Axis’ smile faded a little. “Then pray I do not fret at you for the next thousand years.”
There was quiet as the gods stared into the flames of the fire, remembering their individual experiences on the journey from mortal to immortal, then Adamon spoke up.
“There is good reason why I have called us all here together this night. Xanon and I,” he took his wife’s hand, “are worried. Look!”
Adamon threw his free hand over the fire in a sudden motion. Instantly stars became visible in the flames – comets, solar systems, galaxies. Axis thought it was like looking into the Star Gate, save that the lure of the Star Dance was mute here.
“Look,” Adamon said again, but now his voice had lost its urgency, and was soothing, hypnotic. “Look.”
His hand swirled over the fire again, and then yet again, and the flames roared higher. Every galaxy was exquisite in its detail, every movement of the stars faultlessly performed.
“Beautiful,” Azhure murmured.
“Beautiful,” Xanon echoed, “save here,” her finger pointed, “and here, and here.”
As her fingers moved, the flames danced and what they revealed made the others, save Adamon who had seen this already, gasp with horror.
Spreading through the universe, like a thin trail of blight, was a black shadow. It was as yet only tiny, and hardly noticeable – the others might well have missed it if it had not been for Xanon – but…
“It is coming directly for us!” whispered Nors, appalled.
“For the Star Gate,” Adamon said. “Yes.”
“How long has this been visible?” Axis asked.
“For less than a day,” Xanon replied. “Adamon and I noticed it last night.”
“It’s moving towards us with frightening speed,” her husband said. “Look, this was where it was when first we noticed it, and then, while we watched, it leapt forward, through this galaxy, and this, then came to rest here.”
“What is it?” Azhure twisted her hair nervously into a knot. “Is it the children?”
“Partly,” Adamon said. “They come with it. We can hear their whispers louder than ever before. But they are not driving it. They are not the power behind it.”
“Well…what is?” Axis asked. He remembered how he’d felt when Jayme had first told him about the invading ghostmen from the north. Then he’d had a premonition of disaster. But that was nothing compared to the foreboding that now swept through him.
Adamon shook his head. “I do not know. I have no knowledge of what it is. I can feel its power, but I do not understand it. What is worse, see how it has blacked out an as yet tiny portion of the stars? Axis, do you not feel what that has done to you?”
Axis stared into the flame-vision, then his entire body went rigid.
“Axis?” Azhure murmured, and laid a hand on his arm.
“By the Stars themselves,” Axis said hoarsely, “it has cut out the sound of the Star Dance from that area!”
“Yes,” Adamon said. “And if it comes closer, it will block out yet more of the Star Dance. What if, the heavens forbid, it blocks out all of the Star Dance?”
Each present was silent, appalled. If that happened, then all power based on the use of the Star Dance would cease. All Icarii magic and enchantment would wink out of existence.
The Star Gods would become mortal.
“What is it?” Pors fretted. “What is it?”
Adamon shook his head helplessly. “I cannot know, I have seen nothing like this before. Nothing! I do not even have a name for it!”
“Well, I do,” a voice put in from the wastes behind him, and the gods turned about, startled.
WolfStar SunSoar stood there, a black cloak wrapped about his body, despair on his face.
“They are the TimeKeeper Demons,” he said. “And they are coming for what was stolen from them.”
There was utter silence for the space of several breaths.
Then Adamon rose to his feet. “And how is it that you know of them, WolfStar SunSoar? Have your misdeeds beyond death yet to impact on Tencendor? Do your sins bring these TimeKeeper Demons to ravage us?”
“No, Adamon. I know of the TimeKeepers, but, for once,” he managed a small grin, “I am not responsible. May I sit?”
Adamon hesitated, then nodded, sitting himself.
WolfStar sat as close to the fire as he could, wrapping his cloak tightly about him.
“The TimeKeeper Demons are trouble,” he said. “Trouble loose in the universe. Catastrophe if they break through the Star Gate.”
“You met them beyond the Star Gate?” Axis asked. “Are they coming for you?”
WolfStar shook his head. “No, and no, although I think that with them they bring the children I threw into the Star Gate. I became aware of the TimeKeeper Demons in my time beyond the Star Gate, but their exact nature, name and purpose I discovered only after I had returned.
“First of all I should explain who, or rather, what, the TimeKeeper Demons are. They are a harmonious group of six demons, each of whom roams – hunts – through a particular period of the day or night. They are known as the TimeKeepers because no-one keeps such assiduous track of the passing hours as do they. There is Mot, the Demon of Hunger. He hunts at dawn. Barzula, the Demon of Tempest, hunts at midmorning. Sheol, Demon of Despair, hunts at midafternoon. Dusk belongs to Raspu, the Demon of Pestilence. And the night belongs to Rox, the Demon of Terror. They hunt for souls, for sustenance, and they prefer to call themselves the Questors. They quest, but always hunger, tempest, despair, pestilence and terror ride in their wake.”
“You said there were six,” said Narcis.
“The sixth is the reason the other five TimeKeepers have been battling for tens of thousands of years to find their way through the Star Gate into Tencendor. In their own way the five I have described are terrible enough, but the sixth is the worst of all. He is their leader, their father, their saviour. They are nothing without him.”
WolfStar paused and stared into the fire, but no-one spoke to disturb him. Finally he lifted his head.
“His name is Qeteb, the Destruction that wastes at midday. He is the Midday Demon. The others will nibble at your soul, but Qeteb will steal it and rape it for eternity.”
“Qeteb is here?” Adamon said. “He is somewhere in Tencendor? That’s why they are coming?”
“In a manner of speaking, Adamon. But let me tell the story. The TimeKeeper Demons, Qeteb among them, once ravaged free on a world far, far from here. There was a race on that world who were determined to break their power – and this they did. One day they trapped Qeteb – I can only imagine the courage and fortitude it took to do this – and they dismembered him. I talk not of a bodily dismemberment, but a dismemberment of his life, so to speak. They separated warmth, breath, movement and soul from his flesh, and they fled with them. They fled through the universe, using craft that had been designed for interstellar travel –”
“They used craft?” Xanon interrupted. “How…cumbersome.”
WolfStar shrugged. “They had a different kind of power to what we know, Xanon. Well, they fled through the universe on a journey that itself took many tens of thousands of our years. It ended here, on Tencendor. They crashed through the barriers that separated Tencendor from the universe –”
“Creating the Star Gate!” Adamon cried.
“Yes, creating the Star Gate. Their four craft, for they used a different craft for each of Qeteb’s life parts, crashed into Tencendor, blasting out the craters that filled with the waters of the Sacred Lakes.”
“So the Lakes take their power from the remnants of the craft of these ancient ones?” Azhure said.
“Yes, although the craft are very much intact. The creatures within them died, but buried beneath the Lakes are what the craft have become in order to protect Qeteb’s life parts.”
“So how is it,” Zest asked, “that these Demons approach now? Is it just that their journey has taken many tens of thousands of years, and is only
now reaching its culmination…or is it…”
“Something else,” WolfStar said. “You have seen the path of darkness they have left behind them in the past day. You have deduced how they block out the Star Dance as they draw closer – we have all felt a diminution in our abilities over the past weeks. They are now moving faster than they ever have before. I believe there is a very good reason for that speed…and for all of us to fear their imminent arrival.”
“What reason?” Axis hissed. His hand groped momentarily at his side, as if he still had a sword there.
“I think Drago is leading them to the Star Gate,” WolfStar said directly.
For the second time that night there was utter silence.
“What?” Axis whispered.
“Drago?” Azhure said, as ashen-faced as Axis.
“That filth, curse the day he was conceived, has murdered Orr and leapt through the Star Gate.”
Murdered Orr?
“But I don’t understand,” said Axis. “Drago has no powers. The Star Gate would have killed him. And even if he did survive and find his way to these Demons, how is it that Drago has the power to catapult them through the stars like that?”
WolfStar looked Axis in the eye. “Because his father did not have the foresight to hide the Rainbow Sceptre where it could never be found! In a room in Sigholt, by the Stars! You might as well have hung it on a pole outside the front gate!”
There was instant uproar about the fire. Axis leapt to his feet, yelling at WolfStar. Azhure jumped up with him, hanging on to his arm, trying to calm him, yet sending a myriad of questions towards WolfStar at the same time. Silton and Narcis were also on their feet, shouting not only at WolfStar, but at the entire heavens in general.
“Be quiet!” Adamon thundered, and silence fell upon the company.
“Be silent,” he repeated. “Now, I am going to ask WolfStar a series of questions, and I want no-one interrupting.” He shot Axis a furious glare and he subsided, Azhure at his side.
“Good. Silton? Narcis? Your places, if you please. WolfStar,” Adamon turned to the Enchanter, who had remained calm in the face of all the anger directed his way, “how is it that the Rainbow Sceptre can help the Demons move so fast?”
“Because it is in large part composed of the power of the craft of the ancient ones. I assume the Demons are using that power to catapult themselves forward.”
“How do you know that Drago has the Sceptre?”
WolfStar explained about the message Orr had sent from the Star Gate chamber. He recalled SpikeFeather’s vision for them, and the Star Gods watched in horror as Drago fought Orr, then killed him with the Sceptre.
“The Sceptre has gone from Sigholt, Axis,” WolfStar said. “Of course, if the enchantments that were supposed to hide it had been worked better –”
“Enough, WolfStar!” Adamon snapped. “But we did not know that Drago stepped through the Star Gate –”
“Faraday was there,” Axis put in, his voice quiet. “Did you not see her watching from the pillars?”
“Yes,” WolfStar said. “Faraday was there. She is now on the Island of Mist and Memory, inhabiting her human form once again.”
Axis and Azhure both jumped. With StarDrifter?
“And you saw her?” Adamon asked.
“Yes. She…” WolfStar hesitated, “she said that Drago fled through one of the passageways after murdering Orr. She said he must still be in Tencendor. But I do not believe her. I think she is lying to protect Drago.”
“Why would she do that?” Azhure asked. “She has no reason to like or admire him.”
“I do not know why, Azhure. But Faraday was lying, I am sure of it, and I think the certain proof lies in the trail of darkness we can see spreading through the stars. The Demons are on their way. Suddenly. With such power and vigour as they have never shown previously. I can only assume that, yes, Drago has passed over the Rainbow Sceptre to them.”
“He ever had a twisted mind!” Axis said viciously. “Look, Azhure! Look at what he has done now! Subduing his Enchanter powers did nothing. You should have –”
“Killed him?” Azhure cried. “Do you think you could kill your own flesh and blood?”
“I disown him as my flesh and blood,” Axis said, more angry than Azhure had ever seen him. “And yes, I could kill him for what he has tried to do to my family, for what he has done to my family, and what he will do to Tencendor! My friends,” Axis looked about the circle, “don’t you understand what will happen if these TimeKeepers come close enough to block out the Star Dance completely? They will ravage at will! No-one will be able to stop them!”
He threw a furious look at WolfStar. “Is this your mad, bad blood outing itself, renegade? Is this your virulent inheritance tearing apart my family and my land? Did I fight for nothing? Did –”
“I have had nothing to do with either the Demons or with Drago’s actions!” WolfStar cried. “I will tear him apart myself should I meet him before you!” He gained some control of himself and lowered his tone. “Believe me, Axis, all I ever wanted was the best for this land. For Tencendor.”
“Again, enough,” Adamon said. “WolfStar, all about this fire can see what these Demons do to the stars. There is a wake of such sadness behind them that I wonder what they will do to Tencendor if they manage to come through the Star Gate.”
“Without Qeteb they will wrap this land and its peoples in disease, starvation, storms, depair and terror such as it has never seen before, not even under Gorgrael. With Qeteb to lead them, the TimeKeeper Demons will turn Tencendor into a dark wasteland, all its people slaves – automatons – to their whims. And, as Axis said, without the power of the Star Dance behind us, none of us can stop them.”
“None of us?” Axis asked, once again in control of himself. “Then is there nothing that can be done to counter them? Did these ancient ones, the Demons’ ‘Enemy’, leave us any means by which to protect ourselves against the cargo they left among us?”
WolfStar nodded. “In a manner, yes. Each site is protected by a series of measures against the Demons returning to recover Qeteb’s life parts. The site under Grail Lake is the most heavily protected of all, for it is there that Qeteb’s soul is buried. In a cavern beneath the lake lies a Maze – an extension of the craft that has grown there during the thousands of years since it crashed.”
“Grown? Grown?” Azhure said. “Explain.”
WolfStar was silent for a while, trying to find a way to convey what these craft actually were. “I do not understand them completely, Azhure. All I can say is that these craft are not dead, but neither are they alive. They are aware of the world and of the circumstances about them. Let me explain. In this cavern under Grail Lake lies the Maze. It protects Qeteb’s soul and is, in its own way, highly magical. A massive gate protects the entranceway to the Maze. About this gate is a stone arch, and on this arch are characters that explain what measures can be taken against Qeteb. For aeons the gate made only vague mention of a champion it referred to as the Crusader. Then, forty years ago, the gate named the champion.”
“Who?” Adamon asked.
Everyone save WolfStar looked at Axis.
“Caelum,” WolfStar said.
“Caelum?” Axis said. “But surely I would be better –”
“No, Axis,” WolfStar said firmly. “The Maze clearly states that Caelum StarSon is the one who can best protect Tencendor. StarSon, it says. Ah.” His entire face softened. “It knew even before you proclaimed Caelum your heir and gave him the title StarSon outside Tencendor. Axis, Azhure, you have bred the champion.”
“WolfStar,” Axis asked very softly as horrid realisation hit him, “was it the Maze which taught you the Prophecy?”
“Yes.”
Axis found it difficult to ask the next question. “Are you telling us that the Prophecy was a manipulation designed primarily to breed the Maze its champion?”
“Yes. And to create the circumstances and environment that would shape him into the
Crusader the Maze wanted.”
Axis stared at WolfStar, appalled. Had he and Azhure fought through so much only to provide the Maze with suitable breeding stock?
“There is always a deeper purpose to every life,” Adamon said softly. “And to breed a son like Caelum is a purpose worthy enough, surely.”
“But we have also bred the traitor to undermine his chances,” Azhure said bitterly. She remembered the Beltide night when she and Axis conceived Caelum. She remembered how she’d been caught up in a magic far more powerful than herself. Had the Maze been there, twisting and manipulating? Had they had no free will that night? “Why would Drago have done such a thing? Why?”
“He had been sentenced to death,” Pors said emotionlessly. “He chose the best means he could to save himself.”
“I do not care what should have been done about Drago in the past,” Adamon said, “or what mistakes were made in his upbringing. What we all need to do now is to consider how best to cope should these Demons come through the Star Gate.”
“We must help Caelum,” Azhure said. “Train him as best we can. Axis, surely you would be best for that.”
“As I,” WolfStar put in, and stared at Axis.
Axis conceded. “As all of us. I do not know how well Caelum will cope…he has had so little experience…”
“There is one thing more I should tell you,” WolfStar said. “One more thing that Caelum will need to use against Qeteb.”
“Yes?” Adamon asked.
“The Rainbow Sceptre. The Maze clearly connects the StarSon with the Sceptre. Again and again the symbols for the StarSon and the Sceptre are intertwined, made as if they are one. No doubt Caelum must wield the Sceptre to drive back the TimeKeeper Demons, or to defeat Qeteb should he be reconstituted.”
Axis laughed harshly. “Well, then, why don’t we just prepare a greeting party with wine and food at the Star Gate? Drago has betrayed his brother and Tencendor with consummate skill. We are doomed.”
WolfStar shrugged a little. “Axis, we need to train Caelum, and he needs the Rainbow Sceptre.”