‘Disperse them and find Erienne. Downstairs. Bring them to the gate and be sure she remains unharmed. I’ll be watching over you.’
The Familiar smiled, blood dripping from its chin. ‘You will always watch over me?’ it asked.
‘Until the day my soul departs this world,’ responded Denser. He turned and flew from the shattered window, rising into the night sky and augmenting his vision to bring the house and its surrounds into bright focus.
The Familiar, content and sated, paused on its way to the doors, deciding to let whoever it was open them. It hovered a few feet above the corpse of the mage, sitting cross-legged on the air, wings beating time.
The doors crashed open and more than half a dozen people spilled in, guards with swords glinting and mages with hands free for casting. They pulled up short at the sight of their brother, head a mass of brain, blood and shards of bone. A beat later, they saw the Familiar. It laughed, a cold sound delighting at the death and mayhem it had created. Then it was among them, talons outstretched, wings beating around heads, saliva flying, tail flashing, roaring with mirth as they ducked and scattered, shouting alarm and fear.
It paused to see its handiwork, took in the bloody faces and the expressions of confusion and disbelief, turned a loop and stormed down the central stairwell, laughter echoing from the portraits hung at every level.
Jandyr stepped back into the street as Sol powered his horse through the protesting Dordovans. He ignored them, reining in by the elf and dismounting.
‘Go to the inn,’ he said. ‘Bring the other horses here.’ He handed Jandyr the reins. ‘You will be quicker on this,’ he said, every word carefully spoken as if his vocal cords were stiff from under-use. ‘Please,’ he added before running for the gates, hands free, weapons on his back.
‘What’s going on?’ called Jandyr after him.
‘Trouble.’
Jandyr shrugged, mounted up and hurried back to the inn stables.
Erienne hit the stairs at a dead run. She’d felt the life force of a mage dissipate violently through the mana, and anger at Denser’s assumed action swamped her already frail thoughts of caution.
‘The ward, Erienne!’ shouted Will. Labouring under the weight of the mana, he was trailing her by a good many paces.
‘Too late to worry about it. That idiot’s already seen to that.’
‘Who?’
‘You know who.’ There was disappointment in her voice but sympathy in her mind. Her LightGlobe triggered the ward, setting off a clarion call that echoed through the Tower and battered at Will’s ears. Behind him, Thraun yelped and accelerated past, bounding up the stairs and overtaking Erienne as she opened the door.
The hallway was empty, but as the alarm faded away, the sounds of angry voices and movement came from all quarters. Thraun chased to the front doors and pawed ineffectually at the handles with Erienne only a few paces behind him. They both missed the descending Familiar but Will, last out of the crypt, was greeted by a sight far beyond his worst nightmare.
He had glanced around to check for enemies and had just seen Erienne open one of the main doors when his vision was filled with the blood-smeared face of Denser’s demon. Its skull pulsed and crawled and it laughed wildly, raising a claw to strike before recognising him. It leaned into him and said:
‘Come, come. Out. Out to the gate.’
Will opened his mouth and screamed.
Denser saw it all unfold. As Jandyr rode for the city centre, Sol strode up to the guard and felled him with a single punch. He ran into a College which had woken to mayhem.
Erienne emerged from the Tower, followed by a massive wolf, but before Denser could even think how to stop it catching and killing her, it had turned and run back inside.
Erienne faltered too, half turning as she dashed for the gate. She stumbled.
‘No, no!’ hissed Denser, and dived for the path. Mages, guards and acolytes were coming from everywhere, giving Erienne a shield of chaos. One even helped her to her feet. Denser shot in towards Sol.
‘See her out,’ he shouted above the rising noise of discovery, anger and organisation. ‘And find my Other. I’m going to help Jandyr.’ Sol nodded and Denser flitted back into the sky, trailing the elf astride Sol’s fast-moving horse.
Erienne smiled at the mage who had helped her up and dashed back towards the Tower.
‘What’s happening?’ asked the mage, making to chase her.
‘There’s a Xeteskian in the College.’ She ran on into the house, sliding to a stop at the scene that greeted her eyes.
Thraun and what she assumed had to be Denser’s Familiar circled each other in the centre of the hall, loosely ringed by a group of four disbelieving mages. The winged beast darted left, right, up and down while Thraun lashed claws and bit at empty space. He already sported a deep cut on his nose. She couldn’t see Will.
The only thought in Erienne’s mind as she shouted at them to stop was that she might get badly hurt. But there was no time for any other action. She ran in front of Thraun, who snarled in frustration as his target was obscured. She put her back to him and shuddered as the Familiar dropped into her view. She felt Thraun tensing behind her.
‘Thraun, no!’ she ordered over her shoulder. ‘Friend.’ It was the only word she could think of that he might understand, but one more inappropriate she couldn’t imagine.
‘And you stop it now!’ she spat at the demon. It grinned and chuckled, looked past her at the wolf.
‘Leave him, it’s Thraun,’ she warned.
The demon backed off immediately, grin replaced by an expression of surprise. ‘Shapechanger—’ it said, expelling breath in a hiss.
‘Yes, now get out after your master and never presume to defile the grounds of this College again.’
‘Yes, mistress,’ said the Familiar, and powered out of the door.
Erienne turned and found herself facing the quartet of mages for whom the spell of incomprehension had been broken.
‘You know these . . . things?’ one asked. All of them had read the mana trails to identify her as Dordovan.
‘Acquainted, certainly,’ said Erienne brusquely. ‘And soon you’ll be free of all contamination, I’m seeing to it personally. Now please excuse me, I’m in a hurry.’ She started towards the crypts, then saw she wouldn’t have to find an excuse to search them. Will was huddled near the door, shaking. ‘Will? What the—’
A hand was laid on her arm. ‘I think you’d better come with us. That was a Xeteskian Familiar you spoke to. It called you mistress.’ The man holding her arm was middle-aged. His greying hair was receding and thin but his eyes, dark and brooding, were strong as they bored into her face. Erienne didn’t recognise him.
‘Yes, and as you can see, I have ordered it from the College. And now I’d like to help my friend.’ Her heart was beginning to beat faster again. She had to buy enough time.
‘A commoner in the Tower after nightfall,’ he said, at once dismissive and threatening.
‘Never mind that, he needs help. Look at him,’ urged Erienne, casting a glance to where Will hadn’t changed his position. What had happened to him?
The mage did not trouble to look. ‘It isn’t that simple, as you must be aware.’
‘Let go of my arm.’
‘No.’ The grip tightened and the rest of the mages began to close in.
Erienne flicked her head nervously, in her mind cursing Denser’s stubbornness in sending in the Familiar to watch her. Thraun growled deep in his throat and moved towards her. The mages looked as one.
‘Do it,’ she said. ‘Please. I can’t control him.’
‘We can take them both,’ said another of the mages. ‘You know what to do.’
‘Gods,’ said Erienne, knowing instinctively which spell they would cast. ‘Thraun, run!’