But Sha-Kaan did not move, an open act of aggression should Tanis-Veret choose to take it that way. But the damaged dragon merely shook his head.
‘I see,’ he said.
‘Skies above, Tanis, no you do not!’ thundered Sha-Kaan. ‘I came here and begged you not to ally with the Naik, to trust us that we would protect you from them but you would not listen and so we were bound to fight you and you were the weaker link.
‘It is of no succour but the Kaan took no pleasure in your destruction. And now, we have the chance to help you survive.’
A laugh rumbled in the chest of Tanis-Veret and he growled in his throat. ‘How can you help us? The Kaan are finished too. This meeting is a meeting of the dead. The gateway is too big for you to defend any longer. We can all see it. When the Naik next muster their allies, you will be destroyed and your melde-dimension with you.’
Sha-Kaan inclined his head. Tanis-Veret’s incomplete knowledge led to his only possible conclusion. ‘But we now have the means to close the gateway and we need you to give us the time to do it.’
‘I can think of no reason why I should trust your words.’
‘I make you this offer, Tanis-Veret,’ said Sha-Kaan. ‘It is your decision if you accept. I will place no pressure on you. I have travelled alone and at great risk to talk with you and am honoured that you still grant me audience. Natives of my melde-dimension have travelled here to use their skills to close the gateway in my sky. It was forged by their magic and can be undone by that same magic. But they will be on the ground and vulnerable while they work.
‘If you join the battle on the side of the Kaan, we can defend them. And should they succeed, the Kaan will return to strength quickly. I do not believe the Naik will leave you be, should they triumph. What I can promise you, and you know my words can be trusted, is that we will protect you after our victory. We will keep enemies from your borders while you heal and keep you safe while your numbers recover. Never again will the Veret and the Kaan fight. Our lands do not cross, we have no reason to be in conflict. So it shall be with the Kaan.
‘I do not expect you to answer now. It is your gamble and the fate of your Brood rests on your decision. I need your help. The Brood Kaan needs your help. And now I must leave. I have to prepare for battle, as do you. Perhaps I will see you dive on the Naik.’
‘The Skies go with you, Sha-Kaan,’ said Tanis-Veret, his tone enigmatic, thoughtful. ‘I will respond to the call from the Naik as I must. But that is all I must do.’
‘As you wish, Tanis-Veret.’ He unfurled his wings, barked a farewell and flew for the Kaan Broodland, his heart a little easier while his mind turned to battle.
Chapter 33
As evening gathered, the mist closed in and the pace of the Kaan Broodland, already sedate, slowed even further. No dragons remained outside, choosing Chouls, melde-corridors or private dwellings if they were of sufficient rank. The Raven sat outside near the river. They hadn’t been given any quarters and were clearly expected to sleep outside in the open. But the night was warm and humid and sleeping by the river would present no problem.
The real problem lay in the uncertainty of the mages and Hirad felt that keenly. He saw the anxious look in Ilkar’s eyes and the fidgeting of Denser’s lips as they worried at the stem of his unlit pipe.
On the one hand it was extraordinary, he thought, as he watched the four of them arguing and practising a short distance away, sitting on a flat rock near the river, books and papers held open and down by small stones and pebbles. Here, four of Balaia’s most talented mages, including the most powerful man in Xetesk, struggled with a problem for which they had practically all the information.
And on the other, it was no surprise at all. They were being asked to close a hole in the sky, the size of a city, hundreds of feet above their heads. Hirad could only guess at the skill that must take. Again, he felt helpless. He knew his role as warrior meant they got here at all, but now, with the most important work still to be done, he was sitting around drinking coffee.
Across the stove sat Thraun, silent and brooding, his long blond hair lank in the humidity, hanging in thick clotted strands around his head. The shapechanger had barely acknowledged his own existence since Will’s death, coming to life only when The Raven were threatened. But, like so much of The Raven of the recent past, the man he had been was gone.
‘Thraun?’ ventured Hirad. The young man lifted his gaze from the grass he’d been studying and looked squarely at Hirad. There was no strength in his eyes. No determination. Nothing but a brooding sorrow. Now he’d got Thraun’s attention, Hirad had little idea how to go on, knowing only that he had to get through somehow, that the silence could not be allowed to continue.
‘How are you feeling?’ Hirad cringed inwardly as he asked the lame question. Thraun ignored it.
‘Will would have loved this place,’ he said, his voice a low growl. ‘He was quite nervous, you know. Strange that, for such a talented thief. This place is so tranquil. It would have calmed him.’
‘Despite the large number of huge dragons flying about?’
Hirad was rewarded with the ghost of a smile on Thraun’s lips. ‘Despite that. Funny, isn’t it. Something as small as Denser’s Familiar scared him so badly while something as large as dragons hardly even ruffled his feathers.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Hirad. ‘There’s much good in dragons, or the Kaan anyway. Nothing too holy about the Familiar.’
‘I suppose.’ Thraun fell silent, resuming his study of the ground. ‘I can’t bear this,’ he said suddenly, catching Hirad off guard.
‘Bear what?’
‘Only he knows what it’s really like.’ Thraun indicated The Unknown who stood near the mages with the three surviving Protectors. ‘Having something in you that you hate and love in equal measure. Something that you wish didn’t afflict you but could not live without. Only his friends didn’t die while he was a Protector.’
‘Richmond did.’
‘But The Unknown wasn’t standing next to him, was he? You thought him dead. He had gone and Richmond couldn’t be saved.’
‘And neither could Will,’ said Hirad earnestly, leaning forwards. ‘Listen, when Sirendor Larn died, I felt the same. Like I let him down by not being stood by him at the moment of the attack. I had to accept quickly that there was nothing more I could have done. Yes, I had my revenge but you know something else? It doesn’t make the pain any less. You just have to go on as best you can. Enjoy the things you still have, don’t dredge up the things you don’t.’
Thraun looked at Hirad again, nodding gently, tears brimming his eyes. ‘I know you mean to help, Hirad. And I thank you for that. But Will was my only link to the human world when I was in wolf form. He was the only one I could trust to bring me back. The only one brave enough to stand up to me at my wildest. And I let him down. I hid inside my invulnerability because I was scared. It cost Will his life.
‘It’s something you can never really understand. He was my family and I loved him because he knew what I was and refused to judge me because of it. Now the only ones who won’t judge me, the only ones who are my family are the pack. When we get back to Balaia, I will find them.’
‘The Raven are your family now,’ said Hirad. ‘We’re strong and we care. Stay with us.’ Thraun’s words had shaken Hirad. He felt the shapechanger slipping away from him.