the unwanted elves 16

 

Unwanted Elves

Chapter 16

 

“Might I suggest your majesties,” Said Chessina in her most reasonable tones, and doubtless using her charm abilities to the fullest, “that before tempers flare and spells of mass devastation are cast, that we all retire to consider what has been said and to determine calmly what decisions to make as evening is drawing on.”

 The king gave a grunt which could have meant anything, but he rose which seemed to indicate that he agreed. With the exception of the chamberlain the other elves followed him out through another door, the delay while Prydythaur got to his feet and looked with disgust on his now severely creased court robes, enabled the princess to exit well ahead of him. If looks could have killed we would all have been crispy.

Was it wise to antagonise Prydythaur to the extent we had done? I could pontificate about how an angry enemy is half defeated but the truth of the matter was Pretty Boy Prydythaur got on my nerves for being an annoying git. Apparently the princess felt the same way; and if, as seemed likely he was the demon responsible for all the problems he wanted to kill us anyway. We needed to get somewhere where we could discuss this without being overheard.

As if reading my mind, no he didn’t, I’d have felt it; the chamberlain gestured to us and said, “Honoured guests, please follow me to more suitable accommodation than that hitherto provided.”

So saying he led us out of the chamber.

After traversing many twisting passages, which we all did our best to memorise, all of us being careful, we arrived at a luxurious suite of rooms.

“I remember this place,” I said excitedly to the chamberlain, “I stayed here with Harmon.”

“I remember the visit well,” he replied, “some, at least of us are grateful for the assistance of the Towermaster.”

“The king most certainly isn’t.” Remarked Chessina.

“His majesty hasn’t been... himself lately, nor has the queen.”  Blaithamlwg the chamberlain continued.

“Would that be since Prydythaur arrived at court?” Chessina asked.

“Ye...es,” replied the chamberlain, seemingly unsure of himself.

“When did Prydythaur arrive at court?” Chessina continued.

Blaithamlwg hesitated for a long while, obviously thinking hard.

“I really can’t remember.”  He said, at last.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you, good chamberlain, that you and their majesties and the royal wizard are all under the influence of a charm spell. I can detect an echo of such a spell on the princess, but she seems to have thrown off the influence.” Chessina said, gravely.

“Are you certain?” He asked, his voice faint.

“My apprentice, is an expert on such magics,” I replied, “she is, unfortunately, correct.”

The chamberlain’s face had turned grey at this point and Chessina and Silavara ushered him into our rooms and settled him comfortably on one of the sofas. This room was, like the others, made of the living wood of the tree with large windows on one side next to a glazed door that led on to a balcony. I remember during my previous visit here spending many hours on the balcony gazing at the city around me. I was less likely to get into trouble here than wandering the corridors when Harmon was closeted with the elves and I was not studying my lessons.

The room had many comfortable chairs and sofas, amongst which our baggage had been dumped unceremoniously, and as well as a writing desk, and in addition a larger table with wooden chairs for dining. I did assume that we would be eating in this room. Meals were served here last time in order that the presence of the ‘unevolved ones’ wouldn’t put delicate elven digestions off their food.

I turned back to the chamberlain as he said, “That would explain much. I... I find myself not wishing to consider Prydythaur very closely or to think about what he says and does, merely that I think him very wise.”

“These are classic symptoms of the type of charm magic I suspect Prydythaur of using.” Chessina commented. “Would you like me to remove the influence?”

 Blaithamlwg sat up straighter, “Towermaster Harmon was an honourable man and a wise one, and I do not think he would choose a dishonourable person as his apprentice. I trust you not to place new influence to replace the old one. Yes, please rid me of this.”

Chessina gazed into the chancellor’s eyes and at length said, “It is done chamberlain Blaithamlwg, I have broken the link to the caster, who was indeed Prydythaur as we surmised, but left intact enough so you know what he has done to you.”

“Thank you, I am in your debt.” Blaithamlwg said.

“You can repay that by telling us what you know of Prydythaur and his antecedents.” I said. “When did he arrive at court?”

“About half a year ago.” Blaithamlwg replied.

“From what Dragovar told us, that is about when the attacks on the villages started.” Chessina added. “Tell me chamberlain, who proposed the action on the villages?”

“It was Prydythaur, supported by Royal Mage Tancyfrwys.” He replied.

“As he is bedding her, that is hardly surprising.” Silavara interjected.

“But... but, Prydythaur is betrothed to the princess, or at least he considers himself to be. How do you know this?”

“We overheard gossip on the subject and I have watched their actions and demeanours towards one another.” Said Silavara. “Her actions indicate she is mated to him and treats him with devotion more than affection. His actions indicate that he considers her his bedwarmer and... possession. I do not think he feels the slightest affection for her.”

“How did Prydythaur come to be introduced to the court?” Chessina asked.

“Tancyfrwys introduced him as a wandering bard, and he was welcomed.” The chamberlain replied.

“Wait a minute,” I interjected, “wandering from where? As far as I know, there are no elven enclaves elsewhere. At least Harmon knew of none.”

“I... no, there are none that I know of either. That never occurred to me.” Said Blaithamlwg in chagrin. “We have been thoroughly ensorcelled, but when even Tancyfrwys succumbed, why was Princess Ariannaith not affected?”

“Because she was protected by her love for Cyfaill,” Said Chessina, “And love is the oldest and most powerful magic of all.”

That particular tone sounded in my head again, accompanied by an almost smug feeling from Arcana. From the sudden wild look in her eyes Chessina heard it too.

“We’ll talk about it later,” I whispered to her.

“Towermaster,” said the chamberlain, having seen the startled expression on my face, “what was that noise? If it was a noise.”

“That was Arcana letting us know when we have noticed something of great importance.” I said, trying to seem insouciant.

“Arcana, your goddess of magic?” The chamberlain said, taken aback.

“Arcana, the goddess of magic.” Corrected Silavara, “I know there is an elven deity of magic, but according to the Compact, he has to defer to Arcana.”

“The mission we are on is extremely important as Arcana has involved herself, albeit indirectly.” I said. “As you heard/felt that tone, you appear to be involved whether you want to be or not. You should be prepared to find that, when the time is correct, you will know something with total certainty, without knowing how you know. It’s very disconcerting.”

“We must free the royal wizard from her ensorcellment, and the king and queen too.” Blaithamlwg added belatedly.

“That won’t be as easy,” said Chessina, “You were held relatively loosely and had doubts about Prydythaur, he has tied the king and queen much more tightly to him. They won’t want to break away, and it would need something to shake their confidence in him to give me an opening to deal with Prydythaur’s control. As to Tancyfrwys, she is in lust with Prydythaur which makes his control all the greater. It will take much to free her.”

“Can you tell us more about how the border dispute came about?” Silavara asked the chamberlain.

“Now that you have removed Prydythaur’s sorcery from me, yes I can Priestess.” Replied Blaithamlwg. “Prydythaur mentioned the human encroachment almost casually and that was taken up by Tancyfrwys who fanned the king to fury and I became carried away myself. It seemed the most important thing to punish human and dwarven contumely and neutralise any threat.”

“A moment chamberlain,” Chessina interjected, “earlier the king called the human and dwarven forces feeble; and yet he thinks them a threat?”

“Under Prydythaur’s influence, we none of us thought clearly. Even though we would have great advantages in the forest, the humans and dwarves would have weight of numbers, humans have many mages and the dwarves their fearsome Griffin Hussars. As our numbers are few, any war between us would cause many losses on each side, which we cannot sustain.”

“In that case,” I said puzzled, “why is Prydythaur trying to foment war?”

“I do not know,” Blaithamlwg replied, “and I have only now been freed from his compulsions, to consider the matter. I shall do so and tell you my thoughts on the subject.”

“You had better go now,” I said to the chamberlain, “Others might get suspicious if you are with us too long, Prydythaur for one. We will speak again later.”

 

oOo

 

I was extremely surprised when Blaithamlwg the chamberlain arrived at our chambers with an invitation to a formal banquet.

“Your surprise is quite justified, Towermaster,” Said Blaithamlwg, “The suggestion to break with custom and dine with you, came originally from Princess Ariannaith, which did not surprise me, as she has been against conflict from the start. What did surprise me was that she was supported by Prydythaur, who has reason to dislike you at the very least.”

“Dislike, good Blaithamlwg, no, chamberlain,” Said Chessina, “He hates us and probably intends to poison us so that the blackmail information is released and war starts.”

“Poison! But as you have been specifically invited to a court function, that would be breaking all our laws of hospitality!” Blaithamlwg positively quivered in outrage.

“If he is, what we suspect, chamberlain Blaithamlwg,” I said, “Prydythaur would find great enjoyment in doing so. We considered the possibility of poison and came prepared. I have not forgotten the threats made against me when last I was here.”

“I am sorry about that, Towermaster. For some reason Tancyfrwys took against you and her despite led her to threaten such things.” Blaithamlwg said.

He took his leave to allow us to prepare for the banquet. Chessina was in her element here, and arranged the details of our clothing, hair and accessories with the determination of a ruthless conqueror. We dressed in our finest clothing, made of fabrics woven by the dwarves, some of which we had purchased, while others were gifted, over our protests, to make sure we made the correct impression. Chessina and I didn’t neglect our protection from poison amulets, resistance to blades rings and other magical knick-knacks. I turned to Silavara who interpreted my look correctly.

“I have spoken to my goddess Silvana, she will be with me.” She remarked with that serene confidence that she almost always possessed. “I have asked Ulula to fly to the windows of the banqueting hall, and keep watch.”

 

oOo

 

A soft footed elven servant had escorted us to an ante-chamber with, I could see, open doors that led into the banquet hall. The king and queen were waiting to greet their guests. Several elves including Blaithamlwg, Princess Ariannaith, Tancyfrwys and Prydythaur were waiting, Judging by the sense of smugness radiating from Chessina, she like I, had noticed that although many of the elven fabrics were of such a diaphanous nature that required magic to sustain them, none were as sumptuous as those we wore. Especially after they had been ‘tweaked’ by Chessina’s ability to enhance clothing and appearance.

At some signal that I didn’t notice, or perhaps couldn’t detect, the elves started to file into the banquet hall, formally greeting Their Majesties on the way. While we were guests here, it didn’t appear that we were honoured ones. Right, I thought, if that’s the way you want to play, we’ll do it your way. I whispered my plan to the others. By judicious casting of push spells, I got us to the front of the group waiting to greet the king and queen. The expressions on the faces of the elves I displaced were not friendly and the language I heard contained a great many imprecations, some of which I understood. Oh please, just because elves look pretty doesn’t mean they can’t use some distinctly unpretty language.

“Your majesty, your majesty.”  I greeted the king and queen, bowing my head. While Chessina and Silavara were greeting our host and hostess, I wondered at the lack of introductions. Was it just that the elves of this social stratum all knew each other making introductions superfluous, or was it deliberate to show how little the elves thought of us? I really had no idea. While I wouldn’t ignore the other elves, I thought that I knew the important ones already. I got the impression that many, if not most of the upper ranked elves did little more than make-work and entertainments to fill their long and rather empty lives.

 

The banquet hall was very large, the roof supported by thickened ribs of the living wood. I marvelled at the magical expertise it had taken to mould such a space from the tree, but Silavara’s comments made me think how uncomfortable the tree must be, warped into shapes that were totally unnatural. Obviously Chessina had divined my train of thought as she said,

“I wonder if the trees feel as uncomfortable as the demons and captive devils do when forced into the shape of furniture?”

“Is that possible?” I queried. I answered myself, “Obviously, or you wouldn’t mention it. I was just startled at the concept.  I’m  reminded of an early lesson from Harmon, “just because you can do something, does not mean that you should”

The room was bright as hanging from the ceiling were numerous lamps, with the characteristic light of lux aeternem spells. The usual oval windows and doors were on one side of the room and judging by Silavara’s expression after glancing at the windows, Ulula was watching from outside. The table caused me to do a double take. That it was long and quite wide was normal for such venues. What was not normal was that the table wasn’t resting on the floor it was a part of the floor warped into the shape of a large table, the top overhanging to give room for chairs and legs.

 

By the gestures Tancyfrwys had made she too had cast the whisper spell and by expression and body language all the royal and near royal people were deep in discussion, or possibly an argument. It seemed that an agreement had been reached and we were all guided to the places nearest to the head of the table by the waiting servants. Chessina wasn’t placed next to me but next to Silavara who was next to me. Several elves, who had been discretely steered away from the seats we now occupied glared at us. Chessina glared back, Silavara treated them with serene indifference and I fell back on my enigmatic smile.

 

From my previous visit I knew that elves although using metal for their cutlery, make their plates and platters of treenware. And if you are faintly curling your lip at the thought of rough-hewn and basic peasant utensils, think again.

The platters off which Harmon and I had eaten during our previous visit were indeed somewhat... basic. The tableware in front of us was the finest example of the turner's craft, shaped out to hold food in a gentle curve which also made the most of the contours of the wood or woods from which they were made, to highlight its beauty. Some were turned from skilfully cut and joined blocks of woods of contrasting hue.  They were not cut in plain quarters or eighths as you might see sometimes, but cut on serpentine curves, to meet at the centre in a sun rune to aid digestion. Others were from two pieces of contrasting colour, two comma-shapes fitted together to form the rune for completeness, unity, or marriage. The magic of the handfasting Silavara had performed had left our right palms permanently marked with it. Other plates had delicate carvings about the edge; all were different, and all artworks, as far removed from peasant trenchers as might be imagined.

 

Some people, taking at face value the elven claim that they live in harmony with nature, imagine that they eat only vegetables, fruit and nuts. Now elves do eat such things, but what they mostly eat is meat. Elves enjoy the hunt and they are, to do them justice, very good at this. A little too good as Silavara had pointed out, most forcefully to the king. According to Harmon, if it ran, flew, swam or occasionally crawled, elves would eat it. He told me after our return that elves work on the sea-food principle. When I protested that the elven lands were land locked Harmon smiled at me and replied, “If they can see it, it’s food.” That made me laugh, which was doubtless his intention given my experiences with the elves.

 

As this was the first time I had dined with elves, their customs were new to me. The elven fashion of dining involved having all available dishes on the table at once, kept warm presumably with magic. There were side tables too, and I saw elves get up to visit them to help themselves, while others asked for a dish to be passed down the table, and help themselves thereafter.  Judging by the various viands, the prestigious dishes were nearer the king and did not get passed down to the hoi polloi.

Chessina delicately sniffed the nearest dish and whispered to me, “The food is poisoned, but it’s alright love, I recognise it, it’s one of the ones the amulets will cope with. The poison is quite tasty actually, demons use it as a garnish.” 

Silavara helped herself to a generous slice of venison and as she was getting some sauce to put on it, her platter began hissing. As the elves looked on in horror, Silavara’s platter turned from an exquisite piece of the finest treenware into a lump of cracked and blackened charcoal.

“What... what has happened?” the king quavered, seeing a piece of his, doubtless expensive, tableware turn into charcoal in front of him.

“What has happened your Majesty is that someone has tried to poison me. Something of which my goddess disapproves. Replied Silavara urbanely.