Exodus of the Xandim (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (46 page)

‘You bastard!’ Tiolani shrieked, and flung the goblet at him, forcing him to dodge aside with an oath. It missed him by a hair’s breadth and flew past his head, splattering him
with sticky, blood-red wine as it hit the wall behind him. Cordain took an involuntary step towards the door. He’d forgotten that her rages could be every bit as incandescent as her
father’s.

‘Are you going senile?’ she shouted. ‘Have you forgotten who tried to warn you that this was a stupid idea? Didn’t I tell you the Wizard was dangerous? Didn’t I
warn you that she’d already slain Hellorin’s spymaster Dhagon, the most lethal killer in Eliorand? Didn’t I tell you, over and over, that you needed to send me with Nychan, to act
as bait and lure Iriana into a trap? But no, you wouldn’t listen. You didn’t trust me. And just look where it got you! How
dare
you try to shift the blame for this mess onto
me. When my father wakes up and finds out how you’ve treated me—’

Her words jolted Cordain to the core. She could have said nothing more likely to influence him. He let her continue to rant while he made a swift reassessment of his position. The Lord of the
Phaerie definitely seemed to be improving now, thanks to Tiolani’s revelations that had resulted in the removal of the spurious Healers brought in by Ferimon. What was he likely to say about
his Chief Counsellor’s actions while he’d been indisposed? Tiolani had been the worst sort of fool, it was true, but she had almost paid for her folly with her life. And on her
miraculous return, what had Cordain done? Actually imprisoned the Forest Lord’s only surviving heir.

As for her deeds, Hellorin might regret the deaths of the key Hemifae traders and artificers that Tiolani had dispatched, but he would not view their murders in such a grave light as Cordain
did. He had far too much blood on his own hands for that, and would view their loss as more of an inconvenience than an atrocity. Indeed, he might even be secretly delighted that his daughter had
inherited his merciless nature. Though Tiolani had made mistakes, she had finally unmasked the traitor who had almost slain the Phaerie Lord and killed his son. And Hellorin was more likely to be
pleased, rather than concerned, by the way she had pretended to make an alliance with her enemies then betrayed them at the first opportunity.

Cordain saw things differently, but he would no longer be in charge once Hellorin was restored. The tables would be turned then, and Tiolani would have power over
him.
Maybe it was time
he started trusting her – or pretending to, at any rate. In fact, there was a certain amount of reason in what she was saying. It looked as though Nychan’s ambush had failed. Unease
crept up Cordain’s spine like the touch of cold fingers. How powerful was this Wizard, if she could manage to overcome so many armed warriors? Just what was he up against here? For the
thousandth time he wished that the Forest Lord was back to shoulder all the ruler’s burdens, but what was the point of that? In the real world it was up to Cordain, but at least he could
shift part of the responsibility onto Tiolani.

Furthermore, until Hellorin recovered, only she could cast the flying spell. Without her the Phaerie were grounded and helpless: not a good situation to be in with a powerful Wizard on the
loose. It was imperative he send out another squad without delay to find out what had happened to Nychan and his men. Cordain needed to make his peace with Tiolani immediately. He was forced to
trust her, to reveal his plans – and to hope that he’d made the right decision.

‘Well?’ Tiolani demanded, jerking his attention back to her.

Hastily Cordain gathered his wandering thoughts. ‘My Lady Tiolani, you are absolutely right.’ (There, that should cover whatever she’d been saying.) ‘I owe you an
apology,’ he went on. ‘You must understand that I was forced to be cautious at first, simply because you’d arrived in the company of thieves and traitors. I was simply trying to
safeguard your father’s realm for when he returned, but I am not accustomed to ruling, as Hellorin is. If I have made mistakes I apologise most profoundly.’

Tiolani regarded him with narrow-eyed suspicion. ‘And what has brought about this sudden change of heart?’

Cordain forced a smile. ‘You argue most eloquently, my dear. It’s a wise man who is not afraid to admit that he was wrong. I needed to be sure that I could trust you, but
you’ve convinced me now, and with that Wizard at large, we need to work together to safeguard the Phaerie realm.’ He held out a hand to her. ‘Come, child – please forgive
me. We are more powerful together than we could be singly, and we have a great deal to do in very little time.’

Concealing her relief, Tiolani took his hand. In this game of shifting power between them, he must never know how much she needed him. She had betrayed both sides now. Until her father could
recover and protect her, she was treading a very dangerous path.

She smiled fixedly again. ‘Let us be friends once more, Cordain, and work together to protect our people. How may I assist you? I presume, to begin with, you will want to send out more
warriors, to find out what happened to Nychan and his men.’

‘Indeed I do,’ said Cordain. ‘I would also like you to come down to the stables with me, my lady. I have a surprise for you.’

Tiolani didn’t like surprises. It was a long time since she’d had a pleasant one. Suspicious and uneasy, she followed Cordain through the palace, doing her best to ignore the curious
looks she was receiving from all sides. She was cheered, however, when she emerged through the massive outer doors to find bright sunlight and a cool, lively breeze. Despite all her troubles, she
felt her spirits lift a little. After her imprisonment in the palace, it was wonderful to be able to move about in the fresh air again. And there, waiting for her at the bottom of the steps was her
dear Asharal, the horse that had been a gift from her brother.

‘Asharal!’ she exclaimed delightedly. ‘Oh, how long it’s been since I saw him last.’

Cordain smiled. ‘Just to prove that I really do trust you, my lady, I thought you might like to fly across to the stables with me.’

‘I would love to. I’ve missed my Asharal.’ Her face grew clouded. ‘If only I’d been riding him, instead of Corisand, on the night Aelwen and Kelon absconded, things
might have turned out very differently.’

‘Had that been so, you might never have discovered Ferimon’s duplicity,’ Cordain said. By this time she had told him a carefully edited version of what had transpired that
night. ‘Would you really have wanted that?’

‘I suppose not.’ She sighed. ‘Though I do feel like such a fool for letting him deceive me so easily.’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, what’s done is done.
There’s no changing it now. Come on, Cordain. Let us deal with the problems of today.’

Tiolani was finding it easier to accomplish the flying spell, now that she’d had a little practice. In no time at all she and Cordain were airborne, rising above the palace and the city
below, herself on Asharal and the counsellor riding his own Gial, whose shining coat was so dark that it verged on black. Knowing what she knew now, Hellorin’s daughter found herself
wondering what the horses, especially her own mount, would look like in their human form. The memory of the way she’d abused Asharal, riding him into lameness and total exhaustion with the
Wild Hunt, in her frenzied pursuit of the feral mortals who’d ambushed Hellorin and killed her brother, was not a happy one, and she was all too glad to shrug it off.

It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.

She seemed to be using that phrase all the time lately. It was the only way she could keep going – to put the past, with all its mistakes, behind her and look to the future.

In the present, things were looking up. To be riding on her precious Asharal in the sun and the wind was a joy. To be able to look down again at her city, its shining rooftops, its graceful
trees, its markets and parks with all the Phaerie going about their daily business, was a miracle. To be safely back in Eliorand, restored to her former position – even if it
was
in
an uneasy alliance with Cordain – was more than she could ever have hoped for. Ferimon was dead and gone, and Aelwen, with her inconvenient appeals to Tiolani’s conscience, was out of
the way, hopefully for good.

Hellorin would not die, and was apparently on the road to recovery – though that wasn’t necessarily such a comfortable thought. She shuddered to think what he would say about all the
mistakes she’d made since the future of the realm had been thrust into her unready hands. But he loved her, didn’t he? He would understand, surely? Surely. Especially since she was
saving his beloved horses for him. And she
would
save them. Now that she knew what Corisand and the others were planning she could be on her guard. The Xandim could be scattered, hidden .
. .

At that moment, they finally came in sight of the stables, the barns and buildings neat and tidy amid their patchwork of surrounding paddocks and meadows. But what was this? Why were there so
many animals here? Tiolani’s heart almost stopped beating. Everywhere she looked there were horses. Stallions, geldings, mares and foals; grey, black, chestnut, brown, roan and dun. All of
the Xandim – surely it must be all of them – gathered together in one place. A lure, a temptation and a target. Easy pickings. Cordain had done half of Corisand’s work for her
already.

Furious, she rounded on the counsellor. ‘What have you done, you fool?
What have you done?
’

He was still justifying his actions, defensive and more than a little annoyed, as they descended towards the stables and the crowded fields below. ‘The animals were too vulnerable,
scattered as they were between this place, the outlying meadows and the northern pastures where we rest them in the summer. Here, all together, they can be safeguarded. I have warriors hidden all
around the perimeter . . .’ He droned on, smug and complacent, until Tiolani itched to slap him.

‘Don’t you see what you’ve done?’ she interrupted. ‘The way things were before, the Wizard’s biggest problem was collecting the horses all together. She might
have taken some of them, but it was virtually impossible to get them all.’

‘The point is,’ Cordain cut across her, ‘we don’t want the Wizard to get any of them. Even if she captured a few, she’d still have the start of a breeding herd,
then the Phaerie would lose all of their airborne supremacy over our foes. The only way to guard against that happening is to keep the horses together.’

While they’d been speaking they had landed, and now that they’d dismounted, he reached across and patted her arm in a condescending way that had Tiolani grinding her teeth.
‘Now don’t you worry about it, my dear. You are young as yet, and untrained in strategy. Just leave these annoying details to me and everything will be fine. I promise I won’t let
anyone take your father’s horses.’

She had trapped herself, of course. Cordain had based his strategy on the lie she’d told him: that Iriana wanted to steal the Phaerie horses as breeding stock to give the Wizards an
advantage in warfare. He had no idea, because she couldn’t tell him, about the true identity of the Xandim steeds, and the fact that Corisand planned to rescue her people – all of them.
And thanks to Cordain, here they were. Tiolani thought quickly. ‘But what if the Wizard comes,’ she protested. ‘You’ve put all our eggs in one basket, and crowded together
like this, they make a perfect target.’

‘Of course they do.’ Cordain beamed at her. ‘Too perfect. Irresistible, in fact.’ He gave her a toothy smile. ‘A target, a temptation – and bait for the
perfect trap.’

Tiolani stared him, dismayed by such arrogance, such complacency. ‘You’re taking a dreadful risk,’ she said. ‘I hope you’re right. For all our sakes, you’d
better be.’

‘The fool! The idiot! The thrice-cursed imbecile!’ Hellorin stormed. With an oath he tore his attention away from the patch of clear ice on the floor of
Aerillia’s throne room, and got to his feet.

The Moldan sat on her throne at the far end of her immense hall of ice regarding him dispassionately. ‘I don’t know why you keep watching.’ Her voice came to him echoingly
across the great stretches of blue-white shining floor. ‘It only makes you angry and frustrated. When I provided the ice-mirror so that you could scry into your own world, I didn’t
realise that you would become so obsessed.’

‘Not so much obsessed as desperate,’ Hellorin snarled. ‘And can you blame me? While I am trapped here, my kingdom is falling into ruin. Tiolani and Cordain can’t even
make one good ruler between them, while I am forced to sit there and watch them make mistake after mistake.’ He smote his fist into his palm. ‘I must get back. I
have
to! Ten
thousand curses on that Windeye for taking the Fialan and leaving me here to rot. She robbed me of the only chance I had.’

A gigantic figure on her throne of ice, Aerillia looked at him, considering. Despite their former alliance, it was unfortunate that Hellorin had ever been allowed to return to the Elsewhere. He
no longer belonged here. He caused nothing but trouble, spreading ripples of unease and unrest throughout the sensitive atmosphere of this world where the Old Magic ruled, and the repercussions
from the slightest action might set in motion a devastating chain of events.

At least the Fialan had been taken from the Elsewhere, much to Aerillia’s relief. The Windeye and her Wizard friend had achieved the impossible. But that still left Hellorin and Ghabal,
now recovered from the damage they had taken in the battle for the Stone of Fate, here in this world, with a mammoth grudge still festering between them. All too soon they would be back at one
another’s throats. It was inevitable.

She wanted them gone, with all the problems and danger that came with them. Let the mundane world have them both and be damned to the consequences! She knew a way – risky, uncertain but a
chance at least – to use the Fialan as a gateway one more time, and if she told Hellorin how to wrest such a portal open, then Ghabal would surely follow. Everyone here in the Elsewhere would
be better off without them. She must take one final risk of helping the Forest Lord, and hope and pray that her idea worked.