Sara Douglass – The Axis Trilogy 2 – Enchanter

“You bastard,” Axis whispered to himself. “How can you try to justify the way you have betrayed Faraday?”

But the fact remained; Axis could not right the wrong he had done Faraday by removing Azhure from his life. He loved both, in totally different ways, and he would have both.

And both would have to learn to accept it.

He sighed and stood up. Perhaps coming here had not been such a good idea after all. It had only gnawed at his conscience, and Axis had so many things to worry about now he did not need a wounded conscience to cope with as well.

“Faraday,” he murmured as he picked up the rag doll and sat it straight and comfortable on a chair.

CarlonBorneheld stared out the window of his private apartments in the palace at Carlon, refusing to look Jayme in the face.

The Brother-Leader was furious and did not bother to hide it. What was the use of assisting this…this oaf to the throne if all he could do was sit still and lose almost half the nation to Axis?

“He has captured Skarabost,” Jayme fumed, his normally implacable face strained and lined with anger. “And is moving down towards the Bracken Ranges. Arcness and Taran-taise wall fall next. And you just sit there and say ‘let him’?”

Borneheld took a deep breath and watched a crow circle high above the walls of Carlon. If he ignored Jayme for long enough the man might simply go away. Borneheld was beginning to get very, very irritated with this bothersome priest. He had been King almost a year now, and the Seneschal’s dark manipulations which had seen him gain the throne seemed very far in the past. The world had changed. Power had shifted away from the Seneschal. Perhaps Jayme did not yet realise that.

“I sit here and say ‘let him’,” Borneheld suddenly snapped, “because I have no other Artor-forsaken choice!

“I have been fighting across Ichtar and the north of Aldeni for more months than I care to remember, Jayme, while you

have sat here like a spider in your web, pulling people each and every way you want them to go. You think you understand what lies at risk here? What issues are at stake? Forgive me, Brother-Leader, but I did not see you walking the battlements of Gorkenfort as Ichtar collapsed about me. I have not seen you trudging ankle-deep through mud and sludge in the trenches at Jervois Landing as Skraelings surged down from the north. You have NO idea of what it is like to command an army that is half dead from fatigue and sad-heartednessl”

Jayme did not flinch as Borneheld surged from his chair and shouted in his face. The old man stood straight and tall, his robes of office hanging in thick blue folds about him, a jewelled sign of the Plough hanging from a heavy golden chain about his neck. “No, I was not there to watch you lose Gorkenfort,” Jayme said, “and I was not there to watch you let the Forbidden chase the Skraelings back from Jervois Landing. I understand you lost close to half your army when the Ravensbund savages packed up and left one night, Borneheld? Forgive me, but I would have made sure that ample watch was kept over such savages.”

Borneheld’s hands clenched at his sides and he kept himself from hitting the Brother-Leader only through a supreme effort. “The Ravensbundmen accounted for only a third of my forces,” he hissed, “and I had posted a guard. But the Ravensbund have lived too close to the Forbidden for too many years, and undoubtedly used enchantments to slip past the encircling troops.”

“Then if you still have some twenty thousand men, Borneheld, it does not explain to me why you keep them fat and idle in Carlon while Axis swings south and west. Surely an army is to be used. Or do you enjoy watching the Forbidden swarm back over the territories that the Seneschal won for you a thousand years ago?”

Now Jayme’s temper was re-emerging. What was Borneheld thinking of to let Axis get away with so much? Jayme didn’t care that Gilbert had counselled Borneheld to move his army to Carlon. All he wanted was Axis stopped.

“I cannot risk abandoning Carlon to Axis,” Borneheld said, “which is exactly what I will do if I ride off to the east without a clear idea of where the bastard is. Axis will come here eventually. He has to, if he still thinks to seize the throne from me. So,” Borneheld lowered himself back into his chair, “I shall sit here and wait for him. When Axis arrives, his troops shall be tired and battle-wearied, nursing blisters on their feet and a dozen small wounds each from the battles they have fought to win their way this far. I, meantime, will await them with troops rested and refreshed.”

Jayme slowly shook his head, staring at Borneheld. He had thought, as had Moryson, that Borneheld represented the Seneschal’s best chance of survival. How was the Seneschal going to survive if Axis thundered at the head of an army across the Plains of Tare towards the Tower of the Seneschal?

“Need I remind you, Borneheld, that the Tower of the Seneschal rests on the far side of the Grail Lake? Axis will decimate the Brotherhood before you can rally your army to the front gates of the city.”

“Well, it shouldn’t worry you” Borneheld said. “You spend most of your time here in the palace, anyway. You and your two advisers. But rest easy. I shall meet Axis on the Plains of Tare well before he approaches your white-walled tower.”

Jayme tried to collect his thoughts. Everything was going so badly. He remembered the time, so long ago now, it seemed, when he had first heard rumours of trouble to the north, of strange ghost-like creatures who nibbled and chewed fully armoured men to death in minutes. How could he have foretold then the disasters that would envelop Achar? Ichtar was gone, lost to Gorgrael. Soon everything east of the Nordra would be gone, lost to the Forbidden and the one who led them. And what did that leave? A relatively narrow strip of land to the west of the Nordra? A pink and gold city?

“At night, Borneheld,” Jayme said softly, “I can hear the weeping souls of those poor tormented wretches who have been overwhelmed by Axis and the hordes of Forbidden that he directs. Do you know what he does to them, Borneheld? Do you know the pain the poor wretches of Skarabost have suffered as that wretched army overwhelms village after village? Children are sacrificed for the plunders of those flying vermin he calls friends. Women are forced to yield their bodies, then their lives. Men watch their families die, then are gutted and strung up from poles and doorframes by their bowels, to die themselves from pain and shock and loss. Does that not concern you, Borneheld? How can you sit here and say ‘Let him come’? Artor alone will judge you on this.”

Borneheld fidgeted nervously. He’d been having nightmares since he returned to Carlon. He dreamed that anonymous, pale hands held out the ensorcelled chalice for him, whispering entreaties to him to drink. He dreamed of wandering the halls and chambers of the palace, the whispers and laughter of the court following him.

And he dreamed of a stern-faced woman, black-haired and raven-eyed, who sat at a counting table, two bowls before her, a gleaming rectangle of light behind her. She raised her eyes as he approached, laughing as she recognised him. “I await your presence before my table, Borneheld, Duke of Ichtar.”

In vain would he protest that he was Duke of Ichtar no longer, but King of Achar.

“Your blood names you a Duke of Ichtar, Borneheld,” she whispered. “And your blood condemns you. Your death approaches from the east. Watch for it.”

Borneheld fidgeted and looked out the window, fancying he could see Artor staring at him from the massed clouds sliding down from the north.

Faraday sat, half asleep, as Yr brushed her hair out. Unlike Borneheld and Jayme, Faraday regarded the slow approach of Axis and his army as a gift. A gift from the Mother, for Faraday had long since abandoned Artor and his cruel and shallow ways. Each day brought fresh rumours from the streets of Carlon. Axis had won through to Arcness in a battle deserving of the gods in the Bracken Ranges. Axis and his army had been penned up in an isolated glen high in the Bracken Ranges and had fallen into a mighty lake and drowned — Faraday had smiled when she heard that one. Axis and his army had proclaimed a new land and a new nation in Skarabost. Had he proclaimed Ten cendor so soon? Faraday had thought Axis would wait until he reached Carlon, until he reached her, before he would do that. Yr heard most of the rumours from the captain of the guards, a darkly virile man. She also heard most of the facts — or as much of facts as anyone in Carlon could get — about Axis’ drive south through Skarabost.