CHAPTER 1O

The knives of winter, honed on the jagged cliffs of the north, lashed at the great forest of the Spiderweb Mountains. Whispers in the night carried a restless memory of long-abandoned places, as the profane words of another Age burned once more in the hearts of the elves, the twisted descendants of those cursed by the Gods for their rebellion. Dark bargains were made, even before the seers announced a silver light shining out from the west. The first furtive figures returned to settlements that the Farlan had driven them from decades ago.

The Festival of Swords had slowly replaced the ruthless hunting parties of fifty years past as the elves retreated away from their tormentors: pageantry in place of savagery. Now the elves returned to find the Farlan watchtowers and forts in disrepair or empty, replaced by farms and villages now closer than ever to the cold depths of the forest, and exposed in the harsh autumn light.

When their first attacks met only feeble resistance, they grew bolder and more savage. The wind tore through ruined homes and carried the smoke from the pyres for miles. Even in the towns, where people hid behind the relative safety of stone walls, they could hear the drums hammering out through the night air, and guttural voices singing of pain and prophecy, of their time come again. The taste of revenge carried far on the wind.

'What do you mean by punished? General Elierl is not a child to be disciplined!' The walls shook as Bahl roared at the man sitting placidly in the centre of the room. Isak found himself leaning back from the sheer force of Bahl's anger, but the focus of that ire didn' t even twitch. Perched on a low stool, the mage mouthed the words in echo of his Lord, his hairless head dipping back and forward as though following some sort of tune in his head. The movement continued after the mage fell silent, as he cocked his head and rocked back and forth, waiting for the reply.

'General Elierl has been removed from command of Lomin's forces,' intoned the mage again after a long pause. His voice was distant, an echo from afar. Isak sat forward to take a closer look at the man, watching his movements in fascination, trying to fathom their part in the ritual. The mage continued, oblivious to the people around him. Lesarl, when pushed for information, had told Isak the movement helped the twin mages to keep in touch with each other, but the Chief Steward had given up when his explanation provoked even more questions than it had answered. Isak had never even heard of anything like this, let alone seen it in action, and it made him wonder just what else lay within the forbidding walls of the College of Magic, hidden from the eyes of all but a few and hired out to only those who could afford such wonders.

'He has been punished for his failings,' came Scion Lomin's distant reply. Every sentence was stilted, broken into pieces as one mage whispered the words to his sibling. Isak could imagine a face just like this one, pale and hairless, sitting in a high tower in Lomin, silently forming the words as he heard them. Perhaps they were even dressed in exactly the same way: an open-necked tunic showing a hairless chest, and the red and gold sash of the College of Magic around his waist.

’You had one of the tribe's oldest and most respected generals executed?'

The delay in the reply only infuriated Bahl longer. It was scarcely believable the young man in Lomin – not yet duke, however ill his father might be – would have dared do what he had just implied. Bahl began to pace around the oblivious mage until Lesarl reached out a hand to interrupt him.

My Lord, the link will not last much longer; we need information now. Whatever the boy has done can wait until you are there.' '

I did no such thing,' interrupted the mage in his slow monotone.

‘The general was removed from his position and committed suicide in his chambers that evening. We mourn his loss as you do.'

Bahl opened his mouth to bellow a reply, but stopped when Lesarl caught his arm. He turned to the mage's escort, a richly dressed man, who, though of middle age, looked older in certain ways, like most mages. Isak noted his sunken face, perhaps the first step towards becoming a withered wreck like High Priest Wetlen had been. The mage nodded his agreement with Lesarl, looking anxious for his charge as he anticipated the failure of the link.

'Scion Lomin, what forces do you have left?'

'Four spear legions and one of archers with Lomin. Divisions of each are apparently under siege in Kohm, Castle Shaidec, Vitil and Peak's Gate. We have not had news from Peak's Gate in three weeks now.'

'Where are the enemy?'

'The majority remain here, from what we can tell. They cannot have had time to crush those garrisons yet, not the way they have been moving. Peasants arriving to seek sanctuary have reported a battle at Broken River a week ago, our cavalry must have been ambushed there. We have heard nothing from them.'

Bahl gave a sombre shake of the head; a Farlan army without cavalry was lacking its greatest weapon. If the elves had destroyed Lomin's horsemen, they wouldn't worry too much about leaving smaller garrisons of infantry behind their lines.

'Can you hold the walls?'

'I supervise the defence personally.'

'That is not what I asked.'

The pause was longer this time.

'Yes, I can. They are preparing siege weapons, but at this time they are keeping the trolls well away. Our battle mages say they have the measure of the enemy and can keep the walls standing.'

'Good. The army rides under Suzerain Anvee's command in two days. Do not do anything else foolish until they arrive.'

As the mage mouthed those words, his eyes suddenly flew open and he gasped, then wilted backwards into the waiting arms of his escort. Two guards came in with a litter and carried the mage away, closely followed by his colleague. It looked to Isak like the dead faint was something expected. A strange life's calling, this: to fall into a trance until you faint – yet invaluable for a dispersed people.

Only when the door had closed behind them did Bahl sit and look at the other men in the room.

The Suzerains Tehran and Fordan had been summoned to attend this meeting. Kehed Tehran was a regular guest at the palace, for his domain surrounded Tirah's lands. He divided his time between his

family residence and apartments kept for him at the palace; the best doctors were to be found in the city, and Lord Bahl had made it quite clear that one of his most loyal supporters could always rely on his hospitality-

Beside Tehran was his closest friend, Fordan, a belligerent old soldier who sat bolt upright in his chair, bristling with restrained fury. In a corner, perched uncomfortably on hard chairs, were his eldest son and Suzerain Volah's heir, both seventeen summers, who were watching the proceedings with keen interest.

'Scion Tebran, did you meet Karlat Lomin last year at the Festival of Swords?' Lesarl's voice broke the heavy silence and made the young man flinch in surprise. He'd been invited to sit in, and it was a carefully calculated honour. It had been made clear enough by his father that he and Scion Volah, his best friend, were to sit quietly and say nothing.

'I ah, I did briefly, sir,' he said, trying to speak succinctly and fluently. 'He spoke to Sohn- ah, Scion Volah, I mean – for longer; he was too suspicious of me, of course.' The young man tried not to squirm under Bahl's relentless gaze. He looked relieved when it switched to his friend.

'Scion Volah?'

'1 went to his celebration feast, yes, Chief Steward. He threw a ball when his father officially handed over Lomin's Torch to him.'

'A good party?' Isak knew Lesarl well enough now to recognise the edge to that innocent question. He leaned forward and continued to glare at the Scion to distract him further. The Krann and Chief Steward might have been far from friends, but neither had any time for the foppish young aristocrats of high society.