Beyond the Mists of Katura

Chapter 20

While Julatsa had breathing space in which to resupply, rebuild and refocus after the siege was broken, the threat of another major attack on the college was ever present. They planned to set up a series of mage-led watches along the northern coast and of course at Triverne Inlet to provide early warning. But it was the knock-on effect of the siege that was most keenly damaging to Auum’s expectations. The Julatsan city council refused to allow any of its militia to leave in support of the other three colleges in retaliation for the support withheld from Julatsa in its darkest hour, while the college decided to keep most of its mages at home, citing an unacceptable risk to its heart stone should the Wesmen return.

When the numbers were totalled the expeditionary force was pitiful, made worthy of the name only by Auum’s TaiGethen and the Il-Aryn, now under the reluctant command of a sour-faced Ynissul teacher named Rith. She had spent a day denouncing her own leadership skills when her name was put forward, but the fact remained that she was the most experienced and most respected practitioner still alive.

Harild had lent the force some cavalry to act as guides and escorts for the journey, but they were under orders to return before any fight. And very few of the elven mages Takaar had been so determined to come and rescue had chosen to travel, which left the TaiGethen’s Arch questioning his elves’ role here once again. Stein had demanded to go with them, which had been the single blessing, but they left the city with fifty cavalry, just eighty-two TaiGethen, one hundred and four Il-Aryn, and a mere seventy-eight Julatsan-trained elves of the four hundred or so Auum had been persuaded to rescue.

Supply wagons rattled along at the rear of the column where the Il-Aryn had also chosen to walk or jog. If there was one thing Auum could thank Takaar for it was his insistence that his adepts were fit. A hangover from his TaiGethen days in Auum’s opinion, though Rith had assured him in her dry humourless tones that it had everything to do with casting stamina and nothing to do with anything else.

Not one of the Julatsan mage council had seen them off, all distracted by some turn of events elsewhere. It was a fact not lost on Auum and he quizzed Stein about it, jogging beside his horse as they travelled across the easy ground west towards the Blackthorne Mountains.

‘They lost contact with their team at the Septern Manse a few days ago. Apparently Lystern have the same problem. We don’t know about the other two colleges.’

‘And they’re surprised, are they?’ said Auum. ‘Remind me why we’re going to join Xetesk again, would you? Sounds like they’re more likely to kill us than welcome us.’

‘You’re not seriously suggesting that our researchers have been murdered, are you?’

‘I think they have to consider it. And what are they planning to do about it? Send more to die, or make more pointless entreaties to Xetesk — out of whom they will get no information whatever?’

Stein shook his head, chuckling. ‘How long have you been here? Ten days or so, is it? And you seem to know more about the workings of Xetesk than most will absorb in a lifetime. I think your suggestions of murder and the abandonment of Julatsa are off target, but the general attitude of our Xeteskian friends? You’re spot on.’

Auum shrugged. ‘They are the human face of the Wytch Lords. I had a hundred and fifty years to understand exactly how their minds worked. Ystormun might have been forced out when the sundering came, but he and his band of bastards left behind plenty of malevolence, and it all rests in Xetesk, doesn’t it?’

‘They are not as black as you paint them,’ said Stein.

Auum increased his pace and ran to the head of the column, which snaked its way towards the chill of the Blackthorne Mountains dominating the horizon. The bleak grey peaks, capped with what Stein said was snow and ice, were imposing, pressing down on the tiny elves and humans travelling into their shadow. Calaius had mountains, but these were of a different scale altogether.

Their aim was to track along the foothills all the way down to Understone Pass, where they would join the fight. Auum was puzzled that the power of human magic had not already forced the Wesmen back, but he needed to see the battle for himself if he was to employ his people to their best advantage.

Stein was adamant that they wouldn’t encounter Wesmen along their route, and so far there were no signs of any enemy activity. Farms and hamlets were undamaged; the land was pristine, and when the question was asked, livestock was all accounted for.

It took Auum a little while to work out why this worried him. Had he been commanding Wesmen forces he would have sent significant numbers this way, hidden from all the college cities, to outflank the pass defenders. Something just wasn’t right and he wasn’t about to blame a lack of tactical acumen on the part of the Wytch Lords. Auum had learned through bitter experience never to underestimate Ystormun.

Ulysan was heading the column with Duele, who had been co-opted back into Auum’s cell with the fall of poor Ollem on the walls of Julatsa. They’d lost too many up there and on the field afterwards: twelve in all from across the spectrum of experience and representing four full cells. It left them light.

TaiGethen ran the flanks and rear and also provided scouts ahead and on the points. Ulysan was chatting to Duele as the two ran, Ulysan in his easy loping stride, Duele with his soft feet which seemed almost to float a hair above the ground. His was an extraordinary skill in waiting and Auum prayed that he lived to see it realised.

‘Come to see the real excitement, have you?’ said Ulysan when Auum fell in alongside him.

‘I can’t take their denials any longer,’ said Auum. ‘Even Stein is blinkered when it comes to Xetesk.’

‘Then we must look after ourselves,’ said Duele.

‘I’ll speak when we stop for the night,’ said Auum. ‘Some among us are following blindly, and I don’t like that.’

‘I hear you,’ said Ulysan.

‘So, where are we?’ asked Auum, gazing out at the landscape ahead.

‘Well, there are the mountains,’ said Ulysan, pointing. ‘In case you hadn’t spotted them.’

‘I was really down until I came to speak to you and now I’ve improved to suicidal,’ said Auum. ‘If you want to run with another cell, Duele, I fully understand.’

‘The thought will never enter my mind,’ said Duele.

‘I’m still working on his sense of humour,’ said Ulysan.

‘I shall pray fervently to Yniss that it doesn’t turn out like yours.’

‘I am hurt, my Arch,’ said Ulysan, placing a hand on his chest.

‘Just tell me what I’m looking at,’ said Auum. ‘I know you studied the maps.’

Ulysan smiled. ‘No learning is ever wasted. Right, we’re heading south-west at the moment and we’ll encounter the River Tri where it rises at the base of Triverne Lake, probably by nightfall if we push on. Quite a beautiful spot, I’m told. We can cross at the shallows there and then hug the mountains. From here you can see the lake sparkle against the mountains when the sun hits it right — that’ll give you an idea of distance.

‘It’s about six days to Understone from here, I’d say. The terrain is very easy. Our only problem is staying hidden if we feel the need; that’s another reason to stay close to the mountains. This way keeps us as far from all the colleges as possible too. That’s it really. No significant landmarks I haven’t mentioned, no trees and precious few people because the land in the lee of the mountains isn’t good for farming.’

‘Escape routes once we’re past Xetesk on the way to Understone?’

‘We want to hope it doesn’t come to that,’ said Ulysan. ‘If we’re closed off from behind then we’re effectively trapped.’

‘Is that likely?’ asked Duele.

Auum raised his eyebrows. ‘It depends who you ask.’

‘Right,’ said Ulysan. ‘Everyone else says it isn’t; Auum says it is.’

Duele fell silent but Auum could see there was conflict within him.

‘It’s always best to speak,’ said Ulysan, seeing the same thing. ‘Silence only breeds resentment.’

Duele took a breath and glanced at them both.

‘There is much uncertainty and fear,’ he said carefully as if voicing the words was somehow heretical. ‘Among the Il-Aryn certainly but also within the newer emerged TaiGethen. It’s distracting. We should be united, and I feel we aren’t. It is difficult to be surrounded with such differing opinions.’

Auum’s first reaction was of disappointment, but a moment later he smiled.

‘Uncertainty is the hallmark of this venture,’ he said. ‘And I am asking much of the inexperienced. . I’ll speak to everyone later.’

And he did. On the banks of Triverne Lake, with the cook fires throwing a warming glow into a chilly night and the lapping of the water on the shore a relaxing influence, Auum spoke to whoever would hear him, human or elf.

‘It is terribly hard to see those you know — those you love — die beside you. I cannot promise you that it will get any easier because it doesn’t. Those who fight to save Calaius must bear that burden. I ask that Yniss bless you all for being here and showing your faith in our gods and in me. I am humbled by your courage and your strength, particularly those of you who have just had your first taste of the fight. The experience of violence and death are shocking, yet here you sit, willing to do it all over again even though you worry that you are afraid.

‘Don’t worry. Fear is healthy; believe me, the fearless die quickly. Let your fear make you cautious and lead you to the right decisions; don’t let it cripple you and make you easy prey.

‘Are we on the right path? Yniss knows none of us can be sure, but we do know the Wytch Lords must be defeated. So I’m asking you to fight alongside Xetesk even though every fibre of my being screams that it is wrong. I’m doing it because there is no other choice. At Understone Pass we can strike, together, at Ystormun’s twisted heart. I know you don’t want human allies. Neither do I, but this is reality. We are not enough on our own.’

Auum led a prayer and invited questions. He saw Stein talking to a couple of cavalrymen.

‘They were wondering why you’re here at all if you mistrust us so much.’

‘It’s a good question,’ said Auum. ‘We’re here because the Wytch Lords have to be defeated and we can’t do it back home. So here we are to see it done. It doesn’t mean we have to like it, or like humans — with some notable exceptions.’

Stein passed on Auum’s response and the cavalrymen both nodded their understanding.

‘Anything further?’ asked Auum. ‘Then let’s eat and sleep. Yniss bless you all and keep you safe until dawn.’

Auum slept little that night, wondering if he should have kept his council. But he needed eyes. Not just TaiGethen and Il-Aryn but those of the Julatsans travelling with them. As the next day’s travel got under way beneath a deep grey sky, a chill wind blew off the mountains, surprising the elves, who donned cloaks while the humans did not. He could see groups of the cavalry deep in conversation as they rode and their gesturing and pointing told its own story about the impact of his words.

Stein trotted up to him while he was running with Merrat’s cell, discussing possible tactics.

‘You caused quite a stir last night,’ said Stein.

‘Good.’

Stein blew out his cheeks. ‘Yes, but I had to give one or two a history lesson to stop them riding back to Julatsa.’

‘I’m not apologising for being careful,’ said Auum.

‘I’m not asking you to. I just thought you should know that some have their sympathies elsewhere.’

‘Nor am I apologising for being careful with my choice of allies. Got friends in Xetesk, have they?’

‘Yes, some of them probably do. We don’t just wall ourselves in and talk in hushed tones, you know. There is more similarity than difference between all four colleges.’

‘Then perhaps I shouldn’t trust you either?’

Stein laughed. ‘I asked for that, didn’t I?’

Auum looked up at him and thought to reinforce his point, but there was nothing to distrust about this particular human. Stein smiled broadly and spoke again, pointing along the shore of Triverne Lake.

‘And you said there were no trees here. Just look at that. Beautiful, isn’t it?’

Auum looked and saw an area of woodland about two miles away hugging the shore for some considerable distance and stretching away a hundred yards or so towards the foothills. Nyann’s cell, the duty scouts this morning, were closing on it already. He hoped they enjoyed themselves beneath the patchy canopy.

‘That, human, is like a drop in the vast ocean that is the Calaian rainforest. It is a single footprint left by Yniss. I could count those trees before we arrived at the first. It would take you a lifetime to count those in our forest.’

Auum was possessed of a sudden longing to be back beneath Beeth’s canopy, sheltering from Gyal’s tears and glorying in Tual’s creatures and all the great creation of Yniss. It was godless, this human land. It had no soul.

‘One day I’d like to come and try,’ said Stein. ‘But before that I’ll take you to our great forests when this is done. . Grethern and Greythorne. They are places to lose yourself.’

Auum smiled. ‘I look forward to it.’

‘How many forests do you have?’

‘Just the one,’ said Auum.

‘Oh,’ said Stein, the smile on his face wider than ever. ‘We have two.’

Auum laughed and punched him lightly on the thigh. The two of them continued on in a companionable silence until Auum moved forward at a call from Grafyrre, who was running the head of the column with his cell. Auum had to confess that Triverne Lake was a place of beauty, set against the steep climbs of the Blackthorne Mountains. The lake was a vivid pure blue lapping on gentle shores, the vegetation surrounding it was lush and verdant and the wildlife, birds in particular, was plentiful.

They were less than a mile from the woodland and Auum intended to take a break just so that he and the TaiGethen could rest under the cover of green leaves, no matter how thin they were in comparison with the rainforest.

‘Do we have a problem, Graf?’

‘I doubt it but your orders were to alert you should our scouts not check in, and they haven’t done so since entering the woodland.’

‘Got their backs to the broadest trunks already or lying on the ground gazing up at the leaves, I expect,’ said Auum, doubting every word as he said it.

He looked to the south-east, knowing that Xetesk sprang from the ground down there somewhere, a stain tainted with the black of the Wytch Lords. If someone had alerted Xetesk to the movement of the elves and Julatsans, could they have had the time to conceal themselves in the woods? It was unlikely.

‘Even so,’ said Auum. ‘We will approach with caution, halt the column beyond the range of any spell and send in another cell. Just in case.’

They moved up to around two hundred yards from the first trees. There was still no trace of Nyann but nor was there any sign of an enemy. The shadows in the forest were deep but not impenetrable, certainly not to the elven eye. Auum was getting a cold feeling crawling up his legs and into his back and belly. He shook his head, unable to believe that he was afraid of a forest.

‘Nyann!’ he called, then, ‘Hassek, take your cell in. Silent and cautious.’

Hassek and his Tai hurried across the open ground towards the woodland. He hadn’t covered half the distance when there was movement in the fringe. Auum saw Hassek slow and stop. He raised a hand. Relief flushed through Auum, turning quickly to anger at Nyann’s failure to report. He saw her standing near the wide trunk of a tree and Hassek moved on.

‘What’s going on?’ asked Stein, walking his horse up.

‘Nothing much,’ said Auum. ‘Although. .’

Nyann fell forward, face down in the dirt. There had been a man standing behind her, holding her upright.

Stein hunched in his saddle as if ducking something.

‘Gods drowning, it feels like. .’ he said, then he swore and shouted. ‘Scatter! Ambush!’

Wards exploded in the middle and rear of the column. Auum had moved the moment Stein shouted, wrapping an arm around Ulysan and bundling him forward as fast as he could. He felt himself picked up and thrown by the pressure of a ward detonating behind him. Heat washed across him, and he and Ulysan were sent tumbling across the grass.

Auum rolled and got to his feet in time to see dozens of explosive spells ripping into the column. Flames roared skywards. Horses and riders were cast into the air and supply wagons disintegrated before his eyes. Elves and men were consumed by fire, turned to ash by the extraordinary heat, and survivors scrambled away, dragging the wounded with them. Burning bodies littered the ground. Man, elf and beast screamed in agony or terror.

Auum ran back towards the carnage. Mages flew overhead, fifty at least, coming down to land about two hundred yards behind them and immediately marching towards them, preparing new castings. Auum glanced behind him. No sign of Nyann or her cell now, just a line of enemy soldiers backed by yet more mages. There were cavalry there too.

‘Dear Yniss preserve us, we’re trapped,’ he whispered. ‘How could they have possibly got here so quickly, have laid so complete a trap?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Ulysan. ‘We’ve got to get our people away from here, up into the foothills — anywhere.’

Auum gagged as the stench of burning flesh caught in his throat. TaiGethen, Il-Aryn and human lay dead together. He ran through the mess, shouting for anyone who could hear him to get away towards the mountains. There were so many bodies, so many dead and dying.

He saw a few cavalry still mounted, and among them, mercifully, Stein. He was organising an escape of sorts, though where they could all go to evade more castings was difficult to see. The terrain to the west became very difficult within a few hundred yards. It was strewn with boulders, set with scree slopes and sharp inclines, but if they could get over the first rises, they might just have a chance.

‘We’ve got to buy some time,’ said Auum. He ran into the midst of the escapees, conscious that at any moment new spells would start to fall. ‘TaiGethen, to me!’

He didn’t wait to see who was with him, there was no time for that. He prayed enough had survived and ran at the mages who had flown in behind them. Ulysan was at his shoulder. Duele was there too, all three of them saved by being at the head of the column. There were others too, he could hear their footfalls.

Ahead the mages had seen them.

‘Wait until they cast,’ called Auum. ‘Let’s make ourselves targets. Watch out for ice coming head on and use the shetharyn to evade.’

Auum ran as hard as he could, closing the gap to fifty yards. The mages had stopped and orders were called across their lines. Hands were outstretched and castings surged out. Orbs of deep blue fire shot flat across the open ground, and frost turned the grass black on a wide arc racing towards them.

‘Speed!’ yelled Auum.

He dropped into the shetharyn. All at once the paths of the orbs became slow and their impact points obvious. The frost was propelled on a hurricane of dread cold air, washing across the ground up to a height of about eight feet. Auum whipped forward, sensing his Tai following his instincts. Grafyrre was ahead of him, Vaart too, all sprinting headlong towards the frost, knowing the orbs would strike well behind them now.

Auum increased his speed. The leading edge of the cold was a handful of paces away and he could feel the ice blowing ahead of it. He ran forward two more paces and jumped, pushing off with his left foot and flattening his body as he reached the apex of his leap. His arms were stretched out like a bird’s wings and the hurricane scoured the ground below him.

Auum cleared it, bringing his legs under him and landing in a crouch, the frozen grass crunching underfoot. He sprinted on, jaqrui in hand. Fear replaced the smugness of the mage line. Some tried to form new castings but others were already backing away.

‘Jaqrui!’ called Auum.

Thirteen crescent blades whistled away. They struck torsos, chopped deep into arms held up in defence and bit into thighs. One, Ulysan’s he thought, clipped the top of a mage’s head clean off, spraying brain and gore in all directions.

Auum, his teeth bared, drew his blades and attacked. He knew anger fuelled him, and he dropped out of the shetharyn to conserve his strength. His blades hacked into the body of the first mage he reached. He paced on, placing a roundhouse kick in the side of another’s head and a blade through his gut. Auum lashed a cut into the face of a third, drove a blade into the throat of a fourth and roared like a panther as he dragged it clear.

TaiGethen were flying in around him, delivering death without mercy.

‘Keep one alive!’ called Auum.

It was done so fast. A handful managed to cast Wings of Shade and take off again, heading back to the woodland, but more than forty were dead or dying. Auum spat on the face of one who still clung to life.

‘You kill without honour and you die the same way,’ he said, and drove his blade into the man’s heart.

‘Auum!’ He turned. Ulysan had a mage by the scruff of the neck. He looked terrified. Blood trickled down his face from a cut on his forehead and his front teeth had been knocked out. His lips were burst and his nose skewed at an unnatural angle. ‘Good, bring him. Tais, with me.’

Auum began to run hard back towards the ambush site, where the fighting was fierce. The remains of the cavalry were charging at a line of soldiers and archers. Enemy cavalry were gathered and wheeling to strike again too. More TaiGethen had formed a defensive perimeter in front of what looked like a painfully small number of survivors. The enemy were close enough to launch castings, but, as he watched, Auum saw orbs flash against protective shields, both the yellow of Julatsa and the brown of the Il-Aryn.

Cavalry clashed with cavalry on the open ground. Auum felt the force of it vibrating through the ground from where he was running a couple of hundred yards adrift of the survivors. He could see more and more men coming from the trees. There had to be five hundred of them with considerable magical support. This confrontation was ultimately only going to go one way.

Auum ran past the charred remains of so many good elves and up to the group of survivors, which was halfway up the first rise into the foothills. Merrat was there with Stein. More spells fell on the shields, which flared in response.

‘Merrat.’

‘Auum, we’re in trouble. We’ve got injured and dying here and we can’t go back around the lake. We’ll be too slow and there are too many men down there. They’ll pick us off.’

‘What are our numbers?’

Merrat’s eyes were full of tears. ‘I dread to make a count. We’ve lost well over a hundred and fifty. More won’t survive the day, if any of us do.’

Auum looked to Stein. He had a long burn down the side of his grey, frightened face and one arm was cradled in the other.

‘We should have listened to you,’ he said, his voice faint with his pain.

‘It doesn’t matter now. We have to get into the hills. I’ll take the TaiGethen down to face the cavalry and buy you time. I’ll seek you out later. But you have to find a place up there to hide.’

Stein nodded. ‘I’ll do what I can. Do you want mage support?’

‘No. Take them with you. Keep our people shielded and get someone in the air looking for a path. Go.’

Ulysan came trotting up with the prisoner.

‘What do you want to do with him?’

‘Merrat, I think he’s yours. Keep him alive if you can. Go with Stein — have your cell scout a path.’

Merrat nodded and took the shivering mage from Ulysan, staring at him with cold eyes.

There was a heavy detonation from the direction of the woodland. Auum spun about. The Julatsan cavalry was broken: he saw ten horses on the ground, only another eight or so still standing and half of those galloping away from the spell that had crashed into them. The enemy cavalry wheeled and came again, but this time straight at the main group of survivors.

‘Tais to me!’ shouted Auum. ‘Merrat, Stein, go!’

Julatsan spells soared out over the heads of the TaiGethen, striking the enemy cavalry. Mages and soldiers were moving out of the woodland and spells fizzed across shields. Auum swore and ran hard down the slope, TaiGethen to either side of him. He took a quick glance, counting thirty or so. He prayed that was not all he had left.

The horsemen came on, looking to skirt the attacking TaiGethen. Simultaneously, enemy mages were preparing new castings and continuing their advance behind a line of swordsmen.

‘Speed!’ called Auum. ‘Get among the horsemen.’

Auum switched into the shetharyn and powered towards the group of forty or so cavalry, which was on a curving gallop towards the flank of the group gathering itself to head into the foothills of the Blackthorne Mountains. Where a running man might look to Auum as if he was wading through mud, a horse still had some pace. Even so, the cavalry would not reach the survivors.

Auum felt a thrill across his body as he turned into a tight curving run. He could hear the steady fall of horses’ hooves on the ground and feel them through the soles of his feet each time they kissed the earth. He was aware of men and mages behind him, loosing arrows and spells, but none would touch him or his TaiGethen.

With Ulysan vying for the lead until Duele scorched past them both, Auum closed on the cavalry fast. Grafyrre’s and Faleen’s cells were both in close attendance.

‘Spread through them,’ called Auum. ‘Let’s make this quick.’

Auum surged up, passing Duele, who laughed and drew a blade. One of the riders looked round to see the thirty elves gaining on them with every stride. His mouth dropped open. He yelled something incomprehensible and slammed his spurs into his horse’s flanks.

He was too late, far too late. Auum ran between two horses, his blades in his hands, and stabbed up into the waist of each rider. One fell outwards, the other in. Auum didn’t wait to see if they were dead, either the fall or other TaiGethen would finish them. The riderless horses turned aside, already slowing but still following their kin. Auum moved on.

Next to him Duele vaulted onto the back of a horse, grabbed its rider by the head and cut his throat, casting the body down and to the right. Then he stood in the saddle and launched himself full length at another. Auum watched him take the man clean out of his saddle.

Auum’s next targets had swords drawn and ready, their attention on him, not ahead. Both leaned out of their saddles, waiting for him to attack, and Auum steadied his pace. Ulysan came to the side of one and sliced through the rider’s girth strap, barely nicking the horse’s flank. The man plunged to the ground, his sword snapping in the earth and his head staved in by the rear hoof of his comrade’s mount.

Auum switched to the other side of the second horse, seeing Ulysan duck left after another target. The rider saw him and tried to bring his blade across to strike. It was a half-hearted blow which Auum blocked with his left-hand blade, then he dragged the man off his horse, hurdling the body as it crashed to the ground.

The front rank of cavalry, ten strong, was further ahead. Beyond them Auum could see the Il-Aryn lined up, some of them anyway, their hands linked and their heads bowed. The horsemen closed on them quickly; the TaiGethen would only just reach them in time. The captain raised his sword, urging his men on for the final gallop. All had blades cocked overhead in an identical position, ready to sweep down as they broke across the Il-Aryn.

Some fifteen strides before they would be hit, the Il-Aryn raised their heads as one. The air quality changed, became heavy and thick, or so it felt. Auum dropped out of the shetharyn, seeing many of his TaiGethen do the same. There was a gleam in the air, like a line of horizontal light. It flashed towards the cavalry, sweeping over the horses’ heads and straight through their riders.

Auum blinked, making sure he had seen it right. Every man had dropped from his saddle, leaving the horses to slow naturally. There was a mist of blood in the air. Several severed arms thudded to the ground, thumping dully into the mud and grass to land among the sliced parts of skulls and whole heads that had pattered down.

Auum shook his head and turned back to the woodland and the advancing foot soldiers.

‘Tais to me,’ he called.

The TaiGethen gathered around him. Ahead of them the enemy had halted, perhaps not understanding what they had seen but knowing for certain that they had just witnessed forty cavalry on galloping horses slaughtered by elven warriors and magic.

‘Spread out and advance,’ said Auum.

In front of them were more than three hundred men and mages, and there were more in the shadows. Auum could see some of them looking past his warriors to the rise. Auum glanced behind him and saw the Il-Aryn moving up, flanked by more TaiGethen. There were Julatsan mages shadowing them from the air.

Outnumbered by ten to one and more, the TaiGethen had no realistic chance, but the humans had lost the stomach for the fight, for now at least. They had lost their cavalry cover and, worse, they could see Julatsan riders rounding up their horses, no doubt to use against them.

On a word from their commander, they melted back into the forest.

‘That’ll do,’ said Auum. ‘Let’s go.’