‘Erienne?’

She was leaning against a wall as if to stop herself falling. Her eyes were closed and a fist clutched at thin air.

‘Difficult,’ she murmured. ‘Men below. Swords and magic. Can’t feel anything up here.’

‘There’s too much focused mana,’ said Denser. ‘We need to get down to the cells.’

‘What—?’ began Heryst.

‘Time for quiet,’ said Hirad. ‘Let us show you what we can do. Stairs?’

Heryst eyed him briefly before gesturing ahead. They moved off, hurried by a heavy impact on the door behind. The Unknown strode ahead, Thraun hard on his heels. He slapped the door back.

It was a guard room. The Unknown made instant assessment. A desk stood against the far wall, weapon racks were right and two guards flanked a downward spiral stair left. Both men drew swords immediately. The Unknown raised a hand.

‘We have Heryst and we’ve come for Darrick. You can make this easy or difficult. Your choice.’

The Raven and Heryst came in behind. Sword points dipped.

‘My Lord?’

‘Idiots,’ muttered Heryst. ‘Guard the prisoner!’ He shouted. ‘We’re attacked. We—’

Hirad’s hand covered his mouth and jerked his head sharply back.

‘We’ll carry you if we have to,’ he said.

The Unknown’s eyes did not stray from the guards. ‘Weapons down. Please.’

They hesitated. Thraun growled. It was a sound from his wolven past, chilling as it echoed from the walls. The Unknown smiled thinly. The two guards dropped their swords, metal clattering against stone.

‘Good choice. We aren’t going to hurt you, that isn’t why we’re here. Denser, Erienne.’ The two mages stepped up. ‘But you can’t take any further part in this. Like I say, you can make it easy or difficult.’

Two short incantations and the guards were cushioned to the floor.

‘Right,’ said The Unknown. ‘Hirad, you’re first. Heryst goes in front of you. I’m behind with Erienne so let me do the talking, all right? Denser, Thraun, you get the rear. Let’s go, Raven.’

Hirad pushed a resigned and unresisting Heryst ahead of him, dagger ready, free hand on the Lord Elder Mage’s shoulder. ‘Not too fast. I’d hate you to fall.’

The spiral stair was wide and lantern-lit. No sound came from below.

‘There is no one at the base of the stairs,’ Erienne said. ‘Further on, I don’t know yet. The stair ends in two more full circles.’

The Unknown nodded. ‘Hirad, keep a tight grip on him. This is where it gets interesting.’

The spiral stair unwound into a long corridor lined with blank walls and heavy wooden doors. A single iron-bound door stood at the end some sixty paces distant. The Unknown spoke for the benefit of the hidden guards.

‘Lord Heryst is in front of us. You don’t want him hurt any more than we do so I suggest that you stay wherever you are hiding. No one needs to be a hero. We’re all on the same side. But we’ve come for Darrick and no one leaves here until we get him.’

Silence.

The Unknown smiled. At least they had some discipline. The Raven, Heryst at their head, moved slowly along the corridor, footsteps echoing loud from the dark stone walls and low ceiling. The cell block smelled damp and vaguely rotten, as if the filth of ages had pervaded the stone where no amount of scouring could remove it.

‘Cheerful place.’

‘Shut up, Hirad,’ hissed The Unknown.

They passed the first doors, the cells they fronted dark and quiet. By the number and spacing of doors, the cells were very small.

‘Stop,’ said Erienne suddenly. ‘Left and right, second cells. Swordsmen. Two each side.’

Heryst drew in a sharp breath.

‘Not a word,’ whispered Hirad.

The Unknown considered briefly. He indicated Thraun and Denser to the left door, moving to cover the right himself.

‘Let’s move on,’ he said loudly enough.

Heryst opened his mouth but Hirad’s dagger pushed into his neck, pricking the skin.

‘I will bleed you,’ he said, voice low. ‘I don’t want to but I will.’

He pushed Heryst on towards the end of the cell block, their footsteps slapping echoes off the walls.

The Unknown waited, watching Erienne closely, uneasy at the split forced on them but needing to take the gamble. She walked slowly in Hirad’s wake, body tensed, her mind straining to keep a rein on the power sluicing through her. The walkers passed another two sets of doors before Thraun indicated noise. Simultaneously, Erienne stopped and looked sharply left. Doors seemed to open everywhere.

‘Damn!’ spat The Unknown, already moving down the corridor. ‘Hirad, keep Heryst moving.’

Behind him, he heard the sound of metal-shod feet on stone. Ahead, two figures emerged from a cell left and one from the right.

‘Erienne!’

Lost in the One, Erienne was slow to react. A leather-clad warrior ran at her, lowering his sword and thumping into her with his shoulder and sending her sprawling against the opposite wall. She cried out in surprise and Hirad turned, began moving towards her but found his way blocked by the second soldier.

‘Hirad! Behind!’ shouted The Unknown. But Heryst was already moving, running towards the end of the corridor. The Unknown could see his hands describing arcs in the air as he went. ‘Trouble.’

He charged up the corridor, his pace fast despite the stiffness in the hip damaged on Arlen’s docks. Fast enough to surprise the lone figure who stood in front of the open cell door right. Without pause, The Unknown whipped a fist into his cheek and chin, spinning him round and hard into the wall. He fell senseless. The Unknown hurdled both him and Erienne to chase the casting Heryst.

As he passed, Hirad swore, moving to attack the threat to Erienne. He stepped smartly inside a round arm strike, blocked the sword arm away with his left hand and thudded the hilt of his dagger into the soldier’s temple. The man sagged under the blow and Hirad helped him down with a double-handed strike to the back of his neck.

The Unknown closed the gap fast, footsteps ringing in his ears, the shouts and sounds of hand-to-hand fighting behind him that he couldn’t afford to let distract him. Heryst slowed and turned, eyes widening a little at the sight of The Unknown’s huge frame coming at him. He held his hands wide, encompassing his targets. The Unknown dropped and slid in, feet first, boot buckles striking sparks from the stone. Heryst’s mouth moved. The Raven warrior ploughed into him, sweeping his legs from under him.

The spell was lost. Heryst crashed heavily down, half on, half off The Unknown who was already shovelling sideways and coming to his haunches. He rested one hand on the back of the struggling Heryst’s neck.

‘Enough, Heryst.’

Back down the corridor, Erienne was in trouble. Overpowered by her attacker, he had her in a neck lock, his short sword close to her midriff.

‘Back off!’ shouted the soldier. ‘I’ll kill her.’

Hirad advanced another pace. Out of the soldier’s view, Denser and Thraun were closing in, leaving four still figures behind them. The Unknown could see blood on Denser’s face and Thraun’s knuckles but the floor had none of the slick that told of mortal wounds.

‘We have your Lord,’ said The Unknown, coming to his feet and dragging Heryst with him. ‘No one is killing anyone in here. Least of all you.’

‘You don’t want her to die,’ said the soldier, fear in his voice.

He retreated, his back to a wall. The Unknown saw him swallow hard as he watched The Raven close in but focused his attention principally on the door behind him. Darrick was beyond it, that much was sure, but how many others? Mages. Prepared and ready to cast. And an honour guard of anywhere between two and six. Not great odds and they had little time before the door above them was breached, trapping them.

Erienne was calm, waiting for what she expected to be the inevitable. In front of the soldier, Hirad and Thraun obstructed his view of Denser. The soldier was naïve. And in a magic college, that was unforgivable.