She smiled at him but there was still confusion in her eyes and the memory of agony.
‘It already felt like forever,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t think you would ever find me.’
‘What did?’
‘The void. It is worse than any myth. Trapped in the moment of violent death for all time. I have been burning, my flesh melting and my bones cracking. I can still feel it, Ilkar.’
‘It will fade. You’re with us now,’ said Ilkar. ‘What’s your story, Darrick?’
Darrick turned a haunted face to him. ‘Even though I came back, I have been feeling the pounding of endless tons of stone on my head and across my body. Why that?’
‘Perhaps it is still your most vivid death memory,’ said Erienne. ‘My latest most certainly is.’
Darrick nodded. ‘Every moment I can feel the one that dashed my skull and the smell of the karron demons. I can see you all there on The Thread and I die endlessly, never knowing if you succeeded or not.’
‘You all ready to run?’ Hirad had broken into a trot. ‘And as you’ll have guessed, we did succeed. Couldn’t have done it without your help on the way, though.’
‘Thank you. Where are we running?’ asked Darrick.
Hirad pointed and Darrick fell in beside him. Ilkar smiled and his body felt strengthened, more complete. Perhaps Sol was right. And perhaps more would come. Still, though, the mana spectrum was dark.. no, not quite. Beyond the Garonin, from where the luminescence emanated, there was something.
‘Souls,’ said Ilkar. ‘Thousands of them. We’d better make this fast or it’s going to be a slaughter.’
The souls huddled together in the lee of the edifice their combined strength had created. The escape from the corridor had been close. Auum had never doubted they would make it but enough of the dead had lost faith and so had inevitably perished. They had been cast back into the void as the passage folded to nothing. The rest were scared and the crumbling of the rock, if such it was, behind them was evidence of failing belief.
None of them would help the TaiGethen. Indeed it was hard to pick out many individuals. Most had coalesced into an amorphous shifting globe, each with a voice that shouted for help. Some had remained grey shadows. All waited for Sol to appear to lead them to safety. But The Raven was nowhere to be seen and Auum had more significant and immediate problems.
‘Ghaal, how many?’
‘Thirty-eight. All carrying the mana drain needles. Forty yards distant.’
‘Work to disrupt them. They’ll try to get round us to the mass. Choose your blows.’
Auum unclipped his jaqrui pouch, loosened the swords in his twin back-mounted scabbards and thanked Yniss for his gifts. He turned to the two greatest gifts of all. TaiGethen. Souls he’d thought lost forever. Friends garbed for the rainforest and painted brown and green on their faces in the manner of Tual’s children. Evunn and Duele.
‘Yniss calls you for your greatest challenge, my friends,’ said Auum. ‘Fight with me one more time. Protect the dead. Help is coming.’
Duele and Evunn nodded. Both looked confused, fearful even. But the sight of their Tai leader brought them hope and, more importantly, faith.
‘Tai to me. We pray.’
Auum knelt and bowed his head as the Garonin moved closer. He could feel their footfalls through the ground and he could hear them slapping dully on the ivory. The four knelt with him and they knew the closeness of touch.
‘Yniss, we stand before an enemy that knows no mercy. Protect us. We prepare to fight in your name. Guide us. We do your work and ask only that you bless our struggle. Hear us. Ulandeneth speaks with one voice, elf and man. Join us.’
Auum raised his head and gestured to his Tai to stand.
‘Ghaal, Miirt, get amongst them. Duele, Evunn, my left and right. Spread as you must. Watch your brothers. Watch your sister. Tai, we move.’
Miirt and Ghaal moved out a few paces, remaining close together. Auum, Duele and Evunn spread across the mass of souls. They couldn’t hope to cover it all. The huge body of souls, thousands of them, spread over an area easily fifty yards wide and twice as high. The structure in which they huddled afforded them some protection but the anxiety spawned by the approaching Garonin increased with every moment and the walls were weak, laced with cracks and beginning to crumble.
The structure was essentially simple. A scooped-out circular overhang, bordered by rough spires of rock and with a further tall spire rising above the centre of the overhang. It looked like an ancient weathered hand, with index finger pointing at the sky. Ivory was its colour.
The Garonin began to spread into a wide line, seeing their advantage.
‘Pick your targets and work fast,’ said Auum. ‘Yniss will guide you.’
‘I had thought myself lost in the void forever,’ said Duele. ‘Your call brought us back.’
‘No,’ said Auum. ‘Yniss brought us together. Now we must show our gratitude.’
Ghaal and Miirt dropped into a half crouch. The Garonin broke into a run. Auum turned his head to face his enemies.
‘Dance.’
Ghaal and Miirt sprinted forward a few paces, planted their left legs and jumped, soaring over the oncoming first line of Garonin with their bodies straight and arms ahead like a diver entering the water. Both curled their bodies, rotated and landed to run at the second line.
Auum moved a heartbeat later. A jaqrui crescent wailed away from his hand, catching his target on the wrist and chopping hard into the flesh. The Garonin’s weapon fell from nerveless fingers. He turned to find Auum right in front of him. Auum’s right hand came up under the enemy chin, driving his head back. His left came through, the blade in it biting deep.
Auum stepped back and ran right. The Garonin surge was fully on them. Duele swayed away from a running enemy, planting a straight kick into the side of his knee. The cracking of bone ricocheted across the edifice behind. The Garonin went down clutching at the injury. Duele ensured he was not suffering for long.
Evunn was surrounded. Garonin were unwilling to face him. Most preferred to run by, trying to get at the body of souls. He jumped. His swords whipped outwards left and right. Two Garonin pitched forward, deep cuts to their necks. Evunn brought his blades back, crossing them in front of him. The Garonin before him stumbled and collapsed. His head lolled to one side, spurting gore, all but severed. That got their attention. Three turned on Evunn and he was quickly on the defensive.
Screams rose from the mass as mana was siphoned away. Dark spots appeared briefly, fading to nothing. Too many Garonin were getting past the wafer-thin defence.
‘Fight!’ called Auum. ‘You have to fight for your lives. For your souls.’
But their fear was too great and it played into the willing hands of the enemy. Auum ran the line of the pulsating, terrified mass of souls. Garonin were deep within it. Auum flashed a blade into the back of a Garonin, who spun round to stab his needle point into Auum’s soul. Auum could see it coming as if it were being pushed through tar. He stepped to one side, grabbed the Garonin’s arm and pulled the enemy onto the point of his sword.
Back out in the middle of the fight, Ghaal and Miirt were under increasing pressure. Garonin bodies fell and disappeared. Too many for them to ignore. The Tai were back to back against ten, their limbs blurring, swords tracing paths in the air. But it was all in defence.
Auum thought to help them but before him stood three Garonin. Others ran left and right of them, diving into the mana-rich souls behind him. More screams, more pleas for help. Auum drew his second blade. The three Garonin rushed him, their speed startling. Needle points flashed out from their hands, joined to their armour by lines of some kind.
Auum swayed left to dodge the first, bringing a blade through to sever the line. He ducked down as he moved, his other blade chopping into the second needle, shattering it. The third came straight for his head. Dropping the blade from his left hand he caught the needle scant inches from his forehead, hurling it to the ground, where it smashed.