Benjamin Tate - Well of Sorrows

Aeren’s unease grew, but a moment later the page exited the council tent and said, “The Tamaell and the Tamaell Presumptive are waiting inside.”

He found the Tamaell and the Tamaell Presumptive sitting on mounds of pillows surrounding a large rectangular board of polished wood, a map spread over its length, held down with small lead obelisks at the four corners. Numerous other lead figures were strewn out over the map, and as Aeren moved into the room at a gesture from the Tamaell, he realized that the map depicted the entire length and breadth of the plains. Hills and valleys were shown, including the Escarpment. Settlements were denoted with black markings, human, dwarren, and the few Alvritshai villages established on the plains. Water sources were marked in blue, the forests in green. The rest of the map-the grassland-was shaded in various golds and yellows and browns.

The map was beautiful…

Except for the large black masses of lead figures in three separate locations across the plains.

With one quick glance, Aeren felt his heart shudder and closed his eyes, bowing his head slightly. He sent a small prayer to Aielan, then opened his eyes and met the Tamaell’s gaze.

“I see you understand the situation,” the Tamaell said, his voice heavy.

“Yes, Tamaell. I believe I do.”

The Tamaell nodded and motioned for Aeren to take a seat beside him, opposite the Tamaell Presumptive. Eraeth settled in opposite the Tamaell.

“King Stephan has left me no choice,” the Tamaell began. He pointed to the board as he spoke, moving from each massed group of figures to the other. “He’s gathered a large force of his Legion here, by our last accounting, and is headed toward the plains. I did not expect him to move, not when he is being pressed on the coast by the continued attacks of the Andovans in their attempt to reclaim their lost colonies. But those attacks are affecting Stephan’s army. He has not been able to gather as many of the Legion to him as he probably wanted, but he has certainly gathered more than enough to be a threat to us.”

“More than we have here in the envoy,” Eraeth murmured.

The Tamaell nodded, his expression grim. “Yes.” He turned his attention to the group that represented the dwarren, a frown creasing his forehead. “According to the scouts who have managed to get close to the dwarren gathering, there are more dwarren coming to the meeting than expected as well. Again, their force is larger than our own, around three thousand.”

“Which means it’s a true Gathering,” Aeren said. “For that many dwarren to be gathered together at once, there must be at least three clans represented, if not more. This means that the dwarren are serious about seeking peace. They could never have gathered that many clans together otherwise.”

“Unless they intend to simply overwhelm us,” the Tamaell Presumptive said.

Aeren turned to him, noticed how young he appeared. But not vulnerable. The time spent with the Phalanx on the borders had given the Tamaell Presumptive an edge, a hardness that Aeren did not remember seeing in him before he’d left. “The dwarren have never been able to work together before this.”

“Except at the Escarpment. And they were slaughtered there. Do you think that has been forgotten?” The Tamaell Presumptive shifted forward, his eyes narrowing. “I think it more likely that they remember, perhaps too well, and they-all of them-see a chance for reprisal.”

Aeren thought back to Garius and their meeting in the dwarren clan chief ’s tent. He did not think Garius intended vengeance.

However he could not say the same for Garius’ son, Shea.

“The dwarren are not that devious,” he said instead. “They are not a subtle race.”

The Tamaell replied. “No, they are not. But their intentions are irrelevant. I cannot ignore the presence of the Legion. Not this close, and not with those numbers.”

Aeren bowed his head. “You’ve ordered the envoy to intercept the Legion.”

“There is no other option.” Aeren couldn’t ignore the note of warning in the Tamaell’s voice.

“And what of the dwarren? Will we simply leave them?”

The Tamaell frowned, although Aeren couldn’t determine whether it was in annoyance or offense. “We will not ignore them either.” He shifted, reaching forward to retrieve a new set of lead figures from a flat, narrow box at the edge of the map table. “Unknown to any but Lords Khalaek, Jydell, and Waerren, I’ve had a force of two thousand mixed Alvritshai House Phalanx gathering on the edge of Alvritshai lands here,” he said, placing the figures on the map. “I’ve sent orders that they are to move immediately, in the hope that they can join with the envoy… here.” He pointed to a spot on the map and purposefully met Aeren’s gaze.

Aeren froze, his body rigid, all the hope he’d held out for the meeting with the dwarren stilled. “The Escarpment.”

The Tamaell drew back. “Yes.”

In his mind’s eye, Aeren could see the movement of the armies, could see them gathering, amassing as they moved toward the break in the land called the Escarpment. For a moment, he thought he could feel the earth shuddering beneath him with the tread of their feet, thought he could hear the clank and rattle and groan as the wagons moved. He smelled the sweat of their bodies, tasted the blood that would be spilled.

“All to come together there,” he whispered, barely aware he spoke the thought out loud. “There, on that grass, on that soil. Again.”

The words held in the silence for a long moment, somehow potent, throbbing with intensity.

But then the Tamaell leaned forward. “Not all,” he said. “You and the Tamaell Presumptive will go to meet with the dwarren as planned. To extend to them my apologies.”

“No! Leave the cursed wagon behind!”

Servants scrambled, the tents already nothing but lumps of canvas on the grass, rolled up haphazardly and chucked into a stack waiting to be packed. Everything else in the army was being packed and thrown onto wagons as well, but Aeren noticed a few troubled glances among his own servants. He rarely barked orders, or spoke impatiently. They knew something had happened. But all they’d heard was that the army was moving, and they didn’t understand why their lord had suddenly decided to split the Rhyssal escort, loading only essentials on the horses, leaving the wagon and everything he wouldn’t need for the next ten days with the army.

“Remind me again why we aren’t taking the wagon to meet with the dwarren?” Eraeth murmured blandly, as if he were bored.

Aeren frowned in irritation. “Because the Tamaell ordered me to escort the Tamaell Presumptive to the meeting with the dwarren, but he didn’t say it had to be at a leisurely pace. I intend to get there as fast as possible, let Thaedoren give the dwarren the Tamaell’s regrets,” Aeren couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice, “and then catch up to the Tamaell’s army as soon as possible. I’ll drive the horses into the ground if I have to.”

“I see.”

Aeren shot his Protector a glare, but Eraeth didn’t see it, his face set in a hard frown of concentration.

“Have you informed the Tamaea of what you intend? She may be able to slow the Tamaell down and give you more time.”

Aeren considered, then cursed himself. The Tamaell’s decision had riled him too much. He wasn’t thinking, only reacting.

He sauntered to the edge of the main convoy, Eraeth following, then raised a hand to shade his eyes from the sunlight, pretending to scan the horizon. He focused on the head of the army, too distant to pick out individuals. But he could pick out the Tamaea’s banner and the small group of figures beneath it.