banner.’ She smiled at her great-nephew. ‘Drink.’
He took a sip and found the ale bracing and nutty. Smiling he said, ‘Cetswaya will be pleased to know there’s still some winter ale around.’
Her smile broadened and he could see genuine amusement in her expression. ‘How is he?’
‘Well, enough,’ he answered. He was a little surprised at her interest in the heath of his clan’s shaman, but then he considered that at their age each had few other contemporaries left alive. ‘He worries, as always.’
‘It’s his place to worry, as it is yours to be cautious or bold as the situation merits. And now is the time for you to be worried, cautious
Arkan shrugged. ‘Only what is commonly known.’
‘And what is that?’ she prodded.
‘That my father learned of a plot by Delekhan and a band of magicians known as The Six. They sought to unite the clans, move south and rescue Murmandamus-’
‘The false Murmandamus,’ she interrupted.
‘Yes,’ he amended, ‘the false Murmandamus.
‘For reasons I do not understand, the plan unravelled, but my father is reported to have died killing your husband while the clans retreated north, back across the Teeth of the World.’ He looked away as if thinking for a moment, then added, ‘My mother never wishes to speak of it.’
‘If you take your people north, Arkan,’ said Liallan, ‘it will be their second trek across the mountains. Gorath married my sister as a means to save what was left of the old Clan Hawk, and my father grudgingly gave permission. But rather than bend his knee to my father, your father took my sister and his remaining retainers into the distant icelands, to nurse his wounds and grow strong again.’ She indulged in a chuckle. ‘My father was livid. Gorath had outsmarted him, using his relationship to the Snow Leopards to ensure that the Ice Bears endured, while not surrendering any authority to him. It was a lesson I remembered when I was forced to wed Delekhan. I always admired your father and envied my sister in some ways.’
Arkan raised a curious eyebrow.
‘Not the life Clothild endured: frozen lakes, barren ice floes, living on fish, walrus, and seal flesh. But she bore him three strong sons and when the Ice Bears came south thirty years later, they were a small but solid clan, one to be treated with respect.’
He listened patiently, but had so far had heard nothing he hadn’t already known.
‘My father — your grandfather — had died by then, and I ruled the Snow Leopards. My marriage to Delekhan strengthened my position. It was his choice to make me an ally or his enemy. He wisely chose the first.
‘Yet I would not merge our clans, to his everlasting ire. There was never a hint of love in our marriage, my nephew.’ She sipped her ale. ‘But here’s the truth,’ she said flatly.
Now Arkan was attentive.
‘Your father was counted a traitor by many, even by my sister, his wife, because he did something that ran counter to our every belief and history: he bargained with our enemies.’
‘Bargained?’
‘He had been captured by Delekhan’s agents while fleeing south-’
‘Fleeing?’ echoed Arkan.
She waved at him to be silent. ‘Your father chose to carry warning to the humans in the south. He had been the first to recognize the danger Delekhan and The Six were to our people, but knew he could not find allies enough among the clans to oppose them. So he sought those to the south who might be able to stop Delekhan. And he found them.’
Arkan wanted to ask a question, but he remained silent.
‘He spoke with human nobles, spent time in Caldara, home of the Dwarven King of the Grey Towers, and even paid a visit to the Queen and that abomination she sleeps with in Elvandar.’
Arkan stared at her. None of this was widely known. Finally he asked, ‘How do you know?’
‘Narab,’ she said. ‘When Narab killed Delekhan’s son and rose to take command of Clan Badger, he needed to make peace with me. For once in his life he made the right choice and told me the truth.
‘The trap that was laid during the second attack on the Kingdom city of Sethanon was aided by eledhel and dwarves as well as humans. The secret Narab would happily kill you to hide is that he was the one in league with the eledhel, dwarves and humans. He used them to lure Delekhan’s son, Moraeulf, to his death and then solidify his hold on Clan Badger and their vassal clans.’
Arkan sat back and drained his ale. ‘If the clan chieftains knew of this, Narab could never claim supremacy over the clans.’
‘It is a secret worth killing over. If he could will me dead, I’d be dead. And that’s why he chooses the path of patience on his journey to the throne.’ His aunt looked solemn.
‘Why tell me this?’
‘Because Narab is close to claiming supremacy.’
‘Unless Narab has more swords than we know of, he may have already set what will become a full-scale bloodbath in motion, with his rough treatment of the clan chieftains down there.’
Liallan shook her head. ‘It won’t come to that. By now he will have subdued the ‘council’ without killing any but a few bodyguards. We can be certain that if any chieftain perished tonight, he was no friends of Narab’s. He’ll send them home like whipped dogs in the next hour.’
‘The Star Elves?’
‘They have magic beyond our understanding, beyond even that of the spellweavers down in Elvandar.’ She fixed her nephew with a steady gaze. ‘Unless something changes quickly Narab is only a year or so, away from entering Sar-Sargoth’s throne room and putting a crown on his own head.’
‘Even the false Murmandamus didn’t dare that, and he was mad.’
‘And he was mad,’ Liallan repeated. ‘I think holy men are more dangerous than ambitious ones, Arkan. The false Murmandamus was content to just lead the nation on a pointless invasion of the human lands.’ She sipped her ale. ‘Give me an ambitious murderer over a fanatic every time. The first will only try to kill you for your position, the second will destroy everything and everyone you love.’
This took Arkan by surprise. His people were not especially demonstrative when it came to feelings and his aunt was perhaps the most ruthless a person he had ever encountered. The dark elves understood desire, but love … that was rare and usually reserved for children or, occasionally, siblings. To hear the word ‘love’ come from Liallan’s mouth was something he had never expected.
She smiled. ‘Yes, there are things I love, nephew. Mostly my clan: I have nurtured them as if ever warrior, every woman, each child were my own.’
He nodded. As chieftain of his own small band he understood this feeling. ‘It is more than mere duty.’
‘Indeed,’ she agreed.
‘So Narab seeks to make himself king and we are to just sit here and let him?’
She shook her head and smiled. ‘No, to both. He will not make himself king … yet. Tonight is merely an abject lesson. If you head back down into the valley you’ll discover that most of the broken heads belonged to those in open opposition to Narab. His allies and those uncommitted to his cause were, perhaps, jostled a bit, but for the most part remain unharmed. He will claim he was merely restoring order and protecting his guests.’
‘Not all the clans were in attendance. I saw Clan Blood Elk heading west a few days back.’
She looked contemptuous. ‘Those primitives are of no importance.’
He knew she was right politically. ‘But good to have on your side in a fight.’
‘No doubt,’ she agreed, ‘but this time we struggle to avoid a fight.’
‘I noticed no Snow Leopards at the gathering,’ he said in a neutral tone.
‘Why would I go? I knew what was going to happen.’
‘Spies?’
‘I have many … friends. And Narab doesn’t have as many as he thinks he does.’
‘Well and good, but that still leaves me up here with you.’
She stared at him, but said nothing.
Finally he said, ‘You knew I’d come tonight.’
