"That is how Isaiah understands it. The One wants you and Ishbel in Sakkuth, with the items. You may not have the Weeper, Maxel, but perhaps you can hand to the One the keys to the Twisted Tower."
Maximilian shot Axis yet another black look.
"The One," Axis continued, "assumed that Isaiah would not get the message to you in time. Maxel, you can now avoid the curse. Very simply. Don't slide that ring onto Ishbel's finger. Don't sleep with her."
Maximilian leaned forward a little, sighed, and rubbed at his forehead with one hand. "Axis, if the One has gone to these lengths, then he is vulnerable."
"Perhaps he just wants to make sure."
"So, what happens if, as you suggest and Ravenna wants, I discard Ishbel completely, renege on any and all promises I have made to her, set her to one side, and refuse to attend the One in Sakkuth?"
"Then Isaiah says the One will invade. He has a huge unnatural army--Isaiah has not gone into details but I am assuming it is whatever those millions of Skraelings have become--with which he will swamp this land while you are distracted by Armat. Maxel, frankly I prefer the second option--dealing with an invasion from the south--rather than--"
"Destroying all my hopes by making Ishbel my wife. So, according to Isaiah, I face certain destruction via a curse which the One assumed Isaiah would not tell me about in time anyway, or I avoid the curse and suffer probable defeat via a war of attrition with the unnatural armies of the One."
"I say again, Maxel, that I prefer the second option. We need to deal with Armat, and then we need to prepare to face the armies of the One. There is better news which StarHeaven told me briefly. Isaiah is moving north with Lamiah and one hundred and fifty thousand men. He is bringing an army with him, Maxel."
"What for? To keep me from Ishbel's bed?"
"Maxel--"
"Go away and leave me, Axis. I want to think."
The moment Axis had closed the door behind him, Maximilian stood and began pacing about the room.
He was furious: with Axis, with Isaiah, and with Ishbel, who had apparently kept secret an object important enough that the One had tied it to his curse.
Was the entire world conspiring to keep him and Ishbel apart?
The curse made no sense to Maximilian. Why had the One told him about it? If Maximilian had the ability to visit such a curse on his enemy, a curse which would ensure his enemy's defeat, then the very last thing he would do would be to send him warning of its existence, perhaps in time to avoid it. Maximilian wasn't sure that the One had assumed that Isaiah would not be in time. Everything seemed too...clumsy.
There had been too much "luck" on Isaiah's part to get the news of the curse to Maximilian.
In time to prevent it.
"Shit," Maximilian muttered, then he strode to the door.
"Ishbel?"
She turned from the window where she'd been looking for evidence of Armat's imminent arrival.
"Maxel? I hadn't expected you before this afternoon. I thought you'd be spending the day with Josia."
"What is the Goblet of the Frogs?"
The smile faded from her face. "Who told you--"
"Who told me doesn't matter. What is it?"
"I was going to give it to you at your crowning, Maximilian. It was to be a gift. A surprise."
"So surprise me now."
She gave him a steady look, then walked over to her pack in the corner of the chamber, retrieved from it a package, and came back to stand before him.
"My ancestress Tirzah made this for Boaz, the man she loved." Ishbel slowly unwrapped the goblet, then held it out to Maximilian. "And thus I give it to you, Maxel, as a gift of love."
He took it in his hands, turning it about very slowly. "It is astounding."
"Yes," Ishbel said, watching his face carefully. "It is. Tell me, Maxel, does it speak to you?"
He raised his eyes to hers...and she knew what he must be hearing.
Hold her, soothe her, touch her, love her.
"It tells me," he said, "to commit myself unto destruction."
Ishbel blanched. "What has Axis said to you?"
Maximilian sighed. "Ishbel, will you give me the crown, too, please."
Her face was stricken now. "I thought you wanted me to--"
"I need it only for tonight, Ishbel. Please give it to me, and then wait up for me. I will come and see you, very late, and then I will bring both the goblet and the crown back to you. Ishbel, trust me for the next twelve hours. Please."
"What did Axis tell you?"
"Ishbel, I need you not to talk to Axis for the moment. I want you to wait here until I come back."
He gave her his marvelous smile then, and her eyes filled with tears at its warmth. "I love you, Ishbel, but I need to be very, very sure about something, and for that I need both the crown and the goblet for the day. Will you trust me?"
"Yes," she said.
"Trust me, Ishbel, just a little longer."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Serpent's Nest
Maximilian went back to his chamber, and told Serge and Doyle, who stood outside, that he did not want to be disturbed.
"Not under any circumstance," he said. "I don't care if Armat himself comes storming up those steps, I
must not be disturbed."
Then he went inside, placed the satchel with the crown in it, and the rewrapped goblet, on a table under a window, and then sat down in a chair, staring at both satchel and wrapped bundle, thinking.
After a long while he closed his eyes, and his body relaxed.
Maximilian had gone to speak with Josia in the Twisted Tower.
Maximilian roused at dusk. He came back to awareness slowly, blinking and rubbing at his face, then stretching out his arms. He rose slowly, washed his face and hands, and wandered over to the window to look out as he dried them.
Finally he looked down at the table. He unwrapped the goblet first, setting it back on the table. He wrapped his hand in the cloth Ishbel had used to wrap the goblet, then used his covered hand to draw the crown out of the satchel.
He did not want to touch it until he used it to awaken Elcho Falling.
The crown was almost utterly enveloped in blackness now, with only an occasional glint of the three twisted golden bands.
Elcho Falling was very, very close, and for a moment Maximilian heard the pounding of the waves.
"Not yet," he whispered.
He looked out the window again.
The sun was now halfway beneath the horizon.
He had only a few minutes.
Maximilian withdrew the queen's ring from the inner pocket of his jacket, placed it on the table, then took off his own ring, placing that next to its mate.
He glanced out the window again.
There was now only the barest rim of light above the horizon.
The crown sat in the center of the table. Maximilian moved the other objects until the goblet sat behind the crown, and the two rings to either side.
Then, just as the sun finally sank below the horizon, Maximilian placed his right hand flat on the table before the crown and spoke a similar incantation to the one Isaiah had used to pull Axis from the Otherworld.
The chamber dimmed.
Maximilian stood straight, lifted his hand from the table, and turned to face the center of the chamber.
Instead of looking at the wall and door across the chamber, he looked into a long, dim corridor that seemed to stretch into infinity.
There were two figures in its distance, and Maximilian waited as they approached. From time to time the figures faded from view, as if obscured by time or difficulty, but they always reappeared, walking steadily forward.
Eventually they were close enough for Maximilian to make out their features.
The older man had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes: Maximilian's eyes. The younger man was much darker, his long black hair queued at the back of his neck, his hawkish face dominated by intense black eyes.
Even so, his face h
eld a resemblance to that of the older man.
Both of the men wore long robes of a pale material, with outer robes of more colorful and heavier fabric.
They stopped just before they would have stepped from the corridor into the chamber, and then both simultaneously bowed.
"My Lord of Elcho Falling," said the older man.
Maximilian returned the bow. "Avaldamon," he said to the older man, then he looked at the other.
"Boaz."
"Threshold has awoken," Boaz said.
"Yes," Maximilian said.
"I should have destroyed it completely," Boaz said.
"Indeed," said Maximilian, "but what was not done was not done, and now I need your advice."
He outlined briefly for the two men what he knew of the pyramid and its use of Kanubai. "Now a glass man walks forth, calling himself the One--"
Boaz made a soft expostulation at that.
"--and threatens me with destruction. Boaz, what is the One?"
"The One was what the Magi worshipped, my lord," Boaz said. "We were addicted to numbers and calculations, and took heart in their predictability. The One--the number one--is both birth and death within itself, for it is the number from which all other numbers and forms are born and into which they all eventually collapse and die. The One is both Creation and Doom in single expression and form."
"And this is what now strides forth to confront me?"
"No," said Avaldamon, "we don't believe so."
"What, then?" said Maximilian.
"We used the pyramid to touch Infinity," said Boaz. He glanced at his father, then looked back at Maximilian. "My lord, I think that the One is Infinity, or at the least draws almost completely on its power. He is a fearful foe."
Maximilian nodded, thinking for a moment. "You know of Ishbel?"
Both men smiled. "Yes," said Boaz, "she is our direct descendant, born of the line of Tirzah's and my eldest daughter."
"Everyone fears her," Maximilian said.
"Save you," said Boaz, "and for that I thank you."
"Everyone warns me against her," said Maximilian.
"Including the One," said Avaldamon.
Maximilian nodded.
"We cannot stay much longer," said Avaldamon. "Already we feel the tug on our souls of the Otherworld. What do you need to know from us, Maximilian, Lord of Elcho Falling?"
"I do not know the question," said Maximilian, "else I would ask it."
The three men looked at each other a long moment, then Avaldamon and Boaz simultaneously looked over their shoulders and took a step back.
"You and Tirzah had three children," Maximilian said to Boaz, holding out a hand as if he had the power to hold them back indefinitely. "Why is it that only your eldest daughter's line carried power? Why did only that line carry the weight of Elcho Falling within it?"
Boaz frowned, then the frown cleared and he gave a small smile. "Maximilian, Tirzah was pregnant with our eldest daughter when we did our battle with Threshold."
Maximilian's shoulders visibly relaxed. "Thank you," he said. "That was what I needed to know."
Boaz's smile widened a little. "Maximilian, let me say one other thing to you. When all looks at its bleakest, and you think there is nothing left, and no action worth taking, ask Josia in what manner he died. There shall lie your salvation." Boaz's smile faded, but his eyes remained warm. "The Persimius do not forget their own."
Then, quite suddenly, Boaz and Avaldamon were gone.
CHAPTER NINE
Serpent's Nest
She heard his step at the door, heard him pass a quiet word with Madarin, then slowly rose from her chair as the door opened.
She'd spent the past ten or so hours in the state of fear and anger she'd thought to have left behind her.
Why could nothing ever run smoothly for her and Maximilian?
And why, oh why, hadn't she thought to give Maximilian the Goblet of the Frogs earlier?
"Ishbel?"
"Over here, Maxel."
"I can afford lamps to light the chambers, you know."
"I'm sorry. I didn't think." Ishbel fumbled for the flint and lit a lamp on a side table.
He stood just inside the door, looking very tired, the satchel under one arm and the wrapped goblet in the other hand.
She almost couldn't believe he'd brought them back.
"Can we talk a little?" he said.
Ishbel nodded. She didn't know if she should offer him a seat, sit herself, or take the crown and goblet from him.
Maximilian decided for her by setting the objects on a table and walking over to her. Taking one of her hands, he interlaced their fingers.
"Isaiah is alive," he said, then smiled a little at the shock on Ishbel's face.
"But..." she said.
"He met with the fleshly embodiment of DarkGlass Mountain, a somewhat flashy glass man who calls himself the One. In order to either impress me or Isaiah, the One stripped Isaiah of his power, which is what Lister and I felt. We'd assumed that meant he was dead. But no. Isaiah is at this moment marching at the head of an army well over one hundred thousand strong--some weeks to the south of us, unfortunately, but nonetheless on his way. What say you to that, Ishbel?"
Everything about Maximilian radiated serenity and warmth, and that reassured Ishbel as nothing else might have done.
"I say that I am glad he is alive, but that I also find it very hard to think on Isaiah when you stand here so close."
"Isaiah brings some grim news, which is what Axis had to tell me today, and which is why I needed the crown and the goblet tonight."
"What did you use them for? What grim news?"
"To contact the dead. Ishbel, there are some things from the news that Isaiah sent, and some things that I
did tonight, that for the moment I don't want to tell you. But I need you to trust me. I will tell you, but not right now."
"Why not?"
"Because I am terrified that you will panic and run out the door."
He was pulling her closer now, holding her hand so that the back of his hand rested against her sternum, and their conjoined hands were the only things separating their bodies. "Will you trust me, Ishbel?"
"Yes."
"Axis may not be very friendly toward you for a few days. Ignore him. Trust me."
Peace radiated out from him, enveloping her in tranquility. Ishbel wondered if this was just his own magnetism, or if he were using some sorcery he'd learned within the higher levels of the Twisted Tower.
"It doesn't matter," she said.
He leaned forward and kissed her, very softly.
"Will you stay with me?" she murmured.
"Not tonight," he said. "The day after tomorrow you and I will do what is needed to waken Elcho Falling, and I will put the crown of Elcho Falling to my brow, and that night...well, that will be a night of great power, Ishbel, and a fitting night to make a marriage between you and me that will, this time, stand the test of discord."
"But Axis will not be pleased."
"No. And you may hear Isaiah scream even from his vast distance. Trust me, Ishbel."
"I trust you, Maxel."
"There will be a storm about us, for some time. Can you accept that?"
"Yes."
He smiled, holding her eyes with his own, and pressed the back of his hand a little more firmly against her sternum. "I find all my strength," he said, "in the beat of your heart."
Then he kissed her again, and was gone.
CHAPTER TEN
Serpent's Nest
Tomorrow, Elcho Falling," Eleanon said softly, leaning against the rock wall of Serpent's Nest. They were high in the mountain, having followed stairwells and corridors that lay under centuries of dust.
Eleanon was sure that not even Ishbel could find them here tonight.
"Tomorrow, Elcho Falling," Inardle said. She had her eyes focused far out into the Infinity Sea.
Eleanon reached out a hand and touched her cheek softly. "Do you mind being
with Axis?"
"No," she said.
"Do you love him?"
Inardle did not answer.
"Do not love him, Inardle. Surely you could not have fallen for his corrupt charms. He yearns for Azhure, and--"
"Do not lecture me, Eleanon!"
Eleanon remained silent, studying Inardle. "You are Lealfast first and foremost, my love," he said eventually.
"I have as much Icarii blood in me as Axis."
"You are Lealfast, Inardle, not Icarii! I can see now it was a mistake to send you to Axis."
"What?" she said, turning her face to him. "You think it a mistake to have me so close to Axis, and thus to Maximilian? Do you think it a mistake that I now sit in on their close counsel, and if I am not there, then I hear it from Axis' mouth later? Do you think it a mistake that Ishbel now thinks to befriend me, and that--"
Eleanon held up his hands in surrender. "Peace, Inardle! Ah, you had me worried there. I had thought you so besotted with Axis that you preferred him to me."
"It has been a long time since we have been lovers, Eleanon."
"But we can be again, yes, when this is all done?"
She shrugged.
"And when all is done, Elcho Falling will be ours, and we shall control our own destiny. We shall be whole, Inardle. Not half and half. Whole. The One has promised this."
"You believe him?"
"Yes. I had my doubts, but yes, now I believe him."
"And what price does the One demand for this, Eleanon?"
"Elcho Falling. Its master."
"Everyone wants Elcho Falling," she said quietly, then sighed. "And so, shall you commit your grand treachery against Maximilian tomorrow, Eleanon?"
"No. I--we--shall wait. We both learn all we can about Elcho Falling and its magics. We learn how Maximilian and Axis plan to defend it." Eleanon gave a short laugh. "Already BroadWing is taking me into his confidence, and Axis will tell you whatever you ask him. Are you with us, Inardle?"
"Of course, Eleanon."
He nodded. "Have you heard about the curse the One placed on Maximilian? Has Axis told you?"
"Yes. It seems...cumbersome."
"As it is meant to be. It is to keep Maximilian occupied only, like giving a child a puzzle to keep him quiet while the adults play games elsewhere."