Initially intrigued, Jatha and his men had stared intently at the Balaians but the interest soon waned and, as the time drew on, most slept but for the two guards who sat just under the ground covering, at the top of the stairs.
Hirad leant against a wall, The Unknown next to him, legs stretched out in front of them. Idle talk had fallen to nothing and Thraun, who hadn’t said a word since they descended into the Choul, remained lost in his own thoughts.
Eventually, the mages had read everything and, resupplied with coffee, placed the texts in a pile between them and began to talk.
‘Styliann, how long have you known this information was in Xetesk?’ asked Erienne.
‘From the start. The only reason for my silence was the trouble I discovered I was going to have liberating them from the College.’
‘But have you studied them before?’ she pressed.
‘Not like this, I am ashamed to say. They’ve been in the locked vaults.’
‘And what do you think?’
‘Hold on,’ interrupted Ilkar. ‘We’ll get nowhere voicing random opinion. Let’s identify the task and try to solve it piece by piece. All right?’ The others nodded, a smile playing across Styliann’s lips.
‘Ever the diplomat, Ilkar,’ he said.
Ilkar shrugged. ‘We just don’t have the time to waste. Now, who wants to outline the problem?’
‘All right,’ said Erienne. ‘We have an unbounded rip linking two dimensions and drawing power from interdimensional space to grow at an exponential rate. We believe that because it was formed through conventional magic, it can be closed by the same method. However, there is no lore-defined spell for dismantling such a rip and we are left with having to piece together what will effectively be an untested best-guess from the fragments of Septern’s writings we have here and our own small knowledge. The risks are unbelievable, success is uncertain and the power needed is unknown. How does that sound?’
‘You’ve been framing that for some time, haven’t you, my love?’ said Denser, drawing a hand through her hair. Ilkar chuckled, more at the sparkle in Denser’s eye than at his words. This was the old Denser and he was very glad to have him back. He wondered on the change in the Xeteskian and knew Erienne had much to do with it though he suspected much of the strength had lain trapped within the man all the time. All it had needed was freeing.
‘I think it’s a very accurate summation,’ said Styliann. ‘Now if you will allow, Raven mages, I believe the first part of the puzzle to be determining whether we can construct a mana shape capable of forming a linkage with interdimensional space. Because if we can’t affect it in the region of the rip, we can’t hope to sew the sky back together, to use slightly emotive language.’
Ilkar looked at him. ‘Sew. Sew.’ He leaned forward and shuffled through the pile of texts. ‘Septern used that very word to describe something to do with bounded gateways. Here we are.’ He grabbed a slim leather-bound volume they had found in Julatsa and leafed through it, his eyes scanning quickly. ‘Listen to this. It’s part of a student lecture script on thought process. “It isn’t enough to simply understand the theory of a mana construct when dealing with dimensional forces. One must attempt to build into that shape, a flavour of an earth-bound activity, something mundane and every day that can keep your thoughts focused during not merely formation, but deployment.
‘ “You must realise that interdimensional forces affect mana in very different ways than Balaian space does. A spell you cast to tame or mould its power will develop what can only be described as a mind of its own and a shape you have fashioned to, say, open a bounded gateway, can quickly run out of your control. So, how to remain focused and in control? Think through your action and, as I said, link it to something ordinary. For instance, to take on the bounded gateway example, the deployment of the spell takes the material of Balaian space, the material of the target dimension and pulls them together before fixing them to one another.
‘ “So, focus one, imagine pulling two pieces of cloth together. And to fasten them? Why not sewing? We have all seen people sew cloth so build that into your thought processes as you form your mana shape.” ’ Ilkar passed the book to Denser. ‘He goes on to describe a practical casting the students have to do but the meaning is clear. What are we doing but darning a hole in the air of this dimension and our own and cutting the one from the other to close the corridor?’
Styliann nodded. ‘Thoughts, Denser?’
‘I think that’s all very well but I don’t recall reading anything about how you build your needle and thread into the construct. I can imagine it might introduce instability.’
‘It might well but we’re still getting ahead of ourselves,’ said Erienne. ‘That piece we all read concerning basic construct theory is incomplete. We have no idea whether what we build will have the power to link to the edges of the rip. Septern, after all, was standing right next to where he cast. We have a range of God knows how far.’
Another nod from Styliann. ‘It is a point well made but one we don’t need to concern ourselves with. The DimensionConnect spell we used at Understone Pass had a range element which I understand very well. The four of us have enough strength between us to cast a linkage construct. Only just, I suspect, but enough.’
‘We have to be sure,’ said Ilkar.
‘It will become clear, Ilkar,’ said Styliann. ‘Now, to introduce Denser’s needle and thread into the construct.’
From his position next to The Unknown, Hirad yawned and stretched. It was going to be a long night.
His name was Aeb but it was the only mark of individuality he had. He did not consider himself singular in any way, not when he was singly assigned and not when, as now, he stood with all of his brothers. He could feel every one of them who readied to defend the house as he had been directed by his Given, the mage Styliann. The reasons were unimportant, the order was everything.
Aeb was a powerful man who dimly remembered his calling at the age of twenty-three. Garbed, as they all were, in heavy black leather and chain armour, stiff boots and ebony mask, carrying both sword and battle axe, he watched his segment of the land in front of him with complete calm. It was a calm that no non-Protector would have felt, because the horizon was full of Wesmen.
The Protectors had watched the approach of the enemy army for several hours, first through the thoughts of a dozen scouts and latterly through every eye as the force from Julatsa moved into position, encircling them at a distance of around one hundred and fifty yards. But as the day waned towards a warm dusk, Aeb sampled the feelings of his brothers, none of whom thought an attack would come before dawn.
‘We will stand down in turn,’ Aeb thought, the message passing instantly among the Protectors. He looked left and right, the ruins of the house at his back. From all parts of the defensive formation that left no gap to attack the building, brothers took three paces back and walked to a series of laid and lit cook-fires beside which fuel, food and water stood ready for use. The Protectors would stand down a third at a time for four hours or until the threat changed the order and they all came to ready again. At no time would there be an opportunity for surprise attack by the Wesmen. The night time was dangerous but more so for the Wesmen. They needed light by which to fight effectively; the Protectors did not.
Feelings, thoughts and ordered statements from his brothers moved through Aeb’s mind, all of them filtered in the part of his mind just behind his battle consciousness. At any time, he knew everything that they saw and heard, he felt every spark of their bodies as they breathed, he knew every weakness, every muscle that pained them, and every injury that they had sustained. Damaged brothers were protected on weak fronts by those most suited to the task. None would be lost through lack of preparation.
The only fragment of concern that played across the soul-consciousness was that Cil and the five who had travelled with the Given could not be felt though their souls still remained in the tank. It was as if they were dormant somehow. Alive but not one with the brethren. The whole would be made stronger on their return.