The Raven Collection

by James Barclay

  He lay where he was for a moment, listening to the sound of his heart and feeling the energy drain from his body. He had no more to give but then, there was no more he had to give. And yet he felt no joy, no victory. Instead he felt cheated. They had closed the path to Balaia and cut off the demons’ power. The mana would dissipate through the Balaian dimension and the demons would not be able to sustain themselves for long. The Raven had saved their world and yet for them there was nothing. Sha-Kaan was silent.

  It wasn’t right.

  Hirad dragged himself to a sitting position and let his eyes become accustomed to the darkness. There was movement around him and the sound of sobbing near him. He pushed himself to his feet and found The Unknown helping him up. He swayed. Blood was running from his face, his hands, his left shoulder and his right leg. The big man was in little better condition. He limped heavily and reaver claws had left his right ear flapping and pumping blood.

  But it was as nothing to Erienne. She lay sprawled at the scene of her triumph. Denser was sitting at her bloodied head, stroking her face, and the shake in his shoulders told him everything. He knew he should move to comfort the Xeteskian but he couldn’t bring himself to break into his grief. Perhaps it was better that way.

  ‘We won, then,’ he said to The Unknown.

  The big man shook his head. ‘No, Hirad, we lost. Balaia won. We have nothing. And Denser has lost everything.’

  Around them, people were forcing themselves to their feet. Auum supported Evunn who was clearly barely conscious. Thraun was staring at Erienne, his head shaking, his lips moving in denial and his feet taking him gradually closer to grim truth. Ark was wobbling on his feet but found Rebraal’s shoulder on which to lean. All of them gravitated slowly to Erienne and Denser.

  Hirad could see her stillness. Her eyes closed and her chest unmoving. She lay on her back, her arms thrown above her head.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Denser,’ he said.

  Denser didn’t move. ‘Not you as well,’ he whispered. ‘Not you as well.’

  They all spun at a sudden infuriated din from outside. Hirad’s heart pounded anew. The noise grew and grew, the voices screaming revenge, promising purgatory.

  ‘Not again,’ said Thraun.

  ‘What did we expect?’ said The Unknown.

  Karron, albino, reaver and master walked, flew or floated into the edifice. Strike-strain buzzed around them. The mass grew and grew. They advanced across a floor wide and unblemished. They took their time. After all, The Raven had nowhere to run.

  ‘We have to keep fighting,’ Hirad said. ‘Sha-Kaan might still be able to save us. If he can make it back to Beshara he can open the portal to me. We can make it.’

  But those that faced him plainly did not believe him. They couldn’t conceive of hope, they just wanted rest. And even as he uttered the words he didn’t really believe them himself. Demons were crowding the space and Sha-Kaan was going to be too late.

  He glanced over his shoulder. ‘Sleep well, Erienne. Best you didn’t live to see this.’

  Chapter 46

  Tessaya shuddered under the blow from the hammer limb, pushing it aside with the flat of his axe. He was running with sweat despite the frost of late evening. He drew in another exhausted breath and worked his axe back, fending off the spike from the same karron. The creature writhed its pincers, looking for a hold. A blade flashed across in front of him, severing the sinuous limb. The strike continued up, connecting with a reaver diving overhead.

  Tessaya pulled his axe back across his body and buried it in the ul-karron neck. He glanced sideways and nodded his thanks to Suarav. The old soldier still stood though he had no right to. A spike had torn a gash in his left shoulder and reaver claws had dragged the armour from his back, missing his soul by a hair. He had refused to leave the line and rest. Tessaya could see his point. The end was upon them. Better to die in defence than be taken in your sleep.

  More karron, backed by reavers and a cloud of strike-strain, were heading through the main wall breach. They crowded behind those already pressing against his faltering warriors. The ul-karron had wreaked dreadful havoc, weakening even their traditionally indomitable spirit. Tessaya opened his mouth and began to sing again.

  He battered his axe through the next karron attack, taking off both pincer and spike limb. His song was taken up by throats all around the college. It was a song of defiance that spoke of endurance and the glory of death. It didn’t allow for fear.

  Tessaya raised his blade to strike again. A flaming body fell screeching from the sky, landing among the karron just ahead of him. Even through the curtain of fire, he recognised Drenoul. For a moment, the attack faltered. The demon master’s squeals upset their rhythm, disrupting the flow of calls from the reavers.

  Tessaya didn’t care why Drenoul had died. He saw opportunity. Yelling a forward order he ploughed into the confused enemy. The karron, dull of mind, had stalled completely.

  His axe swung, taking the head from an enemy. He used the purity of the cut to set up an unstoppable rhythm of pace and strike. Spells erupted outside of the college, mages taking advantage of the moment.

  The Wesmen roared, sensing the change. They advanced quickly, chopping through an enemy that didn’t back off before them. Overhead, reavers circled but their calls were altered. It couldn’t just be put down to Drenoul’s death.

  Tessaya paused and stepped back, wiping gore from his face. He took a breath. Around him, his lieutenants signalled the halt. Overhead the wind picked up, blowing around the courtyard. Abruptly, the slit in the sky guttered. A green light flashed within the white. The wind blew harder, like the gales of the One magic. But only for an instant. With a report like the crack of an avalanche breaking, the slit blanked out.

  Silence but for the sound of reaver wings. It lasted only for a few heartbeats before the winged demons set up mournful cries. They spiralled skywards towards the glorious emptiness that had been the basis of their power. They cried in panic and loss, flocked with the strike-strain and keened across the heavens rudderless.

  In front of Tessaya the karron stood mute. Limbs hung limp, resting on the ground. Eyes were dim and confused. He could hear their rasping breathing. They didn’t even have the sense to try and run. Around the college, his warriors engaged in slaughter. Songs of triumph reverberated around the grounds. Chants of victory, voices of conquest.

  Tessaya didn’t join them. He stepped away from the carnage and turned to Suarav, a great weariness settling on him.

  ‘I didn’t believe they’d do it,’ he said.

  ‘Never underestimate The Raven,’ said Suarav.

  Tessaya laughed and clapped Suarav on the back. ‘Or a Xeteskian soldier who fights like a warlord.’

  ‘It was an honour to fight with you, my Lord.’

  ‘And I with you, Easterner.’

  The two men walked together towards the tower complex. At every pace, Wesmen roared his name and raised their weapons in salute. He acknowledged them all but though he smiled, he couldn’t accept the triumph. Not yet.

  The scene around him was charnel. So many warriors lay dead. So many elves lay with them. And the Xeteskians who had come to join the last defence lay among them, most of them. It left every faction so weak. None of them had the strength to push onto dominion now. Tessaya wasn’t sure he had the will left anyway.

  Dystran and Vuldaroq were coming down the steps towards them. Both wore expressions of exhausted disbelief.

  ‘Congratulations, Lord Dystran,’ said Tessaya. ‘A late entrance to the fight but effective.’

  Dystran inclined his head. ‘The plaudits are all yours, Lord Tessaya. I am shamed by my outbursts.’

  ‘You’ll learn,’ said Tessaya. ‘If you live long enough.’

  ‘I wonder if it’s really all over,’ said Vuldaroq.

  They all followed his gaze. Demons still thronged the sky. Wesmen and mages destroyed those unable to take sanctuary in the air.

  ‘Inevitably, time will tel
l,’ said Dystran.

  ‘Meantime,’ said Tessaya. ‘We all have a great deal to discuss.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Dystran, his smile almost sickeningly grateful. ‘Indeed we do.’

  Thraun had pushed Denser aside and scooped Erienne into his arms before anyone else blinked.

  ‘Put her down,’ ordered Hirad over his shoulder. ‘You can’t help her now.’

  The demons closed on them quickly. The Raven backed off across the floor and over the dais, at least denying their enemy rear attack. Still, there was no way out.

  ‘She’s not dead,’ growled Thraun.

  ‘Don’t be stupid, Thraun,’ said The Unknown.

  ‘Honour her,’ said Rebraal. ‘Take down some of those who brought about her death.’

  ‘She’s not dead.’

  Hirad glanced again. He saw her eyelids flicker.

  ‘Oh Gods be hanged, he’s right. Denser, get in line and get casting. Let’s buy ourselves some time.’

  ‘What difference will it make,’ muttered Denser.

  Hirad turned back to face the enemy that already outnumbered them at least thirty to one.

  ‘Because for one thing, The Raven is not going anywhere meekly and for another, every beat we give her means she might wake. And if she does, anything is possible.’

  The Unknown tensed and took a pace forward and shouted into the growing din.

  ‘Form up, Raven!’

  New hope pulsed through them. Hirad stood by The Unknown. Thraun laid Erienne down behind him and snarled at the advancing demons. Ark took up his position left. The TaiGethen paced to the right-hand side, affording Erienne more protection, Rebraal with them. And behind, Eilaan and Denser prepared.

  The demons were close now. Karron spread across the floor. Reavers, their skin rippling with colour and vein, chattered and called to marshal their forces. Albinos loped to each flank. They moved in, desire for vengeance almost a taste in the air.

  ‘Well,’ said Hirad in The Unknown’s earshot. ‘It gives us something to do.’

  The Unknown smiled down at him.

  ‘One more time, Hirad Coldheart?’

  ‘One more time, Unknown. Sol.’

  The two men touched gauntlets. The Unknown’s blade tapped against the floor, metronomic, comforting. It echoed around the edifice.

  ‘Ready, Raven,’ he called. ‘Pick your targets. Mages, tell us when to duck. Good luck everyone. Let’s leave them with a few bad memories, eh?’

  The karron hung back, leaving the reavers to attack alone.

  ‘Bastards want our souls,’ said Hirad.

  ‘There’s a lot of pain between now and then,’ said Thraun.

  ‘Down,’ said Denser.

  They complied. Both mages cast. Eilaan’s FlameOrbs described a shallow arc to land in the midst of the karron. Denser’s IceWind blew straight into the first of the advancing reavers.

  In the enclosed confines of the edifice, the wails and screams tore at Hirad’s ears and the stench of burned demon flesh assailed his nostrils, overpowering the clean frost of Denser’s supercooled air. Reavers dropped to the ground in front of them, shattering on impact. The mass packed and surged backwards, leaving a hole where the karron burned.

  Hirad grinned. ‘We’re The Raven, bastards!’ he shouted. ‘Who’s next to die, eh? Who really wants us?’

  ‘Tell me you’ve got more of those, Denser,’ said The Unknown.

  ‘One or two.’

  The demons gathered. Reaver calls bounced from walls and ceiling. Albinos scampered past the karron. Strike-strain massed and flew in and the mages cast again. Eilaan’s ForceCone swept a swath of strike-strain from the right-hand flank. Denser’s second IceWind ripped into the reavers. But this time, the rest didn’t pause. While the karron blocked any hope of escape, reavers and albinos attacked.

  The Unknown’s blade ceased tapping and the final fight began. Hirad thrashed his sword into the body of an albino, sending the creature spinning backwards. He stood tall as reavers crowded in. A tail whipped into his legs. He responded with a circular strike that dragged through wing membrane and sinew. The reaver crashed down but already the wounds were healing.

  By him, The Unknown operated a figure-eight defence, blade in both hands. Thraun was howling, cloaked in strike-strain, while further right Auum, Evunn and Rebraal blurred into action, beating back the overwhelming weight of enemy.

  Inexorably, the demons forced further in. Hirad could taste their breath. He fenced off claw and bite, snatched a knife from his belt and drove it into the nearest albino face. The demon reacted, neck extending, jaws agape. It sank its teeth into his leg, drawing a cry from his lips.

  A reaver fist caught him square on the jaw, knocking him over. Immediately, The Unknown stepped half a pace right, slashing his blade across the open space, denying the reaver access. Hirad struggled to his haunches, blood dripping from his chin. familiar warmth flooded him. Sha-Kaan. Their words came at the speed of thought.

  ‘Where are you, Sha-Kaan?’

  ‘I am home. I can feel your pain.’

  ‘Get us out of here. Use the Klene.’

  ‘I am coming. Did I not say you would feel me again?’

  Hirad surged to his feet and waded back into the fight. He carved his sword down into an albino skull and up into a reaver groin.

  ‘Raven, with me. Fight on. I told you. Sha-Kaan is coming. Fight.’

  To their right, beyond the press of reavers, a pure white horizontal line appeared in the air.

  ‘Right!’ roared Hirad. ‘Right.’

  He clattered his blade through a reaver’s claws and kicked out straight, catching an albino in the side of the head. He moved into the space.

  ‘Drive. Drive.’

  The line described the outline of the door to the Klene. To Hirad, it appeared desperately slow and terribly distant.

  ‘Down.’

  More IceWind, blasting a path halfway across the edifice. The elves rushed into the gap. Reavers closed in left, karron blocked them head-on. The winged soul stealers dropped on the trio, obscuring them from sight. Kicking out at albinos, Hirad saw Auum drag a reaver from Evunn’s back. His knife flashed under its arm, killing it instantly. But more dropped down. Auum danced among them, Hirad saw reavers fall. He saw fists and feet fly, knocking them back, keeping open the merest of gaps.

  ‘Move, Raven, move!’

  Thraun, with Erienne in his arms again, dashed forwards. The Unknown was in front of him and past Hirad, crashing into the reavers and karron ahead, intent on forcing them back. Ark came behind Thraun, his axe slicing left and right in a fluid motion. Strike-strain were about his face and neck. He ignored them.

  ‘Eilaan. ForceCone over the doorway. Keep the reavers back. Denser, keep the rear clear. I’m with you.’

  ForceCones played out ahead and behind. Reavers were swept aside just to rise and run or fly back in. The pressure to the rear eased just a little.

  ‘Hurry, Great Kaan.’

  The doorway drew down the air inch by tortuous inch. At the front of the fight, Evunn was in trouble. Auum’s roundhouse kick cracked a reaver from above his head but another two rushed in, one lashing claws into his side though he ducked the other. The Unknown savaged his blade through waist-high, scattering albinos from the group around the elves. Evunn blocked away tail and claw. Reaver jaws closed on his shoulder. Auum’s fists flew faster than Hirad had ever seen them. Strike-strain circled. Evunn thudded his knife again and again into the reaver’s head, dislodging it. But so many were on him. Claws dragged into his back. Strike-strain were about his head, forcing it back. A reaver tail tore out his throat.

  Hirad saw Rebraal and Auum diving on the collapsed body of the downed Tai; the next he heard were the screeches of agonised reavers.

  The Raven line was compromised along its length now. Reavers fell on Thraun. Ark’s powerful defence not quite enough.

  ‘Unknown, behind!’

  Nearly overbalancing on his damaged hip, he turned and
chopped hard down, taking the arm from a reaver which collapsed, nerve ganglion punctured. Simultaneously, karron forced a blockade across them, cutting Hirad and Denser off. Hirad could barely see as strike-strain poured down from overhead.

  From the left, reavers crashed in feet first. Eilaan was struck side-on and sent sprawling into the karron closing in right. Hammer and spike rose and fell. Blood fountained into the air.

  At the doorway, the loss of Eilaan’s ForceCone left the reavers free to attack in even greater numbers. Karron shoved their way forwards. From the mass, Auum and Rebraal shot back to their feet, drenched in demon blood. They stood back to back, defending themselves from the onslaught.

  ‘Unknown, get forward!’ yelled Hirad. ‘I’ll cover Thraun. Denser, clear these bastard karron. We need to get to Erienne.’

  ‘Got you.’

  The barbarian fenced away a ferocious reaver attack and ran headlong into the karron left while Denser switched his ForceCone half forward. Hirad thrust his long sword deep into the creature’s gut. The two fell. Hirad leant on his sword. The blade screamed against the stone, bent and snapped. The karron howled in agony, thrashing uselessly. Hirad searched for the opportunity to kill, the creature’s stench filling his head. He pinioned its spike limb away for a beat and drove his dagger in deep.

  He rolled away, abandoning his shattered blade. A hammer struck the karron carcass where he had been lying. He scrambled to his feet, spun and smashed a kick into the karron’s face, hurling it back. He ducked a reaver flashing over his head; it missed by a claw. Straightening, he stabbed the karron through one baleful eye, dragged his knife clear and moved a pace closer.

  The doorway was complete. Light flooded the edifice as it opened.

  ‘Inside. Inside.’

  Denser’s ForceCone drove demons back left. Hirad ran into the space by Thraun.

  ‘Go, Denser. I have to be last. Go.’ He took in the situation in the moments he had. They weren’t moving fast enough. ‘Defend the door. Go, Raven.’

  It became a headlong charge. The Unknown battered a karron aside. The elves fought with controlled rage. Auum backhanded a reaver in the face with his knife. Rebraal followed up, delivering the killing blow.