CHAPTER ONE

Northern Plains of Isembaard

T hey left the next morning, Zeboath confident that Ishbel was well enough to travel. She was very quiet, and Axis wondered if it was because she still felt unwell, or if she feared what lay ahead. It was probably a combination, Axis thought, as he settled Ishbel on the quietest horse he could find for her. She could sit the horse well enough, but she had little confidence on it, and Axis thought he’d need to keep close by in case she experienced any troubles.

Axis nodded at Zeboath, who had brought his own horse, as well as a packhorse loaded with panniers and bundles. Zeboath had been prepared to leave Torinox in any case, and had needed only to load the packhorse to be ready to depart with Axis.

Axis’ men had been up since dawn, readying for departure. He greeted Insharah and spent a few minutes quietly conferring with him about their plans and the route for the day. As they spoke, Axis noted one of the other men pausing as he saddled his horse, then resting his head momentarily against the horse’s neck, as if he felt unwell.

“Is Madarin ill?” Axis asked Insharah.

Insharah looked over and grunted. “He has a bellyache,” he said. “Ate too much of the landlord’s eel pie last night.”

“Ah,” said Axis, “then a hard day’s ride should iron out those knots, eh?”

They rode out of Torinox by midmorning. It was later than Axis had really wanted to leave (and if Zeboath had had his way then they would have been gone by dawn), but he hadn’t wanted to push Ishbel. The most immediate route to Aqhat was directly south, but Axis thought it might be better if they rode southeast toward the Lhyl. He didn’t think Ishbel should be made to ride the entire distance to Aqhat—it would be better by far to hire river craft for the majority of the journey.

Nonetheless, Ishbel managed fairly well. Axis did not force the pace, going only as fast as he judged was comfortable for her. The going was good. Even though it was high summer in Isembaard, this close to the FarReach Mountains the sun was mild, the breezes cool, and the ground soft underneath the horses’

hooves. Axis enjoyed the day. Ishbel rode mostly in silence—Axis did not push her for conversation—but he, Zeboath, and Insharah rode together, just to one side of Ishbel, and laughed and chatted the day away. Zeboath was a good companion. He had a mischievous sense of humor and a witty turn of phrase, and was so palpably glad to have escaped Torinox that his zest infected both Axis and Insharah.

They stopped for a brief meal just after noon, then rode another four hours. By that time Ishbel was visibly wearying, and Axis knew they’d have to stop for the night. He’d hoped to find a village or small town, but there was nothing within three or four hours’ ride.

For stars’ sakes, Axis thought, irritated by the lack of anywhere comfortable to sleep, I cannot understand Isaiah’s wish to depopulate this region further!

They would need to camp for the night, and as Ishbel had made it this far over the FarReach Mountains, Axis thought she would manage another night in the open.

It was close to evening by the time they’d unsaddled the horses and established a camp. Insharah had seen to the lighting of two campfires, one for the soldiers, and one for Axis, Ishbel, and Zeboath. Axis noted wryly that while he and the soldiers had shared the one campfire on the trip north, as soon as a woman (and a queen at that) and a physician had joined the troop, social distinctions had come silently into play, and Axis had been relegated to entertain the visitors while the soldiers maintained their own ribald campfire.

They settled down, eating a cold meal of bread and cheese and pickles. As Axis chewed his food, he reflected on all the journeys he’d taken in his life, and all the people with whom he’d shared a campfire.

Zeboath saw Axis watching Ishbel speculatively, and asked him what he was thinking.

Axis gave a soft laugh, brushing his fingers together to rid himself of bread crumbs. “I was thinking of all the beautiful women I’ve shared a campfire with in my life,” he said, “and of all the strange adventures and mysteries of which we were in pursuit. All the dangers, the terrors, and the ecstasies that we encountered.”

“And all the magics,” Ishbel said. “You were born for this kind of adventure, Axis. Not I.”

Axis gave a small shrug of his shoulders.

“What did you mean yesterday,” he said, “when you said Maximilian had brought the terror of the Veins out with him?”

Ishbel glanced at Zeboath.

“I am sure that Zeboath knows how to hold his tongue when needed,” Axis said. “Eh, Zeboath?”

Zeboath nodded, his eyes round, and Axis repressed a grin. He’d never seen anyone enjoy an adventure as much as Zeboath.

“Maximilian has an affinity for the darkness,” Ishbel said. She had a piece of bread and cheese in her hands, and she stared at it as she spoke, turning it over and over.

“In what manner?” Axis said.

“He becomes one with the darkness,” Ishbel said, finally looking up and meeting Axis’ eyes. “He can blend with it.”

As Axis frowned slightly, she continued. “When first we met…” She gave a short, soft laugh. “When first we met he used the darkness to spy on me. It was in Pelemere. I had a chamber in a house belonging to King Sirus, and it was not especially large. I returned to it one evening, and bathed and ate, and for an hour or more I did not realize that Maximilian was in that chamber with me, until he drew a breath, and I heard him.”

“He was not just lurking behind a wardrobe, or the shadow of the door?” Axis asked.

Ishbel shook her head. “He was standing against a wall, but I had clear sight of it. And yet, in all the time, I did not see him. And then, when we escaped the city—”

Axis made a mental note to ask her sometime why they’d needed to “escape” Pelemere.

“—he cloaked me in the same manner, and we crept past guards within touching distance, and they never saw us.”

“That sounds an admirable skill,” said Zeboath. “Imagine the ladies on whom I could spy.”

Ishbel gave a small smile, but there was no amusement behind it. “Maximilian is very disconcerting.”

Axis was becoming more intrigued with the man the more he heard about him, and wondered, somewhat idly, if Ba’al’uz had stolen the wrong person.

Ishbel looked at Axis directly. “As are you.”

Axis jerked out of his reverie. “What?”

“I woke, the other night, and saw you holding a most strange object in your hand. It glowed…and, oh, the expression on your face. I have seen that expression before only ever on the faces of priests locked in god-power. So, Axis, what darkness are you carrying about in your pack and in your heart?”

Axis considered a moment, then decided to be frank. “Bear with me,” he said. “I’ll need to explain first some of my background, especially for Zeboath.”

He looked to Zeboath. “I told you that I came from the lost land of Tencendor. My full name is Axis SunSoar, and once I was StarMan of Tencendor, and later one of the seven Star Gods of that land. Then came invasion and disaster, and I lost contact with the source of all my power, the Star Dance, and my son, DragonStar SunSoar, saved the land only by destroying it. Perhaps you have heard something of my life.”

Zeboath managed to close his mouth and collect himself. “Ah, yes. Yes, I have.”

“Well,” said Axis, “when I was a far greater man than I am now, I drew power from the Star Dance—the music that the stars make in their dance through the heavens. It filtered through to Tencendor via the Star Gate, a magical gateway into the universe. From the Star Dance itself I could manipulate the dance and create enchantments out of it. When the Timekeeper Demons destroyed the Star Gate, they also cut off the flow of the Star Dance and I, supreme Star God, became once again a mere mortal.”

His mouth twisted in deprecating humor. “It was a devastating blow. Not just to me, but to all Icarii Enchanters, all of whom drew strength and beauty and power from the Star Dance. It wasn’t only the loss of power, but it was more the loss of the beauty that had underpinned our every breath and our every thought. That beauty…”

Axis sighed, rose, and fetched his pack. From it he withdrew a cloth bundle, which he unwrapped to reveal the glass pyramid, now a dull gray. He passed it first to Ishbel, who held it only a moment before passing it to Zeboath.

“One of my men found this in the packs of Ba’al’uz’ men,” Axis said, taking it back from Zeboath. “It belonged to Ba’al’uz himself, and I know what it is because Isaiah has one, as does…well, I know what it does. It is a communication device. I have seen Isaiah use his, but have never touched it myself. The first night I brought Ishbel to Torinox, while she slept, I pulled this from my pack and studied it.” He paused, turning the pyramid over and over in his hand. “It did not look this gray then.”

“It was a lovely rosy color, I think,” Ishbel said. “I am sure I remember a rosy glow coming from it.”

“Yes,” Axis said, “normally it is an opaque rose color, and as soon as I touched it I felt the Star Dance.

Just faintly, but, oh, stars, it was there.”

He looked at the other two, willing them to understand the depth of his emotion at this discovery. “I—all Icarii Enchanters—thought the Star Dance lost forever. We were certain that the only means we’d had to access it was via the Star Gate, which was irretrievably destroyed by the Timekeeper Demons. We had thought…we had no idea…”

Axis had to stop. “You can have no idea what this discovery means to me.”

“I think somehow I do,” said Ishbel, very gently. She gave him a moment, then said, “But this pyramid is now gray and lifeless. What has happened?”

Axis smiled a little. “Ah. These are communication devices, although they may very well do other things.

When I toyed with it, when I touched oh-so-briefly the Star Dance through it, someone elsewhere knew what I did. And they closed off all power to it, or shut this pyramid down. They did not want me examining it too closely. That was disappointing, yes, but this,” he hefted the pyramid in his hand, “gives me so much hope. Partly because I know that if I can ‘reopen’ it, then I may be able to touch the Star Dance again, but also because this is not a natural object. Somewhere, someone has made it, and that someone knows how to touch the Star Dance.”

“An Icarii?” said Ishbel. “This is an Icarii object?”

“I am not sure. It stinks of Icarii, and I can’t imagine who or what else could have made it, but yet there is something foreign about that sense. An Icarii…but not quite…Ah, I don’t know. It is a mystery, and one I shall look forward to solving.”

He gave a lopsided grin and packed the pyramid away again.

“You said it was a communication device,” said Zeboath, “and you said that you knew of three. Isaiah has one, Ba’al’uz’ one you now have, but who has the third?”

Axis glanced at Ishbel. “The third is in the hands of the Lord of the Skraelings, a man called Lister.”

Axis had thought Ishbel might react to mention of the Skraelings and might have jumped to a conclusion about why Isaiah was communicating with the creatures’ lord, but her reaction was far different to what he expected.

“Lister?” she said.

“You know him, Ishbel?” Axis said.

Ishbel hesitated, then opened her mouth to speak, but just then Insharah walked over to their campfire.

“Sir,” Insharah murmured to Axis. “Madarin, the man you noted before we rode out, is sick nigh to death, I think. Can Zeboath the physician examine him?”