They are broken. We are victorious. We are one.
We are one.
Aeb surveyed the enemy. They were wheeling and galloping away down the trail, shouts of recrimination echoing through the swirling mist that smelled so much of death. Satisfied, he turned, counted all the mages safe and knelt to take the mask from Elx.
The brother had taken a hoof clear in the face, splitting the mask and snapping his neck. His face, bloodied and bruising, stared sightless to the sky. He was released. In the Soul Tank, they would grieve. His body, they would burn. His weapons, they would take.
Aeb walked back down the path to where Sytkan sat on his horse, his young face angry, his body tired from the HellFire casting.
'Will they attack again?' he asked.
'No, but we will track them, master. Now they are running south.'
'Good. Then tend to your wounded and dead. We need to be away from here. It's still ten days to Arlen.'
Chapter 9
'Has the water clogged your ears, Ilkar? I said no.' Hirad slammed his tin cup down on the stone table and stalked to the door of his hut, leaning against its frame and looking out at the dreary night.
The rain hadn't stopped and by the time they'd found the horses, all three men were drenched and miserable. Hirad had banked a good fire in his hut and now their clothes were steaming on a rail hanging in front of it while they each wore a blanket. But despite the ridiculous picture they made and the meal they shared, Hirad's mood had not lightened enough to hear what Ilkar and The Unknown wanted of him with any real reason.
'You shouted it, actually,' said Ilkar evenly, picking at some lamb stuck in his teeth. 'And I heard you the first time. I just hoped I'd heard wrong.'
'Well you didn't,' growled Hirad, turning half face. 'Why the hell should I help that prat? Everything he promised, he failed to deliver. The Kaan are still here.'
'It was never something that was going to be solved quickly,' reasoned The Unknown.
'I know. I didn't expect quickly. But it's been almost five years. And nothing has happened. Nothing.' Hirad's voice was cool and angry. 'They're dying, you know.'
'I understand your feelings,' said The Unknown. 'But Denser's not been idle, he's-'
'Oh yeah, I gathered that. Close to the Circle Seven, has the ear of the Lord of the Mount, good chambers. Not idle at all.' Hirad cleared his throat and spat out of the door. 'Tell you what, when he comes here with clear evidence Xetesk is working on getting my dragons home, I'll help him find his family.'
'He doesn't have that sort of time,' said The Unknown.
'He's had five years!' Hirad stormed back across the room. 'Five bastard years! My dragons are dying and the only people capable of helping them are sitting on their fat arses congratulating each other about how they beat the Wesmen. The real heroes are being left to rot.' Hirad stared at The Unknown and Ilkar in turn, taking in their faces in the firelight.
'I'm not getting through, am I?' he said quietly. 'Get your boots on and come with me. The Choul's right next door. Saying hello is the least you can do.'
The three men scurried across the short space to the cave, blankets held tightly around them. Hirad's lantern lit the way in the chill, damp gloom.
'Gods, Hirad, it's cold,' said Ilkar.
'Yes, isn't it,' said Hirad. They rounded the corner into the Choul proper, the stench of dragon nauseatingly strong. Hirad grinned fiercely at his friends' gasps.
'Great Kaan, visitors for you.'
Sha-Kaan raised his head and opened a shining blue eye.
'Well met, Ilkar. Well met, Unknown Warrior.' His voice was low and tired, that of a dragon close to sleep.
'And you, Sha-Kaan,' said Ilkar. T won't ask about your health. Hirad has already been forthright. I am sorry.'
'Sorry will not take us home.' The lack of lustre was plain. The immensity of the Kaan's size and presence was undiminished but the verve was gone from his voice and his languid movement was a sign of his growing inertia.
'Hirad mentioned your desire,' said The Unknown.
'It has always been a desire. Now it is a necessity.' Sha-Kaan gazed at the pair unblinking. 'You have picked a curious time for your visit. Rain and dark, I understand, are not to human liking.'
The Unknown shrugged. 'We need Hirad. The weather is inconsequential.'
'And I told them I wouldn't be helping,' interrupted Hirad.
'With what?' asked Sha-Kaan.
'Finding Denser's daughter.'
'Ah.' Sha-Kaan opened his mouth wide, his jaws stretching impossibly wide, fangs glinting in the lantern light. T might have
guessed the thief was at the heart of your anger, Hirad Coldheart. Presumably he isn't yet offering a way back to Beshara.'
'No,' said Hirad curdy. 'He hasn't quite finished worming his way to the top of the Xeteskian mage society.'
Ilkar sighed.
'You have something to add?' asked Sha-Kaan.
'Hirad knows I believe he's being harsh on Denser, though I understand his and your frustration at the length of your wait. But we're talking about the safety of Erienne and her child, Lyanna. They are in considerable danger though they probably don't know it. Right now, Dordover is searching for them both and Denser thinks they don't necessarily want to catch Lyanna alive.'
'And I said he's creating shit,' said Hirad. 'Dordover has been training her. Why would they want to kill her?'
'I tried to explain but you weren't listening. It's because of what she represents and where they think she's gone,' Ilkar said.
Sha-Kaan breathed out, a low rumbling sound that sent echoes through the air.
'This child is a mage?' he asked.
'"Mage" hardly covers it,' said Ilkar. 'She is almost certainly a four-College adept and probably capable of encompassing the One Way.'
Nos- and Hyn-Kaan's heads snapped up and all three dragons stared at Ilkar, who took an involuntary pace backwards. The Kaans' necks moved, giving the impression of a three-headed beast with a single monstrous body.
'Where has she gone?' demanded Sha-Kaan.
'Denser suspects she's with practitioners of the One Way but we don't know if they even still exist, let alone where they might be.'
'Al-Drechar,' breathed Sha-Kaan. 'If they live, they must be found. Hirad, you must help.'
'Who are these Al whatever?'
'Keepers of the One,' said Sha-Kaan. 'Septern will surely have shared his knowledge with them. He was one of them. They can send us home.'
Dordover had ignored Xetesk's call for a Triverne Lake meeting. That in itself would have been an act of aggression had they not
invoked a dusty but very useful clause in the four-College treaty which in this case covered Julatsa. The College was inquorate, temporarily at least, and unable to fulfil its duties. More, its acting High Mage, Ilkar of The Raven, was absent.
Vuldaroq fully expected the deputation he received a few days later, particularly as it came in the aftermath of his mobilisation of a one-hundred-and-fifty-strong Dordovan mage force, enhanced by three hundred mounted swordsmen. That, added to Darrick's Lysternan and Dordovan cavalry, however reluctant their commander, amounted to a significant troop movement. Xetesk were bound to be unhappy but, as in all things, it was the way in which they were told that was important.
This was not a stroke Vuldaroq would have pulled with Styliann still incumbent on The Mount. Whatever his personal feelings, Vuldaroq had respected Styliann's intelligence and political acumen. But the pup, Dystran, had no respected network, no quality advisers and no sure thoughts of his own. Even Denser wasn't on hand to help. Everything seemed to be working rather well and Dystran's entirely predictable responses merely added to Vuldaroq's feeling of control.