The Sorcerer's Oath - Books 3-4

Chapter 3

After careful discussion, the woodfolk had decided that the return trip up the exposed part of the mountain’s slope should be undertaken after nightfall. It would be easier to keep one’s footing travelling back up the mountain and quite possible to do so in the dark. And even though everyone was anxious to put more distance between themselves and the sorcerers in the nearby farmlands, they decided it was better to travel under cover of darkness. So as Jarand’s troops approached, they were still sitting around the firesite, discussing the upshot of Falling Rain’s memories.

“Now that’s another strange thing,” mused Danton “Do you remember when Tarkyn and I faced off that hunting party? And Journeyman said, ‘That changes everything’?”

Tarkyn stared at Danton, “Oh, I see. I’ve just realised. Not only did he know about the oath, he and the twins really did think I was a rogue sorcerer before that, didn’t they?”

Danton shrugged, “Possibly, unless Kosar and Jarand didn’t tell Journeyman everything. After all, from what you’ve told me, your brothers left the Great Hall a long time before the end. They wouldn’t have known for sure, one way or the other. For all they knew, you could have caused all that destruction in an ungoverned fit of rage.”

Tarkyn turned impulsively to Falling Rain, “I didn’t though, did I? You saw my memory.”

Falling Rain shook his head, “No, you didn’t.”

Tarkyn ran his hand through his long hair, “But it was my unruly emotions that made the shield reflective. So I and my emotions did cause all that destruction.”

“Settle down, Tarkyn,” said Waterstone gently. “We have all seen your shield become reflective. It is not an act of aggression. If no one attacks you, nothing happens at all.”

“Anyway,” said Danton, “the point is that Journeyman now knows that you are not a rogue sorcerer and that therefore the oath will have been invoked.”

“So where does that leave us then?” asked Autumn Leaves. “From what I understand of sorcerer politics, Journeyman may not tell both brothers. So possibly only one will find out that Tarkyn has become the woodfolk’s liege.”

“And that one brother is probably, but not necessarily, Jarand,” said Danton thoughtfully. “After all, the wizard could be ostensibly working for one, while actually working for the other or he could be working for both.”

“Or he might just keep that information to himself for his own advantage,” put in Stormaway.

Falling Rain boggled, “I see what you mean about sorcerers’ manoeuvrings. How do you know you can trust this lot then?” He asked Tarkyn, waggling his thumb at all four sorcerers.

Tarkyn laughed, “String and Bean are not interested in politics. Poor Danton has had to prove himself over and over again. And Stormaway…well, he couldn’t lie straight in bed. So I know I can’t trust him unless I give him a direct order.”

“You do realise,” said Stormaway, ignoring this little gambit, “that from Kosar’s point of view, now that he has alienated you, these forests are effectively a foreign country under foreign rule, right in the middle of his kingdom?”

“And they’re a good size, aren’t they?” mused String. “What do you reckon, Bean? I’d say they account for a good third of the kingdom, maybe more.”

“Ooh, at least that much, String.” Bean turned to look at Tarkyn. “I’d say you’ve got yourself a bit of a problem here, Your Highness. I may know nothing about politics but I can tell you right now; if I were a king, I wouldn’t want a foreign country sitting in the middle of my kingdom.”

String scratched his head. “No. I’d be taking it over, quick as a flash.”

Tarkyn’s face tightened, “If I had meekly accepted imprisonment, I would never have been seen again… and the sovereignty of the forest would have reverted to Kosar.” He looked at Stormaway, “Is that right?”

“Only your death can release the sovereignty of the woodlands.” The wizard shrugged, “But that can easily be arranged in prison, should the need arise. So, I would say you’re probably right.”

“And so, Tarkyn,” said Waterstone firmly, “as I have always said, your safety is paramount to all of us. We don’t want King Kosar hunting us down to rule us.”

“But if they know of you, I’m afraid String is right. They will do just that, whether I am here or not,” Tarkyn looked at Stormaway, “Your plans have gone sadly awry, Stormaway. Instead of providing me with a safe haven, you may have made these forests and the woodfolk within them a target for both brothers’ ambitions, particularly if they now know that I am safely ensconced here as sovereign.”

“I admit it is not ideal, Your Highness.” Ignoring Rainstorm’s look of derision, Stormaway bowed his head, “I apologise, sire. King Markazon and I did the best we could under the circumstances but alas, we did not know that others had seen Falling Rain while he was in my chambers.”

Tarkyn waved his hand dismissively, “It can’t be helped, Stormaway. I know you did not intend any of this” His brow crinkled, “Hmm… Something is nagging at the back of my mind about all this. Where could I have heard something that has a bearing on it?…” Suddenly Tarkyn sat bolt upright. “Oh no! I know what it was. Lord Tolward told me there were rumours of a secret army that the people at the encampment were planning to enlist to their cause.”

“Oh no! That’s us, isn’t it?” exclaimed Lapping Water. “They are hunting us to make us fight for them.”

“Us, an army? How exciting!” Rainstorm’s eyes shone. He was immediately beset on all sides with strictures to stop being silly and to be quiet.

When the fuss had died down, Tarkyn said quietly, “Rainstorm, that was one of your less well judged remarks. Even with my powers, I would not be able to heal enough casualties quickly enough after a battle to save everyone. Most would die or live the rest of their lives maimed. I know that, under the oath, I could ask you all to fight for me but I would not do it, at least not in open combat. And we must make sure that no one else is ever in the position to force you into fighting on their behalf.”

Danton poured two cups of tea and brought one over to the prince, “That was why Journeyman wanted to be able to contact you, wasn’t it? He, and presumably Jarand, want to enlist you and the woodfolk to their cause against Kosar.”

Tarkyn gave a grunt of laughter, “Optimistic, to say the least. Jarand conspires to throw me into prison and then hopes to enlist my help less than two months later.”

“He may be hoping to have something or someone with which to force your hand,” said Danton gently.

Two miles away, deep within the swamp, three egrets flew in to perch among their colony. Suddenly there was mayhem as the entire flock took to the air, calling to one another as they circled each other and swooped in and around the trees before resettling in their original position. Moments later, back at the firesite, Falling Rain’s egret launched herself upward, locking Tarkyn’s mind into hers as she climbed.

The conversation continued undiminished as, for several minutes, no one realised that Tarkyn had fallen silent.

As Elsie rose over the treeline, a cloud of dust came into view. Then, as she flew towards it, Jarand’s column of soldiers appeared in the distance. She soared above them before, at Tarkyn’s request, gliding in lower over the front of the column.

As Tarkyn recognised his brother, a wave of fear and hatred rippled out into the people around him at the firesite. The conversation stopped and Waterstone put a hand on Tarkyn’s knee, sending a query into his mind. In response, Tarkyn managed to link Waterstone to the egret’s images. Elsie flew in a wide circle above the column of soldiers, giving Waterstone a clear view of every angle, before heading back into the forest and cutting the connection.

Of the people in the column, only the little wizard noticed the flight of the egret. He thought her flight pattern unorthodox and watched her until she disappeared behind the trees. But knowing nothing of Tarkyn’s ability to connect with animals, he forbore to mention something that seemed unlikely to be relevant.

“What was that all about?” asked Autumn Leaves.

“Waterstone, you share the image with the woodfolk while I tell the sorcerers,” suggested Tarkyn.

As soon as the danger was understood, everyone sprang into action, ready to disappear. But Falling Rain didn’t move, saying, “I know you are intent on avoiding these soldiers, but we have just said we will help Tarkyn to resolve the situation among the sorcerers. Perhaps we should take this opportunity to learn more about Jarand’s knowledge and intentions.”

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks and stared at him. Then they transferred their gazes to Tarkyn who shrugged, “Well, he does have a point but do we have long enough to plan? We need to sort out who can see Jarand, what they are permitted to tell him, how we are going to isolate him…”

“I would say we have about forty minutes, at the outside,” answered Waterstone decisively. “We only need another couple of minutes to dismantle the firesite and flick into hiding but you sorcerers will need a lot longer to disappear.”

“I can always spook the horses if we need a bit longer,” offered Tarkyn.

After a short mental conference, most woodfolk continued to clear up while a few gathered around to work out a plan.

“First question; are we willing to do something like knocking out soldiers that will alert them to our presence and to the fact that we are working with Tarkyn?” asked Tree Wind.

“Second question; who will confront Jarand? Don’t forget, Tarkyn can’t lie to save himself. So he may be a bit of a liability in that situation,” pointed out Autumn Leaves.

“Do we want to keep the presence of the other sorcerers secret so we can use them later in different situations?” asked Summer Rain.

“How are we going to get Tarkyn and the rest of the sorcerers away afterwards if we don’t knock out all the soldiers?” asked Lapping Water.

Waterstone looked wryly at Tarkyn, “I think you may have to spook the horses. This is going to take a while.”

Tarkyn smiled, “Let’s give ourselves ten minutes. Then I will intervene if we look as though we may need longer.” Once this was agreed, he continued, “Let’s get it straight in our heads; What does Jarand definitely already know?”

Falling Rain answered, “He has definitely seen a woodman before; to be exact, me.”

“He will know by now that Tarkyn is not a rogue sorcerer because Journeyman and those hunters we allowed to return unharmed, will be back at the encampment by now,” added Danton.

“He will know that a groundswell of support is running through the land because, according to Trey and the sorcerer family that Tarkyn met when he fell from the path, everyone is talking about Tarkyn having been set up by his brothers,” said Stormaway with some satisfaction.

“Hmm, that’s bad not good, I think,” mused Tarkyn. “Competition brings out the worst in my brothers.”

“He knows Stormaway is involved with Tarkyn because he saw Falling Rain in Stormaway’s rooms,” said Tree Wind.

“Not necessarily,” Rainstorm pointed out. “He may not have overheard anything about the proposed oath. Possibly only Journeyman knows that. But Jarand is aware that Stormaway knows about woodfolk.”

Danton glanced at Waterstone, “And if he has heard about my sudden disappearance from the encampment on the night we rescued Golden Toad and his family, then he will guess that I am involved with woodfolk, assuming he knew that Golden Toad and his family were being held captive in the first place.”

“Jarand must know about Golden Toad,” Stormaway was firm, “Journeyman could not afford to take the enormous risk of secretly imprisoning people within Jarand’s encampment for an extended period of time and not tell the man himself.”

“So String and Bean are the only two sorcerers he could come across, without connecting them with Tarkyn,” concluded Tree Wind.

“But if we use them that would mean that from here on, we would have no one without a known connection to Tarkyn, which is less than desirable in my opinion,” said Stormaway. “We need to keep an ace up our sleeves for a more urgent situation.”

“So, if he saw Stormaway or Danton, would he try to arrest them?” asked Rainstorm.

“Almost certainly, I would say,” answered Tarkyn. “Now that they are known associates of mine. To lead him to me, if for nothing else.”

There was a short silence while everyone mulled over the significance of their information.

Then Tarkyn looked around the group with a slight smile, “Do you know what I would like? I won’t insist on it but I would like to meet my brother face to face.”

“On your own?” asked Waterstone, carefully controlling his initial adverse reaction.

“Ideally. If I have someone with me, then he would need someone with him not to feel intimidated. Then we couldn’t ask him what he knows about Falling Rain.” Encouraged by the fact that the woodfolk had not yet jumped down his throat, he continued, “I would have my shield up at all times, of course. And the rest of his troops would have been immobilised somehow. And you would be all around me, hidden in the trees.”

“And how could you escape afterwards?” asked Lapping Water.

“If he becomes threatening, we will need to find some way to hold him where we meet until I back off into the woods and translocate once I’m out of sight.”

“And the rest of us?” asked Stormaway.

“Can you translocate?” asked Tarkyn.

Stormaway shook his head.

“Neither can we,” chorused String and Bean.

“Then you three had better work with the woodfolk to ensure you stay concealed, until the soldiers are out of the area,” said Tarkyn firmly.

The three sorcerers glanced at the woodfolk for their opinion. Tarkyn frowned but managed to resist his urge to assert his authority.

“I agree with Tarkyn. We don’t want to risk you being captured. You will endanger us all if you are found,” said Tree Wind.

Tarkyn blinked at Tree Wind’s support. She caught his expression and gave a short laugh. “Stop it Tarkyn. I don’t oppose you as a matter of principle, as least not anymore.”

Tarkyn smiled at her before saying, “This will mean I can’t use Stormaway’s shield but even using only Danton’s, I think I have the makings of a plan that will not reveal woodfolk presence and that will keep us all safe.”