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my father,’ he began, but she pulled him into a doorway.
    ‘That’ll have to wait — look!’
    He peered out to see a force of Border Patrol and Council Guards galloping towards his villa — swords in hands.
    ‘I don’t think they will listen to reason. We have to get away. Sumiko will help us. She told me she has a plan. We’ll get to my house and wait for her instructions.’
    ‘But I thought you said they’d look for me there?’
    ‘We must trust my sensei. Now hurry, for Aroaril’s sake!’
    They raced through the streets, keeping to the shadows and forced to dodge the armed elves riding around. Anyone the guards saw was immediately questioned and even beaten.
    ‘They look like they are ready to strike first and ask questions afterwards,’ Asami muttered as they crept behind bushes, watching a trio of guards screaming at a young elf.
    Sendatsu said nothing but there was still one ray of hope among the fear. His father could sort out anything. He just had to pay his father’s price.
    Finally they reached Asami’s house.
    ‘Where is Gaibun?’
    ‘He has probably been summoned, along with other Border Patrol.’ Asami opened the door and waved him inside.
    ‘Curse it! He would be the best one to take a message to my father. That is the only way out of this mess,’ Sendatsu decided.
    ‘Well, sit down and write your message, while I try and find Gaibun.’
    Sendatsu grabbed parchment and pen but found time to smile at her.
    ‘Asami, thank you. I can’t tell you how much it means to have you here at this time.’
    ‘I thought you would be angry with me — if I had not brought Sumiko to your house then none of this would have happened.’ She smiled.
    Sendatsu sighed. ‘The fault was not yours. I agreed to give you the scroll if my father refused to act on it. And then my father gave Hanto outrageous orders — and he exceeded even those. There are many people to blame but you are not one of them.’
    For a moment it looked as though she would say something more, then she ducked out of Gaibun’s office, leaving Sendatsu to stare at the blank parchment and wonder what he could say to his father. It was hard to talk to him at the best of times — and this was certainly not the best of times.
    Then Asami burst back through the door.
    ‘Gaibun is here!’
    ‘I haven’t written my message yet …’
    ‘He’s at the head of a hundred soldiers — including that Hanto!’
    Sendatsu surged to his feet but before he could reach her side, someone beat on the front door.
    ‘Sendatsu! It is Gaibun! Open up!’
    Sendatsu’s childhood friend, and Asami’s husband, was a tall elf with a burning gaze and a long moustache. Like Sendatsu, he had powerful arms and chest, a legacy of so much work with the bow but, with his extra height, he seemed to carry it better. Normally he was smiling but his face was grim, his eyes sad as he embraced Sendatsu.
    ‘My friend, I told them I was coming to persuade you to surrender without more bloodshed. But I am here to tell you to flee,’ he said urgently.
    ‘Flee? What do you mean?’
    ‘Your father received your message …’
    ‘I haven’t sent him my message yet!’
    Gaibun looked taken aback. ‘He received something that drove him mad. I have never seen him like that. He was raving that you threatened not just him but Dokuzen when you declared you would reveal your secrets if taken to trial.’
    ‘What?’ Sendatsu spat. The right to trial was only available to elves of noble birth, of course. The lower classes had to accept whatever justice the Council was prepared to give. But elves such as Sendatsu could have their case heard before the full Council, with anyone able to go along to watch.
    ‘Apparently you have threatened to bring down the Council and destroy Dokuzen with some great secret if you are taken to trial,’ Gaibun insisted.
    ‘I would never say that!’
    ‘Well, your father believes you did. And the fact you slaughtered a squad of Council Guards