Elfsorrow

Riding into the courtyard, Selik dismounted, his horse was led away to the stables and he was shown into the keep. A squire took him through a great entrance hall hung with deep-coloured tapestries, through a single door to the right and up a short flight of stairs. A further corridor revealed four or five doors and he was ushered through the first of them.

'Relax, sir,' said the squire. 'My Lord Erskan will be along presently.'

Selik was in a small cold room. An empty grate dominated the far end and what light came in was through stained-glass windows in the wall to the right. A scattering of armchairs in front of the hearth was the only furniture bar two small low tables and the Erskan crest above the grate.

Deciding he'd rather be found standing, Selik walked to the windows and looked out. The town sprawled away beyond the courtyard, silent and grieving. He sighed and pulled his hood tight over his head. Behind him, the door creaked open.

'It wasn't so very long ago that I would have run you out of my town, Black Wing.'

Selik turned to see Lord Erskan enter, attended by the same squire. The youth carried a tray with two glasses and a pewter flagon, placing them on one of the low tables. Erskan waved him out.

'Come and sit,' said Erskan, moving slowly to the chairs. 'I can offer you a glass of wine. That is something in which we are rich.' A dry chuckle escaped his lips. 'And do take that damn silly hood off. I am aware of the deformities it hides.'

Selik swept the hood back, glad for the play of air across his head. He sat down opposite Erskan, who didn't flinch as he took in Selik's smeared left cheek, dead white eye and slack left jaw. He was a middle-aged man grown very old in just two seasons. Terribly thin and frail-looking, his wisps of grey hair were oiled down on a scalp that topped a narrow, long-nosed face with a sharp chin and dull blue eyes. His hands, liver-spotted and with nails bitten down to the quick, shook as he poured the wine and handed Selik a glass.

'So, Captain, or is it Commander, Selik. What great statement do you have to cheer the people of Erskan?' The Lord spoke as he put his glass to his lips.

'Captain, please.' Selik smiled. 'I understand your scepticism, my Lord. And I would concede that certain actions of the Black Wings have been, shall we say, overzealous?'

'A vast understatement,' said Erskan.

'Be that as it may, we have all seen these past two seasons and more that our fears were entirely justified. More than that, the reality has far outweighed even my most fervent nightmares.'

Erskan's nod was cautious. 'But surely you are not attempting to justify murder or any of your lesser crimes.'

'Murder is an emotive word.' Selik bristled despite his determination to remain under control. 'I'm only asking you to agree that magic must, as we have always said in the Black Wings, be monitored and regulated independently of the colleges.'

Erskan rested back in his chair. A cloud came across the sun, dimming the tinted light in the sparse room.

'Well, I think that might be going a little far. Though a code of conduct might be a good compromise,' said Erskan. 'After all, one rogue child does not make every mage in every college irresponsible.'

'But look at what she spawned, devastation and now war,' said Selik. 'And can any of us forget what has been caused in Arlen, or indeed in Julatsa, by the indiscriminate use of magic?'

'Well, I-'

'Have you been to Arlen, my Lord? Have you visited Korina or Gyernath, Denebre or Greythorne?' Selik's tone hardened. He could see he wasn't getting through.

'I must confess, no.' At least Erskan had the grace to be embarrassed. 'We have had problems of our own here.'

'Arlen has all but been destroyed by the new conflict. But your buildings still stand and your farmers are planting new crops. For you, there is an end in sight.'

Erskan's smile was thin. 'And our families bury their dead daily, they report their sick in ever-increasing numbers but the healers are dead too and the mages have fled. By the time the harvest comes, I will have less than a third of my people alive. And I wonder if there will be anyone fit enough to tend the crops, let alone gather them in.'

Selik took a long sip of his wine. It was a Denebre red, a wine that would soon command a very high price. Denebre and its vineyards had been swallowed by the earth. Erskan's eyes held depths of sorrow and desperation that should have melted the most frozen heart. But the Black Wings couldn't afford such sentimentality.

'Then now is the time to strike,' Selik said. 'To make the mages pay for the blight they've cast on our land. Where are they now, eh? In your hours of greatest need they are all at each other's throats.

'I need men, Lord Erskan. And I need them now. Do you think you'll somehow escape the war here? We have to make a stand. All the innocent people who have died because of the mages must be avenged.'

Erskan frowned. 'I sympathise with you in this, I really do. But all you have to do is look about you to know why I can't help you.'

'Without popular support, where are we?' asked Selik, failing to conceal his disappointment. 'Balaians have to stand up now. They weaken each other every day they fight. We can break their domination, but only if we do it now.'

Lord Erskan drained his glass and refilled it. The clouds moved on and the light sharpened.

'You'll find men out there with the will, I have no doubt,' he said, gesturing at the windows with his free hand. 'Men who have learned to hate mages, magic and everything they stand for.

'But where will you find the strength, Captain? You want an army but those you see around you are struggling just to keep themselves and their families alive. I will ask no more of them and nor shall you.'

'And your own guard?'

'I won't spare you even one. There are those within and without who would plunder what little we have. If I let that happen, I will have striven my whole life for nothing.'

Selik finished his wine and stood up, feeling his frustration grow. It was a litany he had heard in half a dozen places but he had true support from many more.

'But unless we curb the colleges' power now, while we have the opportunity, you are lost anyway.'

Erskan gave the slightest of shrugs but said nothing. Selik nodded and pulled his hood back over his head.

'We have all made sacrifices and we have all seen friends and loved ones die. But to make our futures worth living, magic must be tamed. And I will do it with you or without you. But be prepared for change, my Lord. And soon.'

Erskan stood too, and began moving towards the door. 'You will do what you will do. I cannot give you my blessing or my men but I can wish a brighter future for us all. If you are instrumental in bringing that to Balaia, then I will have nothing but respect for you. But be sure you are just, because Balaia's people have had enough of the unjust and power brokers treating them like pawns and play-things to be used and discarded on a whim.'

'And that is why I will fight. The righteous are always just, my Lord, though those who do not see the path are often shocked at its turns.' A thought struck him. 'When did your mages leave?'

Erskan shook his head. 'A day ago, perhaps two. Heading for Julatsa. They are long gone from you. I don't really remember.'

'Thank you for your audience.' Selik bowed his head.

'It wasn't just to hear you, Selik, it was to thank you.'

'For what?' Selik couldn't disguise his surprise.

'What you did for the street children. Every little helps.'

Selik smiled beneath his hood. 'Well, well, the sign of a Lord in control. Eyes everywhere.' He bowed his head again. 'Good day, Lord Erskan, and if you have a change of heart, you will find me. I already have support from Corin, Rache, Pontois – such as it is – Orytte and too many villages to mention.'