52
THE EARTH TREE GROVE
―He will live, GoldFeather, but he will not fly for some time. See, these two wounds have
cut deep into the flight muscles of his chest. They will need time to heal.‖ Barsarbe sighed, her
face gaunt and ashen after the terrible night they had all endured. Those Banes left had spent the
hours of the night tending to the wounded. ―Once he gets back to the hot springs of Talon Spike
he will heal faster and cleaner.‖
―I thank you, Bane Barsarbe. You have done more than your best here this night.‖ said
GoldFeather. Barsarbe had worked for over four hours on StarDrifter‘s wounds, stitching the
muscles back into place, sprinkling herbs into the deepest wounds to help fight infection and aid
healing.
A small group huddled about StarDrifter as he lay under the Earth Tree. RavenCrest, his
son FreeFall, EvenSong and Azhure. GoldFeather sat by her husband‘s side, her face tight with
worry. A few paces away stood a vigilant group of five of the Strike Force detailed by FarSight
CutSpur to guard the Talon and his heir. RavenCrest and FreeFall had been forced by CutSpur to
lift out of the grove the night before as the Skraelings attacked, and the Strike Force had kept
them well out of the way until the danger was over.
EvenSong had saved GoldFeather. As the Skraelings attacked Pease, EvenSong had
grabbed her mother and, through a supreme effort, lifted her to the tree tops. Although the Icarii
were very strong, few could carry the weight of another into the air.
Now EvenSong sat to one side, watching Bane Barsarbe work on her father. She was a
striking woman, with her uncle RavenCrest‘s violet eyes and her father‘s golden hair; like all
Icarii women, she wore her curls cropped close to her skull. Her wingbacks were the same gold
as her hair, and she dyed her underwings to match her eyes so that in the air she was all gold and
violet. Now her wings were tucked in behind her, the muscles of her back and chest strained and
aching. She and GoldFeather had huddled terrified in the tree tops of Earth Tree Grove, watching
the massacre below them, too scared to cry out even when StarDrifter was attacked, knowing
they could not help him.
EvenSong was shocked by the attack on the grove and her father and numbed by the
news of her elder brother. She knew that her parents had lost a child early in their relationship,
and that it caused them great and lasting sorrow. Now it seemed her brother lived. EvenSong, so
used to being an only child, found it strange to consider that she had an elder brother somewhere,
and one who had inherited StarDrifter‘s powers. EvenSong knew StarDrifter had hoped she
would inherit the mantle of Enchanter from him, but he had hid his disappointment well when it
became apparent that the baby daughter Rivkah carried would wield no more magic than
ordinary women. He loved his daughter nevertheless. But now her brother lived and would
become an Enchanter, if StarDrifter could ever find him. EvenSong, always a little
temperamental, was jealous.
EvenSong regarded Azhure with immense admiration and respect. As she and
GoldFeather had huddled terrified in the trees Azhure had helped turn the tide of the battle, not to
mention saving StarDrifter‘s life. No-one else had managed to act with such decisive
determination. EvenSong knew that many of the Strike Force had been shamed by Azhure‘s
actions. While they had hovered, screaming their frustration, she had somehow managed to rally
those on the ground. There would be soul searching among the Crest-Leaders over the next days.
RavenCrest was furious, both with his own inability to act and with the Crest-Leaders‘
impotence in the face of the Skraeling attack. What was the point, he had screamed earlier this
morning as he had strutted about the grove before the assembled Strike Force, of having a Strike
Force when his people died anyway? Was not the attack last night something they had trained
for? But RavenCrest stopped short of totally humiliating his Strike Force and twelve
Crest-Leaders. The Icarii, as the Avar, had lived in relatively peaceful isolation for so long that
they had forgotten the skills necessary to repel and counterattack. RavenCrest knew he had to
assume as much responsibility for the number of Icarii and Avar dead as anyone else.
RavenCrest, although he loved and respected his brother deeply, felt ashamed that it had
been StarDrifter who had salvaged the House of SunSoar‘s pride. In concert with the Avar, Bane
Raum, he had managed to awaken the Earth Tree, and now she continued to sing over the grove
and the entire northern Avarinheim. Her Song had repelled and destroyed the Skraeling attack.
Still the price had been awful.
Many hundreds of Icarii and Avar had been killed, the Avar bearing the brunt of the
attack because of their passivity and their inability to lift out of the grove. This evening the Icarii
and Avar would build great funeral pyres in the lesser groves, commending their dead to the
River of Death, the Avar praying that they reach the paths of the Sacred Grove while the Icarii
prayed that their own would remember the Star Song so that their souls would eventually be
reborn among the Stars themselves.
Azhure saw EvenSong watching her. She was fascinated by the Icarii woman and hoped
she would have the chance to know her better. But for the moment there was too much sadness
to contemplate new friendships. Fleat‘s daughter Hogni had been killed by the Skraelings as well
as Pease. At least Fleat had been well out of it, escorting the young children further south into the
forest. Hopefully they had evaded attack. Despite the grateful and dignified thanks of the Icarii
and Avar, Azhure felt more cast adrift than ever. Azhure lowered her eyes and studied her hands.
She wasn‘t sure what she should do now. Pease had been her strongest tie with the Clan,
and now she was gone. The memory of her desperate, pain-filled eyes, her hand stretched out to
Azhure for help, would be with her for always. Azhure sat beneath the singing Earth Tree and
stared at her hands, trying to clean the dried blood out from underneath her fingernails, thinking
about her future.
―StarDrifter. Can you talk?‖ RavenCrest squatted down beside his brother.
StarDrifter held out his hand and his brother helped him sit up. Although Barsarbe had
neatly stitched his wounds, his torso still looked appalling, and Azhure winced in sympathy as a
moan escaped his lips. His face was drawn tight with suffering, his injuries now felt worse than
when they had gaped open. Barsarbe had been forced to pull great handfuls of feathers from his
wings in order to stitch the lacerations there, and StarDrifter‘s Icarii vanity hurt almost as much
as his wounds.
―Yes,‖ he said, hoping that his voice did not croak too much. ―We need to talk,
RavenCrest.‖
RavenCrest was silent for a moment, looking thoughtfully at the ground, then he raised
his proud head and stared StarDrifter in the eye. ―How much damage did the Skraelings do,
Enchanter?‖
StarDrifter knew he was not asking about the physical damage. He took a deep breath,
then flinched as his wounds screamed in agony at their misuse. ―The damage was bad, yet it
might have been worse, RavenCrest. We did not finish the Yuletide rites, but the SkraeBolds did
not launch the attack until after the circle of fire was lit. The sun will be reborn, and has,‖ he
said, his eyes briefly checking the sky. ―But it will be weak as it grows towards the spring thaw.
Perhaps too weak. The earth will have to struggle hard if it is to break through the covering of
snow and ice. Brother, it could have been worse. If the circle of fire had not been lit we could be
facing perpetual winter.‖
RavenCrest nodded. ―Gorgrael has gained ground.‖
―But not as much as he had hoped for,‖ his son FreeFall said, standing behind his father.
The young Icarii prince was starting to grow into his birthright, and over the past few years was
admitted to all of his father‘s councils and allowed to take on some of the daily tasks of the
position he would one day inherit. FreeFall was considered by many to have the makings of a
great Talon in him; unlike his father, he did not sometimes let his innate arrogance get in the way
of making the right decision.
StarDrifter nodded at his brother and nephew. ―You are both right. Gorgrael had surely
hoped for far more than what his SkraeBolds achieved. If they had done what he ordered then even now winter would be freezing over the Avarinheim, and I would be in the Destroyer‘s
clutches.‖
GoldFeather, who had remained silent through this exchange, looked horrified. ―What do
you mean, ‗in the Destroyer‘s clutches‘?‖