this woman dreamed of Axis in this way? His smile faded and he frowned slightly.
―His is the name that Achar might well rally to,‖ Azhure continued. ―He has good men
under his command, and I can think of no other war leader in Achar who could call on both the
hearts and hands of so many of my countryfolk.‖
Raum spoke again before any of the Icarii could answer. ―For all these reasons I add my
supplication to StarDrifter‘s. Aid Gorkenfort and you will in the end aid yourselves. Let Gorgrael
destroy all those within Gorkenfort and the Prophecy dies before us. Let Axis become our war
leader. We have no other to lead us.‖
Almost before Raum had finished speaking the Strike Force, almost to a man and a
woman, stood up and shouted objections. They would stand against Gorgrael! Their
Crest-Leaders, FarSight CutSpur senior among them, would provide the leadership to win this
holy battle. Talon RavenCrest would lead the combined might of the Icarii and the Avar to
victory against the Skraelings!
Far below FreeFall stood forward again. ―Yes, it will be a SunSoar who will lead us to
victory!‖ he shouted. ―But it will not be RavenCrest, nor StarDrifter, nor even myself ! It must be Axis! Hold, my friends! Have you forgotten Earth Tree Grove so fast? Will you let Icarii pride
drive us to our graves? We need the battle experience and the leadership of Axis!’‖ He paused,
his eyes burning bright. ―And what better training could he have had than as BattleAxe?‖ he said
softly into the silence. ―Tell me, my people. What better training could the StarMan have had?
Have not the BattleAxes kept us from Tencendor these long centuries?‖
He paused once more, letting each and every word bite deep. ―Then let a BattleAxe lead
us back again.‖
FreeFall stepped back, drained, but his words had cut deep. StarDrifter nodded at him.
PerchSure HoldFast, one of the Elders, stepped forward. ―But has not the BattleAxe lost
the battle for Gorkenfort? If he has miscalculated this badly then how do we know he won‘t do it
again?‖
StarDrifter cut in quickly. ―PerchSure, Axis would not yet know how to control his power
or how to really use it until I show him. At the moment he is literally half a man, perhaps driven
mad by the glimpses of power that he has.‖
―Your decision!‖ RavenCrest shouted, stepping back into the centre of the golden circle.
Most had forgotten he was there. ―Do we aid Gorkenfort?‖
―How?‖ a lone voice cried. ―How do we aid Gorkenfort when we could not stop the
slaughter in Earth Tree Grove?‖
FreeFall stepped into the void. ―We will send an envoy to Gorkenfort and initiate
negotiations with the Groundwalkers…with Axis BattleAxe. Will we place ourselves under his
leadership for the battles ahead?‖
Again murmurings among the Strike Force began, but FarSight CutSpur raised his hand
for silence among his command. ―I have lain awake nights thinking on how badly we failed at
Earth Tree Grove,‖ he said quietly, the shame in his voice for all to hear. ―It took a
Groundwalker woman, Azhure, to show us how to use our weapons. Do I want to see the Strike
Force led by a BattleAxe?‖ He laughed mirthlessly. ―No. But we have no choice. If he is as good
as some say he is…if…then I will stand aside for the man. But I want one of the Crest-Leaders to
be among those who go forth to Gorkenfort.‖
―Do we agree to send a small number to meet with the Groundwalkers at Gorkenfort and
to meet this Axis BattleAxe? Do we agree to offer our aid?‖ RavenCrest threw open his arms to
the Assembly, appealing for a quick decision.
One by one the Icarii stood, many still obviously unhappy with their lack of choice in the
action ahead, others more sure that Axis could perhaps lead them out of the Prophecy of the
Destroyer and back into Tencendor.
―Aye!‖ voices began to call singly, and then, as more and more joined in, ―Aye!‖
thundered to the domed roof.
StarDrifter turned his head aside and wept, and FreeFall enveloped his uncle in an
embrace.
56
FREEFALL SUNSOAR
Axis, Belial and Magariz stood in the cold dawn light on the roof of the Keep in
Gorkenfort, wrapped in thick cloaks, gazing down at the Skraelings massing below them. It had been almost two weeks since the fall of Gorkentown and, for those inside the fort, the situation
had steadily worsened. Axis shifted from foot to foot, still weak. But he was alive, and for that,
according to Belial and sundry other witnesses, he had Faraday to thank. Under the cloak Axis‘
hands touched the side of his chest where the new scars still itched. No-one could satisfactorily
explain what Faraday had done, how she had healed him, and Axis had no chance to ask himself.
For a week after the fall of Gorkentown she had been careful to avoid Borneheld‘s ire, staying
within her room, whispering words of apology and endearment to her husband whenever he
came to her. But Borneheld remained cold. She had disobeyed him in countermanding his orders,
but Faraday knew that in Borneheld‘s eyes her worse crime was saving Axis‘ life. She must not
let Borneheld suspect her true feelings for Axis; he could still kill Axis in a fit of jealous rage.
As they stood there in the cold dawn, the northerly wind wrapping their cloaks even
closer, Magariz felt that much of the coldness surrounding him emanated from Axis himself.
Axis had been angrily incredulous that Magariz had allowed Faraday to accept the responsibility
for the opening of the gates, and had hardly spoken to him this past week. Magariz could not
blame him. He shifted his injured leg slightly and pulled his cloak a little closer, surreptitiously
looking at Axis from the corner of his eye. Only a few weeks fighting alongside this man had
twisted Magariz‘s loyalties out of shape. For years he had been Borneheld‘s right-hand man, his
senior commander, trusted with Gorkenfort. But now Magariz, as others, wondered if Axis was
not the better man to hold the supreme position of WarLord. He sighed.
Belial heard Magariz sigh and glanced at him. Artor! he thought silently, Axis and
Faraday‘s pain touches and envelops us all. Was love worth this much pain? Would it not be
better if Axis and Faraday simply forgot each other, turned their backs and accepted that their
feet trod different paths? Let me never love a woman so desperately that I know only pain
because of it, he prayed. Belial lived for his military calling and had never been tempted by the
thought of marriage or children. Women passed in and out of his life like shadows, there for a
night or a week, leaving no trace of themselves once they had left. Thinking about Axis and
Faraday now made Belial sigh as well, wondering why some men let themselves love and suffer
to this degree.
Axis heard both men sigh and turned away, irritated. Everyone was sunk in gloomy
thoughts, sunk in contemplations of their own doom. Well, looking down on the Skraelings
massed through what was left of Gorkentown and about the walls of the fort itself, Axis
supposed that he could not blame men for such contemplations. The Skraelings had almost
completely destroyed the town, piling rubble into tall piles and burrowing beneath. Axis
shuddered to think what they might be doing underneath there.
The fort‘s gates, iron-plated, held fast against the SkraeBolds‘ attempts to crack them
with their icy claws, the bolts remaining securely fastened. But the number of Skraelings grew
day by day so that they were now a sea of undulating grey forms beyond the fort‘s walls, silver
eyes and toothy jaws constantly raised to the walls in anticipation of the feed that awaited them.
Although starvation was a real possibility, and while most believed that the fall of
Gorkenfort was inevitable, equally no-one believed that Gorgrael would waste the time needed to
starve them out. He would want to move south as soon as he could, grab as much territory as
quickly as possible while Achar still reeled from the disaster of Gorkenfort. He would not want
to move south while he had such a large number of enemies encased in the fort behind him,
ready to burst forth for the attack once his lines were stretched. But what would he do? When
would he attack? The waiting was wearing down men‘s nerves, nerves already shredded by the
loss of Gorkentown.
Since he had crawled out of his bed and resumed his responsibilities as BattleAxe Axis
had been almost impossible to be around. He infuriated Belial who had one night shouted at Axis
when they were alone in their quarters, trying to make him understand that anyone else would
have lost Gorkentown sooner and would have lost the lives of all who had defended the town.