The Raven Collection

Hirad could not keep the smile from his face.

‘He’s back. I told you he wasn’t dead. I told you.’

‘What?’ Denser was gaping. Hirad knew how he felt. ‘Where?’

‘Close. Right now that’s all I care about.’

Denser smiled. ‘That is good news. We need him on the streets.’

Hirad nodded. News of the losses of Xeteskian mages and soldiers had spread quickly through the city. The confidence the departing force had inspired had dispersed like dust on the breeze with the returning stragglers. The populace was nervous and the returned dead were begi

‘And what do you expect him to be saying?’ asked Ilkar. ‘I’d have thought he’d be showing the way to the west, not trying to shore up morale.’

‘There is no need for this panic reaction,’ said Denser.

It was dawn now and a pale light was streaming through the window of the dining chamber, where an early breakfast had been laid and ignored by all but the Lord of the Mount.

‘Where does that opinion come from? The catacombs? The destruction of one machine shouldn’t give us rash confidence about saving Balaia,’ said Ilkar. ‘You heard Sharyr. They just rolled into Lystern and rolled out with the Heart. We are down to two functioning colleges and Julatsa is likely to fall within days. You know where that leaves us.’

‘Yes, with Xetesk still standing and not even under threat because we turned them away.’

‘But that is not victory,’ said Sirendor. ‘It is delay at best. Don’t revise what you know you saw out there. It was slaughter. And your mage team that broke the machine? All dead.’

‘And your second salvo of spells was useless because they learned how to defend against them,’ added Ilkar. ‘Come on, Denser. You know it as well as we do. We ca

Denser’s face reddened and the bread in his hand remained halfway to his mouth.

‘No? I’m looking at facts, not suppositions. We now have proof that Gresse’s theory holds water. Those machines are initially incapable of sucking in the mana density from an attractor as big as a Heart. They have to reach a critical mass first. That means if we time our attacks well, we can keep them at bay indefinitely.’

‘Your logic is seriously flawed,’ said Ilkar.

‘I’d have put it differently,’ said Hirad.

‘That’s why I jumped in before you. We can do without your version of tact right now.’

‘Please explain the errors of Xetesk to me, my dead friend,’ said Denser.

‘Enough sarcasm, Denser, we’re talking about the lives of everyone here. And the deaths of everyone too. We ca

‘Why haven’t they done that already?’ asked Denser. ‘Where’s your logic for that?’

‘They want to achieve their aims with minimal manpower,’ said Sirendor. ‘Just as we would. I have no doubt they have the capacity to do whatever they want but why commit it until necessary?’

‘I’ll tell you why. It’s because they can’t,’ said Denser. He pushed a scorched parchment across the table. ‘Sharyr found this. It refers to these Garonin and talks about an unending conflict beyond the boundaries of our known dimensions. Unending. And this was written by Septern. That’s well over three hundred years ago. All we have to do is chip away and we will turn them for good. They’ll give up and go somewhere easier to exploit.’

Hirad closed his eyes. ‘How can you read this so wrong? Denser, you’re a Raven man. You know Lystern is gone. You know Calaius has gone the same way. That leaves plenty of enemy to focus on Xetesk. We have to concentrate on finding an escape, not on futile defence.’

‘Ah, and there’s the rub, isn’t it?’ Denser leaned back in his chair and picked up his coffee mug. He cradled it in his hands. ‘Neither my mage teams nor you have any idea where we might escape to. I mean, you have come back here - and I love you for it - to tell us to run, but you ca

Hirad sighed. ‘All right. Admittedly, we don’t know. But we are drawn there. The Wesmen will be able to help us. I know this sounds flaky but their paths to the dead are different from ours. We think they can open the door to a new home. But we can’t prove it.’

‘Right. And until you can, my streets will remain unsettled by your divisive presence and your scaremongering, and my efforts will necessarily have to be focused on defending my people. Keeping them from ru

Hirad shook his head and stood. ‘You believe them, don’t you? You believe the word that we are here to chase the living away and have this place for ourselves. Be straight. Do you think the Garonin are here at our behest? Is that what you actually believe?’

‘Gods drowning, of course I don’t. Bloody hell, Hirad, I have locked Dystran up in his rooms precisely because I don’t believe that rubbish.’

‘But you still visit him, don’t you?’ said Hirad, feeling his skin getting hot. ‘You still hear what he says.’

‘Who I visit and what I ask and listen to is my business and not yours, all right? And yes, I do listen to him because he is smart despite his unfortunate views in some areas. And one thing we do agree on is that we don’t know what more good you can really do. The dead as a whole, that is.’

Hirad reached across the table and hauled Denser from his chair by the collars of his shirt.

‘I’ll tell you what we can do. We can stop you from signing away the lives and deaths of everyone who ever came from Balaia. We can help you find a place where we can all start again.’

Hirad’s breath fired into his face. Denser’s face deepened into a scowl.

‘You will unhand me, Hirad. Right now.’

Hirad did not.

‘You have to listen to him, Denser,’ said Ilkar, coming to his feet also. ‘There is only one way to delay the Garonin and give us the time and chance to find a way out of here. Surrender the Heart. Do a deal.’

Denser stiffened. ‘Surrender the Heart of Xetesk? Never.’

‘Then they will take it from you,’ said Ilkar.

‘That you could utter such . . . heresy, here in this tower,’ said Denser, his face blazing with his rage. ‘I am the Lord of the Mount and you will release me, Hirad. Perhaps Dystran was right. Guards!’

The door opened but it was not guards who entered, it was Sol.

‘Fantastic,’ he said. ‘This is the face of unity, is it? Gods drowning, Hirad, put him down. And all of you calm down. I could hear you half way down The Thread.’

Hirad shoved Denser back into his chair.

‘I want—’

‘Denser, shut up. We’re in big trouble but there might just, just be a way out. We need to talk to Septern. I presume you’ve verified it is him by now. And first you need to hear an old friend.’

Sol pushed open the door. Hirad sat back in his chair, unable to believe his eyes.

Standing in the doorway was Auum.

Chapter 17

Auum stared at the humans, the living and the dead, as they bickered their way towards catastrophe. At first it had been fascinating. The legendary mage Septern had spoken at length about the history of his dimensional discoveries but had not been allowed to discuss what he was here to discuss. Hirad Coldheart, whose shadow adorned the wall to Auum’s left, had brought to the table all the raging belief that had at first irritated but now endeared him to Auum and indeed all the elves. And Ilkar had spoken carefully and tactfully about what had happened to the dead of Balaia. Yet still they fought, and in the middle Denser appeared not to know who to believe.