The donkeys finally broke loose and cantered away, their heads high and to the side so that they could look at Faraday as long as possible.
“Go!” Faraday whispered as they disappeared into the gloom of the forest. “Go.”
Azhure felt like crying. She’d travelled with the donkeys and Ogden and Veremund, too, and she realised it was not just the donkeys that Faraday was farewelling and chasing out of her life.
“Go,” Faraday murmured one last time, then she gave a great cry and doubled over, slowly sinking to the ground.
“Faraday!” Azhure was by her side instantly. “Are you…?”
One look from Faraday’s great pain-filled green eyes was all the answer she needed.
Then angry hands were about Azhure’s shoulders and she felt herself shoved to one side.
“She is in our care now,” Barsarbe spat, her eyes furious. “We will take care of her!”
Faraday reached up with one hand and seized the front of Barsarbe’s robe. “No! I am in Azhure’s care, Bane! I told you that once I had planted the trees all that I did afterwards I would do for love of Axis and Azhure. Barsarbe, you are not welcome on this path!”
Barsarbe recoiled, stunned. “Faraday!”
“Go back to your people, Barsarbe. I will rejoin you for Fire-Night in the groves.”
“Faraday! I’m sorry. I…I didn’t mean…”
But Faraday had twisted her head away and was looking at the little girl. Shra? I will be back, I shall have to be. Will you wait for me?
Yes.
Shra, I worry about Barsarbe. I should not have been so short with her…but…
Yes, I know. I understand.
I fear that she will turn the Avar against Axis.
Faraday, concentrate only on your own struggle now. I will see you at Fire-Night…and the Avar will be ready to stand behind Axis. To help him.
Shra, I wish you and yours only the best.
And I you, Faraday. Go now, Azhure will look after you.
But Faraday was not quite finished. Shra? Shra? Thank you for liking Azhure. Thank you for accepting her.
It was my honour, Faraday. Go now.
Faraday grabbed Azhure’s hand, her face white.
“Believe me,” Azhure said, masking her worry. “I know.”
Then, before Barsarbe’s horrified gaze and Shra’s understanding one, both vanished.
“We need peace and space,” Azhure said as the silver pelt stepped up to her.
“I know,” the ancient Horned One replied, “but Enchantress, there is something I must tell you.”
“Can’t it wait? Can’t you see that—”
“Yes, yes,” he snapped, and hearing his impatience, Azhure and Faraday paused and stared at him.
“Enchantress, the Destroyer has seized your son.”
“What!”
The Horned One grabbed her shoulders. “Gorgrael has Caelum!”
“No,” Azhure whispered. “No.” She suddenly recalled her vague feeling of horror as Faraday had planted out the last seedling, then the vivid premonition of disaster she’d experienced when the great forest had burst into Song. Had that been Caelum calling to her? Was he even now screaming for her, wondering why his Mama had not come? Oh Stars!
Faraday gave her a half-hearted shove. “Go.”
But Azhure was not as easy to get rid of as the donkeys. “And who will tend you, Faraday? The Horned Ones?”
“The Mother will—”
“No!” Azhure abruptly hissed. No…she owed Faraday too much to leave her now…but Caelum? What was Gorgrael doing to him? A low wail escaped her.
Now Faraday had her arms about Azhure, trying to give her comfort. “Azhure, go to him.”
“No.” Azhure had her expression under perfect control now. “Who knows, it may be a trick designed to trap me or Axis. Probably is, in fact. So, no more arguments, Faraday. I will stay.”
“Azhure.” Now it was the Horned One. “He—”
“I don’t want to know!” she hissed. “Can’t you see? Faraday needs me now. I can’t leave her!”
The Horned One took a deep breath and looked at Faraday as if for the first time, then he turned back to Azhure and bowed his head. “When it is finished, Enchantress, then fly. Fly home to Sigholt, and then rescue that boy!”
54
ABOUT THE CAMP FIRE
Axis wheeled Belaguez about and reined him in. Stretched out in a column almost half a league long behind him, the army glinted and sparkled in the late afternoon sun. Far above, two Crest of the Strike Force wheeled; apart from several farflight scouts to the north the remainder of the Strike Force waited a league to their west, at the site chosen to camp that night.
They had made good time in the ten days since leaving Sigholt—no snow and ice lay over the ground to slow their progress now. The soil was wet, even sodden in places, and the sky still cloudy this far north, but the Icarii scouted out the best route each morning. Men and horses had found the going easy, and the only complaint was that the northerly night-wind was still bitter enough to frost the blankets. Tonight they would camp at the extreme western edge of the Urqhart Hills; tomorrow they would swing for the north…and Gorkenfort.
Gorkenfort. Axis’ face tensed. This would have to be the final battle with these damned Skraelings because Axis did not think he could bear yet another indecisive outcome. Though he doubted that this outcome would be indecisive. Either one or the other would have their power broken. And the odds were in Gorgrael’s favour.
Before Axis waited a Skraeling host of some three hundred thousand; more, if they had bred in the months since the Azle. The snow and ice still clung to Gorkenfort and Gorken Pass; that would aid the Skraelings and hinder Axis’ force. Gorgrael, and Timozel, would have the aid of the seven thousand Gryphon. Axis shivered.
And to meet them Axis had a force of some twenty-six thousand, including the Strike Force.
And Azhure. If she got here in time.
Damn you, Azhure, Axis cursed silently, why aren’t you here with me? Why does Faraday need you so badly? Could we not have let Artor run free with his damned Plough for a few more weeks yet?
His twenty-six thousand would die if Azhure did not join him in time. They were good men all, but they would be decimated in half an hour.
“Lady Moon,” he whispered, seeing the just-risen disc through a break in the clouds, “be there for me.”
But if Azhure hadn’t left Smyrton by now, would she be able to catch him in time? Even with her talents, could she move fast enough through either time or space to help him?
And the trees…without the trees, Axis knew the Skraeling force would overwhelm him whatever happened with the Gryphon. Azhure might be able to deal with those flying obscenities but she could do little against the Skraelings. For them Axis would need the trees.
Damn those two women! Where were they? What were they doing?
“Axis?”
Belial. Axis made a conscious effort to relax his face. “My friend?’
Belial pulled his bay stallion in next to Belaguez. “Axis, half the column has passed you by while you sit there worrying.”
“I was not—”
Belial laughed. “Not worrying? I have known you too long to believe that lie.”
Axis sighed. “I was thinking about Gorkenfort. Wishing Azhure was here with me…with us.”
Belial shrugged. “Either we win Gorkenfort or we lose it, Axis, and sitting on your horse, fretting about it is not going to tip the balance one way or the other.”
Axis reached across to grip Belial’s shoulder. “You have the soul of a philosopher, Belial.”
“Nonsense.” Belial grinned. “I am merely trying to shake you out of your fugue so you can order camp to be pitched. It’s been a long time since our all-too-brief noon meal, and my stomach is complaining.”
Belial sat before the fire and stared at the flames. The meal had been good and there was nothing more to be done tonight than to stretch out an
d try to think pleasant thoughts. Magariz was inspecting the sentries, Arne checking the gear for tomorrow’s march, Ho’Demi was bedded down early with his wife (and wasn’t he the lucky one?), and SpikeFeather had joined one of the Crests for his evening meal. Now only Belial and Axis shared the fire, and Belial wondered if he could prevail upon the man to pull his harp from the saddlebags and play a tune or two before they took to their sleeping rolls for the night. He leaned forward, but the words never left his mouth.
For, just as he was about to speak, the world went mad.
A great sound rushed over the plain and enveloped them. Song. So beautiful yet so powerful that it battered all before it. Belial wrapped his arms about his head as the wave of noise hit him, and yet even through its great surge he could hear men shouting and horses screaming. The Song grew deeper and more intense until Belial could feel it pounding through his entire body…then…then slowly the Song changed, faded, vanished, although Belial could still feel it throb through his flesh and through the ground beneath him for a further minute or so.
“What—” he mumbled, standing up. About him men were similarly scrambling to their feet, their faces puzzled. Others calmed the horses, murmuring to the beasts and petting them with long, soothing strokes.
“Faraday,” Axis said, and Belial turned around to look at him.
“What?”
“Faraday,” Axis repeated, and said to Belial, “She has completed planting. The new forest has joined with the Avarinheim. What we just heard…felt…was the initial burst of Song as the entire forest below the Avarinheim joined with the Earth Tree Song.”
“And now they no longer sing?”
“They still sing, Belial, but the Song has moved into such realms of power and pitch that most can no longer hear it.” Axis’ entire body relaxed. “Thank the Stars. Perhaps Azhure can now ride to join us.”
He turned aside for a few moments to talk to several unit commanders who had rushed to the fire, reassuring them and asking them to relay his reassurances to the rest of the army. “It was but Tree Song,” he concluded, “and it means added power for us. Do not be concerned.”
Unless the trees do not fight as Faraday has promised.
Belial slowly relaxed as Axis sank down beside the fire again. As the word about the Tree Song spread men talked in low voices around their campfires; Belial heard occasional soft laughter punctuate the night.
“Good news, Axis.”
Axis nodded. “Yes. Gorgrael must have heard that as well. It will virtually negate his hold over the weather.”
“And perhaps he worries, too.”
Axis laughed. “I shall sleep with that thought tonight, Belial. It shall cause me pleasant dreams.”
They sat some time in companionable silence. Belial remembered his earlier thought that he could ask Axis to play awhile, but a gentle hand on his shoulder stayed his words; he was fated, it seemed, not to hear the harp that night.
“Belial,” a rich voice said, “I am pleased to see you again.”
The beautiful woman who had joined him outside Axis’ tent the night Azhure had healed him was again standing by Belial’s side and smiling at him. Again his face reddened at the filmy robe she wore, and her eyes crinkled in amusement.
“I am here to talk with Axis, Belial, but you may stay. Listen. What I have to say should not be borne by Axis alone.”
Bad news, then. The woman stepped to Axis’ side and sank gracefully down beside him so that she sat close, her body touching his at hip and breast, her hand on his shoulder. “Axis.”
He took a deep breath, unsettled by her appearance and her touch. “Xanon.”
She leaned over the distance still between them and kissed Axis on the mouth and Belial stirred, remembering the extraordinary liberties that she and her companions had taken in greeting him that night. The Star Gods, they had called themselves as they had farewelled him. Belial was not truly surprised by anything any more, not after the shocks of the past two years. Star Gods, perhaps, but the fact that they had said they were friends of Axis and Azhure was more important.
Well, Belial thought as he watched the woman draw slowly back, a smile on her lips, he hoped Azhure didn’t mind the liberties friend Xanon took with her husband.
“Axis, I have news.”
“The forest sings,” he said. “I know.”
“Yes, the forest sings. But Azhure and Faraday have done more than join the forests. Axis,” her face lit up with pure joy, “Artor is destroyed!”
“Azhure?” Axis asked.
“Azhure is well. Oh, Axis! She is so well! She set her pack to hunt and she hounded Artor through the same wastes where he imprisoned us. He turned to fight, but he was no match. She set her knife, here,” her hand pressed against his breast, “and she turned it about in his heart. Artor is no more.”
Axis sighed and closed his eyes. “Artor is no more.”
Belial sat, staring at them. Azhure had hunted Artor! By the Mother, what sort of woman was she?
Axis opened his eyes and smiled at Xanon, gently lifting her hand from his chest where she had let it rest. “And now Azhure comes to join me?”
Xanon stiffened and she turned her face away.
“What’s wrong? Xanon, what’s wrong?”
“Axis.” Xanon ran her tongue across her lips. “Axis, Gorgrael has taken Caelum.”
Caelum?
Belial did not hear the thought, but he saw the horror ripple across Axis’ face and felt it himself. Mother! He dropped his eyes from Axis’ face, unable to bear the agony he saw there.
Axis stirred as if to rise but Xanon wrapped her arms about him and kept him down.
“Caelum?” he whispered.
“We do not know how,” Xanon said. “How could Gorgrael have snatched the boy from Sigholt?”
“I have to go to him—”
“No!” Xanon’s arms tightened and her hands dug into his upper arms. “No, Axis, you can’t!”
“I can’t?” he shouted, and tried to twist away from her. “Who are you to tell me that I can’t?”
“I am the voice of reason,” Xanon said fiercely. “Listen to me, Axis! Why has Gorgrael snatched Caelum? Why? To trap you, that’s why.”
“She’s right,” Belial said, and Axis threw him a furious glance.
“Listen to us,” Xanon continued. “Listen, damn you! Gorgrael can feel his power slipping. He’s moved to desperate measures. Stars knows the risk he took in snatching Caelum from Sigholt. With the boy he hopes that he can tempt you away from Gorken Pass. Tempt you into making a precipitous rush to his Ice Fortress without the Rainbow Sceptre fast in your hand. Axis, if you do not hold the Sceptre he will defeat you.”
“Caelum,” Axis muttered, seeming not to have heard Xanon’s words. “Has Gorgrael killed him?”
“You would have felt it, had he died,” Xanon said, her eyes bright with compassion.
“Then he lives to be tortured by Gorgrael,” Axis said bitterly. “Perhaps death would be preferable. Xanon? What can I do?”
She hesitated, then stroked his face with a hand. “You will have to trust in Azhure.”
“Azhure?” Now Axis did manage to free himself from her encircling arms. “Azhure?”
“She is the only one who can help him at the moment.”
“She is the only one who can be risked, you mean!” Axis snarled.
“You cannot go, Axis! This is exactly what Gorgrael wants! To meet you without the Rainbow Sceptre in your hands! That would mean instant victory for him.”
Axis let Xanon wrap him in her arms once more, and she rocked him gently for a few minutes.
“Will she be in danger?” Axis asked eventually.
“Yes, Axis, I am afraid she will be, but Adamon will help her as much as he can.”
“She defeated Artor.” Axis tried to find hope.
“Yes,” Xanon replied, “but she cannot hope to kill Gorgrael. His power is…different…to Artor’s, and Artor was already mortally damaged by t
he collapse of the Seneschal and the loss of faith in the Way of the Plough. And Azhure could use the power of the Nine, the full circle, to aid her against Artor. She cannot hunt Gorgrael.”
“She can use none of her skills against Gorgrael? But his power is weakened, too.”
“Axis,” Xanon spoke slowly, but firmly. “Gorgrael’s life is tied to yours by the Prophecy. None can be destroyed unless it be by the other. Yes, Gorgrael’s power has weakened, but only concerning his hold over the weather. Otherwise he is as virulent as ever he was.”
“Then Stars help her,” Axis whispered, “for without her, Gorkenfort will be lost. I will be lost.”
Gorgrael tilted his head and snarled at the fretting baby. He lifted his taloned hand again, but this time he stayed the blow.
The baby would be no use dead.
But if Gorgrael had known that the baby would fret and whimper and whine night and day then he would seriously have reconsidered the entire plan.
“Silence!” he hissed, and the baby swallowed and tried to halt his ceaseless crying, staring at Gorgrael with eyes wide with terror and pain.
Mama?
“Your Mama will not help you here, wretch.” Gorgrael dropped his hand and regarded the baby, his silver eyes merciless. The fact that this baby was his nephew meant nothing to him. In fact, Gorgrael did not know what it was about this limp, constantly complaining lump of flesh that made Axis and his woman love it so much.
Would Axis risk all to rescue it?
Well, he would know soon enough. If Axis was going to try then he would try soon. After all, who knew what the nasty Destroyer was doing to the poor little baby?
Gorgrael smiled and teased the baby with a rough claw down the length of his body.
The boy whimpered despite his attempts to keep silent and Gorgrael’s face twisted. Nasty, nasty thing! He dug his claw in, to teach the thing to keep still and quiet, and the boy screwed his eyes shut and opened his mouth.
But no sound came out. The scream remained silent.
“Good baby,” Gorgrael smiled, and patted the thing on the head. “Good baby.”