'Get to the kitchen. Third perimeter. Third perimeter!'
Aeb blocked with his sword and hammered low with his axe, taking the standing foot from a Dordovan mage who sank to the ground, clutching at the bloody stump. The Protector was battering a path, blocking the wing entrance and buying time, but he would soon be outnumbered. The Unknown surged on.
'Denser, stay with me,' he managed, every step with his damaged leg firing new agony up into his back.
'Right behind you, Unknown. I'll tell you when to run.'
The Unknown reached the melee and deflected the attention of two soldiers. The first came at him, sword raised to strike downwards. The big man might have been slow but he wasn't yet a complete cripple. He swayed right and swung his sword from the left, slashing the man across the stomach as he prepared to deliver his death blow. It was a mistake he'd never recover to learn from. The second was more cautious but was distracted by Aeb heaving his axe just past his nose to bury it in the face of another Dordovan. Seeing the chance, The Unknown threw his dagger which the soldier blocked well but then left himself hopelessly open. The Raven warrior carved open his stomach. The Unknown felt sick with the pain now. It carried through his back and into his head in waves, threatening to overwhelm him.
'Run!' yelled Denser.
The Unknown looked behind and swallowed hard. The Dordovans
were charging now, abandoning range weapons for overwhelming numbers. Darrick came past him, shouting something he didn't catch.
'Aeb, we're going,' said The Unknown.
'Yes.' Aeb thumped the pommel of his sword into the face of a soldier and pushed him into the pack following.
He turned, grabbed The Unknown's arm and ran with him up the corridor.
'Get those doors ready!' called The Unknown, fighting the urge to vomit. He wasn't sure exactly how long he could stand up, let alone move.
Behind them, the Dordovans were gaining fast. It was going to be very close.
Ilkar rolled over, finishing on top of the Dordovan. He smashed both fists into the mage, hearing the back of his skull connect with the tiles and his grip go slack. Behind him, Erienne stumbled into the ballroom. He looked around. It was full of Dordovans.
'Oh Gods,' he said. He got up and ran low at the nearest mage, praying he wouldn't prepare in time.
Lyanna clung to her mother as she got up and ran back into the ballroom and towards the kitchen. The man with the sword came from nowhere and struck Erienne across the side of the face. She went down hard, Lyanna screaming as she tumbled from her mother's arms and slithered across the ballroom floor. She refused to cry and got up to run back to Erienne but the man stopped her, pushing her away.
'You're going back home to die, little one, but not before you see me kill your bitch of a mother.'
His voice wasn't right but she understood him.
'You don't hurt my Mummy,' she said, then raised her voice and shrieked. 'You don't hurt my Mummy!'
Ilkar staggered under an enormous pressure in the mana as he tried to attune to the spectrum, aiming to prepare as he ran. In front of him, six mages rocked as one, their hands clamping on their ears. Whatever they had been creating was gone. Ilkar would have killed
the lot of them but the power assailing the mana pushed him to his knees. He groped around, looking for help. Hirad surged through the door, Protectors at his heels and, in the middle of it all, the mana light was pouring into Lyanna.
Hirad saw Selik standing over the prone form of Erienne as he burst into the ballroom. Lyanna was standing alone screaming but he couldn't worry about that now.
'Selik!' he said, advancing. 'I said there'd be another time.'
The Black Wing, sword in hand, swung to face him, his smeared features curling into a travesty of a smile.
'I knew I'd never get out of here alive but at least I'll have torn the heart from The Raven. First you, and then the bitch.' He lacked out, catching her in the stomach. She groaned where she lay. Lyanna screamed louder.
'Dream on, Black Wing,' snarled Hirad. He ran forward.
Every surviving pane of glass in the house exploded into a thousand fragments. Every piece of plaster cracked and fell. Beams ruptured, roof slates showered down and the floor rocked beneath them.
A great howling wind thrummed through the house. The orchard walls exploded outwards, the corridor pitched, its roof buckled and caved in. Hirad, like Selik, was flung from his feet. He rolled over, saw Lyanna stock still in the madness and then Ilkar, screaming in pain, blood running from his nose and ears.
The noise of the wind snatched the sound but he could see the agony.
'Ilkar!' The elf couldn't hear him. He had to get him to safety.
He dragged himself to his feet and fought the blistering gale for the few yards to where his friend lay hunched in foetal position, his face contorted. He tried to shout again but it was no use. He looked around, saw the Dordovan mages suffering the same fate, and fixed his gaze on Lyanna. If she wasn't stopped, every mage in the house would be killed.
Denser dropped to the ground as the floor heaved and split. The Unknown turned to help him, seeing the roof blast upwards above him and collapse all along its length, showering timber and slate
everywhere. The Dordovan charge had faltered and broken, men covering their heads and running right and backwards, desperate to escape the destruction.
Wood struck The Unknown on the shoulder as he leant to pick the prone mage from the floor, the pain from his hip sending his head spinning. Wind, the like of which he'd never heard or felt before, pushed him flat, his face close to the Xeteskian's.
'Denser, what is this!'he shouted.
'Lyanna,' he managed through gritted teeth, a line of blood oozing from a nostril. 'Erienne has got to shield her. She's dragging it all in and she won't be able to… to hold it. Get them to the kitchen. The Al-Drechar.'
The Unknown thought he understood.
'Darrick, help me!'
'No,' said Darrick, yelling into his ear. 'I've got to find Ren. I can't leave her out there.' And he ran right towards the doors to the orchard.
The Unknown picked Denser up and turned to see Aeb fighting his way to the ballroom door. The big man staggered after him, turning his face against the hurricane and raising an arm to knock aside the hunks of plaster that flew at him.
Inside, the sound was even greater.
Aeb, if you can hear me. Bring the girl and Erienne. We have to get to the Al-Drechar.
Aeb looked over to The Unknown and nodded. Instantly, brother Protectors turned and started crawling across the floor. One encircled Lyanna with a huge arm, two others picked up Erienne. Behind The Unknown, the Dordovans were coming on again, leaning into the wind, picking their way across the rubble and their fallen comrades. Lyanna was buying them some time but, from the pain on her face, it was destroying her mind.
Chapter 40
The kitchen was an oasis of calm but keeping it that way was killing the Al-Drechar very quickly. All three sat up in their beds, hands clasped together, their shield pushing outwards, barely making it beyond the table in the centre of the room. Outside it, the mana was in havoc. Anything that hadn't been secured had been picked up and flattened against wall or shield. Mugs were shattered, chairs so much match wood and the table itself had been sliding across the floor to crush them when they had stopped it.
Ephemere fought to reach out with her mind, to bring Lyanna into the boundary, to calm her. But she was too far away and too far gone. For Erienne, the time was now or it would be never.
The door from the ballroom burst open. The defending Protector made to strike but instead bent to drag in
