power. It is the weapon I will fashion from your weakness! See! See!”
And, despite himself, DragonStar turned to see what it was that Qeteb wielded.
Faraday — or what was left of her.
DragonStar felt a cry tear itself from his breast, and the Star Stallion faltered, and the Alaunt
milled in confusion, and the next instant Qeteb was upon him.
As Qeteb moved forward, Axis shifted to urge Sal forward as well, but DragonStar shook his head
almost imperceptibly, and Axis stilled.
“Neither of us can escape what has been foreordained,” DragonStar said, and none failed to note
that his voice trembled slightly.
Everyone watching could feel the amusement radiating out from Qeteb.
“No,” he said, “we can’t. But since I have given your witches such a good head start, I thought it
only fair that I amuse myself with this convoy in the meantime. Fair’s fair, after all.”
The sense of amusement — almost joy — radiating out from Qeteb increased tenfold until both Axis
and Urbeth were forced to back away several steps.
“And I find,” the Demon continued, “that I have enjoyed myself so much I may well be back for
another nibble.”
Qeteb hefted the axe, then hurled it into the ground before the Star Stallion.
Belaguez’s ears flickered, and his eyes rolled slightly, but he did not flinch.
“Don’t bother,” DragonStar said. “This column is invulnerable.”
His only reply was laughter, and DragonStar flinched at its virulence.
Qeteb’s laughter slowly subsided, then, with a final chuckle, he lifted into the air, and was gone within
heartbeats, Barzula behind him.
Axis lowered his head from watching the Demons fly away towards the other end of the avenue and
looked at his son.
“Tell me you can defeat him,” he said. “Tell me …”
Chapter 46
South
Qeteb strode into the still squabbling fracas of four Demons and tore them apart. He was in a high good
humour — surely he had forced DragonStar’s hand to the point where the starry idiot would try and
move the sixth elsewhere … an elsewhere that might be more vulnerable than the column — and
thus he did the four no permanent injury. The abrasions and tears he did cause healed themselves
within the moment.
SpikeFeather, as Urbeth’s two daughters and the Ravensbund warriors, straightened in alarm —
SpikeFeather moving even closer to the two women — but Qeteb laughed and waved a dismissive hand.
“Enjoy your victory while you can,” he said, “for your eventual defeat is but a week or so away.”
And then all six Demons vanished.
Qeteb rose so far into the sky that he was invisible from the ground.
Then he rose higher still, until even enchantment could not touch him.
Then, so high he had risen into the blackness between air and space, he rolled over onto his back.
He closed his eyes, summoned all his power and concentration, and sent a tiny but potent shaft of his
perception shooting down towards the column.
“Reveal yourself, mine Enemy,” Qeteb whispered. “Reveal yourself!”
DragonStar dropped his head and rubbed his eyes. Before him Axis and Azhure, Katie, StarDrifter and
Zared and Theod sat in a concerned circle.
“What will happen, DragonStar?” Axis asked for them all.
“Qeteb’s five companions will each confront my five witches. Individual jousts, if you will.”
Zared and Theod, even though they had known of this, still shook their heads in a combination
of concern for their wives and anger that DragonStar had put them in this frightful
predicament.
“And will they win?”
DragonStar looked up and met Axis’ eyes. “I hope so,” he said.
“Hope is not —”
“It is all I have!” DragonStar said harshly, and Axis nodded.
“Very well.” Axis paused. “What will happen if all or any of them fail?”
DragonStar took his time replying. “If one fails then it means that I will be seriously
weakened. Any more than that and I may fail —”
“Gods!” Zared exploded, “I care not for you and your ‘may fail’! I care only for my wife! As Theod
cares only for his wife! What happens if our wives fail?”
“If any of the witches fail, then they will ultimately die,” DragonStar said, turning his steady gaze from
Axis to Zared.
“Ah!” Zared said, and half turned away, still furiously angry.
“There is nothing you can do for the moment,” DragonStar said, reverting his gaze to his parents,
“but move south.”
“And there …?” Axis said.
“Clear as much of the land of the crazed creatures that cover it as you can,” DragonStar said. “Most
of the creatures will be below the Nordra, moving towards or in the Maze, or gathered about the other
three lakes. Journey south via the Lake of Life and Fernbrake.”
Zared turned back to DragonStar. “Thank you,” he said softly.
DragonStar shrugged slightly. “Gwendylyr’s and Leagh’s battles will have been fought and won or
lost by the time you reach them,” he said, “but at the least, you will know.”
He looked back to Axis. “Take this … this convoy south — peoples, creatures, trees — and meet
me at the Maze … what was once Grail Lake.”
“And there?” Axis said.
“And there will the final battle be played out,” DragonStar said, “and we move on or we flicker
out of existence forever.
There, the fate of the stars themselves will be decided. Whatever, you … everyone, will need to be
present and to witness.”
DragonStar looked back down the column, then spoke to Theod. “Will you go and find
SpikeFeather for me? Tell him I need him urgently.”
Theod nodded, and left.
“Why SpikeFeather?” Axis said.
DragonStar hesitated before he spoke. “I need to get Katie away from this column,” he finally
said. “To take her to somewhere as safe as possible.”
What if Qeteb did come back for a nibble? What if he found Katie?
Azhure nodded understanding. “The waterways.”
“Yes. Azhure …”
“I will go with Katie,” she said, taking Katie’s hand. “I promised Faraday I would look after
her.”
“But —” Axis began.
“We will be safe,” Azhure said, and smiled reassuringly at her husband. “What could happen to us in
the waterways?”
Far, far above in the higher atmosphere, Qeteb smiled, and drew his perception back into his body.
This girl, this tiny girl, this Katie. She was the one that DragonStar fretted about and sought to
protect.
She was the key, the heart incarnate.
And now DragonStar, as Qeteb had hoped, was going to move her somewhere he thought
safe.
“What can happen in the waterways?” Qeteb murmured to himself as he began the long descent.
“What, indeed!”
He rejoined his companions.
“It is your time,” Qeteb said. “Go.”
And the five scattered in the winds above the wasteland, their hearts capering with joy.
“Why did you dive screaming for the Demons?” one of the ice women asked SpikeFeather.
The birdman was seated with Urbeth’s two daughters about a small fire to one side of the
Ravensbund warriors’ larger camp. Both ice women sat close to him, and the one who spoke rested her
hand on his knee.
SpikeFeather supposed he should feel uncomfortable, but in truth he rather enjoyed the closeness.
“It was all I could think of doing,” he said. “You were both so …”
He wasn’t sure if it would be the best idea to mention how tired they were; if SpikeFeather had
learned one thing over the past few decades of dealing almost daily with highly magical people, it was that
they tended to be sensitive about any implied criticism, however slight.
The other ice woman shrugged. “My sister and I were exhausted, as was our mother.”
“You brought us a pause,” her sister continued, and her hand tightened very slightly on
SpikeFeather’s leg, “during which we could regain composure —”
“— and some measure of thought,” her sister finished for her, and she lifted her face and smiled at
SpikeFeather.
He grinned, and relaxed.
“Tell us about the Underworld,” one of the ice women said, and SpikeFeather wondered if he would
remember to ask after their names at some point.
“We have always wondered about the Underworld,” her sister said, and leaned so close that her
breath played over SpikeFeather’s cheek.
He suddenly became aware of how attractive, and compelling, if not precisely beautiful, the
two were.
“The Underworld seems to us to be so much like our beloved icepack,” the other said. “As full of
dangers, as full of twists and conundrums.”
“Tell us …”
“Please, tell us…”
And SpikeFeather found himself telling, and revelling in the closeness and warmth and loveliness of
these two enchanted creatures.
So absorbed was he, he did not notice Theod’s approach.
“SpikeFeather?”
SpikeFeather jumped, startled, and the ice sisters’ hands tightened on his arms.
“SpikeFeather, DragonStar needs to see you.”
He finally had something to do? SpikeFeather jumped to his feet, the ice sisters with him.
“I can smell an adventure!” one of them said.