Sara Douglass – The Axis Trilogy 2 – Enchanter

She did not know that her eyes contained as many Stars as did Axis’, nor that Axis was as lost in her eyes as she in his.

And she most certainly did not know of the waves that wept and cried and called her name along the coasts of Tencendor even as she cried and called Axis’ name.

That night they conceived their second and third children, but that night the Prophet, watching, did not laugh at all.

In the last week of Flower-month Axis sat Belaguez atop a small rise and frowned at the sprawling manor house below him. It was the handsomest residence that he had yet come across in Skarabost, and he had come out of his way to see it. Behind him, and surrounding the manor house at a distance of three or four hundred paces, his army lay encamped.

Belonging to Isend, Earl of Skarabost, Faraday’s father, the manor house was not defended, only having a head-high brick wall about the building itself. Isend was not a fighting man, and Axis knew he would always retreat rather than stay and defend his home.

Behind Axis, some dozen or so paces, Azhure sat Venator, her eyes on Axis’ back.

Axis turned and stared at Azhure, then signalled her and the commanders about him that he would ride down to the house alone.

He cantered Belaguez down the slope, then slowed him to a walk as he rode through the gardens. The spring flowers and shrubs were blooming among miniature trees, pruned so that they grew no more than shoulder height. The gravel of the paths was neatly raked, as if the gardeners had been out only this morning. Axis rode through the ornate black iron gates, dismounted, and tied Belaguez to the railings. Then he continued on foot, his blood-red cloak billowing out behind him. As he stepped onto the shaded verandah, his boot heels loud on the terracotta tiling, the front door swung slowly open. A woman in her late twenties stood there, waiting calmly for Axis to approach. She was very much like Faraday, with the same green eyes and chestnut hair.

Axis stopped as he reached the door, groping for words. He had not thought what he would say when he got here -or even what he actually wanted.

The woman smiled at him, and it was Faraday’s smile. Axis’ heart lurched in his chest. How could he have forgotten the beauty of her smile?

“You are Axis, I presume,” she said, her voice low and confident. “Once BattleAxe, now something a little more strange, I think.” She looked at his cloak and the emblem blazing across his chest. “And far more colourful than once you were.”

She held out her hand. “Welcome to Ilfracombe, Axis. My name is Annwin, daughter to Earl Isend, wife to Lord Osmary. I do hope you have not come to burn my home to the ground.”

Axis took her fingers and kissed her hand. “I thank you for your welcome Annwin, and I assure you that I have not come to burn Ilfracombe to the ground. Is your father home?”

How strange, Axis thought, that we should both be acting as if this is nothing more than a polite social visit. Please, madam, ignore my army. I take it everywhere.

Annwin stepped back and motioned Axis inside. She led him down a dim and cool corridor into a reception room, waving Axis into a chair and taking one opposite.

“I regret my father is not home, Lord Axis. Earl Isend is in Carlon.” Her eyes gazed steadily into his. “With my sister.”

Axis was glad that Isend was not here. He did not think he could deal with that simpering fop now. Isend had arranged and then pushed Faraday’s marriage with Borneheld with no thought but his own gain.

“Do you know her?” Annwin’s face remained coolly polite. “The Queen?”

“I met Faraday in Carlon some eighteen months ago. She accompanied myself and the Axe-Wielders some distance into Tarantaise where, through some misfortune, she became separated from my command.”

“You were careless, Axis.” Now Annwin’s voice and eyes were hard. “Faraday is a precious gem, beloved of her entire family and of most in Skarabost. You are not the man rumour touts if you could so easily have lost Faraday to misfortune.”

Axis’ face tightened. “There are forces moving beyond the walls of this peaceful house, Annwin, that perhaps you do not understand. Both Faraday and myself have been caught up by the Prophecy to use much as it pleases.”

Annwin inclined her head, in a show of civility.

“I met her again in Gorkenfort,” he continued. “It was a hard place, but she made it beautiful simply by her presence. It was only with her help that so many escaped the horrors of the Skraeling army that lay in wait outside the forts walls.”

“I have heard the story of the fall of Gorkenfort,” Annwin said slowly. “It is said that the fort was betrayed by treachery within. By your treachery, Axis.”

“We all fought for the same thing, Annwin – to keep the Skraelings from Achar. But we were too weak. No-one could have saved Gorkenfort, and yet no-one betrayed it either. We simply went our different ways once we had escaped.”

“You to the shadowed mountains of the Forbidden.”

“To Talon Spike, yes. It is the mountain home of the Icarii. Do you know of the Prophecy of the Destroyer?”

Annwin dropped her eyes. “Yes,” she admitted.

“I am the StarMan mentioned by the Prophecy, as I am sure rumour has bruted it about Skarabost by now. I currently ride with my army to unite the three races of Ten-ceiidor. Only then can we defeat Gorgrael.”

Annwin’s eyes glittered with anger. “Child’s lies, I do not —”

Axis broke in. “And Faraday also has her part to play. She is beloved of the Sentinels, and of Avar, the People of the Horn. The Horned Ones who wander the Sacred Groves, the magical glades of the Avar, consider her their Friend.”

Annwin’s eyes widened. “Faraday?” she stuttered. “Faraday is caught up in this?”

“Yes, but don’t tell Borneheld. I don’t think he would take it very well.”

Annwin was quiet a very long time. “Faraday is Queen,” she said finally, “in Carlon. She is not happy married to Borneheld. Do you march to Carlon?”

Axis nodded.

“Will you free her from Borneheld, Axis?”

“I will marry her, Annwin, when I take the throne of Achar,” he said. “It is all I have ever wanted.” And the Stars forgive me for that lie, he thought to himself. But for so many months it was all I thought that I would ever want.

“Ah,” Annwin breathed, her eyes glistening. “So.”

“Annwin, I wonder if I might sit awhile in Faraday’s room.”

Surprised by the request, Annwin simply nodded. “Come. I will show you.”

Axis sat a long time in the simple room which had been Faraday’s as a child. Here, surrounded by her memories, he could finally think about her without the deep guilt over his betrayal of her love making him shove all thought of her to one side.

He hummed the Song of Recall, and watched as glimpses of Faraday as a young child, growing to maturity and beauty, flickered before his eyes. He smiled. She had been an awkward child, her hair carroty, her face long and freckled. But she had been joyous and giving, qualities she had not lost as she transformed through girlhood into the beauty she was now. There were numerous childish disappointments and frustrations. The loss of a beloved cat. A storm that ruined a picnic. Her mother’s gentle chidings at selfish tempers. But happy memories predominated. Faraday had grown to womanhood in this room contented and loved.

Axis had not lied when he told Azhure he loved her. But did his love for Azhure undermine what he felt for Faraday?

Or did the two simply exist side by side? Was he, poor fool, in love with two women? Both so different that he could love one of them without compromising his love for the other?

“Yet I have never told Faraday that I loved her,” Axis said aloud, seeking excuses for his behaviour. “So perhaps she assumes too much in thinking that I do.”

He had never told Faraday he loved her. That was true. He had said many things to Faraday, he had intimated that perhaps he loved her, but he had never actually spoken the words.

“And she was the one who chose to run away at the Ancient Barrows, fleeing to Borneheld’s side and marrying him,” Axis reasoned aloud. “How then could she expect me to wander chaste and desolate through the rest of my life?”

Axis sat on Faraday’s virginal bed a long time, voicing soft excuses for his behaviour through the room, until finally his eyes fell on a soft rag doll, lying legs and arms akimbo on the floor. It reminded him of everything Faraday had gone through. She had been pushed and manipulated by so many — by Isend, by the Sentinels, by the Prophecy itself, even by Raum, and certainly by himself, that she had almost no control over her own life. Like the rag doll, Faraday lay lost and forgotten in Carlon, waiting only for some other force to come along and fling her about according to its will.