The two Raven men backed off a pace, the Xeteskians forming up. The Unknown gasped a breath, his hip a furnace of pain. They could see Auum and the TaiGethen, blurs in the late morning, blades whispering through the air, feet and hands employed as lethal weapons. The Xeteskians had no choice but to drive on, those in front of the elves reluctant, knowing only luck would keep them alive. And luck played no part in anything the TaiGethen did.

'Keep close, Darrick,' said The Unknown. 'Angle away, keep an eye on the flanks. Don't be pretty. Hit them hard.'

'Got it,' said the general.

Three enemy moved in, head-on, others moved to flanking positions. The Unknown tried to keep his eyes on them all. Darrick had switched to a two-handed grip, sacrificing finesse for bludgeoning power. He swung in an upward curve right to left, battering the defence of his first man away, bringing the blade back across his face and connecting with his enemy's skull, splitting it like a coconut and careering the body across the short line.

Seeing his chance, The Unknown struck forward smartly, taking an opponent in the stomach. He dragged the blade back quickly and cut across the thighs of another, not quite balanced. Three were down quickly but more came to fill the space. The Unknown found himself fending off blows from two sides, angling his blade up and down, the defence quickly becoming more desperate.

Darrick too was getting hemmed in, forced to jab and cut, the full swing leaving him open to counterthrust. The Unknown changed his tactics. Feinting to catch the next blow as more closed in, he thrust low instead, ducking and shoving forwards hard with his hands, driving a space. Taking the enemy by surprise, he swept his blade up, striking one Xeteskian in the groin and backed away fast, feeling a sword whistle across his head.

He straightened too quickly, his hip screaming pain and threatening his balance, and savaged a blow left to right. He roared to clear his head. It was a sound taken up by animal throats as first a panther and then Thraun stormed into the attack. The Unknown, slightiy taken aback, half turned away from a man racing in to strike and couldn't find his position fast enough. The blade was swinging towards his head but it didn't arrive. Hirad's sword cracked it away and his return strike severed the man's head.

'Raven with me!' yelled Hirad.

The Unknown couldn't believe it. He saw the barbarian half running, half stumbling towards the Heart pit, his head covered in blood, his sword held defiantly before him. Thraun was pacing beside him and no enemy chanced getting too close. The Unknown sized up the problem. He and Darrick held the immediate Xeteskian attack on one side and the TaiGethen were whittling them away on the other.

Beyond him, he could see the Heart grinding into the light of the day, smoke pouring from its sides, its runes glittering in the sunlight. But the reason for Hirad's urgency was clear. Seeing the tide of the battle beginning to turn, Xeteskian mages had taken to ShadowWings and were bypassing the block to land in amongst the casting Julatsan and elven mages. Denser and Erienne were in there and they were defenceless.

'Damn it,' he breathed. 'Darrick, let's go!'

He thundered his sword through the guard of the nearest soldier and set off around the attacking group, following Hirad towards the Heart pit. Between them and their friends were enough Xeteskians to delay them too long.

Hirad could barely focus. He felt pain in his head, his chest and his legs and his sword was so heavy in his hands. Every pace he was blinking away blood but still he ran forward. Beside him Thraun, who knew what had to be done, leaped at the back of one of the Xeteskians blocking his way to the Heart pit. The man screamed and those by him moved reflexively aside, unwilling to be the next victim of the wolf.

In front of him, Auum with only one sword in hand now, whipped that blade into the face of his opponent and slammed the heel of his palm into his nose, snapping him off his feet.

'Auum!' yelled Hirad. 'Got to break through.'

He shoved an enemy aside, shouldered into a second and lashed out at a third. Auum had heard him and at a command, the Tai-Gethen concentrated their attack on Hirad's flank. The enemy folded in front of them. The barbarian roared, struck his blade into the neck of the last man in his way and ran into the courtyard beyond, praying he was in time.

Barely keeping his balance, Hirad headed forward, wiping blood from his face. Thraun bounded past him and disappeared among the casting mages. Everything was confusion. In the centre, the Heart speared upwards. Seventy feet and more of it was above ground now and still it came. Surrounding it, the mages who breathed life back into Julatsa held their arms aloft, pouring themselves into their own salvation. And they were heedless of the enemy in their midst, landed now and taking them down one by one.

Outnumbered, the Lysternan cavalry mages were under intense pressure and dying quickly. Hirad stumbled towards Denser, who still held Erienne, and was looking around him at the Xeteskians closing in fast. They weren't just trying to stop the Heart raise, they wanted to snatch the ultimate prize too.

No way. Following Thraun into the circles of casting mages, Hirad cracked his sword into the skull of a Xeteskian mage. Three more were heading for Denser. Others killed Julatsans. The Heart shuddered and faltered.

'No!' he screamed 'No! Don't give it up. Push, you bastards, push!'

He didn't care if they heard him but the Heart was moving again anyway. He tried to run faster, tripped and sprawled. The pain was extraordinary. His chest wound split wide, his head bouncing off the cobbles. His vision dimmed.

'Not yet,' he breathed. 'Not yet.'

Somehow, he dragged himself back to his feet. He heard footsteps near him. The Unknown and Darrick came past him, the latter sprinting, the former limping heavily. Both took down Xeteskian mages, leaving his path clear once more. He shambled on. Ahead, Denser had drawn a short blade but could not let Erienne go. She was limp in his free arm.

They were closing; on him. Hirad dragged a breath across his chest and pushed himself to a run. The first Xeteskian to threaten Denser felt Thraun's claws through his back. The second took just one more pace before he stepped into Hirad's range. One final time, the barbarian overarmed his sword. It bit into the man's back and sliced out beneath his ribs.

'Denser, there's another,' he said.

But if the Xeteskian attacked, Hirad didn't see him. He sagged to his knees completely exhausted.

The Unknown carved his sword through the waist of a Xeteskian mage and looked down on Denser. He didn't want to move another step. His hip was agony and breath was hard to come by.

'You all right?'

'In a manner of speaking.'

In Denser's arms, Erienne relaxed and sighed a long breath. Simultaneously, the Heart stopped, turned through ninety degrees and was still, the last wisps of black smoke issuing into the bright morning sky.

The Unknown looked around the mages who clearly could not quite believe what they had achieved. Lysternans were moving among them as was Darrick, searching out the final Xeteskian intruders.

Some of the Julatsans had their heads in their hands, some were crying, others just staring in stupefaction. The din of the battle didn't seem to impinge on them at all.

'Pheone,' he said. She didn't turn round. 'Pheone.'

‘I…' she gestured at the Heart. 'Look at what we've done.'

'It is the most stunning achievement for which you will all go down in history,' said The Unknown as gently as he could. 'But we have trouble in the gateyard. Have you got anything left to give? People are still dying.'

She smiled at him and nodded vigorously. 'The Heart is raised. Our focus is clear. Yes, I'd have said we had something left.'