Axis looked at Ishbel. “Can you hear my conversation with StarHeaven?”
“Yes,” Ishbel said, and Axis realised just how strong her power had grown in recent days.
Can the Lealfast shoot their arrows through to the Strike Force, if it stays within the defensive cordon? Axis asked Ishbel, sharing also with StarHeaven.
No, Ishbel said, and Axis nodded.
Good, he said. Weapon and array yourselves, StarHeaven.
He returned to his speaking voice. “They cannot give us much protection, Ishbel. This is going to be a bloodbath.”
“Then a bloodbath it must needs be, Axis. But we do need to get as many of those Isembaardians inside as possible. Elcho Falling can absorb them easily.”
Axis sighed. “Yes, I suppose you are right. Ishbel, I can use the Song of Mirrors that I used previously to help the Strike Force . . . it should take the Lealfast a few minutes to realise it is being used and where we are, given that we are so far below them. We should make it across to Insharah well enough.”
StarHeaven, he said, show yourselves, and distract the Lealfast.
Then he took Ishbel’s arm and, humming the Song of Mirrors under his breath, started across the causeway toward Insharah.
The One screamed with frustration and sheer anger. Such a chance to take Elcho Falling and Maximilian, and it had been wasted, all wasted!
Elcho Falling had expelled him. The One could not believe it. He had been inside — inside! — and then Elcho Falling had spat him out.
The One could not understand what had gone so wrong. Elcho Falling rejected him because of the blood he carried, the blood of Maximilian and Ishbel’s dead daughter? Some problem with treacherous heirs and Ravenna?
The One knew he should have slaughtered her years ago. Cursed be her name! She had failed, and thus he had failed.
But, oh, of everything, the One blamed Maximilian and Elcho Falling most of all.
He would destroy them both for this.
He had not a thought for the Lealfast; to the One they were such minor players in this battle between himself and the Lord of Elcho Falling that he could not afford to waste a single thought on them right now.
The One looked about, wondering for the first time where he was. Elcho Falling had expelled him with great power and the One knew he had come a vast distance, but where. . .
He moved in a slow circle, looking at the lightening landscape with narrowed eyes.
Where was he?
Ah . . . there. What remained of Sakkuth after the Skraelings had been through it. He was in the north of Isembaard, then.
Why had Elcho Falling sent him here? What purpose?
The One furrowed his brow, thinking. Why not send him back to DarkGlass Mountain?
He stilled, very suddenly, his gaze flattening.
Elcho Falling did not want him at DarkGlass Mountain. Instead, it had sent him to a point halfway between Elcho Falling and DarkGlass Mountain.
It did not want him at DarkGlass Mountain just as badly as it did not want him at Elcho Falling.
The One roared, then summoned forth the power of Infinity so that he might transfer himself instantly back to DarkGlass Mountain.
But . . . Infinity came forth jumbled and confused, and the One clenched his fists and shook them at the dawn sky.
Whatever had happened in his transfer here had disorientated his power. It was not gone, nor even permanently impaired. Just . . . damaged, for the moment.
The One roared once more, shaking his fists until the distant stones of Sakkuth trembled. Presently, he strode south-westward, heading for DarkGlass Mountain.
He could not transfer himself there instantly, but the One could still eat up the distance with his unnatural strides, and it would take him but a short time to reach DarkGlass Mountain.
“Axis,” Insharah said as Axis and Ishbel came up to him.
Axis saw the man’s head tremble very slightly, as if he had started to incline it, then had stopped himself.
“How do you, Insharah?” Ishbel said brightly. “It has been a long night and many things have happened of which we need to appraise you. But not here in the open. Where is a suitable tent? This? Good, let us enter.”
“What is going on?” Insharah said as soon as they were inside and the tent flap fallen closed behind them. “There has been fighting in Elcho Falling. Maximilian? He is alive, yes? Ishbel?”
“Maxel is alive and well, Insharah,” Ishbel said, “as you so rightly expected. But there has indeed been bother in Elcho Falling. The Lealfast —”
“The Lealfast have proved true traitors,” Axis said, looking Insharah directly in the eye. “They have ever been allied with the One — with DarkGlass Mountain. They, as the One, want Elcho Falling for themselves. Just like Armat and his companions, eh?”
“Armat has been dealt with,” Insharah said, his eyes angry at the implied condemnation in Axis’ voice and words.
“But not by you!” Axis snapped. “It took Ishbel to focus your loyalties, did it not? It would be good to see you choose a cause and stick to it, Insharah!”
“You two can sort this out later,” Ishbel said. “Right now. Insharah, you and your men are in terrible danger. You have seen the Lealfast in the air — Elcho Falling has expelled them — and I have no doubt that they will have no compunction about attacking you.”
StarMan, StarHeaven said, the Lealfast have vanished.
“And then there are the Skraelings —” Ishbel said, then stopped as she, too, caught StarHeaven’s message. She looked at Axis, who had drawn his sword and was now staring about the tent.
“Then there are the Skraelings, indeed,” said Eleanon, materialising to one side of the three.
Axis lifted his sword arm, then froze, his face registering both surprise and horror as he discovered his arm no longer responded to his commands.
The Lealfast commander smiled, his entire form frosting in pleasure. “I am sick to death of you, Axis,” Eleanon said. “For weeks I’ve had to put up with your snide remarks and your insufferable superior swagger. You insulted me, you insulted every last one of the Lealfast, and for that, one day, you will pay.”
“Not today,” said Ishbel. She looked at Eleanon very carefully. “No doubt this tent is full of your comrades?”
“At least five others,” said Eleanon. “None of whom you can see.”
“Then neither Axis, nor Insharah, will be so stupid as to strike at you,” Ishbel said. “I am sure you can release Axis from whatever enchantment you have cast upon him.”
Eleanon gave a small shrug, and the next moment Axis found his arm once more under control. He glared at Eleanon, glanced at Insharah, who was standing very slightly back, regarding the other three with an intense wariness, then lowered his sword arm.
“You have learned interesting new tricks, Eleanon,” Ishbel said.
“You fought — betrayed — the Strike Force while invisible,” Axis said. “You were not able to do that before.”
Again that indifferent shrug from Eleanon. “We have changed, StarMan. We have touched Infinity and bonded with it and are the better for it.”
He turned, speaking to Insharah. “Which brings me to the point of my visit. Greetings, Insharah, we have not had the pleasure of direct speech previously.”
Eleanon inclined his head and upper body in an elegant bow, his wings sweeping out behind him.
Insharah gave the Lealfast man a careful nod.
Eleanon straightened. “I am come to speak with you about what approaches and about your course of action. You now command the Isembaardian soldiers?”
Another nod from Insharah.
“A goodly army, then,” Eleanon said. “Many hundreds of thousands strong. You command great power, Insharah, and you have my respect.”
Insharah glanced at Axis, then returned his regard to Eleanon.
“I wonder if you have had time to reconsider your allegiances,” Eleanon said.
“Insharah always has the time
to reconsider his allegiances,” Axis muttered.
That earned a very small smile from Eleanon, but no other reaction. “My friend,” Eleanon said to Insharah, “troubled times lie ahead. I command a group of fighters who are, in fact, a great deal more skilled than Axis ever gave us credit. If you want proof of that, then you need only glance outside to see the pitiful remains of the oh-so-vaunted Strike Force, now too scared to venture further than a wingspan from the comforting bricks and mortar of Elcho Falling. You have seen this, yes?”
“Yes,” Insharah said.
“I command currently some twelve thousand fighters —”
“A few less, now,” Axis said sotto voce.
Eleanon ignored him. “Another twenty-odd thousand fighters will be with me within, oh, half a day, and the rest of the Lealfast Nation also, travelling behind them. You know how fast we can travel. You know that we can invisible ourselves, and you have just learned that we can fight in that state, too. It is how we decimated the pitiful Strike Force.”
“Where is all this leading, Eleanon?” Axis said.
“I am merely demonstrating to Insharah what good allies we might be for him,” Eleanon said. “And I should mention . . . and it is good that you, Axis, and Ishbel hear this . . . that some several millions — after all, who has ever done an actual head count — of by now supernaturally-enhanced Skraelings are seething this very way. They, too, shall be under my command.”
Axis’ mouth lifted in a slight sneer.
“Thus you can understand, Insharah,” Eleanon said, “what a bad enemy I might be. I offer you, however, my alliance, my friendship —”
“And we all know how much that is worth,” Axis said.
Eleanon whipped about to him. “You are surrounded by people who betray you, Axis! Have you never once considered why that is so? Your very nature attracts it! Your sons — who can forget what they did —”
Axis, Ishbel said to him, don’t let him needle you. Let it go.
“— and not forgetting your current lover, who has told me everything, Axis. Everything. You are not such a good lover by Lealfast standards, you know.”
Ishbel reached out a hand, certain that Eleanon had by now said enough to goad Axis into attack, but Axis simply stepped back, folded his arms, and regarded Eleanon with a slight smile.
“Your attack failed,” Axis said. “You need to learn to accept your defeats. The One has been repelled. You have been repelled. Elcho Falling is stronger than it has ever been. Go back to chasing your snow rabbits through the frozen north, Eleanon. It is really all you are good for.”
Ishbel fought to stop herself rolling her eyes. Men!
“Elcho Falling is stronger than ever, Axis?” Eleanon’s mouth quirked. “Really?” His eyes glittered with genuine amusement as he held Axis’ stare, then Eleanon returned his attention to Insharah. “I give you the chance to ally yourself with me, Insharah. Elcho Falling has no hope, nor does Isembaard, without my aid or the One’s. There is no reason to be afraid of the One, he —”
“My wife was in Aqhat,” said Insharah. “My children, too. Prove to me that they are alive, as also the families of all my men awaiting outside, and I am for you and for the One.”
“Everyone rests safe and sound within Hairekeep,” Eleanon said. “There is no need to worry.”
“StarHeaven informed me,” Axis said very quietly, “that Isaiah told her that Hairekeep was a dark mass of tortured souls. If they are there, Insharah, then they are not in any manner ’safe‘ .”
“I have twelve thousand fighters, here and now,” Eleanon said, holding Insharah’s eyes, “and they are all unseeable, and they are all scattered among your men, Insharah. Choose unwisely and many of your men will be dead and shall thus never see their families again.”
“And there you have the true Eleanon,” said Axis, his voice still calm. “Do you really believe it when he says your wife and children are safe? Maybe they are, but only if they managed to escape Lealfast ’protection‘ .”
“You have twelve thousand fighters invisibled among my men?” Insharah said to Eleanon.
The Lealfast man gave a nod. “I needed some insurance,” he said. “Some form of persuasion. Come join with me, Insharah. You will only gain by doing so.”
“Twelve thousand men among my three hundred thousand?” said Insharah, then he chuckled. “I think I prefer my odds.”
With that, he drew his sword and lunged toward Eleanon.
Axis moved instantly. As Insharah stepped forward, he could feel the movement as Eleanon’s invisible companions moved in to kill himself, Ishbel and Insharah. He moved instinctively, in somewhat the same manner as the Emerald Guardsmen had moved in their battle with the Lealfast, and in one single arc of his sword he sliced through three Lealfast.
“There,” Ishbel said to Insharah, “and there.” She pointed, and suddenly the blood she had caused to spatter over the Lealfast a few hours earlier reappeared, glowing in space. The Lealfast may have been invisible, but the glowing splotches of blood betrayed their presence.
Axis recovered from that single deadly arc of his sword, taking a step toward Eleanon, who had managed to drive Insharah back.
The Lealfast stood his ground for a heartbeat, then he vanished entirely.
“We need to get you and your army inside Elcho Falling,” Axis said to Insharah.
“The citadel will take us all?” Insharah said, incredulous.
“Aye,” Axis said, “and protect you against both Lealfast and the approaching Skraelings.”
Insharah opened his mouth to say something, but was forestalled by the sound of fighting outside.
“We need to move,” said Ishbel. “Now. Insharah, get your men moving toward the causeway, in whatever manner you may.”
Chapter 8
Elcho Falling
The battle to get the Isembaardian army inside Elcho Falling was a bloody, terrible nightmare, and without Ishbel it could easily have turned into a rout.
The sudden visibling of the spatters of blood over the Lealfast saved hundreds, if not thousands, of Isembaardian lives. The Lealfast remained invisible, but the blood glowed, betraying their presence. While the Isembaardian army had no warning of the attack, they had been armed and ready to fight: initially, under Armat’s command, to attack Elcho Falling, but now, under Insharah, as a precaution against the power and treachery of the previous night. The surprise attack by the twelve thousand Lealfast killed many, but the Isembaardians were skilled and practised soldiers, and it took them but heartbeats to realise that the glowing blood revealed their enemy.
On the ground the Lealfast had no chance against the sheer numbers of Isembaardians, especially if they were trapped inside tents when the blood glowed to betray them. They soon lifted into the air, and there they did hold the edge. Not merely did they hold a height advantage, but the Isembaardians, now organised into the move to Elcho Falling, were trapped in a bottleneck — the causeway was narrow and the army needed to be guided across it by Ishbel, for otherwise Elcho Falling would not have accepted the foreign soldiers. Everyone was frighteningly vulnerable on that causeway, and it was to the causeway that the Lealfast directed their most murderous efforts.
In the air the Lealfast maintained their invisibility. Above two or three paces high the glowing spatters of blood became indistinct and at ten paces high few ground soldiers could see them at all. The Strike Force members with their enhanced Icarii sight could see the spatters of blood well enough from even a hundred paces distant, but the Isembaardian archers could only shoot blindly into the air, and while doing so could not protect themselves. The Strike Force’s arrows caused some casualties among the Lealfast, but mostly the Lealfast stayed out of arrow range of the Icarii, who were tied to their narrow protective airspace about Elcho Falling.
The ground forces used their shields, raised above their heads, to create a defensive roof between themselves and the Lealfast arrows. But arms grew tired and it was hard to keep shields perfectly alig
ned to maintain an impenetrable roof. All too often arrows penetrated through widening gaps in the shield roof and struck soldiers beneath.
Many Isembaardians died. Within an hour of the army starting its painfully slow way into Elcho Falling, the turquoise waters of the lake surrounding the citadel were thick with floating bodies feathered with arrows.
Axis spent most of his time either protecting Ishbel, or organising protection for her. Nothing could be allowed to harm her. His task was made easier by Egalion who, understanding what was needed, sent a squad of Emerald Guardsmen out to protect her. They surrounded Ishbel on all sides, using their uncanny ability to deflect arrows from above with their shields.
Without them, Axis thought Ishbel may well have been dead within a few minutes.
It took the entire day to get the Isembaardians inside Elcho Falling, and all day they were subjected to attack. Tens of thousands died, but the number would have been hundreds of thousands had it not been for Ishbel, for the Emerald Guardsmen, for the Isembaardians themselves who put up their own spirited defence and had it not been for the remnants of the Strike Force, who, while they did not venture far from Elcho Falling’s protection, nonetheless managed to make the final third of the journey across the causeway safer for the Isembaardians.
Axis did what he could, but in the end it was not much more than providing a little guidance and an extra sword. He tried using the Star Dance to aid the Isembaardians, but his powers were either blocked, or somehow subdued. It was irritating — and frightening. He and StarDrifter had managed to use the Song of Mirrors against the Lealfast earlier, but now it appeared that the Lealfast were using something else against him, something that made it difficult for any Icarii Enchanter to raise the Star Dance against the Lealfast.
Was it the Lealfast’s own command of the Star Dance . . . or something else? Was it Elcho Falling itself? Why had Axis been able to use the Star Dance against the Lealfast inside Elcho Falling, but not outside?