gave a single heave that almost sent his friend tumbling over the other side of the donkey.
After an anxious moment Ogden settled safely onto the donkey‘s back. His hair stuck out
wildly and his habit had rucked up beneath his legs, but he seemed unperturbed. ―See,‖ he said
triumphantly, gazing about the group. ―As agile as any youth. No trouble at all.‖
Axis groaned and covered his face with his hands, and Timozel gave up trying not to
smile and roared with laughter. Even Arne, normally not given to humour, twisted his mouth in
wry amusement. Only Gilbert‘s face remained totally unamused.
―No trouble at all?‖ Axis repeated wearily. ―No doubt that‘s why you were assigned this
isolated post in the first place, Brother Ogden. For thirty-nine years you have been no trouble at all.‖ He swung into Belaguez‘s saddle, checked that Veremund was safely mounted, then waved
the small group out.
17
THE ANCIENT BARROWS
They rode out of the Woods at mid-afternoon to be met at the tree line by a profoundly
relieved Belial and a small group of Axemen. Belial raised his eyebrows at the two brothers
jogging along serenely on their white donkeys, but Axis, feeling exhilarated by the wide open
spaces of the Tarantaise plains, kicked Belaguez into a gallop without a word. Arne slapped the
rump of Gilbert‘s horse and, with loud whoops, he and Timozel herded Gilbert back to camp at a
similar speed. Belial and his Axemen sped after the party, while the two Brothers trotted their
donkeys along behind, preferring to keep to a more sedate pace.
On their way to the Axe-Wielders‘ camp Ogden and Veremund paused briefly to share
greetings and words with a genial pig boy, driving his pigs in an easterly direction around the rim
of the Silent Woman Woods.
Faraday was so overwhelmed by the sight of Axis returning that she almost burst into
tears, turning away quickly as he rode by her and not acknowledging his nod and smile. She had
managed to return to her bed-roll undetected the previous night, and had lain awake until dawn,
Yr curled in her arms, reliving again and again the nightmarish vision the trees had shown her,
feeling the heat consume her, hearing the ring of steel against steel, watching Axis, covered in
blood, stretch out his hand towards her, experiencing over and over again the warm ticklish
sensation of blood trickling down between her breasts.
When she arose she spent a full forty minutes scrubbing her body red with icy cold water,
evading her mother‘s stares and questions. She was very quiet all day, and the cat stayed close to
her.
After Axis‘ return, preparations began for breaking camp and moving out. Gilbert had
been given no time to rest; Axis wanted him gone as soon as possible. He detailed five men to
escort him back to the Tower of the Seneschal, giving their leader firm instructions to make sure
that he got there. The packet of documents that Ogden and Veremund had made up for him was
handed over with instructions that it be given straight to the Brother-Leader.
The next day the entire company moved out well before dawn. Ogden and Veremund had
placed themselves at the head of the column, their donkeys surprisingly spritely and well able to
keep up with the horses. But Axis was so frustrated with the two old men‘s continual arguing
over trivialities that he sent Veremund back to ride with the women and kept Ogden with him to
discuss the meaning of the prophecy.
Veremund joined the ladies happily enough, and both Merlion and Faraday thought him
delightful company. Over the next two days Timozel often joined them, and, between Timozel
and Veremund, Faraday sometimes found the heart to smile. But the ghastly vision that the Silent
Woman Woods had sung for her refused to fade, and Faraday became deeply upset whenever
Axis rode by or stopped to chat with them. She knew Axis was puzzled by her behaviour, but every time she looked at him she could watch his sword spin uselessly across the stone floor of
the Chamber of the Moons, could only see him as he stood before her, blood clotting through his
hair and down his body, his hand extended in appeal towards her.
On the morning of the third day Timozel, in an effort to distract Faraday from whatever
was depressing her, began to tell her about the prophecy, which had imprinted itself so vividly on
his mind that he could recite it word for word. Well, all except for the final verse, which was a
little hazy. Faraday was so fascinated that the hateful vision receded to the back of her mind for
the first time in days. She asked many questions of Timozel and Veremund, wanting to know all
Veremund could tell her about the Forbidden and the ancient land of Tencendor.
She pulled the collar of her cloak a little tighter in the cold wind and edged her horse
closer to the elderly Brother jogging along on his white donkey. ―Do you mean that the
Forbidden and our people lived in harmony in Achar?‖
―Tencendor, it was called then,‖ Veremund corrected her. ―Yes, dear one, for many
thousands of years.‖
Faraday frowned. ―But how could we live in peace with them when they are so terrible,
so frightening?‖
―The Seneschal teaches that the Icarii and the Avar are frightening. ‗Twas only after the
Seneschal gained influence in Tencendor, teaching the way of the Plough, that the rift between
the races started.‖
Faraday did not like the implications of what Veremund was saying. ―Do you mean
that…‖ she paused, ―that the…Icarii and the Avar were not at fault in the war between the
followers of the Plough and themselves? That the Seneschal started it?‖
―The Forbidden were evil creatures and that is why the Seneschal helped the armies of
Achar drive them from this land and clear their filthy nests and forests,‖ Merlion snapped.
Her words silenced the others for a moment, but Faraday turned back to Veremund.
―Brother, what sort of creatures were the Icarii and the Avar?‖
Veremund thought for a moment. ―We have their songs and their histories and their
records, but in actuality they tell us relatively little about what they looked like or how they
lived. The Icarii preferred high places and studied the movements of the stars and of the sun and
the moon. Perhaps that is why they were called the people of the Wing. They tended to live in
the hills and mountains of Tencendor. The Avar, why, they were people of the forest and had a
special relationship with the land. Some of the passages that Brother Ogden and I have read
suggest that they could talk to the trees.‖
Faraday gasped and reined her horse back a pace or two from Veremund‘s donkey.
―Mother was right,‖ she said tightly, ―they were evil creatures and it is right that the Seneschal
drove them from this land.‖
That afternoon the long column of Axe-Wielders approached a series of massive mounds,
each about one hundred paces high and two hundred long. Their sides were steep and covered
with low bushes and turf, each with a flattened top that was covered in bright yellow and red
flowers. There were almost thirty of them stretching in a crescent for over half a league. Axis
called the column to a halt and turned to Belial who was riding beside him.
―Do you know what these are, Belial?‖
Belial started to say something, but it was Ogden who answered from his position behind
Axis. ―It is said that these are the burial mounds of some of the ancient kings of Tencendor,
BattleAxe.‖
Ogden kicked his donkey up beside the BattleAxe, and Axis stared flatly at him for a
moment, dislike for the man simmering just below the surface. Over the past three days Ogden
had talked about the ancient land of Tencendor, and each additional piece of information he gave
made Axis feel increasingly uncomfortable. He had always vaguely assumed that the land he had
lived in, the Seneschal and the way of the Plough had always been, but now he was discovering
that Achar as he knew it had once not existed, the Seneschal had once never existed, and that his
own race and those of the Forbidden had lived side by side in an ancient land called Tencendor.
It was unsettling.
―So,‖ he said smoothly after a moment, ―men once ruled over the Forbidden, did they?‖
Ogden smiled. ―By no means, BattleAxe. The royal family of Tencendor came from the
Icarii line. The House of SunSoar supplied the Talon, the King, for well over five thousand
years. They were a prolific house.‖
Both Belial and Axis stared unbelievingly at Ogden. The Forbidden had ruled over
mankind? It was unthinkable!
―Yes,‖ Ogden said quietly, lost in thought as he gazed at the Barrows. ―It was mankind,
under the influence of the emerging Seneschal, who usurped the Icarii rule and drove both them