Part 11 (1/2)

'Hold him, I'm trying to write,' he said.

He bent back to his task, dragging the dagger in letter shapes, keeping the mage's chest and stomach skin taut with his other hand. Soon it was done. He backed up, wiped and sheathed the dagger and looked at his handiwork, which was a little lost in the streaming blood. With a flick of his hand, he waved his men away. The mage drew in shuddering breaths, his face dripping sweat and pale. He swallowed.

'You'll die at the hand of a mage, Selik,' he managed. 'And when you do, my death will seem painless by comparison.'

Selik ignored his words. 'I expect you're curious to know what I've written.'

'I couldn't care less,' said the mage, regaining some control over his wracked body. 'You are worthless vermin, Selik. I'm surprised you can write at all.'

'It says, ”Mages: fear the Black Wings.” Succinct, I think. To the point, if you will.' He laughed. 'Of course it isn't easy to read but I expect whoever finds you will fathom it eventually. And if you are very lucky, you'll be able to tell them yourself.'

He swung away and strode back to his horse. 'Mount up, Black Wings; we've a long way to go and a mage to educate.'

'Burn in h.e.l.l, Selik!' roared the mage, straining at his las.h.i.+ngs.

Selik laughed again. 'No, dear mage, I will not. Because the righteous are blessed, not cursed.'

He kicked his heels into his horse's flanks and led the Black Wings away, the mage's shouts growing ever fainter in his ears. It had been a truly uplifting day.

Chapter 11.

The Calaian Sun sailed slowly into Ysundeneth shortly after midday on the third day after leaving the Ornouth Archipelago. Even Jevin had declared himself surprised at the speed they'd made. A steady southerly wind had driven them through a light swell and the dolphins that had swum with them most of the journey added to the idyll.

Standing next to Ilkar as they cruised towards their berth at the heart of the docks, Denser could sense the relief in the Julatsan mage, shot through as it was with nerves. It mirrored Denser's own feelings, though his reasons were very different. The voyage had not been easy. Erienne had barely left her bunk the entire time, her heart re-broken by the ever-increasing distance from Lyanna's grave. And when she had walked the deck, the set of her body kept everyone away from her.

Denser could understand her reaction but was frustrated he wasn't being allowed to help. She had withdrawn into herself completely, ate little and said less. Ilkar had given voice to his concern the day before. Calaius and its climate were not like Balaia in any way. It drained and fatigued the fittest of bodies and sickness was so easy to contract, particularly for those not born there. Erienne, he said, would be seriously risking her health if she refused to keep up her strength for much longer. And if her capacity for casting was impaired, she could be risking the health of The Raven too.

As he had so often in the last three days, Denser had sighed and hoped she'd come back to herself once they landed. But, with the sun beating down hard from a clear blue sky, Denser found he could forget for a moment by simply looking straight in front of him at his first clear view of a new land. When they had first sighted Calaius and The Raven had run on deck to see, he'd felt vaguely disappointed. All he could make out were cliffs, the outline of the land where it met the sea and the very distant shapes of buildings.

Now, much closer to, it was stunning in its vibrancy and beauty. In front of them, Ysundeneth, the capital port city of Calaius, filled his eyes. Translating as 'Ocean Home', or so Ilkar had said, Ysundeneth was a vast sprawling place whose dock area stretched for four miles along the winding coast; and whose buildings spread half as far back. It was almost the size of Korina but looked so utterly different. Where Korina's skyline was filled with low, st.u.r.dy brick and stone structures built against the gales that swept the city's estuary, Ysundeneth was a riot of spires and tall buildings, slim and sinuous but with an air of solidity. And every single one of them was made solely of wood.

Denser was astonished at the wooden buildings but Ilkar had only laughed and pointed beyond the city. Surrounding the port on all sides and covering the land for as far as he could see was a thick mat of green. Trees everywhere, punctuated by sharp rises, great sweeping cliffs and plunging soaking lowlands, but trees all the same.

Denser had stood and stared at it all for what seemed an age, only emerging from his reverie when Ilkar nudged him. He looked round to see the Julatsan arm in arm with Ren, both smiling at him.

'What do you think?' asked the elf.

Denser shrugged. 'It's extraordinary. I can't believe how big this port is. I didn't think many of you lived in cities. More to the point, what do you think? Been a long time for you, hasn't it?'

Ilkar nodded, his smile fading. 'It's odd, no doubt about that. But I still feel like I'm coming home. I mean, I hardly recognise this place, it's grown so much, but I was born here.'

'Ysundeneth?'

'Well, no, not here exactly. About three days upriver by boat, but I spent a lot of time here when I was growing up and it was never this big.'

'So how does it sustain itself?' The Unknown had come to the rail and was leaning out, his shaven head tanning deep brown.

'Trade with Balaia is important,' said Ren. 'But the real money's made trading around the coast. So much of the inland is impa.s.sable to boats of any real size that it's quicker to go around. But this is the biggest port by far. None of the others are even half this size.'

'There have got to be well over a hundred thousand elves living here, haven't there?' said The Unknown.

'More,' said Ren.

'I'm amazed there are that many on the entire continent,' said Denser. 'Given the very few we see, that is.'

'Calaius is a very big continent, Denser, and you'd be surprised how many elves there are here,' said Ilkar. 'But as a race, we just like to keep ourselves to ourselves. No one's going to take you to their bosom when we land, I can tell you. And when I also tell you that the elves you'll meet in the ports are the most outgoing, well, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.'

'The place must burn a lot.' It was Hirad, standing just behind them. 'All that wood.'

Ilkar cupped a hand to his ear. 'Hark,' he said, a broad grin on his face. 'The lilting sounds of a barbarian making a daft comment.'

'b.u.g.g.e.r off.'

'Does the term ”rainforest” not give you any sort of clue?' asked Ilkar. 'I mean it doesn't rain quite so much here on the coast but inland, well, you'll experience it soon enough.'

Ren nudged Ilkar hard. 'Tell him the truth. All of it.'

Hirad's face hardened. Denser clapped his hands. 'G.o.ds, I love listening to you two.'

'You could sell tickets to it,' muttered The Unknown.

Ilkar puffed out his cheeks. 'Fair enough, I was just taking a rise and am guilty as charged, although it does rain a lot.'

'So what is the truth?' growled Hirad.

'That all the buildings are coated with flame-r.e.t.a.r.dant resin. We just use nature's own defences out here. Smells a bit if you're not used to it but it's good against lightning and fire.'

'Make a simple statement, I don't know . . .' Hirad let his voice trail off but Denser could see his heart wasn't in his anger. As it never was with Ilkar. It was one of the joys of travelling with The Raven. Those two could be pure theatre at times.

'So what's the plan?' asked Hirad.

'Simple, really,' said Ilkar. 'We're landing in about an hour, I think. We'll find a place to stay tonight and while you lot take a look at the sights, Ren and I'll hire a boat to take us upriver tomorrow. '

'And you're quite sure your village is the place to start looking for these mages of yours?' The Unknown was frowning.

'It's as good a place as any. We used to send a lot of adepts to Julatsa at one time and there'll be people there who are sympathetic and, more important, who will know where to look for more. Just hanging up a sign here won't get us far. But of course I have personal reasons for wanting to go there, I'm sure you'll understand. You don't have to come if you don't want to.'

'The Raven never work apart,' said Hirad.

Ilkar smiled. 'You won't regret it,' he said. 'It's beautiful.'

'And flame-resistant,' said The Unknown.

The east gates of Xetesk opened and the ma.s.sed ranks of refugees stood, their movement an expanding ripple across a human sea. Ten thousand and more with hope renewed that this time food and not soldiers would be disgorged.