Elfsorrow

'Selik,' he said through a mouthful of old blood.

'Captain Yron, Xeteskian soldier,' replied Selik, his voice a little slurred as if he was drunk. 'Quite a mess you made of my valuable patrol, so I'm led to believe.'

Yron managed a dry chuckle though he had never felt less like laughing. 'I tried to warn them.'

Selik raised a hand. 'Well, we'll get on to all that later. First, I'm sure you could do with water. I'd offer you wine but I'm afraid this place ran dry a long time ago.'

'Where are we?'

Selik poured him a tankard of water and he gulped at it, feeling its chill freshness revitalise his throat. He spat on the ground.

'A place of legends,' said Selik. 'Hard to believe I know, but so much that has shaped us happened here in years gone by. And is doing so again. I'm surprised you don't recognise it even from this small sample. I'd have entertained you in my office but the compound is being used for drilling men and it's all very noisy at the moment. Much more peace here.'

Yron had a better look round, took in the empty room scattered with broken wood and the dark of night through the door at the far end. There was only one place he knew as dead as this but still standing. He'd drunk here once.

'Understone.'

'Very good,' said Selik. 'I see the ride hasn't jellied your brain though I see from your colour the same cannot be said of your gut. Shame. The bread is fresh.'

Yron was tired. He wanted to sleep or die. Either would have done. But he could see that Selik wanted to toy with him. Well, he didn't want to play.

'What do you want, Selik? I've just about lost everything except my life and I'm none too keen on that, so don't go threatening death to get your answers. Giving me back to Xetesk holds much more fear.'

'Hmmm.' Selik tore off a corner of bread and fed it into the right side of his mouth, chewing carefully. 'Yes, that was one of the things I wanted you to help me with. That and a few details about the layout of your beloved college. And, more out of curiosity than anything else, why you're carrying bits of carved marble in your pocket.' Selik indicated the thumb which lay on the table next to Yron's empty holster.

'Is that all?'

'For now.'

'Where do you want me to start?'

'How cooperative.'

'You haven't heard me answer yet, boy.'

'Just before we get on, I think I should make it clear that the only people who could ever call me "boy" were my parents. You will address me as "Selik", or "Captain".'

Yron scoffed. 'Selik it is, then. You're certainly no captain. That's a term reserved for soldiers of rank, not self-styled peacocks like you.'

Selik smiled thinly, ignoring the barb. Yron wasn't sure if he was pleased at that or not. He didn't want to endure more pain unnecessarily but he had to know how far he could push.

'I should make a couple of other things clear. You are going to die here. And I will get my information. It is merely a question of how easy you want to make your last hours.'

Selik sipped his water, looking at Yron over the rim for a reaction. Yron made sure he saw nothing but calm acceptance.

'I think your men have already helped me along that path,' said Yron, feeling his gut. 'Ask.'

'I'm intrigued,' said Selik, 'why a Xeteskian soldier should be found running from his college in the company of elves and not as their prisoner. I have heard of these elves in the past days. Are they not fighting against Xetesk?'

'Xetesk has committed a great crime – unwittingly at first but now with full knowledge – and it has to be righted. The college would not do it so I took it upon myself. You stopped me. Us.'

'I am sorry,' said Selik. 'Fortunately, I am the right man to talk to about righting college crimes.'

Yron managed a smile. 'You have no conception of the scale of what you have done by stopping me.'

'Perhaps you'd care to enlighten me.'

Yron shifted, wondering what he should say.

'How much do you want to damage Xetesk's ambitions?'

Selik frowned. 'There is not enough time in a day to explain. Why?'

'And how much do you want to live?'

'There's much more work to be done,' evaded Selik. 'And I do hope there's a reason for these questions.'

'Well, you have the tools to do both and neither right here,' said Yron.

Selik cleared his throat. 'The ice is thin beneath your feet, Captain. '

'Oh really? I thought it had already cracked and you were merely holding me above the drop.'

Selik waved a hand impatiently. 'What is this?' He turned the thumb over in his hands.

'I had no idea you were interested in archaeology.'

Selik sighed. 'I can make this very painful for you,' he said without looking up. 'But I had hoped it wouldn't be necessary.'

It was Selik's casual attitude that told Yron the Black Wing would torture the information from him. And if he was going to die, it might as well be on his terms. He was not afraid to die. Nor was he afraid of pain but he'd wanted to resist Selik and had tested his narrow limits. But as he sat there, aware of his own unpleasant smell mixing with the stale sweat and ale of the room and those around him, he asked himself what it was he was so desperate to keep from Selik.

And he couldn't think of a single thing. He relaxed.

'I'd talk easier over a hot drink,' he said.

Selik shrugged and nodded at one of his men.

'And for me too.'

'Thank you,' said Yron.

'Now, Captain,' said Selik. 'Time for you to begin.'

'Well, Selik, the summary is this. What you have in your hand there is part of the thumb from the statue of Yniss that stands in the Aryndeneth temple on Calaius. Its separation from the statue has unleashed a plague which threatens to wipe out the entire elven nation. I was taking it back. You must do the same. If you do you'll gain a very powerful ally. If you don't they'll kill you. All of you.' He leaned back. 'I can see you don't believe me but I assure you it's true, if a little difficult to grasp that something so small could cause something so awful. So, ask me what you want and I'll tell you all I can.'

Selik asked and Yron told him. Everything. Barely rested but driven by a desperate need, The Raven rode from their forward camp in the dead of night, allowing their horses to pick careful routes through the tussocks of grass, moss-covered rocks and bracken thickets of their route back to the south-west side of Xetesk. During their rest, another dozen Al-Arynaar had succumbed to the Elfsorrow, as had three TaiGethen, one of them Marack, who had already seen the rest of her Tai cell die. To her it had been a release from grief.

A Communion between Dordovan and Lysternan mages eased their passage between the two battle fronts and on towards the no-man's-land to the south and west, which was still nominally controlled by Xetesk but under pressure from the Black Wing force camped a few miles south.

The Raven, with their quartet of elven guests clinging unhappily to the saddles of their cantering horses, had made good progress through the latter half of the night, and as dawn brightened the sky, the three mages took to the air.

The decision had been made to cover the ground in a wide arc and track back along the most likely route Merke's cell would have taken on leaving Xetesk. There was some risk attached to the tactic as Xeteskian mage-defender trios were out looking for the same quarry. Ilkar was the southernmost, Denser nearest to the walls of Xetesk but a good four miles distant, with Erienne in between them, slightly ahead of both and with a brief to look as much into the sky ahead as at the ground below her.

They flew a mile ahead of The Raven, who split as necessary to check knots of trees, heavy bushes and areas of taller bracken. With the horses going at little more than a trot, Auum and his Tai had taken the chance to dismount and track. But for hour after hour there was no sign.