"You killed her," he said.
"Yes."
"Yes? Yes? Why?"
"She tried to aid Ishbel--"
"She was your mother! Your mother! And you killed her?"
Ravenna's eyes were wet, and a tear slid down one cheek. "I loved her, Maxel. But she tried to stop me from preventing Ishbel--"
Maximilian stepped forward and hit Ravenna so hard that her body jerked in a half circle and she fell to the floor.
He paused, waiting until Ravenna had raised herself on one elbow, staring at him in shock, then he reached down and hauled her to her feet.
"If you were not pregnant, Ravenna, I swear to the gods I would kill you right now! What can be worth the murder of your own mother, eh?"
"You have no idea what is coming, Maxel! I keep trying to warn you but--"
"Don't you ever call me that again! You are gone from my life, Ravenna. Get out of this tent. Get out of my company! Walk into the night, Ravenna, and never, never walk back into the light again in my presence!"
Ravenna just stared at him, too shocked by his words to speak.
He gave her a hard, painful shake. "Get out of my life, Ravenna."
"Why do this to me, Maximilian, when you have been my entire delight, and all my joy?"
"Oh, for all the gods' sakes, Ravenna. Go."
"I have ever stood ready at your hand, to--"
"Go!"
Ravenna pulled herself away from him. "You do a great wrong, Maximilian," she said softly. "You do me a great wrong, to cast me off with such discourtesy."
"Don't you ever speak to me of discourtesy, not when you just tried to murder my wife--"
Wife, she thought numbly. He called her his wife.
"--and took your mother's life when she tried to aid Ishbel!"
Maximilian stepped forward and shoved his hand against Ravenna's shoulder, hard enough to make her stumble back. "Get out of my life, Ravenna, and be grateful I leave you with yours."
Ravenna took a backward step to the tent flap, then another, then bent down and retrieved her cloak from the floor without shifting her eyes from Maximilian's face.
"I saved you from the Veins, Maximilian Persimius. I have waged life and land for you, and for this discourtesy? I do not think you worth the struggle, and so I shall save my efforts for your son."
With that she turned on her heel and was gone through the tent flap.
Maximilian stood for a few minutes once Ravenna had gone, trying to calm himself, trying to let go of his anger.
To kill your own mother. Gods, how deluded was Ravenna to do that?
Finally, calm enough that he had stopped shaking, Maximilian went back to Venetia's body, and knelt by it for a little while in prayer, feeling a profound guilt over her death.
In time, he rose, called for one of the Emerald Guard, and asked him to fetch help to prepare Venetia for burial, then went to see Ishbel.
Garth had moved her back to her own tent, where she was asleep in her bed.
When Maximilian entered, Garth moved over to him, motioning him to speak softly.
"Maxel?" Garth said. "What is wrong?"
"Is my face that bad?"
"Maxel?"
"Venetia is dead. Ravenna killed her. If Ishbel managed to survive her attempt to unwind the Weeper, then that was all Venetia's doing. Ravenna attacked Ishbel, and when Venetia tried to stop her, Ravenna killed her."
Garth stared, mouth agape.
"I'm sorry, Garth. I know you loved Ravenna."
"I loved Venetia, too. And Ravenna...she has not grown into the woman I expected. Maxel, what have you done with Ravenna?"
"I wanted to kill her. So badly. Garth, I was so angry, I thought it would kill me. I've never been that angry..."
Garth laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and Maximilian felt calmness radiate through him.
Maximilian sighed, allowing some of his anger and guilt to dissipate. "Ravenna is gone, Garth. I should have done it many days ago, but she is gone now. Where, I don't know and for the moment I don't care.
I told her I never wanted to see her face again. I should have killed her, but I couldn't, not with the child..."
Garth wrapped both his arms about Maximilian and hugged him for a long moment. "I'm sorry," he said.
"Garth," Maximilian said, "I have been so stupid, I--"
"You haven't--"
"Everything is muddled because of my stupidity."
"Then everything will unmuddle itself. Maxel, I will take care of Venetia, all right? Go and sit with Ishbel."
"She is well?"
"Yes, just very tired. She needs her sleep, but it will do you good to sit with her, and it will do her good to see you when she wakes."
"Did she say anything about the Weeper?"
"She woke only briefly as I moved her back here, and she said only that she needed to speak to you."
"I wonder what happened. Could it have been worth Venetia's death?"
"No one will know until Ishbel wakes. Maxel, go sit with her."
Maximilian took one step toward Ishbel. Then he stopped and half turned. "Garth, will you ask Egalion to make damned sure that Ravenna is gone? Perhaps escort her a few leagues into the wilderness. I don't care. Just make sure she is gone."
"I will do that. Sit, Maxel, and rest."
Maximilian sighed again, then went to sit at Ishbel's bedside.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
On the Road to Serpent's Nest
Lister paced up and down in the darkness beyond Maximilian's camp.
Vorstus stood to one side, irritatingly calm.
"Where is she?" Lister muttered. "I need to know what happened."
"Maxel has abandoned me," Ravenna said, walking out of the night. "That is what has happened. He is blind to Ishbel's danger, and thinks me the greater one!"
Lister had to repress a smile at that last. "You're upset," he said.
"My mother is dead!" Ravenna said. "So, yes, I am upset!"
"And now your fair prince has abandoned you," Vorstus murmured. "After all you have done for him."
Ravenna gave Lister an irritated look. "We need to leave. I need to leave--Maxel will surely have his damned Emerald Guard out hunting me--and I want to know if you are coming with me."
Lister stared back at the camp, at Maximilian's command tent. "I have watched him so long, longed for him so long."
"He is set on a path of destruction," Ravenna said. "He cannot see past Ishbel, and she will murder him and this land. This," she laid her hand on her stomach, "is Elcho Falling's future now."
"Lister, we need to get the crown."
Lister turned a little so he could look toward Ishbel's tent. "Maximilian is in there with her at the moment," he said. "It would be too foolish to try for it now."
"You're afraid of him?" Ravenna said.
Now Lister's eyes slid back her way. "You're not? We can snatch it later, but for now..."
"For now," Ravenna said, "Armat. He is close. We can be with him within the day."
"I had hoped it would not come to this," Lister said.
"So did I," Ravenna said, a catch in her voice. "But now it has. Come."
Maximilian had been sitting with Ishbel for an hour when Egalion came in.
Maximilian motioned him to stay by the door, and himself moved to speak to him quietly.
"Ravenna?" Maximilian asked.
"We can't find her," Egalion said.
"Shit!" "There is more bad news. Lister has gone, and Vorstus also."
"And how is that bad news?"
"Well, obviously Lister and Vorstus have gone with--"
"Yes, I know, Egalion. I was just making a bad jest." He rubbed a hand over tired eyes. "What else can go wrong, eh? Isaiah is dead, and his loss I do most deeply regret. Venetia is dead, murdered in the saving of Ishbel's life. Lister and Vorstus have taken up with Ravenna, believing her lies for whatever reason they choose. I worry about Axis, and what is happening with Armat." Maximilian looked at Ishbel.
"And Ishbel...what happened? Did she free or destroy the Weeper?"
Now he turned his gaze back to Egalion. "Should I just go home, Egalion, and allow the entire world to destroy itself? I need to say this, my friend, but I have never been as low as I am at this moment. There is no brightness left, no hope."
"Perhaps when Ishbel wakes..."
Maximilian gave a soft laugh that was bereft of any humor. "Perhaps when Ishbel wakes she will compound my despair, Egalion. Perhaps Ravenna was right."
"No," Egalion said in a low tone, but fiercely. "Ravenna was not right. Look, Maxel, go back and wait by Ishbel's side. Rest, if you can. Perhaps tomorrow will bring--"
Maximilian gave Egalion a look of such cynicism that the man broke off.
"Perhaps," Maximilian said, then he turned his back on Egalion and went to Ishbel.
Despite his low spirits and the uncomfortable chair, Maximilian eventually drifted off into a doze. He woke, suddenly, when Ishbel whispered his name.
"Ishbel! Are you well?"
"Yes, just very tired. Maxel, what happened to Venetia?"
"She is dead. I'm sorry. Ravenna--"
"Ravenna killed her. Maxel, if it wasn't for Venetia..."
"What happened, Ishbel?"
Briefly Ishbel told him how Ravenna had attacked her, and how then Venetia had come to her rescue.
"She saved my life, Maxel."
Maximilian squeezed her hand. "I know. Ishbel...Ravenna has gone. I said harsh words to her and struck her. I have never been so angry before."
Ishbel attempted a small smile. "Not even at me?"
"Not even at you. I found her, with Venetia's body. I just..."
Now it was Ishbel who squeezed Maximilian's hand.
"Venetia saved my life, Maxel. I will forever be grateful to her."
"Ishbel..."
She gave a small smile. "Do you want to know what happened? Did I free the Weeper?"
Maximilian was so terrified of her answer, and so completely unable to read her face, he could not frame the question.
"Maxel, we need to go into the Twisted Tower."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Inside the Twisted Tower
Maximilian was concerned Ishbel might not be strong enough to stand on her own, but she shook off his hand as they stood on the path that led to the Twisted Tower.
"I am well enough, Maxel. Just a little tired. Not yet bedridden."
"Ishbel--"
"Oh, for the gods' sakes, Maxel, stop worrying. I am no invalid. Come, we need to go inside the Twisted Tower."
With that Ishbel walked down the path, leaving Maximilian to follow.
At the door she paused, her hand on the knob. "Maximilian Persimius, I would like you to meet the man who has waited so long for you."
Then she opened the door.
Maximilian stared into the Twisted Tower.
A man stood just inside the first chamber, regarding Maximilian with an expression composed partly of happiness, partly of relief. He was very young, which surprised Maximilian, perhaps no more than nineteen or twenty, olive-skinned, dark-haired, and with a fine, aquiline face.
A face that Maxel recognized, if only because of the lines of suffering on it. Whoever this was, he'd suffered as much--greater--as had Maximilian.
The man smiled, just a little, and then he bowed in an elegant, courtly movement.
"Greetings, my Lord of Elcho Falling," he said. "My name is Josia Persimius. I am Keeper of the Twisted Tower."
"Greetings," Maximilian said, returning the bow. "You are Persimius?"
"Of the line of your ancestors, Maximilian," said Josia. "Will you step inside? We need to speak of so much."
The first thing Josia did once the door had closed behind Maximilian and Ishbel was to step forward and envelop Ishbel in a massive hug.
"Forgive me," he said, standing back but keeping one hand on Ishbel's shoulder, "but I doubt you will ever comprehend just how grateful I am to have finally escaped that cursed bronze statue! Thank you.
Thank you."
Maximilian's eyes filmed with tears at the emotion in Josia's face and voice.
"I thought Ravenna would kill her," Josia said to Maximilian. "Ishbel was my only hope, she has ever been the only person with the training and power to free me, and I thought Ravenna would kill her. But then the woman Venetia came, and I am safe. Venetia is dead now, surely."
Maximilian nodded. "She gave her life to save Ishbel, and you," he said. "I never knew her well, and I
cannot understand that she could have thought enough of me to sacrifice herself."
"I imagine that most who meet you come to love you within hours," Josia said.
"Not all," Maximilian said, carefully not looking at Ishbel.
Her mouth twitched.
"Well, then," said Josia, "perhaps we can fix that." He let Ishbel go, then looked about. "Where shall we sit? I have a long tale to tell and nowhere to tell it."
"There are many empty chambers above," Maximilian said. "We can sit in one of those."
"How many empty chambers?" said Josia.
"Well over half the tower is completely empty," said Maximilian.
Josia's face went expressionless. "Then I am here only just in time," he said, and led the way up the stairs.
They settled in the first completely bare chamber, sitting on the floor with backs against the walls, facing one another, Maximilian warmed by the fact that Ishbel sat slightly closer to him than she did to Josia.
"My name," Josia said, "is Josia Persimius. I am the son and younger brother of now long-dead Lords of Elcho Falling. I lived some two thousand eight hundred years ago at a time when the Lords of Elcho Falling were considering leaving the mountain and retiring to Escator. My father, Escretius, feared, however, that if the Lords of Elcho Falling abandoned Elcho Falling itself, then all the knowledge associated with it might fall into forgetfulness."
"And thus this?" Maximilian said, waving a hand about at the Twisted Tower.
"Yes," Josia said. "My father built it. My brother, Cooper, and I aided him."
"You know what these chambers should contain?" Ishbel said, getting the question out a moment before Maximilian.
Josia grinned at the expression on their faces. "All in good time. Let me tell the tale my way, for I have been composing it for twenty-eight hundred years, and I think I am owed the stage."
Maximilian inclined his head.
"My father worried that if too many generations should pass before the Lords reclaimed Elcho Falling,"
Josia continued, "then items might be forgotten. But I never imagined so much could have been lost." He sighed. "While my brother Cooper would wear the crown of Elcho Falling, my father asked me if I would shoulder the responsibility of remembering."
"Remembering?" Maximilian said.
"Remembering everything for every chamber." Josia said. "Yes. I can remember every object for every chamber."
Maximilian lowered his eyes in order to gather his composure. The worry about the empty chambers had eaten away at him for so long that he could not believe it could be rectified this easily.
"I can help you put the objects back, Maximilian," Josia said. "It is why I exist." He paused. "It is why I
have suffered."
"Why is there so much suffering associated with Elcho Falling?" Maximilian said, very softly. "Why?"
"Because that is what built Elcho Falling," said Josia, "and that is what powers it."
He shifted a little, raising one knee and resting an arm across it.
"My father built the Twisted Tower, and populated it with the knowledge that every Lord of Elcho Falling would require. But then, as I said, my father worried that somehow the tower would degenerate and memories would be lost. My father was a pessimist."
Josia paused. "But a realist, also. Cooper would wear the crown of Elcho Falling after our father, but I
would remember the knowledge for all the generations ahead.
"This required me to
live for a great deal of time. While the Lords of Elcho Falling can wield much power, granting indefinite life to a son is not one of their greater skills."
"You father sent you to Coroleas, didn't he?" Ishbel said.
"Yes," Josia said.
"Gods damn Elcho Falling," Ishbel muttered, "for all the suffering it requires."
"He sent you to Coroleas as a god-offering?" said Maximilian. "So you could be slowly tortured into death and your soul encased in a bronze statue?"
Josia inclined his head. "How else could I, and all my memory, be kept alive, save inside one of the Coroleans' cursed bronze statues?"
Ishbel and Maximilian could not speak. They looked at each other, then back to Josia, Maximilian making a gesture that was part disbelief, part anger.
"And in answer to your unspoken queries," Josia said softly, "no, I was not happy about this fate, nor particularly willing."
"But you went, in any case?" Maximilian said.
"Would you rather I had not?" Josia said. "Look, it was needed, and I went. I suffered, and for the longest time I wept, but then one day StarDrifter came to Salome's chamber--ah, the things I had to witness under her companionship!--and said to me, `I have come to take you home to the Lord of Elcho Falling,' and suddenly, again, I was happy. It has been a long imprisonment, Maximilian Persimius, but it gives me a little comfort to realize that my father was right, and that I am needed."
He gave a wry smile. "I do not think I could be as joyous had I arrived back to find the Twisted Tower as complete as the day I had left it."
"I could always throw a few more objects out the door, if that would lift your spirits even more," said Maximilian, and Josia laughed.
"You cannot leave here, can you?" Ishbel said.
"No," Josia said, "I have no physical body left. The Twisted Tower, in its own way, imprisons me as much as did the weeping bronze." He gave a little smile. "It is a happier prison, though."
"Well," said Maximilian, "I am glad to discover you, Josia. To be frank, I think the Twisted Tower a more serene world than that which exists beyond its walls. Are you aware of what has happened in these lands?"
"Yes. You are in a pickle, Maximilian."