Sara Douglass – The Axis Trilogy 2 – Enchanter

Axis strode to the front of the dais and the crowd hushed. He bowed in the traditional Icarii greeting, turning to include all present. As he turned to the right he looked down at the row of chairs holding his closest friends and allies and smiled. His eyes caught Azhure’s and she held her breath, her hands tightening about Caelum.

Axis straightened and faced the crowd. He slowly lifted a hand, his fingers beckoning.

Azhure gasped, as she heard Rivkah do so some few chairs further down. Both women recognised the gesture instantly. StarDrifter had used it to Rivkah and Azhure in his efforts to seduce both of them, and Axis had used it to Azhure, both at Beltide in the groves and on the rooftop of Sigholt after he had returned from the UnderWorld.

But now Axis was intent on seducing an entire nation, and from the intakes of breath that Azhure could hear behind her, she guessed he was doing a reasonable job of it.

“My people,” he said simply, and his voice carried over the mass of people that stretched almost the entire way around the eastern and southern shores of Grail Lake. Enchantments Axis might have used to make his voice, and perhaps even the sight of him, carry about the crowd, but StarDrifter realised that those were the only enchantments that Axis was using. As with his success in the Icarii Assembly, Axis intended to reforge Tencendor using the sheer force of his personality.

“My people. A thousand years ago a nation died in this land. All suffered because of it – the Acharites, the Avar and the Icarii. One people lost beauty and music from their lives, and they lost the shadowed paths where once they had walked in search of mysteries and love. Two other races lost their homelands and those sites that remain holy to them to this day. My people,” and all present understood Axis meant all three races, “let me tell you about the land of Tencendor that was lost to all of us.”

Then he began to sing. Azhure remembered how Star-Drifter had sung to the Icarii Assembly in the first week she had arrived to live with the Icarii. Then she had thought his voice wonderful, magical. She had heard Axis sing before, too, but only softly to the accompaniment of his harp about a camp fire at night. Nothing she had heard before, whether from StarDrifter or from Axis, was quite as remarkable as how and what Axis sang now. Caelum sat still in wonder on her lap, his eyes locked onto his father, his little mouth open in a round “O” of astonishment. The baby inside her, babies, twisted slightly, hearing their father’s voice at its full power for the first time, and they reacted strongly to it.

Axis sang of Tencendor, and where he had got the knowledge for it Azhure did not know. He sang of its beauties and of its music. Of the cities that had been lost, and of the woods and parklands that had withered and died over the past thousand years. He sang of the games that had once been held between the three races, and of the sky races that the Icarii had held to amuse the Avar and the Acharites. He sang of the learning and knowledge that Tencendor had fostered, of the schools and academies, of the study of the Stars and of the mysteries as well as of more mundane problems that, once solved, had improved life for all. He sang of the adventures that all had participated in, of the life and the loves, the music and the harmony, the flowers and the leaves.

But then Axis’ voice changed slightly. It became sorrowful, and Axis sang of how distrust had destroyed the harmony between the races. He sang of how the Acharites had come to envy the Icarii and fear the Avar. Of how the Icarii had not realised that they sometimes unwittingly assumed an elite role within ancient Tencendor society, and how, knowingly, they sometimes laughed at the Acharites for their inability to fly.

“The Icarii ruled over ancient Tencendor society,” Axis said, reverting to his speaking voice that, nonetheless, sounded every bit as beautiful as his singing voice. “And eventually that caused problems. I want to reforge Tencendor, yes, that is true, but I want to create a new Tencendor where the Icarii are but one race among three, where all three will share the wealth and delights of this new land. My people, I am the StarMan and it is my role to lead this new land into the future. I combine blood of the royal houses of both Icarii and Acharite peoples,” and Axis explained for the benefit of those few who had not yet heard his story how he had been conceived and by whom. “I am both Icarii and human, I combine the compassion of the human with the arts of the Icarii. I am both human and Icarii,” he repeated, “and my issue combines both Icarii and human.”

Faraday frowned in some puzzlement. Combines? Surely, will combine?

“It will be my House which will lead the new nation. Not the House of SunSoar and not the House of Achar, but …” he paused, “the House of the Stars.”

All – Icarii, Acharite and Ravensbund – stared at him, open-mouthed.

“Friends,” Axis continued, “many of you do not know me, but many do. Many have fought with me, whether in the Axe-Wielders or my new-forged command. Many of you know me. You know what sort of man I am.

“My people,” and again he held out his hand in the gesture of seduction, “will you stand with me to forge Tencendor? Will you accept me to lead you back into what was and forward into what will be? Will you ride at my back to defeat the Destroyer? To drive Gorgrael from this land so that we might all create the new land of Tencendor together? Will you stand behind the House of the Stars and behind the StarMan? Will you offer me your loyalty? Your hearts? Your voice?”

For an instant the entire field was silent, then, far back in the crowd, someone screamed, “StarMan!” and in the next heartbeat the entire field had taken up the chant. “StarMan! StarMan! StarMan! StarMan!”

Azhure sat in her chair, breathless with excitement, listening to the sky erupt about her as the crowd chanted to their StarMan. Ogden and Veremund wept with joy and clasped each other’s hands.

“Brilliant stroke, dear boy,” Ogden whispered, emotion almost completely choking his voice. “Brilliant stroke. You show how in your blood you combine the two leading houses of both Acharite and Icarii nations, and, in doing so, create a third House, a new House for the new land of Tencendor. A House that, while combining the blood of the old, promises a new future beyond the hatreds of the past.”

Axis stood back and let the acclaim ring through him. His face was grave, but his mind and soul sang with joy. He could feel the tug of the Prophecy here today. He had not entertained a single doubt from the moment he’d stepped onto the dais. He glanced down at Azhure and Caelum again. She looked immensely alluring in that dress, bouncing their son on her lap. How many nights had he lain awake as Faraday slept beside him, thinking of Azhure? Yearning for her?

What he felt for Faraday was so different to his consuming love for Azhure. For Faraday he felt gratefulness and friendship. Perhaps that could be called love. But it was like a dull child’s toy compared to the shining love and devouring need he had for Azhure.

Oh my love, his heart cried, why is it that I cannot marry you? How it is that I will enjoy so very few years with you?

But what years he would have Axis was determined to have to the full. If Faraday had not heard any court gossip about his relationship, then she would leave the shores of Grail Lake today in no( doubt as to the position of this woman in his life.

Axis had opened his mouth on several occasions to broach the subject, but Faraday had always turned to him with such love in her eyes that he had swallowed his words and kissed her instead. Well, he thought, it’s too late now to leap down and whisper hurriedly in her ear. She will simply have to accept it, as Azhure has learned to accept it.

Again he glanced at Azhure, and wondered desperately if he would be able to go to her tonight.

The shouting was now dying down and Axis held out his arms. “After a thousand-year hiatus,” he said clearly, “and with your assent, I proclaim the reforged land of Tencendor. Tencendor!”

“Tencendor!” the shout came back at him.

Again Axis let them shout for a few moments, then he smiled and held up his hands for silence. “There will be few changes, apart from the new friends you see among you. Almost none of the Acharites will lose lands to the Icarii and Avar, and those who do will receive generous compensation in return for their land. Both the Icarii and the Avar realise that they cannot move back to what they once held and are willing to cede to you most of their old lands.”