Pilgrim by Sara Douglas

contented herself with patting Caelum‘s chest as if to reassure herself it was still whole, and took

Axis‘ hands and kissed his palms.

Then she looked around. Azhure‘s first impression that all the blood had gone was

wrong. They were surrounded by it. The bodies of their horses, and of the captain and the men of

the escort, were strewn about the floor of the tunnel, splintered bones poking through ragged

flesh.

Their swords lay to one side, blades gleaming spotlessly.

She raised her eyes and looked at Axis, and he stepped forward and took her hand.

―Come,‖ he said. ―We will walk the remainder of the way.‖

They picked up their swords and walked forward in silence. Azhure battled back tears.

Never had she been as helpless in her entire life as she had been in the past hour. Her son and

husband apparently torn to pieces before her eyes, their escort slaughtered, laughed at by beings

that but a few months ago would have barely dared to threaten her shadow.

Even Azhure the Plough-keeper‘s daughter would have done more against them than she

had, she berated herself. But no, Azhure the once-god could not even find the words to fling in

their defence.

For his part, Axis was thinking much the same. Could he not have done more? Gods!

Even a junior Axe-Wielder could have helped more than he‘d managed!

They approached a gentle curve in the tunnel. Once around it, the three saw that the

tunnel apparently stretched into infinity.

There was no sign of the Alaunt.

―I sincerely hope this does lead to Star Finger,‖ Axis muttered, then straightened his

shoulders and looked at Caelum, marching silent and tight-faced by his side.

―Caelum, that black rider…is he the one who has hunted you through your dreams?‖

―Yes. The dreams started soon after Drago fled from Sigholt with the Rainbow Sceptre.

They have rarely left me since.‖

― Cursed be the day I conceived my second son!‖

Azhure frowned, remembering what StarLaughter had said. ―Axis…are you sure that

rider is Drago—‖

―He has always hunted me!‖ Caelum cried, halting and swinging to face his mother.

―Who else?‖

Azhure glanced at Axis—his face was as stubbornly set as Caelum‘s—and then took

Caelum‘s hands in hers.

―Caelum, might it not be StarLaughter‘s son, her DragonStar, that hunts you through

your dreams?‖

All she received by way of reply was a hostile stare.

Azhure took a deep breath and tried again. ―Caelum, Axis. StarLaughter was angry that

Caelum is heir to the Throne of the Stars and all that it implies. She said that her son should be

the heir. She had the legitimate son. That black rider, that DragonStar, rode out of the stars, as her son would—‖

―No,‖ Caelum said, pulling his hands from Azhure‘s. ―Did you not see his face? That was

the face of Drago, not some long-dead unborn child!‖

Again Azhure glanced at Axis, but she could see she wouldn‘t get any help from him.

―Caelum,‖ she said, ―both would look very similar. Drago takes after WolfStar in

colouring and features, and naturally StarLaughter‘s son would, too. After all, they are virtually

brothers—‖

Caelum shifted impatiently, angrily. ― Drago is my enemy, mother, perhaps more so than

any of these Demons. It is the dagger from behind that always strikes home first. And did you

not hear StarLaughter? Drago has passed across to her every secret of our family, as he has

undoubtedly passed across the Sceptre. The Demons must have it, and I think they will use it to destroy us completely—‖

―Caelum,‖ Axis said. ―Enough. We need to talk about this in calmer surroundings than

this grey tunnel. Star Finger is all we have left, and I would prefer that we expend our energies

on walking there instead of arguing among ourselves.‖

Star Finger is all we have left? Caelum wondered. But Star Finger stores only Icarii

knowledge and magic, and Icarii knowledge and magic has as much hope of defeating these

Demons as a feather does of surviving a tempest. Is it time to give up? Is it time to say,

―enough‖? Surely we have done what we can. What more can one do against the treachery of a

brother?

They walked in silence, time out of mind, the overhead lights clicking softly on as they

approached, then turning themselves out some minutes after they‘d passed.

They walked in an isolated island of light and time and desperate bravado.

They eventually walked about a long sloping curve of the tunnel to come face to face

with the pack of Alaunt sitting facing them.

Every one of the hounds, Sicarius included, had shamefaced expressions.

Azhure stared at them. Could she blame them for fleeing before the dark cloud of

murdered children?

She sighed, rested her hand briefly on top of Sicarius‘ head, then walked past. Axis and

Caelum followed her, and the hounds fell into step behind the three.

They emerged, eventually, in the Avarinheim forest beneath the first of the Icescarp Alps.

―Stars!‖ Axis said, as they stood in the dawn air, looking at the trees and the rising cliffs.

―How did we come so far, so fast?‖

Azhure shrugged. ―The tunnels still contain some enchantment, perhaps.‖

Caelum paid no heed to his parents, instead inspecting the faint path that led through the

last of the trees to the rising cliffs. On the several occasions he‘d been to Star Finger, Caelum

had always used the Song of Movement to transport himself, but now he and his parents would

be forced to use the treacherous cliff paths that Rivkah had once traversed.

―We should get moving,‖ he said. ―The paths will only be traversable during daylight

hours.‖

He stepped forward, but Azhure grabbed at his arm, looking anxiously between her son

and Axis.

―And the Demons?‖ she said. ―And the hours when they roam? How will we protect

ourselves once we are past the safety of the trees?‖

―There are caves along the trails, Azhure. You must remember those, surely.‖

She stared at Axis, recalling their own journey so many years ago down the mountain

trails in order to join the Avar for Beltide. At night they had sheltered within the many caves that

ate into the mountainsides, singing and telling stories, and falling deeper and deeper in love.

She nodded slowly. ―They will be all the protection we‘ll have.‖

Caelum scanned the skies. ―We must watch for those children, too.‖

Axis shifted irritably. They were frighteningly vulnerable. Their escort, equipment,

horses and food had all gone. They had their swords, true, but swords would not be very useful

against any attack that plummeted from the sky, nor would they feed them at night. The

mountain trails were notoriously barren of food.

Axis looked about them, wondering if any of the Avar were close, but the forest was

silent and still, and they could not waste the time to search a Clan out.

―Caelum‘s right,‖ Axis said. ―We should get moving, and deal with any threat as it arises.

Azhure, send the hounds ranging ahead. If nothing else, they should spring any trap before it

closes about us.‖

She nodded, and ordered the Alaunt down the path before them. Azhure half-expected

them to disobey, but they sprang to their feet and loped out of sight down the path the instant

she‘d finished speaking.

Caelum watched them go. ―I do not trust them,‖ he said.

Azhure opened her mouth to defend them, then thought better of it. ―It is hard to know

who or what to trust now,‖ she eventually said.

Caelum hugged her. ―I trust you, and father,‖ he said, and lifted his eyes and smiled at

Axis.

For some reason, whether it was the open air or Caelum‘s smile, Axis felt more

optimistic and light-hearted than he had in days.

―Come,‖ he said. ―The mountains await.‖

The path wound through a final hundred paces of forest before it rose steeply into a curve

about the skirts of the first mountain.

All three of them were puffing within minutes.

―How long did it take Rivkah to climb these paths?‖ Caelum asked after an hour or so of

climbing.

Axis tried to remember what his mother had told him of her experiences. ―Many, many

days,‖ he said. ―A week or more.‖

―A week!‖ Caelum said, and looked at his mother ruefully. ―Or more.‖

―Perhaps the Alaunt can forage for rabbits, or small birds,‖ Azhure said. ―Damn! I wish I

had my bow with me.‖

―We can set traps, Azhure,‖ Axis said, and then conversation lapsed as they fought for

breath.

The climb was almost impossibly steep, and the footing treacherous. The trail wound up,

up, up through black-rocked ravines and gorges, following the paths carved out by mountain

streams and waterfalls. They remained almost entirely in the shade of the cliffs, for the

mountains were high and steep and the gorges narrow. The sun also rarely penetrated the mist

from streams and waterfalls.

Far above, black specks circled, sharing their vision with the Demons and StarLaughter