Bronze Magic (Book 1) Page 60

  Tarkyn looked at him long and hard, then turned his eyes away. “No. Nothing would.”

  “Is life so hard?”

  The young sorcerer sighed. “The uncertainty is hard. Waiting for everything to fall apart is hard. Knowing that I stand in the way of everyone’s contentment is hard. And in the end, knowing that my brothers, whom I have loved and lived with all my life, were willing to lock me up and throw away the key while my own mother watched, is hard. Very hard.”

  He flicked a glance at Waterstone, “If the people who have known me all my life can turn on me like that, how can you expect me to believe that the woodfolk, who have only known me a few weeks and have had me foisted upon them, would have any concern for my welfare beyond the oath? Why would you care if I found a way to sacrifice myself that left the forest intact?”

  Waterstone’s face was tight with shock. He took a deep breath, “Tarkyn, I am more sorry than you can imagine to hear you talk like that. I know your faith in your fellow man has been shaken but I did not realise the depth of your unhappiness. The questions you ask me sound rational and yet I cannot provide satisfactory rational answers to them.”

  “Because there are none,” said Tarkyn bleakly.

  “I may not be able to answer how and why but I can demonstrate that it is so,” continued Waterstone, ignoring Tarkyn’s interjection. “I cannot create years of friendship to justify my care for you. Anyway, it seems longevity of acquaintance by no means guarantees loyalty. I can, however, produce memories that you may scan any time at will, if you are in any doubt.”

  Tarkyn shook his head, “No. I would not do that to you again.”

  “But you must at least accept my offer as a demonstration of good faith.” He waited until Tarkyn had nodded reluctantly, before continuing. “There are, of course, the things you have done and will do for woodfolk. Warning us of the wolves, rescuing us from the storm and whatever else you will do in the future as the forest guardian.”

  “That may be true until the danger has passed.”

  Suddenly Waterstone’s eyes lit with anger. “Yes. But being the ungrateful people that we are, you would then expect us to turn on you, would you?”

  Tarkyn glared back at him, “From my experience of the world, yes. Once my usefulness is over, if you were given the choice, then yes, I would expect to be rejected. However, since you and I will have no choice, we will both have to endure my continued tenure in the woods.”

  Now Waterstone was fired up, “So, I presume you do not value, as I do, your membership of my family?”

  This did give Tarkyn pause. He sighed and said gently, “No, don’t presume that. Being part of your family, and the acceptance into the woodfolk that goes with it, is probably the only thing that keeps me afloat when I am drowning in confusion. That, and your friendship.”

  Tarkyn’s words took the wind right out of Waterstone’s sails. He shook his head and smiled sadly, “Tarkyn, do you understand how much it signifies that I asked you to join Ancient Oak, Sparrow and me? I did not have you foisted on me by birth as Kosar and Jarand did. Nothing in the oath forced me to take you in. I chose to have you as a brother.” He paused to let his words sink in. “And Tarkyn, I will never choose to let you go.”

  Tears sprang into Tarkyn’s eyes. He turned his head away quickly and pulled away, trying to stand up. But Waterstone held him by the arm and used his other hand on Tarkyn’s shoulder to drag him back around to face him.

  “Come on, Tarkyn. Stay. Don’t run away.”

  Tarkyn faced him unwillingly, his eyes bright with unshed tears, his chest heaving with restrained sobs. Waterstone wrapped his arms around the young sorcerer and held him as the dam of pent up feeling finally spilled over. Eventually Tarkyn quietened and the next time he pulled away, Waterstone let him go.

  Tarkyn sat up and looked at the woodman out of red-rimmed eyes and sniffed, “Bloody Danton. I was all right until I saw him having such a great time with Andoran and Sargon. I tried to trust him. I really did. That’s why I let him know I was watching.” He wiped the back of his hand across his face and sniffed again. “I don’t know. Maybe it will be all right. I’ve lost all ability to judge people, if I ever had any.”

  Waterstone smiled reassuringly. “Well, I’ve never had any trouble judging people and I think Danton is the genuine article. Saying that, I don’t have much experience of sorcerers but I judged you to be all right.”

  “And I don’t know what happened yesterday morning but when you all came back, something had changed that I didn’t understand.” Tarkyn glanced sideways at the woodman. “Whatever it was, brought you all closer together. I asked you, but you never told me.”

  “And you’ve been worrying about it ever since? Sorry Tarkyn, I wasn’t hiding anything. I simply forgot.” Waterstone looked at him, “You’re tuned like a fine bowstring to the slightest change in people around you, aren’t you?” When Tarkyn nodded, he continued, “Well, you needn’t have worried. Quite the opposite, really. Tree Wind said she thought we’d be all right with you and suddenly everyone knew it was true. All the anxious years of waiting were laid to rest.” He slapped Tarkyn on the back, “I should have told you, shouldn’t I? You’ve achieved the near impossible, allaying everyone’s fears after the way your father treated us.”

  Tarkyn smiled, his eyes shining with tears. He couldn’t answer, so merely nodded in response.

  “I guess what you picked up was that something important had happened amongst us. But although it was about you, it didn’t include you.”

  Tarkyn took a deep breath and managed to regain control of his voice, “Food for the paranoid mind,” he said shakily. He wiped his hands across his eyes and took another breath. “That, on top of Rainstorm’s and your reaction to the spread of the oath and North Wind brushing me off has all been a bit much. Then Danton consorting with the enemy was the final straw.”

  “No wonder you were feeling so bad. You have a lot to contend with at the best of times, without all that lot adding to your woes.” Waterstone grunted, “Don’t worry about North Wind. He’s just a bit confused at the moment. He’ll come around.”

  Tarkyn gave him a watery smile, “I’m sorry. Some forest guardian I turn out to be, sitting here blubbing my eyes out when we’re supposed to be mounting a rescue.”

  “Plenty of time. It’s nearly sunset. They will be feeding the wolves soon but then we’ll have to wait for the sorcerers to go to sleep. Let’s move location and have some dinner. Then you can tell us what is happening at the encampment.” Waterstone stood up and put out a hand to pull Tarkyn to his feet. “And this time, you might like to keep at least me in the picture about Danton and the other two instead of keeping your fears to yourself. Agreed?”

  Tarkyn nodded. “Agreed.” As he turned to walk beside Waterstone, a small private smile played around his mouth. He glanced at the woodman but said nothing.

  Waterstone’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

  Tarkyn gave a broad grin, his red-rimmed eyes shining with laughter, “You must actually, really care about me if you could even contemplate being glad about any part of the oath.”

  “Of course I do, you big galoot.” Waterstone raised his eyebrows. “You’re not the only one prepared to make sacrifices.” He stopped and put his hands on his hips. “In fact, if Stormaway tells me that he had decided to disarm the oath, I will tell him not to, at least for the time being.”

  Tarkyn’s eyes went all watery again. He laughed through the tears. “You know, that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  Waterstone gave a snort of laughter and clapped him on the back as they turned to continue walking. “You poor old bugger. You’ve had a hard time of it, haven’t you? I keep forgetting you’re so young, too. Too much poise for your own good.”

  “Not at the moment.”

  Waterstone smiled. “No. Not at the moment. We’ll take the longer path back to the others, shall we?”

  s soon as Tarkyn and Waterstone entered the cleari
ng where the others were gathered, Rainstorm came bounding up to them, full of plans for the evening. He took one look at Tarkyn’s face and frowned, “You all right?”

  “Dust and not enough sleep last night,” interjected Waterstone, knowing Tarkyn wouldn’t be able to lie.

  “I might go down the stream and freshen up a bit,” suggested Tarkyn.

  “Good idea.” Waterstone gave him a pat on the back to send him on his way. “I’ll broach the idea about the horses while you’re away.”

  Rainstorm clung to Tarkyn’s side like an eager puppy as he wandered down the path to the stream. Tarkyn glanced down sideways at him but said nothing.

  “You’re not all right, are you?” persisted the young woodman.

  “I’m better than I was,” replied Tarkyn shortly.

  “So, what’s the matter? Nothing I’ve done, I hope… other than make you feel hideous about the oath.” Rainstorm looked up expectantly but, receiving only a slight smile in response, continued huffily, “Fine. Then don’t tell me. None of my business anyway, I suppose.”

  “Rainstorm, I just finished talking to Waterstone about it. I don’t want to start all over again.”

  “Fine. I’ll leave then. You might just remember sometimes that Waterstone is not your only friend.”

  He turned to leave but Tarkyn put out a restraining hand. “Don’t go. Come down to the stream with me.”

  Rainstorm eyed him belligerently for a moment, then grinned, “All right, I will and if you’re very lucky I might just shut up.”

  Tarkyn laughed, “I think that might be a bit much to hope for.”

  When they reached the stream, Tarkyn dragged off his boots and waded straight in. Rainstorm watched him, horrified. “What are you doing? It’s freezing in there, prince.”

  Tarkyn ducked his head under the water and came up gasping. “Yep. It certainly is.” He shook his head and sent his long black hair flying. He grinned, “Don’t tell me you’re going to let me suffer alone.”

  “I was thinking of it, I must say.”

  “Come on. Don’t be a wimp. Get in here,” said Tarkyn before disappearing under the water again

  In a split second, it ran through Rainstorm’s head to wonder if this was an order. In the same instant he knew it was not. He suddenly understood what Waterstone had meant about the oath getting in the way of friendship. He put his hands on his hips and tried to work out what his natural response would be. Before Tarkyn had time to resurface, he shrugged, threw off his boots and gingerly stepped into the freezing water. This might not be what he would usually do. He wasn’t sure. But it was what was needed at the moment.

  Tarkyn came up close to him and blew a spout of muddy water into the air that landed neatly on Rainstorm’s head and dripped in icy rivulets down his back.

  “Wolves’ teeth Tarkyn! Stop it! That’s freezing.”

  “Come on. Stop standing there, shivering. Just get in. Once you’re in, it gets better.”

  Rainstorm took a deep breath and resolutely let himself fall forward into the shallow waters. As soon as he could get his feet under him, he shot upwards, gasping. “Stars above, prince. You’re mad. This is murderously cold.”

  Tarkyn grinned, “I know. You have a streak of true heroism in you, Rainstorm.”

  Even as Rainstorm’s eyebrows twitched together in suspicion, Tarkyn sank under the water again. Moments later, a tug on Rainstorm’s ankle dragged him under. He just had time to grab a breath before he was submerged in the icy water. When he came up spluttering, he found himself face to face with an expectant Tarkyn.

  Rainstorm laughed and launched himself at Tarkyn. Tarkyn went flying over backwards and sank beneath the water. There were a few moments of quiet while Rainstorm caught his breath and waited for Tarkyn to reemerge so that he could push him under again. The moments stretched beyond a minute and still Tarkyn didn’t reappear. Suddenly Rainstorm’s stomach turned over and he began to feel frantically around in the muddy water.

  “Looking for something?” asked a voice behind him.

  Rainstorm swung around to find Tarkyn watching him, a huge smile on his face.

  “That’s it. You will die,” roared Rainstorm and threw himself at the prince. Tarkyn sidestepped neatly and threw Rainstorm into the water before dumping himself down into it again. They both came up spluttering and laughing and, by unspoken agreement, stopped fighting and sat side by side up to their necks in water in the deep golden light of late afternoon.

  After a while, Tarkyn glanced at Rainstorm, “Do you know, there’s a large owl about two trees along over there watching us. I’m not sure that she approves of our antics. She’s worried about me drowning.” He smiled and nodded further along the river. “There’s an otter downstream there a bit. She’s not happy with us because we’ve churned up the water. But over there behind those bushes is a sneaky little fox that has been using us as a sound screen to close in on a dim, hapless rabbit who hasn’t even noticed us.”

  “Is that right?” Rainstorm let his senses roam through the gathering shadows of early evening but in the end shook his head. “For all my years of woodland training, I can’t tell any of that.” He turned his head to look at the prince. “Of course, you could be making it up.”

  “I could be.”

  Rainstorm dipped the back of his head into the water, “But of course you’re not because you couldn’t lie to save yourself.” He lifted his dripping head back up. “You know, prince, you are very lucky to have those gifts and we’re lucky to have you. Even if we can’t do it ourselves, you can show us the world through the eyes of an eagle or a heron. It will be generations before anyone gets that chance again.”

  He let himself sink right under the water again. As he came back up he spat away the excess water and added, “Don’t worry about the oath. I’m over it. I think you more or less deserve it anyway - as our forest guardian. Maybe not so much as prince, but that’s a hierarchy thing, isn’t it?And we don’t do hierarchies.”

  “Thanks Rainstorm. I think you’re the first person who’s said that to me. Even the best of them, like Waterstone, only endures the oath at best.” Tarkyn dunked the back of his head in the water and watched his long hair floating around him. “I’m not looking forward to the forestals finding out about it, I can tell you.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll help you. If they see that I can deal with it, they’ll know anybody can.” In a gush of water, Rainstorm stood up and waded to the bank. He looked back over his shoulder, “Come on. We’d better get back.”

  They sloughed off all the excess water they could and stood there dripping, their wet clothes clinging to them.

  “Ugh. That feels horrible,” said Rainstorm as a gentle night breeze plastered his wet clothes against his skin, “I think we need a fire in a hurry. I’m not putting my boots back on until my feet are dry.”

  They trod gingerly back up the track in the dark and emerged, still dripping, into the firelight of the clearing.

  “Hello, all,” said Rainstorm jauntily as he headed for the fire, ignoring the raised eyebrows.

  Tarkyn followed more quietly and squatted down at the fire, his hands held out in front of him to warm them. When the silence didn’t dissipate, he looked around and asked, “So, what do you think about the horses then?”

  Autumn Leaves appeared out of the gloom with two towels, distributed them without a word and sat down next to the prince.

  “Thanks,” said Tarkyn as he towelled dry his hair. “So what do you think?”

  “I think the idea is good in principle. But how confident are you that you can control these horses?” asked Autumn Leaves. “As far as I know, you’ve only guided individual animals before.”

  Tarkyn concentrated on putting his socks and boots back on. “True. Even with the rats, I made the request of one who then enlisted help. And that’s all I’ll do this time. If I can guide the lead mare, she will guide the others.”

  “I see,” said Autumn Leaves slowly. “Fair enough. And
what about afterwards? We send them off into the distance to be recaptured or not as they choose?”

  Tarkyn nodded, “Something like that. That’s the other good thing about it. The encampment guards won’t be able to scour the forest on horseback looking for us. And you people will be miles faster than them on foot if we need to get further away.”

  “You realise Golden Toad and his family will be frightened of getting up on a big horse, especially hindered by chains.”

  Tarkyn stared at him for a moment. “Yes. I expect they will. But frankly, that is the least of our worries…or theirs. Don’t pussyfoot around their feelings. Throw them up there, tie them on and get them out of there as fast as you can. If they threaten to make too much noise, gag them. If they complain about it later, you can blame me. It’s not just their welfare at stake. It is the welfare of all of us. We can’t afford half measures.”

  “You’re very forceful, all of a sudden.”

  “Needs must in times of war.” Tarkyn gave a quick smile. “For once, we are discussing something I know about. I know how to be ruthless in combat situations, much more than you do, I suspect. I’ve trained in it all my life.” He reiterated his instructions, then asked, “Can you do that?”

  Autumn Leaves smiled, “Yes, I can do that though I mightn’t have, if you hadn’t mentioned it.”

  Tarkyn looked across at Waterstone, “And Danton?”

  “We discussed Danton. Like you, we’re not sure but if there is any doubt, we’ll grab him. We can’t afford to risk him telling the sorcerers about us.”

  “Maybe we should never have sent him in the first place,” mused Tree Wind, “On reflection, it seems dreadfully naïve of us to have sent a sorcerer who has only known us for a couple of days back into the midst of his own kind. How could we expect his loyalty to us to override his loyalty to them?”