"Take him back to the pit. We can haul him out later, with his friends, for an execution at my pleasure."
"Inardle--" Axis began.
"Inardle can live," said Armat. "For the time being. I am giving her to Risdon as a reward for his services."
The guards behind Axis grabbed at him, hauling him away toward the door.
Axis managed one brief glance at Inardle, and stumbled in horror at the expression in her eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Armat's Camp, and Maximilian's Camp, the Central Outlands
They took Axis back to the pit, literally throwing him into it before resealing it with the great logs of wood.
"Axis!" Georgdi helped him to his feet. "Where's Inardle?"
"Armat..." Axis had to stop and bring his anger under control before he could continue. "Armat tortured her to get information from me, then gave her to Risdon to play with as he wanted."
"Shit!" Georgdi said. "What--"
"Ravenna and Lister have joined Armat and are aiding him to launch an attack on Elcho Falling."
"Ravenna I am not surprised at," Georgdi said, "but Lister?"
"Aye," Axis said. "Gods, Georgdi, Isaiah is dead, and Lister turned traitor. Maximilian has sore need of good and true friends."
"And us?" Zeboath said softly into the darkness. "Are we soon to join the list of Maximilian's once-friends?"
Axis hesitated, then spoke plainly. "He has ordered our execution--at a time of his choosing. No doubt he will let us linger here a while and fear. I am sorry, my friends."
"This is hardly your fault," Georgdi said. Then he grinned, his teeth a brief flash in the darkness. "We'll just have to fight this one out, Axis."
Axis could not find the heart to smile at the jest. "I fear the odds are a little against us, Georgdi."
He felt his way over to one of the earthen walls, too dispirited to work the enchantment for light, and sat down, back against the wall.
He stayed like that for hours, staring into the darkness, trying not to think and worry about Inardle, and failing utterly.
Maximilian had pushed the columns hard during the day, determined to reach Elcho Falling as fast as possible, but tonight, instead of resting, he went to Josia in the Twisted Tower. Ishbel did not come with him this time. Tonight, as Maximilian suspected every night for the foreseeable future, would be spent with Josia, learning the objects that had vanished.
"What did you mean about the top chamber?" Maximilian asked Josia as they climbed into the first of the chambers which had items missing. "You said that had I ever looked out the window I would have died."
"What exists out the window," said Josia, "requires a Lord of Elcho Falling to be at his full strength and power to view. We will work our way there gradually, item by item, chamber by chamber."
"Do you know what it is?"
"Yes."
"Not even a hint?"
Josia laughed. "Not even a hint, Maximilian. Tell me, you said you have been to the top chamber...yet you never looked out the window? Most people would, having climbed all that way. They would think a view recompense for the long climb. Why didn't you look?"
They had reached the chamber they would be working in tonight and Maximilian stopped, thinking. "I
don't really know, Josia. I certainly looked at the window, and I remember taking a step toward it, but I
always turned away." He shrugged. "I don't know."
"Then you either have good instincts or a good protector, Maximilian Persimius," said Josia. He leaned back against a wall, crossing his arms, and regarded Maximilian speculatively. "You love Ishbel, yet are not with her. Do you doubt her still?"
"No. I don't doubt her at all. I am sick of doubting her."
"Yet others plead with you to forsake her."
"Ravenna?"
Josia inclined his head. "And others, too, I suspect."
"I am sick to death of doubting her, Josia. That's all. I doubted her once, and look what a disordered mess we have found ourselves in."
"It would be better, for everyone, if you were husband and wife again."
Maximilian smiled. "At least you do not doubt her. But as to the husband and wife, Josia, that needs to be decided between Ishbel and me."
"Indeed." Josia straightened up. "I am going to take up six of your hours tonight, Maximilian. These are six hours when you should be sleeping, but we have little time and much to accomplish."
"I can doze well enough in the saddle."
"Good! Then see here, this space between the brass lantern and the egg cup. Can you imagine what should sit here?"
"Something tall and heavy, by the shape of the dust-free area and the scratches on the table surface."
"Yes. It is in fact a porcelain candlestick. See?"
As Josia spoke, Maximilian saw the air move slightly and a shadow grew in the space of the missing object.
"You need to realize it, not just accept what I say," Josia said softly, watching Maximilian keenly. "You need to understand not only what the object physically is, but what knowledge it represents."
"How can I know what knowledge it--"
"Look to the objects surrounding it: the lantern, the egg cup, the folded hessian cloth just behind it. You know the knowledge they represent?"
"Yes. They are all concerning the peak of Elcho Falling, and what it contains."
"And you know what that is."
"Yes."
Now it was Josia who smiled. "So tell me what knowledge this candlestick will contain."
Maximilian frowned. Surely Josia could just tell him? But then he realized that no, Josia couldn't "just tell him." Maximilian had to somehow "remember" it.
He concentrated, looking at the lantern, the egg cup, and the folded hessian cloth, and going over in his mind what knowledge they represented. They were all to do with the mystery at the top of Elcho Falling, and specifically how to access that mystery. Maximilian cast his gaze about the table, going over all the objects, looking for the missing blank in his knowledge of how to access the...
"The candlestick contains the knowledge of the location of the door to the peak of Elcho Falling,"
Maximilian said, and as he said the words the candlestick materialized in the space it had once occupied.
"Exactly!" Josia said. "Pick it up now, and learn what you need."
But Maximilian hesitated. "Josia, I could work that out because of the objects surrounding the candlestick. I could discover what blank I had in my knowledge. But so many chambers are utterly empty. There are no clues. How then can I--"
"By skill and cunning," said Josia. "But do not worry about it yet. By the time you reach the utterly empty chambers you shall have learned a few new talents. Now, pick up that candlestick and learn the location of the door to the mystery at the peak of Elcho Falling."
They worked for hours through the night, until Josia called a halt.
"You are tired, Maxel. Return to your bed, and sleep for a few hours."
They walked to the door, but before he left, Maximilian turned to Josia. "I have a request of you," he said. "A favor I would ask you grant me."
"Yes?" said Josia.
Axis supposed that he had slept a few hours, for when he heard his name being hissed through the gaps in the wooden logs which imprisoned them in the pit, he felt groggy and a little stupid, as if he had just woken.
"Axis!"
He blinked, trying to orientate himself.
"Axis!"
He rose to his feet, slipping a little on the damp floor. Stars, he would end up crippled with rheumatism if he had to spend much longer in this hole!
"Axis!"
"Insharah," Axis said softly. He stretched his back and legs, then jumped up, managing to slip his fingers through the cracks between the logs. He swung his legs up so that his feet pushed against one of the pit walls and, thus propped, firmed his grip on the logs.
"Axis, are you all right?"
Insharah sounded as though he was leaning ove
r the logs, his mouth pressed close to the gap where Axis had his fingers.
"Oh well," Axis said, "apart from living under a death sentence, and a few scrapes and bruises, I'm perfectly well thank you. You?"
"Axis, I came to explain--"
"I don't want any explanation of why you deserted Maxel. I do assume, however, that you now live with peace and joy in your heart at discovering such a fine commander to serve."
Insharah didn't immediately respond. "Axis, we needed to aid our families and--"
"And you think the fuck Armat is going to do that for you? He is planning on making war on Maximilian at Elcho Falling, my once-reliable friend. Isembaard can go to hell for all he cares."
Now Insharah was completely silent.
"Look," Axis said, adjusting his grip with both legs and arms, all of which were beginning to ache. "I
think Isembaard is lost anyway. Isaiah is dead, so we believe, and I think all the Lealfast that went south with him are dead as well. Isembaard is lost."
"Then I might as well stay with Armat. He is what I know."
"As you wish, Insharah, but there is war coming, and you are going to have to make a final choice.
Maximilian or Armat."
"We'd choose you, StarMan."
"Oh, fine words, indeed, considering you will not lift a finger to aid me to escape!"
Again Insharah was silent, and Axis sighed. "I know you cannot aid me, Insharah. To do so would be to sign your own death warrant. But I ask you, how can you respect any man who thus imprisons me, and Zeboath, who is also your friend, and so brutalizes a woman? You have heard what happened in Armat's tent?"
Again silence, but Axis could swear that this time it was far more uncomfortable than previously.
"He tortured her, Insharah, having just murdered a few thousand of her wounded kin. How many of those did you murder, Insharah? How many did--"
"That's enough, Axis!"
"No, it isn't, damn it! Is any of this to your liking? If it was, you wouldn't be here trying to seek absolution." He paused. "Insharah, is Armat planning on executing Zeboath as well?"
A hesitation. "Yes."
"Ah, for the stars' sakes! Zeboath is a physician! Armat doesn't need a physician?"
"He doesn't trust him."
"Then the man is a fool as well as being a bully. What happened to Zeboath's assistants?"
"They were killed."
Axis heard Zeboath cry out softly below him, and then a movement, as if the physician had slid to the ground in his distress.
"Insharah, Armat has killed the defenseless and the innocent, and he has given a crippled women to Risdon to rape as he wants! Tell me you respect this man!"
Axis waited a few heartbeats. "Ah," he said softly, "your silence says it all, eh? Insharah, where has Risdon taken Inardle?"
"His tent is some fifty paces directly east of Armat's."
"How does the rest of the army feel about what Armat has done, Insharah?"
"Uneasy, which is why I am here talking to you now, and which is why I can talk to you now without your guards hauling me off to Armat. Axis, I am sorry, but I am afraid that I can do nothing. The world is chaos and I do not know which way to turn."
"Then dispel some of that chaos by aiding a woman in need, Insharah, if not myself, Zeboath, and Georgdi."
But there was no answer save the sound of a man rising and taking a step away.
"Insharah?"
The sound of steps stopped.
"Insharah, look after yourself and yours, but when the time comes, make the decision that is right."
There was no movement for several heartbeats, then the sound of steps resumed.
Axis jumped back down to the floor of the pit, rubbing his fingers.
"Do you think he will help?" Georgdi asked quietly.
"He agonizes within himself," said Axis, "and maybe one day he will turn against Armat...but not in time to save either our lives, or Inardle's."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Armat's Camp, the Central Outlands
More time passed. The three men sat against three different walls of the pit, not speaking, but not sleeping, either.
Axis shifted uneasily, unable to stop thinking about Inardle.
He hoped that Risdon would kill her sooner rather than later, and then hated himself for that thought.
He wondered if her body would frost when he raped her, and loathed himself for that reflection.
Eventually, through sheer determination to empty his mind, Axis slipped into another fitful doze. As he slipped deeper into unconsciousness, disconnected images began to flit across his mind until, finally...
"Axis?"
He blinked, then leapt to his feet, staring about.
"Axis, don't worry. We are in the Land of Dreams. I brought you here while you slept."
He turned around.
Ravenna stood there, wrapped in a cloak she hugged about herself. Her lovely face looked gaunt and pale.
"What do you want?" he said, his voice harsh.
"I needed to talk."
"Everyone seems to need to talk to me." Axis paused, again looking about. He seemed to be standing on a pathway in the middle of a marsh, mist drifting out of shadowy, ghostly trees to either side. He could hear the sharp plop, plop, plop of condensation dripping from their branches. "Where are we?"
"In the Land of Dreams. This is just glamour, Axis. I have not removed you physically from the pit."
She had huge power just to do this much, Axis thought. "I suppose you need to explain yourself to me as well," he said. "Guilt is keeping everyone awake tonight."
"Axis, I can save your life, but I need you to do something for me."
"And Georgdi's life? And Zeboath's? And Inardle's?"
"Inardle is already dead."
"What?"
"Perhaps not literally, not just yet, but she can't be saved now, Axis."
He turned and walked away from her at that point, standing a few paces distant, staring into the marshland.
She can't be saved now, Axis.
"I can save you, and Georgdi and Zeboath," Ravenna said, "but I need you to do something for me."
"No."
"Will you not hear what it is I want? Axis, please..."
He turned to face her. "I'll say again what I said in Armat's tent, Ravenna, you are a traitorous--"
"I have reason for what I do, Axis! Please, please, I beg you, listen to me!"
He stood still, silent, stony.
"Ishbel--" Ravenna began.
"Don't start on her," Axis said. "Everything you say is tainted by your jealousy."
"Everything I say is tainted by my knowledge, Axis." Ravenna was calmer now. "Ishbel the woman, I
have nothing against. If she were not caught up in this nightmare then I would undoubtedly like her. She would make a good marsh witch."
Ravenna gave a tiny smile at the expression on Axis face. "Ah, that wasn't what you were expecting to hear, eh? But Ishbel as Maxel's lover or wife? No, then she becomes dangerous beyond knowing. Then she becomes this world's destroyer."
"Oh, for the stars' sakes, Ravenna--"
"If Ishbel continues to live then she will eventually destroy this world. I have seen this! But if Maximilian puts Ishbel to one side, or if--"
"If he kills her."
"Yes, if he kills her, then this world has a chance. But I fear he will never do this."
"What do you want me to do, Ravenna? Kill Ishbel for you?"
Again, that tiny, sad smile. "Would you? No, I thought not. I just need you to agree to talk to Maxel.
Maybe from you..."
"He loves her, Ravenna. He won't listen to me."
"He is the lord of Elcho Falling first, Axis. The Lord of Elcho Falling might listen to you, even if Maxel won't. If he could just set her aside...I can hold Armat back for a while, give him time to think about it.
But Axis, whatever else Maxel does, he can't take Ishbel back into his bed."
Axis gave a disbelieving laugh. "I can't tell him that!"
"Then you must ensure it!"
"I won't--"
"Axis, listen to me. Once I showed Maximilian a vision. It depicted Ishbel opening the doors of Elcho Falling to a nameless monster. A dark creature of great evil. Then, neither of us knew who that was.
Recently, the vision changed, Axis. Very recently. Within the past day. Look, Axis." Ravenna flung one arm out toward the mists. "Look."
Axis looked, and saw that the marshlands had vanished. He saw a roadway winding its serpentine path toward a distant mountain which gleamed with gold at its top set among the clouds.
Elcho Falling.
The road was littered with the bodies of men and horses. Icarii lay among the dead, and Emerald Guardsmen, and Axis could see Georgdi lying atop a heap of Outlanders to one side of the roadway.
"Look," said Ravenna.
An army now marched along the roadway toward Elcho Falling, pushing aside the bodies of the fallen as it went. The army consisted of creatures distorted into gruesome form, their eyes wide and starting--lost and hopeless.
At their head marched a man made of liquid glass, a tiny glowing golden pyramid pumping within his chest.
"This is what Ishbel shall call upon this land," Ravenna said.
The army marched its way to the doors of Elcho Falling, and Axis and Ravenna saw, as if they stood only feet away, the man of glass reach forth and pound his fist on the gates.
The gates shrieked, and opened, and Maximilian saw Ishbel crawl forth on her hands and knees, weeping.
The man of glass reached down to her, and lifted her left hand, and Maximilian saw gleaming on Ishbel's fourth finger the Queen's ring.
"You are the One," Ishbel whispered, "and you are the One I worship."
Then, suddenly, the vision winked and blurred, then vanished.
"Do you know who, what, that is?" Ravenna said.
"Visions can lie," he said.
"Why will no one believe me?" Ravenna cried, and it was her evident distress that finally earned some sympathy from Axis.
"What do you want me to do?" he said.
"Please, just talk to Maxel. Tell him that I love him, and that I am not trying to destroy him. Tell him that all I want is for him, and this land, to survive. But tell him also that I know Ishbel will be his undoing, as that of this land. Tell him..." She hesitated. "Tell him that is why I killed my mother, because--"