‘We have little good news. Sol, should you wish to pursue this path, speak with me again. But tell me. Jonas said the dead have returned. No doubt pursued by the Garonin into Balaia through the top of the world. Who has returned? Only the strong bonded souls?’
Sol relaxed a little. ‘So it seems. Much of The Raven though we have already lost many of them again. Hirad is here.’
‘Ahhh. I would love to feel his mind again.’
‘I’m sure it can be arranged. He has not changed.’
The Great Kaan chuckled. Pictures vibrated on the walls.
‘Is Septern returned? His soul would desire it and his ego would bring him back, I am sure.’
‘There is a man in Xetesk claiming to be him,’ said Sol.
‘Then speak to him of where you were taken. He knows much he did not commit to parchment. Jonas is unsteady. I must tend to his mind and return him to you.’
‘We will speak again, Great Kaan.’
‘Remain strong. We will fight, you must fight too. If you should flee, do not leave us in the dark.’
‘Never.’
Sha-Kaan’s presence left the room. Jonas was still for a moment before screwing up his face and opening his eyes.
‘Mama!’
Sol left them to their embrace.
Hirad had been clutching at his stomach while the pain threatened to swamp him and the wind threatened to tear his soul from its anchorage and cast him into the void. Neither Ilkar not Sirendor was in any better shape. Yet abruptly the pain had eased, returned to what Ilkar would describe as a manageable level. He blew out his cheeks and straightened in his chair. To his left and right he could see the other two were feeling the same. Across the table Denser paused in his reading and looked at the three of them.
‘What just happened?’ he asked. ‘Something good, I’m hoping.’
Hirad could not keep the smile from his face.
‘He’s back. I told you he wasn’t dead. I told you.’
‘What?’ Denser was gaping. Hirad knew how he felt. ‘Where?’
‘Close. Right now that’s all I care about.’
Denser smiled. ‘That is good news. We need him on the streets.’
Hirad nodded. News of the losses of Xeteskian mages and soldiers had spread quickly through the city. The confidence the departing force had inspired had dispersed like dust on the breeze with the returning stragglers. The populace was nervous and the returned dead were beginning to have a serious impact. People were leaving.
‘And what do you expect him to be saying?’ asked Ilkar. ‘I’d have thought he’d be showing the way to the west, not trying to shore up morale.’
‘There is no need for this panic reaction,’ said Denser.
It was dawn now and a pale light was streaming through the window of the dining chamber, where an early breakfast had been laid and ignored by all but the Lord of the Mount.
‘Where does that opinion come from? The catacombs? The destruction of one machine shouldn’t give us rash confidence about saving Balaia,’ said Ilkar. ‘You heard Sharyr. They just rolled into Lystern and rolled out with the Heart. We are down to two functioning colleges and Julatsa is likely to fall within days. You know where that leaves us.’
‘Yes, with Xetesk still standing and not even under threat because we turned them away.’
‘But that is not victory,’ said Sirendor. ‘It is delay at best. Don’t revise what you know you saw out there. It was slaughter. And your mage team that broke the machine? All dead.’
‘And your second salvo of spells was useless because they learned how to defend against them,’ added Ilkar. ‘Come on, Denser. You know it as well as we do. We cannot win here.’
Denser’s face reddened and the bread in his hand remained halfway to his mouth.
‘No? I’m looking at facts, not suppositions. We now have proof that Gresse’s theory holds water. Those machines are initially incapable of sucking in the mana density from an attractor as big as a Heart. They have to reach a critical mass first. That means if we time our attacks well, we can keep them at bay indefinitely.’
‘Your logic is seriously flawed,’ said Ilkar.
‘I’d have put it differently,’ said Hirad.
‘That’s why I jumped in before you. We can do without your version of tact right now.’
‘Please explain the errors of Xetesk to me, my dead friend,’ said Denser.
‘Enough sarcasm, Denser, we’re talking about the lives of everyone here. And the deaths of everyone too. We cannot afford any errors, don’t you see that?’ Ilkar cleared his throat. ‘Isn’t it obvious how they will react to another machine or two being destroyed? They’ll just appear here with everything they’ve got and level this place.’
‘Why haven’t they done that already?’ asked Denser. ‘Where’s your logic for that?’
‘They want to achieve their aims with minimal manpower,’ said Sirendor. ‘Just as we would. I have no doubt they have the capacity to do whatever they want but why commit it until necessary?’
‘I’ll tell you why. It’s because they can’t,’ said Denser. He pushed a scorched parchment across the table. ‘Sharyr found this. It refers to these Garonin and talks about an unending conflict beyond the boundaries of our known dimensions. Unending. And this was written by Septern. That’s well over three hundred years ago. All we have to do is chip away and we will turn them for good. They’ll give up and go somewhere easier to exploit.’
Hirad closed his eyes. ‘How can you read this so wrong? Denser, you’re a Raven man. You know Lystern is gone. You know Calaius has gone the same way. That leaves plenty of enemy to focus on Xetesk. We have to concentrate on finding an escape, not on futile defence.’
‘Ah, and there’s the rub, isn’t it?’ Denser leaned back in his chair and picked up his coffee mug. He cradled it in his hands. ‘Neither my mage teams nor you have any idea where we might escape to. I mean, you have come back here — and I love you for it — to tell us to run, but you cannot tell us where. You say nowhere on Balaia is safe but you cannot supply a single ship, so to speak, to transport us to sanctuary. What is this desire to head for the west? What will it gain us?’
Hirad sighed. ‘All right. Admittedly, we don’t know. But we are drawn there. The Wesmen will be able to help us. I know this sounds flaky but their paths to the dead are different from ours. We think they can open the door to a new home. But we can’t prove it.’
‘Right. And until you can, my streets will remain unsettled by your divisive presence and your scaremongering, and my efforts will necessarily have to be focused on defending my people. Keeping them from running to an uncertain future when they should be standing and fighting. If I do not, I am derelict in my duty, am I not? Do you really feel I have a choice?’
Hirad shook his head and stood. ‘You believe them, don’t you? You believe the word that we are here to chase the living away and have this place for ourselves. Be straight. Do you think the Garonin are here at our behest? Is that what you actually believe?’
‘Gods drowning, of course I don’t. Bloody hell, Hirad, I have locked Dystran up in his rooms precisely because I don’t believe that rubbish.’
‘But you still visit him, don’t you?’ said Hirad, feeling his skin getting hot. ‘You still hear what he says.’
‘Who I visit and what I ask and listen to is my business and not yours, all right? And yes, I do listen to him because he is smart despite his unfortunate views in some areas. And one thing we do agree on is that we don’t know what more good you can really do. The dead as a whole, that is.’
Hirad reached across the table and hauled Denser from his chair by the collars of his shirt.
‘I’ll tell you what we can do. We can stop you from signing away the lives and deaths of everyone who ever came from Balaia. We can help you find a place where we can all start again.’
Hirad’s breath fired into his face. Denser’s face deepened into a scowl.
‘You will unhand me, Hirad. Right now.’
Hirad did not.
‘You have to listen to him, Denser,’ said Ilkar, coming to his feet also. ‘There is only one way to delay the Garonin and give us the time and chance to find a way out of here. Surrender the Heart. Do a deal.’
Denser stiffened. ‘Surrender the Heart of Xetesk? Never.’
‘Then they will take it from you,’ said Ilkar.
