“Stars knows where,” Azhure muttered, looking anxiously about her and then relaxing into a smile as she saw Rivkah hurrying across the courtyard with Caelum in her arms. As she took Caelum from Rivkah’s arms, a tall, black-haired man stepped forth from the shadows.
“Ho’Demi,” Axis said, staring at the man’s tattooed face. When he had seen Ho’Demi at Gundealga Ford and, through the eagle’s eyes, at Jervois Landing, the man had a naked circle in the centre of his head.
Now from the centre of his forehead, as from the centre of the foreheads of each and every Ravensbund man, woman and child in Sigholt, blazed forth the bloodied sun.
“It is Time to ReforgeTencendor”
The young Ravensbundwoman slipped the final pin into Azhure’s hair and then stood back, holding a mirror so Azhure could see her hairstyle from all”Thank you, Imibe, you have dressed my hair beautifully.” Over the past several weeks Imibe’s duties had grown from minding and nursing Caelum to acting almost as a full-time maid to Azhure. And though Azhure found it strange to have the attentions of a maid, she was so busy she had little choice. From three thousand men, three Sentinels, two women and one retired cook, now Sigholt and Lakesview reverberated with the noisy activities and enthusiasms of almost thirty thousand people. Not only were there Acharite, Ravensbund and Icarii soldiers, but also townspeople, traders, servants, cooks, stablehands, secretaries, messengers, hangers-on and myriad other people. A week ago a historian had even arrived, declaring he’d come to take notes and keep records of Axis SunSoar s journey through Prophecy.
Even more than the attentions of a maid, Azhure found the deference shown to her by the people of Sigholt and Lakesview unnerving. Now, if she walked down the streets of Lakesview, with or without Caelum in her arms, the people made way for her with smiles, bows and bobbing curtsies. Azhure had to consciously force herself not to curtsey back.
“Come,” Axis said, walking into the room. “Stand up and show me your finery.”
Azhure took his outstretched hand, and let him guide her across the room to where a full-length mirror stood against the wall. Azhure stopped before the mirror, and Axis stood behind her, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders. Axis wore his golden tunic over blood-red breeches that matched the blazing sun on his chest. In total contrast, Azhure was dressed in a simple black gown, cut in stark lines that both emphasised her tall, lithe figure and directed attention to the fine bone structure of her face and her unusual smoky eyes. Her hair, as black as the gown, was piled on top of her head in a complex knot.
Axis smiled at Azhure’s reflection and reached into a pocket. “Dru-Beorh always gives me gifts, Azhure, that I find myself passing on to you.”
He clipped a pair of heavy, twisted dark-gold drop earrings onto Azhure’s ears. They were beautiful, and they created a perfect frame for her lovely face.
“We make an elegant pair, don’t we,” Axis said, and kissed the top of her head. Suddenly he realised, that Azhure’s eyes were swimming with tears. “What’s wrong?” he said. “Whyso melancholy?”
“Because do not belong here with you,” she whispered. “Soon you will lead your command south, and then to Carlon. There your Queen awaits.”
Axis’ entire body stiffened. He and Azhure avoided mentioning Faraday – nevertheless she lay between themconstantly.
“I know you have been talking about her to Duke Roland and Ho’Demi,” Azhure continued, determined to speak her mind. “This,” she waved at their reflections, “is simply make believe. What we have together is as insubstantial as a reflection across water and will shatter as easily as this mirror.”
Axis’ hands tightened on Azhure’s shoulders, and she knew she had angered him. “I meant what I said in Hsingard, Azhure,” he said. “I love you. You are not simply some makeshift bedwarmer to keep me amused until I reach Faraday. Do you love me? Or is this some roundabout way of saying you want to leave?”
“You know I love you.” Azhure fought to keep her voice steady. “But I will have to walk away when we reach Carlon. The guilt I feel about Faraday gnaws at me each day. Surely your conscience troubles you?”
“Does my conscience trouble me?” he repeated. “Yes, I suppose that it does. Do I think about Faraday? Yes, I do. And, in a way, I still love her, but every day my love for you undermines what I feel for Faraday. All three of us are in the unforgiving grips of this damned Prophecy, Azhure. Manipulated beyond our own free will. But you and cannot deny the magic of Beltide night… or the continuing magic that each night brings. Neither can we deny the child we have made between us.” His voice hardened. “But I will not let you go, nor lose you nor forget you.” Axis slipped his hands down to wrap her. waist and cradle her back against his body.
Azhure took a deep breath. “But you will marry Faraday.”
“I have to, Azhure. As the Prophecy bound -Faraday to marry Borneheld, so it binds me to marry Faraday. Does not the Prophecy state that she will lie with the man who kills her husband? Besides, I need her goodwill to bring the trees behind me/’
“Then I must go —”
“No,” Axis said sharply, and his arms tightened. “I will not let you go, Azhure. Faraday is a sophisticated woman of the court. No doubt Borneheld has kept lovers —”
“No!” Azhure cried, and tried to twist out of Axis’ arms, but his grip tightened still further.
“Stay with me. Dance with me. Be my Lover. Faraday willaccept you.”
Azhure closed her eyes. Mistress, courtesan, concubine. There was no delicate way of dressing up the word. But poor Faraday. Azhure knew she would not accept what Axis proposed without deep hurt.
“Can you walk away from me, Azhure?” Axis asked. “Canyou?”
“No,” Azhure said, her eyes still closed, feeling nothing but Axis’ warmth against her body. “No, I cannot.”
“And as you cannot walk from me, so I cannot walk away from you,” Axis said. “I thought that I might be able to. I thought perhaps I could insist that you and Caelum stay here when I rode south. But I cannot bear to be parted from either of you. You have woven my soul so tightly with enchantments, Azhure, that I will never be free from you. Stay by my side. Please…I beg you.”
A terrifying image filled Azhure s mind. Axis and Caelum, three hundred years from now, both still young and vital. They were sitting on the rock ledge in Talon Spike, and they were both, unsuccessfully, trying to remember her name. They laughed and joked, and eventually gave up. Mistress and mother, long dead and long gone from their thoughts. “Please,” he whispered into her hair. “Yes,” and she hated herself for the word. “Then come,” Axis said, his hands loosening about her body. “Open your eyes, collect our son, and come below.
Sigholt awaits.”
Azhure picked Caelum up from his crib, and cradled his head close to her mouth. She whispered something, so low that Axis, curious, could not catch it.
“If you do one thing for me in your long, long life, Caelum, do not forget your mother’s name as I have forgotten the name of my mother. My name is Azhure, Caelum. Azhure. Azhure.”
This, the twenty-third day of Hungry-month, was Rivkah’s nameday, and Axis had planned a reception for her in the Great Hall of Sigholt. But the reception was far more than a simple celebration of Rivkah’s birth. Over the past weeks, fighting with Gorgrael’s forces had come to a halt, and almost all of Axis’ command was now back in Sigholt. The reception was also Axis’ way of thanking his forces. Tonight all of the unit commanders, as the more senior commanders, were gathered in the Great Hall, together with the most important townspeople, the Ravensbund commanders, the Sentinels, most of the Icarii Enchanters currently in Sigholt and sundry guests.
The reception was the first gathering of what would eventually become Axis’ royal court. It was time for Axis to assume the mantle of claimant to the throne of Achar, and heir to the Icarii Talon throne. Powerful and glorious, Axis now needed a court to reflect his power and glory. Present tonight were several traders from Tarantaise and Nor, and Axis wanted them to spread the word south that Axis, StarMan, was a fit claimant to the throne of Achar. If Borneheld did not provide Achar with the Sun-King who so many craved, then Axis would.
Several of the Icarii Enchanters willingly provided the music for the occasion, lolling about the rafters of the Great Hall and letting the music of their harps and voices fall upon the gathering below. Among the guests, all dressed in their finest, hurried servants, refilling goblets and wine glasses or carrying platters of food. Reinald had exceeded himself in the kitchens, overseeing the scrambling activities below stairs. Now he was content to watch the reception from the gallery, seated in a comfortably cushioned chair, a large decanter of his favourite spiced wine on a small table to one side. Never, he mused, in either Searlas’ or Borneheld’s tenures as Duke of Ichtar, had Sigholt come alive with so much merriment and beauty.