Auum waited and watched. There was little point in doing anything else. The man, clearly a mage, moved closer. He crouched to attend to a spell not five feet from Auum, crabbed two paces to his left and saw Auum’s boots.
‘Ah,’ he said.
He tried to leap out of the way but Auum’s hand was already around his neck, pushing his head back and lifting him upright.
‘Ah, indeed,’ said Auum. ‘Do not attempt to cast. Do not attempt to cry out, or I will kill you.’
‘What do you want? Why are you here? We thought . . .’
‘Speak. Thought what?’
‘Thought . . . you were hiding elsewhere.’
‘Then I have disappointed you. What are you doing here?’
‘Just walking. These are the streets where I was born,’ said the mage brightly.
‘And where you will die if you lie to me again. You were studying trap spells - wards you call them. Why?’
The mage’s brightness had deserted him and he had begun to shake. He put his hands to Auum’s to try and shift his grip. It was like trying to crush stone.
‘Please, you’re hurting me.’
Auum cocked his head. ‘I know. What of it?’
‘I’ll tell you if you let me go.’
Auum shrugged and released his grip. The mage turned to bolt and collided with Miirt’s fist. He doubled over, coughing and retching, dropping to his knees.
‘Speak,’ said Auum.
‘It’s nothing,’ gasped the mage, wrapping his arms around his stomach. ‘We have to test the segments of the defensive grid. Check the linkage. Can’t afford any errors.’
Auum looked up at his Tai. Both shook their heads.
‘We do not believe you. Try harder.’
‘It’s true, I swear.’
‘Kill him,’ said Auum.
A short blade flashed in Ghaal’s hand. He dragged back the mage’s head and struck down, stopping a hair’s breadth from breaking the skin. The mage fouled himself and held up his hands.
‘Please no,’ he said, wheezing and crying. ‘Sorry, sorry. I’m sorry.’
‘Speak.’
‘Septern changed the exclusions of the wards. We hoped you were still in the grid somewhere. Needed to trap you here. Anything larger than a dog will trip them when they go active. I was checking to see the exclusion formula had filtered down to the periphery. Please, I’m telling the truth.’
‘Yes.’ Auum took a step back, happy to be away from the stench of excrement and urine. ‘When will the grid be active?’
‘When all the mages have reported back to the college.’
‘You will not be reporting back,’ said Auum.
‘Please!’ The mage held out his hands in supplication. ‘I told you the truth. Please.’
‘You will come with us. We have a place where you can clean yourself.’
‘Yes, yes of course. Thank you.’
Auum’s nose wrinkled at the pathetic gratitude. ‘You may be of some use to us yet.’
‘I’m hoping you recognise this place,’ said Hirad.
They’d walked out into an area of scrubland that bordered the blank faces of warehouses. The scrub was littered with pieces of stone and broken timber. A quick scout of the immediate area had told them that the college was to their north. Directly opposite the warehouses, more buildings rose about a half a mile away, and the city walls loomed a further mile or so distant.
Sol was sitting with his back to a wall while the pain in various parts of his body settled. He’d fussed over Jonas’s scrapes and cuts until the boy had pushed him away with a comment about his age and ability to look after himself. Sol felt tired and at a loss.
‘I’m too old for all this racing about,’ he said.
‘Well you should die and pick yourself a younger body,’ said Hirad. ‘It does wonders, you know. Anyway. Where are we, exactly?’
‘South-east corner of the city. Not too far from the east gates. This used to be a pretty rich area until the demons came. It never got rebuilt and all people did was steal the stone and wood to repair elsewhere. I think Denser wanted it to be some form of remembrance park or something. As you can see, dreams are yet to become reality.’
‘We ride around here quite a lot,’ said Jonas.
‘Didn’t I tell you not to because of the risk of injuring your horse on all this loose stone? Full of holes, this place.’
Jonas shrugged. ‘Probably. Anyway, we’re lucky we didn’t appear in the middle of the college or somewhere like that, aren’t we? At least I can tell you every way out of here that takes us away from most patrol routes.’
‘Yes, but where are we going?’ asked Ilkar. ‘Back to where the dead were? Auum won’t have stayed there.’
‘Yes, but he said he’d be in the eastern quarter somewhere,’ said Sol.
‘Diera’s relatively close to here, so Sha-Kaan said.’ Sirendor was walking in small circles, scanning the Xeteskian night.
Sol nodded. ‘I have no doubt at all that Denser would use her as a hostage if he had to. So if she’s calm and safe as we are told, that means she’s away from him and we can assume Auum has been as good as his word yet again. The question is, where would he hide her and himself?’
‘Some place with trees. With high-sided buildings and plenty of routes in and out,’ said Hirad. ‘When I was running with the TaiGethen back on Calaius, he used to keep going on about keeping every option available for as long as possible and having height on any enemy. Easy in the rainforest, not quite so easy here because he doesn’t know it so well. How’s Xetesk off for parks?’
‘Well, there are a good number of squares with gardens. There’s the old Park of Remembrance but that’s just lawns and grazing these days. Jonas?’
‘There are three or four squares a short ride from here,’ said Jonas. ‘The park is way over the other side of the city and it’s too open if Auum wants what Hirad says he does.’
‘Can you take us to these squares?’
‘With my eyes shut, Father.’
Sol stood up slowly and grimaced at the state of his body.
‘That won’t be necessary. Lead on. Hirad, up front with him just in case you remember some of your Tai training on markers and tracks.’
‘Fat chance,’ said Ilkar. ‘He has trouble walking and breathing at the same time most days.’
‘Can we keep it quiet?’ asked Sol. ‘We’re not welcome here.’
Jonas led them to a wide street that ran away in the direction of the east gates. Every house, every tenement and business, was shuttered and quiet. No lights could be seen, no noise could be heard close by.
‘This place has been evacuated,’ said Sirendor quietly.
Sol nodded. ‘I presume Septern’s ward grid has been laid by now. No doubt Denser was planning to squeeze the entire population into the western side of the city beyond the college. I hope he’s right about which gate the Garonin come through. He’s taking a big gamble.’
‘It won’t make a damned bit of difference,’ said Hirad. ‘It’s not a gamble, Unknown, it’s a guaranteed defeat.’
‘I want everyone to stop right now.’ Ilkar’s voice brooked no dissent.
‘What’s up, Ilks?’
‘Well, I don’t want to alarm anyone, but if we’re about to walk into a ward grid, our chances of walking out of it again are slim in the extreme, wouldn’t you say?’
‘The elf in man’s clothing has a point,’ said Hirad.
‘But you go right on walking, Hirad. Test my theory, why don’t you?’
‘Touchy, touchy.’
‘Focus,’ hissed Sol. ‘Ilkar, what I know is that Septern was intending to tune out anything man-sized. He was also going on about leaving the grid dormant until the Garonin got here. Something about maintaining cohesion of wards and retaining mana stamina; does that make sense?’