‘Be careful,’ whispered Ulysan.
Auum had been teetering on the verge of reaching out to Takaar, so genuinely sorry the elf appeared to be, but drew back.
‘You’ve had so many chances and occasionally you have done something truly remarkable. But the next time you blink, that voice in your head tells you to walk another path and I cannot risk that, not here. This is hostile territory and I have no confidence in you.’
Takaar’s eyes narrowed just a little.
‘I must be given another chance. You cannot be victorious without me. I. Am. Takaar.’ He looked briefly to his right. ‘There. Did I say that right?’
‘Go back to the ships,’ said Auum. ‘Pass your wisdom to the Il-Aryn through the sisters. Rest and recover.’
‘I do not need to recover!’ screamed Takaar. ‘I need to be here. Without me you’ll all die.’
‘I’m prepared to take that chance.’
‘I am not!’
Takaar’s eyes darkened. He stretched his arm towards Drech, who gasped and struggled. Takaar opened his fist and Drech shuddered once, violently, and made a strangled noise in his throat. His eyes flooded with blood and exploded, showering steaming red droplets across Takaar’s face and the cobbled street. Blood coursed from Drech’s ears, his skull collapsed and he crumpled to the ground.
‘Now you need me!’ shouted Takaar, his face covered in gore and his eyes glittering with euphoria. ‘Now I am indispensable! Now I alone control the Il-Aryn!’
Auum felt nausea clog his throat.
‘Murderer!’
Auum couldn’t move but Ulysan did. The big TaiGethen pounced, bearing Takaar backwards onto the ground, snatching a jaqrui from his pouch and holding it against Takaar’s throat. Takaar keened like an injured animal, begging to be set free, and Gilderon pressed an ikari blade to Ulysan’s temple as the Senserii came to the ready. All around Auum, TaiGethen drew their blades in response.
‘Release him,’ said Gilderon. A trickle of blood ran from Ulysan’s temple.
‘Auum?’
Auum walked forward staring into Gilderon’s eyes. Twenty TaiGethen moved with him. Silence spread as the work of the city surrounding them ceased.
‘Back off, Gilderon. Harm him and the Senserii die right here and right now.’
Gilderon glowered. He did not move his ikari.
‘You are not capable of taking me,’ he said. ‘Call Ulysan off or I will kill him.’
‘Auum?’
‘Stay where you are. Gilderon knows you can kill Takaar before he can twitch. Don’t you, Gilderon?’
‘I do not need you, Auum,’ said Takaar. ‘Drech is gone; that is my gift to you. He would have undermined you. But I won’t. I will go because you need me out in the field. We must find Dawnthief. Bring it into our bosoms and make it the weapon that defeats the Wytch Lords.’
‘Time for you to keep your mouth shut,’ said Auum. ‘Your life is forfeit, murderer.’
‘I must be allowed to go. I can divine it. Just think what that would mean. A force for good in the right hands.’
‘You are not the right hands,’ snapped Auum. He was feeling faint with the pain in his arm. The burning would not die and blood dripped down his arm from the knife wound. ‘How can you remain loyal to him, Gilderon?’
‘We believe in him. He found us and he saved us. We owe him our lives. Tell Ulysan to release him.’
‘He is a murderer, as just witnessed by you. I cannot let him go.’ Auum studied Gilderon’s face. ‘You do understand that, don’t you?’
Auum felt what he assumed was shock begin to descend on him. The vision of Drech’s death played out in his mind, overlaid by Takaar’s continuous babble. In front of him the Senserii were unmoved and his TaiGethen likewise. He had to find a way to end the stand-off before he lost the strength to stand. He looked down at Takaar. The elf was muttering to himself, in conversation with his tormentor. Time and again he named Dawnthief and the search he thought only he could undertake with any hope of success.
‘You cannot keep him here, you must see that. We will take him,’ said Gilderon. ‘But you must let him get up and leave with dignity.’
‘Dignity? Look what he did to Drech! Was that dignity or respect for another? He should leave in chains if he leaves here at all.’
Auum laid a hand on Ulysan’s shoulder, and the big elf relaxed and got up. Auum knelt and dragged Takaar to his feet with his good hand clamped on the collar of his shirt.
‘What did you just do?’ Auum screamed into Takaar’s face. ‘On a whim you killed the best you ever trained. Why did you do it? How could you do it?’
Takaar’s face dripped with sympathy for the ignorant.
‘He didn’t believe in me,’ he said.
‘What?’ Auum gaped. ‘I don’t believe in you. Are you going to kill me too?’
‘Is that what you’d like?’
Auum pushed him away to stumble into Gilderon’s arms.
‘Raise your hand to me and I will cut it off.’
‘This must end,’ said Gilderon.
Auum clutched his left shoulder, clamping his hand hard over the wound. His whole arm throbbed and he felt so tired. Dealing with Takaar was always such a drain. Every moment he was within Takaar’s sphere was a moment in which anything could go wrong. And now he had murdered his best student in cold blood. For nothing.
He should be put to death, but the blood that would flow when the Senserii attacked wasn’t worth it. Yet Takaar left alive was a horrible risk. He was capable of reappearing at any time, and what he chose to do could make the difference between defeat and victory.
‘You’ll take him to Korina?’ asked Auum.
Gilderon nodded. ‘Directly.’
‘He must not be allowed to go anywhere near the search area for Dawnthief. Yniss knows, he might just find it and hand it straight to the Wytch Lords.’
‘It will never fall into their hands,’ muttered Takaar. ‘I can hide it. Bring it home.’
‘On that condition, I will let him go with you,’ said Auum.
Gilderon nodded again. ‘Agreed.’
Auum stepped back. He looked up to the gatehouse.
‘Ulysan, get up there. Tell me what you see.’
Ulysan ran up the stone stairs and stared out.
‘They’re taking away their dead and they aren’t moving back in. I can see a large gathering away to the left. My guess it’ll either be a big push or a withdrawal.’
‘Get him away now,’ said Auum. ‘Keep your Senserii safe and return to the fight. We need you but not him. I never want to lay eyes on him again.’
Gilderon bowed and held his ikari horizontally across his body. ‘Die old, not today.’
The gates were opened and the Senserii ran out with Takaar trotting in their midst, still chattering and gesticulating to himself. Auum climbed slowly up to the gatehouse and stood by Ulysan.
‘This is a disaster,’ he said. ‘What are we doing here?’
‘Trying to survive.’
‘This whole journey was a mistake, Ulysan. I can feel it deep within me. I don’t think any of us will be going home.’
‘You don’t believe that. Get Takaar out of your system. Remember he’s insane; don’t let him get to you.’
‘Is he really mad? Or just a manipulative bastard cursed with power he is all too happy to use to further his ends.’
‘It doesn’t matter now. We’ve wounds to dress and our dead to grieve for. Turn your back. Forget about him.’
‘I’m incapable of doing at least one of those things.’
Chapter 15
The Wytch Lords’ power derives from their union. It breeds their immortality and their strength. Break the cadre, break the Wytch Lords.
Ystormun howled in the mind of his host body, driving the shaman to his knees.
‘You will not retreat. You will never retreat! How dare you speak your fear? Victory is close if only you have the wit to grasp it.’