James Barclay - Rise of the TaiGethen

‘We are ferrying stone from the quarry too, but it is a lengthy process and we will soon have to begin cutting more, unless we start digging up the foundations of the city. We are already taking up all the cobbled streets.’

‘Stone will blow apart,’ said Auum. ‘Their ice can conquer cement.’

Ulysan shrugged. ‘It is all we have and it is better than wood.’

‘What about the western ground? It is an open wound. We have to block it somehow.’

Ulysan bit his lip. ‘We have a plan, but it’s a risky one.’

He pointed up to the head of the cliffs, hundreds of feet above the city. Auum could see elves moving up there and, now he focused, he could hear their grunts and shouts of effort.

‘What’s up there?’

‘We’ve brought boulders over from the other side of the city near the quarry and got them up there with rope, pulley and muscle. Some of them are the size of twenty of you. Last count we had seven of them. Four more will be in place today, all ready to tip.’

Auum let his gaze travel down the cliff face and into the open ground below with its sporadic patches of forest, and on towards the western wall around Katura.

‘The rain run-off will have eroded the cliff face over time. It looks loose all the way down.’ Auum pointed while he spoke. Indeed the evidence of previous rockfalls lay all over the ground. ‘Boulders of that size will start an avalanche, which could have enough momentum to sweep through the city walls. I don’t know, Ulysan.’

‘I said it was risky. The way we’ve positioned the boulders means the trees will limit the risk to the city. I’ve agonised over this, Merrat, Grafyrre and Faleen too. We don’t think we can bring enough stone over in time to fortify the wall and felling trees to make a barricade only lessens our defensive advantage — and will be to no avail against their magic. We’d welcome another option.’

Auum imagined the avalanche and the sheer destructive power it represented was beguiling even though once started it would be completely beyond their control. Such a risk, but such potential too; and they were nothing if not desperate for anything that might give them an edge.

‘When did you plan to release the boulders?’

‘Today. We thought that if the worst happens, that gives us some time to rebuild, and to organise the rubble into a solid wall.’

Auum raised his eyebrows. ‘I think that’s too early — you’re thinking too defensively. The enemy will see that ground as a weakness. They’ll attack it, I’m sure. Let them come, let them fill that space. Then release your boulders. No magical shield is going to withstand such an avalanche. Remember, we have to win this fight, not just fend off defeat for as long as we can.’

Ulysan smiled. ‘I’m glad you’re back.’

‘So am I.’

‘Aren’t you going to tell me, then?’

‘Tell you what?’

‘Whatever you and Takaar spoke about for three days on end.’

Auum thought for a moment, wondered if telling Ulysan would inspire him or undermine him. He banked on it being inspiring.

‘There’s another state of combat. Takaar discovered it while he was exiled and Elyss’ murder cast me into it. It was extraordinary, Ulysan. I could see everything so clearly. My enemies were ponderous and I was so… precise. But it’s a state that can’t be taught. It must be found.

‘When all this is over, we’ll have the time to seek that part of our minds that gifts us this skill. To my great regret we cannot hope to learn it before the humans reach us. But for those of us that live through this, there is so much more for the TaiGethen to experience.

‘So don’t die, all right?’

Ulysan regarded him for a moment. ‘That was unexpected to say the least. You’re going to have to tell me more.’

‘Later. In private. Don’t say anything to the others; it could be a distraction and Yniss knows we cannot afford that.’

‘I’ll find you,’ said Ulysan.

‘I’d be very disappointed if you didn’t.’

The tracking cells had reached Katura bringing news that every soul already knew. The enemy campfires had been visible for a couple of nights now, and the sound of song and the thump of thousands of feet had echoed along the valleys since the day before. The enemy would reach them before nightfall.

Auum, along with the defenders and the population of Katura, had watched the mages fly overhead out of bowshot range. Sending abuse and threats skywards had eased the tension, and a sudden downpour had brought cheers when it sent the mages scurrying back to their camp.

Auum hoped they had seen enough to give them pause, and to hurry their decision to attack across the western space. He had stood on the gatehouse roof all day while final preparations and patches were made to the walls. Below him, the briefings and drills had become dress rehearsals for the battle to come.

Everyone knew their post. Everyone had their tasks to perform. The great question was whether the unskilled, utterly inexperienced elves would stand when the spells rained down and the enemy soldiers charged the city.

They had a pitiful number of skilled defenders. Just twelve full TaiGethen cells along with Auum and Ulysan, making thirty-eight warriors in all. Plus the hundred and eighteen Al-Arynaar who followed Pelyn. She hadn’t the fitness for a day’s fight and her eyes betrayed the depth of her enduring desire for edulis.

More than two thousand had been drilled as militia and some had proved themselves capable, but the raw fact was they were not soldiers. They were youngsters, or old ulas and iads… plus farmers, fishers and potters. Hardly a formidable force, and while some had the ability to command, Al-Arynaar were at the head of most. The rest of Katura’s twenty-thousand-strong population would have to fight with tooth and nail if the time came.

Only the hunters gave Auum cheer. There were fifty of them, all with good skills with bow and spear. He had entrusted Takaar’s tree frog poison to them, with a roving brief to shoot down as many of the enemy as they could, whenever they could get away a certain shot.

With the retreat of the enemy mages, he had advised everyone to rest. To gather together if they so desired, to eat and drink and tell stories. Or to visit a temple for quiet prayer, to walk the streets free of the threat of thread gangs or to simply spend time in the arms of those they loved and would die to protect.

Auum, though, was missing more than Elyss. He scanned the forest to the north-east and the skies above it, watching for a sign he was beginning to lose hope would come. When Ulysan came to bring him to eat, he refused.

‘Where is Corsaar?’ he asked. ‘Where is the Shorthian army?’

The following dawn he had part of his answer, and with it an end to any real hope. Mist hung over Katura as the sun came over the horizon, lifting sluggishly and only dispersed by a heavy downpour that in turn gave way to hot sunshine.

With the sky and horizon clear, Auum could see mages to the north-east and knew the second human army was only a day from their gates. Before them, emerging from the eaves of the forest to stand on the borders of the trap-strewn open ground, no more than two hundred yards away, was the Ysundeneth army.

Pelyn was standing on the gatehouse roof with Auum. So were Ulysan, Merrat and Grafyrre. The walkway behind the rampart was crowded with Katurans, as was every vantage point facing the forest.

The humans just kept coming, forming up in neat, professional ranks as they did. Mages flew overhead again, inviting the elves to look upon their death. Thousands of men all armed and armoured where, for the most part, the defenders wore everyday clothes and carried wooden clubs or farming implements.