Part 44 (2/2)

'Have they checked in?'

'A couple of hours ago, nothing to-'

FlameOrbs appeared in the sky perhaps three miles south, maybe less, quickly followed by the unmistakable sparkle of HotRain.

'What on earth?' he said. 'Have we got anyone that far south?'

'No, sir.'

'The Lysternans?'

'Not as far as I'm aware, sir,' said the guard.

They watched for a while, seeing spell after spell crack across the sky, getting no nearer.

'Get out to the first watcher,' ordered Tendjorn. 'Get me some information.'

'No need,' said the guard, pointing.

Someone was running towards them, arms flailing for balance, legs pumping hard at the coa.r.s.e scrub-covered ground. He was shouting something unintelligible and seemed to be waving them away. Tendjorn stood where he was, a hand cupped to his ear.

'I can't hear you!' he shouted, and beckoned him on. 'Get closer.'

The man was screaming his words out. Tendjorn frowned. Someone else was shouting too, but from behind. The watcher got within earshot.

'Protectors!' he gasped. 'Twenty-five, running this way. Bring in the defence.'

Tendjorn nodded and turned, running back towards the centre of the camp.

'Captain, I need a defence south. Protector force coming this way. Twenty-five. Mages, FlameOrbs and DeathHail. Now move!'

But there was something else. While some ran to do the Captain's bidding, more were running the other way, grabbing weapons from stands, other officers screaming orders, faces white with fear.

'G.o.ds, what is happening?'

Tendjorn hurried up to his north line, cresting a rise that looked out across a long plain. They had chosen this position as an ideal battlefield. Coming across it were more Protectors. A hundred more at least. They would have their battle.

's.h.i.+t,' he rasped. 'Keep them back as long as you can. Beware our south! More coming from the south.'

He turned and ran back towards his tent. From the south line, the ring of steel and the crump of spells had begun. Tendjorn slipped inside the tent and lay back on his cot, trying desperately to calm himself enough for a Communion. Vuldaroq had better be receptive. Tendjorn didn't have long to live.

Chapter 40.

Hirad saw the bloom of spells above the treeline back to his right and urged his horse to greater speed, The Raven hard in his wake. Echoes of voices rose above the sporadic detonations, the battle itself hidden by forest and hill.

'Running out of time, Raven!' he called over his shoulder.

But they'd travelled as fast as they could. Keeping away from settlements of any size had been difficult enough and the route they'd taken had been made even less direct by their need to keep Aeb in the dark about their direction for as long as possible. Xetesk now knew their destination - that was a given - but in the lattice of valleys, crag formations and plains that made up the lands to the immediate east of the Blackthorne Mountains, it was easy enough to lose yourself if, like The Unknown and Darrick, you knew how.

It had worked thus far but now the hiding was over. Riding at the rear of the party, Aeb could sense Protectors close by. The Unknown and Darrick were at Hirad's shoulders with Erienne, Ilkar and Denser in a line behind. Ren and Thraun rode just in front of Aeb.

The light was fading fast, the haloes of spells bright in the sky for a long time. Hirad felt a thrill as he hunched over his horse's neck, The Raven with him, travelling fast over Balaian ground, heading for the fight. This was why he was alive.

They galloped up a very shallow slope, rounding a stand of trees that had somehow survived the elemental devastation of two seasons before, and saw it all mapped out before them. To the right, the elven army was tackling a Protector force augmented by mages and cavalry. The elves had been halted by the positioning of the experienced Xeteskian forces, which had allowed a group of over twenty-five to get away; they were charging north at a hard gallop.

Hirad swung north to give chase, The Raven following. They were perhaps a hundred yards behind and closing quickly enough to catch them before they hit the Dordovan lines. With any luck, they would be enough to stop them.

With a mile to go, spells flared into the night directly ahead and the distant roar of voices followed soon after. Hirad pushed harder still, eating up the distance. It didn't take much to work out was what going on ahead but The Unknown confirmed it anyway.

'Protectors backed by mage support,' he shouted across to Hirad as they galloped. 'I can feel them. So can Aeb.'

'We've got to catch them fast.' Hirad turned. 'Ready, Ilkar?'

The Julatsan nodded, the Spells.h.i.+eld already formed, just waiting to be cast. Either side of him, Denser and Erienne prepared in time-honoured fas.h.i.+on. Hirad looked forward. They'd been seen.

'It's got to be now! Go Raven!'

Ilkar deployed the s.h.i.+eld as weapons were hauled from scabbards and The Raven spread to a line, charging at the rear of the fleeing Xeteskians. Wings sprouted at Denser's back and he left his saddle, plucking Erienne from hers, the two of them shooting forward, climbing high into the dusk sky, their horses following the chase, stirrups bouncing.

Ahead a group of cavalry swung back to face them. Denser tore down for Erienne to release FlameOrbs before arcing high towards the main body. The Xeteskian cavalry scattered from the approaching spell. It splashed onto a single rider, who died instantly with his horse in a deluge of flame.

Before they could reform, The Raven were on them. Hirad veered hard left and lashed out his sword, slicing into the chest of a cavalryman. The impact slowed him and he pulled back on the reins of his horse to keep from falling, dragging his blade back and hacking down through the man's shoulder to finish the job. He pulled his horse round. Ren was trading blows but winning her battle, her quick strikes too much for the horseman who leaned away as he defended.

Further away, Aeb's axe took the head from a horse and the rider plunged to the ground as the animal collapsed. Thraun was riding a wide circle, followed by a pair of riders. Hirad set off after them, roaring a call. He jumped a fallen horse, saw The Unknown with Ilkar, defending the mage easily from a clumsy attack, and drove into the flanks of the pair chasing Thraun. Letting go his reins, he leaned out and smashed his fist into an enemy face, feeling the cheek crack under the force of the blow, then raised his sword. The rider saw it coming, recovered to block but fell from his horse nonetheless.

Thraun had turned. He rode in hard, blond hair flowing behind him. Raven coming from either side, the Xeteskian turned and fled.

'Let him go!' shouted Hirad. 'Raven! Raven with me!'

The regrouped Raven galloped away to resume the chase. Hirad could see Denser coming in from a great height, diving incredibly fast at the knot of Xeteskians who were now two hundred yards distant. Behind the group, three horses and riders wheeled to a stop. Mages.

Erienne released a blanket of HotRain to force a change of direction in the main group. Denser soared back into the sky. Hirad watched them go, saw Denser veer sharply right, dip suddenly as if hit, right himself temporarily then crash in a heap from a height of ten feet or more.

'Thraun, Darrick! Defend them.'

The two men broke from the group and charged away to the fallen Raven mages as enemies closed in around them. Hirad erased unbidden thoughts from his mind and carried on north, finding himself riding through the evidence of a very recent ma.s.sacre. Tents burned, fires were scattered everywhere, the bodies of men lay twisted and broken, their brutal wounds the type only Protectors could inflict.

With The Unknown and Aeb right beside him and Ilkar behind, the s.h.i.+eld still holding, he charged up a short rise, plunged down the other side to continue the chase and found a wall of Protectors blocking their path.

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