Sara Douglass – The Axis Trilogy 3 – StarMan

The tune changed, and the lullaby became a song of victory. The Earth Tree hummed in harmony, and Faraday could hear the other trees of the forests – both Avarinheim and Minstrelsea – join in as well.

The sound vibrated up through the soles of her feet and she lifted her arms and face to the Earth Tree, understanding that even in sacrifice there was sometimes life, and that wherever the Sentinels were now, they were joyous and …

“Unfettered,” she said, and stopped singing.

She blinked and looked at Axis. He was staring at her, his hands still wrapped about the silver head of the Sceptre.

“Unfettered,” she repeated, and laughed.

Shra smiled at her, then pulled at her father’s arm. “Father, will you lift me up?”

Grindle hoisted his daughter onto his shoulder and she reached up the trunk of the tree. Axis dragged his eyes away from Faraday and watched her. He could have sworn that the trunk of the Earth Tree ran smoothly upwards at least sixty paces before it branched out, but now he could see that there was a small branch about four paces up.

Grindle lifted Shra as high as he could, and she reached upwards with plump arms. For a moment Axis thought that she would still not be able to reach the branch, but just as her finger waved below it, the branch dipped, and Shra grasped it tightly, her laughter tinkling down around them.

The branch came away smoothly in her hands.

Grindle lowered her to the ground and Shra held out the branch to Axis – except now it was not a branch at all, but a slender rod of glossy wood. “Take this with the goodwill of the Earth Tree and the Avar people, StarMan,” she said. “It is our gift to you, and it will enable you to wield the Sceptre with the power of the Mother behind you. With this rod comes the power of the trees.”

Axis took a deep breath and accepted the rod. The power of the ancient gods combined with the power of the trees would

create an awesome weapon indeed. He fitted it into the base of the silver head, and he was not surprised to find that it fitted perfectly. When he tried to turn it, he found he could not dislodge the rod.

Rod and head had become one.

“The Rainbow Sceptre,” Faraday said softly, and Axis, unthinking, lifted it above his head and swung it in a great arc.

Great bolts of light shot into the night sky, and their energy crackled and roared through the grove. Somewhere, unheard, the Sentinels laughed again.

Hastily Axis tucked the Sceptre under his arm, slightly shame-faced, and covered its head with his hands. “What can I do with it?” he asked, “for I cannot stand about with my hands wrapped around it until Gorgrael steps my way.”

Faraday laughed. “Here,” she said and, bending down, ripped a length of cloth from her shifting-coloured robe. Poor robe, she thought, for I am always tearing strips from you.

She wrapped the cloth about the head of the Sceptre and stood back. “Don’t take it off until you face Gorgrael,” she said.

Axis nodded, and was about to speak when Grindle took his elbow.

“StarMan, the Avar have something more for you.”

Puzzled, Axis let Grindle lead him under the stone archways into the grove. Several of the Clan-Leaders stood there and one of them, Erode, now stepped forward.

“StarMan,” he said, “I remember that we refused to help you once before when you stood before us in this grove. We were wrong. Perhaps we should have helped sooner. But we will help now.”

Axis smiled, grateful for the words and the sentiment, but not sure what they could do. He had the Rainbow Sceptre, and now all he had to do was face Gorgrael.

“We cannot fight,” Erode continued, “but we can do one thing for you.”

He paused. “We can find Gorgrael for you.”

Axis’ breathing almost stopped. “Find Gorgrael?”

“Axis.” Erode smiled. “Did you think to walk to the edge of the Avarinheim and there Gorgrael shall be, waiting for you? No, Gorgrael lingers far to the north in his Ice Fortress.”

“How can you find it? Have you seen it?”

“No. But GorgraePs mother was Avar. Whatever else he is, he is also of Avar blood. We can feel him, we can track him. Five of us,” he waved to the men who stood behind him, “will travel north with you. We will bring you to Gorgrael’s fortress.”

“No. This is too dangerous, far too dangerous.”

“We are not afraid of death, StarMan, and we can find him. His blood will always call to us, and his enchantments will not be able to fool us with shadows.”

Axis was determined to make them see reason. “I am of his blood, too. I can find him.”

“Can you feel him, Axis? Can you find him? The Avar blood is stronger at that than the Icarii. And we will be company for you.”

“I have company.” Axis nodded to where Arne waited shadowed among the trees.

“Yes, we see him and we acknowledge him. Axis, if for no other reason, let us do this for Avar pride.”

“You will almost certainly die,” Axis said.

Erode inclined his head, but he did not say anything.

Axis let them wait another moment, let them think that he still considered, although he fooled no-one. “Very well,” he said, his tone gentler. “Come with me, and be welcome.”

Faraday stepped to his side and placed one hand lightly on his arm. “I will be coming, too,” she said.

“No/”

Ice Fortress “Y,

‘ou said that Artor would stop her from planting out the last of the trees – and you were wrong! My army is gone! Gone! Gone!”

“Now, now,” the Dark Man began, but Gorgrael would have none of it.

“Did you not hear the noise of their Song as it ripped my army apart?” he screeched.

The Dark Man flinched, but he held his ground. By the fire sat Timozel, his eyes hooded.

Gorgrael lowered himself into a crouch, his arms curved, his claws flexing. He growled and shook his head.

“It all comes down to -” the Dark Man tried again.

“And now he has the Rainbow Sceptre,” Gorgrael snarled, his voice low but infinitely more dangerous because of it. He had stilled now, and his eyes were slitted as they watched the Dark Man before him. Gorgrael did not trust him any more, no indeed he didn’t.

The Dark Man saw GorgraePs expression and prayed he still had some hold over the creature. Azhure was vulnerable, travelling through the Icescarp Alps with her son, and he wanted to keep Gorgrael distracted as long as he could…if he could.

“The Prophecy merely works its way through,” he said. “You should have expected this, Gorgrael.”

Gorgrael cocked his head to one side, his eyes still narrowed. “What do you mean, works its way through?”

“Dear boy,” the Dark Man said in as fatherly a way as he could manage. “The Prophecy is not just empty words. It must work its way through. I am as unhappy at the situation as you -but, truth told, I am not all that surprised. The Prophecy has set certain conditions to be met before you can destroy Axis once and for all. Now they have been met.” Gorgrael cocked his head still further.

“The age-old souls, long in cribs, will sing o’er mortal land,” the Dark Man explained. “The trees. Obviously, the Prophecy felt they had to be planted out. As with the Rainbow Sceptre. The Prophecy will never work its way through until Axis grasps it.”

Gorgrael straightened, but the aura of danger about him did not diminish. “Do you mean that all I have done has been an utter waste?” he said. “That I may as well have sat here and warmed my toes while waiting for my bastard brother to show up?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” the Dark Man hastened. “Not at all. Why, the Prophecy has relied on your strength and your power to work its way through. It would have been nothing without your help, Gorgrael.”

Gorgrael straightened entirely, trying to think. “It wants you to win,” the Dark Man went on. “It likes you. That’s why it brings Axis’ destruction to your very doorstep.”

Finally the aura of danger about Gorgrael dimmed. “What do you mean?”

Behind his hood the Dark Man smiled. “The Prophecy must work its way through, Gorgrael. That is why, as Axis comes north through snow and ice, he brings his destruction with him. Faraday.” “Oh!” “You see? The Prophecy wants you to win, Gorgrael.”

The Dark Man was gone, and Gorgrael and Timozel sat before the fire. They had drunk several glasses of wine, and were now eyeing each other with somewhat drugged affection.

“I don’t entirely trust him,” Gorgrael said.