Chapter 2

Into the Blue

Hirad was feeling rather self-conscious. Ilkar's encouraging smile helped a bit. 'Basically it's not about what we say but what we think. Only if we want to pool our … I don't know … it isn't a power.' He looked to the elf for help.

'Minds, I'd suggest. We call them with our minds, it doesn't matter if we shout or whisper or just think of them hard and ask them without words. Only we must do it simultaneously and speech helps there.'

Hirad smiled at him. 'Thanks, Ilks. Then I suggest we get started.'

'Do we have to undress?'

Hirad stared at Sirendor. 'Feeling an urge to get naked?'

Sirendor shrugged. 'Once ran into gentiles. They did.'

'Then you might have witnessed an initiation.' All eyes were suddenly on Denser. The Xeteskian cleared his throat. 'Gentiles were forbidden in Xetesk and every other college …'

Ilkar raised a hand. 'Now, now, what's us, then, turnips? Julatsa never banned the gentiles.'

Erienne smiled. 'Julatsa has a lot of elves. Their religion isn't that different, nor are their rituals. They would show more understanding. But in Dordover it was banned. And in Lystern, but they were the first college to allow it. Dordover followed soon after. Xetesk never did.'

Hirad shook his head. 'To answer your question, Larn, no.'

Sirendor grinned. 'Well, at least one person here speaking to me. But you mages all seem to know something about this, even if it was banned.'

Ilkar's hand travelled to a red stone hung around his neck. Come to think of it, Hirad had never noticed it. He opened his mouth to ask about it, when Denser spoke. 'Well, as I was going to say, that something's banned just makes it more interesting, doesn't it? In my rebellious days as a young man I decided to try it out. Did a dedication ritual, a bit of other stuff, and yes, it works. Then I got caught and beaten and decided to lay off it.'

'Did they let you get dressed before they started beating you?'

Denser raised his eyebrows at Hirad, but Ilkar saved him. 'Can we get started now? We're all nervous, and it won't get better from just talking.' He handed an incense stick to Denser. 'I think you do the honours.' Denser smiled and lit it with his thumb.

Ϡ

They had all watched with a sense of foreboding as Denser walked in a circle around them with the incense stick in his hand, muttering under his breath. Ilkar realised it was getting warmer inside the circle, and he knew it had nothing to do with the incense stick. He was feeling apprehensive. Witnessing a ritual was quite a bit different to performing one, and he was more than happy to let Denser take the lead in this. The Xeteskian set the incense stick into a small glass jar. It was odd, really, how they could still get whatever they needed. But it took more effort. Much more.

'Who's first?' Denser asked.

Ilkar answered at once. 'Will.'

Denser nodded. He looked at Thraun. 'Will Begman, if you can hear us, answer.' He waited for a moment before he continued. 'This is Denser calling and the Raven. Come on, talk to us. We've got to ask you something.'

Thraun's expression was unreadable, but Ilkar noticed his eyes fixing a point behind Denser. He was holding on to his composure, but it wouldn't last. His last desperate hope was being snatched away from him. 'Perhaps we're just doing something wrong.'

Thraun looked over to the elf and shook his head by a fraction. He wasn't fooled, and neither was Ilkar himself. 'Try Jandyr.'

'Jandyr … can you hear me? This is …'

'I hear you, Erienne.' The voice wasn't audible, just in their minds. It was an indicator how startled Hirad was that he didn't laugh about how Jandyr confused Denser's voice for Erienne's.

Ilkar smiled at him. 'You of all people should be used to this.'

Hirad glared at the Julatsan, but his eyes were sparkling with amusement. 'Yes, I hear elves talking in my head all the time. Don't know why the hell it still bothers me.'

'Shut up you two. Jandyr, could you come over here from wherever you are?'

'Erienne … I don't know. Not on my own. Can you guide me?'

'Focus on me Jandyr. Just on me. Can you see me?' Her eyes closed with concentration, and she stretched out her left hand.

'I see you.'

'Take my hand. Use it as an anchor. Feel my touch and make me feel yours. If you can do that, I can pull you through to us.' She stood like this for over a minute. Ilkar hardly dared to breathe for fear of breaking her concentration. Then her arm sank to her side and she smiled. And in their midst, slowly, Jandyr materialised. 'Welcome. Decoration's a little scarce, but as it looks that's the least of our problems.'

Jandyr blinked. 'It's not my eyes, then, good.' He looked around. 'What is this place?'

'Long story. Been here for ages and still don't get it.'

Jandyr stared at Hirad and grinned. 'At least you haven't changed. What exactly are you doing?'

Ilkar looked at him. 'Giving all of us a choice. This place is going to kill us all. We will try to escape, but we don't know if that'll work. Otherwise we'll go where we called you from.'

'You will die, you mean.'

Ilkar nodded. 'We might. Jandyr, you need to think if you want a second chance. Think hard.'

Ϡ

Hirad had no sense of time in Ulandeneth, but he guessed that it took them the best part of five hours to call all those who had died, explain what was going on, and ask them to either come through to them or wish them luck wherever they went. It was a bit frustrating. Like Will, Richmond didn't answer at all, and apart from Jandyr none of them wanted to come. Will, Hirad thought, might still be somewhere. The little man had buried his own soul so deeply within himself he had died. Perhaps he was still unreachable but not gone. For Richmond it must mean that he had been utterly destroyed. Hirad looked at all of them, at the tears trickling silently from Thraun's eyes. Jandyr's hand rested on the warrior's shoulder, but he was in an agony that wouldn't be soothed.

'Thraun, I …' The look the blond man gave him made him swallow. 'I don't know the first thing about college magic, but of this I have at least some clue. And … Will wasn't … I mean, he wasn't really himself, was he? Perhaps Denser couldn't reach him because … Gods, Thraun. You call him. If he can hear anyone, it's you.' Ilkar opened his mouth but Hirad glared at him. 'This is the last chance he's got. What's the worst that can happen?'

Ilkar smiled. 'I was going to say, good thinking, Coldheart. Thraun, call him. And don't parrot Denser. Say what you would to get through to him.'

The big warrior shook his head. 'It won't work.'

Jandyr leaned close to him. 'If you don't try, you'll forever wonder if it might not have. This is Will we're talking about. Your Will.'

Thraun's lower lip trembled. 'Will, if you're still around somewhere, come here. I know you want to if you can.' He closed his eyes. 'Gods … I think I can sense you as if you're next to me. What's stopping you?' He reached out like Erienne had done, and a jolt went through him as if he had reached into fire. He eyes snapped open and he looked at his hand. 'He can't get through. He was here, but he can't get through. He touched my hand.' Erienne had crossed the short distance and hugged him close, his head buried in her shoulder. Not for the first time, Hirad felt something like a breeze and wondered what it really was.

'If we're all clear what we want,' The Unknown said into the lasting silence, 'this would be the time to say it. To decide where we want to go.'

Ilkar looked at him. 'It doesn't work that way. Erienne and I open the way, and we are carried where our heart goes. That is life where the rest of Balaia went, or where the dead went. It isn't a conscious choice.'

The Unknown pursed his lips. 'Humour me.'

Ilkar sighed. 'Very well. I want to live. I think.'

'Hirad?'

'Never a question.'

'Sirendor.'

'Same.'

'Erienne.' She looked at Denser and smiled.

'We're coming.'

'Darrick?'

The General took a deep breath. 'Actually … No. I didn't want to live again. I mean, it was one hell of a ride, but … I'm done with it.'

Hirad made to protest, but The Unknown cut across him. 'Thraun?' He merely shook his head. 'Jandyr?'

'I haven't the faintest idea. I'd rather not make a conscious prediction of something I might only think I want.'

The Unknown looked at them all in turn. 'Thraun, Darrick … You will always be part of us. And we will one day meet again. Thraun, find Will. Wherever he is. The rest of us … I'll see you on the other side.'

Ϡ

The first thing Hirad registered as they arrived was that it was cold. The second thing was that his prediction had been right: He was alive. Snow was falling lightly onto the grass that surrounded them. They were all gathering themselves. 'It's freezing.'

Ilkar grinned. 'Thanks for pointing that out, I would never have noticed.'

Hirad turned in a full circle and stared. 'Great. We have to arrive next to a frozen corpse of all places.'

Ilkar's gaze followed his and a sigh escaped his lips. It looked like the body of an adolescent, the face hidden under long dark hair. Hirad walked over and looked down on the body. 'Can't be dead long, snow's melting.' He knelt and turned him onto his back to examine. 'Poor kid, got a nasty cut on his forehead, but I doubt that's what …' Ilkar's mouth fell open, but the scream that rent the air didn't come from him. Only now he noticed Thraun, who was living proof that none of them could ever have consciously chosen if they wanted to live or not. Hirad's eyes went from the dead kid to Thraun and back, and suddenly his eyes went wide and he clamped a hand over his mouth, for once lost for words.

It wasn't an adolescent but a very young adult man. Blood from the vicious cut on his head was smeared on the left side of his face, but Ilkar had seen worse injuries. His nose was broken and his right eye black, and he was fuller than he had ever known him. He met Sirendor's eyes, who looked slightly alarmed. 'Who is that, Ilkar?' The Julatsan swallowed, but it was Erienne who answered.

'Will Begman. Gods in the ground, it can't be, but it's Will.'