3 When Darkness Falls.8 (17 page)

Cilarnen was there as well, though he had no true right to be, being neither a fighter nor one whose work was to support the fighters. But of all of them — even Kellen — he was the one who best understood Armethalieh, and he was the one who could best advise Redhelwar and the others in how to deal with her.

And dealing with Armethalieh was one of their many priorities.

Kellen had not seen Cilarnen since Kindolhinadetil had made his odd gift of books, and he was shocked at how changed Cilarnen seemed. The boy had lost weight — his skin was tightly drawn across the bones of his face and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes. He wondered if Cilarnen was still having his headaches, and if the Healers had discovered the cause. He promised himself he would make time to see Cilarnen after this meeting was over, and find out how his work was progressing.

The traditional Elven formalities were shortened — out of respect to the humans and the Centaurs — to a single ceremonious round of tea.

"We begin by hearing reports and sharing information in this informal manner," Redhelwar said. "I regret to inform you all that fresh word has not yet come from Sentarshadeen."

There was a moment of dismayed silence as those present heard Redhelwar's news.

"Vestakia is making some progress in her task at least," Idalia said with a rueful sigh. "She has ruled out the north and the east as locations for a Shadowed Elf Enclave — the lands around Windalorianan, Deskethomaynel, and Lerkalpoldara. Unfortunately, with the new encroachments, she's starting to get, well,
interference
from the increased Enemy activity along our Borders and within the Elven Lands themselves. So far it isn't bad, but if it gets worse, opening herself to link to the Spiders will become difficult, if not impossible."

"So we had better have an answer before then."

Kreylmedd was the warchief of the Centaurs, Redhelwar's liaison to the Centaur camp, here with his lieutenants Siust and Truanolm. The three of them, between them, spoke for the Centaur army. In times of peace Kreylmedd was a landholder and a council member in the village of Mossmeade, and the beer he brewed was famed throughout the Wild Lands. Siust was a blacksmith said to be able to work iron fine enough to shoe the wind, whose forge held many fine young apprentices and journeymen, and had produced more than one master smith. Truanolm was a miller, whose eight sons and five daughters held much of the land between Merryknoll and Greenlaw, and whose fields kept his grindstones turning constantly.

But fifty generations ago their ancestors had fought beside the Elves against Shadow Mountain, and if the Centaurs had forgotten much else about that time, they had not forgotten the need to be ready. Each generation they trained and prepared their Centaur warriors, even though they saw no more of battle than keeping the peace at country fairs and occasional run-ins with bandits and outlaws.

Now the Centaurs were the backbone of Redhelwar's army, for the Centaur nation was more numerous than the Elves. They fought as his heavy cavalry — infantry: slower-moving than an Elven Knight mounted on a destrier, but massive and unstoppable.

"We will hope that she does, for if she does not, we will not be able to strike at the next Enclave of the Shadowed Elves. But whether we can do this or not, we must also find a way to warn the human city of the treachery she nurtures within," Adaerion said.

"Tell Armethalieh anything? Herdsman guide you," Kreylmedd said with a cynical snort.

"To warn the City of a Thousand Bells is only one of many priorities," Redhelwar said, summoning the meeting back to order. "The Frost Giants are gathering beyond Deskethomaynel, and in a moonturn their shamans will be able to batter through the land-wards and the Frost Giants and their kindred will walk the Elven Lands unopposed. There is plague in both Deskethomaynel and Windalorianan — it brings fever and delirium, and many are stricken. There have been no deaths yet, but they are expected.

"And this day, at last, riders have come from Deskethomaynel, bringing terrible news. Lerkalpoldara is no more. Its Flower Forest is gone."

There was a moment of stunned silence from the Elves in the tent.

"They were besieged by the beasts of the Shadow, their passes sealed by winter, their numbers too few to defend themselves — not that any defense would have been possible against
Them
."

Kellen groaned inwardly. This was hardly the sort of talk he wanted to heat from the army's general, especially when he was talking to his senior commanders.

"When Jermayan went to the Winter City upon Andoreniel's orders, he saw how it was with them," Redhelwar continued. "By the grace of Leaf and Star, Jermayan and Ancaladar were able to unseal the pass leading out of the valley and help in the evacuation, but losses were yet heavy. At the pass he had to leave them to make their own way to Windalorianan while he flew on to Deskethomaynel, from which he sends this message, so he knows not how many of the three hundred survivors of the city reached their destination."

"Leaf and Star deliver us," Belepheriel said softly. "One of the Nine is gone."

"Believe me, I share your grief," Kerleu of the High Reaches said, "but before I came to this council I spoke over distance with my home village. My wife tells me there is sickness there as well — perhaps of the same sort that has stricken your cities — and in the other villages nearby. She says that the Forest Wife has warned her that sickness will soon come to the plants of the forest as well, and the Huntsman warns that the monsters our cousins of the Lost Lands have long feared and fought are now moving into our domain."

"They can be fought," Feyrt said simply. "But your losses will be heavy. The story-songs tell us that the first year the Dark Folk came to ravage us, after we had gone to live in the Lost Lands, half of all the Folk died before we learned how to fight them and win."

"That is no comfort," Kerleu snapped, "when we have snipped the High Reaches of her Wildmages and fighting folk to come here and die in Elven Lands! We'd meant to draw the Enemy to us, but instead
They
seem to be everywhere but here — in our homes, and at our children's throats!"

"What are we to do?" Redhelwar said aloud, as if he were alone in the tent.

Everyone, including Redhelwar, looked toward Kellen.

When he had first ridden off to war — it seemed like a century ago now! — Kellen had been the only one who knew it really
was
a war, and that Shadow Mountain was as serious about destroying them in the here-and-now as it had been a thousand years ago. Then, he had realized that the only way to get the Elves to believe him — and to follow a battlefield strategy that had any hope of winning — was to teach them to trust, not Kellen-the-teenager, but Kellen-the-Knight-Mage.

Apparently he'd succeeded.

He took a deep breath.

"
They
want us to scatter our forces," he said, beginning with what they all knew. "
They
want us to try to hold the whole of the Elven Border against
Them
, and it can't be done.
They
are trying to pull us in every direction at once. Warning Armethalieh has to be our highest priority —
not
because it was once my home, and still is Cilarnen's, and not because it is the largest human city, but because if
They
take it
They
will become too powerful to be stopped. If warning Armethalieh won't work, we have to keep
Them
from taking it by some other way."

The others regarded him intently, the humans and Centaurs nodding but still not yet convinced, the Elves gazing at him alertly.

"As for the Frost Giants… "

Kellen took a deep breath.

"Lerkelpoldara is gone. That can't be changed. Evacuate Windalorianan and Deskethomaynel as well. Bring the inhabitants here to help hold Ysterialpoerin — perhaps the sickness Jermayan mentions will decrease once the inhabitants arrive here, and if not, Ysterialpoerin has fine healers.

"I know travel is hard in winter, especially this winter, but those who can should travel farther into the south. Ondoladeshiron, Realthataladon, Thultafoniseen, Valwendigorean, and Sentarshadeen are all to the south and west of here, and as yet they are some distance from the encroachments. It should be spring before they are in real danger, and many of the Enemy's creatures will simply retreat into the north in the warm seasons."

"So you would simply abandon the east to our enemy," Redhelwar said, and his voice was so inflectionless it did not even hold a question.

"I think these attacks are a feint," Kellen answered. "If we do not take their bait, they will withdraw, and concentrate their forces elsewhere. But whether they do or not, we cannot hold all the Elven Lands with the forces we have. Your cities are small and widely scattered. The Endarkened use that against you, concentrating their forces against each city one at a time and destroying it before moving on to. the next. And I think that once they see that we don't mean to turn our forces east to fight them, they'll stop provoking us there and move on to another attack point."
Probably in the west,
Kellen thought bleakly.

"Concentrating their forces in the High Reaches, where they only dally with us now," Kerleu said, echoing Kellen's unspoken thought.

"It's possible," Kellen said, keeping his voice even. "You all know: We are almost certainly outnumbered by the Enemy. They have resources we don't know about. They are more mobile than we are, and they have more power. Without a doubt we will take losses, and heavy ones, before this is over.

"But remember this as well: If the Enemy did not think we had a good chance of defeating them, they would not be wasting so much time on us. We know what they need in order to win, and what they're doing to get it. Stop them, and this becomes a different war entirely."

"Brave words for the long view," Kearn said. "But how does that help the High Reaches now?"

"From what we saw in Kindolhinadetil's Mirror, Anigrel expects to get the High Mages to turn control of Armethalieh over to
Them
willingly, as Allies, by convincing them that we — the Elves and the Wildmages — are the true threat to their safety, not
Them
. What I believe that means is that
They
will have to work hard to disguise
Their
true nature from the High Mages, to aid in that masquerade. Since the High Reaches trades with Armethalieh, and the Mountainfolk have right of passage through Armethaliehan lands, I don't think
They
will dare risk making as much trouble in the High Reaches, where the High Mages are likely to notice and ask questions."

"You don't
think,
" Wirance said.

"I know they remember the De —
Them
in Armethalieh," Cilarnen said. "It's true that most people only think of Them as a nursery tale, but I'm sure the Mage Council knows that they're real. I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and I'm pretty sure that if they saw anything that looked like
Them
around, all the High Mages would ride out in a body to attack it — even if it meant leaving Armethalieh."

Kellen flashed Cilarnen a grateful look. Cilarnen shrugged and smiled faintly.

Now came the crux of the matter, and the part Kellen was pretty sure the Elves wouldn't like. He'd hoped to have had word from Andoreniel before going into this, but it was something that had to be dealt with. Kerleu, Wirance, and Kearn could no more
make
the gathered Mountainfolk do something — or not do it — than they could influence the path of the wind. They were here because of treaties between their people and the Elves, but it was, as it had always been, a fragile alliance, and they would resent seeing their families left unprotected.

Feyrt and Atroist ruled the Lostlanders more decisively, nor were the people they had left behind in danger — yet. The Lostlanders had been settled among the Centaurs and humans of the Wild Lands, which the Lostlanders thought — even in winter — was a very pleasant place in comparison to their own harsh homeland. But the High Reaches were the road to the Wild Lands, and no one could doubt that the farmers, Herdingfolk, and Centaurs of the Wild Lands would be next in the Endarkened's plans.

Kreylmedd, Siust, and Truanolm knew it as well — they had all taken the Siege of Stonehearth to heart, when only one of
Them
had nearly destroyed an entire Centaur village in just a few moments. Centaurs had no magic at all to protect them; they were incapable of using it. And while more than half their fighting strength was still at home, to arrive in the spring — (if any of them, Kellen amended mentally, were still here in the spring) — even the fact that their villages were currently well-defended would not protect them from the sort of threats they would face.

Kellen only hoped that the Elves' trust in him was as great as he thought it was.

"You know that Andoreniel has offered the protection of the Fortress of the Crowned Horns to the pregnant women and children of all who fight beside us. But even if there were any way to get all of them there, there's no point in pretending there's room for all of them."