Timozel slowly lifted his head, twisting to look behind him. A roughly dressed peasant,
long heavy staff in his hand, was leaning down and smiling into his eyes. He appeared totally
unmoved by the carnage about him. He must be simple, thought Timozel vaguely. What was a
peasant doing here in this nightmare?
I have died, Timozel decided. None of this can be happening. I have died and gone for
my sins into the crazed pits of the AfterLife.
―No, no,‖ the man said, his smile widening for a moment. ―‗Tis all happening, as true as
the sun do rise every morning. Dreadful, dreadful, it is, that the Destroyer has reached this far.
Too many of us here, there were, too enticing a target. Come, come, we must move. Don‘t know what his next trick might be.‖
Faraday‘s wails abated a little at the sight of him. ―Jack,‖ she whispered.
―Come, come,‖ Jack repeated, gripping her hand, and now Timozel could sense some
strain in his voice. As he pulled Faraday to her feet, Jack seized Timozel‘s arm and hauled him
up as well. ―Yr, you shall have to walk by yourself for a moment or two. If you stay close you
should manage—the worst of the storm has passed.‖
The cat slunk close to Faraday‘s heels as Jack led them safely across the remaining
ground to the side of the Barrow, stepping smoothly past the bodies of horses and men that
littered their path. He kept up a soothing monologue about nothing in particular while they
walked, calming both Faraday and Timozel. The ice spears had all but ceased and, while the
wind and rain still beat at them, it now had the feel of a normal autumn gale rather than the
supernatural force of a few minutes before. Jack stopped where several dozen men and one or
two horses sheltered against the steepest part of the Barrow, and turned to Timozel.
―Young lord,‖ he said deferentially, ―‗Tis better you wait here with your fellow
Axe-Wielders. Wait for your BattleAxe. Wait for his orders. He will tell you what to do. I will
take the lovely lady a little further along the Barrow, where she can grieve for her mother in
private. You can rest now…you have been true.‖
He had such a soothing voice and for a moment his words made complete sense to
Timozel. He nodded his head in agreement and Jack led Faraday away along the Barrow wall.
Timozel shut his eyes, rubbing his eyebrows with his hand, head bowed. ―Faraday,‖ he
muttered to himself. Surely he should stay with her, she was all alone now. He opened his eyes
and lifted his head. Faraday and Jack, the white cat still with them, were almost to the very end
of the Barrow. Where was he taking her? Fear and suspicion flared bright in Timozel‘s mind and
he turned to walk towards them, his feet strangely heavy and sluggish. Faraday—he had to save
her. Something had to be saved from this dreadful day.
Jack stopped Faraday at the very end of the Barrow. ―Dear one,‖ he said quietly to
Faraday, one arm about her shoulders, his face close to hers. ―Do you remember that you
promised us to be true?‖
Faraday nodded her head. She really didn‘t care at the moment what she had promised to
anyone.
―Dear one,‖ Jack repeated, knowing how deeply she had been wounded by the sight of
her mother‘s torn body. ―In the slaughter and chaos of Gorgrael‘s storm it might be possible for
us to begin our journey to Borneheld here, at this moment. If you disappear among the Barrows,
Axis will suppose you dead and not search for you. That would be best, dear one, that he
supposes you dead for the while.‖
Tears ran down Faraday‘s cheeks. Jack stroked her cheek comfortingly, his fingers
wiping away both tears and soft rain. ―Do not worry, lovely lady. All will be well. But for the
moment, Yr and I think it best that you leave. He is too distracted by you, and you will serve him
better at Borneheld‘s side.‖
―I understand,‖ Faraday whispered.
―My dear,‖ Jack said softly. ―Lay your hand upon my staff, it will keep you safe. Yr, my
shoulders, if you please.‖
The cat scrambled up his thick woollen cloak and crouched on his shoulder. ―Hurry,‖ she
hissed softly.
Jack took his heavy staff in his free hand, waited until Faraday had grasped it in both her
hands, then raised it slightly and knocked it three times on a piece of flat grey rock by their feet.
The sound rang through the ornate knob at the top of the staff.
―Sing well, fly high, StarFarers. By your leave, let us pass the chamber of death and grant
us entry to your Halls. In the name of the One who will walk with you one day we seek your aid
this day.‖ His eyes glowed emerald and his fingers whitened about the heavy staff.
Then everything seemed to happen at once.
Timozel clapped his hand on Jack‘s free shoulder. ―What are you doing?‖ he began, his
voice brusque and demanding. Jack whipped his head around, his emerald eyes blazing, his
entire face a mask of white-hot anger. Yr hissed and struck out at Timozel with her claws, her
own eyes brilliant with anger.
There was a sound of rumbling thunder from their feet, then the earth beneath them
opened up into a yawning chasm and the entire end of the Barrow began to collapse about them.
Faraday saw the black hole suddenly yawn under her feet and screamed, frantically trying to leap
backwards. She was too late and the next instant felt herself falling head over heels into a chasm.
Then something struck her head and blackness claimed her.
Axis and the two Brothers entered the Barrows just as the storm was beginning to fade.
They had not fared badly, the Icarii ward protecting all three of them from the full force of the
storm.
Axis was appalled at the carnage that met his eyes as he rode between the Barrows.
Although most had escaped to shelter beside the steep walls of the ancient earth-covered tombs,
hundreds of bodies lay scattered about in the wide exposed spaces between the Barrows. Both
horses and men had died gruesomely. Others lay writhing in pain in the mud, their bodies pinned
to the ground by the piercing ice, their life blood draining away. Puddles of blood and water
mingled on the sodden ground as the ice spears melted, the continuing light rain adding to the
spreading pink puddles.
Ogden looked up at Axis. ―It is the work of Gorgrael, BattleAxe. The ice is his mark.‖
―What have I done?‖ whispered Axis, scarcely hearing Ogden. ―What have I done to my
men?‖ How could a storm wreak this much mayhem and death?
Veremund rode up, leading Ogden‘s donkey. ―You could have done nothing more than
what you did, BattleAxe. How could men fight the storm with swords and axes? If they had not
retreated to the Barrows, then more—hundreds more—would have died on the plain. Here, at
least, most found shelter.‖
His words did not comfort Axis. He should never have led his men out of the Barrows in
the first place, but so wrapped was he in his thoughts of Faraday that…
Axis looked up, his eyes frantically searching among the bodies scattered across the
ground. His heels dug into the stallion‘s sides and Belaguez leaped forward.
Ogden and Veremund hurried after him, Ogden lifting his habit well clear of the bloodied
mud as he leaped in ungainly bounds across the ground.
Axis had got to within fifty paces of the nearest Barrow when he saw Faraday, Timozel
and a strange man standing huddled together in a group at its far end. He opened his mouth to
call but just then the ground rumbled beneath Belaguez‘s hooves, and the stallion stumbled and
almost fell. His hands clutching at Belaguez‘s mane, Axis‘ eyes did not waver from the sight
before him. He saw Faraday cry out and clutch at the air, her whole body weaving backwards
and forwards. All three then toppled into the hole which opened at their feet. The entire side of
the Barrow slid downwards and an immense shifting mass of mud, turf and boulders engulfed the
spot where the three had disappeared. For as long as it took Axis to gallop Belaguez across to the
site the landslide continued, then it rumbled grudgingly to an end as Axis slid off the stallion.
―No!‖ Axis screamed, tearing at the earth with his bare hands. ―No!‖
Ogden and Veremund reached him moments later. ―It‘s too late,‖ said Ogden, pulling
Axis gently back from the mudslide. ―They‘re gone.‖
Axis‘ hands were torn and bloody. ―No,‖ he whispered, his face ghostly pale.
Belial joined them, blood oozing from a deep wound in his shoulder. He waved Ogden
and Veremund back with an abrupt movement of his hand, then squatted beside Axis and talked