‘It gives me the shivers. I wonder what’s on the other side.’
‘Well,’ said Ilkar, ‘I have a strong feeling that you’ll be finding out.’
‘No question of it,’ said Denser. ‘There’s some incredible stuff in here.’ He tapped the book. ‘It’ll bring dimensional research on hundreds of years. And it answers a few other questions too.’ He stood up and walked over to Ilkar, handing him the book and indicating a passage. ‘Read it out, will you? I’ve got to try something. Have you got any rope, Talan?’
‘Outside.’ Talan was gazing at the rip, Richmond at his shoulder.
Eventually he turned to find Denser looking at him. ‘Do you want some?’
‘No, I was just passing the time.’
‘Well, I’m not a bloody mind-reader, Denser.’
‘No, you’d need a mind for that,’ muttered the Dark Mage. ‘Just get the rope, will you?’
Talan strode towards him. ‘In charge now, are you? Tell you what, go and get it yourself, or have you lost the power of movement? ’
‘I only want some rope, Talan,’ said Denser. ‘I’m not asking you to open the gates of hell or anything.’
‘It’s on my horse if you want it.’ Talan turned and stalked to the other end of the rip and took up his gazing again.
‘Gods alive,’ said Denser. ‘FlamePalm, you say?’
Ilkar nodded and tossed him the original amulet. ‘Just leave out the command word and substitute whatever it is you say for mana-meld. ’
Denser followed the Julatsan’s instructions, and soon wan daylight appeared above them.
‘I won’t be long.’ Denser trotted up the steps.
‘Are you going to read that book, or keep it to yourself?’ asked Hirad.
‘Sorry,’ said Ilkar. ‘Do you two want to hear this?’
Richmond shrugged and walked over, Talan glowered at Ilkar then did likewise.
‘It’s a diary of sorts. A research log as well, though I won’t go into that. Listen to this:
‘It is only four days since I revealed my creation of Dawnthief and already the Wytch Lords are searching for me. I can feel the shock waves through the mana even here. I cannot leave this house and I am left hoping that the four Colleges will defeat the evil from the Torn Wastes, for the spell I created to destroy them myself I cannot unleash on Balaia. It was folly to tell the Colleges of my discovery. I have since found that Dawnthief is infinitely more powerful than I had imagined. While it would be an unstable spell to work, should it be cast with the right preparation, concentration and, of course, catalysts, it could plunge Balaia into eternal night. It would mean the end of everything.
‘But I also find I cannot destroy the knowledge I have unearthed. Is that terrible when that knowledge could obliterate us all? I don’t think so - you can never hope to unmake what has been made. So I have taken the information containing the names of the catalysts through the rip and into a place where those who guard it have sworn to do so though death take the breath from their bodies and the flesh from their bones.
‘The key amulet has been left with the Brood Kaan in the Dragon dimension and they of all creatures know the price of Dawnthief falling into the wrong hands. Perhaps some day they will give the key back and this journal will be found and my actions understood. For myself, having hidden what had to be hidden, I must destroy the rip, closing the door for ever. To do so, I must remain on this side and will take my own life. No one must find Dawnthief. No one.’
The next page was blank.
Ilkar looked up from his reading, finding all eyes on him. Above them, Denser came back down the stairs, took the amulet from Ilkar and closed the slab once again.
‘So what happened?’ asked Hirad, indicating Septern’s body. ‘He didn’t kill himself, that much is obvious. And he didn’t destroy the rip either.’
Ilkar shrugged. ‘Well, it looks to me as though the Wytch Lords got to him earlier than he expected. Like Denser said, he saved Balaia by getting down here before he died.’
‘And we’re about to do what he feared most,’ said Denser. ‘We’re going to get that information. Now then.’ Denser walked over to the closed chest, slapped open the clasps and opened the lid, finding clothes, boots and a pair of lanterns inside. He turned to the others. ‘A going-away chest, if I’m not very much mistaken.’
‘What is it you’re going to do, Denser?’ asked Hirad.
‘A little test of what exactly is behind the rip, that’s what.’ He closed and clasped the chest again. Taking the coil of rope from his shoulder, he quickly bound the chest with it, leaving a length of perhaps twenty feet in his hands.
‘Hirad, would you?’ asked Denser, pointing at the chest.
Hirad frowned but walked over to the Dark Mage.
‘What do you want?’
‘Pick up the chest and throw it through the rip, if you don’t mind.’
‘Oh, I see. Good idea.’ He knelt and wrapped his arms around the chest, picked it up and took a couple of paces backwards. ‘Anywhere in particular?’
‘In the centre, I think.’
Hirad nodded and moved to the middle of the rip. He hefted the trunk so that his hands were beneath it and it rested on his chest. A couple of bounces and he threw it straight into the rip, where it disappeared as if swallowed by thick mud.
All eyes switched to the rope as it moved gently through Denser’s hands. After no more than ten seconds, the rope gathered speed briefly, dipped, fell to the bottom of the rip and went slack.
‘I see,’ said Denser.
‘I wish I did,’ muttered Hirad.
‘It’s quite easy. The rip itself is quite deep, maybe six feet, and travel through it is slow. Just beyond the rip is a short drop which we’ll have to be ready for.’ He paused. ‘Now then, who’s for a journey into the absolute unknown?’
Silence. And it had an odd quality about it. Hirad considered that they had always known they’d have to go through the dark swirling mass, but now the time had arrived, they were all thinking about what might actually be on the other side. Whatever it was, it was unlikely to be much like anything they had ever experienced.
‘Well, we don’t need to leave a guard, do we?’ said Richmond.
‘That we don’t,’ said Ilkar. ‘What do you reckon, Hirad, The Raven’s strangest ride?’
Hirad chuckled. ‘Yeah. Let’s do it.’ He clapped his hands together and drew his sword. ‘Lanterns, I think.’
‘Definitely,’ said Ilkar, picking up the one Denser had left on the table.
They lined up in front of the rip, each man staring deep into the gently moving picture in front of him. Hirad looked down the line one way then the other from his position in its centre. He breathed deeply, his heart rate leaping.
‘Ready, everyone?’ he asked. There were nods and murmurs of assent.
‘Hirad, I think you have the honour of the cry,’ said Talan.
‘Thank you, Talan.’
‘What’s this?’ asked Denser.
‘Just listen,’ said Ilkar.
Hirad drew in another huge breath. ‘Raven!’ he roared. ‘Raven with me!’
They hit the rip at a dead run.
Chapter 11
Styliann warmed his feet by the fire in his study and took tea from the mug on the table by his right arm. There was a knock at the door.
‘Come.’
Nyer and Dystran entered. He gestured them to the other chairs and poured them each a mug of tea. Nyer settled into his seat with the ease of one well used to such company. For Dystran, a man barely into his forties, the nervousness was apparent and he sat forwards in his chair, clutching his mug tight.