*Why?' she answered, water dripping around her ankles.

*You cannot fight while giving birth!' shouted Mergan.

*Why not?'

She set her jaw stubbornly and slammed her spear end to the ground, causing dust to fall.

*You disobey the Lord Regret?' called Scarbrow.

*Oh, leave her,' said Mergan, with a dismissive wave. *Let her hurl her newborn at them when they come for all I care.'

*When will they come?'

*Do you remember that helpful concept I recently taught you called "scouting"?'

Mergan did love his people, but it constantly surprised him how useless they could be.

As the army slowed to a stop, Yalenna considered the daunting Pass. Even from this distance, in the light of the setting sun, she could see grey shapes moving about the upper reaches, many well above arrowshot from the ground.

*My lady,' said Jandryn, *it is a death trap.'

She grunted in agreement. There was good reason why no one had ever been able to scour the Unwoven out of their Dale.

*If we try to venture through,' said Jandryn, *they will rain the mountains down upon us. Would that the Spell deliver some fortunate quake to shake them loose, like that which opened the pit beneath them.'

Ah yes, thought Yalenna, that convenient pit.

Loppolo sidled up, flanked by officers.

*Priestess,' he said stiffly, *I have been talking with my commanders and we cannot see a way into the Dale that does not result in ruin.'

*Have a little faith,' she replied, *in the powerful threaders you have with you.'

*You have a plan?'

She glanced around for Rostigan. There he was, talking with Forger, gesturing at the Pass.

*Perhaps,' she said. *Let us make camp. We will attack tomorrow morning.'

*But Priestess *'

She shot him a look to quiet his objections, and he glanced sideways at his officers.

*We shall speak further tonight then,' he said, *about how to address the problem. In the meantime, I will take your a advice.'

*Very well.' She turned away, heading towards the other Wardens, and Jandryn moved to join her. *Not now, Jandryn,' she told him. He frowned, but she had no time for his insecurities just then.

As she arrived, Forger grinned at her. *My goodness, Yalenna! You look more radiant every day. Could it be that your young gentleman has warmed your once-cold heart?'

*My heart was never cold.'

*Ah. Only towards me then.'

*Hanry, please a we must work together.'

*Is that not what I've been doing?' Forger looked exaggeratedly abashed. *I was merely trying to make conversation in the form of polite interest and enquiry.'

Yalenna found him infuriating, his affectations of normality doing nothing to endear him to her. She had no trouble remembering how far he was beyond redemption, and did not like him knowing about Jandryn. She could not, however, afford to treat him with open disdain.

*I am sorry,' she said, making a show of smoothing her hair. *I am a little on edge, is all. It is quite a task ahead of us, gentlemen.'

*And the subject of our current discussion,' said Forger. *I have been telling Rostigan my idea.'

*And what is that?'

*To wipe the mountains off the map!' Forger smacked his fist into his palm. *Can you imagine it? Take the very Peaks from under them and oh, how they would fall. Can you see them falling, Yalenna * little grey bodies, tumbling to the ground? Even such hard heads as theirs would crack and break.'

*What I see,' said Yalenna, *is the world cracking and breaking before we have a chance to fix it. We cannot steal a whole mountain range! Who knows how such a monumental act would affect things? How it would speed the Spell's degradation?'

*Ah,' said Forger sadly, *a shame.'

*We do not have to go that far,' said Rostigan.

Yalenna glanced at him hesitantly. *What do you have in mind?'

*Stealer need not take a whole mountain,' he said, *to make those upon it fall.'

THE PASS.

It was a new day.

A pair of soldiers stood side by side, flexing their sword arms. They had been farmhands until not long ago, from a little village way down south, and wore a mishmash of armour assigned and earned.

*They can't expect us to march into the Pass,' said Artanon. *The Unwoven will crush us before we're halfway through.'

*They won't make us to do anything of the sort,' Cedris replied. *Threaders are going to pave the way.'

*Yes, so the king says, but he doesn't say how. And the veterans say lords think nothing of sending soldiers to their doom.'

Cedris chuckled. *I wouldn't believe everything you hear from those crusty old dogs. See, look at that.' He gestured to the front where the Priestess cantered up to join Loppolo. She nodded to him, then turned towards the mountains.

*Everyone, make ready!' came an officer's command.

*I told you,' said Artanon. *They're going to get us killed.' *Watch the Priestess,' Cedris said. *She's up to something, mark my words.'

Yalenna raised her hands towards the Pass, her face a mask of grim concentration.

Forger nudged Rostigan. *It's time. Yalenna is putting on her show.'

Rostigan, to whom no one else was paying attention, nodded and began to speak.

Cornerstones and keystones keep the Roshous high, Perfectly in balance from the deep earth to the sky. A thousand tiny structures holding everything in place, Carrying the Peaks and propping up rock face. Holding back collapse from the floor of Tranquil Dale, Holding up the Pass, and the Unwoven pale.

Soldiers glanced around, startled by the sudden ghostly stream of overlapping words.

Rostigan ignored them, watching the mountains.

Mergan was situated up on his ledge with an excellent view of the enemy, wondering what they planned to do. He hoped * oh, how he hoped * that they would risk the Pass, giving his people a chance to pay them back for the indignity of the pit. He did not think it likely, however. Any half-decent commander would know that funnelling his army through such a hostile narrow space was tantamount to suicide. Nevertheless, they had come here, so surely they intended to take some kind of action. Unless they merely meant to ensure that the Unwoven were once again locked away inside the Dale.

A series of cracking, grinding, groaning noises sounded through the mountains. The ground under Mergan's feet shook, and dust started to come loose.

What now, he thought, and then everything fell apart.

The ledge beneath him gave way suddenly, jolting his stomach into his throat. It hit some protrusion a few paces beneath, breaking into pieces, and he was flung against the mountainside. His nails raked down a newly exposed rock face until he found a jutting upon which to seize, holding on tight as stone rained around him.

No, no, no!

Other ledges were coming loose, and across the way a boulder smashed a vertical path down the mountain. Below Mergan, Unwoven were bouncing off each other as they fell, and against the sides of the Pass. As debris cascaded, bodies disappeared into a cloud of rising dust.

A greater rumbling sounded, and he twisted as he hung to look into the Dale. With a horrified, sickening despair, he saw motion on the mountains all around * peaks were crumbling, outcroppings collapsing, everywhere rock and dirt was sliding down slopes, quickly gathering mass and momentum. Widespread bellows of anger fast became muffled by a roaring Dale-wide avalanche.

How did they do this? he wondered. Nobody has this scope of power.

From above came the clatter of more objects, and he looked up in time for a hurtling stone to hit him square in the forehead. He was punched soundly from the rock face, his limp fingers trailing as he plummeted, unconscious.

*Now is the time, gentlemen,' said Yalenna.

No one made any indication they had heard her, for everyone gaped in amazement at the distant scene. The Pass was cascading in on itself, widening as it lost its sides, great clouds of dust billowing out over the foothills. A louder rumbling heralded the rockslides going on in the valley beyond, and even here the ground was shaking.

*You a you really made that happen?' murmured Jandryn.

Yalenna was too tired of lying to answer him.

Darkness fell across the land as if a hand had closed around the sun. Over the vibration of the earth, fearful exclamation broke out all around.

*The a the Spell has failed!'

*Ash and sorrow!'

*She has broken the world!'

*The sun is dead!'

*Don't panic!' called Yalenna. *It will pass! Stay calm everyone!'

Daylight blazed back, making people start and blink * some sighed with relief while others remained pale with terror.

*It's not right, it's not right a'

*This corruption will take us all a'

*King Loppolo!' Yalenna barked, breaking the man from his glazed stare.

*Priestess?'

*Order your army forth!'

*You, er a you want me to send our soldiers into that? They'll be crushed!'

*It is petering out,' she said. *Look.'

Sure enough, the Pass was beginning to settle, the debris falling from its higher reaches lessening in volume, though from the Dale there still came the sounds of tumult.

*By the time we get there,' she said, hoping she was right, *it will have stopped. We must act quickly if we are to press this advantage. The Unwoven may be momentarily buried, but something tells me they aren't lying still.'

Rostigan and Forger arrived.

*We must go,' said Rostigan. *Now.'

Loppolo nodded uncertainly, but his voice rose to give the order.

Soldiers picked their way up the foothills, the layers of collapsed rock making for uneven footing. Dust hung everywhere, limiting visibility to some ten or so paces. Footsteps crunched, people coughed, and the occasional sound of things falling sent nervous glances upwards at the mountains looming on either side.

*Eyes open everyone,' Jandryn said.

Yalenna took another step. A grey hand burst out of the ground to seize her ankle. She could not help but yelp, and tried to kick it off, but the grip was firm enough to make her lose her balance. As she fell backwards, hard on her buttocks, Jandryn appeared to hack at the arm. The hand came loose still clinging to her, and Jandryn drove his sword down into the ground from where it had appeared, until the rocks there stopped jostling, while Yalenna prised the bony fingers off her foot.

An angry yowl sounded and a badly bleeding Unwoven came stumbling through the dust, dragging a dead leg behind her, her face a twisted mess of hatred. Soldiers called to each other as they surrounded her and set about finishing her off. She screeched at them wordlessly, horribly, as she went down.

Yalenna decided she'd had enough of the dust. She summoned a wind to blow it away and gradually reveal the entire scene. The Pass was no longer a winding run between mountains, for enough of the slopes had caved in to create a wider, heaped incline into the Dale. A few dazed Unwoven were scattered about in various degrees of brokenness, some half-buried and pushing their way out of the ground. As the air cleared, they noticed their enemies and began to move more swiftly.

*Kill them!' called Rostigan, running past her. *While they are weakened!'

Soldiers hastened to obey, keen not to face an amassed group of Unwoven ever again. Their damaged opponents attempted to fend them off, but they were outnumbered and had little chance. Jeering and harsh laughter began to ring out, creating a strangely jubilant atmosphere. Every time Rostigan made fast work of some staggering Unwoven, soldiers shouted *Skullrender!' like a victory cheer. Forger was there too, jumping up and down on the spot, where he evidently thought someone was trying to struggle free.

*Priestess!'

Jandryn stood over a prone body smaller than the rest, tangled in a brown robe. As Yalenna went to him, he bent down and rolled Mergan onto his back. Despite everything, seeing the state of her old friend made her heart flutter * there was a large dent in his forehead where something had struck hard, and his ashen face was streaked with blood, his beard run through with grit.

*He breathes,' said Jandryn warily.