Ravensoul

Chapter 25

Densyr ran to his east-facing balcony, Dystran and Septern to either side of him. Flame was leaping into the dawn sky, licking at the thick cloud cover above. He could see lights in the sky and blinked before realising that the dark shape he thought he had seen disappearing up into the clouds was a mere trick of the half-light.

‘Where is that?’ he asked.

‘It is the single active cell right by the east gates. Within the boundaries of the city,’ said Septern. ‘So far the gates themselves are untouched.’

‘How can you tell from here?’

‘Because the colour of the main ward spell is a deep, vibrant green over the gates. I’ve colour-coded most cells to give us more accurate information.’

‘But if the gate hasn’t gone down, then surely the Garonin are not inside,’ said Dystran.

‘Which means that some stray idiot has probably blundered into them,’ said Densyr, feeling a clash of emotions.

‘I told you it was a risky strategy,’ said Septern. ‘Now those wards are gone and only half the cell is left. It weakens us there. What damage could a few elves do anyway?’

‘More than you would ever believe,’ said Dystran.

Densyr raised his eyebrows.

‘What now?’ asked Septern.

‘It’s dawn, near as dammit,’ said Densyr. ‘I want mages in the sky to the east. Keep them high and reporting back on a regular basis. Are all our testers accounted for?’

Dystran shook his head. ‘Three are still out there. Including Brynar.’

Densyr clacked his tongue. ‘How long do we dare wait before we activate the whole grid? They’ll be coming, you know. I can feel it.’

‘Can you hear something?’ asked Septern. The dead mage put a hand to his chest and breathed in a shuddering lungful. ‘I don’t feel quite right.’

‘Sit down, take some water,’ said Densyr. ‘And whatever you do, don’t die again before you’ve activated the grid.’

‘It’s like a weight pressing hard on my soul,’ said Septern, gripping the rail of the balcony and blowing hard. ‘Can you not feel it?’

Densyr shook his head. ‘But I can hear something. It’s faint. A droning noise, like those appalling death dirges people took to singing after the demons left.’

‘It’s like a Wesman chant,’ agreed Dystran. ‘But it’s everywhere.’

‘The wind is howling,’ said Septern. ‘Something comes.’

Densyr caught him before he fell. He and Dystran helped Septern to a chair and sat him in it. The ancient genius was still breathing, his eyelids fluttering.

‘Can you activate the grid?’ asked Dystran.

‘In theory,’ said Densyr.

‘Good. Then let us make Septern comfortable and get busy. We could do with seeing more of the dead. I wonder if it is affecting them all.’

The flat tone of a thousand horns sounded. Crystal disintegrated and windows blew in, showering glass in every direction. Densyr ducked his head and put up his hands, feeling shards rip across his skin.

‘Dear Gods drowning, what was that?’ he spat.

Densyr ran for the balcony again. He could hear people screaming and shouting all across the college. He stared up into the sky to the east and saw all his plans for the folly they surely were.

Auum whispered up the stairs behind Brynar. Diera followed him, carrying young Hirad. The young mage had a good turn of pace but he was noisy. Fortunately, they had no need of secrecy. Four flights and Brynar pushed open a door to the roof of the house. It was like another world. Half a dozen chairs and a table sat on a manicured lawn. They were surrounded by all manner of decorative pots in which a host of brightly coloured flowers demanded attention. The sweet scents were beautiful.

Diera put Hirad down for a moment while Auum ran to the edge of the building to assess their route. She gazed over the rooftops. Everywhere was colour and light, and she found herself wondering why they hadn’t thought of a roof garden at the inn.

‘Silly woman, does it really matter?’ she muttered.

‘Why are we up here, Mama?’ asked Hirad.

‘It’s not safe on the ground, darling. So we’re going over the roofs. What an adventure!’

‘Where’s Father?’

‘We’re going to get him now.’

And how she wished he was standing by her right now. She felt desperately scared. Auum and his Tai were so strong and quick and full of confidence but she was not. Did they really expect her to leap across the chasms between houses? It couldn’t be done.

Behind her, elves and men spilled onto the roof carrying sheets. They set to tying them together. Someone had even found a length of rope. An irritable voice below told her that Gresse was approaching, carried by two others and arguing all the way.

Up in the sky, the machine had retreated back into the clouds and there was some small respite from the droning noise that had hurt Hirad’s ears. But she didn’t imagine it would be gone for long. She drew her son back close to her as the wolves leapt out of the doorway, following Thraun. Soon a line of elves and wolves plus the returned shapechanger were standing on the edge, looking out. Auum was pointing. Brynar was shaking his head. Miirt took a pace back and leapt the gap, landing easily on the other side. Diera spread her arms. ‘I can’t do that,’ she said.

She took Hirad by the hand and trotted to the edge. Auum made a space for her.

‘I will carry your son on my back,’ he said.

The gap was about ten feet where roofs overhung the street below. Beyond, there was a clear run to the next square.

‘But I can’t jump that gap.’

‘We will not let you fall,’ said Auum.

‘What about Baron Gresse?’

Auum’s face was impassive. ‘He knows where his journey ends.’

‘The grid around us is not yet active,’ said Brynar. ‘They could take their chances on the ground.’

‘That is for him to decide. Ghaal, Miirt. Back over here. Help Diera.’

Across the city, the flat horn tone washed out from above and the machine descended once more through the clouds. It hung above the east gate for a moment and then began a slow move west. Lines fell from its sides to the ground and the rooftops. Garonin slid down the lines, advancing the moment their feet found purchase.

Brynar drew in a huge gasping breath. ‘That’s the grid active.’

‘It will do them no good,’ said Thraun. ‘The Garonin can target the wards from a distance.’

‘Don’t be so sure,’ said Brynar. ‘Septern’s linkage is quite brilliant. Some wards lie dormant until others are triggered. They will not find them all.’

Garonin were moving across the rooftops towards them. Black-armoured and — helmeted, weapons in their hands, they appeared to simply step across the largest of gaps, their armour flaring briefly white as they did.

‘Yniss preserve us, I have put you in greater danger,’ said Auum. ‘Give me Hirad.’

Diera crouched by her son. ‘Hang on to Auum, darling. I’ll be right behind you.’

‘No, Mama. I want to stay with you.’

Diera kissed Hirad’s cheek and wiped away a tear. ‘It’ll be all right. Fun. Auum is going to teach you how to fly.’

Hirad looked at her suspiciously. ‘Really?’

‘Really. Now go with him.’

Hirad let go of her. Diera stood. Auum inclined his head and took her hand.

‘Trust me. Come, Hirad. Jump up on my back.’

He crouched and the little boy threw his arms around Auum’s neck. The TaiGethen put his arms under Hirad’s legs and held him piggyback-style. Diera breathed deeply. Miirt and Ghaal had returned over the terrifying gap.

‘We’ll all do this together,’ said Auum.

He bounced Hirad on his back and walked back a few paces. Diera, with the Tai either side of her, let them take an arm each.

‘Don’t think about it,’ said Ghaal. ‘Just run as fast as you can. We’ll do the rest.’

Diera’s heart was pounding. ‘I don’t think I can do this.’

‘Don’t think at all,’ repeated Ghaal. ‘Do.’

Garonin were closing. Diera could see them only three streets away. She gathered her tattered courage.

‘All right,’ she said.

‘Go,’ said Auum.

They ran for the edge. Diera’s scream built on her lips, and as she planted her foot and felt the TaiGethen pull on her arms, she let it have full voice. She cycled her legs in thin air and closed her eyes momentarily. An endless heartbeat later she felt another rooftop beneath her. She stumbled but the Tai did not let her fall. Diera opened her eyes and looked back and then into Hirad’s beaming face. Auum crouched to let him down.

‘Run to the far end. Join the ClawBound. Tai, we fight.’

And in no time the elves had jumped the gap again and were running back along the rooftops, straight at the Garonin.

The pain in Hirad’s chest caused by the arrival of the vydosphere made his head swim. He and Sirendor were seated together, holding each other upright. The Unknown and Jonas were standing, arguing, and Ilkar, bless him, was still trying to find a safe way out of their prison despite the crushing weight he must surely be feeling.

‘The door will trigger any ward near it,’ said Sol. ‘We cannot take that risk.’

‘Then what do we do, Father? Sit and wait for Densyr to come back and kill us? I’m prepared to take the chance.’

‘And we will if we must. But not yet. Let Ilkar do what he can first.’

Away to the east, they could see the Garonin machine hanging in the air. They had heard explosions and Ilkar had felt a massive flood of mana as the whole ward grid activated.

‘Even if we do get out of here, there is nowhere to run,’ said Jonas. ‘There will be wards everywhere, won’t there?’

‘He’s right, Unknown,’ said Hirad, gasping for breath. ‘Ilkar?’

‘Wait,’ said Ilkar. ‘I’m just…’

Ilkar’s face tautened visibly, like his skin was being stretched over too much bone. Where his hands were in contact with the ground, it seemed to shimmer slightly, obscuring his fingers.

‘Ilkar?’ The Unknown began moving towards him. ‘Ilkar.’

‘Gods… burning.’

Hirad struggled to his feet, bringing Sirendor with him. The pressure inside his body was growing steadily more intense. The pair of them began to move towards Ilkar.

‘Talk to us, Ilks,’ said Hirad.

‘Help… me… trapped.’

‘Trapped how?’ asked The Unknown.

‘Does it matter? We have to move him, don’t we?’ said Hirad. ‘We have to break him away from there or his soul will be torn out.’

‘And set off a ward or ten? Think, Hirad.’

‘You know that’s never been my strong point.’

Hirad pushed Sirendor away from him and began to run at Ilkar.

‘Hirad, no!’ shouted The Unknown.

‘My advice would be to duck,’ said Hirad.

He had planned to dive at Ilkar, to knock him carefully aside from his entrapment, but the pain in his chest flared throughout his body. He stumbled once, lost his footing completely and fell into the returned mage, barging him from his feet and taking them both into the wall of a building and then into a heap on the ground.

The ward Ilkar had been probing triggered. Flame seared across the street at an angle of forty-five degrees from the ground and on a line five yards wide. The blaze clipped the back of Hirad’s boot and his entire foot was engulfed in mana fire. He dragged his foot clear, hooked the heel into a crack in the stonework of the building and pulled. Hard. Heat grew incredibly fast inside the boot. The leather smouldered and began to melt. He pulled harder, crying out as his toes started to cook.

Mana fire chewed through the laces and tongue. The boot released and he yanked his foot out, gasping as he did so. Still the flames rushed out of the ward. Their power magnified in the narrow street, reflecting from the walls opposite before channelling upwards into the dawn air. Hirad could hear Jonas crying and through the flame could see The Unknown covering him as best he could. Clothing and hair were smouldering and skin would be blistering.

The spell shut off.

Cold air rushed to fill the gap and it tasted so sweet. Slowly, they stirred, barely daring to move. Ilkar’s body shivered beneath Hirad’s and the barbarian rolled away to let him sit up and breathe. The elf in human skin nodded his thanks and winced at the sight of Hirad’s foot.

‘It doesn’t feel so good.’

‘I’ll see what I can do.’

Hirad heard footsteps. He turned in time to be hauled from the ground by his lapels. The Unknown’s face pushed in to his.

‘I told you to think, you idiot! You could have killed us all.’

‘I had to save him, Unknown. I had to try.’

‘You had to wait, you bastard. Look at us now. As if being here wasn’t enough, we all look like we fell asleep in the sun for five days. Look at my son.’ The Unknown spun him so he could see. ‘Look at him.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Hirad. ‘I didn’t-’

‘No, you never damn well do, do you?’

Sol thrust Hirad away, winding him against a wall. He put down his foot to steady himself and the pain tore a cry from his lips.

‘Burned, is it?’ asked Sol.

‘It’s a little tender,’ said Hirad.

‘Good. It’ll remind you what an idiot you are.’

‘I saved him, didn’t I?’ Hirad spread his arms. ‘What were you going to do? Stand there and watch the life getting sucked out of him? Because that’s what it looked like was happening. At least I did something.’

The Unknown bunched a fist, thought for a moment and then let it drop.

‘You just don’t get it, do you? Dead for ten years and you still have no more sense than when you fell. Septern’s grid is interlinked in ways that even he probably barely understands. You could have set off five, ten, twenty more wards, all in this small space. What then, eh? Who was going to head west and kill himself to save the living and the dead then?

‘Sorry, Ilkar, but if you had died before we came up with a plan, that was just going to be tough.’

Ilkar nodded. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I understand.’

Hirad felt heat in his face but it was from inside him. ‘Right. I see. So you’re ungrateful too, are you?’

‘No, Hirad. I just see the bigger picture.’

‘I’ll tell you the big fucking picture,’ said Hirad, voice rising in volume all the time. ‘We’re trapped in this dusty little street, Xetesk at one end and the Garonin at the other. And neither you nor the Unknown has the first clue how to get out, do you? What happened to you anyway?’

Hirad’s last thought took all the anger from him.

‘I thought you’d never ask.’

‘I got sidetracked.’ Hirad rubbed his hands across his face and tried to ignore the burning throb in his foot. He gave the Unknown a light punch on the shoulder. ‘Sorry, big man.’

The Unknown nodded. ‘I know. And as usual you were luckier than a fox born in a chicken run.’

‘Sorry, Jonas.’

‘It’s all right, Hirad. Do I really look all red and blotchy?’

The Raven quartet all nodded simultaneously.

‘Look what’s happened to my clothes. Mama’s going to kill me.’

The Unknown ruffled his hair. ‘I think she’ll forgive you just this once. So, Ilkar, is it the usual news or do you have something good to tell us for a change?’

‘Good, I think. Look, the whole ward grid has gone active. Septern has done some very clever things with how mana is channelled between groups of wards. Some of the energy from an exploding trap goes to activate other so-far-dormant groups, that sort of thing. Don’t say it, Hirad. If you can’t understand me, assume I’m talking to someone else, all right?’

‘If you insist.’

‘I do. The point I’m getting to is this. The whole system is clearly linked all the way back to Xetesk and draws its mana direct from the Heart, because that way no mage has to expend mana stamina. All very clever so far. But the Garonin have found a way to tap into it. They are drawing off huge amounts of mana, direct from the Heart. Septern’s whole grid is like one big feed pipe to them. Hirad was right: I was literally having the life sucked out of me. Every mote of mana I possessed, dragged out kicking and screaming all the way.’

The Unknown laughed but there was little satisfaction in it. ‘Poor Densyr. He refuses to listen to what is coming. How unprepared he is.’

‘So the good news is, the Garonin can drag off mana as fast as they want in the short term and so don’t need to attack the college directly,’ said Sirendor. ‘But there’s an obvious problem, isn’t there?’

‘Top marks,’ said Ilkar. ‘At any moment Septern and Densyr might close down the grid.’

‘And that is bad for us how?’ asked Hirad.

‘Well, they have two choices. Either shut down the grid nice and gently, rendering every ward inert. Or send a massive pulse through it and set the lot of them off.’

‘Ah.’

‘And from the Garonin point of view, someone will have shut off their flow of mana. What do you think they’ll do about that?’

‘Ah.’

‘We have got to get out of here,’ said The Unknown. ‘Ilkar, where are the wards around us?’

‘There are nine that I can divine, spread relatively evenly.’

‘Anything in front of that door, for instance?’

‘I’m afraid so,’ said Ilkar. ‘I don’t know what exactly, but it’ll either be very hot, very cold or make the walls fall on us.’

‘We’re going to have to take a chance,’ said The Unknown.

‘Oh, all right if it’s you, eh?’

‘Shut up, Hirad. Ilkar, do you have it in you to put up an Ilkar’s Defence?’

‘A what?’

‘Or maybe an Ilkar’s Heal My Foot spell?’

‘Hirad.’ The Unknown glared at him. ‘You’ll have to wait. Ruminate on why you got burned or something. Sorry, Ilkar, that’s the new name for a ForceCone.’

‘Very flattering, I’m sure. Look, I know where you’re going with this. Are you sure? I can’t guarantee the Cone will stand up to much.’

‘I can’t think of a better idea. Can you?’ Ilkar shook his head. ‘Then let’s get started.’