Wall of Spears Read Online Free Page A

her.’
    Retsu shook his head. ‘How many times do I have to tell you, that is what they want you to do!’
    Asami held up her hand. ‘Agreed. Walking into Daichi’s old home, now her centre of power, is foolish. But there is a way to fight her. The old books from the tombs of the forefathers — they now rest in the Council Chambers, do they not?’
    ‘I believe so. What about them?’
    ‘Bring me as many as you can. I still have the book that Sumiko made, the one that allows us to translate the old languages into the one we use now. Sendatsu’s book had many things in there about elves and humans and the past. There may be answers in there that we can use against Sumiko and Jaken.’
    Retsu and Gaibun exchanged a glance. Retsu sighed.
    ‘If you promise to stay safe, and inside, I will bring you as many as I can.’
    ‘Find the ones with the blue covers, for they are the words of our ancestors,’ Asami added.
    ‘Anything to keep you safe.’ Gaibun embraced her, leaning in to kiss her.
    Asami turned her head slightly so the kiss fell on her cheek rather than her lips but, in doing so, found herself looking right at Retsu. His eyes closed briefly and she cursed herself for such a mistake.

3
     
    By now you will know the true history of the barrier going up, how there was betrayal and murder between the clans of Dokuzen and even more betrayal and murder of the humans. We thought the humans had no magic, that we were better than them. That was never true but we felt it so strongly, we actually thought it was worth fighting for.
     
    ‘I say we need to go back to the elves, offer them Rhiannon as a gesture of our good faith and then negotiate the treaty that Huw promised us, the one that guarantees us safety and prosperity under elven protection,’ Griff said persuasively, looking around at the assembled headmen and the scores of Velsh who had gathered to watch and hear. The headman of Merthyr then turned to glare at Huw.
    Huw stared at him coldly, seeing his thoughts written plainly on his face. Griff had always been against the idea of a united Vales; now, in the Elfaran betrayal, he saw his chance to bring down Huw, who had come back from Dokuzen ready to walk away from leadership. But Huw would sooner give up breathing than give Rhiannon to Sumiko. He let the man know his contempt, before scanning the crowd, trying to discover those who nodded in agreement and those who shook their heads in disgust. There were few of either — most seemed to be just listening intently as Griff resumed speaking.
    ‘We managed to defeat one Forlish attempt to take us over. We fought and died to save the elves from another. But we lost many of our dragons in Dokuzen and we don’t have enough to stop either the Forlish or the elves, let alone both. The solution is simple. The elves don’t want to hurt Rhiannon — they fear what would happen if the Forlish were to use her against them. They merely want to keep her safe. We should use it as our opportunity to keep ourselves safe, also. Huw has done nothing but make mistakes since we made him leader. He tells us one thing and does another. He talks about the elves not being worthy of our trust — he is not worthy of our trust!’
    Griff sat down with an elaborate flourish and Huw surged to his feet immediately. In a way he was glad for Griff’s attack. If it had been Dafyd or Llewellyn wanting to step in and take over, he would never have fought them.
    He paced around the table, drawing out the anticipation of his words, until all eyes and attention were fixed firmly on him. He had learned such tricks working as a bard in Forland and never had they been more useful.
    ‘Will this be the first action of the new Vales? To take the woman who is our hope and saviour and hand her to our enemies?’ he shouted, using his trained voice to reach even the furthest watcher.
    ‘Mark my words, the elves cannot be trusted. Three hundred years ago they betrayed and murdered those of us with