Crown of Renewal(177)
“But—but you can’t represent the king as a mercenary commander!”
Arcolin repressed a sigh. “No, of course not. I will meet with Lord Prince Gnarrinfulk as a fellow prince.”
The man gaped; Arcolin signaled, and his cohort turned onto the South Trade Road.
“What am I supposed to do?” the man said as the column started past him.
“Fall in behind. I’ll need you to deal with Finthans fleeing the mage-hunters.” Arcolin glanced at Cracolnya, who grinned at him.
Arcolin considered going to Duke Elorran’s house, for he needed to cross Elorran land to reach Gnarrinfulk’s nearest border, but talking to Gnarrinfulk’s prince was more urgent than anything else. His gnomish guides told him where to turn off the road, pointing up the slope.
“Cracolnya, you and the royal troop continue on the road and camp before dark. If I’m not back this evening, continue tomorrow but don’t go beyond the border.”
The Aldonfulk gnomes led the way on foot; he rode behind them, as always amazed at how fast they could cover the ground with their short legs. By early afternoon, when Arcolin glanced back, he could see the road as a dusty scar on the land, but his cohort was out of sight behind the shoulder of a hill.
The line in the grass, when they came to it, ran perfectly straight along the front of the hills, rising and falling with the terrain. A stone set an armslength on this side bore a carved message: GNARRINFULK. STOP.
Arcolin dismounted. The land seemed empty and silent, the only sound the wind in the sunburnt grass. One of the gnomes with him picked up a rock from the ground and tapped on the marker stone. They waited. Arcolin straightened his scarf of office. Then, as if rising straight out of the stone, a line of gnomes appeared, all armed with pikes.
“Law is,” said one of them.
“Law is,” Arcolin replied in gnomish. “Lord Prince Arcolinfulk would speak to Lord Prince Gnarrinfulk.”
“It is that this human is gnomish prince?”
“It is so. Lord Prince Aldonfulk has said,” one of the gnome guides said.
“It is that human gave stone-right? Lord Prince Arcolinfulk?”
“It is,” Arcolin said.
“It is that Lord Prince Arcolinfulk come with us.”
Arcolin and his Aldonfulk escort followed the gnomes. Gnarrinfulk, he knew, was the gnome princedom that had tutored Gird himself in organized warfare. Once inside, and facing the Gnarrinfulk prince, he bowed and introduced himself with formality. The prince bowed in return and responded in Common, to Arcolin’s surprise.
“It is Gnarrinfulk speak Common from Gird. Gird slow to learn words of gnomish.”
Arcolin managed not to gape. Was the Gnarrinfulk prince claiming to have known Gird? He did not ask; instead, he moved on to the reasons for his visit. “My king says you have problem with humans here and in Fintha trespassing on Gnarrinfulk lands.”
“Yes. Breach of contract. Gird promised no trespassing. Only few—children now and then—since Gird. Kapristi not harm children. Hurt children is not Law.”
“And now?” Arcolin asked.
The trouble had gone on for more than a year, the gnome prince said. Time and again humans—even humans wearing Girdish symbols—crossed the trimmed line, ignored the boundary stones. Not just single humans but groups, and sometimes the groups fought and shed human blood on Gnarrinfulk stone-right. Worst of all a child or children had been killed on Gnarrinfulk stone-right.
“Is not Law. Not Law, nor Code of Gird,” the prince said. “Sent message to Marshal-General and to king in Tsaia. Both say cannot stop. Some quarrel of humans. Human quarrel not Law.”
“Did the Marshal-General or the king say why the quarrel?”
“Why is not matter. Law is Law. Contract broken is un-Law. Contract broken is … is broken both parties.”
“Law is Law,” Arcolin agreed. “Hurt children is not Law.”
“Kapristi not hurt children.”
“Some men wear Girdish symbols wrong,” Arcolin said. “Not Girdish. Not in Law. Not obeying Marshal General. Not obeying king. They hurt children. They kill children. Parents take children and run—”
“Why kill children?”
“Children have magery. Girdish law—Code of Gird—says no magery is good.”
“Gird not say that.”
He had to ask. “Lord Prince Gnarrinfulk knew Gird?”
A nod. “Gird here. Learn from Warmaster. Gird …” A long pause, then a mutter in gnomish Arcolin could not quite hear. “Gird want Law, but no human can … even human gnome prince. We teach—taught. Gird learn what Gird could. But already knew, it is not magery but it is that mages used magery wrong.”