The Swordsman's Oath (Einarinn 2) (58 page)

“Even if we could find a way out undetected, half these people would be dead before you’d crossed the first range of mountains, Temar.” Den Fellaemion looked down the rough-cut steps crudely hacked into the rock to give access to the main body of the cave. Temar followed his gaze, to the knots of families huddled together over a few meager possessions salvaged from the nightmare, at the individuals sitting isolated in the horror of their memories, at the still ranks of wounded, laid carefully on beds improvised from cloaks, blankets and in not a few cases leafy branches and sacking. The oppressive silence had a dull, defeated quality, broken only occasionally by a child’s whimper or a low sob of pain, mental or physical.

“We can’t just give up!” protested Temar, fighting to shore up his own determination.

“We can hide ourselves in a sleep woven of Artifice,” Guinalle said softly, boundless pity in her soft eyes as she looked down at the ragged remnant of the once optimistic colonists. “We can give these people respite, all life and thought suspended, Arimelin willing, until help can come to drive away these invaders.”

“How?” demanded Temar, incredulous.

“There is a way to separate mind and body,” Guinalle shook the loose hair back from her face and fumbled in a pocket for something to tie it back. “It is a rarely used technique…” her voice faltered for an instant, “only considered in times of grave illness, as a rule. The mind, the consciousness, the essence of the person, is bound into something they value, something they have an attachment to. With the mind removed and in stasis within the artifact, the body is held uncorrupted in an enchantment until the two are reunited.”

“And how would you propose to do that, even supposing you manage to do this with so many people?” Temar stared at her, absently handing her a scrap of leather thong pulled from the trim of his jerkin.

“This is where sending a small detachment overland to the new settlement becomes a valid plan. You’re right, Temar, there is a way through the caves; some of the miners found it a while back. It’s difficult and narrow, underwater in places but it’s passable with care and Misaen’s favor.” Animation brought a false hint of color to Den Fellaemion’s wasted cheeks. “We send a picked band, fighting men, good in the wilds, to get past the invaders undetected, with the aid of Artifice if we can spare someone. They can take these valuables, wherever the minds of these folk left behind reside.”

“To tell the stockmen to strike back, to mount a rescue?” Temar’s doubts warred with gathering hope in his voice.

“No.” Den Fellaemion shook his head decisively. “To tell them to take ship and flee, Dastennin guard them. Curse it, Temar, you’ve served your House in the Cohorts; how could farmers and stockmen hope to take on greater numbers of trained troops, secure in a defended position, even without the complications of Artifice? No, my orders will be absolutely clear; they must make all speed back to Zyoutessela while the weather is favorable. Then they must enlist the aid of every House that has blood or tenants here in gathering a fleet to come in force and drive these white-haired demons back to their barren islands.”

“You think the help will come in time?” asked Temar, struggling to absorb this astounding proposal. “Could force enough be rallied to cross the ocean before the autumn sets in?”

“Could the Sieur of any House deny his support, given tokens that contain the very life-essence of his people to hold in his hand? Could he face his brothers and sons knowing he was condemning those minds to forever remain frozen and insensible, far from their bodies sleeping in a distant cavern for all eternity?” Den Fellaemion’s voice was soft, but his eyes were as keen as steel.

“I see what you mean,” said Temar faintly. “How could they refuse?”

“So will you help us?” Guinalle asked, her eyes pleading with Temar. “We need to persuade our people here that this is their only hope. We have to call on all the ingrained loyalties to each Name that we bear, give them just enough information to convince them to do this. Without their belief in the plan, it cannot work.”

Temar nodded, his mind already searching the plan for any flaw or opportunity. “So who will you be sending overland?” he asked Den Fellaemion, “Those with families in the new settlement might be best—”

“They will be the first to submit to Guinalle’s ministrations,” Den Fellaemion said sternly. “Use your wits, Temar, these people have been through a waking nightmare and I am only going to put demands on them where I must.”

“I don’t understand,” frowned Temar.

“Think about it, lad,” the Messire rubbed a weary hand over his bloodless lips. “If we are sending people away from horror and death, toward safety and their loved ones, if danger threatens, who among them is going to struggle to protect a burden, however precious they have been told it might be? I don’t mean to condemn our people as cowards, but be realistic, Temar, we need to send men who will lose their lives before they lose these valuables. More than that, we need to give the settlers at the new port every incentive to get home, to rouse a riot if need be, to summon aid and bring help to restore their own loved ones to life again.”

Temar could see Guinalle was as shaken by this uncompromising argument as he was.

“It can only be a matter of time before these invaders follow the coast south and find the new settlement. There’s more to this than simply protecting our own lives, you know,” Den Fellaemion continued, his pale eyes distant. “I do not understand how these murdering bastards came to this land but I will not leave them our great ships to steal, to cross the ocean with and fall upon an unsuspecting Empire, especially if the chaos that we have heard of is worsening. I bless Dastennin that they were all sent south for refitting in those more sheltered waters. If we must die here, so be it, but I spend my life in defense of my honor to my House, even if my Emperor is a wastrel and a fool.”

Guinalle and Temar exchanged an uncertain look. He stifled the qualms gnawing at his empty belly and squared his shoulders.

“I won’t fail you, Messire,” said Temar formally, resolutely banishing his own terror at the prospect of a journey through cramped and dangerous caves. “You may lay this burden on me.”

“Guinalle, could you go and help Avila, make a start on getting a meal inside these people. Warm food, however little, will put some heart into them.”

Guinalle blinked, evidently surprised at this albeit gentle dismissal, but rose obediently from her damp seat and made her way carefully down the slick steps into the cave.

“You won’t be leading the expedition overland, Temar,” Den Fellaemion said crisply.

“You cannot be thinking of going yourself, Messire—” protested Temar hotly.

“No, I am not, I know I haven’t the strength left.” Den Fellaemion shook his head. “This throw of the runes falls to Vahil.”

“But surely—”

“Hear me out, Esquire.” Den Fellaemion folded his arms over his narrow chest and looked steadily at Temar. “Vahil has Elsire at the new settlement and, yes, I know what I said about choosing those who would go, but this is a special case. The thought of rescuing Elsire is just about all that is keeping Vahil on his feet at present, all that is stopping him succumbing to the shock of seeing his parents slaughtered before him. I’m not going to remove that prop and, more importantly, I need Vahil and especially Elsire to demand aid from the Empire. As nephew and niece to the Sieur of arguably the mightiest Name in the south, their demands will not go unmet, I’m sure of it. Their uncle will get things moving, he will have to or be forever dishonored.”

“And D’Alsennin is a fallen House with little or no influence, is that it?” Temar could not keep the bitterness out of his voice.

“Hardly. Your grandfather will take Nemith himself by the ears to shake some sense into the sot, if need be.” Den Fellaemion smiled faintly. “No, it’s rather that I want you here, at Guinalle’s side, just in case of the unexpected.”

“How do you mean?” Temar looked up, a little heartened.

Den Fellaemion drew a sigh deep into his thin frame. “Guinalle is confident that this extraordinary idea will work and, more, that she will be able to conceal all traces of the cave where you are hidden. I have to confess I still have concerns. We do not know just what Artifice these invaders are capable of and I am worried lest they find you all and somehow revive you. Guinalle has had to admit that in theory the body might be used to summon the mind from afar and in any case, whatever she chooses to contain her mind will have to remain with her body, since she has to be the last awake to seal you all in.” He looked after Guinalle, small in the vastness of the cavern as she knelt beside a weeping child.

“Of course, she swears that were she to wake to find herself in the hands of the invaders, she would use the last of her skills to warn the Empire then to stop her own heart, but I am concerned that if these savages have the Artifice to wake her they might also have the skills to take her will from her and bend her to their purpose. Should that happen, Temar, I would want you here above anyone else, to defend Guinalle and to find a way to salvage something from the wreckage of our colony, even if it is only spending your life in killing whoever has the Artifice to defeat Guinalle’s enchantments. I know I can rely on you for that, D’Alsennin. I can think of no other I could call upon.”

Temar could not find any words in the confusion of emotions within him until one question above all others demanded an answer. “But you will be here, Messire, surely?”

“No, Temar, I shall not.” Den Fellaemion moved to the edge of the alcove and looked out at the dark-green secrets of the gorge below them, the shadows deepening. “Walk a little with me, Esquire. We can check on the look-outs.”

Temar drew a deep breath of the fragrant air as they made their careful way along the ledge at the front of the cavern, slippery with returning dew where the sunlight had never reached the stone. Coming out of the shadow, Temar turned his face to the meager warmth, the chill of the rocks seemingly sunk into his bones. Den Fellaemion rubbed his thin hands together, the hooked nails almost blue against the papery skin.

“I’m dying, Temar,” he said simply. “The whole reason Guinalle started to research this arcane ritual was in a desperate hope that I would agree to be sent back to Bremilayne in such a sleep, to the shrine of Ostrin where the Adepts might have the skill to destroy the canker that’s eating away at my vitals.” He smiled, this time with fondness. “The dear girl does so hate to be beaten. Anyway, that’s how all this started,” he continued briskly, “but by now there is no likelihood that I could be revived, even if the enchantment did not kill me outright. In any case, knowing that Saedrin waits just beyond the door for me, I cannot see the virtue in sleeping awhile, only to waken to die. I intend to spend my life to some purpose at the last; I am going to take a ship, the rails lined with the fallen, and attempt to run the blockade myself.”

“That’s suicide,” said Temar faintly.

“It’s a diversion,” Den Fellaemion contradicted him with a glint in his eye. “I will cast off the day after Vahil has set off through the caves. That should tie up these invaders just as he should be reaching the way out and it ought to keep them from getting curious about the far valley. I will greet Saedrin with a sword in my hand and an oath to Dastennin on my lips, Temar; I don’t think he will rebuke me for the waste of a life.”

“More likely Poldrion will give you passage to the Other-world for free.” Temar blinked away hot tears and scowled at an inoffensive bush.

As leaves behind them rustled, both turned to see Guinalle picking a cautious path through the undergrowth. “If we are to do this, we have to do it soon,” she said firmly as she approached. “At present, most of them are still so shocked by what has befallen, I don’t think they will argue, even with such a bizarre proposal.” She smiled with a brief flash of humor. “If we leave it much longer, people are going to become more aware of their situation. Either panic will set in or you’ll be dealing with a handful of separate schemes to break out of here. I’m also worried about some of the more frail and the wounded. They may not survive the trials of the night here.”

Den Fellaemion nodded. “There’s nothing to be gained by delay. We’ll feed them as best we can then I will speak. Temar, go and help Vahil. Guinalle, get your Artificers together and work out how best to combine your efforts in such a task. Oh, and do what you can to make sure no one is using Artifice to eavesdrop on us, if you would be so good. I don’t want to find myself telling these invaders where to find us all like fish stunned for the pot.”

A more immediate concern struck Temar. “How are we to be reawakened, when help comes?”

“The Adepts at the Shrine of Ostrin, where I studied, they will know what to do.” Guinalle stated confidently. “We will tell all those leaving to make sure the word gets through.”

“Has something like this ever been done before?” inquired Temar, curiosity getting a nose ahead of his instinctive dread.

Guinalle shrugged. “Not that I know of, but I don’t see why that should dissuade us from the attempt.”

“That’s the spirit that put the House of Priminale on the Imperial throne!” Den Fellaemion laughed and hugged Guinalle to him as they walked back into the cavern, though now Temar could see the support the older man was taking from Guinalle’s slender shoulders.

Temar left them talking to Avila and went to help Vahil, who was giving orders in a listless monotone to women and children whose movements were no less dull and unthinking. However, a hot meal, sparse though it was, did seem to put heart into the gathering. As the noise level rose through the cavern Temar saw the force of Guinalle’s argument that the enchantment had to be worked quickly as he began to hear questions and even disputes on all sides.

“My friends!” Den Fellaemion’s voice rang through the cavern, silencing the tumult of voices so that an expectant hush hung in the dim air. “You all know that our situation is grave and I have still more grievous news to give you. Those valiant enough to remain with the boats that brought us here attempted to strike down river this morning in the hopes of breaking through to the open sea and summoning help. I cannot lie to you, my friends, they have failed.” The Messire lifted his voice above sudden weeping and laments from distant corners of the great cave. “They spent their lives in our defense and Saedrin will speed them to the Otherworld with all due honor, do not doubt it. However, this means that for the present we are trapped with little food or fuel to sustain us, or so our enemies would have us believe and so despair.”