Blackthorne smiled. ‘I can be very persuasive.’

‘We’re all counting on it,’ said Darrick. ‘Meanwhile, the sooner we can get in and get out of Xetesk, the more chance we have. I suggest we don’t waste time.’

‘No doubt the TaiGethen will agree with you. Right, are we all set and clear?’ The Unknown looked around the fire, saw the nods in response. ‘Baron, Izack, do the best you can. Darrick, let’s go.’

The quartet stood up and shook hands, wishing each other luck and strength. The Unknown walked over to The Raven, sitting together at the edge of the firelight. All had been watching and listening intently.

Hirad stood up as he approached and strapped his sword belt around his waist. The talking, the resting, the frustrating watch of the day’s battle was done.

‘Our turn now,’ he said.

The Unknown nodded. He’d felt like a caged animal all day, anxious to get over the walls but knowing he had to wait his time to begin the process of protecting his family, hundreds of miles to the south across the Southern Ocean.

‘Everyone’s clear about everything, aren’t they,’ he said.

‘We could be little else,’ said Denser. ‘But however tight our plan, I can’t stress enough how dangerous the college will be. Dystran is not stupid. The Protectors may all be outside but he’ll have considerable defence in there.’

The raiding party was gathering as dusk gave way to night. The TaiGethen had been resting and praying all day. Four cells of the elite elven warriors would be taking part, along with Rebraal and six Al-Arynaar mages to supply shield and offensive support. ClawBound pairs were approaching the city to assess the strength on the walls, using the cloud cover that had prematurely darkened the sky. They would direct the elven warriors where to scale the walls and provide what diversion was needed.

‘There’s something else,’ said Denser. ‘Though I may be speaking to the deaf in the case of the TaiGethen. And that is that we aren’t looking to destroy Xetesk and its mages tonight. We need them in the future if there is to be any balance.’

‘I’m not running in there just circling my fists,’ said Hirad. ‘It was bad enough in Lystern.’

‘That’s not what I’m saying,’ said Denser. ‘And I will spare no one who threatens our lives. Just nothing indiscriminate, that’s all I ask. Xetesk is still my college.’

‘A college that would see you dead in a heartbeat,’ said The Unknown Warrior. ‘As they would all of us.’ His face was grim in the firelight. ‘Don’t expect mercy from me.’

The big man checked the edges of his long sword and daggers yet again, walked slowly to Thraun and Erienne while he rebound the weapons in their sheaths. ‘Erienne? You’re quiet. Tell me.’

‘I’m scared,’ she said, her eyes confirming it.

‘So you should be,’ said The Unknown. ‘We’re about to break into the Dark College.’

‘No, it’s not that . . . well, it is but that fear I can deal with. It’s what’s inside me. Every day I have to fight to stop it dominating me and it’s tiring. Consuming. Because one day I might fail.’

‘But the Al-Drechar help, don’t they?’

‘Without them, the power would swamp me,’ admitted Erienne. ‘But they’re so weak. Only one can help me block the One’s force while the other rests. What if one of them dies. Or both?’ She shuddered.

The Unknown frowned. ‘But it will ease, won’t it?’

‘It gets harder and harder to believe that,’ said Erienne. ‘Right now, the One is a barely contained power in an uneducated mind and body. I have so much to learn. Dordover awakened the One prematurely in my daughter and all of us may still pay the price of that stupidity. If the Al-Drechar can’t teach me how to restrain the One on my own before they die, I dread to think of the consequences. ’

‘Shouldn’t you be with them, then? The Al-Drechar, I mean.’

A smile touched Erienne’s lips. ‘And be away from the only people who keep me believing there’s an end to it? Look, Unknown, the Al-Drechar do what they can before I fall asleep, before I get up, and they talk to me in my dreams. It’s enough. It’ll have to be. Anyway, The Raven never work apart.’

‘Music to my ears,’ said Hirad from across the fire. ‘Glad someone listens to me.’

‘We rarely have a choice,’ said Denser. ‘That voice could knock holes in solid rock.’

Erienne put a hand on The Unknown’s arm.

‘I’ll be all right,’ she said. ‘I can suppress the One and cast Dordovan magic. I won’t let us down.’

‘I never doubted you would,’ said the Unknown.

‘They will have watched,’ said Thraun abruptly. ‘They will know we’re coming.’

‘Not The Raven, the elves maybe,’ said Hirad. ‘We’ve thought of that.’

‘No.’ Thraun growled. ‘Beware.’

Around the periphery, the TaiGethen were waiting for them. Two figures moved into the firelight.

‘Are you ready?’ asked Rebraal. ‘We need to leave as soon as we can. The cloud cover is breaking to the south already.’

‘You are sure you must come?’ Auum had been unconvinced of The Raven’s participation all day. Despite his rather grudging respect for them, he hadn’t changed his opinion that they would be a liability, particularly in climbing the walls.

‘Yes,’ said The Unknown. ‘With us, you are stronger.’

‘And we have business to attend to inside,’ said Hirad.

Denser chuckled. ‘A couple of trifling matters, that’s all.’

Darrick cleared his throat. ‘It’s not a laughing matter.’

‘Ilkar wouldn’t have agreed with you,’ said Hirad.

‘No,’ said Darrick. He smiled quickly, embarrassed.

‘Come on Raven, time to go,’ said The Unknown.

The Raven moved to join the elven raiding party. Hirad paused by Blackthorne.

‘Glad you dropped by, Baron.’

‘This conflict threatens us all now, Hirad,’ he said, eyebrows casting his eyes into deep shadow. ‘There is no strength in neutrality. Not any more. Any of us strong enough must fight to stop Xetesk achieving dominion.’

‘Remember there is more than one side fighting Xetesk,’ said Hirad.

‘I’ll continue to forgo the considerable bounty on your head if that’s what you mean.’

The two old friends clasped arms.

‘Be lucky,’ said Hirad.

‘Be careful,’ responded Blackthorne.

‘Hirad, move it.’ The Unknown’s voice came from the gloom.

‘Duty calls.’

Hirad trotted out of the camp. Ahead of him, the TaiGethen had broken into their cells of three. All but Auum’s cell were disappearing fast into the night, making no sound, leaving no clue as to where they had just been. Hirad couldn’t help but be impressed by their grace and speed. And when he turned to Auum, Duele and Evunn, he caught in their eyes exactly why they were so extraordinary, even among the ranks of exceptional elven hunter warriors like Rebraal.

From their black-and-green painted faces burned belief and determination, mixed with supreme confidence. Their faith in their Gods and in their own abilities precluded the notion of failure. And tonight, the Al-Arynaar and The Raven were similarly masked, all pale flesh covered in dark paint. But there the similarity ended.

‘Your weapons are secure?’ asked Auum, his accent thick, his command of the language uncertain.

‘Nothing will move,’ said Hirad. ‘We’ll be as quiet as you.’

A smile flickered on Auum’s face. ‘Do as we do. No talk until we are inside the city.’

He turned and set off at an easy trot, Duele and Evunn his shadows, The Raven following in their wake.

Chapter 13

They had travelled for around two hours, hidden in low brush and scrub and always at least half a mile from the walls of Xetesk. Hirad had kept up an easy stride. Being neither as fit nor as fleet as the TaiGethen he had accepted that he, like the rest of The Raven, would fall slowly but steadily behind.