He began to worry less than a mile from Julatsa. The ClawBound had reported seeing no one. No perimeter guard, no scouts looking for the enemy advance, no routine patrols on horseback. It was as if the city was at peace. The scents in the air, he was told, were of mass movement to the north and west but the ClawBound had not been free to investigate.
'Where are the defenders?' asked Auum, jogging easily beside him, Duele and Evunn ever his shadows.
'I don't know,' said Rebraal. 'We must be prepared that the situation here is more grave than we thought.'
'Or perhaps they expect us to help them though they are unwilling to help themselves.'
'We will see.'
'Pray to Yniss it is not so,' said Auum. 'We are not numerous enough alone and the will must be there or they will crumble under attack.'
The streets were deserted too. Houses were locked and empty. Street lanterns were lit but they illuminated empty cobbles and darkened windows. The atmosphere might have been fitting for a city sleeping in the hours before dawn but this one should have been crawling with those desperate to see that Xetesk did not invade without a struggle.
Rebraal knew little about city defence but surely every main junction should have been defended. Guards should have been walking or riding every lane, thoroughfare and back alley. The people of Julatsa should have been too fearful of invasion to sleep. Auum expressed the fear that he held.
'They have gone,' he said.
And it seemed, to a large extent, that they had. The only concentration of lights in the city was at the college and there they burned bright. During their run from the first abandoned perimeter post to the closed college gates they saw fewer than ten people. And all of them just stood and watched the elves pass. No one challenged them, no one raised a hand in welcome or a fist in threat. It was as if they didn't care.
Rebraal could feel Auum's contempt while they waited to be admitted to the college.
'If you believe, you fight,' he said.
'It isn't the college,' said Rebraal. 'It is the city around it.'
'They are part of the same,' he said. 'Yet their history means nothing to them, it seems. That is what makes them trivial, and takes them away from their Gods, whoever those nameless ones are. And you ask why it is I dislike humans?' He checked himself. 'Most humans.'
The gates opened and the elves ran in, gathering in the courtyard. Coming towards them were mages from the college accompanied by Hirad and The Unknown Warrior. The barbarian looked angry, The Unknown weary.
'Glad you made it,' said Hirad.
'You don't appear so,' said Rebraal, smiling.
'This place is a complete bloody shambles,' he said. 'Sorry, Pheone, this is Rebraal and Auum. People who might save your lives. Pheone runs the college.'
The woman was so relieved to see them she was on the verge of tears.
‘Icannot tell you how much it means to us that you're here,' she said. 'Please, let my people show you all to accommodations. We need to speak to your lead mages as soon as we can. There is much to be done both to the defence of the college and in preparation to raise the Heart. I don't think we have much time.'
Rebraal translated to Auum who turned away and began issuing instructions, his voice full of the irritation he was feeling.
'Our lead mages will wait here to talk to you,' said Rebraal. 'And you are right, we don't have much time.' He turned to The Unknown. 'When did you get here?'
'Late this afternoon, replied The Unknown. 'How far behind are they?'
'They'll be here well before dusk tomorrow. What is going on in the city? Why is there no guard?'
'Because all that are left are inside here already,' growled Hirad. 'It is the most pitiful expression of loyalty I have ever seen. I'm almost glad Ilkar isn't here to see it.'
'It's worse than that,' said The Unknown. 'Until we got here, the gates had been left open. If Xetesk sent assassins here when the siege broke, they could already be here in hiding.'
'Shambles,' muttered Hirad.
Rebraal nodded. 'The TaiGethen and ClawBound will sweep the college.'
Hirad turned to Pheone. 'And make sure everyone keeps out of their way and treats them with the respect they deserve. Someone's here trying to rescue your college, even if your city folk aren't.'
'I know, Hirad,' said Pheone. 'I share your frustration, believe me.'
'He does,' said The Unknown. 'But your council have struck the biggest blow yet against their own way of life. Forgive us for feeling as we do when we come to help.' He turned to Rebraal, wincing and putting a hand to his hip. 'As soon as you can, bring Auum to the refectory. It's the building over there.' He nodded to a low structure whose doors were open to spill light on to the courtyard. 'We have the guard commander in there. He seems bright enough. We all need to talk and then we need to rest. Too many wounds from the catacombs are not healed enough.' He paused and chewed his lip and for the first time since he'd known him, Rebraal saw doubt in The Unknown's eyes.
'Let's just hope your Gods are behind us, eh? I think ours have run north with the Julatsans.'
Chapter 38
Pheone was up with the dawn the next morning feeling torn and unsure but strangely confident. For most of the college, optimism was the dominant feeling.
The arrival of the elves had galvanised the college effort. The extraordinary warriors, the painted TaiGethen, had moved like ghosts through the rooms and corridors in a sweep that left no hiding place. They, together with the mysterious and disturbing ClawBound, had established that there were no Xeteskian assassins in the college but it was more likely as the hours went by that these killers would be present in the city. So the gates remained closed and they scanned the skies ceaselessly.
The Raven, though, their effect had been amazing yet entirely predictable. Among the hundred and seventy or so mages, guards and militia, there was the undeniable feeling that they could no longer lose because The Raven never lost. And here they were, fighting for the college. Pheone couldn't help but feel the same. Something about their air of confidence when they rode into the place, their bearing and their authority. When The Unknown Warrior spoke, you listened. When Hirad looked at you, you tried harder. When Darrick explained a better way to work in defensive teams, it seemed obvious.
But she had seen them later on that night, talking with Commander Vale, and it left her wondering whether this might not end up being their graveyard. There were three of the six over whom she had serious concerns that she dare not voice. Darrick, who had been weakened by a deep wound on his hip and who had plainly suffered through their three days of hard riding. Hirad, who, though he would never admit it, was barely free enough to fight, having sustained a sprained wrist and a damaged chest that restricted the movement of his upper body. Both clearly pained him. And, of course, Erienne. She had heard so much about Erienne and now she knew what the poor woman carried. There had been so much grief in her life, so much pressure and now she was alone with a magical force she could have no real idea how to properly control. That she was at the table at all was impressive enough. But her temper was short and she was isolated, as if continually biting back something that wasn't her. Something that might escape if she invoked its name.
Pheone wasn't sure whether the rest of them could see the trouble she was in and the energy she consumed in just trying to remain herself. Pheone could but, like them, could offer no assistance. Even so, she couldn't shift the irrational thought that, once the fighting started, they would prevail. And if that belief was shared throughout the college, then The Raven would already have had the desired effect and for that she was eternally grateful.