Sara Douglass – The Axis Trilogy 3 – StarMan

Azhure had told him that the Earth Tree, backed by her daughters, could do this. It was, she had whispered to him late the previous night, only an extension of what the Earth Tree had done to the Skraeling force in the groves that initial Yuletide attack.

Axis understood this. He just found it impossible to credit that this host which had harried him and his for so long had been wiped out so easily.

He slipped from Belaguez’s back and lifted Azhure from the snow. .”I honour you,” he whispered.

Timozel clung to the rocky outcrop before his cave and gibbered in disbelief. Everything had gone! Everything had been lost! His vision . . . his vision …

He fought for a Great Lord, and in the name of that Lord he commanded a mighty army that undulated for leagues in every direction.

Yes, and that army had vanished in the blink of an eye.

Remarkable victories were bis for the taking.

Yes, and for the losing, apparently.

In the name of his Lord he would clear Achar of the filth that invaded.

Lies, lies, lies, lies …

His name would live in legend forever.

Timozel laughed, softly at first, then in great bitter gulps that tore through his chest and throat and rattled out across the still, cold air of the pass.

Axis and Azhure both turned at the sound.

“There,” she said, pointing.

“Timozel,” he snarled, clutching the sword at his side.

“Too late, Axis. See? He is high in the mountains, and even now he darts behind a rock.”

“Heading for his master’s den, no doubt.” Axis turned to wave the Strike Force into the air, and then halted. “No.”

Azhure turned back to him. “No?”

“No. He will run to Gorgrael, and I will doubtless see him there. / want to be the one to sink these five handspans of sharpened steel into his belly, Azhure! SpikeFeather and his command have already had their gratification for the day.”

Timozel panted, his breath sharp and frosty this high in the mountains. He struggled along the alpine pass, heading for the Icebear Coast. Every third or fourth step he glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see some of the feathered evil descending on him from the heavens.

“Friend Timozel.”

Timozel halted. “Friend?”

Scrambling down from a rocky perch was Friend, the one whom Gorgrael called the Dark Man. His cloak lifted and flapped as he leaped from rock to rock, but still Timozel could not see beneath its vast blackness. “Friend?”

“Assuredly, Timozel!” Friend laughed. “It has been some time, has it not?”

“All is lost,” Timozel whispered.

“Oh, no, hardly, Timozel. All is still well. A setback or two, I grant you, but all will still be well.”

“How can you say – ?”

“Timozel.” Friend took the young man’s arm and Timozel felt warmth and peace flood his body. “All will be well.”

“Really?” Timozel said.

“Truly. Now, listen to me. All we have to do is regroup at your master’s icy palace. Axis has to go there at some point, does he not?”

“Yes.”

“And you will still have the chance to save Faraday, young man.”

Timozel stirred. “Faraday? Can she still be saved from this disaster?”

“Oh, certainly!” Friend said. “She can still be saved. Helped to find the light. Now, just down this pass a way I have my trusty coracle, and we can launch into the Iskruel Ocean and row for Gorgrael.”

“A toast, my friends. To Azhure!” Axis raised his mug and grinned at Azhure across the fire.

“This is the fifth toast to Azhure we’ve drunk,” Magariz noted, but he drank anyway. Men laughed, and emptied their mugs.

“Well?” Axis demanded, “who else would you have me toast? Your brave self, perhaps? Clinging to a toddling boy for support? Shame, Magariz!”

Magariz spluttered indignantly. “And who put him there, StarMan? That eighteen-month-old boy was the only impediment to my charge down the Gorken Pass to deal with the Skraelings all by myself!”

Belial laughed and leaned over to Magariz, almost tilting a bit too far and losing his balance. “Magariz, Axis is out of sorts because he didn’t get to draw his sword himself.” He winked broadly at Axis. “His wife took care of it for him.”

“Belial.” Azhure’s voice was clear and sweet, and it cut across the drunken banter. “I did but win the day – and that was with the help of tens of thousands of trees planted out with Faraday’s love and care. You forget that Gorgrael still lurks, and he waits. Axis is the only one who can face him. It will come down, in the end, to a duel between the two brothers. That’s the way it will be.”

“That’s the way it’s always been,” Axis said, his voice hollow, and he threw the dregs of his mug into the fire.

i Gorken Pass “A “He knows,” Axis replied softly, and Azhure __ __L.closed her eyes.

Axis sighed and sat up from their sleeping roll, sliding his legs into his breeches. “He felt his death, as he felt MorningStar’s, and …”

“And as we both felt it when you ‘died’?”

“Yes.”

Azhure regarded Axis as he pulled on his clothes. He had reached out to StarDrifter in the calm of the early morning, reached out to tell him of the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law and all those who had remained in Talon Spike – as well as the better news of the destruction of both Gryphon and Skraeling armies. Azhure envied Axis’ ability to contact his father so far away. It spoke of the depth of both of their powers, and of the bond between them. Azhure, who wielded such a different power, still found it hard to communicate with Axis when long distances lay between them.

“StarDrifter pronounces awe at your role in yesterday’s victory,” Axis said.

That made her laugh, and Azhure rolled out of the blankets and began to dress. Caelum still slept soundly amid the comfort of his parents’ residual warmth.

“Will he meet us in Talon Spike?”

“Yes. And FreeFall and EvenSong. All will need to be there.”

“How long will it take for them to fly north?”

“Several weeks at least. They will fly the long way, to the Ancient Barrows, then the cities of the Minaret Peaks, through to Sigholt, the groves of the Avarinheim, and then…then to Talon Spike.”

Azhure frowned. “Why so long?”

“There is no rush, Azhure, and…I want to send the Strike Force from here to clean the complex before they arrive.”

Azhure dropped her eyes.

“And StarDrifter and FreeFall want to visit the various Icarii communities on the way. Not only to spread the news about what has happened in the north, but FreeFall is the Talon-Elect, and there are various rituals to be observed as they go-”

“And us?”

“Well, that’s what we’ll have to decide this morning. Come, sweetheart, finish combing your hair and we shall talk to the others. If their headaches permit it.”

Faces were drawn, and some eyes reddened, but headaches were only minor, and after everyone had breakfasted Axis called a conference of his commanders to discuss the future.

“My friends,” he said, “above all I must thank you for the friendship and support you have given me over the past years. Without you . . . none of this could have been accomplished. I would have lost heart and faded, allowing Gorgrael to move unhindered over this land. But, at long, long last, hope is now stronger than despair. All of us, I think, can afford to smile.”

“There is still Gorgrael.” Belial remarked.

“Yes, there is still Gorgrael. But it will be just him and me now, and no-one here, not even Azhure,” he paused to take her hand briefly, “can help me.”

“When?” Magariz asked. “How?”

Axis leaned back. “When? Sometime after Fire-Night, five weeks distant. Where? In the northern wastes. You, at least can enjoy the resurgent summer, for I shall have nothing but snow for some weeks to come.”

“And us?”

“And you, Belial?” Axis paused. “An army will be of little use against Gorgrael. Belial, Magariz, I want you to return south.”

“No!” both cried out together.

“Yes,” Axis said. He reached out and took both their hands. “Belial, Magariz, to you both I owe the most. You supported me after the disaster of Gorkenfort, and built me a power base at Sigholt. You have led my army, and you have argued and shouted at me when I would have given up. Now, you can serve me best by moving back south.”

He let their hands go. “Magariz, you have a province to reclaim from the devastation to which it has been subject. Go home to Rivkah, wait for the birth of your son. Then rebuild Ichtar.”

Magariz nodded, his eyes downcast.

“Magariz?”

Magariz looked up. “Yes, Axis?”

“Where will you construct your home base in Ichtar? Hsingard is in ruins, and yet there is nowhere else.”