At the base of the ropes, Rebraal was waiting with a TaiGethen elf. Denser was directed to the muster point, floating quietly past the bakery, cold and lifeless, a victim of the war.

Inside the empty house, the raiding party gathered. Denser dismissed his Wings and set Erienne down, moving slowly while his sight adjusted, the assembled elves resolving gradually from the gloom. Twelve TaiGethen warriors, six Al-Arynaar mages, Rebraal and The Raven. About to take on the Dark College.

‘Dear Gods preserve us,’ he whispered.

‘What was that?’ Erienne’s voice too was barely audible.

‘Sorry, love,’ he said. ‘I’m just imagining what we could face in there.’

If anything, the quiet in the house deepened still further as Auum walked in. He spoke briefly with Rebraal, translating for The Raven.

‘One final time, here is what we know from our nights of scouting. The Protectors are outside the gates. Most of the college and city forces are stationed outside the walls of the college. We expect those walls to be heavily defended, leaving little sword strength but much mage strength on the ground. Secrecy for the maximum time is therefore critical.

‘But, my brothers and sisters, never forget that we face a powerful adversary. Keep within the Al-Arynaar shield whenever you can. Let Tual guide your senses. We know what we must do and what we must find. Keep your Tais close. This is a jungle like our own; it will show you no mercy.’

While Auum led the prayers before battle, The Raven gathered together.

‘Think we’ll die in there?’ asked Darrick.

‘If we pretend we are up against anything less than we are, I think there’s every chance.’ said Denser. ‘And if the Julatsan mana flow fails again while we’re inside, the TaiGethen will be defenceless.’

‘Not sure you can ever call them defenceless,’ said Hirad.

‘You know what I mean.’

Around the house, the elven prayers finished. Denser looked into Auum’s eyes and nodded.

‘You know where to go,’ he said.

The TaiGethen led them out into the Xeteskian night.

Chapter 15

Denser thought he knew his city like the proverbial back of his hand. Gods falling, but the walls had prevented much new building for centuries. He was shown alleys he’d never seen before, walkways he’d thought too narrow to travel, and ways across the city he hadn’t known existed.

The playhouse had tunnels beneath it. There was a network of accessways built around the edge of the central market. The north grain store had an outer skin providing gap enough to inch along. And the fact that the city was under curfew proved a gift because the TaiGethen were so quiet. Patrols might have littered the streets but the sound of their passage was like a klaxon from three streets’ distance.

It was eerie, Denser decided. Not real somehow. Xetesk was dying. Slowly, but it was dying. Yet beneath the apparent quiet acceptance of that fate, there would be barely suppressed energy. Neither the college nor the city would go down without a fight. The question was, when would that energy erupt?

The raiding party moved carefully, placing quietness above speed. There had been no further alarm from the walls and they could only conclude that the shouts they had heard pertained to something other than their incursion. That was not a state that would last very long. Soon, the guard would change, or someone would open the doors of the guard towers and find the darkness, the blood on the stone, and the disappearance of seven men. If they were lucky, that discovery would not be made until they were inside the college itself.

Denser glanced round at The Raven while they travelled, seeing care and determination on every face and in every step. They studied the ground before every pace, moving in the footfalls of the TaiGethen wherever they could. They walked across mud and weeds rather than stone and gravel, hugged the shadows of every alley and held their collective breath when forced to cross a major thoroughfare. Not even the TaiGethen had a way around every obstacle.

They almost made it undiscovered too. Auum had led the raiding party to the warehousing that bordered the artisans’ quarter he knew so well. Despite himself, he’d been impressed with The Raven’s ability to move silently. Moving up the alley where they’d killed the guards the night before, he saw that their bodies had gone, though the thieves’ corpses remained.

‘They know we were here,’ he said to Duele at his shoulder.

‘It was inevitable,’ said Duele.

‘Unfortunate, nevertheless. Pass the word.’

He crept up to the mouth of the alley and looked over at the college. The effect of the discovery of the guards’ bodies was clear. On the cobblestones in front of the college, patrols marched with purpose. Auum watched them long enough to know that the density of men meant that one patrol could always see their comrades ahead. It was the same up on the walls themselves. Lanterns and torches lit the entire length in front of him. Guards moved in pairs, lookouts stared out into the city and archers stood by them, ready and waiting.

He was beginning to back away when the alarm went up. Light bloomed away to the south as a warning fire was lit. Men started running along the walls. Shouts rang around the college. The south gates swung open and a detachment of soldiers trotted out and disappeared into the streets ahead of them. On the cobblestones, the patrols ceased their circular walks and fanned out, heading across the apron, some directly for them.

Auum fell back faster, seeing shapes flitting into the sky from inside the college. Like large birds but without the grace. His eyes tracked them as they flew. Wings like bats, heads like bald monkeys, their calls like diabolical laughter mixed with broken speech. He shivered, turned and trotted back to where the raiding party were waiting.

‘They are coming,’ he said, hearing Rebraal translate for The Raven. ‘We must move. Denser will lead us now.’

There was no debate. Denser, surrounded by his friends, turned and moved quickly but quietly away along the back of the warehouse. Auum signalled Evunn and Duele to hang back, keep any guards from their backs. At the far edge of the squat, low building, Denser paused and The Unknown Warrior checked left and right before leading them across a narrow path and into the passage the other side, along between another two warehouses. The sounds of alarm and search rang out to their left, closing but not too fast.

The second set of warehouses was different in character. Made of stone and slate rather than wood, they soared three times as high and had identical heavy, iron-bound wooden sliding gates facing each other. Denser stopped at a low, flat-roofed building just beyond, attached to the warehouse facing the college walls. Beyond it, the landscape of the district changed, becoming less uniform, studded with chimneyed workshops, dwellings and fenced yards.

Auum breasted through the TaiGethen for a closer look. Denser was standing square in front of a padlocked door set into a featureless wall.

‘This is it,’ he was saying. Auum looked to Rebraal for confirmation he had understood. ‘Give me room. If this goes off, I don’t want anyone hurt.’

At a gesture from Rebraal, the TaiGethen and Al-Arynaar fell back a few paces.

‘Marack,’ said Auum, getting the attention of a cell leader. She was a Tai that Auum respected as much for her strength of mind as her warrior’s abilities. Her original cell had been taken from her by the Elfsorrow but still she kept faith with the Gods and her new cell already admired and trusted her. She was an example to them all. ‘Take your cell, secure the next crossway. Porrak, your cell behind us. Strengthen mine. Wait for my call. If you have to kill, kill silently.’