The Twisted Citadel

  The men looked up as she entered, but she waved them into silence, indicating she would wait until they'd finished, then helped herself to tea and breakfast from a side table.

  She sat herself down on a bench by a window, eating and drinking silently as the men continued their discussion.

  "Eleanon arrived last night," Axis said.

  "I saw him," Maximilian said. He paused, grinning a little wryly. "He was in an ill temper."

  "Well," said Axis. "He'd just seen me. I'd shouted at him."

  "He was upset about Inardle," said Maximilian.

  "Eleanon is still upset about making an utter fool of himself with Armat," said Axis.

  "Has he reported to you, BroadWing?" Maximilian asked, and BroadWing nodded.

  "We have exchanged greetings, and a few cautious words," BroadWing said. "We agreed to meet again once I have done here."

  Maximilian talked briefly about reawakening Elcho Falling in two days' time, then the meeting broke up, leaving Maximilian alone with Ishbel.

  "You look tired," he said.

  "I have been up all night, thinking."

  "And?" Maximilian said.

  "The Ishbel you married is well and truly dead, Maxel. The new one has decided she cannot wait for the rebirth of Elcho Falling."

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Serpent's Nest

  Eleanon found BroadWing almost as soon as the Icarii birdman had left the meeting with Axis.

  BroadWing nodded at Eleanon, then indicated a doorway through to a public balcony which was for the moment empty of anyone else.

  "It has been difficult, to return," said Eleanon. "It is not in my nature to ask for help, or accept that I might not be all that I could be."

  BroadWing said nothing, regarding Eleanon with sharp eyes.

  "My fighters, the twelve thousand I have left, wait close," said Eleanon, and BroadWing glanced out into the sky, seeing the grayish haze of the almost invisible Lealfast drifting through the sky at the base of a nearby cloud.

  "They are yours," Eleanon said.

  BroadWing brought his eyes back to the Lealfast man. He was still very unsure of Eleanon...but he had learned to respect Inardle, almost to like her, and he supposed that he could manage that with this one, too.

  "I want them quartered with the Strike Force," said BroadWing. "I do not want separate forces, just one integral force. Do you see that balcony thirty paces higher and to the left?"

  Eleanon glanced, then nodded.

  "That leads into the Strike Force's lodgings," BroadWing said.

  He paused significantly.

  Eleanon looked at him, hesitated, then nodded. He lifted a hand and gestured into the sky.

  A moment later the Lealfast fighters began to materialize in the air, banking their wings on an approach to the higher balcony.

  "Good," said BroadWing. "I will address them shortly. From now on, you answer to me. The Lealfast fighters now are members of the Strike Force, and I am commander of the Strike Force. You no longer command the Lealfast fighters."

  "Of course," said Eleanon.

  "You are being more cooperative than I'd thought," BroadWing said.

  "You have no idea how guilty I feel about what happened when I led the Lealfast into Armat's trap,"

  Eleanon said. "I have lain sleepless over it. I need to make amends--not to you or Axis, or even Maximilian--but to the Lealfast who survived that nightmare. They have great potential, BroadWing.

  They will learn quickly and without murmur. As will I. BroadWing," Eleanon hesitated, then went on, "it has been a long road to admit to myself just how skilled the Strike Force is. I can learn from you, I want to learn from you...everything you have to teach me. My loyalty is to you, and then to Maximilian Persimius and Elcho Falling."

  BroadWing relaxed. There had not been a false note in that speech. He rested a hand on Eleanon's shoulder. "We will start this afternoon," he said, "and I shall show you how the Strike Force will defend Elcho Falling against whatever that damned glass pyramid can throw against it."

  CHAPTER SIX

  Salamaan Pass, and Serpent's Nest

  StarHeaven, closely accompanied by her three Icarii companions, banked her wings to prevent further descent, and hovered in astonishment a hundred paces above the northern entrance to the Salamaan Pass.

  A large army was winding its way out of the Pass, moving north.

  "They're Isembaardians," said BrokenFlight, one of StarHeaven's companions.

  "Yes," said StarHeaven, "and look who is riding at their head! Is it Isaiah? I have not seen him before."

  "It looks like it," said BrokenFlight, "but it can't be. He's dead."

  "Apparently not," StarHeaven murmured. She thought for a minute, deciding what to do. "BrokenFlight, you and the others stay here. I need someone to report back to Axis if I don't come back."

  "StarHeaven," said SureSong, another of the Icarii, "that may not be Isaiah. It may be a phantasm."

  "I know," StarHeaven said softly, then began her descent.

  Isaiah pulled his stallion to a halt, almost unable to believe that an Icarii woman was spiraling down from the sky.

  Thank the gods!

  "And pray to the gods that she is an Enchanter," Isaiah muttered. "Please, please, let her be an Enchanter."

  And please, please, let it be in time.

  "Who is it?" Lamiah said, pulling his horse in beside Isaiah's.

  "One of the Icarii," said Isaiah. "At last we'll get some news...and hope we can get some news out.

  Take your hand off your sword, Lamiah. She means no harm."

  Lamiah hesitated, then did as Isaiah asked. In the four days since he'd met Isaiah coming out of Isembaard, Lamiah had to all intents and purposes handed command of the one-hundred-thousand-strong army back to Isaiah. There had been no overt discussion of this, but Isaiah had taken command upon himself, and Lamiah had just allowed it.

  It had, in the end, been the easiest thing to do. The first time that Isaiah had issued a command to Lamiah's men in front of Lamiah, Lamiah had opened his mouth to protest...and then closed it as Isaiah had sent him a hard look.

  It had been the easiest thing to do, allowing Isaiah control, and no one in the chain of command had questioned it.

  Now Lamiah looked curiously at the winged woman who had landed some distance away and was approaching Isaiah and Lamiah cautiously.

  "Who are you?" the woman asked Isaiah as she stopped three or four paces away from his horse.

  "Isaiah," he said, "Tyrant of a wasteland."

  "You're dead," the woman said.

  "Lessened," said Isaiah, "but not dead. You are...?"

  "StarHeaven," she said. "Isaiah--"

  "StarHeaven," Isaiah said, "thank the gods, an Enchanter. Listen to me, please. I have a story to tell you and a message I need to get to Maximilian as soon as I can. Are you able to do that for me?"

  "I can get a message to Axis, and through him to Maximilian," said StarHeaven. "I can do that fairly quickly."

  Isaiah dismounted from the horse. "Lamiah," he said, "can you continue the march north? I'll rejoin you in an hour or two. I need to tell StarHeaven what I know."

  Lamiah nodded and, as Isaiah moved StarHeaven to one side, waved the column forward.

  "StarHeaven," Isaiah said as soon as they were safely out of the way. "How long is it since you have been with Maximilian's column?"

  "A week, perhaps."

  "And when you left, had Maximilian and Ishbel renewed their marriage?"

  "No," she said, "they are close, but something still makes them hesitate." She shrugged. "No Icarii would act that way."

  Isaiah almost sagged in relief. "StarHeaven, listen closely, for I have a tale to tell that you need to get back to Maximilian's ears as soon as you can."

  "I want to show you something," Ishbel said to Maximilian, who now sat on the bench beside her, and she unwound her plait and loosened her hair.

  "I was marked," she said, "and you ran your hands over it m
any times, but never saw it or intuited it."

  "Your scalp," he said.

  "You knew?"

  Maximilian laughed. "Well, the fact that you are talking about your hidden mark while shaking your hair loose gave me a hint."

  "Oh, well, yes. Look."

  Maximilian hesitated, then took Ishbel's bowed head in gentle hands, parting the hair. "I can't see anything."

  "No." Ishbel lifted her head and Maximilian lowered his hands. "I looked this morning," she continued, "for the first time since I left Serpent's Nest, and it is gone."

  Maximilian sat silent, looking at her.

  "I sat in the room I'd had as archpriestess, Maxel. Sat there all night. I had yearned for that room so much, yearned to come home."

  "I know," he said softly.

  "But...last night...there was nothing left there for me. It was empty." She paused. "What I had once been was gone. Empty."

  "I know you'd wanted to see how you felt when you came back here."

  "I was sure I would feel something. Sadness. Regret. Sweetness, perhaps. But there was nothing at all.

  Just emptiness." Another pause. "And when I realized that, Maxel, I grew fearful."

  Again he sat silent, regarding her.

  "I thought that perhaps I had left it too long. That I had missed the bridge that would lead from the life I

  had lost to--"

  Maximilian leaned forward and kissed her, very gently. "Be my wife, Ishbel."

  "I've been so angry at you, Maxel, and so scared of you. I am still scared."

  "Of what?"

  "I am terrified of once more ruining a marriage with you. I don't think I can survive again the pain we caused each other the last time."

  "No one can guarantee anything, Ishbel. We can simply do our best."

  "No secrets?"

  "No. So confess to me whatever remaining secrets you have kept hidden, Ishbel."

  "I stole my mother's favorite brooch when I was five," said Ishbel. "I hid it in the flour jar."

  Maximilian smiled. "I can live with that."

  "This is proving easier than I expected."

  "That is because we are making a more honest start this time."

  Ishbel took a deep breath, and nodded. "I have loved you for so long, Maxel."

  "And I you, and we both needed to say that, very badly." Maximilian took her face between his hands, and kissed her again, very gently.

  "What now?" Ishbel said, when he drew back.

  StarHeaven had gone utterly white. She stared at Isaiah, unwilling to believe what he had told her.

  "I don't need you to believe it," Isaiah said. "I just need you to pass it on to Axis and from him to Maximilian. Can you do that?"

  She nodded, her eyes huge.

  "Now?"

  Again StarHeaven nodded. "I need somewhere quiet. Somewhere..."

  "Oh for gods' sakes," said Isaiah. He waved his arm at the three Icarii he could see overhead, and they slowly, and with obvious uncertainty, spiraled down to him.

  "Get her somewhere safe and quiet," Isaiah said to them when they'd landed. "And when she's done, get back to me."

  Axis was walking with Egalion and Clements by the front gates to Serpent's Nest, checking the portcullis.

  "Although why we bother," Egalion said as they stood back, watching a group of five soldiers lower the metal gate up and down, "I don't know. Maximilian says he will raise Elcho Falling the day after tomorrow, and what will become of all this," he waved a hand at the gates and the forecourt, "I have no idea."

  "I doubt it will be substantially different," said Axis. "Just...different."

  "Well," said Clements, "that's helpful. But I would have thought that...Axis? What's wrong?"

  Axis had gone very pale, and had literally swayed on his feet for a moment.

  Egalion grabbed at his elbow, steadying him. "Axis?"

  "It is StarHeaven," Axis said. "Reporting back..."

  Egalion kept his hand on Axis' arm, but he and Clements stayed silent for five or six long minutes as Axis listened to what StarHeaven said in his mind.

  "What is it, Axis?" Egalion said as Axis finally blinked and came out of his fugue.

  "Trouble," Axis said, and he pulled his arm from Egalion's grip and sprinted for the inner courtyard.

  He found them where he'd left them, in the chamber where Maximilian had held his morning conference.

  Unfortunately, they were not quite as he'd left them. A flush-cheeked Ishbel was sitting in a chair, braiding her loosened hair. When she saw Axis she gave him a part secretive, part self-satisfied smile, then dropped her eyes.

  Maximilian was standing by a chair, lifting up his jacket and sliding an arm through one sleeve.

  Axis stared at the jacket...had Maximilian been wearing that earlier...or not?

  Oh stars...

  "Axis?" Maximilian said. "Is there something the matter?"

  "I need to speak with you," Axis said.

  "What is it?" Maximilian said.

  Axis hesitated, and Ishbel finished with her plait and rose. "I think he wants to speak with you alone, Maxel." She walked past Axis to the door, giving him another enigmatic smile.

  "I'll see you tonight, Maxel," she said, and left the room.

  Axis waited until the door closed.

  "Maxel," he said, "Isaiah is alive."

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Serpent's Nest

  Maximilian paused in the middle of buttoning his jacket. "What?" "Isaiah is alive. I've just heard from StarHeaven. Maxel, had you made love with Ishbel before

  Iarrived?"

  This time Maximilian just stared at Axis.

  "Maxel, I have reason to ask--the news from Isaiah is appalling, and it involves Ishbel. Do you remember Ravenna's vision?"

  Maximilian finally pulled on his jacket with an angry jerk. "Oh for all the gods' sakes, don't tell me Isaiah has turned against Ishbel now! Has he started having visions as well? I have had enough of people telling me she will be my peril."

  He paused. "Isaiah is alive...how? Axis, sit down, please, and tell me, in order, starting with the fact that Isaiah is alive, what you know."

  Axis pulled out a chair from the central table. "Isaiah is alive. He met with what he believes to be the fleshly representation of DarkGlass Mountain--Isaiah said it was a man made of glass--who calls himself the One. The One stripped Isaiah of his powers, which is what you and Lister felt and you interpreted as his death. I believe there is a lengthy tale here to be told, but StarHeaven only gave me the absolute basics, because she, or Isaiah through her, wanted me to pass to you as fast as possible the One's message to you."

  Maximilian was still standing. "And that is?"

  "The One has constructed a curse. Isaiah stresses that it is not a possibility, but a reality."

  "Very well. What is this curse?"

  Axis took a deep breath. "This curse is powered by the fact that whatever form of flesh the One has assumed thus far was accomplished through the death of your and Ishbel's daughter. Her blood--"

  "Yes, yes, get on with it."

  "If you, Maximilian Persimius, slide the Queen of Elcho Falling's ring onto Ishbel's finger, if you bear her down to your bed, then so shall sorrow and despair envelop Elcho Falling and all it contains. The moment you marry yourself to Ishbel again, by consummation of ring and body, then so shall the One become Elcho Falling's lord. And when he arrives at the gates of Elcho Falling, so shall Ishbel crawl forth and surrender to him all the power and might of the citadel of Elcho Falling. It is what Ravenna saw in her vision, Maxel. You can do nothing to prevent this. The moment you wed Ishbel again, your fate, as the fate of all the lands and peoples above the FarReach Mountains, is sealed. You and they shall be wedded to the One, who controls the power of Infinity."

  Maximilian's face was expressionless as he stared at Axis. "And this curse is a reality."

  "Yes. Unless..."

  "Unless...?"

  "To save Elcho Falling, the land and its peoples, y
ou and Ishbel must present yourselves to the One at Sakkuth and deliver to him the Weeper--"

  "Well, that's a small impossibility now, isn't it?"

  "--the crown of Elcho Falling and the Goblet of the Frogs. You--"

  "The goblet of the what?"

  Now it was Axis' turn to stare at Maximilian. Hadn't either Isaiah or Ishbel told him about the goblet?

  "Maxel, you will need to ask Ishbel about the goblet. It is something that Isaiah brought north with him from Isembaard. It is just a goblet, Maxel--"

  "Just a goblet, yet the fate of Elcho Falling depends on its deliverance to this One?"

  "Maxel, this is hard enough for me as it is. Please let me finish."

  Maximilian continued to stare at Axis with an expressionless face.

  "If you deliver yourselves, the Weeper, the crown, and the goblet to the One, then you and Ishbel will die, but he will spare Elcho Falling and the lands above the FarReach Mountains. Maxel, is this not what Ravenna was trying to warn you about?"

  Maximilian sent Axis such a dark look that Axis found it difficult to ask what he needed. "Maxel, have you reconsummated your marriage to Ishbel?"

  "No. Ishbel and I have not bedded for at least a year."

  "Thank the stars!"

  "Don't you dare say that to me!"

  "Maxel--"

  "Ishbel and I have made our peace, Axis. The day I raise Elcho Falling is the day we resume our vows."

  "Maxel, the One did everything to try and ensure Isaiah did not get this message to you in time. He stripped Isaiah of his power, and Isaiah has had to walk across vast distances, although fortunately he found a horse left to run wild in the wilderness and managed to come faster than the One had intended.

  That he then came across StarHeaven was sheer luck. Don't discard that luck! Maxel, this curse is a reality. If you lie with Ishbel then there is nothing you can do to avoid the destruction of this entire land save--"

  "Taking ourselves down to Sakkuth with the Weeper, the crown, and this goblet of which you speak.

  Yes. I heard you the first time. I assume this is what the One wants, otherwise why tell me about this curse? Why not just curse me and let me drift unknowing to my fate?"