'Another mature debate begins,' said The Unknown, silencing them both. 'Presumably, this balance and harmony structure has its roots in religion.'

Ilkar nodded and leaned forward to refill his mug. Ren took over.

'There are G.o.ds at every conceivable level but there's little temple worship outside the larger towns and cities.'

'Mind you, the grandest and oldest of them all is out here,' said Ilkar.

'Mainly, houses have shrines to their favoured G.o.ds and most elves believe the forest to be temple enough for worship. At the top of the tree, if you'll pardon the term, is Yniss, G.o.d of the harmony, who pulls all the elements together. Beneath Yniss there are G.o.ds and lords of the canopy, its roots, the animals, the wind, rain, death, fire . . . You name it. The ones you'll mostly hear about are Tual, who controls the animals, including elves, by the way, Cefu, G.o.d of the canopy above, Gyal, who sends the rain, and Shorth, the death G.o.d.'

'There are hundreds of minor deities,' said Ilkar. 'It's all rather well structured for an ancient religion, if a little complex. The point, I suppose, is don't underestimate the power of these beliefs and the lengths some elves will go to to protect what they have in the name of that religion.'

Hirad shifted and drained his mug. 'Funny thing, Ilks. In all the years I've known you, I've never once heard you use any of these G.o.ds' names.'

'That would have been hypocritical,' said Ilkar. 'After all, if I really believed, I'd have come back to do my part, wouldn't I?'

'Was that the idea, then?' asked Hirad.

'Something like that,' said Ilkar, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. 'Look, can we leave this for now?'

'Ilkar's got some embarra.s.sing secret, I take it,' said Denser.

Hirad nodded. 'Must be.'

'Can we? Please?' Ilkar's raised voice caused Kayloor to shift in his slumber, but he didn't wake and it served as a timely reminder.

'Another long day tomorrow,' said The Unknown.

'Yes,' said Ilkar. 'Look, can I suggest that you put the nets over your hammocks. It'll feel a little odd but you'll thank me in the morning.'

With a little grumbling, The Raven and Ren took to their beds, leaving Aeb to take the first watch and bathe his face. After him, they'd watch in pairs.

Lying in his hammock, shifting to try and find a modic.u.m of comfort, Ilkar felt the anxious silence around him as an alien night closed in around the group. He could sense his friends straining to hear danger now that the camaraderie of the campfire was broken. But all they'd be hearing was the rasping, croaking, buzzing, rustling and cawing clamour that came from every direction.

'Doesn't this ever stop?' asked Hirad.

'Never,' said Ilkar.

'Wonderful. Could have told us to bring ear bungs or something. I don't want to have to sleep with my fingers rammed in my ears.'

'Believe me, Hirad. Not hearing things is altogether worse than hearing them.' Ilkar smiled to himself. 'Sleep tight.'

'Fat chance.'

In the grey light of dawn, Selik could see the smirk on Devun's face. He'd been wearing it ever since they'd ridden out of Understone, like a child who'd escaped punishment for some misdemeanour.

'So,' he said, finally addressing Devun. 'You've been itching to tell me ever since we rode out of that slum. What was it you did to that mage that so changed his mind?'

Devun laughed. It was an uncomfortable sound, without humour or soul. Selik sighed inwardly. Like most of the Black Wings Devun was useful muscle but eminently dispensable. Of Callom and Edman, he hoped for better things.

'The threats weren't working,' said Devun. 'He didn't believe us, I don't think he ever would have. So I told him the truth.'

'Which was?' asked Selik, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

'That Xetesk was so intent on control of Balaian magic that they would march on Julatsa when and if they beat Dordover.'

Selik looked at him with a little more respect, wondering if he'd misjudged the man. 'Well, it's a view rather than the definite truth,' he said, smiling a little. 'It's not exactly the message I had in mind for him to take to Julatsa, but still.'

'Oh, I don't think he'll be taking it there.'

'Why not?' The doubt was back.

'Because I advised him that he needed to tell the people best able to do something about it. So he's going to Dordover.'

'Are you sure?' Selik had to admit to himself that this was a far better solution than he'd planned.

'The look on his face,' said Devun. 'He believed me. I said they wouldn't believe us, but they'd believe a mage. I left it up to him how he said he learned the information.'

Selik scratched his neck with an index finger. 'I am genuinely impressed. Let us hope he doesn't get cold feet at the gates of Vuldaroq's college, eh?'

'Always a risk.' Devun shrugged.

'Indeed.'

Selik spurred the Black Wings on, his spirits lifted in a way he had not antic.i.p.ated. The Blackthorne Mountains glowered down at them from his right as they rode, heading through the Varhawk Crags and then Blackthorne Town. He knew it would be a difficult meeting, but the warming early dawn sun on his face effectively masked the problems of the future.

Chapter 17.

It was almost dawn. A violent cloudburst, accompanied by spectacular lightning and resounding thunder, had doused the watch fires and woken everyone from nervous sleep.

Yron called for the guards to be relieved and fresher faces trotted out to the two camouflaged elven platforms still standing and to four other concealed positions a few feet up in the trees. Anything to give them even a hint of warning.

The captain hadn't slept at all, standing at the door of the temple all night, feeling his anxiety grow as the inevitable attack drew closer. Four quartets of men had left camp hours before, skirting well away from their established path before heading north for the boats they'd left a couple of days downriver or on the longer walk direct to the ships moored in the Shorth Estuary.

With them they carried critical information from the temple. It was a gamble but, not knowing exactly who and what they faced, Yron felt he had no choice. He had entrusted the most valuable information to the group containing Erys.

His quick briefing of those left behind had been both poignant and uplifting. He hadn't sought to fool them, to lie or to soften the blow. They were there to hold on as long as they could and die for the greater glory. The elves they would face, he had told them, would be few but extraordinarily lethal, and he had cautioned them against being mesmerised by the speed or grace of what they saw.

And their fight would be entirely without magic. Stenys had also been sent with a group of runners, his magical skills better used in ensuring survival of the booty than staving off the inevitable at the temple.

Yron took Ben-Foran on a last tour of the hurried defences they'd set. Thorn traps dug perhaps a little shallow, twisted woodpiles positioned in the hope of driving their attackers down certain overlooked ways and a couple of snap nooses. Little more than glorified animal traps, these last were strung using tensioned saplings on the approach to the ap.r.o.n. Yron was surprised that they had not been attacked during the night. It was a blessing of sorts. Bought them and their runners precious time. Always a.s.suming they hadn't already been hunted down. If he was honest, he expected only one of the groups to succeed and Erys's was the most likely.

'You should have left, Ben,' said Yron, more proud than he would ever admit that the young lieutenant had refused to leave his commanding officer.

'I'm a soldier,' said Ben-Foran. 'I'm not stealthy, I'm clumsy if anything, but I fight well. My skills are better used here.'

'So you keep saying.'

'So stop reminding me, Captain.' He sipped from the mug of tea he carried.

'You could have chosen life.'

'I chose soldiering,' said Ben-Foran. 'That sometimes includes death. It's an occupational hazard.'

Yron bent to check the snap mechanism on one of the nooses, wondering if Ben-Foran was as calm as he appeared. G.o.ds knew, Yron wasn't, but then he had a greater knowledge of their enemy and still couldn't quite believe they hadn't arrived yet.

The noose was excellent. He didn't expect it to trap anyone but it would certainly give the elves pause for thought. He drained his own mug.

'Very good,' he said. 'Who set this?'

'I did.'

Yron smiled. 'b.l.o.o.d.y waste of time teaching you though, wasn't it? Who're you going to pa.s.s it on to, some sub-deity in the afterlife? G.o.ds, but I should have been a career drinker. It's so much simpler when you're p.i.s.sed.'

'Teaching is never a waste,' said Ben-Foran. 'You never know when it's going to be your time to die.'

'Not a waste, eh? Then come and see this and learn. Unless you've something better to do.'

'Nothing pressing, Captain,' said Ben.

Yron led him away from the ap.r.o.n to the small natural clearing where they'd taken the elven bodies after the a.s.sault on the temple. He heard Ben take in a sharp breath.

Not four days ago, they'd left nine bodies there. None had questioned Yron on why. What was left were a few scattered bones and remnants of clothing. Everything else was gone.

'The forest takes everything back,' said Yron, his voice quiet and reverent. 'They deserved that respect from us.'

'I don't understand,' said Ben.

'It's an elven belief. One of many. All life returns to the forest in death. Everything is used. We owed them the respect of not burning them.'

'Oh, I see.'

'No graveyards in the rainforest, Ben. Burying corpses is a waste.'

Yron heard a sound at the far edge of his hearing. Ever so slight but not made by an animal, he was sure of it. He put a finger to his lips and gestured Ben-Foran into the shelter of a broad-leaved plant growing in the lee of a palm. The youngster knew better than to question him.

Stunned he wasn't dead, Yron watched the lithe shapes pa.s.s by scant yards from him. He couldn't help but be impressed by their economy of movement; it rendered them all but invisible, mere shadows across the forest floor.

With his heart loud in his chest, Yron turned his head to Ben-Foran, gesturing him to be still. The young soldier looked at him questioningly and nodded his head after the elves, a hand on his sword hilt.

Yron responded with a shake of his head and a frown. He scanned the ground at his feet and took the pace between them very slowly.

'We've got to warn the others. Help them,' whispered Ben-Foran.

'We wouldn't get twenty paces,' said Yron, his head almost touching Ben's, his voice very, very quiet. 'It's hard, I know, but the G.o.ds have spared us for a reason or we'd already be dead. When the attack starts, we'll move. Go after Erys.' He paused and looked Ben in the eye. 'This isn't going to be nice.'

Auum moved smoothly across the forest floor, Duele and Evunn his shadows. They'd rested to eat and pray not far from the strangers' camp in a place free of their stench. Ignoring the crudely hacked path the forest was already beginning to reclaim, they kept to the natural trails, aiming to see the temple at dawn when Cefu was at her most magnificent and their strength was at its height.

They could sense the strangers at the temple long before they could smell them. The forest was askew, Tual's denizens confused by the destruction so carelessly wrought. The balance was disturbed but there was more. The TaiGethen could feel it deep within them. It was as if Yniss had turned away, His attention deflected. The imbalance caused by the strangers in the forest was just one small part. What Auum and his breed could feel went deeper, to the base of everything on which the elven races built their existence. He could feel it in the air and taste it on the rain. It ran through him on the mana trails and was heard in the rustling of the wind through the canopy. It was everywhere.

Auum experienced an unusual frisson of anxiety. The harmony was at odds with itself. He knew it was serious but it was a matter for prayer and contemplation later. The Tai had their task for the present, as did the others he knew would be approaching from the south. Others were surely near too. And Al-Arynaar. Drawn by the unease that must have swept through all of them, though some would feel it more keenly than others.

In the last few hundred yards, Auum's senses heightened, bringing him an awareness of his immediate environment no stranger could possibly conceive.

Again they stopped for prayer and to mark their faces. Again they strung their compact high-tension bows. Again they headed towards their target, their total focus broken only by the two strangers outside the attack perimeter.

The Tai ignored them for now. Once their task was complete and the temple returned to the Al-Arynaar, they would be tracked to their destination. Just to be sure all the invaders died.

Auum stepped easily over a snap noose of fair quality. Interesting that they should attempt such crude traps. It suggested desperation, as did the thorn pits they skirted immediately after. A hiss brought him to a standstill. He looked left. Duele indicated trees ahead where men were concealed, two of them on the approach to the temple. Auum pointed to himself and then to the trees before indicating Duele and making a sweeping motion, pointing to his eye and up again into the branches.

Duele nodded and darted away. To the right, Evunn was a statue, barely visible even to Auum. He directed Evunn further right, both elves nocking arrows. The forest stilled. It was time.

The two bows sang together, arrows whipping away, striking their targets with deadly accuracy. One man was taken through the throat, the other's heart was pierced. Auum was already running, another arrow in the string, ignoring the bodies as they fell near him. To the left, a jaqrui crescent whispered away, the thud of its strike reaching Auum's tuned ears. Duele was at the platforms.

Twenty yards ahead, another stranger was staring out from a hide in the trees right by the stone path to the temple. He knew something was coming but could see nothing. As he opened his mouth to call a warning, Auum and Evunn both loosed arrows, the impacts in the enemy's head and neck punching him out of the tree to crash into the foliage below, dead before he felt the fangs of the viper he disturbed.

A third arrow was in Auum's bow before he broke cover at the side of the ap.r.o.n, sprinting round its left-hand side while Evunn took the right. He heard a shout from within the temple, an echoing scared voice. It was as they wanted, the expected reaction to his plan. Four crossbow bolts flashed out from the temple doorway.

Auum held up four fingers. Across the ap.r.o.n, Evunn mirrored his gesture, having seen the same number of bolts. In front of them, canvas fell across the opening, hiding the strangers inside the sacred trap they'd made for themselves and desecrated by their very touch. He heard voices from within; he couldn't understand the language, but knew it jarred in his ears.

He and Evunn moved back into the edge of the forest either side of the ap.r.o.n. Duele appeared by him.

'Five are dead,' he said. 'There are no more outside.'

Auum nodded. 'Climb.'

Duele ran to the temple, keeping out of sight of the breaks in the canvas. He found footholds where there should have been none and climbed swiftly up the side of the building, moving onto the domed roof, arms and legs splayed for purchase, easing up smoothly. His route took him left and then right, allowing him to look down through six of the small tinted windows. At each one, he shaded his eyes with a hand. When he seemed satisfied, he came down to the stone lintel and sat just above the log that held the canvas covering in place.

Auum nodded he was ready. Duele lifted up two fingers, made a trigger gesture and indicated immediately left and right of the doorway. Next, four fingers twice and a spread of his arms describing a rough crescent. Finally, four fingers again and a flat-palmed sawing gesture left to right signifying a line. Auum nodded again and looked across to Evunn. He pointed at the doorway and swept his hand to the right. To Duele, he repeated back his own sawing gesture.

Loading his bow, Auum ran at the doorway, Evunn likewise, their footsteps nothing over the slick stone and vines of the ap.r.o.n. They were six paces from the temple when Duele heaved the log from its mounting on the lintel. Auum fired into the gloom, his bow discarded, light short sword and jaqrui in hands before he'd gone another three.

Together, they dived over the log, turning low forward rolls, crossbow bolts slashing empty air above their bodies. Duele swung down over the lintel behind them. Auum came to a crouch, his eyes adjusting quickly to the light in the temple. Shouts echoed off the walls and ceiling, men moved, swords before them, crossbowmen struggled to reload. His arrow had missed its target but no matter.

He darted left, surprising those immediately in front of him, who took a reflexive pace forward directly into the path of Duele as he rushed on. Auum's jaqrui moaned away, its double edge whipping into the face of a crossbowman, who shrieked as he stumbled backwards, blood pouring from the bridge of his nose, one eye gone. Hand fishing in his pouch for another, Auum came up to his first opponent, seeing the fear in the stranger's eyes. His blade licked out, slicing across the man's shoulder and upper body before he could organise a defence. Auum kicked out straight, the blow taking the man in his midriff and catapulting him back against the temple wall.