apartments shared by Rivkah, StarDrifter and EvenSong. StarDrifter‘s mouth curved
appreciatively as Azhure lifted her arms to pin her hair on the crown of her head. She was a
particularly striking woman, even more so than Rivkah at her age, and StarDrifter had always
had an eye for beautiful and sensual women—and he had been even more interested in Azhure
since the Ferryman‘s deep show of respect for her. It was a pity about the ridged scars down her
back. Perhaps the Healers among the Enchanters could do something for her. Azhure sank down
as quickly as she could into the hot water and StarDrifter‘s smile widened a little. She had not
yet become used to the Icarii habit of shared bathing of males and females and was more
comfortable fully submerged than exposed to watching eyes. He found the Acharite modesty
appealing—and more than a little challenging. Why had the Ferryman been so reverential of
Azhure? Was it simply her beauty? No, not that. The Ferryman did not look as though he was
capable of bedding a limp sack of grain, let alone Azhure.
StarDrifter turned his head away and closed his eyes again. How could he think of love
when it hurt simply to stretch his wings? As he succumbed to the relaxing waters his mind turned
to Rivkah. He had wanted her the moment he saw her. He had been very young then, only a few
years out of his service in the Strike Force and in the midst of the hectic advanced stages of his
training as an Enchanter under the tutelage of his mother, MorningStar. He had learned so
quickly and shown so much early ability that he had been chosen to lead the Beltide rites for the
previous two or three years. StarDrifter remembered the Beltide he had coupled with the Avar
woman, Ameld, and shifted a little uncomfortably in the water. After Beltide he had flown south
rather than north, saying he wanted some time to himself. And then, one bright morning, riding a
low air thermal over Sigholt, he had seen the young woman feeding her baby on the roof of the
Keep.
StarDrifter smiled, remembering. He had always been impetuous and, not thinking of the
danger, he had spiralled straight down to the roof of the Keep and seduced the woman within
fifteen minutes, her abandoned baby squalling angrily to the sounds of their love-making. Day
after day he had gone back, careless of the danger, so fascinated with the woman that he could
not return to Talon Spike. He still remembered the day she had smiled and told him she was
pregnant. Even then, as such a young Enchanter, StarDrifter had known that the son Rivkah
carried was extraordinary. When she had finally escaped her husband and told him that his son
was dead StarDrifter had been stricken with grief.
StarDrifter had lavished love and attention on Rivkah, feeling deep guilt that she had
suffered so much pain and loss while he had escaped Searlas‘ wrath. He had never regretted
taking her for his wife, his roostmate, even though so many of his people strongly objected to the
match.
He‘d loved her, hadn‘t he? She was young and lovely and possessed a mind as lively and
as inquisitive as his. But Rivkah had never settled well into Talon Spike. She tried, he tried, and
the Icarii people as a whole generally tried, but it had been hard. After the birth of EvenSong
when Rivkah had begun her habit of wandering for months at a time with the Avar, StarDrifter
had been left to his own devices in Talon Spike with only his small daughter to remind him of
his wife. For years he remained faithful to Rivkah, but over the past seven or eight years…well,
ever a sensual creature, he had found some temptations too hard to deny himself, some
seductions too hard to resist. Rivkah chose to leave him, did she not? And…StarDrifter twisted uncomfortably in the water as he confronted again the unpalatable truth that Rivkah was ageing
before his eyes. He was still a young man, he had a young man‘s desires, and while he still loved
Rivkah, yes he did, and still found her desirable, certainly that, he sometimes caught himself
looking at her and wondering what the future had in store for them. StarDrifter opened his eyes
and drifted about the water, looking for Azhure again.
Like so many of the Icarii, he was a vain and selfish creature.
RavenCrest summoned the Assembly of the Icarii that afternoon and soon after the
midday meal the Icarii filed into the central meeting Chamber of the Talon Spike complex. Talon
Spike, the massive mountain that soared above all its brothers and sisters in the Icescarp Alps,
had been the home of the Icarii people for the last thousand years, yet even before the
Axe-Wielders had driven them out of the sunnier southern lands of Tencendor the Icarii had
loved the place and had often summered there. Long dead volcanic activity had hollowed out
winding and twisting mazes of passages and caverns in many of the mountains of the Alps,
especially Talon Spike, and over the generations the Icarii had worked at these internal chambers
to fashion out a home for themselves. Outside the air might be frigid, the climate inhospitable at
best, but inside the great hot springs which fed the Chamber of Steaming Water kept the air that
circulated within the mountain warm and comfortable. Perhaps the Icarii Enchanters were poor
when it came to the art of war, but countless generations ago they had mastered the Songs
needed to keep the interior of Talon Spike lit and the people fed and clothed. The Icarii, banned
from their traditional homes further south, indulged their love of mysticism and magic, their love
of the seduction, and their undoubted talent for interior decorating.
The huge Assembly Chamber of Talon Spike was one of the best examples of Icarii
building and decoration. It was circular and tiered with scores of rows of benches on which the
adult Icarii sat and fluttered and generally made raucous noise whenever they met in general
Assembly. The Chamber, most of the elder Icarii agreed, was at its best both aesthetically and
politically when it was completely empty. The walls and benches were faced with golden-veined
white marble, the circular floor in the centre of the Chamber of a peculiarly translucent and very
beautiful golden marble veined with violet. Pale gold and blue cushions were scattered about the
benches; never quite enough for the number of Icarii that squeezed into the Chamber, feathers
often flying as they fought over the cushions. The lower three circles of benches were reserved
for the Elders, the Enchanters and the family of the Talon. These benches were completely lined
with crimson cushions for the Elders, turquoise cushions for the Enchanters, and the royal violet
for those of the House of SunSoar. The very top six rows of benches were reserved for the Strike
Force, and they were uncushioned as befitted the hard muscles of warriors.
The most spectacular part of the Assembly Chamber was not the rows of tiered marble
benches rising three quarters of the way up the walls, but the circle of gigantic pillars soaring
above the tiers which supported the domed roof of the Chamber. Their design was based on the
shapes of the carved Icarii birdmen encircling the Star Gate, except these in the Assembly
Chamber were five times as tall, far more spectacularly constructed and consisted of alternating
male and female figures. In the Chamber of the Star Gate most of the birdmen statues had their
arms folded and heads bowed, eyes closed. Here all the statues had their arms and wings
extended joyously, their eyes open in wonder and mouths open in silent song. They had been
gilded and enamelled in jewel-bright colours, real gems mined from the depths of Talon Spike in
their eyes and in the golden torcs about their necks. Each individual hair on their heads and feather in their wings had been picked out in gold and silver and the muscles in their pale naked
bodies were carefully defined in the ivory tones of pale flesh. They supported a domed roof
completely plated in highly burnished bronze mirrors that, due to the enchantments bonded into
their making, gave off a gentle golden light which illuminated the entire Chamber.
The Icarii entering the Chamber did so between the archways formed by the outspread
wings and arms of the great pillars. According to inclination, they then either spiralled down
gently though the air or walked down the tiers until they found the appropriate seat with,
hopefully, a cushion still in place. On this afternoon in the first week of Wolf-month, only a few
days after the New Year, the Icarii took their seats within the Chamber with slightly less than
their usual vocal enthusiasm. They knew they would have to make a decision involving war.