In Treachery Forged (The Law of Swords) (36 page)

“No,” the Elf agreed with something of a sigh. “I’m afraid you are right, I am.”

Maelgyn braced himself mentally. He could see in the Elves’ eyes that they were now resigned to a fight. He likely wouldn’t live through it, but in case he did he still needed to find out more. “Just tell me one thing – is it all Elves who are now engaged in this war against humanity, or just you four?”

“We merely represent a faction, we do,” the Elf admitted. “A sizable one, it is, but still just a faction. Hrabak acts alone, he does, and Lady Phalra of the Bandi Republic continues her efforts at making Humans more Elven in private, she does. A Foolish woman, she is, determined to breed with one of her Human lovers, she is, despite millennia of Elven lore proving that we cannot. Your ally Wangdu has his own agenda which runs counter to ours, he does. As a race we are quite scattered, we are, and therefore do not communicate with each other very often. But there are hundreds of us in this cause, there are, all devoted to this goal. Such a gathering of Elves may be the largest since the fall of the Last Elven Kingdoms, it may. But we intend no harm on Humanity, we don’t, as long as we are unopposed.”

“Then consider yourselves opposed,” Maelgyn snarled suddenly. Moving as quickly as his magically enhanced muscles would allow, he grabbed the wine bottle he had been drinking from and sent it flying. His hopes to catch the Elves off guard, however, were dashed as the bottle shattered against a suddenly appearing wall of vine.
Schlipf
s worn by all four Elves expanded into living shields, and shot out to form a barrier between the bottle and the Elves.

“We shall give you one last chance, we shall,” the lead Elf snapped, looking completely unphased by the sudden attack. “I would rather not kill you, I wouldn’t. Your response to our plans has impressed me, it has, even if it works against us, it does, and I would rather work with you than kill you, I would.”

Maelgyn tensed. “I gather this was why no-one else ever betrayed your confidence,” he growled, trying to delay the attack while searching for some skill or tool which might help him survive. He was not having much success, however – he had never fought an Elf, but he knew that even being a first rate mage meant little in battle with them. “Elven powers can be quite intimidating when used to threaten. But I refuse to let a threat go unanswered, and your plan is a great threat not just to Svieda but to all of Humanity. Therefore, my answer is to kill me if you can, because I will fight you with everything I have.”

Using all of the magical power he had, he strengthened his musculature and skin to where it would act as a light armor. Not that it would do any good – the spikes of a
schlipf
could, in theory, pierce stone with anything more than a glancing blow. Dragonhide armor could, in theory, withstand all but a hard, direct blow from one... which did Maelgyn no good, as his dragonhide armor was in the other room. It was unlikely the magical enhancements would help much, but at least it was something. That, and it would allow him to move faster and hit stronger – which was likely the only thing which gave him any chance in this situation... not that it was much of one.

“And you will fail, you will,” the lead Elf replied, bowing his head with what appeared to be genuine sorrow. “Just as all who try and oppose us will, they will.”

With that, three of the four
schlipfs
were pointed at him, their thorn-based spikes growing out at remarkable speeds to come at him like javelins. Maelgyn dropped to the floor instinctively, his reflexes just barely keeping him from being pierced in the initial strike. With what magic he could divert to a counterattack, he concentrated and struck out against the very lifeblood of the nearest Elf.

It wasn’t enough, and he knew it. For some reason, Elf blood, while still magically reactive, was not as easily manipulated as the blood of Humans. Perhaps Elven blood held no iron, but instead some other metal. Perhaps the same element which prevented magic from piercing a dragon’s hide was also present in the skin of an Elf, though not thick enough to stop it completely. Regardless, his magical attack amounted to little more than an irritant. For any magic to be combat effective against them, Maelgyn would have to concentrate everything he had against a single Elf, leaving himself vulnerable to the other three.

Maelgyn grabbed the shaft of one of the three retreating
schlipf
s spear-like thorns, letting it pull him closer to the Elves. The short distance would reduce his reaction time, but without magic or weapons his best chance lay in physically battering them with his fists. The
schlipf
thorn shrunk down to its original one foot length, carrying him within striking of the Elf wielding it.

He spun as quickly as he could, slipping behind the first Elf and delivering an elbow to the back of his head. Reaching out with one hand, he magically called for the closest thing to a weapon he had on hand – the cheese knife he’d brought with him for his lunch.

The Elf he’d struck collapsed, dazed and off balance from the single blow. Truth be told, Maelgyn was somewhat disappointed with the result – he had been hoping his enhanced strength would be enough to knock the Elf out at the very least. However, he had known that Elves were tougher than they looked... much as he was.

He threw the cheese knife at the dazed Elf, using magic to speed its flight and change its shape into a sharper weapon. A
schlipf
vine caught it and pulled it away less than an inch from his target – not the dazed Elf’s
schlipf,
but another. In fact, the Elf he’d hit lost control the living weapon entirely. Most
schlipf
were ‘bonded’ with their wielder, and could not be used by anyone but their owner. A few, however, were never bonded to their Elven masters, and would occasionally abandon them if the Elf ever lost control. In a stroke of fortune, this one had chosen to abandon its Elf at this moment, and Maelgyn decided to take advantage of that.

Maelgyn’s magic retrieved the knife, breaking through some of the vines that encased it on the way. It was the only bit of retrievable metal he had in easy reach. Or rather, it was the only weapon he knew how to use. Reaching down, he grabbed the
schlipf
with the hand not using the knife.

He had no idea how to use the living weapon, and he doubted he would be able to figure out how it worked before the Elves had killed him, but at least if he held onto it one less Elf would be armed. Or so he thought.

“That was a mistake, it was,” one of the Elves said, nodding to the hand holding the
schlipf
as he grinned fiercely. Within moments, vines started wrapping their way around his arm and up his body.

All four Elves, including the mostly recovered one whose
schlipf
he was holding, backed off and simply watched him as he fought with the living weapon.
Stupid,
he cursed himself.
Elves don’t need to hold these things to use them. I knew that. Damn.
Slashing desperately with the tiny knife he held, he tried to cut the vines away from him. It was a losing battle, and he knew it, but he refused to give up. It continued to twist around his arm, tightening as it grew, and tried reaching for his mouth, but he kept cutting it down first. It was only a matter of time, though, before it made it past his defenses and started choking him. Before it had a chance to, however, the
schlipf
stopped moving, and withdrew itself into its base form.

The four Elves looked on in surprise. “What happened?” one of them said, with the first note of genuine surprise Maelgyn had ever heard from an Elf.

“A
schlipf
cannot be controlled by two masters, it can’t,” another Elven voice declared. Maelgyn looked to see an enraged Wangdu, spear at the ready and Euleilla at his side. He shook his head in disgust. “Fools. I would not have thought you stupid enough to try and kill him, I wouldn’t – not after he’s alerted us to your plan, he has. It’s too late to repair the damage without his cooperation, it is, which you will not have without him alive, you won’t.”

“He would not co-operate, he wouldn’t,” one of the Elves declared. “Our best hope is to kill him, it is, and to encourage the Barony to reject his plans.”

“His death would make him a martyr, it would,” Wangdu answered. “You do not understand anything about humans, you don’t.

“Wangdu, you must release your hold on my
schlipf
, you must,” the unarmed Elf growled.

“I will not, I won’t,” Wangdu replied. “And I cannot, I can’t.”

“We are caught, we are,” the Elf replied. “You can counter any move we make, you can, and with these stone floors, our numbers can be balanced out by Human magics. But in turn you cannot harm us, you can’t, for we are too powerful for the entire population of this castle, yourself included, to subdue. So if you release the
schlipf
, you do, I will not kill him, I won’t, and we all may go our separate ways without any deaths, we may.”

“As I said, I did,” Wangdu answered. “I cannot release it, I can’t. I am not controlling it, I’m not.”

“Then who—”

Maelgyn suddenly felt a pain in his arm, and looked down. Apparently, in his rabid defense, he’d managed to cut himself badly in several places... and the
schlipf
had rooted itself into his wounds.

“It seems as if… it’s my
schlipf
now,” he said uncertainly. Then another wave of pain struck him, and he collapsed unconscious.

Chapter 22

Maelgyn sighed, enjoying the ministrations Euleilla was visiting upon him. He wouldn’t have guessed it, but she proved to be a fairly capable nursemaid to aid him in his recovery. At the moment, she was cleaning him with a damp cloth since he couldn’t move much during the continued bonding process with the
schlipf
. She had been tender and caring beyond his expectations during the whole week he had been bedridden, with the occasional assistance of Dr. Wodtke’s medical expertise.

Well, more than a week, but he had only been awake to notice it for about a week so far. It had taken him several days just to wake up, and even when he did he was barely aware of his surroundings for another day or two.

He was now strong enough to deal with conversation, however. A fortunate thing, considering it allowed Wangdu to alleviate his fears about the Elves that had attacked him and about the dangers of the bonding process. The attack had been stopped, thanks to Wangdu and Euleilla, but there was no way to kill the Elves or incarcerate them – it was far easier to defend yourself from an Elf than to attack them, at least inside castle walls where their feet could not touch the soil of the Earth. Instead, the four Elves had been allowed to return to their masters with a warning: Svieda was aware of them, and would not be vulnerable to their deceptions any more.

As far as the bonding went, there was definite good news. While it was impossible to remove a
schlipf
once it began the bonding process, it could be mentally commanded to exist as little more than a living bracelet around the wrist when not in use. Even better news was that Wangdu was able to aid the bonding process considerably – already, the pain had faded to the point where it was only noticeable when he concentrated on it. Within a day or so, it would go away completely. That was extremely rare among Human bondings with the plant – usually the pain never went away.

Furthermore, it was what Wangdu declared a ‘clean bond,’ which meant that there was little chance it would drain many years off of Maelgyn’s life. In fact, it was entirely possible the
schlipf
could extend his life some years, given the nature of the bond. According to Wangdu, that only happened if the plant “liked him,” whatever that meant. There was a lot about the explanation which didn’t make much sense to him, but all Wangdu would say in reply to his questions was, “You’ll know in time, you will.”

He resolved to worry about it all later. Right now, he was allowing himself a well-deserved rest, and enjoying Euleilla’s attentions as she treated him. Valfarn had taken over the logistics of the military expedition, for which Maelgyn was quite thankful. After the attack, the Council of Nobles voted unanimously to endorse his plan for the reformation of Sopan. The Elves’ efforts had backfired completely. He was almost grateful that they had attacked.

And it helped me to meet you,
something said in his head.

“Who said that?” he exclaimed, startling his wife.

“What?” she answered, looking at him oddly. “No-one said anything that I heard, and I would have heard.”

“Must have been my imagination,” Maelgyn replied. “Maybe I was drifting off to sleep or something.”

No,
the voice answered in what seemed to be an exasperated tone.
You merely don’t comprehend what’s going on. Don’t speak, just think – I’m talking in your mind.

Maelgyn didn’t know what was going on – and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Was he going insane? He’d heard that insane people sometimes heard voices in their heads.

Relax,
it thought to him once more.
You are not insane. I really am talking to you, and if you think for a moment, you’ll realize just what I am.