He'd been largely still as he traveled the Land of Dreams, although Axis had seen the muscles in Maximilian's face tighten and clench as if he spoke, or reacted to something said to him.
Everyone was tense, no one wanting Maximilian exposed to this danger.
Then, in an instant so horrific that Axis knew he'd never forget it, Maximilian's body exploded. Blood and tissue erupted in a great arc from the front of his body, and he jerked out of the chair and slid to the floor.
For an instant everyone looked, then, as Garth, Axis, and Egalion all made for Maximilian, Ishbel turned on them.
"Garth stays," she snapped. "Everyone else out. Now!"
They obeyed her.
There was nothing else to be done.
Both Axis and Egalion had enough experience to know a death blow when they saw one.
CHAPTER FOUR
Elcho Falling
Shit," Axis said. Then again. "Shit!"
He looked at Egalion. The man was ashen.
"We'll need to move fast," Axis said, speaking in a low but urgent voice.
They needed to move fast, yes, but giving Egalion something to do would break him out of his fugue faster than anything else.
"Ravenna and Armat will know Maximilian is dead," Axis continued. "It is just past midnight...Egalion, we can expect an attack before dawn. There will be nothing to prevent them now. Get Georgdi and Ezekiel, and get every damned soldier you can find and station them either in the vaulted chamber entrance or in the balconies lining the great stairwell. Remember how Ravenna got those thousand men in previously. Damn it, she likely has enough power to shroud Armat's entire army. Egalion?"
"Yes," he said. "Yes."
"Move!" Axis said, and Egalion stared at him a heartbeat longer before running for the door.
StarDrifter, Axis called. BroadWing.
In the ten minutes or so it took for them to reach him, Axis paced the chamber, looking every now and again at the closed door to the chamber holding Maximilian, Ishbel, and Garth.
Maximilian would be dead by now. Stars, he'd been eviscerated. That had not been just blood erupting from his belly wound.
Axis closed his eyes for a moment, fighting to forget what he'd just witnessed.
Shit! If only he had the power to turn back time and prevent Maximilian walking into Ravenna's trap.
"Axis?" StarDrifter and BroadWing arrived together, folding their wings as they walked in the balcony door.
"Maximilian has been killed," Axis said.
StarDrifter and BroadWing just stared at Axis, utterly shocked.
"Ravenna trapped him. She likely had Armat lying in wait in the Land of Dreams," Axis said. "We can expect an attack from Armat within hours. BroadWing, I will need you to get both the Strike Force and the Lealfast into the air. Report any movement you see in Armat's camp."
BroadWing nodded, turning for the balcony.
"BroadWing?" Axis said, and the Strike Force commander turned back.
"Be careful," Axis said. "I distrust Ravenna's sorceries."
BroadWing nodded, saluted Axis with a clenched hand across his chest, then was gone.
"Ishbel?" StarDrifter said.
"Still in with what remains of Maxel. I have no idea what she can do apart from grieve. Stars, StarDrifter, he was virtually sliced in two."
StarDrifter put a hand on his son's shoulder. "What can I do, Axis?"
Axis took a deep breath. "At the moment the only thing we have in our favor is that we have the Star Dance back in full measure." He gave a small, humorless smile. "At least we are Enchanters again, StarDrifter. I suspect Ravenna will use that trick she used last night to gain entry for her hordes. They'll come disguised with sorceries, and we'll need somehow to either negate those sorceries, or somehow combat them."
For some minutes they conferred quietly, discussing ways in which they could use the Star Dance and their own powers to protect Elcho Falling.
"It might be possible--" StarDrifter said, and both men looked up as Inardle, Egalion, and Georgdi strode in the door. Inardle came straight to Axis, and he gave her a quick hug, using it to comfort himself as much as her.
"Maximilian is dead?" Georgdi said, and Axis noted the pain in the man's eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Georgdi's face tightened, but he gave a nod. "My men have taken up position within the vaulted chamber," he said. "Egalion has stationed the Emerald Guard up the main stairwell."
"Good," Axis said. "The Strike Force and Lealfast are in the air. We should get some warning of an attack, even if Armat's entire army vanish into a sorcerous gloom. I'm taking command for the moment.
We can discuss later an orderly succession. I can't have--"
"There will be no need for such action," Ishbel said, closing the door to Maximilian's death chamber behind her.
Everyone was so shocked by her appearance they could not answer immediately. Ishbel was literally covered in blood. It had soaked and dried into so much of her skirts that they were as stiff as wooden boards, and made walking difficult. Her hands and arms up to her elbows were covered in thick, dried blood, and Axis tried very hard not to imagine where she'd had those hands and arms. Blood had also spattered over her face and through her hair, and soaked in great patches through the material over her breasts.
Thus walks the Archpriestess of the Coil after one of her slaughters, Axis thought, then felt ashamed at the ungenerosity of his thoughts.
Ishbel moved a little closer, and Axis felt everyone else tense, as if they wanted to take a few steps back.
Stars, she stank of Maximilian's blood--and worse.
She raised both her hands before her, and everyone looked at them.
"See," she said softly, "I wear both rings of Persimius now. My marriage ring and that which Maximilian once wore. There is no need for you to assume command, Axis SunSoar. I am Persimius," her tone hardened slightly, "and I am the Lady of Elcho Falling, and can travel the Twisted Tower as well as once could my husband. What was once Maximilian's is now mine." She paused. "That includes your loyalty."
There was absolute silence as everyone stared at Ishbel.
She moved her hand, just a little, just enough so that the lamplight caught at the few unbloodied jewels of the rings on her hands. "I am Persimius. I am the Lady of Elcho Falling, and I do command your loyalty."
Axis stared at her, fixated by the frightful sight of her standing there, commanding his loyalty.
"And you have it, my lady," Georgdi said, falling to one knee before Ishbel.
She lowered her right hand to him, which carried on its fourth finger Maximilian's ring, and Georgdi kissed it.
An instant later, Egalion was also on his knee before her, kissing the ring.
Axis felt nauseated at the thought of the taste of Maximilian's blood in his mouth.
Georgdi and Egalion stepped back, and Ishbel moved a little closer to Axis and StarDrifter.
At this close distance, Axis' stomach turned at the stench of Maximilian's death, and he had to swallow to prevent himself gagging.
"You gave your loyalty to Maximilian," Ishbel said, holding Axis' gaze. "Will you now give it to me?"
"Ishbel--" Axis began.
"I command everything that Maximilian once commanded," said Ishbel, "and that includes you."
Her gaze was absolutely relentless, and Axis had the sudden thought that she'd prove a far better commander than Maximilian might have done. She had the strength and the stomach for it, he realized, and she might hold Elcho Falling together, where without her it would fall apart.
"You have it," Axis said.
"You don't wish to kiss the ring?" Ishbel said, and her mouth twitched, just slightly. Axis realized it wasn't humor so much as recognition of her current state.
"Perhaps later," Axis said, and Ishbel gave a nod.
"That is good enough for me," she said. "StarDrifter?"
"You have my loyalty," he said, "and that of the Strike Force."
"Inardle?" Ishbel said.<
br />
"And mine, and that of the Lealfast," Inardle said, and she had no hesitation in stepping forward and kissing the ring.
"You think Armat will attack now Maximilian is dead?" Ishbel said to Axis.
"Within a few hours," Axis said. "If I were him I would not waste this opportunity. He must think Elcho Falling in disarray."
"Well," said Ishbel, "bloodied, if not in disarray," and Axis once again marveled at how calm and self-controlled she was.
"You have plans for a defense?" she asked.
"Yes," Axis said, but as he began to explain them to Ishbel she interrupted him.
"No need," she said. "I shall defend Elcho Falling."
Before anyone could ask a question, Ishbel turned and walked toward the door that led deeper into Elcho Falling.
She vanished from sight before she reached it.
CHAPTER FIVE
Armat's Encampment
Armat finished his discussion with his leading commander, then dismissed the man.
As soon as the commander had left the tent, Armat looked between Lister and Ravenna. "I will need the cover of your sorceries to get the men inside Elcho Falling," he said. "Axis will certainly expect me to attack, and he has the defensive advantage. You can do it?"
Both Lister and Ravenna nodded, although Ravenna looked less certain of it.
"You have not the stomach for the fight?" Armat asked her. "Has your lover's death distressed you so greatly that--"
"I loved him!" Ravenna said. "Allow me a little room for grief, if you please."
"There is no time nor room for grief if you want your son to have that for which you slaughtered his father," Armat said.
"Then I am ready," Ravenna said. "I will not quail, Armat."
Armat grunted, exchanging a meaningful look with Lister.
Insharah sat in his tent, staring at the sword lying on the bed before him. The entire camp was alive with movement as men readied themselves for an attack upon the citadel of Elcho Falling.
But Insharah could barely breathe, let alone equip himself for the action.
Ravenna and Armat had trapped Maximilian, and murdered him. Armat had called his senior commanders, including Insharah, into his tent the instant he'd returned from the murder, informing them that Maximilian was dead and that Elcho Falling was theirs for the taking. Then he'd sent them away to rouse the army.
Insharah had, instead, come back to his tent, where he had sunk down on his bunk, unable to stir his command for anything. Rimmert had come in, asking questions about what had to be done, and Insharah had sent him on his way with some vague assurances that he'd be out shortly.
But Insharah did not think he'd be able to walk out of this tent, shortly or even lately, and take part in an attack on Elcho Falling.
Insharah thought he could have borne Maximilian's death if it had come accidentally, or nobly. But to be murdered by your lover, who carried your child? And in such a hateful and duplicitous way? For a man who had only ever done good, and that nobly?
All the doubts that had been growing inside Insharah for weeks now coalesced into a sudden, shining determination.
He picked up the sword and tossed it deep into the tent.
"I can't do it," he said.
"Good," said a voice from the dark depths of the tent, and Insharah started up in fear--then fell to his knees in terror as a nightmarish vision walked out of the depths of the tent carrying his sword.
"I seem to be spending tonight collecting loyalties," said Ishbel. "Do I have yours, Insharah?"
"How many can you conceal within your sorcery?" Armat asked Ravenna. He was fully armored and weaponed, and shifted from foot to foot in ill-concealed eagerness. Armat had been blooded that night, and now he wanted more.
"Enough," she said. "I don't have a precise number for you, Armat. Enough. That will have to do."
"No need to snap, my lady," Armat said. "Am I not about to deliver to you that for which you have lusted?"
"Am I not about to deliver to you that for which you have lusted?" Ravenna snapped. "Don't condescend to me, Armat."
"Oh, for all the gods' sakes," Lister said, "stop fighting like children. Another few hours and we will all have what we want. Power, and a chance to secure this land against that which approaches from--"
He stopped, suddenly very alert, and looked about the interior of the tent.
"What is it?" Armat said, drawing his sword.
"Someone--" Lister began, then drew in a deep breath of shock as power enveloped everyone in the tent. "Someone," he said again, his voice now hoarse with a combination of anger, fear, and surprise, "is using the Persimius gloom."
Before any among Armat, Ravenna, or Lister could move, or summon any sorcery of their own, the blood-soaked Ishbel appeared in their very midst. She spun on her heel as she materialized, flinging one hand out from the goblet she held in her other, scattering blood over the other three.
"I invoke the right of the dark-shrouded widow," she hissed, "given to me by Elcho Falling, to speak uninterrupted against the murderers of the Lord of Elcho Falling."
Armat and Lister both tried to speak, but found themselves unable to so much as open their mouths, while Ravenna struggled uselessly to summon any of her own power.
"You are all bound for the moment," said Ishbel. She looked at each of them, circling slowly, staring coldly at them. "If you had not planned or participated in Maxel's murder, then you would still be able to speak and move. What I have just spoken is a sorcery of justice." She gave a soft, harsh laugh. "Your immobility condemns you, all three."
She indicated a spot toward the door of the tent, and all three of her captives found their eyes drawn to it.
Insharah stood there, holding his sword.
"Behold," Ishbel said. "My witness."
Then she stepped close to Armat. "Yours was the sword," she said, and gave his chest a slight push, sending him toppling askew into the chair just behind him.
"I curse you," Ishbel continued, her voice low and powerful, "to live out what remains of your life as a puppet. You shall not move of your own accord, nor shall you ever speak, save to move to the wishes and to mouth the words of your puppetmaster. His name is Insharah."
"You will tell the Lady of Elcho Falling," said Insharah, "how grateful you are that your life has been spared."
Armat's eyes rolled frantically, but he could not halt the words issuing from his mouth. "I am most grateful to the Lady of Elcho Falling that my life has been spared."
Ishbel gave a cold smile, and looked at Insharah. "My lord, can you hold this for me for the moment?"
She held out the goblet she carried in one of her hands, and Insharah took it in his.
Then Ishbel turned to Lister. "What can I say to you, Lister? For twenty years, more, I adored you and thought you omnipotent and blessed. I murdered men at your pleasure, and married a man at your whim.
But your whim is capricious, is it not? You withdrew your love from me, as also from my husband, whom I had come to love. Thus I withdraw my love from you, Lister, and condemn you to the fate of the hundreds you sent to my knife."
Lister's eyes bulged, but he could not move, nor use any of his power against her.
Ishbel lifted her right hand, and every eye in the tent was drawn to the glinting blade that curved out from her first and second fingers.
"Die in the manner of my husband," Ishbel said, and the blade arced through the air, and in the next instant Lister's belly exploded, sending blood and organs cascading down his legs to the floor.
Fresh blood besmirched Ishbel's face, but she did not blink. She brought the blade down once more, and then yet again, as Lister tried to clutch his bowels back into his body, separating every single organ in his abdominal and pelvic cavity from their supports and sending them sliding through his frantic fingers to the floor.
Lister lifted his face, just enough to stare one long moment into Ishbel's implacable eyes, then he toppled over, the sound of his body hitting the
pile of his entrails a frightful, sickening wet thud.
Ishbel ignored him. She looked to Insharah, and he handed back to her the goblet.
Then Ishbel turned to Ravenna. "You tried once to murder me, and then you murdered your mother, and you murdered my husband, who was your lover, and whom you professed to love. You carry his child.
Shall you murder that one day, too, when the whim strikes you? Is no one safe from your ambition?"
She sighed, and held up the goblet. "See here, Ravenna. This is the Goblet of the Frogs. Is it not beauteous? It was made by my ancestress, and is a thing of great power. But on this vile night, its power is of no use to me. It is but a goblet, and it is what it contains which is of interest."
Ishbel dipped her free hand into the goblet, and when she withdrew it, her fingers were slick with blood.
"It contains the blood of my murdered husband, Ravenna," Ishbel said. "Imagine this blood's power, when presented to its murderer."
Ishbel flicked her hand suddenly, and even despite the enchantment that bound Ravenna, the woman managed to flinch.
Blood flew through the air to a point just above Ravenna's head. There it coalesced into one large globule and then, horribly, into a travesty of the twisting rings of the crown of Elcho Falling, the slowly turning bands now made of clotted blood rather than gold.
"This bloodied crown is my revenge on you, Ravenna," Ishbel said quietly, "and I use it not as Ishbel, Lady of Elcho Falling, but as the midwife of sorrow which you have always believed me to be."
She paused, taking a deep breath. "The first ring I use to curse you and to cut you off from the Land of Dreams."
One of the bloodied bands slipped free from its two companions, sliding down over Ravenna's body as once the true crown had slipped over Maximilian's body.
"Never more shall you walk the Land of Dreams," said Ishbel, "and never more shall you use its power for any means, fair or foul."
Tears slid down Ravenna's face. Her body twitched as if she fought to struggle free, but Ishbel's enchantment kept her bound.
"The second ring," said Ishbel, "I use to cut your child free from Elcho Falling. No longer Maximilian's heir, no longer his blood, he shall never be able to enter Elcho Falling again without the citadel recognizing him only as the murderer of the Lord of Elcho Falling."