Sara Douglass – The Axis Trilogy 2 – Enchanter

“Good,” Axis repeated. “Belial? Go with Hesketh. Make sure the palace is secure. Take two of the Ravensbundmen with you – I’ll need the other four.” Belial saluted and strode away.

Axis turned and looked for Gautier, Timozel and Jayme. All three were standing to one side, guarded closely by Ho’Demi and his remaining four men.

“Timozel,” Axis said, walking over to the group. He honestly did not know what to say to this man. His once light-hearted and good-natured features were now overlain with a dark, brooding manner. His eyes gleamed, almost burned, with fanaticism. “Timozel. Do your vows to Faraday still stand?”

Timozel stared at Axis. He had watched the battle and its outcome with horror. Now Borneheld lay dead on the floor before him and his visions appeared about to crumble into lies. Where were the armies that undulated in leagues in every direction? Where were the tens of thousands who screamed his name? The victories? Where? Where? Where?

And what about Faraday? Her husband lies dead and butchered on the cold and unforgiving floor. Will she let Axis seize her?

“Yes. I am still Faraday’s Champion. And I can see that she will need my advice and guidance more than ever, Axis, in case she should be tempted to make decisions she will ever regret.”

Axis fought to keep his face expressionless. “Don’t forget that you are bound to protect her and support her, Timozel, in whatever decisions she makes. You are not her lord.”

“And I swear by whatever gods are listening, Axis, that I will do my utmost to make sure that you will not be her lord either!” Timozel hissed, then abruptly brushed past Axis and strode from the room.

“Let him go,” Axis said as Ho’Demi made to follow. “None of us can do much to stop him. And he is Faraday’s Champion; I will not harm him.”

“He is dangerous,” Ho’Demi observed. Something dark had taken possession of that young man’s soul.

Axis ignored Ho’Demi and turned to Gautier. The man’s face was gaunt and tired.

“You followed Borneheld too easily, Gautier,” Axis said. “I cannot forget that. But,” Axis paused and his eyes caught briefly with Ho’Demi’s, “it is not I who has best reason to stand and accuse you, Gautier. You are a man hated by your own troops for your cruelties. How many men have you ordered slaughtered, because they could not crawl another step? Because they could not give any more of their strength than they had already given? But your worst crime, Gautier? Your worst crime? You crucified three brave Ravensbundmen, men whose only transgression was to speak well of me. Ho’Demi,” Axis turned to address the Ravensbund chief. ”He is yours to do with as you wish. All that I ask,” Axis glanced at the high windows, “is that he be dead by nightfall.”

“No!” Gautier shrieked, horrified, struggling as two grinning Ravensbundmen seized him by the arms. “Kill me now! A quick sword thrust, Axis, I beg you! Don’t hand me over to those savages!”

Axis looked back at Ho’Demi. “Dead by nightfall, Ho’Demi. Throw his body on the refuse heaps outside the city for all to see.”

“What is left of it,” Ho’Demi said smoothly. “Leave me two of your four soldiers, Ho’Demi,” Axis said, watching Gautier crumple with fear. “I doubt you will need an entire unit to keep Gautier under control.”

Ho’Demi saluted. “I thank you for this gift, Great Lord,” he said, then signalled to the two Ravensbundmen who held Gautier to follow him, and strode out of the Chamber.

“Well, Jayme,” Axis said, turning to the Brother-Leader of the Seneschal. “You seem to have presided over the virtual downfall of the Seneschal, have you not? The ‘Forbidden’,” and Axis almost snarled the word, “are coming home. Moving back to the hills and plains that the Seneschal has so long denied them.”

He stopped speaking and stared at Jayme, almost unable to believe the change that had come over the man. As long as Axis could remember, Jayme had been strong and full of vitality. He had always been a man to take pride in his accomplishments and in his appearance.

Yet this man who now cowered before Axis looked like a broken-down ploughman, crippled by years of back-breaking labour and deadening poverty. He cringed under Axis’ level stare, his clothes torn and stained, his hair dishevelled, pieces of food and spittle clinging to his white beard.

“Moryson? Gilbert?” Axis asked.

“Gone,” Jayme muttered.

“Take him to a secure room,” Axis instructed the two remaining Ravensbundmen. He could not send this cowering old man to the dungeons. “And lock him inside. Make sure the window is bolted so that he cannot throw himself from its ledge. I will talk to him later.”

Axis turned and saw Rivkah, still supported by Magariz, staring at Borneheld’s body.

Rivkah. Axis started to walk towards her. What could he say? He paused by Borneheld’s body and glanced down. Borneheld’s grey eyes, dull and blood-spattered now, stared sightlessly at the gold and silver moons that chased each other among the bright stars of the enamelled blue dome high above. Axis leaned down and closed them, catching the glint of gold among Borneheld’s blood-encrusted hair. His gold circlet. The circlet of the Kings of Achar. Axis hesitated, then lifted the heavy circlet of gold from Borneheld’s dead head and pulled the amethyst ring of office from his finger. Standing upright, he wiped them clean of blood and stared at them as they rested in his hands. His, Axis supposed. Both represented the entire authority of the throne of Achar.

Axis did not intend to take the throne of Achar. He did not want it, and he intended to make it redundant in the new Tencendor. Then what to do with these now-useless badges of office? Still considering, Axis walked slowly towards Rivkah.

Her eyes were riveted to his blood-stained face. So much blood smeared across her son, so much splattered about this Chamber. It made her think of the bloody births which had brought her sons into the world. How else could it have ended? How else?

“Rivkah,” Axis said gently. He held the golden circlet and the ring uncomfortably in his hands, not knowing what to do with them.

Rivkah reached out a trembling hand to Axis. His torso had several deep wounds in it. Not serious, but they were still bleeding, and Rivkah could see the glint of a rib bone through one.

“You’re hurt,” she whispered and her fingers traced feather-light across his chest.

“These wounds will heal well enough once I visit the surgeon’s tent and let him stitch me back together again,” Axis replied.

Rivkah nodded and dropped her eyes. “I think it was hardest on me, Axis, watching you and Borneheld fight last night. I have never loved Borneheld, and I think I almost hated him for what he did to Priam…but…but …” Her eyes filled with tears and she could not finish.

Axis leaned forward and embraced her a little awkwardly.

“It is hard,” she whispered against his chest, “to watch your two sons battle each other to the death.”

On impulse Axis handed her the circlet of gold and the amethyst ring. “Here. Take the circlet and the ring. I will not use them. And you are the last of your line, Rivkah. Wear them, melt them down, break them up and sell them, I care not.”

Rivkah sniffed and took the circlet and the ring. Her father had worn these, and her brother, as had so many Kings of Achar before them.

Axis looked at Magariz, dark and solemn behind Rivkah. “As soon as you can find some spare soldiers, Magariz, or perhaps use some of the servants still standing gaggling about here, take Borneheld’s corpse and throw it on the refuse heaps outside the city walls. He belongs to the crows now.”

Rivkah flinched, and her fingers tightened about the ring and the circlet.

It was not until late that night that Axis, his wounds itching and sore from the attentions of the surgeons, managed to find a quiet moment to himself. The palace had been subdued easily – there was no resistance. Belial and his men combed the palace from its gold-plated minarets to its shit-stained dungeons. They found mostly servants eager to please and courtiers eager to flatter. The servants Belial sent about their duties, the courtiers he sent back to their townhouses – time enough for flatteries later. Towards the end of their search they found a dozen Brothers of the Seneschal, as well as Earl Isend and an over-rouged woman cowering together in a room. Axis, who had experienced enough death this past day to last him many, many months, had ordered that they be shipped south to Coroleas.

Once the palace was secure, Axis spent the day in and about Carlon. Talking, soothing, taking charge of the city. The Carlonese had simply shrugged their shoulders and accepted that Axis had replaced Borneheld. They were far more enthralled by Princess Rivkah’s return. Rivkah had spent part of the day in the streets, talking to the mayor and several of the Masters of the Guilds, as also to some of the ordinary citizens who hung shyly about, hoping to be noticed. Faraday accompanied her, and the widowed Queen and the resurrected Princess did much to calm people’s fears about what the previous night had wrought. Several of the Icarii accompanied them, and the citizens’ worries about the flying creatures were allayed by Rivkah and Faraday’s assurances. The mayor was so enthralled by SpikeFeather he invited him home for dinner that night.