Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

‘The Paatin arch-wizard. If he is here, we are in big trouble. He really hates Balten!’

‘One wizard does not trouble us, dwarf.’

‘Then you are a fool, Samuel, to judge what you have not yet seen.’

Just then, the structure groaned and shuddered.

‘Come. We should be moving,’ Samuel suggested, but before he could start away another cluster of magic came flying in towards them. This time, the scent of the magic was familiar. ‘Balten!’

The second magician also landed atop their wooden structure, leaving Samuel and Doonan scrambling to hold on as it tore from its bracing and dropped several feet. They heard Balten swear and his boots also sounded along the roof, stomping away as he pursued the Paatin wizard.

‘Balten!’ Doonan cried aloud, but the man had already gone. He then turned his gaze to the exit they had been bound for, which was now at chest height, for the bridge had dropped by a fair amount. ‘Run, Magician!’ the dwarf called with alarm and began scampering for all he was worth. He reached the exit and leapt up, reaching the floor level with his two hands and dangling with his toes just shy of the floor.

Samuel was just behind and, grasping the little man by the waist, he shoved Doonan up and into the tower. He then clambered up beside him. Gathering his breath, he looked behind to see that the roof of the bridge was a wreck-smashed where the wizard had landed and pulverised in patches all the way along. Somehow, he did not relish meeting any man who could create such damage with his feet alone.

Beyond and below, the many levels of the citadel were speckled with fires and the shadows of men locked in deadly competition to win the fortress. The sounds of the battle carried up to him easily on the wind.

‘Come!’ Doonan called, already away along the carpeted hall. ‘We need to catch him.’

Samuel took a deep breath and started after the nimble,little man. Theyencountereda set of stairs and Samuel boundedup them in sets of three and four. He could feel Balten racing ahead of them, vaulting atop the rooftops and using his spells to run along the very walls. Furious spells spat out and the tower rocked with each booming explosion that struck against it. They came to a set of tight,spiralling stairs and Samuel raced up, pulling himself up by the hands as well as his feet, such was his hurry. Hecame toa trapdoor at the top,pushed it open and was out under the sky in one swift movement.

He found himselfuponone of the smaller towers that paralleled the main spire, still rising beside them like a great behemoth of slick stone. Balten was standing in front of him, breathing hard, with spheres of magic boiling from his hands. Ominously, Samuel realised he had come up facing the wrong way, for he could feel the magic of the Paatin arch-wizard behind him and he could almost feel theman’shot breath on the back of his neck. Slowly, he turned, to find a monstrous hulk of a man standing a few strides away. He waswrappedin shrouds of black cloth and a long,black cape was whipping behind him in the whistling wind. His features were indiscernible, for he was cloaked in shadow. All Samuel could tell was that he was a giant of a man, like one-and-a-half General Ruardins, and there seemed to be great slabs of armour jutting out from beneath his cloth. He was cowled in a hood, but his face was also hidden behind a veil of darkness and armour. Only his eyes could be seen, glinting in the darkness,and the magic that emanated from him had the same vile stink as the winged desert-men.

Doonan sprang up beside Samuel and, taking one look at the arch-wizard standing so near, he dived back down through the trapdoor like a rabbit back into its burrow.

‘Give the girl to me!’ Balten demanded, looking furious and ignoring Samuel altogether.

Samuel turned back to Om-rah, who drew one black-armoured hand out from beneath his cloak. Hanging from his fist was the limp form of the Koian god-woman. She was like a toy in his hands and he waved her around effortlessly. Her eyes were open, but she did not seem aware of what was happening to her-if she was, she showed no sign of it at all. At the same time, a hollow,echoing noise came stuttering out of Om-rah’s mask that could only have been some twisted form of laughter.

In one movement, the arch-wizard tossed the Koian woman aside and she disappeared over the edge of the tower, while he boundedbackwards, clearing the space between the two towers and clamping onto the smooth stone of the greater citadel like a limpet. Incredibly, there was barely a hint of magic in his movements; the man seemed to be using raw strength alone for such superhuman feats.

Samuel gasped as the girl fell, but Balten had already gone after her, diving head first and trailing furious magic behind him. Samuel was still standing dumbfounded when Balten came leaping up back onto the tower top with the girl cradled in his arms.

‘For goodness sake, Samuel!’ he said, shoving the girl towards him and looking highly annoyed. ‘Must I do everything? Get her to safety.’

And with that,he took off, springing across the tower top and vaulting the gap to the main tower, where he gripped on tightly with a Wall-walking spell. Om-rah had already clambered up and around the edge of the tower out of view, and so Balten stood upright, like a hair jutting out of the wall, and began after him, running sideways along the stones.

Samuel looked at the woman in his arms. She was looking back at him blankly and Samuel wondered if she was in some kind of shock.

‘Well,’ she said in her crackling voice, surprising him. ‘What are you looking at? Get me to safety, Magician.’

Samuel let go of her and she wobbled as she took her own weight. ‘I think I liked it better when you didn’t talk to me,’ he told her. ‘Come. Let’s go.’

He led her through the trapdoor and back down the spiralling stairs. He would have to forget General Mar and the others for now and get the Koian woman to safety. He only hoped theotherscould hold out for some time longer.

Doonan was nowhere to be seen, and so Samuel began descending the tower, pulling the woman behind him. It took some time to find another route that did not use the half-demolished bridge, but they soon did, stepping out of the tower and into a smaller storage yard squeezed between the tower and the mountainside.

Samuel paused a moment, trying to decide which way to go, when he felt a tug of magic at his senses. It was Grand Master Tudor, not far off, and so he began away again in that direction,dragging the Koian woman limply behind. Panting and puffing, Doonan caught up to them on his pudgy.little legs.

‘Where are you going now?’ he asked, eyeing the Koian woman suspiciously.

‘Grand Master Tudor is this way,’ Samuel replied, still moving.Hedelvedback into the buildings of the citadel, following his senses towards the magic of the old Grand Master.

After crossing only a few more rooms, the old man’s presence seemed almost abovethem. They passed through one broken and body-strewn room and the old man seemed just on the other side of a closed and bolted door. Samuel burst from the chamber with Doonan at his side, dragging the Koian god-woman by the hand.

‘He’s there!’ the little man squeaked, for Grand Master Tudor was amongst a group of armed men, with Captain Ravenshood, defending the great courtyard from the Paatin, who were spilling in from the opposite side, snarling and bearing their swords. The Grand Master’s magic had waned and was nearly at its end and he leaned on his staff heavily, directing the battle more than anything.

‘Samuel!’ he called wearily. ‘How relieved I am to see you. Quickly! Help us plug this nest of accursed Paatin.’

Samuel dropped the woman’s hand and took a step forward, then realised what he would have to do. Only with the Argum Stone on his finger could he tap the ether and gather magic for his bidding, but in this small room, the outcome could be disastrous.