‘We deny none of these statements,’ said Belphamun. ‘Your problem, Ystormun, is your ignorance of the changing situation here. You are correct that our standing army is large, but you control more than a third of it at any one time. Those soldiers and mages are required here.’
‘The rotation must continue,’ replied Ystormun. ‘The security of this facility depends on it.’
‘Then amend the situation so your security can be maintained using hundreds, not thousands, of souls.’
‘It is not that simple.’
‘It is that simple!’ Pamun’s voice blared across the divide and every muscle in Ystormun’s body spasmed. ‘Seek them out and destroy them. They are so few and you are so many. Stop hiding inside your palace and do what you were sent to do.’
Ystormun was exhausted. The stamina required to maintain Communion over such a vast distance against minds as strong as the five lords’ was considerable. He fought to remain calm. He had to win this argument with reason.
‘One does not simply dispatch a force into the rainforest. It could swallow Balaia whole. I am already working to uncover their most secret hiding place, but to march before I have confirmed my information is foolhardy. Add to that the issue of the enemy. They are few but their skill is legendary and we have no idea how many of them now have the run of the rainforest.
‘I will not burn the forest indiscriminately to drive them out, because that robs us of resources. I will operate this task to a timescale dictated by the situation on the ground here. There is, my lords, no other way to proceed.’
‘You are afraid,’ said Giriamun.
‘I am cautious,’ said Ystormun. ‘And I am right to be. Our current understanding with the enemy means I can work against them without striking out at them, and in the meantime I can continue to harvest the forest unmolested.’
‘Your time is up,’ said Belphamun. ‘We are under threat. Our enemies know the size of our commitment in Calaius and will soon believe themselves strong enough to challenge us. You will receive no more military support and indeed you must prepare for the recall of the bulk of your army.’
‘You still don’t understand,’ said Ystormun. ‘If I embark on an undirected attack there might be no army to be recalled. Our enemies remain the masters of the forest, and there is a balance between us. Recruit more men for yourselves. Don’t threaten this facility with precipitate action.’
‘Your stubbornness will prove costly,’ said Pamun.
And abruptly the contact was broken. Ystormun waited, with his head still on the cushion, until the shivers had subsided and the ache in his head died away. When he finally lifted his head, its left-hand side and the cushion were soaked with sweat. An aide stood before the desk, his face to the floor.
‘This had better be good news.’
The aide shook his head. ‘There have been more attacks.’
Ystormun sighed. ‘Not now. Not now.’
Auum led Elyss and Malaar into Aryndeneth an hour after dawn. The temple doors stood open and the stone apron at the front was busy with workers and TaiGethen who had already responded to the ClawBound call.
‘Elyss, get me numbers and information on who else is coming. Malaar, brief them on what we’ve witnessed and what the ClawBound intend. Say nothing of my decision. I’m going to find Takaar.’
Auum trotted into the cool air beneath the dome. He knelt in prayer before the statue of Yniss before hurrying into the depths of the temple. The low hum of voices, one louder than the rest, travelled to him on the still air. They were coming from a chapel close to the block of individual prayer cells and visiting priests’ rooms.
Auum stood at the door for a moment, watching Onelle talking with a group he recognised as the orientation class; they had been lucky enough to be in the forest when the humans attacked. The voices hushed when he walked in, the adepts bunching reflexively and moving half a pace backwards. Onelle smiled at him. Auum embraced her, kissing her eyes and forehead.
‘I must look quite a sight,’ he said.
There was nervous laughter.
‘You need to reapply your camouflage,’ said Onelle, her expression sober. ‘You didn’t stop them, did you?’
Auum shook his head. ‘They are starting their own war and their actions force us to save those who cannot save themselves. I need Takaar. Where is he?’
Onelle hesitated and Auum felt his anger flare. ‘He’s… visiting. Or I assume he is. He’s been gone for two days.’
‘Damn his Ynissul heart!’ Auum clapped his hands to his face. The adepts flinched as one.
Onelle took his arm and walked him back into the passage and then through the rear doors to the village.
‘It doesn’t matter whose side you’re on, no one is very comfortable in front of an angry TaiGethen.’
‘They may need to get used to it,’ said Auum. ‘Why did he go now? Surely even he, or his other self, could see the risk the ClawBound posed. And his reaction is to run off to talk to a human? Perhaps he is not fit to school the Il-Aryn.’
Onelle had kept him walking and they had passed through the village and into the forest, heading towards a shrine to Tual that nestled near a Hallows of Reclamation.
‘Take a breath, Auum. What’s happening? We’re still in shock after the attack, and the rites of reclamation for the dead have only just been completed. I’ll have nightmares about those victims’ faces for ever, and worse about those whose deaths left no trace at all.
‘What am I trying to say? We heard the ClawBound call the muster. The TaiGethen are arriving here and people are scared. I’m scared. The forest feels strange and we can sense changes in the lines of power. You’ve decided to attack the humans, haven’t you? When I have no one to help you.’
Auum took Onelle’s shoulders and gave her what he hoped was a calming smile.
‘I’m sorry, Onelle. It’s all moving faster than a taipan strike, I know. Listen: the ClawBound aren’t just taking revenge, they’re starting a cleansing… which means hundreds of elves in the slave cities are going to die unless we can save them. Serrin will no longer hear reason and he as much as challenged my courage and authority.’ Auum sighed. ‘He’s forced our hand. We have to attack Ysundeneth, and to save as many as we can.’
Onelle’s glorious oval eyes widened in her age-worn face. She gestured about her. ‘But we… I mean, I can’t-’
‘I’m sorry, Onelle. We have to get into Ysundeneth before news of the attacks gets to Ystormun. We’re already too late to stop some of the deaths. And now it grows worse because, without Takaar, we have no one to guide us past the wards. No one but you.’
Auum could see her shrinking from the prospect. But it wasn’t fear of humans or conflict that drove her emotions when she shook her head.
‘I can’t go back there, Auum. Not after what happened. Not after what they did to us. Some of the elves who persecuted the Ynissul are still alive in there. Others are living in Katura. Why do you suppose I came here? It wasn’t just to learn magic.’
Auum looked at Onelle anew. She was shivering with the rawness of memories which were a hundred and fifty years old.
‘Then why do you teach, if not to arm us for the fight against mankind? I have learned to forgive those of other threads who attacked my Ynissul brothers and sisters. If we are to prosper under Yniss when the humans are gone, we must all forgive each other.’
‘It’s easy for you, Auum. No one kicked down your door and raped you while your husband was beaten and forced to watch. No one shouted in your face that the Ynissul would pay when they saw mixed-thread offspring drop from their wombs.
‘I teach magic so that humans like the ones who murdered my husband in the rainforest might die in flames as he did. But I cannot go back there. I’ll never go back.’
‘Onelle you must-’
‘There is nothing I must do. Not even for you, Arch of the TaiGethen. Give me another fifty years and I will school new Il-Aryn for you. But that is all I will do. If you want to get into Ysundeneth, you’ll have to find Takaar.’