He flew into the centre of the ring of Beshara's most powerful dragons and altered his attitude, hanging vertically in the air and rotating slowly, displaying his belly scales to them all.
'Which is it to be?'
There was a long moment when Sha-Kaan wondered for the first time whether he had constructed a monumental folly. But with increasing pace, one by one, each of the brood leaders mirrored his attitude. He let feelings of warmth and comradeship pulse away from him and he barked a huge gout of flame into the air.
'Then let us get to work.'
Auum considered this the time of greatest risk. The moment they had detected the change in activity within the college, the cursyrd had swarmed the periphery of the ColdRoom shell. A strain had appeared that he hadn't seen before. Flat and largely featureless but for a coating of fine hairs on their underside. At one stage they had covered the shell, blocking out the dawn light. He had watched them while they crawled and had summoned an Al-Arynaar mage to him. An elven female he knew and respected.
'They are seekers,' Dila'heth had said in answer to his question. 'At least that's what we call them. We have seen a few but nothing like this density. They are searching for the trails in the mana.'
'Good,' Auum had said. 'So they waste their time. Tomorrow, the location of our casters will be obvious even to the blind.'
'Well, I will give thanks to Yniss for anything that stops them trying to disrupt us.'
'Nevertheless, we must be prepared.'
And so while Rebraal, with his greater command of Balaian and his god-given patience, had the unenviable task of placating reluctant humans, Auum marshalled the defence. Guard on casting mages was trebled. Watchers studded the college walls and the roofs of all buildings. Mages waited undercover in groups with Al-Arynaar warriors, ready to react to incursion. And everyone in the college carried arms, tasked to move as ordered.
From his vantage point Auum scanned the shell for indications that an attack was imminent. He could see groupings of the quick, powerful soul-stealing reavers cruising the shell. He presumed they were looking for weak points. It was a futile exercise. What worried him more were the occasional overflights of the senior strain; the huge Arakhe which floated on beds of tentacles but had the bodies of grotesque men. These were the masters over Julatsa. Their decisions would bring attack or maintain the examinations.
Down in the tower courtyard, Rebraal had emerged from the lecture theatre and was heading for the main gates, surrounded by humans. Auum couldn't hear them but their body language suggested anger and a heated exchange. He turned to Duele and Evunn.
'The humans are being difficult,' he said. 'I will see what I can do. You know what needs to be done here.' He sighed and felt a surge of irritation. 'Yniss preserve us, but these people would argue themselves to guilt if pronounced innocent.'
Auum ran quickly down the stairs by the main gatehouse, leaping the last few steps and landing on the cobbles right in front of Rebraal and the group of six unhappy humans. Pheone was not among them. Auum had their attention.
'We have problems?' he asked Rebraal in elvish.
'They do not agree with us,' said Rebraal. 'They haven't seen and heard what we have. They do not believe in a threat to other dimensions.'
'It makes no difference to what must be done.'
'It makes a difference to us,' said one of the humans in passable elvish. Auum nodded minute respect. 'We have had two years with your people,' he explained. 'And much time on our hands.'
'Name?'
'Geren.'
'Geren, your efforts are appreciated but your objections are damaging.'
'We feel there are other ways.'
'There are no other ways. You will leave Julatsa tomorrow or become a slave of the cursyrd.' Auum turned for the stairs once more but Geren's raised voice stopped him.
'How dare you come in here and lay down what will or will not be done? This is our college and only we, the council, will decide when or if we leave it. Do you understand?'
'Rebraal?' Auum dropped into an older dialect. He didn't turn back.
'I have been hearing this for an hour and more,' said Rebraal, taking his lead. 'They are belligerent and their ears are closed to my explanations.'
'Then it is time to stop being polite. You have done all you can.'
'Auum, we need the human mages' help. Their expertise in the castings that shield us is much greater than ours.'
'And you will get it.' Now he swung back to Geren, his expression bleak and his mind cleared. He saw the man step back a pace as he should.
'Your threats will mean nothing,' he said, his voice holding a slight quaver.
'I threaten nothing,' said Auum. 'This college stands only because the Al-Arynaar, ClawBound and TaiGethen died to preserve it. It maintains its independence because the Al-Arynaar have supported you for the last two years. Rebraal, the leader of the Al-Arynaar, has explained to you why we must all leave and travel to Xetesk. And this is the respect you show those who have saved your lives?'
'Your sacrifices for the college will never be forgotten and our respect for you all is undimmed. But what you ask is not in the best interests of Julatsa and the wider city, I'm sorry,' said Geren.
Auum's hand clamped around Geren's throat and he drove the man backwards into his companions, all of whom appeared too scared to speak up in his support.
'Do you think for one moment we wish to be here? We have no choice because humans have let the cursyrd into our dimension. We are here because we too will die from your folly if we do not put a stop to the threat. Do not make the mistake of thinking that I care if you live or die, human. We will take our people and what we want and we will travel to Xetesk where your race and ours has its best chance of survival. Rebraal says we need your help, so help us. Make the choice to live.'
He thrust Geren away. The mage looked at him with undisguised hatred.
'All of you, go and do what I ask, please,' said Rebraal. 'I'm sorry it had to come to that.'
Auum took his arm and led him away from them. 'Enough. Forget them. We have the strength without them should they refuse to come.'
'We have a responsibility to save them too.'
'You have spent too much time listening to Hirad and your brother's spirit.' Auum allowed himself a small smile. 'Now. Carts and horses. Do we have enough?'
'Barely,' said Rebraal. 'We're fortunate that Pheone demanded Julatsa keep its breeding pairs alive. Consequently, we have some young and strong animals capable of pulling carts though fertility is as bad here as it was in Blackthorne. How they would fare under attack, we won't know until we try. Carts are a more pressing problem. '
'Firewood?'
'Enough have gone that way but even those that remain are in disrepair. There isn't a wheelwright in the college. Carpenters are doing what they can and we're searching the stables and college buildings for traces and tack. We should have enough workable gear to carry casting mages and the bulk of provisions but any other mages might have to travel unprotected.'
Auum nodded. 'I will instruct the warriors to that end.'
'Will they attack, do you think?' Rebraal gestured above his head at the demons circling and watching there.
'Unlikely,' he said. 'They know we are planning something but they also know the price they pay for attacking this college. What would you do?'
'I would wait until I was certain what was happening. When we drive through the gates, that would be the time.'
'Yes, my friend, it would. We will be at our most restricted and vulnerable. Our warriors will have to fight hard.'
'Tual will guide our hands.'
'And Shorth will see our enemies to torment.' The two elves clasped arms. 'We will do this.'
'Yniss will watch over us all.'
With night full, Auum had been proved right and the demons hadn't attacked. But there were signs that they were massing, expecting a break-out. Roadblocks were plainly visible on all approach roads to the college. Demons flew a grid over the area immediately surrounding the college walls. Others hovered above the college, looking, watching. Waiting.
Auum and Rebraal had conducted a series of briefings with the Al-Arynaar mages and warriors in the lecture theatre, discussing tactics for the first move out of the gates and what was expected of them on the anticipated three-day journey south to Xetesk. For some of that time, the TaiGethen cell would be absent, heading for Triverne Lake to collect The Raven.
Finally, Rebraal was standing with Pheone before the college council and the surviving humans in the college. There were one hundred and seven of them all told. Thirty-four mages and the rest college guard and those who had been invited inside the walls before the demons attacked. All were scared, all resentful. But all resigned to what was going to happen.
'Much has been demanded of you all in the last day and there has been little time for politeness. Much more will be demanded of you in the days to come. Most of you have questioned the decision that was taken without your consent. There is no debate. Now is the time to trust me. Trust Auum.'
He waited for a murmur of conversation to settle.
'You have heard all you need to about the conditions outside this college and the plight in which we find ourselves. Now is the time to believe that you can make a difference. That by this journey and the subsequent defence at Xetesk you can play your part in the salvation of man- and elvenkind.'
He held up his hands at the ripple of comment.
'You think that overdramatic? How quickly you have become accustomed to the way you now live, if that is the case. When was the last time you made significant advance or saved a soul from beyond the shell of the ColdRooms? Do not doubt that the cursyrd, the demons, are in control of your country. They mean to stay here and consume you. You have become prey, and like all other natural predators they pluck you as they need you. Do you truly believe that by staying in this cocoon you will defeat them?'
Again he waited, this time greeted with an uncomfortable shifting. He nodded.
'Those of you who know me and who have got to know the Al-Arynaar during your confinement here will no doubt have gathered that elves do not necessarily hold humans in high regard.'
A chuckle ran around the chamber.
'But neither are we frivolous with your lives. Many of us have lifelong friends among you and we appreciate your strengths as well as lamenting your weaknesses. My own brother chose to live and die among humans. For me, there is no greater measure of the potential of your race. And for that reason alone, I would see you thrive, and us with you. That is why you must accept that the course we now take is all that remains open to us. The evidence you will see with your own eyes beyond these walls.
'The journey we will undertake at dawn tomorrow will be dangerous. But I want to give you this assurance. Elves know your vulnerability to the demons' touch. We do not expect of you heroics and sacrifice. That is to come in Xetesk and all of you need to live to see the walls of the dark college. We will take on the burden of defending the caravan while you rest as you can and watch as you need. For the mages, we need you to be the bedrock of our moving ColdRoom construct and so you will travel for much of the time in the wagons we have repaired.
'For the rest of you, we need those who can drive wagons and who know horses to volunteer for that duty. We are not knowledgeable about these animals.' He smiled. 'It seems even we have weaknesses. '
More laughter, a little easier this time. He held up his hands.
'I won't keep you from your rest much longer and I urge you to sleep for as long as you can because this caravan will only stop to rest horses, not humans. Two final things. You will naturally feel that the caravan leaves you more vulnerable than the college. It does not. Only the ColdRooms keep you from being taken by the demons at will. This structure will still be around you. Walls are no certain defence against demons, only spells.
'And last, wherever you stand, walk, cast or rest, there will be an elf watching over you. An elf who will stand against the demon that comes for you and who will protect you. In this we are stronger and you need not fear otherwise. We will never desert you.
'We leave at first light tomorrow. Be ready.'
Rebraal started at the unexpected sound he heard. They were clapping him.
Hirad had his back to a tree, knees pulled up to his chest and his arms around them, hands locked in front. His sword leant sheathed against the trunk. Around him, an early leaf-fall was testament to the cold that the demons had brought to Balaia. They had risked a fire to cook by when the night closed in but it was long dead now and in these hours before dawn the world was frosty and quiet. Hirad felt exhausted. His sleep had been broken first by Sha-Kaan and subsequently by the force he assumed was Ilkar, still trying without success to contact him.
And now he was awake on the dawn watch and looking over his sleeping friends, the two Protectors, Kas and Ark, and the quiet but determined elf, Eilaan. None of them slept undisturbed. Thraun chased the demons of his past, his body twitching and his mouth moving, murmuring. And Erienne, he knew, was occasionally found by Cleress despite the huge distance and the ageing elf's condition. Right now, she was somewhere to the left, having woken suddenly.
He had asked her to call his name regularly but she hadn't. In the end, she wasn't gone long and he felt her hand on his shoulder as she eased herself down to sit beside him.
'So I'm not the only one hearing voices tonight, eh?' said Hirad softly.
Erienne linked her arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder.
'She didn't say much. She doesn't have the strength, poor woman.'
'Does she help you?'
'What can she really do? She speaks the right words when I can hear them but I'm not skilled enough to reply over this distance so it's all rather one-way.' She picked her head up. 'Look, Hirad, sorry about Blackthorne, the way I behaved I mean.'
'Erienne, you never have anything to apologise to me or to any of us for. All I care about is that you're feeling more comfortable now.'
'I'm not sure I am, that's the trouble. It isn't the One magic itself, because in theory I can perform the castings. But this isn't like casting an IceWind or putting up a HardShield. Failing in those is one thing, failing to strip the mana shell from demons would be fatal for all of us. It weighs on me.'
Hirad thought to reply immediately but some words from The Unknown replayed in his mind and he paused before saying something different.
'We can't help you with your power, I know that and I won't pretend to understand the pressures it places you under. But remember how hard we've worked on fighting assuming your casting isn't there to aid us. Keep that with you because it means we can survive if you're having a problem. You are the most potent weapon we possess but you aren't the only one. We're all still here.'
Erienne chuckled. 'How do you do that?'
'Do what?'
'Say something patronising and belittling and make it sound like comfort and support.'
'Because that's what it is supposed to be.'
'And there's my answer.' She pulled at his arm with hers. 'Tell me about your voices. Are you really sure it's Ilkar? I mean, that's far-fetched even for you.'
Hirad shrugged. 'Oh, I don't know. I've sat here tonight wondering if it's all because I so want to believe he's still here in some way that I've created the whole thing.'
'And what did you conclude?'
'That it's all too coincidental. This has happened only since the demons began to flood mana into Balaia, if Blackthorne's timings are right. But more than all that, it just feels like him. I can't explain it. I've heard no words. It's all just fuzz and mist. But you know when you can smell someone on the clothes they've worn? It's like that, only inside my head. I just wish I could make it clearer.'
Erienne moved so that she faced him and laid her forearms on his knees.
'Go with it,' she said. 'Try not to fight it or force it. Let it drive you on. If that's what means you fight harder, then use it.'
'I'll try.'
'But it's hard, isn't it? Having something inside you that you want but can't use. I know a little about that.'
'I guess you do.' Hirad smiled. 'Now if you'll take my advice, you'll get your head down. Auum could be back any time from tomorrow and then this little oasis of calm is gone for ever and it's fight and fear all the way.'
'But just one more time. Then we can go back to being bored.'
'Do you really believe that?'
'What do you think?' Erienne leant in and kissed his cheek. 'Goodnight, Hirad.'
Chapter 25.