‘Don’t worry about them. Their souls rest with me for the time being,’ said Sol.
Hirad smiled. ‘Seems like a good place. So what about this door, then?’
‘Once opened, the door can be hidden and protected but never shut. It must allow the passage of souls,’ said Sol.
‘So how do we stop them?’ asked Hirad. ‘After all this bother, I don’t want to think we just moved our people from one dead space to another.’
‘Well, we could wedge a grumpy barbarian in it, ‘said Ilkar. ‘That should keep it shut.’
‘Funny elf,’ said Hirad.
‘Ilkar is more accurate than he knows,’ said Sol. ‘Even when hidden, the doorway is vulnerable. Witness their access into our cluster of worlds.’
Ilkar and Hirad exchanged glances.
‘Are the words, “someone has to guard it” marching towards your lips, Sol?’
‘As Hirad would undoubtedly tell you, Ilkar, you are sharp of mind today.’
Hirad chuckled and nodded his head. ‘Funny how we never seem to reach the end, do we?’
‘Indeed we don’t,’ said Erienne.
‘What do you lot think. Darrick, Sirendor?’ Hirad turned to his old friends.
Sirendor shrugged. ‘Well, I didn’t have a lot else planned for the rest of the day.’
‘You mean eternity,’ said Darrick. ‘And I would be honoured to be considered a soul great enough to perform this task.’
Murmurs of agreement met his words. Hirad clapped his hands together.
‘Right, well let’s get comfortable. Ark? What say you and the Protectors?’
‘I will stay,’ said Ark. ‘My brothers will travel to their rest. Should they be needed, they can be called upon once more.’
Sol’s warmth spread out to cover them all. ‘Then come, walk into me, my brother Protectors. Find your brother souls. Know they are safe and have gone beyond me.’
The few remaining Protectors bowed their heads to Ark and moved into Sol’s compass. One by one, they disappeared.
‘Which leaves you, Auum, and your TaiGethen,’ said Sol. ‘Three thousand years and more you’ve walked the earth. Twice you have saved the elves from the Garonin and never have you turned your head from Yniss, your God, or the tasks he set for you. Blissful rest is the very least you deserve in the company of the ancients.’
Auum’s smile was brief. ‘Yet I do not consider my tasks complete. Now I will serve Yniss through Shorth himself, securing the passage of souls on their final journeys. I will not falter. And never again will the Garonin lay claim to the lands of elves or men. For Yniss I say this: I, Auum, will stand sentinel for eternity. There can be no greater honour in the service of my Gods. My Tai brothers and sister will make their own choices. Those standing here and those resting with Sol.’
Neither Miirt and Duele hesitated to stand by Auum.
The luminescence dimmed and Sol was visible once more. The great shaven-headed warrior standing with his arms outstretched to them.
‘Walk with me,’ he said.
Jonas leaned back against the rough scales and wrote a few more lines. The sun was warm here on the hillside but he could not smell the grass or flowers, such were the overpowering odours of wood and oil from the dragon’s hide.
‘Read it to me,’ rumbled Sha-Kaan. ‘I enjoy your ramblings to your dead father.’
Jonas turned his head to the right. Sha-Kaan’s muzzle was resting on the soft grass a few feet away. His eyelids were heavy but occasionally snapped open to reveal his startling blue eyes.
‘All right. Let me know if I get anything wrong.’
‘As ever.’
‘“Dear Father. It’s been a hundred days since we all arrived here and there still isn’t a name for the place. All we know is that it has a lot of water and not a lot of land. Sha-Kaan says we all live on one big island in a scattered archipelago and then there is nothing but ocean for thousands of miles. Perhaps one day we’ll explore the rest of it and find new lands. Right now, though, there aren’t very many of us so it doesn’t seem a good idea.
‘ “If there are other people here besides those that escaped from Balaia and Calaius, we haven’t seen any evidence of them yet. Meanwhile, we try to organise ourselves into some sort of society. Mother says we should follow the model of Korina and make a central city state from where people can move out to live where they please. She’s much respected among the survivors.
‘“Of course there has been the odd bit of trouble. Once the euphoria of escape wore off, plenty of people started to regret what they’d left behind. We’re all living in wooden huts here, at best. We’ve precious few tools, no way of quarrying stone just yet and nothing to eat but what we find in the ground and on trees. Mind you, Sha-Kaan says there are animals that might be farmed and I’m sure we’ll get around to that.
‘“We did a census when we got here. Everyone was counted and we carved names in strips of bark and wood. Two hundred and seventy-two thousand, one hundred and forty-one humans made it. Not many when you think about it but it’s best not to dwell on the past, isn’t it?
‘“As for the elves, well, they are few in number. Twenty-three thousand, four hundred and five. But they seem content enough. Most of them have disappeared into the forests to build temples and settlements. We see a lot of Rebraal although he is quite busy. He seems to be the ruler of the elves, if they have such a thing.
‘“Then there are the dragons. It’s strange to look up and see the sky full of them. Comforting for me. Not so for others. But they are not numerous and have no access to the healing streams of inter-dimensional space. Sha-Kaan says they will have to seek new dimensions in this cluster in which to live or they’ll all fade and die. That is not a happy thought.
‘“By the way, Hirad is being a real pain. Remember that dragon you carved for him? He left it at home and he wants to go back and get it. He doesn’t understand and it’s driving me and Mother mad.
‘“It’s hard to say if we’ll survive and flourish. There is such hope, but when I talk to Mother, there are so many problems to face. We need a government and an economy, she says. I think we need you.
‘ “I miss you, Father. I always will.” How’s that?’
Sha-Kaan was silent for a moment and Jonas thought he had drifted off to sleep. But then he opened his mouth wide and clacked his jaws together gently.
‘It is perfect. Every word is from the heart. And you will survive, Jonas Solson. And the people will no longer need Sol. They will have you.’
‘What we really need is a deck of cards,’ said Hirad. ‘You know, something to while away the centuries when we run out of things to talk about.’
‘Don’t be stupid, Hirad,’ said Ilkar.
‘Why, don’t you like cards?’
‘No,’ said Sol. ‘It isn’t that. It’s just that there’ll never be a time when you don’t have something to say.’
‘You have a point,’ conceded Hirad.
‘And anyway, time is meaningless here,’ said Sirendor.
‘So?’
‘So, dear barbarian soul, we cannot count the boring centuries, nor the exciting ones. We’ll only know the moments when we are called to defend the door,’ said Erienne.
‘You aren’t making our eternal task sound all that exciting,’ said Darrick.
‘I’m with you, General,’ said Hirad. ‘We should have gone to the halls of the ancients and left Auum here to see the place safe.’
‘Or back to the bliss of the dead with the Protectors,’ said Darrick.
‘Neither of you means that, do you?’ said Sol.
Hirad smiled. ‘I never was one for having nothing to look forward to.’
‘It really is very dull, this place, isn’t it?’ said Ilkar.
‘It could do with a lick of paint of some other colour than ivory,’ said Erienne.
‘Hey, Ilks, maybe you could whistle up some more mountains, squeeze a few more Garonin and eke out some red for us.’
‘Maybe if I cut out your tongue we’d get both a lovely red and a bit of peace and quiet.’
Hirad took a long look about him. The ivory expanse of Ulandeneth surrounded them endlessly. The door to the new dimensional cluster was hidden now but souls travelled it nonetheless. The threat of the Garonin would never fade though, and so the decision to remain had been an easy one.
The Raven were seated for the time being on the Ulandeneth side of the door. Their place of rest was within. Timeless sleep until the footfall of the enemy summoned them to fight.
‘This must be the perfect eternity for you, mustn’t it?’ said Thraun, back in human form. ‘Knowing The Raven will go on forever.’
‘You know what,’ said Hirad. ‘It is.’
‘While for us the thought of being saddled with you in perpetuity is nothing short of a living hell,’ said Ilkar.
‘Ah, but you love me really,’ said Hirad.
‘That is occasionally true,’ said Erienne.
‘When you’re asleep, mostly,’ said Sirendor.
‘Speaking of which, come on, Raven, TaiGethen.’ Sol clapped his hands together. ‘Time to sleep. Hanging around out here will only garner us unwanted attention.’
Hirad stood. ‘Fitting, don’t you think? The Raven? Guardians of the new world?’
‘Yes,’ said Ilkar. ‘They must all sleep so soundly knowing they are defended by a dead barbarian. The door kept closed against the Garonin by the sheer weight of your ego.’
Hirad’s laughter echoed away into the vastness of Ulandeneth. One by one, they faded to grey specks and disappeared inside to enjoy comfort and rest as one. The Raven, together again. And, as Hirad attested as they slipped into blissful sleep, as it was always destined to be.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Simon Spanton for wanting to see The Raven ride just one more time; to Lizzy Hill for providing insight and help every step of the way; to Robert Kirby and Howard Morhaim for their unflinching support and friendship; and to my wife, Clare, for always being there for me.
www.jamesbarclay.com
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © James Barclay 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008
All rights reserved.
The right of James Barclay to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008
by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin's Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2011 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 0 575 12909 2
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
www.jamesbarclay.com
www.orionbooks.co.uk
The Raven Collection Page 360
