Nightchild

'All right, ladies?' asked Hirad.

Myriell gave him a withering look. T had thought my days in the kitchen well and truly over,' she said.

'Well, we'll try and keep it as brief as possible,' said Hirad. 'Then we can talk about my dragons.'

He smiled and waited for them to pass before walking into the ballroom via the dining room, a worry nagging at him. He'd tried to speak with Sha-Kaan but had found his mind closed. Either that or dead. He hoped their rest would save them but he remembered

Sha-Kaan's weary mind the last time they had shared contact and feared the worst. How the Raven could do with their power today.

He shook his head and moved on, The Unknown limping beside him, having checked that the blocked entrances were as secure as they could be. Through the ballroom and down the corridor, the door to the Guild wing opened and Denser appeared, belting on his sword.

'In your own time,' said Hirad as he strode past.

'Ha ha,' said Denser.

'I'll ask the Dordovans to wait for you,' returned Hirad.

'If you wouldn't mind.'

'Hirad,' warned The Unknown. 'Come on.'

They carried on down the corridor. The Protectors were already on station and in the near dark Hirad could pick out one of the elves in the orchard, hidden under a fallen branch that had made an arch with the wall. Further on down the corridor, they found Darrick prowling, his sword as yet sheatiied but his face taut with nervous concentration.

'Morning, General,' said Hirad, grinning, as they stopped by him.

'Is he always like this?' asked Darrick.

'Always,' said The Unknown. 'You get used to it. Sort of.'

'All ready?' asked Hirad, feeling he ought to bring himself to order. He felt strangely lightheaded, the thrill of imminent action charging his mind and body. But he knew he couldn't afford to be unfocused.

'Just the door to the Guild wing to seal and we're there. We've got a little breathing space, assuming we're right about the bombardment.'

'Should the elves be out in the orchard?' asked Hirad.

'The shield bleeds over the near edge of the orchard and it's a calculated risk we have to take. I can't afford to be surprised there and I don't want Dordovans seeing where our defenders are hidden.'

Hirad put out his hand and Darrick shook it warmly, doing likewise with The Unknown.

'Just shout if you need more bodies,' said Hirad.

'And you,' said Darrick.

The Raven pair moved on, walking as fast as The Unknown could

go, across the entrance hall to where Ilkar was already waiting with Aeb and the Protectors.

'We all ready?' asked Hirad.

'Spell shield already up,' said Ilkar, his voice reflecting his concentration. 'It's covering the door.'

'Good,' said Hirad. 'Now where the hell are Denser and Erienne?'

Lyanna sat on a chair at the end of the kitchen table looking awfully small and scared. Erienne was crouching by her, stroking her hair and whispering to her, trying to calm her. Lyanna was clutching her doll and, though she nodded occasionally, Denser could see her eyes darting continually to the Protectors, who stood stock still around the kitchen. He understood her fear.

He walked across to his family, past the sympathetic but slightly unfocused gazes of the Al-Drechar.

'How's she doing?' he asked.

'Just about all right,' said Erienne.

Denser leant in and kissed Lyanna's cheek. 'You'll be safest here, you know,' he said.

'But I want to be with you,' complained Lyanna.

'It'll be dangerous out there, my sweet,' said Erienne. 'You'll be safer here with Ephy and Clerry and Myra, don't you think?'

Lyanna looked around the room her little brow furrowed. 'I don't like these men. Why have they got masks on? And why don't they ever say anything?'

Erienne looked to Denser who raised his eyebrows. This was hardly the time to try and explain the Protector calling to a five-year-old.

'They are special soldiers from where I come from,' said Denser. 'Don't worry about the masks, they wear them to make them better at fighting and they are in here just to look after you.'

Lyanna nodded. 'All right.'

'Now listen to me, darling,' said Erienne. 'It's going to be very noisy here and there will be lots of shouting and it will be scary. But you mustn't try to come and find us because it will be very dangerous for you. We'll be all right, don't you worry. Will you be brave fo rme?'

'I'll try,' said Lyanna.

'There's a good girl,' said Denser. 'Now if you get too scared, then go and cuddle one of the old ladies. They love you too.'

Lyanna nodded.

There was a crump which echoed through the house.

'It's started,' said Denser. He knelt and hugged his daughter. 'I'll see you a little bit later.'

'Bye Daddy,' said Lyanna.

Erienne hugged her too. 'Be a good girl and do what the masked men say, won't you?'

With a lingering look at their daughter, they left the kitchen and ran to join The Raven.

'On my order and not before!' roared Vuldaroq as the solitary FlameOrb soared away to splash against a shield. He turned to Gorstan, who had been the lead mage in Arlen. 'I want concentrated spells; I want as much of this house destroyed as you can manage but I expect you to stop before you exhaust yourselves if you are getting nowhere.

'He may have been an idiot to cast early but it was an education, was it not? That was not a shield from any College I've ever seen.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

'Right. Cast at will. And remember, advise me before the last spells are away. I have an attack to order.'

'Was that it?' asked Hirad. T-'

'Wow,' said Ilkar, rocking slighdy and sensing significant movement in the mana. 'Here it comes.'

A moment's silence and then the spells thundered in. Like a herd of giant horses riding across the roof above them, FlameOrbs clattered into the Al-Drechar's shield. Light flashed all around them, orange, yellow and white sheeting through cracks in the barricades and washing across the orchard behind them. The shield fizzed as it struggled to repel the attack. Hirad hunched reflexively, the barrage of noise hurting his ears despite his hands over them. It was deafening, shuddering the floor beneath his feet and rattling the doors in front and the slate over his head.

He turned to see Erienne and Denser running up and he managed

a smile but couldn't hear what the Xeteskian said to him, shrugging his shoulders and pointing at an ear.

Behind him, Orbs splashed down into the exposed orchard, sending flame scattering across the sodden trees, boiling away water and catching hold, crackling and spitting. Trotting to the barricaded doors, he looked out, saw no other trouble and jogged back, a thumb up in response to The Unknown's look.

More light and a crunching sound as a spell breached the barrier, thudding into the roof. All eyes looked up anxiously but elsewhere the shield was still holding and the noise right above them subsided as the barrage died away, to be replaced by echoing rumbles to their right.

'EarthHammer,' said Denser. 'They're attacking the wings.'

Hirad's ears were ringing from the attack. Behind him, the orchard was blazing in a swathe twenty yards wide and above they could just hear the sound of the one FlameOrb spell, eating at the wood and slate.

The noise increased over the wings. Vibrations rattled under their feet and the sound of a detonation echoed across the hallway, FlameOrbs exploding in enclosed spaces. In the first light of morning, the spell flashes