Shadowheart

'Damn you, Heryst!' shouted Hirad as he was all but carried through a door and out into the corridor beyond. 'You're a murderer, you hear me? A fucking murderer. You should be the one dying, not Darrick. He's trying to save Balaia. What are you doing? Murderer!'

'Hirad! Enough!'

'And damn you, Unknown. Damn the lot of you bastards who stood by and let this happen.'

The voices started to echo as the unequal struggle moved away and out of sight. A curious calm descended on the hall. Darrick had given himself up to the guards who were flanking him but not restraining him. Denser was aware of Erienne's anxious breathing close by and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Across the table, Heryst and the law mages stood. Metsas and Simmac wore slight smiles while their clerks gathered around them, pale and frightened.

Heryst walked around the table to stand in front of Darrick. The Raven swordsman met his gaze squarely.

'I am sorry, Ry,' said the Lord Elder Mage. 'But you gave me no option.'

'I thought you a man of strength and vision. A man I could trust and be proud to serve,' said Darrick. 'But I saw it first in Dordover and here again today. You are weak. You would betray anything to cling on to power. What a disappointment. You are not the Heryst to whom I swore loyalty. I have nothing more to say to you.'

He looked away.

'Take him,' said Heryst. 'Give him anything he wants.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

Darrick led his jailers from the Great Hall.

'You're making the worst mistake of your life,' said Denser.

Heryst glanced over his shoulder; the law mages were watching him.

'You know, I've always respected The Raven,' he said, walking across to Denser and Erienne. 'You fight well, you're honourable and you've helped Balaia through some of her darkest days. But sometimes, I think you forget who you are and where you came from. At heart, you're mercenaries. You spent a decade fighting for money and glory. You're the best, I'll grant you that, but it does not put you above my laws. Not anyone's laws. Hirad would do well to remember that.'

'He's just trying to save his friend,' said Erienne. 'His only mistake was thinking you were doing the same.'

Heryst sighed. 'Ry Darrick refused my help and he is beyond salvation now. I cannot break the rules for anyone, and the Gods know I bent them as far as I could, or where would my authority be? I would be corrupt, favouring some and condemning others. That is not Lystern's way.'

'Darrick is Raven. Hirad isn't going to forget this,' warned Denser.

'Hirad is one barbarian. And a short-tempered one at that,' said Heryst. 'The best thing you can do for him now is calm him down, get him saddled and get him out of my college. In fact, out of Lystern. He's a nuisance that I don't need.'

Denser shook his head. 'Out of all of you, only Styliann ever really understood The Raven.' '

'And look where it got him. Dead in another dimension. Dystran is in charge now.'

'Indeed,' said Denser. 'And the shame is that he, Styliann, is not here to explain to you what you should already know. Because then you would understand the gravity of your decision.'

'Like I say, sometimes you forget your place.' Heryst turned away. 'Be gone by dusk.'

Bedlam in The Raven's chambers. Denser could hear it as he and Erienne approached down the main stairs from the Great Hall and turned left through the tower doors to the senior mage and guest quarters. The Raven had been given three bedchambers leading off a high-ceilinged drawing and dining room.

Denser and Erienne shared a look of raised eyebrows before he pushed the door open. Hirad and The Unknown Warrior stood toe to toe, the former so furious he was sweating in the cool of the drawing room, his braided hair flying with every jerk of his head.

'You aren't listening to me, Hirad, you ca-'

'Why should I listen to you? We had a chance to save him then and there and you blanked me.' Hirad's finger jabbed into The Unknown's chest. Denser saw the big man's fists clench.

'Something wrong with your eyes, Hirad? Or is it the usual brain failure? I counted nine mages and fifteen armed guards. We didn't even have one dagger between us. They would have killed you. All of us.'

'I may not have your brain but at least I've got heart,' rasped Hirad. 'I'd prefer to die trying than look on like a scolded child. How about you, eh?'

The Unknown's left hand whipped up and caught Hirad's finger in mid-jab.

'Put that down or I'll break it. Don't treat me like some boy you can push around.'

'Someone's got to push or Darrick's going to die.'

The Unknown forced Hirad's hand down to his side, their gazes locked together.

'No one is dying today,' said The Unknown.

'No? Asked Darrick his opinion, have you?'

'You know better than this.'

‘Iknow one of The Raven is about to be executed. What do you know? The sun's got to your fat neck, Unknown.'

The Unknown's arms moved in a blur. His hands gripped the barbarian's upper arms and he lifted Hirad clear from the ground, moved two paces and dumped him in a chair.

'Now you will sit there and you will listen.'

Denser recognised the chill in The Unknown's voice. Hirad didn't.

'So now I have to sit and wait for the killing cast, do I?'

The Unknown leant in, hands braced on the arms of the chair.

'You have tried my patience enough. If you want to take me on, feel free to try if it'll make you feel better. Think you can down me, do you, Coldheart?'

'Unknown, I-* began Denser but The Unknown snapped out his left hand towards him, palm raised.

'What's it to be, Coldheart? Use your fists or your head. It's up to you.'

Hirad stared at him, eyes bulging, breath hissing from his nostrils.

'Tell you what,' continued The Unknown, 'how about I get the deepest thinker of us all to tell you what you should have known from the very start? Thraun?'

The shapechanger, who had been watching the exchange in agitated silence, frowned.

'I…' he began. Denser could see the confusion in his eyes.

'If you wanted to rescue Darrick, when would you do it?' asked The Unknown.

Thraun tried to frame the words but as so often, the block between his thoughts and his speech remained obstinately in place.

'Now you listen to me, Unknown,' said Hirad, voice quieter but brim full of rage. 'I have just lost Ilkar and we were helpless. And if you think I'm just going to sit around here-'

'Wait,' said Thraun, instantly the centre of attention. 'Wait until the very end. Until they think we have given up.'

'What?'

'Think, Hirad,' said The Unknown, straightening, his voice pained. 'For once in your life, think.'

'What else do you reckon I've been doing?'

'Absolutely everything but,' said Denser. He walked over to the cold fireplace on the mantel of which stood a pewter jug and carved wooden mugs.

'Wondered when you'd join in the fun,' growled Hirad.

Denser poured mugs of ale and handed them round.

'This isn't fun for any of us,' said Denser. 'Heryst wants us, or, more particularly you, out of the city by dusk.'

'Well he knows what-'

'Hirad!' barked The Unknown. 'Drink your ale, take a deep breath and count to ten. Slowly. You have to calm down.'

Hirad opened his mouth.

'Just don't,' said The Unknown. 'Because right now, you are the second biggest threat to Darrick's life.'

'And how do you work that out?'

'It doesn't take a genius, Hirad,' said Erienne.

'What?'

Denser almost laughed but kept it in check. He could see Hirad's anger at them all crumbling in the face of his lack of allies.

'I want to assure you of one thing,' said The Unknown quietly. 'The Raven will not abandon one of their own. It's never happened before and it isn't going to start now.'

'I-'

'Hold on, Hirad,' said The Unknown.

He walked to the door and yanked it open, looking up and down the corridor. Satisfied no one had been listening, he closed it again, looking at Denser.