Magariz stared at him. He had just been informed in no uncertain terms that he could not use Sigholt as his permanent home base in Ichtar. Well, that was no surprise. Axis had claimed Sigholt as his own when he proclaimed Tencendor, and he would want it for himself and Azhure – and their rapidly expanding family – when all was finished.
“I don’t know,” he began, then smiled. “You know, Axis, the country cupped by the Rivers Azle and Ichtar is rich and fertile. I sometimes summered there when I was stationed in Gorkenfort. I shall build there.”
“You and Rivkah, and your son, will be welcome in Sigholt until the construction is finished, Magariz.”
“Thank you, Axis.”
“Belial, Ysgryff currently holds court in Carlon.” Axis’ mouth twitched. “I dread to think what he does there. No doubt pirates wrestle in the corridors and clerks and scribes are banished to loiter in the streets. Ysgryff, I think, is disinclined to administration.” He paused. “Then again, he has more than surprised me in the past. Belial, will you collect your wife and return to Carlon? Western Tencendor needs its Prince, I think.”
Belial took a deep breath. “I’ll return to Sigholt, Axis, and go no further.”
Axis stared at him, his eyes sharp.
“I will not return to Carlon until I know the outcome of your battle with Gorgrael. / will not!” Belial said. “I have not come this far to be relegated to the sunny south and to the damned clerks and scribes while you battle for your life — and, ultimately ours – in the frozen north with Gorgrael! When I know that you have bested him, when you arrive home, then I will leave for Carlon.”
“You show a singular lack of faith in my ability to defeat Gorgrael, Belial.”
“I show a singular concern for your life, Axis. I can do nothing until I know that you live.”
Axis’ smile faded and he gripped Belial’s hand briefly. “Then wait for me in Sigholt, and when I come home we can share a jug of Reinald’s spiced wine and celebrate my victory.”
“A deal, Axis. Ysgryff can continue to wreak his havoc on Carlon for a few weeks yet.”
“And the army, Axis?” Azhure said.
“Well.” He thought about it. “I have an army. What to do with it now?”
Ho’Demi, silent until this moment, spoke urgently. “Axis -”
Axis halted him with a raised hand. “Peace, Ho’Demi. I will get to you in a moment.” His gaze shifted back to his other commanders. “There are a large number of volunteers in the army. Men from Skarabost, Arcness and Carlon. They are now
free to go home. Belial, will you arrange their journey south? Tell them…tell them that pay and compensation will be arranged when you return to Carlon. I can speak to you about it in Sigholt when I arrive home.” Belial nodded.
“There must also be thousands who are career soldiers. Men who were in Borneheld’s units or Achar’s regular army.” Axis grinned suddenly, remembering. “And a thousand or so of the former Axe-Wielders. Magariz, of the regular units you may take half to help you rebuild Ichtar; Belial, you may have a quarter of the remaining to help rebuild Aldeni.” Both men nodded.
“And the remaining units,” Axis said, glancing first at Ho’Demi and then at Azhure, “the remaining units can go north with Ho’Demi to help him reclaim his homeland from whatever currently inhabits it.” He paused. “Under my command.” Do you mind, Azhure?
It sounds like an adventure, Axis. I will be delighted. “I will be in that quarter,” Arne said from the outer ring of those grouped about the fire.
Axis smiled. “I would have expected nothing less from you, Arne. I have forgotten what my back looks like, so long have you watched over it for me.” He looked at Ho’Demi. “You do not mind Azhure and myself coming north with you,
Ho’Demi?”
“I and mine will be honoured, StarMan.”
“The honour belongs to me, Ho’Demi,” Axis said, “for without the assistance of you and yours the battle against Gorgrael would have been lost years ago. Besides, I have a hankering to see this northern land of yours, and to see the icebergs crash against the Icebear Coast.”
“You shall find our land surprisingly pleasant, StarMan. Or should, if the Skraelings have not eaten most of it.” Ho’Demi frowned. “I have great concern for those I had to leave behind. When the Skraelings invaded I could only bring twenty thousand of my people south with me. A twentieth of the Ravensbund people. The rest…” He shivered.
Axis could understand his anxiety, but for now he turned his mind from the plight of the Ravensbund people. “SpikeFeather?”
“Yes, StarMan?”
“I want several Wings of your command to fly south with the news of the events here. But the majority of your command …”
“To Talon Spike,” SpikeFeather said.
“Yes. To Talon Spike. It will be a hard task for you, SpikeFeather, but the mountain will have to be cleansed. Do you still have the jewelled tore in your care?”
SpikeFeather nodded.
“Good. StarDrifter and FreeFall will be joining you there, and Azhure and I will move from Ravensbund to Talon Spike by mid-Rose-month. Then the mountain can be reconsecrated and the tore passed to FreeFall.”
Axis looked slowly around the circle. “And from there…I will move down to the Avarinheim groves for Fire-Night and to meet my destiny with Gorgrael.”
.
The Necklet The farewells were over-bright and cheerful. Magariz and Belial spoke only in terms of “when we see you again” and not “if. Axis smiled, unable to speak, and embraced them. Azhure stood silently to one side, then she stepped forward and hugged both men herself.
Then Axis and Azhure mounted their horses, Caelum strapped once more to Azhure’s back, and Axis waved his command forward to join Ho’Demi’s Ravensbundmen further up the Pass. Only three thousand men now, and he was reminded of the days when he rode at the head of the Axe-Wielders. He hoped he would never again have to command an army of thirty thousand. He hoped Tencendor would never again need an army of that size.
Ho’Demi nodded to his own command, and, as one, eight thousand Ravensbund fighters wheeled their yellow-haired horses for the north. There were almost ten thousand Ravensbund women and children camped about Grail Lake, and soon they would strike camp and move slowly north. Axis had ordered that the river-boats operating along the Nordra be put at their disposal. That, at least, would make the initial part of their journey easier.
Axis and Azhure waited until the Acharite units had joined the Ravensbund, then Axis saluted to Belial and Magariz. Azhure waved, and both swung their horses northwards, the Alaunt baying excitedly as they raced to catch the units ahead of them.
Belial and Magariz stood and watched until they were out of sight, and then they turned silently and ordered their men south.
Soon all that was left in Gorken Pass was the drifting snow and the occasional Skraeling tooth. Far above, the remaining Wings of the Strike Force wheeled and dipped, then they too were gone, flying eastwards over the alps to Talon Spike.
It was a sadly anticlimactic end to what had been a sometimes grand but often tragic campaign.
They rode through Gorken Pass for many days and the entire way they saw not one living creature save ravens come to fish in the Andakilsa.
They did not see Timozel.
“He would have run directly for Gorgrael,” Azhure said one day as she saw Axis absently finger the hilt of Jorge’s sword. “Cut straight through to the Icebear Coast.”
“Pray the icebears do not eat him before I have a chance,” Axis replied, but he dropped his hand, and Azhure knew that he had not truly expected to find Timozel wandering the northern regions of Gorken Pass.
Ho’Demi affected unconcern about the lack of life in Gorken Pass and southern Ravensbund. “None would have lingered here,” he said to Axis and Azhure late one night about the fire, “for this was the haunt of the Skraelings. When they first invaded, the wraiths swung south and west about the western tip of the Icescarp Alps. Any of my people who remained would have made for the extreme north in the hope that the Skraelings were too busy eating their way south to detour after them.”
But each day Ho’Demi’s concern grew more palpable. There was nothing, nothing at all, and his worst fears seemed confirmed.
It took them a week to ride through the Pass. Cold winds swept the land, and snow lingered, clinging to the tough grasses.
“Sea birds often nest in the rocks of the Icescarp,” Sa’Kuya explained one day as she rode next to Azhure. “But none are here this year. No doubt for the past four years Skraelings have been climbing the walls after their eggs. Well, gods provide, the birds will come back one day.”