Ravenna wrapped her arms about herself, shivering. She was cold and hungry and every joint ached.
As for her belly .
She didn’t cry. Ravenna had cried so much over the past days and weeks that she didn’t think she could ever cry again. She hated herself that she had trapped her son in this nightmare, too. All she wanted for him was life, and a happy one at that, but what had she managed? To trap him in this dismal existence . . . Gods knew what would become of him, or if he would survive what was to come.
All her fault .
How had she come to this?
“Reckless ambition,” she murmured. “And stupidity. And of the two, the stupidity has been my worst enemy.”
She wished for a moment that her mother were here. But she had killed Venetia, hadn’t she? Killed her own mother.
Ravenna turned away, leaned into one of the beautiful columns, and wept yet again.
Outside, Axis wiped his eyes of water. The mayhem had vanished almost as abruptly as it had seemingly arrived. Around him the juit birds were slowly untangling their legs, pulling their heads out from under wings and blinking their pale eyes.
“I thank you for your shelter,” Axis said, and those birds closest to him nodded in acknowledgement — graceful, grave bobbings of their head.
Very slowly, Axis began to swim through the birds, apologising as he went.
He had a long way to go before the Lealfast made their reappearance.
Inardle woke slowly, aware of little else save the terrible pain in her back and shoulders where Eleanon had gripped her. She tried to move, grateful that at least her legs responded (stars, she had been sure Eleanon had severed her spine), but discovered she was restrained by something binding her tight.
She felt about with her hands — it was too dark to see — and her breath caught as she realised she’d been imprisoned in an ice ball. She was lying on her side, curled up, her wings wrapped about her, her legs drawn tight to her body, and she could extend none of her limbs save for the tiniest amount.
Inardle went cold, due not so much to the nature of her prison but to her utter shock.
Eleanon had imprisoned her within an ice hex.
There was no way to escape.
Ever.
The ice hex was unbreakable.
She would die here. Slowly. Of starvation and despair.
Isaiah had only had time to strip off his wet clothing and sink down to the bed of his chamber, when there was a knock at the door.
It opened. Insharah stood there and behind him, almost unbelievably to Isaiah, stood Kezial.
“Well met again, Insharah,” Isaiah said. “You have been having adventures since last I saw you.”
Insharah had the grace to flush slightly as Isaiah obliquely referred to Insharah’s betrayal of Maximilian and Axis by deserting to Armat.
“And you, Kezial,” Isaiah said.
“The time for apologies has long passed,” Kezial said. “Besides, you wanted me in here.”
Isaiah tipped his head in acknowledgement.
“I bring news of Eleanon,” Kezial said.
“Perhaps we need to call Georgdi and —” Isaiah said.
“It can’t wait,” said Insharah. “Kezial, tell him.”
“Eleanon’s plan was to allow everyone into Elcho Falling anyway,” Kezial said. “He plans on destroying Elcho Falling.”
“How?” Isaiah said, now standing and pulling on fresh clothes.
“He has a dark spire deep within the citadel —” Kezial began.
“We know of that,” Insharah interrupted, explaining to Isaiah.
“And he has inserted Ravenna into Elcho Falling in order to —” Kezial continued.
“How?” Isaiah said, ignoring Kezial’s wince of irritation at being interrupted yet again.
“How did he insert her?” Kezial said. “Undoubtedly during the chaos and confusion when your delightful little storm hit. She is in Elcho Falling now, Isaiah. Somewhere. Disguised. She will destroy this citadel and all within it.”
“Call the other commanders,” Isaiah snapped to Insharah, “and show me to whatever command chamber you have here while you’re at it.”
Chapter 13
Elcho Falling
“Ithought Ishbel had cursed Ravenna,” Georgdi said. They were once more grouped around the central table in the command chamber, this time with the addition of Isaiah and Kezial to StarDrifter, Insharah, Ezekiel, and Egalion. Garth Baxtor was also here, sitting to one side, looking worried and uncomfortable.
Isaiah, on the other hand, had automatically taken the commander’s position at the table and everyone from Georgdi down deferred to him instinctively.
“I know nothing of this,” Isaiah said. “Tell me.”
Georgdi, aided by StarDrifter butting in every few sentences, told Isaiah briefly of what had happened when Ravenna had lured Maximilian to his murder, and then how Ishbel had murdered Lister — at which Isaiah remarked that he’d known of Lister’s death, but not the details — and had cursed Armat and Ravenna.
“Armat is now dead, too,” Georgdi said, “killed by Eleanon, but Ishbel cursed Ravenna threefold. She disinherited the son Ravenna carried to Maximilian from Elcho Falling —”
“I would have done far worse,” StarDrifter muttered.
“She cut Ravenna off from the Land of Dreams, the source of Ravenna’s power, and she cursed her to forever be an outcast, rejected by all communities.”
“But,” Kezial put in, “Eleanon has somehow altered these curses. I don’t know how. He referred to it only obliquely and I am certain now that he knew I’d defect, so anything he told me needs to be treated cautiously. But I do know that Ravenna was able to ghost about the outskirts of the Lealfast camp without any problems.”
“So you may be wrong about Eleanon wanting to destroy Elcho Falling,” Isaiah said.
Kezial shook his head. “No, I think that is true enough. Eleanon wanted you to know that. He wants you to be afraid. And I think he also wanted to boast a little.”
“Ravenna,” Isaiah said. “What was she sent inside to do, Kezial?”
Kezial shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t really know. She has a clear mission, but .”
“It could be anything,” StarDrifter said. “Perhaps an assassination. She is a dab hand at assassination.”
“It is something to do with that Dark Spire,” Kezial said. “But what .” He shrugged again.
“I am going to need to see this Dark Spire,” Isaiah said to Georgdi, and Georgdi nodded.
“It is a grim thing,” he said. “None of us can understand it, nor stop its inexorable growth. I’ll take you down, once we’re done here.”
“Garth knows Ravenna well,” Insharah said. “It is why we asked him here to this meeting, Isaiah.”
Isaiah turned his attention to the man sitting uncomfortably at the end of the table. “Garth?” Isaiah said.
“Garth Baxtor,” Garth said. “I knew Ravenna when we were youths.”
“They were largely responsible for releasing Maximilian from his imprisonment within the Veins some years ago,” StarDrifter said, and Isaiah nodded.
“Ah, yes, I have heard of you. Garth, tell me about Ravenna.”
Garth looked unhappy, and Isaiah didn’t wonder at it. He would be torn between his friendship with the woman and the knowledge of what she had become and how she had betrayed Maximilian.
“I can’t believe that she is totally lost to either ambition or horror, Isaiah,” Garth said. “Or maybe I just don’t want to believe that. But . . . I don’t know what I can say that may help.”
“We need to find her,” Isaiah said. “How would we do that? Would she come if you called her?”
“Do you want to use me to set a trap?” Garth said. “I don’t know if I —”
“She has already murdered Maximilian once,” Isaiah said, then he sighed. “We need to find her, Garth. But why do I suspect it is not going to be easy?”
Axis swam his
way around Elcho Falling to the reed banks that lined the channel leading eastward to the sea. He hauled himself out of the water and onto a floating patch of thick, dry reeds. He took off his clothes and wrung them out as much as possible, spreading them among the reeds to dry, then sat revelling in the sunny afternoon that the mayhem had left behind.
He could see no Lealfast anywhere. He looked upward, glad to see the black speck of the eagle circling high overhead.
Friend eagle. You are well?
I am, StarMan. I am glad to hear your voice. That was an evil storm.
Ha! Axis thought. It was an evil storm, indeed. Wait until I speak to Isaiah. Are there any Lealfast in the area, friend eagle?
No. They have flown to the mountains to the north-west. They will be wary of the juit birds.
Axis could hear deep amusement in the eagle’s voice and he grinned. He said goodbye to the eagle, wishing him well, and asking only that the eagle warn him if he saw any Lealfast approaching.
Then he lay back on the reeds, fingers laced underneath his head, and stared into the blue sky.
Isaiah?
Isaiah took a few minutes to answer and when he did it was to remark somewhat sharply that he didn’t want Axis berating him for the ferocity of the mayhem.
How many lost? Axis asked.
Isaiah hesitated. Too many. Axis, Inardle and Hereward are missing, they did not make it inside. If they remained outside, the mayhem would have killed them.
Axis did not know how to react, even within himself. Hereward he had hardly known, and he had little emotional response to her loss.
But Inardle?
Maybe she has rejoined with — he said.
No, Isaiah said. She was terrified of the Lealfast, Axis.
She can look after herself, Axis said.
Isaiah replied with a mental shrug and changed the subject. Ravenna is inside. We are looking for her.
Have you had a chance to examine the Dark Spire? Axis said.
I am on my way to it now. Otherwise, all within are well. StarDrifter is annoyed that you are outside, though.
Axis laughed, imagining his father’s biting comments to Isaiah about leaving Axis outside.
Axis, I do have some interesting news.
Yes?
Georgdi says there is a back entrance to Elcho Falling. He asked about it some time ago. It is of little use militarily as it can only be used by a few people at a time, but, knowing of it, there’s no reason for you not to rejoin us. If you still feel you need to be ranging outside Elcho Falling, then you can leave again.
Really? Where is it?
How good a swimmer are you? Isaiah asked.
Ravenna stood before the Dark Spire. It was a horrid thing, reaching up through three of the lowest levels of Elcho Falling and pushing at the fourth level. It twisted and twined, with great pulsing veins and thick roots that vanished into the stonework of the citadel.
It breathed, very slowly, in and out.
Ravenna had wrapped her arms about herself. She was so cold. She had a series of tasks to accomplish and Eleanon’s spite, left deep inside her, niggled and bit at her, pressuring her to begin them.
But for the moment, Ravenna just stood and stared.
There were others in the chamber with her. Icarii Enchanters and a few Isembaardian soldiers. None of them saw her or in any way realised her presence. Eleanon’s and Ishbel’s curses, entwined together now, hid her from their perception. One or two of them had actually bumped into her, but still they did not realise, cursing their lack of coordination as they stumbled, moving on.
The Dark Spire . . . Ravenna stepped forward, reaching out one trembling hand to touch the foul thing.
And then she stopped, staring upward, sending her senses straining through all the levels of Elcho Falling above her.
She had heard a baby gurgle in delight.
Salome sat in the chamber she shared with her husband, StarDrifter, Talon of the Icarii, and bounced their son on her knee. StarDancer had grown well since his birth, and had developed his powers quickly, as did all Icarii Enchanter children (Salome could barely remember her life in Coroleas, when she had fought to live as the human Duchess of Sidon, and not as she lived now, an Icarii Enchantress). She had once delighted in intrigue and despair, but now she delighted in nothing but the love of her husband and their glorious son.
He was an Enchanter, like his parents, and a powerful one. Now, as he bounced up and down on her knee, StarDancer shared his joy in life with his mother and he burbled with laughter.
StarDancer was but a baby, after all, delighting in his mother’s love, and he had yet to tell his mother about his dream.
Ravenna’s hand dropped away from the Dark Spire and fell back to her belly. She stared upward, her eyes filling with tears.
There was a baby above, burbling in delight.
Ravenna was struck deep with guilt again, guilt that she had condemned her own son to gods knew what. He might never have the chance that the baby above obviously did . . . he might never be able to sit on her knee and burble in delight.
Ravenna took a step away from the Dark Spire, wanting nothing more than to fade away into the shadows and weep, when she froze.
A group of men had entered the chamber, and among them was Garth Baxtor.
One of the men was Isaiah. He stepped forward to the Dark Spire, examining it closely.
He moved close to Ravenna, and she shrank back, distrusting his acute senses and power.
But he did not acknowledge Ravenna or give any indication that he knew of her presence. He was close enough to reach out a hand and grab her if he had wanted, so Ravenna assumed that Eleanon’s and Ishbel’s twisted curses were so powerful they could dupe even agod.
What hope for her or her son, then?
Isaiah was concentrating fully on the Dark Spire, his face twisted into an expression of distaste, and Ravenna took the opportunity of his preoccupation to move away from both Isaiah and the spire.
Perhaps the stairs, and the baby . . .
But Garth stood on the stairs, blocking her path, and he looked about.
“Ravenna?” he called, softly. “Ravenna? I am sure you are here.”
Ravenna froze, unable to take her eyes from Garth. Could he see her? Could his Touch, and the fact that he had known her so well and for so long, circumvent the curses that bound her?
“Ravenna? Please, if you are here, speak to me. I will not harm you.”
He could not see her. He was only casting out in hope. Yet, even so, Ravenna was sorely tempted to step forward and take his hand.
Of everyone in this fortress, Garth was the only one Ravenna could be sure would not judge her. He would remember all the times they had shared, the laughter, the adventures.
“Ravenna?” Garth called out now, so softly and yet with such warmth and comfort, that Ravenna barely restrained another sob.
Surely it would be all right if she touched him, just for one moment —
And then riveting pain grasped her mind, making her stumble backward, hands clutching at her head.
Eleanon.
Ravenna, are you ready to commence your duty?
Isaiah looked away from the Dark Spire toward Garth Baxtor. “Garth?” he called. “What is it?”
Garth hesitated, then sighed. “Nothing. I was just hoping that maybe Ravenna was here, and might respond to me. Just a forlorn hope, Isaiah.”
He walked closer to Isaiah. “What do you think of it?” Garth said. “It is a foul thing indeed.”
“Have you tried with your Touch, Garth? Can you make anything of it?”
“Aye, I have tried. All I can say, Isaiah, is that it is foulness incarnate. It feels to me like a cancer, but one with direction and purpose. It is growing into something, but I can’t tell what? You?”
Isaiah turned his eyes back to the spire, studying it. “It is a nightmare from another time and place. It is Infinity itself stepped into this world. It is coldness and darkness and hatefulnes
s, and, as you say, Garth, all with a purpose and direction. I do not know if anyone can truly control what this is, or will become. I think this, right here, is Maximilian’s worst enemy.”
Axis sat on his reed bed, disconsolately pulling on his clothes and wishing he’d just braved the mayhem and got into Elcho Falling via the front door. The back door didn’t sound like any fun at all. He was just about to slip into the water when one of the juit birds swam up to him and looked him in the eyes in that uncomfortably direct manner of the juit.
StarMan.
My friend juit. What may I do for you?
We have discovered something, StarMan. We think you need to see it.
Axis repressed a sigh. What manner of thing?
Something left by the Lealfast.
His interest pricked, Axis nodded for the juit bird to lead on as he entered the water.
Damn, it was cold!
The bird led him part way round the northern shores of the lake which surrounded Elcho Falling, and nodded at the reed banks there.
Axis, who had decided he was thoroughly sick of swimming and of pushing through juit birds while he was doing so, as also of being constantly wet and cold, heaved himself into the squelchy reed banks and began poking amongst them. For a few minutes he found nothing and was thinking longingly of hot food and a warm dry bed nestled within Elcho Falling, when suddenly he bent back a tangle of reeds and stilled.
It took Axis a moment to realise what it was . . . a dome of ice bobbing among the reeds that looked like it extended into the water, forming a ball.
He pushed away the reeds that clung to the top curve of the ball like wet, bedraggled hair.
Axis froze as his hand parted the final few strands.
Inardle’s face, warped by the ice, stared back at him.
Chapter 14
The Central Outlands
The Skraelings remained lost in their reflections and choices, completely unaware of what happened in the world. They had the ability to turn themselves back into River Angels if they so chose, and they could do this freely now they found themselves masterless with the mysterious disappearance of the One.
Would they like to change? Did they want to take this opportunity?