Around them, the TaiGethen were a blur of ruthless murder. Every time a Garonin soldier got inside the shield, a TaiGethen was on him before he had gone five paces. Yet Ilkar could not relax. Surely the enemy were being snuffed out and indeed it did seem their numbers were thinning beyond the shield. Ilkar, though, felt the approach of something bad.
Garonin soldiers broke through on the right again. Four of them. Thraun barked a warning and leapt. White tears tracked him, searing across his flank. With a yelp, Thraun crashed to the ground and slid against the side of the edifice. His body heaved and smoked, shuddering its last.
Auum was already running, Evunn with him. The two TaiGethen rolled under streams of white tears flashing over their heads and into the backs of two helpless Protectors. Auum surged up and left the ground, going two-footed at the nearest enemy. Evunn made to do likewise, but at that moment Erienne and Hirad dropped back into the melee.
Evunn collided with the pair of them and all three tumbled and rolled. In front of them the Garonin could not believe his luck. His weapon discharged. Evunn was caught by the stream of energy and his body blew apart, spattering gore in all directions.
The Garonin hurdled his fallen body and raced towards Sol. Auum downed his man, turned and gave chase. Hirad was getting to his feet. Two other Garonin faced him. He had nowhere to run. Below him Erienne had begun to cast but would not make it.
Time slowed for Ilkar. Him again. He could stop the lone Garonin. Possibly. But the consequence was stark. Move and attack and lose the shield keeping the remaining fire from the defenders. Enough fire to wipe them all out. He heard Sol's last words repeat in his head.
'Now or never,' he said. Ilkar drove to his feet and dived headlong at the onrushing Garonin. 'Shield down! Shield down!'
White tears lashed into the open space. Protector, Raven and elf alike threw themselves to the ground. Ilkar prayed they all survived but knew they could not. His outstretched hand snagged the ankle of the Garonin. The soldier, in mid-run, sprawled to the ground. Ilkar scrambled up and dived on top of him as he tried to get back to his feet. White tears smashed all around him, ripping chunks out of the edifice but keeping well away from Sol, who held the door open, helpless to stop what came at him.
The Garonin shoved Ilkar off. Ilkar rolled and rose. The Garonin was on his feet too. Ilkar got in front of him. The Garonin raised his weapon. He fired.
'Ilkar!' Hirad was screaming at him. 'No!'
The white tears flowed into Ilkar's body. He spread his arms wide and he laughed.
'See me, Garonin? See me? You cannot hurt me. You do not know how. I have mastered you. I understand. Raven. TaiGethen. Listen to me.'
The Garonin ceased firing and made to sweep Ilkar aside. Ilkar raised a hand and clamped it under the chin of the soldier, holding him off while his blows slid from Ilkar's body.
'They can only do to you what you expect them to do. What you believe they can do. They cannot hurt me. You, my enemy, cannot hurt me. But I can hurt you.'
From Ilkar's hand the flame was the bright yellow of Julatsa and hot enough to melt metal. It scoured into the Garonin's neck. His armour buckled beneath Ilkar's hand. Ilkar closed it into a fist, crushing his neck like a twig, dropped the Garonin and walked into the midst of the white fire, letting it slam into his body, feeling nothing but an intense satisfaction.
'This is us, Raven! We are spirits. We are souls. We cannot be killed because we are already dead. Let them fear us. They cannot hurt us but they know that we can hurt them. They are real. They bleed. They die. For us it is only memories.
'Rout them! Rout them!'
Ilkar ran at the nearest Garonin. He saw the soldier flinch, take his hand off his weapon and take a pace back. Behind him, he heard Hirad roar: 'Come on, you fuckers! Fight us now, eh?'
Raven, Protector and TaiGethen took up the cry. The Garonin were swamped. Armour could not deflect blades. Punches found their mark. Blood was spilled. Garonin blood. And though the fire still came back at them, the defenders let it slide over them, doing no more harm than would water or a puff of air.
'Make a shield around Sol,' ordered Darrick, his wound gone. 'Let's not forget what we're here to defend.'
Hirad, standing next to Ilkar, gave the mage a shove on the shoulder. The Garonin fire battered them. The soldiers feinted to attack. Auum prowled in front of the line, daring any to come close.
'You can still feel me push you, then,' said the barbarian.
'Of course. I expect you to be able to. Be bloody boring if you couldn't. Then I couldn't do this.'
Ilkar rubbed his knuckles hard against Hirad's forehead.
'I think I preferred you lacking in belief,' he said.
'Look.'
Sirendor was pointing out at the Garonin. They had ceased firing and were moving slowly towards the defenders. One detached himself from the group of perhaps forty and walked to within a few paces.
'The day is yours,' he said, melodious voice tainted with discord. 'But your new worlds will be ours. The fight will never be over. One day we will follow an innocent soul through the doorway and your efforts will be rendered nought.'
'Not if we close it in your fat face, you won't,' said Hirad.
The sound of water over pebbles.
'How little you know, human. Your ignorance is our greatest weapon. Think on it and enjoy your rest if you can. The dead are irrelevant.'
The last echoes of the Garonin's voice rattled against the edifice. The plain of Ulandeneth was empty.
'What was he talking about?' asked Hirad.
He turned and led The Raven, Protectors and TaiGethen back towards Sol, or the shimmering luminescence that represented where he was seated. He knelt by Thraun much as Auum did by what remained of Evunn.
'Don't worry about them. Their souls rest with me for the time being,' said Sol.
Hirad smiled. 'Seems like a good place. So what about this door, then?'
'Once opened, the door can be hidden and protected but never shut. It must allow the passage of souls,' said Sol.
'So how do we stop them?' asked Hirad. 'After all this bother, I don't want to think we just moved our people from one dead space to another.'
'Well, we could wedge a grumpy barbarian in it, 'said Ilkar. 'That should keep it shut.'
'Funny elf,' said Hirad.
'Ilkar is more accurate than he knows,' said Sol. 'Even when hidden, the doorway is vulnerable. Witness their access into our cluster of worlds.'
Ilkar and Hirad exchanged glances.
'Are the words, "someone has to guard it" marching towards your lips, Sol?'
'As Hirad would undoubtedly tell you, Ilkar, you are sharp of mind today.'
Hirad chuckled and nodded his head. 'Funny how we never seem to reach the end, do we?'
'Indeed we don't,' said Erienne.
'What do you lot think. Darrick, Sirendor?' Hirad turned to his old friends.
Sirendor shrugged. 'Well, I didn't have a lot else planned for the rest of the day.'
'You mean eternity,' said Darrick. 'And I would be honoured to be considered a soul great enough to perform this task.'
Murmurs of agreement met his words. Hirad clapped his hands together.
'Right, well let's get comfortable. Ark? What say you and the Protectors?'
'I will stay,' said Ark. 'My brothers will travel to their rest. Should they be needed, they can be called upon once more.'
Sol's warmth spread out to cover them all. 'Then come, walk into me, my brother Protectors. Find your brother souls. Know they are safe and have gone beyond me.'
The few remaining Protectors bowed their heads to Ark and moved into Sol's compass. One by one, they disappeared.
'Which leaves you, Auum, and your TaiGethen,' said Sol. 'Three thousand years and more you've walked the earth. Twice you have saved the elves from the Garonin and never have you turned your head from Yniss, your God, or the tasks he set for you. Blissful rest is the very least you deserve in the company of the ancients.'
Auum's smile was brief. 'Yet I do not consider my tasks complete. Now I will serve Yniss through Shorth himself, securing the passage of souls on their final journeys. I will not falter. And never again will the Garonin lay claim to the lands of elves or men. For Yniss I say this: I, Auum, will stand sentinel for eternity. There can be no greater honour in the service of my Gods. My Tai brothers and sister will make their own choices. Those standing here and those resting with Sol.'
Neither Miirt and Duele hesitated to stand by Auum.
The luminescence dimmed and Sol was visible once more. The great shaven-headed warrior standing with his arms outstretched to them.
'Walk with me,' he said.
Jonas leaned back against the rough scales and wrote a few more lines. The sun was warm here on the hillside but he could not smell the grass or flowers, such were the overpowering odours of wood and oil from the dragon's hide.
'Read it to me,' rumbled Sha-Kaan. 'I enjoy your ramblings to your dead father.'
Jonas turned his head to the right. Sha-Kaan's muzzle was resting on the soft grass a few feet away. His eyelids were heavy but occasionally snapped open to reveal his startling blue eyes.
'All right. Let me know if I get anything wrong.'
'As ever.'
'"Dear Father. It's been a hundred days since we all arrived here and there still isn't a name for the place. All we know is that it has a lot of water and not a lot of land. Sha-Kaan says we all live on one big island in a scattered archipelago and then there is nothing but ocean for thousands of miles. Perhaps one day we'll explore the rest of it and find new lands. Right now, though, there aren't very many of us so it doesn't seem a good idea.
' "If there are other people here besides those that escaped from Balaia and Calaius, we haven't seen any evidence of them yet. Meanwhile, we try to organise ourselves into some sort of society. Mother says we should follow the model of Korina and make a central city state from where people can move out to live where they please. She's much respected among the survivors.
'"Of course there has been the odd bit of trouble. Once the euphoria of escape wore off, plenty of people started to regret what they'd left behind. We're all living in wooden huts here, at best. We've precious few tools, no way of quarrying stone just yet and nothing to eat but what we find in the ground and on trees. Mind you, Sha-Kaan says there are animals that might be farmed and I'm sure we'll get around to that.
'"We did a census when we got here. Everyone was counted and we carved names in strips of bark and wood. Two hundred and seventy-two thousand, one hundred and forty-one humans made it. Not many when you think about it but it's best not to dwell on the past, isn't it?
'"As for the elves, well, they are few in number. Twenty-three thousand, four hundred and five. But they seem content enough. Most of them have disappeared into the forests to build temples and settlements. We see a lot of Rebraal although he is quite busy. He seems to be the ruler of the elves, if they have such a thing.
'"Then there are the dragons. It's strange to look up and see the sky full of them. Comforting for me. Not so for others. But they are not numerous and have no access to the healing streams of inter-dimensional space. Sha-Kaan says they will have to seek new dimensions in this cluster in which to live or they'll all fade and die. That is not a happy thought.
'"By the way, Hirad is being a real pain. Remember that dragon you carved for him? He left it at home and he wants to go back and get it. He doesn't understand and it's driving me and Mother mad.
'"It's hard to say if we'll survive and flourish. There is such hope, but when I talk to Mother, there are so many problems to face. We need a government and an economy, she says. I think we need you.
' "I miss you, Father. I always will." How's that?'
Sha-Kaan was silent for a moment and Jonas thought he had drifted off to sleep. But then he opened his mouth wide and clacked his jaws together gently.
'It is perfect. Every word is from the heart. And you will survive, Jonas Solson. And the people will no longer need Sol. They will have you.'
'What we really need is a deck of cards,' said Hirad. 'You know, something to while away the centuries when we run out of things to talk about.'
'Don't be stupid, Hirad,' said Ilkar.
'Why, don't you like cards?'
'No,' said Sol. 'It isn't that. It's just that there'll never be a time when you don't have something to say.'
'You have a point,' conceded Hirad.
'And anyway, time is meaningless here,' said Sirendor.
'So?'
'So, dear barbarian soul, we cannot count the boring centuries, nor the exciting ones. We'll only know the moments when we are called to defend the door,' said Erienne.
'You aren't making our eternal task sound all that exciting,' said Darrick.
'I'm with you, General,' said Hirad. 'We should have gone to the halls of the ancients and left Auum here to see the place safe.'
'Or back to the bliss of the dead with the Protectors,' said Darrick.
'Neither of you means that, do you?' said Sol.
Hirad smiled. 'I never was one for having nothing to look forward to.'
'It really is very dull, this place, isn't it?' said Ilkar.
'It could do with a lick of paint of some other colour than ivory,' said Erienne.
'Hey, Ilks, maybe you could whistle up some more mountains, squeeze a few more Garonin and eke out some red for us.'
'Maybe if I cut out your tongue we'd get both a lovely red and a bit of peace and quiet.'
Hirad took a long look about him. The ivory expanse of Ulandeneth surrounded them endlessly. The door to the new dimensional cluster was hidden now but souls travelled it nonetheless. The threat of the Garonin would never fade though, and so the decision to remain had been an easy one.
The Raven were seated for the time being on the Ulandeneth side of the door. Their place of rest was within. Timeless sleep until the footfall of the enemy summoned them to fight.
'This must be the perfect eternity for you, mustn't it?' said Thraun, back in human form. 'Knowing The Raven will go on forever.'
'You know what,' said Hirad. 'It is.'
'While for us the thought of being saddled with you in perpetuity is nothing short of a living hell,' said Ilkar.
'Ah, but you love me really,' said Hirad.
'That is occasionally true,' said Erienne.
'When you're asleep, mostly,' said Sirendor.