Chapter Fifteen: Felanar’s Recounting

Tranith Argan: Book 4

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Felanar, Kara, Alessa, and Dolen attend a council to learn what has been happening in Tranith Argan.

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As Felanar sat down at the seat Llarand indicated, he realized that he was being given the place of honor at the long table instead of the elf lord. They were in a room set on many flat boughs that formed a central open area about midway up the massive tree. Upon the boughs were set flat reeds to form a floor that felt solid. The table at which they sat was a long, ornately carved wooden structure around which were placed enough chairs to seat twenty persons.

This morning there were only ten. Felanar was at one end and Kara to his left. To Felanar's right sat Llarand and next to him were the elf lords Llafála, Lloánan, and Lledar. Across from them sat Dalonír and Aren. Alessa sat next to Aren with Dolen to her left. Heléste had just finished serving drinks at each place at the table and then nodded to her husband and left this level. Other than a couple of Findáran guards standing far on the other side of this great room, they were alone.

Felanar thought about the guards listening to what they were saying at the table but then realized that with elven hearing they could be standing three levels off and still hear what was being said. Elves must depend on discretion (or lack of interest in the ways of men) rather than privacy to keep secrets.

Llarand, by way of getting started, looked at Felanar, who nodded back, and Llarand stood up.

“My friends and respected lords,” he said, looking around the table, “thank you for your willingness to join us for this discussion. Much has occurred that needs to be understood and decisions have to be made this day. Felanar has lost his counselor, for reasons to be shortly discussed if you have not already heard.”

Lloánan and Lledar stirred at this last sentence and Llarand turned to give them a significant look as they did so.

“Felanar and I have had several discussions recently and we have brought each other news. Today we bring everyone this news, and then it will be time for us to make decisions, and your wisdom and careful thought will be most welcome. For now, Felanar, would you please begin by telling us about your journey and the events that occurred.” He sat down and folded his hands on the table and looked toward Felanar with warmth in his brown eyes.

Felanar looked around the table and began to tell of their journey of the past two months, beginning with the initial stages of their journey in Shanaar in the northern wastes and their feeling of abandonment by the elves. Llafála wanted clarification of what Felanar meant by this.

“Simply this, elf lord,” said Felanar steadily, “on the day of our battle outside the walls of Shaabak, when the dragons and the westerners came, the elves fighting with us that day left us. However, and please be calm, Llafála, for I mean no disrespect and bring this up merely out of a desire to understand exactly what happened that day, my sister who watched the battle from above tells me the elves pulled away in order to deal with the new threat of the western army, and this I accept. It is confusing when you are in the midst of battle, so my fear that day was not warranted.”

“Indeed it was not, young man of Argan,” sniffed Llafála, “for the elves I sent to your battle—against my good judgment you may recall—fought well and bravely that day and many of them lost their lives trying to help your cause. I ask that you show them more respect.”

“Llafála, please!” said Llarand.

Felanar waved his arm in a sweeping motion. “It is understandable, Llarand, and I do not take offense. There is much to discuss this day and many mysteries to resolve, and I take things in the order in which they occurred and with the emotions and understanding that I had at the time they occurred. As I said, my sister saw the bravery of your elves that day, and I do not doubt her word, Llafála, nor yours. No disrespect was intended or felt. Nevertheless, I had actual betrayal from my own captain, Ravis, that day. He accused me of being an impostor to the throne and left me to die, though how much of that was emotion and how much a real thought I do not know. I wish to come back to this subject at the end, Llarand.

“For now there is one aspect of what happened that day I wish to understand. When the four of us escaped, we headed for the east coast of the land to reach the Erenár ships. When we reached the coast we were stopped by western armies. Our assumption had been that the Erenár ships were forced to sail off to deal with the western fleet. Can you please tell us exactly what happened?”

Dolen stirred in his seat, sitting forward to hear this explanation.

The elf lords looked at each other and then at Llarand. Llarand turned to Felanar.

“We should have an Erenár representative here, but I know of none nearby to have called to this council.”

“Narón is near,” said Kara.

“Who is Narón?” asked Llafála.

“An Erenár captain, and one of those who sailed us to Shanaar,” answered Kara.

Llarand motioned to one of the guards and told him to seek Narón and ask him to attend this council. As the guard left, Llarand said, “Please continue with your account, skipping over this question for now. I have heard only pieces of this story and perhaps Narón can offer more details and insight.”

Felanar nodded. “Leaving this aside, then, I can tell you that finding ourselves cut off from the coast and being pursued from the west, and knowing that no safety lay for us in the south, we headed north to the Wastes.”

Felanar told of their encounter with the waef murch creatures, their building of the raft and their sailing to Elaria that was prevented by the storm and the currents.

“Could you not have gotten word to us through a bird?” asked Llarand.

“None were found, father,” said Alessa from further down the table.

Llarand turned to his daughter.

“I was addressing Felanar,” he said stiffly. “You have been invited here because of your experiences in the western lands, but otherwise you would not be part of such an illustrious council. You are a woman and you are very young. I must ask you to keep your tongue until addressed.”

Although Alessa acquiesced immediately, and in a way that Felanar could tell was well practiced, he also noticed her lips tightening slightly.

“Alessa is correct,” said Felanar in support. “We several times in our journey sought to communicate with animals, even sending a message once, only to see that it was taken in the wrong direction. We tried to get word to you, I promise, for I know how concerned you must have been.”

“We thought you had all been killed in battle,” said Lloánan, “and Llarand was as worried as I have ever seen an elf.”

“Thank you, Lloánan,” said Llarand, “please continue, Felanar.”

Felanar did so, telling of their journey south, their capture by saarks, and their journey to the autarch.

“The autarch?” interrupted Lledar. “What would be his interest in you?”

“It was not his idea to see us,” said Felanar, “but Slakh's idea. When he did not know what to make of easterners in his land, it was Slakh's thought to bring us to the autarch in order to curry favor with him and thus gain some advantage for his people.”

“How do you know this?” asked Llafála.

“He told me.”

“Who told you?”

“Slakh.”

“You spoke with a saark lord,” said Llafála in more of an accusatory tone than a question. The elf looked around the table to see if anyone else was shocked.

“Yes,” insisted Felanar, “I spoke with a saark lord, and in fact I later made a pact with him.”

“What?!” said Llafála and Llarand simultaneously.

“Allow me to explain in detail,” Felanar said. “I have not yet had the chance to tell you, Llarand. There are twists and turns to this tale, and I think when you hear all the details to follow, our actions will make sense.”

“If it makes you any happier, elf lord, I agreed with his decision to join with Slakh,” said Kara from Felanar's left. Llarand shifted his focus to her, but the other elf lords never shifted their gaze from Felanar.

“It makes me no happier,” sniffed Llafála.

Felanar placed his hand on Kara's arm and gave her a be-patient look that made her back down from this insult. Felanar continued.

“As we were being marched down to the Tri-cities, it seemed to me that our only chance of escape lay in getting to know this Slakh. As you know, I hold no love for saarks after the way they kidnapped me. Twice, in fact. I find them physically repulsive, to be honest, and if I had never seen another it would have suited me well. Nevertheless, I observed the saark society underground, and I watched Slakh deal with his fellow saarks, and I saw the way he treated his young daughter. To my surprise I found there were many similarities between his people and ours—yes, Llafála, I know there are key differences, but I am only talking here about the similarities. There was a time when I would not have believed there could be any, but I have come to know there were some.

“So as we marched south I wanted to understand this saark leader, find out if there were more similarities than I first realized. Indeed, what I set in motion those days had repercussions that are still, I think, being felt and will be felt in the days and years to come. But I get ahead of myself. Perhaps it might be best if I proceed step-by-step.

“On this journey south we came to what might be called an understanding, Slakh and I, when I showed him respect. He does not get that from men and it surprised and, I think, touched him. He started to view me as an individual and not just as a slave. I should add that he had no idea of my identity at that time. There were no political overtones to his words that day for as far as he could tell I could offer him nothing. He later found out how untrue that was.

“Now I must ask you about the autarch. Tell me, Llarand, what do you think of Namoníkkar? Where do his sympathies lie, what are his alliances?”

“He looks after himself,” said Llarand simply.

“Do you have any dealings with him?”

“No, no elf does.”

“Does he deal with Vélakk?”

“He may, but they would not be natural allies in any sense. Each one would look after his own interests, and any alliance would be temporary and only for what they could get out of it in a way that would benefit themselves. Perhaps their lands exchange trade, but probably nothing further.”

“Yes,” said Felanar, “that is the impression I got as well. I came to see him as not an immoral man, but an amoral one. If it will benefit him or his realm, he will take advantage of it and nothing will influence or moderate that decision. That is how it was with us. He knew who we were, so his spies are well-informed. Well, he knew who Kara and I were and had less knowledge of Dolen and Alessa. At first he charmed us—well, he charmed me, not my sister who kept warning me, much to her credit. But he charmed me with his views on the way to exercise power as a ruler. He runs his realm with efficiency and order.”

“And poverty and suffering,” added Llarand.

“Yes, Kara pointed that out to me as well,” acknowledged Felanar. “As I said, I am explaining how I felt at the time. Yet when it came time for us to bond our friendship with a treaty between our two lands, there he overreached. He wrote the treaty in such a way that I would always be subordinate to him. When I refused his many attempts to convince me that this clause had to be included, he turned on me. Now I was no longer useful to him in this way, so he felt he might as well gain advantage in some other way. That is how we became his prisoners, and that is what led to, well, my suffering, let us say.”

“Heléste tells me you should make a full recovery,” said Llarand quietly.

“Thanks to her skills, and to Alessa's,” replied Felanar with a nod toward her, and she smiled back.

“I would not compromise, so the autarch sent word to Vélakk that he had us imprisoned. He was going to hand us over in order to gain favor with the Evil One, and that is why I asked about alliances. I see now that he makes whatever temporary alliance suits him. So just as he answered Vélakk's call for troops when we attacked Shanaar, here he was again willing to help him and oppose me. Whatever the autarch thinks of me, I now think of him as an enemy. One who is not naturally opposed to me, but one who cannot be trusted to remain neutral or allied. I oppose him and we need to deal with him in the future. More on this later as well.

“I mentioned earlier that my respect for Slakh paid off, and now comes one obvious example. The autarch grew confident with what he thought was his new-found advantage in having me on his side. He made a mistake and imprisoned Slakh. This infuriated the saark leader and his people once they heard of it. Heard of it they did when he did not return on time. They sent a troop of saark soldiers to Polandolar to find out what had become of Slakh and they discovered his imprisonment. They freed him and then, instead of just leaving the city alone, he chose to free us as well. Perhaps this was done as a way to punish the autarch more than to help us—those who oppose my enemy befriend me, as the saying goes. So he told me as he freed us. However, I like to think my attempts to deal with him honorably and with respect helped encourage him to assist us that day. We would be prisoners of Vélakk were it not for him.

“I told him our true identities after we escaped the city. I made a pact with him that our peoples and his would trade freely. It is my hope that I can set up systems that will encourage the saarks to abandon the ways of slavery. It may not work but I think it worth the attempt.”

“It is an interesting approach you took with this saark ruler,” said Llarand, “and I hope it proves useful. You have shown more wisdom than I would have thought for your level of experience.”

Felanar nodded and was about to continue when he saw someone approaching the table. It was Narón.

“I seek thy permission to approach,” the Erenár captain said to Llarand, “for I perceive thee to be Llarand.”

“Please sit down,” said Llarand as he gestured toward an open seat. “You must be Narón. Thank you for accepting my invitation to join this discussion. In fact had I known of your presence nearby I would have seen to it that you would have been invited at the start. What we discuss here will involve my Erenár cousins. Up until now Felanar has been telling us of their journey through the western lands.”

“A journey Kara has informed me of,” said Narón as he smiled at her and received her smile back.

“Very well then, Felanar can continue, but perhaps you wish to return to your open question for the Erenár?”

“Yes, Llarand,” said Felanar, “let me return to that moment. Narón, you were one of the captains of the ships that transported us to Shanaar. When the four of us were fleeing toward the coast, we encountered western armies between us and the coast. We assumed western ships had sailed up the coast and had encountered your own. Can you please tell us what happened that day?”

Narón looked around the room at all assembled and paused before he began to speak.

“Much sorrow was ours that day, as was true of thee, Felanar, as Kara has told me these last few days. Our ships dropped anchor off the coast after we transported thy troops. Our orders were to stay near shore and be ready to receive returning troops. This we did. Our ships got the signal that troops were on their way at the same time that we saw the western ships approach up the channel. We were torn. Do we pick up the soldiers and outrun the western ships? Would we have time? What was the meaning of the westerners approaching this land? Were they enemies? Was it coincidence that they were sailing this way at that time? We knew none of these answers.

“At first we thought to fight them was the best action to take, though there were many ships. Then we got word that thine armies were near to shore and we changed course and made for land. We took on the armies quickly and waited for word of others approaching. The western armies were nearly upon us when we got word there were no more survivors coming. We set sail and managed to outmaneuver the western fleet in our escape—fighting was no longer the course to take with so many passengers aboard, many of whom would not know what to do in a sea battle. We escaped, and it was with hearts of sorrow, for we thought thou were dead, Felanar, and thou too, master dwarf.”

“Why did you think that?” asked Dolen suspiciously.

“We were told this,” said Narón simply. “By Ravis himself.”

“My faithful captain,” muttered Felanar sarcastically.

“So of survivors there were none left behind?” asked Dolen.

“None that we knew of, and we asked and scanned carefully even under the direct threat facing us by the western ships. We risked our lives and our ships to make sure all were accounted for who could be accounted for.”

“You were told we were dead,” mused Dolen. “Very well,” he said as he stood. He bowed toward Narón and continued, “My apology I do give you, elf.”

“Apology for what?” asked Narón in obvious confusion.

“For much that he said about elves in the days that followed,” said Alessa who ignored a sharp look from her father.

“Aye,” agreed Dolen, “I said much that was unfair, and for that I am truly sorry.”

Llafála and Lloánan looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Thank you, Narón,” said Felanar. “I am afraid I owe you an apology as well for I thought badly of the elves for a time that day, but much good comes from hearing of a matter before one draws a conclusion, and this is a lesson I have learned.”

“I will hear about this Ravis, though,” said Dolen as he sat down again, “for I have drawn a dark conclusion about him so far.”

“As have I,” said Felanar.

Felanar continued his retelling of their journey, their trek across the Plain, and their finding shelter in Mount Majestic. There he skirted over the issue of Helóne since he and Llarand had had several discussions about the matter in recent days and he did not wish to make the elf uncomfortable in front of the other elf elders. So he concluded his account by talking about Jamoku and their subsequent rescue by the elves.