James Barclay - Shadowheart

Thraun, Hirad and the limping Unknown, all with daggers in their hands, overtook him and joined the Al-Arynaar. He heard Hirad shout instructions to Rebraal, who was weaving a complex pattern above his head with his short blade while the famihars wheeled just above them. As he approached, Denser constructed a FlamePalm.

'One at a time!' shouted The Unknown to The Raven. 'See the one with the red flash on its forehead. He'll do.'

Denser paced into the centre of The Raven's loose circle. Hirad was dangerously close to the unrailed edge to the courtyard below but in typical fashion, was more worried about the threat to his friends than his own position. He stabbed up, catching a familiar on an outstretched claw and sending it spiralling and yelping. They couldn't damage the familiars but that didn't mean they felt no pain.

'Keep it tight,' said The Unknown.

He reached up a hand and grabbed at a foot but missed. Next to him, Thraun jumped to do the same. The familiar's tail whipped and cut the back of his hand.

'Careful, Thraun,' warned Denser, fighting to keep his concentration,

Thraun growled, his knife carved at the air again and his hand whipped out a second time, this time catching that flailing tail and dragging the familiar down, kicking, raking and squealing.

'Hold him, hold him!' shouted The Unknown.

The Raven warriors dropped on the monkey-sized beast, trying desperately to get a hand on any of the flailing limbs, the head that held those snapping jaws or even the heaving chest or wings that beat against the ground. All Denser could do was watch or he would lose his concentration as the demon, with a strength far beyond its size, fought for its very life and the sanity of its master.

Hirad took a claw right down the inside of one arm but came back and punched the familiar square in the face, slapping the back of its skull off the thick wooden parapet. The Unknown had knelt on the demon's legs and was trying to grab at a wing while Thraun, the tail still in one clamped fist, was attempting to get a grip on its right arm.

'Don't let go of anything,' said Hirad. He punched again, his chest wound protesting, drawing a snarl of fury from the indefatigable beast.

Above them the other three familiars flew to their captured one's aid, the elves, finding themselves no longer the targets, organising quickly to drive them back or take another one down. Denser felt his hair parted by a claw and clung on grimly to his concentration. The Raven almost had the familiar subdued but still it spat its vitriol, promising them all death.

Hirad snared an arm, The Unknown had his wing and Thraun got a hand on the top of its skull, stilling the head.

'Keep it there,' breathed Denser. He knelt down quickly, trying to keep away from the free limbs which etched at the air.

'Denser,' drawled the familiar. 'Your death is mine one day. Let me go. Your Raven's soul will fill me with energy and you will suffer-'

'Quiet,' said Denser and clamped a hand on the familiar's mouth, sending his FlamePalm shooting into its skull, holding steady while the mana fire extinguished its life. 'One down, one mage too. Let's go again.'

'Denser!'

It was Rebraal. Yards away, they were holding a familiar by its wings. It could find no angle to get at its captors but it was slowly dragging itself free. Denser began casting again, knowing he wouldn't make it to use another FlamePalm before the demon broke away.

'Against the wall.' He pointed. 'There.'

The Al-Arynaar threw the demon face first into the battlements. It hit them hard, fell to the ground and turned immediately, shaking its head to clear its vision. Denser caught its eye, smiled and cast, his focused FlameOrb engulfing the small body. The familiar screamed, tried to fly but succeeded only in flopping out over the walls to crash in front of the Xeteskians. Above Denser, the fight was done. The other two had fled. Horns sounded from below and the Xeteskians began to pull back.

Denser sat down to gather himself. Hirad crouched in front of him. He could hear shouts from below and the sound of running feet.

'Good work, Xetesk-man,' said the barbarian. 'Got anything left for my dragon?'

Denser nodded. 'Should have,' he said. 'But I'd rather wait until morning. I never did do that reading. Things rather overtook us this afternoon, didn't they?'

Hirad nodded, stood up and held out a hand. Denser grabbed it and dragged himself to his feet.

‘Ican wait. Xetesk have finished for the day.'

'What about the TaiGethen?'

'Well, I suspect that they did rather well, given the haste of the retreat tonight.'

Denser smiled and walked with Hirad back around the college walls to the gatehouse. The Xeteskians were indeed leaving the college square, taking their wounded with them. The Al-Arynaar, bows ready, let them leave, as did Darrick who was nodding to himself as the rest of The Raven came back to him.

Down on the cobbles, blood slicked the ground. Denser counted two dead elves among the dozens and dozens of Xeteskian bodies. One panther too lay dead, its partner lying next to it, preferring to die in defence of the fallen Claw than leave with the rest. He watched the Xeteskians clearing themselves away and wondered where they had placed themselves.

'Today was good,' said Darrick. 'Tomorrow will be far more difficult. I wonder if we can delay the Heart raise. We need those mages. We can swing it with them, I think.'

'Tomorrow, we'll know,' said Denser. 'Erienne should be awake and she can tell what she saw. Otherwise it's more of the same. Reckon we can see it out in a full day?'

'Well, there is no surprise element now,' said Darrick. 'The cavalry will be watched for like the TaiGethen. Getting close to here to distract them will be a challenge. Chandyr is not a stupid man.'

'But can we hold out?'

Darrick considered a moment. 'Without help from the south? No. But we'll take as many of them with us as we can.'

'Come on, Raven,' said Hirad. 'Let's eat.'

Erienne awoke in the middle of the night and sat up, biting back a scream. Her dreams had been full of tortured magic and the cries of mages shivered from the mana forever. They had been full of a crawling blackness that consumed everything it touched, that dulled the brightest tones and choked the songs of the young. She had seen herself at the gates of the college, presiding over the demise of all magic, laughing down at the upturned faces.

And around her feet had been her children, brought back to her from death. Returned to where they would be forever safe. At her side, being as she was. One.

'Shh, love, it's all right.' Denser's voice from next to her in the bed did nothing to calm her heart.

'It cannot promise that,' she said. 'Nothing can promise that.'

'Promise what?'

'You wouldn't understand,' she said, tasting the bitterness in her own voice. 'Leave me. I can beat it.'

'Don't shut yourself away from me,' urged Denser. 'Let me share the burden, please.'

'What can you share?' she snapped. 'It's all inside me. I cannot give it away, I cannot let others carry it. It is in me. It is trying to beat me.'' She forced herself to stop, to lower her voice. She had turned to face him, still lying there, hurt in his eyes and concern in his face. 'It taunts me, Denser. But how can it? It is not sentient. How can I beat something that is not there at all?'

'Whatever your mind sees as the fight is what must be beaten. It is a fight for control of your own body too. I know I cannot really help you but don't shut me out. Please don't do that.'

She stroked his face. 'I'll try,' she said. 'But it's so hard. I feel like

I am the only thing stopping a flood from drowning us all. It's so hard to find room for anything else.'