The Twisted Citadel

  The winds had not been as good as they'd hoped, and they had not traveled as fast as they had expected, but at least they had kept safe. They were careful to stay in the center of the river where the water was deepest and where the riverbanks were each some twenty paces away. Skraelings haunted the western bank, hordes of them, scores of tens of thousands of them, hungering for the Tasty! Tasty!

  Tasty! that the boat held. The Skraeling whispers pervaded the hull of the boat, and everyone had to grab what sleep they could while the terrifying whispers slid cold and malicious about them.

  Hereward hardly slept. It was dusk now, and Odella had called her a while ago to come and eat with the others.

  Hereward wasn't hungry. She felt that if she took her eyes off the Skraelings for just one moment then they would attack.

  Somehow they would find their way over the water.

  If she did sleep, Hereward had nightmares of waking to find them crawling over her, their terrible claws sinking into her flesh...

  She'd come to hate Axis SunSoar and Isaiah. Somehow she'd managed to associate her current plight with these two men.

  Whoever had heard of Skraelings before Axis arrived in Aqhat?

  And why had Isaiah deserted them? Why had he taken everyone who could possibly have saved the people of Aqhat north into the lands above the FarReach Mountains?

  Hereward had also come to loathe her father, Ezekiel, although she had never felt much affection for him.

  Ezekiel had always been so distant, and Hereward felt that he only concerned himself with her out of a sense of resigned duty. She was a bastard and had no place in his life. Ezekiel had a wife and legitimate children.

  Those children, her half-brothers and sisters raised in luxury and privilege, lived in Sakkuth, well away from this place.

  All of them had left her and her friends to manage as they may.

  The Skraelings roiled and whispered on the far bank. Their long, thin arms reached out for her, their jaws drooled, their teeth caught the last of the light, and their tongues bulged obscenely from their mouths.

  Hereward had never felt so alone and so hopeless in her life. She had never been able to even imagine feeling this way.

  After a moment, she turned, and walked belowdecks to join the others in their evening meal.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The FarReach Mountains and DarkGlass Mountain, Isembaard

  It was almost dawn when Eleanon and Bingaleal heard Inardle approach their eyrie atop the mountain.

  "Is Lister still asleep?" Eleanon said as Inardle crouched down beside them, and she nodded.

  "He stayed awake for hours, wondering about the pyramid, sending his senses scrying south," she said.

  "And?" Bingaleal asked.

  "He felt nothing other than the fact of Kanubai's death," Inardle said. She paused, looking at the faces of the two birdmen, trying to read their expressions. "And you?"

  Eleanon and Bingaleal glanced at each other.

  "We've been waiting for you," Bingaleal said. "Three are more powerful than two."

  Inardle nodded, relieved and pleased that they had waited. They must, like her, and like Lister, be desperate to discover precisely what had happened at DarkGlass Mountain.

  "Should we do this?" she said.

  "Are you having doubts?" Eleanon said.

  Inardle gave a short laugh. "Of course! And you have no doubts? Don't tell me that."

  "We need to know," said Bingaleal. "There is only one reason we have come on this adventure south with Lister. To grab some power and destiny for ourselves. Maybe this Lord of Elcho Falling will prove the road to our ultimate destiny, maybe there is some other path for us...we need to know, Inardle."

  "Yes," said Inardle, now settling down cross-legged, as did her companions. "We need to know."

  They sat facing one another in a small circle. Eleanon raised his hands before him, frowning in concentration. For a moment, nothing, then a tall glass pyramid appeared within the cup of his hands. In dimension and height it was the same as the glass spires the Lealfast had given Isaiah, Lister, and Ba'al'uz, but unlike those spires, this was of a dark, almost black, glass and was very slightly twisted, as if a hand had corkscrewed it while the glass was still hot from its making.

  "Lister would panic if he knew we had this much power," Bingaleal said, looking at Inardle as he spoke.

  "I shall not tell him," she responded. "He knows nothing about what we truly are."

  "It is better the world does not know," Bingaleal said, "just what powers we do command."

  "Shush!" Eleanon said. "Concentrate!"

  Bingaleal shot him an irritated glance, but did as instructed, and all three gazed intently into the dark, twisted spire.

  For several heartbeats nothing happened, then the spire glowed with light, cleared, and all three Lealfast found themselves looking directly into the Infinity Chamber.

  Several Skraelings huddled in one corner, but the Lealfast's attention was completely absorbed by the man-shaped creature of blue-green glass who stood with his back to them. He was moving his hands very slowly over the tortured, blackened glass walls of the Infinity Chamber and, as his hands passed over the glass, so the glass was restored to its full golden beauty.

  The creature paused, becoming aware of the intruders, and turned about unhurriedly.

  "Who are you?" said the creature. "I know you somehow."

  The three Lealfast glanced between themselves, then Eleanon took a deep breath and answered.

  "We are the Lealfast," he said. "We traveled a while with the Skraelings. You are...?"

  The creature smiled, just a small uplifting of his mouth. "You do not know?"

  Again the three Lealfast exchanged a glance, coming to a silent decision, then Bingaleal spoke. "You are the One, who the Magi once worshipped, and for whom they built the pyramid. You are perfection incarnate, and you are Infinity."

  The One lowered his head in assent. "I am all of those things. You wish to speak with me? Why?"

  "We do wish to speak with you," said Eleanon, "but we thought the Skraelings with you might like to be allowed to go hunt. I am sure our conversation would bore them."

  The One's eyes narrowed, then he waved a hand in dismissal at the few Skraelings who remained within the Infinity Chamber. "Hunt," he said. "Now."

  The One waited until the chamber was empty. "You wanted them gone," he said. He paused, considering. "I know you now. Lealfast you may call yourselves, but you hold within you the learning of the Magi who once honored me. How else could you have built that dark spire you use so effortlessly, or even the ones you gave about to others...yes, I know of them. And how is it you command the powers of the Magi?" His voice hardened, just slightly. "Come, tell me now, if you value my benevolence."

  "You know of Boaz and his battle with the pyramid, Threshold?" Eleanon said.

  The One bared his teeth slightly--they were curiously translucent--and they glimmered in the soft light of the Infinity Chamber. Two thousand years ago the renegade Magi, Boaz--a member of the Persimius family--had turned against his brethren and the One incarnate within the pyramid, seeking to destroy both the cult of the Magi and the pyramid. The One could not be destroyed--no one had the power for that--but the idea that Boaz even thought to make the effort had infuriated the One.

  And made him wonder if the Persimius family might try again.

  Like Kanubai, the One had no love for Elcho Falling or its master.

  "Boaz caused the Magi to be disbanded," said Eleanon. "Many died, or killed themselves so that they might not have to endure a world which no longer permitted worship of the One...of yourself. But a few took what they could of the Magi's hoard of books and scrolls before their libraries were burned, and they traveled north, escaping the soldiers that Boaz's brother, Zabrze, sent after them. These few Magi arrived in the far north after years of travel and travail."

  "They taught you," the One said.

  "Yes. We welcomed them, for they brought a tant
alizing glimpse of a future we had not considered, and power that we had never dreamed existed."

  "Tell me," said the One after a considered pause, "are you loyal to the Lord of Elcho Falling?"

  Inardle opened her mouth to speak, but Bingaleal forestalled her.

  "Not necessarily," he said. "It would depend very much on what we might find at the end of the path the Magi showed to us."

  The One's mouth curved upward in a wide smile. "We shall talk some more, I think," he said.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Sky Peaks Pass

  They met very late that afternoon for an early supper in the command tent. Maximilian had been out, and arrived in the tent once everyone had gathered. He looked tired and strained, and only nodded in greeting as he entered. Two serving men were still bringing in platters of food, setting them down before those already seated at the table. Maximilian ignored the table, and walked over to join the four men standing at the wine servery.

  "Georgdi, Malat," Maximilian said. "Are you somewhat recovered? Have you slept? How are your peoples?"

  "Most are well enough, Maxel," Malat said. "They are grateful for the shelter and opportunity to rest and eat after so many weeks on the run from the damned Skraelings. But within a day, I think, they shall be rested and fed enough to start worrying about what lies behind them--how much of their homeland remains, and if any of their families survived the Skraelings' horror. What I will say to them, I cannot think."

  "We can send a scouting party to see what is left," Maximilian said. "I think--I hope--the Skraelings will stay south of the FarReach Mountains for the time being. I want to know what has happened to Escator.

  Georgdi?"

  "I'd like to know what Isaiah's...sorry, your army has left of the Outlands, Maximilian," Georgdi said.

  "Once my men have rested sufficiently, I shall need to ride east to Margalit. I assume it still stands after Isaiah dragged almost a million soldiers and settlers through it."

  "It still stands," Maximilian said, "but Isaiah left many thousands of his soldiers there to secure his rear.

  Wait," he said, as Georgdi opened his mouth to speak. "I know you want them gone, that you want us gone from the Outlands, but unfortunately this province is likely to become the first to feel the full force of the Skraelings' push north. I am not going to shift men from the Outlands until I know what is happening."

  "Which is what we need to discuss tonight," Axis said, standing to Maximilian's right, with his father StarDrifter SunSoar at his elbow. He handed Maximilian a glass of wine, then nodded at the table. "Shall we sit? The serving men have left us in peace."

  Salome, Ishbel, and Isaiah were already seated and had been conversing in soft tones. Now they fell into a watchful silence as the men approached the table, all eyes on Maximilian.

  In his turn, Maximilian watched Ishbel out of the corner of his eye as he took his seat at the head of the table. Of all of them she looked the most rested, and certainly the most collected, and he wondered at the tranquillity she appeared to have acquired after his rejection of her.

  He thought of the vision Ravenna had shown him of Ishbel crawling through the gates of Elcho Falling and opening the citadel to the dark invader.

  Then he remembered what Axis had said the previous night: I had seen a truth, but I had misinterpreted it, so badly I almost lost the woman without whom...well, without whom I would have accomplished none of what later I managed. Ishbel's chin rose slightly under Maximilian's regard. He thought she looked very lovely, with her blue robe and soft fair hair falling over one shoulder, and very noble, with her unexpectedly tranquil and collected demeanor.

  She didn't look to him like a woman who would betray Elcho Falling, but then who was he to judge?

  Maximilian gave her a brief nod, then acknowledged Salome and Isaiah.

  "What has happened?" said StarDrifter. "Axis said something about Kanubai? That he has...vanished?"

  "The sense of threat from Kanubai abruptly ceased late last night," said Maxel. "Both Isaiah and I, and I

  assume Lister, could sense Kanubai previously. That sense has vanished."

  "DarkGlass Mountain," Ishbel said. "It has taken him."

  "We think so," said Isaiah. "We think--"

  "Who else?" said Ishbel.

  "You have been in the pyramid, Ishbel," Maximilian said. "Do you truly think it capable of taking Kanubai?"

  She looked at him without hesitation, or embarrassment. "Yes. It hates, Maxel, and that hate is a powerful force."

  Again Maximilian contemplated her. Ishbel conversed easily with him, and he found that remarkable after the way he had treated her the previous night. He had been sure that she'd be awkward and embarrassed, and he had spent much of the time before this meeting trying to think of ways to put her at ease. Now all those strategies were very obviously redundant.

  "The glass pyramid is a dangerous enemy," Ishbel continued. She glanced at Isaiah. "When Isaiah and I

  entered it...oh, I can't explain it, but it was almost as if the pyramid lived. It could reach out its walls and touch us. Kanubai might have been powerful, but was he powerful enough to best what he thought was an ally?" she concluded with an expressive shrug.

  Maximilian gave her another nod, then looked at Isaiah. "No one knows DarkGlass Mountain as well as you," he said. "Talk to me. What is it capable of? What will it do?"

  Isaiah sighed, rubbing at his eyes and using the movement to buy time to think. What was the glass pyramid capable of?

  "It is hugely powerful," he said finally, "and hugely angry, as Ishbel said. That anger and hate stem from its ancient past, when one of the Magi, Boaz, Ishbel's ancestor and the nephew of the then Lord of Elcho Falling, caused it to be dismantled. I think, although I have no way of truly knowing, that it wants vengeance."

  "Against whom?" said Maximilian.

  "Anyone who stands in its way," Isaiah said, "but more particularly, against Boaz and Tirzah, who tried to destroy it, and so against all their descendants. Ishbel definitely, but also you, Maximilian, as you are of the same bloodlines and you are powerful enough to threaten it. It may have also inherited Kanubai's feud with Elcho Falling. I don't know. I just...I just don't think it is going to sit there and glow in the sun cheerfully. I think it will act. I think it has acted."

  He paused, the fingers of one hand tapping slowly on the tabletop. "I think that the glass pyramid is the greater danger. Kanubai was known. The pyramid is utterly unknown. Not even the Magi completely understood it or its powers."

  "So even though Kanubai may be dead I cannot go back to Escator, curl up in my bed, pull the covers over my head, and dream of happy hunting parties in the forests north of Ruen?" Maximilian said with a wry twist of his mouth.

  Isaiah smiled. "No, Maxel. You cannot. There are still great trials ahead of us. None of us can afford to relax."

  "And so what are you going to do about this?" said Georgdi. The Outlander general looked tense and frustrated. "My homeland has been invaded, and currently all you seem to propose is that your million soldiers and settlers just mill about in confusion. You don't even have any true or tight control over them!

  I--"

  "I have in no manner proposed we do nothing," Maximilian snapped. "I am here to consult and to decide, not to dither."

  Georgdi shot him a look, but said nothing.

  "The world is torn apart, Maxel," Malat said. "If you want to ask for the loyalty of every man and woman north of the FarReach Mountains, then you shall need to stitch it back together again. Otherwise no one will fight for you."

  "Malat makes a strong point," Axis said. "I talked to some of the Isembaardian soldiers today, and there is great restlessness. They may have owed Isaiah their loyalty, but they do not know you, Maxel.

  Moreover, they are terrified of what happens to their families in Isembaard. Rumors fly, and men talk of aiding their families by themselves if you cannot do it for them."

  "And the generals?" Maximilian said.


  "Quiet," said Axis. "I have seen Ezekiel, and the others rest in their tents. I will talk with them in the morning...but they will take instant advantage of any discontent within the army. We need to decide what to do with them."

  Maximilian grunted. "Isaiah," he said, "do you know where Lister is?"

  "I believe he is moving north from the FarReach Mountains," Isaiah said. "He will want to join you at Elcho Falling."

  "What he wants is immaterial," said Maximilian, "particularly with what has happened over the past day.

  What are these glass pyramids, or spires, that you have used? Axis has told me of them. Do you have one with you?"

  "In my pack," said Isaiah. "Not with me here."

  "Fetch it, if you will," Maximilian said, and Isaiah rose and left the tent.

  "Axis," Maximilian said, "what do you know of Lister? What did you learn about him while you lived and traveled with Isaiah?"

  It was not Axis who answered, but StarDrifter. "If I may," he said, seeking permission from both Axis and Maximilian to speak, and at their nods continued. "Of Lister I know little, but Axis and I know something of the force that travels with him."

  "Force?" Maximilian said. "I thought he traveled with the Skraelings."

  "He did," StarDrifter said, "but also traveling with him, and still with him I assume, is a great force of winged people."

  StarDrifter told the group around the table about the ancient history of the Icarii in Tencendor: how, when many generations ago they had escaped from persecution into the Icescarp Alps, a group of Icarii had continued traveling north into the frozen wastes.

  "We thought them to have died," said StarDrifter, "but now Axis and I believe that they survived. They must have traveled deep into the frozen wastes and there, so we think, although we cannot explain why they did this, they interbred with the Skraelings to create a new race. They call themselves the Lealfast, and they command great magic through the Star Dance."

  "I believed the Star Dance had been destroyed," said Maximilian.