Bridge of Swords (53 page)

Huw had never wanted anything as much as he wanted to rip himself free of his bonds, revenge himself on the Forlish and save Rhiannon. To watch her being raped — Broyle was right, it would be even more painful than the hot blades. How could Hector allow this, let alone be the one who suggested it? The
gorge rose in his throat and he strained to free himself. Surely the dragons would come, surely this could not really be happening …

‘Struggle all you like, there’s no way you’ll get free,’ Broyle told him, stepping close so he could whisper in Huw’s ear. ‘You planned to Walk The Tree with this girl. Now you’re going to see me and my mates take her and …’

Huw shut his ears to Broyle’s filth and wrenched at the ropes with all of his strength. It was not enough.

Rhiannon felt like her heart was a bird, trying to escape her ribcage, it was beating so fast.

‘Don’t do this! Father, you can’t do this,’ she begged.

But Hector just stared at her.

‘You whored yourself to the elf and Velsh. What is the difference?’ he growled.

‘Every difference in the world! Daddy, you were the one who raised me, protected me, who taught me about men, who braided my hair and picked my dresses … you can’t let this happen …’ She put everything she had into her plea, while she strained at the thin leather holding her prisoner.

‘I hated every moment of it,’ Hector spat. ‘I did it because it was the only way to restore my fortune. I made you into what you are because that is what I needed. Now you are no good to me. I need you to do whatever Ward wants and, until I am sure you will act that way, you are nothing to me.’

His words drained the strength out of her and she hung there, an empty husk. Everything —
everything
— she had believed in, all she had known, had been brought down around her today. Whatever they did to her body would be nothing compared to what Huw and Hector had done to her spirit — especially Hector. He had been her whole world, he had been all she had known. And now he said that meant
nothing
? It was too much even for tears.

Broyle and Ricbert cut the reins hanging from the branch, freeing her hands. She did not fight back, she just hung limply in their arms as they dragged her around the tree, right in front of where Huw was tied. She was vaguely aware of Huw fighting
against his bonds and making desperate noises behind his gag. But everything seemed to be encased in ice, or locked away behind an invisible wall, at a distance from her. All she could see was Hector’s angry face, not a scrap of pity or remorse or sympathy there.

‘Are you really going to let us do this?’ Broyle hesitated and everyone looked to Hector.

Rhiannon appealed to him with her eyes, silently begging him to prove his words were just anger and all they had shared, all he had done for her was not a lie.

Hector glared at her.

‘Yes,’ he spat.

That was the final straw. She went beyond anger, beyond tears. This could not be happening —
this would not happen
.

And the world came alive around her.

I was flung into an old church of Aroaril, along with scores of humans. The last remnants of the lists the Magic-weavers had compiled, now rounded up or tricked by Naibun into coming here. With their passing, the Velsh, the Forlish, the Breconians, the Landish … all the people of this land would be greatly reduced. In here was magic, knowledge, light and goodness. Soon to be destroyed. Men and women from every country across the land prayed together, knowing that was all they had left. I gave them one flicker of hope, explained how the elves would be sealed off from the rest of the world until their magic was almost done, that the rest of the lands would be protected from elven conquest. It provided little cheer, although I found some myself in seeing the way men from Landia kneeled beside those from Forland, embraced Balians and wept with Skillian Islanders. Given something to unite them, these men had put aside their petty differences. Perhaps it could happen again.

As for me, I wrote this account in the old language, Nipponese, and used my limited magic to protect it, hide it behind the Aroaril stone in this human church. Now my story is done. I hope it provides some guidance, some truth for those who follow me. For the barrier will decay over time and humans will again meet so-called elves. I shall be long dead, my memory wiped from history’s pages.

Once again I pray a better Sendatsu can be found at that time.

‘No!’ Rhiannon told her father.

She took a deep breath, and inhaled everything around her. She could feel the energy from the plants, sense the birds in the air, the animals deep in the trees and the insects on the ground. They were all there for her. For a long moment she did nothing, just exulted in the feeling. It fizzed through her blood, smoothed away the pain of her father’s blows.

Everything seemed to call out to her, ready to do her bidding. Broyle and Ricbert grabbed her arms, prepared to hurl her to the ground.

She spoke to the trees around, told them what she needed, and they did the rest.

Branches scores of years old and weighed down with time swept across, suddenly given the springy whip of the newest twigs. They smashed into the two Forlishmen, sending them flying.

‘Skies above! The elf must be using magic!’ Hector roared.

The other two Forlish guards ran at Sendatsu, swords at the ready, rushing past Rhiannon without a second glance. It was a fatal mistake. The old oak came to life and blasted them into the air, to be caught and hammered by other trees, until they fell limply to the ground.

‘Stop him!’ Hector bleated.

Broyle and Ricbert came to their feet once more but she pointed at them and they were engulfed in insects. Ants and spiders swarmed over their legs, bees and wasps covered their heads and shoulders, more and more dropping out of trees, flying in or racing out of the grass around them. Broyle and Ricbert screamed in pain and terror as they were bitten and stung but their mouths only filled with their attackers, every opening of their bodies filled with tiny vengeance. Arms flailing, they tried to scrape their insect attackers away but hundreds more replaced every handful they managed to remove. They tried to run but could go nowhere — they fell to the ground and thrashed under
huge mounds, until the only movement was the writhing of the insects as they fed.

Hector turned and ran, fast as his legs would carry him.

‘Stop!’ Rhiannon shouted.

A branch broke free of a nearby tree, thick as a man’s leg and twice as long, fell and then accelerated across the clearing. At first it aimed at Hector’s legs but then she jerked her hand up and, at the last moment, the branch swerved upwards and drove deep into Hector’s back, slamming through the chest and throwing him forwards, where he rested grotesquely, slumped over the broken branch, his blood draining into the soil.

Rhiannon looked around but nobody was moving. Sendatsu shrank back as he saw the fire, the fury and the magic bubbling in her eyes — and then they closed and she fell limply.

Sendatsu reached into the magic himself, changed the fibres of the ropes holding he and Huw tight and they fell away. He tore out his gag but the effort of using even that much magic, on top of what the Forlish had done to him, left him exhausted. His ribs were really hurting and his vision was beginning to swim, so he fell to his knees.

Huw ripped the gag out of his mouth and rushed to Sendatsu’s side.

‘You saved us — you saved us with magic!’ he gasped.

‘No. Rhiannon,’ Sendatsu tried to explain. The ground seemed soft and he decided to lie down, just for a little while.

Although Huw was in agony, his face and body on fire with pain, he needed no second invitation. He glanced over to where all the insects bar the ants were leaving what remained of Broyle and Ricbert, then raced over to where Rhiannon lay, unmoving.

‘Rhiannon! Are you all right?’ He picked her up in his arms, brushed her face.

Her eyes fluttered open and took a moment to focus on him. He smiled nervously at her — then she shrank away from his touch, pushed him away. ‘Get away from me!’

Huw felt a little part of him die inside.

‘Let me help you,’ he said softly, helplessly.

‘I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t even want to see you right now!’ she cried.

She felt as though she was about to fly apart. The shocks had piled up on each other, one after another — her father’s return, Huw’s lies, Hector’s lies, then his admission of betrayal … then the magic. The plants and animals and insects had been somehow connected to her. It had been both exciting and terrifying and, even now, she was not entirely sure it had really happened.

How could she do magic? She was a human! But she had destroyed the Forlish — and killed her father.
She had killed her father.

He had lied to her. And Huw had lied to her, everyone she loved had lied to her.

‘You lied! You lied to me!’ she screamed at Huw, and at Hector, who lay behind him. She wanted to rage at her father, to tell him she was a strong, proud woman, not a plaything. That a daughter was not a man’s property and certainly not to blame for the mistakes made in his life. But he could not listen, so she had to shout at Huw instead.

‘I know, I am sorry.’ Huw held out his hands, knowing it was doing no good but hoping she could forgive him, offer him a second chance.

‘I trusted you, I believed in you — and you betrayed me!’

Again, Huw could only agree.

‘You say it was for my own benefit, you were protecting me — but it was really all for you. Did you even love my mother?’

‘What?’ Huw stared at her, then glanced over his shoulder to where Hector lay.

‘Don’t mistake me for him,’ he said, heat coming into his voice now. ‘I take responsibility for my lie but I truly thought it was for the best. It was wrong and I am sorry. I know it does no good but I was going to tell you, today …’

‘That makes it even worse! How do you think I would feel, having Walked The Tree with you, for you to turn around and tell me that?’ she screamed.

‘I am sorry!’ Huw yelled back. ‘I was scared of losing you …’

‘Well, you are half right then! After what happened with Sendatsu, I can’t believe you tricked me, lied to me. Did he know as well?’

‘Sendatsu said I should tell you, he warned me I needed to be honest,’ Huw admitted. ‘He has nothing to do with this …’

‘This gets better and better! Were the two of you laughing at me behind my back — had you both planned everything from the start?’

‘No!’ Huw shouted back, the memory of when Rhiannon was with Sendatsu too painful to let go lightly. ‘That was Hector’s lie. What happened between us was real …’

‘Don’t mention his name! I never want to hear it again!’ Rhiannon bellowed.

‘I am sorry — sorry for everything. But you must understand that I did it all to protect you. You heard what your father was planning to do to you. I had to get you out of there and I knew explaining all that would take too long …’

‘I deserved the truth! If nothing else, before we Walked The Tree!’ she screamed.

‘Hey, you two — enough!’ Sendatsu staggered to his feet and towards them both.

‘What?’ They both rounded on him.

‘We are alive — we should be happy for that.’

‘Happy? You think I can be happy after this? What have I got to be happy about?’ Rhiannon asked bitterly.

Huw, who could see Rhiannon slipping away from him with every word, did not speak but his battered face said it all.

By contrast, Sendatsu’s mind was whirling and happiness was bubbling through him. Rhiannon could do magic. A human could do magic. This was not one of the answers he sought but it was exactly what Sumiko wanted. This would change everything in Dokuzen. This was his ticket home … was this also proof that there was no difference between humans and elves?

‘You can do magic now. You can come back to Dokuzen with me. You can get the elves to save Vales, you can change
everything!’ He struggled to convey the enormity of it all to the pair of them.

‘What?’ Rhiannon’s head was spinning and she could not think straight.

‘You are the first human to do magic — you are the most important person in the world now!’

Rhiannon gaped at him, as did Huw.

‘I don’t feel important,’ she groaned, wanting to disappear down a deep hole, leave all this far behind.

‘Don’t you understand? You are the one person who can bring elves and humans together. You are the one these lands have been waiting for the last three hundred years!’

Silence greeted Sendatsu’s words as Huw and Rhiannon stared at him in shock.

Sendatsu smiled encouragingly at her, his heart singing. He had his answers, he had everything he ever dreamed of! He could go home, he could see his children, he could feel Mai’s and Cheijun’s arms around him even now and tears pricked his eyes as he imagined their reaction. Part of him was warning that Rhiannon’s life would be in terrible danger the moment she revealed her magic to the elves — but all he could think about was his children.

‘It’s not going to be like that at all,’ a harsh voice interrupted.

Sendatsu spun, Rhiannon and Huw turned also, to see Hanto walk into the clearing, Jin and Taigo at his shoulders. All three had their bows bent, the arrows pointed at them.

‘You really should learn how to stay hidden in woodlands. All that screaming and shouting led us right to you.’ Hanto smiled wolfishly. ‘I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this.’ He glanced at his companions. ‘Kill the humans.’

He kept his drawn bow pointed at Sendatsu, while the other two instantly loosed, sending arrows leaping across the clearing.

The story continues in

VALLEY OF SHIELDS

EMPIRE OF BONES
,
BOOK TWO

Many of the place names in
Bridge of Swords
, indeed the whole series, are real names, to be found in the pages of history or even on today’s maps. However, the fictional towns and villages named in this series bear no relation to their real counterparts.

There are also several historical hints and notes, from the Chinese repeating crossbow to the Welsh flag and anthem. Again, there is no intention to make this, or them, real.

This is not only a work of fiction, it is a work of fantasy.