The Raven Collection

‘You don’t think they’ll expect us to advise, or just be there to raise morale?’ said Denser.

‘We’ve told Kard all he needs to know,’ said The Unknown. ‘We have to look after ourselves for now. Ilkar, what’s your condition?’

‘Not too bad,’ said the Julatsan. ‘I can replenish quickly here in the College. We all can, though Denser and Erie

‘Another thing before we break,’ said Hirad. ‘The Raven do not fight apart. I don’t want to see any of us fighting or casting alone. I for one, will not stand on the ramparts without the rest of you. We are The Raven. Remember that.’

‘You’ll never let us forget it,’ muttered Denser.

‘Still alive, aren’t you, Denser?’ snapped Hirad. ‘Think on why that is.’

Stylia

The gates of Xetesk were closed to the former Lord of the Mount when he arrived, not that he was surprised. Dystran had few defences left and, he suspected, even fewer friends. As he rode towards the gates, the blustery, cloudy day drawing quickly towards dusk, Stylia

Stylia

To either side of the grand East Gate tower, with its ornate arched windows, multiple oil runs and three levels of reinforced ramparts, the dun-coloured walls ran away for over a mile, lost to sight as the dark closed in. Studded along their length with functional mage and archer turrets built in dark grey stone, the walls turned west for around a mile and a half before meeting the great west wall which faced the Blackthorne Mountains.

With deep foundations and internal buttressing, the walls, never less than fifty feet in height, sloped very slightly outward as they rose, overlooking an area of gently undulating grass and shrubland, cleared for over a hundred yards in every direction to provide defending mages with a clear field of vision.

And inside, Stylia

With a hundred eyes staring at him from the walls and gate towers, Stylia

Inside the Mount, those few remaining loyal to Stylia

For his part, Dystran, because he was a dithering imbecile without the wit to govern, would be hoping in vain for some pre-emptive action from Stylia

Perhaps an hour after his arrival, and with a cool moonlit night giving Stylia

‘Well, well. Dystran. I am honoured.’ Neither man offered a hand though Stylia

‘What is it that you want, Stylia

‘Oh, just a bed for the night. I am but a weary traveller,’ said Stylia

Dystran flinched at Stylia

Stylia

‘Once I knew you were still alive and in the East, yes,’ admitted Dystran.

‘Yes,’ said Stylia

Dystran’s mouth tugged up at the corners. ‘A little.’

Stylia

‘At the present time you preside over very little,’ said the former Lord of the Mount. ‘An unrestrained rip eats at the sky threatening cataclysmic invasion from another dimension and only I and The Raven have the wit to try and search for an answer. The Wesmen are battering at the gates of Julatsa. They hold Understone and the pass and tens of thousands are poised to sweep towards Korina at will. And what have you and your supporters done in my absence?

‘Rather than conduct research to my instruction or organise serious defence and send soldiers to the battle for Julatsa, you have chosen to further your own personal ends. And how sorry they will look when the dragons are taking the Towers apart, brick by brick.

‘If you were half a man you would see that our dispute has to be set aside until the threats to us all are gone. Right now, I need access to the Library. The destination of the Stewardship is currently unimportant.’

‘The Library? Then you wish to do in Xetesk what we have so far failed to do and what The Raven are trying to do in Julatsa?’

Stylia

Dystran nodded. ‘Contrary to your low opinion of our efforts, we are back in contact with Julatsa following the dispersal of their DemonShroud. It coincided with the rather extraordinary arrival of The Raven who apparently then released several thousand prisoners from a city swarming with Wesmen before setting to work on searching the Julatsan Library.’

Stylia

‘Gods falling but they’re good,’ he said. ‘You have to hand it to them.’ The humour dropped from his eyes and face. ‘Tell me, how long have they been in Julatsa?’