‘Well, you have the tools to do both and neither right here,’ said Yron.
Selik cleared his throat. ‘The ice is thin beneath your feet, Captain. ’
‘Oh really? I thought it had already cracked and you were merely holding me above the drop.’
Selik waved a hand impatiently. ‘What is this?’ He turned the thumb over in his hands.
‘I had no idea you were interested in archaeology.’
Selik sighed. ‘I can make this very painful for you,’ he said without looking up. ‘But I had hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.’
It was Selik’s casual attitude that told Yron the Black Wing would torture the information from him. And if he was going to die, it might as well be on his terms. He was not afraid to die. Nor was he afraid of pain but he’d wanted to resist Selik and had tested his narrow limits. But as he sat there, aware of his own unpleasant smell mixing with the stale sweat and ale of the room and those around him, he asked himself what it was he was so desperate to keep from Selik.
And he couldn’t think of a single thing. He relaxed.
‘I’d talk easier over a hot drink,’ he said.
Selik shrugged and nodded at one of his men.
‘And for me too.’
‘Thank you,’ said Yron.
‘Now, Captain,’ said Selik. ‘Time for you to begin.’
‘Well, Selik, the summary is this. What you have in your hand there is part of the thumb from the statue of Yniss that stands in the Aryndeneth temple on Calaius. Its separation from the statue has unleashed a plague which threatens to wipe out the entire elven nation. I was taking it back. You must do the same. If you do you’ll gain a very powerful ally. If you don’t they’ll kill you. All of you.’ He leaned back. ‘I can see you don’t believe me but I assure you it’s true, if a little difficult to grasp that something so small could cause something so awful. So, ask me what you want and I’ll tell you all I can.’
Selik asked and Yron told him. Everything.
Barely rested but driven by a desperate need, The Raven rode from their forward camp in the dead of night, allowing their horses to pick careful routes through the tussocks of grass, moss-covered rocks and bracken thickets of their route back to the south-west side of Xetesk. During their rest, another dozen Al-Arynaar had succumbed to the Elfsorrow, as had three TaiGethen, one of them Marack, who had already seen the rest of her Tai cell die. To her it had been a release from grief.
A Communion between Dordovan and Lysternan mages eased their passage between the two battle fronts and on towards the no-man’s-land to the south and west, which was still nominally controlled by Xetesk but under pressure from the Black Wing force camped a few miles south.
The Raven, with their quartet of elven guests clinging unhappily to the saddles of their cantering horses, had made good progress through the latter half of the night, and as dawn brightened the sky, the three mages took to the air.
The decision had been made to cover the ground in a wide arc and track back along the most likely route Merke’s cell would have taken on leaving Xetesk. There was some risk attached to the tactic as Xeteskian mage-defender trios were out looking for the same quarry. Ilkar was the southernmost, Denser nearest to the walls of Xetesk but a good four miles distant, with Erienne in between them, slightly ahead of both and with a brief to look as much into the sky ahead as at the ground below her.
They flew a mile ahead of The Raven, who split as necessary to check knots of trees, heavy bushes and areas of taller bracken. With the horses going at little more than a trot, Auum and his Tai had taken the chance to dismount and track. But for hour after hour there was no sign.
From where he flew some fifty feet from the ground, Denser could see the plains south of Xetesk stretched out before him. Several miles ahead - it was difficult to guess exactly how many - he could see the smoke from dozens of fires and the off-white of tent canvas that must be the Black Wing camp.
It was large and within half a day’s march of the walls of Xetesk but Denser still didn’t feel they presented a threat. With no magic in their ranks they were