Dawnthief

by James Barclay

  There was a shifting behind Styliann. He looked around. The Protectors were all staring at him, their masks reflecting the starlight.

  “You can choose not to believe me, my Lord.” The Unknown walked forward, out of the spell shield. “But you've already lost the spell. Why lose your life too?”

  Styliann's face darkened still further. He swung round in his saddle again, studying the Protectors’ postures, unable to conceive the potential scale of their defiance. Eventually, he turned back to The Unknown.

  “But you have been released. You are no longer one of them.”

  “So I thought too. But the bonds forged in the meld of souls are unbreakable. My soul may be my own but it will reach out to the Protectors forever. I accept that, they understand it. Best you do too.”

  A third look behind him and the Lord of the Mount nodded. He had half turned his horse when The Unknown stopped him.

  “You can help us save Balaia and gain your revenge,” he suggested. “If you were to attack Parve from the south or southeast in response to our signal, it might ease our route to the pyramid. At least then you might have a College to return to.”

  Styliann's face was blank. “You might tell Denser that while I am Lord of the Mount, he is most unwelcome in Xetesk. As for The Raven, you will be paid on your return through Understone Pass. Be very certain never to cross me again.”

  “I will sign you through the Protectors,” said The Unknown. “If you are near, they will hear me.”

  Styliann said nothing, kicking his horse to a canter and making his way through the ranks of Protectors. They remained still for some moments, meeting souls with The Unknown, before following their Given from the Temple clearing.

  For several minutes, The Raven held formation while Denser circled overhead, sight attuned to the mana spectrum, probing for a clue that Styliann was about to launch a new attack. When he landed and dismissed the ShadowWings, they relaxed.

  “Shield down,” said Ilkar.

  Hirad placed a hand on Denser's shoulder, nodding his gratitude as the Dark Mage looked at him.

  “At last, I think I can say I understand,” said Denser.

  “Will Styliann help us?” asked Hirad.

  The Unknown raised his eyebrows. “Difficult to say,” he said. “If he stops to think hard enough, perhaps.”

  “Thraun, would you check the path and collect the horses?” asked Hirad. Thraun inclined his head and jogged away out of sight.

  Belatedly, the focus of attention fell on Jandyr. The elf was still alive and Erienne had joined Will in ministering to him. But he hadn't moved from where he had fallen. His leather armour had been slit by the falling axe of a statue and the wound beneath it was deep and severe. His clothing and the dirt around him were filmed with blood, although Erienne seemed to have stemmed the flow.

  “How bad?” asked Will.

  “He's been lucky,” said Erienne. “The blade hasn't sheared any ribs, so his heart and lungs are undamaged, but I'm very worried about the state of his shoulder and lower back.”

  “Can we move him?” asked The Unknown.

  “Not until morning, anyway, to give me a chance to repair some of the damage. Put it this way, he won't be using his bow for a while. There's a great deal of tendon and muscle damage in that shoulder.”

  “We haven't got that sort of time,” said Ilkar. “You heard what Styliann said. The Wesmen will be at Julatsa in three days.”

  “Then they must hold them,” said Erienne. “If we ride now, he will die. Ilkar, I'm only asking we wait until dawn. Five hours.”

  “Dawn,” said Ilkar. “It will give us a chance to verify what Styliann has said.”

  Hirad considered the situation. He scanned the tree line, then turned full circle, taking in the lake, mountains and Temple. The painted faces of the statues still crowded the doors. He shuddered.

  “So long as you can all stand to be watched by that lot, we might as well stay right here until sunup. Will, the stove, please. Denser, I need you and Thraun to discuss the route to Parve. With the Wesmen on the march we'll have to stay clear of the roads to Understone. Meanwhile, Ilkar, Unknown, I want to talk to you.”

  A brief flurry of activity disrupted the peace of the impromptu campsite. Denser and Will hurried out of the clearing after Thraun, Erienne began preparation of a healing spell and the three surviving original Raven members gathered on the steps of the Temple. Hirad spared the statues one more glance before speaking.

  “There's things I don't understand,” he said.

  “No change there,” said Ilkar.

  Hirad punched him on the shoulder. “You're funny, Ilkar. But not very funny.” He laughed. “Explain to me what a Cold Room is and why I've never heard of one before.”

  “Well, it's not something the Colleges publicise, for obvious reasons.” Ilkar shot a glance heavenward. “How do I explain? Right, look, mana flows everywhere and through everything. It doesn't stop for skin, bones, walls, wood, ocean, not even dimensions, as we discovered. No one knows its rhythm or the pattern to its flow, only how to disrupt it to form shapes for spells. But one thing that can be done is to divert the flow, and particular structures will do that.” He jerked a thumb behind him. “Mana will take the path of least resistance. This temple has been very carefully constructed, and I mean in extraordinary architectural and material detail. When it was sealed, the mana simply flowed around it and not through it.” He shrugged. “That's it.”

  “It was a well-laid trap for the unwary thief,” agreed The Unknown.

  “Or mage,” muttered Ilkar. “We were close to being snuffed out in there.”

  “So those bodies we found in there were Protectors?” asked Hirad.

  “Yes,” said The Unknown. “I knew straight away but it didn't seem possible at the time. They were Protectors, some of Styliann's no doubt.”

  “But they had no masks,” said Ilkar.

  “No doubt, when the threat is removed, the statues move back and the doors unseal. Protectors always take the masks of their fallen brothers. Styliann wanted to get the Death's Eye Stone for himself and was cautious enough to stay outside while he sent his Protectors in. Getting it would have given him real power over us, after all.”

  “So he was waiting for us to succeed,” said Hirad.

  “Hoping, certainly,” said The Unknown. “I'm sure us taking the stone and then him taking the entire spell from us was his fallback plan the whole time.”

  Hirad shook his head. “When I saw them all waiting, I don't mind telling you I expected to be dead and cooling soon after. What happened?”

  “He did.” Ilkar indicated Denser, who was walking back into the clearing with Will, Thraun and the horses.

  “Would you care to elaborate?” asked Hirad.

  “Yes, I'd be glad to. We have just witnessed the biggest single step forward in Xeteskian thinking, probably ever. Denser turned down certain power and glory in his College for the greater good of Balaia. I can still scarcely believe it.”

  “But that doesn't explain the Protectors,” said Hirad. He looked out into the camp. Will was setting up the stove nearby, intent on ignoring them but no doubt hearing everything they said. Erienne was talking to Jandyr and stroking his hair. The elven bowman, although still lying on his front, was conscious. Denser and Thraun were in deep conversation, poring over a map, Thraun making animated sweeping gestures. Denser, pipe smoking gently, was smiling.

  Hirad felt warm inside. The Raven was complete again and working smoothly. He hadn't felt this way since the day Ras died.

  “You'll have to ask The Unknown about that,” said Ilkar.

  “There's not a lot to say that you'll understand,” said The Unknown. “I just knew Styliann's power over them was less than that of the bond between them and me. They won't ever attack one of their own unless their Given's life is threatened. We didn't threaten Styliann's life.”

  “And would they have killed him if he'd killed you?” asked Ilkar.

  �
��No. He is their Given and they can never hurt him. Who cares? Styliann believed me.”

  Hirad laughed again. “Nice work, Unknown. C'mon, let's take a look at the lake, get Will some water.”

  The attack hammered in along the entire length of the Wesmen lines as they marched through flat areas of grassland, flanked by pockets of dense forest. It followed a storm of arrows, HardRain and DeathHail, forcing the Shamen to use valuable stamina raising hard and magical shields.

  A thousand riders surged into the exposed enemy, hoofs churning mud, earth, and blood, blades flashing in the midday sun. The noise was like heavy rain on a slate roof, growing in intensity. Blackthorne's men wheeled after their first charge, disengaging to re-form. The horns sounded again and Gresse's force levered into the other flank, spreading disarray.

  Gresse felt like a young man again as he kicked his horse into the suddenly less smug, tanned faces of the Wesmen. He cut left and right as he drove forward, splitting the face of one man and slicing through the shoulder of another. Blood filled the air, misting in front of his face and spattering his legs, saddle and chest. Noise, tumultuous, filled his ears.

  Around him, his men clattered into the enemy, the shouts of Wesmen trying to gather a defence mingling with the cries of the dying. He urged his mount onward, pushing one man aside with a blow from his shield and fielding a spear jab on the guard of his sword. The Wesmen were falling back under the onslaught, their line order threatening to break, confidence taken apart by the rampaging horses and the flashing steel of their riders. Gresse began to scent victory.

  The horns sounded again and he wheeled his horse through a half circle and ploughed out of the carnage, trampling the dead and dying under hoof. Looking left and right, he counted only a handful of riderless horses and he shouted his delight as he galloped away to re-form out of Wesmen bow range.

  Down came the spells and arrows again on the Wesmen ranks, but this time more of them stopped short, bouncing from shields or flaring darkly on magical contact.

  A third time, the horns sounded, signalling the push on the Shamen, so far defended by their warrior guards, and Blackthorne came charging back in, mages in attendance, shielding as many men as they could.

  By now, the Wesmen had regrouped and stood ready, drawn into tight defensive cells. Blackthorne's spearmen levelled poles and clattered into the enemy, making less ground but fragmenting the outer defensive lines. The swordsmen followed them in, Gresse seeing Blackthorne's blade rise and fall, spraying blood in all directions.

  There was a hum in the air, cutting through the din of battle, assaulting the ears and setting teeth on edge. Horses, skittish and with nostrils flaring, threatened to rear. From the fingers of every Shaman issued whip-like lines of black, flailing the air and burying themselves in horse and rider alike.

  Agony. Death in terror and pain unimaginable. Where the spell found an unshielded body or breached magical defence, man and beast died by the score. As Gresse watched, a line of dark caught a rider in the midriff and tore up his body, unpicking his leather, stomach and chest like a tailor's knife through fine cloth. His intestines gushed through the rent in his body, ribs shattered, and his dying cry was silenced as the dark reached his neck.

  Elsewhere, holes were punched clear through bodies, flesh was burned or eaten aside and the tide of the battle turned with stunning speed. Blackthorne whirled his sword above his head and the horns sounded full retreat. Gresse barked orders to his men, and the Baronial cavalry kicked away from the scene of devastation, leaving the blood of the east to mix with that of the west, the jeers of the Wesmen ringing in their ears.

  Glory was turned to darkness.

  Adry and warm night was followed by a cloudless dawn, the rain of the preceding day a distant memory.

  Denser had held a brief communion with the lead mage at Understone and at least they knew that Styliann had not been exaggerating. To the south, and moving at worrying speed, the Wesmen were three days from Understone, and Blackthorne's efforts were yielding little but the blood of his own men. But worse, some thirty thousand Wesmen and Shamen were a day from the western entrance to the pass.

  “And you said the Wytch Lords haven't yet regained their full strength?” said Hirad.

  Denser nodded. “When they are walking and fully focused, the Shamen's power will be completely unstoppable.”

  “If it isn't already,” said Ilkar.

  “How far to the Torn Wastes?” Hirad asked.

  “Two and a half days’ ride to the borders, perhaps another hour to the pyramid,” replied Thraun.

  “That is cutting it very fine indeed,” said Ilkar.

  “And it assumes we aren't held up on the way,” added Thraun.

  There was a contemplative quiet. Hirad pictured a headlong dash into the maw of sudden death—around any corner, Wesmen could be waiting in great numbers.

  “We could do with your cat now, couldn't we?” said Will ruefully.

  “I could do with him all the time.” Denser's smile was thin and cold.

  “How long can Darrick's men hold Understone Pass?” asked Hirad.

  The Unknown shrugged. “Who can say? We haven't seen the Shamen magic. All that's working in our favour is the narrowness of the entrance. There can't be an attack on a wide front and that gives our mages the chance to shield effectively.”

  “Hmmm.” Hirad leaned back against the Temple steps, draining his mug. “And can Jandyr ride?” The elf was being left to rest.

  Erienne nodded. “Wake him any time, just don't ask him to fight or fire his bow.”

  “How long before he can?”

  “In an ideal world, a day, no more. But we're riding hard and it'll pull at his wounds. If I don't get the time, you don't get your bowman.”

  “Great,” said Hirad. “Well, I guess we shouldn't hang around here waiting for the end of the world. Let's go and create it for ourselves.” He clapped Ilkar on the shoulder and rose.

  Inside half an hour, they were riding for the Torn Wastes.

  To Darrick, it was all very simple. Ride the secondary trails to the Wastes and there drive hard into the flanks of the Guardians and Keepers of the Tomb. Kill anything that got in the way and see The Raven back to the pass, victorious.

  But two hours after dawn of his third full day in Wesmen lands, a third of his men were dead, another fifty were injured and his mage support was in tatters. Stopping to assess the damage fully, his body shaking with rage and humiliation, he still couldn't see how the Wesmen could have known their route.

  Seventy bowmen, concealed from the path, launching waves of death and disorder that cut down horse and man alike. At the first wave, the cavalry broke ranks, charging left and right up the shallow incline into the shrubland behind which the trap had been laid. More lost their lives as arrows hurtled in from close range before, at last amongst them, the cavalry wiped out the Wesmen archers. He considered himself very fortunate not to have run into any Shamen.

  Darrick surveyed his forces, reading the shock and dismay in their faces. He dispatched the worst injured back to the pass before consulting the lead mage. The Xeteskian was now in charge of only seventeen.

  “Can you hold hard and magical shields on the gallop?”

  “What's your plan?”

  Darrick shook his head. “We have to push on. If we decide to leave the trails, we may as well turn back now because we'll be too late. I want to turn this around, drive hard the rest of the day and surprise them with how deep we are into their territory. If we meet another ambush, I don't want to pause in the gallop.”

  “That's high risk,” said the Xeteskian.

  “I know, but we've got to take the initiative. They should never have been that well set. There is no way they could have known our route. No way.”

  The mage raised his eyebrows. “The Wytch Lords must be closer to walking than we thought.”

  “Will you attempt the shield?” asked Darrick.

  The Xeteskian nodded. “Of course, if it's wh
at you wish.”

  “It is. Right, I've got to talk to the men, bring them up for this. It's going to be one hell of a chase.” Darrick smiled. “Two days to save Balaia. Ready?”

  The Lord Tessaya stood with his Shamen on the hills outside Understone Pass which he had so recently relinquished but was surely soon to retake. Thirty thousand of his countrymen, some enemies less than a year ago, were camped within a few hours of the pass, while a dozen Shamen under protection from three hundred of Tessaya's pass survivors were moving closer to the pass itself. A further five thousand Wesmen were ready to pour back under the mountains. It would be a sweet moment.

  “I want them slaughtered to a man for what they did to me. But bring me Darrick alive. I will personally oversee his very slow death manacled to the stone he thought to take from me.” The Shamen nodded; one issued instructions. “How long before we are in position?”

  “We will be awaiting your instruction as the sun reaches its zenith, Lord.”

  Tessaya looked to the sky: two hours. Two hours and then maybe he could erase the sounds of the terrified as the sea from the sky crashed through the pass. The echoes of the water beating off the walls and sweeping away his people, their cries, their shouts and their pleas dying with them as they were driven into the chasms. So many would never be found to rest on pyres of honour. So many never had the chance to fight and die as they had dreamed.

  But the towering act of cowardice would be avenged as his people forged into the east to take as they pleased. For the first time in days, Tessaya smiled.

  “I will mount up and lead my people back where they belong,” he said. “We will soon all be drinking the blood of College mages.”

  The Raven rode hard through unforgiving countryside as the sun rose into a partly cloudy sky. They hadn't seen or heard any pursuit since leaving the Temple. The Unknown could no longer feel the Protectors and had no idea whether they were heading east or west. But though they were making good progress, the way was difficult, the horses would tire quickly and the risk of accident was ever present.

  Their principal concern, though, was Jandyr. The elven bowman was struggling. After a night in which he was kept asleep under Erienne's WarmHeal, he had pronounced himself able to ride, though his white, drawn and sweat-sheened face told The Raven about the pain he was suffering.