“Damn it, I can find my way, surely? Just tell me what direction to go!”
Again Erode shook his head. “One of our people birthed him, StarMan, and now we would do our part to bury him. We have tarried too long to help in this fight, and I and my companions will not turn back.”
“But you will die.”.
“We knew that when we set out.”
The next morning another of the Avar men was dead, and Loman and Erode were grey about the eyes and mouth, and their hands trembled as they shook the night’s snow off their cloaks.
Axis stared long and hard at them, but they turned away without speaking and began to trudge slowly north through the snow.
‘Trust Me So they marched on. Erode and Loman led them ever north, then north-north-east. The weather became colder and more bitter and, despite Axis’ enchantments, managed to penetrate to their bones.
Axis sometimes heard either Erode or Loman, he knew not which, crying in the night, and his heart cried with them. But he knew he probably would never find Gorgrael’s nest without the Avar – or Gorgrael would make sure that he found it only on his own terms. He could have spent weeks out here, wandering until his spirit failed him and despair consumed him – then, Rainbow Sceptre or no, Gorgrael would have found him easy meat.
Eight days after leaving the forest they stopped one evening. None of the men had been able to catch any game for two days now, and the last reserves of food had been eaten that morning. There would be nothing to quiet their stomachs when they camped for the night but the snow they could warm at Axis’ magical fires.
Faraday sat very quiet, the firelight flickering over her face and her outstretched hands. Axis worried about her. She’d grown even thinner and more fragile in this match north; now dark shadows circled her eyes and her hair had lost some of its gloss.
“Faraday?”
She rose. “I will be back soon, Axis.” She paused as if she wanted to say something more, but the moment passed, and she was gone in the swirling snow.
“Faraday?”
“StarMan. Loman fades,” Arne called to him.
Axis stared one more moment into the snow, unaware there were tears in his eyes, then he turned on his heel and strode over to the fire Arne shared with Erode and Loman.
Loman had been growing weaker over the past day; Axis was not surprised that he should sink to the ground and refuse to get up now.
He squatted down beside Loman; Brode the other side, Arne at his head. Loman was mumbling something under his breath.
Brode looked up and met Axis’ eyes. The Avar man’s own eyes were red-rimmed and sallow, and there were great hollows in the papery skin of his cheeks – Brode was not long for this world either.
“He remembers the pathways of his youth, StarMan, and he seeks now the pathways to the Sacred Grove.”
“Will he find them here?”
“Yes. Loman is strong, and his feet will find the paths.”
He waited several more minutes, his eyes gentle as they studied Loman, then he looked back at Axis.
“We’ll reach GorgraePs nest tomorrow, StarMan. He is close. Surely you can feel him, too?”
“Yes,” Axis said. “All day there has been blackness gathering in the corners of my eyes, and dark notes taint the chords of the Star Dance. He is close.”
Brode nodded, and they bent back over Loman.
Faraday walked through the snow, her head bowed, her hands grasping the cloak close. It was cold, yet the ache in her heart was colder. Every time she left the Sacred Grove now she said goodbye as if it were the last time, treasuring every extra moment she shared with him, for she never knew when she would – if she would – be able to go back.
It was almost fully dark now, and Faraday was late. She hurried towards the faint glow of firelight she could see in the distance. She squinted ahead. Axis, Arne and Brode were grouped about a huddled figure on the ground. Loman. Her fingers tightened further about the cloak and she increased her pace. Loman would appreciate it if she were there to see his feet onto the Sacred Paths.
A strange whisper, barely discernible in the night, ran along the edge of the wind.
Faraday paused, the cloak wrapping itself about her body in the wind. Nothing. She hurried on.
There, again, a soft whisper along the wind and, this time, a hint of movement to her right.
She stopped again, every nerve afire. Her fingers pushed fine strands of hair from her eyes, and she concentrated hard, peering through the gloom, listening for any unusual sounds.
“Faraday.” A whisper, so soft she almost did not hear it.
A whisper . . . and a soft giggle.
“Faraday.”
She stared, hoping it were her imagination, hoping she were wrong.
The flickering campfire caught her eye again, and she looked back. Axis had raised his head and was staring into the snow in her direction, but just as she was about to call out the figure on the ground convulsed and Axis bent down again.
“Faraday.”
No mistaking it this time, and Faraday closed her eyes and moaned.
“Faraday? It is I, Timozel.”
She mustered all her courage and looked to her right. Timozel was half-crouched in the snow some four or five paces away, his hand extended, his eyes gleaming.
It was not the Timozel she remembered.
“Help me, please,” he whispered.
“Timozel… go away.”
“Faraday, please, heJp me. Help me!”
Don’t do this, Timozel, please don’t do this! she pleaded in her mind, but if Timozel heard her he paid her no attention.
“He has trapped me, Faraday! Trapped me! Forced me into his service.”
“No,” she said, but she was unable to look away, unable to call for help. The force of the Prophecy lay like a dead weight about her shoulders; nothing she could do now could alter its abominable course.
The red doe froze, frightened by a movement among the trees.
“Do you know when he trapped me, Faraday?” Now Timozel had crept a little closer. “At Fernbrake Lake when Yr laid me under her enchantment. Yes, yes indeed. While you bathed in the light of the Mother, Gorgrael was sinking his talons into my soul.”
“No,” she said, louder this time. Not then, oh, please, Mother! Not then!
“Yes, then.” Timozel injected as much pitifulness into his voice as he could. “I’m as much a victim as you are, Faraday. Please help me. I want to escape. Trust me.”
She stared, her dark liquid eyes enormous, and her entire body trembled.
“Go away,” she muttered, and the wind caught at her cloak so that it tore back from her body.
Now Timozel was almost at her feet, and his fingers fluttered at the hem of her gown. “Please, Faraday. I want to find the Light again. Please, Faraday! Help me. You’re my friend. Help me!”
No! she screamed in her mind but she could not voice it. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Axis rising from the fire, a hand to his eyes. Then her hair whipped free and, caught by the wind, obscured her vision.
No! But the Prophecy had her in its grip now, and it would not let her go.
The doe lifted one foreleg, her ears twitching, staring with eyes full of frightened memory, then she . . .
“Trust me,” Timozel whispered at her feet. Trust me. No!
“Axis,” she cried. “Forgive me!”…turned and . . . TimozePs hand snatched at her ankle. “Gotcha!” he crowed.
. . . bounded away through the trees, light dappling her back with gold. She ran free, unfettered.
Axis took a deep breath, then sighed. Sadness overwhelmed him; he had not thought to be so affected by Loman’s passing.
“He runs free now, his feet light along the Sacred Paths,” Erode said.
“Would you like me…?”
“Yes. Thank you StarMan.”
Arne and Erode stepped back and Axis knelt a moment by the body. Then he too stepped back, and Loman’s body flared into light and then searing fire.
All said their private farewells.
It was later, much later, when Axis looked up and realised that Faraday had not returned. At first he was not disturbed, for sometimes she spent two or even three hours away in the Sacred Grove. But as the night wore on Axis became frantic.
Arne held onto his StarMan’s arm. “Do not let him trap you,” he rasped between tight teeth, for it took all of his strength to hold Axis back. “If he has her then we will find her soon enough. On the morrow, Erode says.”
“Oh Stars,” Axis said. “He has the wrong one. What have I done to her?”