Crusader. Novel by Sara Douglass

StarGrace nodded, but said nothing, and she walked further into the chamber.

She had a peculiar gait, almost as if she were walking on claws rather than feet.

StarLaughter tilted her head to one side and regarded StarGrace. It was a positive sign that

StarGrace appeared so: the Hawkchilds could transform themselves back into a semblance of their

former selves, but generally it did not suit them.

Revenge always required a much darker mien.

But here was StarGrace in at least a semblance of her former self, although StarLaughter could see

she’d left her feet taloned and the material of the robe shifted from feather to cloth with every movement

of the eye. And since StarGrace had returned to her former appearance, that meant only one thing:

StarGrace was willing to talk, and to talk on StarLaughter’s terms.

“Qeteb sent you to hunt me down?” StarLaughter said.

“Yes.” StarGrace’s voice was husky, almost whispery.

“How did you find me?”

“I haunted these corridors, too. Remember?”

StarLaughter nodded. StarGrace was her niece, daughter of CloudBurst, WolfStar’s younger

brother. StarGrace had spent many years in Talon Spike as well, and as a SunSoar, close to the Talon,

she would have known about these basements.

“I knew this would be the only place you could hide,” StarGrace continued.

“And yet you did not tell this to Qeteb,” StarLaughter said. She wanted to smile — now she knew

she could manipulate the Hawkchilds! — but realised the folly of revealing her triumph too soon, and so

kept her face impassive.

StarGrace had moved to within a pace of StarLaughter, and now she extended a hand —

StarLaughter noted that it, too, was in the shape of a claw — to help StarLaughter rise.

“I wanted to hear what you had to say,” StarGrace said, and StarLaughter nodded.

She brushed out her gown, and spoke. “I have become disenchanted with Qeteb and the Demons.”

“Questors,” corrected StarGrace.

“No,” StarLaughter said firmly. “Not Questors. Demons.” She shrugged. “Although, in truth, the

semantics of the matter bothers me little. Demons or Questors, they aided us when no-one else would,

and gave us succour and hope.”

“This is true.”

“They said they would return us to Tencendor so we could revenge ourselves on Wolf Star.”

“This is true.”

“But have they done this?”

StarGrace was silent, regarding StarLaughter thoughtfully.

“We are back in Tencendor, true — but look what they have done to it!”

“I don’t think that the ruin of Tencendor means much to our plans for —”

“And do they let us do what we need to do?” StarLaughter continued, putting as much emotion and

conviction into her voice as she was able. “Why can’t they let us go to hunt down WolfStar?

Stars knows it is the only reason we continue to exist!”

StarGrace shifted from foot to foot (claw to claw), and blinked. She cocked her head to

one side, thinking.

“It was the only thing that kept us going through our frightful deaths and then through

thousands of years drifting in space!” StarLaughter grabbed the front of StarGrace’s robe and gave her a

little shake. “We are nothing without a fulfilment for our revenge!”

StarGrace finally nodded. “What do you want?”

“Will you tell Qeteb that you could not find me?”

“What?” StarGrace cocked her head, then tipped it to the other side, regarding StarLaughter

almost as a mouse she might like to gobble up. “Why?”

“So I can be left in peace to find WolfStar. Who else can do it? When I find him, we can then have

our revenge!”

StarLaughter was not finding it easy to lie to StarGrace, but she needed to do it. The last thing she

could tell the Hawkchilds was that she and WolfStar were destined to reunite in love! StarLaughter had

no intention of handing WolfStar over to the Hawkchilds for a nasty death, but for the moment she could

do with their sharp eyes, and so for the moment they would prove useful.

StarLaughter was forgetting even her desire to rescue her son in her new-found love for WolfStar.

Ah! They had been such magnificent lovers once, and would be again!

StarGrace narrowed her eyes at the emotions roiling across StarLaughter’s face, and StarLaughter

only just managed to remember her need to convince the Hawkchilds of her need for a revenge on

WolfStar.

She tried to look as guileless as possible … no easy task.

“You want time and space to find WolfStar?” StarGrace said. “He is in the Maze, surely.”

“No!” StarLaughter said, her voice horribly shrill. “I looked! I did! He’s gone.”

She leaned forward, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “The Demons let him

escape. When they had him in their very parlour! Do you see what I mean? Why didn’t they give him

to us then? Obviously we can’t trust the Demons to hunt WolfStar down for us. I must do it.”

StarGrace thought, her face unreadable.

“Have I not lusted for revenge with you for the past countless thousands of years? For the Stars’

sakes, StarGrace, I want him dead as much as you do!”

“And so you want me to lie to the Demons.”

“Yes. What do we owe them? Nothing. They used us and drained us. Now we are on our own.

You and me and the other children. On our own.”

“I do not like to have to lie to Qeteb.”

StarLaughter could hear the uncertainty in StarGrace’s voice.

“My dear,” she said gently, and gathered the girl into her arms, “will you protect me? I need the

space and the peace in which to find him so that we may all revenge ourselves on him. Will you grant me

that?”

“And when you do find him?” StarGrace pulled back, but reluctantly, and StarLaughter knew it. “I

and my companions would not like to be cheated of our revenge as well.”

“When I find him, I shall call. StarGrace, will you tell Qeteb you could not find me?”

StarGrace was silent a long moment, then she gave a quick jerk of her head in assent. “Find him,

and, finding him, do not fail us.”

StarLaughter nodded. “I will not fail you, StarGrace, nor any of the others whom WolfStar

murdered.”

Then she smiled, and leaned forward and kissed StarGrace on the cheek.

The Hawkchild pulled back in astonishment. A hug was one thing, but a kiss?

“Do you not remember what it was like to be loved, StarGrace?”

“I remember that love did not save me from a vile death.”

And then StarGrace was gone, and StarLaughter had the time and space she needed. She sat down

again, folding the material of her robe carefully to display her form to best advantage, and thought. The

Hawkchilds would now work to her purpose, providing her, not only with a degree of protection

from Qeteb (damn him for all time!) but also with hundreds of eyes to seek out WolfStar.

StarLaughter frowned slightly, chewing her lip. Who else could help bring her and WolfStar back

together again? Ah! DragonStar! WolfStar would doubtless worm his way into DragonStar’s camp

sooner or later, and StarLaughter would need to gain DragonStar’s trust in order to get WolfStar back.

So … how to enlist DragonStar’s trust and aid? StarLaughter thoughtfully cupped one of her breasts

in her hand. Her body had tempted DragonStar once and no doubt could again … no! She needed to

keep herself pure for WolfStar. She must use guile rather than seduction.

Ah! StarLaughter giggled. She had the perfect idea! Not only would it appeal to DragonStar’s desire

to wrest Tencendor back from the Demons, and gain her WolfStar, it might also cause the Demons

enough trouble that she and WolfStar would be able to rescue their son as well.

She sighed, happy, contented, and as dreamy as a thirteen-year-old girl in love for the first time.

Chapter 14

Envy

DragonStar sat in a great circular stone hall. It was flagged and walled with cream-coloured stone shot

through with gold. Rose and sapphire glass windows rose to dizzying heights, their columns

supporting a hammerbeam ceiling of golden wood. DragonStar had wanted somewhere

quiet to sit, and Sanctuary had, as was its wont, provided him with this.

As with most things within and of Sanctuary, the peaceful beauty of the hall left DragonStar feeling

uncomfortable. This perturbed him, not only because he was disturbed at the appearance of

Sanctuary — it reminded him too much of the worlds the Demons had dragged him through — but

because of the deep river of disquiet that ran through the peoples sheltering in Sanctuary. Stars! If they

were bored and fractious here, then how would they cope with the eternal peacefulness of the Infinite

Field of Flowers? Ah! DragonStar forcibly turned his mind away from his worries. No doubt his disquiet

was caused by seeing Qeteb not only in Spiredore but at the gates of Sanctuary itself.

And by the unsettling sight of Niah.