The Raven Collection

‘Don’t be,’ said Thraun, his voice flat and emotionless. ‘The trail is well marked.’ The Unknown patted him on the shoulder.

‘Come on, let’s get inside and set up that stove. I could murder a coffee.’

With the ground covering pulled over and lanterns lighting their way, The Raven descended a steep set of rough-hewn mud and stone steps into a natural cave. The space rose thirty feet from the floor to the ground above and the main body was perhaps forty feet each side. Opposite the stairs, the roof tapered down sharply to a narrow alcove through which a steady draft blew, indicating a passage.

The floor of the cave was covered in dried leaves. Stacks of wood, metal bowls and plates and four big water butts stood to the left. Woven dried-grass matting was pulled from its position to the right and spread across the floor to provide comfort from the cold stone. Jatha’s men set their lanterns in carved hollows in the rock walls, illuminating ragged edges and shelves which jutted into the cave above their heads, and gently swaying strands of liana which grew from above. It was damp and chill, the smells of mould and rot mixing into an unpleasant cocktail for the nose, but at least it was safe.

The centre of the cave was dominated by a shallow pit in which Jatha’s men expertly laid and lit a fire, the smoke disappearing through the porous ceiling. Heat spread quickly outwards and soon the party began to relax, stretching tired limbs and leaning back on the matting, forming it into surprisingly comfortable bedding.

‘Choul,’ said Jatha, opening his arms wide to indicate the cave. Hirad nodded.

‘Choul,’ he repeated. Jatha and his men had taken the area opposite the stairs and were readying food. Dried meats and root vegetables appeared from backpacks and sacks, and metal stands held pots of water over the fire.

In the space in front of the stairs, Thraun bolted the stove together. Nothing would get in the way of The Raven’s coffee and The Raven themselves gathered around it, a familiar sight in unfamiliar surroundings.

That left Stylia

‘We have much to do,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ said Hirad. ‘There’s coffee to be drunk, food to be eaten and The Raven to talk. Alone. Then you four can start your work.’

Stylia

Hirad’s expression was blank. ‘I’ve no idea,’ he returned. ‘All I know is you’re holding us up. During a job, we talk each night, review and plan. It is The Raven’s way.’

‘Yes and I would hate to get in the way of your precious rules,’ spat Stylia

Hirad regarded him coolly, shaking his head. But before he could speak, Denser’s weary voice filled the cave.

‘Stylia

Ilkar laughed aloud, the sound echoing from the walls. Hirad glared at him. Stylia

‘Thanks for backing me up,’ muttered the barbarian.

Ilkar smiled. ‘Some day, Hirad, I’ll follow up our chat about sensitivity with one about tact.’

The glorious smell of rich stew slowly replaced those of the mould and rot, and quiet dominated the travellers. Jatha’s men communicated in gesture and what appeared to be a highly developed telepathy, leaving the clanking of plates and spoons, the crackling of the fire and the shifting of tired limbs as the only sounds.

After their short meeting, The Raven drank coffee in silence. There hadn’t been much to say though all of them had been comforted by the feeling of normality it brought them.

Later, with the fires stoked for warmth and the bowls, plates and spits stowed back next to the water butts, the quartet of mages examined the texts and papers brought from Xetesk and Julatsa.

For hours, all that could be heard was the turning of pages and the odd sigh or heavily indrawn breath. Occasionally, though little of the text was in lore script, one or other would need help translating certain terms or phrases, and hurried whispering would fill the chamber.

Initially intrigued, Jatha and his men had stared intently at the Balaians but the interest soon waned and, as the time drew on, most slept but for the two guards who sat just under the ground covering, at the top of the stairs.

Hirad leant against a wall, The Unknown next to him, legs stretched out in front of them. Idle talk had fallen to nothing and Thraun, who hadn’t said a word since they descended into the Choul, remained lost in his own thoughts.

Eventually, the mages had read everything and, resupplied with coffee, placed the texts in a pile between them and began to talk.

‘Stylia

‘From the start. The only reason for my silence was the trouble I discovered I was going to have liberating them from the College.’

‘But have you studied them before?’ she pressed.

‘Not like this, I am ashamed to say. They’ve been in the locked vaults.’

‘And what do you think?’

‘Hold on,’ interrupted Ilkar. ‘We’ll get nowhere voicing random opinion. Let’s identify the task and try to solve it piece by piece. All right?’ The others nodded, a smile playing across Stylia

‘Ever the diplomat, Ilkar,’ he said.

Ilkar shrugged. ‘We just don’t have the time to waste. Now, who wants to outline the problem?’

‘All right,’ said Erie

‘You’ve been framing that for some time, haven’t you, my love?’ said Denser, drawing a hand through her hair. Ilkar chuckled, more at the sparkle in Denser’s eye than at his words. This was the old Denser and he was very glad to have him back. He wondered on the change in the Xeteskian and knew Erie

‘I think it’s a very accurate summation,’ said Stylia

Ilkar looked at him. ‘Sew. Sew.’ He leaned forward and shuffled through the pile of texts. ‘Septern used that very word to describe something to do with bounded gateways. Here we are.’ He grabbed a slim leather-bound volume they had found in Julatsa and leafed through it, his eyes sca

‘ “You must realise that interdimensional forces affect mana in very different ways than Balaian space does. A spell you cast to tame or mould its power will develop what can only be described as a mind of its own and a shape you have fashioned to, say, open a bounded gateway, can quickly run out of your control. So, how to remain focused and in control? Think through your action and, as I said, link it to something ordinary. For instance, to take on the bounded gateway example, the deployment of the spell takes the material of Balaian space, the material of the target dimension and pulls them together before fixing them to one another.