Roger Taylor - The waking of Orthlund

Yatsu laid his own hand an the carver’s. ‘I know, Orthlundyn, I know,’ he said. Then looking up at him. ‘Just leave me alone for a while. I need to think amp;mdashto go through my own memories and say my farewells.’

As he walked back through the castle, Isloman was glad of the sense of normality provided by the routine comings and goings of the people he passed. Soon all would know the news and this simple solace would be gone. Not only because the castle would be in mourning but because, in the assassination of the King, another irrevocable step had been taken away from the light and towards some grim future.

‘This is beyond belief,’ said Arinndier furiously, bringing his fist down on the round table. Isloman started; such an outburst was completely alien to the discipline he had seen the Fyordyn adopt in their discussions. ‘The King slaughtered like that!’ Arinndier continued. ‘And all those people in the city. We’ve dithered enough.’ There were murmurs of approval round the table. ‘Now you’re back, and the Queen’s safe, we must strike immediately. We must… ’

‘We must think, Arin.’ Eldric’s voice cut across Arinndier’s outburst. ‘Be silent.’

Arinndier’s jaw jutted out defiantly.

‘Sit down, Lord,’ Eldric shouted, before Arinndier could speak again, their two angers merging. Then, more softly, and with a pleading gesture. ‘Sit down.’

For a moment, Arinndier held Eldric’s gaze before reluctantly lowering himself into his chair.

Eldric looked round the table. With the exception of Tel-Odrel and Lorac there was no one there whose face was not pale and shocked.

‘I don’t know what to say, gentlemen,’ he began. ‘What we’ve learned today together with what we’ve been told by Isloman and the Queen gives us an appalling picture. One that confirms the very worst of the conjectures and suspicions we’ve been debating for so long. One that… ’

‘One that demands immediate action,’ Arinndier interrupted again. Eldric raised a hand to stop him, but this time he would not be silenced. ‘We must stop debating and act.’ Again, other voices were raised in support.

‘We’re far short of our full strength,’ Eldric said hastily, though as soon as he uttered the words he cringed inwardly as he realized he had allowed himself to be drawn into this irrelevant debate.

‘There’s more than enough,’ Arinndier said. ‘Dan-Tor’s hurt. The Mathidrin have been drawn in from miles around and by all accounts they’re billeted everywhere, totally unprepared for a major attack. We mightn’t even face effective opposition in Vakloss itself if we move quickly.’

Eldric grimaced. ‘My every instinct is to agree with you, Arin,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing I’d rather do now than arm and ride to face Dan-Tor, battle horns blaring, and hack the man and his black-liveried creatures down.’ He slapped the table and closed his eyes in frustration. ‘But these aren’t the thoughts of rational men, are they?’ he continued more quietly. ‘We’re all shocked. Look at the way we’re conducting ourselves. We all need time to take in this dreadful news.’

But Arinndier pressed on. ‘We’ve taken too much time already, Eldric,’ he said. ‘We can’t debate this endlessly.’

Eldric put his hands to his head in an attempt to bring his own thoughts under control before the meeting deteriorated into a noisy brawl. ‘For mercy’s sake, Arin. Think,’ he said. ‘In the short time I’ve been here, even I can see we haven’t enough men or supplies for a full assault on the City. Hreldar and Darek’s men are presumably still far from fighting standard. We don’t even yet know the sympathies of all our neighbours. What price our flanks and supply lines, Arin? It’s a long way to Vakloss.’

Arinndier turned away as if not to hear such argu-ments. Eldric continued.

‘And if we arrive unscathed at the City, what then? Street fighting. Man to man. Probably something these creatures are good at. And all done in the midst of frightened citizens milling everywhere. It would be like a battle of rats. Who knows how many would die?’

‘It doesn’t have to be that way… ’ Arinndier began, turning back.

Yatsu interrupted. ‘Lord Eldric’s correct,’ he said. ‘We must allow time for the shock of this news to pass. With the possible exception of Tel-Odrel and Lorac, none of us here are in a fit state to discuss tactics and strategy. We must collect ourselves and honour the death of our King fittingly.’

Arinndier turned on him angrily. ‘By doing noth-ing?’ he said.

Yatsu held his gaze. ‘By behaving like Fyordyn, Lord,’ he said, scarcely containing his own anger. ‘Have you forgotten so soon what we’ve just been told? Men and supplies are irrelevant. Dan-Tor isn’t a man, he’s a… demon… a natural force amp;mdashor an unnatural one… what you will, it doesn’t matter. The point is that he obliterated half a city with a mere gesture. Would you move close-ranked infantry or cavalry against such a force, Lord?’

Yatsu’s words hung cold and unrelenting in the sunlit air of the meeting hall, their implications brutal in their simplicity. For a moment Arinndier searched for a rebuttal but, finding none, his truer self asserted itself and his rage evaporated. He bowed his head. ‘I’m sorry Goraidin, Eldric. You’re right. Grief unmans us all. I apologize. I’ll leave you until… ’

He stood up.

‘Stay, Arin,’ Eldric said gently. ‘We’d be poor souls indeed if we didn’t rage at such events. You spoke no more than the rest of us thought.’

Arinndier remained standing and looked at Eldric. Despondency had filled the void that his anger had left. ‘But what could we do against such a power?’ he said quietly.

Eldric shook his head. ‘What Yatsu said is correct. The prospect of ranks of men walking against such a force is unthinkable. And yet one man did, and survived.’ He looked at the inert form of Hawklan, sitting next to Isloman, seemingly asleep but eerily present. ‘We’re a long way from the Geadrol in every sense now, Arin,’ he went on. ‘All we have is more and more questions, and fewer and fewer answers.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘It’s all well beyond Gathering, I’m afraid. So I suppose that logic dictates we must leap beyond logic for our guidance.’

He fell silent and stared down at the table pensively for a while. ‘For what it’s worth, gentlemen, my feeling is that we must prepare our men to fight his men, and that opposition to his power, and the power of his Master, will come from some other source. Though Ethriss knows where.’ He looked again at Hawklan for a moment, then turned back to Yatsu, practical now. ‘Failing that, we’ll have to approach him by stealth and assassinate him.’

Before anyone could respond, he became brisk and matter of fact. ‘In any event, those are ideas for another time. Another time quite soon,’ he added reassuringly. ‘Now I must see the Queen, and express our sorrow and horror at what’s happened and assure her of our continuing loyalty. By the Law, she’s our ruler now. Yatsu, Varak, gather everyone into the main courtyard. I don’t relish it, but it’s my duty to tell them about this and the sooner it’s done the better. Tomorrow I declare to be Dith-Galar, a day of mourning for our King, when we can each ponder and remember in stillness and quiet, and remind ourselves of the great gift of life. After that we can indeed begin to talk about the future.’

He stood up quickly and with a curt nod dismissed the meeting. As chairs scraped back and low conversa-tions began, a thought struck him and he raised his hand for attention. ‘A small point, gentlemen,’ he said. ‘No. Not a small one,’ he added reflectively. ‘A most important one. And though he’s not here, I ask the pardon of the man concerned for not mentioning it before.’ He looked at the circle of men. ‘The part of Secretary Dilrap in this matter is to be mentioned to no one. That man alone is worthy of our best efforts. The King is dead, but a brave man lives, and we must honour and protect him by our silence. Absolute silence, for his sake and for our own. One whiff of gossip and he could be extinguished like a candle.’ He raised a cautionary finger. ‘Remember.’