Elves_ Once Walked with Gods Part 31

'Advance!' ordered Garan.

Twelve warriors with two mages behind them moved quickly towards the doors. Shutters opened all around the building. Arrows flew thickly. Every shaft bounced from the invisible shields that surrounded the soldiers, the barriers spiking briefly with colour as they repelled each impact.

Voices rose in shock and surprise. Sildaan glanced round at the growing crowd filling the piazza. The humans moved on, ignoring the shafts that continued to bounce harmlessly from the magical shields. The two squads reached the doors. One man stepped forward and tested the great iron rings. He shook his head and withdrew. One of the mages moved up and began to make small gestures in the air in front of his face.

Garan called out another order. Men advanced on the open shutters, forcing them to close and the arrows to cease. Another order. Half of his men on the piazza side turned to face the crowd. Other men were running in to bolster the defence. Sildaan felt a little exposed. She gestured to Hithuur, and the two of them walked a little way closer to the Gardaryn. Helias copied their move.

The mage finished his preparation. He held his hands in front of his face, palms forward, and made a shoving motion. The doors, designed to open out, groaned against their hinges. Sildaan could see them bowing inward at the centre. The mage, his body rigid, his arms shaking, dropped his head to his chest and pushed again, deliberately and slowly.

The doors shuddered. Rivets on the hinges popped. The top of the lintel cracked. Timbers in the doors bent and shattered. The mage cried out with the effort, withdrew his hands and shoved again, hard. The doors blew in on a cloud of splinters. Iron and timber tumbled into the hallway and through into the main chamber. Sildaan saw elves diving for cover. The shutters in the front of the building rattled. One threw its fastening and cracked a hinge, falling open and hanging broken.

The two squads of men ran inside, their mages behind them once again. From within, Sildaan heard shouts and the clash of metal, brief and final. From behind her she heard the shouts of elves angry at the damage to this cornerstone of their city. Glancing behind she saw a concerted move forward. Next to her, Garan saw it too and barked orders to warriors and mages.

'Don't worry,' he said. 'They can't get to you.'

'Let's get inside,' said Sildaan. 'Hithuur, get to records as quickly as you can. Helias, this is your building. Let's not leave things behind we don't want to.'

The four of them marched up to the shattered doors, Garan moving inside first. His men had subdued about twenty elves in the main chamber. The place was a mess. Blankets, discarded clothing and food, waterskins and rubbish were scattered across the floor. Sildaan picked her way towards the stage.

'Don't get too far ahead,' said Garan. He turned and shouted outside. 'Squads ten, eleven, twelve. Room to room. Move.'

More men ran inside, mages in the wake of swordsmen. Arrows flicked down from above, from the rafters where the TaiGethen used to hide. Garan did not flinch where Sildaan ducked reflexively, hands over her face. Garan stared up. There were multiple shapes of elves up there. He crooked a finger at them, speaking in clear common elvish.

'Best come down before we shoot you down. You cannot harm us but we can certainly harm you. It's your choice.' He waved a mage to him. 'Keep this chamber shielded. I don't care if they make a stand up there or not. It doesn't go well for them whichever way it works.'

'Yes, sir.'

Sildaan looked up to the rafters. Those staring down at her did so with eyes that hated, eyes that found it hard to accept their betrayal. Desperate, hopeless eyes.

'Do as he says,' she called. 'It's too late to resist.'

Hithuur was at her shoulder. He was looking at the partially scorched tapestries.

'We should keep these,' he said.

'Whatever for?' asked Sildaan.

'They are part of our history.'

Sildaan made a dismissive noise and pointed towards the administration and records offices through the back of the stage. She could hear a little fighting and a great deal of shouting and pleading.

'Through there, that's our history. At the museums, that's our history. These . . . these are lies, the invention of a romantic story-teller. They will burn.'

Sildaan sat alone on the steps of the Gardaryn. Through the long hours of sunshine and torrential rain, the records of a nation had been removed box by box from the building, loaded onto requisitioned carts and driven away under guard to the temple of Shorth. And during a day that was declining towards an angry, clouded dusk, the crowds had thickened on the piazza and all approaches to the Gardaryn. Word had travelled quickly. Elves of all threads thronged to see the emptying of their most loved building. They'd tried storming the magical barriers. They'd tried deputations of protest and reason. She had refused to treat with any of them.

Most of them now stood silent or in prayer. Occasionally, a chant would grow, one of the old chants denouncing the Ynissul, demanding freedom and equality of power. Loud, emotional chants from the mouths of what had to be fifteen to twenty thousand elves. But futile.

Garan sat down beside her. His men were moving the last of the records from front and rear, each box making a further statement to the ma.s.s before them.

'Where were they all hiding?'

Sildaan shrugged. 'At home, I guess. Funny, isn't it? Hithuur said it felt like the whole city had taken up arms and joined the mobs when Takaar was denounced, but it was hardly any of them really, was it? Most of them stayed home, unless they were forced to move, and hoped it would all blow over.'

'Why did they think that?'

Garan appeared genuinely interested. Sildaan shrugged again.

'We've had troubles before. We're complex in some ways and ever so simple in others. But there's always been a minority prepared to riot or march any time anything goes astray. We've had trouble with food shortages - unbelievable you'd think with the ocean here and the rainforest there - but it's true. We've had very unpopular building and tax laws and we've had stringent preservation laws pa.s.sed too. That's to name but a few.

'But there's always been the Al-Arynaar to restore order and the Gardaryn in which to protest and hold the government and the priesthood to account. Now there isn't, and they're just beginning to understand that things are changing for good. This strikes so deep at the elven soul that I'm surprised so many didn't feel it more plainly. But that's elves for you. Close their eyes, most of them, and pray the nightmare is gone by the morning.'

'Not this time,' said Garan.

'No indeed,' said Sildaan. 'How much longer?'

'We're almost done.'

'Good. I don't want the rain to spoil the show.'

Garan laughed. 'Mage fire cares not if it rains or shines, my priest.'

Sildaan was worried by that statement and wasn't completely sure why. Behind her, Keller sauntered out of the Gardaryn. He nodded at her.

'Empty,' he said. 'What's next.'

'Fireworks,' said Garan, getting up and brushing himself down. 'Sildaan, is the order given?'

Sildaan stood too. She gazed up at the beauty of the Gardaryn, the beetle. A thousand years of debate and, yes, she supposed, history. Obsolete now and a dangerous symbol of a way of life that had to change. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes briefly.

'It is.'

'Right. Keller, over to you. Set inside and out. I want this inferno seen from Balaia.'

'Consider it done.'

Sildaan stood. 'You're sure they'll hear me? You're sure I'll be safe?'

'This is going to be something no one will ever forget.'

And so it was that Sildaan stood on the steps of the Gardaryn a short while later. Above her, Gyal's tears fell with outraged ferocity. Behind her, the flames of the Gardaryn, tinged with the brown colour of human magic, roared into the dark sky. In front of her, twenty thousand elves howled their fury, impotent to act, helpless to save their most beloved building. And when she opened her mouth, with spell shields behind her keeping back the fires and more spells cast to amplify her every word, her voice echoed across the piazza and out into the city.

'Elves of Ysundeneth, hear me. Those of you in front of me now and locked terrified in your homes or cast out onto the streets. Hear me. I am Sildaan, scripture priest of Aryndeneth. I am the mouthpiece of Llyron, high priest of Shorth, who is, from this moment on, ruler of the elven nation of Calaius.'

The statement stilled the howling of the crowd more surely than Yniss appearing before them and putting a finger to his lips. The drumming of the rain and the hissing and roaring of the Gardaryn as it burned were thundering background to Sildaan's oration.

'The harmony is dead. The fragile belief held by many against the true nature of the elf has been torn to shreds. The true nature of Takaar, he who once walked with G.o.ds, has been revealed, and he has rightly been denounced along with his laws. We have all seen in the past days the real soul of the elf. It is in separation. It is in every thread to their own community. It is in power based on longevity.

'The Ynissul were put here by Yniss himself to rule. Wisdom can only be built by the immortal. Wisdom that can bring genuine peace to our race can only be handed down by those who have lived long enough to understand it. Elves have lived for a thousand years with the knowledge that those of other threads who deal with them do so through a thin veneer of brotherhood.

'Order, from this moment forth, will be restored. There will be no further violence between the threads. Know this. Those working for the Ynissul have the authority to act with any force necessary to keep the peace in our streets.

'Go back to your homes and wait for instructions. Know this. Until we re-establish the markets, your food and clothing and other essential needs will be serviced centrally by the harbour master. The operation of black markets and other measures of extortion amongst threads will be dealt with severely. Expect announcements on the living quarters for each thread. Some of you will be relocated. I suggest you gather all that is valuable to you or risk losing it.

'a.s.sets no longer in your gift if your thread is short-lived will be returned to the Ynissul for correct distribution as status demands. Other announcements will follow regarding employment and access to areas of the city, the temples and the rainforest. Any of you living in a mixed-thread partnership will be separated and your b.a.s.t.a.r.d offspring given to the temple of Shorth for education.

'You have all read the history of our race. You have all heard the stories. Yniss created this earth and the lesser G.o.ds to serve him. He created the Ynissul to rule the elves and the lesser threads to serve them. So shall it be again. So it is from this day forward.

'In the name of Yniss and his servant on this earth, Llyron, I make this statement. Peace and your G.o.d be with you.'

Sildaan walked from the steps, and before the dam of emotion burst, all she could hear was the sound of Ysundeneth weeping quietly.

Chapter 29.

Strike the earth where your enemy lays his head. Defeat lies in the absence of certainty and security.

The music of loss played on unchanged in the temple of Shorth. The musicians set in their dozen acoustic alcoves caressed their bamboo pipes with lips and fingers. The beauty of death filled the air. The priests and temple keepers, the Senserii and the scripture readers continued as they had done for millennia. For Shorth, there was no society, no pecking order of threads, no misery or joy. There was only life or death.

In Llyron's chambers, change was complete and total. A banquet was laid out on her dining table. White wine and wheat beer stood in flagons on tables around the edges of the room. Conversation was focused on the immediate problems of ruling Ysundeneth and wider Calaius.

'How long before we receive messages back from Tolt Anoor and Deneth Barine?' asked Llyron.

She was standing with what had become, for now, her inner circle. There were however many more senior priests in the rainforests making the necessary announcements and changes who would sit higher up the table than any of Sildaan, Hithuur and most certainly Helias.

'We can expect early indications in perhaps five days. Most likely it'll be ten and above before we'll know anything certain about the success or otherwise of our plans.' Sildaan took a sip of wine. Llyron had noticed that she imbibed very little, keeping her eyes on Garan and his mage Keller. 'We have no humans in either city to do what we did today so there will be a far longer period of ghettoisation and conflict among the threads.'

'All well and good so long as the faithful Ynissul are removed to safety,' said Llyron.

'It is the central strand of everything we are doing,' said Sildaan. 'All the faithful priests running the rainforest will make stops at both cities. The Tuali sympathisers we seeded in the Al-Arynaar forces ten years ago are ready. But there will inevitably be more bloodshed before order is resolved in the right way.'

Llyron nodded. 'Much work for Shorth to do. And interesting experiments in anarchy and a chasm in leadership giving rise to a clutching at any new hope by ordinary elves.'

'You sound like a textbook,' said Garan.

His mouth was full of food and a large wooden cup of wine was in his hand. Keller moved with him like his shadow.

'I am a student of history,' said Llyron evenly, moving away fractionally towards her three Senserii. 'I am also a student of warfare. Perhaps you could tell me how it is that you plan to keep this city as quiet as it currently is and, perhaps more importantly, how you intend to deal with our TaiGethen problem.'

Garan smiled. 'Both are, of course, inextricably linked. We expect and are ready for attacks by the TaiGethen at any time. We've been caught out once today but my people will shortly begin to lay magic-based traps and set up observation posts to warn of incoming enemies.

'I have had personal experience of exactly how skilled these Ynissul are. So don't worry that I'm being naive. But they have no defence against magical attack, and their numbers are small.

'We will kill from long range any who approach or enter the city. We will continually seek out their hiding places and kill them where they rest. And we will do the same with any remaining Al-Arynaar siding with them.

'As to the city, well, removal of the TaiGethen threat will serve to dampen any hope your somewhat reluctant subjects have of a turnaround in their fortunes. Even so, I have a little over five hundred swordsmen, archers and mages at my disposal. Not enough to maintain the peace if there is a concerted effort to rebel. Certainly not enough to help subdue populations in other cities.'

'And so?' said Llyron, shooting a sharp glance at Sildaan.

'We had the budget for the numbers we have and no more,' said Sildaan.

'Or your negotiation skills are not as honed as you led me to believe,' said Llyron.

Garan cleared his throat. 'I have to defend Sildaan here. Her price is ruinous, her bargaining severe. I would not have agreed had it not been for other factors.'

'Which include?' pressed Llyron. 'And will this answer our security question?'

'Yes, in a manner of speaking. Your money is only one way of paying a mercenary. To the man who sees it, the treasure is his when its owner no longer controls it. So my men are happy enough, and I think you expect that. But we need more men or the job will not be completed. So more are coming. Quite a lot more.'

'I beg your pardon?' said Sildaan. 'There is no agreement for this.'

'No, but it is happening anyway.'

'And there is no budget either.'

Garan laughed but his eyes were cold. 'Like I said, to the man who sees it, the treasure is his when its owner no longer controls it.'

The city was almost silent but for the violence flaring between the multiple threads locked together in the harbour master's warehouse. The guards outside did nothing to stop any trouble inside. Little did they care. Moving into full night, the sounds echoed out over the harbour, beyond the walls and out across the Ocean of Gyaam.

Katyett, Merrat and Grafyrre had scouted the harbour quarter and approaches. The area had been all but burned out barring key buildings occupied by the humans. Few could see what the TaiGethen could see from their perch on the roof of the warehouse. Even fewer could do anything about it.

'Should we not free all these beneath our feet? Cause some mayhem at the very least.'

'Not tonight, Graf. We have some brief time. Releasing them now would not achieve what we want. Most would be recaptured before the real problem hits, and that helps no one. And the humans would be alerted to the fact that their perimeter security is poor. We need to pick ourselves a time between now and the moment the humans burn this place to the ground.'

'When will that be, Katyett?'

Katyett stared out into the ocean. The moonlight was strong but she didn't really need it to see. A lot of sails were coming. Fifty at least. Perhaps two thousand more men from the north with their muscle and their magic.

'The wind has backed. It's offsh.o.r.e now and likely to remain so for days,' said Katyett. 'They'll be in the harbour in two days, maybe three. It is then that captives like all those beneath us will become mere irritation. Make no mistake. Men have come here to conquer.'

'So what now?' asked Merrat.