Elves: Beyond the Mists of Katura (26 page)

TaiGethen ran the flanks and rear and also provided scouts ahead and on the points. Ulysan was chatting to Duele as the two ran, Ulysan in his easy loping stride, Duele with his soft feet which
seemed almost to float a hair above the ground. His was an extraordinary skill in waiting and Auum prayed that he lived to see it realised.

‘Come to see the real excitement, have you?’ said Ulysan when Auum fell in alongside him.

‘I can’t take their denials any longer,’ said Auum. ‘Even Stein is blinkered when it comes to Xetesk.’

‘Then we must look after ourselves,’ said Duele.

‘I’ll speak when we stop for the night,’ said Auum. ‘Some among us are following blindly, and I don’t like that.’

‘I hear you,’ said Ulysan.

‘So, where are we?’ asked Auum, gazing out at the landscape ahead.

‘Well, there are the mountains,’ said Ulysan, pointing. ‘In case you hadn’t spotted them.’

‘I was really down until I came to speak to you and now I’ve improved to suicidal,’ said Auum. ‘If you want to run with another cell, Duele, I fully
understand.’

‘The thought will never enter my mind,’ said Duele.

‘I’m still working on his sense of humour,’ said Ulysan.

‘I shall pray fervently to Yniss that it doesn’t turn out like yours.’

‘I am hurt, my Arch,’ said Ulysan, placing a hand on his chest.

‘Just tell me what I’m looking at,’ said Auum. ‘I know you studied the maps.’

Ulysan smiled. ‘No learning is ever wasted. Right, we’re heading south-west at the moment and we’ll encounter the River Tri where it rises at the base of Triverne Lake,
probably by nightfall if we push on. Quite a beautiful spot, I’m told. We can cross at the shallows there and then hug the mountains. From here you can see the lake sparkle against the
mountains when the sun hits it right – that’ll give you an idea of distance.

‘It’s about six days to Understone from here, I’d say. The terrain is very easy. Our only problem is staying hidden if we feel the need; that’s another reason to stay
close to the mountains. This way keeps us as far from all the colleges as possible too. That’s it really. No significant landmarks I haven’t mentioned, no trees and precious few people
because the land in the lee of the mountains isn’t good for farming.’

‘Escape routes once we’re past Xetesk on the way to Understone?’

‘We want to hope it doesn’t come to that,’ said Ulysan. ‘If we’re closed off from behind then we’re effectively trapped.’

‘Is that likely?’ asked Duele.

Auum raised his eyebrows. ‘It depends who you ask.’

‘Right,’ said Ulysan. ‘Everyone else says it isn’t; Auum says it is.’

Duele fell silent but Auum could see there was conflict within him.

‘It’s always best to speak,’ said Ulysan, seeing the same thing. ‘Silence only breeds resentment.’

Duele took a breath and glanced at them both.

‘There is much uncertainty and fear,’ he said carefully as if voicing the words was somehow heretical. ‘Among the Il-Aryn certainly but also within the newer emerged TaiGethen.
It’s distracting. We should be united, and I feel we aren’t. It is difficult to be surrounded with such differing opinions.’

Auum’s first reaction was of disappointment, but a moment later he smiled.

‘Uncertainty is the hallmark of this venture,’ he said. ‘And I am asking much of the inexperienced . . . I’ll speak to everyone later.’

And he did. On the banks of Triverne Lake, with the cook fires throwing a warming glow into a chilly night and the lapping of the water on the shore a relaxing influence, Auum
spoke to whoever would hear him, human or elf.

‘It is terribly hard to see those you know – those you love – die beside you. I cannot promise you that it will get any easier because it doesn’t. Those who fight to save
Calaius must bear that burden. I ask that Yniss bless you all for being here and showing your faith in our gods and in me. I am humbled by your courage and your strength, particularly those of you
who have just had your first taste of the fight. The experience of violence and death are shocking, yet here you sit, willing to do it all over again even though you worry that you are afraid.

‘Don’t worry. Fear is healthy; believe me, the fearless die quickly. Let your fear make you cautious and lead you to the right decisions; don’t let it cripple you and make you
easy prey.

‘Are we on the right path? Yniss knows none of us can be sure, but we do know the Wytch Lords must be defeated. So I’m asking you to fight alongside Xetesk even though every fibre of
my being screams that it is wrong. I’m doing it because there is no other choice. At Understone Pass we can strike, together, at Ystormun’s twisted heart. I know you don’t want
human allies. Neither do I, but this is reality. We are not enough on our own.’

Auum led a prayer and invited questions. He saw Stein talking to a couple of cavalrymen.

‘They were wondering why you’re here at all if you mistrust us so much.’

‘It’s a good question,’ said Auum. ‘We’re here because the Wytch Lords have to be defeated and we can’t do it back home. So here we are to see it done. It
doesn’t mean we have to like it, or like humans – with some notable exceptions.’

Stein passed on Auum’s response and the cavalrymen both nodded their understanding.

‘Anything further?’ asked Auum. ‘Then let’s eat and sleep. Yniss bless you all and keep you safe until dawn.’

Auum slept little that night, wondering if he should have kept his council. But he needed eyes. Not just TaiGethen and Il-Aryn but those of the Julatsans travelling with them.
As the next day’s travel got under way beneath a deep grey sky, a chill wind blew off the mountains, surprising the elves, who donned cloaks while the humans did not. He could see groups of
the cavalry deep in conversation as they rode and their gesturing and pointing told its own story about the impact of his words.

Stein trotted up to him while he was running with Merrat’s cell, discussing possible tactics.

‘You caused quite a stir last night,’ said Stein.

‘Good.’

Stein blew out his cheeks. ‘Yes, but I had to give one or two a history lesson to stop them riding back to Julatsa.’

‘I’m not apologising for being careful,’ said Auum.

‘I’m not asking you to. I just thought you should know that some have their sympathies elsewhere.’

‘Nor am I apologising for being careful with my choice of allies. Got friends in Xetesk, have they?’

‘Yes, some of them probably do. We don’t just wall ourselves in and talk in hushed tones, you know. There is more similarity than difference between all four colleges.’

‘Then perhaps I shouldn’t trust you either?’

Stein laughed. ‘I asked for that, didn’t I?’

Auum looked up at him and thought to reinforce his point, but there was nothing to distrust about this particular human. Stein smiled broadly and spoke again, pointing along the shore of
Triverne Lake.

‘And you said there were no trees here. Just look at that. Beautiful, isn’t it?’

Auum looked and saw an area of woodland about two miles away hugging the shore for some considerable distance and stretching away a hundred yards or so towards the foothills. Nyann’s cell,
the duty scouts this morning, were closing on it already. He hoped they enjoyed themselves beneath the patchy canopy.

‘That, human, is like a drop in the vast ocean that is the Calaian rainforest. It is a single footprint left by Yniss. I could count those trees before we arrived at the first. It would
take you a lifetime to count those in our forest.’

Auum was possessed of a sudden longing to be back beneath Beeth’s canopy, sheltering from Gyal’s tears and glorying in Tual’s creatures and all the great creation of Yniss. It
was godless, this human land. It had no soul.

‘One day I’d like to come and try,’ said Stein. ‘But before that I’ll take you to our great forests when this is done . . . Grethern and Greythorne. They are places
to lose yourself.’

Auum smiled. ‘I look forward to it.’

‘How many forests do you have?’

‘Just the one,’ said Auum.

‘Oh,’ said Stein, the smile on his face wider than ever. ‘We have two.’

Auum laughed and punched him lightly on the thigh. The two of them continued on in a companionable silence until Auum moved forward at a call from Grafyrre, who was running the head of the
column with his cell. Auum had to confess that Triverne Lake was a place of beauty, set against the steep climbs of the Blackthorne Mountains. The lake was a vivid pure blue lapping on gentle
shores, the vegetation surrounding it was lush and verdant and the wildlife, birds in particular, was plentiful.

They were less than a mile from the woodland and Auum intended to take a break just so that he and the TaiGethen could rest under the cover of green leaves, no matter how thin they were in
comparison with the rainforest.

‘Do we have a problem, Graf?’

‘I doubt it but your orders were to alert you should our scouts not check in, and they haven’t done so since entering the woodland.’

‘Got their backs to the broadest trunks already or lying on the ground gazing up at the leaves, I expect,’ said Auum, doubting every word as he said it.

He looked to the south-east, knowing that Xetesk sprang from the ground down there somewhere, a stain tainted with the black of the Wytch Lords. If someone had alerted Xetesk to the movement of
the elves and Julatsans, could they have had the time to conceal themselves in the woods? It was unlikely.

‘Even so,’ said Auum. ‘We will approach with caution, halt the column beyond the range of any spell and send in another cell. Just in case.’

They moved up to around two hundred yards from the first trees. There was still no trace of Nyann but nor was there any sign of an enemy. The shadows in the forest were deep but not
impenetrable, certainly not to the elven eye. Auum was getting a cold feeling crawling up his legs and into his back and belly. He shook his head, unable to believe that he was afraid of a
forest.

‘Nyann!’ he called, then, ‘Hassek, take your cell in. Silent and cautious.’

Hassek and his Tai hurried across the open ground towards the woodland. He hadn’t covered half the distance when there was movement in the fringe. Auum saw Hassek slow and stop. He raised
a hand. Relief flushed through Auum, turning quickly to anger at Nyann’s failure to report. He saw her standing near the wide trunk of a tree and Hassek moved on.

‘What’s going on?’ asked Stein, walking his horse up.

‘Nothing much,’ said Auum. ‘Although . . .’

Nyann fell forward, face down in the dirt. There had been a man standing behind her, holding her upright.

Stein hunched in his saddle as if ducking something.

‘Gods drowning, it feels like . . .’ he said, then he swore and shouted. ‘Scatter! Ambush!’

Wards exploded in the middle and rear of the column. Auum had moved the moment Stein shouted, wrapping an arm around Ulysan and bundling him forward as fast as he could. He felt himself picked
up and thrown by the pressure of a ward detonating behind him. Heat washed across him, and he and Ulysan were sent tumbling across the grass.

Auum rolled and got to his feet in time to see dozens of explosive spells ripping into the column. Flames roared skywards. Horses and riders were cast into the air and supply wagons
disintegrated before his eyes. Elves and men were consumed by fire, turned to ash by the extraordinary heat, and survivors scrambled away, dragging the wounded with them. Burning bodies littered
the ground. Man, elf and beast screamed in agony or terror.

Auum ran back towards the carnage. Mages flew overhead, fifty at least, coming down to land about two hundred yards behind them and immediately marching towards them, preparing new castings.
Auum glanced behind him. No sign of Nyann or her cell now, just a line of enemy soldiers backed by yet more mages. There were cavalry there too.

‘Dear Yniss preserve us, we’re trapped,’ he whispered. ‘How could they have possibly got here so quickly, have laid so complete a trap?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Ulysan. ‘We’ve got to get our people away from here, up into the foothills – anywhere.’

Auum gagged as the stench of burning flesh caught in his throat. TaiGethen, Il-Aryn and human lay dead together. He ran through the mess, shouting for anyone who could hear him to get away
towards the mountains. There were so many bodies, so many dead and dying.

He saw a few cavalry still mounted, and among them, mercifully, Stein. He was organising an escape of sorts, though where they could all go to evade more castings was difficult to see. The
terrain to the west became very difficult within a few hundred yards. It was strewn with boulders, set with scree slopes and sharp inclines, but if they could get over the first rises, they might
just have a chance.

‘We’ve got to buy some time,’ said Auum. He ran into the midst of the escapees, conscious that at any moment new spells would start to fall. ‘TaiGethen, to me!’

He didn’t wait to see who was with him, there was no time for that. He prayed enough had survived and ran at the mages who had flown in behind them. Ulysan was at his shoulder. Duele was
there too, all three of them saved by being at the head of the column. There were others too, he could hear their footfalls.

Ahead the mages had seen them.

‘Wait until they cast,’ called Auum. ‘Let’s make ourselves targets. Watch out for ice coming head on and use the shetharyn to evade.’

Auum ran as hard as he could, closing the gap to fifty yards. The mages had stopped and orders were called across their lines. Hands were outstretched and castings surged out. Orbs of deep blue
fire shot flat across the open ground, and frost turned the grass black on a wide arc racing towards them.

‘Speed!’ yelled Auum.

He dropped into the shetharyn. All at once the paths of the orbs became slow and their impact points obvious. The frost was propelled on a hurricane of dread cold air, washing across the ground
up to a height of about eight feet. Auum whipped forward, sensing his Tai following his instincts. Grafyrre was ahead of him, Vaart too, all sprinting headlong towards the frost, knowing the orbs
would strike well behind them now.