Demonstorm

'It's just the impression I get.'

'I see.' Denser buttoned his fly back up and walked back inside. 'Convenient how The Unknown organises everyone else to work and leaves himself free to get fresh with you.'

'Perk of the job,' said The Unknown.

Denser chuckled. 'I'll set about this spell then. Make yourselves comfortable. Don't think to help or anything.'

'We won't,' said Erienne.

The Unknown watched Denser collecting stones from outside and arranging them in the centre of the cave. He was very precise in the shapes and sizes he chose and in the way they were arranged.

'It's all about reflecting the heat from the spell,' said Erienne in answer to his question. 'The mana will bounce around for longer if the stones are placed right. Keep the heat in for longer, you know.'

T see.' He paused. 'How are you feeling?'

'Warming up.'

'That isn't what I asked.'

'I know.' She sighed. 'Look, Unknown, I know I can do it. In the playhouse, I had no doubt. But look how many of us there were and how relatively few of them. We could afford a mistake and so I didn't make one. Now the stakes are higher. One slip and it isn't just us that's gone, it's everyone. That's a burden.'

T understand. Look, if it's any help, we're all scared about who we'll let down if we fail. But that's how it's always been, hasn't it? The Raven united does what it has to despite how we feel individually. Draw strength from us.'

'I'll try. Thank you. Hmm. Can't really imagine Hirad being scared.' They looked across at him, seated with his hands in his lap, searching for his dragon. 'And you. .' Erienne trailed off and The Unknown felt her shoulders sag. 'Oh, Unknown, you poor soul.'

The Unknown knew what she was talking about. He smiled grimly and shifted in his position, swallowing hard. 'We have all had to make sacrifices.'

'But you're the only one of us for whom family waits on your return.'

'Diera knew this time I was unlikely to come home.'

'And this time you knew all along, didn't you?'

The Unknown nodded. 'We all did, didn't we? When we thought

about it in the quiet of the night, there was never any chance of US surviving what we have to do.'

'There's always hope,' said Erienne.

'You listen to Hirad too much. The hope we have is for the survival of our dimension, not for ourselves.'

'And are you handling it all right?'

The Unknown blinked away the moisture in his eyes. 'Erienne, it guts me every time I think about it. The last things I said to my family were lies. How long will it be before Diera finally gives up hope of me ever coming home? How long will she be forced to grieve?'

'Then do what you would have me do. Focus on The Raven and our strength. Know that what we do now will mean that your family has a future even if it is without you. When the grief has faded, they will rejoice they had you for as long as they did. Believe me, I know.1

'Thank the Gods you're here, Erienne.'

'That we're all here.'

'All right, I'm ready,' said Denser. 'All of you done the necessary?'

The Unknown jogged out of the cave briefly but could hear Denser speak.

'Eilaan, as soon as I begin to prepare, we can assume the demons will be onto us. We need a flattened Cone ready right away. You up for it?'

T know what to do.'

'Good. Well, it may bring the hordes down on our heads but at least we'll be warm and dry. Unknown, may I?'

'Be my guest.'

Denser closed his eyes and developed the FlamePalm construct. The simple casting was complete in moments and he played the flame over the stones in a circular motion. They began to emit heat. Smoke curled lazily upwards. The blue of Denser's spell played over their exposed surfaces and took on a cycle of its own, bouncing and reflecting as Erienne had described. The warmth began to fill the shallow cave.

But from all around them, the sounds of the demons changed and a new call grew. It was a call of fury and it was taken up by myriad throats, gaining quickly as it neared.

The demons had found them.

Chapter 43

'1 have your signature, my Dragonene. We are coming.'

Sha-Kaan broke the contact with Hirad Coldheart and wheeled in the air. In the day since their last contact, he had probed the human's mind and found it stressed and active, denying him safe access. And during that same time the damaging battle in the skies of Beshara had finally burned itself out but the cost to the dragon population and that able to travel with him had been severe.

Almost four hundred dragons had perished in flame and fall, taking from him more than a fifth of those who had originally assembled on the plains and offered such hope. Now, they numbered a little over fourteen hundred. It would have to be enough.

Around him, the Kaan and most of the Naik circled, guarding against further trouble. Yasal was on the ground, talking with representatives of the recendy warring broods while those that had taken no part were flying distant defensive patterns. It would take time to gather them all and Sha-Kaan was not confident that all would come.

He rose high above the circling Kaan and Naik and gouted flame long into the clear sky. He roared and dived, pulsing out his message, demanding their attention and their respect.

'Our time is now,' he sent. 'Gather in the skies, my allied broods. Put aside your petty squabbles. We are already weakened and we cannot afford further diminution of our strengths. The battle for our futures and for all those of our melde dimensions begins for us.

'Fly, my friends. Fly to me.'

Sha-Kaan dipped below his brood who were forming up as they had drilled. Around them, Naik did likewise. From the ground, he saw the dust flood the air, a thousand wings beating skywards. The pulse message would be passed out among the Stara, Veret and Gost. Soon those that still believed would come.

Yasal-Naik barked his relief that the call had finally come through.

'So your human has survived and made his journey.'

Sha-Kaan pulsed feelings of warmth and pride. 'Did I not toll you he was tenacious? I never doubted him.'

'Then you were alone.'

'I alone understand his capabilities.' Sha-Kaan turned his head to Yasal as they flew side by side. 'And what were the results of your diplomacy, young Naik?'

'I have salvaged much of the support but none will fly with the Skoor. They are dismissed and with them must go an equal number of Kaan and Naik to ensure they do not abuse their temporary advantage in our skies.'

'It is as much as I could have hoped,' said Sha-Kaan. 'But it leaves us a further eighty mouths short. We take with us barely more than thirteen hundred to do battle with our enemy.'

'Then we must all fight as hard as two,' said Yasal.

Sha-Kaan inclined his head in respect. 'You have grown, Yasal. It makes me almost glad this crisis fell upon us.'

'And I, Great Kaan.' Yasal's mind pulsed regret. 'We have lost so many to each other over the cycles. Perhaps our future will be more productive.'

'We can rule the skies together.'

'Yes, we can.'

The two master dragons flew into the centre of the gathering. Though they were much reduced in number, the acreage of wing and scale remained truly awesome. The days of drills and organisation had benefited them in structure in the sky. Each brood was formed and solid. The outlying patrols swept and dove and the mass was prepared.

'Now is the time of greatest risk,' said Sha-Kaan. 'Now we will know whether our talk was believed.'

'Does it matter if it is not? If you see what I mean.'

'I do and to us perhaps it does not. But it matters to Hirad Coldheart. He expects and we must deliver.'

Sha-Kaan led Yasal high above the massed ranks of dragons. Beshara's last and only hope.

'Now is the moment of trust. You know me and you know my honour. Yes, many of us have battled in the past but now that must be consigned to history. Now we fight for our survival. And for that