Demonstorm

'I've no idea. It'll be draining. All the One castings are.'

'You two want to join me amidships? We need to think about tactics.'

Hirad smiled and gestured Denser to precede him. This was The Unknown he wanted. Reluctant, maybe, but thinking. The three men sat on netted crates under the mainmast.

'You understand what I'm getting at,' continued The Unknown. 'It's all very well when we've evened the odds under Erienne's casting. What if she is unable to cast for any reason?'

'Well, we won't be able to take down a single demon,' said Hirad.

'That's not strictly speaking true,' said The Unknown. 'What it will be is a question of keeping them distant enough for Denser to destroy with spells, right?'

'That's not something we can keep up indefinitely either,' said Hirad.

'Correct, but we have to work on the premise that we won't have to. It's a contingency until we can find shelter or Erienne can cast herself.' The Unknown must have seen the cynicism in Hirad's expression. 'Put it this way, if we are in a situation where Denser is our only effective weapon, we're already dead.'

'Thanks a heap,' said Denser.

'You know what I mean,' growled The Unknown. 'We'll be working to buy time and space, right? I've had an idea we should work on.'

'And there was I thinking you were back there mooning over your family,' said Hirad.

The Unknown almost smiled. 'Only ninety-nine per cent of the time. Go and get the others except Erienne. Auum and Rebraal too, we need them to act as demons.'

Hirad pushed himself off the crates. 'I hope this master tactic of yours protects us from a demon's touch. It only takes the one.'

'Been thinking about that too,' said The Unknown.

'Busy, this one per cent of your mind, isn't it?'

'Yes, Hirad, you should try it some time. Think about it. Rebraal says they are impervious because their religion gives them a single focus, a group belief. The Wesmen are apparently protected by the Spirits whom they worship and revere. The two are similar to my mind. It's about having something greater than yourself surrounding you. Something that binds you to the mass, gives you the strength of everyone who is like you.'

'Fantastic. I'll convert to elvish immediately,' said Hirad.

The Unknown's hand slapped him hard on the forearm. 'No! Bloody hell, Hirad, you can be truly stupid sometimes. This should have occurred to you already. Remember when the demons got at Will in Sha-Kaan's Klene that time?'

'Yeah. I remember he died. So what?'

'Couldn't steal his soul though, could they? Will died because they chilled his life and he wasn't strong enough to resist. Why don't you think his soul went to the pit, eh?'

Hirad shrugged and looked at Denser who was smiling at him. 'Something funny?'

'Only that I'm about to quote to you something you've quoted at me so many times I'm thinking of having it tattooed on my forehead.'

'What? That he was Raven and that makes a difference?'

'Stole my thunder.'

And even as he opened his mouth to object, Hirad could see The Unknown was right. He had felt it the moment they had sat together as The Raven in the Al-Drechar's house a few days before. You couldn't bottle it, it was just there. He could feel it now. Strength. Belief. Spirit.

'You know it,' said Hirad.

The Unknown stood and stared him in the eye. 'And I'll tell you something, Coldheart. I've already had my soul taken from me once. And nothing and nobody is going to part me from it again.'

'We can do this, can't we?' said Hirad, believing for the first time.

'Course we can,' said Denser, his face splitting into a grin. 'We're The Raven!'

Their laughter echoed out across the open sea.

 

 

Chapter 15

 

Yasal-Naik circled Sha-Kaan very slowly, eyes following the Great Kaan as he spun on his tail, displaying his belly scales at all times. A gesture of respect, of peace and of submission. Sha-Kaan bit down hard on his pride, knowing that to gain audience with this most aggressive of brood fathers was more than he had genuinely believed he would achieve. To jeopardise that with a petulant display of superiority now would be truly calamitous folly. They both knew Sha-Kaan was the stronger dragon. This was not the time to demonstrate it.

The five young Naik circled nearby, keeping watch on the open skies, searching for the Kaan attack that would never come.

'You have killed one of my brood,' said Yasal-Naik. 'That alone is enough to see you taken from the skies with flames as your final companion.'

'The whelp attacked me despite my attitude and bearing. I had no choice but to defend myself.'

'And your intrusion into my skies is punishable equally severely.'

'Then carry out your sentence, Yasal. My only regret is that I would not live to see you confront your blindness.'

The Naik brood father continued to circle, aware of Sha-Kaan's discomfort.

'It is an action I can take at will, is it not?'

Sha-Kaan rumbled deep in his huge chest. 'Then hear me, since you have nothing to lose. Know why it is I have come here alone to speak with you.'

Yasal ceased his circling finally, clicking the back of his tongue. The rattling echoed in his cheeks. Sha-Kaan flicked his wings in acknowledgement, returning to horizontal flight.

'Let us fly, Great Kaan,' said Yasal. 'You have my attention.'

T am grateful to you.' Sha-Kaan took up station beside Yasal and followed him in a lazy glide. 'Your decision demonstrates maturity.'

'From you that is a compliment,' said Yasal. 'But don't mistake maturity for conciliation. There is none.'

'Just listen to me,' said Sha-Kaan. T am tired of your threats.'

The two dragons' eyes met across the narrow gulf between them. Yasal's burned with an anger Sha-Kaan recognised in himself as a younger dragon.

'Speak.'

'Yasal, I am not here to surrender, I am not here to challenge you. I have travelled alone as a demonstration of my veracity. You may always have hated the Kaan and despised me in particular. That is natural. All broods desire dominion and one day we will assuredly return to that state.'

' "One day"? What is wrong with today?'

'Because today that battle is rendered pointless.'

'One of my escort mentioned something similar. Explain.'

'The Arakhe have taken Balaia,' said Sha-Kaan.

'Surely a cause for celebration.'

'You know what that means.'

'Yes, Sha-Kaan. That your melde will soon be shattered, that the Kaan will dwindle. That I need not spill one more drop of Naik blood to beat you. Merely bide my time.'

Sha-Kaan feathered his tongue in humour. 'All these things are true. But can you fly a little further?'

'Where else do I need to travel? I will have achieved the Naik's destiny. I will rule Beshara unopposed.'

'Idiot youngster,' snapped Sha-Kaan. 'Think.'

'About what? You have promised me victory.'

Sha-Kaan sampled Yasal-Naik's tone, smelled the odours of his body, faint in the wind. He was sure he was being toyed with but the Naik's bearing suggested interested neutrality.

'Should the Balaian dimension fall, the Arakhe will have everything they want. Doorways to this dimension, the dead, and thence to everywhere. Your melde, every brood's melde. You have heard the prophecies and the warnings. They are as much Naik lore as they are Kaan or Gost or Veret. They have to be stopped now.'

'You have controlled your melde dimension poorly,' said Yasal.

Sha-Kaan spat fire in sudden anger.

'Skies curse you, Yasal, I wonder why I haven't stayed at home to watch you die.'

'Because, old Kaan, you need the strength of my brood; or at least to know that your lands are safe while you sort out the problems you say have afflicted your melde. You deny your lack of attention caused what you say we now face?'

'You know the birthing cycle of the Kaan. Your attacks over my skies were not random events, after all. You know what happens around the time of our birthings. So, it appears, do the Arakhe. What they did, to use a human phrase, was give mages enough rope to hang themselves with, then sit and wait until we were not guarding Balaia's fabric. Mages ripped the fabric and we were not there. The Arakhe were.'