Chapter 42.
Two figures lay on the ivory ground not five feet from where Ilkar was standing in The Raven's huddle. Their screams called out to his soul, burying themselves in the centre of his pain. He could feel theirs so cleanly it brought him, all of them, to their knees.
He led the crawl over to them while the screaming dug at his ability to put one hand in front of the other. His teeth were gritted together and a taut sound was being dragged through them. Wreathed in flame, her hair burning like the brightest lantern on the darkest night, the little girl had her hands over her face, helpless in her agony. Arms wrapped around his head as if to protect him from whatever fell on him, the other figure, a grown man, was tucked into the foetal position. He was covered in dust as if fresh from the trail. His head was a mass of blood, his skull smashed at the back. Shards of bone had pierced the brain within.
Sol reached them first, laid his hands on the girl. The flames were extinguished immediately and her body relaxed. A shuddering sigh escaped her burned mouth and a transformation overcame her. Her body lengthened, grew. Beautiful angled features were drawn on her face. Auburn hair covered her skull and a full figure developed beneath tough trail clothes.
'Erienne,' gasped The Unknown, and she dragged him into an embrace, body shaking, her bright green eyes looking out over his shoulder, staring and confused.
Hirad hurried to the man. His screaming had subsided. Tight curls now adorned his head and the dust of the trail was gone. He wore cavalry boots and trousers, a chain mail shirt and a cloak was about his shoulders, trimmed the green of Lystern. Slowly, he straightened out and came to a sitting position. His face was pale but in his eyes shone the determination that had made him such a valuable member of The Raven.
'Thank you,' he said. 'Oh, thank you. I was lost. I heard you.' He smiled. A rare occasion when he had been alive. 'I found you across the void.'
'General Ry Darrick, late of the Lysternan cavalry,' said Hirad, holding out a hand which the other man took, shook and used to pull himself upright. 'We thought you gone forever.'
'Where are we?' Darrick asked.
'Where we should have been a long time ago,' said The Unknown, helping Erienne to shaky feet. 'Seeking our new home.'
'But there's a problem, right?' asked Darrick. 'It isn't as simple as that.'
'We are The Raven,' said Hirad by way of explanation. He turned back towards the Garonin. 'And we're late to the fight.'
'Are you all right, Erienne?' asked Ilkar, coming to her other side.
She smiled at him but there was still confusion in her eyes and the memory of agony.
'It already felt like forever,' she whispered. 'I didn't think you would ever find me.'
'What did?'
'The void. It is worse than any myth. Trapped in the moment of violent death for all time. I have been burning, my flesh melting and my bones cracking. I can still feel it, Ilkar.'
'It will fade. You're with us now,' said Ilkar. 'What's your story, Darrick?'
Darrick turned a haunted face to him. 'Even though I came back, I have been feeling the pounding of endless tons of stone on my head and across my body. Why that?'
'Perhaps it is still your most vivid death memory,' said Erienne. 'My latest most certainly is.'
Darrick nodded. 'Every moment I can feel the one that dashed my skull and the smell of the karron demons. I can see you all there on The Thread and I die endlessly, never knowing if you succeeded or not.'
'You all ready to run?' Hirad had broken into a trot. 'And as you'll have guessed, we did succeed. Couldn't have done it without your help on the way, though.'
'Thank you. Where are we running?' asked Darrick.
Hirad pointed and Darrick fell in beside him. Ilkar smiled and his body felt strengthened, more complete. Perhaps Sol was right. And perhaps more would come. Still, though, the mana spectrum was dark . . . no, not quite. Beyond the Garonin, from where the luminescence emanated, there was something.
'Souls,' said Ilkar. 'Thousands of them. We'd better make this fast or it's going to be a slaughter.'
The souls huddled together in the lee of the edifice their combined strength had created. The escape from the corridor had been close. Auum had never doubted they would make it but enough of the dead had lost faith and so had inevitably perished. They had been cast back into the void as the passage folded to nothing. The rest were scared and the crumbling of the rock, if such it was, behind them was evidence of failing belief.
None of them would help the TaiGethen. Indeed it was hard to pick out many individuals. Most had coalesced into an amorphous shifting globe, each with a voice that shouted for help. Some had remained grey shadows. All waited for Sol to appear to lead them to safety. But The Raven was nowhere to be seen and Auum had more significant and immediate problems.
'Ghaal, how many?'
'Thirty-eight. All carrying the mana drain needles. Forty yards distant.'
'Work to disrupt them. They'll try to get round us to the mass. Choose your blows.'
Auum unclipped his jaqrui pouch, loosened the swords in his twin back-mounted scabbards and thanked Yniss for his gifts. He turned to the two greatest gifts of all. TaiGethen. Souls he'd thought lost forever. Friends garbed for the rainforest and painted brown and green on their faces in the manner of Tual's children. Evunn and Duele.
'Yniss calls you for your greatest challenge, my friends,' said Auum. 'Fight with me one more time. Protect the dead. Help is coming.'
Duele and Evunn nodded. Both looked confused, fearful even. But the sight of their Tai leader brought them hope and, more importantly, faith.
'Tai to me. We pray.'
Auum knelt and bowed his head as the Garonin moved closer. He could feel their footfalls through the ground and he could hear them slapping dully on the ivory. The four knelt with him and they knew the closeness of touch.
'Yniss, we stand before an enemy that knows no mercy. Protect us. We prepare to fight in your name. Guide us. We do your work and ask only that you bless our struggle. Hear us. Ulandeneth speaks with one voice, elf and man. Join us.'
Auum raised his head and gestured to his Tai to stand.
'Ghaal, Miirt, get amongst them. Duele, Evunn, my left and right. Spread as you must. Watch your brothers. Watch your sister. Tai, we move.'
Miirt and Ghaal moved out a few paces, remaining close together. Auum, Duele and Evunn spread across the mass of souls. They couldn't hope to cover it all. The huge body of souls, thousands of them, spread over an area easily fifty yards wide and twice as high. The structure in which they huddled afforded them some protection but the anxiety spawned by the approaching Garonin increased with every moment and the walls were weak, laced with cracks and beginning to crumble.
The structure was essentially simple. A scooped-out circular overhang, bordered by rough spires of rock and with a further tall spire rising above the centre of the overhang. It looked like an ancient weathered hand, with index finger pointing at the sky. Ivory was its colour.
The Garonin began to spread into a wide line, seeing their advantage.
'Pick your targets and work fast,' said Auum. 'Yniss will guide you.'
'I had thought myself lost in the void forever,' said Duele. 'Your call brought us back.'
'No,' said Auum. 'Yniss brought us together. Now we must show our gratitude.'
Ghaal and Miirt dropped into a half crouch. The Garonin broke into a run. Auum turned his head to face his enemies.
'Dance.'
Ghaal and Miirt sprinted forward a few paces, planted their left legs and jumped, soaring over the oncoming first line of Garonin with their bodies straight and arms ahead like a diver entering the water. Both curled their bodies, rotated and landed to run at the second line.
Auum moved a heartbeat later. A jaqrui crescent wailed away from his hand, catching his target on the wrist and chopping hard into the flesh. The Garonin's weapon fell from nerveless fingers. He turned to find Auum right in front of him. Auum's right hand came up under the enemy chin, driving his head back. His left came through, the blade in it biting deep.
Auum stepped back and ran right. The Garonin surge was fully on them. Duele swayed away from a running enemy, planting a straight kick into the side of his knee. The cracking of bone ricocheted across the edifice behind. The Garonin went down clutching at the injury. Duele ensured he was not suffering for long.
Evunn was surrounded. Garonin were unwilling to face him. Most preferred to run by, trying to get at the body of souls. He jumped. His swords whipped outwards left and right. Two Garonin pitched forward, deep cuts to their necks. Evunn brought his blades back, crossing them in front of him. The Garonin before him stumbled and collapsed. His head lolled to one side, spurting gore, all but severed. That got their attention. Three turned on Evunn and he was quickly on the defensive.
Screams rose from the mass as mana was siphoned away. Dark spots appeared briefly, fading to nothing. Too many Garonin were getting past the wafer-thin defence.
'Fight!' called Auum. 'You have to fight for your lives. For your souls.'
But their fear was too great and it played into the willing hands of the enemy. Auum ran the line of the pulsating, terrified mass of souls. Garonin were deep within it. Auum flashed a blade into the back of a Garonin, who spun round to stab his needle point into Auum's soul. Auum could see it coming as if it were being pushed through tar. He stepped to one side, grabbed the Garonin's arm and pulled the enemy onto the point of his sword.
Back out in the middle of the fight, Ghaal and Miirt were under increasing pressure. Garonin bodies fell and disappeared. Too many for them to ignore. The Tai were back to back against ten, their limbs blurring, swords tracing paths in the air. But it was all in defence.
Auum thought to help them but before him stood three Garonin. Others ran left and right of them, diving into the mana-rich souls behind him. More screams, more pleas for help. Auum drew his second blade. The three Garonin rushed him, their speed startling. Needle points flashed out from their hands, joined to their armour by lines of some kind.
Auum swayed left to dodge the first, bringing a blade through to sever the line. He ducked down as he moved, his other blade chopping into the second needle, shattering it. The third came straight for his head. Dropping the blade from his left hand he caught the needle scant inches from his forehead, hurling it to the ground, where it smashed.
Auum launched himself forward. Left fist connecting with the faceplate of the centremost enemy. His momentum carried him on. The Garonin had no chance to react before Auum's blade lodged in his gut. Auum dropped to the ground with the body and rolled aside, dragging his blade clear. The remaining two Garonin had been joined by three others.
Auum drove to his haunches and scuttled backwards, giving himself precious room. Another figure loomed over him. He glanced up into the hard black eyes of his enemy. No blow came. The Garonin toppled sideways and a human hand reached down to help him up.
'Can't have you taking all these for yourself,' said Hirad.
Auum smiled. A deep green-brown washed the ivory land to his right. Garonin by the dozen disintegrated, screaming as they went.
'Raven!' called Sol from behind him. 'Raven, with me!'
Auum sent a brief prayer of thanks to Yniss and let his blade speak again.
God's Eyes arced through the sky, falling in the midst of the Garonin blocking the mouth of the valley and the path back to the beach. Rebraal and the Al-Arynaar pushed hard up the right-hand slope, mages with them, shielding them from the white tears that blew the unwary apart. But the mages were weak and the shields fragile. The Garonin knew it too.
The attack, when it came, had been as shocking as it had been overwhelming. The valley had flooded with the weapon fire of the Garonin. Beams of energy had surged down from the vydospheres above them, obliterating those they touched. TaiGethen and Al-Arynaar rendered to so much ash in moments.
But still the Garonin could not force surrender. ClawBound and TaiGethen charged into the enemy forces. Al-Arynaar warriors and mages regrouped under shielding spells and the fightback had begun.
The God's Eyes did little but cause armour to flare. Rebraal cursed. Ahead of the surviving Al-Arynaar, perhaps a hundred and fifty of them, the Garonin were waiting, weapons raised.
'Get our shields overlapping to the front,' he called. 'The Tai have our backs. Pushing my warriors. For Yniss and our people!'
The Al-Arynaar moved forward, Rebraal at their head, Dila'heth just behind him. Down on the valley floor the TaiGethen pressed into the central mass of Garonin. The enemy pressured them at the rear, where the ClawBound and more TaiGethen were amongst them, disrupting any concerted advance.
'Slowly,' said Dila'heth.
'We cannot afford to be slow,' said Rebraal.
'My mages are weak. Concentration is fragile. We must be careful. '
But Rebraal could hear the sounds of destruction and pain from beyond the valley. He could see the bodies of his brothers and sisters littering the valley floor. Garonin weapons kicked up shards of rock and mud all around them. White tears from across the valley and from above splashed over the shields. Mages gasped under the pressure and the enemy in front still weren't firing.
Eventually, Rebraal nodded. 'Slowly, warriors! At the pace of your mages.'
'They're waiting,' said Dila. 'I don't like it.'
'They have no need to force anything,' said Rebraal.
There was a series of detonations from the foothills of the mountains. Rebraal looked up. Smoke and dust billowed out a few hundred feet above his head. A bass rumble vibrated through the rock wall that formed the valley side along which the Al-Arynaar moved. Shards of stone began to fall. Rebraal went cold. A dull thump echoed out. And another.
'Shields!' he roared. 'Shields above. Orsyn's Cocoons now. They've broken the mountain!'
The thumps had become a thundering rattle and rumble. Rebraal stared up into the dust. Boulders tumbled down the steep slopes, bouncing high and crashing through shrub and tree. They splintered on rock. Thousands of tons swept down the mountainside.
Simultaneously, the Garonin ahead began to fire. White tears washed across the front of the shield, heaping pressure on already weak mages. There was no time to split and run. Nowhere to go but into the arms of the Garonin. Al-Arynaar began to run into the lee of the valley side but the rock slewed down so quickly.
Rebraal could not take his eyes from the avalanche that rushed towards them. And when it struck, he had no idea how many mages had the strength or the skill to cast the Orsyn's Cocoons that might just save them. Not enough. Rock slammed into warrior and mage alike. Some were swept away. Others crushed, smeared into the ground by boulders the size of wagons. Screams and panic were lost beneath the tumult. Rebraal reflexively tried to shield his head with his arms. Stone slapped down towards him.
And bounced. He heard a sigh. Dila sank to her knees, holding her arms outstretched above her. The Cocoon covered at least forty elves. Some were mages keeping shields steady against the Garonin. Others were warriors praying to Shorth for swift transport of their souls. And Shorth would have to wait.
Rebraal crouched by Dila'heth, trying to peer through the dust cloud that temporarily enveloped them while he lent her the support of his damaged body. The torrent of rock had lessened dramatically but merely allowed Rebraal to hear the cries of the injured and dying.
As the dust began to clear a little, he could see three groups of elves standing beneath Cocoon castings. Down on the valley floor, the fight still raged on. TaiGethen and ClawBound fought like never before. Claws, jaws, blades and fists ripping into the enemy. But they were outnumbered by more than ten to one. It was a brave action but it could not go on forever.
The Garonin in front had ceased firing for the moment, no doubt assessing the damage their soldiers had done in causing the avalanche. A vydosphere thrummed overhead, sucking the mana from the dead and dying. Dila'heth let her spell disperse. She swept her gaze over the survivors.
'We cannot win this way,' said Rebraal. 'We are trapped.'
'But not helpless,' said Dila'heth and, bless her, she smiled. 'It's our turn now.'
Rebraal frowned. Dila'heth called a few mages to her.
'What are you-?'
'Just keep them off us. Just for a little while. And run when I say. We don't have much but what we have we're going to use right now. All of it.'
Rebraal kissed her forehead and stood. 'Warriors! Fight with me.'
He charged ahead towards the waiting lines of Garonin, caring not if the white tears tore his body to pieces. He felt his brothers and sisters with him. The enemy readied, some choosing blades above weapons as they sought to harvest mana rather than simply kill. So much the better.
The leader of the Al-Arynaar roared the name of his brother to clear his mind for the fight. Looking left and right, he guessed fifty were with him. The elves sprinted into the attack. Weapons fired. Energy seared across the diminishing space, ripping into bodies, hurling smoking corpses to the ground and blasting limbs from bodies.
Rebraal ducked, dived headlong and rolled over his left shoulder. White tears fled over his body. He came up to a crouch, jumped and smashed his sword into the face of his target. The Garonin's helmet split. Gore spilled out. The body disappeared. Rebraal gripped his blade with both hands, ignoring the pain from his damaged wrist. He stabbed straight out. A weapon blocked the thrust. Rebraal carved out and down, slicing through thigh and knee.
Al-Arynaar waded in next to him. Others hurdled him, driving feet first into the ranks of the enemy. Blood misted the air. The stench of innards rose. Rebraal surged to his feet. Directly in front of him, two Garonin. He blocked the blade of one and hacked down into the weapon of the other. Both enemies stepped back. They loomed over him, tall and powerful.
Rebraal moved into the space. He feinted to the right and brought his sword through from the left, clattering it into the shoulder of the blade carrier. Armour flared white. The other turned his weapon on Rebraal. The hand of an Al-Arynaar clamped on it, forcing the weapon down. A short blade whipped through and severed the enemy wrist.
Rebraal nodded thanks. He punched out into the midriff of the blade carrier. He dropped to his haunches and swept out his left leg. The Garonin saw the move and jumped but he landed off balance, stumbling forward. The thrust of an Al-Arynaar sword took him under the chin.
Rebraal rose again. Garonin were thick about him and his warriors. White tear weapons were useless now. He fielded a blade on the hilt of his sword and shoved the Garonin back. To his right an Al-Arynaar took a blade through his throat. Blood spurted from the wound. The elf fell yet even in the act of dying held out his sword. Rebraal took it and swept it through his killer's gut.