He was, an amused look on his face.
As she moved, Inardle collected a dozen straight reeds.
She came back to the centre of the circle and sat down to one side of the fire. She glanced at Axis, then laid the reeds out before her in an interlocking grid pattern.
“So,” she said.
“So,” Axis echoed. “So .?”
“So,” she said and, taking the lowest reed in the loose grid, she lifted it up high.
Axis had expected all the other reeds to fall asunder, but to his amazement, as Inardle swept that lower reed into the air, so all the reeds glimmered and, suddenly, what Inardle billowed in the air was not a reed, nor a collection of loosely interwoven reeds, but a length of lovely gossamer green material.
Inardle laughed at the expression on Axis’ face. She rose, shook out the material, wrapped it around herself, and stood before Axis clothed in a lovely form-fitting green gown that swept down to her ankles.
“Could Azhure do that?” she asked.
“Azhure could do many things,” Axis said, “but not that.”
Inardle sat down. “Talk to me of Azhure. We never spoke of her before.”
No, thought Axis, we never spoke of her before. He had not wanted to discuss Azhure with Inardle, because he would have felt uncomfortable doing so. Now, however, he felt no qualms and instead felt a great ease in talking of her to this woman.
“It was strange for me,” he said, “when first Isaiah pulled me back into life. Azhure was in the Otherworld, but here I was, with a brand new life. We’d been lovers and companions for, what? Fifty or so years. To suddenly be without her . . . it was strange and unsettling.
“But even more unsettling and strange was how quickly I readjusted to the lack of her company. I still loved her, I still do love her, but . . . I don’t miss her. Life caught me up in its embrace. There were more adventures to be had.” His eyes twinkled. “More women to meet.”
“Ah, so there was a stream of women before me.”
“No. None before you. I’d met Ishbel and was attracted to her, but the idea of seducing her was merely an intellectual exercise. I never for a moment thought I’d actually carry it out.”
“Besides, you’d need to have competed with Isaiah and Maximilian and you must have feared failure.”
Axis laughed. “You have a sharp tongue on you, Inardle.”
She gave a little shrug.
“So,” Axis went on, “there was no one before you.”
“And what I did to you,” she said, “how I betrayed you, must therefore have stung doubly.”
“Yes,” he said. “I’d wanted to love again, but didn’t know how. And then there you were, and I was losing myself in you, and then .”
They sat in silence, looking at the flames of the fire rather than at each other.
“I also understand,” Axis eventually said, softly, “how difficult it must have been for you. How torn you must have been. How difficult it might have been to have approached me. I did not allow you an easy path to confidence.”
“But here we are now,” she said.
“Yes,” Axis said, looking at her fully, “here we are now.”
She raised her face and looked him in the eye. “I have changed, Axis. If I’d been brought back to life anywhere other than the water I would have been who I once was . . . but that didn’t happen. I regained life in the water. I have changed.”
“I know,” he said. “The River Angel runs deeper in you than previously.”
Ravenna waited until Salome lay down to sleep, her husband beside her.
Neither of them — nor the child this time — realised her presence.
She waited until they were asleep and the baby asleep in the cot beside their bed.
She walked calmly forward and picked up StarDancer.
He looked at her, blinking in confusion as he woke, then his eyes widened.
I am sorry, StarDancer, Ravenna said to him. I have come to kill you.
Then before StarDancer could react, Ravenna clutched him close and ran from the chamber as fast as she dared.
Elcho Falling erupted into pandemonium.
Chapter 26
The Central Outlands
The Skraelings knew that Inardle had changed. The knowledge rippled through the entire congregation in a painful shockwave of realisation.
While they had been sitting here debating and complaining and remaining utterly, utterly indecisive, Inardle, a Lealfast, had changed.
Inardle was now a River Angel.
“How could she have done that!” a Skraeling cried. “How?”
“What if all the other Lealfast choose to change?” another said.
“What if we miss out?” said yet another, getting right to the crux of the matter.
“We have not yet made a decision!” Ozll shouted into the confusion. “We have not decided whether or not we want to —”
“We think we do!” came back a roar of tens of thousands of Skraeling voices.
“Why,” Ozll shouted, far louder this time, trying to get control of the situation, “don’t we talk to Inardle and see what she has made of herself. Then we can decide if we, too, want to go the same way. She can be our guide. If we like what she is, then we, too, shall . . . take the plunge.”
It was an unfortunate metaphor, reminding the Skraelings that the only way to return to their River Angel forms was to drown themselves.
“At least we know Isaiah wasn’t lying,” Ozll said, his voice milder now the hubbub had died down. “At least we know the return to River Angel form is possible.”
This statement reassured the Skraelings and they nodded their heads, prepared to listen once more to Ozll’s guidance.
“I suggest,” Ozll said, “that we find Inardle. We examine her and we make our decision on what she has become.”
“Good idea,” Graq said, and Ozll smiled at her and thought it strange he’d never truly noticed her before.
As the Skraeling herd rose and began drifting northward, Ozll gravitated to Graq’s side.
She risked a small smile at him, although with her great jaws and fangs it displayed more as a snarl than anything else.
“Do you think,” she said, “drowning would hurt?”
Chapter 27
Elcho Falling and Surrounds
Eleanon and the five Lealfast with him circled high above the reed beds. It was just on dawn, and they could easily make out Axis and Inardle lying together by the dish of coals in the midst of the reed bed.
Eleanon thought they must have come back from the dead minus their wits.
“He is the StarMan,” one the Lealfast said. “We should be careful.”
“We will be careful,” Eleanon said, “but remember also that we are at one with Infinity as well as controlling the Star Dance. He has nothing — look, a mere dagger. He may try and hide . . . but he cannot harm us.”
“And Inardle?”
Eleanon made a dismissive gesture. “She has always been weak. Come, it is time.”
Axis woke slowly, using these early waking moments to remember the night and to smile as he stretched along Inardle’s body.
Then he opened his eyes, and saw Eleanon and five other Lealfast standing on the other side of the fire, and adrenalin rushed through his system. He gave Inardle a shake, then rose to his feet, glancing at the pile of his and Inardle’s jumbled clothes lying a few paces away.
Eleanon gave a cold smile, moved his hand, and the clothing burst into flames.
“How did you get Inardle out?” Eleanon said.
She was on her feet, too, standing close to Axis.
“He dragged me out through sheer force of love,” she said. “You wouldn’t understand it.”
“Oh, what trite words you spout these days, Inardle!” Eleanon said. “I was always wary of sending you to Axis’ side, but, oh no, you said you were strong enough. Well, you weren’t, Inardle. You were weak. So tell me, and this time I demand it, how did you get her out al
ive, Axis?”
“I didn’t,” Axis said. “I got her out dead. It was what happened after that was the interesting bit.”
Eleanon frowned. Neither of them appeared particularly worried. Both stood, relaxed, confident. “And that was . . . ?”
Axis waggled a hand. “A little bit of water, a little bit of heart, a little bit of eagle, and a little bit of —”
“Take them,” Eleanon snapped, gesturing to his five companions as he lost patience.
The five fanned out, moving around the fire on both sides toward Axis and Inardle.
“Stand back,” she murmured, and Axis felt a frisson of excitement in his belly as he took two steps back.
The moment he moved, so the five rushed them, but Inardle was faster.
She changed in an instant, losing her form of a winged woman to become what Axis could only describe later as a column of water with a vague humanoid shape.
I could see a head, he was later to say to Isaiah, and I could see shoulders and two appendages that must have been arms, but there were no other features. Just a thick winding column of blue-white water the height of a woman.
Axis took a moment to glance at Eleanon’s face. The Lealfast man was astounded.
As well he might be, for he would have no idea of his own River Angel heritage.
The five Lealfast had been very close when Inardle changed. Before they could stand back, or lift into the air, she leaned forward and the two arm-like appendages swept out before her, lengthening until they were three or four times their original length.
First one, then two, then all five were swept up. Axis, watching, didn’t know quite what happened, but one moment they were taken and the next moment they were lying dismembered in the nearby water.
Inardle took a step toward Eleanon, but he was already gone, lifting high into the sky.
“Later,” Inardle said, returning to her fleshed form. Then she looked at their pile of smouldering clothes. “I can see I need to make us both some new attire.”
Axis just stood, looking at her. He almost could not believe what he had just witnessed.
Inardle smiled, her eyes cold.
The guard assigned to keep an eye on Axis and Inardle was standing, staring open-mouthed at the scene.
He, too, could not believe his eyes.
He turned to the balcony doorway which led to a short corridor off a main passageway, trying to catch the attention of one of the soldiers hurrying to and fro.
Isaiah needed to know about what he’d just seen!
It took the guard long minutes to attract anyone’s attention with his calls — unable to desert his post lest anything else noteworthy occurred on the reed bank — and when someone finally did appear, it was a flustered sergeant-at-arms who was none too pleased that a more lowly ranked guard wanted him to take a message to Isaiah.
“I have better things to do than run messages to the damned Tyrant,” the sergeant said.
“It is important!” the balcony guard said.
“You want me to tell him that the woman Inardle turned into a murderous column of water and slaughtered five Lealfast?”
The guard nodded.
“For the love of the gods!” the sergeant said. “We have a full-blown crisis happening inside and you want me to tell the Tyrant that —”
He stopped, looking at the guard’s face. “Oh, very well. But I am going to have your balls if the Tyrant snaps at me for wasting his time.”
The guard thanked him, then turned to look at the reed bank.
Axis and Inardle had vanished.
Chapter 28
Elcho Falling
Elcho Falling was in total panic. StarDrifter, Salome and every other Icarii within the citadel were searching high and low for StarDancer. No one knew what had happened — the baby had been there one moment and gone the next. The Icarii Enchanters, and most particularly his two powerful parents, could sense him, and occasionally hear his cries, but they could not locate him.
A powerful enchantment, dark and sinister, concealed him.
Isaiah was at his wits’ end. Quite frankly, he could have done without this latest drama. He was sick with worry about the Dark Spire, with wondering where Maximilian was, with what Eleanon and the Lealfast might be planning, and with what Axis and Inardle might be up to as they lounged in the reed beds.
The last thing he needed to fret about was a baby. StarDrifter and Salome were turning the citadel upside down. Isaiah had organised search parties, but most of all he wanted StarDrifter and Salome to calm down and let the the rest of them carry out a systematic and organised exploration of the citadel.
Isaiah hoped this was just a case of baby-snatching and not something more sinister.
“Isaiah?”
Isaiah turned from talking to Georgdi, almost snarling at the interruption.
Damn it, the last thing he needed was a rampant StarDrifter riling up the entire citadel!
It was Garth Baxtor, and Isaiah subsided, apologising for his black look.
“It’s about the baby, StarDancer,” Garth said.
“Yes?” Isaiah said, all his bad temper returning.
“I think it might have something to do with Ravenna,” Garth said.
Ravenna! Isaiah had forgotten all about her, and he realised that had been a stupid thing to do. “Ravenna?” he said.
Garth made a helpless gesture. “It is just a feeling, Isaiah, and I am sorry to trouble you with it. But if she had taken the baby . . . no one can see her .”
“Why would she take the baby?” Isaiah said.
“Maybe it is part of Eleanon’s plan. If he could see this amount of disruption .”
Isaiah took a moment to think it through. Maybe Garth had a good point. “So, if Ravenna did have the child, how would we find it?”
“I don’t know. No one can see Ravenna, and if StarDrifter and Salome can’t scry out their own son with their powers .”
Then what good is any of this? Isaiah thought, but discarded the thought. Garth was only trying to help and none of this current consternation, or the lost baby, was his fault.
Isaiah rested a hand on Garth’s shoulder. “Thank you, Garth. I’ll —”
He was interrupted by the approach of a sergeant-at-arms from the Isembaardian forces.
“Yes?” Isaiah snapped, not liking the look on the man’s face. More bad news.
“Excellency,” the man said, “I have news from the guard on the balcony.”
“Yes?”
“He said, um .”
“Oh, spit it out, man!”
The sergeant major took a deep breath. “He said that Axis and Inardle were attacked by six Lealfast. He said that Inardle turned herself into a column of murderous water and slaughtered five of the Lealfast. The sixth escaped.”
Isaiah stared at the sergeant, and then burst into laughter. He clapped the man on the shoulder. “Thank the gods for some good news!” he said. “Tell the guard he is due some goodwill on my part, and you, too, for relaying this news.”
The sergeant-at-arms bowed and retreated, the fact that his head remained on his shoulders goodwill enough for him.
Axis’ head broke the surface and he blinked the water out of his eyes, taking several deep breaths. That journey had been far better than the last.
Beside him Inardle emerged, not in the least out of breath.
There were several soldiers standing in the small chamber which held the entrance pool, and two of them held out their hands to help Axis and Inardle out of the water.
“I hope you didn’t want a welcome home party, StarMan,” one of them said. “There’s a bit of a fuss happening right now.”
Ravenna sat behind a tall stack of boxes in a storage chamber. She held StarDancer in her arms, but loosely, and the baby was calm now, regarding her with curious violet eyes.
Who are you? he asked her.
“My name is Ravenna,” she said.
I have heard of you. You were once a marsh witch, yes? Ve
ry powerful.
“Once.”
Now many have wrapped you in their curses.
Tears slipped down Ravenna’s cheeks. She knew she had to kill the baby, the One demanded it of her, but she couldn’t . . . she couldn’t .
Why do you want to kill me?
“I do not wish to, but I am obliged to by one of the curses placed upon me.”
Cursed by whom?
“By the One.”
Now StarDancer wriggled a little in his excitement. Of course! Now it was all making sense! He must have dreamed of the One! The One is here, in the citadel?
“Yes, he has hidden himself in the Dark Spire.”
He has only just moved here, from a place very far away.
“Yes.”
Ah, StarDancer said, understanding.
“He thinks you will expose him. Tell others where he is.”
StarDancer’s small mouth curved in a smile. That was likely not the reason the One wanted him dead.
“Axis!” Isaiah embraced Axis, then turned to look at Inardle. He took her face in his hands, looking deeply into her eyes.
“So,” he said, smiling a little now.
“So,” she said.
“How does it feel?” Isaiah said.
Inardle shrugged a little.
Isaiah sobered. “I heard what happened with the Lealfast, Inardle. Be careful of what you now control.”
“Of course,” she said, and Isaiah let her face go.
“Your brother has been stolen, Axis,” he said. “The citadel is in an uproar. Inardle, is this something Eleanon would have engineered?”
“How should I know?” she said. “But . . . no, I would have thought not. I have never heard him express any interest in Salome’s baby.”
“Garth thinks it may be Ravenna,” Isaiah said, and explained to Axis and Inardle how she’d come to be in Elcho Falling. “None of us can spot her, not even Garth. Inardle . . . is it possible .?”
“You want me to look for the baby?” Inardle said.
“If you could,” Isaiah said. “You may be able to see through Eleanon’s magics where none of us can.”