run on. Don’t hesitate. We need those writings safe.’
The two men lifted Ben between them, balanced his weight and stood, breathing hard, pulses tripping fast, every nerve alive. In front of them, three hundred yards of forest, swamp, water and then safety. It looked a terribly long way.
‘Don’t look back, don’t cry out, don’t even blink,’ Yron said. ‘As soon as we break cover, run like you’ve never run before.’
They manoeuvred Ben to the very edge of the forest. Right in front of them, the swamp waters glimmered darkly. Yron prayed the piranha were too busy feasting on the bodies of the others by now. And the crocodiles. He shivered.
‘All right, you two bastards,’ he whispered, then almost laughed as he said words he never thought he’d hear himself utter. ‘Run for your lives.’
Chapter 32
Denser ran behind Hirad and The Unknown Warrior in what was surely the safest place on the battlefield. Beside him Ilkar and Erienne, minds deep in concentration, ran steadily, their consciousnesses divided using a skill only the finest truly mastered.
The Raven kept hard to the left flank, leaving the fight for the mage’s body and the bag he carried to the elves in the left centre. The mage had fallen close to the bank. While The Raven held the flank and pressured the centre, the elves would have to contend with the enemy in front of them and possible fire from across the river. So far, the elves on the right bank hadn’t moved to attack. Instead they continued moving up slowly, trying to flush out anyone that might be hidden there.
As he ran, Denser prepared again, this time the same spell as Erienne would choose once The Raven were engaged and she could drop the HardShield in safety. They would cast together so, for now, he fine-tuned his mana shape and scanned the enemy no more than twenty yards ahead as they splashed out of the swamp. More arrows came in, rattling uselessly on the HardShield, spots of HotRain fizzing over Ilkar’s rock-steady casting.
The scene had a distinctly surreal quality to it. The afterglow of spells burned a halo in the air above, the moon ebbed and strengthened as cloud passed across it, and the forest animals were silent under the sudden barrage of violence unleashed in their midst.
In the curious half-light, Denser saw the faces of those they were about to fight. Men who had been hiding for a pace too long, believing they would have the element of surprise but now having to charge at their enemy. And as they came Denser could see they recognised who they were about to fight. Mouths spoke The Raven’s name and more than one faltered in his stride while grips shifted on weapons and eyes betrayed growing fear.
They shouted orders and encouragement as they came, closing with Hirad Coldheart and The Unknown Warrior, The Raven’s heart for fifteen years. With Ry Darrick, Balaia’s most famous soldier and now deserter. With Thraun, the shapechanger. And with a blank-faced Protector. Men who gave you an edge even before a blow was struck.
Hirad roared to clear his mind, energise The Raven and inspire more fear, his sword crashing down right to left across his chest, his legs already moving to balance him for his defence and next strike. He sheared his enemy’s blade, sending the man stumbling back, then reversed his sword up into the unprotected chin, hurling his corpse back into his faltering comrades.
‘HardShield down,’ said Erienne. ‘Preparing offence.’
Next to Hirad, The Unknown caught a strike on the guard of his dagger, twisted the enemy weapon aside and swept his sword into the ribs of his opponent. Not waiting for him to drop, he stormed forwards, headbutting the man behind and punching his dagger into his temple.
Beside him, Aeb slashed a path, his wide-bladed axe scything through helmet and bone, his sword stabbing forward like a rapier. He made no sound, just exuded control and destruction. And at his side, Darrick ducked and twisted, his blade held in two hands, now in one, never letting a sharp edge get close to him, death and injury in every strike he dealt out. At the opposite end of the line, with Ren behind him firing shaft after shaft into the defending mages, Thraun powered his way into the line, his howls like those of the wolves he had left behind, his animal side allowed free rein.