping through a slit in the cloth wound around his head. The rest was blackness. He blew out the lamp, and looked to the mirror again. Nothing, even after waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark.

With weapons in place, he slipped from the inn, and made his way to the walls, unseen. Like most castle towns, the walls, and indeed the castle and Keep within, were built long ago, in less peaceful times. The mortar that bound the blocks of stone together was crumbling; countless years of wind and rain, ice and snow, and the heat of summer, had taken their toll. Climbing the wall was easy.

At the top, Gawain paused a while, listening for the booted footfalls of a solitary guardsman to fade, before he heaved himself up and over the parapet. Torches flickered at intervals along the wall, and he flitted silently from the shadows of one to the other. In little time, a very little time, he was well within the town, and moving quickly through the shadows between buildings.

If all castle towns were this easy to penetrate, it was a wonder that Morloch had not sent assassins to kill all the Crowns, and replace them with Ramoth emissaries…it could be done in a single night, Gawain had no doubt.

The Ramoth Tower loomed high, higher even than the Keep a short distance away. Gawain grimaced. How Juria had permitted its construction so close to hearth and home, the Court, the centre of the kingdom, Gawain did not know.

What concerned him most was the sight that met his eyes when he climbed a nearby roof to remind himself of the compound's layout. He'd visited Juria before. Before Raheen. But with the emissaries knowing of his approach, he had to check to be sure that his plans would work.

He didn't expect to see Jurian Household Guard patrolling the perimeter, practically side by side with the Ramoth mercenaries.

A noise from below caught his attention, and he looked down. Allazar, in dark robes but with his head bare, stood in the shadows beneath him. The pale head, to Gawain at least, seemed to gleam like a beacon in the night, and he cursed the wizard's incompetence. Then his eyes widened, as Allazar's hands began to make curious movements, and the wizard seemed to be enveloped in darkness, as if fading from view.

Gawain climbed down from the wall, slipped around the building, and slid along the wall to the spot he knew Allazar occupied. Knowing he was there, he could see him. He doubted any casual glance would reveal the man, even with his head bared.

"You came.” Gawain whispered.

Allazar started, and gasped. "Longsword? You see me?"

"I do.” But then Gawain was forced to admit "But only because I know you to be here."

"What now?"

"Now I must gain entry to the tower, and you also."

"I?” Allazar sounded terrified. "If Ramoth's Eye sees me…"

"Be quiet, whitebeard. I must think. I cannot slay the Jurian Guard."

"I cannot harm them." Allazar answered the unspoken question.

Gawain made a slight noise, indicating his disgust. "Useless. Stay here until I signal you to come. You will enter the tower with me."

Gawain slipped away, leaving the shaken Allazar in the shadows. It took an hour to circle around the tower, when he suddenly caught sight of an opportunity that might spare the Jurian guardsmen. An erect figure strode purposefully from the Keep towards the tower, and spoke with one of the guardsmen. It was an officer, making his rounds, and the officer wore the familiar colours of a Captain in the Royal Jurian Guard.

It was Jerryn, and Gawain pondered a moment before moving away through the shadows…

Jerryn gasped and his hand reached for his knife when Gawain clamped his hand around the officer's mouth and dragged him into the darkness between a row of dwellings.

"Peace, Jerryn, it is I, Longsword. My word to you, peace, if you do not call out."

Jerryn nodded once, and let go of the knife's hilt. Gawain slowly released his grip.

"You told the Crown this tower would be spared!" Jerryn hissed.

"It may yet be. With your help, friend Jerryn. The Crown may be saved, and the Ramoth destroyed also."

"How so?" Jerryn gasped, "And what must I do? I have a duty!"

Gawain briefly outlined his plan, and after a few moments, Jerryn reached out his hand. "I shall help, Longsword, for the Crown, and for my sister. My word on it. It shall be as you say."

Gawain accepted the hand, and then watched as Jerryn straightened his tunic, and strode out into the street again, towards the tower and its long huts. He watched as the officer approached the Jurian guardsmen, gave his orders, and waited.

A short time later, the Jurian guards that had been patrolling the tower's perimeter were assembled, and marching under their sergeant's command back towards the Keep, their onerous duty relieved for the night. Most were smiling happily as their booted feet crunched in step across the cobbles towards their barracks.

Jerryn walked slowly back towards the Keep, and never cast so much as a glance towards the shadows where he thought Gawain yet lurked.

But Gawain had already circled to the rear of the tower and cut the throat of the first Ramoth sentry.

From his vantage point in the shadows, Allazar watched with rising horror as time after time, a black shadow loomed up behind a sentry and felled him, silently. Never had such cold murder been seen in the land outside of foulest brigandry.

In no time at all, it seemed, the shade was beckoning, and Allazar knew his time had come. With a final glance around the silent and empty compound, and a last look to the parapet of the Keep for watchful guards, Allazar hurried briskly across the open space to the base of the tower.

"Stay silent, and stay behind me. Or your life."

Allazar nodded hurriedly, and Gawain eased open the low door in the base of the tower for the second time, stooping and stepping over the body of the mercenary on the threshold. Allazar followed close at heel, and pushed the door closed.

Gawain indicated that the wizard should hang back, and then began his ascent up the spiral staircase. This was the tallest tower yet, and it took some time to make his way to the top, testing each step to ensure that no creaking boards would announce his presence. None did.

It was the darkest hour when he reached the top, that darkest of hours, when death stalks the unwary in their beds. Gawain stalked silently in through the arched doorway, despatched the single acolyte sitting asleep beside the entrance, and then crept cautiously to the shrouded bed.

He stood in the darkness, short sword in hand, listening intently. Breathing. One person breathing. He quietly parted the curtains, eyed the sleeping man on the bed with loathing, and then brought the flat of his blade hard down across the emissary's forehead and nose.

Then he slipped the eye-amulet from around the unconscious man's neck, and ground it under his heel.

"You can come in now, whitebeard." Gawain said quietly.

Allazar crept through the doorway, eyed the dead acolyte without feeling, and then strode across the room to stare down at the emissary.

"Have you killed him?"

"Not yet. But he's not going to wake up for some time. Take down these curtains, we'll use them to bind him. I want him hanging from that cross-beam when he opens his eyes."

"Why?"

Gawain gave no answer, and together they bound and gagged their prisoner. Within minutes, the emissary was hanging by his wrists from one of the roof-beams that criss-crossed the tower's ceiling.

"Good. Now, look for a phial of green liquid."

"Green liquid?" Allazar asked, puzzled.

"That's why you're here, wizard. To do something slightly more useful than killing your own horse or taking down curtains. This vermin claims to be 'curing' Juria with his green medicine."

"Perhaps he is."

"And perhaps you'll be able to fly when I throw you out the window. Is it not convenient that Juria fell mysteriously ill when news was received that the tower in Callodon's castletown had been fired? And is it not convenient that only this scum can administer the cure? Or that no whitebeard has been able to examine the medicine?"

"You suspect poison?"

"Don't you?"

Allazar simply gazed, and then began searching the room with Gawain. From underneath the black altar-table, Allazar drew a large wooden box. His fingers trembled a little as he reached to open it. But Gawain reached down and threw open the lid, fearlessly.

Nestling inside the box was a large glass flask of green liquid that seemed to glow in the dim light from the sconces around the walls.

"Now do something useful for a change." Gawain said softly. "Tell me if that's poison, or if it's a cure for some unheard-of affliction."

"What are the signs of the illness?"

"Convulsions, followed by severe weakness and insensibility. Which are miraculously held at bay for seven days after this is administered."

There was an empty phial in the box, and Allazar uncorked it, and poured a small measure of the stuff from the flask into the phial. Then he sniffed it, and frowned.

Behind them, the emissary groaned.

"Hurry, whitebeard. He wakens sooner than expected. Is it poison or cure? In truth, for I'd prefer not to leave this vile scum alive after going to this much trouble to get in."

"There is dreadbane in this. And Elve's Blood, though not much of it. The green is arrowmint. But there is more. Another ingredient I cannot name yet."

"Poison or cure?"

"It could be either, Longsword! In small doses, even Elve's Blood can be medicine and not poison! Likewise the sap of the Dwarfspit tree!"

The emissary groaned again.

"Time runs short!" Gawain urged.

"I do not know! The odour is strangely familiar but I cannot name it!"

Then the emissary began struggling.

"Remain silent." Gawain sighed to Allazar. "He must not know you are here."

Allazar nodded, and went back to sniffing the phial.

The emissary's eyes were open when Gawain stepped around in front of him. They opened wider when they focussed and Gawain slipped the blackening cloths from his head.

"Yes, it is indeed I. You were expecting me, of course.” Gawain hissed.

The emissary's eyes narrowed, and then sparkled darkly in the lamplight.

"Ah. You wish to impart a secret, perhaps?" Gawain asked, straight-faced.

The Ramoth nodded, and were it not for the gag, the lips would doubtless be curled in a sneer.

"I see. Something about Juria, no doubt, and how you stand between the Crown and a terrible death? Something like that?"

The emissary's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he nodded once, slowly.

"Not interested." Gawain leaned close, staring hard into the man's eyes. "Not even remotely interested. What do I care for the life of Juria? Do I look like a Jurian?"

The emissary's eyes widened, and sweat began to form on his brow.

"Besides," Gawain continued, "I doubt Juria would thank me for slaughtering his guards outside. I suppose I might be able to pacify the Crown if I could say, 'I have the cure', but it doesn't really matter. I came for you, you stinking Ramoth, just as I said I would."

The man's eyes widened further, and he began shaking his head violently as Gawain drew his knife. Over the emissary's shoulder, Gawain saw Allazar shaking his head. He still hadn't identified the remaining ingredient.

"You worship Ramoth?” Gawain asked menacingly.

The man nodded.

"I keep seeing the snake-symbol. This Ramoth of yours, a snake, is he?"

Again a slight nod.

"And you and your followers would like to be like Ramoth, make way for him in your heart."

Another nod.

"But snakes don't have ears.” Gawain said quietly, toying with the knife. "And you do. Perhaps I should help you in your quest to be more like your ancient god? What do you think, shall I remove your ears?"

The emissary shook his head violently.

"No? Strange. I would've thought you'd welcome the chance to look more like the thing you worship. They say imitation is true flattery. Come to think of it," Gawain sheathed the knife, to the man's obvious relief, "Snakes don't have legs, either. Do they?"

And Gawain slowly unsheathed the longsword.

The emissary began weeping, and struggling against his bonds as Gawain flourished the mighty weapon casually.

"Or arms, for that matter." He whispered in the man's ear, eyeing Allazar, who again shook his head, his expression frantic.

Gawain stepped back from the emissary, and eyed the man's legs while he took a firm two-handed grip on the sword. He made a play of testing the clearance around him, checking that his strike would be unimpeded by walls and beams…

When the blade touched the emissary lightly on the thigh during this practise swing, he immediately began screaming through the gag in his mouth, and struggling violently.

"Oh, something to say?" Gawain paused expectantly, mockingly.

The emissary nodded his head frantically, and Gawain stepped forward again.

"But snakes can't speak. Maybe I should cut out your tongue first? Let's hear what the scum of Ramoth has to say for himself first, though. And try not to scream, vermin, you don't want the last thing your tongue articulates to be nothing but meaningless noise, do you?"

Gawain prised the gag roughly from the emissary's mouth.

"Under the table!" he gasped, terrified, "Under the table! The medicine! For the king!"

"Medicine? For the king?"

"My life for it! My life for the secret! You can command a king's ransom with it!"

"Really? Go on."

"It's under the table! It is yours for my life!"

"What good is it to me, Ramoth filth? When the medicine runs out, how then can I command this king's ransom?"

The Ramoth nearly choked so anxious was he to spit out the words. They came in a flurry, unbroken by breath or pause.

"It is simple! So simple! Dreadbane and Elve's Blood in the mixture of one part to one half part, and arrowmint to disguise the taste of one part of aquamire!"

"Aquamire!" Allazar gasped, his face a vision of revulsion, and he cast the phial from him aghast.

The emissary gasped too, and his eyes widened again, and he began weeping, realising he had been deceived.

"Kill him, Longsword!” Allazar cried, "In the name of all the races of man, kill this monster now!"

Gawain shrugged, and slammed his fist into the emissary's face, knocking him senseless again.

"So. Is it poison, or cure?"

"Kill him, I beg you." Allazar pleaded.

"Here he is. Helpless and at your mercy, Allazar. If you would see him dead, here is my knife. Or if you prefer to distance yourself from the slaughter as your kind always do, why then borrow my longsword. It lets you stand so much further away from the deed."

"Kill him.” Allazar said again, but with less conviction, the horror still plain on his face.

"What is aquamire?"

"I will not say. It is vile. Evil. The vilest of all substances made with dark wizardry and I cannot bear to speak of it or how it comes to be."

Gawain studied the wizard, and was surprised to see what appeared to be tears in the man's eyes. Whatever this aquamire was, it was clearly distressing.

"So. Is it poison or cure?"

"Poison. Of a most insidious kind."

"Can you rid the king of it?"

"Now I know the nature of this green filth, yes, easily."

With that, Allazar kicked the box and its flask across the room. Glass smashed, and green fluid seeped out to stain the floorboards.

"For the last time, I beg you Longsword, despatch that fiend."

Gawain drew his sword and with a single flowing motion sliced through the bonds that held the emissary suspended from the ceiling beams.

"I told a princess today, no-one commands my blade but my own arm. And no-one commands me, wizard. You want him dead, you do it."

With that, Gawain strode to the doorway, and paused. Allazar hesitated, eyeing the shattered flask and the unconscious man on the floor, and then his shoulders slumped.

"I cannot." he sighed, and turned, and followed Gawain down the stairs.

Outside the tower, all was quiet. But there was a group of men in the shadows by one of the long huts, and they stepped forward into the light from the blazing oil-barrels when Gawain and Allazar emerged.

"It is done?" Jerryn asked.

"Yes," Gawain replied. "We have what we came for."

"Then my men will fire the huts and the tower."

"The emissary yet lives up there." Allazar hissed, disgusted, though whether with himself or with Gawain, they could not say.

"In truth?"

"In truth."

Jerryn smiled. "Thank you, Longsword." And with that, the officer strode forward, and kicked over the oil-barrel so that its blazing contents lapped against the base of the wooden structure.

His men followed suit, setting fire to the long huts while Jerryn strode away, leading Gawain and Allazar towards the Keep.

Within, they found a small party of honour-guards, who flanked them and marched smartly through the corridors and up several flights of stairs, until they came to a guarded chamber. Jerryn strode forward, and opened the door, and stepped in.

A few moments later he beckoned Gawain and Allazar forward, and into the room.

King Willam of Juria lay in a huge bed, tended by healers and whitebeards, his wife seated in a chair nearby. Hellin stood by the window, watching the flames leap and crackle from the tower.

"You lied to me, warrior," she said over her shoulder, the bright yellow light from the flames flickering in her lustrous black hair. "You said you would spare the tower, and thus Juria."

"I did not lie, your highness.” Gawain replied, trying to keep his voice soft too, for her sake and that of her ailing father. "The emissary was alive and only slightly hurt when last I saw him. And I did not fire the tower, nor the long huts."

"Not by your own hand, perhaps, but you set in motion this night's events. I cannot command you, warrior, and it seems I cannot even command my own men."

Jerryn's head sank.

"Highness." Allazar spoke, and she turned.

There were tears in her eyes and streaking her face, and for a moment she looked like a child, vulnerable and confused and in need of strong arms and kind words. Gawain could give neither, and a part of him was surprised at that. A very small and distant part, like a buried memory echoing…

"I know you." Hellin said, "You spoke to the court, of Morloch."

"I did. I am ally to this warrior. I have the cure which will restore Juria, and this I swear. That is why Longsword brought me here this night."

"You know the cure? You can make the green medicine?"

Allazar grimaced. "Highness, that was no medicine, but the vilest of poisons. If I might consult with my brethren?"

Hellin nodded, and Allazar bowed low before beckoning the whitebeards to join him in a corner. Gawain watched them, and noted their expressions of shock and horror while Allazar spoke. Their brief conference over, the Jurian wizards then consulted with the healers. Herbs and bottles were produced from bags and boxes, there was much grinding of pestles, and then the antidote was administered to the king.

All the while, Hellin stood proud and silent, and Jerryn stood in silent anguish. Then a healer approached, and announced that the king was already showing the first signs of recovery, and that it was hoped he would be restored to full health by the week's end.

At this, Hellin of Juria wept openly, and alone. Again, a distant memory called to Gawain, and he stepped forward.

"Your highness. What was done this night was done not only for justice, and vengeance, but for all Juria. This officer, this Captain, has served you well, and the Crown. But for him, and but for his honour to you and your father, another royal crown would decorate the court in Death's kingdom. Do not judge him harshly who serves you so well."

The words, softly spoken but with such power, drew the princess up, and stemmed the tears. She wiped her eyes, and looked up at the black-clad warrior standing so close to her.

"Thank you, Longsword. For Juria."

Gawain bowed, and stepped back.

"And thank you, Captain Jerryn," she said, "For the Crown. Please forgive a foolish daughter's love, and the fear which prompted unworthy words. Honour to you, Captain."

Jerryn bowed low, and then with his back ramrod straight, he turned and opened the door for Gawain and Allazar.

Outside, they walked from the Keep in silence towards to the high walls surrounding the town. Then Gawain spoke.

"You should increase the guard on your walls and at the Keep, Captain. It was too simple for me to gain entry."

"I had already thought the same thing, moments after you dragged me into the shadows."

The fires at the Ramoth compound had died down to a red glow, but ash still fell.

"Allazar tells me that there are new enemies in the southlands to beware of."

"In truth?" Jerryn asked.

Allazar simply nodded.

"Black riders, sent by Morloch to hunt me down."

"Then they shall find no welcome in Juria if they come." Jerryn announced firmly. Then, as they reached the gates and they were swung open by the nightwatch, he added, "Where do you go now, friend Longsword?"

Gawain paused. "To the inn for my horse and my belongings. And then I think to Threlland."

"Then speed your journey. Would that I could accompany you."

Gawain smiled sadly. "You are too honourable a Jurian officer to partake of the deeds I must do, friend Jerryn. You have done enough this night by way of vengeance. Be at peace, and serve the Crown. They will have need of men such as yourself, and soon, I fear.”

They shook hands, and Gawain suddenly added "But thank you. I had thought not to find a single ally on my journeys. To find two strengthens my resolve, and my arm."

"All Juria owes you a debt. You know where to find me, if a need arises. Look yonder, to the east."

Gawain followed Jerryn's gaze, and saw a bloom of light on the far horizon.

"Could that be dawn come early?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking, it is dawn come too late." Jerryn replied. "That comes from the town of Vardon. They have seen the light of our fire here, and have taken heart and courage from it, and have lit their own."

"Then farewell, Jerryn. Honour to you."

"And to you friend. You too, wizard, for all Juria this day."

They left Jerryn at the gates and made their way to the inn to collect Gwyn and Gawain's packs.

"It was kind of that officer to thank me." Allazar mumbled.

"It was indeed." Gawain muttered in response, and the ironic tone in his voice was not lost on the wizard.

"Are we held in such low regard by all?" Allazar persisted.

"What reason is there for you not to be?"

Allazar sighed.

"What is aquamire?" Gawain prompted again.

"You will see for yourself, if you make it as far as you hope. Sooner, if you encounter Black Riders and manage to kill them. It is the stuff which empowers them. Do not ask me to describe how it is made. I do not have your strength, and cannot speak of it."

"Yet Juria will recover?"

"He will. He was fortunate. Another month or two, and who can say."

Gawain fetched his pack from his room, shed his blackening cloths, and in the stables set about saddling Gwyn while Allazar looked on.

"Do you truly intend going to the Teeth?” Allazar asked.

"I do."

"I had hoped you might venture east."

"Why?"

"The Arrun and the Mornlanders suffer under the Ramoths. Both are a gentle people, and would welcome a warrior to fight for them."

"I go north."

Allazar sighed. "Then I shall come with you."

"No." Gawain said firmly.

"Are we no longer allies then?"

Gawain paused, checking his gear and the saddle. "These emissaries and their amulets, they can communicate with each other."

"True."

"Then here our paths diverge. They know I go north. I've told them often enough. They do not know you, unless you say otherwise?"

"They do not know me."

"Then you must go east. To Arrun, and to Mornland, and then on to Threlland. If this aquamire poison was being used in Juria, who's to say it's not being used in the eastern kingdoms?"

Allazar nodded, a little taken aback. He clearly hadn't considered the possibility.

"Besides," Gawain added, though without his usual conviction, "I would soon grow tired of your mumbling, and gazing at the stars, and useless advice. I'd probably end up killing you within the week. And for some strange reason known only to himself, Brock of Callodon seemed to set some store by you."

"In truth, it was he who ordered me ahead of you, to reassure the kingdoms against your coming."

"And here you are." Gawain sighed, climbing into the saddle. "A whitebeard, taking orders from a king. Wonders will never cease."

Allazar grinned in spite of himself.

"Speed your journey, Longsword."

"And yours, Allazar. Perhaps we'll meet again when I get back from cutting Ramoth's dwarfspit head off."

"Perhaps." Allazar said sadly.

Gawain was on the track and about to give Gwyn free rein when Allazar suddenly called out from the stable door.

"Longsword! The dark riders?"

Gawain turned.

"What about them?"

"Ordinary steel will not penetrate their armour! It is charmed!"

Gawain smiled grimly. "It matters not. My arrows are tipped with stone, and my blade is far from ordinary!"

Allazar stood helplessly by the stables, torn between going with the young man, north, and going east as he'd been asked. Finally, he nodded, and Gawain turned, and Gwyn broke into a gallop.

Allazar remained a moment longer, frowning. There was only one kingdom in all the southlands where foresters tipped their arrows with hand-made stone points. But that was long ago, and they were all gone, annihilated in an instant by Morloch's Breath…

13. Black Riders

Gawain rode steadily north, taking an arrow-straight route up the middle of the Jurian plains. He'd already passed to the east of the miserable town of Ferdan and paused a moment, remembering.

Almost a year ago to the day he'd made camp by the southern tip of Elvendere, and had met Elayeen. Memories tugged him this way and that. Almost a year ago to the day Raheen was alive and basking in glorious summer sunshine.

To the north-east, the gentle slopes of Mornland, and Threlland beyond. Rak and Merrin, and the infant Travak. To the west, Elvendere, and the elves that dwelled in the great forest. Dwarves and elves. Of all the kingdoms, only Elvendere had escaped the curse of the Ramoth, and Gawain wondered why.

There seemed to be no point to it all. The Ramoth were despised, and were it not for the whitebeards, and were it not for the utter destruction of Raheen, then in time all the kingdoms would have declared "enough is enough", and put the Ramoths to the sword, or cast them out.

Ancient gods did not exist. Perhaps Morloch did, but in what form and where, no-one knew. Sometimes Gawain's head throbbed with the thinking. Why destroy Raheen, and not Elvendere or Threlland? Why, with so much dark wizardry at their disposal, why this slow and insipid invasion of shaven-headed chanters? Gawain himself had proven at Juria how weak fifteen years of peace had left all the lands. It would be a simple matter for a small but dedicated band of ignoble invaders to rip the crowns from severed heads.

It was surprising that the Gorian Empire hadn't done so already, given the lamentable lack of any military presence this side of their vast border.

Gwyn snorted, and Gawain looked up. Riders, approaching at the canter, scattering steers before them. There was something about them that sent the briefest of shivers the length of Gawain's spine. A darkness, that seemed to draw light in, as if…

There were six of them, in line abreast, and Gawain had an arrow strung in his right hand and another ready in his left when Gwyn began cantering forwards to meet them. They were still half a mile away when Gawain spotted yet more, closing in from the east, and then a hasty glance towards the west revealed more. A quick look over his shoulder confirmed that his retreat was unblocked, but he had no intention of running.

But good, practical, military sense bred into him through years of regal training demanded he take action. Riding straight into the oncoming force would be military madness, for even if he prevailed he would be bracketed by the riders coming at him at a slow canter on the left and right.

He grimaced, and Gwyn charged off to the west, heading for Elvendere and the sun, low in the sky but still an hour or two from setting.

Six Black Riders, coming at him head on from the direction of Elvendere. Plus the first six from the north, and now presumably another half-dozen about a mile behind him. Gwyn charged on, closing the gap between them fast. Still the black riders cantered, seemingly oblivious of the danger.

Gawain let fly his first arrow as soon as the range closed, and his second was in the air before the first one struck. The first shaft missed its intended target though, and slammed instead into the broad chest of the horse it was riding. The animal went down, throwing its rider hard into the sun-baked grassland.

A third shaft was in the air when the second hit, this time exactly where it was supposed to, dead centre of the rider's chest. Gawain was momentarily stunned when a strange whistling screech went up, and then the rider seemed to explode with a jet of black light shooting from the top of its armour where the head had been.

The third shaft struck home too, and again the stone point sliced neatly through armour to the creature within. Again, that chilling screeching whistle, and the blasting shaft of black light that shot upwards from the body.

They were too close now for Gawain to try another arrow. Instead, he ducked as he saw a crossbow levelled and fired at him, and was drawing his sword as the bolt whistled dangerously close past Gwyn's flanks. With a sudden burst of outrage, Gawain realised that these foul creatures had not been aiming for him, but for his horse!

Gwyn realised it too, and bellowed with a rage of her own. And then they were into them, Gawain's sword flashing. The long blade took the head clean off the rider passing down Gawain's right side, and when the blade struck a powerful jolt of something shot the length of his arm. He nearly lost his grip on the sword for a moment, but as Gwyn powered into a turn and the whistling screech from behind them told of another downed rider, Gawain managed to grasp the hilt firmly enough to deliver a smashing blow to the armoured creature struggling to regain its feet after being tumbled from the dead horse.

Another powerful jolt of that something when the blade struck home, but this time Gawain was prepared for it, and was sheathing the longsword and drawing another arrow from his quiver as Gwyn finished the turn.

He let fly, the shaft hitting the right-hand of the two remaining riders square in the back. A burst of black light, the curious screeching, and the shattered remains fell from the horse.

Incredibly, the sixth rider was turning slowly, and still at a canter. Gawain strung another arrow, brought Gwyn to a standstill, and almost as if he was at target practice, let fly. The Black Rider had turned, slowly, carelessly, and met the speeding arrow chest-on. Gawain had just enough time to study the creature before him in detail before the screeching, whistling death-blast shot another black shaft skyward.

They were grotesque, but almost laughably so. Clad in black armour, which seemed to draw in the daylight, and wearing large and ornate painted masks. Perhaps enough to frighten a child or a simpleton, but not a warrior.

In the distance, Gawain could see the six riders who'd approached from the north still cantering towards him. If this was the best Morloch could do, then Allazar had indeed nearly killed a perfectly good horse in trying to give a warning. They were slow and cumbersome in their armour, and with Gwyn's superior speed and agility, they were no match for Gawain.

He let his horse regain her composure after the charge, and casually strung another arrow, ready for throwing. As he advanced slowly to meet them though, something caught his eye on the ground by the remains of one he'd killed. Or destroyed, for he couldn't tell if there were men within the armour or not.

The crossbow laying beside the body had been fired, but still had three shafts clipped to its stock. With a rising sense of alarm, Gawain eased Gwyn to a halt. The tips of the bolts were black steel, streaked with red. Elve's Blood. Almost as deadly as the rarer sap from the even rarer Dwarfspit tree.

Gawain shuddered, and glanced up at the advancing riders. Closing remorselessly, and all of them with crossbows cocked and held ready in one hand, while the other held reins…

Again Gawain eyed the crossbow. Of wood, it would not outrange a Raheen arrow. Probably. He eased Gwyn forward, waited until the riders were in range, and then hurled his arrow, then another, and then turned Gwyn back towards Elvendere at the gallop. Two of those high-pitched death-sounds told of his aim, and after putting a safe distance between himself and the four remaining riders, he turned again.

This, he knew, was going to be a cat and mouse game that might last all day. Or until he ran out of arrows, whichever came sooner. Then to his horror, as he prepared to launch another volley of arrows at his pursuers, he saw through the gap in their ranks; their comrades advancing from the east had increased their pace and were speeding towards him!

He hurled two more arrows, watched them strike their mark, and watched as crossbow-bolts tipped with evil Elve's Blood arced towards him, and fell harmlessly short.

Eight. Eight Black Riders. He turned Gwyn towards the distant tree line of Elvendere and rode fast while his fingers counted the shafts remaining his quiver. Six.

Again he brought Gwyn to a shuddering halt, and again hurled two arrows at the approaching menace. Two more hits, one death-screech and black light-blast. The other shaft hit the horse, which lurched and threw its rider. But already the six riders from the east had closed the distance, and rode over their fallen comrades. Crossbows twanged, and this time the shafts landed dangerously close to Gawain. As he turned Gwyn towards Elvendere once more, he saw the thrown rider get to his feet, and start walking towards him. Allazar was right. These creatures were relentless.

The stop-start gallops Gwyn was forced to make were tiring her fast, but she could sense her mount's concerns and charged on. Gawain only had time to loose one arrow each time he stopped and turned, and a rising sense of desperation gave power to his arm and sharpened his aim.

By the time the forest loomed a hundred paces away, Gwyn was exhausted, and Gawain had but one arrow left. Two riders were bearing down on him, their horses near death yet still coming on. Crossbows twanged, and the shafts fell short yet again. The creatures behind the leering, garish masks seemed slow to learn. But Gawain was not.

He dismounted, and as Gwyn turned to face the enemy with him, he pushed her away. "Go, ugly! Go! I command it!"

The horse, lathered in sweat and breathing hard, stared blue-eyed at her chosen mount.

"Go Gwyn, please! We are all that remains of Raheen…one of us must survive! Go you hideous brute!” and again he shoved her massive head away.

Gwyn snorted, ribs heaving, and swayed a little, but remained motionless.

"Well then…" Gawain said softly, and with one eye on the approaching riders, loped away south, putting distance between himself and the advancing riders.

They were slowing, and as their crossbows raised to fire again, one of them went down, the horse buckling, dead, beneath the weight of the armoured rider. Just as Gawain threw his arrow…

His shaft crossed the harmless flight of the crossbow bolt, and carried on to fly through the spot which, had the poor horse chosen not to expire at that moment, would have been occupied by the black rider.

Gawain sighed, and drew his longsword, and seeing Gwyn still gasping for breath but trying to force her exhausted legs towards him, began running south again.

The one remaining rider's horse staggered and lurched onward, and another crossbow bolt sang as it whistled past Gawain's head. He heard the noise of the animal going down, and then turned. Both riders were dismounted, one still pinned beneath his dead steed, arms flailing, struggling against the dead weight of the beast and the weight of his own armour.

The other was on his feet, cocking the crossbow, advancing slowly towards Gawain. In the distance, a short way off, the solitary third dismounted rider, striding purposefully but clumsily towards them all.

Gawain charged towards the creature with the crossbow, legs pumping, longsword in hand, trying desperately to close the gap between them. An ordinary man might have panicked in the face of Gawain's charge. An ordinary might have fumbled with the crossbow. The black clad creature with the garish mask was no ordinary man.

Gawain heard the string click into place on its sear, saw the glint of dark steel as a bolt was removed from the clip and fitted in place in its slot. He was still too far. The creature raised the bow, and when Gawain was sure he was about to fire, he dove to the ground, rolling, and heard the twang of the string and the whizz of the shaft. There was no impact, he felt no pain. Regaining his feet and his momentum, he charged onward.

The armoured figure had already cast aside the crossbow and was drawing its blade. This close, Gawain could see that even this weapon was streaked with red. Elve's Blood. A poisoned blade to match the poisoned arrows. Not very honourable.

Gawain struck on the run, the great longsword slashing downward, slamming into the creature's shoulder and dragging a great furrow through the steel chest-plate. But the thing did not die. No blood emerged from the wound. No bones had been broken. The blow from the longsword would've cleaved an ordinary man in two, had done so in the past. Against ordinary men.

The thing counterattacked with remarkable speed, forcing Gawain to parry the blow. Oh how he rued his remarks to Allazar! The thing fought relentlessly, thrusting and parrying, all the while driving Gawain back towards the trees.

Gawain grew more and more desperate, and more and more tired. The other black riders had fallen to his blade so easily…but then he realised his error. He feinted, dodged, and swung the longsword in flashing flat circle, the blade just above his enemy's shoulder.

The jolt of something seared through Gawain's arm as the garishly-clad head flew from the creature's shoulders, followed by the eerie death-blast. This close, the sound was intense, and distressing, and the black blast of light that shot from the thing's neck was almost dazzling.

Gawain staggered back as the body toppled forward to the ground, and rubbed his eyes, shaking his head to clear it. The whistling sound was still ringing in his ears when something hit him in the thigh and made him start. He looked down, and saw the black feathered fletching of a crossbow-bolt sticking out of from his right thigh, and he groaned. The creature pinned beneath the dead horse had freed himself sufficient to cock, load, and aim his weapon.

"Aaah, Dwarfspit!" Gawain spat, disgustedly. To have come so far.

Gwyn, seeing her chosen mount wounded and limping towards the black creature trapped under the horse, felt rage and anguish boil in her blood, and charged forwards. Gawain watched as she pounded across the sun-baked earth, whinnying a dreadful battle-cry of her own, and began trampling on the trapped thing.

It didn't take long before another death-screech and a blast of black light mingled with Gwyn's furious whinnying. Gawain vaguely remembered that he'd been lacking in his duty to his horse; there must be stones in her shoes to penetrate that black armour.

Gwyn screamed again, this time in warning. Gawain looked around, and saw a black shape looming towards him. The dismounted rider, who had so relentlessly walked from his dead steed so far away to the east.

"Come then, you sack of black Dwarfspit Morloch pus, I'll not die alone!"

Gawain, ignoring the burning pain in his leg that seemed to creep up from the wound, blocked the straight thrust his adversary aimed at his heart. Anger robbed Gawain of all finesse. To have come so close, and to be defeated by these creatures! Things of dark wizardry, not even men. Whitebeards made these! Rage ballooned and burst within him at that, and he smashed at the thing remorselessly. Blow after reeling blow, hammering it back towards the trees, smashing it time and again, shattering the thing's sword, yet still it tried to advance.

Gawain smashed it once, twice, three times on the shoulder, massive pounding blows that drove the creature to its knees.

"Enough!" Gawain cried, and with a mighty swing, cleaved its head clean from its shoulders even as shattered black gauntlets reached out towards him.

The jolt and the blast of black light hit Gawain in the face and lifted him clean off his feet, flinging him backwards. Still he kept hold of the sword. As he lay staring up at the sky, blinking, he heard Gwyn's whinny, and from the sound of her footfalls on the hard ground, slowly moving towards him, she was lame in one leg.

Gawain felt a wave of sorrow wash over him. Poor old Gwyn, who would care for her now, here in these lowlands? Who but a Raheen knew how to tend a horse, down here?

She whinnied, long and low. Gawain felt tired, so tired, and it was a struggle to raise himself. He dug the point of the longsword into the ground, and heaved himself to his knees, desperately looking around for Gwyn.

Dark shapes were coming towards him in the gloom, yet he could feel the sun's warmth on his face.

"Ahhhh!" he gasped, disgusted, and shouted at the advancing figures "Is there no end to you Dwarfspit bastards? Come then, see how a warrior dies!"

Gwyn whinnied again, behind him as he struggled but failed to stand, still leaning heavily on the longsword.

"Peace, friend." A lilting voice called. "We mean you no harm."

Gawain tried to peer through the gloom, trying to focus on the dozen or more shadowy shapes. They were carrying things that were long, curved, and finally his fogged brain recognised them as longbows.

"Eem frith am Gan-thal." Gawain heard himself say, and then mumbled again "Eem frith am Gan-thal." before he gave up the struggle to stand, and finally released his grasp on the sword.

He thought he heard a high voice calling "See-eelan! See-eelan!" before hands reached for him and darkness closed all around.

14. Ithroth

The world was darkness and light. Fire and ice. Pain and beauty. Flashes of light, in which Gawain felt fire coursing through his veins, before a bright-eyed beauty poured liquid ice into his mouth and stole away the pain before darkness closed again.

Occasional sounds, and occasional voices, during those brief moments of awareness. Strange, lilting voices, talking softly and speaking in a language he could not fathom.

If this was the kingdom of death, it wasn't so bad.

But there came a time when the flashes of light were more prolonged, and he almost remembered who he was before the liquid ice trickled into his mouth again, and the last thing he saw before consciousness faded were sparkling hazel-green eyes, wide with concern and sadness.

Finally, a greyness crept upon him like a false dawn, and sounds, and warmth. He remembered who he was, and lay with his eyes closed, breathing softly, not daring to move or open his eyes lest the cool fingers brushing his forehead ceased their tender ministrations. Lest he open his eyes, and find yet more fire and ice, more pain and beauty, and more darkness enveloping.

While he lay there, listening to birdsong and muted laughter and snatches of soft music, Gawain remembered, and the cool fingers continued to caress his brow.

"Elayeen?" he whispered, his voice cracked, throat sore.

"Hush, Traveller," a high soft voice replied, and even the words were cooling, and seemed to caress his aching head.

"Elayeen." he whispered once more.

"Yes." the sweet voice said.

Gawain smiled, and slept.

When he awoke, some time later, Elayeen was there, sitting beside him, stroking his brow.

"Eem frith am Gan-thal." Gawain tried to say, but his voice was still cracked and hoarse, and he smiled at the feeble sounds.

Elayeen smiled down at him, her long silver-blonde hair inches from his face. "Yes, Traveller, you are friend to my brother. And to me."

Gawain tried to reach up, but his hands would not move. A brief surge of panic flooded through him and he struggled to move, any part of his body, but he could not.

"Peace, Traveller," Elayeen urged, "You have been ill. It will take time to recover."

The gentleness in her voice and the sincerity in her eyes reassured Gawain, and he ceased his vain struggle against paralysis. The elfin smile he received when the tension and fear drained from his eyes was like a cool breeze on a summer's day, and Gawain smiled back.

"How long?" he croaked.

"Many days and nights. Now hush, and rest."

Gawain closed his eyes, and Elayeen began humming, a soft and strange tune, like a mother crooning to her child as she stroked his brow. Gawain felt peace wash over him, and slept once more.

When next he awoke he felt stronger, his mind clearer. There was dull yellow light in the room, seeming to come from nowhere, and he could see no lamps. But Elayeen was there, sitting beside the bed of soft skins and furs upon which he lay.

Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing softly, one slender hand upon the bed next to his. Gawain flexed his fingers, and found they could move. It was an effort, and his arm felt heavy when he eased it across the top of the blanket so that his fingers brushed hers.

Elayeen's eyes flicked open, and she smiled, and took his hand in hers.

"Welcome, Traveller." she whispered.

"Elayeen." he said, his voice quiet, but familiar now that his throat seemed to have recovered.

"I…we thought you lost."

"I should be dead. Elve's Blood, on the point which struck me…"

"You are strong," she smiled, "Stronger than our healers imagined. They thought you would not survive the first night. Our wizards say you have a powerful purpose indeed, to keep you in this world."

Flashes of memory, of a white ashen wasteland, pressed in on Gawain, but he dismissed them. This was not the time, nor the place, to recall such horrors.

"How long have I been here?"

"It is seven and twenty nights since your battle at the edge of our forest."

Gawain's eyes widened in shock. "So long?"

Elayeen nodded, her glorious eyes never leaving his.

Gawain studied her in the strange light, and saw the tiredness in her.

"You have stayed with me," he gasped, "All this time."

The elfin smiled. "I could not leave you, it might have been a long time before your friends came for you. The least I could for your not stabbing me that day was bring you back to the world."

Gawain smiled back, remembering the first time he'd seen her. "How could I have harmed you?"

She blinked, and smiled, and then turned her head and called softly "See-eelan."

There was a rustling as a heavy skin curtain was parted, and a slender elf wearing a concerned expression appeared beside Elayeen. She spoke to him briefly in her own language, and he with her, and then the man reached down to feel Gawain's pulse at his neck, and his brow.

The healer spoke again, smiled at Gawain, and left the room.

"Am I to live, then?" he asked.

"Yes, Traveller, you are to live."

Gawain saw a brightness in her eyes, a strange mixture of joy and sadness, but the smile and the tenderness of her touch seemed somehow to stem the question forming on his lips. For the moment, at least, he would be content.

"You should sleep, Elayeen." He whispered. "You look tired."

"I shall, when you do. Now that the danger has passed."

"Gwyn…" Gawain suddenly remembered, and made as if to sit up.

"Is well, and well tended. The children adore her, and are caring for her like a beloved pet."

"My sword?"

Elayeen's eyes clouded briefly. "Is here, not far from your arm. It is heavy, and few would touch it."

"You brought it here though." Gawain knew, instinctively.

"I did." The elfin shuddered. "I thought it important to you."

"It is. Thank you."

"No thanks are needed."

"Yes, Elayeen, they are. You have given me back my life."

The curious sadness seemed to wash over her again, and she looked down at his hand in hers. As she tilted her head, Gawain caught sight of something he had not noticed before. There was a streak of black in the long silver-blonde hair, running the length of it from above her right brow.

"What troubles you, my lady?" Gawain whispered, gently squeezing her hand.

"You will leave Elvendere when you are well?"

"I must."

She nodded, knowing the answer before he spoke it, and when she looked up into his eyes again the sadness shining deep within the hazel-green was profound.

"But," Gawain smiled, "I fear that may be some time. I don't seem to be able to move my legs."

"It will pass quickly."

His brother's words rang in his ears, an unbidden memory…"Not for some considerable time, I hope!” and Gawain closed his eyes, hoping to keep a tight hold of the warmth and contentment that seemed to flow like a river from Elayeen's hand into his.

But the elfin was right. The next time he awoke he had full command of his aching body again, and could sit up unaided. He was growing stronger, and able to eat. A day after that, the healers came, and two elven whitebeards. The latter, he did not welcome. They eyed him with a mixture of cold disdain and fear, and as soon as the healers had made their pronouncements as to his health, the wizards spoke long and harshly to Elayeen.

Seeing her spoken to in such a manner fired the embers glowing within him, and a familiar cold anger began to spread in his chest. Seeing her obviously defer to the whitebeards' instructions simply reminded Gawain of the world beyond Elvendere, and his heart began to harden again.

When the whitebeards left with the healers, Gan entered the room. He looked at Elayeen as one would regard a dying friend, and then his gaze flickered to Gawain.

"Traveller. You are well?"

"I am recovering, friend Gan."

"Then the wizards are right, Elayeen. It is neither seemly nor necessary for you to remain here."

"But brother…"

"Elayeen." Gan responded firmly, but with great compassion.

The elfin sighed, and looked once more upon Gawain, and he saw pain and yearning in her eyes before she smiled, and left the room.

"You must understand," Gan said quietly, "It is not seemly for Elayeen to remain, now that you are able to tend to your own needs."

"I do not understand, friend Gan, but if these are your customs, I shall respect them. Am I forbidden then to speak with her, even outside these walls?"

Gan looked mortified. "Of course not! You may speak with anyone you wish! But…it is not seemly for my sister to remain by your side here, now that you are stronger."

Gawain nodded. "The whitebeards spoke harshly."

"Whitebeards?"

"Wizards."

"Ah. You speak our language?"

"No. But I have heard enough of it to know the difference between gentle tones, and crueller ones."

Gan seemed momentarily distressed, and fought some internal struggle for a few moments before replying. "We have a duty," was all he said in response.

"As do I."

Gan hesitated, and again Gawain could see the young elf was struggling against unknown orders. "You will leave soon?"

"Am I no longer welcome?"

"You are welcome, friend Traveller."

"I must leave soon. You have been told of the dark riders who wounded me thus?"

Gan nodded, and frowned. "The scouts reported your terrible battle."

"That is why I must leave as soon as I can. Those creatures were sent against me by Morloch, or so the whitebeards say. In this, and this alone, I believe them. If I remain, more will come, and I would not bring such destruction into Elvendere."

"No more have been sighted. Our scouts range the length of Elvendere as far north as our lands extend. No more of these dark riders have been seen."

"Yet they will come."

"Perhaps. But you need not speed your departure on their account. Take time, regain your strength. If Morloch has loosed such forces against you, you shall need it."

Gawain turned his head, and regarded the longsword propped against the wall beside the head of his bed. When he turned to Gan again, he saw the elf shiver.

"Until the morning, then." Gan announced, and left Gawain alone.

Strange people, Gawain thought, but when he closed his eyes and settled, it was the yearning in elfin eyes that won the battle between memories and guided him to sleep.

Dawn the next day found Gawain dressed, and with the longsword slung over his shoulder. His muscles ached appallingly, and the wound in his right thigh where the crossbow bolt had struck him was sharply painful when he stood.

The bolt had passed through his leg at an acute angle, the entry and exit wounds about an inch apart when Gawain lifted the bandages and pads to satisfy his own morbid curiosity. Perhaps that had saved him, he didn't know. If the poisoned point had remained buried deep in his flesh…

When Gawain lifted the heavy curtain door aside, he was surprised to find himself standing on a small walkway overlooking the forest floor some twenty feet below him. A loud and familiar whinny shattered the morning stillness, and he glanced across the clearing to where Gwyn stood prancing happily, her head bobbing.

Gawain smiled at the horse, and then a rare chuckle escaped his throat.

The elven children had indeed tended her well. Her mane shone, as did the coloured ribbons and threads woven and braided into it and her tail. But her blue eyes sparkled happily, and as the first rays of the sun bathed the forest in warming light, Gawain turned his face to it, and thanked The Fallen for both Gwyn and for himself.

By the time he'd eased himself down the stairway woven into the tree's branches, children were already slipping down ropes, giggling, and racing to Gwyn. The horse was behaving more like a playful kitten or a puppy, prancing and bobbing her head, snuffling at the children and swishing her tail like a dog.

Gawain grimaced with pain and mock disdain at the animal's antics.

A long table in the clearing below the overhead walkway was being laid with food by several elves, and they greeted Gawain politely and invited him to sit. He did so gratefully, every muscle in his body protesting spitefully.

Gan slid gracefully down a rope on the far side of the clearing, and then paused in surprise when he saw Gawain at the table. He strode across the clearing, and sat opposite the warrior, eyeing the hilt of the longsword with a mixture of curiosity and awe.

"Good day, Traveller."

"Good day, Gan. There is a chill in the air this morning."

"I had not noticed." Gan announced, concerned, "Perhaps you should have waited another day before rising?"

"No. I cannot lay a-bed while all around me are enjoying the sunshine. Tell me, friend Gan, I have lost track of time, is autumn upon us?"

"Not yet, though the silvertrees make their preparations for that season."

Gawain glanced around the glade, but all was green and lush. No sign of red and gold, or browning leaves. He sighed, gratefully. Summer this year was a long one. Perhaps winter would not be fierce this year.

Softer footfalls drew Gawain's attention, and he glanced to his left. Elayeen, her hair shimmering in the morning light, strode towards them, her eyes wide and fixed on Gawain's. She looked every bit as beautiful as the first night he'd seen her.

"Good day, Traveller." she said sweetly, approaching the table.

Gawain started to struggle to his feet, but Elayeen hurried to place a hand on his shoulder.

"You are about too soon, I fear." She said, easing him back onto the bench seat.

"I have become unused to my own company of late, my lady Elayeen." Gawain replied as she sat next to him, and earned a curious glance from Gan.

"Still, you should not rush your recovery. The see-eelan will not be pleased."

"The see-eelan?"

"My apologies. The healers."

"Ah."

"You have seen your horse?" Elayeen asked.

"Yes."

"I hope you are not offended, the children are fond of her."

"No, I am not offended. I am more grateful than you could know that she has been so well tended."

While they ate, Gawain became acutely aware that he was being studied by all around him. Elayeen seemed to be trying to hide the small glances she cast his way. Gan was frank in studying not only Gawain, but also his sister. Other elves at table gazed at the warrior with a mixture of curiosity and awe; they'd heard of his ferocious battle on the grasslands at the edge of their forest.

But it was the two elven whitebeards, loitering at the edge of the clearing, who regarded Gawain with obvious hostility. It rankled. Their dark looks cast a pall on the warmth of the morning, and the closeness Gawain felt to those around him.

"This is the glade to which I brought you, my lady, so long ago? I scarcely recognise it."

"It is. We are some distance south from where you fell. There is another province north of where you did battle, but our scouts brought you straight here."

"I must thank them."

"There is no need," Gan announced, pushing away his plate, "And besides, they patrol to the west now, and are not of this province."

"Your name commands respect, friend Gan." Gawain fished, wondering at the elf's official standing.

Gan flicked a quick glance at Elayeen and then at the distant whitebeards before answering. It was not lost on Gawain.

"I am…thal, of this province."

"Then honour to you, Gan-thal." Gawain smiled, his regal inscrutability coming to the fore.

"Thank you." Gan acknowledged, and then stood. "I have duties. We will speak later."

And with that, he left, with a final glance at his sister.

Gawain saw that she had finished her breakfast, and was about to speak when movement caught his eye. One of the whitebeards at the edge of the glade was walking away, following Gan. The other remained, glaring at Elayeen and Gawain.

"I should like to try and walk a little," Gawain smiled.

"So soon?" she asked, her eyes sparkling in the sunshine.

"My muscles are killing me. The only cure for that is exercise. Will you walk with me, my lady, and show me your home?"

She smiled, and her eyes seemed to glow. "Yes, but only for a short time. You should not tax yourself so soon."

"Just around the glade then. And I should greet Gwyn. If I don't tell her how ugly she is from time to time, she becomes vain. All those ribbons and braids will probably make her impossible."

Elayeen frowned. "Shall I tell the children to remove them, then?"

"No," Gawain chuckled, "Forgive me. I have had little practice with humour lately, and it was a poor attempt."

Elayeen stared at him. "Yes. You have suffered much since last we met."

Gawain shrugged, trying to force the terrible memories away, but the only way to do so was to attempt to rise from the bench, and allow the pains and aches to do battle for his attention. They won.

Elayeen assisted him as best she could, and slipped her arm through his before they set off, walking very slowly, across the glade.

Gawain glanced down, and noted that she'd braided the black strands in her hair, so that the lustrous strands hung like a Raheen bowstring.

"Do you wish to rest?" she asked, suddenly concerned.

"No. I was trying to remember. I am sure there was no black in your hair when first we met."

"You studied me so closely then?"

Gawain felt a warm flush, something he hadn't felt in long time. "I did, my lady."

Elayeen smiled. "You are correct. This mark is recent."

"Mark?"

Elayeen frowned, as if struggling to find the right words. "It shows I am become Ithroth."

"I don't understand. What is Ithroth?"

Elayeen gazed up at him, and again he saw the strange mixture of yearning and sadness. She was about to speak, and it seemed to Gawain that a thousand words would flood from her lips, but a harsh voice rasped across the glade.

"Elayeen-thalin!"

Her head snapped around, and she stared at the wizard glowering at her. Then she cast her eyes downward, as if ashamed.

Gawain tensed, ignoring the aches and twinges that shuddered through him. He too glared at the wizard, as if to say "You are close to offending me, whitebeard, very very close."

The wizard held his gaze for a few moments, but then broke the contact.

"I do not like whitebeards." Gawain said softly.

"Nor I." Elayeen whispered, and when she looked up, there was pain, and ineffable sorrow in her glistening eyes.

15. Parting

Days passed, and Gawain clung to Elayeen as she did to him. Gawain did not know why the elfin seemed so happy to be with him, yet so terribly sad at the same time. He knew why he looked forward to her company though. Looking into those large hazel-green eyes kept the memories of Raheen, and Ramoths, at bay.

Elvendere was every bit as serene as his homeland once was. No wonder the elves guarded it so jealously. They didn't have the geographical advantages of a high and impregnable plateau to shield them from the rest of the downland world.

Yet no Ramoths ventured near. No Black Riders thundered remorselessly through the forest. It was puzzling.

What was irritating, intensely to Gawain, was the constant shadow of the whitebeard that followed Elayeen whenever she was in Gawain's company.

They spoke long as they walked around the forest province. From Elayeen, Gawain learned a little of Elvendere's history, and more of their language. From her, he learned how near to death he'd lain for so long.

He told her of his memories, of fire and ice, and pain, though he spoke not of the comfort her beauty provided when his eyes had flashed open in delirium. She smiled, and said that the ice must be from the medicine they called "Eeelan t'oth," a powerful medicine prepared by the elven healers to reduce fever and pain.

"Did I speak, in my madness?" Gawain asked on one of their walks.

"Yes. A little." she replied, blushing.

"What did I say?"

She paused, and gazed up at him. "You called my name. Many times."

"Did I say nothing else?"

"Nothing else." And then she looked away, with that same sadness in her expression.

It beat on the stone of his heart and would've shattered it, given enough time. But always the sword on his back, and Gwyn, and the similarity between Elvendere and the Forest of Calne in his homeland reminded Gawain who he was, and what he had become.

Soon Gawain too used the ropes to descend to the glade from his room in the trees. And when the scars on his leg were little more than red and puckered welts, it was increasingly obvious that his health and strength were fully recovered.

Elayeen knew it, and so, it seemed, did the whitebeards, for they grew even more attentive in their surveillance. Gawain could cheerfully have slaughtered them, and it was only the serenity of Elvendere and his fear of offending Elayeen that prevented him from doing so.

Once, he saw other elves with black braids in the hair, the same as Elayeen's. They were a couple, elf and elfin, strolling hand-in-hand through the woods, laughing with one another. Gawain frowned, and then a cold fist seemed to squeeze the last of the blood from his frozen heart.

It must mean, he thought, that Elayeen was married. In Callodon, it was the custom for married men and women to wear silver bracelets on their right wrists. In Juria, they wore gold rings. Perhaps here in Elvendere, they wore lustrous black braids in their hair.

The elfin, holding his arm as ever while they walked, seemed to sense the coldness rushing through Gawain, but misunderstood the reason for it.

"You are leaving soon?" she gasped, staring up at him, her eyes wide with fear and sorrow.

"Yes," he replied, gazing away into the trees. "I must. Autumn fast approaches, and I must be in Threlland before winter's grip."

She paused, and in spite of the warning cough from the ever-present watching whitebeard, she took both of Gawain's hands in hers, and stared down at them.

"Will you return?"

"Will I be welcome?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes."

"Then," Gawain said, gently letting go her left hand and tilting her chin up, "If I am able, I shall return."

A single tear slipped down her cheek, and she blinked.

"Soon?"

"If I am able." He said again, and she smiled sadly, and looked away.

Next day, early, tearful children watched as Gawain saddled Gwyn and made his preparations to leave. Gan stood by, arms folded, quietly watching as elves handed Gawain bags of provisions for his journey.

When all was packed and ready, Gawain patted Gwyn on the neck. "Go on, you daft lump. Go say goodbye to your friends."

The horse nodded, and strode forward, bobbing her head at the small group of children in the middle of the clearing. Gawain scanned the gathering of elves, but Elayeen was nowhere in sight.

Gan strode forward, and held out his hand. "Good journeys, friend Traveller. You are always welcome here."

"Thank you, Gan-thal. You and your people have been kind, and I am proud to call all here mi frith."

"You are learning."

"I have had a patient teacher, my friend. I had hoped to see Elayeen before I go."

Gan looked pained. "It would cause her much pain. She is become Ithroth…"

"Gan-thal! Nai!" a familiar voice called.

"I swear by my sword," Gawain muttered coldly, still clasping Gan's hand but staring at the wizard, "one day I will cleave that bastard whitebeard clean in two."

Gan shuddered. "They serve Elvendere."

"They serve themselves, and ever have done. But I would not part from you or your people with anger in my heart. Fare well, Gan-thal mi frith, honour to you."

"Honour to you, Traveller."

"Please tell Elayeen to remember the words I spoke yesterday."

Gan looked hopeful for a few moments. "May I ask what words you spoke?"

"I shall return. If I am able."

Gan nodded, and though the hope subsided a little, its embers remained as he watched Gawain call Gwyn forward, and then set off east through the trees.

On his walk through the forest, Gawain stooped to pick up lumps of flint, and these he slipped into a sack on Gwyn's saddle. The three dozen arrows the elves had given him were tipped with steel, and if Black Riders lay between Elvendere and Threlland, they would be of no use. It would be a long journey, though not as long at that undertaken with the heavily-laden caravan in company with Rak. He would use the evenings to fashion Raheen stone tips.

He felt eyes on him as he approached the eastern tree line, but he knew none belonged to Elayeen. At the fringes of the Jurian plain he paused, hoping that she might appear from the trees to bid him a final farewell, but no-one came. With a sigh, he gazed out across the plain, and then turned his eyes north.

"Hai, Gwyn." He called softly, and mounted. "We must bid farewell to Elvendere, you ugly nag. It is time to remind Ramoth and Morloch that we yet live."

Gwyn bobbed her head and snorted, seeming to agree. A slight noise caught their attention, and Gawain spun around in the saddle, hoping to see Elayeen behind him. But his heart hardened and his lips pressed thin and cruel.

"What do you want, whitebeard?" He spat.

"To see you gone from Elvendere."

"Then watch as I go. And hold your breath for my return, for return I shall."

The whitebeard grimaced. "I shall not hold my breath for so long a time. Where you go, there is no returning."

"The same was once said to me about Elvendere, yet twice I have passed this way. You offend me, whitebeard. Take great care not to do it again."

"What I do, I do for Elvendere."

"What you do is nothing, and nothing good. I shall look for you on my return."

The wizard smirked, but there was fear in his eyes as well. Gawain turned his gaze back to the plains. And after a final glance around the trees, they set off.

16. Morloch's Warning

They were still within sight of Elvendere when Gwyn whinnied, and lost her stride, and slowed fretfully.

Gawain scanned the horizon all around them. Nothing but the distant tree line that marked Elvendere to the west. Then a darkness began shimmering in front of them, some ten paces away.

Gwyn let out a screeching whinny, and began backing away. Gawain unsheathed the longsword, staring at the small blackness that seemed to waver in front of them. Slowly it began to take shape, long and thin, and then the form began to crystallise.

Gawain leapt from the saddle, and advanced cautiously in spite of Gwyn's warnings.

The thing became a shape, and became almost a man. As tall as Gawain, dressed in blackness, a long black cloak, or perhaps a shroud, which shimmered. The head atop the vision was round, and loathsome. Completely bald, the skin stained and mottled with black blotches. Thin blackened lips, held in a perpetual sneer. And black eyes, no whites to them at all, no pupils.

"You vex me." it said, shimmering, and Gawain swung his sword vainly, for he could see it was a vision, the landscape still faintly visible through the apparition.

It laughed, mirthlessly. "Futile. You cannot harm me."

"What are you?"

"Know you not? In truth?"

"I see a vile apparition, with bad teeth. I will not grace such dark imaginings with a name."

"Imagining? Know you not what power I possess, merely to appear to you thus? No. You do not. Else you would cower, and beg mercy!"

"Beg mercy, from a daylight shade? I would as much beg mercy from my own shadow."

"I am Morloch. Now shall you beg."

"Morloch!" Gawain spat on the ground. "Filth. I come for you."

"Foolish. You shall never cross the Teeth. You are nothing. Yet, you vex me. Why?"

"You offend me."

Again the apparition laughed. "Futility. If the high noon sun should burn your skin, thus offending you, what then?"

"You are neither sun nor moon. If Morloch you be, then you shall feel my blade."

"Your prattling bores me. You are nothing. Vex me no more, nothing, or feel my Breath."

"I shall feel your breath, Morloch, as you gasp your last, I shall be there, twisting the blade in your foul guts!"

The apparition shimmered, and began to fade.

"I warn you, nothing, you shall not cross the Teeth. Set foot on the farak gorin, and I shall destroy you."

Then the blackness shimmered once more, and was gone.

Gwyn stepped forward a pace, her bright blue eyes confused, looking around.

"You saw it too then, Ugly? I thought I was mad." Gawain muttered, studying the ground around them. There was no sign that anything other than the breeze had tickled the grass, let alone stood upon it.

"Dark wizardry". Gawain mumbled with a sigh, and mounted.

But he could not deny the pounding of his heart nor the sweat that ran at his temples. He had not known such terror since the day he and Gwyn crested the Downland Pass at Raheen.

With a cry, he gave Gwyn free rein, and they thundered across the plain, fleeing from the dreadful spot.

That night, when he made camp, he set about making his stone arrow-points with a haste that bordered on desperation. The evenings were drawing in, and he was still some days' fast ride from the region where he'd first met Rak and his party. A year ago, with time on his hands and no desire to rush from adventure to danger, he had allowed Gwyn to amble on their journey north. Now he had a dread purpose, and wanted to waste no time reaching Tarn. Once there, he would await Allazar's arrival if the wizard hadn't already reached that gentle dwarven town before him, and then set off for the Teeth.

Somewhere there must be a pass, or a route across the mountains. How else were the Ramoth emissaries entering the southlands?

Morloch must be there. And Ramoth. Cut off the snake's head, and the body dies. So Gawain hoped. If he could destroy one or the other, or both, then all the lands would be free. Justice and vengeance for Raheen would serve also to liberate the downland kingdoms.

Why he now considered the other lands he did not know. Perhaps his time in Elvendere, in serene surrounds and gentle company, had left a mark upon his heart, smoothed some of the edges as he was smoothing the razor-sharp points while he fitted them to elven shafts.

Perhaps. Elayeen haunted him, and called forth memories of happier times in Raheen. His first kiss, the first time he'd held hands…he cut his finger on a shard of flint and it served to bring him back to the present.

He must forget Elayeen, and Elvendere. At least for now. He could not face black riders, or Ramoth, or Morloch, if a part of him feared death, if his courage failed him. And it would if he permitted foolish youth and yearning to tug at his conscience. He must be like the black riders he had faced. Single-minded, relentless, utterly careless of death.

He finished fitting the cruel stone points to his arrows, and then drew the longsword, to clean it. In the failing light, he noted strange black stains on the blade, deep within the steel, and they would not rub away. No matter, they did not dull the edges of the weapon, which remained sharp and straight.

He remembered Raheen. As it was before his Banishment, and as it was now. The coldness in his chest spread like the chill of elven Eeelan-t'oth, cooling his blood, freezing his heart, darkening his visage. The terror he had felt on seeing Morloch's apparition was swept away by his resolve.

I am Longsword, he thought, realising that everyone in Elvendere had called him by his old name, Traveller, a name from a bygone time, a bygone life. And I come for you, Morloch. I shall vex you until the very moment I destroy you.

He thought more about Morloch's warning as he continued north-west. Why had it been issued? Gawain knew little of wizardry, dark or otherwise, but imagined it must take a great deal of power to transmit such an apparition such a vast distance. In all his travels and all his years, he had never heard of whitebeards appearing thus, except in dreams.

More, how did Morloch know that Gawain yet lived? Could the black riders somehow communicate with their dark creator? It didn't make sense. If that were true, then Morloch could have appeared at any time while Gawain recovered in Elvendere. Why wait until he had left that place?

Gawain could find no ready answers, only more questions. They buzzed around inside his head like angry hornets, and in the end he had to dismiss them all, and take comfort in the fact that Morloch had appeared at all.

It meant only one thing. Gawain's allies, fear and terror, had struck a chord within the dark wizard. In the weeks while Gawain had struggled with Death in Elvendere, something of importance must have happened in the land. Something important enough to rile the wizard lurking far beyond the Teeth. Gawain would ask Allazar when they met at Threlland. If anyone might know, then it should be he. He had, if he'd obeyed Gawain's request, travelled the eastern kingdoms after leaving Juria.

There was, of course, always the slim possibility that the destruction of the black riders was what so galled Morloch as to force his appearance, and the expenditure of so much magic to do so. Gawain had expected to encounter more of them as he hurried across the plains, but he saw no-one save for Jurian herdsmen, who ignored him.

One question remained though, and refused to be chased away. How did Morloch know where to find Gawain at all?

17. Friends

At the border-crossing between Juria and Mornland, Gawain was greeted with the same awe and nervous attention he'd received when he crossed from Callodon into Juria, but this time no lancers thundered into view.

Rather than simply crossing the river with the small groups of travellers and merchants, Gawain dismounted, and approached a worried-looking Jurian guardsman.

"Well met." Gawain said quietly.

"Well met, Serre." the guard replied nervously, anxiously looking to his colleagues for support. None came.

"How fares Juria?"

"The Crown?"

"Aye."

"He fares well, Serre. He is much recovered from his illness, last we heard."

"I am glad. This is good news. And the land?"

"The land? It is as was, Serre."

"You have heard no news of any import?"

"No Serre…uhm, about what?"

"The Ramoths?"

The guard glowered, and spat. "They still come through, in small parties, but their escorts increase. There is little we can do about them."

Gawain nodded, but felt suddenly depressed. He had hoped to hear that Juria had slain every Ramoth in the kingdom, and that it was this that had so vexed Morloch.

"Well. Thank you, guardsman, for your time."

"Good journeys, Serre."

Gawain mounted, and the guard stepped forward, hesitantly.

"Serre?"

"Aye."

"You are he, Serre? The Longsword? The one who fires the towers and lays waste to the Ramoths?"

"I am he."

The guard looked suddenly relieved.

"Why ask you?"

The guardsmen looked sheepish. "We heard you were dead, Serre." One said.

Gawain snorted. "Not yet. I still have much to do. You might mention it to the next Ramoth procession that passes this way."

They grinned, and Gawain eased Gwyn forward into the river.

There was no point asking the Mornlander guardsmen the same question. The two sides were friendly, and even before he crested the rise into Mornland, he glanced over his shoulder and saw the Jurian guardsmen wading across the river to share the news with their Mornlander counterparts.

The land seemed somehow cheerless as Gawain rode on towards Threlland. Gone was the sense of wellbeing he'd noticed here before, when Karl and Rak had ragged him about Mornland cider and wine. Instead, the gentle folk Gawain passed looked more like distant kin of the Callodons at Jarn. Heads bowed, eyes filled with fear and suspicion, no cheer or greeting for a stranger.

He did received a few strange looks from travellers and farmers he passed on the roads, and he assumed that word of his description had travelled ahead of him. In the middle of dense shrubland, he paused and drew out the map Callodon had given him. Perhaps he had time to light a beacon of hope along the way, and lift the spirits of Mornlanders a little.

He considered it. If word had indeed spread that Gawain was dead, the Ramoth would be complacent in their arrogance, their grip tighter about the throats of the people. Yet Morloch knew he was alive. Perhaps it was the Ramoths themselves who spread such morbid rumours, in an attempt to quell any rising spirit that might range against them.

On the other hand, if he slew a Ramoth Emissary, then his presence in Mornland would be known. Black riders might be sent against him here…

He snorted in derision. Dangerous thinking. What did he care for black riders, or the Ramoths? If Morloch could find him in all the land, what did it matter if he stood before an eye-amulet at the top of a dark tower? Morloch was trying to use the same tactics as Gawain himself had employed. Fear, and terror. Well. Gawain was not afraid, and the terror he'd felt in Juria was short-lived. It was time to vex the dark wizard again, for the Mornland town of Jubek was but half a day's fast ride east of this hill, and there was a tower there needed attention…

The tower had indeed been poorly defended. Perhaps the Ramoths thought they had no need of protection from the timid Mornlanders that lived and farmed in Jubek, or perhaps the mercenaries guarding the compound were simply the worst of a bad bunch.

Gawain attacked under cover of darkness, but only because night had fallen by the time he arrived at the outskirts of town. With so few guardsmen in the compound he had little need of stealth, but he practised it anyway; he needed the exercise and had been too long flat on his back recuperating.

The Ramoth Emissary was a woman, and she blanched when Gawain strode into her chamber and quickly despatched the two naked and vacuous women attending her.

"You are dead!" the emissary gasped, the eye-amulet between her naked and blood-spattered breasts opening.

"Hardly. I told you I was coming, and my word on it."

"This cannot be! It cannot be!" the woman screamed, and Gawain cut her down.

Riding away from the burning compound and into the night, he couldn't decide what had been in her eyes before she died. Fear, certainly. But there was shock there, too. The more he thought about it, the more he thought he understood. They believed him dead. Perhaps because someone they trusted had told them so. Perhaps that someone was Ramoth, or Morloch. To see proof of a god's lie standing before them would indeed be a shock to the Ramoths. A very great shock indeed. Maybe that was why Morloch was so vexed.

Gawain grinned mercilessly in the darkness as he rode for Threlland. What price his allies of fear and terror now? Now that the emissaries throughout the kingdoms knew the Longsword warrior was alive and well and as bloodthirsty as ever? Priceless.

At the bottom of the western slopes of Threlland, Gawain sat on his horse wrapped in his cloak, waiting for the approaching riders. There was a chill in the air and it had rained in the early hours. Autumn was upon them at last, and the heat was fading from the noon sun with each passing day.

When the dwarf patrol drew nearer a cry went up from one of them, and they raced forward, waving and cheering. Gawain recognised them.

"Traveller! Well met!" they cried, and leaned from saddles to shake his hand.

"Well met, my friends. Is all well in Tarn?"

"Aye, all is well! Shall we ride ahead, and spread news of your arrival?"

"No," Gawain smiled, "I think I should like to surprise my old friends. Is Rak still in Tarn?"

"He is, Traveller. Though now you go by another name, we hear?"

"I do."

"Then we shall call you Longsword also. There is one in Tarn who spoke highly of you."

"Spoke?"

"Speaks still. We heard you were dead, but none would believe it save for the wizard."

"Ah. Then Allazar is here?"

"He is. A strange one, that, even for a whitebeard. Were it not for his claim to be your ally, we'd have thrown him out on his ear days ago."

"I might yet myself." Gawain grunted.

"Well met, friend Longsword. It is good to see you again."

"Aye, and you, and Tarn. I have fond memories of my time here."

"And more to come. We'll leave you to make your own way. Rumour has it that someone fired the Ramoth Tower three days ride south, in Jubek. We're keeping an eye open for any fool Ramoths stupid enough to wish to cross our lands en route there."

Gawain grinned again. "Does the tower still stand on the far side of these hills?"

"It does," the dwarf guardsman winked, "But not for very much longer I suspect."

Gawain smiled cruelly, and eased Gwyn forward onto the track. When he crested the rise and the track became cobbles, he paused a moment longer. He had no wish to bring darkness into the lives of those who had welcomed him so openly before. But that was before Raheen, and Morloch. Now, he needed those friends, come what may. He hoped they would understand.

Gwyn's hooves clopped on the cobbles as they rode into the main square, and then the cries and calls went up around the town…

A familiar door was flung open in the stone house at the far side of the square, and a familiar figure stepped out into the street.

Gawain broke into a trot, and came to a halt in front of the smiling dwarf.

"Well met, friend Rak."

"Well met, brother," Rak smiled, "And welcome home."

18. Farak Gorin

"You have journeyed far?" Rak asked as Gawain settled into a chair, gratefully accepting a mug of mulled wine from a smiling Merrin.

"From Elvendere."

Rak smiled. "My friend, when first we met you were the only human I knew who could make that claim. Now we meet a second time, and a second time you have survived the forest."

"The elves are not so bad. Though some," Gawain remembered the wizard at the woodland's edge, "Some are worse than others."

"You look tired." Merrin said softly.

"I rode all night."

"Then I shall prepare your room for you, and leave you to talk."

"Thank you."

"For nothing. It is good to see you well. Travak will be delighted to know his uncle is here, when he awakens."

Gawain noted the glow in Merrin's eyes, and asked "My namesake is well?"

"Yes," she smiled, a little sadly, "But your namesake perhaps no longer. The wizard has told us much since his arrival in Tarn."

"My Lady," Rak chided softly, "Our brother is tired."

"Of course…” Merrin nodded, and left the room.

Gawain sat quietly sipping his wine, listening to the sounds from the square beyond the windows. It was still early, but already the traders were setting up their stalls.

"This wizard Allazar," Rak said suddenly, "He speaks of a great warrior, consumed by hatred for the Ramoths. At first we scarcely believed it could be the same Traveller we knew."

Gawain sighed. "It is I."

"What has come to pass, my friend? It is hard for me to conceive how so noble a man can become so consumed."

"Now is not the time, Rak. It may never be the time. But I am he. The Traveller you knew is long dead, and I am become Longsword."

Rak nodded slowly, sadly. "Then I mourn my old friend, and welcome my new friend also. But with misgiving, for I suspect your presence here has more to do with your new blade than your old love of Tarn."

Gawain sighed. "It does. And I must not stay long. Morloch stalks me, and his black riders may come at any time."

Rak's eyebrows arched. "His black riders guard the farak gorin, and have done these last weeks. When the wizard Allazar spoke of you, when we were told of your death, we took the whitebeard up to the point, and showed him the farak gorin. We showed him the three masked demons that stood at the edge of the river of nothing.

"'There,' we said, 'there are your black riders. Traveller is not dead, else why would they wait so patiently?' He could not answer. Still they await you. Some of our patrols have passed close by, and those vile creatures have moved not a muscle. They wait, my friend, for you alone."

"They will not have to wait long." Gawain replied, draining his mug.

Rak sighed. "As I suspected. You go to the Teeth."

"I must."

"Is there nothing will persuade you against this madness?"

"No. Forgive me, my friend."

"Then I shall send word of your arrival to the inn, although I suspect it is already known throughout all Threlland by now. Allazar is there. We would not let him leave."

Gawain glanced up as Rak rose, and shot him an inquisitive look. Rak smiled.

"Well, we couldn't have some whitebeard running around Threlland telling everyone you were dead, could we?"

Gawain smiled, and imagined the wizard's discomfort at being held captive in so friendly a place. The inn was perhaps the most accommodating prison in the land.

While Rak was away, Gawain closed his eyes, allowing himself to relax a little. Gwyn was well-tended in the stable at the rear of the house, he was surrounded by his friends. He was tired, and could easily sleep. But now was not the time. The Teeth loomed large in the distance, perhaps a day and a night's brisk walk across the harsh and spiteful cinders of the farak gorin wasteland. He was too close for the luxury of rest. And his friends were too close to him.

A short time later, Gawain heard the door open, and Rak stepped into the room, a wide-eyed Allazar close on his heels.

"Does he not look well for a dead man, wizard?" Rak grinned.

"Longsword!" Allazar gasped. "It is true! You live!"

"I do, whitebeard."

"But the black riders…"

"They do not."

Allazar sank into a chair, his face at once a mixture of joy and stunned amazement. Merrin looked in, and raised a questioning eyebrow at her husband, who simply smiled reassuringly. She closed the door, and moments later they heard noises from the kitchen as she began preparing breakfast.

"Here you sit, Longsword, but still I doubt my senses." Allazar sighed, and shook his head.

"But for the elves, I would have perished. But rumours of my death are premature."

"But for the elves?"

"I was struck by a shaft. Those cursed riders tip their weapons with Elve’s Blood."

Rak grimaced.

"Evil is never honourable." Allazar announced.

"All violence is seldom honourable." Rak said softly, staring at Gawain, "Though sometimes it is necessary."

Gawain nodded. "That is why I am here. This tide of vile Ramoths must be turned. And it must be stemmed at its source."

"You will never survive the Teeth, my friend." Allazar asserted.

"Morloch said as much himself."

Rak gasped, eyes wide with shock. "You have seen Morloch?"

"I have."

Allazar folded his arms into the sleeves of his robes. "We have all had such dreams, Longsword. They seldom presage real events."

"This was no dream, Allazar. This was morning, on the Jurian Plains, but a short ride from the edge of Elvendere's southern province, and Gwyn saw him too. He spoke."

Allazar's arms shot out of his sleeves and he leapt to his feet, his words an excited torrent. "He appeared? In truth, Longsword, he appeared how? Spoke how? What did he say? What were his words, how did he look?"

Gawain described the visitation in detail. Allazar sank back into his chair.

"Astounding," the wizard almost whispered, "The power! Such a distance!"

"What does this mean?" Rak asked.

"Mean?" Allazar gasped, "It means a great deal! Do you not see? Morloch is all but spent, exhausted from the destruction of Raheen. Yet he casts himself clear across the Teeth to Juria, to Longsword! Can you imagine the energy that required? Oh how you must vex him, Longsword, how you must vex him! This is astounding. I had estimated him spent, yet he summons the energy to create the black riders! After that, I had thought him exhausted beyond recovery, but now this! His powers must be all but lost completely!"

"Or," Rak pointed out, "Considerably greater than you had first imagined."

Allazar stared at the dwarf for a moment, and then shook his head. "No, you cannot understand. You don't understand the energies involved." Then he turned to Longsword. "Oh how you must have vexed him!"

"I find that word increasingly irritating." Gawain sighed, unimpressed with whitebeard talk. "It matters not whether he is exhausted, or whether he possesses energy in abundance. I go to the Teeth. If I find him, I shall destroy him. And this so-called 'god' Ramoth."

"You may not need to, Longsword." Allazar looked suddenly excited, and there was hope in Rak's eyes. "If I can assemble the brethren, if I can persuade them to form council, we can bind Morloch forever…"

"If." Gawain interrupted. "I have no faith in whitebeards. And I shall not wait while you waste a lifetime attempting to persuade your kind to listen to you, and gather, and mumble, and gaze at the stars or whatever it is you do. You forget, Allazar, your brethren hold you in little regard."

Allazar stared at Gawain for a dozen heartbeats, and then sank back in his chair, defeated.

"Besides," Gawain said softly, "I have need of you."

"Of me?" The wizard sat up again, suddenly alarmed.

"Of you. And of my friends here in Tarn."

"We shall do all we can, if we are able." Rak responded without hesitation.

"Me?" Allazar said again, but was spared Gawain's reply by Merrin's appearance announcing that breakfast was ready.

While they were eating, Merrin fetched a sleepy-eyed Travak from his bed, and proudly presented him at table. Gawain smiled, and received a bashful grin in return from the infant who then giggled and buried his face in his mother's shoulder.

"He is strong," Rak said proudly, "And will grow into a fine man."

"How could he not, with such a fine father?" Merrin smiled.

Gawain studied the remains on his plate, trying to force memories of Raheen and Morloch to the back of his mind. There had been many strong infants in his homeland, and many proud parents. Doubtless they too had once voiced such convictions.

Allazar noted Gawain's reaction, and deftly steered the conversation to Threlland and its inhabitants.

"Do you know, Longsword," he said, "I fear I would have been held prisoner here in Tarn the rest of my days, had you not arrived. I fear my robes scarcely fit, so generous are my gaolers."

Gawain smiled, and finished his meal. "Had I known you were incarcerated on my account, I might have been tempted to stay away."

Rak laughed. "He does not like wizards."

"With good reason, of late." Gawain scowled, but it was difficult to hold the expression with Travak gurgling and giggling.

"I must dress him for the day," Merrin announced, and rose from the table.

They watched her go, and as sunshine blazed through the window, Gawain stood, and suggested they take to the garden, to talk.

It was a glorious day, leaves on the trees edged with golden brown, and though the breezes were cool, there was yet no hint of the winter to come even in these high lands. But the Teeth loomed over them, to the north, and Gawain was filled with resolution when they sat on a bench out of earshot of the house.

"What do you intend?" Rak asked, his voice sombre.

"I must go there. I must find the source, and destroy it if I can."

"Madness." Allazar confirmed.

Rak nodded. "My friend, there is something I must tell you. News which you may not find welcome."

"Then tell me. The news may not be welcome, but the bearer of it always shall be."

Rak sighed. "We are bound by a duty, here in Threlland. In spite of this wizard's appeal to our king, in spite of his assurances of Morloch's weakness, all Threllanders are forbidden to impede the Ramoths, or to raise arms against them. It is the king's order, and we must obey."

Gawain shrugged. "It is the same in Juria, and Callodon. What of Mornland, and Arrun? How fare they?"

Allazar grimaced. "Of all, Threlland fares the best."

"Not true," Gawain said softly. "Elvendere remains untouched by this blight."

"In truth?"

"So it appeared to me. And I was there a goodly time. No vile black towers rise above their trees."

"They are fortunate, then." Rak said earnestly.

"Longsword, I did as you bade me. I have spoken to all the crowns south of the Teeth. But they are all resolved. None will openly defy the Ramoths, not since Raheen. But in secret, they hope."

"For what?"

"For you. That you will ride into their land, and sweep away this curse with one stroke of your blade."

"Then they hope in vain on that score." Gawain yawned. He was tired, it had been a long journey, and at a swift pace. "I go to the Teeth."

"You are a beacon to them," Rak asserted. "While they will not risk their lands, they know from Callodon and Juria that no retribution follows your deeds. That is why I think the Ramoths were at such pains to announce your death."

"Aye." Allazar agreed. "It was the Ramoth emissaries themselves began spreading such dark news. I was in Mornland's castle town, in the square, when a Ramoth guard nailed the news to the protectorate's doors. All around, I saw faces fall, shoulders slump, hope fade and die. It is as Rak says, you are a beacon to them. Perhaps that is why you vex Morloch so."

"Nevertheless," Gawain said coldly, "I am but one man. I cannot spend my whole life travelling from tower to tower, slaying emissaries. Already I have no doubt that the sickening edifice in Juria's castle town has been rebuilt. And in Callodon, too. I am but one, and the Ramoths are legion. If the flow from the Teeth is not stemmed, I am doomed to failure. If no-one else will light their torch from my beacon, it is a hopeless quest."

Rak frowned. "But how will you find the source? The Teeth are impassable. We know, my friend. We have lived all our generations this close to them."

"There must be a breach. How else do the Ramoth emissaries come south?"

"You could spend a lifetime looking for it."

"No. Morloch himself has given me the clue. The darkness, that would draw down the very sun. That is the source."

Allazar shuddered, but it was not cold. Gawain noticed, as did Rak.

"I shall go with you." Rak said softly. "I know this land."

"No." Gawain said firmly, perhaps too firmly, for the dwarf flinched, and looked pained. "Besides, I have other tasks for you, my friend."

"Very well. If it is important to your cause."

"It is."

"Then I shall not go with you."

"Nor shall I, Longsword. I cannot." Allazar said, his voice ragged.

Gawain studied the wizard. "You and I shall talk privately. Later. But friend Rak, I think I shall avail myself of the room that Merrin has kindly prepared for me."

"Of course."

"In the meantime, I should like you to make inquiries?"

Rak looked up expectantly. "Of course."

"You once mentioned that miners had found nothing but hard stone and pain at the Teeth. Perhaps some yet live that remember?"

"If they do, I shall find them. May I ask why?"

Gawain stood. "It is simple. If the Teeth are impassable, then the Ramoths cannot be coming over them. If not over, then under. Or through."

Rak nodded.

"And you, Allazar. I shall meet you before sunset, up at the point, overlooking the farak gorin."

"I shall be there. But Longsword, I cannot go with you to the Teeth."

"We shall talk later."

Gawain left them in the garden, and went to his room. It was as he remembered it, and the bed of soft furs and skins reminded him of Elvendere. But he must set all that aside now, as he set aside the longsword, propping it against the wall before he sank onto the bed and closed his eyes.

Rak was out when he awoke later in the afternoon, and after a hasty but satisfying lunch of bread and cold meats prepared by Merrin, Gawain left the house by the back door, and made his way to the point. Allazar was already there, sitting on a boulder, gazing at the Teeth, and at the farak gorin.

"You look like a frightened child." Gawain announced softly, and Allazar span around.

"Longsword! I did not hear you approach."

"I have been too long in Elvendere. They walk softly there.” Gawain sat beside the wizard, and followed his gaze out across the wasteland below them.

"See those dots, darker than the rest of the farak gorin?" Allazar remarked.

"I do."

"They wait for you."

"Three black riders on foot are no trial worthy of the name. They are slow, weighed down by their armour. They will make but short work. But that is not what frightens you, is it, whitebeard?"

"I wish you wouldn't call me that, Longsword. I am your friend, and I have a name."

"You are a wizard. Just because I haven't killed you yet doesn't make you a friend. Tell me about that." Gawain nodded towards the Teeth, where an occasional shimmering blackness could be seen.

"It is said to be an illusion, caused by refraction…"

"I don't care for whitebeard lies. I know different, as do you. You remember the tower at Juria? The poison? Aquamire, you said. And you said it was aquamire that gave the black riders life. When I slew those riders, great jets of blackness blasted from them. The same blackness I saw when Morloch appeared. The same blackness I see now, shimmering faintly from the Teeth."

Allazar fiddled with the hem of his sleeves, and gazed off into the distance.

Gawain waited a few moments longer, but his patience had limits, and this was important.

"Tell me, wizard, or offend me. The latter is a course I do not recommend."

Allazar nodded, but would not meet Gawain's eyes.

"Aquamire. I shall not tell you how it is prepared. I cannot. It is too vile, too evil…" the wizard sighed, and seemed pained beyond description. "There is an energy in all living things. It is difficult to describe. Wizards use this energy, manipulate it, divert it, transmute it…it is difficult to describe. Observe…"

The wizard stood, and plucked a leafy twig from a nearby tree. The leaves were edged with reddish brown, autumnal shades. Allazar held the twig, and began a gentle chanting, his free hand making patterns in the air. As Gawain watched, the leaves seemed to grow lush, greener, and the tints of autumn were driven back from their edges like a tide receding.

Allazar let out a huge sigh, and handed the twig to Gawain. "That was tiring, and took much energy. With aquamire, I could drive autumn from the entire tree. With enough aquamire, I could drive autumn from all Elvendere. Or raze that mighty forest to ashes."

"Like Raheen."

"Like Raheen."

"Then while you and your brethren this side of the Teeth have to be content with party tricks, Morloch bathes in a lake of this aquamire and lays waste to entire lands. With so much aquamire there, I would have thought I'd have to fight my way through hordes of wizards to get to Morloch, not watch them scuttle away from such power."

"You do not understand! It is poison! You saw the effects of tiny doses on Juria! It consumes! It consumes your very soul! Do you not realise how hard it is for me not to rush across the farak gorin? To ally myself with Morloch just for one taste of that power? Do you not remember the vile apparition, how the aquamire had eaten away that creature we call Morloch?"

Gawain remembered all too well. Morloch was hideous to behold.

"That is why I cannot go to the Teeth. Seeing the aquamire shimmering thus…you have no idea of the pain it brings."

A small suspicion, barely a germ of a thought at first, began to grow within Gawain, and he studied the wizard's bowed head. "How then can Morloch be so drained of energy, when we see it clearly from here, shimmering and flickering from time to time above the Teeth?"

"You do not understand. It would take a lifetime of education to impart such knowledge."

"You are not much older than I, I think."

"You cannot possibly know how old I truly am. Suffice to say, that everything Morloch does requires aquamire. All his plans, whatever they might be. Even his very life is dependent on it. You have seen those who become too acquainted with strong spirits? How they yearn for it, how the desire for it consumes them?"

Gawain nodded.

"Aquamire is worse. It becomes life itself. The black riders live only through the aquamire coursing through them. It is through that, and by its magical energies, that Morloch controls them. Those down there? Everything they see, Morloch sees, if he wishes it. When they fight, they do so at his command. That is why Threlland's patrols may pass close by unhindered. That is why the Ramoth can pass freely."

"And Ramoth, this ancient god they proclaim? What of his power?"

"I know not. I do not know even if this Ramoth exists beyond the prattling of his followers. But if he does, then aquamire is the source of his power too."

"Tell me, wizard. What is it?"

Allazar sighed. "It is a black oily liquid, much like molasses in appearance. That is all I will tell you."

"How is it made?"

"I will not speak of that. Can you not guess? Will you press me to voice what you have already glimpsed?"

"You said that all living things possess some magical energy."

"I did."

"Then this aquamire…"

Allazar drew in a long shuddering breath. "Jurian brandy begins with the grape, ripened by the sun."

Gawain's eyes widened in horror. "Then aquamire has been distilled from…"

"Do not say it, Longsword, I beg you. Do you know how many grapes must be pressed for a single glass of Jurian brandy…Do you know how long it takes for the brandy to mature…Look yonder, at the Teeth. See the occasional shimmering of it, and you begin to grasp the full horror of what Morloch has done to Raheen."

Gawain stood, his legs unsteady, tears flooding unbidden. Tears of horror, tears of rage, streaming down his face, as he walked several paces towards the Teeth, his back to the wizard.

"I have pleaded with my brethren to strike at Morloch now, before that vile brew has time to ferment, while Morloch gasps for breath, so much of his old power spent. When I saw Raheen, I knew we must strike. But they will not listen to me. I am young, by their reckoning. They tell me I do not have their wisdom."

Allazar sighed, sorrow making his voice quaver as he continued.

"For so long, the brethren have been quietly working, trying to keep these lands safe. They thought Morloch all but powerless, trapped as he is beyond the Teeth. The mountains, you see, are rich in minerals which disperse and refract a wizard's energies. Morloch cannot cross them, and his power cannot penetrate them. So I was taught. So the brethren believed. How could they know, how could we know, that the dark one would find a way to penetrate the wall that has protected the southlands for so long?

"When Raheen was blasted, the brethren recoiled in terror. Too late they realised Morloch's reach, and now they are afraid. When you came, Longsword, when you lit the fires of hope in men’s hearts, you lit the fire of hope in my own. I cannot harm the races of man, and my powers are as nothing compared to Morloch. But you, with nothing more than a warrior's skill, have done more harm to Morloch than all the brethren have achieved in more than three centuries."

"How do I destroy a creature of such power?" Gawain asked softly, wiping his eyes, still gazing at the Teeth.

"You cannot. He is beyond the reach even of your long sword. What lays between you and the Teeth is as nothing compared with what lays between the Teeth and Morloch. That is why I urge you not to go. You are needed here, Longsword. By all the races of man. And by me."

Gawain shook his head slowly. "If a bloodfly stings you, you may kill the bloodfly. But the nest, and its queen, remains. There is the nest. There is where I must go, with or without you."

"Longsword…" Allazar sighed, "I would follow you anywhere but there. You do not understand. What powers I have are useless there. Morloch would sense my presence immediately, and I do not believe I could resist him, and aquamire…In the blink of an eye, you would find an enemy at your side, not a friend."

"Then tell me how this aquamire can be destroyed."

"It cannot be. Just as you cannot destroy sunlight. It can only be liberated, or transmuted."

"I will find a way. Just as I will find a way through or over the teeth. I shall rid this land of the Ramoth. I shall rid the world of Morloch. If I am able."

"You will not be able."

Gawain turned and stared down at the wizard. "Then I at least shall die trying. Better that than see the world thus."

Allazar's blood ran chill, and he was about to speak when movement caught Gawain's eye, and he looked over the wizard's head. Rak, and an elderly dwarf were approaching.

"Well met, friend." Rak called as they approached. "This is Martan, of Tellek, a village but a short ride from Tarn."

"Well met, and honour to you." Gawain nodded at the old man. He must have been well into his sixtieth year, and was considerably shorter even than Rak.

"Honour to you, Serre." Martan grunted, his voice strong and belying his advanced years. "You have need of an old miner, I am told?"

Gawain nodded. "One who knows the Teeth."

"Then I'm yer man, Serre. There's none living as know 'em like I do. Were, but they're long gone now."

"Perhaps with this wizard's aid, you can draw me a map? I should like to know where any old workings might be found."

"A map, is it? Don't know much about maps. I'll take you there, Serre, seen as it'll be much easier that way."

"I must travel alone, Martan. The way ahead of me is dangerous."

Martan looked crestfallen, and then ruffled like a proud old rooster. "I'll take you there, Serre. These bones ain't so old as they'll slow you down none. Not on the farak gorin, and not at the blasted Teeth."

Gawain eyed the old man, and then glanced at Rak, who, to Gawain's surprise, nodded solemnly.

"Very well. But death likely awaits us there."

"My age, Serre, death likely awaits at every turn. When do we leave?"

"At dawn."

"So soon!" Allazar gasped.

"Unless there is anything else of use you are able to tell me that'll take days in the telling?"

Allazar thought desperately for a few moments. Then he sadly shook his head.

Martan beamed. "I'll be off to the inn then, Serre. I have my belongings below, such as they are. Until dawn then. Wrap up warm an' all Serre, it gets cold at night on them blasted rocks."

"Until dawn."

Martan bowed to Rak, and then hurried off down the track to the town below the point, a spring in his step that hadn't been evident before. Gawain looked at Rak, who shrugged his shoulders.

"He is an old miner, Longsword. They will not let him work at the mines any more, and since the death of his wife, his only family is a brother and nephew with whom he lives. That someone should need him at all, even for a perilous quest, has given him new life, and respect."

"He knows the Teeth, in truth?"

"In truth, Longsword. His bones may be old, but his mind is sharp as a blade."

"Good."

"And what of me, Longsword. You will not take me. I trust it is because my services are truly required elsewhere, and that it is not through friendship you deny me this quest?"

"Your services are needed, friend. Though I'll admit I'm glad of it, for if they weren't I might be forced to deny you from some gentler reasons, both of which await you at home."

Rak smiled. "Then what must I do?"

Gawain grinned. "Something to keep the Ramoths occupied whilst I am busy at the Teeth."

"Longsword, I have a duty to my king…I may not…"

"You need not. That is not my intent. You have friends at Court in Juria. Know you an officer there by the name of Jerryn?"

"A captain, of the Royal Jurian Guard. His name is familiar."

"Good. I should like you to send word to him. He will know you?"

"I believe all at Juria will know me, at Court."

"Good. There is a soldier in the Guard. Tall, with fair hair. Much like myself."

Allazar rose to his feet. "A decoy?"

"Captain Jerryn has no love of the Ramoths. Neither does Juria's crown. If Jerryn can persuade this unknown soldier to go about with a long sword strapped to his back, to harry the Ramoths by night…"

"Then the Ramoths, and perhaps even Morloch himself, will believe you at large in Juria. A clever plan. But," Rak frowned, "I do not see why this simple task falls to me, and not to the wizard."

"Allazar does not command much respect in Juria. Or anywhere else for that matter, it seems. And Captain Jerryn is an honourable man. It will take great tact and diplomacy to persuade Juria's crown to permit this ruse, not to mention persuading the tall fair-haired soldier into playing his part. It must be convincing."

"You may rely on me, my friend. I shall send a fast rider to Juria immediately, and when you leave for the Teeth tomorrow, I shall leave myself for Juria."

"Good.” Gawain eyed them both critically. "It may be that I do not return from the Teeth. But perhaps by means of such impostors, you may yet keep the beacon of hope alight for ordinary men. If I can cross the farak gorin knowing that the responsibility thrust upon me has been well-tended, I can face the perils awaiting me with conscience clear."

"The work you have started, we shall finish." Rak said solemnly. "And my hand on it."

"And mine, if you'll take the hand of a wizard."

"I shall, though it's a novelty for it still to be attached to an arm when I do so."

There were few preparations to be made after that. Gwyn was severely unimpressed that she was to be left behind in Tarn when Gawain visited her in the early evening for a final grooming. But the dreadful sharp cinders of the farak gorin would cripple the horse. The coloured threads and ribbons braided into Gwyn's mane and tail were a lingering reminder of Elvendere, and Gawain left them in place. If Allazar and Morloch were right, perhaps Gwyn would choose to return to the forest of her own accord. Rak agreed, though with great reluctance, that should his friend not return before winter's cruel grip, then Gwyn would be turned free, to go or stay as she pleased.

Allazar remained quiet, torn between his desire to aid Gawain, and his dread of the Teeth, and aquamire. Merrin prepared a pack filled with food and blankets and warm clothing, and with tears in her eyes, presented him with a gift. It was a long black cloak, lined with fur, with an ornate clasp at the neck.

"It will keep you warm in the mountains." she said, as Gawain admired it. It had clearly been made by hand, and he had no doubt that it was Merrin's that had stitched it so patiently.

"Thank you." Gawain said, and then frowned at its weight when he slipped it around his shoulders. Though lined with fur, it should not have weighed so much. "It is heavy?" he remarked.

Rak grinned. "You noticed. Beneath the fur it is of Arrunwove arrowsilk."

"By my sword!" Gawain gasped, "This is too expensive a gift, I cannot accept…"

"You have no choice." Merrin smiled.

Arrowsilk, woven by Arrun craftsmen, was a prized fabric, taking a full year of painstaking work to produce sufficient for a cloak of this size. It would stop even a crossbow bolt fired from ten paces.

"It must cost a king's crown for such a gift." Gawain announced, drawing the cloak tighter around him.

"The silk was a gift from my uncle," Merrin announced. "To express his gratitude to the Traveller who led us safely home, that Travak might greet the world. My uncle wanted to ensure that Travak's namesake should enjoy the same protection as we did that night so long ago. I was going to make a doublet of it, but Rak suggested a cloak might be more appropriate, given your journeys."

"Then please tell your uncle I am grateful. And please accept my thanks for this gift."

"You may tell my uncle yourself, when you return from the Teeth."

"I shall, if I am able."

Then Merrin bade Gawain an early goodnight. She would not say goodbye, and would not rise with the sun to do so either.

Before she left to shut herself away in her room with Travak, Gawain took her and Rak to one side.

"Do you still have the gift I left for Travak?" he asked softly.

Merrin's eyes widened. "Of course! It is kept safe as we promised it would."

"Then," Gawain paused a moment, "If I do not return, I shall not hold you to that promise. If I am not returned by midwinter's day, open the letter. It will explain much that I cannot now."

Puzzled, and tearful, Merrin said that she would, and then left.

Rak, Gawain, and Allazar sat quietly, sipping wine by the empty fireplace. Gawain's new cloak lay neatly folded beside him, and the longsword stood propped against the hearth.

"I hope that Martan gets a good night's sleep tonight." Gawain muttered.

"He will." Rak replied softly. "And you?"

Gawain shrugged.

"I shall not." Allazar mumbled.

"Will you stay long in Threlland?" Rak asked the wizard.

"I had thought to accompany you to Juria. But I think I shall remain a while longer."

Gawain eyed the wizard. Sometimes, he thought, this whitebeard could be both bane and salve. Whitebeards. But for them, the land would be at peace. There would be no Morloch, and there would still be a Raheen. But from time to time, a small part of Gawain recognised something honourable in this wizard, nursing a goblet of wine, staring at an empty fireplace as if seeing flames.

"Later, though," Allazar sighed, "I may return to Callodon. Brock is his own man, and a good one. A good king. He will see the value of Longsword's plan to create likenesses of himself. I can hear Brock's laughter now."

"Well." Gawain sighed, "I must rise early. I think I shall retire."

He stood, and gathered his cloak and sword. "Good dreams."

"Aye. And good journey, in the morning." Allazar sighed, his eyes filled with sorrow.

"I shall bid you farewell now, my friend." Rak announced, "I shall leave for Juria with first light, and it lies in the opposite direction to your path."

"Then farewell, Rak of Tarn. Peace to you and your house. Good journey tomorrow."

They clasped hands, firmly, as if each were reluctant to let go. "Farewell, friend. Wear the cloak tomorrow. If you stumble on the farak gorin, it will spare you many cuts."

"I shall."

Allazar rose, and headed for the door to return to his room at the inn. "I shall watch for you from the point, in the morning."

Gawain nodded. "I shall watch for you too, on my return."

Allazar nodded, but there was despair, and loss, in his eyes. Then he turned, and was gone into the night.

"A strange one, that wizard."

"Of all them, the one that least offends. Sometimes I even feel for him."

Rak let go of Gawain's hand. "Do not judge all men by the actions of a few. He is unlike any wizard I have ever met. I truly believe he would follow you into fire."

"It is not into fire I travel, friend Rak. Use him well, that whitebeard, if it comes to pass that I cannot return. In truth, Brock of Callodon sets much store by that one."

"I shall. Good night, my brother, and fare well."

Gawain nodded, and retired to his room. He sat on his bed, and in the light from the lamps he checked his weapons. The strange black stains in the longsword's blade fascinated him. They seemed to swim deep within the steel. But it was sharp, and strong as ever, and he sheathed it knowing it would serve as long as his arm could command it.

His arrows received more attention. Their stone points were wickedly sharp, sharper than any steel could be, and the shafts true. One thing elves knew well, was the making of arrows. Tomorrow, three of these shafts would be put to the test. Perhaps more, further across the farak gorin.

"I come, Morloch." Gawain whispered in the gloom, settling back on the bed, "Prepare to be vexed some more."

19. River of Nothing

Before sunrise, Gawain rose, and washed. Then he wrapped himself in his new cloak, and slipped the longsword over his shoulder. Taking up the pack which Merrin had prepared for him, he cast a last glance around his room. Not through any sentimentality, but from the practical standpoint of ensuring he hadn't left anything of importance behind. He had not. The elven arrows hung snug and reassuringly heavy in their quiver under the cloak. His short sword hung from his hip, and his knife in his right boot. It was time to leave.

He let himself out of the house quietly, and strode around to the stables for a final farewell to Gwyn. Her sadness at his departure without her was evident in the way she snuffled and snorted, and pressed her great head into his chest.

"I shall return, even though you really are an ugly old nag. If I'm delayed too long, and your vanity demands new ribbons in your hair, you know where to go."

With a final pat on the great Raheen mare's neck, he turned, and left the stables, taking the path that led out of town, down the northern slope of the hills. Halfway down the track, as it wound around the hill through the trees, he caught up with Martan, and fell in step with the old man.

"Mornin', Serre." the old miner grinned in the gloom.

"Good morning, Martan. You travel light, it seems."

"Aye. Don't need much, in truth. Got some cakes of frak, some water, an' a few tools and clothes. Not much else needed out there at the Teeth."

"Frak?"

"You've not had frak?"

"I don't think so."

Martan grinned. "It's meat, dried and cured and spiced, and pressed into cakes. Pressed 'ard, mind, so's you could fit almost 'alf a cow in yer pack. There's those that can't abide the taste, but you don't need nothing else to keep the blood flowin' in yer veins out there."

"I think Lady Merrin put something in my pack that might be frak. A round cake, brown and heavy, big as a plate but thick as my arm."

Martan grinned. "She's a fine lady, that one. Not surprised she'd know the old ways, and would 'ave the good sense to pack frak in a man's pack when it's the Teeth at the end of 'is road."

"Not surprised? Her family were miners then?"

Martan chuckled. "All dwarven families 'ave miner's in 'em, Serre. But she being the King's niece, she'd know the old ways."

Gawain was stunned. "And Rak?"

"His lordship? Aye, he'd know 'em too. 'Is father was the second most respected man in all Threlland afore 'e died. His lordship is following 'is father's footsteps as I followed mine. Exceptin' my father weren't a great statesman nor an ambassador."

They trudged on in silence as the clouds above them turned a steely gray. As they rounded a bend in the track, the farak gorin hove into view, and they were nearing its harsh and uninviting surface with every step they descended.

Gawain paused as the first rays of dawn scythed over the horizon, and he turned his face to them. Martan walked a few paces on, standing a respectful distance away.

The old one-eyed soldier's words, spoken so long ago, whispered in Gawain's mind: "There are those who cannot see the dawn, your highness. I do this for them all."

Gawain remembered them all, and wondered who would remember The Fallen if he himself were unable to see another daybreak. He opened his eyes, turned back to the track, and together he and the old man set off again.

"When we set foot on that," Gawain said quietly, "Best if you stayed behind me. Those black-masked monsters wait for me ahead, and their weapons are lethal."

"Aye, so I 'eard at the inn last night."

"And yet you came?"

"Doubt you'd find the workings without me, Serre."

"Are there many?"

"Oh aye. There's been so many myths over the ages, 'bout them mountains. Lost gold, sleepin' giants and the like. For hundreds of years, dwarves have set off across this blasted river o' nothing in search of it all. You ever dug through rock, Serre?"

"No."

"Them Teeth have stood there since the world was born. Greatest forces in nature ain't been able to shift 'em but an inch. Can't count the number of irons that've been broke against 'em down through the ages in search of ore. Or men's backs, come to that. 'Ard stone and pain, that's all as been found there."

"But still you dug."

"Aye. Weren't much older than you at the time. I dug. I found 'ard stone and pain through all the old workings, as did we all back then. Some gave up earlier than others. Yonder, to the east? Six died when the roof collapsed on 'em. Yonder, slightly west? I came upon a great chasm. Never seen the like. It were as though the very world was split asunder. You couldn't fire a shaft across the width of it. It'd fall less than a third of the way across that great rip in the world. Me, I chucked a rock down there, and waited for the sound."

"How long?"

Martan shrugged. "Dunno. Sound of it striking bottom never came. Which way did you 'ave in mind, Serre, seen as we're about to set foot on this blasted bitchrock?"

Gawain paused. 'Slightly west' was the direction from which the occasional shimmering of aquamire could be seen from high above them. He turned, and glanced up at the hills, and for a fleeting moment, he thought he could see a tiny white-robed figure in the trees, but he'd probably imagined it.

"Slightly west, I think. I have a yen to see this rip in the world."

"Then that's the way we go, Serre. Watch yer footing from this point. You slip, this bitchrock will flay yer skin from yer bones without a second thought."

"Best I lead the way. Once we're on, those black-masked demons will know it, I don't doubt."

"Aye. Head for that peak then, Serre, an' if yer boots don't succumb, we'll be there this time tomorrer, I shouldn't wonder."

Gawain stepped onto the farak gorin. It looked for all the world like a river of dark brown glass, frozen and shattered into spiteful edges. Where the rock was smooth, it glistened in the morning sunshine, but its beauty was all on its glazed surface, and it waited to slice unwary or careless flesh. The old miner's term for it was appropriate, he thought. Bitchrock.

He set a careful pace, until he became more used to the feel of it beneath his feet. Then he grew more confident, and allowed his eyes to linger in their scanning of the horizon. Nothing grew here. Nothing impeded his view, the river of nothing was almost perfectly flat. That was how the black riders had seen him, and how he now saw them, converging on him from a distance.

No wonder they were on foot, and Gawain was glad he'd left Gwyn behind. Even with steel shoes, this was no place for a horse. It was no place for a man, either, come to that, but here they were anyway.

"Nasty looking, ain't they?" Martan muttered.

"Aye. Poisoned blades and points too, so keep tight behind me when they close."

Gawain heard the old man spit. "Any closer and I'll be under yer cloak."

The young man smiled in spite of himself.

"If'n you don't mind me asking, Serre?"

"Ask.”

"You do have a plan for those monsters?"

"I do. I've dealt with them before. They're not so tough."

"You'll pardon me if I choose to remain unconvinced at this point, Serre."

Again Gawain grinned, and judged the distance. It would still be a few minutes before the first came in range of his arrows. The sun was rising quickly, and glistened and sparkled on the farak gorin as though it were a vast body of water. It reminded him almost of the Sea of Hope, but there was no hope here. Only dead brown bitchrock waiting patiently for another victim. Gawain was surprised at its expanse, too. It stretched far off to the east and the west, as though the very Teeth themselves had wept a flood of bitter tears that lapped against the hills of Threlland and the Gorian Empire, and then frozen hard into this wasteland.

They were closing fast now, and Gawain swung his cloak aside to draw three arrows.

"I 'ate to mention it at this point, Serre, but you forgot to bring yer bow." A worried voice muttered from close behind him.

"No, I carry it with me always." Gawain said quietly, fitting the Raheen bowstring around the first shaft. "As our dark friends are about to learn to their cost."

Gawain planted his front foot firmly on the harsh rock, drew back his arm, and hurled the first shaft with full force. He was stringing the second and walking forward again, both he and Martan watching the arrow's lazy flight. It struck the middle of the three black riders, and for a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then the creature toppled forward, and from three hundred or more paces they heard the eerie death-screeching as black light shot skyward.

Aquamire 'liberated', Gawain thought, catching a fleeting glimpse of understanding from his conversation with Allazar. Then he threw his second shaft. It was in mid-flight when the two armoured demons raised their crossbows and fired back. Martan instinctively ducked behind Gawain, but the bolts fell harmlessly short.

Another whistling screech told of Gawain's aim, and then the third was felled while it was still cocking its crossbow.

"That's it?" Martan gasped. "That's all?"

"That's it." Gawain acknowledged, flipping his wrist to coil the string back in place.

"Well then, I am pleased to say I 'ave reconsidered my former reservations, and do 'umbly accept that they ain't so tough after all."

"No, they're not. Which is a good thing, but a little worrying all the same."

A sudden shimmering in the air in front of them had Martan ducking back behind Gawain's cloak.

"I like not the look of this, Serre!" he croaked, peering around Gawain's arm and clutching a rock-hammer in his fist.

"Nor I. But I think I know what it is. Stay calm. It cannot hurt you."

"You'll pardon me if I refer you to my earlier comments."

The shimmering took shape, long and thin and black, and Gawain folded his arms. Morloch, seeming to crystallise out of thin air.

"Still you vex me, nothing. Still you vex me."

"You'll not have long to wait, Morloch. And then nothing shall vex you ever again."

"Cower. Beg mercy. Grovel, nothing, or know my wrath."

"No. You shall know mine."

"Futile. You shall perish. You shall not set foot on the Teeth."

"You said that about the farak gorin, scum, yet here stand I."

"You are nothing. You shall die."

"Not while you live."

"Go. While you may, nothing, I grow weary of this game and shall play with you no longer."

The vision began shimmering again, and Gawain smiled cruelly as it faded and disappeared.

"That…man…did not look well." Martan grunted.

"No," Gawain agreed, setting off again, "No he did not, did he."

"It was Morloch?"

"It was."

"Then you'll pardon me for saying so, Serre," Martan said, his voice quavering, "But I shouldn't be at all surprised to learn 'e ain't ever been married, looking like that an' all."

Gawain laughed, and nearly slipped on the treacherous glaze underfoot. Immediately the tension evaporated just as Morloch's vision had, and Gawain knew that Rak had been right to allow this old miner to serve as his guide. Old the man might be, but yet possessed of amazing character.

Martan was right about Morloch too. And so, in all probability, was Allazar. The dark wizard looked far worse than he had before, and this apparition was much shorter. The obscene round head had been a sickly pale hue, the black aquamire blotches standing out on the near translucent skin. Black veins had throbbed at his temples, and his aquamire eyes seemed somehow less penetrating, less malevolent.

With luck, and with good men like Rak of Tarn and Captain Jerryn of Juria behind him, Morloch would soon have something else to think about. By the time Gawain and Martan reached the Teeth, the young warrior sincerely hoped that a tall fair-haired warrior wielding a terrible longsword would be terrorising Ramoths the length and breadth of Juria. It might be enough to convince Morloch that Gawain had fled the farak gorin…it would certainly be enough to keep the Ramoths occupied. If it worked.

"Don't touch them," Gawain warned Martan as they passed the fallen remains of the black riders. "Those red streaks on their weapons are Elve’s Blood."

"They don't look so tough at all, now I sees 'em like this." Martan grunted, kicking the empty shell of armour. "Those arrers of yours, did that wizard enchant 'em or something?"

"No," Gawain chuckled, moving ever onward. "They are stone-tipped. That's all."

"Bit old fashioned, that. Don't know that I fancy the idea of folk taking to that old tradition, iron being my life's blood and all Threlland's too."

"Sometimes the old traditions are the best."

"Aye, like finding nothin' but 'ard stone and pain out 'ere. Them creatures certainly did."

"What say we try another old tradition? I've a mind to sample this frak of yours for breakfast."

"Ah! Now yer talking, Serre!" Martan grinned, and fished a lump from his pack, and cut it in half with his knife.

It had a curious taste, and not at all unpleasant. But it took a deal of chewing, and they walked for almost an hour in silence, eating their frak and enjoying the autumnal sunshine.

"The mountains don't seem to be getting any closer." Gawain remarked at length.

"It's the heat from the rocks, make's 'em look further than they is. Many's the faint-hearted turned back before they made it 'alfway across."

"When do you expect we'll find the workings?"

"Pends how long we sleep, or stop. We keep going through the night until tiredness creeps up, well be at the foot of the Teeth this time tomorrer. Should find the entrance to the old shafts by noon, I reckon."

"Good."

"You don't like that lot much."

"Who?"

"Them Ramoths."

"No. I don't."

"Can't say as I blame you, Serre. Ain't too keen on 'em meself. None too keen on that Morloch, neither. Trouble is, us living so close to the Teeth, not much we could do about it. Talk all through Threlland is, what with us being a lot closer to Morloch than Raheen were, it'd been easier for the dark bastard to 'ave done for us what 'e did for those poor people."

"Perhaps it would." Gawain sighed.

"Aye. A whole land, gone. In but an instant. I cried, when I 'eard the news, and I ain't shamed to admit it. My one consolation were that my beloved wife weren't alive when it happened."

"You knew Raheen?"

"No. Never set foot outside Threlland all me life. Excluding the Teeth, of course. But I glimpsed a bunch of 'em once. Raheen cavalry, riding up the hills, proud as you like, Serre, escorting their ambassador, back in the days of that war in Pellarn. Never seen such a sight, nor never will now. They were like sunshine on a frosty morning, they were, Serre. Sitting tall on their steeds, great battle-chargers they were, all black and shinin' like fresh paint. Noble people, and friendly too, by all accounts. We were all for pickin' up our 'ammers and picks and walking off after 'em when they left, down south, to battle the empire. But we was forbid. Armies need steel, we were told, steel needs iron, and iron needs miners. And besides, our army couldn't cross Juria back then without a big to-do."

"So I've heard tell."

"Aye. Well, the way I looks at it Serre is this. I ain't got much of a life left in me these days, too long in the mines, too much bad air. Too old too, nothin' to do but sit and remember old days. But this quest o' yours, well. See, if I can help bloody the nose o' the bastards that did for Raheen before I die, why then I'll die proud as those cavalry looked all them years ago. Maybe if enough folk felt likewise, we could kick even Morloch's dark backside to the moon and yonder."

"Maybe." Gawain paused, and drank a mouthful of water from the skin that Martan offered him. "Maybe even further than that."

"Aye!" Martan chuckled, "And if not, it's got more dignity to it than sitting in a brother's house, boring all and sundry with tales of olden times. When they learn of it, Serre, then they'll all weep tears o' shame they weren't 'ere with us."

"You think so?"

"I knows so, Serre." Martan asserted as they set off again. "Why ask you?"

"The wizard believes this a fool's errand."

Martan laughed again, and spat. "Wizard said you was dead, Serre. Shows 'ow much wizards know."

They walked until their yawns came almost as frequently as normal breaths, and then with great reluctance, they stopped to make a temporary camp. Even with all their blankets beneath them, and in spite of Gawain's arrowsilk cloak, the ground was uncomfortable. Yet they slept, fitfully, and each time Gawain awoke he expected to hear Gwyn snorting a warning.

They'd been walking for an hour before the sun rose again, and Gawain greeted it with custom and with a sense of relief that he'd met another one at all. He still could not believe that the three black riders were all that stood between him and the Teeth. Perhaps Allazar was perfectly correct, and Morloch truly was weakened beyond further threat. Or perhaps a greater danger awaited them at the foot of the mountains, almost near enough to touch.

"See that gray stuff yonder?" Martan pointed at the ground ahead, perhaps a thousand paces away.

"Aye."

"That be scree. The end of the farak gorin. That's fine gravels, washed down from the Teeth over the years. Once on that, we're off the blasted bitchrock, and can say we've reached the Teeth."

"And the workings you spoke of?"

Martan gazed up at the peak towering high above them. "See that shadow, where it's shaped like a bird?"

"Yes."

"There. A natural rent in the rock. Best sort o' places to begin a works, where nature's already done some o' the ground-breaking."

They walked on, and Martan seemed to sense Gawain's rising tension. The young warrior was clearly expecting some new and dreadful threat at any moment. Where Morloch was concerned, Martan wouldn't be surprised if an army of black-masked monsters emerged from the rocks in front of them.

Soon, though, and without incident, the ground underfoot gave way to crunching gravel, and the farak gorin was left behind them.

"Welcome to 'ard rock and pain, Serre." Martan muttered, paring a lump of frak from a cake and handing it to Gawain. "Might as well break fast now, we've some climbing ahead afore we make the shafts."

"Thank you. Is it always this quiet?"

Martan shrugged, and chewed. "Sometimes you might 'ear an eagle. In the shafts, you 'ear water drippin'. That, and the wind's about all. There's plants around, but not much life. Rock's too 'ard for more than lichens and mosses. See, we just crossed the river o' nothin'. And though no-one's ever seen the other side o' the Teeth, I'll bet there's more miles o' bitchrock over there too. Not surprising then, that you don't find nothin' on the Teeth, them just being an island of nothin' in the river o' nothin'."

"Not quite nothing, Martan."

"Eh?"

"Look yonder. In the scree, running to the west. Those are ruts. Wagons pass this way."

"Well poke a wizard in the eye and call 'im whitebeard!"

20. Hard Rock

The wagon-wheel ruts were scarcely visible, but they did indeed run from west to east along the scree that marked the edge of the farak gorin. From the Gorian Empire, to the eastern coast, around the flank of Threlland. Heavy rains had probably washed more scree down from the steep slopes of the mountains, all but obliterating the ruts in the gravel in places. It was impossible to see where, if anywhere, they'd stopped.

"An 'ard road to travel." Martan had opined, and Gawain had agreed. To the west lay the frozen wastes of the northern empire. To the east, the sheer cliffs that dropped from Threlland's flanks to the ocean below.

"No food to be 'ad, neither, except what you bring yerself. Game's rare as horse-feathers in these parts."

"Nothing to be done about it now." Gawain announced, gazing up at the mountain. "There's where we're headed. Up there."

"Aye. I'll lead the way this time, Serre, though if'n we meet any more o' them monsters I'll thank you to nip ahead at the appropriate moment."

Gawain grinned, and followed the miner's curious sidewards clambering up the sloping scree. It made for difficult going, until eventually the gravel gave way to hard rock. There, their progress slowed, Martan picking his route carefully, stopping from time to time to check for safer or easier routes as the slope steepened even further.

They were just at the point where using their hands was becoming more frequently necessary, when Martan froze, and picked up a handful of loose stone.

"What is it?" Gawain said softly. They were near the fissure that the miner asserted gave way to the old workings.

"Fresh dug."

"Fresh? There's moss there."

"Aye. Fresh dug. Within a year or two, I'd say. Moss breaks it down, in time. Ice in winter, sun in summer. Rains and wind do the rest. This is fresh dug, within a year or two."

"Dwarves?"

"Nah. I'd know. They'd 'ave sought me out."

"Then we proceed with greater care, my friend."

"Aye. With very great care, Serre. You'll oblige me by 'aving one o' them arrers at the ready when we top that ledge."

"I will."

Some time later, after a cautious and nervous climb, they crested the ledge in question. Martan bobbed his head up over the top. Then sighed.

"All's clear Serre. But I'll thank you to go first in any case."

Gawain smiled grimly, and eased himself over the ledge. The fissure in the rock face was like a cruel scar, jagged and deep. Slightly south facing, its depths were partially illuminated by the near noon sun.

Martan clambered over the edge with a nimble agility that defied his years. He was clearly at home in this unforgiving terrain. Immediately he began scanning the ground, and then beckoned Gawain forward, pointing at a patch of rubble.

"See 'ere, Serre. Fresh spoil. A year, maybe two."

Gawain eyed the ground, and then gazed at the serious-faced Martan. "You'll pardon me, Martan, if I question your definition of the word 'fresh' at this point."

Martan grinned. "Aye, well…it's fresh in miner's terms, as far as spoil goes. Means someone 'as been workin' the shaft recent. Always a worry, in case whoever it was left the tunnels in a state o' near collapse. Always a worry."

"Where's the entrance to the workings?"

"This way Serre."

Martan led them into the fissure, and then fumbled in his pack. From it, he produced two steel bottles, and handed one to Gawain, who looked momentarily puzzled until Martan showed him how to use the lamp.

"You 'olds it by the neck, and then you twists the body so…"

Twisting the body of the 'bottle' exposed a glass portal, through which shone a powerful beam of light.

"Glowstones." Martan began to explain, but Gawain nodded his understanding.

"I've seen them before, in Elvendere. They allow no fire there.”

"Very wise of 'em I'm sure, livin' in trees like they're said to do. An' very wise not to be lightin' no fires in the workin's neither."

They stepped forward into the fissure, and then Martan paused again. "Well, kick my arse an' call me whitebeard! See here!"

Gawain stepped closer, and added his lamp to Martan's.

"See there, Serre? Someone's been a-workin' the entrance! There, tryin' to make it bigger…that's 'uman workin', that is."

"How do you know?"

"Dwarf don't need to make the shaft so 'igh, does 'e? See there? They got what, about twenty paces in, then gave up."

"Why would they give up?"

Martan shrugged. "Dunno. P'raps they found a better way in or out? That explains the fresh spoil out yonder though. I'd say these workin' were…"

"Fresh," Gawain interjected, "maybe a year or two?"

Martan's face cracked into a broad grin. "Why Serre, I do believes yer learning a miner's ways!"

Gawain smiled back, and shone his lamp on the ground around the entrance. "No sign of recent passage."

"No," Martan agreed. "Not for a year or two at least. You'll have to stoop low when we goes in, Serre. The workin's beyond these fresh cuts were dwarf-dug. And we speaks in whispers, Serre. Loud noises don't go too well in the mines, an' voices travel far."

Gawain nodded, and moments later they entered the tunnel. Twenty paces in, Gawain had to stoop, and it became pitch-black save for the light from their glowstone lamps. Yet further, and silence enveloped them like the darkness, and Gawain had an uneasy sense of the mountain's weight above him.

The tunnel ran almost arrow-straight at a steep downward slope for some considerable distance. Gawain lost all sense of time, and his back was beginning to protest by the time the shaft opened up into a small chamber and he could stand upright again.

Martan turned around, and shone the lamp up at the shaft's roof. "More 'uman work. See there? They was trying to heighten the tunnel at both ends. More fresh spoil 'ere an' all."

"Odd that they went to so much trouble, and then ceased." Gawain whispered back.

"Aye. Well, this be the first chamber. We can rest 'ere a bit afore we go on, if you needs a stretch?"

"I do. How long have we walked?"

"Lost time, eh? Goes like that in the mines. No sun nor moon to tell time by. By my guts, which're beginning a rumbling, it's evenin' in outworld."

"So long?"

"Aye. We're well down and under.” Martan sat on the bare rock floor, and fished in his pack for his cake of frak, while Gawain shone his lamp around the chamber.

Apart from the exit, three more tunnels gaped black and uninviting in the walls. One had been worked just like the exit, the roof chipped away to gain height.

"Which route do we take to the chasm you spoke of, Martan? Would it be that one?"

Martan, chewing a mouthful of the leather-tough frak, shook his head, and pointed to another.

Gawain frowned, and sat down, and rummaged in his own pack. Merrin had packed two great cakes of frak inside, and judging by the seemingly tiny amount shaved off one of them, they would last a long time.

While he chewed the tough but wholesome frak, Gawain mused. The chasm seemed somehow important, but the recent workings on the other tunnel suggested that they would be better following it, rather than the low-ceilinged route indicated by the old miner.

"Where does that one lead?" Gawain mumbled while he chewed, indicating the fresh-worked route.

"West, parallel to the farak gorin above. It dies out maybe ten mile along. No ore."

"Ten miles?"

"Aye. Not much of a dig, but when yer sees no traces, comes a point when it's easier to try another direction."

"Not much of a dig? Ten miles?"

Martan looked surprised. "Aye. You'll find loads o' little runs like that 'un all over the place. They leads nowhere."

Gawain was stunned at the scale of the works. That dwarven miners would consider a ten mile dig through solid rock to be 'not much of a dig' was astounding.

"How far is the chasm?" he whispered, not sure he wanted to know.

"Fair ways off, and fair ways down. There's chambers like this 'un along the way, so's you'll have a chance to stretch yer back afore it's bent permanent."

Gawain could see the old miner's eyes sparkling in the lamplight while he prized another slice of frak from his cake. A 'fair ways off'? Gawain thought. If ten miles was not much of a dig, how far was 'a fair ways off'?

When they'd eaten, Martan led the way through the tunnels once more. Time had little meaning, and the world was reduced to a tube lit for twenty paces ahead of them, darkness beyond, and damp walls either side. The rest chambers, as Martan called them, were really little more than small cave-like rooms, from which sprung other tunnels. They slept when they were tired, and moved on when they awoke. Soon, Gawain even began to lose count of the 'sleeps', by which he'd attempted to measure the days and nights.

Martan had chuckled at that, and explained that it mattered not. With no sun nor moon to tell time by, folk adopted a strange routine of waking and sleeping which bore no resemblance to the patterns and routines of 'outworld'. Gawain instead tried counting the number of times they paused to refill their waterskins from trickles and rivulets than ran down the tunnel walls at intervals. Even that was a poor clock.

Once, while filling their skins, Gawain followed Martan's lead and pressed his ear to the rock wall. A distant rushing and rumbling could be heard.

"Underground river, or stream." Martan explained. "That's why this tunnel veers sharp ahead, not a good idea to bore into that lot."

Gawain agreed, and shuddered, and drew his cloak tighter around himself. It was cold in the tunnels, a constant and unvarying temperature, and he was grateful for the cloak's fur lining.

Some time later, or at least five sleeps later, whatever that might mean in outworld time, Martan paused and cocked his head, listening. Gawain strained his ears, but heard nothing but the constant drip of water, and his own breathing.

"What is it?" he whispered at length.

"Thought I 'eard tooling. Iron on rock. We're nearing the chasm, no more chambers between here and that great divide."

"Where are we?"

"Near the chasm."

"But where, with respect to the mountain?"

"From outworld, we're near the heart of the range." Martan shrugged. "Distance don't mean much really. We been goin' up an' down, east an' west, followin' the cuts as were made in search of ore. In the workin's, you can walk thirty mile, and end up 'alf a mile from where you started."

Gawain's heart sank. His back ached from stooping so low, his knees were scraped, and he was tired. But he took some comfort in the knowledge that Morloch and the Ramoths had not been able to take advantage of the old dwarven workings to travel straight through the teeth from one side to the other.

"Are you ready? Not far now ‘til we reach the rip. Then we can eat, and sleep."

"Aye."

And so they trudged on, Gawain's back and legs protesting every inch. Hours later, or so it seemed to Gawain, Martan stopped and listened again. Then continued on. Finally, the tunnel opened up, the ceiling became high enough for Gawain to stand upright, and the walls became jagged, natural rather than dwarf-dug. And a breeze began to waft over their faces, bringing with it fresh chill air and a sensation of a vast open space beyond the light from their lamps.

Moments later, Martan stopped. "Listen!" he whispered urgently.

Gawain cocked his head, and this time he too thought he heard a distant ringing, iron striking rock. But there was no telling from which direction the sound had originated. It echoed eerily, bouncing off countless rock walls, travelling countless tunnels.

"Tooling." Martan said, so quietly Gawain barely heard. "Best be hushed, Serre, what we hears, so can they, whoever they be. And dwarves they ain't, from the sound o' the tooling."

Gawain stepped forward, and shone his lamp down and around. They seemed to standing on a broad expanse of flat rock, and then Martan tilted Gawain's arm up, so the beam from lamp lanced skyward. He could not see the cave roof.

"How high?" Gawain gasped.

"Dunno. Never seen it. Stay close to me…" and with that Martan led Gawain forward. Forty paces, and the rock floor ahead of them disappeared into blackness. "The rip."

They eased forward, and then lay down, sliding close to the edge. A wind, cold and chill, ran the length of the chasm. Gawain played his lamp beam around, but could see neither the bottom nor the far side of the great gash in the world.

"Listen." Martan prompted, and picked up a rock, and dropped it over the edge. Nothing.

Gawain counted a hundred heartbeats. Still no sound.

"How far you reckon you can chuck one of them arrers of yours?" Martan asked.

"Just for distance? Maybe three hundred and fifty paces, perhaps a bit more."

"Give it a try. Listen for the sound of it striking rock."

They backed away from the edge, and stood. Gawain threw open his cloak, strung an arrow, and hurled it into the darkness. The snapping of the bowstring as it released the shaft echoed sharp and faded, and they listened for the sound of the arrow striking. Nothing.

"You know what a grappinbow is?" Martan asked.

"No."

"It's a kind of crossbow. Big, 'eavy. Use 'em for bridgework in outworld. Idea is, you fire a girt big bolt, with a rope tied to it. Launch it across a river gorge, to make the startin's of a rope bridge. It'll fire a normal bolt a good thousand paces. I 'eard tell, from the old miner who led me down here when I was your age, they'd brung one down with 'em once. Fired a bolt yonder. Heard no strike. Can you imagine?"

"In truth? A thousand paces?"

Martan shrugged. "Dunno. Can't see any miner worth a spit dragging a grappinbow all the way down 'ere just to do that. See, if there ain't no-one on the other side to fetch up the rope, no point using it to try and build a bridge, is there? But we proved today, that rip's more'n three-fifty of your giant's paces across. More'n that deep, too."

"Which way does it run?"

"East to west, same as the Teeth above."

"How do you know?"

Martan shrugged. "I'm fifty years a miner, near as spit. East is yonder. West that way….Listen!"

More tooling sounds, and then Martan hissed "Stay here!" before hurrying, with alarming speed, to the edge of the chasm.

There, he flung himself down, hanging his head over the edge. Gawain waited, tense, standing in the middle of his lamp's small pool of light, watching the dwarf as he cocked his head this way and that.

Finally, after an age, the miner drew back from the precipice, stood, and hurried back to Gawain.

"Definitely 'uman workin's. From the west."

"From the west? Are you sure? How can you tell?"

"From the west. I'm sure. I'm fifty years a miner."

"Where in the west?"

"The rip itself, or very near its edge I should say. Maybe five mile, maybe ten, difficult to tell with the winds."

"Then after we've slept, we'll follow the rip to the source of the sounds."

"Can't Serre."

"Why not?"

"Buttress and rockfall, maybe five 'undred o' my paces that way. No chance digging through, no way o' climbing over."

"In truth?"

"In truth. When I were your age, I were of a mind to walk the rip, see if I could find oresign exposed by nature."

Gawain sighed, and sank to the ground. "We have to discover the source of those sounds. It may be that the Ramoths have somehow bridged the chasm. It may be the route through the Teeth to Morloch himself."

"Then, Serre, rest well. For when we've slept, we've to retrace our steps back to that first rest chamber, and take that tunnel as was worked by 'umans after all."

Gawain groaned, disgusted. "I though you said it petered out after ten miles?"

"So it does." Martan grunted, settling down and unpacking his blankets. "But there's other shafts lead off it, and more from them that leads to the rip. The route we took was the quickest to get here, from where we started."

Gawain spread his blankets, and took the remains of his first cake of frak from his pack. There was perhaps an eighth of it left. They must have been weeks in the tunnels already.

"Sorry yer disappointed, Serre." Martan said sincerely, "But as I said, this is the Teeth. 'Ard rock, and pain."

"Aye." Gawain sighed, settling down on his blankets, his back protesting. "Hard rock, and pain."

21. The Nest

Were it not for Gawain's stone heart and the constant reminder of Raheen strapped across his shoulder, he could very easily have given up, and returned to Threlland, and the slaying of Ramoth emissaries.

But hard rock and pain were not the sole prerogatives of the Teeth. Hard rock and pain resided in Gawain's chest, and they fortified him as he and the old miner retraced their route back to the chamber where they'd first rested so long ago. After sleep, they set off down the 'fresh worked' tunnel, and again the world was reduced to the claustrophobic confines illuminated by their glowstone lamps.

Martan protested not once, and Gawain's respect for dwarves knew no bounds. He could not imagine a lifetime spent thus, let alone with the added agonies of hammering passages through this unrelenting stone and finding no reward for the effort. On the contrary, Martan seemed positively to thrive and revel in the confined spaces and the damp atmosphere.

From time to time, the old dwarf would pause, and let out a little chuckle, and shake his head. When prompted, he would tell an amusing tale about this miner or that, and what had happened while cutting this particular section or that tunnel yonder. It kept their spirits up, and bound them closer together.

Gawain was, he knew, completely lost. Should anything befall his companion, then death by starvation awaited the young man. He'd never find his way out again, not in a lifetime of trying. No wonder Martan had politely declined the notion of assisting Allazar in drawing a map, and Gawain felt slightly foolish on recalling the suggestion.

During one of their rest periods in a small chamber, Gawain had remarked how sprightly and sure-footed Martan was, for all his years. He couldn't believe the old man had been denied the mines in Threlland through age. This drew an astonished look from the elderly miner.

"When the time comes you can't cut ten times yer length in a day, what good are you to anyone?"

Gawain shook his head sadly, and with awe. He doubted he himself could cut half his own length in a day, in this unyielding rock. Threlland hills were softer, Martan had explained gently, hoping that Gawain wouldn't feel too dreadfully inadequate that humans were so inept underground.

Gawain had long given up attempting to measure time, and instead measured their progress by rest-chambers and the rate at which his frak was diminishing. Martan had said not to worry, he would tell Gawain when it was time to return to Threlland, if they found no sign of the Ramoths.

But they did. Tooling sounds began to echo faintly, and then they grew louder. Still the tunnels were dwarfcut, but here and there, in the rest-chambers, they found an increasing number of signs that humans had attempted to heighten the walls for easier access. The tooling sounds grew louder still, and Martan grew nervous, closing the shutter on his glowstone lamp so that barely a glimmer lit the way ahead. Gawain shut his down completely, following Martan by sound alone until his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Finally, though, the high-pitched ringing echoes of iron striking rock become muffled by an undercurrent of sound, like a low-pitched moaning. Mingled with that were alarming gusts of air that seemed to blow from nowhere, and occasional crackling sounds which neither of them could identify.

Then Martan stopped dead in his tracks, and shut down his lamp completely. The action was so completely unexpected that Gawain's hand instinctively reached for the hilt of his longsword over his right shoulder, but even though this stretch of tunnel had been heightened, it would have been impossible to draw the blade in such close confines.

Martan stood rooted to the spot, and then Gawain understood. Even with the lamps shut down, he began to make out Martan's silhouette in front of him. There was light, ahead of them, and a strong breeze suggesting a vast open space beyond…

The old miner eased himself against the wall, and Gawain took the hint, though with the sounds echoing down the tunnel from all directions, they could have spoken without fear of detection, or so it seemed to Gawain at least.

He moved cautiously forward, the darkened lamp in his left hand and his knife in his right. The breeze grew stronger, the light seemed brighter as they approached the opening, but Gawain thought it must just be his eyes adjusting to the faint glow from without. Finally, the tunnel opened out onto a familiar ledge, and the sounds that had echoed down the tunnel grew louder and more distinct.

The low-pitched moaning seemed to be resolving into a repetitive chant, and as Gawain stepped onto the ledge and scanned the immediate area, he recognised a single word, split into two syllables, repeated over and over again. Ra-Moth. Ra-Moth…

Gawain gasped as he turned his eyes to towards the sound. Perhaps five hundred paces to his left, lights, moving, from the edge of the rip, and beyond, barely visible on the far side of the mighty chasm, tiny pinpricks of light, moving. Moving, to the edge of the rip, and down into its depths.

"Poke me in the eye and say I'm dreaming." a familiar voice whispered from behind Gawain's left shoulder. "Look what the mad bastards are doing!"

Martan's eyes were clearly better than Gawain's in such poor light, but a shudder ran the length of the young man's spine nevertheless. He eased forward, and since Martan didn't object, he was confident that they were invisible in the darkness as far as the Ramoths were concerned, them so far away and them bathed in light as they were.

The ledge here was narrower than the site of Gawain's first encounter with the rip in the earth, and he lowered himself to the ground, his head over the edge, gazing in awe and horror. Martan gasped too, and held his breath.

The procession of moving lights on the far side moved slowly but surely to the chasm's edge, spaced at intervals of perhaps thirty paces. Each light moved slowly to precipice, and then began to descend…rough-hewn steps had been cut into the sheer wall of the precipice, and it was these the lights were following. Down, and down, to the blackness so far below that the tiny pinpricks of light faded and were invisible before the floor of the rip had been reached.

And on Gawain and Martan's side, the lights emerged from the inky blackness, moving upward, slowly and deliberately.

The tooling sounds they'd heard were coming from the chasm walls. On both sides of great divide, lights were fixed at intervals, and workers were hammering new steps out of the rock face, a second stairway to the pit.

"Madness." Martan gasped, as one of the tiny lights dropped suddenly, and rapidly, and disappeared.

"Morloch madness." Gawain agreed, watching as another tiny light plummeted to destruction far below.

"Something's happening," Martan hissed, "They've stopped!"

They had, at least on the ledges either side of the rip. The lights on the downward wall, on the far side of the chasm, continued on, but the lights on the upward side came to an abrupt halt. There was a sudden crackling discharge, and a massive shaft of black aquamire light blasted across the chasm, and was gone. Immediately, the procession of lights resumed.

While they watched, Gawain counted. Perhaps one in five of the lights that went down the far side of the chasm emerged on this side. Not once, when the lights plummeted to destruction, did he nor Martan hear a scream.

"Do you know," Martan whispered, his voice tremulous, "how long it must have taken to carve those steps? How many lives? How many lives?"

Gawain shook his head, stunned. The sheer scale of the effort, the sheer waste of life, for what? So that shaven-headed vacuous idiots could babble about an ancient god to uncaring traders at markets across the southlands? Madness.

"That is where I must go." Gawain said, nodding towards the few survivors that carried their tiny lamps into a well-lit cavern. "You do not have to come."

"Yes I do, if you're to find yer way out again."

"I can come back to you."

"You'd be lost in the blink of an eye, Serre, and well you know it. I've come this far, and not yet bloodied a nose. I'll not hug me knees in the dark while you get yerself gloriously killed by that lot."

Gawain smiled. "Very well. But stay behind me, Martan, for your own sake."

"I'll try."

Gawain stood back from the edge, sheathed his knife, stowed the lamp in his pack, and drew his short sword. When he glanced at the old miner, he saw a glimpse of the dwarven youth who'd first ventured across the farak gorin so many years ago. Martan stood proud, a rockhammer in each powerful hand, and a sparkle in his eyes that spoke volumes from beneath bushy gray eyebrows.

Gawain moved off, silently, Martan several paces behind him. The chanting grew louder as they approached the cavern, and just beyond the pool of light spilling from it, Gawain paused. A bell sounded, far off, and he froze, noticing that one of the shaven-headed lamp-carriers approaching from the edge of the precipice stepped quickly to one side. After a few moments, a crackling blast of aquamire light blasted from the cavern, and shot across the rip to the far side, and was gone in the blink of an eye. The lamp-carrying Ramoth continued, and as it drew near, Gawain could see it was a woman. In one hand she held a small glowstone lamp, perhaps a quarter of the size of Gawain's and Martan's, and in the other, she held a small black phial. Her eyes, as she passed within ten paces, were empty, vacuous, completely unaware.

"What is that stuff she had?" Martan whispered.

"Aquamire, from its appearance."

"What's aquamire?"

"Whitebeard evil. Poison. Power. Whitebeard evil."

"Ah. That's cleared that up for me then." Martan muttered.

"Hurry, we must follow."

Gawain strode forward, before another tiny light could emerge from the edge of the chasm. The chamber was lit by glowstone lamps hanging from sconces in the smooth stone walls. It ran dead straight, far off into the distance, and if Martan's assertions about direction were correct, it ran due south.

Tiny alcoves had been cut into the sides of the walls at intervals, and Gawain had no idea what purpose they served. Up ahead, the bald Ramoth woman strode onward, completely unaware that she was being followed. Beyond her, Gawain could not see. But the incessant chanting grew louder with every pace, and the distant light at the end of the tunnel seemed to be growing brighter too.

"Serre!” Martan whispered urgently, and Gawain glanced behind him. Entering the far end of the tunnel, now some sixty paces behind them, another shavehead Ramoth.

"No matter. They seem unaware of us. Keep going."

Twenty more paces and Gawain discovered what the carved alcoves were intended for. A bell sounded, low and booming…up ahead, the Ramoth woman side-stepped into an alcove, and Gawain had the briefest glimpse of something large and round and dark in the far distance, before a powerful hand grasped his cloak and dragged him back into an alcove. Moments later, the sizzling blast of aquamire light ripped through the tunnel…and was gone, leaving both Gawain and Martan feeling slightly singed and curiously dazzled.

"Not a nice place, this nest o' yours, if you'll pardon me saying so."

"No. Not a nice place at all. Come, friend Martan, I believe our quest is almost at an end."

They hurried down the tunnel, almost catching up with the Ramoth woman, and over her shoulder Gawain saw the great black circle again, and shuddered.

The tunnel emerged into a vast cavern, and they hurriedly sidestepped along the smooth walls away from the tunnel's mouth. Before them, a considerable distance away, a group of robed Ramoths, perhaps fifty of them, sat on the glazed rock floor, chanting the name of their obscene god over and over again. "Ra-Moth" echoed around the cavern's walls, which were studded with glowstones and sconces. On a raised stone platform at the far end of the cavern stood a massive black eye, and beyond it, another tunnel, shorter, at the end of which daylight shone weakly.

"Oh by my teeth! What're they doing?" Martan hissed.

The line of Ramoth lamp-bearers walked around the group chanting on the floor, mounted the great stone platform, and up a short flight of wooded stairs. At the top, they uncorked their phials, and poured the treacly liquid into an opening at the top of the great eye. Then they descended the stairs, and still carrying their tiny lamps, walked into the tunnel, and carried on, towards the outworld.

"I do not know." Gawain muttered, sheathing his short sword, and drawing his longsword. But that must stop, whatever it is."

Again, a bell sounded, and again, from the great black lens at the far end of the cavern, a mighty blast of black aquamire light crackled and lanced down the tunnel behind them. This time it did not simply disappear, but diminished to a steady pulsing stream. A black shimmering shape began to form in the air before the chanting Ramoths, whose worship grew frenetic and high-pitched.

"Morloch comes?” Martan gasped.

"No, I don't think so."

The shape crystallised into a dreadful figure, robed and almost human, but fully twenty feet tall, hovering in mid air above the worshippers. It was slender, but the massive bulbous head was grotesque, a snake's head, with two aquamire black eyes.

"Ra-Moth!" the chanters screamed, in a frenzy.

"You have been chosen." the creature announced, its voice familiar to Gawain, and from the puzzled expression on Martan's face, to him too. "And you have been chosen."

Two of the Ramoths stood, delirious with joy.

"Take up the amulets before you."

Gawain watched as the two shaveheaded Ramoths, one man and one woman, rushed forward to the great black lens, and picked up the familiar eye-amulets of Ramoth Emissaries.

"Wear them always. Do my bidding. Spread my word. Make way for my coming. Go."

The two Ramoths, thus newly-appointed emissaries, each hung the eye-amulets around their necks, bowed low, and hurried to the tunnel leading out from the Teeth.

"Pray. Make way. Soon you too will be chosen." Ramoth said, and the shimmering image faded, and was gone, and the black pulsing light too disappeared.

"You'll pardon me for saying so, Serre, but that voice sounded something familiar."

"Aye. Morloch."

"Aye. Odd, that. And the man, the one who was chosen?"

"Aye?"

"Recognised 'im, too. A Jurian, son of an iron-monger my brother trades with."

Gawain studied the cavern, and was making up his mind to rush forward, to destroy the black lens, when another familiar figure emerged from the tunnel to their left. A black rider, his mask grotesque, and turning slowly in Gawain's direction.

Gawain raised his longsword, bracing to strike as the hideous painted eyes turned his way, when there was a sudden blur of movement from behind him.

Martan shot forward, rockhammers crashing into the creature's head. The force of the hammer-blows ripped the mask clean off, exposing the hideous visage beneath. The head was human in shape, but nothing else. Hairless, colourless, save for the pulsing black veins that throbbed with aquamire, and the glistening black eyes that sparkled lifelessly. The creature was every inch as tall as Gawain, and stood gazing down at Martan, frozen with horror. Then the dwarf smashed his hammer into the thing's face, square between the awful eyes.

It blinked, and its hand reached down, fingers spread, to clutch Martan's tunic. Gawain swung his blade, and cleaved the vile head from its armoured shoulders.

Instantly, the deafening death-screech rent the air, and the jet-black death-blast shot upward to the cavern roof. Pieces of rock fell, hitting the ground just as the empty armour shell toppled backwards.

Martan leapt aside, and collided with a Ramoth lamp-bearer as he emerged from the tunnel, then he turned to cast a worried look at Gawain.

"Two more o' them things a-coming!"

But a more serious problem was approaching. The chanting followers were on their feet, and advancing towards them both. These were not vacuous slaves, yet. These were followers who had made way, and were emissary-candidates. Gawain and Martan had invaded their most sacred temple, committed unspeakable sacrilege. Martan followed Gawain's gaze.

"Ah, Dwarfspit!" he cried, and then rushed into the advancing throng, hammers flailing.

Gawain strode to the tunnel entrance and shot a quick glance at the advancing black riders. For a split second he considered his arrows, but it was too late. The first of the maddened Ramoths was already charging down on him, and he turned and cut the man down, and then another. Soon the melee was furious, and desperate. Gawain was forced to back away, and something slammed into his back. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw one of the black riders re-cocking its crossbow…

Rage suddenly flooded through him, and he felt a berserk power racing through him. Were it not for the cloak, and its arrowsilk lining, he would be dead, Morloch the victor. Blood flew in wide arcs as he cut a swath around him, advancing to where Martan lay bloody and being kicked mercilessly on the ground. Still the dwarf's hammers flashed this way and that, slamming into shins and ankles.

A crossbow bolt whizzed past Gawain's shoulder, and slammed into the chest of a Ramoth woman as she raised a boulder above Martan's head. She screamed and fell backwards, the rock dropping harmlessly. Gawain swung his blade with all his strength, slashing his way to his fallen comrade as another slamming impact smashed into his back, the cloak saving his life a second time. He'd just reached Martan when a bell sounded, and the grim realisation of what it meant cut through Gawain's bloodlust like a knife. He dived flat on his face across the old dwarf, and one kick landed on his thigh before a crackling blast of aquamire light scythed the air above him, and was gone.

When he stood, ashes marked the passage of aquamire energy through the throng, and there was one black rider less than there had been moments before.

The Ramoths suddenly found their numbers considerably depleted, and as Gawain leapt to his feet, they hesitated. The warrior reached down, dragged Martan upright, and they backed away towards the great dark lens. One or two braver followers charged forward, only to be cut down. The rest became less enthusiastic to join battle. Except for the masked creature, levelling its crossbow again. Gawain whipped his cloak around Martan and was nearly rocked off balance when the bolt struck. Again, rage filled his veins and charged his muscles. When he looked around, the black rider had discarded its crossbow and was drawing steel, steel tipped with Elve’s Blood.

"Enough!” Gawain screamed, and yelling "The Fallen!" raced towards the creature, ashes billowing in his wake, a poignant reminder of Raheen…

The mighty blade slammed down onto the creature's shoulder, raking a huge gouge in its armour. The force of the blow rocked it back and onto its knees, and on the backstroke, Gawain took its head off. This time, the death-screech was like music to Gawain, and when he screamed "Raheen!" the word was lost in the thing's death-blast.

It was too much for the Ramoths. Far too much. They turned as one, and fled towards the tunnel and the promise of daylight and safety waiting at its end. Gawain surveyed the carnage, and with a curious detachment noted that other Ramoths, carrying tiny lamps and tiny phials of aquamire, were still quietly entering from the far tunnel, still tipping their vile cargo into the great lens behind him.

Martan groaned, and hugged his ribs.

"You live?" Gawain asked, breathless with battle.

Martan nodded. "I reckon.” Then he nodded up at the dark lens. "That what we came for?"

"It's a start." Gawain said, his voice echoing coldly around the chamber.

He helped Martan up the steps to the raised platform, and to the mouth of the tunnel. "You'd best go, friend Martan." Gawain said firmly. "I know not what will happen when I destroy this."

"Don't matter, Longsword. Here now, or on the farak gorin, or at home in Tellek. I bloodied the bastards' noses, didn't I?"

Gawain grinned coldly. "And now it's time to kick Morloch's arse to the moon."

"And yonder?"

"And yonder."

Martan held out a bloodied and bleeding hand, and Gawain clasped the old man's arm gently. "Honour to you, Serre, come what may."

"Honour to you, friend Martan, come what may."

Martan sank down to the ground, his back to the tunnel wall, and Gawain turned, longsword in hand, to face the dark lens of Ramoth.

"I 'eard what you said, Serre, when you cut that black-armoured bastard down. Done my 'eart proud when I seen them cavalry all them years ago. Done my 'eart proud now, seeing one of 'em again."

Gawain paused, his back to the dwarf, the lens before him. He nodded once, and stood tall. He was Gawain, son of Davyd, King of Raheen, and if he was to die, then it was in good company, with friends at his back, and the enemy before him. He strode forward, and cut down a Ramoth lamp-bearer, and stood before the lens.

It was of some clear crystal, hollow, and filled with aquamire. In it, visions swam, and he felt curiously drawn. As he gazed into its blackness, he saw pictures and scenes, people and places. Some he recognised. Flashes of Callodon, of Juria, and the farak gorin outside. A forest, and perhaps a glimpse of an elf. Dozens of images, one after the other. Then he realised what he was seeing. Pictures, through the eye-amulets of Ramoth emissaries. Dozens of them, all across the southlands.

"I see you all." Gawain muttered, and the visions swimming in the aquamire seemed to become clearer. A sudden thought struck Gawain, and he said quietly, "Where are you, Morloch? I want to vex you some more."

The aquamire shimmered, and new vision formed in the blackness. The Teeth, but not the southern side, bathed in weak winter sunlight. The northern side, in shadow. The shadows seemed to writhe, lazy, creeping, and Gawain froze in horror as the image crystallised.

Thousands of black clad men, attacking the Teeth with hammers, chipping away at the sheer rock face. Thousands of them, clambering carelessly over the bones and bodies of their fallen comrades to attack the rock. A terrible sense of despair seemed to fill Gawain, and a dread realisation began to form in his mind. Then the vision swam, and moved, further inland…

A great lake of bubbling brown slime, almost primordial. The landscape around it was barren, lifeless as far as they eye could see. Men and women, in black robes, chanting, making patterns in the air around the lake…other men, dressed in black tunics and hose, guiding naked and shaveheaded people to the lakeside, and then casting them in. Occasionally, a cloud of blackness seemed to bubble up from the lake, and shimmer, and then flash skyward…Gawain's stomach lurched.

Then the image moved further north, rushing, speeding towards a great dark castle hewn from rock, rushing to a tower…and there, sitting on a chair, staring back at him with lifeless black eyes, Morloch.

The dark wizard seemed suddenly confused. Then suddenly terrified. His crumbling jaw dropped, exposing the remains of long-decayed blackened teeth. Black veins suddenly pulsed in the obscene head.

"I have killed you twice!" Morloch cried.

"I told you I would come." Gawain screamed. And raised his sword, twisting his body, summoning all the energy and power of his battle-hardened frame. A word was forming on Morloch's lips, a gnarled and twisted hand reaching forward as if to ward off the blow.

A single word formed in Gawain's mind too, just as a distant bell tolled. The word cried for justice, and vengeance, for Raheen. As the mighty longsword scythed through the air and slammed into the crystal lens, the word filled Gawain's mind, and screamed from his lips.

Burn.

22. Darkslayer

Gawain felt the impact as the blade smashed into the crystal lens, and then time seemed to stand still. His muscles were shuddering, driving the steel through a morass, and then something seemed to jolt through him, this time through his entire body and not just his arms. He was vaguely aware of a tremendous screeching and crackling, and closed his eyes, and waited for death.

Martan, his eyes filled with tears, watched in horror as the longsword warrior was enveloped in an impenetrable black cloud that seemed as if it would draw the very sun from the heavens. A blast of black light shot down the far tunnel, heading for the far side of the rip. The ground shook, dust and rubble began to fall from the roof, and Martan watched, and waited for death.

What they could not see defied description. The bolt of pure aquamire energy unleashed from the lens shot through the tunnel, setting off a chain reaction, liberating the energy from tiny phials in the human chain that ran down the chasm's walls, across its deep floor, and up the other side, each liberation leaving a cloud of burnt ashes in its wake where once a shaveheaded follower had stood.

The main beam flashed through a duplicate lens at the far side of the chasm, blasting it asunder, its liberated energies joining the devastating pulse as it fired north through the base of the Teeth. The chain reaction kept pace with it, flashing west through a human chain of phial-carriers to a vast reservoir of aquamire so carefully horded over the centuries. When this erupted, the shaft of black light that shot skyward literally dimmed the sun.

The main beam flashed ever north, arrow-straight towards Morloch's tower. But at that precise moment, the lake of brown fermenting aquamire erupted a fresh shimmering bubble which rose, and intercepted the beam, and exploded, firing the vile brown lake, incinerating the wizards at its edge, diverting the blast.

In his castle tower, Morloch screamed, in agony and rage and despair. The ground shook, dust and stone falling from the tower's ceiling.

Gawain saw all this in his mind's eye, as though he'd ridden the blast of light himself.

In Threlland, the quaking earth had dwarves rushing from their stone-built houses and from the mines, and gazing north in awe. A massive black pillar of burning black light was flickering and dancing skyward towards the sun, blasting through the snowfall, burning through the clouds.

In Elvendere, elves slipped down ropes and gathered in clearings, and gazed at the northern sky as if this were their last day in the world.

In Juria, animals skittered nervously across the plains, and the crowned heads at court gasped in wonder as Allazar pushed them all aside to fling open the stained glass windows, only to fall to his knees, tears streaming as the pillar of black fire flickered like a far distant tornado.

In Mornland and Arrun, people clung to each other, and stared at a sun wreathed in a black shroud, and in Callodon, Brock frowned as daylight suddenly waned, and when the windows began to rattle in their panes, he glanced to the north, and braced for Morloch's Breath…

Gawain opened his eyes. Dust fell, and there was a curious dark tint to everything. At his feet, the shattered remains of clear crystal, and scorch-marks. The tunnel leading to the chasm seemed a lot bigger than he remembered, and was pitch black.

"Longsword!" A voice cried, distant, muffled.

He gazed down at his blade, still light as a feather, lighter, if anything. But black as night, the blackness swimming in the steel, shimmering, almost crackling with energy. He held it closer to his face, looking for his reflection, but saw nothing. Just the deepest blackness swimming in the steel, the length of the blade.

"Longsword! Run!"

Gawain turned. A familiar figure was beckoning urgently. Martan. The dwarf looked terrified, and so Gawain, stunned and half-deafened, hurried across the rock-strewn ground to the tunnel.

"By Morloch's stinking breath! Your eyes!" Martan cried.

"What about them?" Gawain asked, confused, and sheathed his blade.

Again, Martan looked shocked, and blinked. "Nothing…I thought…they looked like Morloch's eyes…"

The ground shook again, more violently.

"Run!" Martan cried, pushing Gawain towards the tunnel's distant opening.

Gawain vaguely understood, and together they began running. But Martan was sorely wounded, and soon hobbled to a halt. Gawain paused.

"Run! Leave me, Raheen, or die when the roof goes!"

That name galvanised Gawain, and he lunged forward, grabbing the old man by the collar at the scruff of his neck, and began running for his life, half-dragging and half-carrying the dwarf with him.

The earthquake grew, the ground moving forward and then back, pulsing, terrifying. In the open air at the mouth of the tunnel, a great scree slope angled gently down towards the farak gorin, and at the bottom, a wagon, bearing two Ramoth emissaries, half a dozen shaveheaded followers, and standing agog, four armed guards.

Gawain lost his footing and they fell forward onto the scree, over the edge and onto the slope. Martan rode the scree feet-first sliding skilfully in spite of his broken ribs and wounds, but Gawain tumbled and rolled, and were it not for his cloak would have suffered terribly.

Behind them, the tunnel roof collapsed with a roar that was muffled by the rumble of the earthquake, and clouds of dust and rubble blasted from its mouth. When Gawain found his feet, dazed and bruised, he found himself staring at two Ramoth guards. They, and the Ramoths in the cart, were staring skyward, jaws slack, terror etching their features.

Gawain suddenly remembered who he was, and who they were. Heads swung in his direction as he slipped the longsword from its sheath. Again, the world seemed to take on a faint black tint, as the woman Ramoth Emissary pointed at him and screamed:

"It is he! The Darkslayer!"

Guards fumbled for weapons as the eye-amulets on emissary chests opened.

Gawain cut them down, all of them, and then collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily as the earthquake subsided.

Martan knelt in front of him, and offered a leaking waterskin. "Not much left, Serre. Lost the other one in the fight. We still got the farak gorin an' all."

Gawain drank. "I'm tired."

"I ain't surprised. Not too chirpy meself now's you mention it. But best get on, away from this lot afore the ground quakes again."

"Where are we?"

"On the scree of the Teeth, some twenty mile west o' where we started."

Martan sat down with a groan, clutching his ribs.

"You are injured." Gawain sighed. "I'm sorry."

Martan chuckled. "Better'n being dead, I reckon, and I thought we both was. You recall what 'appened up there?"

"Vaguely."

"What did 'appen then, if you'll pardon me asking?"

"We burned a nest of bloodflies."

"Ah. That'll explain the smoke then."

Gawain glanced up at the fading column of black fire that shimmered and flickered high above them. "Aye.”

"Come Serre, snow's a-falling. Put up yer sword, and let's away from here."

Gawain sheathed the longsword, and rose unsteadily. The ground had stopped shaking, but every step they took was tentative, as if the ground would move or disappear before their feet touched solid earth. The feeling lasted for hours.

The farak gorin was spiteful as ever, but great cracks and chasms crazed its surface in the aftermath of the earthquake, and snow formed a welcome crunching barrier between their boots and the bitchrock surface. Darkness fell, and snow fell heavier. It was cold, and soon they both stopped, and sat.

Martan groaned as he lay on his blanket. Gawain was not so fortunate, he'd lost his pack somewhere in the melee. But the arrowsilk cloak and the layer of snow that blanketed the farak gorin provided a modicum of comfort.

"Is it winter already?" Gawain asked in the darkness.

"Aye.” Martan replied wearily. "By the moon, I'd say we been gone near two months. But that's a good thing, I reckon."

"How so?"

"Means we'll be back afore mid-winter's day."

Gawain gazed up at the sky, peering at the misty moon where it broke through clouds from time to time.

"Is Morloch dead?" Martan asked.

"I doubt it."

"Ah. Must've been a cloud then, flying over the moon, and yonder. Hoped it'd been his arse."

Gawain smiled. Then something seemed to break inside him, and the smile turned to a grin, and then to laughter, and then to tears.

Memories, flooding back in. Home, loss, grief, friends lost, friends gained. Elayeen. Morloch. Everything. Martan sat up, concern on his wrinkled and bloodstained face, as great wracking sobs shuddered through Gawain like the earthquake triggered by the aquamire blast.

"Oh my friend Raheen!" Martan gasped, "Wait ails thee?"

The stone that lay cold and hard in Gawain's chest shattered at that, and an ineffable agony of grief washed over him. "Raheen!" he cried, and gasped for breath between great wracking sobs, "My home!"

Martan eased Gawain up from the cold and unforgiving rock, and held him close, tears streaming down his own wizened face while the young warrior's grief-wracked body heaved with sobs, until finally they subsided, and Gawain slept.

When dawn broke, Gawain awoke to find the old man's chest serving as a pillow, and both of them wrapped in Gawain's cloak. The first rays of sunshine were breaking across the eastern slopes of Threlland, and Gawain slipped off his cloak and stood on shaky legs to greet them.

Behind him, he heard the old man stir. The sun was weak, a pale mime of its full summer glory, but Gawain had not thought to feel it on his face another dawn, and so he welcomed it, and closed his eyes, and remembered.

He would've wept, but his tears had been spent in the long hours of night. When he opened his eyes, and turned to the north, the Teeth looked far away, and there was no black shimmering beyond them. The fermenting lake of distilling aquamire was nothing but ashes now. Like Raheen. Morloch's great storehouse of the vile stuff was gone, liberated. Morloch was all but powerless, his own lands wasted and blasted, like Raheen. Justice, and vengeance, had been served. Yet Morloch lived. So too did Gawain, and he silently prayed that the vile dark wizard would greet this morning with the same crushing sense of loss and bereavement as he himself did. It would be fitting.

Martan coughed, and struggled to sit, clutching his ribs. His face was puffed and bruised from the Ramoths kicking, and he did not look well.

"Sorry if'n I disturbed you, Serre." the dwarf croaked.

"No. You did not disturb me. You don't look well."

"Not surprised, Serre, these bones are a bit too old to withstand too much pushin' an' shovin'."

"Can you stand?"

"Dunno, but I'll give it a go, if a certain Raheen warrior will lend me 'is arm?"

Gawain helped the old miner to his feet. "Forgive me, friend Martan, but I cannot bear to hear that name. It is too painful to me."

"Then forgive me for a blasted old fool, Serre, who only hoped to do honour to you and yer people."

Gawain smiled sadly. "I have no people now."

Martan nodded, and said softly "I know." Then he drew in a careful breath, which clearly pained him. "We're both of us a long ways from 'ome, Serre. I don't believe I shall see mine again."

Gawain's heart skipped a beat. "It is that bad?"

"I seen worse, but we got the farak gorin to cross, then twenty mile through snow to the slopes. No water, and just a lump o' frak twixt us and the yonderlife. I reckon, Serre, I might just sit a-while, and watch while you go."

"Take care not to offend me with such talk, dwarf." Gawain said firmly.

"In truth, Serre, no offence was meant. But I know my pains, and can barely stand, much less walk. Take the frak, and leave an old man with 'is dignity? And if you'll pardon me for taking the liberty of offerin' advice, don't be eatin' no yellow snow on the way 'ome."

Gawain's heart broke for a second time, and he stooped to pick up his cloak. With a sweep, it was around his shoulders, and the longsword slung in place. Martan stood proudly, offering the small lump of frak that was all that remained from his supplies.

Gawain stared at the old man for a moment, and a flush of anger swept through him. Suddenly, the world was tinted black again, and Martan looked shocked.

"I wish you wouldn't do that Serre, it's most alarmin' I must say."

"Do what?"

Martan raised a hesitant finger, indicating Gawain's eyes. "That."

Gawain slipped his knife from his boot, and stared at his reflection in the polished steel. His eyes were aquamire black, as Morloch's had been. No whites, no pupils, just a swimming blackness, the same as his sword. He sheathed the knife, and stared at Martan.

"I am Gawain. Son of Davyd. King of Raheen. No man offends me twice. And I do not leave a friend to die."

Martan's eyes brimmed. "Oh Serre…"

"You may not speak that name to a living soul, nor to me. It is too painful."

Martan nodded, and Gawain swept him up into his cloak, and started walking.

23. Reunion

It was night when Gawain reached the end of the farak gorin, and sank to his knees on the snow-covered grass of Juria. Martan was sleeping, and let out a single groan when Gawain laid him on the cold earth and wrapped him in his cloak. The night was clear, the moon and stars bright, and it was bitterly cold. Breath plumed from Gawain's mouth as he breathed on his hands. Twenty miles from Threlland, as best as he could tell. A long way, carrying a dying friend.

At that thought, Gawain glanced down at Martan, and was relieved to see faint wisps of breath in the cold night air. With a sigh, Gawain began scraping away a small clearing in the snow, exposing the grass beneath, and then he withdrew a handful of arrows from his quiver. Some were broken, probably from the tumble down the scree at the Teeth. But it didn't matter. Those elven shafts that were intact, he snapped into pieces anyway.

As an afterthought, he left three in the quiver. Who could tell how many black riders yet roamed the lands, looking for him or another of Morloch's enemies? He turned his attention back to the heap of carefully-laid shafts, and then began shredding the goose-feather fletching over the heap. When he was satisfied, he drew his knife, and began striking it with a flint arrowhead. Sparks flew, and after a little more effort, a small patch of goosefeather tinder caught a spark, and glowed, and with gentle breaths, Gawain blew the ember into flame. Soon, flames licked and crackled at the broken arrows, and then the fire caught.

Gawain sheathed his knife, and Martan stirred, his eyes open.

"Well poke me in the eye, if that don't be clever."

Gawain grinned. "Some old traditions come in useful from time to time."

"Aye." Martan agreed, smiling, and closed his eyes.

After the tunnels under the Teeth, night on the Jurian plains seemed bright as day. The fire burned splendidly, but Gawain knew it would be short-lived. The heat it gave out was welcome though, and kept the chill at bay. While Martan slept, Gawain stood with his back to the fire, surveying the gloomy horizon and the vast white blanket of snow that stretched in all directions. Then, from the south-east, something caught his eye.

Lights, tiny, like the distant glowstone lamps carried by the Ramoths into that dread chasm. Dozensof them, snaking through the gloom. Gawain smiled. Torches. He thought about waking Martan, but decided against it, and so he waited, his arms folded across his chest for warmth. As the fire died to embers, the ground began to vibrate, and a distant rumble thundered across the plain towards them.

Martan's eyes snapped open. "Another quake?" he gasped.

"No, friend Martan. Rest easy. Help is approaching."

"Ah."

Hoofbeats, thundering closer, dozens of torches glaring in the night, faint cries, drawing ever nearer.

"Longsword?" Martan grunted.

"Aye, Martan?"

"I shall keep your name safe."

"Thank you."

"No. You 'ave an old man's thanks, Serre, and I swear by me ancient 'eart, you have at least one loyal subject you can call yer own, in me."

The cries and halloes were clearer now, horses snorting a counterpoint to their galloping hooves. Gawain knelt by Martan's side, and rested his hand on the old man's shoulder. "And you have a friend."

"Ho there!" A gruff voice cried.

Gawain stood, and looked out at the line of blazing torches advancing in the darkness.

"Here, Threllandmen. Hurry, a brave and noble countryman requires aid."

Riders spurred their mounts forward towards the sound of Gawain's voice, and when they were close enough, great gasps ran the length of the line.

"Longsword! By the Teeth, it is he!"

The Threlland patrols, despatched by Rak in the name of the King a week after the two men had left Tarn, rushed to dismount and gather around. Martan was gently handled, wrapped in blankets, and born away by half the riders. Gawain donned his cloak, and gratefully accepted a bottle of Jurian brandy from a dumbstruck Threlland captain.

"How fares Rak, and Threlland?" Gawain asked, revelling in the liquid fire that coursed through his body on drinking the golden liquid.

"Both fare well, Serre. We thought you dead."

"So I heard when last I came to your land."

"Thrice we have heard it."

"Thrice?"

"Aye. Once, when the Callodon whitebeard came a-calling and the Ramoths declared you dead. A second time, weeks ago, when it was said you perished at the hands of the Ramoth, at a tower in southern Juria. And again, when the Teeth were blasted."

"Ah. At Juria? Weeks ago?"

"Aye. The Ramoth Emissary on the eastern slopes declared it had been seen by their dark magic. the Jurian Ramoths had set a trap, and cut you down for all to see."

Gawain sighed, and closed his eyes, remembering the tall fair-haired soldier in Juria. His plan, it seemed, had succeeded in part, explaining why Morloch had seemed so complacent at the Teeth.

"Are you well, Serre? Are you injured?"

Gawain opened his eyes. "No, captain. Just tired, and in need of friends. I would like to see Tarn, at sunrise."

"Then we'll ride, and have you there safe by dawn."

At Tarn, Gawain left the patrol with his thanks, and their assurances that Martan was well-attended by healers. The sky was greying by the time he slipped quietly around Rak's house to the stables, and released the bolts on the stable door. Gwyn rushed forward, and Gawain grabbed her ears.

"Hush, nag, or you'll wake the town. Come, you ugly brute, we've a small trip to make."

The horse bobbed her great head excitedly, her tail swishing madly as Gawain grasped her be-ribboned mane and swung himself up on her back. No need of reins, no need of saddle. Gwyn clopped quietly out onto the track that led up to the point overlooking the farak gorin, where Gawain dismounted and made a fuss of her.

Then, as dawn broke, man and beast turned towards the sun, and waited, and remembered.

Rak found them there an hour later, standing quietly side-by-side, gazing out across the vast white expanse to the snow-capped mountains.

"You look well, for a dead man, my brother."

Gawain turned, and smiled. "I am tired, Rak. So very tired."

Rak nodded, and there was a profound sorrow in the dwarf's eyes.

"You know?" Gawain asked softly.

"I do. I was in Juria with Allazar when the decoy was slain by the Ramoth. Merrin did not know of our plans, and I deemed it best that no-one should. When she heard word that you had been slain there weeks ago, she thought it true, and opened the letter you left for Travak."

Gawain nodded. He could understand the error. Morloch had believed it to be true, why should not a gentle mother?

"Forgive us, your Majesty…" Rak began, but Gawain cut him off with a gesture.

"No, say it not. I would not be King of ashes. It hurts too much to think of it, even after all this time passing."

Rak's eyes watered. "I understand. What name do you go by now? The patrols speak of Ramoths quaking in their towers, dreading the coming of The Longsword Darkslayer."

Gawain paused a moment. "In time, perhaps my own. But not now. Not yet. My heart no longer beats ice, but blood, and is too fragile to bear the pain of a name last spoken by my family. But though I carry this blade, and ever shall, the Longsword that Brock of Callodon and Allazar named is gone."

"Traveller, then?"

"Aye, brother. Traveller is meet. For travel I believe we must, soon."

"Soon?"

"After winter's grip." Gawain sighed, turning to the Teeth. "Morloch may yet live, but a greater threat awaits all the southlands, and even now attacks the Teeth relentlessly, hoping to force a breach. Should they succeed, should that dam burst, all the lands shall perish, unless they stand together as one."

"Then your father's dream, and mine, yet lives."

"Yes. And we must prevail, or every land shall be wasted."

"Then we shall prevail."

Gawain turned again, waves of weariness washing over him. Rak strode forward, took him by the arm, and led him down from the point, and to home.

Gawain slept for two days and nights, and when he awoke it was to birdsong. Clean clothing and new boots had been left at the foot of his bed, and he dressed quietly. Outside the window, more snow had fallen since he'd retired to his room, but the day had dawned bright, with the promise of clear skies.

Habit more than desire caused him to pick up the longsword and sling it over his shoulder, and he left the room intending to make straight for the kitchen, but was interrupted by happy giggling from the main room. He walked in, and found Rak seated by the fire, and Merrin sitting on the floor playing with Travak. The infant had a toy wooden horse, and someone had painted in bright blue eyes. Gawain smiled.

"Well met, friend Traveller." Rak said quietly, smiling.

"Well met."

Merrin smiled, though her eyes betrayed her pity for Gawain's dread loss. "Look, Travak, your uncle is here!"

The toddler grinned happily, picked up the little wooden Gwyn, and stumbled across the room, holding it out for Gawain to see. He bent, his back and knees protesting, and smiled at his namesake.

"Hello Travak."

"Gwyn!" the boy giggled, waving the toy horse, and then rushed back to his mother's arms.

"You must be famished." Merrin said, and rose, with Travak on her hip.

"I am, in truth." Gawain smiled back.

"What would you like for breakfast?"

"Anything but frak."

Rak and Merrin laughed, all tension evaporating.

"Although I must say I have a taste for it. But after so long of nothing but, I'd happily eat grass."

"I think we can provide much better fare." Merrin smiled happily, and left the room.

"Sit, or are you inclined to stand after so long a-bed?"

"No, I'll sit.” Gawain unslung the sword, and eyed it ruefully before propping it apologetically against the hearth.

"You are rested?"

"I am, thank you. How fares Threlland?"

"The land, or the crown?"

"Both, since both are known well to you."

"Ah," Rak looked sheepish. "Forgive us. But my Lady and I are not given to ostentation."

Gawain smiled. "Nothing to forgive. Both are well?"

"Aye, and thriving. You missed a fire yesterday."

"A fire?"

"Aye. Safe to say, there are no Ramoths in our land this day, and never shall be again."

"Word is spreading, then?"

"In truth. Winter hampers its progress a little, but word is spreading. Wizards are proclaiming the death of Morloch, and with no fear of Morloch's breath, towers are being fired across the southlands."

Gawain's eyes flashed aquamire black, and he knew it. Rak looked momentarily startled, but just as quickly regained his composure. "Whitebeards. Fools. Allazar was right, Morloch spent his Breath long ago. And now they would celebrate, instead of forming council and binding Morloch forever. Idiots."

"It is early, my friend. There is time enough surely to acquaint them with the truth?"

Gawain sighed, and the quiet words dampened his ire. The dark tints in the periphery of his vision evaporated, and Rak visibly relaxed.

"Yes, there is time." Gawain agreed. "But I know more of whitebeards now than I did before. Much more. They are not to be trusted, Rak, on any account. The time must come soon when they must take orders from kings, not give orders to them."

"And Allazar? Is he not to be trusted?"

"No whitebeard can ever be truly trusted. If you had seen across the Teeth as I have…" Gawain trailed off, and watched the flames dancing in the hearth.

"Allazar comes. He should arrive by nightfall. Word has it he left Juria's court the moment the Teeth shook, and has killed two horses in his haste to come."

"Then for that alone he offends me."

"Do not judge him harshly, Traveller. He laboured hard on your behalf, and risked all many times. Twice I myself saw him close to death, chanting magic to keep the decoy from sight entering Ramoth compounds."

Gawain sighed, and was about to answer when Merrin entered bearing a tray laden with hot food. Gawain smiled, and rose, and then sat to a welcome meal.

Merrin sat on the floor by Rak's legs, playing with Travak while Gawain ate. But at length, she looked up, and asked "Are we truly safe, Traveller? Will we see Travak a man?"

Gawain paused, and considered a moment, keenly aware of the longing in her eyes. "For now, yes, I believe so." He answered. "I cannot answer for the future, but for now, in truth, I believe we are safe."

She smiled, and went back to playing with Travak.

"How long before they breach the Teeth?" Rak asked, and Gawain looked up from the remains of his meal in surprise.

He found both Rak and Merrin looking to him for an honest answer.

"In truth, I do not know. Years? I would need to speak with Martan, for his opinion."

Rak nodded. "We have much to do then, in the time available."

"Aye. Much indeed."

Later, Gawain was grooming Gwyn in the stables when a messenger arrived bearing news that Allazar had arrived, and awaited him in Rak's main room. Gawain nodded, and went back to his duty. Gwyn had been well-tended, but duty was duty, and he'd missed her company and watchful blue eyes. At length, when she shone in the lamplight, Gawain stepped back and admired her.

"By my teeth, but you are an ugly old nag."

Gwyn bobbed her head happily, and then with a haughty snort, walked to her stall. Gawain chuckled, and left the stable.

When he walked into the main room and saw Allazar, he stopped dead in his tracks. The wizard looked haggard, drained, and his hands trembled.

"Longsword!" Allazar gasped breathlessly, "You live!"

"I do, whitebeard, which is more than you should for such poor treatment of horses."

"You live. It matters not whether I do. You live!"

Gawain strode forward, unable to resist the profound relief that shone from the wizard's eyes, and reached out his hand. "I do, and so shall you, a while longer yet I hope."

Allazar grasped Gawain's arm, and wept. "When I saw the aquamire fire, I thought…"

"Morloch lives."

Allazar wiped his eyes. "Aye, I suspected as much, and so I have advised the brethren. But a toothless dog is no threat, they say, and celebrate."

"Idiots."

"Aye."

They sat, the four of them. Merrin, Rak, Allazar and Gawain.

"I have seen across the Teeth." Gawain announced quietly.

Allazar gasped. "In truth?"

Gawain looked across at the wizard, his eyes sparkling aquamire. "You doubt me?"

"By the…no, Longsword, I doubt you not!"

Gawain turned his awful gaze to the fire, keenly aware that Merrin's hand had slipped into her husband's. Slowly he calmed, and the blackness faded. "I saw thousands of black-clad men and women, attacking the Teeth with their hammers. Can you imagine the remorseless futility of it? They would break down mountains with hammers. They die where they stand, and others clamber upon their fallen bodies to bring fresh assault to bear on the rock.

"I saw their works, beneath the Teeth. How many thousands had died carving steps into the chasm's walls I do not know. Even with the steps in place, only one in five survived the journey across that dread divide."

Gawain paused, remembering, and shook his head. "That is Morloch's army. Relentless, single-minded. That is the true threat we face."

"Then it might be centuries before they breach the Teeth." Allazar muttered.

"No." Gawain asserted. "Allazar, you would not speak of aquamire, and how it comes into being. I saw it. How long, Allazar, would that foul lake have taken to ferment?"

Allazar shuddered.

"How long?" Gawain pressed, eyes flashing black again.

"Five years, perhaps eight."

"Then that is all the time we have?" Merrin gasped.

Gawain shrugged. "I do not know. I only know that the Teeth are a dam, holding back a black tide that will sweep down across our lands and destroy them utterly. Once they breach the Teeth, we are doomed, unless the kingdoms unite."

"And Ramoth?" Rak asked quietly.

"Ramoth is destroyed."

Allazar leaned forward, eyes wide. "Ramoth was real? You slew a god?"

Gawain chuckled. "No. Ramoth was an invention of Morloch's. A decoy, used just as we did that poor Jurian soldier who posed as the Longsword warrior."

"Why?" Merrin asked softly. "Why such a device?"

"To keep the kingdoms divided. To cow the people. Break their spirit. My old allies against the Ramoths, fear and terror. While all the while, his army massed beyond the Teeth, attacking the wall that is all that remains twixt them and us. That," Gawain sighed, and closed his eyes against the memory, "That is why he destroyed Raheen."

"I do not understand." Rak said quietly, they were all keenly aware of Gawain's pain at mention of his devastated homeland now his heart beat once more.

Gawain sighed again. "When the dam breaks, the black flood will sweep down like a tidal wave. Only Raheen, high atop the plateau, could withstand such a flood. It would be a bastion, a rallying-point for all the lands to muster, and re-group, and strike back. It would stand as a beacon of hope against the black tide."

"As you did, my friend."

"As I did. That is why Morloch destroyed Raheen. That, and to feed his fermenting lake of aquamire. Threlland would have cost him less. As would Elevendere with its rich forests, brimming with living energy. Or Juria, or Mornland, or Arrun. But Raheen alone could withstand his army, and so Raheen it was he destroyed, at such great cost to himself."

"I must inform the brethren." Allazar said with conviction. "We must form council, and bind Morloch forever while we can."

"Even if you could, even if they believed you, or I, friend Allazar, his plans are laid. His army relentless. His generals instructed. They feed on aquamire, all of them. All the lands north of the Teeth are gone. Destroyed. They do not seek conquest of the southlands. They seek food."

24. Throth

Winter's grip was growing stronger by the day and cruel too, a chill fist which grasped the lands and held them fast in blankets of snow and ice. There was little Gawain could do but while away the days in the company of his friends, and in spite of his utter distrust of all wizards, he counted Allazar in that number.

In truth, the wizard's own opinions of his brethren were not too far separated from Gawain's, though of course Allazar seldom spoke of his own kind or their history. It was some time after their reunion that Gawain found himself alone in Rak's main room, seated by the fire, when Allazar strode in.

"Well met, Longsword." the wizard announced, proceeding to stand in front of the burning logs. "It is bitter out there."

"Well met, and aye. Midwinter's day fast approaches, and we've yet to hear if Threlland's king will grant us audience, let alone the others."

Allazar shrugged. "Eryk of Threlland is a noble king, for all his lack of physical stature. He knows his own lands, and will doubtless wait until spring before admitting us. He knows the journey from Tarn to the castle town would be a miserable one in these conditions. As for the rest of the southland kingdoms, I doubt Rak's messengers have so much as arrived, let alone delivered your dread tidings."

Gawain sighed. "We have so little time to prepare for what must surely come."

Allazar smiled sadly, the harrowed and gaunt expression already a memory thanks to good food and rest in Tarn. "Longsword, you are young. Five years or eight years, that is almost a lifetime. A few days, or weeks, or even months if needs be, will not much affect the final outcome."

Gawain frowned. "Yet there is much to do. All the crowns must gather, and listen. And then act. Each day brings us closer to the time when the Teeth shall fall and the black tide rushes in to devour us."

Allazar's smile faded, and he moved away from the fire. "Something else troubles you, I suspect?"

Gawain looked up, puzzled. "I do not believe so."

The wizard nodded. "You have a faraway look in your eyes of late, Longsword. And it is not to Morloch, nor the Teeth, that your mind wanders. Nor to another place, which I shall not name."

Gawain settled back in his chair. "Sometimes I think of Elvendere."

"Ah.” Allazar's eyes sparkled, and he sat opposite the young man. "Rak has told me of some of your adventures there."

Gawain nodded, absently. In the fire, flames danced and swirled, and in their fiery heart he saw shining eyes, hazel-green, and silver-blonde hair…

"Elvendere?" Allazar prompted.

"Eh?"

"Your thoughts, you said, sometimes turn to Elvendere?"

"Yes." Gawain replied, and turned his gaze back to the flames.

"What was her name?" Allazar asked, shrewdly.

"Elayeen."

"A pretty name."

Gawain sighed. "It does not do justice enough.”

"But?"

"But I fear she is married."

"Ah." Allazar nodded briefly, and then he too turned his gaze to the flames.

After a few moments, the silence broken only by the crackling logs, Gawain suddenly asked:

"Do you know much of elves, and their ways?"

"Some," Allazar acknowledged. "We have brethren there. But elves have long guarded their privacy jealously."

"A black braid in their hair, Allazar, this signifies marriage?"

"A braid does, yes. A black braid signifies far more."

Gawain looked crushed. "More?"

"It signifies throth."

"Elayeen mentioned the word. I took it to mean marriage."

"No, it means far more than marriage, my friend."

Gawain sighed again. "Must I hold a knife to your throat to prise the words out, Allazar? Can you not see I would know the meaning of this word 'throth'?"

"Forgive me, Longsword. It has been a long time and the memories come slowly on bleak mornings such as this."

"Hurry them."

"Throth is more than a word. It is a…condition. It is difficult to describe, there is no race other than elves who…experience this."

"What? Experience what? By my sword, Allazar, speak me a speech or I swear I'll cut off your leg and kick the information from you with your own foot!"

Allazar chuckled, for Gawain's eyes remained steel-gray in the firelight, no hint of flashing aquamire black anger. "Very well. But have you tried describing 'love', or 'hate', or 'need'? It is not easy."

Allazar settled back, and Gawain sighed aloud, staring into the flames.

"Throth," Allazar said quietly, "Is love, but more than love. It is desire, and yearning, but more than both. It is need, but more than want. It is at once revered, and pitied, by all elves, and is neither commonplace, nor rare.

"Many elves fall in love, and are married, and live their lives together, but never become throth. Some elves become throth at their first meeting."

"I do not understand." Gawain protested, his mind filled with elfin eyes…

"It is elfin, in origin. When an elfin becomes throth to an elf, it is she who begins the binding. Binding, a good word. I shall use it henceforth. The elfin becomes bound, throth, to an elf. This is signified by black strands of hair, which become visible within days. Later, when the elfin and elf have…spent much time in each other's company, the elf too becomes throth, bound, to the elfin.

"This binding is a wondrous thing. But at the same time, a dreadful thing. A throth pair are completely bound to each other, dependent upon each other. Just as we depend on food, and on water and air, the throth pair must be near one another, always. Separation becomes painful, an agony."

"Painful?"

"Indeed. Therein lies the dread. For whilst no two human lovers may know the depths of union enjoyed in throth, no two human lovers may know the agony of a throth pair unbound. If one of the pair should die, the other surely will, later, and such a terrible death…" Allazar trailed off, but felt Gawain's gaze upon him.

"In such cases," Allazar sighed, "the survivor of the throth pair becomes…dull. Listless. Disinterested in their surroundings, uncaring of themselves. In time, they cease even to feed themselves, and simply waste away. It is a living death, filled with emptiness and loss, and an unparalleled agony of grief."

"Such feelings I know well." Gawain muttered.

"Perhaps. But yet you live. A throth elf or elfin, robbed of or parted from their mate, that is different. It would be kinder to kill the survivor, and spare them the inevitable agony. But elves do not kill elves, so instead, in such circumstances, a ceremony is held, a judgement made, and the poor survivor taken deep into the forest…"

Gawain waited, but Allazar was staring into the fire again. "And?"

"Oh. And there, the athroth, for that is how they are known when the pair is sundered, is placed in a rune-circle, and abandoned. It is called 'Faranthroth'. There they remain, uncaring, closed about by trees, until in time the forest of Elvendere reclaims them."

"Until they die, you mean."

"Yes. Until they die. They are unable to fend for themselves, they do not care. Why should they? Their heart beats in another's breast, and when that other is gone, they have no life. Truly, it is a wondrous blessing, but when accident or war or illness sunders a throth pair, then the blessing is a curse. Throth is a binding that creates a dependency just as powerful as Morloch's dependency on aquamire. A pair will die without each other."

Gawain sighed again, and closed his eyes. "Then I am foolish to think of Elayeen at all."

"Love is always foolish, Longsword, and the heart seldom obeys the head."

"But there is no hope for me. She wears the black braid."

"No hope indeed. But do not slay the love in your heart. It is fresh, and the pain is better than that which lived there before, these dark months past."

"Aye. Perhaps."

They took to watching the flames again, and oddly, Gawain felt grateful that Allazar was there to share this newfound loneliness. Of late, his thoughts had turned to Elayeen more and more, now that Ramoth had been destroyed, and there was time for a youth to live.

"I still don't know why those cursed elven whitebeards wouldn't let her explain it to me. If she had, it would have been kinder to us both, I think."

Allazar looked surprised. "They forbade it?"

"Whenever she or her brother Gan mentioned the word. Gan is thal of his province. I took that to mean he is some sort of Governor."

Allazar chuckled. "Some sort indeed. Was he introduced as Gan-thal, or Thal-Gan?"

"Gan-thal."

Again Allazar chuckled. "Then in our language, he is prince Gan, royal crown of Elvendere. Had the 'Thal' preceded his name, he would be Elvendere. King. Your Elayeen, who I presume you knew as Elayeen-thalin and not Thalin-Elayeen, is the daughter of Elvendere."

Gawain looked stunned.

"I presume," Allazar said softly, "It was Elayeen-thalin? Longsword?"

"Yes." Gawain muttered.

Allazar breathed a sigh of relief. "At least you lost your heart to a princess, and not the queen herself. The king would not have been pleased. It is no wonder the brethren wished you not to know elven ways and throth, where the royal family are concerned. Especially if the young lady in question is become ethroth to a powerful lord or nobleman."

"I don't know who it was. All I know is that I found the whitebeards' constant interruptions and admonishments irritating, every time either Elayeen or her brother mentioned her becoming ithroth."

"Ethroth." Allazar corrected. "The noun is treated as every other, hence, mithroth, my bounden-love, ithroth, your bounden-love, ethroth, his bounden-love."

Gawain paled, and sat bolt upright, startling the wizard.

"What is it Longsword…?"

Gawain swallowed hard. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long can she survive? Separated from her…throth?"

Allazar began to look worried too. "Weeks, perhaps months if she is strong…but the elves rarely permit such dreadful suffering. Longsword, what ails you?"

"Allazar! She said to me 'I am become ithroth.' Her brother said 'She is become ithroth'…do you not see?"

"By the Teeth!" Allazar called as Gawain leapt to his feet and rushed to his room, the wizard hard on his heels. "What are you doing?"

"I must go to her!" Gawain cried, rushing to fill a pack.

"It is near midwinter's day! Longsword! It is too late!"

Gawain spun on his heel, eyes flaming black. He grabbed Allazar by his robes and thrust him up against the wall. "It is not too late, whitebeard. Say it is not too late!"

"In truth, Longsword," Allazar choked, "I fear it may be!"

Gawain trembled with dread. "I cannot let her die!I cannot let her die! By the Teeth, Allazar, if she is harmed…"

"Longsword.” Allazar said softly, as Gawain released his grip, "You have been gone a long time from her. If she is ithroth…was ithroth…" Allazar could not finish the sentence.

"I must go to her." Gawain announced, with the same dread conviction he'd uttered weeks before, when speaking of his journey to the Teeth.

"It is midwinter." Allazar said, vainly, as Gawain threw on his cloak and strapped on the longsword.

"I care not what season it is. Tell Rak and Merrin all. I shall return before spring. Earlier, if I am able. You and Rak must advise Eryk of Threlland should I fail to return before he grants audience."

"Longsword…" Allazar pleaded, but it was hopeless.

"She shall not die because of me." Gawain said, his awful aquamire gaze fixed on the wizard, "And this I swear by my sword, Allazar, if she be dead? Why then I shall cut down every tree in Elvendere to find the whitebeard bastards who denied me the knowledge you have too late imparted."

Gwyn did her best, but even she could not thunder down Threlland's hills and across Juria's plains while they lay beneath drifting snow banks that came sometimes to her chest. She could sense Gawain's anguish, and shared it, and pushed through the drifts valiantly, and pressed on with as much speed as could be mustered in the dreadful conditions.

Gawain slept in the saddle, and ate frak in the saddle when hunger stole upon him. Gwyn practically walked in her sleep, and the sack of oats from which Gawain refilled her nosebag soon diminished, and she had to make do with tufts of frozen grass poking through the snow and ice when they reached the plains of Juria.

Gawain headed due west, deciding to take the shortest route to Elvendere's forest instead of taking the more southerly route to Gan's province near Ferdan. The sooner they were beneath the canopy of trees, the quicker he could reach Elayeen's side. That she still lived, he never questioned. To contemplate otherwise reduced the world to black tints seen through aquamire rage which took hours to dissipate.

They pushed on, relentlessly, and when a blizzard blew up, the wind northerly and blasting cruel sleet and snow upon them, Gawain simply adjusted Gwyn's blankets and his own cloak, and kept the wind to his right side, using it to guide his route ever westward. It was like being in those dark tunnels beneath the Teeth; time had no meaning, neither sun nor moon nor stars to tell time by.

At length, chilled to the bone in spite of Jurian brandy, dark shapes loomed out of the driving snow before them. Trees. Elvendere. Gawain dismounted and led Gwyn into the shelter they afforded from both wind and snow, and set about rubbing her down as best his own frozen hands would permit. Ice clung to her, and she shivered violently, but her eyes were blue fire, her anguish driving her through cold and hunger. She knew where she was, remembered the children, knew that Gawain feared for someone here, and here she had brought him.

In truth, it was warmer in the forest than on the plains. The shield the trees provided against the bitter wind and the snow made it feel like spring in Elvendere, though snow still covered the ground in patches and their breath plumed before them.

Some hours later, deep in the gloom within the forest, elves stepped from behind trees to bar their path. They were unknown to Gawain, and he to them it seemed, for arrows were nocked in their bows, and held at the ready.

"Eem frith am Gan-thal," Gawain announced. And then added, "Eem throth am Elayeen-thalin."

At this, the elves looked stunned, and shared uneasy glances.

"Where is Elayeen?" Gawain asked softly, but received no reply.

He stepped forward. "Where is Elayeen?" he asked again, and the black tints began to edge his field of vision.

The elves stood agog, until Gawain unsheathed the longsword. Its blade seemed to hum and crackle as it swept a lazy arc through the chill air.

"I have no time!" Gawain threatened, "Where is Elayeen?"

Bows were lowered, fear replaced shock, and an elfin pointed away behind her, to the southwest.

"Elayeen-thalin…awaits faranthroth…" the elfin stammered. "Are you truly the one called Traveller? You are dead in Juria."

"I am Traveller. I am not dead. Where is Elayeen?"

"I will take you…we must hurry."

Gawain sheathed his blade and nodded. The other elves shared a curious glance with the elfin, who was clearly their patrol leader, and then Gawain advanced.

"Lead the way. Quickly."

The elfin nodded, and set off, Gawain hard on her heels as he swept past the remainder of the patrol, Gwyn snorting as she threaded through the trees after him.

After a few minutes, the elfin realised that the tall dark-eyed warrior was easily keeping pace, and she broke into a trot, and then began running, setting a wolf-like loping pace which made barely a sound as she weaved through the trees.

"How far?" Gawain said, breathing steadily, matching her pace and stride.

"Far." the elfin replied. "Hurry."

They did. After so long chilled in the saddle, Gawain was glad of the exercise. After so long pushing through banks of snow, Gwyn seemed pleased to be able to trot lazily on ground that she could see and trust. Both felt blood coursing through their veins, driving out the chill, and save for the gloom and the air that seared their lungs, winter seemed a distant memory.

About an hour later, the elfin slowed, breathing deeply, and then she stopped, hands on her hips.

"Where is she?" Gawain asked, breath pluming.

"Soon. Wait."

A few moments later, another elven patrol appeared, melting through the gloom and from the trees around them. The elfin spoke in a rush, in her own language, and Gawain caught only snatches of her hasty conversation. The glances that were fired his way, and the fear which suddenly blanched elven faces, told him that his guide had explained everything in moments.

The patrol parted, and another elfin stepped forward from the gloom. Gawain recognised her immediately.

"Traveller. You know me?" she said, eyes wide with fear and worry.

"I do. I saw you with Elayeen when last I was here."

"I am…thalangard?"

"A royal honour-guard." Gawain said.

"Yes. I am Meeya, thalangard, eem frith am Elayeen-thalin."

"Where is she?"

Anxiety seemed to flood over the honour-guard's face. "Elayeen-thalin awaits faranthroth… judgement is being passed."

"Take me there now."

Again she looked pained, and seemed to be struggling for the words. She glanced around helplessly, and the others offered words that Gawain did not recognise. "This is…we call this province…Elvenheth…it is our heart? Where our king lives?"

"Castle town." Gawain mumbled, "Your capitol, your heartland?"

"Yes! Thal-Hak is here, and Thalin-Reeyan."

"Meeya. I don't care about Elvendere or his queen. Take me to Elayeen. Now."

"I cannot! Humans are not permitted."

Gawain's eyes flashed in an instant. "Take me there now or I will hack down every tree and every elf until I find her myself!"

The first elfin patrol officer fired off a short burst of impassioned speech, and there was a chorus of "Aye's" from the others. None, it seemed, were prepared to do battle with the warrior that had slain six of Morloch's black riders, and certainly not now with his terrifying eyes glowing black, turning his threat into a visible promise.

Meeya nodded once, and began running. Less than a heartbeat later Gawain was racing after her.

He caught glimpses of startled faces, and it grew brighter. Above them, the sky was clearing, revealing weak blue through rents in the puffy dark clouds. It was afternoon, and here and there weak shafts of sunshine lanced through the leafy canopy.

They were running through what was obviously the central province of Elvendere. Above them, elven dwellings woven into the trees. Around them, elves stepping back, gasping at the sight of the black-eyed warrior and the battle-horse trotting behind him as they raced after a royal honour-guard. A few even shouted in alarm.

Gawain did not care. Aquamire rage fuelled his fear, pumped the blood through his veins, charged him with strength, one purpose, one thought. Elayeen. He was vaguely aware of Gwyn snorting warnings behind him, but the warnings weren't intended for him; they were directed at other elven warriors that would step out into their path, or give chase. They did not. Everywhere, there was a sense of profound loss, of tragedy, of pity…and that simply served to give fresh urgency to Gawain's legs.

"How far?" He cried.

"Soon!" Meeya called back, and within moments, at a small clearing ringed by massive trees, she came to a halt, breathing hard.

"Where?" Gawain demanded. Then he looked hard at the elfin guard. He noted the braid in her hair, and then noted her breathing. She was sobbing, not gasping for breath because of the run. She shook her head, and choked back a reply, and then advanced through the massive tree-trunks.

Gawain followed, and found himself in another circular clearing, this one filled with low benches facing a raised mound on which a throne rested. The clearing was empty.

"Too late!" Meeya gasped, her eyes brimming with tears, "Mifrith Elayeen! Too late!"

Gawain grabbed Meeya's slender arm, harshly, and yanked her around to face him. Her dark eyes were wide with fear, but not fear of Gawain. It was fear for her friend, Elayeen. And grief.

"Where have they taken her?"

"Faranthroth. Judgement has been made." Meeya choked, and pointed a finger to the west. "It is too late."

"No." Gawain asserted. "Lead the way."

But Meeya shook her head. "Nai, I cannot, it is death!"

"Hai Gwyn!" Gawain called, and the horse snorted. "Find Elayeen, Gwyn. Show me."

Gwyn snorted again, eyes wide, and trotted across the clearing, heading west. West, through the mighty trunks that formed the perimeter of this curious clearing. Gawain followed, and thought he heard Meeya follow a few paces and then drop back.

Gwyn found a track of sorts, a kind of avenue between rows of trees. Unlike the rest of Elvendere, which had seemed well-tended and managed, this track seemed overgrown, weedblown, seldom used. At once, Gwyn let out a whinny and thundered off down the track, Gawain sprinting behind her. Sunshine lit the sky and flashed through great gaps in the canopy as Gwyn extended her lead, galloping, hooves thundering…

The track rounded a bend, and Gwyn was suddenly lost from sight. Gawain heard her terrible whinnying, that familiar and awesome battle-cry of hers, and as he reached the bend, he slowed to a walk, breathing hard, his hand reaching up over his shoulder to grip the hilt of the longsword and draw it forth, aquamire energy crackling deep within the steel.

When he rounded the bend, he stopped dead in his tracks. A large group of elves stood pressed back against trees while Gwyn pranced at the centre of yet another clearing. She reared up on her hind legs, blue eyes blazing, kicking the air, whinnying in outrage, keeping the terrified elves at bay.

"Hai. Gwyn." Gawain called softly, and at once she calmed, eyeing the elves threateningly and backing away as Gawain strode into the circle.

"You!" A harsh and familiar voice cried.

Gwyn snorted, and backed away further. And Gawain saw clearly what had outraged the horse so. A circle of white stones, their surface etched with strange symbols, placed at intervals between saplings, and in the centre of the circle, laying on the ground, wearing only her calfskin boots, green calfskin skirt and tunic, Elayeen. Already the saplings seemed to be bending over towards her, and from above, from older trees, vines and creepers slowly reaching down…

"Traveller!" another voice called. Gan. Gwyn whinnied, and in the circle of faranthroth, Elayeen stirred, barely, but enough to show Gawain that his worst fears had yet to be realised.

A muted gasp went up at that.

"You!" the harsh and familiar voice called again. "It is forbidden for humans to enter Elvenheth!"

Gawain merely stood there, his eyes fixed on Elayeen. He knew who it was that had spoken. The whitebeard, the one that had wished him gone from Elvendere. The one that had shadowed Elayeen, forbidden her to speak of throth…the one Gawain had sworn to cleave in two, one day…

"Elayeen." Gawain called softly.

"Be gone, DarkSlayer!" The wizard shouted, and in spite of Gwyn's prancing, moved forward. "It is death to enter Elvenheth! It is death to cross the runes into faranthroth!"

Black rage bubbled and broke within Gawain, rising to a crescendo that cried out for destruction. But then it subsided, held in check. Gawain was master of it. Inside the circle of stones and saplings, Elayeen had stirred once more. Gawain called her name again, softly, and with obvious effort, her head rose a little, and her eyes flickered open.

Gawain was stunned. While behind him, elves gathered in a tight semi-circle, held at bay by his horse, before him, Elayeen's eyes met his. She looked dreadful, almost as vacant and vacuous as the Ramoth servants. Her features were sallow and gaunt, her hair lank and matted, and the effort of raising her head from the cold ground in the centre of faranthroth was almost too much for her. But her lips moved, and though he couldn't hear the word for the sound of the wizard screaming oaths behind him, Gawain felt sure that the word she'd tried to speak was 'mithroth'.

"Be gone from here, DarkSlayer! Judgement has been made and cannot be revoked! None may cross the runes!"

Gawain sighed, his eyes wide with agony and rage. That Elayeen should have suffered so, wasted away so, and all because of him. And because of whitebeards, and the kings that heeded whitebeard advice. Rage, because there was only one way that the elven wizard could have known the name 'DarkSlayer'.

He spun on his heel, and with a single careless flick of his longsword, ripped open the wizard's robes. A great gasp went up as the cloth parted and fell to the ground, exposing the wizard's torso and arms. Strange symbols were tattooed all over the man's body, linked to form garish swirling patterns. And hanging from a slender chain around the wizard's neck, a tiny crystal lens, black with aquamire, a miniature version of the massive Ramoth Eye that Gawain had destroyed in the Teeth.

"I told you to hold your breath for my return, whitebeard scum. You should have heeded me." Gawain rasped, and then with a crackling whoosh, the longsword's blade scythed through the air, slashing down, ripping the terrified wizard in two from left shoulder to right hip, shattering the aquamire lens. The whitebeard fell silently, steam rising from the gaping wound in the chill winter air.

Gawain glanced briefly at the gathered elves. Gan he recognised, and a few others. A tall elf, splendidly dressed, stood with his arm around a woman who's features closely resembled Elayeen's, circlets of gold holding back their black-streaked hair. Then he spun around, advanced to the circle of faranthroth, and screaming Elayeen's name, swung the blade again.

As black steel smashed into the saplings, blinding light blasted skyward from the rune-etched stones on the ground. Gawain felt a jolt of something but ignored it, the blade scything onward, slicing through four of the slender trees before completing its dreadful arc. Leaves fell, wood groaned, and with a great shuddering rustle, the saplings slowly toppled backwards, and fell around Gawain, leaving a broad opening into the circle of faranthroth.

Gawain strode forward without hesitation, and from somewhere behind him he heard Gan, and surprisingly, Meeya, calling out his old name, Traveller.

But nothing happened when he crossed the runestones, sheathing his mighty blade. In less than twenty paces, he was kneeling before Elayeen, his hands trembling as he reached out to touch her hair. She stirred a little, but was too weak to move. Gently, Gawain lifted her head, cradling her in the crook of his arm as he brushed grass and dirt from her cheek.

"Elayeen," he whispered, "Elayeen."

Her eyelids fluttered and opened, and he gazed down into her eyes. Only the faintest spark burned in them, separated her expression from the empty lifeless gaze of a Ramoth acolyte.

"Elayeen.” Gawain sighed, holding her tighter, caressing her brow.

"Mithroth?" she whispered. "I come. Wait for me?"

"No, Elayeen!" Gawain gasped, and clutched her to him. "I live! I am here! Come back to me!"

"You live?" she whispered, the spark in her eyes flaring just a little.

Tears slipped from Gawain's dark eyes as he caressed her brow and rocked her gently back and forth. "Yes, Elayeen mithroth, I live! I live, and so must you! So must you!"

A faint sigh escaped her lips, and she smiled weakly, and sank her head into his chest. For a moment, Gawain's heart lurched, but he could feel her breathing. He gathered her into his cloak and swept her up off the ground, and gasped when his hand touched the bare skin of her thigh. She was freezing cold. Anger, and fear, and a terrible resolve flooded through Gawain like an aquamire blast as he turned to face the elves, still standing outside the circle of faranthroth, still held at bay by Gwyn.

Gawain strode forward, his eyes blazing black, Elayeen held tightly to him beneath his cloak.

"That which you have discarded," he spat towards the King of Elvendere, "I claim as my own." Then he turned his dread gaze upon the surviving wizard, who stood next to the king. "And this I swear, by my blade. If Elayeen dies, I shall fell every tree in this miserable forest until I find you, whitebeard, and bathe in the blood of you and all your kind for what you have done!"

Gwyn whinnied, and stamped on the frozen ground.

"Gwyn," Gawain said softly, menacingly, "Kill any that move to interfere."

The great horse's head bobbed, and she stepped forward, forcing the elves further back against the trees.

"Mithroth?" Elayeen sighed in her sleep.

Gawain glanced down at her. "Yes, mithroth, it is I. I live, and so shall you.” And drawing her closer, he strode away down the track that led from that awful place, Meeya and Gan hurrying behind him, and Gwyn some paces beyond, blue eyes ever watchful.

When they reached Elvenheth, Gawain paused, and eyed the fearful elves that held each other close and watched from behind trees.

"This way." Meeya announced, pointing.

Gawain paused.

"Please." Gan said urgently.

Gawain followed the thalangard as she led the way, through trees and clearings, and finally up a grand and winding stairway woven into the branches of massive silvertrees.

"This is Elayeen's room, here in Elvenheth." Gan said softly.

Meeya parted a heavy skin door, and Gawain stepped inside. It was cold, and dark, and the thalangard rushed to lift the shutters of glowstone lamps that hung from sconces around the room. It was small, and but for the cold would have seemed comfortable and not ostentatious. A large bed of skins lay in the far corner, and Gawain strode forward to it.

As he sank to the bed, keeping Elayeen held tightly to him and wrapped in his cloak, he glanced up at the thalangard. "Bring heat, and food."

Meeya nodded once, and looked to Gan, who nodded too, and she hurried from the room.

"Friend Traveller…" Gan began, his face a picture of anguish and relief, but Gawain silenced him with a dark look.

"I tell you this, Gan-thal. If anyone but you or Meeya approach these rooms, if anyone should hinder me, or stand in the way of Elayeen's recovery…I shall burn all Elvendere to ashes. Raheen will seem more welcoming than this place when I am done."

Gan shuddered, and started when the curtain door parted and Meeya entered, bearing two large cauldrons. Gawain watched while the elfin placed the cauldrons in the centre of the room, lifted their lids, and then poured an oily liquid onto the stones they contained. There was a whooshing, and heat ballooned from the cauldrons, the stones burning with an invisible flame.

"Word came that you had been slain, in Juria.” Gan said softly. "The wizard you slew, he confirmed it. Until then, Elayeen bore the athroth as best she could, but after…” Gan trailed off, his hands trembling.

Gawain held Elayeen closer, caressing her face as he sank back onto the pile of skins. "Meeya."

"Yes?"

"Stand guard. No-one but you or Gan enters this room without dying a heartbeat later. No-one."

"Yes."

"Gan?"

"Traveller?"

"Tell the people not to approach Gwyn. She stands guard below. You may tend her if you wish."

"I shall."

"Now leave us."

The two elves departed in silence, exchanging fearful glances, yet they felt relief too. Relief that there was yet hope for Elayeen.

Gawain held her close, her head on his shoulder as heat filled the room, and he whispered her name, over and over, and told her he was alive, and that she must live too. The only reply he received was her gentle breathing, and for him, as he caressed her head, it was enough.

25. Exile

For two days and nights Gawain held her to him, leaving her side only for the briefest times when nature demanded it. Each time he drew away from her, she sighed painfully in her sleep, and each time he returned to the bed to gather her up in his arms, she sighed contentedly.

Once, Meeya crept quietly into the room, to bring fresh food and to pour more oily liquid upon the stones in their cauldrons, bringing fresh heat to the quarters. She cast a lingering glance towards her sleeping friend, and Gawain nodded gently that all seemed well.

"You must hold her close," Meeya whispered, "so that she can hear your heart, and know you live."

Gawain nodded, and when Meeya had left, he gently unbuttoned his tunic and shirt, moving the fabric aside and laying Elayeen's head upon his bare chest, and the palm of her hand over his breast. He closed his eyes, hoping that somehow she would draw strength from him this way, that his heart would beat new life and vigour into hers while he held her hand and caressed her hair.

On the third morning, while she lay with her head upon his chest and he whispered her name, she stirred a little. It was no more than a gentle flexing of muscles, but soon after he felt her eyelids flutter on his chest. Still he held her hand pressed against his breast, and still he softly spoke her name, and told her he lived, and that she must too.

She lay quietly, listening to his gentle words, and her breathing grew stronger. At length, her eyes still closed, she spoke, her voice barely a whisper, yet her words thrilled him more than any battle-cry.

"Mithroth?" she whispered. "Is this then the yonderlife?"

"No, my Lady Elayeen. This is not the yonderlife. I live, as do you."

She sighed, and nestled closer to him, drawing up her leg so that it rested across his. "You live, mithroth. They said you were dead."

"I live. And the one who lied does not. You are safe, my precious Elayeen, I shall never leave you."

"Never?"

"Never. Had I known…I would never have left you."

"You came back…for me?"

"Yes. As I promised I would."

"If you were able. I remember. I tried so hard to be strong for you, mithroth, so that you would be proud of me when you returned. I tried so hard…but they said you were slain…"

Gawain felt warm tears on his chest, and he held her closer still. "Hush, mithroth," he whispered in the gloom of the glowstones, "I am here."

He felt her draw in a deep and shuddering breath and then let it out in a long sigh as she relaxed. A few moments later, her hand slipped from under his, sliding up to his shoulder.

"I hear my heart beating in your breast…" Elayeen sighed, and slept again.

She was still sleeping deeply when, as afternoon sunshine knifed through a tiny crack in the curtains, the door was pushed aside, and Gan stepped softly into the room.

Gawain eyed him, and his glance flickered down to Elayeen. Gan nodded, and crept closer.

"Traveller…I have news." Gan whispered, his face sombre, but his eyes filled with relief when he saw how contentedly his sister slept.

"News?"

"There is much turmoil without."

"What care I?"

"It is you who are the cause of this turmoil."

"For bringing life to Elayeen?"

Gan nodded. "And for setting foot in Elvenheth."

"I would walk fire for her, and cross the farak gorin barefoot. I care not for your customs or superstitions, and if it's whitebeards at the heart of it, then pity them, for I shall not stay my blade against them if it be so."

Gan looked pained. "The people are divided. Some praise you, and say you must indeed be elf, and throth, to have trespassed Elvenheth and crossed the faranthroth for Elayeen. Others say you are Morloch-cursed, filled with darkness, and must be put out of the land forever. They say you have violated Elvenheth, and that Elayeen must yet endure the judgement passed on her."

"I live. She is athroth no longer. Tell them, friend Gan, I do not suffer fools gladly, nor am I to be offended."

"It matters not what I tell them…" Gan's voice had risen in desperation, and Elayeen stirred, but did not wake. Gan dropped to a whisper again. "It matters not what I tell them! Half already side against Thal-Hak!"

"Your father."

"My father."

"Who abandoned Elayeen to the faranthroth."

"It was his duty! Elves do not kill elves! We thought you dead, and could not bear Elayeen's suffering!"

"She shall suffer no more."

"She shall, if you remain here."

Gawain's eyes blinked aquamire. "By whose hand?"

Gan shrugged, and looked down. "We must leave this place, friend Traveller. In my province, we should be safe. Here, with so much division, I do not know. Powerful nobles already challenge my father for the breaking of his judgement, for your trespass…"

"Politics!" Gawain hissed. "I have no interest in Elvendere or its crown. My only interest lays here with me, upon my heart."

"You do not understand!" Gan whispered urgently. "Already it is said that Elayeen is no longer thalin! That she should be shunned as faranthroth! There are those who would kill you rather than see a human throth to Elvendere's royal line! Do you not see? Elves do not kill elves my friend, but they are not so squeamish with human blood! And if they succeed, then what of Elayeen?"

Gawain's eyes darkened further. "Then I shall take her to the safety of Threlland, and these fools have looked their last upon her."

"The Black Hills? The dwarves will kill her!"

"Kill her? What stupidity is this?"

"Everyone knows the dwarves hate us with a vengeance, Traveller, and always have!"

"Who told you this?"

"It is history! The wizards…"

"The wizards are lying whitebeard bastard scum, Gan, and you are a fool to listen to them!" Gawain hissed. "As soon as Elayeen is able, I shall take her to Threlland. Your father's precious throne will be safe."

Gan looked crestfallen. "Your words are cruel as your eyes, Traveller. It is Elayeen we think of, nothing more."

"Then tell me what more I must do to revive her, and I shall take her to safety."

"There is no more I can tell you. No-one has ever returned from faranthroth. All you can do is hold her close, and hope."

"Then tend to Gwyn. Bring food for her and for us. And warm clothing for Elayeen. I leave this whitebeard-cursed forest at dawn tomorrow."

Gan nodded, his shoulders slumped. "I shall do as you ask. Thalangard will escort you, as shall I."

"Good."

Gan looked up, his eyes filled with sadness. "In truth, Traveller? Is Threlland safe for Elayeen?"

"Safer by far than Elvendere, it seems."

In the early hours of the morning, Meeya softly entered Elayeen's room, laden with warm clothing, and heavily armed. With her help, Gawain dressed the still-sleeping Elayeen in fresh warm clothing against the winter waiting on the plains to the east. When all was prepared, Gawain glanced at the tearful thalangard.

"Thank you, Meeya." Gawain whispered, and on seeing the puzzlement in the elfin's eyes, added "For your friendship to my beloved."

"I will come with you, to Threlland.” Meeya whispered.

"No.” Gawain reached out, and touched the braid in Meeya's short brown hair. "You have a husband, and Gan has need of a loyal thalangard."

"But…"

"No. Elayeen is thalin of Elvendere no more. Later, you will understand. Your duty is to Gan-thal, and Thal-Hak. I am now thalangard to Elayeen. It is my life, and my blade, that shall keep her safe."

Meeya nodded, and sniffed, and then hurried from the room. A few moments later she returned, and beckoned Gawain forward.

Elayeen did not stir when Gawain lifted her from the bed, and carried her from the room and down to the clearing where Gwyn waited patiently, laden with supplies and draped in winter blankets. Gan nodded to a contingent of thalangard, and quietly they moved off, leaving the sleeping heartland province of Elvenheth behind them in the darkness.

It was cold, but stars in the pre-dawn sky spoke of a clear day and sunshine to come. Elayeen, cradled in Gawain's arms, stirred restlessly, until her slender hand found a way through his tunic and shirt to his skin beneath, and then she seemed to sleep more soundly. When dawn broke, Gawain had no time to pause for remembrance. Instead, he nodded briefly at the sun, his face set grim. It would be bitter cold on the plains of Juria, and he doubted that the journey back to Threlland would be any easier than it had been to Elvendere.

Birdsong suddenly stilled, there was a thrumming twang, a whizz, and something slammed into Gawain's back. He staggered forward to his knees, instinctively bending low to shield Elayeen. Thalangard hissed orders, bows creaked as strings were drawn, commands were given…Gawain did not understand any of them. But he knew what had happened. The cloak Merrin had given him had saved his life yet again.

Gan strode forward, his face clouded with agony. "Traveller…do you live…?"

Gawain looked up, his eyes flaming black. "I live. Who did this?"

Gan closed is eyes in relief, and then glanced angrily over Gawain's head as the thalangard brought a prisoner forward. Gawain stood, and turned his terrible gaze towards the tall and slender elf who had sought to take his life. And with it, Elayeen's.

"Yonas." Gan spat the name. "On whose orders do you act so treacherously?"

"On the orders of my conscience, Gan-thal, as all loyal subjects do!"

"You are a fool. Had you succeeded, you would surely have killed Elayeen-thalin!" Gan raged.

"There is no thalin! She is faranthroth! Dead! No human shall set foot in Elvenheth, no human shall be throth to the royal line!"

Gawain stared at the elf, every muscle longing to draw the longsword and put an end to his miserable life. 'Suffer no man to draw steel against a crown of Raheen' rang in his mind. But Elayeen stirred in his arms.

"What becomes of this assassin, by your law?" Gawain growled.

"I would see him dead." Gan hissed. "But elves do not kill elves."

"I have no such compunctions." Gawain replied coldly.

Yonas stiffened, and his eyes widened with fear. He had seen his shaft fly straight and true, thirty paces through the trees, and strike exactly where aimed. Yet the longsword warrior lived, and now his own life was forfeit.

"I cannot stay your arm." Gan said, chillingly, regally, and Yonas knew his life was over.

"Let him go, when I am gone." Gawain said. "I would have this one live. For one day, we shall meet again, and Elayeen shall decide his fate."

Gan nodded at the thalangard, and Yonas was led away into the forest.

"I would not have shown such mercy." Gan said, as they moved off again.

"My arms were full. I could not draw my sword." Gawain lied. He had seen the black braid in Yonas' hair, and knew what it meant now.

By the time they reached the tree line the sun was higher in the sky, though there were yet a few hours until noon. The thalangard fanned out, forming a protective semi-circle around Gan, Gawain, and Elayeen.

"Fare well, Traveller. Send word of Elayeen when you can?"

Gawain nodded. "When you return to your home, Gan, watch the town of Ferdan. In the first days of summer, you may see something important. If you do, bring your father there. That is where you will next see your sister, in my company."

"In Ferdan? In summer?"

"Aye."

Gwyn bowed her head low, and Gawain mounted, careful not to wake Elayeen.

"Never trust the whitebeards, Gan-thal. Never."

Gan nodded, uncertain. "I shall remember. I will send word, somehow, when it is safe for Elayeen to return."

"I shall not hold my breath against that day, friend Gan, not while a single whitebeard draws breath beneath the trees of Elvendere to guide the thoughts of men like Yonas. Fare well."

"Speed your journey."

Gwyn stepped out from the trees, and with a snort, set off across the plains of Juria once more, this time heading east. Gawain neither looked back nor forward. Instead, he looked down at the pale and unconscious form in his arms, and bent a little to kiss her on the forehead. Then he tenderly covered her face with his cloak, shielding her against the spiteful cold breezes wafting down from the far-distant Teeth.

Once she woke, and stiffened a little, but her hand moved a little over his chest, and she fell quiet again, content that he was near, and she touching him. When he said her name, he received no reply; she had fallen asleep again.

Gawain was filled with anguish for her. In the days and nights in her room at Elvenheth, she had eaten only once, and then very little. They stopped briefly, that first night on the plains, and Gawain laid her gently on the ground, propping her upright with his knee while he trickled a rich broth into her lips. She drank a little, and for an hour Gawain remained there, until the small flask of broth was empty. Then he lifted her, mounted Gwyn, and they set off once more.

Elayeen woke the next day, in the late afternoon, and nestled closer to him.

"Mithroth? Is this the yonderlife?"

"No. This is Juria. You are safe, mithroth, safe with me."

"Do we travel to the yonderlife together then?"

"No. We travel to Threlland."

"Then we do travel to the yonderlife. The dwarves will kill us."

Gawain chuckled tenderly, and hugged her reassuringly. "No. They are my friends. They will love you almost as dearly as I do."

"I think I shall sleep some more…" she sighed.

"No, mithroth, not yet. First you must eat."

"I am not hungry."

Gawain reached into one of the sacks, and drew out another flask of broth. "For me, mithroth, I beg you…please."

Her eyes fluttered open, and she gazed up at him. "For you?"

"For me." he said tenderly, "Please."

"For you, mithroth." She smiled weakly, and drank the broth without protest, until the flask was drained.

Gawain tossed it aside into the snow as Gwyn pushed on, and Elayeen smiled as he caressed her cheek, and then she slept again.

For the first time, Gawain found himself wishing that Allazar was with him. The wizard, curse all whitebeards, might know something, anything, that might speed Elayeen's recovery. She seemed so dreadfully gaunt, so painfully vacant. When she spoke, she spoke almost as a child, unaware of herself or the world around her, aware only that Gawain was there, that her palm was pressed against his flesh beneath his tunic.

For days they travelled slowly, Gwyn forcing a path through the drifts carefully, as though she would not jolt her mount or his sleeping charge. Whenever Elayeen awoke, Gawain had to beg her to eat, but all she would accept was the broth that Meeya had prepared. Gawain hoped that it was enough to keep her strong. He kept searching her face for signs of colour, but she remained pale and wan.

When they reached the river crossing into Mornland, guardsmen at first waved and cheered, and then fell into a concerned hush when they realised that the longsword warrior bore a Lady, and that she was sick. They urged him to take rest inside their hut, and lit a great brazier for warmth, and prepared a fresh cot bed.

Gawain accepted reluctantly. It would delay his journey a while longer, but it was warm, and dry, and Gwyn needed rest. Word reached the guardsmen on the Mornland side of the crossing, and they rushed across the sluggish ford, bearing blankets and food, and soon a small crowd was huddled in the Jurian hut, gazing with worried expressions while the famed Longsword tended his Lady, who was an elf, and dreadful sick. Gwyn was led away to a stable, with a promise to Gawain that she would be well-tended. Someone produced a bottle of Jurian brandy, and Gawain, desperate to try anything to revive Elayeen, carefully poured a little between her lips. Moments later, the faintest flush of colour tinged her cheeks, and she smiled in her sleep, perhaps at the distant memory of their first meeting.

Gawain sat on the floor by the cot, leaning over her, his hand in her hair, and fell asleep. When he awoke, the sun was shining weakly, and it was morning. The hut was warm and quiet, and he and Elayeen were alone. The guards had stoked the brazier and left the sleeping couple in peace. Later, when a timid Jurian had peeped around the door and found Gawain awake, they had returned, and spoke softly.

The way across Mornland to Threlland was clear, they said, but deep snow had drifted at the bottom of the western slopes. The Mornland guard commander had guessed Gawain's destination, and had sent a rider ahead to Threlland in the hope that a path could be cleared through the snow for the Longsword warrior and his Lady.

Gawain was moved by their honest concern for him and for Elayeen. He barely knew them, scarcely recognised any of them, yet their kindness was remarkable. But time was pressing, and one of the Jurians opined that a big snowfall was likely, if the chill in his bones was anything to go by. Long years serving on this northern border were not to be argued with, and now that Gwyn was rested, Gawain felt it wiser to move on for Threlland.

Gwyn looked almost fresh when the Mornland and Jurian border guards brought her from the stables. Her blankets were new and dry, she'd been rubbed down and curry-combed, and well fed. She bobbed her head happily when Gawain mounted, Elayeen cradled in his arms as ever.

"Thank you, my friends." Gawain said quietly, eyeing the guardsmen.

One of them grinned, and Gawain remembered him from so long ago. "For nothing, Serre. It's not every day we get such honoured company, and not every day we sees a man thrice dead, yet looking so hale."

Gawain smiled. "You might mention that to the next lying whitebeard bastard that passes this way."

"Oh we shall, Serre, for there won't be no Ramoths to tell it to, not no more there won't."

Gwyn eased forward into the sluggish river, picking her way carefully, and then broke into a trot up the slope into Mornland, leaving the waving guardsmen behind them.

In truth, Gwyn's progress towards Threlland was remarkable. Instead of forcing her way through chest-high drifts, she was able to trot at a comfortable pace. Gawain couldn't help noticing boot-prints in the snow, and fresh heaps of it to the sides of a track that seemed to have been marked out before him.

The reason soon became clear, when he approached a small hamlet and saw Mornlanders bundled in warm clothing, shovelling away the worst of a drift with boards and shovels. They dug even more furiously at his approach, and then stepped to one side, breathing heavily and grinning broadly.

Gawain eased Gwyn to a halt, and looked down at them.

"Well met friends," he said softly, "Honour to Mornland."

"Honour to you Serre, and to your Lady." one of the crowd announced quietly, respectfully. "The way is clear, Serre, all the way to the slopes!"

"Clear?" Gawain gasped. "Clear how?"

"Rider come through late yesterday, Serre, telling as how the Longsword was bound for Threlland in haste, with his Lady, who is sick."

"You have worked all night at this?" Gawain was stunned.

"Not just us, Serre, others all along the route. The way is clear, Serre, best not tarry, for there's big snow a-coming afore long."

"Thank you…" Gawain whispered, almost dumbstruck by the kindness of these honest, smiling folk.

"No need nor time for thanks, Serre, if you're to be in Tarn before the big snow comes. Best not tarry now!"

Gawain nodded, smiling at each of them, a lump forming in his throat as they grinned up at him. And then Gwyn moved forward, and picked up her pace, trotting sure-footed along the track that stretched before them, clear all the way to Threlland's western slopes.

As night fell, Gwyn slowed, and then up ahead, gleaming lights shone in the distance. Elayeen stirred restlessly, and immediately Gwyn stepped out. More lights appeared, seeming to rise upward into the gloom, until Gawain realised that the lights were following the rise of Threlland's western slopes. As they neared the flaming torches, Gawain could make out dark figures labouring, and closer still he caught his breath.

In the darkness, with heavy clouds boiling over the Teeth, bringing the 'big snow' that the Jurian border guard had predicted, dwarves shovelled snow with grim determination. Gwyn whinnied, knowing that their destination was close, and for a moment all labour stopped as heads swivelled. Then a cry went up, and backs bent to their tasks with renewed effort.

A patrol of six dwarves pressed down the track, their torches blazing and crackling, illuminating wide eyes and smiling teeth.

"Well met, Traveller! The worst is cleared, and not too soon. By dawn there'll be another six feet of this white bane over all Threlland. How is your Lady?"

"She sleeps fitfully…how did you know of my approach?"

"Mornlander guardsmen rode up early this morning. Lord Rak and his Lady await you anxiously, Traveller, and the way is clear. Time for talk when your Lady is safe a-bed and warm. We will lead, by your leave?"

Gawain simply nodded, and the patrol wheeled, and began pressing on up the slope. But for them, and for the sweat of Threllandmen's brows, Gawain doubted that Gwyn could have pushed through the deep and wretched drifts that otherwise would have barred their progress. As it was, fresh tears pricked at Gawain's eyes with each dwarf and torch he passed up the slope. Behind him, he heard the dwarves abandoning their work, their task complete the moment he passed, and when he looked over his shoulder he could see torches meandering up the slope, homeward bound…

On familiar territory, Gwyn dug deep into her reserves, catching up with the patrol before they reached easier going at the outskirts of Tarn. The road was lit with flaming brands, and a crowd had formed in the square, torches marking a clear path that led straight to Rak's house. All of Tarn, it seemed, were out that night, to welcome and clear the way for Traveller, and his Lady.

When at last Gwyn came to a halt outside the familiar stone-built home of Lord Rak of Tarn, Gawain sighed, and looked over his shoulder at the townspeople, already making their quiet ways home. Tears streaked his cheeks.

A flood of light suddenly washed over him as the first new snow began to fall. Rak and Merrin, and behind them, Allazar, stood in the doorway, beckoning him down. Gawain's muscles ached as he carefully dismounted, his back and arms stiff from holding Elayeen so long. A page hurried forward, and led Gwyn away around the side of the house to the stables, and Gawain carried Elayeen over the threshold into Rak's home, and warmth.

Merrin led the way to his room, and once there, threw back the blankets on the bed.

"Hurry, Traveller, she must be freezing!" Merrin whispered urgently, and threw another log on the fire.

"I shall fetch wine." Rak said softly, and hurried to the kitchen.

Gawain laid Elayeen on the bed, and gently prised her hand from under his shirt. Allazar hurried forward.

"No! Longsword, no! She draws strength from you! She is ithroth! It is a miracle she yet lives."

Merrin was about to cover Elayeen with blankets, but paused.

"Allazar, by my sword, what must I do to hasten her recovery? She is so weak…she barely lives…"

Gawain choked, clutching Elayeen's hand to his cheek, kissing her palm.

"Longsword, you must lay with her, hold her close…she draws her very life from you now."

Merrin's eyes widened for a moment, and then without further hesitation, began pulling off Elayeen's boots. Rak returned, bearing a tray laden with food and a flagon of steaming mulled wine. He placed them on a table by the bedside, and seeing what Merrin was doing, stepped forward to help slip the longsword and cloak from Gawain's shoulders.

"You will not be disturbed, my brother." Rak said quietly. "However long it takes. We shall leave food outside your door, and none shall disturb you. You only have to call, and one of us will come, not matter what the hour."

Gawain stood, still clutching Elayeen's hand while he struggled to slip off his snow-wet boots. Allazar dropped to his knees and pulled them off, while Merrin eased Elayeen upright to remove her tunic and blouse.

In moments, Gawain slipped beneath the blankets, and hugged Elayeen's naked body to his. She was cold as ice, and he shivered. Allazar threw another skin over the top of the blankets, and stoked the fire.

"You must hold her close, Longsword…and you must eat and drink for her! It is miraculous she lived all the way from Juria with nothing but her hand on your chest! Were it not for this strange aquamire in you, I fear she would have died in your arms."

"How long?" Gawain gasped, shivering, his teeth chattering with cold as he hugged Elayeen to him.

Rak and Merrin eyed the wizard with concern. Allazar shrugged. "I know not. It may be days, or weeks. It may be never. I know not, in truth. No-one has ever returned from Faranthroth before. There is nothing more we can do. Her heart beats in your chest, Longsword, the rest is up to her, and you. It would have been wiser to have stayed in Elvendere, I think."

"I could not. She is exiled."

"No," Merrin said softly, but firmly, as she lit a lamp and ushered Rak and Allazar towards the door, "She is home."

26. Lull

Gawain held Elayeen close, entwining his legs with hers, wrapping her in his arms, trying to draw her into his very body, that she might live. For an hour or more, his teeth chattered in his head and he shivered violently; never had he known such bone-chilling coldness, or fear. Yet she breathed, he could feel each shallow inhalation in the pressure of her breasts against his. He tried whispering her name, but the sounds were incoherent so much were his teeth chattering.

After a time, the numbness that crept through his flesh began to wane, to be replaced by a strange tingling wherever his skin pressed against hers. Longer still, and the tingling became stronger, as if a something were flowing from him into her wherever they touched. The sensation heightened, and as he rubbed her back he felt the tiniest of jolts through his fingertips.

Then he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him, but fought against it. In the hearth, logs blazed and crackled. Outside, the wind rose, and snow began piling at the windows. In his arms, Elayeen's breathing grew deeper, and she grew warmer to his touch.

"Elayeen." he sighed, "Do not leave me now."

He slept, and awoke with a start, terrified. He had dreamed, and in the dream he was hugging ice, and the ice was melting, flowing away through his arms and fingers, leaving him with nothing, while in the distance, Raheen burned under a white-hot sun…

Still she breathed, long and deep, and still he held her, still the strange but not unpleasant tingle wherever their bodies touched.

Flames still flickered from the hearth, but they were few, and almost lost in the dull red glow of embers that flared and swam with each gust from the chimney. But Elayeen was no longer chill to the touch, no longer ice in his arms. In the darkness, Gawain held her close, and when he shivered, which was often, it was because of the curious tingling, and because of his fear for her. Again he slept, her name on his lips as his eyes closed.

When he awoke again, she was warm, and Gawain felt weak and disoriented. He was vaguely aware that the fire was blazing once more, that someone, perhaps Allazar or Merrin, had slipped into his room and tended to the hearth while he slept. A strange weariness, bone-deep, seemed to be dragging Gawain back down into darkness and sleep, and he shuddered, remembering the terrible darkness behind the Teeth, which would have drawn down the very sun had he not prevailed against Morloch…

He forced his eyes wide, and turned his head. There was food on the table, and a flagon of wine, and he remembered Allazar's words. When he moved his arm to reach out from the under the blankets, a jolt of familiar something shuddered through his arm, and Elayeen gasped a small sigh of pain at the sudden loss of contact. His arm felt heavy, heavier than the Sword of Justice had once been when first he drew it from the marble floor in his childhood. But Allazar's words rang in his mind, and he reached out, and drank the still-warm wine from the flagon.

It was spice and sweet, and burned down his throat like the golden fire of Jurian brandy, and he gulped, suddenly incredibly thirsty. When the flagon was half empty, he returned it to the table, and picked up a roll of dwarven meatbread, and jammed it into his mouth. Gawain was astounded, it felt as though he'd been fasting for weeks, so acute was his hunger and his thirst. Elayeen stirred, and while he devoured the meatbread and wine, she began drawing him to her.

Gawain thought she was awake, and gently called her name. But she didn't reply, and her eyelids remained shut fast. Still, he could feel the pressure in her arms as she tried to hug him closer, and when the flagon was empty, and the plate, he slipped his arm beneath the blankets once more, and hugged her to him again. Only then did she relax, and sigh contentedly, and Gawain slept once more.

He lost all sense of time, and cared not. By now he was long used to existing in strange worlds where there were no days, no nights, no sense of continuity. He remembered waking, finding fresh food and wine upon the table, gorging himself, and sleeping. And Elayeen, and the tingling contact that seemed to vibrate through his entire body, from his head to his toes. And sometimes when he awoke, he had vague recollections of the fire being high and roaring, or low and whistling embers. Then he slept again.

Until, one day or night, he didn't know which, he awoke, and no longer felt starved or thirsty, and the tingling where his skin pressed against Elayeen's was gone. For a dread moment his heart skipped a beat, and he hugged her tight. She sighed, and shifted her leg, and he relaxed. She was alive. Gawain almost mourned the loss of the tiny jolts when he ran his fingers tenderly along her back, it was as though he had been robbed of something new and precious. But her breathing was deep and steady, she was warm and snug in his arms, and there was fresh colour in her cheek when he brushed back her hair.

"Elayeen?" He whispered quietly. "Elayeen?"

She murmured in her sleep, and her arm moved a little, her slender hand rubbing his back.

"Elayeen?"

"Mithroth." she sighed, her eyes still closed.

It was enough for Gawain. A single tear slipped down his cheek as he stroked her hair. Her voice, though rich with sleep, was the voice not of a sickly child, but of the elfin woman whose eyes had haunted him since that moonlit night on the track to Ferdan so long ago.

Gawain lay there, stroking her hair, until the fire died to embers. There was the gentlest of raps upon the door, and it opened, revealing Allazar, timidly peeping in and carrying an armful of kindling. The wizard's eyes widened hopefully, and Gawain nodded. Allazar silently crept in, smiling, and set about tending the hearth as quietly as he could. When fresh flames cast dancing shadows around the room, he rose from the fireplace and turned, nodding as he moved towards the door, but Gawain called him back with a whisper.

"Longsword?" Allazar whispered back, kneeling beside the bed, eyeing the full flagon of wine and the untouched food on the plate. "Is there something you need? Is all well?"

Gawain smiled wearily. "All is well, I think. She sleeps, and is warm, and has spoken."

Allazar's eyes widened, and Gawain felt a twinge of guilt for all his previous low opinions; the wizard looked genuinely relieved beyond words.

"What day is this?" Gawain asked softly.

"The seventh, since your return."

"Is it day?"

"It is night. Dawn will break in an hour or two."

"Is all well?"

"All is well. The snowfall ceased yesterday."

"Would you part the curtain a little? I would see the dawn this day."

"I will."

"And remove some of the blankets?"

Allazar nodded, and tenderly drew back some of the skins and blankets piled high atop Gawain and Elayeen. Then he crossed to the windows, and parted the curtains by a handspan or two. His eyebrows arched in query, and Gawain smiled his thanks, and with that, Allazar quietly left the room, drawing the door closed behind him.

Gawain lay with his face turned to the windows while the logs crackled in the grate, and in time, the darkness beyond the window paled, and finally, pallid winter sunshine pierced the gloom. Gawain smiled, and closed his eyes…For, as Elayeen sighed contentedly in his arms, he had much to thank The Fallen for.

He was still tenderly caressing her head some hours later when she drew in a deep breath.

"Mithroth?" she whispered, her voice clear.

"Yes, Elayeen."

"I had a terrible dream…"

"As did I."

"Am I awake, now?"

Gawain glanced down, and smiled. Her eyes were tight shut, barely visible at all with the blankets drawn so high up.

"Your eyes are closed."

"I dare not open them. If I do, you will be gone, slain in Juria, so many days passed. I shall hold you close thus, and keep my eyes closed, forever, and you shall live, though I be faranthroth."

"I shall not be gone, Elayeen. I shall never be gone. I am not slain. I am here."

"No. I have had this dream before. So many times I have held you thus, and heard my heart beat in your chest. And then I awaken, and Meeya comes, or Gan. They give me food, and take me to Elvenheth and my father, and the wizard says mithroth is slain in Juria. I call out your name, and sleep, and dream, and hold you to me again."

Tears brimmed in Gawain's eyes.

"Oh Elayeen…" he sighed, and drew her closer, tilting her chin up. "This is no dream, my love, I am here, in truth. I kept my promise, and returned for you. I slew the whitebeard, I felled the trees of faranthroth, and brought you out of Elvenheth. You and I are here, Elayeen, in truth, and this I promise: open your eyes, and my arms shall remain around you, my hand in your hair thus, my lips upon your brow, thus…"

He kissed her, and her eyelids fluttered. "Mithroth…" she pleaded, tears slipping from beneath her tight-shut eyes, "If you are gone again when I wake up, I shall die again!"

"I am here, Elayeen, in truth, I swear."

Her eyelids fluttered again, and she drew in a deep and wracking breath, and then her eyes opened, wide, and filled with fear and dread…then she blinked, and her hand slid from around his shoulder, to reach up, and touch his face.

"Mithroth…"

"Elayeen."

She let out her breath in single shuddering sigh, a smile danced on her lips, and her hand slipped around his neck, pulling him down, kissing him…drawing him to her as she whispered "Mithroth" over and over…

Later, as they lay in each other's arms, the fire burning low in both hearth and hearts, Elayeen suddenly asked:

"Where is this place, mithroth?"

"We are in the home of my friend, Rak, and his Lady, Merrin."

"Then the last dream I had was no dream?"

"What did you dream?"

"I dreamed of Gwyn, and you, and a vast wilderness of cold."

"The plains of Juria. We are in Tarn, my love, on the western slopes of Threlland."

Elayeen tensed, and her eyes widened with fear. "The dwarves will kill me!"

Gawain smiled, and eased her back to him again. "No. That is a whitebeard lie. For a week we have lain here, while my friends tended the fire, and brought food and wine."

"A week?"

Gawain hugged her, and gently rubbed her back. "Yes. You were near death, so long had I been gone from you."

She seemed suddenly timid, and suddenly shy, in spite of their lovemaking. "Then it is all true? This is not faranthroth?"

"No, my love, this is not faranthroth. I came for you, and brought you here…"

And Gawain told Elayeen all that had transpired, since he had unwittingly left her athroth in Elvendere, before autumn, before winter, and since his return from the Teeth after destroying the dark lens.

At length, she gazed up at him, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes wide, filled with yearning, and love, and pain and anguish, and then she wept. Gawain was stunned, and then suddenly fearful.

"Elayeen," he soothed, "What new pain ails you? What can I do?"

She sobbed, and drew away from him. "This is not faranthroth…?"

"No, it is not…"

"Then don't you see? I am exiled, outcast…dead to all who knew me, abandoned, and…and we have lain together!"

Gawain flushed…"But my love…you drew me to you…"

"I had thought this a dream! Another endless faranthroth shade!"

The distance between them was suddenly a gulf, wider and colder even than the farak gorin. Elayeen turned her back to him, covering her face, weeping inconsolably, and when he reached out to touch her shoulder, she flinched away from him. He gasped, confused and afraid.

"Elayeen…what must I do?"

"Leave me…" she sobbed, "Leave me alone!"

"But…" Gawain whispered, "I cannot. You are mithroth…"

"No!" she cried, great sobs wracking her body beneath the blankets and skins, "You are not elf! I am ithroth but you are not elf, and now, neither am I!"

Gawain did not know what to do. In almost the blink of an eye, he had fallen from paradise to the depths of despair. Hours ago, she drew her very life from him. Now she wished him to leave her. Quietly, and on on shaky legs, he slid from beneath the blankets, and dressed. Not once did she turn to look at him, or say his name, or, when he moved to the door and waited, call him back to her.

He lifted the latch, and stepped out into the hallway. He gazed back at the silver-blonde hair laying tousled on the pillows, watched as her shoulders shuddered while she sobbed, and with a sigh, and his heart in his throat, he closed the door.

When he walked into the main room, Allazar, Merrin, and Rak jumped to their feet.

"Longsword!" Allazar gasped, "Is all well? Is your Lady…?"

Gawain shrugged, his anguish clear for all to see. "She lives…she is well…everything was well, and then…"

"And then?" Allazar asked, guiding Gawain by the arm to a chair by the fire.

Gawain drew in a breath, and shook his head. On the floor, Travak clutched the wooden toy Gwyn to his chest, his eyes wide, sensing the anguish and tension that had suddenly filled the room.

"And then?" Merrin prompted.

"She bade me leave. She said…" Gawain stared at the fire, completely at a loss, "She said she had thought all was a dream, a faranthroth dream…she cries floods of tears, and each one breaks my heart, and I can do nothing.” His hands opened and closed as if he would grasp the air, and crush it. "She bade me leave…"

Merrin rose quietly, and picked up Travak. "I shall go to her."

Gawain stared up at Rak's lady. "She fears all dwarves, lady Merrin! Curse every lying whitebeard bastard in Elvendere, she fears all Threllanders more than Morloch!"

"She shall not fear me, Traveller. Calm yourself. I shall speak with her."

Rak nodded gravely, and Merrin, with Travak on her hip, softly left the room.

"I do not know what to do." Gawain sighed. "I do not know what to do. She says I am not elf…"

"She is confused and afraid, Longsword, nothing more." Allazar assured him, offering a mug of warm ale.

"Be at peace, my brother," Rak agreed, "My Lady Merrin will comfort Elayeen as only another woman can."

"I would rather face the Teeth in midwinter than hear her crying so." Gawain blurted. "To be cast away from her, after so long holding her in my arms!"

Allazar smiled sadly. "You may not be elf, Longsword, nor throth, but this new pain you feel has a word in our language."

Rak smiled. "Aye. And it is good that it beats now in your breast where so long only ashes and vengeance once reigned. You are young, Traveller, and have yet to learn the mystery that is woman."

"I am old," Allazar said seriously, "And I still do not."

Gawain chuckled, in spite of the ache deep within him. Rak laughed quietly too.

"In truth," Rak said, stoking the fire, "These are wizard-words you can believe in!"

"Should I go back to her?" Gawain asked suddenly, "Perhaps she is yet afraid of Merrin…"

"No!" Rak and Allazar said, simultaneously, and grinned.

"It matters not what you do either way," Allazar grunted. "You'll be wrong whichever path you take. Go to her, and she will bid you leave at once. Stay away, and she will berate you for abandoning her."

"More truth, Traveller." Rak sighed, shaking his head at a distant memory. Many of them too, from the rueful smile that danced on his lips.

"Are you hungry?" Allazar prompted.

"No…Since Elayeen awoke this morning, my appetite has returned to normal."

"Ah.” And then Allazar looked up, and shared a knowing glance with Rak. "Since this morning?"

"Aye."

"Ah."

Gawain looked confused once more, and cast another longing glance towards the door.

"In that case, my brother," Rak announced firmly, "It is best you leave them to talk, for doubtless they will have much to say."

"In truth?"

Again Allazar and Rak exchanged a look. "In truth," Allazar replied, "And where matters of comfort are concerned, I believe your horse has become somewhat restless of late."

"Gwyn? Is all well?"

Allazar shrugged. "I know little of horses, except that they have a habit of dying beneath me. Perhaps you should see for yourself? It is a cold afternoon, but the stables are warm, I am told."

Rak nodded sternly.

Gawain suddenly had a duty, and his grateful mind seized upon it ferociously. "I shall tend Gwyn. She deserves no less, for such noble service." And he rose from the chair, wrapping his cloak around his shoulders.

"Aye," Allazar said, his face inscrutable. "A good idea."

Gawain didn't notice the smiles both Rak and Allazar exchanged as he strode from the room, and out into bitter cold air.

It was still bright, and the freezing air burned his lungs as he crunched through deep snow around the back of the house and to the stables. Servants had obviously laboured long to clear the paths, for in the garden, the bench where he had sat with his friends in autumn was still completely buried in drifts.

When he flung open the doors, Gwyn whinnied long and loud, and pranced happily, alarming the young stable-boy who was standing on a barrel to brush her mane.

"Hello Ugly," Gawain said, smiling, and tugged her ears as her great head bobbed low and pushed against his chest.

"Here, let me, please." Gawain smiled at the boy, and took the brush and comb. The boy looked sheepish, obviously in awe of the longsword warrior towering over him. "What is your name?"

"Lyas, Serre."

"Well Lyas, you have my thanks, and the thanks of this hideous nag. I can see you have tended her well in my absence, and I am in your debt."

Lyas flushed, and a gruff voice announced from the back of the stables "Aye, Serre, he's a good lad, that 'un, and will make a fine master one day.”

A dwarf strode forward from the gloom, clutching a bridle, which he was polishing. "I am Rudd, master groomer to his Lordship. Lyas is my 'prentice."

"Well met, and honour to you both."

"Honour to you, Serre, and to your fine horse."

"I am told she has been skittish of late?"

Lyas shook his head, and Rudd seemed surprised. "Gwyn? Skittish? No Serre, good as gold. Tired at first, cold and travel-weary, but perked up a treat now, as you can see."

"Ah." Gawain smiled, a glimmering of understanding shining through his confusion. "I must have misheard my friends."

"A fine horse, Serre." Rudd smiled. "I've only seen the like once afore, many years ago."

Gawain eyed the master groomer anxiously. "Indeed?"

"Aye. Can't remember exactly, Serre, me being so old, and having been kicked aside the head more'n once in my day. But a fine horse. It's an honour for us to tend such a noble beast."

"Thank you."

"No thanks needed, Serre. Come, Lyas, there's tack to polish afore supper."

Rudd smiled, his eyes twinkling in the light from glowstone lamps, and Gawain nodded his thanks at the old man as he disappeared to a back room with the young apprentice. Doubtless, Gawain knew, the master groomer would know a Raheen charger when he saw one.

"Now, hideous creature," Gawain sighed, "I don't know why good people like Rudd and Lyas should waste so much of their precious time on you with these other fine horses to tend, but since I feel sorry for them having to look at you, I think I'd best finish this grooming myself."

Gwyn bobbed her head happily, munching hay from a bale while Gawain busied himself. Still his mind turned to Elayeen, and the anguish in her hazel-green eyes.

An hour later, his duty done and Gwyn nodding haughtily, Gawain returned to the house, and the main room. He froze as he entered, noting the worried expressions on his friends' faces, and noting his weapons piled on the chair, the longsword propped against the hearth. Lady Merrin rose, and smiled weakly.

"What is it?" Gawain asked, his voice tight with anguish.

"Traveller," Merrin advanced, and rested a gentle hand upon his arm, "Your Lady is well, and is bathing. We have spoken, she and I. And come to a decision…"

"A decision? What? What sort of decision?"

Rak and Allazar stood, the former looking to the latter.

"Elayeen is confused, Longsword," Allazar began apologetically, "You must understand, this is all a great shock to her."

"A great shock?"

"Indeed!" Allazar announced, "Can you not imagine? For the whole of the time that she has been athroth, she has lived in a dark and lonely world, filled with waking dreams, never sure which dreams are reality and which realities are dreams…it will take some time for her to realise that all of us, all of this," he waved his hands, "are in fact real."

"I don't understand…" Gawain protested.

"She needs time." Merrin said softly. "And so we have thought it best, she and I, and my Lord and the wizard concur…"

"Concur?"

"We have agreed," Rak said diplomatically, "That under the circumstances, it might be best if…uhm…Allazar?"

"I?" Allazar looked suddenly alarmed.

"It would be best," Merrin said firmly, "If you were to take lodgings at the inn…"

"The inn!" Gawain protested.

"…Just until Elayeen has fully recovered." Merrin said hastily.

Gawain looked stunned. "But she is mithroth…If I leave her…"

"No, no! She is no longer athroth, Longsword." Allazar rushed to explain. "As long as she knows you are nearby no harm will come to her for your absence."

"Your temporary absence." Rak added hurriedly.

Gawain looked from one to the other. "I still don't understand."

"The wizard will explain it all to you, I am sure." Merrin smiled. "Won't you, Allazar?"

"Eh? Oh, yes…"

"It will only be for a short time." Rak assured Gawain. "Had we more rooms, perhaps…"

Merrin shook her head. "We do not, my Lord, and in truth it is best if Traveller grants his Lady time to come to terms with her new circumstances."

"Then I am to leave? Now? For the inn?"

"It's for the best," Merrin smiled.

Gawain did not look convinced. "You will send for me? If she calls for me?"

"The instant she calls for you."

"Or if she needs me?"

"In a heartbeat."

Rak picked up Gawain's quiver of arrows, his knife, his shortsword, and his old boots, and handed them to Allazar. The longsword he would not touch.

"I do not understand." Gawain sighed, his eyes blinking, one moment aquamire, the next steel-grey as his emotions rose and fell. Almost absent-mindedly he picked up the sword and slung it over his shoulder.

"Well. The inn is comfortable, my brother," Rak smiled, "if you recall, you rested there the night Travak was born?"

"Yes…the night Travak was born…"

Gawain allowed Merrin to guide him to the front door, and in moments it seemed he was standing bemused, in the snow, with Allazar beside him, the door closed behind them.

"I don't understand." Gawain sighed again.

"I'll explain it to you at the inn," Allazar said quietly. "If we can hurry? These robes of mine are hardly fit for the weather."

"Oh. Yes."

At the inn, Derrik, the landlord, smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Serres, there are no more rooms. The snows, you see. So many merchants, the roads and passes blocked…"

Gawain just stood there, dumbfounded.

"But!" Derrik announced, happily, struck by a sudden thought, "We can put up a second cot in the wizard's room! The two of you being friends, why, you'll be snug as muffworms and it won't cost an extra copper!"

"Just because I haven't killed him yet doesn't mean he's my friend." Gawain mumbled.

"He jests," Allazar grinned at the landlord as a hush fell over the assembled company, "For such a fearsome warrior, he has a rare humour! We'll take the cot, goodman Derrik, and glad of it. Come my friend!" Allazar cried enthusiastically, "To your new lodging!"

And he led the still-bemused Gawain up the stairs to their room.

It was warm, and faced north towards the Teeth, and Derrik had been right. It was snug.

"Small is a better word." Gawain sighed, staring out of the window while Derrik set up the second cot bed.

"Cosy!" Derrik enthused with professional cheer.

"Tiny." Gawain grumbled. "And I've got to share it with a whitebeard. I had better accommodation under the Teeth, and better company too."

"Old Martan?" Derrik sucked in his breath, in mock horror. "There's one miner can talk the hind legs off a horse. Stuck in a tunnel with Martan, eating frak and drinking dripwater, or here snug and warm in the light, with finest food and ale? Wizard for company or no, and I mean no disrespect Serre Allazar, I know which I'd choose."

"So do I." Gawain sighed, but did not express his preference.

A serving-girl brought blankets and pillows for the cot, and when the door closed leaving just Gawain and Allazar in the room, Gawain sighed again.

"You must be patient, Longsword." Allazar said quietly, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Can you imagine your Lady's anguish?"

Gawain shrugged his shoulders, grateful that the wizard couldn't see his face. Anguish he knew, but he could not understand Elayeen's. So much had happened, for both of them, and so quickly.

"I do not even know if she is my Lady. She is throth, and must be near me to live. But I do not know if I can claim to be hers, or she mine. She seemed so…pained…that I was not a dreaming shade…that we had lain together…"

Allazar shook his head sadly. "Not to know, Longsword. Not to know if one is living a dream, or living life. Not to know if at any moment, you might awaken briefly in some fresh agony. You must be patient. She is your Lady, Longsword, else she would not have taken you to her, even in faranthroth shades. Take comfort from that, and wait. It is all you can do."

"I shall go mad."

"So might she."

Gawain spun around, his eyes wide with fear. "In truth?"

Allazar nodded. "Gentle Merrin must guide her back now. Your presence would simply confuse matters. It may take some time."

"Time?"

"Aye. Perhaps only the first pains of athroth will suffice for Elayeen to know for certain that she truly lives, and that this is not faranthroth, or the yonderlife, or an athroth dream."

Gawain sighed, and slipped the longsword from his shoulder. "Then it is my fervent hope, Allazar, for her sake, and mine, and yours, that I do not have to wait too long."

Allazar eyed the sword. "I am glad you are possessed with this strange aquamire, Longsword. It is only the absence of blackness in your eyes that reassures me you are jesting when you say such things."

"What makes you think I was jesting?"

27. Martan of Tellek

For a full week Gawain paced the small room at the inn, and occasionally ventured out to walk the narrow snow-blown streets of Tarn. Each day, Allazar went to Rak's house, and each afternoon returned with quiet words of encouragement. But Elayeen still did not call for Gawain, and all the wizard could suggest was 'patience and understanding'.

Gawain tried hard to understand. Never had he loved, much less lain with a lover. He could never know elven throth, but the dreadful ache in his heart was, to him, the greatest pain he had known since Raheen. Thinking of his own dreadful loss, and how it had maddened him, helped him to understand something of Elayeen's distress, and was all that restrained his legs when they would otherwise dash him across the square to Rak's house.

Patience, though, was in short supply.

"She seems better, today." Allazar said, munching on a drumstick. "Lady Merrin is pleased. Apparently, your Lady has been playing happily with young Travak, and ate a hearty breakfast, and earlier this morning went for a walk up to the Point overlooking the Teeth and the farak gorin. The fresh air has left her a little tired, but helped colour her cheeks."

Gawain tried to take comfort from the wizard's words, but paced the creaking floorboards fretfully.

"And she seems full of wonder at dwarven ways, and how some words in Threlland's language are shared in her own tongue. She is much improved, I would say."

"Yet still would see me not." Gawain mumbled.

"Time, Longsword. Patience."

"I am going slowly and quietly mad, Allazar. Beyond the Teeth, Morloch's army attacks the rock and tries to force a breach. Still the southlands are trapped in snow. Still we await spring warmth or rains to wash this vile white blanket away. There is no word from Eryk of Threlland, much less from Juria's crown, or Callodon, or any other. My heart aches like it's pumping Elve’s Blood, and all you can say is 'time'. I must do something."

"You could go for a walk, the path to the farak gorin is almost clear I heard."

"Or I could cheer myself up by killing something." Gawain sighed. "It's been a while since I hacked a whitebeard in two and at least it would pass the time you're so fond of mentioning."

Allazar sighed. "You know, I'll wager you didn't make such threats against that miner when you shared crueller quarters with him for weeks beneath the Teeth."

"No, I didn't. But then I like Martan and have yet to find a dwarf I don't. The same, Allazar, I cannot say for wizards."

"I am hurt by your words, Longsword. After tolerating your sleeplessness, your pacing, the constant sighs, all the times you have cried out in your sleep…need I go on?"

"Think yourself lucky it's only my words you find hurtful." Gawain muttered half-heartedly.

Allazar frowned. "You must be truly in despair, my friend, if you will not rise to my baiting. Forgive me, I had not realised the depth of your feelings for Elayeen."

"Nor had I." Gawain whispered. And then his voice grew stronger. "But I jest not when I say this waiting is driving me mad. Sometimes I am filled with rage that she should reject me so, I who brought her back from death. Other times, I am filled with ineffable sorrow for the pain she endured at my absence, and would slay all whitebeards for permitting, no…requiring my ignorance of her condition. Yet other times, I would beat down the walls of Rak's house just to see her eyes, and tell her I love her, and beg her forgiveness. If she suffers but half of this confusion, then she suffers greatly."

"She does."

"I must do something, Allazar. Truly. I fear my own rage at times. This blackness in me, which you call strange aquamire…sometimes it cries for blood and it terrifies me."

"Strange indeed. I have never seen the like. I do not know what transpired when you shattered the Lens, and by all my knowledge you should be ashes. There are those of my brethren who I am sure would say you are Morloch-cursed, and his vile spirit is in you. Yet I know that cannot be true. I am certain Morloch yet lives beyond the Teeth. I know not how I know, but I do."

Gawain took a deep breath. "Well. I must do something, and so I shall. I shall renew my friendship with Martan of Tellek, he was gravely ill when last I saw him, and I would ask his advice on mining matters."

Allazar tossed his drumstick on a plate and wiped his hands, considering. "Longsword, Elayeen will know if you leave Tarn. She will feel it."

"As will I. But did you not say, the stirrings of athroth might serve to aid her recovery?"

"They might, I do not know. They may also be harmful. And what if she calls for you, and you are not here to answer?"

"Tellek is but half a day's ride. The road is clear, merchants arrived this morning. Will you fetch Gwyn for me? I would go myself, but to approach so close…"

"I understand. I shall tell Rak and Merrin what you intend. If they feel it inadvisable, then I shall not return with your horse. If it is decided that the journey may not harm your Lady's recovery, then I shall bring Gwyn to you."

"Alive, Allazar. Bring Gwyn to me alive. I have neither forgiven nor forgotten your lamentable treatment of horses."

"Aye."

An hour later, and Gawain was in the saddle, leaving Tarn at his back. Gwyn seemed happy to be out in the open, and were it not for the knowledge that Elayeen was growing further distant from him with each hoofbeat, Gawain would be happier too. As it was, he had a purpose. He was doing something, and for all his contempt of wizards, he really did not wish to kill Allazar, and being virtually captive with the whitebeard at such close quarters was a definite risk.

So he tried his best to clear his mind, and fill it not with anguish and yearning, but with duty and purpose. Martan of Tellek was a friend, a worthy one, and Gawain had need of such. So did all the southlands.

It was early evening by the time he rode into the small mining village. There were some folk still about their business, and a group of miners, dirty yet happy and fresh from the mines, drinking ale outside a tavern in the chill breezes. Gawain thought that the evening probably felt warm to them compared with the tunnels that ran beneath the frozen hills. They saw him riding towards them, and tankards paused at lips as eyes widened in recognition. Though few had actually seen the longsword warrior, there were songs and tales aplenty.

"Well met, Threllandmen, and honour to you." Gawain said to them from the saddle.

"Well met, Serre, and honour to you." One gasped.

"This is Tellek?"

"Aye Serre, this be Tellek."

"I have a friend here, an honourable miner by the name of Martan. Know you his house?"

Mouths gaped. "Aye Serre, tis yonder at the end of the street, and its door is of green and blue."

"Thank you."

"Serre..?" one miner called as Gwyn began clopping away towards the house they'd indicated.

"Aye?" Gawain called.

"Serre…in truth…Martan's wounds?"

"What of them? Is he not yet recovered?"

"Oh, he is recovered well enough, Serre…but we was wondering…"

Eyes were downcast, sheepish, and at length the speaker, who was slightly drunk, found his courage again. "Were they truly from battle with Morloch's monsters? And not the quaking earth or the tumble down the scree?"

Gawain backed Gwyn along the street, so that he towered above the men. The tavern door was open, and a dozen more pairs of eyes gazed out and up at him, awaiting his reply.

Gawain cocked his head, and regarded them all for a moment, before he spoke with years of regal Raheen training: "Beneath the Teeth, in a chamber cut by Morloch's dark brethren, there stood the great lens of Ramoth. Between it and us, there were some fifty vile acolytes, enraged at our trespass. From behind us, there came more, and two of Morloch's black riders.

"Martan of Tellek, a hammer in each fist, pounded the first of these before my eyes. He took the monster's mask clean off, and smashed the thing between the eyes with a blow so fierce only Morloch's dark wizardry kept the creature upright. And while I did battle with it, and the other that followed, Martan fought with the Ramoths…"

Gawain paused, remembering, noting the wide-eyed awe, ale forgotten, in the dirty faces gazing up at him. Then he continued:

"I saw Martan go down, under a throng of the shrieking followers of Ramoth. I saw them beat him mercilessly, and kick him, and dash rocks upon him, yet in spite of his grievous wounds, floored, he fought them. His hammers smashing shinbones and legbones, and," Gawain elaborated a little, for it did no harm to do so, "all the while he cried 'For Threlland! For Threlland!' Yes, his wounds were got in battle, and though it was I who fell like an infant down the scree after, Martan of Tellek, a hammer yet in hand, rode it to the bottom, and would have slain the Ramoths waiting there were it not for my stumbling in his way.

"And on the farak gorin, in sore pain and near death, Martan of Tellek handed me the last of his water and frak, and bade me leave him, that I might live to see another dawn. I do not know your history, Threllandmen, but I tell you this, in truth… I know none more courageous in all the Black Hills, and I am proud and honoured to call him friend.”

The miners stood agog, eyes brimming with tears of pride, as Gawain nodded a final acknowledgement, and Gwyn set off once more to the house with the blue and green door.

It was a youth that answered when Gawain rapped upon the door, and the youth's chin dropped on seeing who it was on the threshold.

"Honour to you, friend," Gawain announced. "I am told this is the house where I can find Martan of Tellek?"

The youth nodded, dumbstruck, and opened the door wider, pointing to his left. Gawain stooped under the lintel, though the hilt of his sword rapped the woodwork as he stepped inside. Martan was sitting by the fire, his eyes bright, and on seeing Gawain, he struggled to his feet with a cry.

"Longsword! Well poke me in the eye and call me bitchrock!"

"Martan." Gawain grinned, and extended his hand. "I heard you were dead."

Martan laughed, and clasped his arm. "Funny that, Serre, I 'eard the same said of yerself a few times!"

"How are you, in truth?"

Martan's eyes clouded briefly. "Well, Serre, or rather healed, I should say. I grow weary of sitting by the fireside, truth to tell. Sometimes I wonder…" the old man trailed off.

Gawain nodded. "I would not have left you on the farak gorin."

"Aye. I know."

"Besides. Make the most of your fireside. I have need of you, my friend."

Martan's eyes lit up. "The Teeth again?"

"Not quite, but close enough. May we talk?"

"Aye. Piter!" Martan called to the youth still standing holding the door wide open. "He's my brother's boy, Serre, and a little slow. Piter! Close the door and get you to the kitchen and fetch two tankards! Then make yerself scarce, our talk ain't for young ears."

The boy slammed the door, rushed to the kitchen and hurried back with two tankards before Gawain could take the seat offered him by Martan. Then the lad was off out the door as if Morloch himself were chasing him.

"I despair of that boy, Serre… However, sit you and warm, I've a bottle here somewhere."

"I have some here too." Gawain held out a small sack. "I did not know how well you had recovered, and thought this might aid you."

"For me Serre?" Martan looked stunned.

"Aye."

Martan took the sack and opened it, his face cracking into a broad grin. Two great cakes of frak, a bottle of Jurian brandy, and a bottle of Mornland port wine. Martan sat, and clearly his ribs still ached from the flicker of a grimace when he did so, and he sniffed the frak, and broke into a cackle.

"The true stuff, Serre! None of yer tourist frak this, all spice and soft, but real frak! Why, Serre, we'll make a dwarf of you yet!"

Gawain grinned. "The shopkeeper tried to sell me some pretty stuff that smelled sweet as fresh Arrun olives."

Martan grimaced. "I trust you put 'em right, as clearly your purchase shows you did. And port wine, and Jurian brandy! I do not deserve such gifts, Serre."

"No, you deserve far more. Especially when I tell you why I yet need your aid."

Martan became serious. "Why then, we'll open the port, and drink a little, and then you'll tell yer loyal subject what is required of 'im.” Martan uncorked the bottle, filled the tankards, and they sat back to drink.

"Is your Lady well, Serre? A merchant passing when the roads cleared spoke at the tavern."

Gawain gazed into the fire. "She is not yet herself."

"Well then. I shall raise me mug to her health Serre, in the hope it shall speed her recovery."

Gawain smiled. "So shall I, with the same hope. And you, truly you are recovered?"

"Truly, I still ache a little. But the healer says the bones've knitted an' all danger's passed. Tis a minor discomfort, no more."

"Good. For now, it's your brains I need."

"A question of mining?"

"Aye. You saw the steps they'd carved in the great rip."

"Aye. Mad bastards all of 'em." Martan shook his head in awe.

"If there were ten thousand mad bastards, Martan, all attacking the slope of the teeth, how long before they break through?"

Martan's eyes widened. "All in one place?"

"Yes."

"Ten thousand you say?"

"A guess, nothing more."

Martan sat back, and sipped his port. "Ten years, maybe fifteen, to broach a pass, if the Teeth be narrow where they work."

"How long do you think it took them to carve those steps?"

"Dunno. But the workin’s I saw, the fresh ones, the second set o' steps they was cutting? I'd say if they started them when the Ramoths first appeared in the land, then it must've taken the mad bastards maybe ten 'ard years to cut the first lot in."

"Then if they started attacking the Teeth at the same time, they might almost be through?" Gawain gasped.

Martan shrugged. "Nah, ain't that easy. They'd have an easy route up their side, not so easy coming down on ours. Ain't like they can cut a tunnel clean through the Teeth."

"They already had. We saw it, and walked the length of it on our side of the rip. It was only the rip that held them back."

"Aye, there's that. But the tunnel's collapsed for sure after that quake."

Gawain considered for a moment, then sighed. "Well. They are coming, that much is sure. When, we can only guess. But come they shall."

"You'll pardon me for saying so, Serre," Martan grunted, topping up their tankards, "But you and me 'ad an 'ard enough time against fifty o' the sods. Don't reckon we'd fare too clever against ten thousand of 'em."

Gawain grinned. "In truth. But I'm hoping you can manage it on your own. With a little help from some close and trusted friends that you may know."

"On me own? That'd be somethin' to tell about on a cold winter's night at the tavern!"

"Aye."

"How then?"

"Have you ever tunnelled through bitchrock?"

Martan gasped. "Bitchrock? Kick me up the arse and call me Morloch as I sails beyond the moon!"

Gawain smiled grimly, and briefly explained his plans. Martan stared attentively, and then gazed into the heart of the fire.

"Well now Serre. You'll pardon me for saying so, but such works would need skilled miners, and plans, and great care. I'm but an old man, and can't command such. And the men would need to come off their usual work. You'd need the King's Works to plan such, and administer the purse and so forth."

"Not if they were men such as yourself, my friend."

Martan's bushy eyebrows shot up. "Ah! I begins to suspect, if you'll pardon my saying so, a somewhat mischievious undercurrent."

Gawain nodded. "It cannot be official at this stage. I have yet to speak with Eryk of Threlland. It may be that the crown does not share my concern for the southlands, nor believe in the pressing nature of the threat."

"I see. So, you would 'ave a bunch o' discarded old souls like meself workin' in secret?"

"I would not have put it so, but yes. The Ramoths may be slain, but on this side of the Teeth, I am certain Morloch still has his spies. When I looked into the lens, I saw many things, and I do not believe all that I saw came from Emissary eye-amulets. In truth, in Elvendere, a wizard wore a small dark lens with which means he doubtless communicated all to Morloch. Such spies may yet prosper in Threlland's castletown."

"Ah. So, if you tells the crown all, and of these plans of yours, then the enemy may very well take steps against us?"

"That is my thinking."

"Then p'raps the way you suggest has much merit. Certain sure, I know plenty o' miners such as meself, forbidden the workin’s through age and infirmity. We can do as you say, Serre, in truth, but it'll be slow goin'. There's none of us can cut ten times our length in a day, not no more."

"Five times your length in bitchrock would be a miracle."

Martan smiled. "Well now, Serre, I'm not so sure. I know of no workin’s as gone beneath the farak gorin afore. Could be, no-one's ever thought of it afore, or thought it too much 'ard rock and pain. But this I'll say, I'll give it a go, and pick such men as I know are trustworthy."

Gawain drew a small pouch from inside his tunic, and handed it to Martan. "This may help."

Martan opened the purse, and gasped in shock. "Gemstones! What be these for?"

Gawain shrugged. "You and your men will need equipment, tools, frak…all manner of things I imagine."

Martan frowned sternly, and took one small red gemstone from the pouch, and handed the rest back. "This'll do against food an' such. Tools we all 'ave, us being miners. And as for equipment, we have our brains and our 'ands, Serre."

Gawain accepted the purse. "I meant no offense, my friend."

"Aye Serre, I know. But this be plenty. The men I'm a-thinking of are such as meself, and will be proud to work again, and cut rock, and would do it for nothin' but the pride and fun of it. Besides, it'll be a real test, this dig. Normally, when we digs, we make it strong. You're asking us to dig, and make the workin’s weak! Now that, if you'll pardon my saying so, is a feat worth a ballad or two if we succeeds!"

Gawain smiled grimly. "Take care though, Martan. I do not want the bitchrock falling on your heads.”

"No Serre, have no fear. We'll dig it like you wants it."

"And can it be done in secret?"

Martan drew in a thoughtful breath. "Aye. I reckon so. It'll take a few days to round up all them I can rely on. Then p'raps a day or two of testing the way. Bit o' careful planning…I should say that within a week we'll commence our first shafts northbound. Then, it depends on the bitchrock itself."

"Can you send word to me, at Tarn, or wherever I might be? I would know of your progress."

"I can make such arrangements, Serre. You leave it to me. I know what you want, and what you want, you'll get. Might take longer than would be expected of a Threlland digging crew, but bearing in mind it's old bones doing the diggin', it can't be helped."

"Just be careful, my friend. I trust your experience and that of those you choose. But I would not leave you on the farak gorin, and I do not want to leave you under it."

Martan chuckled. "Aye. It'll be as you say, Longsword. Safe, until you say the word. And then, the word given, if Morloch's black army sets out across the farak gorin, they're in for a very nasty end."

Gawain smiled grimly. "Aye. A nasty end indeed."

They drank, and ate frak by the fire. Piter, and Martan's brother Steffan, returned home some hours later, and though Steffan gaped and would've done so all night, he was fresh from the mines, and retired to his bed, Piter taking the hint and following close behind. Gawain and Martan sat quietly, chewing frak and sipping port wine, long into the night, until both fell asleep in their chairs.

Next morning, at daybreak, Gawain reaffirmed his instructions that the old miner should take great care, and then took to the saddle, bound for Tarn, leaving Martan of Tellek beaming and filled with great purpose.

Gawain hurried Gwyn back to the inn at Tarn, but after a hasty conversation with Derrik the landlord, discovered that Allazar had yet to return from visiting Rak's house. Gawain dare not return Gwyn to Rak's stables, for that would mean passing too close to the house. His heart ached as he climbed into the saddle again, and he gazed across the square towards the dwelling wherein Elayeen rested. He sighed, and decided to take a back route up to the Point, so that he could overlook the farak gorin and the Teeth. He was just about to ease Gwyn forward when the rumble of hooves drew his attention to the road leading out of Tarn and down to the Mornland approaches. A Threlland guardsman was charging into town, and on catching sight of Gawain, began waving and reining in.

Gawain turned Gwyn and trotted over to meet the warrior.

"Well met, friend Longsword!"

"Well met, guardsman…?"

"Jak, Serre."

"Catch your breath, Jak. Then tell me what drives you up the slopes with such urgency."

"Elves, Serre!" Jak gasped. "Elves at the foot of the slopes!"

28. Thalangard

Gawain's heart skipped a beat. "Elves? Here?"

"Aye, Serre! Captain Sarek at once despatched me to fetch you, Serre, since your Lady be of Elvendere, and you knowing them, Serre."

"How many are there? Have they spoken of Elayeen?"

"They speak little, Serre, and mostly in their own language. They did speak your old name, Serre, Traveller, and your Lady's name Serre. There are two, a man and a woman, and the worse for wear I'd say, cold and wet."

Gawain nodded. "Take me there at once."

"Aye Serre, that was my intent and my orders."

They set off down the road at the trot, as fast as the crunching snow would permit in safety. On the way, Jak continued his description of the elves' arrival.

"We was on patrol, at the plains by the farak gorin, and were homeward bound when we seen the two elves on horseback. They looked like drowned rats, Serre, snow-soaked and cold, and scared as rabbits. There's ten of us in the patrol, and when we rode up, we seen the two of 'em reach out, and hold each other like we was Morloch's men about to breathe upon 'em."

Gwyn threaded her way around a drift, and Gawain said "Go on, Jak, what next."

"Well, we spoke to 'em Serre, and told 'em as not to fear, that we meant no harm. The woman elf…"

"Elfin." Gawain corrected gently.

"Sorry, Serre. The elfin, she says something. Don't know what it was, but it ended in your name Serre."

"Eem frith am Traveller?"

"That's it Serre! Then she says something else, with your Lady's name. We know your Lady being an elf and all, sorry Serre, elfin, so we thought we'd bring the two of 'em up to Tarn, but they won't budge! They dismounted, gave us their bows, and then just stood there in the snow! Nothing we can do will shift 'em Serre."

"Are they injured?"

"Don't think so, Serre. Just cold and wet and not looking too happy. When I left, the Captain was trying to give 'em brandy and food, don't know if they've taken it though. Like scared rabbits, the pair of 'em."

They pressed on urgently, through the snow-clogged tracks and down the winding route to the gentle slopes where Threlland met Mornland. Gawain could see them in the distance, and Gwyn thrust forward, whinnying long and loud. Heads swung in his direction, the small group of Threlland guardsmen parted, and in the middle of the patrol, he saw two fair-haired elves, standing close to each other, dressed entirely inappropriately for winter, let alone the plains of Juria which they must have crossed.

It wasn't until he was reining in that he recognised the bedraggled elfin, shivering and snow-wet and pale, standing arm-in-arm with the elf Gawain took to be her husband from the braid in his hair.

"Meeya!" Gawain called, dismounting.

"Longsword, you know these elves?" Captain Sarek asked.

"I do, Captain. This is Meeya, once thalangard, an elven honour-guard, to my Lady."

"They have refused our blankets and our food, Serre, and nothing we can do will persuade them from this spot."

Gawain nodded, and strode forward. "Meeya, mifrith."

"Traveller…" Meeya whispered, her teeth chattering. "Mifrith Elayeen-thalin?"

"She lives, Meeya, all is well. Come, it is safe, these are my friends, we shall take you to Elayeen."

Gawain glanced at the guard standing helplessly with warm blankets, and ushered him forward.

This time, the elves accepted them, and when another stepped forward with Jurian brandy, a gentle nod from Gawain was all it took for Meeya and her husband to drink.

"Mihoth, Valin." Meeya announced, her cheeks flushing with the effects of the brandy, indicating her husband.

The elf bowed slightly, and Gawain held out his hand. "Mifrith Valin. Well met."

The elf took Gawain's arm, and bowed again.

"Come, let's to Tarn, and a warm fire."

"Serre," Captain Sarek stepped forward, and then beckoned one of his men forward carrying two elven longbows, "We should like to return these to your friends."

Gawain smiled, and Sarek smiled back. Meeya and Valin had clearly 'surrendered' to the Threlland patrol, and when their weapons were handed back to them, they were bemused.

"Threlland ifrith, Meeya." Gawain smiled.

"In truth? They will not kill us?"

It was the Threllanders turn to look bemused.

"In truth," Gawain smiled reassuringly at the shivering elves wrapped in their blankets. "They will not kill you."

They mounted, and began the long climb up the western slopes. News of their arrival had not preceded them, and the weather meant that the marketplace was quiet when they rode into the town. Hooves clopped on icy cobbles, and the patrol drew back a respectful distance while Gawain led the way to Rak's house. At a nod from Gawain, Captain Sarek dismounted, and strode forward.

"Best you knock, Sarek, and make your report."

Sarek looked confused for a moment, but nodded, turned and knocked. The door was opened by Rak himself, and he looked momentarily alarmed on seeing Gawain seated on Gwyn over the Captain's shoulder. Gawain's heart sank. He was still not welcome.

"My Lord," Sarek bowed. "On patrol, we came across two elves, who are friends of Longsword and his Lady. They are here."

Sarek stepped back, and indicated the two elves still mounted, still wrapped in blankets.

Rak's eyes widened, and he turned and called into the house. "My lady, fetch lady Elayeen, she has visitors!"

Gawain indicated that Meeya and Valin should dismount, and they did so, still bemused and still nervous. Rak stepped forward to greet them, noting their dishevelled state. Merrin hurried down the hall, Elayeen close behind her. For a brief moment, Elayeen's eyes locked with Gawain's. His heart stopped, he caught his breath; she was radiant, her eyes bright and alive and for a fleeting moment, full of joy…and then they clouded, and she glanced down.

"Mifrith Elayeen!" Meeya cried, and rushed forward.

"Meeya!" Elayeen gasped, and in moments the two friends were hugging one another. "Valin!" Elayeen cried, and the elf smiled broadly, and bowed, and stepped forward.

The air was filled with elven joy and their lilting language as they babbled happily at each other, and then Merrin and Rak were ushering them all into the house and out of the cold. Sarek received a brief commendation from Rak, and Gawain a brief sorrowful shake of the head, and then the door was closed against them.

Sarek mounted, and ordered his men back to barracks.

"Thank you, Captain." Gawain sighed. "You and your men handled them well, with tact and compassion."

Sarek nodded his thanks at the compliment. "Did they truly think we would kill them, Serre?"

"They did. For them to have left Elvendere at all is a wonder. For them to have come to Threlland is a miracle."

"Then it must be on a matter of great importance for them, believing that they faced death in so doing."

"Aye." Gawain thought ruefully, "Great importance indeed."

"Well, Serre. Honour to you."

"And to you, Captain."

Sarek saluted and rode away, leaving Gawain to watch while Lyas, the groom's apprentice, led the two shivering elven horses away to the stables. Gwyn snorted.

"No, Gwyn. There's no room for you in the stables now." Gawain sighed, "No room for me in the house. And no room at the inn. Come then, Ugly, let's up to the Point while it's yet light."

Gwyn clopped away from the house with a snort, and Gawain did not look back. He dare not, for he knew Elayeen would not be there smiling up at him. But he dared hope it might be true, and did not wish to prove it a lie by turning his head.

At the Point, he dismounted, and sat upon a boulder, the longsword drawn, its point pressed into the frozen ground while he rested his chin on its pommel. The view was disappointing. Where before, in Autumn, the farak gorin stretched dark brown and shimmering clear to the horizon and the base of the Teeth, there was nothing but a white blanket of snow as far as the eye could see. Gawain wondered briefly whether Morloch's army had abandoned their assault on the north side of the mountains. He doubted it. Doubtless they were hammering still, chipping away relentlessly, dying of cold and exposure, yet driven by aquamire and the thirst for fresh supplies of that evil substance…

For two hours Gawain sat there, wrapped in his cloak, his hands on the pommel and his chin on his hands while Gwyn grazed on tufts of grass where it lay protected against the snow at the base of the trees around them. He thought of the plans he had already set in motion. Briefly. Mostly he thought of Elayeen, and how fresh and full of life she had looked…

Gwyn snorted.

"I know, you ugly nag, I'm not deaf. Even I can hear a whitebeard stumbling through the snow."

"Longsword! I was told I would find you here!"

"You were told correctly, Allazar."

The wizard was breathing hard, and he sighed aloud when he sat on the boulder next to Gawain.

"Depressing view. Do you search for the enemy? Is there any sign?"

"Yes, no, and no. I came here to think."

"Ah."

"You say that so knowingly sometimes, wizard."

"It is but an exclamation signifying…something. However," Allazar gasped, his breath pluming, "I bring news of our two surprise guests."

"I thought you might. What drove them to make so perilous a journey, and to a land they fear more than any other?"

"They were sent by your Lady's brother, it seems."

"Gan?"

"Yes. Since your departure from Elvendere, Thal-Hak has restored order, and quelled the unrest your actions caused. But it is not good for Elayeen."

Gawain closed his eyes and sighed. "How so?"

"She is declared faranthroth. Dead to all who knew her. She is, in effect, banished from her homeland. The news has soured the joy she felt on seeing her friends, I fear."

"Why did they come, Allazar? It is cruel, if this is all they came to say. She suspected this already."

"No, it is not all they came to say. Gan, and I suspect from what I heard Thal-Hak too, loves her dearly, and would know if she truly survived your rescue of her from the Faranthroth circle. To that end, the thalangard have made this journey. This Gan is something of a diplomat too, I suspect, for he has sent these two in secret. If they return, in the spring, bearing news that Elayeen lives and is well, then all elves will come to know that Threlland is friend to Elvendere. It is a great step forward, Longsword, in uniting the kingdoms. That they came at all is a sign of their great trust in you.”

Gawain sighed, and opened his eyes, and stared at the Teeth. "For a moment, when she looked at me, I thought she would rush into my arms. But then she turned away, Allazar. She turned away."

"Longsword, do not torture yourself so."

"How can I not?"

Allazar shook his head, at a loss for words for a moment or two. "She knew you had left Tarn, yesterday. 'Where has Traveller gone?' she asked me, 'Does he ride into danger once more?' I told her you did not, that you were visiting an ailing friend nearby. 'He is a man of duty,' she replied, 'and keeps his promises'. So you see, she has not abandoned you, not that she could if she tried. She is ithroth."

"Those were her exact words? In truth?" Gawain asked, his eyes downcast.

"Yes…her exact words. What ails you, Longsword?"

"She called me Traveller. Before, she called me 'mithroth'."

Allazar fell silent for a moment. "It means nothing. Truly."

"To me, Allazar, it means everything.” Gawain stood, and sheathed the longsword as he gazed out at the Teeth. "Sometimes," he whispered, "I think I hear him laughing at me."

"Who?"

Gawain nodded at the mountains. "Morloch."

Allazar stood, and reached out, and then hesitated, and then patted the young man on the shoulder. "If he lives, Longsword, as I believe he does, it is not his laughter you hear, but the distant screams of rage, and loss, and pain… and utter helplessness."

"As perhaps he once heard mine, and may yet again."

"You are tired, and cold, my friend. Come. Let us to the inn. Hot food, warm ale, and good company await us there."

"And still there is no word from the crowns?"

"None. Come, let us go. We can speak of it later."

"No. You go, Allazar. I have more thinking to do, and it has been too long since last I slept beneath the stars."

"You'll freeze!" Allazar exclaimed.

Gawain shook his head. "I have a warm cloak. A good bedroll on my saddle. Stone arrows, steel, and plenty of wood. Frak, and Jurian brandy. I cannot face the crowd at the inn, not this night."

"Then I shall stay too." Allazar said.

Gawain turned a wry smile on the wizard. "Be careful, Allazar, one day I might say yes to the ill-conceived offers you blurt on the spur of the moment."

"Ah."

"Indeed. But the thought is appreciated."

Allazar smiled, and shook his head, and then turned back to the path that led down from the Point to the town. Already it was gloomy, the light failing, and he hurried once he realised Gawain had no intention of calling him back.

Gawain watched the wizard go, and then set about making a hasty camp. He gathered wood, lit a small fire using the boulder as a wind-break, and spread out his bedroll. Then he unsaddled Gwyn, and settled on the blankets, gazing at the mountains as evening closed in. In truth, he had much to think about.

For one thing, the elves Meeya and Valin were thalangard. Royal honour-guards. In the close-knit provinces of Elvendere, they would be missed. And with the whitebeards' tight grip on power within that land, tighter than anywhere else in the southlands, it was difficult if not impossible to conceive that Gan would be able to despatch two thalangard officers clear across the Jurian plains without the wizards' knowledge.

Gawain frowned. He knew there was a greater importance attached to the arrival of Meeya and Valin, but every time he struggled to discover the significance, Elayeen's eyes filled his mind…Traveller, she had called him. Traveller, and not mithroth.

A cold breeze rustled branches and whistled, making the flames from his fire dance and crackle.

"Do not laugh at me, Morloch. I said I would come for you. I keep my promises."

Gwyn snorted, and Gawain chuckled. He hadn't meant to speak out loud. Perhaps he truly was going quietly mad. Once, when Gawain had found his brother mooning around an empty chamber at Raheen's Keep, he had asked "Brother, what ails you?"

"I am in love." Kevyn had replied.

"Oh. So why do you look like a man whose favourite dog just died?" Gawain had jibed.

Kevyn sighed. "Love is an illness, brother. It drives men to childish folly, acts of great courage, the peaks of paradise, and the depths of despair. It is at once maddening, and sobering. Blessing, and curse."

"Don't come too close to me then, brother, I have no desire to succumb to such a dread disease."

"You will, G'wain. You will."

As darkness fell, Gawain sighed, remembering. "Yes, my brother, I did."

He prised a chunk of frak from a cake and began chewing, enjoying the taste and the texture of themeat more than he would like to admit. Threllanders regarded the pressed and cured meat a cheap staple to be endured by miners long underground, a convenient necessity. Gawain liked it though. If Raheen still stood, the cavalry could march on it for weeks without the need for foraging…But Raheen was gone, and so too the cavalry…

Thinking about Raheen drove Elayeen from his mind for a moment. Morloch was not dead, and it had been Morloch that had destroyed Raheen, not the Ramoths. Gawain felt a familiar coldness grip his innards, like the handshake of an old friend. He pictured Raheen in his mind's eye, as it was now, dust and ashes and barren. Morloch had done that. Purely to prevent the high plateau becoming a bastion of hope in the coming attack. And to replenish his aquamire, so much of which he'd used to fill the lenses on both sides of the great chasm beneath the Teeth.

The Teeth. All that stood between Morloch's army and the complete destruction of the southland kingdoms. Gawain had seen across the mountains, knew what lay in store, and more. He knew things he had yet to tell his friends. But that could wait. For now, he needed to feed the chill in his heart. It ached less, that chill, hurt less than Elayeen's sharp distance.

A breeze, cold and damp, swept in from the north, and made the fire roar and throw out a shower of sparks. Gawain watched them, wondering, as Elayeen faded from his mind and Morloch flooded in to take her place.

Martan's words came back to him. They'd have an easy route up their side, not so easy coming down on ours. Like the sparks that flew from the fire in the breezes, Gawain thought. If that dark army did manage to breach the Teeth, the great wall of mountains would not suddenly burst asunder like a dam at all, there'd just be a steady flow from the breach, spreading out like a stain, or like a shower of sparks…

You vex me, Morloch Gawain thought. Why go to so much trouble? A relatively small force of archers at the base of the breach could pick off the dark soldiers as they clambered down the mountainside. None would live to set foot on the farak gorin, much less the plains of Juria…All thoughts of Elayeen were suddenly driven from his mind completely, and a new, cold clarity washed over him. The only archers worthy of the name this far north were the elves. Dwarves used short curved bows for hunting game, but could never hope to draw a longbow or a yard-long shaft. They were miners. Strong, tough, and tenacious. Fearsome in battle with hammer, axe, and shortsword. But that meant hand to hand combat, and against black riders, they would stand no chance.

If the Teeth were breached, only elven archers could stem the flow before the trickle was allowed to pool on the scree and form ranks, muster into an army…Gawain suddenly rose from his blankets, and gazed out into the darkness, towards the mountains in the gloom, realisation dawning.

The Ramoths had never penetrated Elvendere. Why not? The whitebeards there, particularly the Morloch spy Gawain had slain at the circle of Faranthroth, had done their level best, and succeeded too, in preventing Gawain from learning the meaning of elven throth. Prevented him from remaining in Elvendere, prevented his union with Elayeen, would rather have seen her dead. Why?

Morloch had appeared to him on the plains almost at the moment Gawain had left the forest. How had Morloch known where he was? The whitebeard had shown him, that's how, using the dark aquamire lens around his neck. The black riders Morloch had despatched to kill Gawain had never penetrated Elvendere's forest. Why not?

Gawain paced as the familiar chill spread through his chest. What do you want? Gawain had asked that wizard…to see you gone from Elvendere… Why?

Why? And now thalangard had arrived in Threlland, though the whitebeards taught the elves that dwarves would kill elves on sight. Why? Who would profit from keeping Elvendere and Threlland apart? Who would profit from keeping Gawain and Elayeen separated, Gawain, who had travelled all the southlands, and knew that Threllanders bore no animosity towards the elves, and Elayeen, a royal crown of Elvendere? Who would profit?

Morloch.

Gawain paced, chewing frak, sipping Jurian brandy. Morloch's power, before the destruction of the Ramoth lens, had been staggering, incomprehensible. It made the combined magic wielded by all the whitebeards south of the Teeth look like party tricks. With aquamire, Morloch had devastated Raheen. Burned a tunnel through the mountains which had for millennia stood guardian between the southlands and Morloch's dark home. Burned a tunnel through the mountains which prevented his magic from touching the seven kingdoms, until aquamire, and until his servants had crossed the great rift beneath the Teeth. Gawain knew Morloch now. And he knew wizards.

In the early hours, sleep elusive, Gawain drew the longsword, and waved it idly, the blade swishing as he wielded it, deep in thought. Morloch vexed him. Gwyn snuffled, and backed away to the trees as Gawain paced and swung the blade.

There was a patch of virgin snow beside the boulder, and Gawain gazed down at it, then idly swept the blade down, cutting a long straight line in the snow. He paused, looking at the mark. Then, frowning, and using the longsword like a patrol captain drawing a map in the dirt with a stick, he drew in a jagged row of teeth, the mountains. Then a deep U, the Jurian plains, with Callodon at the bottom. To the west, on his map, he scraped at the snow, marking Elvendere, running the length of the U's left arm. And in the East, he marked Threlland, and Mornland, and Arrun, running parallel with the U's right arm.

He paused again, frowning, and then began pacing once more, for hours, eyeing the map in the snow each time he passed it by. The sky began to take on a steely hue, false dawn. Still he swung the sword absent-mindedly, still he paced, and eyed the map. Then he paused again, and with the blade sideways on, scraped a broad channel across the top of the U, representing the farak gorin.

Dawn broke, and he closed his eyes in remembrance. It had been a long time since he'd spent such a quiet time alone, outdoors, and although his cloak was damp and the sun weak, he smiled grimly as the first rays of sunshine sliced through the gaps in the trees and warmed his face. Then his eyes snapped open, and he stared at the map he'd drawn. There was a gap, between the farak gorin and the line of jagged teeth he'd scraped in the snow. The scree.

His eyes flicked to the left of the map, and with a swish of the blade drew in the northern reaches of the Gorian Empire. To the right, he did not know. He did not know if Threlland sloped gently down to the coast, or dropped in sheer cliffs like Raheen to the ocean below. Or if Mornland's borders ran all the way up the east coast to the Teeth themselves. Then, as birdsong faded, the world seemed to take on a black tint…

Slowly, the blade reached out and down, and carefully, deliberately, Gawain drew in two parallel tracks, running the length of the virgin snow which represented the scree. Running from west to east, like a wagon's ruts…

Anger, cold and dark, washed through him, and he knew he was seeing the world through the dark tint of aquamire eyes. Anger at his own stupidity. Anger at the love which had blinded him, distracted him, which had kept him from the dread realisation that stiffened his frame and made the point of the longsword tremble as it drew the final lines.

"Hai Gwyn." He whispered, his voice chill.

The horse padded closer. With a swish, the longsword was sheathed, and with a scrape of his boot, Gawain erased the map in the snow. Then he bundled together his bedroll, and saddled Gwyn, and with a final glance at the Teeth, he mounted.

Gwyn set off down the track towards Tarn, Gawain's expression set grim with determination. He rode straight for Rak's house, unhesitating, straight past the stables, dismounting and leaving Gwyn waiting by the back door as he waved a confused Lyas away. "I am not staying, Lyas, and neither is Gwyn."

"Serre." the lad replied, grateful to hurry away from the black-eyed warrior.

Gawain pushed open the back door and marched in. At table, Rak and Merrin gasped at his sudden entrance. His glowering eyes flicked around the room. Elayeen was there, radiant, but shocked at his appearance. Meeya, and Valin, looking well-rested and comfortable. And Allazar, gaping, and looking from Gawain to Elayeen.

"My brother…" Rak exclaimed, rising from the table.

"You have a map, Rak, of the southlands?" Gawain demanded, his voice hard as glass.

Rak hesitated, and Gawain turned his cold dark gaze full upon him.

"I do," Rak gasped. "It is this way…"

Rak left the table and hurried out of the kitchen, Gawain sweeping past them all without a second glance, in spite of Elayeen's gasp.

"It is here," Rak said nervously, leading Gawain into a small study. "What has happened, Traveller? What ails you? To come here so, unannounced…"

"Nothing ails me. The map, Rak. Please."

"Longsword…" Allazar announced, striding in and closing the door. "Have you taken leave of your senses? To charge in so, with your Lady unprepared…"

"Silence, whitebeard. I am thinking."

Rak flinched, and Allazar froze.

"What has happened, brother, to fill you with such darkness? What did you see upon the Point?" Rak almost pleaded, as Gawain spread out the map on the floor, staring at it.

"I saw the truth, Rak. And would have seen it sooner but for the weakness that has blinded me of late."

Allazar gasped. "Weakness? Longsword, by the Teeth…"

"I have told you, wizard. Hold your tongue." Then Gawain pointed a finger at the map on the floor. "This, Rak, what is it?"

"That is eastern Threlland."

Gawain sighed and drew his longsword. Both Rak and Allazar took a pace backwards. Gawain stabbed the map with the tip of his blade, in the centre of a shaded part, between Threlland's north-eastern hills and the coastline. "This! What is this?"

Rak leaned forward. "That is Barak-nor."

"What is it?"

Rak looked dazed. "It is nothing. A wasteland."

Gawain sighed. "What sort of wasteland?"

"Wasteland. Nothing. The remains of a great open mine. Centuries ago, rich ore was unearthed there. It was stripped clean. Nothing remains now but…wasteland. Barak-nor means 'gaping wound' in our tongue. It is a legacy of more…voracious times. We are not proud of it. Why? Why is it important? There is nothing there, nothing grows but tufts of spikeweed."

"And here?" Gawain's blade swung to the northwest, beyond the tip of northern Elvendere.

Rak shrugged. "I know not."

"Allazar?" Gawain commanded.

The wizard stepped forward, stared at the tip of Gawain's blade. "Nothing. A barren wasteland, frozen in winter, baked in summer. An arid and rocky nothingland that runs clear to frozen plains of north-western Goria. That is Empire land you mark, it has no name that I know of."

"Rak. I would have you send a private message to Martan of Tellek."

"Very well…if that is what you wish."

"It is. Now. The message is simple: as soon as possible."

"It shall be done."

"Good. Then make ready. We leave for Castle Town as soon as your horse is saddled."

Rak gasped. "But King Eryk has yet to reply…"

"We cannot wait. And neither can Threlland…"

The door creaked open, and a worried-looking group sidled in. Merrin, clutching a sleepy-eyed Travak. Elayeen, flanked by Meeya and Valin, all staring wide-eyed, anxious. Gawain noted them from the periphery of his dark-tinted vision, but did not look up. Instead, his terrifying black eyes flicked across the map, and down, and up again, noting the borders, the features, the names. At the bottom, in the southwest, someone, quite possibly Rak himself, had shaded in the high plateau, eradicating the name "Raheen" which had once adorned the region.

"I do not understand, Longsword." Allazar said quietly, fearfully. "What drives you with such urgency?"

Gawain stabbed at the Teeth. "They do."

"But we have time, my friend…"

"No. We do not. We do not have eight years, or five, or three, or one. They are already here."

29. Ire

"You have seen them?" Rak asked quietly.

"I do not have to. I know Morloch, and what he has set in motion. We must mobilize now."

"With respect, my brother, Eryk of Threlland will need much greater persuasion than your dark ire and intuition."

Gawain turned his black gaze upon his friend. "You will not come?"

Rak held up a pacifying hand. "I did not say so. But consider. He knows you not. To the Crown, you are but a fearsome warrior charged with bloodlust against Morloch and the Ramoths. The latter are destroyed. The former, the wizards say, powerless. Victory celebrations are over, and the people go about their business happy and relieved. And you would stride into Threlland's Great Hall and say 'mobilize your army, Eryk, for the enemy are already upon us.' Without proof, what is the king to think?"

"None would listen to me," Allazar announced, "Even though I spoke truth. Longsword, if you cannot persuade us of this new threat, then how can you hope to sway Threlland's Crown? Or any of the others?"

Gawain glowered. "You doubt me?"

Allazar shuddered.

"We do not doubt you, my brother," Rak soothed. "But you must try to see through our eyes, and not through the black rage of your own."

"Then saddle your horse, Rak of Tarn. I shall take you to the Barak-nor, and show you the fate that awaits your people. Then I shall take you west, into this imperial nothingland that has no name, and show you the rest.” Gawain stabbed at the map with his sword.

Elayeen gasped. "You would leave, Traveller? And go so far?"

Gawain's head swung slowly around, his dreadful stare piercing and cold. "When last you spoke to me, my Lady, you called me by a different name, and bade me leave you alone."

Elayeen blinked, her lips trembling, and her hand reached out to hold Meeya's.

"Longsword, by the Teeth!" Allazar protested.

Gawain eyed the wizard, and the longsword's blade twitched.

"Cut me down if you wish!" Allazar pointed his finger accusingly, "But this rage of yours must be calmed! To speak to your Lady thus! Have you lost your senses?"

"I have regained them, wizard. Have a care. I know you, and whence you and your kind came. I have killed wizards, and could easily acquire a taste for it."

Merrin gasped, and clutched Travak closer to her.

Rak stepped forward. "Traveller. This does no good. There should be no fear between friends, yet you present a terrifying aspect. What has brought this to pass?"

Gawain drew in a deep breath. "There." He stabbed the map, at the Barak-nor. "And there." he stabbed the wasteland region northwest of Elvendere. "And," he raised the sword, and swung its tip slowly around to point directly at Allazar. "And there. Three reasons for the ire you dread so much."

"I?" Allazar gasped, stunned, "Longsword, what have I done?"

"Nothing!" Gawain hissed. "As you and your kind have for so long! While the Ramoths crept slowly south, spreading their vile cult, you and your kind sat, and whimpered, and advocated nothing! Raheen destroyed. Still you advocated nothing, but with desperate fervour! And all the while, the lands held apart, subjugated, oppressed, distracted by this great chanting decoy, Morloch's armies stole in!"

"Traveller…" Elayeen whispered.

Gawain ignored her, directing his rage along his blade, poised now at Allazar's throat. "And your 'brethren', Allazar? What of them? 'We have brethren in Elvendere' you said to me. The same brethren who kept the knowledge of throth from me. The same brethren who have poisoned the minds of elves for so long, keeping them shut up within their forest, spreading lies, that to meet a Threllander is to meet death. That no human may set foot in Elvenheth…or be suffered to enter the forest…why? Why, Allazar?"

"I…do not know, Longsword, I have not spoken with my elven brethren in so long…"

"You have not spoken?" Gawain's sword eased forward a hair's breadth. "The whitebeard I slew there wore a lens about his neck, Allazar, his body painted with dark symbols. Morloch's symbols. How many more of your 'brethren' follow Morloch, Allazar? How many whitebeard bastard spies sit behind kings and gloat, and tell their master Morloch all?"

Allazar stood fast, though his breathing was rapid and there was great fear in his eyes. "I know not of these symbols, or this lens you speak of! I was not there, Longsword, when you slew the wizard at Faranthroth!"

"I was." Meeya whispered. "I saw these things."

"Why, Allazar?" Gawain's voice was chill, and flat. "Why would your brethren wish to hold Elvendere and Threlland apart? Why would they wish no humans in Elvendere, much less Elvenheth? Why would they wish a royal crown of Elvendere dead rather than joined to a human?"

"In truth, Longsword…I do not know."

"I do.” Gawain whispered. "I do.” His eyes narrowed, and the tip of his sword slid forward a little more.

"Traveller…" Elayeen said quietly, her voice quavering.

Gawain's eyes remained locked on the wizard's. "Why would so many of them, these 'brothers' of yours, advocate nothing, knowing what lies behind the Teeth?"

"I know not…"

"Traveller…" Elayeen gasped as the blade touched Allazar's throat.

"Why are you so alone, Allazar, so alone, when all of your 'brothers' stand united? Why are you, of all wizards, the only one who would profess to aid my cause?"

Allazar swallowed. Travak began crying, the tension in the room tangible.

"I am young, Longsword." Allazar whispered hoarsely. "In the eyes of my brethren, I have not acquired their wisdom."

A trickle of blood suddenly sprung at the tip of the blade, and Gawain's arm tensed.

"Mithroth!" Elayeen cried, and tore her hand from Meeya's to rush forward, her hands on Gawain's chest, pushing him backwards a pace. "No!"

Gawain stared down at her, saw the pleading in her eyes, but still the dark rage held him fast, the sword raised, pointing still at Allazar.

"No, mithroth, please! You cannot do this!"

"Why not?" Gawain hissed, staring at the wizard.

Elayeen reached out, her hand trembling, and gently gripped Gawain's forearm, pressing down, trying to lower his blade. "These are your friends! Mithroth, these are your friends and this is not right!"

"No wizard has ever been a friend to the races of man." Gawain snarled, his arm rock-steady, his gaze fixed on Allazar. "They would have you dead, weeks ago, in Faranthroth, and you defend them?"

"Not them, mithroth, not them!" Elayeen pleaded, softly, "But him. He is your friend…but for him, I would be dead. Was it not Allazar who told you of throth? Was it not your friend who watched over you? But for him, mithroth, could I touch you thus?” She reached up, her slender fingers in his hair, tenderly drawing his head down so that his dread gaze fell on her.

Strange black aquamire swam in his eyes, yet she did not draw away. Gawain stared deep into the hazel-green eyes, and he saw his own reflection in them. A tiny jolt of something seemed to flow from her fingertips into his cheek, and ran through him like Jurian brandy on a cold winter's day. Still he held the sword high, pointing at the motionless wizard.

"Do not do this, mithroth, I beg you." Elayeen whispered.

The sword dipped an inch.

"Please…" She whispered again.

The sword fell, and pointed at the map. Gawain looked at Allazar, then at Rak. "They are here."

"I am here, mithroth," Elayeen whispered. "I am here." And she drew his head down, and kissed him as his sword clattered to the floor.

For Gawain, the world seemed to float in a black mist which clouded his vision, while gentle hands guided him to a chair, and caressed his brow. He heard his heart beating in his ears, crying out for blood, but the cries grew fainter, and he thought he heard a distant familiar laughter at the windows and in the chimney, wafting in on northern breezes. Then, like waking from a dream, he found himself in Rak's study, Elayeen kneeling beside him, stroking his hair and gazing at him with profound love and yearning. The sword lay on the floor, on the map, still pointing towards Allazar.

A goblet of steaming mulled wine appeared before him, and when he looked up, it was Rak holding it, his expression rich with concern.

Elayeen took the wine, and lifted the goblet to Gawain's lips. He drank, and felt the warmth flood through him, and it was then he realised how cold he was, and how damp his clothes, and remembered the night spent at the Point, pacing and thinking…

"Mithroth, are you hungry?" Elayeen whispered.

"No. I am tired."

"Then you shall rest." Rak smiled.

"No. They are here. In truth."

Elayeen glanced up at Rak and Allazar, worried.

"Where are Merrin and the thalangard?" Gawain suddenly asked, taking the goblet from Elayeen's hand.

"Meeya and Valin are taking care of Gwyn, mithroth."

"And Merrin is preparing your room, Traveller." Rak announced. "You must rest, and the inn is noisy at this time of day."

Gawain frowned. "It is early."

"It is."

"You still do not believe me." Gawain sighed. "We have no time for rest."

He tried to stand, but Elayeen pressed him back into the chair. "Stay still, mithroth, a little while longer."

"I am not struck down by some dread illness," Gawain protested, recalling his brother's words so long ago. "I need to show you the map."

Allazar bent, and slid the map from under the shimmering black blade of the weapon held so recently against his throat. "Here, Longsword." He offered, his voice still strained.

Gawain pointed to the Barak-nor, and to the wasteland in the Gorian Empire. "There. All the time that the Ramoths were trickling into the southlands, a flow of Morloch's men crossed the scree. I and Martan saw the ruts where their wagons passed."

Rak frowned, and Allazar shook his head. Gawain laughed, prompting more concern from Elayeen still kneeling by his side. The door swung open to admit Merrin and the thalangard. They too seemed concerned by the longsword warrior's laughter.

"Do you not see?" Gawain said, "It is priceless."

"I do not see, my brother." Rak said quietly. "Perhaps later, when you are rested…"

"His plan is brilliant. While his aquamire slaves smash away at the northern slopes of the Teeth, his troops trickle in across the great rip beneath the mountains. And possibly even from around the far western reaches of the Teeth, across the frozen northlands of the Gorian Empire. While we in the south quake in our boots, and hide from babbling Ramoths, and cower in dread of Morloch's Breath, his army trickles in."

"Why? You say that the Ramoths were an elaborate deception, but why?" Allazar asked, fearfully.

"Of course they were. Why? So that the army could enter the southlands unseen and unsuspected. They gather and wait, at the Barak-nor and in the Gorian wasteland. Then, when the Teeth are breached, the two armies emerge from hiding. They advance across the farak gorin, and hold the line, while the flow of dark soldiers spilling through the breach pools on the scree, and musters, and draws ranks behind them. Then, the first wave opens at the middle, spreading east into Threlland and west into Elvendere, while the main body floods down the Jurian plains, and into Callodon."

"A sound military tactic." Rak grudgingly agreed. "But how can you know this?"

Gawain sighed. "A company of elven archers could hold the breach from the safety of the scree. Shoot down every dark soldier that ventured onto the south face of the mountain."

"Agreed." Rak concurred, studying the map.

"Which is why Morloch has worked so long to keep Elvendere in isolation. Would elven archers rush from the trees to aid Threlland?"

Elayeen stared at the map, and then at Gawain. "No." She whispered. "They would not."

"No. Would they aid Juria? By the time the main body of Morloch's army marched south onto the plains, it would be too late."

Rak and Allazar gazed at the map studiously, almost unaware that Merrin and the thalangard had gathered and were sitting on the floor with them.

"With the southern kingdoms oppressed and living in fear and dread, there would be no opposition. Only if Threlland and Elvendere were allies could the flow at the breach be stemmed. But they are not allies, and are still kept apart by lies and prejudice. That is why the whitebeards in Elvendere kept throth from me. Had I known the danger to Elayeen, I would never have left her side. In time, all elves would come to know of my journeys, and of my friends here in Threlland. If the throth of a royal crown of Elvendere declared Threlland peaceful, and friend to all elves, how would that sit with the lies spread by elvish whitebeards?"

"I cannot believe all the brethren in Elvendere are Morloch's." Allazar protested meekly.

"I can." Gawain replied, harshly, and Elayeen squeezed his arm.

"Even so." Rak announced hurriedly. "If I may be permitted to play the part of Threlland's Crown, I must yet say, where is your proof? Ruts in the scree signify nothing but the passage of wagons. Where is this imminent danger? Why would these armies in the Barak-nor and the Gorian wastelands suddenly attack? The breach may yet be years from now. They could not survive so long a time undetected, and in such harsh conditions."

"No, they could not." Gawain said quietly. "Which is why the breach must be imminent."

There was a small silence, until Rak sighed. "Still, Eryk would demand proof."

"Then we must go there, and bring him the proof." Gawain sighed irritably.

"Later, mithroth, first you must rest. Come, I will watch over you while you sleep."

"Yes, rest," Rak agreed. "And then we shall make our plans with clearer minds."

"Send the message to Martan of Tellek. And you, Allazar, if Brock indeed be your friend, send word to him and to Juria. Tell them to prepare to mobilize, and to make haste to Ferdan."

"I shall." Allazar nodded.

Gawain stood, and in truth he felt drained. Elayeen rose with him, holding his arm while he bent and retrieved the longsword, and then guided him to a familiar room, with a familiar fire blazing in the grate.

"Rest, mithroth. You should not have spent all night beneath the stars in such weather."

"I have spent many such." Gawain muttered, slipping off his damp clothes and climbing under the blankets and skins.

"I know."

Gawain sighed and closed his eyes, while Elayeen sat on the floor beside the bed, and rested her hand on his shoulder. "They doubt me."

"No. They worry for you, as do I. You cannot take the weight of the world on your shoulders alone."

"Who else is there?"

"I am here, now, mithroth."

"Yet you remain distant, Elayeen. Am I so dread? Am I so terrible that even in throth you would have me leave you?"

Elayeen caught her breath, and then laid her head upon his shoulder. "Forgive me, mithroth. I was afraid. I thought all was nothing more than a faranthroth dream. That you could not truly love me. You are not elf…and now, I am become as nothing. You cannot know the pain of banishment, to be thought of as dead by your own family, and friends, and people. You are Traveller, and have no home. All my life, I have known only Elvendere, until you came."

Gawain sighed as tears fought with aquamire for control of his emotions. "You speak to me of banishment and exile, as if I could not comprehend your loss. Did not the Lady Merrin tell you who I am?"

"She told me you loved me, mithroth. That you crossed the plains in midwinter for me, and would have felled every tree in Elvendere to find me."

"I did. And would have. I know your pain, Elayeen." Gawain drew in a shuddering breath. "I am Gawain, son of Davyd, King of Raheen."

Elayeen gasped, and lifted her head to gaze at him. He opened his eyes, tears and aquamire swimming together in them, just as tears filled hers. "That is why I must take the weight of the world on my shoulders. I could not bear to see another land laid waste like my own."

Tears streaked Elayeen's cheeks, and she laid her head upon his chest. He reached out from the under the blankets, and his arm slid around her, and with a sigh, he slept.

30. Doubt

"So," Gawain announced, staring into the fire in Rak's main room. It was evening, and still his friends seemed nervous in his presence in spite of his sleeping through most of the day. "You doubt me still."

"I play the part of Threlland, Traveller," Rak said softly. "As I have said before, it is he who would demand proof before arming the people and preparing for battle."

"Do not forget, Longsword," Allazar offered, "There has been peace in the seven kingdoms since the Pellarn war. Such armies as there are in the southlands are small."

"Do not forget, wizard," Gawain muttered darkly, "There are but five kingdoms now, and if those are not united soon, and a line drawn across the farak gorin, those five will be none within a year."

"So say you," Allazar countered, earning a flicker of aquamire in Gawain's eyes but pressing on regardless. "But as Rak says, where is your proof? Agreed, what you have described as Morloch's intent is a plan worthy of any general, but you have deduced it from little more than marks in the scree, and shades seen through aquamire beneath the Teeth."

"Then tell me. Who would Eryk of Threlland believe? You, Allazar? Captain Sarek of the Tarn guard? Martan of Tellek? Even the inhabitants of that village refused to believe the truth of Martan's account until I myself confirmed it."

"He would believe me." Rak sighed, and Merrin glanced nervously at her husband.

"And who would Callodon believe?" Gawain pressed, staring at the wizard.

"Me, I suppose." Allazar conceded.

"And Thal-Hak?" Gawain said pointedly, eyeing Elayeen.

"I am dead to him." Elayeen said meekly, "But he would listen to the thalangard."

Meeya and Valin nodded.

"And Mornland's Crown? And Arrun's? Whose word would they take, or would they sit and wait until Morloch's army marched across the Black Hills and the plains of Juria?"

"Traveller," Rak announced, as rain began lashing the windows and wind sucked sparks up the chimney, "You believe you have the measure of Morloch's intent. That much is clear in your eyes. But surely you must know the difficulty we face? Uniting the kingdoms has long been my dream, as you know, but the history of such dreams is rife with failure…"

"Politics." Gawain interrupted. "Politics, and in the same breath, whitebeards. The two go hand in glove. It is clear that none will believe my words alone. So we must go, and you must see with your own eyes what I know in my bones to be truth. Morloch's armies are already here, quietly awaiting reinforcements."

"Then you would have us travel to the Barak-nor." Rak sighed again.

"Yes. You, and Allazar, and the thalangard. And Sarek of the guard. I would that captain Jerryn of Juria were here too."

"And I." Elayeen said firmly.

"It is too perilous." Gawain replied, without emotion.

"It is a long journey, Traveller." Merrin spoke for the first time. "On the map it is simple, but in truth you must go the long way around, following the farak gorin east almost to the coast."

Gawain looked to Rak for confirmation.

"My Lady speaks truth, Traveller. The Barak-nor, it is…it cannot be approached across Threlland directly. You will see why when you see it."

"How long to get there?"

"With the snow, two weeks perhaps. And two weeks to return."

Gawain glanced at Elayeen. "The rain is welcome then, for it washes away the worst of our obstacles. Without the snow, we should be back within three weeks."

"I shall go with you." Elayeen announced, and looked up into Gawain's eyes.

He was about to speak, but then held his breath, considering. Three weeks might be a long time, for a throth elfin.

"I am…was…a royal crown of Elvendere, mithroth. I shall not hinder you."

"Very well. Then best make ready. When the sun rises tomorrow, it shall find us mounted and on the route to the Barak-nor."

"Then I shall leave for the inn, and a good night's rest." Allazar exclaimed, standing and stretching.

"I shall join you." Gawain announced, standing too and slipping the longsword over his shoulder. Surprised looks were turned his way, and one was hurt and confused. "You'll need a horse, and I would speak with you Allazar." Gawain explained.

"You…you shall return, mithroth?" Elayeen asked, suddenly timid in spite of her earlier conviction.

"No. Lord Rak has but the one room, and both you and the thalangard need your rest. I shall sleep at the inn. Sleep well, all of you. We shall not loiter on our journey. We no longer have the luxury of time."

Gawain eyed them all for a few moments more, and then left the warmth of the house for the rain-washed chill outdoors, Allazar scuttling behind him. Rain, blown in on the teeth of a gale, lashed the streets and stang their faces as they hurried to the inn.

"Well met my lords!" an enthusiastic Derrik beamed. "A bitter night out! Sit you by the fire, and I'll bring ale."

"No, thank you, goodman Derrik. But if you've a horse and don't mind seeing it dead beneath this useless whitebeard's backside, I'd see it, and hire it."

"Aye, we've a number in the stables." Derrik grinned. "But if it's likely not to return, then the rule is: them's that's a-sitting on 'em when they pass, is them's that'll pay for their replacement."

"I do not kill all horses I ride." Allazar protested, shaking the rain from his robes.

"Oh! More good news, my lords," Derrick grinned at Gawain. "We have rooms vacant, now the roads are clearing fast. Which would you have, a southern view or a northern?"

"Neither, Derrik. I am content to share with the wizard for this one more night."

Allazar looked as surprised as the landlord, but said nothing.

"Come," Gawain nodded at Allazar, "Let's see these horses and then retire."

Allazar followed Gawain and Derrik out the back and to the stables, receiving a drenching even in so short a dash. The horse selected, and instructions given to the stableman, they returned to the inn, and their room.

"I'm surprised, Longsword." Allazar admitted, shaking his robes again. "When you spoke to your Lady, your words were hard. And tonight, to spend it here at the inn? This is the last night you and she might have spent in privacy, alone with each other. Yet not only do you forsake her, but you insist on sharing my room."

"Elayeen and the thalangard need their rest, Allazar. And I have already been blinded too long by that disease you call 'love'. My vision must needs be clear for the coming journey, and not clouded by yearning, or tenderness, or sweet words."

"That was cruelly said too."

"Perhaps. But it in truth, at this moment, I would she were not throth. The journey will be difficult enough with the likes of you along."

"The likes of me?" Allazar protested.

"Yes. The likes of you. 'We may not harm the races of Man'? It is easier for me to approach an enemy without detection if I am alone. But tomorrow I shall be in company with a wizard who carries no weapons, an elfin who is chained to me by some curse and who has not set foot on rock before let alone a battlefield, and a diplomat. For all his enthusiasm and skill with a battle-axe, Rak is a gentle man. On this journey, the only military assistance I can realistically count upon comes from Sarek and the thalangard, and I do not trust the latter with my life."

Gawain slipped the longsword from his shoulder and propped it against the wall by his bed, and then took off his cloak and shook the rain from it.

Allazar sat on his bed, staring long and hard at the young warrior. At length, he spoke.

"And you do not trust me. That is why you accept the discomfort of this small room."

"True."

"Ah."

"Do not feel too hurt, Allazar. I have not killed you yet."

"You came close, this morning." Allazar whispered.

"I may yet again. I am still not persuaded that you aid my cause."

"How then may I prove it? Just as you doubt me, can you not see why we, your friends, must doubt you and your prophecy of imminent doom?"

"You will never prove it, Allazar. You are a wizard. I have never trusted a whitebeard, and never shall."

Allazar nodded sadly. "We do what we are able, to aid the races of Man. Yet we are almost reviled, not respected."

Gawain sighed and laid on the bed. "What gives you the right, wizard, to advise kings? What gives you the right to sit behind thrones, and sway a crown this way or that? You can pull a twig from a bough, and with a chant and a mumble and a wave of a hand, drive the tints of autumn from the edge of a leaf. You can chant and mumble, and make signs in the air, and cloud men's vision so you may pass unseen. And with aquamire, you can blast an entire land from existence, leaving nothing but ash in your wake. In the between, you meddle with nature.

"Yet before Morloch, and before aquamire, what did you and your brethren do, that so aided the races of Man, that you might command respect, and expect admiration? Nothing. Party tricks, and all of them with a price paid for by us, and our blood. Yet your kind sits behind every throne in the land, and whispers. What is it, Allazar, that your brethren whisper to Brock of Callodon, or Thal-Hak of Elvendere, or Eryk of Threlland?"

"We advise…"

"Do you?" Gawain whispered. "Or do you lie, and bewitch, and mumble and chant and thus bend a king's will to your own dark ends?"

Allazar gasped. "You cannot believe that!"

"Why not? You know who I am. You know what happened to my land. Morloch did that. And Morloch is a wizard. The single difference between Morloch and your brethren is aquamire."

"That is not true!" Allazar was aghast, his eyes wide and pained.

"Is it not? I asked myself, upon the Point early this morning: Were I a wizard with aquamire, I could control all the lands with but one small demonstration of my dread power. Just as Morloch did, from afar. But were I a wizard without aquamire, how then might I control anything? Why, by using my meagre powers on but one man…and who else should that one man be, but a king?"

"Longsword!"

"You protest too much, whitebeard. Perhaps that is why you claim your brethren hold you in such low regard. Yet, I will concede my argument flawed if you can name but one thing your brethren have done in the last two years that has aided the races of Man. One tangible, measurable, visible thing."

Allazar drew in a breath and made as if to speak, and then paused. And paused again.

"Is it so difficult a task, wizard?"

"You cannot know what we do."

"Cannot, wizard, or must not?"

Allazar fell silent.

"Ah." Gawain exclaimed, and closed his eyes.

"It matters not if you doubt me, Longsword. I shall do all in my power to aid your cause. This I have sworn to Brock of Callodon, and to myself."

"You cannot know what that means to me." Gawain yawned, his eyes still closed.

"You have changed, Longsword. When first I met you, you were a young longsword warrior burning with a passion for vengeance, and justice. When I left you upon the Point yesterday, you were a man burning with passion, with love beating in his chest and compassion shining from his eyes. Now, you are…"

"I am what?"

"Cold. And cruel, I think."

A knock interrupted Gawain's reply, and he stood to open the door. A messenger stood there, drenched and bedraggled.

"Yes?" Gawain asked.

"Serre," the youth answered nervously, "A reply, from Martan of Tellek. Lord Rak bade me bring it you."

"Aye?"

"His reply was one word, Serre: 'Aye.' And he smiled. That is all."

"Thank you." Gawain smiled grimly, and the youth nodded, and hurried off down the hall.

Gawain closed the door, and laid down on the bed again.

"Martan of Tellek?" Allazar asked, hopefully. "Is he well? I did not have a chance to ask."

"Aye." Gawain replied. "He's undertaken a task for me."

"Would you have us cross to the Teeth then?" Allazar shuddered as another blast of wind drove rain into the rattling panes.

"No. I have asked Martan to travel to all Threlland's inns and taverns, and recount his tale of what we saw beneath the Teeth to all who will listen. Hopefully, when the call to arms finally comes, the Threllanders will have a better understanding of the enemy we face."

Allazar nodded. "If he is believed. But it is a good thing you have done, Longsword, to give an old man such a purpose. It is worthy of the man I last saw on the Point."

"Yes," Gawain smiled grimly to himself, "It is indeed worthy of the man you last saw on the Point."

Gawain did not sleep at first, and instead lay with his eyes closed, listening to the rain and Allazar's deep breathing. For his part, the wizard slept deeply, and did not stir when rumblings of thunder late in the night rattled the panes and shook the roof. If Morloch were laughing still, the sound of it was drowned by the storm without.

Gawain considered the wizard's earlier remarks. He did not like to be thought of as cruel, nor cold, but with detachment, he recognised that they were qualities which most suited his purpose for the time being. There was still a distance between himself and Elayeen, and her use of the name 'mithroth' instead of 'Traveller' had not yet bridged that gulf. Perhaps, with the luxury of time, he might court her again, and woo her as he had in Elvendere so long ago. But there was no time for courtship, no time for gentle wooing. Now, laying on the cot listening to the storm and the wizard sleeping, he regretted telling her his true name. He did not trust the thalangard, and because Elayeen did, she might reveal his royal heritage before it could be used to its full advantage.

And he did not trust Allazar. He never would, as long as night followed day. Strange aquamire tinted his vision again. In truth, Gawain welcomed it. He had the measure of it now, now that he had conquered its constant whispering for blood. He had Elayeen to thank for that, in some part, and he was grateful that he had not slain Allazar. Yet. The strange aquamire gave him a clarity of thought that cut through his inhibitions and strengthened his resolve, like the first rush of warmth that Jurian brandy brought on a cold winter's night. But Gawain was master of it now, and with it, he remembered the shades floating in the Lens of Ramoth before his blade had shattered it.

The strange lands he had seen, places and faces he did not recognise. The Gorian Empire, perhaps, for Morloch would not ignore such a vast repository of life for his aquamire lakes, and perhaps the Barak-nor, and the nothingland to the northwest of Elvendere. Other visions too, and understanding of them. Now, with the strange aquamire swimming in his eyes, he could imagine how the promise of such vast power could persuade a wizard to break his so-called 'sacred oath' to do no harm to the races of Man. With aquamire, and enough of it, a wizard could do anything. Anything at all.

Perhaps that was indeed why Allazar refused to accompany Gawain to the Teeth. Perhaps the fear of succumbing to such temptation really was at the heart of Allazar's fear. But Gawain remembered Allazar's words, all of them, with strange aquamire clarity. "What lays between you and the Teeth is as nothing compared with what lays between the Teeth and Morloch.” Gawain had seen that terrain, through the Lens of Ramoth, riding the beam of black fire in his mind when the lens was shattered. Allazar had been right, of course. The farak gorin was as nothing compared with what lay on the northern side of the Teeth. The question was, how did Allazar know?

Gawain sighed, and shifted his pillow. Doubt was an insidious enemy, sneaking in undetected, disguised, ignoble. Just as Gawain had sneaked upon the Ramoth compounds, darkened by blackening cloths, unseen in the night, victims never seeing their assassin…

Rak, and everyone else, for that matter, doubted Gawain's words. Gawain doubted Allazar. He doubted the thalangard's motives, Elayeen's love, and her assertion that she would not hinder their journey to the Barak-nor and whatever they might find there. That she was throth, bound to him, was obvious. But that did not mean she loved him. Might a slave love her master?

Gawain was sure only of three things. Himself, his blade, and Gwyn. Even Rak, he doubted. Rak had fought with typical dwarven tenacity that night so long ago on the plains, but that night, Rak was fighting to defend his wife and unborn child. Would he fight so tenaciously for Gawain? Martan of Tellek had fought valiantly, but at the end of the day, Martan was fighting not so much for Gawain or Threlland, but for himself, for one last glorious adventure and a meaningful death before age and infirmity stole upon the old man and robbed him of his dignity. Even now, if it were true that Martan, a good friend, were digging through soft Threlland soil towards the bitchrock of the farak gorin, it was as much for himself as for Gawain or some nobler cause.

So Gawain thought, as the night wore on, doubts gnawing at his stomach like irrepressible relentless worms. He sighed, and turned on his side as thunder rumbled once more. No matter. Tomorrow's sunrise would find them all on the lowlands, travelling the narrow boundary of soft Threlland earth that lay between the Black Hills and the farak gorin. Soon, they would reach the Barak-nor, and many doubts, perhaps even Gawain's, would be answered once and for all.

31. Lessons

Allazar was still sleeping when Gawain slipped from the inn to find Gwyn. With the thalangard horses in Rak's stables, there would be no room in the stalls for the Raheen charger. And it was the thalangard, Gawain remembered, who had 'taken care of Gwyn' in the aftermath of his ire. If not in Rak's stables, and not at the stables at the inn, then where was she?

Gawain stood in the middle of the market square, and let out a long, low whistle. He felt suddenly ashamed, derelict in his duty. He should have tended Gwyn himself. Seconds later, he heard a familiar whinny, and he followed the sound down a long cobbled street. Again he whistled quietly, and again received Gwyn's answering call, closer now. Almost at the end of the street he found a humble cottage, and followed the path around its side to the gardens at the rear. Gwyn was there, in the darkness, beneath a low lean-to shelter. It was dry, and closed in on three sides, but clearly the structure had been built in haste.

Gawain spied his saddle in the gloom, and strode across the waterlogged garden, his boots squelching. When he reached down into the straw to retrieve the saddle, he suddenly started. Something moved in the straw…Lyas.

"Serre?" the boy asked, rubbing his eyes, "Serre?"

"It's all right, Lyas," Gawain said quietly. "I have come for Gwyn. Sleep, it is another hour at least until dawn."

The boy was clearly bemused, and rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of the shapes in the gloom as Gawain saddled Gwyn.

"There was no room…" Lyas mumbled, "At the stables there was no room. I brung Gwyn home, Serre. I'm sorry if I did wrong…"

"Hush, Lyas, and sleep." Gawain whispered, feeling the gloss on Gwyn's coat, knowing how long the lad must have groomed her, just by touch. He turned, feeling shame, and guilt, and yet a strong sense of kinship with the dwarven youngster who even now desperately tried to rub sleep from his eyes.

Gawain knelt, found the threadbare blanket under which Lyas had been sleeping, and drew it up around the lad's neck. "Sleep, apprentice. It's early yet. One day, when I am able, I shall thank you royally for your kindness and duty to my horse. Until then," Gawain slipped a silver coin into the dazed boy's pocket, "Take this against that day."

"Serre?" Lyas mumbled, already half asleep.

Gawain smiled, and rose, and led Gwyn quietly from the makeshift stable, and to the street beyond. When he climbed into the saddle, he sighed, remembering a young Raheen lad praying for horses on his birthday….then he stiffened his back, and summoned the strange aquamire, and drove the memory from his mind as Gwyn clopped down the cobbles to the inn.

The stableman was as good as his word, and Allazar's horse was ready and waiting. Allazar, though, was conspicuous by his absence. More clopping hoofbeats announced the arrival of Rak and the rest of the party, and Gawain turned as they reined in behind him.

"Good morning, mithroth." Elayeen said softly. "Egrith miheth."

Gawain stared at her, and then cast a critical eye from her boots to the top of her head. The boots were Threllandmade, and strong, reaching above the knee to midway up her thighs. A thick leather skirt, split for riding, and a rich warm cloak, over which her silver-blonde hair spilled like a shimmering waterfall. A long, broad-bladed knife was slung over her right shoulder, and she carried a longbow, slung over her back.

"It means," Elayeen said, mistaking his silence, "I greet my heart."

"Good morning, my Lady," Gawain replied, "Egrith miheth. When we approach the Barak-nor, you must either cut your hair, or blacken it, or wear darkcloth. You shine like a beacon, and will make a fine target for Morloch watchmen."

Elayeen's eyes flicked down, and she fiddled with the reins.

"Traveller." Rak announced, and Gawain could not tell if it was a greeting or a reproach, so he simply nodded.

"Captain Sarek. Well met, and honour to you."

"Longsword. Honour to you, and my thanks for choosing me for this mission."

"No thanks necessary. If the wizard isn't here by the time I finish this sentence, you may commence your duties by going up there and killing the idle…"

"My apologies!” Allazar gasped, stumbling through the inn's door, fumbling with a pack and trying to secure his cloak's clasp at the same time. "Longsword, you did not wake me when you left!"

"I am not your nursemaid, whitebeard. On the lowlands by the farak gorin, if you cannot wake at the slightest sound, you will not wake at all. Mount, and hurry. I would be off the slopes before daybreak."

With that, Gwyn moved off, leading the way out of Tarn to the downland road where, before winter, Gawain had met Martan, and begun their journey to the Teeth…

"Captain Sarek, I should like you in the van with me. The thalangard should take the rear."

"Traveller," Rak said quietly as the cobbles of the square gave way onto the track, "We are yet in Tarn, and all the way to the Barak-nor we are in Threlland. I do not believe we are in imminent danger."

"True." Gawain replied coldly, "But at the Barak-nor we shall be. On the journey there you will need to acquire new skills, the first of which is accepting my instructions without question."

"That you command on this adventure is obvious, Traveller." Rak countered. "We do not need reminding."

Gawain sighed as Sarek pulled his horse alongside Gwyn. "By my estimation, Morloch would need a thousand men ranged across the farak gorin to hold the line against the breach. Which means five hundred at the Barak-nor, and five hundred in the Gorian wasteland. The only way we may approach such a host is with stealth and cunning, arts which few of you yet possess. These are not vacuous Ramoths we approach. These are Morloch's advance guard, and they will be taking extraordinary measures to safeguard their secrecy and security."

"Five hundred men would not survive a week in the Barak-nor." Rak asserted. "For one thing, there is no food there, unless they have found a way to eat spikeweed and ore-slag."

"Perhaps they have." Gawain mumbled, as Gwyn splashed through the mud on the winding track.

The rains had washed away the snow, but in their wake had left the tracks awash with mud and, in dips in the track, great puddles. From time to time both Gawain and Sarek cast a glance up the slopes, fearful of mudslides. But the trees lining the slopes bound the earth with their roots, and no major obstacles barred their progress down to the flatland at the edge of the farak gorin.

Dawn broke as Gwyn picked her way along the narrow stretch of land that separated Threlland's slopes from the spiteful bitchrock of the river of nothing. Gawain paused, and closed his eyes as weak sunshine shimmered on the farak gorin's glazed and wicked surface, now washed clean of snow.

Elayeen gasped. "You crossed that mithroth? On foot?"

Gawain opened his eyes, and flicked a glance at the spiteful wasteland. "Yes." he said simply, and moved off again.

Sunshine was short-lived, and about an hour after daybreak it began to rain again, a persistent drizzle that hung like a fine mist, billowing in occasional northerly breezes. Gawain drew his cloak tighter about him, and popped a strip of frak into his mouth. It was a frugal breakfast, but to him at least, it was satisfying. Behind him, he heard Rak explaining to Elayeen and the thalangard what frak was, and when Gawain glanced over his shoulder he could see that the elves were far from impressed at both taste and texture of the miner's staple.

Sarek chewed happily enough, long used to subsisting on the stuff on lengthy patrols.

"You know this land, Captain?" Gawain asked quietly.

"Aye Serre. All guardsmen do. In the first months of duty all must patrol this route, from Mallak Spur in the east all the way to Tarn's slopes in the west. It is good training. The north-facing hills of Threlland are bleak and unpopulated, the winds howling down from the Teeth are inhospitable. All soldiers on patrol must therefore rely on themselves and their comrades."

Gawain nodded appreciatively. "Have you seen the Barak-nor?"

"No, Serre. Our patrols do not pass east of Mallak Spur, since it is well known that the Barak-nor is a barren and shameful place. No Threllander goes there, and who else is there would do so?"

"Who else indeed." Allazar grumbled. "Especially in such vile weather. In truth, Longsword, with the terrain, and the snows, and now the rains, I must confess I would be greatly surprised to learn that anything but Black Riders could survive in a place as harsh as that which Lord Rak described."

"Let us hope then," Gawain said darkly, "That it will not be five hundred of those monsters we find there."

Gawain set a fast pace, though not so fast as to risk injury to the horses. The ground beneath them was a mix of soft Threlland earth, rocks, and outcrops of bitchrock, and Gawain knew only too well what effect the latter would have should a hoof stumble upon it. The incessant drizzle dampened clothes and spirits, though no-one complained. Doubtless, he thought, they still feared his dark ire.

At lunchtime, he brought Gwyn to a halt, and dismounted. "We shall walk the horses for an hour," he announced, "They need the rest and you need to feel the terrain beneath your boots. Take care not to step on the bitchrock where it lays exposed, it is vicious."

"And we, Longsword, do we eat?" Allazar asked innocently.

"You have frak, wizard, you may eat it whenever you feel hungry."

"I saw a rabbit in the trees on the slopes. I thought perhaps we might rest also, and prepare something hot against this chill rain."

Gawain stared at the wizard for a moment.

"It was just a thought." Allazar mumbled, as Gawain turned his back.

After a few moments, Gawain handed Gwyn's reins to Sarek and turned to face them all. "I shall go on ahead, around that bluff. Somewhere up there I shall lay in wait for you. If you see me, fire an arrow in my direction."

"An arrow?" Elayeen queried, "Is that not dangerous, mithroth?"

"It might be, my Lady, if you see me. Though if elven archers indeed possess the skills for which they are famed, it should not be beyond you and the thalangard to place a shaft short or wide of the mark."

"What does this game serve?" Rak asked quietly.

"It is a lesson, friend Rak." Gawain said, his eyes flickering. "For if I see you before you see me, then you may expect my shaft by way of greeting. Morloch's watchmen will, I assure you, welcome you likewise."

With that, Gawain turned, and loped off at a steady pace. Once he'd rounded the bluff out of sight of the rest of the party, he grinned, and increased his pace. He was sorely tempted to double back, up on the slopes, moving from tree to tree to take a position behind them. But Morloch's men would not do that. They would have fixed sentries, hidden, laying watchful and in ambush, and that was what Gawain must do if this lesson were to be of value.

He ran at a steady pace for twenty minutes, and then smiled grimly, spotting a perfect place from which to lay in wait. He drew an arrow from his quiver, strung it in readiness, and then carefully picked his way across the broken edges of the farak gorin. Rocks and shattered bitchrock, doubtless thrown up in a small heap during the earthquake, seemed to form a gentle ripple on the shoreline of the shimmering brown river of nothing. Gawain wrapped his arrowsilk cloak tight around himself, and lay down flat on the wet bitchrock rubble, waiting and watching.

Thirty minutes later, the group emerged into view, walking slowly, heads swivelling, scanning the trees. Gawain felt a degree of satisfaction; Sarek had put Allazar in charge of Gwyn and Sarek's own horse, leaving the Threlland officer's hands free to handle the large crossbow he carried cocked and bolted. Rak held the reins of both his horse and Elayeen's, and the elfin was walking with her bow at the ready, an arrow knocked in the string. Even with her cloak drawn tight about her, and with her hair bedraggled and soaking, she looked beautiful, and alert, and the black braid stood out starkly against the silver-blonde tresses.

The thalangard had tethered their horses' reins to their belts, and were walking with elven silence in the rearguard, their bows at the ready.

But then Gawain sighed quietly. All were scanning the trees. None so much as cast a glance out across the farak gorin, not even Sarek. Gawain waited until they had passed, then rose up like a shadow, braced, and hurled his shaft…and watched as it whizzed fifty paces, inches over their heads, to slam into the trunk of a tree they were passing.

The effect was as he'd hoped. They started, horses whinnied, heads whirled, and when they saw him, standing starkly contrasted on the vast expanse of the farak gorin, their shoulders slumped. Even at this distance he could see their lips moving in silent oaths. They waited, crestfallen, as he picked his way towards them, and when he passed through them to retrieve his arrow, they said nothing.

Gawain said nothing too, but simply took Gwyn's reins from Allazar, and mounted, and eased the horse forward. Words were unnecessary. The first lesson had been learned.

When evening closed in they'd made good progress, and as the drizzle eased and the gloom darkened towards night, he ordered them to dismount and make camp.

"If we'd taken a rabbit or two," Allazar mumbled, "We could at least have a more comfortable night."

"No fire." Gawain said quietly.

"We have a long way to go eastward until we turn south towards the Barak-nor." Rak opined. "There is no-one to see our flames."

"No?" Gawain asked. "And what if yet more of Morloch's men travel east along the scree, parallel with our track? What if they were to see our flames from across the farak gorin, where none have been seen before?"

Sarek nodded. "Part of the guardsman's training is to patrol this route with nothing but frak and weapons. It is as much about training for harsh conditions as it is about learning trust in one's comrades. Fires are never permitted."

The horses tended and tethered, the party huddled in a circle, sitting on their damp bedrolls, huddled in their cloaks. Meeya and Valin sat close, side by side, and when Gawain sat, Elayeen sat close to him. With a sigh, Gawain stood, and walked across to Gwyn, and drew something from his packs. Elayeen sat, dejected, her eyes wide with confusion.

"Come, my Lady." Gawain called softly, and she rose, her eyes suddenly full of hope once more. "Captain Sarek, I would have you watch us as we walk."

"Serre."

"I would have all of you watch as as we walk. But you, Sarek, call out the moment you lose sight of us."

"Serre."

"What is this, friend Traveller, another lesson?"

"Yes."

Gawain reached out, and took Elayeen's hand, and felt her draw in a breath as a gentle tingle ran through the contact. Then wordlessly, he slipped his hood over his head, and led her away from their huddled companions, east. They had gone fifty paces in the gloom, still without speaking, still without Sarek calling out. Gawain stopped, and turned to face Elayeen.

"This is the lesson I would have them learn, my Lady, and you."

From beneath his cloak, he drew out a darkening cloth, and with a flourish, he covered her silver-blonde tresses. At once, a distant voice called out to them.

"Longsword! We have lost sight of you!"

Elayeen nodded, her eyes downcast, understanding. "You would have me cut my hair, mithroth. I shall do so in the morning."

Gawain tied the cloth beneath her chin, and then took both of her hands in his. "You may use the cloth, Elayeen. And perhaps there are other ways in which your hair may be made shorter without the use of a knife. I have seen Lady Merrin do so on occasion."

Elayeen nodded, and then suddenly looked up at him. "Have I so offended you, mithroth, that I can never hope to hear gentler tones in your voice, or see your eyes blue when you look at me?"

Gawain gazed at her, the hazel-green eyes wide in her pale face. "You have not offended me my Lady. But there is no time now for tender looks or soft words. I would rather you looked to the trees, and the farak gorin, and at every place where danger may threaten, than at me. I did not bring you out of Faranthroth and Elvenheth to see you fall to a Morloch watchman in this bleak landscape."

"Then I have squandered our time together, and in turning you away from me, I robbed us both of the tender moments I yearn for now."

"Such moments we may know again, one day. But not while Morloch threatens the land. And not while the lives of all of you depend upon me. Now, there is another lesson I would teach you, and our companions."

Gawain drew out more darkening cloths, and in moments he had all but disappeared from Elayeen's sight. Only his silhouette was visible in the gloom, and he was standing close enough to touch. He reached out, and took her hands, and slipped dark mittens over her slender fingers. Then he carefully tied a mask in place over her face.

"Can you see?" he asked.

Elayeen adjusted the mask a little, and whispered "Yes."

"Then take my hand. Stay close, speak not, and tread as softly as ever you would on the hunt in Elvendere."

With that, he led her up the slope, picking his way through boulders and trees, working his way around behind their companions. From time to time, Elayeen paused, unsure of her footing in the darkness. But Gawain guided her unerringly, and she neither slipped, nor made a sound beyond her gentle breathing.

"Where are they?" Meeya asked, her voice carrying clear through the night, though in truth Gawain and Elayeen were but ten paces away, in the trees behind the camp.

"Perhaps it is wiser not to ask." Rak said quietly. "It is good that they should spend time together, in peace. They have had little enough either of peace or of time with one another since Lady Elayeen's recovery."

Elayeen squeezed Gawain's hand a little, but he did not return the gesture. With the darkening mittens on, there was no throth contact between them. Gawain eased two paces closer, slowly, stealthily, easing Elayeen forward with him…

"Aye." Allazar sighed. "I would I had dragged Longsword down from the Point that night. Until then, he was filled with love. Now he is become hard as the Teeth, and sometimes as cruel as the farak gorin."

"You must not blame yourself, Allazar, how could you have known? My heart aches for them both. Of all men, surely Traveller has earned the right to peace, and the joys that love brings."

"My Lords," Sarek admonished quietly, "I am made uncomfortable by this talk. The Longsword commands here, and I would not hear such personal conversations."

"My apologies, Captain, for our thoughtlessness." Rak apologised sincerely.

"And I am uncomfortable sitting thus. Longsword is more than capable of taking care of himself and his Lady, but we must post a watch. I shall take the first, and if our elven friends will take the second?"

"I will take the second." Meeya said softly, "And Valin the third."

Gawain let go of Elayeen's hand, and silently drew the longsword. A moment later his blade sat upon Rak's shoulder.

"It is too late for a watch, my friends. You are all dead."

Elayeen stepped into the camp, and removed her mask.

"By the Teeth, Longsword!" Allazar gasped, "Will there be no end to your startling lessons?"

"There will be, wizard, when you are dead, or I can no longer surprise you thus.” Gawain sheathed his blade.

"You are skilled in such matters." Allazar grumbled. "I doubt the enemy will be."

"And my Lady Elayeen? Would you say she is skilled in such matters? Yet she could have slain you all with very little help from me."

"I shall take first watch." Sarek grumbled, his face sour. "As I should have the moment we made camp."

Gawain watched the officer stride off into the darkness, sword drawn.

"I believe you have offended our Captain's pride." Rak said.

"A small price to pay if it makes him more alert. You should be grateful for that while you sleep."

"Yet, this is not hostile territory."

"Neither was Raheen." Gawain sighed as he sat on his bedroll.

Elayeen sat beside him, pressing as close as she dared, and when Gawain did not pull away, she rested her head on his shoulder.

"And," Gawain continued softly, "Neither were the plains of Juria, that night when first we met, friend Rak."

"True." Rak sighed. "I thank you for recalling the horror."

"I kept you alive then. I will not return to Lady Merrin without you now."

Lightning flickered briefly far to the west, the drizzle fell heavier, and in time, they slept.

32. Barak-nor

After ten days and nights, the small group of elves, dwarves, and the human whitebeard, had learned much from Gawain. And most of it they learned with distaste, for the lessons were ignoble, devious, and downright dishonourable. During the day, Gawain would move ahead, and lay in wait. Not once did they spot him before he launched his ambush. He sent the others ahead too, including Allazar, that they might practice the foul art of ambush like cowardly brigands. That, according to Gawain, was something that wizards should be good at.

Allazar was good at it, in truth. But Gwyn was not fooled by the whitebeard's magic, and Gawain was able with her acute senses to detect the wizard and to plant a shaft within inches of his head in the tree where Allazar stood all but invisible.

At night, all were tasked with leaving the camp and trying to penetrate its watch and defences. At this, the wizard was hopeless. Whilst he could not be seen, Gwyn always alerted them, and the whitebeard seemed incapable of walking silently. The thalangard and Elayeen improved in leaps and bounds, and armed as they were with longbows would have been able to approach within range easily to pick off their unsuspecting targets. But by the eighth night all in the party had learned to dress in darkening cloths, and to make use of protective cover in their camps. No targets were thus presented. More, they followed Gawain's lead, and smeared their faces and hands and hair with dark mud.

Soon, Gawain took to leaving Gwyn a good distance from the camp, so that his companions would not come to rely on the charger's uncanny senses and unerring alerts. That made life on the route along the northern slopes of Threlland very interesting indeed.

Gawain had to admit that they were improving, and slowly becoming what he disparagingly called "somewhat effective". Against Ramoths, he said, they would make fine longsword warriors. Against Morloch's army, he offered no opinion, for he grudgingly admitted that he himself had no experience against such a force.

Still they moved ever eastward, parallel with the farak gorin and the Teeth. And by the time they reached the Mallak Spur, a great rock outcropping that plunged from the high Threlland hills down to the farak gorin, all except Allazar could be relied upon in matters of security. Not that Gawain truly trusted any of them, and Allazar's principle weakness was his lack of weapons and his lack of desire to use any even if he'd had them.

Once they'd rounded the Spur, a difficult passage which touched upon the farak gorin itself, Gawain called a halt, and they made an early camp.

"From this point forward," Gawain announced quietly, "There are no more lessons. I shall ride ahead, and survey the land. When we swing south towards the Barak-nor, we must all of us take great care. If Morloch's men still trickle in from across the farak gorin, we may find ourselves with the enemy before us and behind."

"If enemy there truly be." Rak pointed out. "But it is wisest to assume the worst case."

"It is." Gawain asserted.

"No more lessons then?" Allazar said quietly.

"No more lessons. If anyone lurks in the shadows, it will not be me testing you, so kill."

"It may be a Threlland miner." Sarek said softly.

"Or a Morloch watchman. If you stand and shout 'who goes there?' the answer you receive might be a yard-long shaft in the chest."

A stillness settled over them. If before, any of them had thought Gawain was playing a game with them, now they knew he did not. It was unheard of to shoot blindly into the dark at an approaching stranger, who might be a helpless traveller in need of aid or food. What Gawain was ordering them to do ran contrary to all civilised principles. It was one thing to practice stealth and the foul arts of brigandry and assassins, quite another to leave the classroom and then shoot to kill without question.

"This does not sit well, my brother." Rak sighed.

"Neither will news of your death, should I have to deliver it to your Lady and your son." Gawain said, his voice deliberately cruel. "You doubt the presence of Morloch's army in the Barak-nor. Very well, that is your choice. That is why we are here, to prove or deny its existence. But ask yourself this, friend Rak, and ask Captain Sarek: Who would venture here from across the farak gorin, and what Threllander would choose to dwell in the regions of the Barak-nor?"

Sarek shrugged. "I can think of none."

"Very well," Rak sighed, conceding to Gawain's argument.

"I will scout ahead and around." Gawain announced. "Sarek, take first watch. When I return, I shall come in to camp from the eastern path, near the edge of the farak gorin. Anyone approaching from any other direction will not be me. You know what to do."

Nods, from all of them.

"I shall leave Gwyn, and go on foot. Pay heed to her signals, if any."

Gawain cast a quick glance at the pallid sun setting dimly through hazy clouds in the west, and then turned eastward, striding off purposefully.

He walked for the best part of an hour, scanning the landscape around him, using the cover of trees on the gentle slopes as cover lest prying eyes would observe him across the glistening farak gorin. There was little sound, beyond the breezes and the rustling of evergreen branches. Few birds, fewer animals, though he did see signs of hares and rabbit. It was odd, but when the breezes from the north died down, there was a curious, almost acrid, earthy scent to the air, and it was neither pleasant nor welcoming.

He remembered the visions he had seen when he'd smashed the Lens of Ramoth…thousands of black-clad men and women attacking the Teeth with hammers. Such relentless tenacity would make for fearsome warriors, and he secretly wished that Rak would be proven correct in his doubting Gawain's assertions. But ahead, perhaps another hour's stealthy walk through the trees, the Black Hills gave way to a vast pool of bitchrock that stretched as far as the eastern cliffs and the ocean beyond. Soon, they would swing south, and to the Barak-nor. And when they did, the going would be slower, taxing the patience and nerves of men, women, and horses. Gawain could only hope that his lessons had been well and truly learned.

As he made his way back to the camp he wondered at the landscape that lay before them on their journey. Rak and Sarek both seemed keenly ashamed whenever the name Barak-nor was spoken. It sounded a harsh and cruel place, perhaps almost as forbidding as the farak gorin. But it could not be worse than Raheen.

Gawain felt a little pleased that when he was thirty paces out from camp, he heard the creak of bows drawing, spaced widely apart. He paused, and squatted, and waited. No challenge came, no shafts were released. Silence, until Gwyn's gentle snuffling carried through the night air, and bows creaked as strings relaxed. Gawain stood, and strode quietly into camp.

Again he squatted, and began to cut a strip of frak from a lump while he whispered his instructions. "Tomorrow before dawn, I and Sarek and Rak will move ahead to survey the land. The rest of you must remain alert, and take cover. We will no longer be able to travel so openly in daylight."

"Did you see anything?" Rak whispered.

"Nothing. I will wake you before dawn. Who has the watch?"

"Valin is higher up the slope." Elayeen said softly, "And I have the next watch."

Gawain nodded in the gloom. "At daybreak you must muffle the horses' hooves. Move around the point, and settle on the slopes facing the Teeth. Do not proceed around the track to the south until we have returned. Understood?"

Nods, and no denials.

Gawain looked around for his bedroll, and spied it laying beside a boulder, next to Elayeen's. Without hesitation, he strode over to it, laid down, and within moments was asleep.

Dawn found Gawain creeping through the trees with Rak and Sarek, almost to the point he'd reached the previous night. When the sun rose, it shone brightly, and Gawain sighed as he closed his eyes. He would have preferred a sky full of dense black thunderclouds, not a sparkling parody of summer before spring had arrived. Not now.

Gawain paused, and sniffed the air. Again, the acrid earthy scent, until it was lost on the breezes. He glanced north, out across the farak gorin, looking for signs of movement. There were none. He raised his hand, and the others moved off again, quietly, chirped on their way by feeble and sparse birdsong.

An hour later they halted once more, and Gawain shielded his eyes with his hand against the glare of the early morning sun. He held his breath, staring at the broad expanse of shimmering brown bitchrock that seemed to flow all the way to the distant horizon. Then he turned his head to the south, and let out that breath in a long, silent oath.

Before him lay a landscape beyond imagining. Where Raheen was a flat and featureless plain of ash, the Barak-nor was a ghastly pock-marked wasteland of craters and tiny mountains of jagged glazed rubble. When Gawain turned his gaze to the hills slightly to the southwest, he stared in disbelief. It looked for all the world as though a giant had cut a vast chunk from the Threlland highlands, leaving a sheer cliff where once gentle slopes had run down to the plain beneath them.

He scanned the landscape, agog, taking in the tiny dwarfmade mountains of jagged ore-slag, the glazed remnants of the great fires that had melted the metal from the ore. Nothing moved, but some of the craters he could see were deep, perhaps as deep as the great rift beneath the Teeth. He couldn't tell, for most were rimmed with high walls of spill and slag, and even had he stood upon the top of the hill that had been sliced in two, he doubted he could have seen into all the craters.

Sea-breezes occasionally wafted in from the distant ocean, vying with the northerly downdraft from the Teeth. They carried a fresh hint of salt air, but they were ephemeral, and in their aftermath Gawain was assailed by that strange acrid and earthy odour. It was as though the great gaping wounds in the land were festering, and the odour spoke of decay and infection. The scene below him was awful, almost volcanic, and when Gawain glanced over at Rak and Sarek, he saw them slumped against trees, eyes downcast and brimming with shame and loathing.

A glint, in the distance, too brief for Gawain to locate. He stared at the general area, to the southeast, and waved a hand to attract Rak and Sarek's attention. They caught his movement, and followed his gaze. Again, a few moments later, a glint. Sunshine reflecting off metal. Gawain frowned, and began silently counting. When he reached twenty, the glint sparkled once more. Again he counted. Twenty, and then another glint. Gawain smiled grimly, and eyed the terrain once more, and motioned Rak and Sarek to him.

"A watchman." Gawain whispered.

"More likely a trick of the sun, shining on ore-slag." Rak sighed.

"No. Every twenty counts. A watchman on patrol, walking, turning, walking, turning. See."

They watched, and counted, and Sarek nodded in agreement.

"Do you doubt me now, my brother?" Gawain asked, his voice flat.

"We must see them all, my friend, for Eryk to believe us."

"Do you know an easy route there?" Gawain nodded towards the sloping sides of the great crater from which the regular glints of sunlight flashed.

"No." Rak sounded pained. "I have never set foot on the Barak-nor. I know of no-one who has. I saw it once, as a child, from the top of the hill. My father brought me here, for my education."

"A harsh lesson."

"Our ancestors did this. This is their legacy. We are not proud of it, Traveller. That is why no-one ventures near. It is too painful."

"Then look long and hard, my friends, for that is what lays in store for all the southlands if Morloch is not defeated."

They sat for an hour, Sarek drawing a map on a roll of calfskin, and on every count of twenty, a glint from the top of the far distant crater wall, until the sun moved too high for the reflection to reach them.

"He has a tedious duty, that one." Sarek muttered.

"Yet maintains it without pause or deviation." Rak agreed.

"That is the nature of our enemy. They are fixed in their purpose. Relentless. Oblivious to personal discomfort. I daresay that watchman will continue that duty until he drops dead in his tracks, or is relieved."

"Still, we must see them all, for Eryk's sake."

"Aye. Are you done, Sarek?"

"I am."

"Are you confident that the map will guide us unerringly to that place?"

Sarek glanced at his map, and then out across the Barak-nor. "Aye."

"Then let us return to the others. We must all commit this map to memory, and then rest. An hour after sunset, we set out into that foul landscape."

Rak sighed, and nodded, and they set off.

The rest of the group had followed Gawain's instructions to the letter, and were encamped in the trees on the slope of the point facing the Teeth. From the campsite, the farak gorin could be seen stretching away to the east, but nothing of the Barak-nor could be seen. Perhaps it was just as well.

Gawain cast a critical eye around them while they gathered expectantly. The horses had been tethered in the trees, bedrolls laid up the slope behind the trunks of tall evergreens so they could not be observed from the north.

"Sarek has drawn a map, you should all study it well. An hour after sunset we set out, down onto the plain and around the point to the Barak-nor. The terrain is uneven, and difficult."

Sarek unrolled the map and they squatted on the damp earth to study it, as Gawain pointed out the route.

"It is essential that the horses' hooves are muffled. And once we set foot on the Barak-nor, we shall not speak, except in whispers a hair's breadth from ears. We cannot take the chance of alerting the enemy. This is our goal…" Gawain pointed to the great crater Sarek had drawn. "The watchman we saw is positioned overlooking the north and the west. We must move around then, here, to come upon them from behind. I doubt they will have set a watch on the land towards the coast."

Rak nodded. "None would come that way."

"Then learn the route, and rest quietly, for we leave soon after sunset. All being well, dawn will find us on the rim of that carbuncle, looking in upon them."

Gawain studied them all, noting the tension that seemed to fill the air.

"You saw them?" Allazar asked Rak and Sarek, nervously.

"We saw something.” Rak answered honestly.

"Aye," Sarek agreed quietly. "Something which should not be there."

Gawain left them with the map, and after checking Gwyn, found his bedroll and lay down upon it, the longsword close by his right hand. Some time later he heard soft footsteps, and opened his eyes, and watched as Elayeen spread a blanket on the ground next to him.

"I am sorry, mithroth, I did not wish to disturb your sleep."

"I was not sleeping."

She lay down at his left side, a distance of perhaps an inch or two separating them. "The map does not look friendly, and there is a sickness in the air."

"It is a terrible place."

"And Morloch's army is there? In truth?"

"Who else would choose such a place? To them, it is doubtless very much like home. You have not seen beyond the Teeth, Elayeen, as I have. For them, the Barak-nor and the Gorian wasteland, even the farak gorin, are a home away from home. It is how they would have all the lands, and why they must be stopped."

"It will be dangerous?"

"It will."

"Then, mithroth, will you grant me just a few moments, close to you? I have said I will not hinder you, and I shall not. But if you ride into danger, I would spend some time listening to my heart, beating in your chest…"

Gawain closed his eyes, and after a few moments, he raised his left arm, so that Elayeen might draw closer, and rest her head on his chest, and he might hold her. In truth, he did not know what awaited them when darkness fell. And in truth, if death awaited them, a few moments such as these could do no harm.

33. Enemies

Sunset found Gawain on watch, and it fell to him to wake the others. In truth, few of them had slept particularly soundly, except for Sarek, the professional warrior. Gawain tossed a small pebble at the Threlland officer, hitting the slumbering form square in the chest. Sarek slowly opened his eyes, and rose in silence.

Gawain crept down the slope and softly knelt beside Elayeen. She opened her eyes at once, and smiled, and blinked. "It is time?" she whispered.

"Yes." Gawain whispered back.

Elayeen sat up, and then reached out both her hands, holding his face. "Then in this last moment, mithroth, egrith miheth until next we are safe.” She drew him closer, and kissed him tenderly, and then released him.

Gawain's eyes flickered, blue, then black as night, and blue again. He said nothing, and Elayeen rose silently and began rolling their blankets and bedrolls. He left her, made sure the others were awake and quietly making preparations to leave, and gazed east across the unseen tract of farak gorin. A misty drizzle started again, clouds low and dark, and Gawain smiled with satisfaction. There would be neither moon nor stars to give them away.

When they had assembled, and were mounted, Gawain eyed them all critically. In truth, wearing the darkening cloths as they all did, there was not much to see.

"This is the last time you will be able to speak above a whisper." He announced quietly. "Until we return from the Barak-nor. If you've anything to say to me or to each other, say it now."

There was no reply, save for the slightest creaking of oiled leather as riders shifted in their saddles.

"Very well.” Gawain tossed a coil of thin rope to Sarek, and tied the end he yet held to Gwyn's saddle.

Sarek tied his end to his own saddle-horn, and likewise tossed a coil to Allazar, and one by one the group were threaded together like a string of pearls in the darkness. Gwyn turned her head east and south, and then stepped off down the gentle slopes, surefooted in spite of the thick muffling tied about her hooves.

Full darkness, and misty rain, and within moments they were swallowed up by the night, threading their way southeast, until finally they turned due south and headed towards the devastated landscape known as the Barak-nor.

Hours later, the pace uncomfortably slow in order to maintain stealth, dark and jagged shapes loomed up around them, and the acrid earthy stench emanating from the diseased landscape through which they rode assailed their nostrils in spite of the blackcloth masks they wore. The silence was eery and unnerving, and the slightest creak of leather or the scattering of loose gravel beneath a horse's hooves sounded, to them at least, like deafening thunderclaps.

Gwyn suddenly came to an abrupt halt, her great head swinging to the left, ears pricked. The resulting slack in the tether linking Gawain to Sarek brought the Threlland officer to a halt, and rippled down the line while everyone paused and held their breath. Gawain cocked his head, his ears straining to catch the sound that must have so alerted his charger. For what seemed like hours they waited, the breath trapped in their lungs, grips tight on weapons and muscles tensed with nervous energy.

Then a distant sound penetrated the miserable cloud of incessant rain that hovered around them. A steady, repetitive sound which at first defied identification as gentle breezes wafted it away. But it grew louder, and after a few moments more, Gawain, and the rest of them, knew what it was. A cart, its wheels grinding over ore-slag, drawn by a lumbering beast, most likely an ox. It was far off, to their left and slightly behind them, coming from the direction of the Teeth, and soon it disappeared completely, lost behind the countless heaps of slag and spill and the jagged rims of the massive craters around them.

Gawain breathed again, and Gwyn moved off once more. The wagon, Gawain knew, had been heard by all of them, a salutary lesson in the need for stealth, and a powerful reminder that they were now deep in hostile territory. Hostile? It was certainly that, he thought, glancing at the jagged formations around them. And though he himself had no doubts what sunrise would reveal to them all, they must now surely know that the glint of sunlight on steel seen earlier that morning could not have come from some trick of nature, nor from some desperate outland miner rooting for traces of ore in the slag. The cart had come from the Teeth, along the scree, and that could only mean one thing.

More time passed, and Gawain grew used to sitting still in the saddle, only his head slowly swivelling as he scanned the landscape for any signs of movement or threat. In truth, he was pleased with their progress, and felt a curious sense of pride that so far, all of them had maintained the silence.

A sudden tug on the tether from Sarek brought Gwyn to an immediate halt, and once more Gawain tensed. Behind him, and further, behind Sarek, a saddle creaked and the scrape of a boot in a stirrup brought a flood of strange aquamire to Gawain's eyes. Someone had dismounted. Was it possible that they had seen something that Gawain himself had missed? Hastily, he scanned the terrain again as a familiar bubble of nervous energy began to swell and then burst in his stomach.

Then he heard the sound of water trickling onto rocks, and at once he knew what it meant. Allazar! The stupid whitebeard bastard had dismounted to relieve himself! Gawain silently cursed the wizard, scowling, hoping against hope that the sound would not carry through the misty rain. In a downpour, the noise wouldn't attract attention. But here, in this arid and barren landscape, with only a fine mist of drizzle billowing around them, anyone hearing the sound would immediately know it for what it was.

Moments later, a boot scraped a stirrup again, and leather creaked once more. Another tug on the line, and a furious Gawain eased Gwyn forward.

Two hours later, or perhaps more, Gawain could not tell, Gwyn stopped again. He peered through the gloom, and saw a dark strip in front of them, darker by far than the gloom all around. He studied Sarek's map in his mind's eye, and then recalled with aquamire clarity the view of the Barak-nor he'd seen from the north-eastern slopes of Threlland. There was nothing for it but to dismount, and investigate.

His saddle creaked too, but it couldn't be helped. Gawain crept forward slowly and silently, until he realised he was standing at the edge of a deep dwarfcut trench that ran from east to west, barring their path. It was too deep, and the sides too sheer, for the horses to cross, and jumping it was out of the question, the noise would give them away. He frowned, and muttered a silent oath. The trench couldn't have been seen from the slopes behind them, hidden as it was by the high-walled rims of great craters. There was nothing for it but to ride east or west to its end, and thus go around it. But which direction to take? West would be safer, but would add precious time to their journey. Gawain retraced his steps to his horse, and climbed into the saddle.

When he turned Gwyn east, and began moving off, he received an urgent tug on the tether from Sarek. He stopped, and waited until the Threlland officer loomed out of the darkness and took station by his left side. Sarek leaned over, and whispered:

"Longsword, what means this?"

"There is a chasm, we cannot cross. We must go around."

"To the west, surely? East takes us towards the path that wagon must have travelled."

"West would take too long. We would be exposed at daybreak."

Sarek sat back in his saddle, the conversation clearly over, and Gawain moved off once more.

The rain began to fall heavier in the early hours of the morning, and with it a chill northerly wind to sweep it into them. The journey seemed to take forever, and by the time Gawain determined that they were passing dangerously close to their destination, even his nerves were stretched taught as bowstrings. They almost snapped when Gwyn stopped with a gentle snuffle. He waited, listening to the sound of rain lashing against hard-glazed weedblown rocks. A gust of wind brought the sound closer, and he froze. Another wagon.

Gawain hurriedly scanned their surroundings. The high crater rim, the base of which lay within bowshot to their left, was all that stood between them and the enemy. High above them, unseen, that solitary guard would doubtless still be measuring out his count of twenty. And the wagon was approaching, and at a steady pace.

A saddle creaked, and there was the faintest sound of wood upon wood. Someone was nocking an arrow to a string. Gawain tugged on the tether urgently, summoning Sarek and the rest of the chain forward. When Sarek was close beside him, Gawain leaned out of the saddle and whispered harshly.

"Tell them to stand fast and silent!"

"Aye." Sarek whispered back, and tugged on his tether, summoning Allazar forward.

So the message passed down the line, as the sound of the wagon drew closer still. Gawain looked around him once more. There was still at least an hour to go before dawn tinted the clouds above them, and though he knew where his companions were, he had difficulty seeing them against the high walls and mounds of ore-slag. As the wagon rumbled nearer the rain began to ease off, and he closed his eyes, hoping that the group, Allazar in particular, could hold their nerve and remain still.

One of the horses snuffled, and from the sound of tack, shook its head. Gawain tensed, but still the wagon rumbled towards them without pause. Then, suddenly, the sound faded, as though it had fallen into a deep hole. But there was no muffled crash of the thing striking bottom. Instead, Gawain heard the faintest of sighs from behind him. The wagon must have passed through a breach in the crater rim, and the walls were shielding the noise of its progress. At once, Gawain eased Gwyn forward, leading the group around to the south of the crater on which they'd seen the sunlight glinting.

Finally, as the sky began to take on a leaden hue, he sighted a small mound of ore-slag, and led them to safety behind it. Then he tugged the tether, drawing them in, and dismounted. They huddled together, sitting on the wet and spiteful slag-rock and spill, trying to avoid contact with the cruel tufts of spikeweed that was the only life capable of thriving in these vile surrounds. When dawn broke, the sun was hidden behind roiling gray and black clouds far out over the unseen ocean, and it began to rain again.

Gawain stared at them all, and then up at the crater rim. He pointed at Rak, and at Sarek, and then pointed up. They nodded, although unenthusiastically, standing and checking their weapons. Gawain slipped off his black mask and mittens. There was no need of them now, not now that day had broken.

Without ceremony, Gawain drew his cloak about him, and stepped out around the mound, hurrying as best he could without making sound across the expanse of open ground between the group in hiding and the base of the rim. In no time, Sarek and Rak were at his heels, and they began climbing the slope.

Centuries of weather had washed away the looser spill and left the rim wall compact, and though not completely smooth, the going was far easier than Gawain had expected. No tell-tale rivers of gravel showered down behind them in their wake, unlike the difficult passage up the scree at the Teeth. Halfway up, Gawain paused and looked around. There was no sign of the enemy, and he could just perceive a pair of shadowy figures crouched to the side of the mound staring up at him.

Just short of the top of the rim, Gawain indicated that Rak and Sarek should wait. They nodded, and with a deep breath, Gawain eased himself to his belly, and crawled the last few feet. When he bobbed his head up over the top, he was relieved to see larger boulders and rocks all around the rim, and he eased further up so he could survey all around him. He made out two guards, far across on the northern side of the rim, which was split like a horseshoe. One guard paced at each end of the horseshoe's arms, and they were the sole lookouts.

Gawain shook his head sadly for a moment, recalling the pitiful security at the Ramoth towers. Then he motioned Rak and Sarek up, and crept forward to lay on the rim itself, to gaze down into the crater. He caught his breath, and aquamire tinted his vision. A quiet gasp from each side told him that both Rak and Sarek saw what he saw.

The crater was relatively shallow, but broad, and it would take at least five consecutive bowshots for an arrow to cross its diameter. The floor of the crater was flat, though broken and cracked from summer heat and winter cold and countless rains. Rows of black canvas tents stood in ranks like a company of troops on parade, small trenches cut between them.

"By the Teeth." Sarek whispered. "I count thirty rows of ten."

"Two to a tent, six hundred men at least." Rak gasped. "Forgive my doubt, my brother."

Gawain simply pointed, and they followed his gaze. At the entrance of the horseshoe, another wagon rumbled in, a large one, drawn by a pair of oxen. It came to a halt by a pair of immense iron cauldrons, which were being tended by black-clad figures. From the back of the wagon spilled more black-clothed troops, and with them a handful of people wearing an odd assortment of multi-coloured clothing. These latter were led off to what appeared to be a corral. Wooden gates were opened, the people were thrust in, and the gates closed. Then the black-dressed soldiers simply turned, and walked away to the tents.

"What are they doing? Are they prisoners, those people?” Rak asked.

Gawain gazed down, a sense of dread stealing over him. From their vantage point on the rim, they could look down into the corral, and he could see that it held at least thirty people, huddling together like a herd of frightened sheep.

"I've seen patchwork dress like that before." Sarek mumbled, "I think they're Gorian northlanders. Goat herders, mostly."

"Gorians? Here?" Rak gasped. "Are they allies then to Morloch?"

Gawain shook his head, and turned to Sarek. "Go down, send up Allazar and Elayeen. When they've seen, they can go down, and send back the Thalangard."

"Aye."

"I will go," Rak whispered. "I have seen enough, my brother. Enough to convince Eryk to mobilise."

Gawain nodded, and Rak eased back off the rim. A short time later, Elayeen and Allazar eased forward, side by side, alongside Gawain. Both caught their breath, and stared below in amazement.

"The wagons are leaving." Sarek whispered, needlessly, as a column of ox-drawn carts headed off through the gap in the crater walls and out into the Barak-nor wasteland towards the distant Teeth.

"Something is wrong with the oxen’s feet." Elayeen whispered.

"Aye." Allazar agreed.

"Shoes, of wood and iron I think, to guard against the farak gorin." Gawain whispered.

"What are they doing by those cauldrons, do they boil the slag for ore?" Allazar whispered.

"I do not think so." Gawain muttered, his eyes dark. "Have you seen all?"

Both Elayeen and Allazar nodded, and sighed.

"Longsword…" Allazar began, his breath hesitant, apologetic.

"Later." Gawain hissed. "Go down, and send up the thalangard."

After a final lingering glance at the enemy encampment, Elayeen and Allazar slid back from the edge, and down onto the slopes.

"Is it possible to continue south, and regain Threlland's hills, or must we go back the way we came?" Gawain muttered.

"We must go back the way we came."

"The quicker the better."

When the thalangard eased onto the rim and gazed down in astonishment, movement from below froze the breath in Gawain's chest.

"Something happens." He hissed.

Something was indeed happening. Though there had been no sound, no trumpet call or bell or drum, black-clad troops were emerging from their tents, two at a time. They stood motionless until all were assembled, and then with breathtaking precision they manoeuvred, marching together, forming columns and ranks, and finally coming to a halt in the large clearing which lay between their tents and the great cauldrons still busily tended by their comrades.

"Breakfast, I imagine.” Sarek muttered.

"Aye." Gawain agreed, his voice flat and chilling. "Look there."

Sarek and the thalangard followed his gaze. Four of the soldiers moved away from the cauldrons and strode to the pen in which the Gorian prisoners were huddled. They threw open the gates, strode in, and dragged two out, a man and a woman from their dress. The gate was secured, and the two captives frogmarched to the cauldrons.

"What is happening?" Meeya asked, her voice tight with fear.

"It is as Sarek says." Gawain replied.

"It…it cannot be, Longsword…" Sarek muttered. "It cannot be…"

"Watch. That you may tell the others, and your kings."

The two prisoners were hauled to the cauldrons, their clothing ripped from them, and steel glinted. They died without a sound, or at least it seemed so to the watchers high on the rim. Again, steel glinted, and when the butchering was complete, the parts, all of them, were thrown into the cauldrons.

"It cannot be….it cannot be…" Sarek muttered over and over again.

"Mihoth!" Meeya gasped, reaching out to clutch Valin's hand.

Valin was mumbling something in elven tongue, and though Gawain did not understand the words, he recognised that they were being repeated over and over, just like Sarek.

There was a sudden percussive sound from below, as the soldiers simultaneously came to attention, and then slowly began marching in columns to the cauldrons, bowls in hands. Sarek sobbed, and buried his head in his arms. Gawain reached out and grabbed the officer's hair, jerking his head up.

"Watch, for your king! And for the others!"

They watched as dark ranks queued, bowls were filled, soldiers ate and then marched back to dark tents. When it was over, Gawain's were the only dry eyes surveying the scene below. The pot-tenders calmly refilled their cauldrons with water from great butts left open to collect the rain, and then poured sacks of unidentifiable matter into the water, and began stirring once more.

"It cannot be…" Sarek mumbled once more.

"It can, and it is." Gawain hissed. "We go, now."

They slid back from the rim, and hurried down the slopes to rejoin their companions and the horses.

"Sarek, what has happened?" Rak whispered, staring wide-eyed at the tear-streaked faces of the thalangard and the Threlland officer.

Sarek shook his head. "I cannot say it….I cannot say it…."

"We ride, as soon as it is dark, out of this forsaken land." Gawain hissed.

"Dark?" Allazar gasped.

"We must stay hidden here until it is safe to travel."

"Traveller…"

"Would you rather risk detection by that horde?"

"No!" Meeya gasped, and Sarek shook his head violently.

"Then settle, and keep good watch."

34. Friends

Desperation was etched on the features of both thalangard and Threlland patrol officer, and it was so obvious that they wished to put as much distance between themselves and the Morloch army that none of the others dare ask what it was they'd seen.

"They had but two watchmen on the rim, Traveller," Rak sighed. "Why wait until nightfall?"

"They had but two watchmen that we saw in daylight. We may have passed many in the darkness. We camp here until nightfall. Eat frak if you wish, but drink sparingly."

"I am not hungry." Meeya said, and sat hunched against the mound of ore-slag, as did Sarek and Valin.

Gawain watched them, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"What happened, my brother?" Rak said softly, "What was it you all saw?"

"Later." Gawain muttered, and checked the horses, ensuring they were hobbled and the muffles on their hooves intact.

All too soon it began raining again. All the discipline that the group had learned on their journey to the Barak-nor seemed to have washed away too, and they sat huddled, cold and dejected and fearful, wrapped in their cloaks and saying nothing.

It was yet early afternoon, and though the sky was overcast and laden with drizzle, it would be hours yet before nightfall. Gawain sighed, and stared out across the wasteland, his nose wrinkling at the acrid stench of the Barak-nor which seemed suddenly stronger in the rain.

"What did you see, mithroth?" Elayeen suddenly asked, and though she spoke softly, they all started, so long used to whispering and so stretched were there nerves.

"You must ask the thalangard, my Lady." Gawain whispered, his back to them all. "And you, Lord Rak, must ask your Captain."

"You are cruel again Longsword," Allazar protested, "We would not doubt your word."

Gawain shrugged. "It matters not whether you doubt my word, wizard. As Rak plainly says, Threlland will not listen to me. Nor will Elvendere, nor Callodon."

"Very well," Rak sighed. "What was it you saw, Captain Sarek."

"I cannot say. It is…I cannot say it."

Gawain turned slowly on his heel, his eyes swimming black, and he stared down at the officer. "Your Lord has commanded you to speak, Sarek. Answer him."

"Do not make me say it, Longsword, I beg you?"

Gawain gazed at Sarek, and then turned his back on them all once more.

"You saw the prisoners." Gawain said to the distant hills that gaped as though disembowelled.

"We all did." Rak acknowledged.

"Penned, like sheep."

"Aye."

Gawain folded his arms, wishing he could see the ocean. He'd spent so many hours on the cliffs of Raheen, gazing out over the Sea of Hope. But that had been so long ago. "Just like sheep."

"Aye?" Rak repeated.

"While we watched, the enemy emerged from their tents, and formed ranks, and waited, patiently."

"For what?" Allazar asked, frowning.

"For breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Allazar gasped. "What breakfast? What ails Sarek so, and the thalangard?"

Gawain shook his head, once. "They do not eat spikeweed and ore-slag, Rak, as once you suggested. They eat their sheep, so carefully herded and penned."

Sarek choked back a sob, and Gawain turned, his expression cold. "Is that not so, Captain Sarek?"

Sarek looked up into Gawain's dark eyes. "Aye, my lord. It is so." He looked down at his hands, and continued, "They are an abomination. We must destroy them. All of them. Every last one. Else we are lost."

Rak's eyes widened as the full horror of it finally sank in. Allazar stood on shaky legs, staring dumbfounded at Gawain. Elayeen caught her breath, and looked to Valin and Meeya for confirmation. The thalangard nodded mutely.

"Oh by the Teeth, Longsword, what have they become?" Allazar gasped.

Suddenly Meeya leapt to her feet, and launched herself at the wizard. In a flash her hands were around his throat, her charge knocking him onto his back as he gagged and struggled. In the blink of an eye, Meeya had straddled him, and clutching his throat in an iron grip she began beating his head against the rocky ore-slag, a hissing stream of whispered elven invective pouring from her lips.

Sarek and Valin were on her in an instant, trying to drag her from the wizard, whose face first blue flushed a sudden red as her hands were prised from his neck.

"Meeya!" Elayeen cried in a whisper, her voice regal and commanding instant attention, "Meeya thalangard!"

The elfin ceased her struggling, and her shoulders slumped. Still Valin and Sarek held her, but with a nod from Gawain they too released their grip.

"Eest varl." Meeya sighed. "Eest vakin varl…"

"In the common tongue, Meeya, I command it." Elayeen demanded.

"He is a liar!" Meeya spat.

"By the Teeth…" Allazar croaked, still laying on the ground, rubbing his throat, "What have I said to cause such offence?"

Meeya turned to face Elayeen, tears streaking her mud-stained face. "We were not sent for you, mifrith Elayeen-thalin. They sent us to kill ithroth."

Elayeen gasped, stunned and wide-eyed, as Meeya slumped to her knees sobbing, while Valin stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder.

"It is true." The elf spoke, his voice low and rich. "Our wizards said you were dead. That no-one could survive being taken from Faranthroth. They said that ithroth was Morloch-cursed, that there was no danger to the land with the Ramoths gone, no danger but the one they call DarkSlayer."

Elayeen turned to Gawain, her eyes filled with pleading and confusion as Valin continued.

"The wizards said you were dead, Elayeen-thalin, and that for Elvendere we must go to Threlland, and find the DarkSlayer, and kill him. Only then would the lands be safe."

"They are liars." Meeya sobbed. "They said Morloch was destroyed, but his spirit lives in ithroth's eyes. But you live, mifrith Elayeen-thalin, and Threlland is our friend. And ithroth has shown us Morloch's army."

"But Allazar too is friend…" Elayeen said, "Surely…"

"No!" Meeya pleaded. "He is wizard! The same as them! All the wizards at Elvenheth gathered, and told that Morloch was dead, but lives in ithroth! They lied about Threlland, they lied about you, they lied about ithroth! They have done this, all of this, the wizards! Man does not eat Man! Only wizards can make so evil a thing! Only wizards!” Meeya's voice faded into wracking sobs, and Valin knelt beside her, comforting her.

Allazar staggered to his feet. "In truth…" he began, but his voice cracked.

"In truth," Gawain said quietly, "Only wizards could make so evil a thing, and so many of them."

"Longsword…" Allazar croaked again, his eyes wide with hurt.

"Take the first watch." Gawain commanded.

Allazar gazed at him for a moment, confused.

"Go higher up the slope. It will afford a better view."

Allazar nodded, and then stared at the rest of them. None but Gawain would meet his eye. Dejected, the wizard turned, and picked up his sodden blanket, and began to crawl up slope of the mound, to lay on the top.

"This is…" Rak began, but could not find the word. "We are all friends here…this horror must be shared…"

"I will relieve him soon." Gawain announced, and turned his gaze on the thalangard as Elayeen stepped closer to him.

"They are friends too, mithroth." She said quietly, reaching out to touch his arm.

The thalangard looked up, and saw the shimmering blackness swimming in Gawain's eyes, and for a moment they held their breath, but did not flinch away.

Gawain turned his head to stare deep into the hazel-green eyes imploring him to peace. "I intend no harm, my Lady." Gawain said. "But I would know the truth."

"The truth?"

Gawain nodded, and turned his gaze back upon Meeya and Valin. "You said Gan had sent you."

"He did." Valin replied, "But he does not know of the wizard's orders. He alone believes Elayeen-thalin might live, though she is declared Faranthroth, and he alone trusted your word that Threlland is frith to Elvendere."

"And Thal-Hak?"

Meeya looked up, confused.

"Does he know of the whitebeard's orders?"

"I do not know." Meeya whispered.

"My father would never allow such an order to be given." Elayeen said with commendable conviction.

"Your father, like every other king south of the Teeth, listens to wizards." Gawain replied coldly. Then he took a deep breath, and shrugged. "You are all tired. Sleep, if you are able. But sleep lightly. I shall make a brief patrol, and then relieve Allazar."

"I would come with you, mithroth…"

"No. You are tired too, my Lady, and I would have you here."

Elayeen nodded, and wrapped her arms around herself beneath her cloak as Gawain turned and crawled quietly up the mound, following Allazar's tracks.

He found the wizard laying on the wet blanket, gazing through the rain towards the great crater's wall.

"Credit where it is due, whitebeard, you've picked a good spot for a watch."

"From here I can see so much." Allazar sighed. "Yet I have seen so little."

"Do not take the thalangard's words too much to heart, Allazar. If I thought for a moment you were in any way responsible for what we saw, you would be long dead."

"Yet the elfin would have taken my life. It was in her eyes, as she squeezed the life from me."

"Perhaps you should try defending yourself from time to time."

"I am a wizard. I have a sacred oath…"

Gawain snorted. "Sacred horse dung."

"It is sacred to me. To all wizards. No wizard may harm the races of Man…"

Gawain sighed impatiently. "The frightening thing is, Allazar, you truly believe that."

"I must believe in something."

"Then believe in something a little more useful. No wizard may harm the races of Man? In a pig's eye. Morloch is a wizard, or had you forgotten?"

"No, I have not forgotten."

"Good. Then since Morloch is a wizard, and not one of the races of Man, it's about time you did something about harming him, isn't it?"

"He is too powerful. He has aquamire."

"True. But considerably less than he had before."

"Aye."

"And your precious brethren in Elvendere. What of them?"

"I do not understand the question."

"Which side are they on, Allazar. Who do they fight for? Who will they fight for? Morloch? Elvendere? The races of Man? Or for their own twisted ends?"

Allazar gazed out towards the devastation wrought by ancient miners, but made no answer.

"In the coming battles, in the coming war, Allazar, there will be two sides. Friend, and enemy. Soon you will have to choose, as will your brethren in all the southlands. It matters little to me which way they choose. As for you, I would rather you chose…wisely."

"I have already told you, Longsword. I have sworn to Brock of Callodon, and to myself, that I would aid your cause. I am not, and never have been, your enemy."

"Good. You see, you are learning to be a true whitebeard. Most men would simply have said 'I am your friend' and have done with it."

Allazar still looked utterly dejected. "To which you would have replied that just because you haven't killed me yet, doesn't make me your friend."

"More wisdom."

"I thank you."

"Thank me by watching all around, and not just that wall yonder. I shall relieve you in two hours."

Gawain began to slither backwards, but froze when Allazar turned wide and mournful eyes upon him.

"Longsword…I did not know. How could I have known?"

Gawain shrugged, and his eyes flickered briefly. "You are a wizard. You tell me."

Elayeen cast him a nervous glance when he slithered to the bottom of the mound, but Gawain simply nodded, and then moved off, loping stealthily across the blasted landscape. He made good use of the heaps of spoil and slag, hollows and deeper pits, working his way slowly northward towards the opening in the great horseshoe-shaped crater wherein Morloch's eastern army lay bivouacked. He was convinced that there would be a heavier guard, a stronger watch, a greater force overlooking the stronghold than a mere two pairs of eyes high up on the rim.

But he found nothing, which was both a relief, and extremely curious. Perhaps this army was complacent, trusting entirely in Morloch's arrogance and apparent invincibility. But they must have felt the ground shake, seen the vast snaking column of liberated aquamire coiling up to the sun, and known, or at least guessed, that disaster had struck in the Teeth. Even so, there was no sign of Morloch watchmen beyond the solitary figures patrolling above the entrance to the crater. Not on the Threlland side of the camp, anyway.

Gawain lay quietly on the wet slag-rock, peering through tufts of spikeweed, hoping to see something, anything, which might provide some hint of the army's plans. Riders, perhaps, bearing messages. More wagons. Anything. There was nothing. Just incessant rain, and the barren, devastated landscape of the Barak-nor.

At least his suspicions with regard to the thalangard had been confirmed. And his suspicions with regard to wizards in general, and Elvendere's in particular. It seemed as though the coming war was opening on two fronts; the northern line against Morloch's army, and a more insidious and amorphous front against the concealed intent of a hidden whitebeard agenda. At least Allazar's horror on learning of the enemy's hideous diet was genuine; no-one, not even aged royalty with generations of regal inscrutability ingrained, could fake such a reaction. Never, in the combined history of the southern kingdoms, had so vile an act been conceived, much less perpetrated.

Gawain sighed, and tried to quell his own rising stomach. Strange aquamire might give him clarity of thought, but it did not render him immune to revulsion. It was only his rage up on the rim that had held it in check. Rage against Morloch, and the foul creatures sent across the Teeth to hold the farak gorin when the breach was made and the floodgates opened.

Only one thing gave him cause for a degree of relief. The black-clad workers he had seen attacking the northern slopes of the Teeth were driven by aquamire, and thus required little in the way of food. The revolting ritual seen this morning seemed to indicate that the troops already in the southlands were not similarly driven, and could be considered in some respects more vulnerable than their comrades beyond the Teeth.

He sighed again, and cast another furtive glance all around. Still no signs. There were hours yet until nightfall, but while his lonely vigil might well be providing him with time to consider all that had happened, it would doubtless be worrying his friends back at the camp.

Friends? Gawain considered for but a moment. Yes. Inasmuch as they were not enemies. The thalangard had proved themselves duplicitous. Sarek had displayed unexpected weakness, Rak was struggling with a horror that fell far beyond his diplomatic and gentler inclinations, and Elayeen… Elayeen needed Gawain to live that she might live, and self-preservation was the strongest of instincts. As for Allazar, he was still a wizard.

For a fleeting moment, the word 'cruel' seemed to blaze in Gawain's mind. But he snuffed it with strange aquamire. The enemy were within sight; the watchman atop this side of the rim could be seen, just, every twenty counts. This was no time for tender thoughts or gentle emotion. They had seen what they had seen, and must carry that information to Eryk of Threlland, and Brock of Callodon, and to all the royal crowns. There would be time later for Gawain to permit his vision to be clouded again by that dread disease which had so recently afflicted him. After the kingdoms had united, and smashed these black-clad vermin back into the Teeth from whence they came.

Gawain glanced up, counted, and then moved off, picking his way back through the acrid landscape until, an hour later, he reached the mound where he'd left his companions. He stood for a moment, temporarily robbed of all comprehension. They were gone. All of them. The horses, too.

35. The Hunted

Gawain knelt, and scanned the ground. Small puddles had formed in the shallow indentations that the horses' hooves had left in the spoil, and here and there he could see faint impressions of boot-prints. All of them seemed to be heading off to the west, towards the hills that had been sliced open and left to rot.

He frowned, and his eyes darkened. He scurried up the mound, but there was no trace of Allazar or his sopping blanket. No sign of anything. He clambered back down again, and studied the ground once more. Then with a final glance around, he dashed across an open stretch of slag-rock to a shallow crater, and worked his way cautiously around its low rim. Where the ground was softer spoil, the indentations of muffled hooves could just be made out as a trail of tiny rain-filled pools. Further around the rim, on the western side of the small excavation, the trail wound its way towards another high mound of spoil.

Gawain crouched low, surveyed the route, and loped off. Behind the mound he found more tracks, and further on he froze. Approaching the trail he was following were another set of tracks, deeper, and more clearly defined. He stooped, and stared at them. Shod hooves, the horses heavy, the prints deep. Three horses, in line abreast, had approached from the south, intercepted the trail left by his friends, and were following them just as Gawain was.

He worked his way through the shattered landscape, always on the trail. He imagined it must be Sarek that was leading the way, for the trail wound and threaded its way through mounds and craters so that natural cover always lay between them and the high-walled enemy encampment falling further behind in the east. The rain began to fall heavier, and Gawain paused beside a large boulder to cut a strip from a lump of frak in his pocket. He had no water, and the small lump of frak was the only food in his possession. Apart from his weapons, all his other supplies and belongings were on Gwyn's saddle.

Whoever was following his companions, or rather hunting his companions, had maintained a steady pace. The deep prints left in the spoil were evenly spaced, and the word 'relentless' flashed in Gawain's mind. Allazar must have spotted an enemy patrol approaching, and Sarek must have deemed it safer to abandon their temporary camp rather than risk discovery so close to the enemy stronghold. But the plan hadn't worked, and the patrol had cut across their trail.

Gawain swallowed his frugal meal, and loped off, keeping low and moving as fast as he could without making too much sound. Slowly, the trail swung north, heading out of the Barak-nor towards the farak gorin. But at this rate of progress, it would be dark before they reached the relative safety of their last campsite on the slopes. And, of course, the three pursuers would know that too. Gawain had no idea how close the hunters were to their prey, and he knew that his comrades were tired, and thus likely to make a critical error of judgement in their haste to flee this dreadful land. What he didn't know was why his friends hadn't simply set up an ambush, as they had been taught, and eliminated the threat that was so relentlessly tracking them.

A sudden sense of alarm stole over Gawain, and he paused, scanning the landscape. The trail was bearing north, parallel with the hills. He frowned, and his jaw clenched. They were heading straight for the trench that had barred their progress during the night, the trench that had not been shown on Sarek's map. He increased his pace, his features set grimly.

An hour later, the sound of a horse whinnying stopped Gawain dead in his tracks. Frantic, he clambered up a mound of slag-rock, and froze. Three of Morloch's black riders sat on horseback, staring at the trench, their heads swivelling left and right, eyeing the length of it. Gawain smiled grimly, and slipped an arrow from his quiver. Then he paused, and understanding stole over him, and with it a deeper respect for his comrades. To slay the black riders here in the Barak-nor would be folly. The death-blasts of liberated aquamire would be seen, and probably heard, by the watchmen atop the rim of the enemy stronghold. He eased the arrow back into its quiver, and watched.

The riders were clearly confused. The tracks left by muffled hooves had led in this direction, and though the heavier rain had washed almost all traces away, the hunted must have come this way. Yet there was no sign of the prey. One of the black riders backed his horse away from the edge of the trench, and the horse was protesting. Gawain held his breath. The trench could be jumped, but to have done so in darkness when they had stumbled across it during the night would have been madness. In daylight, it would be a brave deed. The black rider continued backing his skittish horse, his intention clear. The other two riders simply sat in their saddles, looking for another means of crossing the gap, or perhaps looking for any spoor on the ground which might indicate that the prey had gone around the obstacle.

The skittish horse whinnied again, fighting the bit, and the rider spurred it mercilessly, forcing it into a headlong charge towards the trench. It ran, desperately, and launched itself into the air. But the weight of the black rider's armour was too much for it. Gawain watched aghast as the poor beast slammed into the trench wall on the far side, unseating the rider who flailed and clutched at the edge before slipping from view and crashing into its depths, following the stricken animal.

The two remaining riders eased forward and gazed down at their comrade, and then turned away. Gawain pressed himself as flat into the slag-rock as he could, watching as the two surviving riders abandoned their comrade, and turned their horses west, ambling along the edge of the trench, clearly intending to go around its distant end. Gawain smiled again. When the riders were lost from view, he slithered down the heap of slag-rock, and loped off to the east, and the quicker route around the trench.

Hours later, tired and thirsty, Gawain heard the creak of a bow, and threw himself to the spiteful ground. Then he heard a familiar snuffle from behind a jagged heap of glazed rock, and when he stood he found himself staring at Elayeen, and the shaft levelled at his chest. Instantly she lowered her bow, and relaxed the string, and her tired eyes brimmed. Gawain watched as the ground seemed to move around her, and one by one his friends appeared from beneath their slag-covered blankets.

He walked across to them, seeing the relief in all their faces. "Not bad." He admitted. "Not bad at all.” Then he stared at Elayeen, and smiled. "You had me, my Lady."

She smiled back, and sniffed, and wiped her eyes. "Mithroth…" she began, but then simply gazed at him.

Sarek offered a waterskin, and Gawain drank deeply.

"Longsword," Allazar whispered, "There are black riders…"

"Two. One is trapped in the trench. The others headed west to go around it."

"Ah."

"There is no time for talk, or rest. The riders will pick up the trail sooner or later, and we must be clear of this blasted land before we can do anything about them."

Tired heads nodded, eyes red-rimmed with exhaustion, and they began rolling their blankets in readiness to ride once more. Gawain corked the waterskin, and then smiled as a sudden wave of relief washed his eyes blue. On a sudden impulse, he reached out, and slipped his hand around the back of Elayeen's neck, drawing her to him.

"You had me, my Lady." He said softly, his voice rich with a mixture of surprise, and pride. He kissed her tenderly on the lips, and then drew back.

Elayeen smiled up at him, blinked, and then stooped to pick up her blanket. Moments later they were all in the saddle, and though bone-weary, pressed on through the devastation that was the Barak-nor, keenly aware that a dark enemy pursued them still.

When night fell the acrid and vile wound that was the Barak-nor gave way to softer Threlland earth, and the rain finally stopped. Gawain dismounted and ripped the muffling from Gwyn's hooves before climbing wearily back into the saddle. The others followed suit, and though muscles ached and protested, none voiced their discomfort as Gawain urged them on and around the point that marked Threlland's north-eastern tip. Still he pressed on, for another two hours, until they reached their former campsite, and Gawain reined in.

"We rest here. If the black riders pursue us still, they may safely be despatched without fear of their death-blasts being noted by the enemy."

In silence, weary legs led wearier horses higher up the slope, tethered them, and then sopping wet bedrolls were dumped on soft Threlland soil. Gawain cut another lump of frak from the cake in his saddlebag, and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he cut a strip, and ate, chewing gratefully as the spiced and smoky flavour erupted in his mouth.

"Longsword?" Allazar whispered.

"Aye."

"We…when I saw the riders approaching…"

"My brother," Rak sighed, settling on his blankets, "It was our decision to abandon you, not the wizard's."

Gawain sat next to Elayeen, and offered her a slice of frak. She took it hesitantly, and then slipped her arm through his.

"We could not leave Gwyn." Allazar sighed.

"You made a wise decision." Gawain assured them. "And you all did well. Now sleep. Gwyn and I shall take first watch."

"I shall take second." Sarek announced quietly, laying down, and in moments his breathing told he was asleep.

"I the third." Valin sighed, and he and Meeya wrapped themselves together, and slept.

"Mithroth?" Elayeen whispered.

"My Lady?"

She laid her head on his shoulder. "The wizard did well today. Had he not sighted the riders so far off, we might not have evaded them."

"You all did well."

"Lord Rak is gracious, and would shield me from your ire. It was I who proposed we abandon you. "

"You?"

He felt her slight nod through the arrowsilk cloak. "The others were for hiding nearby. I said that we must leave you. That it was important for all the lands that we carry news of the enemy to them."

"You would sacrifice me, then, and thus yourself?" Gawain whispered.

Again she nodded. "I knew you would find us. Find me. Rak agreed, and then the others. Meeya wanted to stay, to aid you. And then Valin, and Allazar, and Sarek too. But I commanded all to abandon you."

Gawain sighed, and turned slightly to face her, gently tilting her head so he could see her eyes. Then he reached into her cloak, and as she caught her breath, he smiled and withdrew the darkening cloth tucked into her belt.

"You are a royal crown, my Lady," he whispered, spreading the cloth over her hair, "And you were right to make such a decision, and so command."

"A royal crown no longer. I am faranthroth." she smiled weakly as he tied the cloth beneath her chin.

"A royal crown, Elayeen. And you remind me who I am. Of late, I seem to have forgotten that. Now sleep. I shall keep watch."

Elayeen nodded, and Gawain lifted her hand, and kissed it. Then he stood, and walked away into the darkness.

It was strange, and strange aquamire flickered through him as he gazed out across the farak gorin, shimmering in weak moonlight that pierced a crack in the low clouds. Strange that Elayeen should recall to him his own royal heritage. As he stood and stared, tired but filled with duty to keep watch over his sleeping comrades, he felt a twinge of unexpected shame. This morning, in the Barak-nor, he had forgotten his dawn Remembrance. He had forgotten much, it seemed, since his dark rage upon the Point above Tarn.

As he surveyed the landscape, an arrow strung and in hand should the two black riders round the tip of Threlland, he remembered; Raheen, and the reason for the Sword of Justice upon his back. Morloch, and the reason for their presence here on the desolate northern slopes overlooking the Teeth and the river of nothing. Breezes wafted in, chill and bitter, from the Teeth, and Gawain cocked his head. He no longer heard Morloch's laughter.

Perhaps the joke had indeed been on him, these last weeks. He had seen with his own eyes the dreadful power of aquamire, and strange or not, it was in him. Had he succumbed to it, then? Were the elven wizards right when they claimed Gawain was Morloch-cursed? No, he thought with conviction. That was too far beyond the pail. But of late, Gawain had shouldered the battle against Morloch alone. Was that the arrogance of aquamire, that one man could truly believe himself the sole defender of all the southlands?

Elayeen had commanded in his absence. A threat had been sighted, and by Allazar of all people, and while others would have stayed in hiding, or remained to aid Gawain against the threat, Elayeen had commanded they abandon him to his own devices. A regal decision, and a worthy one. She had been right; the knowledge they all possessed must reach Eryk of Threlland, and all the other crowns in the south. What meant the life of one longsword warrior when the fate of all the southlands hung in the balance? That Elayeen was throth-bound to the warrior she abandoned spoke volumes, and filled Gawain with both pride and shame. Pride, that in spite of her own kind declaring her faranthroth, she yet thought of their safety above her own. Shame, that he had doubted her, doubted any of them.

Even the thalangard, dispatched by elven wizards with instructions to destroy the DarkSlayer, had opened their eyes, witnessed truth, and would have remained in the Barak-nor to aid his escape. Doubt, Gawain now knew, was as powerful an enemy as his old allies against the Ramoths, fear and terror. Both were insidious, both consumed and weakened, eating away at the insides like a maggot in an apple, leaving the outside looking fresh while the core rotted.

Gawain sighed, and blinked back the strange aquamire. He had no need of it, not here and not now. Allazar had been right. He had become cruel. It was a cruelty born of arrogance, conceit, and a belief in his own power and invincibility. Now that the enemy had been sighted, Gawain knew that invincibility to be nothing but an aquamire fantasy, conceived beneath the Teeth when the lens of Ramoth had been smashed. The hunger and thirst he'd felt as he ran through the nightmare landscape of the Barak-nor testified to his mortality, as did the fear and revulsion he'd experienced gazing down upon the dark enemy in their stronghold. As did his tiredness now.

Yet through it all, the small group of elves and dwarves, and a useless human whitebeard, had followed him into that nightmare land, had willingly taken up the foul arts of brigandry and subterfuge, and yet slept soundly, trusting him to keep watch over them with a dread and relentless enemy hunting them still.

Gawain stiffened his back, and summoned the memory of his family. Forgive me, he thought silently, remembering his father's last words to him: "I have always been proud of you. I know you will do well. Remember who you are, and be true to yourself, and to Raheen."

Gawain nodded to his father's memory. Lately, he had been true to nothing but his own anger and aquamire rage. Raheen had been completely forgotten, as had The Fallen. Rak had been right, too. The horror they had witnessed must be shared. It was too much for one man alone to bear. Gawain sighed, and kept his lonely vigil, wondering how long it would take for Morloch's black riders to regain their trail, and track them here. With luck, and with the rains they'd suffered, perhaps never. But he knew that was unlikely, and maintained it until Sarek relieved him.

Elayeen was sleeping soundly when he lay down beside her and closed his eyes. He could hear her gentle breathing, and it eased him into a dreamless sleep.

He awoke with a start in the darkest of hours, and sat up, reaching for his longsword. Gwyn had snuffled a warning. He glanced around the camp, saw that Sarek too was sitting upright, loading a bolt into his crossbow, and noted that the thalangard were missing from their blankets. Bows creaked, there was a thrum of strings, and then two aquamire death-blasts screeched through the still night air as stone-tipped elven arrows ripped through charmed armour and the creatures within.

Gawain smiled grimly, let his sword lie, and lay back down beside Elayeen.

"They are friends, mithroth." She murmured, her eyes blinking through sleep.

But Gawain was already asleep.

36. Home, in Haste

Urgency became their watchword, and there was little time for pleasantries as they sped their journey to Tarn. All were filled with a grim determination, and the darkest of resolves. In the relative peace of the gentler landscape all around them, the horrors they had witnessed seemed all the more obscene, and drove them relentlessly.

Even when they were obliged to dismount and walk their horses, they strode purposefully, anxious to put as much distance between themselves, the Barak-nor, and Morloch's eastern army as they could.

Sleep did not come easy, except for Gawain and Sarek, who were both long used to making the most of opportunities for rest whenever they arose. But Sarek seemed withdrawn, sombre, and much given to frowning darkly and polishing his blade. At first, Gawain was concerned, and believed that the hideous sights witnessed by the Threlland officer had warped the Captain's mind. But on the seventh day of their flight along the northern slopes, as dawn rose, Gawain remembered Raheen, and understood the dark burning behind Sarek's eyes. The enemy was in Sarek's land, and had offended him…

That afternoon, as clouds evaporated to reveal an azure sky and the promise of spring to come, Sarek riding at point brought the column to an abrupt halt, and directed them to take cover in the trees higher up the slopes. It was done in moments, and as they waited with bows at the ready, Gawain couldn't help the grin that tugged at the corners of his mouth. All of them, including Allazar, were concealed from view like professional brigands; their faces streaked with mud as they peered along the track, eyes narrowed mercilessly.

There was a rumbling of hooves, and from around the distant point, a Threlland patrol hove into view, twenty-strong, and riding with great purpose, oblivious to the ambush that lay in wait for them.

Sarek sniffed, and shook his head sadly, levelling his crossbow, drawing anxious looks from all his comrades. "They need to learn." He whispered, as the others eased their strings and waited.

As the patrol closed and the thundering of hooves could be felt through the soft Threlland earth beneath them, Sarek fired his bolt out towards the farak gorin, and rose from cover with a look of profound satisfaction on his features when the shaft flew breathtakingly close across the path of the sergeant leading the patrol.

The horse whinnied and reared, and terrified heads swung this way and that, while hands fumbled for slung weapons.

"You're all dead men." Sarek called, striding down the slope, leading his horse.

"Not before you, you brigand bastards!" the sergeant yelled back, heaving his crossbow from his saddle. But it was neither cocked nor bolted, and Sarek laughed cruelly.

"Peace, Sergeant Kole. We are friends."

"Captain Sarek?"

"Aye. And Lord Rak, and the Longsword, and others."

Gawain and the rest of them emerged from cover, and a look of self-disgust stole over the patrolmens' faces when they saw elven longbows, shafts still nocked to the strings, and how easy it would have been for an enemy to have brought them all down.

"We were dispatched to seek you out, Captain." the sergeant announced. "The Lady Merrin grew worried for you, and his Majesty too."

"His Majesty?" Rak called. "Is he then in Tarn?"

"Aye, my lord, and awaiting you with great impatience if his last orders to me were any indication."

"How so?"

"Begging your pardon, my lord, but his Majesty said to me: 'Get your arses out there and tell my niece's bloody husband I'm wanting to know what's so important she's dragged me halfway across the Kingdom.' That's his exact words, my lord."

"Then we'd best ride." Rak sighed, and mounted.

"And when we get back to Tarn, Sergeant," Sarek scowled as he climbed into the saddle, "You and I shall discuss the matter of your ambush."

"Serre."

When they camped that night, and a watch had been posted, Sarek studied the faces of the young men huddled in their cloaks. They eyed him nervously, unused to seeing such darkness in their commander's eyes.

"There is an enemy in Threlland." Sarek announced quietly, and a hush fell over the camp.

Elayeen sidled closer to Gawain, and he wrapped her in his cloak while Sarek gazed at the patrolmen, and recounted what he had seen. This time, his voice remained firm, and dark, and faltered not when he told of the horror he had seen. Few if any of the Threllanders slept that night.

When, finally, their horses swung south once more, and the Jurian plains stretched endlessly before them, and the gentle slopes of western Threlland were on their left, Rak drew his horse alongside Gwyn.

"Traveller, when we reach home, it would be best if I and Sarek spoke first with our king."

"As long as he listens, Rak. I only hope the other crowns will pay heed to the messages sent so long ago."

"Once Eryk knows what we know, he can add his authority to such messages. With the snows washed away from the farak gorin clear to Juria's castletown, I have no doubt Eryk will be able to persuade the other southland crowns to council."

"You have no doubt?" Gawain asked, "In truth? If it were that easy, my father would have done so years ago. Indeed, he tried."

Rak nodded earnestly. "But then, my friend, the enemy was Goria, and Pellarn a disputed territory. Now, the enemy we face is common to all, and all our lands are threatened."

"Then I trust your diplomacy is equal to the task, my friend, for if not…"

"I have faith in my skills, Traveller, just as you have faith in yours. I beg you, do not turn your dark ire upon Eryk. He is King of Threlland, and thus master of stubbornness. In the face of your ire, he will become as the very hills themselves."

Gawain nodded, thoughtfully, and then said softly. "Even the stubbornest of hills can be swept away, Rak, until nothing remains but another Barak-nor."

Rak winced. "Aye. I know."

The patrol turned onto the Tarn track, and began wending its way along the familiar hills until finally the trees gave way and the muddy track turned to cobbles. On the outskirts of the town, a rider wearing a bright uniform spotted them, and galloped away, presumably to spread word of their arrival.

"An honour-guard." Rak sighed. "Shining like a peacock in the afternoon sunshine. In your eyes, my brother, we must all seem so…amateur."

Gawain thought back to Raheen, and its cavalry. Resplendent in their livery of red and gold, helms glinting. "No." He sighed. "Just noble, and honourable. And unprepared for so vile an enemy."

When they entered the town square, hooves clattering on the stones, the guardsmen parted and allowed Gawain's small band of unwashed brigands to move to the fore. A large banner hung limply on a standard placed outside Rak's front door…the King's Colours, and flanking the door, two brightly-uniformed and sparkling clean honour-guards. On seeing the dishevelled and frankly disgraceful appearance of the seven riders approaching, the guards tensed, and eyed one another nervously.

Then the door was flung open, and Lady Merrin burst forth, clutching Travak and pointing at Rak delightedly. Then she hurried across the cobbles, and Rak dismounted to greet his wife and infant son with equal enthusiasm.

Gawain and the rest dismounted, and Elayeen turned to him.

"You have brought us safely back, mithroth, as you promised."

Gawain smiled. "I don't remember making such a promise."

Elayeen cocked her head, and blinked up at him in the sunshine, her eyes sparkling behind the mud camouflage that still stained her face. "Did you not? In truth?"

"I might have said something about not returning without you." Gawain mumbled, suddenly self-conscious.

Elayeen smiled, and took his hand, and was about to speak again when a deep voice boomed across the courtyard.

"Elve’s Blood and Dwarfspit, niece! You shame the crown by cavorting with vagabonds while your husband is out in the hills!"

Merrin giggled, and turned, beaming, to face Eryk, King of Threlland. "My husband is no longer in the hills, your Majesty, this vagabond is him, home, and safe."

"And a more pitiful sight I've never seen, Rak of Tarn." Eryk snorted. "What's that lot with you?"

Rak bowed low, as did all the others, except, noticeably, Gawain.

"Your Majesty. This is Sarek, Captain of your Majesty's Tarn Guard. Allazar the wizard I believe you already know…"

Eryk snorted again.

"…There stand Meeya and Valin, thalangard, royal honour-guard to her highness the princess Elayeen of Elvendere…"

At this Eryk's eyes widened and his chin dropped, as Elayeen curtseyed regally.

"…And this is my friend and brother, Traveller, also known as the Longsword."

Eryk flicked a glance at Gawain, nodded briefly, and the returned his gaze to Elayeen as he strode forward.

"Your highness," he announced, his voice rich, "All Threlland is proud and honoured to greet Elvendere. Honour to you, and to your crown."

Elayeen flushed beneath the mud-stains. "Honour to you, your Majesty, and to all Threlland. But I am faranthroth…"

"Her highness is tired, your Majesty," Rak interrupted, "and as you can see, in need of rest and bathing…"

"As are you all Rak," Eryk sniffed, and glanced up into Gawain's eyes. "But first I want to know why I wasn't informed that we had royal guests in our land, and from Elvendere, by the Teeth!"

"I shall be happy to explain…" Rak began apologetically.

"I should think so. But later. As you say, her highness is tired and in need of bathing. We'll speak later. An hour.” Then he studied their mud-caked faces and hair again. "Make that two hours."

With that, Eryk bowed low to Elayeen, and turned, and strode back into Rak's house.

Gawain stood there, completely at a loss. Eryk of Threlland stood no higher than his breastbone, was at least twice Gawain's age and more, yet looked for all the world like a younger and more vigorous version of Martan of Tellek, down to the bushy beard and eyebrows (though Eryk's were red and Martan's gray). Yet the king wore about him an air of absolute command, just as Davyd of Raheen had. Gawain wondered if he would ever acquire such regal command, but Elayeen had taken his hand again, and was leading him into Rak's house…

37. Eryk of Threlland

Eryk sat with his back to the fire, glowering at them all in turn, eyeing their freshly-scrubbed features.

"Six hundred, you say. In the Barak-nor."

"Aye, Sire." Rak said softly.

Eryk snorted. "Six hundred, staying alive by eating…I shall not say it. It is too unspeakable."

"Aye, Sire."

"But you didn't see them. Doing that. Eating…things."

"No, I was spared the horror. But Captain Sarek did."

Eryk snorted again, and stared up at the Tarn officer, standing by the door next to Gawain and Allazar. Only Rak, Elayeen, Merrin, and the thalangard were seated before the king.

"And so you would have me mobilise against them, husband of my niece. Send my troops against them, and smash them back into the Teeth whence they came. Something like that?"

"Aye, Sire." Rak said softly again, but he looked a lot less sure of himself than he had whilst describing all they had witnessed.

"Six hundred of these…these…Morlochmen…sitting in a hole in the Barak-nor…"

"A crater, Sire…"

"…It matters not where they sit, dammit! What shall I hurl at them? Rocks? Shall I have my piddling honour-guard stand atop the cloven hill and throw stones at them?"

Rak blanched as Gawain's eyes flickered black for the briefest of moments. Nor was it lost on Eryk of Threlland, who sighed and explained with great reluctance:

"I have a standing army of three hundred men in town guards and patrolling the borders. A mere fifty in my honour-guard, and their duties are mostly ceremonial. You've seen them. They can fight, all of them, and I mean no dishonour to you and your men, Captain Sarek, I know you serve the crown well. But you would have me pitch my three hundred and fifty untried guardsmen against six hundred blackhearted Morlochmen who live in a blasted poisoned land and eat…survive on…dammit I still cannot say it."

"Yet they are there, Sire." Rak announced.

"Mobilise, you say. Mobilise what? By the Teeth, Rak, you know as well as I there's been peace in all the southlands since Pellarn. We border Mornland and Juria and both are friends to Threlland. What need have we had for an army since Pellarn?"

"Yet we have need of one now, uncle." Merrin said quietly.

"Indeed. But if my brother your father were alive, Merrin, would he not say 'what would you have me do, give hammers to all miners and say go, smash, kill, destroy!'? Our people have only just recovered from the joys of our liberation from the cursed Ramoths and the removal of threat from Morloch's Breath. And you would have me send them against six hundred Morlochmen?"

"With Juria, and Mornland, and all the southlands united…" Rak began, but Eryk simply snorted again.

"United! You and your dreaming, Rak. Even if I could persuade them all to gather in council, which I doubt, could I count on Callodon for support? Why should they send their army, if they have one to send, to aid Threlland? Can I count on Elvendere?"

"I cannot speak for my father…In Elvendere I am…" Elayeen began, her head low.

"Yes yes I know all about that," Eryk grumbled, "Merrin explained it all to me. But you're not in Elvendere now. Your father's Thal-Hak of Elvendere and you're his daughter, and in my land that makes you my most royal guest your royal highness Elayeen, and that's that."

"I thank you, your Majesty." Elayeen said, looking up into the king's eyes. "But I still cannot say that Thal-Hak will render assistance."

"No. You see? You see, Rak, my dilemma? With Elvendere's archers at my back I could send the guard against those blackhearted bastards and not worry a jot. But I have no archers at my back."

"We saw no horses at the Barak-nor, Sire." Sarek announced, firmly. "Other than those of the Black Riders. We face an infantry, not a cavalry."

"I shall be sure to tell General Karn that all is well, we may send our trifling force of mounted guards at the six hundred Morlochmen without fear of loss. Did you happen to see any weapons in evidence in that crater? Longbows, perhaps, that could knock you out of your saddle at three hundred paces?"

"No, Sire." Sarek admitted.

"Then I suggest you leave the military planning to Karn and myself, though Karn will doubtless want your field experience at hand. As for the rest, this general call to arms you suggest is out of the question."

"But Sire…" Rak protested.

"But nothing. Were we to send our entire force to the Barak-nor, and this other western army you speak of should appear across the farak gorin, what then? What forces we do have, we will most certainly not permit to become the meat in Morloch's sandwich."

Sarek and Rak winced.

"I chose my words deliberately." Eryk asserted. "I shall not send our forces against such odds without the slightest chance of success."

"You may have no choice in the matter," Gawain said ominously, speaking for the first time, "If the breach occurs…"

"The breach." Eryk scowled. "You have shown my people the enemy in the Barak-nor. That I can scarcely believe as it is, and were it not for Rak and Sarek I would laugh at you all for madmen. This breach you speak of may not be broached for years, if at all. This western army you speak of may not exist for that matter, though I'll grant it's prudent to imagine it does. But I will not invite all the crowned heads south of the Teeth to council on the suspicions of a boy."

Gawain's eyes flickered again. "A boy?"

Rak cast an imploring look towards his friend.

"A boy." Eryk announced firmly. "Brave, doubtless, and fearsome, no less doubt in that. But would you face those six hundred alone? In truth?"

"No."

"But that is what you are asking me to do, in mobilising my pitiful forces against them. They do not have your skill, nor your long sword. To send them into battle against these Morlochmen would be the same as sending you in there alone. Futile."

"Then summon the other lands, and with their assistance…"

"Summon? Summon! Warrior of great repute you may be, Traveller, or Longsword, or whatever your name is, but you do not summon crowned heads thus!"

"I am Gawain, son of Davyd, King of Raheen."

The thalangard gasped, and stared from him and then to Elayeen. Eryk paused, thoughtfully, and then said quietly:

"Then you have my sympathies, Raheen. And now you have said it, I do see a resemblance to Davyd. But unless you can bring five hundred cavalry astride Raheen chargers to this battle, you're still nothing but a boy with a long sword and a reason to hate Morloch, and with much to learn about southland kings and their politics. Threlland is not the only land which can boast so small a force of untested warriors."

"But united…" Gawain protested, flushing.

"United? Even if united, what then? Who would command? You? I? Can you see Thal-Hak of Elvendere allowing me or you or Brock of Callodon to command his archers? And how many could he bring to the fight? A hundred? Two hundred?

"Mornland grows grapes, and has perhaps the same number of general guardsmen at its command as I. Arrun weaves its fabrics and raises sheep. It is a principality, and cannot boast a king, much less an army. In generosity to them, we'll say two hundred infantry. Juria? Perhaps four hundred men at arms, some on horseback. Callodon, another four hundred.

"Even if crowns could be persuaded to place these forces under a single and united command, what would we have? Some two thousand men under arms, men not tried in battle, accustomed only to patrolling friendly borders. And ranged against us, as you would have it, twelve hundred of these vile Morloch vermin, with more ready to pour through this imminent breach of yours.

"And that is assuming that each land gives its all. I doubt Thal-Hak would leave Elvendere's western flank unguarded against Goria, and nor would Callodon nor Juria, if they have any sense, and they do."

"Then we are all doomed." Gawain glowered darkly.

Eryk stiffened, and drew in a deep breath. "In all likelihood, yes. Unless by some dark wizardry the crowns can be persuaded to gather in one place, which I doubt. And unless by some dark wizardry, the crowns can be persuaded to donate their entire military forces to our cause, which again I doubt. If Morloch were on our side, I would be less doubtful in matters of dark wizardry."

"Sire, you will ask for the council?" Rak asked, with great tact.

"I'll think about it."

"Uncle, please?" Merrin pleaded.

Eryk glanced at her and then looked away. Then he glanced at her again.

"Very well. I'll send word to them all. Though it'll take years for them to agree on a suitable meeting place, let alone whether to attend or not."

"Ferdan, in Juria." Gawain announced.

"Eh?"

"Ferdan. It is a small fortified town, near the eastern border of Elvendere."

"Why there?"

"It is far enough away from all castletowns to be considered almost neutral." Rak explained enthusiastically. "None could complain at the location, in truth. And it is close enough to Elvendere even for Thal-Hak to feel secure."

"Very well. I shall so request the council. In the meantime, I shall return to the throne, and direct General Karn to move our forces, quietly, to the western slopes. Sarek, you may expect to hear from him directly."

"Sire."

Eryk stood, and those that had been seated did likewise. The king paused, and looked at them all.

"In truth," he sighed, "They ate…as you said?"

"In truth, Sire." Sarek said grimly. "They must be destroyed. All of them. Every last one."

Eryk nodded sadly. "And your men, they know all of this?"

"Aye Sire, but they're good men. They will not spread the terror of it."

"I hope not." Eryk stiffened his back again, and surveyed them regally. "You've done well, though in retrospect I would that you'd waited to speak to me before venturing out to the Barak-nor. It might have helped if General Karn had accompanied you."

"I do not think so, Sire." Rak opined. "We barely survived the journey, and we have the advantage of youth."

Eryk smiled. "Aye, perhaps you're right. I wish I had the same advantage at times." Then he eyed Gawain critically. "But at others, I am glad to have lived through a gentler age."

They watched Threlland's king leave Tarn, flanked by a small and, they knew, hopelessly inadequate honour-guard. Sarek took his leave and returned to the barracks, and Allazar made his weary way, alone, to the inn.

Back inside Rak's house, Meeya spoke briefly with her husband, and then as they all settled to a welcome hot meal, Valin announced in his low and sonorous voice:

"Mihoth and I shall leave for Elvendere at first light."

Elayeen blinked. "Tomorrow?"

"We must carry word of what we have seen to our people. We shall go straight to Gan-thal's province, and speak with him first. Elvendere must know that Threlland is frith to Elvendere, and needs our aid. Thal-Hak must know that the wizards have lied. All must know that you and ithroth live, and are well in Threlland."

"You must tell them who I am." Gawain said quietly. "It may help persuade Thal-Hak to attend the council in Ferdan. Elayeen-thalin of Elvendere may be faranthroth to all, but Queen Elayeen of Raheen lives, and is to be honoured, lest I be offended."

"It shall be as you command." Valin acknowledged.

Elayeen rested her hand upon Gawain's. "You do not have to do this, mithroth. The name causes you grief, and it may not persuade my father at all."

"Any grief I feel will be as nothing compared to the pain of seeing all Threlland another Barak-nor. Or Elvendere another Raheen. It's past time I remembered who I am. I only wish I did have five hundred Raheen cavalry at my disposal."

"If Meeya and Valin can persuade my brother and my father to attend the council, we may not need five hundred cavalry." Elayeen smiled sadly.

"How so?" Rak asked, bemused.

Meeya smiled, and Valin positively grinned.

"Eryk has underestimated Elvendere's strength." Elayeen announced, her eyes bright with hope. "It is law in our land that all elves must begin practice with the bow from five years of age. It is by hunting, and by the bow, that we live. We can bring thousands of archers to the field."

Rak dropped his fork, and it clattered noisily onto his plate. "Thousands?" he gasped.

"Thousands." Meeya agreed.

"Then do make sure to tell Thal-Hak that all Threlland is, what is your word? Frith to Elvendere."

"We shall." Valin asserted, straight-faced.

As dusk fell, a yawning Lord Rak of Tarn bade his houseguests an early goodnight, and retired, leaving Merrin to show the thalangard to their room. Gawain frowned as Merrin led them out.

"My lady, I thought you had but the one spare room?"

Merrin flushed a little, and then smiled, and led the thalangard down the hall.

"I too am tired, mithroth." Elayeen smiled, and stood, and took his hand. "Are you not?"

In truth, Gawain was tired. It had been a long and gruelling journey back from the Barak-nor, and undertaken in great haste.

"I should check on Gwyn." Gawain announced.

"Gwyn is safe and warm in stables, mithroth."

He stood and gazed down at her, and saw her eyes, wide and glistening, and felt suddenly hot.

"But it is every Raheen's duty to tend his horse…"

Elayeen blinked. "Oh."

"But…" Gawain added hastily, "Gwyn is in stables, after all…"

"And safe, and warm."

"Aye…"

"And we must rise early, to bid farewell to Meeya and Valin." Elayeen said softly, leading Gawain by the hand.

"Aye…"

"Then we too should retire."

"Yes…" Gawain mumbled, eyeing the embers in the grate, and wondering how it could be possible for such a sudden rise in temperature as he felt now, Elayeen's hand in his as he she led him to their room. Perhaps, he thought, he was sick, struck by some dread disease…

38. Messages

Gawain and Elayeen did indeed rise early, as did Rak and Merrin, to bid farewell to the thalangard. Sarek had received word of the elves' intentions, and appeared in company with four mounted guardsmen, who were to be the thalangard's escort, though surprisingly the guards were dressed in dark and unremarkable clothing rather than their normal uniform.

"I thought it might lend credence to our friends' reports if they were escorted clear to Elvendere, my Lord." Sarek explained. "These men are all volunteers, and know the risks."

Elven eyes blinked, and Gawain nodded appreciatively.

"I do not know how kindly Juria would take to such a military incursion." Rak mumbled.

"Hence the lack of uniform, my Lord." Sarek explained carefully, noting the tiredness around Rak's eyes.

"In truth," Gawain said, yawning, and Sarek noted the tiredness in his eyes too, "If Meeya and Valin are seen safe and well in company of four armed Threllanders, it will indeed lend much weight to their claim that Threlland is frith to Elvendere. But the decision must be yours, Meeya, and yours, Valin."

"We welcome your company, friends." Valin said without hesitation.

Rak remained hesitant, and then addressed the four guardsmen. "You know the risks? Your reception at the border with Elvendere may not be…pleasant."

"Aye my Lord, Captain's told us what we might expect. But we're glad to go."

"There may be great danger." Elayeen said, sincerely.

"Aye, my Lady. But see, we always wanted to see elves, and then one day Longsword brought you into our land, and then your two friends arrived as if from nowhere. It made us think, perhaps there might be elves in your land, who've always wanted to see dwarves, but never have."

Meeya and Valin smiled, and then turned to Elayeen, and bowed, and then Elayeen hugged them both tearfully.

"Speed your journey home, my friends." Gawain said softly, clasping Valin's arm, and Meeya's, in turn. "Go safely, and keep good watch."

The small group of friends, now reduced in number by two, watched as the thalangard rode out of Tarn, escorted by four dwarven guards in unremarkable clothing, who looked all the taller for the pride with which they sat saddle.

"I must see to my men." Sarek announced. "I begin their training today, in Longsword's less than honourable arts."

"Carry on, Captain." Rak acknowledged.

"My lords, did I miss an important briefing last night?"

"I don't think so," Rak looked puzzled. "Why?"

"You both look as though you've stood watch through the night. We are safe in Tarn my lords, and my men will keep good watch, I assure you of that. You should both retire."

"I think I shall." Rak smiled, and turned back into the house with Merrin.

"And I." Gawain agreed, and likewise, led by his lady, disappeared indoors, and back to a warm bed.

Later that afternoon, Gawain was checking Gwyn in the stables when Rak appeared in the doorway.

"Traveller…or should I now call you Raheen, or Gawain?"

"Rak, you may call me what you wish. In truth, I answer to so many names I find I sometimes wonder who I am."

"Traveller, then, for it always reminds me of my son."

Gawain smiled wearily. "What brings you out into the daylight, my friend?"

Rak smiled back. "I might ask the same. You are well rested?"

"Aye. Sort of."

"I am glad. You have done much of late, and are deserving of gentler moments."

"Yet I cannot stop thinking of the Morlochmen, as Eryk calls them."

"Nor I. But already I am told that guardsmen are arriving in small numbers. Eryk must be passing the word at each town and village he passes on his way back to Castle Town."

"They must take care not to be seen massing on the northern slopes, or the enemy will know they have been discovered."

"The loss of three Black Riders may already have alerted them."

"Perhaps. In truth I do not know. They are strange creatures."

"Aye. But I had a purpose in coming here. A message has arrived for you, and I know not what it means."

"A message?"

"Aye. From Martan of Tellek."

Gawain paused in his grooming of Gwyn. "What does he say?"

"It is curious. He says: 'Tis like honeycomb in a glass jar, yet with an occasional sting. Six times, not five.' I do not understand it. Is this something I should know?"

"No," Gawain smiled. "It is nothing. I took him a gift of the finest Jurian brandy. I told him it would ease the pain he yet suffered in his ribs, but if he drank more than one glass before noon he'd fall over five times before bedtime. It seems I miscalculated."

Rak smiled. "He too deserves gentler times. Songs are sung about him in the mines. I hope your gift hasn't aggravated his injuries."

"As do I, my friend, as do I."

"Well then, I shall leave you to tend your horse. My Lady is preparing what can only be described as a feast for our evening meal, I thought I'd warn you in advance. After living on frak for the best part of two weeks, I find my stomach is somewhat nervous at the prospect of rich food."

Gawain grinned. "Aye. But I'm so hungry today it's Gwyn that's nervous."

Rak laughed.

Gawain paused, and then walked across the stable to stand close beside his friend.

"Something troubles you?" Rak asked quietly, glancing around. Lyas and the master groomer were in the tack room, out of earshot.

"Rak, you are…older than I."

"Ah."

Gawain flushed. "Is it normal…what I mean is…My Lady is elfin…"

"Ah."

"And well, I have had little experience…"

"Ah."

"Well. What I mean is, are they all so…"

"What?"

"Enthusiastic?"

"Ah."

"And…"

"And?"

"And…demanding."

"Ah. That is something which I am told decreases in time. At least I hope it is so."

"Ah."

"Indeed. Well, I shall leave you to your horse. If I do not keep Travak from the kitchen while Merrin is cooking, I fear for my life."

Gawain nodded, and when Rak had gone, he returned to Gwyn, and his duty. He'd hated lying to his friend, but the significance of Martan's message was too important, and besides, he did not trust the wizards in Threlland any more than he trusted wizards anywhere. He smiled grimly as he slapped Gwyn on the neck and told her how ugly she was.

The farak gorin was like 'honeycomb in a glass jar." Which meant that beneath its wicked glazed surface, it was not solid bitchrock and pain. The old miners were cutting their way through it at the rate of six times their own length in a day, with just the occasional "sting". Which Gawain assumed might mean a minor injury on the sharp rock, or perhaps the occasional surprise in the rock's structure. He did not know. But the tone of the message was optimistic.

When he returned to the house by way of the back door and the kitchen, he found the Lady Merrin and Elayeen talking in whispers over the stove. They fell silent immediately he entered, and smiled at him a little too…enthusiastically. He nodded to them both, and hurried into the main room, where Rak was sitting on the floor playing with Travak.

"Your duty to Gwyn is done, Traveller?" Rak asked, as Travak banged his wooden horse on the floor.

"Aye, though in truth the young apprentice Lyas did my work for me. But it provides a pause, and serves to remind me of my home, as it once was."

"Do not be downhearted at Eryk's response yesterday, my friend. The news we bore was a great shock to him, and there is much he must do."

Gawain sighed. "I had little idea that the lowlands were so poorly prepared. In Raheen, we had the cavalry, and foresters, and all our men at arms were skilled with the arrow. It was…well, it just simply was."

Rak nodded as Travak giggled happily. "Your father lamented the loss of Pellarn to the empire. We were all unprepared for that battle when it came. I believe Davyd had it in mind to maintain a strong force, ready to ride to the aid of any of Raheen's neighbours should the need arise."

"They came here, to Threlland, I have been told."

"Aye. There are many that would have left with them to aid Pellarn. But, as Eryk said, it is never a simple matter to send an army across borders. None, except Elvendere, would contemplate denying passage to Raheen forces, for all knew that Raheen was content and secure upon the high plateau, and were no threat. But in the lowland kingdoms, memories are long, and there are many tales and songs of battles waged to reshape borders."

Gawain frowned, and looked deeply frustrated. "But against a common enemy?"

Rak shrugged. "It is still a question of politics, my friend, and I do not believe that coming from the somewhat rarefied atmosphere of Raheen you would understand such things."

"Can you teach me?"

Rak smiled. "Can you teach me how to hurl an arrow three hundred paces with nothing but a piece of string tied to my wrist?"

"Yes."

"And how long would it be, with practise and your instruction, before I could reasonably expect to hit what I am aiming at over such a distance?"

Gawain shrugged. "A long time, depending on your natural talent."

"There is the answer to your question, my friend. I am born into diplomacy and the world of southland politics. Just as you were born to rule, and have been taught the skills necessary to command respect, as well as martial practices."

"Oh."

"You see," Rak sighed, and picked Travak up and placed him on his lap. "If Brock of Callodon, for example, were to say: 'To Threlland! We must aid the Black Hills!' his forces would muster, and head north. But at the Jurian border? Word would reach Willam of Juria, word that a massive force of Callodonian warriors approached. In the long history between those two lands, there have been many wars."

"It is a simple question of trust, surely?" Gawain protested.

Rak shook his head sadly. "Trust yes, simple, no. A crown guards its throne and its people as jealously as Elvendere guards its forest. Sureties would be required, by means of which reparation and redress could be guaranteed in the event of…eventualities. In our example, who would feed the Callodon army as it marched north to aid Threlland? Who would recompense Jurian farmers for the beef that would be slaughtered to feed such a throng? And as for Callodon, what surety would they have that Juria would not take advantage of the fact that all Brock's forces were fighting in the Barak-nor?"

"As I said. A question of trust."

"As you said. If my neighbour asked to cross my garden to aid another neighbour, I, trusting him, would permit the passage without let or hindrance. But I and my neighbour have grown up together, and are good friends, and there is neither envy nor enmity between us, nor any history of such. If a stranger asked the same right, would I not naturally regard him with suspicion? Ask questions, have him watched, make arrangements for recompense should he damage Merrin's vegetables or flowers in his crossing?"

Gawain nodded sadly.

"Where kings are involved, the same principles apply, and that means politics, and wizards, and treaties, and formal alliances and agreements. Eryk made a telling point, my friend. Suppose Juria permitted Callodon to pass through their lands, but demanded command of that army? Can you see Brock of Callodon handing over control of his forces to Willam? Can you see Callodonian men-at-arms obeying Jurian orders? It is complex. Thus Eryk called you a boy. You are young, and in matters of politics, a child. It was not meant as offence, Traveller. It was an honest appraisal, and a fair indication of the response you may expect from the Kings' Council, should one indeed be formed."

"There is no time for politics, friend Rak."

"I know. Yet it is unavoidable. I fear Eryk was also correct when he said things would be different if you had five hundred Raheen cavalry lending weight to your words."

"I have nothing behind me but ash, and dust."

"And friends, Traveller."

"Few enough of those."

"One is all a man needs."

Gawain sighed, and then a servant appeared in the doorway.

"My Lord," the servant said quietly, "The wizard Allazar is without."

"Please send him in, Darrin, he is welcome as always."

Moments later, Allazar appeared, slightly breathless and flushed with apparent excitment.

"I have news, my friends," he beamed. "A message!"

"Sit, friend Allazar, warm yourself." Rak indicated a chair, and Allazar hurried to it.

"Brock of Callodon has sent word. Even now, he is with Willam of Juria, in the Castle Town of that land."

"So quickly?" Gawain gasped.

Allazar shook his head hurriedly. "No, he is there in response to my original message, before you travelled to Elvendere to bring your Lady out of Faranthroth. The snows clear late in the far south and Brock has only just reached Juria."

"What of his army?"

Allazar looked surprised. "His army? They remain in Callodon. Word has not yet reached the crowns from Eryk, it is far too soon."

"Then how…"

"You recall, Longsword, the messages Lord Rak dispatched when you returned from the Teeth? Brock answers that message. He travels north, and hopes to persuade Willam of Juria to join him. He brings no army, for the first messages spoke not of Morlochmen already in the southlands, but of a threat years hence."

"I would that you blasted whitebeards could communicate the way Morloch's do. It is far quicker."

Allazar stared at Gawain for a moment, and then gazed into the flames. "That requires aquamire, Longsword, which we do not possess, nor never shall, I hope."

Gawain sighed. "There must be something we can do to speed them here. To circumvent this…this damned politics that stands like a farak gorin between need and action."

Allazar glanced at Rak, who simply shrugged, and went back to keeping Travak happily occupied.

"Brock is a good man." Allazar said, at length. "And when he learns who you truly are, he will commit his forces, I am sure. He would do so anyway, for you rid his land of the Ramoths. Willam of Juria too, owes you his very life. Mornland and Arrun are a gentle people with few military resources, though I do not doubt they will gladly offer all they can. It is upon Elvendere, though, that our hopes are truly pinned."

"Then we may indeed be doomed." Gawain opined. "I fear my last encounter with Thal-Hak did not go well, and since it is appears that the forest is truly ruled by whitebeards, we cannot count on elven longbows to hold the enemy at bay."

"My father is not so weak as to be ruled by wizards, mithroth." Elayeen announced from the door. "Nor is my brother."

Gawain looked up at her, sheepishly. "Forgive me, Elayeen miheth. But you do not recall the disarray which prevailed when last I was there."

Elayeen strode across the room regally, and sat on the floor beside Gawain's legs, while Merrin picked up Travak from Rak's lap and sat beside her husband.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour. You will stay, Allazar." Merrin said quietly. It was not a question, and the wizard nodded politely.

"Meeya and Valin told me all that had transpired after you trespassed Elvenheth for me, mithroth. They and I are somewhat more familiar with Elvendere's governance than perhaps you are. Truly, the wizards there are not as powerful as you fear."

"Yet one called Yonas turned assassin when I bore you from the forest, and he did so at the urging of wizards. And was it not your land's whitebeards who have for so long poisoned the minds of all elves against Threlland?"

"Yes," Elayeen conceded, gazing up at him firmly. "But the thalangard are commanded by the crown, and do not take orders from wizards."

"Indeed?" Gawain frowned. "Yet Meeya and Valin were ordered here to kill me, by wizards."

It was Elayeen's turn to look sheepish for a moment. "True. But the wizards took advantage of my friends' grief for me. You yourself told my brother, so Meeya has said, that you would burn all Elvendere to ashes if anyone hindered my recovery. Is this not so?"

"I may have said something along those lines." Gawain mumbled.

"At the time, you doubtless meant the threat. Meeya and Gan certainly believed you did. Yet, you were…upset. Can you not see then, how easy it would have been for the wizards to use the thalangard's grief for me to their own ends?"

"Perhaps."

"But now Valin and Meeya ride for home, in company with four friends of this land. When they arrive, and the people learn the truth, Threlland may count upon my father's aid."

"Always assuming Juria will permit them to cross the plains." Rak pointed out.

"If not, then my father will simply send his forces north to the farak gorin, and along that approach to Threlland. I do not believe you should all be so downcast." Elayeen asserted.

"It is difficult not to be," Merrin sighed, "Knowing as we do now that six hundred of the enemy are camped in our lands, and may attack at any moment. And we with so few men-at-arms to defend us."

"In truth," Gawain said firmly, "I do not believe they will simply rise up and attack Threlland. Their task is to hold the line at the farak gorin when the breach is made, and thus permit time for Morloch's northern army to muster on the scree."

"That is some comfort," Rak sighed, "Yet our lands are invaded, and we can do nothing. Alone, all our lands will perish. It is only through union and alliance that the south will prevail, as you yourself have said so often, Traveller."

"Which means," Gawain sighed, "We are truly in the hands of whitebeards, for it is they who have for so long kept the lands apart."

"I still believe you judge my brethren too harshly, Longsword." Allazar muttered sadly. "We may not harm the races of Man, by act or omission."

"We have had this discussion before, Allazar." Gawain grumbled, and reached down to caress Elayeen's hair. It was an absent-minded gesture on his part, but it was not lost either on Elayeen or the others. "And you know I can never trust you or your kind, whether you be friend or no."

"That your countenance remains light cheers me, Longsword, when you say such things."

"In truth, it has occurred to me that I cannot fight Morloch alone, nor can I take responsibility for all lands, nor all wizards. It's odd, but I have felt strangely calm of late."

"Perhaps you are simply tired. Ours was a long and perilous journey." Rak offered, smiling.

Gawain shrugged, and slipped his fingers deep into Elayeen's silken tresses. "I don't know. Perhaps. Or perhaps this strange aquamire as Allazar calls it has run its course?"

Elayeen gazed up at him, curiously, and gently drew his hand from her hair, and held it lightly in hers.

"Perhaps." Allazar agreed. "I do not know. Yet, was it not plainly if briefly evident when Eryk of Threlland was here yesterday?"

"True." Rak agreed, his eyes, and the others', drawn to Elayeen as she stroked Gawain's hand.

Gawain sighed, and glanced down at his Lady. "Well. I do know that if we don't eat soon, I may waste away to nothing."

"Mithroth…" Elayeen gasped. "Oh…mithroth!"

"What?" Gawain asked, suddenly alarmed at the depth of amazement and passion in Elayeen's eyes.

Elayeen reached up, and with trembling fingers, brushed his brow and the side of his face. "Mithroth…"

Gawain frowned, as with a gasp Allazar leapt to his feet, his face looming close to Gawain's.

"Have a care, whitebeard, just because I haven't killed you yet doesn't mean you're my friend…"

"By the Teeth!" Allazar cried, "It cannot be!"

"What cannot be?"

Elayeen drew Gawain's knife from his boot, and held the polished blade to his face, as Rak and Merrin and Allazar crowded in on him.

"What?" Gawain cried, holding Elayeen's hand so that he could steady the blade and see his reflection. Then he too caught his breath. Running from above his right temple, plainly visible as Elayeen held back his blond locks, fine strands of deepest black ran from root to tip in his hair.

"Miheth," Elayeen sighed, tears welling as she gazed at him with profound love, "Truly, you are become mithroth…truly."

"Is this possible?" Rak asked, amazed, as Gawain sat dumbfounded.

"Clearly," Allazar muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Though I have never heard of a human becoming throth thus."

"Yet it is true." Elayeen sighed happily, kneeling beside Gawain, braiding the black strands while Gawain simply stared at her.

"Clearly." Allazar muttered again. "Perhaps it has always been so, yet because of Elvendere's isolation from the other races, the knowledge has been lost. Or perhaps elves and the Raheen share a common history…"

"What must I do?" Gawain suddenly blurted, his eyes wide.

"Do?" Elayeen giggled, "Why, you must immediately run to Elvenheth, and pluck a sweetberry from the oldest tree in the forest, and eat it in the beams of a full moon."

"In truth?" Gawain stared at her, agog.

She laughed, and all but Gawain succumbed to the lilting sound of elven happiness. "No, mithroth. You must do nothing more than you do already." Her fingers flitted deftly, her hands brushing his cheek as she wove the black braid.

"Do what, already?"

She paused, and smiled. "Love me, and be near, always."

"It would appear, my Lady," Rak smiled at Merrin, "That the home-coming feast you are preparing for us is now much more."

"Aye, my Lord." Merrin smiled happily. "We must send word. "

"Send word? Word of what?" Gawain asked, blinking, as Elayeen sank back on her legs to admire her handiwork.

"Word of your wedding feast, my brother." Rak beamed. "Honour to you, and to your Queen."

39. Becalmed

The feast to celebrate their homecoming, and the union of Raheen and Elvendere, remained something of a blur to Gawain. He was dazed, and though the two days and nights which followed the celebrations were spent joyously and mostly in the tender company of his bride, still he felt confused, and vaguely ill at ease.

Three days after the feast, he left his lady sleeping soundly, and crept out of the house in the early hours, so that he could greet the dawn from the Point overlooking the farak gorin. As the sun rose into a clear blue sky, he made his remembrance, and in his mind, told the shades of The Fallen of his marriage to Elayeen of Elvendere, and of his throth.

Footsteps on the frost-spangled grass alerted him to Allazar's arrival, and he opened his eyes.

"You improve, wizard, by degrees. But you have a long way to go before you could count yourself truly stealthy."

"A fine morning, Longsword. I did not expect to find you here this day."

"No?"

"Indeed. I believe in Elvendere it is the custom for newly-weds to spend at least seven days and nights alone together. In Callodon, to appear publicly without your bride before five days and nights have passed would be considered a bad omen. And…"

"And?"

Allazar stepped forward to stand beside Gawain, and gazed out towards the Teeth. "And, my friend, in Raheen, the custom was for the happy couple to remain five days and nights with one another before greeting the day together."

Gawain sighed. "I know. But this is Threlland, and they have no such customs. Indeed, I still find it hard to believe I have a wife. Elayeen braided my hair, and thus I am married? It is all very strange, especially since…since we have been together so long."

"Not so long, my friend. Not really."

"Long enough for this." Gawain murmured, and reached up to finger the black braid in his hair.

"Aye. It troubles you?"

Gawain shrugged, and sat upon the boulder he'd used so recently as a wind-break for his fire. "In truth, I do not know what to make of it. At a stroke, I am now slave to her. Chained to her by this…throth. You described it as both blessing and curse. I am forced to agree with you."

"Ah." Allazar smiled, and sat beside the young man. "Are you sure it is not your agreeing with me which causes you discomfort?"

Gawain shook his head. "No, but that's worrying in itself, isn't it? There was a time when I would have fumed at the prospect of proving a whitebeard correct. Now look at me. I feel…Allazar I feel as if I am becalmed. I can see the rocks all around me, I know the wind when it comes will drive me into peril, and yet I can sit and do nothing."

"This becalming you speak of has another word, Longsword. Perhaps it is just because you are unfamiliar with the feeling that it troubles you so. The word is 'contentment', or perhaps, 'peace'. It has been a long time since you knew such feelings."

"Yet the enemy is there. Hammering away at the Teeth. Sitting in their tents in the Barak-nor and the Gorian wastelands, daily slaughtering innocent captives for their vile and despicable diet. And here sit I, 'content'? At 'peace'? How is this possible?"

"You are become throth, Longsword. It is a strange process and one which I know little of. Even the brethren in Elvendere know not what to make of it. It simply is."

"I do not believe I like it. Once, long ago, my brother and I discovered a passage that led to the wine-cellars. We did as boys would. For days afterwards both he and I wandered the Keep like daylight shades, our heads feeling as though stuffed with down and horsehair. So it feels to me now. I know joy when I am with Elayeen, and such rapture I cannot describe when we are alone together at night. Yet it in the day, it all seems to fade into this woolly vagueness that robs me of all desire to action. I do not believe I like it, Allazar."

"It will pass. Your body needs time to adjust to this new dependency, that is all."

"Dependency? Allazar, I have not yet seen twenty summers! Part of me screams in protest that I must spend the rest of my life chained by invisible bonds to Elayeen. Part of me screams that it is not fair, it is not just, that if anything should befall her, I should waste away and die." Gawain drew in a deep breath, and then turned to stare desperately at the wizard, whispering: "I love her dearly, Allazar, how could I not? Yet there is a small and shameful part of me that resents her for making me throth."

The wizard nodded, and patted the young man on the shoulder. "I believe I understand, my friend. You are young, and the binding is not yet complete. This disquiet, this becalming, shall pass, and all will become clearer again. Is not the Lady Elayeen as she always was to you, in spite of throth and the braid she wears so proudly? She is not become some vacant slave to these bonds you dread, and neither shall you be. It is as she has said. Love her, and be near, always. This does not mean you must spend every waking moment with her hand in yours."

Gawain sighed. "I know. And I know that my words are shameful, much less the thoughts that plague me. Yet, I do not like this feeling. There," he nodded at the distant Teeth as the farak gorin shimmered in the sunlight, "There lies our enemy, and I cannot summon the strange aquamire to give the clarity I would have when thinking of them and their plans against us. For this too, I find myself resentful. This is no time to be wandering Tarn wrapped in the soft down of love and tenderness."

"Perhaps it is precisely the time, Longsword. Soon enough, there will be little time for such gentle moments. Relish them, my friend, while you can, as do all who know of the threat we face. Just as a condemned man must live a lifetime in the hours he has remaining, so must we all with war waiting beyond the horizon."

"Well. I may have no choice in the matter. Soon our friends will gather for breakfast, and when Elayeen smiles at me across the table, I know I shall be slave again to the eyes that have haunted mefor so long. And my mind will vanish, and I will forget this conversation."

Allazar smiled. "Well, I suspect the day might bring excitement of a different kind. Word reached me late last night that General Karn approaches Tarn, in company with three of my brethren from the Castle Town. Eryk sent fast riders ahead of him, and already the General and his staff make haste to Rak's quiet town. This may be the last morning you and your Lady might spend in peace, my friend. Do not squander it sitting alone on this bleak watch."

Allazar stood, and turned to walk away.

"Wait," Gawain called, "I'll accompany you. I'm sure Rak would welcome the news you bring over breakfast."

Allazar smiled, and together they walked the frosty track down to Tarn.

"This is good news." Rak enthused while Merrin spoon-fed Travak. "There can be no doubt that Eryk proceeds apace. General Karn is a good man."

"So I have heard at the inn." Allazar agreed, relishing the fresh-cooked gammon heaped upon his plate.

Gawain ate without appetite, and when he glanced across the table at Elayeen, he felt a twinge of guilt on seeing hurt and confusion in her eyes.

"What say you, Traveller?" Rak asked quietly.

"I do not know this General, though it would appear his reputation is sound." Gawain mumbled. "It is the wizards that accompany him that disquiet me."

"I would be unsettled if their imminent arrival did not disquiet you, Longsword." Allazar smiled.

"Even so. Before any discussion begins in their presence, I would have them disrobe."

"Mithroth!" Elayeen gasped.

Gawain frowned, trying to shake the woolliness from his brains. "You know what I mean, Allazar. They must open their robes. If I see strange writing on their bodies or a black crystal lens about their necks…"

"I know what you mean, Longsword. Have no fear."

Gawain shrugged, and toyed with his food. "I don't trust whitebeards. They should all be made to expose their breast, that all can see they are not Morloch's spies." he mumbled.

"And if I had been a wizard, mithroth, that night you found me trapped and hurt?" Elayeen smiled playfully.

"He would probably have left you there, my lady." Allazar mumbled through a mouthful.

"Besides," Rak said quickly, "I do not think that venerable wizards will take kindly to such a suggestion, irrespective of their gender."

Gawain sighed, and pushed his plate away. "I do not care whether they take kindly to it or not, and neither should anyone else, for that matter."

"Does something ail you, mithroth?" Elayeen said quietly, her eyes wide with concern.

"No. I am just…not myself, this morning. I think I shall bathe. What time is the General expected?"

"Late this afternoon." Allazar announced, his plate swept clean.

"I thank you, friend Allazar." Merrin announced with a twinkle in her eye as she removed his plate. "For the briefest moment, I thought my cooking offended."

Gawain missed her glance at his own plate, and stood, and left the table.

Later, as he dressed in fresh clothes, Elayeen knocked gently on the door and entered.

"Mithroth," she whispered hesitantly, "Have I offended you?"

"No, of course not." Gawain mumbled, trying desperately to understand the question.

"I awoke to find you gone from my side," she said softly, nervously entwining her restless fingers. "And at breakfast you barely spoke. If I have wronged you somehow, you would tell me?"

"You have not wronged me, Elayeen," Gawain muttered, sitting on the bed to pull on his boots. "I am just not myself today. I can't think. Properly."

Elayeen crossed the room to sit beside him. "It is the throth, miheth, nothing more. I felt…strange, when first it came upon me. It will soon pass."

"I wish it would pass soon. I don't like it. I don't like not understanding things when people say things. By the Teeth, I can't even make my own words make sense!"

She reached out and took his hand, and then slipped her arm around his shoulders. "It will pass soon, miheth."

Gawain sighed as she drew his head to her shoulder, and began stroking his hair.

"In Elvendere, when I became ithroth, you were lying ill from the Black Rider's shaft. You had recovered a little, and the wizards came and said it was not meet for me to remain at your side. When I was alone in my room, feeling…lost, and confused, I think I hated you. For making me throth."

"Hated me?"

She squeezed his hand. "I think so. I can't remember clearly. You were kind to me, and gentle, when you found me in the forest. You were strong, and carried me all the way to my people, and said kind things. Later, when the scouts brought you to us, and told us of your dreadful battle, I nursed you, and you called my name so many times in your fever. And I became ithroth. I could not believe I had become so, to a human, and to so terrible a warrior. And I knew you would not love me, and that you would leave me as soon as you were well, and that I would die in Faranthroth."

"Elayeen…"

She sighed, and kissed his head. "But you did love me. And you came back for me, and brought me out of Faranthroth. If you hate me now for making you throth, I will understand."

"I do not hate you." Gawain whispered, desperate to stem the bubble that threatened to burst in his throat. "My heart beats in your chest, Elayeen. I can hear it."

General Karn and his staff arrived midway between noon and dusk, and promptly commandeered the inn, much to Derrik the landlord's delight and his regular customers' dismay. By the time a runner had been dispatched to Rak's house requesting the presence of all those who had travelled to the Barak-nor, the inn had been transformed into an impressive military headquarters, resplendent with large maps of Threlland, a full-sized copy of the map Sarek had drawn, and a surprisingly detailed map of all the southlands.

When Gawain, with Elayeen at his side, followed Rak and the Lady Merrin into the inn, he paused only briefly when he saw that on the southland map Raheen had been shaded in a cruel black and the name erased. It vaguely troubled him that he should be angry, and was not.

Karn was resplendent in his staff uniform of red, white, and gold, and bowed stiffly at their entrance. All did, though it was not until Elayeen politely nodded an acknowledgement that he dimly realised they were saluting him, and his queen, as well as Rak and Merrin. There were three wizards standing to one side, a short distance from the General and his staff officers. None seemed at all pleased to see Gawain, nor the longsword strapped over his shoulder.

"Your royal Majesties," Karn announced, and cleared his throat. His voice was gruff and harsh, and his appearance hard. Short-cropped hair and beard, both as white as snow, stood in stark contrast to the weather-tanned and leathery complexion, and hard blue eyes, rarely blinking, sparkled intelligently. "I am Karn, General to his Majesty's Royal Army. These are my staff officers, Majors Trak, Fellek, and Brant."

Gawain tried hard to study them critically, but the effort seemed greater than the reward. All he saw was red, white, and gold uniforms, stiff backs, polite bows, and beards and hair of various shades of gray.

Elayeen smiled regally. "Well met, General, and honour to you and your crown."

"Honour to you, and to the crown." Karn grunted self-consciously, suddenly keenly aware of the vast black region at the south of his largest map.

They sat at a long bench table facing the maps, and when they had settled, Karn stepped forward, and with a gold-handled swagger-stick, pointed at the Barak-nor on the north-east reaches of Threlland.

"The Barak-nor." He barked. "Wherein lies the enemy. In total, six hundred, as you yourselves know…"

Gawain tried hard to listen and comprehend, but the harsh voice seemed suddenly to fade, and become incoherent. He was aware that Sarek spoke, probably in answer to questions, and he also heard Rak's gentle tones. But it was hard to concentrate, and much easier simply to stare at his hands on the table. Someone, doubtless one of Derrik's regular customers, had carved the name "Tallbot" into the oaken tabletop, and it seemed suddenly important. More important than the voices around him, and he tried desperately to discover its significance.

Someone else spoke. Allazar. It was Allazar's voice. Then a memory flashed into Gawain's befuddled mind…

"Jarn." he suddenly said loudly, and a deathly hush fell over the assembly.

"Your Majesty?" Karn inquired, confused.

"Tallbot of Jarn. An honourable officer. Dead now."

"Mithroth…" Elayeen whispered, as Gawain's finger traced the name carved into the tabletop.

"Killed by the Ramoths. Why are those wizards still robed?"

"I beg your pardon, your Majesty…" Karn choked.

"Those wizards. Why are they still robed."

"Forgive us, General," Rak's voice said solicitously. "Our friend is not himself…"

"Ah…"

"Tell them to open their robes, Allazar."

Allazar glanced nervously at Elayeen, and then stood. "My brethren, Longsword commands you expose your breast, that we may be sure of your…allegiance."

"Madness!" a strange voice protested. "He is Morloch-cursed!"

Gawain fingered the carving in the wood, and was suddenly aware of a strange tingling in his left hand, the hand held so tightly by Elayeen…

Karn's voice cut through the protests like a blade. "If his royal Majesty the King of Raheen commands you to open your robes, then you'll damn' well open your robes."

"King of ashes, and nothing! We have nought but his word that he is Raheen, and he is Morloch-cursed!" the strange voice spat back.

"Enough," Rak's voice, firm and commanding. "You shame Threlland. Here sits Raheen, and his queen, and you will obey."

"You would command us, Rak of Tarn?" another voice demanded.

The tingling in Gawain's left hand grew stronger, and like Jurian brandy filling a goblet, a sudden peace seemed to flow into him, filling him.

"You protest too much, brethren. I am happy to prove I am free of n'iman sett runes." There was rustling of fabric as Allazar parted his robes, exposing his chest for all to see.

"You are D'ith pat! A nothing! Lowest of the brethren, without master! You do not command us, brother! We will not shame ourselves thus!"

The tingling burst to a crescendo in Gawain's hand, and he smiled, and stopped tracing the name gouged into the wood. He let go of Elayeen's hand, and turned his gaze to her, smiling into hazel-green eyes filled with a concern that knew no limits. Then he looked away, and into the eyes of the wizard who had stepped forward, and was pointing at Allazar.

"Morloch-cursed!" the wizard spat.

"Open your robes!" Allazar commanded, pointing at the wizard, and a crackling thread of silver light snaked from Allazar's finger, striking the wizard between the eyes.

"D'ith pat vak!" the wizard sneered, and began mumbling. A thick rope of dazzling yellow shot from the wizard's hand, and struck Allazar in the centre of his bared chest, and he gasped and staggered backwards.

Gawain stood, calmly, and drew his longsword, and there was sudden crackling of aquamire energy. Strange aquamire filled his eyes, and he smiled as he casually overturned the table that stood between himself and the wizard.

"You will open your robes or I will open you, whitebeard, and you will do it now."

"Morloch-cursed!" another wizard gasped, yet when Gawain's cold black eyes locked onto his, he frantically ripped open his robes to reveal his unmarked chest.

The second wizard promptly did likewise. But the senior of the trio stood defiant. Gawain raised his blade, holding it level with the wizard's chest, two paces separating its tip from the whitebeard's heart, aquamire swimming and crackling deep within the steel.

"You do not command me, King of Ashes. I am Joyen, of the D'ith Sek, first order of the brethren!"

There was a gentle swish as steel was drawn around the room. Rak, and Merrin, and Elayeen stepped forward beside Gawain, blades held at the ready.

"And you are a dead man unless you do as he commands." Karn growled, placing the tip of his own long knife at the wizard's throat.

Sarek stepped forward, the tip of his crossbow's bolt almost touching the wizard's left temple.

Joyen's breathing came in short gasps through clenched teeth, and he stared defiantly at Gawain for a moment longer. Then the tip of Sarek's bolt touched skin, and the Threlland officer whispered:

"Say the word, Longsword."

Joyen began mumbling through his clenched teeth, and Allazar drew in a breath to call a warning, but Karn simply twisted the long knife so that its razor edge tilted the wizard's chin high up, silencing the whitebeard.

"None of that, my friend." Karn growled.

Joyen's breath hissed through his nostrils, and his hands slowly crept up, spider-like, to grasp the robes covering his chest. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the fabric, and his breath whistled as he slowly parted the robes an inch…two.

Allazar sighed and grips on blades began to relax, and Joyen's lips curled in a sneer of utter contempt.

"All the way." Gawain smiled calmly, his blade unwavering.

"There are no runes, Longsword…." Allazar said quietly.

"True," Gawain said, his voice soft and completely without malice. "Yet this is Joyen, of the D'ith Sek, first order of the brethren. What need has he of painted symbols to dull the wits of lesser wizards?"

The sneer on Joyen's lips froze, and a bead of sweat formed beneath the steel point still pressed at his temple.

"All the way." Sarek hissed cruelly.

Joyen suddenly ripped open the robes, knocking Sarek's crossbow aside and triggering the sear so that the bolt flew, gouging a wound in the back of the wizard's head as it streaked harmlessly across the inn to slam into the oak door. The wizard took a step backwards, Karn's blade raking the skin beneath his chin and drawing blood.

"Va takan thul!" Joyen cried, and then choked as Elayeen's slender dagger flashed through the air and buried itself deep in his throat. Another blade seemed to spring as if by magic from the wizard's heart, and then Karn's long knife slipped between ribs and found the same organ as Rak's blade had penetrated.

The body fell backwards to slam onto the sawdust-strewn floorboards, sightless eyes gazing up at the ceiling. The two surviving wizards gasped in horror, but Gawain could not tell whether it was the horror of violent death, or of the black crystal lens that hung low on a gold chain belted around the corpse's abdomen.

Gawain sheathed the longsword, and glanced around the room. Hard eyes, and grim expressions, all around. Even the Lady Merrin was sheathing her ornamental dagger with an expression of intense satisfaction. An enemy had invaded Threlland, and Threllanders, aided by Elvendere and Raheen, had claimed the first victory in the battle that must surely come.

"What was that he said?" Karn demanded, gazing in admiration as Elayeen stepped over the corpse and retrieved her dagger, wiping it on the dead wizard's robes before sheathing it behind her back. "Some sort of curse or spell?"

"No." Allazar said softly, rubbing the red blotch on his chest. "Va takan thul. In the wizard's tongue, that means 'he will consume you all'."

"Not while I can wield a blade." Karn grunted, cleaning his own knife and eyeing Elayeen as she returned to stand beside Gawain. "Take a message, Brant. From, Karn, General Commanding, to, all His Majesty's men-at-arms. Any wizard found inside His Royal Majesty's borders is to expose their torso on demand, on pain of death. Any wizard found bearing strange symbols or a dark crystal upon their person is to be summarily executed. Message ends."

Brant finished scribbling, and then paused. "They won't like it, Serre.”

"They'll like good Threlland steel between the ribs even less. Send the message, and copy a brief report to His Majesty."

"Serre."

Gawain smiled grimly, and took Elayeen's arm. "General, I do not believe you require my Lady or I for the remainder of this briefing. Lord Rak and Captain Sarek are eminently qualified to assist you, now that you may do so without fear of spying."

"Very well, your Majesty." Karn bowed, and then gazed at Elayeen. "My compliments, your Majesty." And bowed again.

Outside in the clear air of Tarn, Gawain walked quietly with Elayeen towards Rak's gardens.

"They admire you, my Lady." he said softly.

Elayeen blushed in the late afternoon sunshine. "Thank you, mithroth."

Gawain shrugged, and smiled. "There is much to admire. I did not know you were so capable with that pretty dagger of yours."

Elayeen nodded. "It came close enough to your throat, miheth, when first we met."

"I remember. I thought it pretty then, though not as pretty as the hand that held it."

She paused, and looked up into his eyes. "Are you yourself? Does the throth still ail you?"

Gawain smiled warmly. "No, it does not trouble me. I believe I can say that I'm now once again able to understand the things that people say when they say things."

"Indeed?" Elayeen beamed.

"Indeed." Gawain chuckled.

"Then, mithroth, should we not attend the General's briefing, and not dally thus in the gardens?"

"No. They have met the enemy on their own soil. And in Rak's own town at that. The death of Joyen will vex Morloch greatly, and will serve to forge a greater strength of duty between all our Threlland friends. This is their land, their home. They do not need us to assist in their plans for its defence while we await the council of kings, and greater alliances."

"Then shall we sit, mithroth, and talk of our alliance?"

"Aye," Gawain smiled. "Allazar said to me this very morning, 'soon enough, there will be little time for such gentle moments.' For the second time today I find I agree with him, cursed whitebeard. Spring is almost upon us, and we must soon ride to Ferdan."

40. Garrison Town

General Karn elected to remain in Tarn, to oversee personally the arrival and disposition of the combined Threlland forces. Word soon spread, as word will, and the three hundred and fifty men that Eryk of Threlland lamented were his all, soon found its ranks swollen by enthusiastic volunteers. Most were politely turned away, though at a masterstroke the General issued them with coloured armbands and instructions to form local militias which might, in time of crisis, be called upon to reinforce the regular army.

Sarek found himself promoted, and threw himself into the task of training the regulars in Gawain's nefarious arts of stealth and brigandry. The enthusiasm with which Threlland regulars undertook this dishonourable training was alarming, but not as alarming as the Lady Merrin's insistence that she be permitted to undergo the basic training herself.

Sarek protested, and so did Lord Rak, but Merrin prevailed. She had a son, she said, and would see him a man even if it meant sacrificing the gentler pastimes associated with her role as a diplomat's wife and the niece of a king. That she had asked Elayeen to teach her how to throw a dagger was evidence enough of her sincerity and the reasons for it, and Rak's long years of diplomatic training had taught him that where his lady was concerned, concession was the better part of valour.

Gawain simply smiled, and left them all at their various activities while he walked up to the Point to overlook the enemy as he did every day. To his surprise, Allazar was there, sitting on the boulder, gazing off into the distance, shoulders slumped.

"Has your favourite dog died, Allazar?" Gawain asked cheerfully.

"In a manner of speaking, Longsword, yes."

"My condolences."

"Joyen was Morloch's. One of the D'ith Sek, yet a traitor and a Morloch spy. Can you know what this means?"

Gawain shrugged, and remained standing. "Aye. It means I am right to distrust all wizards everywhere."

"How did you know? That he was Morloch's."

"I didn't. As the throth mists cleared, I simply voiced my earlier convictions about having them all expose themselves. It was you, after all, that suspected."

"I?"

"Was it not you who asserted that Joyen protested too much?"

"He had a right to protest. As a member of the first order, to be confronted by an upstart D'ith pat such as I would be like…would be like a common soldier demanding his king disrobe."

"Yet you stood against him, and beside me, and even fought with him."

"Fought!" Allazar choked, "Fought? I barely tickled him."

"Yet you stood when he struck at you."

"I stood because the blow he dealt was nothing more than a contemptuous slap in the face for my impertinence. He was D'ith Sek, he could've burned a hole clean through me had he wished. I wonder he did not."

"To have done so would have meant his own death a heartbeat later."

"Perhaps. Perhaps."

"Allazar, soon we must travel to Ferdan. With luck, Brock will come with Willam of Juria. With more luck, Eryk of Threlland will join us there. And if luck is indeed with us, then Thal-Hak might be persuaded from his trees. There will be more wizards in Ferdan than flies on horse dung, and of all wizards, you are the one I distrust the least. I would have you less morose and more alert."

Allazar sighed. "When first I saw you, Longsword, you stood like death facing Callodon guardsmen, your sword drawn, and ready to die. I remember thinking: 'there is a youth for whom death holds no meaning, and may even be a blessing.' Later, in Juria, when I warned you of the Black Riders and their charmed armour, you cried out 'my arrows are tipped with stone, and my blade is far from ordinary.' It occurred to me later as I made my way east, that only one land's foresters tipped their shafts with stone."

"Raheen. I was taught it as a youth by an old man who took me fishing from time to time."

"I knew then why you were so careless of your own life against the Ramoths. I wondered, how would I feel, were I to discover my world in ashes? What would I do? Well, now my world is shattered, Longsword. The D'ith Sek, the first order of my brethren, is tainted with Morloch's stinking lust for aquamire. All I held true, and noble, all that gave me strength and purpose, is swept asunder in an instant. It never ceased to hurt me deeply when you railed against all wizards, and when ordinary men held me in such low regard. I could not understand why the races of Man would treat us with such contempt, we who have worked so long and hard for you all. Yet now I know. The thalangard Meeya was right, that day in the Barak-nor. Only wizards could have made so vile a thing as we saw. And I am a wizard."

Gawain shrugged. "That rather depends on your point of view. According to Joyen, you're not a wizard at all, if I understood him correctly."

Allazar choked back a chuckle that bordered on a sob. "What would he know, the cursed whitebeard bastard."

"Cursed dead whitebeard bastard." Gawain said gently. "And speaking of which, about all I can offer by way of comfort is this: Just because you're not dead yet, means you aren't my enemy."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I recall the days after Raheen, and wandering Callodon still caked in its ash. No amount of comfort could have reached me then, save for the total destruction of those responsible for my loss. You might consider who it is that corrupts the noble dream you have held dear for so long, for he lies yonder, across the Teeth, and I intend to vex the blackhearted bastard with every breath I take, including my last. Some company on that journey would be welcome, Allazar."

"Aye. Aye, Longsword, some company you shall have."

Days and nights in Tarn were a constant clatter of hooves upon cobbles as fast riders bore dispatches, and slow riders moved to and from hastily-erected barracks. An air of grim determination pervaded all hearths and homes. Lovers loved with intensity, passion fuelled by the knowledge of desperate times ahead. Old disputes and older feuds were forgotten, and new friendships forged in the fires of imminent war. That the enemy was already occupying Threlland soil was a shame that all wished to redress, regardless of the fact that the land occupied was shame in itself. Yet great measures were made to conceal the garrison from any watchful eyes that might peer across the farak gorin.

Soon, even ordinary men and women took to wearing blouses and tunics open at the front from neck to navel save for a single button, and those that didn't were regarded with such suspicion that buttons and lacing were soon undone that breastbone and midriff were exposed for all to see. It did not take long for the fashion to spread all across Threlland, particularly with increasing sunshine and warmer weather.

Soon word reached Lord Rak and Gawain that two wizards had been slain, one in the Castle Town and one in the southern provinces bordering Mornland. Both had struggled fiercely against having their robes parted, and paid with their lives. Both were found covered with strange symbols inked all over their torsos, and a later search revealed black aquamire lenses in their chambers.

Nor did the fashion for wearing such revealing dress stop at the borders of the Black Hills. Mornlander border-guards, on learning of the reason for the strange new apparel, soon took to paying close attention to travellers crossing into their land, and of course Jurian guardsmen soon followed suit.

Gawain was astounded at how readily the common people quietly took to this admirable precaution, and steadfastly went about their business with nothing but defence of their realm foremost in their minds. If kings could be persuaded to act likewise, the Ramoths would never have passed south of the Teeth, and nor would Morloch's army.

Gawain was also astounded by the depth of his feelings for Elayeen. Once, while he was assisting Sarek in training regular forces in the use of darkening cloths and camouflage, he was obliged to spend a full day and a night on the slopes, several hours' ride from Tarn. While he lurked in the shadows in the darkest of hours, stealing up on any Threllandmen he could see to tap them on the shoulder and pronounce them 'dead', he found himself yearning for her with an ache that was physical. He shuddered, and wondered what agony it must have been for her to have been parted from him for so long.

Then a sudden wave of calm washed over him, and hours later, just before dawn, as he crept towards a clump of ferns from which he'd heard the slightest of unusual sounds, he smiled behind his blackcloth mask.

"You're dead, my Lady." he whispered, as she rose and shook her hair free of the black scarf.

"Actually you are, miheth, I shot you with my longbow when you 'killed' the poor guardsman down by that needletree."

"Damn. That's twice you've had me then. I must be getting old."

"Old indeed if you've lost count at two, mithroth," Elayeen smiled impishly, pulling down his mask and kissing him softly.

"Shameless wench. What are you doing here?" Gawain grinned, hugging her and pulling her down into the ferns.

"You are mithroth, and you were missing me, were you not?"

"You're dead, your Majesties." a familiar voice announced, as Sarek tapped them both on the shoulder.

"Dwarfspit." Gawain sighed. "I thought I killed you earlier."

"That was Corporal Jak. I was up the next tree along."

41. Spring

"What of Arrun, and Mornland?" Gawain asked quietly as Allazar grinned with excitement.

The wizard's expression fell. "That I do not know. The message is simply that both Callodon and Juria journey to Ferdan, and would meet you there."

Rak sipped his ale as Gawain paced in the main room. "Traveller, this is news indeed. I shall send word to Eryk immediately."

"Yet I feel uneasy." Gawain muttered, and Elayeen caught hold of his arm as he passed and pulled him onto the chair beside hers.

"Two of the southland kings journey to Ferdan, mithroth. Threlland will too, doubtless. And if Meeya and Valin have been successful, so too will my father. This is cause for celebration, is it not?"

Gawain shrugged, yet looked frustrated. "In truth. But still I am uneasy. Word was sent to Arrun and Mornland, Rak?"

"It was. And when word reaches them as it surely must that Juria and Callodon have agreed to meet in Ferdan, then I have no doubt they will recognise the significance and make the journey themselves. What ails you? This is as your Lady says, my friend, cause for celebration. Will you not at least drink with us?"

Gawain sighed, and took the tankard offered him by Allazar. The ale was dark and bitter, and as he drank, a shudder ran the length of his spine.

"Miheth, what troubles you so?"

"In truth I do not know. Perhaps it is Elvendere? So much depends on Thal-Hak attending the Council. Yet these past weeks I have felt…frustrated."

"The throth, perhaps?" Allazar mumbled from his chair in front of the empty hearth, no need of fire now that spring filled the longer evenings with warmth and the promise of summer to come.

"No." Elayeen affirmed, "The first confusions of throth are brief, and long since passed. It is something else."

"All is well," Rak opined, "In Threlland at least. Our forces, such as they are, are well prepared, and have trained with determination and enthusiasm. Our watch is posted from Tarn to the Mallak Spur and beyond. Sarek's new Rangers are in place overlooking the Barak-nor, and will send word the moment any enemy activity is sighted. There is little else we can do that has not been done."

Gawain nodded. "General Karn is an able officer, and his preparations are indeed thorough. Yet I cannot shake off the intuition that I myself have overlooked something."

"Perhaps, my friend," Allazar said quietly, his eyes downcast, "It is an old grief which stirs within you."

Gawain looked up, his eyebrows raised, and Elayeen eased closer to him. "An old grief?"

Allazar sighed. "It is a year, almost to the day, is it not, that Morloch cast his foul Breath upon your land?"

Gawain nodded slowly. "And so much has happened in the between. Yet this painful anniversary is not the cause of my…frustration. I know not how to describe it. It is as if there was something important I must do, yet I cannot remember what it was nor why it should be important."

"Well, mithroth," Elayeen sighed, and smiled, "It cannot therefore be that important. What is important now is that we ride for Ferdan, and are there to meet Callodon and Juria when they arrive. It would not do to keep them waiting."

"In truth." Allazar muttered. "Brock can be a bear in matters of punctuality."

The following dawn found Gawain outside the stables at the rear of Rak's house, his eyes closed in remembrance. Gwyn snuffled, and he opened his eyes with a grim smile.

"Come then, Ugly, time we made our way west and south."

"I trust, mithroth, you were speaking to your horse?"

Gawain grinned, and mounted, but made no reply. Rak and the Lady Merrin stood wrapped in their cloaks, for the morning was chill.

"We shall join you in Ferdan as discussed, my brother." Rak smiled. "Until then, speed your journey, all."

Gawain nodded, and drew his cloak tighter about him, shifting the longsword slung over his shoulder into a more comfortable position. "And speed your journey too, my friends. I would that you could travel with us."

Merrin chuckled. "Major Sarek will make an able escort in your absence, Traveller, and with uncle Eryk and his honour-guard along, we shall feel almost as safe on the plains of Juria as when first we crossed it with you."

"Then take care. And keep good watch." Gawain nodded, and Gwyn eased forward.

"And you." Rak called.

Elayeen and Allazar followed close behind Gawain, and once they were in the main street, drew alongside him. Hooves clopped on the cobbles, a familiar sound these days, and the few people who were about at this hour paid little attention to the three travellers making their way out of town.

"You were restless last night, mithroth." Elayeen said quietly as they left the market square behind them and turned onto the downland track.

"I'm sorry. Did I disturb your sleep?"

"No. But yours was disturbed. Have you remembered what it was that so troubled you yesterday?"

"No. I think it may be the inaction. The endless days and nights helping Sarek train his Rangers, the meetings with Karn, the planning, and the waiting for word to come from kings. I am unused to such prolonged periods of doing little or nothing."

Allazar cleared his throat diplomatically.

"What is it, wizard?" Gawain asked, but it was too late.

"I am sorry, mithroth, if my company has bored you so much of late."

"I did not mean…" Gawain protested, and Elayeen could not maintain her haughty expression in the face of his sudden anguish, though she hid her smile with a regal sniff.

Allazar chuckled.

"Dwarfspit." Gawain mumbled.

"Longsword, I am reminded of wisdom I once heard from an old woman in Callodon, many years ago." Allazar said, eyeing the Teeth as they hove into view.

"Which is?"

"A closed mouth gathers no feet."

"There," Gawain nodded towards the distant mountain, "There stands one set of Teeth I hope remain firmly closed, for as long as it is possible in the face of Morloch's onslaught."

"Indeed."

At the border crossing between Threlland and Mornland, Gawain was surprised to see a proliferation of Mornland guardsmen where before there had been but one or two. They eyed Gawain with a mixture of awe and dread, and yet cast softer glances towards the elfin beauty riding at his side. Allazar, though, they stopped, and demanded he open his robes.

Gawain smiled grimly at this, and while Allazar promptly obliged, he turned to the guard-commander.

"Well met, Mornland, honour to your Crown."

"Well met, Longsword, honour to you and your Lady."

"This," Gawain nodded at the small knot of guardsmen standing with cocked and bolted crossbows still aimed at Allazar, "This is a welcome precaution."

"Aye. We have learned much from our Threlland neighbours of late. Is it true that war looms from that bleak northern horizon?"

"It is." Gawain said softly. "Though we may yet prevail."

"I pray it is so." Then the commander turned to Allazar. "I thank you, wizard, for your co-operation. Speed your journey."

Allazar nodded, fastened his robes, and the trio moved off.

At the river-crossing that was the border between Mornland and Juria, Allazar was obliged to repeat the ritual twice, on each bank of the sparkling ribbon of water that wound its way south all the way to Arrun.

"My lord!" one of the Jurian guardsmen cried happily, and the rest beamed up at them.

Gawain smiled down at the officer who so long ago had predicted 'big snow' from the north. "Well met, my friend. How fares Juria?"

"Well, my lord, Juria fares well. And you, and your Lady?"

Elayeen smiled sweetly.

"We fare well, as you see." Gawain turned to Elayeen, and said quietly, "When first I brought you to Threlland, mithroth, we rested yonder, in that hut. It was these friends who gave up their blankets to help keep you warm that night, and helped clear the way to Tarn."

Elayeen's eyes widened, and sparkled, and she smiled down at the group of officers staring up at her. "Then, friends of my husband, you are friends to me, and you have my thanks."

Jurian faces beamed with delight on hearing the lilting elfin voice, and the words given for their ears.

"Some time past, a small party would have passed this way." Gawain said, "Two of my Lady's people, in the company of four Threllandmen?"

"Aye Serre," The guard-commander acknowledged. "They passed safely onto the plains, west-bound. All were hale, though possessed of a duty, I believe, for they would not tarry for conversation beyond that you and your Lady were well in Tarn."

"Thank you." Gawain said. "You may expect more Threllandmen soon, I hope."

"More?" the commander beamed, "We've had more traffic at this crossing these past months than I can remember in years! With all this talk of war, I shouldn't be surprised if Threlland's Crown himself didn't saunter across that river."

Gawain grinned. "And the weather?"

"Ah! Set fair, my lord, set fair! Small rains before summer turns the plains brown, for it'll be a hot one."

"Hot indeed." Gawain said softly, as with a wave of farewell, he turned Gwyn south of west, and they headed out onto the plains of Juria.

The plains were lush and green, the grasses long and verdant, and Allazar beamed happily.

"There, Longsword! And there! I've never seen so many or fatter rabbit and hare!"

"We eat frak, wizard, all the way to Ferdan."

Allazar groaned. "Frak? All the way?"

"Aye. No fires at night. They shine like beacons for all brigands and worse to see."

"Yet it is early evening, and light. A fire would not be seen."

"The smoke would."

"Dwarfspit."

"Frak is good for you, wizard. I like it."

Elayeen and Allazar exchanged a look that spoke volumes.

"What?" Gawain protested. "It is good for you."

Elayeen sniffed haughtily again.

"Ah." Allazar sighed.

Later that night, when they made camp, Gawain produced a hunk of frak and happily pared off a slice and offered it to Elayeen. She shook her head as she wrapped her hair in a black scarf, and then reached into her saddle-bags and produced a large parcel.

Allazar did likewise, and Gawain watched, stunned, as the two of them settled to a meal of chicken and Threlland meatbread. In spite of his mouth watering, he sniffed regally, and set about chewing his frak.

He was still chewing when Elayeen packed the remains of her meal away, kissed him on the cheek, and announced that she would take first watch.

"I'll come back into camp from the east," she said softly, wrapping a darkening-cloth around her face so that only her eyes were visible.

"I'll take the second watch." Allazar sighed contentedly, packing away his leftovers and settling on his blanket.

"Dwarfspit." Gawain mumbled through a mouthful of the leathery spiced frak. "I'll take the third then.”

Elayeen picked up her longbow, tested the string, and then stood before Gawain as she put on her black leather gloves. He eyed her shadowy figure in the gloom, and nodded. She bowed, and turned, and disappeared into the night.

After a pause, Allazar said softly "I envy you, Longsword."

"Of course. You're a wizard, and I'm not." Gawain whispered quietly.

Allazar chuckled sadly, and then sighed. "Are you still troubled?"

"Yes. Though I'm trying to ignore it. It is irritating not knowing what it is I have forgotten, or even if I have."

"It cannot be of moment, then."

"I hope not."

"Well. I shall sleep. And safely. Your Lady adds your nefarious skills to her elven ways, and makes for a formidable watchkeeper."

"Aye. She does." Gawain said admiringly, scanning the horizon around them and seeing nothing.

Their journey was filled with a strange mix of feelings. Comradeship, certainly, and determination for the task ahead, and yet an odd sadness too, as if their destination held the promise of sorrow. In some respects it did, for if Thal-Hak emerged from the trees of Elvendere to join with Juria and Callodon, Elayeen would have to face a father and friends who held her faranthroth, dead, and ever to be treated thus. Gawain felt a rising sense of apprehension, not only from his throth binding to Elayeen, but for himself. He did not know if he possessed the regal command or strength of his father, which would be needed to bond the southland crowns together against their common enemy.

Even Allazar seemed more and more withdrawn as each day brought them closer to the small and lacklustre Jurian town.

Gawain brought them within sight of Elvendere's eastern tree line before turning due south towards Ferdan. He hoped elven patrols might spy them from the trees, and that word of their passage might reach Thal-Hak or Gan-thal. But their proximity to the forest made Elayeen's ordinarily bright mood fade, and she too became as withdrawn as the wizard, and Gawain quietly cursed himself for his error in judgement.

About a week from their destination, Gwyn suddenly pricked up her ears, and lifted her feet, and snorted. Elayeen and Allazar were long familiar with the Raheen charger's uncanny senses and promptly reined in, while Gawain scanned the horizon. Something was approaching.

"A Jurian patrol?" Allazar hoped.

"I do not think so." Gawain muttered, staring south at the dark shapes on the horizon.

"A patrol from Elvendere?" Allazar hoped again.

"No." Elayeen said sadly. "They would not greet me, nor would they trespass Juria so openly, and so far from the trees."

"Callodon's men, then."

"No." Gawain sighed. Then he screwed up his eyes, turned his face to the sky and groaned. "Ah, Dwarfspit and Elve’s Blood!"

"What is it, mithroth?"

"I have remembered."

"What?" Allazar cried, as the distant horses rumbled closer and began resolving into clearer shapes.

"That whitebeard bastard Joyen. He was Eryk's. He would have known our plans to meet at Ferdan. Behold the enemy, dispatched to prevent our arrival."

Sure enough, as the mounted force drew nearer, they could count them, and see their strength. Three Black Riders, flanked on each side by six black-clad warriors, thundering relentlessly towards them.

42. Elve's Blood

"Can we take so many?" Elayeen asked grimly, unslinging her bow.

"We must." Gawain scowled, loosening his blade and swinging his quiver around to hang at his right hip.

"Then while there is time enough," Allazar said hurriedly, "I say with all my heart, I have loved you both, and it is my honour to have served you."

"We're not dead yet, Allazar, remember that old woman and the wisdom you preached on leaving Tarn."

"There are too many." Allazar sighed.

"Elayeen, yours are the Morlochmen. I shall take the Black Riders. Allazar, if we fall, ride like the wind for the trees. You at least may be welcome there."

"Mithroth." Elayeen said, her voice filled with a fierce passion.

Gawain turned to look at her, and she leaned from the saddle to kiss him hard upon the lips. "Eem ithroth, ihoth, ifrith."

"Miheth iheth." Gawain said, and then strung an arrow, placed three more in his left hand, and urged Gwyn forward at the gallop, Elayeen charging forward scarcely a heartbeat later.

Allazar choked, and wiped his eyes, looking longingly at Gawain and Elayeen as they charged forward, and then at the trees in the distance to his right. Then he kicked his heels, and drove his horse forward.

The air was filled with the rumbling thunder of hooves, stilling birdsong and sending rabbits and hares skittering for their burrows. Wind made Gawain's eyes stream, and his heart began to pound as a familiar heat burned in his stomach. He grinned wickedly. The Morlochmen were armed with crossbows, and though doubtless the Black Riders' bolts were tipped with poison, perhaps the more mortal warriors' were not. They would not risk accidental contact with the stuff when loading in the haste of combat.

As soon as the enemy were in range, Gawain let fly his arrow, and was restringing and preparing to throw his second when the whizz of a shaft from Elayeen's bow zipped past his right side. He didn't watch to see it strike its mark, for he was already hurling his second and making ready for a third. Up ahead he heard the screeching death-blast from the Black Rider struck by his first arrow, and then a horrendous whinny and a great crashing. When he flung his third arrow, he saw that his second had struck not the Black Rider, but the horse on which the foul creature had been mounted, and the stricken animal had gone down.

Bolts flew from crossbows towards them, but they fell short. The next ones, though, if the enemy had time to reload, would not be so harmless.

Gawain saw a brief flickering of light, like horizontal lightning, thread its way down his left side to strike one of the Morlochmen's horses in the head. The animal stumbled, and crashed into its companion, and both fell, throwing their startled riders. Another crash, and Gawain watched as the third Black Rider, pierced through the right shoulder by the stone-tipped shaft, fell from his charging horse and slammed into the ground, the grotesque painted mask ripped from the hideous visage moments before the dazzling black blast of liberated aquamire shot skyward.

Another arrow whistled past him, and struck its mark square in the chest, and then Gawain's longsword was in his hand, and he swung Gwyn to the right, cutting across Elayeen and putting himself between her and the three remaining Morlochmen on his blade's side. There were still four on Allazar's side, but they had shot their bolts, and Allazar would have to fend for himself.

They were through the enemy in an instant, and the reach that Gawain's blade gave him caught the Morlochman completely by surprise when Gawain cut him from the saddle.

Gawain swung Gwyn further around to the west, heading straight for Elvendere, intending to circle around to bring Elayeen's bow and his own arrows to bear before the enemy could reload their crossbows. He heard Elayeen's horse whinny, but a quick glance over his shoulder showed that she was still close behind him, already nocking another shaft to the string. But that glance revealed more than the relief of her presence. For in the distance, from the east, another group of dark-clad riders were approaching…

There was no time to try and identify them though. The enemy had turned, and Gawain let loose an arrow almost simultaneously with the thrum of Elayeen's bow. Two more Morlochmen fell. Then he heard Elayeen's horse screech, and the dreadful sound of the animal crashing to the soft Jurian earth. A crossbow bolt sailed harmlessly overhead and he flicked a glance behind him. Elayeen was down, but staggering to her feet, and Allazar was reining in beside her.

Gawain turned, and hurled another arrow with such rage that it nearly blasted clean through the Morlochman's chest when it struck, knocking the warrior from the saddle. Three remained, and while one fired a bolt in his direction, the other two were riding straight for Elayeen and Allazar.

Gawain had no time to string another arrow, and drew his blade. The Morlochman was leaning out of the saddle, swinging his curved sword at Gawain, and when the steel clashed, it was the curved blade that shattered, and the force of the blow knocked the warrior out of his saddle. Gwyn came to a thundering halt, turned, and Gawain killed the downed rider with a looping swing of his blade as he charged back towards Elayeen and Allazar.

What he saw made his stomach lurch as a fresh explosion of adrenalin flooded through him. Elayeen stood, casting aside the broken remains of her bow and drawing her long knife, blood streaming from a gash in her thigh as she stared furiously at the two riders bearing down on her.

Allazar pushed her to the ground, and stood above her, his arms held forwards, pointing at the Morlochmen while he chanted. Streamers of dazzling white light shot from his fingers into the enemies' faces, blinding them, and bolts flew wide of the mark as horses reared and charged harmlessly past the wizard and the wounded elfin.

Gwyn screamed in rage and lurched forward with fresh urgency, and Gawain saw the briefest flicker of pain in Elayeen's eyes as he charged past her. The world suddenly took on a black tint, and Gawain felt a new strength flood through him. With aquamire clarity he knew what had happened even as he leaned from the saddle to cut down the first of the dazed Morlochmen. The downed Black Rider was on his feet, striding relentlessly towards Elayeen and Allazar even now. It had been the poisoned shaft from its crossbow that had struck Elayeen's horse after the first clash of arms and their wheel towards Elvendere.

The last Morlochman waved his sword vainly, aware that someone was closing on him, but to no avail. Gawain slashed him almost in two, and then charged back to where Elayeen lay on the ground by her dead horse, Allazar frantically tearing strips from his robe to bind the wound in her leg.

Gawain leapt from the saddle and was by her side in an instant.

"Bad?" he asked.

"Bad enough." Allazar mumbled, his hands red with Elayeen's blood.

"An arrow from my quiver raked my leg when the horse went down," she gasped. "Mithroth…"

He followed her gaze, towards the Black Rider clumping towards them.

"There is worse to follow." Gawain scowled, nodding to the east, where the second party of riders were coming on, relentlessly.

"Dwarfspit." Elayeen spat. "Is there no end to the blackhearted bastards?"

"There is to one of them at least." Gawain announced, and loped off, blade in hand, running towards the grotesque figure in charmed armour.

The creature raised its crossbow, and fired, when Gawain was twenty paces from it. He didn't care, and simply swung a fold of his arrowsilk cloak in front of him, and felt the harmless impact. Then he was swinging the blade, screaming abuse at the monster with every smashing impact of the sword upon the black armour. Rage boiled through him as he hammered the creature with blow after blow, smashing the mask clear of the Rider's head and staring malevolently into the black eyes that stared coldly back at him. Then with a crackle of aquamire, he swung the blade again, and took its head clean off.

This time, there was no jolt of something when Gawain struck, and the death-blast that exploded all around him was like a welcome wind on a hot day. The shattered remains of charmed armour clattered to the ground, and Gawain glanced up at the approaching force, identical in strength and numbers to the first.

He turned on his heel, and ran back to Elayeen and Allazar. The wizard had bound her leg as best he could, and had succeeded at least in stemming the flow of blood from the wound.

"It probably makes no difference." Allazar sighed.

"At least, mithroth," Elayeen grimaced as with Gawain's help she stood, "We shall greet the yonderlife together."

"We're not dead yet." Gawain glowered darkly. "Take Gwyn, ride for Elvendere. She has the wind for it."

"I shall not leave you. You are mithroth…"

"Someone must greet Callodon and Juria at Ferdan." Gawain urged.

"I shall not suffer athroth again!" Elayeen cried through Gawain's strange aquamire, and for the briefest moment he felt a wave of remembered agony flow from her as she clutched his arm. It was terrifying, and humbling.

He nodded, and then turned to face the enemy. "I may get three, possibly four, with arrows. Allazar, you must ride for safety, and then Ferdan."

"No!" the wizard gasped. "I have run for safety too often! I may not harm the races of Man, but these are not men!"

"Then if there is a yonderlife, I won't mind so much if they let one whitebeard in."

"Thank you."

"I'd want something to torture during the dull moments."

"Thank you."

Gawain strung an arrow, and strode forward a pace or two, and waited. The earth beneath their feet began to tremble as the enemy thundered towards them, the sound of hooves and the snorting counterpoint of horses breathing hard shattering the peace of the warm spring afternoon. Gawain closed his eyes, remembered the Fallen, and then hurled his arrow towards the Black Rider at the centre of the enemy line.

The earth rumbled, he could feel it beneath his boots, and he'd hurled his second arrow when he heard Elayeen cry out his name. At the same time, a sighing whoosh overhead made him look up, in time to see a swarm of arrows hurtling high overhead. He watched, stunned, as they arced downward, watched, transfixed, as they rained down upon the enemy. And then flinched as the thundering of hooves reached a deafening crescendo and a dozen mounted elves charged past him towards the enemy line, already firing a second salvo of shafts at the Morlochmen.

Gawain, Elayeen, and Allazar stood transfixed as the two lines of opposing riders smashed into each other. Riders fell on both sides, and horses wheeled to face each other again. Except two, which continued to charge on towards the trio. Gawain sprinted forward, hurling his arrow at the Black Rider. But the shaft flew slightly wide of its mark and ripped through the charmed armour on the creature's arm, sending the crossbow it held clattering away.

Streaks of white light shot past Gawain and struck the Morlochman warrior full in the face, and the horse veered away. But Gawain continued sprinting towards the Black Rider bearing down on them still. He saw the creature draw its sword, heard Elayeen cry out his given name, and then he hurled himself at the horse's legs, twisting his body so that the longsword slung over his shoulder took the crashing impact.

The horse went down, of course, and Gawain tumbled like a rag doll across the soft Jurian earth. The world was pain and confusion, and the sounds of battle, but strange aquamire drove him to his feet. The Black Rider was stumbling to its feet, advancing still towards Elayeen and Allazar, the wizard chanting and firing streamers of white light into the creature's maskless face. Elayeen stood with her long knife poised, and then she flicked a glance towards her husband…

To her, it must have seemed as though two relentless Black Riders were advancing upon her and Allazar with deadly intent. The one, clad in charmed armour, a broken arrow sticking through its arm, a red-smeared short sword poised, black eyes glazed and fixed on her. The other, taking great limping strides, a red-smeared longsword held poised, black eyes sparkling and fixed on the Black Rider…

Allazar cried out, more streamers of light struck the creature in the eyes, and it staggered. It was enough, and brought the creature in range of Gawain's blade. A mere five paces from Elayeen and Allazare, Gawain swung the longsword in a vicious arc, and decapitated the monster. Its aquamire death-blast rocked Elayeen and the wizard off their feet, and they fell heavily as the shattered armour seemed to explode around them.

Gawain heard a terrible scream from behind him, and he wheeled around. Morlochmen and elves fought with dreadful ferocity, some still on horse, most dismounted. They were too far for Gawain to aid them, though in spite of the pain in his back and shoulders he drew an arrow from his quiver. But the shafts were broken from the impact with the horse's foreleg when he'd flung himself under the Black Rider's mount, and he could do nothing but stand and watch.

Morlochmen fought with tenacity, almost as careless of their own lives as Gawain himself had once been. But when elves counterattacked, the black-clad enemy defended themselves with as much vigour as they had in attacking. They were mortal after all, and valued their existence. They were not driven by aquamire, unlike those yet attacking the northern face of the Teeth, and Gawain smiled grimly.

A gasp from behind him made him wheel, and then he limped forward to help Allazar raise Elayeen to her feet. She stared, wide-eyed, at the battle, and her eyes were locked on one elf warrior. Gawain followed her gaze, and saw Gan-thal being driven back by a Morlochman, back towards a dead horse.

"An arrow!" Gawain gasped, and Allazar picked up Elayeen's quiver and emptied it…all the shafts were broken.

"Allazar, please!" Elayeen pleaded, as Gan-thal, using his long knife to parry the blows raining down on him from the Morlochman's curved sword, stumbled on the dead horse, and fell.

At once, Allazar raised his arms, and began chanting aloud, furiously, the words strange and foreign, blurring into one continuous stream of whitebeard mumbling. Familiar streamers flickered at his fingertips, and as Elayeen clutched Gawain's sword-arm, crackling white threads flew from the wizard's hands, streaked across the battlefield, and danced on the Morlochman's face and eyes as he stood poised, the sword held aloft for the death-blow.

Gan lunged forward, plunging the long knife up through the Morlochman's stomach, driving the warrior back and down onto the ground. Allazar gasped, sweat pouring from his face, and his arms dropped. The battle was over. Silence, and then after a brief stillness, the twittering of a skylark.

"Oh mithroth," Elayeen choked, "Oh miheth…"

Gawain sheathed his blade, and slipped his arm around her waist. Six of the elven warriors lay on Jurian soil, never to rise again. Elve's blood, spilled on foreign soil, against an enemy common to all lands.

"Ah Dwarfspit!" Allazar gasped. "Are there yet more?"

Gawain stared out to the south-east, and saw more riders, a mere handful, approaching at the gallop. "No. No, those are Jurian cavalry."

"Gan! Mibreth!" Elayeen sobbed, as the elf prince strode grimly towards them, blood streaking his face.

"Elayeen…" Gan sighed through wracking breaths, "Egrith mishith…Thalin-Raheen."

"Gan…" she sobbed again.

"It is nothing. You are hurt?"

"Nai…"

"Nai?"

Elayeen glanced down at the blood oozing through the makeshift bandages Allazar had bound around her right thigh. "Isst."

Gan stared at Allazar, and then up at Gawain. "Thal-Gawain, Raheen," he began, and then his eyes widened in shock as he saw the black braid, and he bowed.

"Gan." Gawain said quietly, "Jurians approach."

"It matters not. We cannot flee. We will not leave our brothers and sisters on this field."

43. Aftermath

Gawain watched as the Jurian cavalry patrol slowed to a canter, and then to a walk. Jurian eyes were wide, heads swinging this way and that, taking in the scene of battle and its aftermath. Elves that were living gently attended their dead comrades, tenderly placing the bodies over saddles, making ready to take them home, back into the shade of the distant trees. All around, dead and dying horses, slain Morlochmen and the remains of Black Riders.

The troop came to a halt a respectful distance from the strange and battle-stained foursome, and then the troop commander dismounted, and strode over to them.

"I am Byrne, Captain, of the Royal Jurian Cavalry." The officer announced quietly.

"I am Gawain, son of Davyd, King of Raheen." Gawain answered, his eyes yet black with strange aquamire.

"Honour to the Crown." Byrne gasped, and bowed. "We were told to expect you in Ferdan soon."

"We have been delayed."

"Aye. So I see. Though I never thought to see elves so far from the trees, on Jurian soil."

"This is Gan-thal, royal crown of Elvendere."

"Your highness." Byrne bowed again, and turned a sorrowful eye to the elves, and their dead.

"You must do you duty, Captain." Gan sighed. "We have trespassed, and are your prisoners."

The captain turned back to Gan, and Gawain saw the Jurian's eyes watering. "No, your highness. No Jurian in my command will draw steel against you this day. We will be proud, and honoured, to see you and your fallen safely back to Elvendere, at your convenience. And you, your Majesties, we shall then escort to Ferdan, in accordance with our Crown's orders."

Gawain nodded, and the captain bowed low to them all, and then walked slowly back to his troop, and mounted solemnly. The troop formed a line, spaced wide apart, and at a signal from their officer, drew their swords, held them across their chests, and bowed their heads, and remained thus saluting the fallen and noble warriors while bemused and sorrowful elves continued with their solemn duties.

Gawain eased Elayeen down to ground, and called Gwyn forward. From a pack on his saddle he withdrew a small leather roll, and laid it out on the ground beside her wounded leg.

"The wound is deep, mithroth," he sighed, and began unwinding the bandages. "It must be stitched."

Elayeen nodded, and grimaced as the wound was exposed, blood streaming afresh.

"How came you here, Gan?" Gawain asked, hoping to distract Elayeen's attention from the pain while he bathed the wound in Jurian brandy.

Gan sighed, watching his people, his eyes filled with a mixture of pride and sorrow. "You were seen, breth-hoth, as I think you knew you must be, by our patrols. Word was sent to me, and so I and the thalangard tracked your progress."

"Is all well, in Elvendere?" Gawain asked again, threading a curved needle with horse-hair dipped in Jurian brandy.

"All is confusion."

"Then Meeya and Valin, and the Threllandmen, arrived safely?"

"They did. There was an…incident. One of the dwarves was injured. But he is recovered."

Elayeen choked back a sob as Gawain began working the needle. Allazar knelt behind her.

"By your leave, Longsword?" The wizard asked.

"Aye." Gawain replied, and Allazar rested his hands gently on each side of Elayeen's head, and began a gentle muttering, stilling her pain as best he could while Gawain concentrated through strange aquamire and stitched the wound.

"Will Thal-Hak come to Ferdan?" Gawain asked.

"If he does not, I shall. By now, word will already have reached him of my trespass onto Jurian soil, and of the battle. Even the wizards in Elvenheth cannot now refute the enemy that Meeya and Valin speak of."

"You spoke of confusion?"

"All is confusion. We are told that all Threllanders hate us, yet Threllanders are in Elvendere, and are frith, and gentle people. We are told mishith is faranthroth, yet Meeya and Valin say she lives, and is Thalin-Raheen, and thrives in Threlland. We are told you are Morloch-cursed and must be destroyed, yet we learn you are Raheen, and now I see you are truly throth, and hoth, to mishith Elayeen. And we are told the enemy lays waiting to the northwest of our land, preparing for war."

"How could they have evaded our Rangers, mithroth?" Elayeen gasped as Gawain tied the final knot, and cut the thread.

"They did not. The enemy we met today came from the Gorian wasteland, not the Barak-nor. They were the closer force. How long they have lain in wait on the plains I do not know. Most likely ever since Joyen sent word of our plans when he first learned them from Eryk."

Gawain gently wiped the stitched wound with a cloth soaked in brandy, and set about winding a fresh bandage around her leg. When he'd done, Allazar ceased his mumbling, and withdrew his hands.

"Mibreth," Elayeen sighed, "Our father must come to Ferdan. Juria and Callodon will soon arrive."

Gan nodded. "I shall try. But…all is confusion. I cannot stay any longer," Gan turned around to gaze down at his sister, "Our people are ready to return our fallen home."

Elayeen nodded, her eyes brimming, and Gawain helped her to her feet. She took a hesitant step forward, but Gan took a pace backward. Pain and confusion filled Elayeen's eyes.

"I cannot embrace you, Elayeen. Mishith is yet faranthroth, and it is unseemly for me to embrace the queen of Raheen."

"Gan…" Elayeen pleaded, and the expressions of both elf and elfin were of such anguish that the strange aquamire drained away from Gawain's eyes.

"We will travel with you, Gan-thal am Elvendere, at least as far as we may."

Gan nodded, and bowed, and then turned to walk back to his people. It took a little time to transfer Elayeen's saddle and her packs to one of the Morlochmen's horses, and Gawain held Elayeen tightly to him while it was being done.

"It took much for your brother to trespass thus, and his thalangard." Gawain said softly. "Do not be so downhearted, mithroth. In truth, with the eyes of the thalangard and the Jurian patrol upon him, he had no choice but to refuse your embrace."

She sniffed, and wiped her eyes. "I know. Yet it breaks my heart. To see elves fallen thus, and know that it was for me they died."

Gawain hugged her, as Allazar brought the horse forward. "I know. But many more may fall before Morloch is truly defeated. We must be strong, for their sake, and remember them always."

He helped her into the saddle, and then mounted Gwyn, and they waited quietly while the mournful procession of thalangard, led of course by Gan, began their slow and sorrowful procession back towards the distant trees.

Gawain, Elayeen and Allazar followed at a respectful distance, and the Jurian cavalry, still maintaining their warrior's salute, moved to flank the procession. Thus they left the battlefield behind them, in silence, the first victory of the coming conflict won, the price paid clear before them.

A hundred paces from the tree line, the Jurian escort, yet in funereal salute, halted, as did the rearguard. The elves continued on without hesitation, and bushes rustled as elves appeared in the trees to welcome the mournful party home. Gan drew his horse to one side, and bowed as the fallen were borne past him into Elvendere. Then, when all were safe beyond the trees, he turned, and under the watchful eye of dozens of elves, he rode slowly back and drew his horse alongside Elayeen's.

Without a word he handed her his longbow, and his quiver, and then he rode back to the tree line. He gave a brief command, and the watching elves stepped forward into clear view as Gan turned his horse, placed his hand on his heart, and returned the salute to the Jurian cavalry patrol. Then, moments later, they were gone, leaving just the breezes sighing in the boughs as if in gentle eulogy.

"Your Majesty," Byrne announced as his men sheathed their weapons. "It will be our honour to escort you to Ferdan."

"And ours to be escorted thus." Gawain replied. "Honour to you, Captain, and to your men. You have done a noble service this day, it shall not be forgotten."

"Thank you, your Majesty." Byrne replied softly, and with a last lingering glance at the trees, they moved off, heading south.

In truth, it was a quiet journey, spent mostly in reflection. When they rested to eat, Gawain tended to Elayeen's wound, taking great care to keep it clean and the bandages fresh. She bore the discomfort well, and all around admired her for it. The deep gash was awkwardly placed where riding was concerned, yet she did not protest nor slow their steady progress.

The battering Gawain had received stiffened his muscles, and his shoulder in particular protested much until Allazar persuaded him to allow him near it.

"I don't want some whitebeard mumbling in my ear." Gawain muttered darkly.

"Yet you permitted me to mumble in your Lady's." Allazar pointed out.

"That was different."

"How so, mithroth?"

Gawain mumbled something about chickens, which drew strange looks from the Jurians in the camp.

"Chickens?" Allazar protested, "I do not understand. What has this to do with the bruising to your shoulder?"

"Never mind. It is a long story."

"Mithroth, I am hurt that you would allow Allazar to aid me, yet you trust him not to aid you." Elayeen said with mock severity. "Do you value me so low?"

"No!" Gawain protested, "You were sorely wounded and I would not see you in such pain! This bruising is a trifle."

"Which impairs your judgement as well as your aim with arrow and blade." Elayeen chided. "On which we may yet depend."

"Then do what you think you must, wizard. But I warn you, if I hear the word 'chicken' I shall cut off your arm and beat you to death with your own hand."

"Thank you, Longsword." Allazar grumbled, and rested his fingertips on Gawain's shoulder.

There were no recognisable words in the wizard's chanting, and certainly not the word which seemed to so worry Gawain. But next morning when he awoke, the pain in his shoulder had eased considerably, and by lunchtime had faded almost to a memory.

A day from Ferdan, Captain Byrne drew his horse alongside Gawain's.

"Your Majesty?" the officer began.

"Aye, Captain?"

"We have but a small force at Ferdan. The Foresters, such as they are, and but four troops of cavalry. Our commander expects more when their Majesties arrive with their honour-guards, of course. But…"

"You are concerned that the enemy might attack the town, if it hasn't already."

"Aye."

"You are right to be concerned," Gawain said, his voice hard. "I too am worried. If Eryk of Threlland approaches, as by now he surely must, his guard may not be enough to meet an enemy of the strength we encountered. Likewise Arrun and Mornland, should they elect to attend."

"I believe their ambassadors are already en route. Two troops were dispatched to escort them, as we were to escort you."

"Ambassadors?" Gawain sighed, "Do they not send crowns?"

"I know not. Ambassadors was the information imparted to me. Do you think they are in danger?"

Gawain nodded. "It would be sensible to assume the worst, Captain. Perhaps you would inform your commander of that, when we arrive tomorrow."

"Aye."

It was a worried-looking Captain that rode off to the van, and ordered his men to extend the radius of their escort and check every bush and thicket along the route before them.

"Do you truly think the town may fall under attack?" Allazar asked quietly.

Gawain shrugged. "Probably not. It would be a pointless assault, unless all the crowned heads were assembled there. I suspect the Morlochmen may have sent a number of their patrols, as we encountered, in an attempt to prevent a Council. I cannot believe they were intended solely for us alone. I'm only glad that Meeya and Valin left Threlland when they did, before that whitebeard bastard Joyen could send word to his master. Otherwise they might not have reached Elvendere at all."

"Yet they are safely home, miheth." Elayeen said. "And all Elvendere now knows Threlland is frith."

"Knowing it is one thing, my Lady, believing it is another. I can well imagine the confusion that must reign in your homeland. But it is well that the dreary town of Ferdan is to a degree fortified. Decent archers could hold it against a small force."

"Then," Elayeen said quietly, "I hope my brother can persuade Thal-Hak to attend. He would not leave the trees without a hundred thalangard around him. The nobles would insist."

"It would certainly be reassuring." Allazar grunted.

It was mid morning when they arrived at the fortress town of Ferdan, and in truth Gawain was relieved to see it still standing, and still spectacularly lacklustre. He half expected to see the same indolent guardsman slouched on his bench when they rode through the wide open gates, but he was pleasantly surprised.

Troops were resplendent in new uniforms, and artisans were hurriedly attempting to brighten up the buildings with fresh paint. The air was filled with the smell of it, and fresh-sawn wood, and new buildings had sprung up here and there. Barracks, Captain Byrne explained, and quarters suitable for royal visitors.

They were met by the officer commanding the town, a dour-looking cavalry General Officer called Bek, who grunted through the requisite pleasantries until Captain Byrne made his report. Then the swarthy General was suddenly on home territory, and began issuing orders to extend patrols and man the pallisades.

Gawain, Elayeen, and Allazar were shown to a new building, and though everything had about it the same fresh smell, the rooms they were given were comfortable and adequate. Allazar promptly sent for a healer to attend upon Elayeen.

"You doubt my needlework?" Gawain asked, archly.

"A second opinion is often wise." Allazar replied, and Elayeen smiled.

"I am sure you have done a fine job, mithroth, but I cannot spend the rest of this wound's life smelling like a Jurian tavern."

"The brandy is effective at keeping the wound free from infection." Gawain explained.

"And confers upon your Lady an unfortunate reputation if the odour is not soon removed." Allazar pointed out.

Gawain sighed, and helped Elayeen settle on their bed. He stared deep into her eyes, and she smiled, and he felt a wave of warmth wash over him.

"You would benefit from bathing too, husband." She teased.

"Thank you. At least I reek of honest sweat, and not like a taverner."

A polite knock on the door admitted not one but three healers, who all bowed low and promptly but politely eased Gawain aside. Allazar grinned, and took Gawain's arm.

"We should take your Lady's advice, and bathe while these experts assess your skill with the needle."

With a final smile for Elayeen, Gawain and Allazar left the apartments for the baths.

"When do you expect Brock and Willam will arrive?" Gawain sighed, revelling in the hot water as he soaked.

"In a very few days. I believe that cavalry officer dispatched riders south with the news of your arrival."

"Good. I only hope another Morloch raiding party is not laying in wait for them."

"As do I."

Gawain paused, his eyes closed. Then he opened them, and stared at Allazar for a moment.

"What ails you, Longsword?" the wizard asked, soaping himself.

"You did well, Allazar. On the battlefield."

The wizard looked suddenly embarrassed. "I did what I could. I wish I could have done more. But Joyen was right. I am D'ith pat, and my powers are limited."

"They were enough, when called upon. Who could ask for more?"

"I could." Allazar sighed. "I would that I had the power to cast my own Breath upon Morloch's vile head. And all his kind."

"I hope that time never comes." Gawain scowled. "No wizard should have such power."

"I would gladly give it up, after the deed had been done."

"Ah."

Allazar smiled sadly. "Perhaps you're right. Such power is indeed temptation. Yet, I would advise you, Longsword?"

"Aye?"

"Take care, when Council is formed. The wizards there will be D'ith Sek, as Joyen was. It would not be wise to anger them."

"You forget, Allazar. I vex Morloch himself. What is one of your D'ith Sek compared with him?"

Allazar sighed. "I am to the First Order what a Ramoth mercenary was to you. Feeble. If one of the high-order brethren turns his ire upon you, I do not think my futile powers could shield you for a moment."

"I think you underestimate yourself, wizard. And me. There are hearts that yet beat, and would not but for your intervention."

"Thank you."

"And my thanks, Allazar, for my Lady's life. Speaking of whom, I think I am clean enough not to offend her nose with my presence."

Allazar smiled. "A word of advice?"

"Of course." Gawain grunted, towelling himself dry.

"Do not be surprised should the floodgates of her tears burst open, later."

"Her tears?"

"Aye." Allazar said softly. "For you, the battle on the plains was but one of many episodes. For your Lady, it was her first. She has carried herself well for you, Longsword. But in private moments, alone and shielded from public gaze…"

Gawain nodded, remembering distant events. The look of horror in ladies' eyes, so long ago, before he wielded the sword of justice against the Ramoth.

Alone in their room, later, as Gawain held Elayeen and caressed her hair, she shuddered, and buried her head in his chest.

"We are alone, my love." Gawain said softly, and as Allazar had predicted, she wept.

44. Ferdan

Gawain stood on the decking outside the apartments they occupied, Elayeen by his side, and watched as honour-guards streamed through the main gates. Jurian, and Callodonian, their uniforms bright yet showing signs of travel.

Once the van had peeled away to flank the entrance to the courtyard, Gawain said softly:

"That is Brock of Callodon, with the beard and unruly hair. Beside him is Willam of Juria, though he looks considerably healthier than when last I saw him."

"And the Lady? She notices you."

"That is Juria's daughter, Hellin."

"She is pretty."

Gawain smiled in the sunshine. "I had not noticed. When last I saw her, she was distraught. You recall my telling you?"

"I do. I am not teasing you, mihoth. I am simply saying that she is pretty, and that she has noticed you."

"I suspect it is you she notices, my Lady. It has been a long time, I think, since Jurian crowns have seen royal elves."

Then Gawain smiled broadly, and raised a hand in greeting.

"Who is that?" Elayeen asked softly.

"That is Jerryn, and it would seem that like Sarek he too has been promoted. He wears the insignia of Major in the Royal Jurian Guard."

"He is your friend?"

"He was. It was he who aided Allazar and Rak in the plan to fool the Ramoths into believing I was at large in Juria."

"When you were at the Teeth, and I thought you slain."

"Aye." Gawain agreed quietly, and slid his arm around her waist.

"All is well, mithroth, that pain is a far distant memory now."

"Ah. May I not hold you thus, then?"

Elayeen smiled, and brushed a wisp of hair from her eyes as she watched the procession. "In Elvendere, such public displays on occasions like these would be…discouraged."

"We're not in Elvendere."

"Oh!" Elayeen smiled, "It would seem that Major Jerryn is gallant as well as handsome. See how he helps the Lady Hellin from her horse."

Gawain smiled. "Odd how when a complete stranger helps a Lady from her horse, he is deemed gallant and handsome. I've helped you from yours a hundred times and never received such compliments."

"Never have I complimented you? Are you sure you wish to proceed, my lord, in spite of the wisdom friend Allazar imparted not so very long ago, regarding mouths and feet?"

Gawain grinned sheepishly. "Sometimes I wish you were possessed of strange aquamire, mithroth, so I would know when you are truly displeased with me."

"You would know, miheth, believe me. I would have no need of dark shining eyes to convey my displeasure should you ever offend me."

"Longsword! By the Teeth!" a deep voice boomed across the courtyard, and Brock of Callodon strode towards them, his unruly hair billowing in the breezes.

"Callodon." Gawain acknowledged. "Well met, and honour to the Crown."

"Well met indeed, by my sword. I've heard you dead so many times I can scarce believe it is you. But I embarrass myself," Brock beamed happily, and bowed low before Elayeen. "Honour to the Crown, my Lady, it does an old heart good to see such elven beauty in these plain surrounds. I heard it from a Captain in Willam's cavalry you had been sorely hurt. You are well, I hope?"

"I am well, thank you." Elayeen smiled, and inclined her head to both Brock and Willam. "Honour to you both."

"Truly you are recovered, my Lady?" Willam asked solicitously, eyeing the fresh bandage around Elayeen's leg. "Our healers are treating you well?"

"Thank you, they have been kind."

Willam, tall and gaunt, stared into Gawain's eyes. "Juria salutes you, Raheen," he said, his voice tinged with sadness and a little embarrassment. "And your Lady."

"Honour to you, Juria. I am glad to see you recovered."

"Well, are we to stand outside thus," Brock boomed, "Or haven't they finished building somewhere where hungry travellers might eat?"

Willam smiled as the town commander flushed and stammered. "This way, your Majesties. All is prepared."

As they walked towards a long hut at the side of the apartments, Brock suddenly asked:

"What news of Threlland?"

"He is expected within the next few days." Gawain announced. "General Bek sent fast riders north to warn of the Morloch raiders, and Threlland thus proceeds with haste."

"And Elvendere, my Lady, does Thal-Hak join us?" Willam inquired politely.

"I believe Elvendere will await the arrival of Threlland before leaving the forest."

"Ah."

Food and drink was laid out on a long table in the hall, and Gawain noticed that at the far end of the single room, six large chairs had been arranged in a semi-circle, awaiting kings in formal council.

"Does the Lady Hellin not join us?" Elayeen inquired politely.

"Ah," Willam exclaimed, "She has become somewhat preoccupied with military matters of late. Since my…illness, she has taken on certain duties which might at first seem inappropriate for a Lady."

"What Juria means, my Lady," Brock whispered, an impossible feat given the normal volume of his resonant voice, "Is that the Lady Hellin has become somewhat preoccupied with a certain Major in the Guard, and given that dreadful business with the Ramoths, is keen to learn all she can in matters martial."

Willam flushed, though whether from anger or embarrassment Gawain could not tell.

"My husband has acquainted me with his adventures in your land, Juria." Elayeen said, her voice sweet and lilting, "You must be proud of your daughter, and her duty to the crown while you were disabled."

"Yes," Willam admitted, his back straightening. "Yes, I am."

"Will Jerryn be joining us also?" Gawain asked.

"Doubtless." Brock sniffed, loading a plate with roast beef.

"He is a capable officer." Willam said calmly.

"And a good friend." Gawain asserted. "To all lands."

Brock finished heaping food upon his plate, and then announced loudly as the door swung open:

"By the Teeth, Allazar! You live! I thought your head long since fallen to Longsword's blade!"

Allazar smiled, and bowed. "Your Majesties.” Then Allazar turned to Gawain. "Longsword, I have carried out your instructions. They are, as predicted, not best pleased."

"Instructions? Who aren't pleased?" Brock demanded, confused.

"I have given instructions that we are to remain undisturbed, for the time being." Gawain explained.

"Undisturbed by whom?" Willam asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"By wizards." Gawain said flatly. "I would speak with you without their interference. Much has happened."

"This is most unusual." Willam muttered.

"Well," Brock announced, as Jerryn and Hellin walked in, "I for one don't mind a jot. It's you I came to see, Longsword, not a bunch of robed chanters. But first let me eat, I'm starving and fed up with eating plains rabbit."

"You had rabbit?" Allazar mumbled.

"Of course, roasted on a spit." Brock said between mouthfuls, "Juria's plains are full of 'em. Didn't you notice?"

Allazar sighed, and bowed, and mumbling to himself, strode across the bare floorboards to close the door.

"Longsword." Jerryn acknowledged. "It is good to see you well. Honour to you, and to your Lady."

"Well met, friend Jerryn."

"And honour to the Crown," Hellin added, with a graceful curtsey to Elayeen.

"Yes yes, we're all very important people." Brock protested, "Now can we sit at table like civilised ones and eat?"

"It is small wonder," Willam sighed, following Brock's cue and taking a seat, "That my grandfather and yours were constantly at each other's throats. Have you no consideration for protocol?"

"No. That is wizards' business, and Longsword has kindly rid us of them for a while. Besides, I heard it was jealousy over the daughter of a wealthy Jurian trader in rare furs, but I might be mistaken." Brock grunted, "History never was my strongest subject. Now, Longsword, what's all this about war, and what are these 'Morlochmen' I've had garbled messages about from Threlland?"

Gawain sighed, and when Elayeen and Hellin had taken their seats, he drew out a chair, unslung the longsword, and sat.

"There are two armies in the northlands. One to the east of Threlland, one to the west of Elvendere. Some twelve hundred men in all."

"By the Teeth…" Brock mumbled.

"Beyond the Teeth," Gawain said, "Are thousands more."

"If they're beyond the Teeth, then they matter not, surely." Willam opined.

"They do not intend to remain there much longer."

"Threlland and Elvendere can deal with a bunch of Ramoth mercenaries left over from those dark days, I would have thought." Brock said, and took a swig from a goblet of mulled wine.

"Doubtless." Gawain agreed. "But these are not mercenaries. These are Morlochmen, as Eryk of Threlland has dubbed them."

"The Captain who rode out to us told of a battle nearby, between these warriors you describe, yourselves, and elves." Jerryn said, frowning. "I knew not what to make of it."

"Nor I." Willam agreed. "For Elvendere to trespass onto the plains is remarkable."

"You seek reparation, your Majesty?" Elayeen asked innocently, and Willam blanched.

"By the Teeth, no, my Lady!" he protested, genuinely shocked.

"My father is simply surprised, my Lady," Hellin said gently, "That elves would leave the forest for any reason. For many years, your people have been welcome to travel abroad on the plains, yet never have. There is no question of reparation, and we are ashamed that you were so attacked on our soil."

Elayeen tilted her head apologetically. "Forgive me. I am unused to matters of court outside my land, and I meant no offence."

"That you were attacked so on Jurian soil is shameful to us, my Lady," Willam announced, "But that you were attacked so close to this town is worse."

"Aye." Jerryn scowled. "I have already sent for more patrols to range far and wide. The prospect of our friends from Threlland and the eastern lands falling to such a vile ambush is a terrifying one. It would forestall any attempts at Council."

"Which is why the attacks were made." Gawain said. "To prevent the Council. Morloch dreads the southlands becoming a united force. More, he dreads the prospect of Elvendere and Threlland becoming allies."

"Why so?" Brock inquired, sitting back with a contented sigh, his plate already empty.

"The attack from the north will sweep down onto the Jurian plains. An alliance between Elvendere and Threlland could prevent that, in part. Elven archers could hold the enemy at bay, and prevent their mustering.”

"With respect, Raheen," Willam said softly, "There is little that we can do at this juncture. I understand why you wish the wizards to remain without while you talk of these things, but I am loath to commit Juria to any kind of action without their considered opinion."

Gawain frowned. "So I have been told, by my good friend Rak of Tarn."

"He is a good man, and a worthy diplomat." Willam enthused. "He speaks wisely. Believe me, I would gladly send all my forces north on your word alone, but alas it is not as simple as that."

"It will become as simple as that, soon." Gawain said firmly. "Already the enemy have ventured far from their strongholds. They have trespassed Juria, and offended not only Raheen, but Elvendere and Callodon as well."

"Callodon?" Brock looked surprised. "How so?"

"Is not the wizard Allazar yours, Brock? Are you not offended by the cowardly attack upon him?"

"Hmmm." Brock mumbled, non-committal.

"And if Arrun, or Mornland, or Threlland are intercepted by these dark forces, my lords," Jerryn added ominously, "What then of protocol and politics? It is Jurian soil that will be stained by their blood, and the shame of it will be ours for generations."

"Aye." Willam agreed, "But…"

"Not for generations." Gawain interrupted. "For if the Council does not unite in common purpose against this enemy, we are the last of the races of Man to walk free south of the Teeth."

"My friend," Brock announced, his tone firm and serious, "You cannot keep the wizards from Council. And for as much as I am indebted to you and your blade for ridding us of the Ramoth and the threat of Morloch's Breath, I urge caution when you speak thus from those chairs yonder."

"I speak truth, Brock. I have seen across the Teeth. I have seen the enemy, and but a few days past I and my Lady and this wizard met them in battle on a field not far from those chairs. The threat is real, and comes not only from the north."

"Not only?" Willam exclaimed. "From where else then?"

"From within. From the wizards in whom you set so much stock. Threlland's own betrayed us, and that is why the enemy are on your soil, Juria."

"In truth," Allazar admitted darkly. "Joyen of the First Order, first brethren of Threlland, was Morloch's own."

"We shall take the necessary precautions." Hellin soothed.

"It may not be enough, my Lady." Gawain sighed. "They have sat behind chairs like that for hundreds of years. Who knows what plans they make?"

Brock scowled at Allazar. "Plans, Allazar?"

"I do not know. I am not privy to the First Order. Yet I too urge caution. Longsword speaks truth. I have learned too late the threat we face, from within and from without. I believe as Longsword does; when the Council meets, all must take great care what is said, and to whom."

Willam sighed, and frowned. "The messages received from Threlland spoke of imminent war, and were conveyed with great urgency. Yet, I have received advice from the wizards of Juria that the threat is but local."

"Local indeed," Jerryn scowled, "Since the enemy are on our soil."

"Soft, Major." Hellin whispered, but Jerryn remained passionate:

"I am charged with a duty, my Lady, to protect the Crown. Once I almost failed in that duty when another enemy invaded our lands. Were it not for Longsword, I would be derelict and dishonoured. I will not fail in my duty again, and sit idly by at the behest of wizards, while the Crowns not only of Juria are threatened, but all our honoured guests."

"Well said." Brock grunted, and reached for a bunch of Mornland redfruits.

"Yet I am uncomfortable." Willam announced firmly. "In matters of protocol, we are on the thinnest of ice. It may reasonably be claimed that we are guilty of collusion before Council has formally met. You may be sure that if the wizards are offended by their exclusion here today, they will make this meeting known to their brethren when they arrive."

Brock grunted. "A good point."

"What then do you suggest?" Gawain asked, frustrated.

"I think we shall retire to the baths. Our journey was a long one, and all the more hasty for the news of the attack upon you, Raheen. It would be well to limit our talk to pleasantries, and await the arrival of our other guests before pursuing this solemn business."

"Perhaps that is wise." Elayeen offered, and smiled disarmingly. "You must be tired. I know we were when we arrived."

Brock nearly choked on a redfruit as Willam flushed. Elayeen smiled again, and made much of grimacing when she stood. Brock and the others hastily scrambled to their feet, and nodded politely as Elayeen took Gawain's arm.

Outside in the sunshine, Gawain stared at her curiously. "Does your leg pain you anew? Shall I send for the healers?"

"There is no need. It heals well. But I believe my point was well made, do you not agree, Allazar?"

"I would swear, my Lady, that you have wizard's blood in your veins, were it not likely to cause the spontaneous separation of my head from my shoulders."

"And I would swear," Gawain muttered quietly, "That you are a sly and devious vixen, miheth, were it not likely to cause a spontaneous sharp pain where I would have none."

Elayeen smiled happily. "If nothing else, my performance will serve to remind them that the threat is real enough, and that Juria has been invaded at least once already."

"Look yonder." Allazar said quietly, but with urgency.

Gawain and Elayeen glanced across the courtyard to a series of small huts. Gathered outside of them, robed figures, talking animatedly, casting glowering looks in their direction.

"A mumble of wizards." Gawain sighed. "Or should that be a chant of wizards?"

"In this case," Allazar muttered grimly, "I believe it is a conspiracy of wizards. Have a care, Longsword. There are two D'ith Sek in their number. One is Juria's, and I know him not. The other is Callodon's, and I know him only too well. I fear it is they you will have to persuade to arms, not crowns."

"Then the task is a simple one, after all."

"How so?"

"My sly and devious vixen will distract them all by clutching her thigh and staggering, while I sneak up behind them and cut them in half longways."

"A sound plan." Allazar agreed darkly, "I will keep watch."

45. Council

Days and nights passed slowly, and Gawain's frustration rose with each minute that dragged by. Beyond meal-time pleasantries, Brock and Willam studiously avoided any discussion with him or Elayeen. Wizards scowled darkly, and where ever Gawain went in public, dark gazes followed his every move.

Elayeen spent a great deal of time with the Lady Hellin, and both seemed to enjoy each other's company, each learning from the other the differences in court protocol between Elvendere and Juria. Allazar was frequently conspicuous by his absence too, and Gawain had no idea where the wizard went or what he was about. Were it not for Jerryn, Gawain might have felt himself abandoned.

Ambassadors from Arrun and Mornland arrived, in company with the seemingly obligatory wizards, and a token force of mounted honour-guards. Their passage to Ferdan had gone unhindered and without incident, and apart from a polite bow to Gawain, the diplomats immediately retired to their rooms and awaited formal Council.

A day later, Jerryn found Gawain pacing the decking outside his apartments.

"Longsword." The officer smiled, "The artisans worry that this planking will have to be replaced before the paint on the walls is truly dry."

"They do?"

Jerryn grinned. "Your pacing."

"Ah. What news?"

"Threlland's party arrives imminently. A rider has been sent in advance to prepare for their arrival."

"They have crossed the plains without incident?"

"It would seem so."

"Yet I remain concerned, my friend. I find it hard to believe that the force I and my Lady met were intended solely for us. It makes no sense."

"I share your concern. The fortifications this town provides are better than none, but fall far short of a castle town. That Ferdan should play host to so many royal crowns, and with the enemy clearly able to penetrate the plains undetected…"

Gawain nodded. "I trust you've made suitable arrangements."

Jerryn nodded. "I have set two patrols, one far ranging, the other closer, ringing the town. If the enemy approach in force, we shall have good notice."

"I only hope Elvendere notes Threlland's arrival, and in turn arrives in the numbers my Lady predicts. Their bows are formidable."

"Look yonder, they are opening the gates."

"Aye. Eryk approaches."

"Yet still something troubles you greatly, my friend."

"In truth." Gawain admitted, and his gaze shifted from the Threlland vanguard approaching the gates, to linger on the small group of wizards outside their huts.

"Ah." Jerryn noted the direction of Gawain's stare. "I have given my men orders, Longsword. No wizard shall enter Council without first being examined as Allazar has described."

"Yet I am still uneasy, Jerryn. You must tell the honour-guards in the council room to watch the wizards closely. I do not trust them. Joyen of Threlland had no need of strange writings on his body to hide his true loyalty. Watch them always, and watch them well."

"As they watch you."

"Aye."

Horses clopped across the courtyard, and Gawain watched as Eryk, flanked by Sarek and Rak, rode into Ferdan. Rak and Sarek nodded a greeting, which Gawain returned, but Eryk's gaze was fixed on Willam and Brock, striding across the cobbles to greet him.

"Elvendere approaches in numbers!" a look-out cried from the walls, and all heads swung towards the gates.

Gawain sighed, and smiled grimly.

"At least that is one worry less from your shoulders, Longsword." Jerryn smiled.

"Aye. As long as it's Thal-Hak himself."

There was a sudden flurry of activity as Threlland horses were hurriedly led from the courtyard to make way for the imminent arrival of elves. Honour-guards of all the lands present rushed to take up positions on the parapet to observe the elves' approach, and there was a sudden rising of tension within the walls.

"Nigh on a hundred!" a voice called down from the walls.

"Our friends seem worried." Jerryn said softly.

"My Lady has advised the crowns already that Elvendere would be so heavily escorted." Gawain replied.

"No, Longsword, I didn't mean the guards."

Gawain looked at his friend, who nodded towards the wizards. It was true. The wizards did indeed seem suddenly nervous.

"My Lord." a soft and lilting voice announced from behind them.

"My Lady." Gawain smiled, turning to Elayeen. "Elvendere approaches."

Elayeen smiled sadly. "Yes. And with my father at the van."

"I have duties, your Majesties. By your leave?" Jerryn announced, and bowed, and turned to hurry across the courtyard to his king.

"Is Gan with him?" Gawain asked, as Elayeen stood close to his side.

"I hope so. It was unseemly for Hellin and I to remain on the parapet, so I did not have time to see all."

"Perhaps we should join the other crowns, and await Thal-Hak's arrival with them."

"I think it would be wiser to wait," she said softly, staring towards the gates.

"Really? Why?"

Elayeen glanced up, and stared into his eyes. "I have learned much from the Lady Hellin. You and I are very much outsiders here, for all the respect we are shown."

"Outsiders?" Gawain gasped, and blinked as strange aquamire threatened flood.

She nodded, earnestly, and with a glance towards the wizards, took Gawain by the arm and led him into their rooms. "My Lord," she said softly, "The wizards have worked hard these past days and nights. Already Crowns are persuaded more and more against you. The Lady Hellin is with us, but she has said that her father regards you more with fear than with trust. Brock remains unconvinced of the danger to Callodon, and will not jeopardise the peace with Juria by siding with you against Willam. And no-one knows what the eastern ambassadors will say, for they have kept themselves to themselves since their arrival."

"Yet Threlland knows the truth, and the danger."

"Yes. But my father brings wizards and nobles to Council. Nothing I can say will have the slightest influence on them. Were you not Raheen, and I your queen, I would not be permitted within the chamber. Elvendere would bar me. As it is, for me to speak at all would be deemed unseemly, for as your queen, I am of course expected to acquiesce to you in everything. Thus I must remain silent."

This time, Gawain allowed the strange aquamire to tint his vision. "Elvendere has seen the enemy, and met them. As has Threlland. Whatever else transpires, Thal-Hak and Eryk must form alliance."

"Mithroth…" Elayeen sighed. "Council will form this very evening. All will look to you. It is upon you alone that the outcome rests. If you rage at them, all will be lost."

"Yet I fear I must. The single most important council in the history of all the southland kingdoms is upon us. Politics and protocol must be set aside. How can I not convince them of that, without anger at such stupidity? How can I hope to silence powerful whitebeards with mere words?"

"You must try. For all our sakes. For I have learned from Hellin that it is custom for the Council to be regulated by wizards, and since this is Juria, it will be the First Wizard of Juria who regulates."

Gawain drew in a deep breath, and crossed to the window, watching the arrival of Elvendere.

"Your brother is with them, Elayeen." he said quietly. "As are no less than four wizards."

"My brother may not speak in Council. If he has not persuaded my father to ally with Threlland by now, I fear only you and Eryk may do so when Council meets."

Gawain watched as Thal-Hak dismounted, and strode proudly, flanked by wizards, to greet Juria, and Callodon, and for the first time in centuries, Threlland.

Gawain sighed, and his shoulders slumped. "I would it were my brother, or my father, standing here this day."

"Yet if it were, you would not be here. And there would be no council, and none of us would know of the danger that threatens from the north."

"I know. Yet I believe I would rather face Morloch himself than the Council. I am ill-fitted for such courtly confrontations."

Elayeen stood beside him, and watched the activities in the courtyard with sad eyes. "You cannot be responsible for all our destinies."

"Sometimes I wonder if I am responsible for my own."

They watched as Crowns were escorted by honour-guards, and led to apartments. A short time later, there was a knock on their door, and Rak entered.

"Traveller, and my Lady Elayeen! Well met, my friends."

Elayeen smiled and crossed the room to hug the beaming diplomat. "How are Merrin and Travak?"

"They are well. But you? We heard you had been sorely wounded in battle?" Rak gazed, his eyes wide with concern.

"I am well, and the wound heals quickly."

"I am relieved," Rak smiled happily, "From the reports we had, I half expected to find you near death, you know how troopers can exaggerate. And you, my brother, what ails you that darkens your eyes so?"

"Forgive me, Rak," Gawain sighed, and blinked away the aquamire, "I worry about the coming council."

"Ah. I understand. Then the news I bring will only accelerate your discomfort, I fear."

"News?"

"It seems Thal-Hak is anxious for the Council. In deference to the distance Threlland has travelled, a short period of rest has been granted. But the Council meets in chamber at dusk."

"At dusk?" Gawain gasped. "I thought tomorrow…"

"As did I. But Thal-Hak has pressed, and the eastern ambassadors support his request. Brock too seems anxious for the meeting to commence as soon as possible. And of course Juria frets over security."

"As well they might, given the attack upon us." Gawain muttered.

"Indeed." Rak agreed. "Yet elven archers are already upon the walls, standing side-by-side with honour-guards of all races. And they too patrol on horse without the palisade. I believe it would take a substantial force to breach the defences."

"Then we must wait, and see what the evening brings."

"Aye. In the meantime, will you not join us in our apartments? Eryk is anxious to learn of your Lady's wellbeing, and I am sure would welcome an opportunity to speak with you before council is summoned."

"It would be unwise for my Lord to speak privately with Eryk," Elayeen smiled sadly, and Rak nodded in understanding.

"Then already the wizards cry protocol?" he asked.

"They do."

"Well. There is no protocol that declares a queen may not visit a king who worries for her health, and Eryk is truly concerned for you."

"Mithroth?" Elayeen asked quietly.

Gawain nodded. "I daresay that the wizards will immediately report your visit to Thal-Hak. If nothing else, it may again serve to show that Threlland is no enemy to Elvendere."

"I shall stay if you wish not to be alone." Elayeen asserted.

"Alone?" Rak asked, "Where is Allazar?"

Gawain shrugged. "I know not. He has come and gone like a breeze these past days. But go, Elayeen, and put Eryk's mind at ease. I shall remain here. I have much to think about."

Elayeen smiled, and then took Rak's arm, and they left him there, gazing out of the window.

She returned an hour later, and together they sat quietly, Gawain deep in thought, and Elayeen simply remaining near him. As shadows lengthened, there was a knock on the door, and Allazar entered, his features serious.

"Where have you been, wizard?" Gawain sighed. "I thought you had abandoned us."

"Never, Longsword. I have been putting to good use the many new skills I now possess, most of which you yourself have taught me. Are you prepared for Council?"

"No."

"Ah."

"It is soon?"

"Soon enough. When the shadow of the flagstaff can no longer be seen, the bell will ring summoning all to the chamber. I have arranged for another chair to be placed alongside yours, that your Lady may sit with you."

"Is this permitted?" Elayeen asked.

"It is not forbidden. Besides," Allazar smiled grimly, "If the other Crowns choose to leave their queens at home, that is their prerogative. I thought Longsword might be glad of your proximity."

Gawain nodded. "So I shall. And you Allazar?"

"I serve you, Longsword, and thus may stand behind you as advisor, if you will have me."

"Indeed."

"Good. Besides, your Lady's presence by your side is a powerful symbol. It will hold Elvendere's wizards in check to a certain degree, and the bandages on her leg will serve as a visible reminder of the threat to all. In the lower seats, as well as the high."

"It is the wizards who concern me most." Gawain sighed.

"And I." Allazar admitted.

A bell tolled, bringing the conversation to an abrupt end.

"It is time." Allazar sighed, needlessly.

They rose, and Elayeen took Gawain's arm. Wordlessly, led by Allazar, they left their rooms, and walked the long walk to the council chamber where a week or so ago they'd first dined with Juria and Callodon. This time, they knew, there would be no long table laid out with food, nor a jovial Brock bemoaning his hunger.

Nobles and wizards had already occupied the lower seats when they arrived at the Council, and as if by some pre-arranged intent, the high chairs were already occupied by the crowns of Juria, Callodon, Threlland, and Elvendere, together with the ambassadors from Arrun and Mornland. Allazar scowled, and Gawain felt Elayeen squeeze his arm as strange aquamire threatened.

A tall and gaunt wizard, Juria's First, stood in front of the semi-circle of high chairs, smiling without sincerity at Raheen's approach. Clearly, the early arrival of everyone else had been coldly calculated to centre attention on Gawain and Elayeen, and heighten their discomfort. All eyes followed the trio as they walked the aisle between the low seats, heading towards the thrones.

Gawain scanned the room, noting the honour-guards spaced at close intervals all around the chamber. He caught Jerryn's eye, and the slight nod from the Jurian officer. Then he spotted Sarek, and received a similar acknowledgment. His instructions had been carried out.

"Welcome, Raheen." The wizard announced, his voice hard and strong, belying his wasted appearance. "Honour to you."

"And to Crowns, and Council." Gawain responded darkly, pausing and eyeing the wizard with cool disdain as he added softly, "You are blocking my way."

The wizard's eyes widened suddenly, and he bowed, and stepped aside, and Gawain continued across the circular space between the thrones and the lower seats. He guided Elayeen to her chair, and then stood to her left before his own. At once, with a great rustling of clothes, they all sat. Except Gawain, who caused momentary confusion by remaining standing, until he unslung the longsword, and resting his hand on its pommel, took his seat. Allazar stood just behind him, between Elayeen and Gawain, his affiliation thus clear for all to see.

"For Council," the wizard announced, when all had settled. "I am Mahlek, of the First Order, for Juria. I have the honour to regulate."

"I make protest." A lilting voice called from the lower seats.

"Who makes protest?" Mahlek announced, clearly unsurprised by the interruption.

A robed elf stood. "I am Zarren, of the Second Order, for Elvendere."

Gawain glanced across the semi-circle at Thal-Hak, who looked anguished, but refused to meet Gawain's eye. Behind Thal-Hak, a slender and familiar wizard smiled grimly.

"What is your protest, Zarren of Elvendere?"

"I protest the presence in High Council of the faranthroth elfin who by custom in our land is dead, and ever to be regarded thus."

Gawain's hand slid from the pommel to the grip of the longsword, but Elayeen's hand was suddenly and firmly on his arm.

"The protest is insult," Allazar's voice called out from behind Gawain's right side. "And shall be withdrawn. There is no faranthroth elfin here. Or does Zarren of Elvendere shame himself and his Crown, and all his land, by referring to her Majesty, Queen of Raheen, in so vile a manner?"

A deathly hush fell across the chamber, and Mahlek turned an inquiring eye towards the elven wizard.

"Since there is no Raheen," the wizard replied, coldly, "and since this Council has yet to formally recognise the provenance and the right of the longsword warrior to sit in that name, the question is moot. If this Council recognises Raheen, I shall withdraw my protest."

Gawain's fingers twitched, and again he felt the slight pressure of Elayeen's hand.

"Threlland recognises Raheen!" A loud and familiar voice snarled, as Eryk glowered at the wizard.

"And Callodon." Brock boomed.

"Juria also." Willam said, his voice curiously hard.

"I speak for Mornland," A quiet and dignified voice announced from Gawain's left. "Honour to Raheen."

"And I for Arrun." a nasal accent asserted, "We honour Raheen."

"Elvendere honours Raheen," Thal-Hak said softly, "And his queen."

At once, the wizard standing behind Thal-Hak bent and whispered urgently in the king's ear, but a wave of the king's slender hand silenced the anguished whitebeard.

Zarren stood for a moment, stunned, gazing at the wizard behind Thal-Hak.

"The protest shall be withdrawn," Allazar announced grimly. "Now."

Again Mahlek turned to the elven wizard, "Zarren?"

"I…withdraw my protest."

"And honour Raheen." Allazar prompted as Zarren began to take his seat.

Zarren flushed. "And honour Raheen." he mumbled, and sat.

"Very well," Mahlek began, but another voice called from the low seats.

"I make protest."

"Who makes protest?" Mahlek inquired, his tone almost bored, clearly expecting the interruption again.

Another robed figure stood. "I am Nahthen, of the Second Order, of Callodon."

"What is your protest, Nahthen of Callodon."

"Indeed," Brock growled. "What is your protest?"

Nahthen blanched in Brock's gaze, and the king's wizard bent to whisper in Brock's ear.

"I…protest the presence of Her Majesty in Council."

"On what grounds?" Allazar demanded.

"On the grounds of precedent. In no other chambers have I sat where consorts are present."

"There is no precedent." Mahlek agreed, and turned to Allazar.

"Nor would there be," Allazar smiled disarmingly, "Since this is the first time a full Council has ever met. There is also no prohibition in the Articles of Council in respect of consorts. The protest is specious and asinine."

Mahlek's eyebrows arched in surprise, and he turned back to Nahthen. "Can you provide an Article to substantiate your protest?"

The Callodonian wizard looked nonplussed for a moment. "No, at least I am not aware of a specific Article of Prohibition at this time…"

"Then withdraw the protest." Allazar said firmly, folding his arms into his robes.

"Regulator," Zarren announced, standing, "Perhaps a recess would be in order, that the Articles may be consulted for such a prohibition?"

Mahlek was about to speak, when again Allazar called: "There is no need. I have checked the Articles. There are no prohibitions."

"You?" Zarren sneered, "You are D'ith pat! I marvel that you could read the runes of Articles."

"You are D'ith Met. I marvel that you clearly have not."

Zarren looked stunned, frozen between sitting and standing.

Allazar shrugged. "Regulator, it is regrettable that the wizards of Callodon and Elvendere's Second Order could not take the trouble to acquaint themselves with the Articles of Council prior to attending this chamber. I assert, there is no prohibition. If these brethren wish to gainsay me, they may of course withdraw from the chamber and go back to their studies. I see no reason for Council to be delayed through what is, after all, their own ignorance of Articles."

Another silence fell, and Mahlek conceded. "The First of Raheen is correct. I am unaware of prohibition. At this time, the protest cannot be upheld. Zarren of Elvendere and Nahthen of Callodon may, of course, reiterate the protest at such time as they have proof of prohibition."

Cowed, the two wizards sat down. Neither seemed prepared to leave the chamber to refer to the great book of Articles.

"Now, by the Council's leave…" Mahlek began again, but was once more interrupted.

Gawain felt his ire rising as another wizard took to his feet from the low seats.

"I speak on order." the wizard announced, smiling thinly.

"Who speaks on matters of order?" Mahlek sighed.

"I am Tozenn, of the Second Order, of Juria."

"Speak then."

"I concede to Allazar of Raheen, there is no prohibition against consort in Articles, of which I am aware. Yet, a consort may not address Council, unless the principal Crown is disabled, or absent, or otherwise prevented from speaking. Since it is clear that Raheen is present, and is neither disabled nor prevented from speaking, the consort may not."

"I so regulate."

Smiling again, Tozenn sat down.

"There is no need for such regulation." Allazar announced. "Raheen is well aware of that prohibition."

Intuition began to darken Gawain's eyes, and he fought against it, and won. All eyes seemed directed at Elayeen. All protests were at her presence in the chamber. During the battle, it was her the black riders had targeted, not Gawain…Elvendere was key to the defence of the southlands, and Elayeen was key to Elvendere. Gawain himself was now throth-bound to her, and would surely die if she did…There was no need for enemies to confront Gawain directly. To strike at Elayeen would be enough…

As Mahlek continued to address the Council and formally open the session, Gawain waved Allazar forward. The wizard bent, his ear close to Gawain's lips as the latter whispered urgently:

"Whatever transpires, Allazar, whatever happens from this moment forth, you guard my Lady with your life, even at the expense of mine!"

Allazar looked stunned, but nodded, and withdrew back behind the throne, though Gawain could see from the corner of his eye that the wizard sidled a little closer to Elayeen.

Nor was the gesture lost on Sarek or Jerryn, standing guard behind the semi-circle of thrones, and slowly, the officers moved closer to Elayeen's throne.

"….And therefore, this Council has been summoned to consider the question of mutual defence against this common threat, which, it is alleged, prepares even now to strike against all our lands and peoples.” Mahlek paused, and eyed the lower seats expectantly.

Sure enough, Nahthen was on his feet in an instant. "Crowns, and Council. We have learned of this alleged threat but recently. Indeed, some days past, a minor skirmish with an unidentified force of warriors took place not far from this chamber. Yet, the enemy, if such indeed they were, were effectively and promptly dispatched by a small band of elven warriors. I do not see how such banditry necessitates the calling of Council, nor do I believe that such local brigandry requires military intervention from distant neighbours. I feel sure that both Juria and Elvendere, and indeed Threlland, are more than capable of coping with any minor disturbance local to their borders."

"Easy for you to say, safe in Callodon." Allazar asserted. "You would not feel so secure were your quarters closer to the farak gorin."

"Nor were they brigands, or bandits, as you so casually dismiss them." Juria announced. "That they were Morloch's monsters is beyond question."

"The remnants of Ramoth, surely?" Nahthen smiled, "Small pockets of such brigands yet exist in all our lands, but our local militia is well able to deal with such matters."

"There is an army of six hundred of these creatures in Threlland." Eryk announced. "And Ramoth mercenaries they are not."

In the face of Eryk's stony gaze, Nahthen gave way, and sat down.

"Yet," Zarren announced, rising to his feet. "We are told that a similar number camps upon the wasteland of Goria, to the north of our lands. Who has seen this army?"

"The Morlochmen encamped in the Barak-nor of Threlland are under constant surveillance." Allazar said. "Yet the forces that battled with Raheen and Elvendere on the plains of Juria, at such great cost to Elvendere, came not from the east. Clearly, then, they came from elsewhere."

"I concede the logic." Zarren sneered. "Yet where is the proof that they came from the northwest wastelands?"

"Where else did they come from, Zarren?" Allazar asked archly. "From Elvendere?"

A gasp went up, and Zarren blanched with rage.

"Or from Callodon? Or perhaps you suggest that Juria harbours the enemy on her plains? Or perhaps you are implying that Mornland hides them in her orange groves and vineyards?"

Zarren sat.

"I thought so." Allazar sighed. "There is only one place that enemy could have originated. Unless there is one here who would suggest the western and eastern kingdoms grant free passage to these enemy forces through their borders."

"There is the question to be considered of this mythical army beyond the Teeth," Tozenn declared, rising to his feet. "It is upon this that the question of mutual defence depends. That an enemy has penetrated Jurian borders is evident. That, surely, is a matter for Juria. That an enemy is camped in the northeast of Threlland is also evident, yet surely this is a matter for Threlland, first and foremost. Only if the assertion that a vast uncounted army is poised to burst forth from the mountains onto Juria's plains is indeed correct, is this is a matter for all Crowns."

No sooner had Tozenn sat, than Zarren was on his feet. "And who has seen this mythical army?"

"I have." Gawain said, staring hard at the wizard.

"With respect, Raheen, this vision of yours occurred where?"

"Beneath the Teeth."

"Ah. When you destroyed the Lens of Ramoth."

"Yes."

"Ah. When you were, exposed, to aquamire?"

"Yes."

"Ah.” Zarren smiled triumphantly, and turned to face all those in the low seats, and kept turning as he spoke. "In the midst of vile black wizardry, you had a vision. Perhaps it is unsurprising, considering the forces which were unleashed. It is a miracle you survived, and one for which we doubtless all give thanks. Yet, the visions inspired by dark wizardry can hardly be relied upon as fact. We have all dreamed at some time of Morloch, yet few of us would claim such visions as truth. Forgive me, Raheen, but I cannot accept your vision as anything less than hallucination."

"Nor I," Nahthen called, and added almost as an afterthought "with respect to the Crown."

"Yet," Allazar announced, "You do not refute that Raheen destroyed the Lens of Ramoth."

"I do not." Zarren agreed, frowning. "The liberation of aquamire was seen as far as Callodon."

"Then, you must also concede that Morloch was able to create a passage through the Teeth, by means of which he transported aquamire to the Lens. And by means of which the Ramoth, and the black riders, flooded into our lands from the north."

Zarren's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I so concede…"

"Then, conceding the one breach in the Teeth, which you once held so impenetrable, is it thus inconceivable to imagine another? Or yet more?"

"I believe it is unlikely." Zarren said through his teeth. "And I do not accept the folly I have heard that men attack the slopes of the mountains with tiny hammers, endlessly chipping away in the hope of wearing such vast rocks down to rubble."

"Yet you have already conceded that the Ramoth came through the Teeth, as has been described many times in many tales, across the vast chasm well-known in Threlland to exist beneath those mountains."

Zarren sat, glowering.

"The question before Council is a simple one," Mahlek announced, and while he reiterated his opening statements about mutual defence, Gawain signalled Allazar forward again.

"Longsword?"

"It is as though they are waiting for something, Allazar. This blathering is a nonsense." Gawain whispered.

"Such blathering is commonplace in council chambers, Longsword." Allazar whispered back.

"Yet they achieve nothing but delay."

"And a degree of public recognition."

"No. There is more to this. There is a tension."

"Then you must wrest the initiative, Longsword. The Crowns are waiting for you to speak, and have little interest in wizards and their specious arguments."

"Then I shall." Gawain sighed, and Allazar stepped back.

"…yet it is no small matter for foreign armies, even those of friendly neighbours, to take station on another's sovereign territory…" Mahlek rambled.

Gawain glanced at Elayeen, saw the concern in her eyes, and smiled weakly. Then he stood. At once, Mahlek fell silent, and stepped back out of the circle announcing "I give way to Raheen."

Gawain stepped down off the dais, and into the circle, clutching the longsword in its scabbard loosely in his left hand as he turned slowly, eyeing Crowns and nobles alike. He drew in a deep breath, noting the various expressions on faces regarding him keenly. Interest, concern, contempt, and in some eyes, scorn and derision.

"The time is upon us," Gawain announced, his voice rich, and regal, "And we must unite, or fall to Morloch's horde. I have been told, and recently, I cannot be responsible for all your destinies. In truth, I cannot, nor would I wish it upon myself, or any other, to bear such a burden. Yet I have seen across the Teeth, and I know what awaits."

Gawain eyed the D'ith Sek wizard standing behind Thal-Hak, and then turned his head slightly, and eyed Zarren. "I care not whether you believe me. I care not what wizards think or believe. I care only for those I love, and call friend. I have no people looking to my Crown for protection. Morloch has destroyed them all, just as he wishes to destroy all of you. I vex him, and shall continue to do so, with or without your aid.

"Yet, the time is upon us. No one kingdom may stand against the forces already south of the Teeth. No one kingdom may prevail against the forces even now pressing against the mountains, ready to lay waste to all you hold dear…"

"With respect, we have heard this…" Zarren began, but fell instantly silent as Gawain's eyes flickered black.

"And you will hear it again, wizard, this one last time, and in the presence of those you claim to serve so well. I know you. I know you all."

Zarren blanched, and flicked a glance at his superior standing behind Elvendere's throne.

"Once," Gawain continued, still turning slowly in the centre of the circle, "when first I ventured into the lowlands from my home, I found myself at an inn, in a small village, in Callodon. It was evening, and I entered, hoping to acquire a room for the night. The room purchased, and a meal with it, I sat, and watched an entertainment. Upon a small raised platform I saw a chair, and upon that chair, a humble farmer sat.

"From behind the chair appeared an entertainer, clad in garish robes, sprinkled with stars and spangles and moons. This entertainer stooped low, and for some time, whispered into the farmer's ear. At length, as the stillness of expectation fell upon the audience, the farmer suddenly leapt from his chair, and began flapping his arms, and walking, high-kneed, for all the world like a chicken."

"A harmless entertainment." The wizard behind Thal-Hak announced. "I am Pahak, of the First Order, and I declare there was no magic in what you saw."

"Indeed." Gawain acknowledged darkly. "But as I watched, I wondered. I stand here now, and before me I see a small raised platform. On that platform I see chairs, and in those chairs I see not humble farmers, but royal Crowns. And behind them, I see men in robes, stooping, and whispering in their ears…"

"By the Teeth, Longsword!" Allazar gasped.

"And I wonder still." Gawain continued. "Pahak of the D'ith Sek declares that no magic is needed to turn a farmer into a chicken. So I wonder, seeing wizards, would I be surprised at all, if a royal Crown suddenly stood, and flapped his arms, and flew? And so I wonder, after all these years, what it is you and your kind have been whispering into the ears of kings."

"Raheen…" Brock began, his face clouded and eyes dark.

"Callodon." Gawain replied. "Friend of Raheen these many years, urged by wizards to do nothing when the Ramoth came. Urged by wizards to do nothing when my home was destroyed. All of you, urged to do nothing. And all the while, wizards whispered in your ears, and the Ramoth travelled your lands, calling 'make way'. And I wondered…."

"This is outrage!" The wizard behind Brock exclaimed. "I am Darrath of the D'ith Sek, First of Callodon, and will not be insulted thus!"

"Nor I!" came cries of protest from the lower seats.

Gawain lowered his head, and then looked up, his eyes blazing aquamire as he shifted the longsword, holding the grip in his right hand and the scabbard in his left. A hush fell as he whirled around and eyed the lower seats.

"Yet, now I wonder no more." Gawain glowered. "For I have seen across the Teeth, to the land whence all wizards came. Brothers of Morloch, all of you. Small wonder you dread with such passion alliance between Threlland and Elvendere. Small wonder you urge Crowns to do nothing. Brothers of Morloch, were you not sent out centuries ago, when first your kind realised the devastation wrought by you on your own lands was irreversible? Are you not here to prepare the way for his coming?"

Elayeen gasped, and the shock on her face was mirrored by all those occupying lofty seats. Fresh cries of outrage rang through the chamber, and all around, wizards were on their feet. Allazar strode forward between Gawain's vacant throne and Elayeen's, agog, as Gawain's eyes shone a rich black and the longsword's scabbard fell empty to the floor…

It was not Pahak of Elvendere that drew Gawain's attention, but the D'ith Sek wizard Darrath standing to the rear of Brock's throne. The wizard's face was contorted with rage and concentration, and his right hand was already raised, pointing at Gawain, while thin lips chanted silently. Almost at once, a shaft of searing yellow light blasted from the wizard's finger, across the circle, only to slam into Gawain's raised blade.

Gawain stood as if in warrior's salute, the crackling aquamire blade raised vertically before his face. The beam danced and crackled on the steel, turning darker as energy flowed back from the sword towards the wizard. More crackling bursts of energy flickered around the chamber, wizards striking at each other, and Gawain saw Allazar step in front of Elayeen, hands raised and chanting, as a bolt of blue-white lightning snaked towards her…

Arrows and bolts sang through the air too, honour-guards under Jerryn and Sarek's command loosing their shafts…

Gawain stood fast, noting Allazar on his knees, hands held before him, chanting furiously, holding the blue-white lightning at bay, protecting Elayeen…

The air was suddenly charged, and the shaft of light connecting the longsword to the Callodonian D'ith Sek was all black, and humming, driving the wizard back into the wall at the rear of the chamber, two crossbow bolts protruding from his chest. Yet still the wizard stood, still his arms were raised, and still he chanted furiously as a thalangard arrow blossomed from his stomach…

Light seared Gawain's eyes as wizards chanted and fired blasts at each other. Pahak had stepped in front of Thal-Hak, protecting the Crown and chanting blasts towards someone in the lower seats. A wizard behind the Mornland Ambassador raised his arms towards Gawain, and then suddenly fell as a blast of white lightning ripped through his chest and flung him back into the wall.

Jerryn and Sarek pressed forward, standing side-by-side, shielding Elayeen as kings dived for cover and reached for swords while crackling energy danced around the chamber and the dying screamed and wizards chanted…

Darkness, shimmering like a cloud, began to form in the circle, between Gawain and the wizard Darrath. Gawain vaguely heard the cries of men, the screams of those struck down by shafts and magic, and then the shimmering before him resolved, slowly, into the shape of a familiar landscape…

"Master…help me!" the Callodonian wizard gasped, as strange aquamire from Gawain's blade continued to pin him to the wall.

In the shimmering cloud, the northern slopes of the Teeth were clearly visible, thousands of Morlochmen hammering at the rock…then the vision was hurtling across the barren, blackened landscape, over the vast charred pit where once a lake of aquamire fermented, through a terrifying and devastated wilderness, towards a castle tower perched high upon blackened rocks. Then the shimmering stabilised.

"Foolish…" Morloch announced, the dark voice resonating through the chamber, as another shaft sang, and thudded into flesh, and the lightning which threatened Allazar and Elayeen died with the wizard commanding it.

"To let him vex you so to premature action." Morloch sighed, and turned to face Gawain. "Still you live. Still you vex me."

"They see you, Morloch. They have seen all."

"Irrelevant. Futile. I come. You cannot stop me."

"I can delay you." Gawain smiled cruelly, his black eyes shining fiercely "Perhaps long enough."

"Gawain!" Elayeen cried, her voice piercing the aquamire crackling, filled with fear and dread for her husband.

Morloch tilted his head, and his eyes widened. "Gawain? Raheen? Impossible…"

"I am Gawain, son of Davyd!" Gawain cried, raising the sword aloft, recalling another circle, far away, atop a dead plateau, a circle bounded about by strange writings, a circle facing shattered thrones and buried in the ashes of the dead. "Raheen!"

Gawain flipped the blade in a lazy arc as Morloch extended his hands, and then he plunged the longsword deep into the floor, through the planking at the centre of the circle, and down into the soft rich earth of Juria beneath.

The beam of black light linking the Sword of Justice to the dying wizard suddenly surged, blasting through the wizard's body and back again, to reflect off the weapon's hilt still clutched by Gawain, now on his knees, staring at Morloch.

"Gawain!" Elayeen cried again, Jerryn and Sarek clinging to her, holding her back, while Allazar continued to chant, raising a protective glow around the centre of the circle.

There was a sudden stillness as Gawain closed his eyes, and then he opened them, and the trapped energy of strange aquamire held within the blade and himself blasted from the hilt of the longsword and ripped into the shimmering cloud, smashing into Morloch, blasting him back into the wall of his stone tower far beyond the Teeth.

Gawain sighed as the shimmering image rippled, watching as Morloch, like himself, now on his knees, stared back at him in shock, and pain, and fear…

"Impossible…" Morloch gasped, a black liquid oozing from his mouth. "…It cannot be! You cannot be Raheen!"

The image faded, and was gone, and all was silent, the air filled with the smell of oceans.

For a few long moments, Gawain held the longsword's hilt, his eyes closed, listening to sounds of alarm from without as anxious honour-guards hammered on the chamber's doors to gain entry.

"Gawain…" Elayeen sobbed.

He opened his eyes, and gazed up at her, his eyes steel-gray and clouded with pain from the burning in his hands, and reflecting almost silver in the light shining from the polished steel blade he held buried in the floor.

"I live." he breathed, and both Jerryn and Sarek released their grip.

Elayeen took a faltering pace forward, her hand reaching towards him, as Crowns stood, weapons in hand, surveying the carnage wrought within the chamber. Honour-guards of all races stood side-by-side with weapons cocked, eyes swinging this way and that.

Allazar stood in front of Elayeen, blocking her progress.

"Wait, my Lady." the wizard said softly, breathing hard. "There may yet be Morlochmen here. Guards, shoot down the first wizard who raises an arm!"

Gawain stood, and turned to face the low seats. In truth, there were few enough targets for the honour-guards to consider. Most were blackened and burned corpses. Then he turned to face the Crowns once more.

"You have seen." He announced softly as the doors to the chamber burst open and guards rushed in. "You have seen what is to become of your lands, lest you stand together as one. I can do no more."

Gawain reached down, and wincing as his burned hands clutched the still-warm hilt of the longsword, he heaved it from the ground, sheathed it, and slung it loosely over his shoulder. Then, as Elayeen slipped beneath his arm, he turned his gaze to Allazar.

"Come, friend Allazar. These crowns have much to discuss, and I doubt they will welcome your presence any more than I once did."

"Wait!" Thal-Hak cried, "Where are you going? Raheen, where are you going?"

Gawain paused, and turned slowly, Elayeen helping him stand tall and gazing at her father.

"Longsword, do not leave us thus!" Brock gasped, stepping forward, to a chorus of agreement from all on the raised platform.

"You must look to each other, and not to me." Gawain sighed. "You have sat together, and now you stand together. If you do not learn to walk together, and run, and fight together, and soon, all is lost. My friend Rak of Tarn there will gladly show you how."

Thal-Hak gazed down at his daughter, his face ashen and anguished. "Daughter, I beg you, bid your husband stay…"

But Gawain shook his head. "No, Thal-Hak. She and I are throth. And I must take this wizard Allazar on a journey, and cannot, nor would not, leave her."

"A journey?" Allazar gasped, "Where?"

"Not to the Teeth, Traveller!" Rak called, "Not to the Teeth…"

"No." Gawain announced quietly, turning slowly again, and Allazar sighed in great relief. "We journey south. There is something I wish to show this wizard."

"South?" Willam of Juria croaked, "South where?"

"Home." Gawain said, heading for the door. "To Raheen."

Content

G. J. Kelly
King of Ashes

Prologue

1. Traveller

2. Jarn

3. Wandering

4. Elvendere

5. The Black Hills

6. Tarn

7. Homeward

8. Morloch's Breath

9. Ramoth's Eye

10. Longsword

11. Juria

12. Allies

13. Black Riders

14. Ithroth

15. Parting

16. Morloch's Warning

17. Friends

18. Farak Gorin

19. River of Nothing

20. Hard Rock

21. The Nest

22. Darkslayer

23. Reunion

24. Throth

25. Exile

26. Lull

27. Martan of Tellek

28. Thalangard

29. Ire

30. Doubt

31. Lessons

32. Barak-nor

33. Enemies

34. Friends

35. The Hunted

36. Home, in Haste

37. Eryk of Threlland

38. Messages

39. Becalmed

40. Garrison Town

41. Spring

42. Elve's Blood

43. Aftermath

44. Ferdan

45. Council