Elfsorrow

'How're you feeling, Ilks?' asked Hirad.

'Since you last asked me just now, nothing has changed. I feel all right. I ache and I'm dying, but apart from that no problem.'

Ren pulled him closer and he rested his head on her shoulder.

'You might be dying but you won't if we get the thumb back to the temple,' said Hirad. 'Right?'

'Hirad, even if we had the thumb now, it's eight days to Blackthorne, another seven across the ocean and another three upriver. As far as we know, this thing runs its course in as little as four days.' Ilkar's eyes were glistening in the firelight. 'You work it out.'

'Let me worry about that. You just fight it. Don't give in.'

Hirad felt an arm around his shoulders. It was Erie

'My dear old friend, there are some things even you can't sort out,' said Ilkar.

'But this isn't one of them,' said Hirad. 'If you don't stop believing, we can save you.'

'Hirad-'

'I don't want to hear it. You aren't dying on me and that's final.'

He was aware his hands were shaking. Erie

'Keep on telling him,' she whispered into his ear.

He nodded.

'So,' said The Unknown. 'Before we all turn in, what's your plan for Understone? Would I be wrong in thinking it included a good deal of riding through the town laying about us with swords and spells until we find what we're looking for?'

Hirad couldn't stop the chuckle though the Gods knew he didn't feel like laughing. 'You forgot the bit about where I cut down Selik, but apart from that you're not far from the mark. You have something better in mind?'

'Well, actually, I do,' said Darrick. 'I know plenty about Understone, and with one small alteration and a slight detour, your plan might just work.'

Darrick sketched out his idea quickly and accurately. Later, as Hirad felt sleep steal his thoughts from him, he felt they might just pull it off. They had no idea how many there were in Understone or where exactly they'd be but they didn't have to. After all, they weren't rescuing anybody, just one object. And eventually they'd find it, no matter how many were killed in the process.

Hirad turned over, his saddle a pillow for his head, the ground soft beneath him and his cloak covering him against the night's cool. Only Ilkar's coughs and his occasional gasp of pain kept him from easy rest. Auum and his Tai sat by the fire long after The Raven had taken to their rest. They sat in silence, listening to the sounds of sleep and those of the night around them. The Protector, Aeb, was ill at ease as he walked the perimeter, sometimes stopping for an extended period in one place, his body quite still but his lips moving soundlessly. The ClawBound pair padded in some time after midnight, the elf sitting with his back to a tree stump, the panther curling up at his feet.

'The Al-Arynaar and TaiGethen should stay,' said Auum. 'We can return the fragment and the Raven mage will facilitate the binding. We still have sacred texts that must be reclaimed.'

Duele raised his eyebrows. 'Confident in their ability, are you?' he said, scepticism in his voice.

'They are certainly… determined,' conceded Auum. 'And they care, that much became apparent today.'

Evu

'I am confident enough that we can succeed on our own with them. Moving the rest of the elves will bring trouble. Ilkar was right. We should stop the withdrawal.' He turned to the ClawBound elf. 'You are in contact range?'

A nod.

'The elves must fight on. I have asked for this. I'd rather the Sorrow took them while they fought than uselessly on board ship. We will recapture the thumb. Will you relay these messages?'

Another nod.

'Yniss will see us safe. He has given us these strangers to aid us,' said Auum. 'We should not be ungrateful.'

The light of the next dawn was still faint when the panther began to growl and roar, the alien sounds of ClawBound communication echoing over Balaia for the first time. Ilkar felt every stride of his horse through his body as if the hooves were trampling over him. He'd demanded he ride on his own, determined not be an invalid. Against all odds, he'd had a fairly comfortable night and it was not until the panther had set up its unearthly resonant calls that the pain had gripped him again and all but taken the breath from him.

He still remembered Ren's touch and he recalled her tears as they fell asleep. He was just thankful she was still free. But his own sudden falling had been a stark reminder that in the next breath it could be her turn.

The Raven rode hard or walked their horses at a march for the whole day, once stopping briefly for a meal. Their direction would take them close to but east of Understone on a route that would keep them hidden from the town, with Darrick assuring them that ideal cover and a base for their attack was only a mile or so the other side.

Ilkar hoped and prayed he was right. At times during the day the pain became all but unbearable but he refused to cast to dull it or ask them to slow to ease it. There was fire in his veins and venom in his muscles. His stomach felt like it was being eaten from the inside, there was a rattle every time he took a breath and his heart beat off-rhythm, palpitating, slowing and pounding such that he felt it would crash through his ribs. His eyes played tricks on him while his ears heard sounds that couldn't be – his mother's voice calming him, his tutor at Julatsa chiding him for laziness, the sound of the wind in the sails.

Through it all he kept upright in the saddle and replied in the affirmative when any of them asked, and they asked so often it almost made him laugh, whether he was all right. Stupid question and they all knew it.

It was past dusk when they stopped in a river valley into which rocks had tumbled in ancient times, creating a maze of streams and a patchwork of green and grey. Darrick had been right. It was ideal cover. The ClawBound loped in an hour or so later. Ilkar only dimly heard what Hirad and The Unknown said to the pair before they settled down to rest. By the time he had eaten, his ears roared with a sound like thunder and his body shook with cold although the night was mild and cloudy.

'It's just us now,' Hirad said, more for the benefit of Ren and Darrick than the more seasoned members of The Raven. 'We have to work closely, move as one and keep on moving whatever we come up against. We faced down an army yesterday. Tomorrow we go to fight not talk. We all know why.'

'We'll be moving just before dawn,' said The Unknown. 'Take the fight to them while they're still dull with sleep. We can't rely on Ilkar's defence because we won't know his condition one moment to the next but we're all right because they won't have spell attack. We'll be fighting without the TaiGethen or the ClawBound pair. They will attack as they must, all we've agreed are start points. Don't look to them. We're The Raven; we don't need anyone else. Not to defend, and not to help us.' He watched them all for reaction. 'Now, Aeb, you have something you need to say.'

The Protector was standing at the periphery of the fire.

'You were wrong to bring me,' he said. 'The Act of Giving will soon be rescinded. It is just a matter of time.'

'It was a risk we were all happy to take,' said Denser.

'Xetesk know we are here,' he said. 'They know what we seek.'

'And when will they get here?' asked Hirad.

'Tomorrow. Morning.'

'Then,' said Thraun, surprising them with speech after another lengthy silence, 'we had better be quick.'