Shadowheart lotr-2

by James Barclay

  The answering call warmed his heart and he led his cavalry away.

  Auum responded to the call of the ClawBound panther and led his small band of TaiGethen towards the rear of the enemy. Of all those cells that had travelled to Balaia, only five now remained and he led the only one with all of its original members. The toll had been terribly high and would leave them vulnerable to their enemies on Calaius if they did not defeat them here.

  On every first street junction beyond the college square, the enemy had posted guards. For him, that presented the immediate threat of only six men but even these he would not strike down yet. They knew how the Xeteskian commander would react to the cavalry attack on the other side of the college and so they waited.

  Reminiscent of their concealment in Xetesk, the TaiGethen hid in narrow alleys that let directly onto streets which connected with the main thoroughfare to the college gates. With them, the ClawBound stood quiet. They had called when the cavalry began their charge. Other pairs watched over the enemy lines though Auum was sure he would hear for himself, the moment the inevitable response was made.

  He was not disappointed. Simultaneously with the roars of four ClawBound panther throats, the sound of multiple hooves rattled and echoed into the air.

  'Let Yniss watch over you and Tual guide you,' he said to them all. 'Tais, we move.'

  They sprinted into the street, heading left to the guarded junction. Duele and Evunn as they always were, at his shoulders, the other four Tais in their formations left and right of him. ClawBound padded behind.

  Bows were flexed and fired on the run. Two shafts found their targets, another four did not. Auum unclasped his jaqrui pouch and felt inside for a throwing crescent, counting the diminishing number. He gripped one, dragged it out and flicked it away in one movement, hearing its keening wail. The target couldn't see it against the dark of the buildings and it struck him high on the forehead. The enemy shrieked, clutched at his head and fell, the blood pouring down his face.

  The TaiGethen hit the three remaining guards like a wave breaking over sand. The cell to Auum's right arrived first. Swords flashed, men fell. Only one withstood the first strikes, backing away, fear marking his face. He fended away one more blow but the Tai leader landed a kick in his chest, knocking him back and off balance, leaving him open to the flanking Tais to drag blades through throat and gut respectively.

  Auum didn't break stride, racing down the centre of the street, seeing the gates ahead of him. Up in the gatehouse stood The Raven and Al-Arynaar elves. In front of them, what had to be at least three hundred men in two tight groups. Spells were pounding against the gates, which smoked but held firm. No one looked in their direction but it would not be long. Auum cared little. These enemy deserved the fate that Shorth had in store for them and, face him or not, they would still die.

  The street was wide and the TaiGethen spread into a single line. ClawBound joined them, three pairs striding easily alongside. They were no more than ten yards away when the first enemy sensed the silent peril behind him and turned, only to catch an arrow in his throat as he opened his mouth to shout the alarm. Too few Xeteskians were strung across the entrance to the square to mount real resistance. All swung about as their comrade fell choking to the ground in their midst and the mood of the battle changed instantly from confidence to panic.

  Auum threw another crescent ahead of him, seeing it gouge into the arm of his target. He took another two paces and leapt, one leg outstretched, the other gathered beneath him, two short swords now in hand. His foot connected with his enemy's face and he felt the man's nose crumple and his teeth break beneath the blow.

  He landed softly, turned and plunged his sword into the chest of the same man, finishing him. He darted right to dodge a blow from the left, spinning on a heel and reversing his sword into the ear of the nearest opponent. Duele had swept the legs from under a third and dropped his knee into the prone man's throat, bouncing to his feet and running on.

  Ahead of them, the mage groups remained well defended, their guard turning now, bows and sword coming to bear. Around Auum's right, a ClawBound panther growled and pounced, her partner two. steps behind her, jabbing his fingers into the neck of a bowman, ducking under a careless swing and biting into the face of another, bearing the screaming man down, bloodied hands free to rake flesh from his victim's cheeks.

  Auum called Evunn and Duele to him, saw his other cells closing and drove into the Xeteskian rear flank, waiting for the ClawBound call to pull back.

  Denser watched the awesome speed of the TaiGethen attack. They were so fluid and quickly so deep into the heart of one of the

  Xeteskian attack groups that the enemy had no real idea how to defend against them. The elves were too close in for bows, the mages were helpless and swordsmen were being chopped apart, not knowing where the next strike was coming from.

  The other attack group had faltered in its mission. Spells had stopped striking at doors and walls and nervous glances were being cast left. Field captains were exhorting them to concentrate but the storm of the few TaiGethen and ClawBound was simply mesmerising.

  Denser, like all of The Raven surely, was watching Auum. He was so graceful and so accurate and, with Duele and Evunn next to him, the whole cell appeared quite simply unstoppable. He knew they would be fearful of the MindMelt that had damaged Evunn but it hadn't stopped them attacking and Denser knew that spell would not be cast. Only the mages they attacked were close enough and none of them would have the peace to construct it.

  He tried to follow Auum's movements, occasionally finding it hard to do so, counting to himself. The TaiGethen leader ducked and struck, leaped high to dodge a blow and was alert enough to lash a leg out as he dropped to shatter an enemy jaw. He whirled on his standing leg to drag his blades through the chest of another, jabbed an elbow into the throat of a third in almost the same movement and head-butted a fourth before taking another pace and trying again.

  Denser had counted to six.

  But not everything was going right. Behind, the Lysternan cavalry was being driven off, their hoofbeats fading fast. He heard cheers but they were short-lived, the tenor changing. He swung from the spectacular demonstration of fighting below him and could see immediately why. Above, the familiars had stopped circling and watching. They were diving and neither the elves who stood and waited or the guardsmen who scattered, could harm them.

  'Raven!' he shouted. 'Trouble!'

  He didn't wait to see if they would follow but began to race around the walls to the opposite side of the college. The problem had been seen by others within and without the college. Elves were chasing ahead of him, guardsmen backing off. Behind Denser, The Unknown barked at them to stand their ground but from below, arrows, crossbow bolts and spells were flying in at suddenly undefended walls.

  Denser tried to cover his head with a hand as he ran, hearing arrows biting into the stone around him, feeling the air whip as a shaft passed by just in front of him. HotRain began to fall but it was behind them. Another FlameOrb sailed out.

  'Down!' roared Hirad.

  Denser flattened himself on the walkway, the heat of the Orb singeing hairs on the back of his hands as it passed to fall into the courtyard below. He was up on his feet immediately, looked ahead and saw the first familiar strike down. It collided hard with an Al-Arynaar archer, knocking him off balance. The elf raised his hands to try and grab the demon from his face but it was too strong, its momentum too much and both fell from the walls. Only one struck the ground, the familiar climbing back into the sky, cluttering and laughing.

  'We've got to catch them and hold them,' Denser shouted back over his shoulder, now only twenty yards from the fight. 'I'll be ready with the spells.'

  There were four famihars in the attack, flitting around elven heads. The Al-Arynaar, Rebraal amongst them, had almost all dropped their bows and held short swords or knives. The remaining archers were being forced to look out to counter the returning threat from below while trusting in
their kin to keep the famihars from pitching them over the walls.

  Thraun, Hirad and the limping Unknown, all with daggers in their hands, overtook him and joined the Al-Arynaar. He heard Hirad shout instructions to Rebraal, who was weaving a complex pattern above his head with his short blade while the famihars wheeled just above them. As he approached, Denser constructed a FlamePalm.

  'One at a time!' shouted The Unknown to The Raven. 'See the one with the red flash on its forehead. He'll do.'

  Denser paced into the centre of The Raven's loose circle. Hirad was dangerously close to the unrailed edge to the courtyard below but in typical fashion, was more worried about the threat to his friends than his own position. He stabbed up, catching a familiar on an outstretched claw and sending it spiralling and yelping. They couldn't damage the familiars but that didn't mean they felt no pain.

  'Keep it tight,' said The Unknown.

  He reached up a hand and grabbed at a foot but missed. Next to him, Thraun jumped to do the same. The familiar's tail whipped and cut the back of his hand.

  'Careful, Thraun,' warned Denser, fighting to keep his concentration,

  Thraun growled, his knife carved at the air again and his hand whipped out a second time, this time catching that flailing tail and dragging the familiar down, kicking, raking and squealing.

  'Hold him, hold him!' shouted The Unknown.

  The Raven warriors dropped on the monkey-sized beast, trying desperately to get a hand on any of the flailing limbs, the head that held those snapping jaws or even the heaving chest or wings that beat against the ground. All Denser could do was watch or he would lose his concentration as the demon, with a strength far beyond its size, fought for its very life and the sanity of its master.

  Hirad took a claw right down the inside of one arm but came back and punched the familiar square in the face, slapping the back of its skull off the thick wooden parapet. The Unknown had knelt on the demon's legs and was trying to grab at a wing while Thraun, the tail still in one clamped fist, was attempting to get a grip on its right arm.

  'Don't let go of anything,' said Hirad. He punched again, his chest wound protesting, drawing a snarl of fury from the indefatigable beast.

  Above them the other three familiars flew to their captured one's aid, the elves, finding themselves no longer the targets, organising quickly to drive them back or take another one down. Denser felt his hair parted by a claw and clung on grimly to his concentration. The Raven almost had the familiar subdued but still it spat its vitriol, promising them all death.

  Hirad snared an arm, The Unknown had his wing and Thraun got a hand on the top of its skull, stilling the head.

  'Keep it there,' breathed Denser. He knelt down quickly, trying to keep away from the free limbs which etched at the air.

  'Denser,' drawled the familiar. 'Your death is mine one day. Let me go. Your Raven's soul will fill me with energy and you will suffer-'

  'Quiet,' said Denser and clamped a hand on the familiar's mouth, sending his FlamePalm shooting into its skull, holding steady while the mana fire extinguished its life. 'One down, one mage too. Let's go again.'

  'Denser!'

  It was Rebraal. Yards away, they were holding a familiar by its wings. It could find no angle to get at its captors but it was slowly dragging itself free. Denser began casting again, knowing he wouldn't make it to use another FlamePalm before the demon broke away.

  'Against the wall.' He pointed. 'There.'

  The Al-Arynaar threw the demon face first into the battlements. It hit them hard, fell to the ground and turned immediately, shaking its head to clear its vision. Denser caught its eye, smiled and cast, his focused FlameOrb engulfing the small body. The familiar screamed, tried to fly but succeeded only in flopping out over the walls to crash in front of the Xeteskians. Above Denser, the fight was done. The other two had fled. Horns sounded from below and the Xeteskians began to pull back.

  Denser sat down to gather himself. Hirad crouched in front of him. He could hear shouts from below and the sound of running feet.

  'Good work, Xetesk-man,' said the barbarian. 'Got anything left for my dragon?'

  Denser nodded. 'Should have,' he said. 'But I'd rather wait until morning. I never did do that reading. Things rather overtook us this afternoon, didn't they?'

  Hirad nodded, stood up and held out a hand. Denser grabbed it and dragged himself to his feet.

  ‘Ican wait. Xetesk have finished for the day.'

  'What about the TaiGethen?'

  'Well, I suspect that they did rather well, given the haste of the retreat tonight.'

  Denser smiled and walked with Hirad back around the college walls to the gatehouse. The Xeteskians were indeed leaving the college square, taking their wounded with them. The Al-Arynaar, bows ready, let them leave, as did Darrick who was nodding to himself as the rest of The Raven came back to him.

  Down on the cobbles, blood slicked the ground. Denser counted two dead elves among the dozens and dozens of Xeteskian bodies. One panther too lay dead, its partner lying next to it, preferring to die in defence of the fallen Claw than leave with the rest. He watched the Xeteskians clearing themselves away and wondered where they had placed themselves.

  'Today was good,' said Darrick. 'Tomorrow will be far more difficult. I wonder if we can delay the Heart raise. We need those mages. We can swing it with them, I think.'

  'Tomorrow, we'll know,' said Denser. 'Erienne should be awake and she can tell what she saw. Otherwise it's more of the same. Reckon we can see it out in a full day?'

  'Well, there is no surprise element now,' said Darrick. 'The cavalry will be watched for like the TaiGethen. Getting close to here to distract them will be a challenge. Chandyr is not a stupid man.'

  'But can we hold out?'

  Darrick considered a moment. 'Without help from the south? No. But we'll take as many of them with us as we can.'

  'Come on, Raven,' said Hirad. 'Let's eat.'

  Chapter 41

  Erienne awoke in the middle of the night and sat up, biting back a scream. Her dreams had been full of tortured magic and the cries of mages shivered from the mana forever. They had been full of a crawling blackness that consumed everything it touched, that dulled the brightest tones and choked the songs of the young. She had seen herself at the gates of the college, presiding over the demise of all magic, laughing down at the upturned faces.

  And around her feet had been her children, brought back to her from death. Returned to where they would be forever safe. At her side, being as she was. One.

  'Shh, love, it's all right.' Denser's voice from next to her in the bed did nothing to calm her heart.

  'It cannot promise that,' she said. 'Nothing can promise that.'

  'Promise what?'

  'You wouldn't understand,' she said, tasting the bitterness in her own voice. 'Leave me. I can beat it.'

  'Don't shut yourself away from me,' urged Denser. 'Let me share the burden, please.'

  'What can you share?' she snapped. 'It's all inside me. I cannot give it away, I cannot let others carry it. It is in me. It is trying to beat me.'' She forced herself to stop, to lower her voice. She had turned to face him, still lying there, hurt in his eyes and concern in his face. 'It taunts me, Denser. But how can it? It is not sentient. How can I beat something that is not there at all?'

  'Whatever your mind sees as the fight is what must be beaten. It is a fight for control of your own body too. I know I cannot really help you but don't shut me out. Please don't do that.'

  She stroked his face. 'I'll try,' she said. 'But it's so hard. I feel like

  I am the only thing stopping a flood from drowning us all. It's so hard to find room for anything else.'

  'Then do not.' Denser smiled but his eyes retained their pain. 'I will understand.'

  'Tell me that in a year,' she said. 'Or in a season.'

  'Assuming we live tliat long,' said Denser. 'We might not see out another day.'

  He shifted his position, sat up,
his hands behind him, taking his weight.

  'Tell me what you saw today,' he said. 'What made you break the spell?'

  'Their casting caused the problem,' she said immediately. 'I'm sure of that now. The very mana they forced into focus triggered something in the stone around the Heart, like a black stain spreading upwards. It was like it was being forced to close, to shut down. It'll happen again the next time they try.'

  'Darrick doesn't want them to. Not tomorrow,' said Denser. 'He doesn't think we can hold out another day without the Julatsans casting to stop Xetesk.'

  'Well they can't,' she said, frustrated at his lack of understanding. 'It's obvious, isn't it?'

  'No,' said Denser. She sighed impatiently, caught herself at it and stopped herself retorting.

  'Sorry.' She calmed herself. 'It's mass use of magic that causes the problems. If they are all out there casting shields tomorrow, the focus will fail. There's no doubt about that in my mind. Geren was only half right. The only chance is to raise the Heart, get it back into the place where it can generate the flow again, and hope the shadow can be suppressed while they raise it.'

  'How?'

  She shrugged. 'Well, I'll have to think of something, won't I?'

  'Like what?'

  'How the hell do I know! Gods Denser, I'm not the bloody oracle.'

  'Yes, but you are the only one who can do something to help. No one else can even see the problem, let alone do anything to stop it.'

  She pushed away and stood up, feet chilling on the cold stone. 'Great. Erienne, the saviour of Julatsa. Erienne, the saviour of the whole bloody world.' She turned on him. 'Pity is, I have no idea how to do it.'

  'Well, can I-'

  'No!' she shouted. 'No one can.' She put her head in her hands. 'Sorry, Denser. Please go back to sleep. You need rest for tomorrow.'