Free Elves: Once Walked With Gods by James Barclay

was a brief exchange and the quartet began to make small hand movements, odd gestures and mutterings. The air cooled. Auum felt a throbbing in his body and an uncomfortable pulling sensation.
    The other man cleared his throat and addressed himself to Auum and Serrin.
    ‘Now what’s going to happen is that the sharp-fingered one is going to let Sildaan go. He will do so very carefully or Haleth may stumble and he will die in a sheet of pain. And you, my TaiGethen friend, will sheathe your blades and walk backwards until you can feel the statue behind you. I will then move in the opposite direction with Sildaan and we can all make our escapes. Be assured that if you feel you still want us dead, my colleagues here will freeze you such that a flick of my finger will shatter you to a million fragments. Do I make myself clear?’
    Auum shrugged. ‘I can kill all of you before you make the first cell door.’
    ‘Auum, you can’t,’ said Sildaan. ‘I know you hate me but believe this. I have seen what these mages can do. There is no TaiGethen fast enough to outrun one of their castings.’
    ‘What is a “mage”?’ said Auum, staring at them. Helpless, unarmed humans. ‘They do not frighten me.’
    Haleth laughed. ‘Of course. Not seen magic before, have you? Perhaps a little demonstration?’
    ‘No!’ snapped Sildaan. ‘You will do no such thing. Auum, please, I implore you. Do what Garan says. Survive today and do what you will tomorrow.’
    ‘I will come after you,’ said Auum.
    ‘So be it. What I am doing makes the Ynissul stronger. It will return us to where we belong.’
    Auum closed his eyes briefly, an intense sadness in his heart. ‘Anything that destroys the harmony and goes against Takaar can only finish us. We will stop you.’
    ‘It is already too late for that,’ said Sildaan.
    Serrin had released Sildaan’s throat and wrist and stepped back away from the heretic priestess. The cascarg. Traitor. Auum had a clear run on her and Garan but Serrin gestured him to hold his thought. The Silent knew him too well. Auum reached up and sheathed his twin short blades in the scabbards on his back. He took a pace back, then another, as slowly as he could muster.
    Garan smiled.
    ‘Why thank you,’ he said.
    He shouted something in the human language and dragged Sildaan over backwards, the pair of them crashing to the floor.
    ‘No! NO!’ yelled Sildaan.
    Down the passageway, the mages all opened their eyes and brought their hands together. Auum knew in that instant that Sildaan had been telling the truth. He grabbed Serrin by the arm, dragged him around and pushed him into a run. He held a hand against his priest’s back and sprinted towards the statue of Yniss.
    The air pressed in on Auum’s ears. It chilled and froze. He could feel the ice on his neck and the back of his head. There was a roaring sound all around him. He heaved his hand forward, practically throwing Serrin over the left arm of Yniss. The pair of them plunged into the harmonic pool. Auum held on, and with his free hand grabbed a feed pipe beneath the hand of the statue.
    An extraordinary cold passed overhead. The pool froze. Inch upon inch of ice formed in a moment, crackling and spitting, forcing down towards them. Serrin was beginning to struggle in his grasp. Auum cupped his priest’s chin, forcing the ula to look at him. He saw the panic in Serrin’s eyes and shook his head. Auum put a hand to his heart, the gesture of trust for a TaiGethen. Serrin calmed.
    Auum let him go and looked up. The ice was thick but not impenetrable. The water around them was cold. Colder than anything he had ever experienced. He had about six feet of water between the base of the pool and the thick ice above his head. He could see no movement around the pool yet but it wouldn’t be long.
    Auum chose the centre of the pool. He drew both blades and turned them hilt up in his hands. He smacked them both against the underside of the ice again and again,