Demonstorm

Chapter 33

I can't do it, Cleress, I can't.

Oh my child of course you can. Tou are a most able student.

Don't bloody patronise me. Want me to start calling you (old woman'? Tou weren't there. Tou weren't in my mind. That casting should have worked exactly the way of the first. The fact that it didn't means I cannot be trusted to do this right every time and if I don't, my friends will die.

If you don't try they will die anyway.

Erienne had a sensation of movement but nothing more. Her awareness was otherwise limited to the roar of the One magic force surging around her mind and body and the attempted calming of the frail and distant Al-Drechar elf. Erienne was not dead and therefore The Raven must have made it to the Julatsan carriages. She was, she presumed, aboard one of them. And if she concentrated very hard, she felt a comforting strength nearby. She knew who it would be.

And you think my giving them false hope will make it better?

Don't be stupid, Erienne. Tours is not a false hope. The power you oversee can be the difference. All you have to do is understand where you went wrong. Explain what happened.

Erienne bit back her retort. It would have made her precisely the schoolgirl she had been about to deny.

I didn't go wrong, Cleress, I didn't. I had worked out the gauge of the casting so well and it worked exactly as I had planned. Tou would have been proud. I mapped the mana trails, plotted the link lines to the demons and removed the linkage that held their blood vessels together. It was perfect. But when I did it again in just the same way, there was some form of surge within me and although the casting began, I had to shut down but I wasn't ever in complete control of that decision. It was

like my body sensed the danger before my mind did. What happened? Why can't I repeat? I have to be able to repeat, it's all we have.

Erienne felt her anxiety rising and the One power bore down on her. As ever she fought the entity, imagining it was a spider whose legs she had to pry from her mind to stop them crushing her. Abruptly, the pressure eased and Cleress's presence pushed the power aside.

Calm, Erienne. It knows your fear and it feeds off it. Remember what we showed you.

It's so hard, Cleress. I'm so tired.

I know. But listen to me. Tou pose so many questions yet the answers are there before you. I am proud of the casting you made. It shows true understanding of the potential of the One and demonstrated your control over the entity.

But-

Please, let me finish. Tou are the one who always felt the entity had more sentience than it actually possesses in reality. It was we who explained to you that it is your mind that gives it this virtual life. What you imagine, it can become. That is why you need to control your mind so closely when you release the power.

Tou're saying I caused the problem with the second casting?

We have all of us done the same. Tou crossed a waypoint in your understanding though I know it feels like failure to you at the moment. What you realise is that it is as we have always said. Casting with the One is essentially very simple but it is the feeding of power that is the complex part of the equation. I would stake my life that all you did the second time around was relax just that iota, as if you couldn't quite believe how easy it was.

Erienne thought to reply but Cleress wasn't finished.

Think before you respond. Recall what went through your mind as you prepared the second casting and saw how easily it all slotted into place. Examine your process. If at any moment you felt that it was too easy, that would have been enough. That would have relaxed the muscles of your mind to let the wrong gauge of power out. The One became what you imagined, just that little bit slack. And in a One casting, that can spell disaster.

She was right. She was absolutely dead right.

So what should I do? Next time there may not be a sanctuary.

Tou do nothing but believe in yourself, as Fm sure your friends have been telling you all along. The good part of this is that your body is now so attuned to the power flow within you that if it detects a flaw, it will close off. And it won't always leave you unconscious, either.

I'm just so scared of failing.

Then don't. Tou are equipped with all you need to know. Tou do trust me, don't you, Erienne?

Tes.

Good. Then trust what I say. Believe what I say. Tou must not doubt yourself. Focus on all the castings you have made that have been perfect. They far outweigh those which were not. Remember the tautness of your concentration.

It all sounds so straightforward when you say it, Cleress. But when I open my eyes, what will I find, I wonder?

Remember you are everything you think you can be. Tou are the One mage.

I am when you are with me.

Cleress laughed but it was a tired sound. Tou don't need my strength. Tou have a surfeit of your own.

If only I knew where to find it.

Tou know where it lies, child.

And you must be tired, old woman.

I am. So if you will excuse me I will rest. Bring yourself round. Gain from the contact of The Raven. Tou are each other's best chance.

Thank you, Cleress.

Sharyr knew he was screaming but he had no desire to stop. He thought perhaps Brynel and Suarav were doing the same and if they weren't, they ought to be. They were moving as one, he leading, shouting commands between his screams and keeping them simple. One thing he couldn't afford was for he and Brynel to pull in opposite directions. It would leave Suarav a dead man.

'Left!'

And they flew left, feeling the wind as a pack of strike-strain missed them to the right. They turned back in towards the shell. The sky lit up with a Julatsan barrage. Sharyr exulted. What a sight.

'Straight in. Trim those wings, Brynel.'

The mages adjusted their wings for raw speed and immediately

began to lose height, Suarav's weight dragging them down. Sharyr heard Suarav shout in shock as the speed struck them. This was a final approach. They wouldn't get another chance. In front of them, the wagons had started to move but there were those who had detached and were heading towards the edge of the shell where they were aiming to break through.

Their way was blocked by strike-strain and reavers, floating in the air ahead of them. Sharyr looked briefly below. They were no more than twenty feet in the air now and still sinking. They had nowhere to go.

'Hold course, Brynel. Close your eyes and let's pray.'

He felt a strange exhilaration. This was the defining moment of his life. For once he had been in control of his own destiny, and had chosen this path. He recalled being browbeaten by Dystran, he recalled his protestations and how he could never hope to have His voice heard. Not this time. So he didn't pray. He bellowed his rebellion.

'Hang on, Suarav. Enjoy the ride.'

They collided with the strike-strain. Sharyr felt the small creatures buffeting him. He put his head down and let it happen. Bodies hurtled into his head, midriff and legs. He felt the drag on his waist when Suarav was struck and just one huge impact that could only be a reaver.

And then he was falling.

He opened his eyes. They were inside the shell and the Wings had dispersed on the instant. The ground rushed towards them. They were travelling so fast. Too fast surely. Then they were all bouncing over the ground. Every impact was a new pain. He felt hard earth on his backside and the sharpness of wood or rock in his gut. He tasted dirt in his mouth and cried out when his shoulder jerked uncomfortably under him as he slid to a stop.

'Oh dear Gods, I'm still alive.' And he began to laugh.

Hands were about him and he could see faces. Voices questioned him, heavily accented. They were elves of the Al-Arynaar. He had heard about them.

'Are you hurt? Can you stand? We have to move now.'

He didn't know the answers. He moved to stand and pain lanced through his back. He winced. The arms helped him slowly to his

feet. He looked about him. Suarav was still on the ground but shaking his head, and moving freely. Brynel was smiling and gasping at the same time, a difficult combination.

Sharyr became aware of the sounds in the shell. The calls of demons and the cries of men and elves. The rattle of wagons, the hoofbeats and the fighting in every quarter.

'The cursyrd attack. We must move.'

'Yes,' he said. 'Yes.'

They started to move. Demons flew down on their heads. Tiny strike-strain nipping at their scalps and ears. He flapped his arms ineffectually. The elves hurried them along.

'They cannot really hurt you,' said the elf running beside him. 'Why are you here?'

T need to speak to the man. . the elf in charge. You need to know about the streets of Xetesk.'

T will take you to Rebraal.'

Sharyr had never heard of him but the reverence in the elf s voice was enough.

'He sounds perfect.'

The elf didn't answer him.

Behind them the wagons were rolling under attack from the skies above. Auum led his Tai through scorched grass and smouldering flesh. The cursyrd line had broken but it was reforming quickly. They, the Al-Arynaar and The Raven had to keep the cursyrd on the back foot. If the karron should reform in any great numbers, the mages' work would be undone.

Working within the compass of the ColdRoom shell, Auum tore into the attack, operating with twin short swords. Duele and Evunn were on either flank.

'Target the karron. Tai, we strike.'

The karron were identically formed, unlike their reaver brethren. The fine hair he had seen from a distance was in fact a writhing, coarse sensory mat. The eyes were small and dim, perhaps only able to tell the difference between light and dark. The squat creature's raw power lay in its trunk and arms. And these latter swung with surprising swiftness, defying its lumbering gait.

Auum ducked a swinging spike limb and lashed his blades into

karron legs. He stepped smardy aside, a hammer thumping the ground where he had been standing. He pulled back, reassessing die creature's speed. It came at him, arms punching and swinging. A bludgeoning tactic but directionless. Auum swayed left, took a pace and lashed in a kick to the side of its head. It grunted and shook its head to clear its senses but Auum was already upon it. He stepped inside its arms and buried both blades in its face.

The karron wailed and collapsed forwards. Auum dropped and rolled backwards, bouncing back onto his feet. Beside him, Duele and Evunn tackled three that worked in unison.

'Feel the dance, my brothers,' said Auum.

Behind him The Raven crashed into the fight. Auum dodged another battering attack and struck out, carving his blades into the club arm and seeing grey gore spurt out of the deep wounds. He moved to deal the killing strike but Hirad got there first. The barbarian's sword sunk deep into the karron's midriff, driving ii backwards.

'Let's keep these bastards going our way!' shouted Hirad.

He dragged his sword clear, grinned at Auum and ran to join The Unknown Warrior. Auum cleared his throat and stepped in to aid his Tai. He breathed deep and achieved the pure state. The karron could not move fast enough to threaten him. He looked into their small eyes, buried deep under heavy brows, and watched the movement of the mat of hair. The limbs followed the sensing of its targets but it could not hope to lay a blow on the TaiGethen.

Auum needed quick kills. He rolled under the arms of his target and hammered his blades into its chest. He stepped right, jumping high and thudding both feet into the face of the next, landing on its stomach as it crashed onto its back. He tore out its throat with a double slash. A club fist whistled towards him. Still too slow. He jumped over it, turned in the air and straight-kicked the assailant. He dropped low, swept its legs from beneath it and jammed his blades high under its left arm. It spasmed and lay still.

He rose to his feet. Duele and Evunn were next to him. The Al-Arynaar and The Raven were deep in the fighting, driving a wedge for the wagons that trundled along behind. Auum felt a burning inside him and realised it was pure pleasure. It was not an emotion

he associated with consigning his enemies to Shorth but he was prepared to enjoy it.

He smiled.

'Tai,' he said. 'As one. We move.'

You could only stand and admire. It all but cost Hirad his life. He had dragged his sword through the ribs of one of the ugly haired demons and watched the creature bleed to death at his feet when he felt a moment of space. It was then he had seen Auum's Tai go to work and had known that for all that he had learned in their company back on Calaius, he would never come close to their ability.

He almost felt sorry for the demons they faced. After all, he couldn't follow every move they made himself. And they were so much in concert that it left no room for inroads into their attack or defence despite the fact that reavers had joined the fight against them.

Auum led them in a ferocious assault dead ahead of the wagons' path. His swords glittered in the early morning sun. Each strike left a trail of blood in its wake. The clumsy karron tried to batter at him but he drove on relentlessly, his blades biting into neck, chest and under the arms where he could deal the fastest death blow. And his accuracy was matched by the mesmeric moves of his Tai in his defence.

Each elf carried a single short sword at his outer flank which he used to slice into karron flesh at every opportunity. But the main focus was inside and up. Every strike by a karron was parried or countered. Every dive by a reaver met with a kick or a fist, sweeping high over Auum's head. Demons shrieked in frustration or spun away half-senseless. The Tai's focus never wavered. Their understanding of each other was total. It was what The Raven had striven for all their years of fighting. They thought they had achieved it. They weren't even close.

It was a dance that the Tai wove and those who didn't know the steps had no chance of survival.

Hirad staggered under the force of a blow to his stomach. He looked down to see a severed hammer limb strike the ground.

'Gods' sake Hirad, watch yourself The Unknown backhanded

his blade into the face of the same karron and limped a pace to his next target. 'Fight or leave.'

Hirad broke his reverie. The Raven were fighting close to the Tai. The karron were quick but not quick enough. Denser, blade in hand, was watching their backs from attacks by reavers. The Unknown and Darrick ploughed a furrow straight ahead. Furious with himself, Hirad dived back into the action. A club fist came at him. He blocked it away with his blade, feeling the strength of the strike. Quickly, he switched his blade to his left hand and lashed out at the creature's head, bursting one of the eyes on the side of its skull.' It howled and fell back. Hirad pounced after it, slicing through the tendons at the back of its legs. It collapsed and he finished it through the chest.

'That's more like it,' said The Unknown.

'You know it,' said Hirad.

He stretched to deflect a blow aimed at the big man and felt the stitching on his hip give way and blood flow. The pain pounded through him and he swayed. The karron's next strike battered into The Unknown's defence, knocking him into Darrick who stumbled sideways, just avoiding the arm of another enemy.

Hirad dragged himself forward and punctured the karron's side. Grey splashed onto his armour.

'Don't even think about it.'

The Unknown had recovered and unleashed a huge strike left to right, decapitating the karron. The line was almost broken. Reavers flew down to bolster it but the strike-strain were flitting away. Hirad felt a new energy and ran forwards, trying to ignore the tear on his hip.

A shout from behind slowed him and he looked back. The wagons were with them now. The Al-Arynaar flanking the cart horses moved with purpose, using their numbers as a battering ram, and the Julatsan wagon train burst through the demon line and aimed for the sundered north gate of Xetesk.