Ilkar, ears pricking. A gust sent rain thrashing around the clearing, stinging the face and sending spats of dirt from the ground as it struck. The fire hissed and crackled in protest, shadows speared across the ground, flickering and jumping.
'I expect we could work it out, me and the Kaan,' said Hirad. 'All I'm asking is a little respect for the fact that I'm helping a man who hasn't lifted a finger to help me in the last five years.'
'A little respect, I can grant you,' said Denser.
'Drop it, Denser,' said The Unknown, his voice a growl.
'One more word, Denser,' Hirad raised a finger. 'And you'll be riding to Arlen alone.'
'Run off to your precious dragons, Hirad. And you can all die together in your chilly cave while I try and save Lyanna, and Balaia along with her.'
Hirad spun round and ran at the Xeteskian, hurdling the fire and kicking over the pot, scattering water to steam and hiss in the hot ashes. Putting a hand up he pushed Denser in the chest, knocking him back a couple of paces. He might have been a few years older than when The Raven last rode together but he'd lost none of his speed; there had been no time for Denser to react.
'You'd like that, wouldn't you, Denser, eh?' His voice grated low, his eyes, hooded, his face muscles bunched and taut. 'You and your powerful friends up in your towers.'
He pushed Denser with both hands this time, forcing him to fight to retain his balance.
'Let them waste away, you thought. People will forget, you thought. We'll play a little at research but we know we aren't going anywhere with it. No one will really care. Bet that's how it was in nice warm fire-bright Xetesk, wasn't it?'
Denser met his gaze but said nothing. Hirad grabbed his cloak at the neck and marched him backwards, spitting out his words, his whole body shuddering with his anger.
'But I haven't forgotten, Xetesk man. And neither have the Kaan. You've made them suffer, you bastard, and you never gave it a thought. They are no closer to going home now than they were five years ago are they? But you're too wrapped up in your petty politics and power climbing to give a shit.
'But I've been there. Every day and every night. Seeing their eyes
dim and their scales go dull and dry. Seeing their confusion grow and their minds seethe. Because every day they die some more while every day the ungrateful scum they saved forget a little more.'
Denser was backed against a tree with nowhere to go. Rain was running down its trunk and thunder barked overhead. The torrent increased its ferocity, its hammering in the leaf cover a cacophony into which Hirad shouted.
'Get where I'm coming from, Denser? Understand even a little bit?' Hirad made a tiny space between thumb and forefinger. 'Because right now there's a death sentence over the Kaan. It's long and slow but it's certain because no one's going to help them, are they?'
'Hirad, enough.' It was The Unknown's voice but Hirad ignored it, pushing his face very close to Denser's.
'But now, it's your wife and child. Now, it's different. And we're all expected to drop everything and help you, aren't we? No, more than that. We have to.' He leaned in until their noses all but touched.
'Well I've got an answer for you, Xetesk man, and it'll stop bloody magic tearing up my country. Let the Dordovans kill the child. Problem solved. Death sentence carried out. What do you think. Eh? Eh?' He shook Denser, banging the back of his head against the tree and seeing the mage's eyes burning hatred into him.
'Hirad, that's enough.' The Unknown's arm came between them, levering the barbarian away. He fought it.
'Lost your tongue, Denser, have you? Have you?'
T think you spend too much time with reptiles.'
'Fuck you, Denser!' He drew back a fist but The Unknown caught his arm and thrust his body in the way, forcing Hirad back.
'Don't do it,' he said, holding his hands out, his massive frame hiding Denser completely. But Hirad was too far gone.
'Get out of my way, Unknown.'
He came forward again. This time, The Unknown shoved him hard. He stumbled back on to his haunches, feet slipping on the slick ground as the rain beat down with ever increasing force, a net of water obscuring his vision. His hand reached reflexively for his sword but The Unknown stooped to the fire and shook the scabbard from his huge blade in one fluid movement.
'You aren't going to hurt him, Hirad. Back off.' The menace in
The Unknown's voice shocked Hirad who could only stand and stare at what he saw.
'Unknown, stop this!' shouted Ilkar. 'Hirad, you too. We're The Raven, for Gods' sake!' He marched in between them, trying to take them both in, unable to keep the disbelief from his voice or his expression as the rain washed down his face.
Hirad had taken his hand from his sword hilt and was gazing slack-jawed at the blade in The Unknown's hands.
'He'd see Lyanna die,' said The Unknown. 'And I can't have that. He'd see her die.' He didn't switch his eyes to Ilkar as he addressed him. 'A feeling you're familiar with, I believe.'
Ilkar ignored the comment. 'Put your sword up, Unknown, and do it right now. There will not be any fighting here, understand?'
The Unknown Warrior looked down at Ilkar, rain splattering across his shaven head, his eyes glinting orange in the wind-whipped firelight.
'I won't let him harm Denser,' he said. 'You know why.' He threw his sword to the ground.
'It's not about that,' said Ilkar.
'Isn't it?' said Hirad. He wiped a sheen of rain from his face and flicked his hand to disperse it. 'Trouble is, Unknown, you're still a Protector in here.' He tapped his chest above his heart. 'And you can't shake it off. And the ridiculous thing is, he's done the same to your brothers as he's done to the Kaan. Let you fester and hope you'll go away.' Hirad made no attempt to move closer.
'How little you know, Hirad. I'm a father, that's what I am. And I won't see someone else's child tossed aside.' The Unknown turned away but swung back. 'You're my friend, Hirad. Probably the best I've ever had. You brought about my release from Protector thrall. But I won't see you threaten a man through his child. That's a bond you won't understand until you experience it.'
'Yet you pulled a sword on me,' said Hirad, his anger gone now, replaced by a feeling of loss. 'We're The Raven and what you did doesn't belong. It was wrong.'
'Listen to yourself,' said the big man. 'It was your actions too, Hirad. Yours too.'
'Think I'll make a camp somewhere else,' said Hirad, and he walked from The Raven's fire.
Chapter 16
Jasto, twelfth Earl of Arlen, was a proud man who had paid the price of overstretching his resources and who, as a result, was now under the firm, fair but unshakeable grip of Baron Blackthorne.
Even in Blackthorne's weakened days following the destruction of his town towards the end of the Wesmen wars, Arlen had perceived himself too weak to challenge the younger man with any certainty of success. But that had not made him a weak man, as some of his resident merchant lords had intimated. It had made him wise and, latterly, very wealthy once again.
He recalled his hard-pressed merchant and shipping families coming to him those six years ago and urging him to break free of the bonds Blackthorne had imposed. They were weary of being beneath the Baron's fist and he, they had said, would never get a better opportunity to demand and achieve his autonomy.
And he had seen their point. There had not been a mercenary to be hired anywhere in Balaia, and Blackthorne's own men were either dead or tired of fighting. However, to Arlen, an attack would have been like betrayal of a man who had sacrificed so much to keep Balaia free of Wesmen domination. So instead of sending men armed with sword and spear, he had equipped them with pick, shovel, saw and hammer. Instead of riding to
