brothers were still alive, but there was no sign of them nor of the slain Vampyres. The stone floor of the hall was bare.
We stood in a circle now, with the Vampyres all around us.
‘We cannot fight them all,’ said Wulf. ‘What do you suggest, Mace?’Take my sword,’ Mace told Piercollo, then moved back to where Wulf’s bow lay. Notching a gleaming arrow to the string, he stepped forward and aimed the shaft at the herald. ‘Send us back!’ he ordered.
‘I faced the first death like a man,’ the herald sneered. ‘I can face the second in the same way.’I moved alongside Mace and whispered, ‘Ignore him. Take the one on the throne!’ Mace swayed to his right, the arrow flashing through the air – a gleam of silver light that sped towards the breast of the hooded figure. Just before it struck the figure disappeared and the shaft hammered into the throne. The bones fell apart, crashing to the floor of the hall.
The world spun crazily and I recall the sensation of falling, spinning through the air.
I awoke with a start to see Astiana leaning over me. As I opened my eyes she whispered, Thanks be to God!’I sat up. Mace was on his knees, rubbing his eyes. Wulf was groaning. Piercollo was sitting by himself with his head in his hands. The Earl was kneeling, with Scrymgeour, beside the bodies of the brothers. There were no marks upon them, but they were cold and dead.
‘Where is it?’ shouted Wulf suddenly, the sound making me jump. ‘Where is the skull?’The enemy has it,’ said Astiana softly.
‘What are you talking about?’ hissed Mace. ‘We fought them off.’She shook her head. ‘Last night a vision came to me, warning me of great danger. I tried to rouse you all, but only Ilka awoke. Then a man appeared from the forest – a tall, thin man with a straggly beard. Ilka had her sabre ready and he did not threaten us. He merely said that unless we gave him the skull none of you would wake. At first I did not believe him, but then he told me to check the heartbeat of the Earl’s men. Two of them were already dead. Then I knew he spoke the truth.’
‘You gave Cataplas the skull?’ I said, astonished. ‘You have delivered a great weapon into the hands of evil men!’I did it to save you,’ she argued, tears in her eyes. ‘And I was right! You returned!’I was furious. ‘We came back . . .’ I began.
Mace grabbed my arm. ‘We returned,’ he said gently, ‘thanks to you, Astiana. Now let us say no more about it.’The dawn was breaking and the first rays of the morning sun shone down upon us.
‘I did the right thing, Owen. I did!’ said Astiana, moving alongside me.
My anger died down as swiftly as it had come. ‘Of course you did,’ I told her, smiling, and I glanced at Mace.
My father would have liked him. The spell of if only had no power over the Morningstar.
It took almost a month to reach the south-eastern edges of the forest, where the distant towers of Ziraccu could be seen from the highest hills. All around us the world was changing. Corlan had intercepted five rich convoys and was becoming almost as great a legend as the Morningstar. Brackban had gathered a powerful force of some five hundred men and had fought two skirmishes with Ikenas soldiers, fighting them to a standstill in the first and routing them in the second.
Towns and villages had risen against the invader and word of the rebellion had reached Ebracum, where Edmund the King was spending the summer and autumn. In one of the ransacked convoys Corlan had found corresppndence from the King to Azrek demanding action against the Morningstar, allied to a promise of more troops in the spring.
But this we did not know as we began our journey.
For the first few days, as we travelled, Ilka stayed close beside Astiana, locked in the silent commune of spirit, and I found myself envying the Gastoigne sister her ability. Longing to share it, I became morose and distant. But after some ten days, as we camped in a shallow cave, Ilka came and sat beside me, reaching out and lightly touching my hand. I heard a whisper then, deep in my mind, like the memory of a lost song.