Raum’s eyes widened. “Have you been called also?” he whispered.
Have I been called? Axis wondered sluggishly, unable to collect his thoughts. “I do not know why I am here.”
“You are here to witness, Axis SunSoar,” a voice said behind him, and Axis swivelled around as if in slow motion. The three Sentinels, Jack, Ogden andVeremund, stood three or four paces away, each dressed in a plain white robe that hung down to bare feet.
“Have you been called?” Ogden wondered aloud. “You must have been, else you would not be here. Tread carefully where you go, Axis SunSoar, and do or say nothing that will offend your hosts.”
Ogden stepped forward and kissed Raum softly on the cheek, slightly smearing one of the lines of blood. “Be well, dear one,” he said. “Find peace where you go.”
Jack andVeremund also stepped forward, kissing Raum on the cheek and repeating Ogden’s blessing. “Find peace,” Veremund muttered a second time, tears glistening in his eyes, and Axis noticed, with some surprise that Raum’s eyes also glittered with tears. What was going on?
“Raum finds his home and his peace tonight, Axis SunSoar,” Veremund said, “and you have been called to witness. You have walked the Sacred Grove once before and tonight you will re-enter. By invitation, this time.”
Axis remembered the dream that had visited him the previous time he had slept outside the Silent Woman Woods. Then he had found himself in a dark grove peopled by frightening and dangerous creatures. The Horned Ones. Axis felt a small tremor of anxiety, but he had grown since that night two years ago. He knew more, and he was more.
Axis nodded. “Will you come with us?”
“No,” Jack replied. “This is for Raum and yourself alone. Be at peace.”
Impatient now, Raum turned to the opening among the trees. “Come,” he said, and Axis followed him into the forest.
They walked slowly through the dark trees, the mist dissipating as they moved into the Silent Woman Woods. Colours shifted about them until Axis breathed deep in excitement -the light among the trees had lightened and brightened until they were walking through a tunnel of emerald light. Even the forest floor beneath their feet had disappeared so they were completely suspended in the emerald glow.
“We walk through the Mother,” Raum muttered hoarsely, his eyes bright, almost feverish.
Axis could feel the power floating about him, and he shivered. It was good that this was a dream, he thought, for otherwise this power would perturb him. This was the source of the power that Faraday had used to give Axis and his three thousand the means to escape and then destroy much of the Skraeling force surrounding Gorkenfort. Axis remembered the emerald flame he had summoned to destroy the Skraelings and he took a deep breath of awe — Faraday must be powerful indeed to handle such forces as drifted through this emerald light!
They walked until Axis suddenly realised that he could feel leaves and twigs under his feet again. At exactly that moment the emerald light started to mottle and shadow about him, resolving itself into close, dark trees. Stars whirled across the dark velvety sky above them.
“The Sacred Grove,” Raum whispered beside him, and Axis realised with a start that this was the first time in months he’d heard Raum speak in a voice that held no shadow of underlying pain.
Before them the trees opened into the circle of the Sacred Grove, and both Raum and Axis slowed. Power drifted among the trees. Unseen eyes watched. It no longer felt like a dream. All traces of the mist had disappeared long before in the brilliance of the emerald light, and Axis understood that he stood here in the Sacred Grove in reality.
He felt gaudy and overly conspicuous in his gold and red. For the first time since he had accepted the golden tunic from Azhure, Axis felt slightly uncomfortable in it.
“You will never feel comfortable here, Axis my heart,” a woman’s voice said quietly beside him, “because your power is tied to the stars, and this power emanates from the earth. From the Mother.”
Faraday walked slowly out of the trees to one side, wearing a loosely draped robe of peculiar shifting greens, purples and browns. Her long chestnut hair lay thick and loose over her shoulders and down her back.
“Faraday?” Axis whispered, completely forgetting Raum on his other side. “Faraday?”
She smiled and touched his arm gently. “How long, Axis? Twenty months? Too long, my love. But wait. I must greet Raum.”
She stepped past Axis and wrapped her arms about Raum, laughing and crying at the same time, murmuring to him as she hugged him close, softly stroking his face as if she could soothe away the bumps and lesions that marred it.
Axis stared at her. Faraday seemed different from when he had last seen her. No longer was she the innocent girl who first caught his eye at Priam’s nameday feast in the Chamber of the Moons. Nor was she the beautiful but sad woman he remembered as Borneheld’s wife. There were lines of pain about her eyes that Axis did not remember, and lines of humour at the corners of her mouth. Both experience and power had changed her. Would this Faraday accept Azhure?
Axis hastily clouded his thoughts – Faraday had demonstrated only a moment ago that she was as capable as he at reading the mind of another, and Axis did not want her finding out about Azhure from his unguarded thoughts. What would be the best way of telling her?
“Why do you frown, Axis? This is the first time we have seen each other for a very long while, and this is a very special moment that I have asked you here to witness. It is one of the few occasions that I could invite you here and the Horned Ones would accept your presence. You are almost as closely linked to Raum as I am.”
“You asked me? You were responsible for pulling me into this dream?”
Faraday smiled and slipped her hand about Axis’ arm, entwining her fingers through his. “No dream, Axis. The dream is the husk of your body which awaits you in your camp beyond the Silent Woman Woods. Now, be silent. We are both here only to witness – for the moment, at least.”
Raum stumbled into the centre of the Grove, moaning again, as if his pain had returned. Faraday’s hand tightened around Axis’, warning him to keep silent. Raum dropped to his knees, his head twisted to one side, his hands held out as if in supplication.
Nothing moved, save the stars that whirled overhead and the watching eyes that shifted among the trees.
Raum screamed, and Axis’ entire body jerked. Be silent, Faraday’s stare said, then she shifted her eyes back to Raum.
Now he twisted about on the grass, caught in the throes of a dreadful suffering. Another scream rent the Grove, then another, and Axis realised that a dark stain was spreading about Raum’s twisting body. Blood! Axis shuddered at Raum’s agony. By the Stars! he thought, Azhure was right about these people. They preach a life of non-violence, but their very lives and culture exude violence.
Azhure? a voice asked in his head, and Axis jumped guiltily, screening his thoughts again.
A woman who lived with the Avar for a while. Now she earns her keep as an archer in my army.
Faraday smiled. A woman archer — indeed!
Raum screamed again. His voice had lost its earlier pain-purified clarity and was now harsh and guttural. The blood about him was spreading, and now Axis could see that it seeped from every orifice in his body and, in places, from tears in the skin stretched over painfully tight joints.
All Banes, whether male or female, must die to transform, Axis. What we witness here is both Raum’s death and his renewal. All witness. But Raum must do this on his own. None can help him.
Axis wept silently. He liked Raum, had felt a special bond with the Bane. He remembered the moment his eyes had locked with Raum’s in the cell beneath the Smyrton Worship Hall. Remembered the understanding that had passed between them. That was the day he had not only met Raum for the first time, but had also met…Axis blanked out his thoughts only just in time.
Who’? Faraday asked in his mind.
Shra, Axis replied. The Avar girl.
Faraday’s eyes misted. She had also met Shra at Fernbrake Lake, the Mother. Raum had bonded both her and Shra at the same time.
Raum had not the breath to scream now, although agony still gripped his body. His breath came in harsh gasps that reached Axis and Faraday clearly across the Grove. They stilled, as every eye watching did. After a few minutes Raum’s breathing all but ceased, although his body still jerked convulsively. His head had twisted about so that his great dark eyes, streaming tears of pure blood, stared directly into Axis’. Axis felt as though they somehow accused. He saw himself as Raum must see him. Standing close to Faraday, while Raum knew well that Axis had taken…Stars! Axis gave a great groan.