The TaiGethen cell tore in. Auum flicked out a jaqrui. It keened through the air, the ghostly sound echoing from the library walls, and ripped into the sword arm of a guard who grunted and clutched at the wound. Both Duele and Evunn favoured dual short swords. Evunn surged up the steps, ducked a blow, spun a roundhouse kick into the chest of his target and followed through with twin chopping strikes, left to right, biting deep into neck and shoulder. Immediately, he turned and backhanded the next guard, Duele burying his sword deep into the same unfortunate's chest. Before Auum could finish off his wounded man, his Tai had completed the job.
'Go,' said Auum.
The Tai sprinted left around the library walls, across the way of the soldiers closing in. They would be on Marack quickly. Auum increased his pace. The gardens where Porrack and Allyne were hidden were close by.
'Tais, move!' shouted Auum. 'We are discovered.'
The enemy were closing on them from ahead and right. Perhaps twenty swordsmen and crossbowmen appearing from around the sides of more of the long rooms in which their mages' spells were tested. Ahead, he could see his brothers move fluidly to their feet and begin to run. Like spirits rising from the ground they came and he could hear the whine and whisper of jaqruis and the thrum of bowstrings through the growing clamour bouncing from the walls of every building.
Auum's Tai split, creating a wide front and narrow targets. Auum whipped out two more throwing crescents. Left of him, Duele hugged the walls of the library in deep shadow, closing on men who could barely see him approaching through the gloom. Right, Evunn had sheathed a short sword and his jaqrui howled away. The enemy were scant yards distant and the crossbow bolts started to fly.
Auum zig-zagged into the centre of them, diving forward to turn a roll across the ground, coming to his feet and driving his blade into the groin of an enemy. He leapt away, Duele now in the melee with him, drop-kicking into a face and carving a deep cut across a throat.
Now, Porrack and Allyne hit the rear of the Xeteskians, taking the crossbowmen apart. Auum ducked a blow, raised his sword to parry another and smashed the base of his left palm up into the face of his attacker, punching him off his feet. He danced backwards, assessing his next target. Three men rushed him. He grabbed out his other short blade, backed off a pace and let them come. To the right, one crumpled and fell, a jaqrui thrown by Evunn buried in his mouth, blood pouring from his ruined face.
Auum whirled his blades in front of him, feinted to strike, dropped to his haunches and swept the feet from the nearest man. Ignoring him, he drove upright, blocked two quick strikes from the remaining guard and whipped a blade into the man's chest, sending him stumbling back, leather armour slit and blood welling from the wound.
The man on the ground was back on his heels. Auum lashed a kick into his head, laying him out cold. In front of him, Porrack was surrounded and took a deep cut in one arm. He responded, kicking high and straight into the head of his attacker. The man's head snapped back with a sickening crack. Auum stepped in, his blade burying itself to the hilt in the lower back of another.
It was enough. The Xeteskians ran, disengaging and running back to the south of the college and relative safety.
'Leave them,' ordered Auum. 'Tais, with me.'
The glow of spells bloomed to the north side of the library, deep blue and orange. The TaiGethen and their Al-Arynaar charges turned back to help Marack and her cell. Auum led them right around the library, seeing Marack backed up the steps of the building and against the doors. One of her Tai was down but moving, the mage was casting and a dozen men were moving in, swords, crossbows and magic.
Duele and Evunn took up the call of the spider monkey, the guttural sound distracting the attackers, some of whom turned. Orders were barked, warnings called and the line changed formation. The TaiGethen threw jaqrui crescents. The Xeteskians answered with crossbows. A bolt grazed Auum's left arm. He heard a grunt behind him and someone stumbled. They would be helped, it was the TaiGethen way. He ran on.
Ahead, the Al-Arynaar mage loosed a spell. Deep yellow Orbs flew out into the enemy line, striking them dead centre. The SpellShield held, dazzling the night sky with sudden bright blue. And beyond the battle, the noise of more fighting.
The Raven.
They may have been to blame for their discovery by the Xeteskians but, true to their word, they were covering the agreed escape route. Auum let the smallest of smiles cross his face and stepped in to grace the field of battle once more.
Chapter 20
Nyam looked on, his mouth moving soundlessly. Surely, here was the evidence he needed. But whether he should take action was something else entirely. To his left, Cleress slept, so deep that nothing of the past few moments had disturbed her. In front of him, Myriell sat bolt upright in a chair, her head cushioned, tended by a Guild elf. Her eyes were closed but she was not asleep. He could see her eyes moving beneath their lids. Her hands occasionally teased at the air and, like him, her mouth was moving and her brow furrowed deeply but with concentration, not confusion.
He had misjudged Diera badly. The woman was far stronger than he had thought and that had led to the stand-off in which he now found himself. The moment he had threatened her life, she had snatched up her child and screamed for help, bringing the Guild elves into the bedroom. Almost immediately, Protectors had forced their way past the guards.
And now, Protectors ringed the entrance to the chambers, keeping the rest of the Guild elves away while Nyam studied the Al-Drechar. But more Protectors guarded the door to Diera's bedroom too, underlining their split loyalties and the fine line Nyam was treading. His colleagues, he noticed, were either unwilling or unable to join him. Perhaps they were giving thought to the morning and how they would save their own pathetic lives when Sha-Kaan inevitably came to exact his retribution.
'Why did you do it?' asked Nerane, the elf mopping Myriell's brow. 'We were helping you every way we could. We answered your questions.'
'Not all of them,' said Nyam. 'And now I have the answer I need for my masters in Xetesk. You should not have hidden the fact that another One mage was alive and under your protection. We want to perpetuate the order, see it grow again.'
'You would take it for yourselves.' Myriell's voice was cracked and exhausted. 'We will not allow that.'
Nyam looked at the old elf again, saw her eyes open and staring at him with unfettered disgust.
'That assumes you have a choice,' said Nyam.
'We always have a choice.'
'You are protecting her now?'
'I am doing what I must. You risk what you covet by your intrusion,' said Myriell, her eyes closing again.
'You must let us help you,' said Nyam.
'We will never let our secrets fall into the hands of any college,' she said, voice faint. 'Get out.'
Nyam felt torn between his respect for the Al-Drechar and his need to exert his authority. Threats weren't working. He heard footsteps behind him and turned his head to see a Protector approach.
'You must hear me, my mage,' he said. ‘Istand in communication with Myx.'
Myx. Dystran's personal Protector.
'Speak.'
Nyam listened and his heart began to charge in his chest.
Rebraal took up a position in the lee of one of the two pillars that flanked the entrance to the dome complex. As The Raven ran out in their trademark angled chevron, with the mages in a quartet just behind them, he stretched his bow again and assessed the state of the college defence.