'In total? Roughly three thousand. One hundred and fifty of your own men, three hundred Ghosts, counts from Tori, Ked, Tehran and Vere. We've lost another three hundred chasing the survivors down.'
'Did any good come from this?'
'For those who died?' asked Tori icily.
Isak looked over to the suzerain, but Tori obviously had nothing more to add.
'I meant for anyone,' Isak said. He shrugged. Tm famished: I need to eat before I see Lord Bahl.'
He followed a column of smoke around a tent to where a huge pot bubbled over a fire, but when he tried to lean down he winced, clutching his ribs tenderly. 'Can you give me some of that?' he asked the man attending it. The man bobbed his head, eyes wide with fear as he slopped some broth into a sturdy wooden bowl.
Isak accepted the bowl with a broad smile. 'Bread?' The man reached in to the bag hanging from a post and handed him half a loaf. As soon as the man saw Isak's attention return to Suzerain Tori, he began to back away and after a few steps he turned and hurried off, getting out of sight as soon as he could.
Isak frowned and sniffed at the bread suspiciously. 'What was that about?'
Vesna kept silent, eyes on the ground, while Tori stared past Isak's shoulder. 'Ah, Lord Bahl, good morning,' he said smoothly.
'Tori,' acknowledged Bahl, then turned to Isak. 'What that was, my Lord, was your legacy from the battle.'
The old Lord had shrugged off the air of weariness that normally surrounded him. He looked alert, rejuvenated, even in full armour. The crested helm, an ancient-looking bowl-shaped piece of grey metal with a Y slit at the front for eyes and mouth, was tucked under his arm.
Bahl walked up to Isak and placed a hand on his shoulder, a public gesture of comradeship. 'How are you feeling? You've been recovering a long time. We were starting to worry.'
'I feel exhausted. Drained.' He gestured to the bowl. 'And famished.'
'Drained is a better word than you might realise. The more you draw on the magic, the harder it is to resist the flow and stop. If you're not careful, part of you will be swept away with it.'
Isak didn't reply, but nodded as he crammed a soaked corner of bread into his mouth. A murmur of pleasure was the only sound Bahl heard, but he took it as a cue to continue; the boy didn't seem to understand quite how it had looked on the battlefield. 'You forgot yourself out there. The men were expecting to see a white-eye in battle, but they saw worse than that. You fought like a daemon, and more than once you almost killed one of your own men through sheer bloodlust. If you hadn't collapsed, I don't know how we'd have stopped you.'
Bahl kept his voice low but there was no mistaking the anger there. Isak stopped chewing and looked into the Lord's eyes. They said clearly enough: there was one way to stop you, and I was tempted. You didn't just shame yourself there.
'I…1 don't know what to say.' Isak dropped his gaze. 'It felt like my dreams, like I wasn't quite myself.' 'What do you dream of.7'
The question took Isak by surprise. He didn't think the question was as idle as it sounded.
'Sometimes just that I'm somewhere else, looking through another man's eyes. It's as though I'm remembering things I've not done.'
'Hmm. What about your magic? Has it been released or was it just the battle?'
'I don't know, I hadn't thought of trying it again yet.' 'Well, do so now. Nothing grand, just draw energy into your hand and imagine it as fire.'
Isak did as Bahl ordered. For a moment he felt nothing. Suddenly, energy rushed to his hand, coursing like a stream of water over every inch of skin and into his hand. The air shimmered and swirled, yellow threads building and spinning together until a flame shot up from Isak's hand.
'Good, that's enough. Now stop.'
With a slight reluctance, Isak halted the flames and they melted into nothing. He flexed his fingers, savouring the tingle of magic in them as it faded away.
'Well, it looks like your block has gone, whatever the problem was. I'll start teaching you the finer points of control when you're feeling stronger.'
'Thank you.' Isak paused. 'Lord Bahl, I'm sorry. It won't happen ain.'
'I know you didn't mean it, but you do need to make sure it doesn't happen again. Next time it'll kill you.' There was an edge to his words that chilled Isak.
'Just so you know, it was I who bandaged your chest.'
Isak's stomach clenched. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to
have. He didn't have any answers himself, so explaining it to someone
else would be next to impossible.
'I don't expect you to tell me all your secrets,' Bahl said. There are
some things that are your own business. But tell me, here and now,
whether there's anything I need to know. I will not allow anything that might endanger the tribe or work against my rule. There is nothing you will have done that is so foul that we cannot counteract it, as long as we know where the problem lies.'
'There's nothing,' Isak muttered. 'I don't understand it myself, but I don't think it's anything for you to be concerned about.'
'Good, we seem to have enough of that already. Just remember that others feel the same about their own affairs. Some of my business has nothing to do with you. You will extend me the courtesy of neither asking nor investigating.'
'Of course, my Lord. What did you mean when you said "enough of that"?' The two white-eyes were walking slowly west and Isak suddenly realised that they were close to where the battle had been fought. This was where the cavalry had passed him to reach the stream… The wind caught Bahl's long white cloak and carried it high, away from the packed mud of the ground and off towards the heart of the mountains where home lay. Count Vesna and Suzerain Tori and a couple of messengers trailed behind them, all waiting for a moment of their Lord's time. None of them looked hopeful of being acknowledged soon.
Bahl looked up at a wood pigeon winging its way high over the camp to the woods beyond. From their left, a sharp-eyed falconer set his charge after it: an army always needed more food, no matter how small – but the pigeon was gone by the time the falcon had climbed far enough. Bahl nodded enigmatically, then as Suzerain Ked appeared and began to speak urgently, he nodded at Isak, who fell back to give them some privacy.
'He agrees with you, said almost the same as you did about fighting on your own ground,' said a voice from behind Isak. The Krann turned in puzzlement. Suzerain Tori had a satisfied expression on his face, as though he had been testing Isak and was happy with the outcome.
'There are also enemies within the tribe, and now we've dealt with these elves, at least for the meantime, Lord Bahl intends to adjust his focus,' he said to Isak. 'I assume you did appreciate the fact that of all those who owe Lord Bahl allegiance, only eight suzerains and eleven counts answered the call to battle?'
Isak nodded. He hadn't wanted to comment at the time in case it was normal behaviour and he looked a fool for saying anything.
'We have the same number again whose whereabouts illness or infirmity cannot explain. You must have learned enough by now to recognise that any victory should be followed by decisive action, lest subsequent events make it hollow.'
'Unfortunate accidents-?'
'Are always a possibility in this life, yes,' Tori finished for him. 'It's something you should take a keen interest in.'
'Me? If you are trying to tell me that Lord Bahl-'
'Hah! I'm not telling you anything, young man. I am, however, suggesting that it would be good to let men know you are more than what you showed on the field, and…' The suzerain's voice tailed off.