before turning and running towards the corridor.
T can't leave this door,' said Ilkar.
'Go!' shouted The Unknown. 'Secure the second perimeter. Tell Darrick we're coming.'
The FlameOrbs landed, washing fire over the third rank of Dordovans and splashing fresh flame over already charred timbers. Panic spurred Dordovans on to the weapons of The Raven. The Unknown thrust his blade into the side of the man in front of him and slashed his dagger across his neck. Beside him, Hirad ducked and chopped into the legs of his opponent and the Protectors, forced into a flurry of action, made it count.
'Disengage on my word,' said The Unknown. Behind him, he heard Denser get to his feet. 'Now!'
A pace back and they turned and ran. The Unknown was slow but the Protectors surrounded him, one at each shoulder, picking him off his feet.
'Mages in the ballroom. Mages moving with us through the orchard,' said Aeb, his voice calm in the sudden chaos.
'Gods,' muttered The Unknown. 'Denser, keep that shield up.' He stared ahead as they turned the corner into the orchard corridor.
'Darrick!' roared The Unknown. 'Second perimeter. There's trouble in the ballroom. We've lost the orchard.'
Darrick was ahead, his sword moving quickly as he fought off attack from the first wing. The corridor was on fire, spreading along the wall of the orchard towards the ballroom, the heat intense. At both the other wing entrances Protectors were engaged in fierce fighting.
The Unknown saw Ilkar and Erienne run past the third wing. Moments later, a detonation split the air and fire gorged out. The quartet of Protectors never stood a chance, blown back against the wall, bodies seared, dead before they slumped to the ground. Fire washed across the ceiling, the after shock of the explosion shaking loose plaster dust into the air to mix with choking smoke. Dordo-vans poured into the gap running left and right.
Even before he asked it, the Protectors released their support, sprinting on with Hirad, and leaving The Unknown with Aeb, Darrick and Denser to marshal the rear defence. He prayed Hirad would break the way ahead quickly. If not, they would be trapped.
Lyanna came to a stop in the dark ballroom. There were more of the masked men there but they were not moving, just like the ones in the kitchen. She didn't know what she'd done but she knew it was wrong, only she didn't know how to stop it.
'Mummy, where are you?' she wailed, her eyes filling with tears. She clutched her doll tighdy.
On the other side of the ballroom, she could hear people shouting and fighting and there were flames leaping and jumping. That would be where Mummy and Daddy were, helping to keep her safe. She chewed at her bottom lip, caught in indecision. She should go back to the kitchen to be with the ladies and see if the strange man was better. But she so wanted to be with Mummy. Probably she wouldn't be too angry but she didn't want to get into any more trouble.
Something was happening. She looked up to the ceiling of the ballroom which had a big hole to the sky. The sky was very cloudy and it was going to rain very hard again but that wasn't what caught her eye. There were men swooping in on wings, lowering themselves through the hole. One of them even carried another one in his arms.
There were six of them and she watched them, wishing she could fly like them. On either side of her, the two men with the masks moved again, running towards her. She screamed and ran away and they gave chase. One of them swept her up in his arms while the other turned towards the flying men. They all landed, the wings
disappeared and the one who had been carried drew a long sword. She struggled to get away but the man held her too tight.
'Mummy, help me!' she shouted. 'Help!'
The room went cold and the first masked man fell. The one carrying her ran for the ballroom door. If she screamed loud enough, surely Mummy would hear.
Ilkar ran behind Erienne, hardly closing the distance between them at all.
'Erienne, slow down! The Protectors will handle it!' he yelled, but she didn't slow at all.
Twenty yards from the ballroom door, a Protector appeared in the opening, Lyanna shrieking in his arms. He was running but jolted violently, falling forwards. Ilkar felt the chill afterwash of an IceWind rush past him and knew the Protector's body had saved Lyanna's fragile life. The Protector crumpled, the girl trapped under him. She cried out and tried to shuffle clear but his weight was too much and her legs were trapped.
'Lyanna!' screamed Erienne and she upped her pace.
Ilkar tore after them, praying Hirad was close enough behind. Gods knew how many of them were in the ballroom. He closed the distance at a flat sprint but time seemed to crawl. A Dordovan mage, ShadowWings live on his back, strode out of the door, looked up once then stooped to pull the Protector's body out of the way. Erienne slithered to a halt, a hand to her mouth, calling Lyanna's name over and over. The child herself held out her hands and begged for help. But Erienne wasn't going to get there in time.
Behind Ilkar an explosion sounded and his thoughts took on a terrible clarity. In front of him, a Dordovan mage leant down to snatch the Nightchild and take her back to Dordover where the threat of the One would be snuffed out forever. It would be so easy to let the mage take her, to not quite stop him. To make an effort so great that none could blame him for her loss. It would save the Colleges. It would save the fledgling new Julatsa.
For a Julatsan mage, it was the only decision that could be made. What had The Unknown said of him? That he wouldn't get in the way of someone killing her. Implying that for him the saving of his College was bigger than one life.
Was it, hell.
Ilkar didn't know what possessed him. It was something he'd never even dreamt of attempting before but his subconscious instructed his body without bothering to check with the rational part of his mind. He drew his sword, his only weapon, from its sheath and flung it down the corridor and time stopped standing still.
The sword flicked end over end. It wasn't a great throw but it was enough. Bouncing from the orchard wall it struck the mage flat on, sending him staggering backwards, concentration and wings gone. In that moment, Erienne dived towards Lyanna and pulled her free. The Dordovan mage came again but this time Ilkar grappled him around the middle and both man and elf tumbled back into the ballroom.
Hirad lashed his sword through the first Dordovan throat, chopping through his windpipe and jugular and sending him crashing back into the corridor where he had come from. Beside him, a Protector overheaded with his axe, splitting the skull of the next through his helmet. Without pausing to extract the weapon, he snapped the sword from his back and drove it through, waist-high, into a third.
The barbarian roared, the blood rushing through his veins, feeling empowered and very, very angry. He batted away a strike to his midriff and laid a straight left hand punch on the enemy's nose. Letting his momentum carry him on, he spun, taking the man in the face with his left elbow, then the right and finishing with the back of his right fist. The Dordovan went down with blood spraying from his shattered face and Hirad was in the middle of them. They never knew what hit them.
'Come on, you bastards!'
Facing them again and with his sword coming through, he thumped it into the forehead of the next victim, slicing through bone and seeing brain explode from the top of his skull as it compressed and shattered. He kicked out waist-high, his foot sweeping the body aside and leaving his path clear.
'Ilkar, I'm coming!'
There were more Dordovans ahead. Two Protectors ran past him, bludgeoning two of those who ran after Erienne and Ilkar before
Hirad caught them up, his eyes seeing only red, and picked his next target.
'Move, move!' called Denser, desperately holding his concentration on the HardShield as arrows and crossbow bolts bounced off it. 'Stay behind me, attack only if they get inside a couple of paces.'
The Unknown was limping hard down the corridor, Aeb to his left and Darrick to his right. Ahead, Hirad had gone berserk and was causing confusion in the Dordovans spilling from the corridor entrances. They didn't know who to attack. Aeb made up their mind for them, charging in and beheading one with a clean sweep of his axe.
Ignoring his pain, The Unknown ran after him, each footfall sending his head swimming.
