Bronze Magic (Book 1) (56 page)

The wizard’s voice was bleak. “I can assure you they did. They tied his
hands behind his back, just as I have done to you, and force-marched
him through the forest, belting him across the head any time he faltered.”
“How dared they?” The young man was clearly upset. “I knew nothing
of this. I left Tormadell on the same day as the prince and I have been
trying to find him ever since he disappeared.”
Stormaway raised his eyebrows. “Indeed?”
“Yes. Indeed!” snapped Danton. “So is he all right after all that? How
did he escape?”
“He has recovered but he was badly hurt during his escape from
Andoran and Sargon.” Stormaway shook his head. “And I’m afraid I can’t
tell you how he escaped. Otherwise it may be one less chance he has next
time.”
“Well, he’s going to be very wary after that, even of me.” Danton
sighed. “Never mind.” After a moment, he looked squarely at the wizard.
“Wizard Treemaster, obviously you are in contact with him. Could
you just let His Highness know that not everyone has abandoned him?
Certainly I haven’t, and there are other friends of his who would still be
waiting for him if he could ever come back.” The young man wriggled
again. “I have travelled a long way and a long time to see him but perhaps
that won’t be possible. Still, at least I know the prince is still alive and
that he has received my message. Will you promise to tell him I came to
see him?”
Stormaway nodded gravely.
“One more thing. Since you are clearly protecting His Highness, what
relevance do these wolves have to his safety? I would be honoured to serve
him in whatever way I can.”
The wizard gave him a considering stare before saying slowly, “I do not
believe that they are a direct threat to him. They are merely of interest to
him.”
“I see,” said Danton stiffly, interpreting this answer as a refusal of his
offer. “In that case, there is no more to be said. While I am thankful
that Prince Tarkyn has your protection, I can only hope that your strict
guardianship of His Highness does not isolate him completely.” When
the wizard did not respond, Danton gave a small shrug. “So be it. Now
to practicalities. Are you going to let me go and send me on my way? I
can promise not to say where I found you. In fact, I can promise to say I
didn’t find you at all but after Sargon and Andoran, I suppose I might as
well save my breath.”
“We will not be here for long, anyway,” said Stormaway. “So it is of
little consequence. However, it would be better if no one knew the prince
was in the forest.” The wizard stood and gave a slight bow. “Now, if you’ll
excuse me, please?”
The guardsman’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile. “I can’t see that
I have much choice.”
The wizard lifted a wry eyebrow in response, as he headed out of
the stand of beeches at a right angle to the way he had come in.
Then he skirted around until he came to stand beside Tarkyn. “Do you
know him?”
“Of course I do!” exclaimed Tarkyn. “We grew up together. He’s my
closest friend. At least he was until I met Waterstone.”
“I’m glad you added that rider,” said Waterstone lightly, coming up
silently behind them. “I might have had to kill him otherwise.”
“You still might have to,” replied Tarkyn, tension in every syllable.
Waterstone regarded his friend. “This changes things, doesn’t it? So
what are we going to do?”
Tarkyn shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t hear what he said.”
“Sorry.” The wizard filled the prince in on the contents of the
conversation.
Tarkyn shook his head. “Much as I would like to believe him, how can
we trust him?” He gave a knowing smile. “Whatever his motives, there
is no way he’s just going to return meekly to Tormadell, if he has been
searching all these weeks and now knows I’m nearby. I know him. He
gave up too easily.”
“What’s he doing now?” asked Stormaway.
Tarkyn connected briefly with the eagle owl. “He’s surreptitiously
scanning the nearby trees. He knows someone will be watching him. So
he’s making no move to escape.”
“You don’t sound as though you trust him much,” observed Waterstone.
Tarkyn glanced at him, “I don’t know whether I trust him or not. But I
certainly don’t trust him to play it straight when he finds himself far from
help, at the mercy of someone he doesn’t know.”
Waterstone smiled wryly. “I admit one does not necessarily reflect on
the other. I don’t think I’d be playing it straight in that situation either.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake!” exclaimed Tarkyn, his voice full of anguish.
“What am I going to do? What are we going to do? That is my friend in
there. It’s one thing to talk about ulterior motives to friendships when
they’re all far away. It’s quite another to abandon someone who, as far as
I know, has stood by me and is right here in front of me.”
“What do you want to do about him?” asked Waterstone gently.
Tarkyn ran a hand through his hair. “I want what I can’t have. I want
him to come back with us and sit around the fire and tell us all about
what he’s been doing.” The prince began to pace back and forth. “But,
obviously, that can’t happen.”
He stopped dead and looked Waterstone straight in the face.
“I really don’t think I could countenance having him killed, any
more than I could have allowed Stormaway to be killed by the
oathless woodfolk.”
Waterstone smiled wryly. “I’m relieved to hear you say that. I would
have strong doubts about our friendship if I thought you could turn
around and order your friend’s death only weeks after last seeing him.”
Tarkyn looked much struck. “Oh. I didn’t see it like that. So you
understand my dilemma.”
“Tarkyn, no one wants to kill him.” Waterstone frowned. “I sometimes
wonder what you think of us. Woodfolk don’t kill everyone who comes
near them. The forest would be littered with corpses if we did that. We
fade away to avoid the need.”
“Yes. You may fade away, but I don’t. And that presents a dilemma”
Waterstone shrugged, “As long as you are forewarned, you can levitate
so that you don’t leave tracks. You can hide in trees or brambles nearly as
well as we do. Just a minute. Let me fill in the other two.”
When the woodman came back into focus, Stormaway said,
“Regardless of your disappearing skills, I think His Highness is right.
This man is going to dog our footsteps until he gets what he wants. He
will be a constant thorn in our sides.”
Suddenly, Autumn Leaves and Thunder Storm were in their midst.
“The owl can see better than we can in the dark anyway,” said Autumn
Leaves casually.
Everyone carried on as though they had been there the whole time.
“If you spoke to this guard,” asked Thunder Storm, “would he go away
then?”
Tarkyn considered the matter. “I don’t really know. It may depend on
what I say to him and on his motives. But I do know he definitely won’t
go away until I do.”
Autumn Leaves suddenly went out of focus for a few moments. “That
was Running Feet. They wanted to know what was happening. Just a
minute.” He went out of focus again. When he returned, he was looking
quizzical. “A group of them …”
“Which group…?” interrupted the prince.
Autumn leaves waved a hand. “Worry about that later. I don’t think it’s
relevant at the moment.”
Tarkyn experienced a rush of outrage that his question should be
dismissed so lightly. He quelled it as quickly as it came but Stormaway
and the three woodmen paused to stare at him.
“I beg your pardon, Your Highness,” said Autumn Leaves stiffly. “I
should have given your question more consideration.”
Tarkyn looked uncomfortable. “No, you shouldn’t. You know the
issues as well as I do. I trust your judgement. It was just a matter of
old habits dying hard.” He gave a wry smile, “I’m sorry my feelings
interrupted. Go on.”
Autumn Leaves glanced quickly around the faces of the other three
and received a slight nod from Waterstone. Reassured, he continued,
“They were wondering whether this sorcerer might be of some use in the
upcoming rescue mission at the encampment.”
The other four were thunderstruck.
“He did offer to help with the wolves,” said Thunder Storm slowly.
Stormaway waved an impatient hand, “Yes, but that was expressly to
protect Tarkyn.”
“No, it wasn’t,” said Tarkyn. “He meant what he said. He would be
honoured to serve me in any way I asked…assuming he is true.” He
smiled at the sceptical looks on the woodmen’s faces. “I know. Alien
territory for you, but true nevertheless… But I can’t see how it would
work. Even if I asked him to undertake the rescue mission on his own
or with me, he would still end up seeing the captured woodfolk. Where
does he stand then?”
The three woodmen looked at each other then back at Tarkyn.
Waterstone spoke for them, “This is uncharted territory for us. Possibly
hundreds of sorcerers have now seen these woodfolk. We can’t kill them
all – or at least, we won’t.”
A little chill shot down Tarkyn’s spine at the casual deadliness of the
woodfolk. However, he didn’t let it distract him. “But we don’t even know
whether we can trust him,” he objected.“He might have come from that
encampment himself.”
“We can check that out easily enough. Someone can backtrack his trail
and see where he’s come from,” said Thunder Storm.
Tarkyn frowned. “Danton will have been careful not to leave tracks.
He’s an elite guard, after all.”
The woodmen all looked at each other again. “And we are woodfolk.
We can track anything,” said Thunder Storm.
“As long as it stays on the ground,” conceded Waterstone, quashing the
competitive air that was developing.
“You can’t track back over weeks’ worth of travel, anyway,” objected
Stormaway. “If he has come from the encampment, and wanted to disguise
his intentions, he will have approached from a different direction. You
can be sure of that.”
“We could use mind control on him,” suggested Autumn Leaves.
The prince thought for a long minute, and then he shook his head
regretfully. “No. I know it’s a good idea but I can’t allow you to subject
Danton to losing his free will like that.”
“Oh come on, Tarkyn,” said Autumn Leaves in exasperation. “He’s lost
his free will already, sitting there with his hands tied.”
The prince looked at him. “Autumn Leaves, there is a huge difference
between physically containing someone and invading their mind. As far
as I’m concerned, using mind control is on a par with scanning someone’s
memories without their permission.”
When Autumn Leaves seemed unconvinced, Tarkyn continued,
“Imagine if that were Waterstone sitting there, surrounded by sorcerers
who considered him a threat, would you want me to order Stormaway to
have unlimited, un-negotiated access to his memory?”
Autumn Leaves glared at him. “No. Of course I wouldn’t. But
Stormaway can be very specific about what he asks. Anyway, would you
risk the safety of all of us for the sake of a small scruple?”
Tarkyn stared at him then turned and paced up and down. He tuned
in to the owl for a minute to watch his erstwhile friend. In the filtered
moonlight between the trees, he could just make out the guardsman
sitting uncomfortably against a spreading beech tree. Danton’s head was
resting back against the trunk and his eyes were closed.
Finally Tarkyn turned back to Autumn Leaves and said, “No, I would
not risk your safety. I would find another way to keep you safe that did
not require me to violate my friend’s trust in me.”
“Stars above, you’re annoying sometimes!” exclaimed Autumn Leaves.
Tarkyn spread his hands, “I’m sorry. I know you don’t agree with me
but I couldn’t look Danton straight in the face if I had countenanced the
use of mind control on him.”
Autumn Leaves gave him a grudging smile, “No wonder your integrity
galvanised the oath. Oh well. What’s our next move then?”
Tarkyn shrugged, “I can go and talk to him. But what will I say?”
“Whatever it is, it will have to be true,” Autumn Leaves rolled his eyes,
“You wouldn’t be able to lie convincingly even if we did talk you into it.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. The first thing he’s going to ask me is
who is with me.”
Waterstone smiled, “You can just freeze him out as you did Stormaway.”
“I can’t just freeze him out when he’s just spent four weeks looking for
me.” The prince sent an apologetic glance to the wizard. “I wouldn’t have
done it to Stormaway, had I known what else to do.”
“Just say to him that Stormaway is with you and there are no other
sorcerers or wizards nearby, as far as you know.”
Tarkyn brightened. “I can say that in all good faith, although” he
glanced at Autumn Leaves, “it is giving the wrong impression.”
“No, it’s not,” said Autumn Leaves firmly. “We are not wizards or
sorcerers and don’t want to be, for that matter.”
Tarkyn refused to be baited. “Then what?”
“Then we lead him into a trap,” rumbled Thunder Storm with a note
of satisfaction in his voice.
The prince started in alarm. “You what? What sort of a trap?”
Waterstone frowned and spoke severely. “Tarkyn, will you please get it
out of your mind that we’re planning to kill him? We don’t need a trap to
do that. We could have killed him any time in the past hour.”
“Sorry, I’m being silly.” Tarkyn drew a breath. “Okay. Let me think.
You want to see if he’ll betray himself, or more particularly, me?”
“Exactly.” Waterstone reached up and put a hand on the young
sorcerer’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We are all working together on this.
We are not going to knock off your friend unless…” The woodman
shrugged, “…actually, I can’t think of a situation where we would kill
him. Even if he went berserk and started trying to kill you or any of us,
we’d just knock him out and disappear.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“Spend the night with him, Sire,” said Stormaway. “Here. You’d better
take this.” The wizard handed him a warm, light brown cloak. “I’ll be
coming with you. He will expect that. I have some food and drink here.
But I might need a bit more to give us enough to get convincingly drunk
with.” Thunder Storm nodded and went out of focus. “I will pretend to
drink myself into a stupor.Then when you go to sleep, we’ll see what he
does.”