Hating himself for doing it, he called on Arnoan to help him. The two men sat inside the inn, ate and talked, the old Shaman’s eyes sparkling and mischievous. Tessaya knew Arnoan felt a great wrong had been righted and was happy to let the idea ride.

‘It will pay you to be calm,’ said Arnoan, breaking bread and soaking it in his broth.

‘Calm?’ echoed Tessaya. ‘The Raven, damn them, have escaped a siege city and apparently go to speak with dragons, to form an alliance against me. Styliann and his dread force which now numbers somewhere around five hundred have massacred, massacred, thousands of my warriors at precious little cost and, if my scouts are correct, appear to be travelling to meet The Raven. And now I find my southern brethren are fleeing from a town they thought was theirs and have now been forced to destroy to prevent its recapture. Their spirit is broken and those that are left are coming here expecting my sympathy. Something they will not get.

‘This is not a situation in which I see any reason to remain calm.’ He drained a goblet of wine, Blackthorne red ironically, and refilled it, pushing a hunk of bread into his mouth with his free hand.

Arnoan smiled gently. ‘But how much of it is true, my Lord? Darrick and Blackthorne, yes, I can see that. But dragons? And death from the sky? Are we not beyond these wild stories? I rather suspect that much of Senedai’s report is the hysterical claims of a mage knowing his life is about to end and wishing to strike fear into his tormentor.’

‘He succeeded.’ Tessaya regarded Arnoan over the top of his goblet.

‘But we must discount dragons. They are creatures of nightmare with no hold on the real world. They do not exist,’ said Arnoan.

‘And supposing I accept that, why did The Raven leave, and where are they going? And why has Styliann not remained in Xetesk to defend his own city, taking with him their prime fighting force?’ Tessaya drummed his fingers on the table.

‘It seems clear to me that, knowing the College was falling, The Raven ran. They have no allegiance, they are mercenaries,’ said Arnoan. Tessaya almost smiled, though irritation at the Shaman’s dismissal of circumstance lent his mood anger, not levity.

‘I would sooner believe dragons exist than that The Raven ran from a fight. Don’t try to smooth over what is going on. Senedai’s message was quite clear that they broke through with the aid and, I must presume, the blessing of the Julatsans.’ He held up his hand to silence Arnoan’s next utterance. ‘Something is going on. I can feel it. And we are sitting here just waiting for the storm to break. I will not wait any longer.’

‘We can track them and watch them as we are doing now,’ said Arnoan. ‘Understone is important to us. We must not desert it.’

‘Perhaps you have lost your stomach for the fight now you are toothless, my Shaman, but I have not.’ Tessaya’s voice was quiet and cold. ‘Let me tell you the way it is. The Raven are riding to parley with dragons and if not them, something equally powerful they believe can stop us. Styliann and his bastard creations will join them. At the very best, if we do not hunt them down and kill them, they will advance the defence of Korina and I do not want that. At worst, they might just find an ally we cannot beat.

‘Lord Senedai has treated it seriously enough to give chase with much of his army, Lord Taomi is running here with Baron Blackthorne and perhaps General Darrick in his bootprints. Our goal is to control Balaia through the capture of the capital and we will not achieve that sitting here waiting for Taomi to lead trouble to our door.

‘You will instruct Riasu that he is to man the eastern fortifications of Understone Pass. No mage must get close enough to cast the water magic. He has enough men and he can call on the reserve. We will march first to The Raven and then to Korina. Time is slipping from us, my old friend, and we must grasp the opportunity while we still have it.’

Arnoan was quiet for a time, sucking his top lip and nodding his head as he thought. ‘It is a bold move, my Lord. But what of Understone itself? We have expended such effort securing it.’

Tessaya glanced around him at the almost complete stockade and tower system. He shrugged. ‘Its purpose has been served. It has kept us safe and our warriors busy. We are under no threat of losing the pass again. The Colleges do not have the will now that Julatsa has fallen and Styliann is absent. We will leave it.’

‘For Riasu?’ said Arnoan.

‘No.’ Tessaya shook his head. ‘We will leave no building standing. ’

‘And our prisoners?’

The Lord Tessaya sighed and passed a hand over his face. ‘We are warriors, not warders. And they must not be allowed to rejoin the battle.’

‘My Lord?’ Arnoan’s face had paled.

‘They have no value to us and they have become an encumbrance. I wish to be unencumbered.’ Tessaya rose and walked away down the street towards Understone Pass, his heart not matching the chill of his voice. This was not how he wanted it to be. But too much was happening and conquest by any means was now the only way. He stopped and turned, his eyes coming to rest on the billets where the prisoners were held. He breathed out heavily and marched to give the orders.

Perhaps sensing their urgency, or feeling pressure of his own, Jatha hurried The Raven plus unwelcome guests from the rip, moving quickly through several turns of the man-made cave before coming to a blank wall. Pausing only to glance over his shoulder and beckon them on, he disappeared into it. The Raven pulled up short.

‘Ilkar?’ asked The Unknown.

The elf stepped forward. ‘Illusion, I should think.’ He placed his hand on the wall. It was solid. ‘And an exceptional one at that. I’m not sure . . .’ His voice trailed off. He pushed again, this time his hand sank into its surface. ‘Extraordinary.’ Denser came to his shoulder.

‘Interesting,’ he said. ‘This isn’t a mana construct.’ Erienne and Styliann crowded the end of the passageway, probing at the rock illusion.

‘What do you think?’ asked Denser.

‘Well, it’s actually rock, isn’t it?’ said Styliann. ‘But modified.’

‘Perhaps it recognises certain people or something,’ ventured Denser. He sank a hand through up to the elbow, feeling his fingers reach open space beyond it. ‘There’s only token resistance here.’

‘How would it know to recognise me?’ said Styliann. ‘There was no word of my coming.’ He too probed the rock.

‘Good point,’ said Erienne. ‘To me, it feels fluid, though I agree with you that it’s rock. The question is, how does it maintain solid appearance and form?’

‘I suspect it’s a bounded magic, a little like the rip,’ said Ilkar. ‘It has clearly been placed here deliberately to hide the rip.’

‘So has the whole cave system, come to that,’ said Denser. ‘Though the rest of it is solid enough.’

Hirad, who had been leaning against a wall, idly scratching his chin, blew out his cheeks, winked at The Unknown and stepped forward, a smile on his lips.

‘All this wisdom and none of you have a bloody clue, have you?’

The quartet of senior mages turned as one, their supercilious expressions mirrors for each other.

‘Hirad, do you mind?’ said Ilkar. ‘We’re trying to solve this before we walk blindly through it. That is our way, isn’t it?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Hirad. He placed a hand on the construct and leant hard. ‘But you’re missing the point.’ He pushed himself away then leant in again, more gently this time, his hand moving easily through the rock.

‘Oh no.’ Ilkar’s face betrayed a brief comical alarm. ‘You know exactly what this is, don’t you?’ Hirad nodded. Ilkar sighed and addressed the mages. ‘You’ll just have to live with the fact that he knows something we don’t. It doesn’t happen often but you’ll never be allowed to forget it.’