They reached a landing and Francis turned into a long corridor which stretched the length of the building. “One of the brothers hurried for midwives, while another and myself carried her to a room we always left prepared for guests.”
Brother Francis stopped at a room at the very end of the corridor. His hand, papery skin stretched tight over the swollen joints of his fingers, closed about the doorhandle, but Axis’ own hand closed gently over his and stopped him from opening the door. “Thank you, Brother Francis. Thank you. I will be alone now, if you please.”
Francis turned and looked at the face of the man who leaned over him. BattleAxe he might be, mighty warrior he perhaps was, but all Francis could see was the face of a man who was searching for his past. He nodded.
“Go with Artor, young man. Furrow wide, furrow deep.”
Axis bent his head and smiled gently at the old man. Reinald had shown him the rooftop where he had been conceived, and now this old man had brought him to the place where he had been born. “Go with Artor, father.”
Brother Francis nodded and walked back down the corridor and stairs. Halfway down the stairs he blinked in surprise at the person he met coming up them, but after a moment he simply nodded and continued on his way. He was an old man, and the only real surprise left in his life was that death had not already claimed him.
Axis left his hand on the door knob for long heartbeats before he could summon the courage to turn it to one side. It clicked softly in his hand, and for a moment he could hear laboured breathing. The door swung open slowly and Axis stepped inside. It was a relatively large chamber, probably the one the brothers kept for their most important guests. Nevertheless, it was bare and dismal now. Two high and small windows let in a minimum of light. Even had she been capable of it, there would have been no escape for Rivkah once the door was bolted behind her. To one side a bed, its lumpy mattress hanging half off broken springs, was pushed against the wall, a stool standing at its foot. A fireplace arched into the room from the opposite wall, the side furthest from the windows throwing deep shadows into the extreme corner of the room. A chest stood underneath the windows, a chipped and dusty china pitcher and wash basin sitting on its flat lid. Axis walked a few steps into the room, lost in his thoughts. It was a barren place to start a life.
Axis turned back to the door and saw Faraday standing there, wearing her green cloak thrown over a high-necked black dress. So stunned he could not speak for several moments, Axis stood there and stared at her.
More composed, Faraday folded her hands before her and drank him in with her eyes. Alone, finally.
“I almost tore that Barrow apart with my bare hands to reach you,” Axis said eventually, so quietly that Faraday had to step forward to hear him. He paused and took a half step towards her. “And then I mourned you for weeks, only to find that you had survived and fled to Borneheld’s bed. Can you tell me why?”
“Axis, I have to explain to you.”
“Then explain!” Axis shouted, turning on his heel and marching over to the far wall underneath the high windows. “Explain,” he said in a quieter but no less intense voice, “why you told me one night that you wanted me more than life itself and yet within days had left me mourning you dead while you fled to Borneheld.”
“Axis,” Faraday said in a broken voice, taking a step towards him until his furious gaze stopped her in the middle of the room. “I live only for you. I love you with every breath I take, with every beat of my heart. But I could not marry you. Not once I had been betrothed to Borneheld. He would have killed you, and I would rather have you alive than dead.”
Axis’ face did not soften. “I am not afraid of my brother!”
“Axis! I know!” Faraday said desperately, wondering if she should have risked coming here. “But it is so important that you live. I could not be the one responsible for making it Borneheld’s life ambition to track you down and kill you!”
Axis’ eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, ‘it is so important that you live’?”
“Because I believe that you are the StarMan spoken of in the Prophecy of the Destroyer,” she said finally. There. Let him make of that what he would.
Axis stared at her for a moment, then his face slowly relaxed and he laughed gently. “I have been told that by others. Belial would have me crowned this evening if he thought I would accept the diadem. This damned Prophecy spreads like wildfire, and I think I have been too firmly caught up in it to shake myself loose just yet.”
“And do you believe it?”
Axis’ smile died. “I must, if we are to survive. But, oh Faraday, it is so difficult to understand. It is so damned difficult to understand the changes in me!”
Faraday was horrified by the frustration evident in his voice. “Axis, I…” but he did not give her the chance to finish.
“You have heard the Prophecy, Faraday. You tell me what it means. Ah,” he turned his face away and finished on a whisper. “It frightens me.”
Faraday did not know what to say, and for a minute there was silence between them.
Axis eventually looked back at her. “I have discussed the Prophecy with Ogden and Veremund, but they profess ignorance. Belial…well, Belial is as bewildered as I. The first verse is so straightforward, but the second and third frighten me. I am the StarMan, Faraday. I try to accept that. But the second verse tells me that I must wait until all its riddles are fulfilled before I can wield my power against Gorgrael, otherwise it will kill me. Faraday,” he laughed dryly, “the prophecies of the second verse are so enigmatic I would not recognise most of them if they solved themselves before my very eyes. And the third verse…the third verse tells me I have a traitor in my camp who will betray me. Who? Who?”
“I have not heard the third verse.” A traitor, she thought. Mother, protect him!
“No. No-one knows it except I.” And what else does that cursed third verse tell me, he wondered. My Lover’s pain could destroy me. Are you my Lover, Faraday? Will your pain so distract me that Gorgrael can strike the killer blow? For an instant a picture of Faraday lying broken and bleeding sprang to his mind.
He forced his mind away from the terrible image and regarded Faraday. He remembered how she had treated his parentage with respect and dignity when so many sneered at his birth. “But if the Prophecy confuses me, Faraday, then some of the mystery surrounding my father has been solved. Look,” he said, pulling the glove from his right hand, the ring gleaming from his middle finger. “This was my father’s. He gave it to Rivkah as a token of his love.”
Faraday stepped over and took his hand to examine the ring more closely. Its workmanship was marvellous. Axis’ eyes darkened as she ran her gentle fingers over his hand. “What kind of man was he to own such a ring as this?” she asked finally, looking up.
“My father is an Icarii Enchanter, my love. His name is StarDrifter. One day I will find him.” He lifted his hand from hers and caressed her cheek. For a moment Faraday rested her cheek in the palm of his hand, feeling the Enchanter’s ring cool against her skin. He had called her love, he did love her! Ah, Mother, to have the love of such a man to support her.
“The son of an Icarii Enchanter,” she whispered. “No wonder you bound my soul with enchantments the moment I first saw you.”
Axis stepped closer and cupped her chin in his hand, bending his head down to hers, but the instant before their lips met Faraday turned her head to one side. “I cannot, Axis, I cannot,” she said tightly. “I have vowed to be true to Borneheld. I cannot break those vows.”
And curse the Prophecy, she thought, that forced those vows upon me. She turned her eyes away, unable to bear his expression.
Axis’ fingers tightened about her chin. “Is your damned sense of obligation and duty going to keep us apart for a lifetime, Faraday? Does what we feel for each other mean nothing to you?”
“I vowed to him, Axis. If I leave him now, then he will track you down and kill you. If I break my vows then my punishment will be your death! Wha
tever gods now walk this land will see to that. A vow is a vow, whichever god it is made before, Axis.”
Axis suppressed a curse. Here she stood, almost touching him, yet determined to remain true to Borneheld. Axis had thought her loss at the Ancient Barrows was a torment, but this was even worse.
He released her chin and let his hands rest lightly around her waist, unsure if he could resist the temptation to pull her against him despite her determination. He had never wanted a woman like he now wanted Faraday. He should have never let her go at the Barrows. Now Borneheld had her.
Axis’ hands tightened slightly. The nights were the worst. At night he lay sleepless, imagining, wondering, wanting.
“Does he treat you well?”
She shrugged. “He tries. He says he loves me and wants what is best for me. He can be tiresome at times and I wish he would laugh more.” She paused. “He means well.”
Axis’ entire body tensed as she spoke. He wanted to hear Faraday say that Borneheld beat her and abused her. He wanted an excuse to challenge Borneheld to fight to the death now, but she would not give it to him.
He breathed deep. She said that Borneheld loved her. How did she feel? Jealousy gripped Axis in tight claws. Did she enjoy the touch of Borneheld’s hands?
Faraday understood what he was thinking. “He does not make me feel the way you made me feel under the stars. You are the StarMan, he is simply the man I married.”
“Yet you will not break your vows.” Axis was not comforted by her words.
“No,” she said, her eyes steady. “No, I will not.”
Anger began to replace Axis’ jealousy. “Then listen to my vow, Faraday. What lies between Borneheld and myself will one day lead to the death of one of us. I vow that…”
“No!” Faraday cried. “No!” She tried to twist away, her hands on his arms, but Axis held her firm.
“Listen to me,” Axis said savagely. “I will make this vow to you and may whatever gods the Icarii Enchanters pray to witness it for me. The day that Borneheld dies, that blessed day I run my sword through his body, Faraday, I will ask you to be my wife. Do you hear me?”
Faraday stared at him, horrified. All she could think of if Axis challenged Borneheld was the vision the trees had given her, the blood dripping through Axis’ hair and over his body, Axis dead instead of Borneheld, the blood dripping between her breasts, the torn body at her feet, its spirit rising slowly behind it. “No!”
“You made your vows, now you can listen to mine!” Axis was furious, and it showed in his face and voice. “One day, Faraday, when Borneheld lies dead at our feet, I pledge that I will ask you to stand by my side as my wife. And what will you say, then, my sweet child? How will you answer?”
“You must not challenge him, Axis! Not here, not now!” Oh Mother, Faraday thought frantically, was I wrong to come here?
“One day I will have to, Faraday. No, hear me. You know the hatred that we hold for each other will eventually end in bloodshed, but doesn’t the Prophecy predict my victory?”
“What do you mean?”
Axis smiled grimly. “A wife will hold in joy at night the slayer of her husband, Faraday. Who else can that refer to but you and me? Our marriage is prophesied, Faraday. When Borneheld is dead, will you marry me? Will you hold me in joy?”
His impassioned arguments gave Faraday hope, but she knew that he still had to survive Gorkenfort. “Axis,” she said very softly. “Promise me this. Promise me that you will stay your hand until after Gorkenfort is either won or lost. And promise me that if you do challenge Borneheld, you have just reason for it. I do not want you to murder him.” Nor do I want his murder on my conscience, she thought, clinging to the belief that all the Sentinels wanted her to do was to keep Borneheld from Axis until after Gorkenfort. Only until then.
“I will not murder him, Faraday, for I am certain that one day Borneheld will give me just reason to challenge him. And you are right, Gorkenfort will need every commander it has to survive Gorgrael’s inevitable attack.” And if the fort falls and I die, he thought bleakly, then you will need him to save you.
Faraday breathed a sigh of relief and caressed his face. All might not be lost, after all, and she might yet have the man she loved. “When I am freed from my vows to Borneheld I will willingly stand by your side for the rest of my life,” she whispered, “for then there will be no barrier between us. I swear it by the Mother and by the Enchanter’s ring you wear on your hand.” She tapped his ring gently with her fingertip. “Let the ring bear witness. My vow binds me to you. On the day that I am freed from my vows to Borneheld I will come to you!”
Axis released her quickly before he lost control. “You vow before ‘the Mother’, Faraday? One day, when we have our lives to ourselves, we will have to explain each to the other what we have done, what we have seen, while we have been out of each other’s sight. I have become the son of an Icarii Enchanter while you, you…” Axis smiled at her. “While you have been running about with an Avar Bane named Raum, have you not?”
Faraday gaped in surprise. “How did you know that?”
“I met him in Smyrton—but that’s a story that will have to wait. No, never fear, Raum and the girl are well and are now in their homeland.”
Faraday walked over to the bed, shifting the mattress back onto the springs and sitting down. “I owe you some brief explanation, Axis Icariison,” she said mischievously. “If you know enough that Belial is already calling you the StarMan then you must know of the Sentinels?”
Axis nodded. “Of course. Ogden and Veremund.”
Faraday laughed in anticipation of the shock she was about to give him. “And Jack the pig herder who you noticed about the Silent Woman Woods, and that white cat that followed you about everywhere! She is now masquerading as my maid, Yr.”
But Axis did not laugh as she expected. “Two Sentinels spirited you away from me at the Barrows?”
Faraday nodded. “And helped me here.” She dared not think what he would do if she told Axis that the Sentinels had virtually forced her to honour her vows when she was thinking of breaking them and following Axis. Still, Faraday knew she had done the right thing. Borneheld was currently so jealous of Axis and his reputation among both regular army and Axe-Wielders that only Faraday’s whispered endearments and entreaties kept Borneheld from seizing the nearest axe or sword and hurling it between Axis’ shoulder-blades the moment his back was turned. However much it cost her in personal happiness she knew that she was daily saving Axis from death. If only Axis could now be kept from Borneheld’s throat.
Axis did not notice her introspection. “What does it mean, Faraday, when the Prophecy tells us that power will one day corrupt their hearts? Will they betray me?” Now that the talk had turned to the Sentinels Axis once again began to worry about the Prophecy and its hidden meanings.
“Oh, Axis, surely not! The Sentinels are the only ones who can guide us at the moment!”
And yet they are couched about with as many riddles as the Prophecy is, Axis thought. He walked over to the fireplace, studying the intricate pattern of the bricks. “We have both been caught by this Prophecy, Faraday. Pray only that it will one day let us plan our own lives,” he said softly.
Faraday did not like the morbid turn of conversation. “What did you come here for, Axis? I had no idea you were going to walk this far when I followed you from the fort. And you met Brother Francis here?”
Axis held out his hand. “Let me show you what I have come here for.”
Faraday stood and took his hand, hesitating slightly. “You are safe with me,” Axis said good-humouredly, “I have another woman on my mind now.”
Faraday looked at him, puzzled, as he led her to the dark corner where the fireplace and its mantel cast a deep shadow. “I was born in this room, Faraday. Perhaps it still contains memories of my birth. Come, stand close beside me.” He slipped his arm about her waist and pulled her in close to his body so that they were both enclosed in the shadow. “Whatever
happens, Faraday, do not make a sound. Now, let me make some Icarii magic for you.”
For a moment he did nothing, and Faraday glanced up at his face. His eyes were focused on the bed pushed against the far wall, remembering the tune he had sung on the roof of Sigholt. Then he began to sing, very slowly, very softly, strange words and music that all ran together until the melody began to spin in Faraday’s head. She closed her eyes and leaned in against his body, listening to the enchanted music he spun about her.
Her eyes flew open at the low but agonised groan of a woman. The room was now night-darkened and lit by two candles, one on the mantel above the fire, the other on the stool by the foot of the bed.
A woman writhed on the bed, her slender arms raised behind her to grasp the iron railings of the bedhead. Her long auburn hair, loosely plaited, was dark and dank with sweat. Her face was turned away from them towards the wall, but Faraday did not have to see it to know who it was. Rivkah. She wore a light linen nightgown, once white, now stained with sweat and blood. She was struggling to give birth, her nightgown pulled to her hips over the mound of her belly, her legs raised and bent so that her feet pushed against the mattress every time she was convulsed with a contraction. Two women, middle-aged and dressed in dark dresses and black-weave aprons, huddled at the foot of the bed, their faces lined with worry, their eyes anxious.
Axis’ arm tightened about her waist and Faraday leaned closer and wrapped her own arms about him, lending him her support as he watched his mother struggle to give birth to him. He had stopped singing now, and was only humming the melody in broken snatches.
The door opened next to them and Faraday only just managed to stifle her gasp of surprise. How it was that none in the room saw them, she was not sure. A tall and powerfully built man, heavily bearded, strode through the door and over to the bed. He stood watching the woman writhe for a moment.