Hirad relaxed and looked to Rebraal and Auum. Both nodded for him to speak. He took a drink and was silent for a little while, gathering his thoughts.
'This all sounds so ridiculous. A few days ago, I heard Ilkar. I was asleep but it wasn't just a dream. Wherever he is now, he's in trouble. All the dead are. Rebraal will tell you. It's because the demons are attacking them on a new front. They need to break down the resistance of the Spirits because if they do it makes all of Balaia and Calaius vulnerable to them. And if that happens, the dragons are under threat too. Don't ask me to explain it because I can't. But we can stop this, if we have help and if we do it now.'
'Trouble is,' said Denser. 'Coming from you, it isn't ridiculous at all. Far-fetched, yes. Ridiculous, no.'
Hirad managed a smile. 'Thanks, Denser.'
'It doesn't mean we understand it, though,' said Erienne. 'Why does it mean Balaia's been invaded?'
'And how the hell have you heard Ilkar?' demanded The Unknown. 'He's been dead more than two years.'
'I just did, Unknown. And Rebraal has heard him too. It's too real to be just nightmares.'
'Rebraal?' asked The Unknown.
The leader of the Al-Arynaar inclined his head. 'Hirad speaks the truth as you know he does. There is so much humans don't understand about what exists outside their vision.'
'We don't need patronising,' said Denser. 'Just the facts.'
'There is a place that all the dead go, all the souls as you would call them,' said Rebraal. 'You deny it because it doesn't fit with your understanding of life and death but it exists nonetheless. It is a dimension as you understand them but the journey there is something only the soul can make, not the body. It is not a place you can ever visit though you can connect to it. Belief is everything. We know it. So do the Wesmen. It is time you knew it too.
'All the souls of the dead go there but most are silent because they don't know they can still communicate with the living. Ilkar knows as do all the elves who pass there. But right now, he shouts with a voice full of fear. The cursyrd are pressing the fabric of their realm.'
'Why?' asked Denser.
Rebraal regarded him as if he was simple. 'Because it contains
countless millions of souls. It is everything the cursyrd want if only they could force a breach.'
'Are you with this?' The Unknown asked of Darrick and Thraun.
The shapechanger nodded.
'We've been on board ship with them for three days,' said Darrick. He shrugged. T believe them.'
'Which is fine,' said Erienne. 'But I don't get the connection with Balaia and I don't see that we can do anything to help. And I don't understand why Auum and the TaiGethen are here.'
'Contact with our dead is a gift granted to us by Shorth,' said Rebraal. 'The Al-Arynaar and TaiGethen come to Aryndeneth to speak, to gain strength and to seek advice. It is written that they will defend us in death as we defend ourselves in life. We will not suffer the cursyrd to break that cycle.'
Erienne smiled, disbelieving. 'How will you stop them? This is a place you can't go to until you die. And then you will be in the same position as your dead. Helpless.'
'They are not helpless,' said Rebraal. 'They fight. Every moment. To keep the enemy away from their borders.'
'But you can't help them,' said Erienne, frustration edging her voice.
'They aren't talking about joining the battle in the spirit dimension. We have to remove the threat further back along the chain,' said Darrick.
'Great.' The Unknown stood up and paced around the table. 'This makes about as much sense as one of Hirad's battle plans. Look, I know you've all been on ship talking about this for days but it's coming across as gibberish, it really is. Ilkar's in trouble but he's dead. In fact everyone dead is in trouble and it's got something to do with a demon invasion of Balaia but the elves think they can sort it out by stopping some so far unnamed target in an unnamed place.' The Unknown felt his patience thinning to breaking point.
'My wife is scared that I'm going to leave her and go off again with The Raven. I've told her it must be something critical or you wouldn't be here. What the hell am I going to tell her? "My dead friend is sending dreams to my living friend and I need to sort it out?"' He thumped the table. 'Someone start making sense or the
lot of you can sod off back to whatever it was you were drinking on Calaius.'
Rebraal gestured for him to sit down and waited until he had done so.
'Unknown, I'm sorry,' he said. 'But the fate of three dimensions hangs in the balance. One of them is ours, another is that of the dead and the other is the home of dragons. You can't stay here and hope it goes away because if you do,-the cursyrd will eventually come here and you won't be able to stop them.'
'So what can we do?'
'It's simple,' said Hirad. 'We have to kill the demons controlling it all.'
'That's simple, is it?' said Denser.
'The way Sha-Kaan described it, yes. In theory.' Hirad stopped and a slow smile spread across his face. 'Do you want to come and talk to Sha-Kaan?'
Chapter 12
They all went in the end. Something about Hirad's manner meant that though the case had been introduced poorly, the notion that events worlds away would impact on them was never in doubt.
Darrick supported Cleress on her right side with the former Protector, Ark, on her left. She said little but there was a knowing look in her eyes. Like she had expected it all along.
Darrick left her to her thoughts. Walking apart from the rest of The Raven, he had the opportunity to assess them as he would have done his cavalry before a battie; searching for a weak spot. He knew he wouldn't find one but The Raven's demeanour was a constant source of fascination. They drew strength from each other. There was a power about them. You felt it on the inside and could see it from the outside. Like an aura. They moved so naturally around one another. The Unknown at their centre, Hirad next to him like always and the others grouped in close attendance. Darrick felt a surge of pride at being one of them.
The image was punctured by Jonas, who trotted along next to The Unknown, his tiny hand engulfed by his father's huge fist. And by Diera, who had forgiven Hirad to the extent that the pair strolled arm in arm. It was at Hirad's behest that so many would meet the dragon. And including Diera and Jonas in the group was a masterstroke. The pair had spent much time in the company of Sha-Kaan when he was marooned in Balaia and rested on Herendeneth. Diera would listen to him.
They were heading for the stone needle that dominated the island from its highest point. It was for no other reason than that Sha-Kaan had expressed a desire to see the island from the top.
They gathered in quiet anticipation, Hirad to the fore. He had told them what to expect but they all still took an unconscious pace
back. A tall rectangle traced in the air in front of them. It drew itself slowly on three sides with the ground making up the fourth, and brightened from black to a blazing white. The doorway, half the size of a barn's, filled with swirling colours that moved sluggishly, like oil poured onto still water.
'Behind here would normally be a robing room and an antechamber before the main hall but I think the design has been changed,' said Hirad.
The doorway dissolved, the intense edge light reducing to a warm orange glow and the slow-moving colours dimming to reveal a dimly lit interior. The scents of wood and oil carried on the breeze, sharp and pungent, but there was little sound from inside barring the crackle of fires. Heat flooded out, its humidity swamping the dry warmth of Herendeneth.
'Just like old times, eh, Unknown?' said Hirad.
'One old time only, Hirad,' said The Unknown. 'And the familiarity ends with my sense of impending doom.'
'Better not keep him waiting.'
'Hell, no,' muttered Denser.
They moved inside, the relative gloom resolving itself into a short arched hallway, painted in dark green silhouettes of landscapes and dragons. Beautiful in their simplicity, sombre in their depiction.