Pilgrim by Sara Douglas

would re-emerge and ensnare him with whatever Demon-fed power he‘d grown?

―Let me go,‖ WolfStar said, almost whispering with hate this time.

Drago stared at the Enchanter. What could be done with WolfStar? Drago knew that had

he been Axis the decision would have been an easy one: kill him.

But Drago was not his father, and he could not forget that although WolfStar had done

massive harm in Tencendor, he had also done much that was right.

Including killing many Enchanter children, and his own wife? Driving them into the arms

of Demons to be thrown back against the land? And what about Zenith? How much harm had

WolfStar done her soul?

―Well?‖ StarDrifter hissed.

Drago glanced at him. His grandfather‘s face was furious, but Drago knew that

StarDrifter was hardly the right person to entrust with WolfStar‘s confinement.

He sighed. ―Will you keep him, Isfrael?‖

Isfrael took a deep breath of triumph, and placed a hand on Drago‘s shoulder.

―I do not mean for you to kill him,‖ Drago said softly. ―Merely to hold him until we can

decide what to do with him.‖

Isfrael‘s face flushed with anger. ―I—‖

―You do not have the right to kill him,‖ Drago said, and held Isfrael‘s stare. ―He must

face justice for what he has done, whether to those he murdered, to Tencendor generally, or to

Zenith.‖

Drago shot StarDrifter a sympathetic glance, and finally let his arm go. ―But not yet. Wait

until we have bested the Demons and Tencendor is ours again. Then shall we let Tencendor sit in

judgement of him.‖

Isfrael hesitated, then jerked his head in assent.

―Can you hold him safely?‖ Drago asked.

―Yes,‖ Isfrael said, and from the surrounding forest sprang eight swarthy, well-muscled

Avar men with coils of ropes and stakes. Once four or five of them had seized and bound the

furious Enchanter, Drago waved his hand, dissolving the enchantment that had held WolfStar.

Isfrael surely had enough skill left to keep the Enchanter out of mischief.

As six of the Avar men carried WolfStar away, another picked Niah up and followed

them.

―Isfrael?‖ Drago said as the Mage-King moved to follow his men. ― Do not let him

escape! ‖

Isfrael stared at Drago, and then he was gone.

―He should have been killed,‖ StarDrifter said. ―It would have been safer.‖

―There has been too much killing,‖ Drago said, then silently walked the way back to the

entrance to Sanctuary.

Once there, Drago asked one of the Lake Guard guiding the Icarii down the stairwell to

send word to Faraday to meet him at the bridge, then he turned back to watch the horizon, his

face creased in thought.

―What is it?‖ StarDrifter asked quietly, concerned by the worry evident in Drago‘s face.

―The Demons are but four days away—and it will take more days than that to get all the

Icarii into Sanctuary.‖

―Can we suspend the evacuation while the Demons are here?‖

Drago shook his head. ―I would prefer not to.‖

―We have little choice—‖ StarDrifter began, but Drago turned and smiled at him with

such sweetness that StarDrifter was taken aback.

―Perhaps there is,‖ Drago said. ―See?‖ He pointed to the north. ―The Demons will come

through from that direction. Not only because it is the most direct path from the Lake of Life, but because there are no trees on that side of Fernbrake‘s crater. They will want to steer clear of the

trees.‖

―And the Icarii are filing down into the crater from the south, and through the trees.‖

―Exactly. Perhaps I can arrange it so that the Demons will never see the Icarii, nor the

entrance to Sanctuary. Wait here.‖

Drago walked to the nearest tree and laid his hand on her trunk.

―I beg your indulgence,‖ he whispered, ―and crave your understanding in what I now do.‖

He leaned upwards and broke off a small branch and then broke that into several dozen

smaller pieces.

―What are you doing?‖ StarDrifter asked.

―Come with me,‖ Drago said, and led the way around the gentle curve of the Lake to the

point where the path wound down out of the forested slope and arced towards the entrance to

Sanctuary. There, oblivious of the curious stares of the Icarii walking along the path, Drago bent

and placed one of the broken pieces of wood in the ground.

He straightened. ―StarDrifter, will you aid me by placing a handful of water from the

Lake about each of these twigs I plant?‖

StarDrifter nodded, his eyes narrowed in thought. Stars! Surely Drago did not command

the power to…?

He did as his grandson asked, and for each twig that Drago placed in the ground about the

curve of the path, StarDrifter carefully placed a handful of the emerald water in the depression

that surrounded it.

When Drago reached the entrance to Sanctuary, he planted the final half a dozen twigs

before it, and waited patiently for StarDrifter to water them.

―You can‘t do it,‖ StarDrifter said as he rose from the final twig.

Drago grinned. ―Really? Faraday did, so why can‘t I? Stand back a pace, StarDrifter. I

would not want you damaged.‖

Frowning, StarDrifter stepped back, watching Drago. The man had lowered his eyes, as if

in concentration, and he hefted the staff slightly in his left hand his fingers opening and then

closing about it. StarDrifter thought he saw a very slight flicker go through the muscles of

Drago‘s hand where it clenched about the wood, but he could not be sure.

The next moment Drago raised his face, and his left hand drew a symbol so fast and so

fluidly that StarDrifter could not follow it.

―Do as I ask,‖ Drago said, his voice curiously flat, and an instant later StarDrifter—as

every Icarii within fifty paces—cried out in surprise.

Where Drago had planted the twigs, now rose massive trees. Even taller and more dense

than usual for the Minstrelsea, they unravelled in the space of two breaths, and when they were

finally still, the spaces between them were so filled with jutting branches and overhanging

foliage that no-one could see through them.

It was not only branch and foliage that protected the Icarii from view, for between each

tree also hung such threatening shadow that StarDrifter knew no-one would be tempted to walk

through to investigate.

The passage from Minstrelsea to Sanctuary was completely hidden.

―Ye gods!‖ StarDrifter murmured, and looked at Drago.

―Faraday?‖

She turned from where she‘d been waiting at the valley end of the silver-tracery bridge

and looked at Drago walking across the bridge towards her. Maybe they had come to some kind

of compromise regarding their relationship, and maybe Drago had accepted her decision with

unusual good humour for a SunSoar—but he had also pointed out he was a SunSoar male, and

Faraday was only too well aware what difficulties might lie ahead for her.

Beside her Katie looked on patiently, her hand, as always, clasped in Faraday‘s. Now

Faraday tightened her grip slightly on the girl‘s fingers.

StarDrifter was a step behind Drago and, as they neared, Faraday switched her eyes to

him. ―StarDrifter, we should talk—‖ she began, but Drago interrupted her.

―No. You can talk to StarDrifter some other time. For now we have to go to Carlon.‖

―Why?‖

―Faraday,‖ Drago said, as gently as he could. ―The Icarii are not the only ones who will

need the comfort of Sanctuary, and whatever Acharites are left will have a hard journey from

Carlon. We will need to aid them.‖

―Yes. Of course…I‘m sorry. StarDrifter? Will you talk with Zenith?‖ Faraday asked.

StarDrifter nodded, but looked puzzled. ―About what?‖

―About how much you love her, and what you would do for that love.‖

StarDrifter nodded again, but frowned a little. He inclined his head at Drago, and then

walked past Faraday towards Sanctuary. Drago watched him go, then gave a sharp whistle.

Almost instantly the hounds, cats and the feathered lizard bounded out of the grass.

Drago grinned at them, rubbing heads and patting flanks as they crowded about him, and

then he looked at Faraday. He unslung the Wolven from his shoulder, as also the quiver of

arrows.

―Will you take these? I am overburdened enough.‖

―Me?‖ Faraday kept her hands at her side, refusing to take the Wolven and quiver. She

wasn‘t quite sure why she hesitated, but wondered if even the act of accepting something from

Drago‘s hands might be construed as acknowledging a bond between them.

―Faraday, please. They will not bite.‖

Slowly she reached out and took them, handling them as gingerly as if she thought they

might explode in her hands. At Drago‘s urgings, she eventually slung the bow and quiver over

her shoulder.

―Good,‖ Drago said, and held out his hand.

Faraday tensed, thinking he meant her to take it, but in the next instant he‘d sketched a

symbol in the air, and the far end of the bridge from Sanctuary dissolved into a blue-misted