Cormyr_ a novel - Ed Greenwood [64]
Baerauble came forward and placed himself to one side, between Faerlthann and the elven triumvirate. He was choosing his side in this fight, Faerlthann thought. In the middle. Faerlthann felt abandoned and alone, but did not let his worry cloud his face or his judgment.
The elf continued, ignoring the human mage. "There have been humans who came into the wolf woods before Ondeth's people. Some passed through. Some sought to despoil our lands. The former we allowed to pass. The latter… we destroyed. Your father, and those he brought with him, did not pass through. Nor did they despoil our hunting grounds. They kept to their first glade and rarely harmed the land beyond it. Ondeth's people served as adequate caretakers of the land under your father's leadership."
"My father was not…" began Faerlthann, but Baerauble raised a warning hand. Interrupting a lord among the elves simply was not done.
"Your father was the leader of your people, regardless of his own denials. When those of Suzail needed direction, they turned to him. When they needed strength, to him. When they needed wisdom, to him. He may not have carried the title of king or prince or duke, but he was your people's leader, and now he is no more. And he left no one ready to take his place. Typically shortsighted. Typically human."
Faerlthann started to growl another protest, but Baerauble raised his hand once more, this time adding a sharp glare. Let the elf speak, he seemed to say, and listen. Faerlthann nodded and held his tongue.
"So now we have a town full of humans, not the few dozen he told us of a mere twenty years back. A town almost in our midst, full of humans without a leader, without a master, without written law. Held together for the shortest period by one honest human. And now that human is no more." He raised a hand in what might almost have been a salute-or a gesture of resignation.
"We few of the elven court have become divided, even as your kind multiply," the elf lord continued, the smallest of smiles flickering across his face. He motioned to the armored elf on his right. "Othorion Keove, here, believes that with Ondeth's passing, our agreement is null and void, and Ondeth's people should be driven into the sea."
He motioned to his left. "Alea Dahast, who once hunted men in this forest, now believes you should be allowed to remain, but confined to your current warren. Were you to spread farther or increase your numbers beyond reasonable bounds, you would have to be destroyed, or else we would be destroyed."
Faerlthann put his rage aside and started to listen to the elf-not just to the words, heavy with foreboding, but to the tone. Iliphar sounded old and tired, like Faerlthann's father after an evening of arguing with his mother.
Others have pressured him into this, Faerlthann thought. Probably the chain-clad one on the right. That one had a hungry hunter's look to him. He appeared to be looking for any excuse to put Suzail to the torch.
Yet the choices they spoke of were abhorrent. Even if Faerlthann had wanted to, he could not abandon Suzail, nor could he prevent it from growing. More people were arriving each month. Now there were tales of plague and lurking sea monsters in Marsember, and boats were passing that city by, to moor at smaller but cleaner Suzail. Deciding not to grow might be an elven solution, but it could not be a human one.
"There is another possibility," announced Baerauble. "You could recognize the sovereignty of Lord Iliphar in all things and allow appointment of a minister to oversee your community. You could therefore remain in the Land of the Purple Dragon."
Baerauble turned his head briefly to the trifold throne. The woman on the left favored him with a radiant smile. Faerlthann saw what was going on here. Baerauble would be that minister and would run things as the elves saw the world and as these forest folk desired. No Suzailan townsman would stand for that.
Faerlthann