Bridge of Swords by Duncan Lay Read Free Book Online

is hardly in your favour. Everyone is screaming for your head and your father has signed orders saying you are to be killed.’
    ‘No! That cannot be true!’
    ‘I have seen it myself. Hanto has been telling everyone how you murdered his men with sword and magic — that you have gone mad and will not stop until every last elf is dead.’
    ‘Gaibun, I need you to take a message to my father, a real message, which will explain everything,’ Sendatsu said urgently.
    Gaibun reached out and grasped his shoulder. ‘Of course I would do that for you, my friend — but I fear it will do nothing. Words will not stop the desire for your head. You need to flee somewhere, let all this die down and then perhaps you can try again.’
    ‘Flee? Where? I don’t know anyone outside Dokuzen! Should I try and hide in some fishing shack up north? I would stand out like a fire in the night. Besides, if I run, they think me guilty. Take a message to my father. That is the only way out of this mess.’
    ‘Of course, brother. I will do anything — but I warn you to be ready to flee. Asami can send you somewhere north, somewhere safe. I ordered my warriors to wait for my return but your fathercould get here at any moment and send them swarming over the walls.’
    Sendatsu grabbed quill and ink and wrote feverishly, gabbling out a declaration of innocence, a plea to solve this without further bloodshed and a promise to do whatever necessary to make amends.
    ‘I shall take this to your father. But be prepared for warriors to attack if I come out without you,’ Gaibun warned.
    ‘I will take that chance. It is the best one …’
    A noise outside the room made them all turn, made Sendatsu reach for his sword — but it was not a Council Guard.
    ‘No, there is another choice,’ Sumiko announced as she walked in.
    ‘Sensei — how did you get here?’ Asami gasped.
    ‘I opened a gateway through the oak tree in your garden. I have told you, many times, to put a ward of warning around it,’ the Magic-weaver said crisply. ‘Sendatsu, you cannot negotiate from weakness. Go out there and you will be lucky to escape with your life. The best you can hope for is to lose your children to your father.’
    ‘I will not let that happen!’
    ‘You have no choice. Your father will do whatever he wants. But there is a better way. The knowledge in that scroll terrifies him, as it will all of the Council. Use that knowledge to get what you want.’
    ‘But I don’t have the scroll — Hanto took it!’ Sendatsu protested.
    ‘Yes, but we don’t need the scroll. The knowledge within it is just lying out there, ready to be picked up.’
    ‘What?’ Sendatsu’s head was spinning at this.
    ‘The human world. Out there is all you need. The truth about why the elves sealed themselves away into Dokuzen — everything. Get the living proof of what is in that scroll and I swear the Magic-weavers will protect you and give you back the peaceful life with your children that you want,’ Sumiko said with a smile.
    ‘Go into the human world? Are you mad?’ Sendatsu goggled at her. ‘No elf has been through the barrier in three centuries! It would kill me!’
    ‘No — it is but a shadow of what it was. An elf strong in magic can get through it now. Asami’s studies have proved that.’
    Sendatsu knew it was possible to travel great distances, using oak trees, but he had no idea how, nor anything like the magical ability necessary. ‘I don’t have the power!’
    ‘No, but Asami does. She can send you through,’ Sumiko said complacently.
    ‘I can? Are you sure it is safe, sensei? Should we not try it on an animal or something first?’
    ‘I have already done so. It is perfectly safe. And it need not be for long. The alternative is either to flee north into the fishing villages of the coast, or fight here and die.’
    ‘No,’ Sendatsu declared. ‘Gaibun, take that message to my father. That is still the best way …’
    ‘I think you need to flee.