'You know we can't stay here. We have made a promise to Ilkar.

Julatsa's Heart must be raised and Xetesk has to be stopped. That isn't going to happen if we sit here under your questionable protection,' said The Unknown. 'The question really is, are you going to make it difficult for us to ride away from here now?'

Another spell struck the outer door. Timbers heaved. The sound of angry voices grew louder.

'Darrick is under sentence. I can't change that,' said Heryst. 'But Erienne must stay. Xetesk must not be allowed to take her.'

'She's Raven,' said Hirad. 'And Xetesk, nor Dordover, nor you will ever own her. Let's go.'

Heryst was going to be a hindrance.

'He stays,' said The Unknown. 'Denser?'

Denser nodded, released Erienne into The Unknown's arms and turned on the Lord Elder Mage of Lystern who stiffened. Hirad's sword point rested gently on his heart.

'It doesn't hurt,' said Denser.

'Pain I can handle. The stain on my reputation will take longer to clear.'

'You opposed us. You pay the price,' said Hirad.

'You'll be hunted out there,' said Heryst. 'At least I offer you life.'

'Life?' said Hirad. 'Hear that, Darrick?'

‘Ihear.'

Denser spoke his short incantation. Heryst slumped backwards, Hirad cushioning his head. The main door splintered.

'Run,' he said.

The Unknown swept Erienne up and followed Thraun and Darrick across the short space to the stables. The shapechanger hurdled the paddock fencing and ran in through broad, open doors. Darrick pulled open a side door and disappeared inside.

The Unknown ran in after Darrick with Denser and Hirad right behind him. One man lay on the ground, groaning and clutching at nose and groin. 'Thought you said it was empty.'

Hirad shrugged and pushed past him, leading the way through the tack room, past the saddle bars and on into the stables themselves. The pungent smells of dung and wet straw filled the air; the sounds of agitated horses mixed with the calls to arms from outside. Thraun's silhouette was framed against the night sky as he worked in the dark stables, unlatching gates and pulling horses out, his eyes piercing the shadows easily.

'Hirad, take the spare. I'll carry Erienne, she can't ride. Let's go, let's go!' said The Unknown, turning his head as he ran.

Lysternan soldiers Were moving quickly through the tack room. Ahead, Darrick had vaulted into his saddle the way only a cavalryman could and had snatched up a rake. Hirad was climbing aboard and Thraun had opened the last stable gate*.

The Unknown switched Erienne from his arms to over his left shoulder, put a foot in the stirrup and heaved himself on to his mount, pain flaring in his hip. He moved Erienne to sit in die saddle in front of him. An arrow thudded into a timber by his head.

'Ride, Raven. Ride!'

He yanked hard at the reins, turning his horse to the entrance. He dug in his heels and the animal sprang forwards. Darrick rode back down the stables, whirling the rake in his right hand. He heard the whistle as it whipped through the air and the dull thwack of wood on leather.

The Raven surged out into the paddock. Next to The Unknown, Denser was preparing. Just behind, Hirad hunched low, his left hand clutching the reins of Erienne's horse. Thraun came to The Unknown's right-hand side and he heard Darrick yelling his horse to greater effort.

In front of them, the low paddock fence neared. Beyond it, the walls of the college loomed above. Buildings rose on either side. From between these buildings, soldiers and mages ran to try and cut off their escape.

'Hang on, Erienne,' said The Unknown.

'I've got nothing better to do,' she said.

Denser had cast a SpellShield which flared deep blue under attack from Lysternan mages. The Unknown hadn't seen a cast and that meant a ForceCone or mind attack. While relieved they weren't going for the kill, he knew there was only one way to stop what could quickly become a barrage that Denser, on his own and riding, would find difficult to repel.

'Let's get amongst them!' roared The Unknown.

He kicked his heels into his mount's flanks again, gripped Erienne tight and jumped the fence, landing and turning left immediately, heading straight for a line of soldiers forming across the path to the gates. He looked quickly behind left and right. Denser and Hirad were in his wake. Thraun and Darrick had taken the flanking positions. The former Lysternan cavalry general veered far left, the rake now in his left hand and sweeping out, scattering soldiers unwilling to strike one of their own.

Ahead the soldiers, who included no archers, began to move. The Raven were not going to stop and their horses were trained and experienced at facing men on foot. They would veer to avoid contact but they wouldn't pull up.

'Clear the path!' yelled The Unknown. 'Stand aside!'

And then they were in the midst of the crowd. Without orders, the defence was non-existent, with no soldier willing to put himself in die way of a charging horse. Weapons and spells were no longer an option.

The Raven bore down on the gates which were open but blocked with carts too high to jump. Denser knew what to do.

'Don't fail us now, Denser,' said The Unknown to himself.

The mage straightened in his saddle, dropped the reins and pushed his arms forwards, palms facing up and outwards. The ForceCone roared away, catching one of the carts square on. Wheels shrieked on cobbles, wooden sides buckled inwards, canvas coverings tore. The cart tumbled away, soldiers diving for safety.

'Come on!' yelled Denser triumphandy.

The Unknown laughed and chased him out into the streets of Lystern.

Chapter 6

Auum edged a little further back into the shadows while the college guards, three of them, walked past. They didn't stray far from the walls of Xetesk's college of magic, walls that burned bright with the light of torches, lanterns and spells, but their eyes were forever on the murk at the edge of the light. They knew a threat was near but had never laid eyes on it and wouldn't until the time was right.

It was Auum who had to decide that time, yet he had to admit to himself and his Tai that gaining useful access to the college was going to be very difficult. His and four other TaiGethen cells had been watching the college for five days. The elite elven hunter-warriors had remained undetected for the whole of that time, looking for any gap, any way in and, just as importantly, any way out.

But Xetesk was on high alert. Ever since the theft of the Yniss statue fragment by one of their own, the Xeteskian college guard had been stung into action. Gates and doors had been reinforced, patrols had been doubled and trebled and the lights on the walls left little in shadow. Mages had joined the archers on the ramparts and the four main gatehouses vetted everyone who approached them, only opening for the minimum time needed to let people in.

Auum watched the guards walk past. They were young men, scared and uncertain. His Tai could have killed them all before they knew they were under attack but it wasn't necessary and might only draw unwanted attention to them. He had no particular desire to kill, despite what the Xeteskians had stolen. Most of the men he had seen walking past were the same. Recruits who had little idea of the crimes their superiors had committed.

Inside the college, it would be no different. All he, as leader of the TaiGethen, desired was to recover the sacred texts stolen from them. He wanted to take them back to Aryndeneth, the temple of Yniss deep in the rainforests of Calaius. He wanted the mages inside to be unable to use them, as they currently were, for research into ways to dominate the elves. Revenge on those who had perpetrated the sacrilege could come later.