The shadow laughed and spoke my name again as he alighted before me.
“I have chosen you to bear my daughter,” he said, and he held out his hand, his fingers flaring. “Her name will be Azhure.”
At that moment my fear vanished as if it had never existed. Azhure . . . Azhure . . . I had never seen such a man as your father and know I will not again during this life. He took the form of an Icarii birdman, his naked body as alabaster as the statues of the birdmen that they say stand about the great circle
of the Star Gate. His wings shone gold, even in the dark night of the Dome, and his hair glowed with copper fire. His eyes were violet, and they were hungry with magic.
Azhure, as Priestesses of the Stars we are taught to accede to every desire of the gods, even if we are bewildered by their wishes, but I went to him with willingness, not with duty. I wore but a simple shift, and as his eyes and fingers flared wider I stepped out of it and walked to meet his hand.
As his hand grasped mine it was as if I was surrounded by Song, and as his mouth captured mine it was as if I was enveloped by the surge of the Stars in their Dance. His power was so all-consuming that I knew he could have snuffed out my life with only a thought. Perhaps I should have been terrified, but he was gentle for a god – not what I might have expected -and if he caused me any pain that night I do not remember it. But what I do remember . . . ah, Azhure, perhaps you have had your own lover by now, but do you know what it feels like to lie with one who can wield the power of the Stars through his body? At times I know he took me perilously close to death as he wove his enchantments through me and made you within my womb, but I trusted him and let him do what he wanted and lay back in bis wings as he wrapped them about me and yielded with delight and garnered delight five-fold in return.
I do not know your father’s name, for he would not speak it, but I have no doubt that he was one of the gods of the Stars – perhaps the sun god, for he burned with fierce and virulent power and his pale skin was hot under my touch.
I feel blessed that he chose me.
Even as he withdrew from my body I could feel the fire that he had seeded in my womb erupt into new life. He laughed gently at the cry that escaped my lips and at the expression in my eyes, but I could see his own eyes widen to mirror the wonder that filled mine. For a long time we lay still, his body heavy on mine, our eyes staring into each other’s depths, as we felt you spring to life within my womb.
Even now, as I write, I can feel the fire and the magic of your being within me. My enchanted, sacred daughter – be all that you promise to be.
After a long while your father spoke.
He told me you are to be bom in the village of Smyrton, far to the north-east. He told me you are to grow there. He said that there you will eventually meet the StarMan of the Prophecy of the Destroyer – your father said he already totters on baby feet – and that you will be the axis upon which his entire life will turn. Your father said your early life will be one of pain and misery – and I cried when he told me that, but then he wiped away my tears and said that you will walk through the shadows into bright light and find the happiness that I will have to sacrifice.
Your father is gentle for a god.
Before he left he loved me again ~ and this he did for me, as inadequate thanks for the daughter I will bear him.
I know that I will die in Smyrton, and I know that the man your father sends me to meet and to marry will also be my murderer. I know that my days will be numbered from the hour that I give you birth. It is a harsh thing that your father makes me do, for how will I be able to submit to this Plough-Keeper Hagen, knowing I will die at his hands, and keep a smile light on my face and my body willing? How can I submit to any man, having known the god that fathered you? How can submit to a life dominated by the hated Brotherhood of the Seneschal, when I have been First Priestess of the Order of the Stars?
Your, father saw my doubts and saw my future pain, and he told me that one day I will be reborn to be his lover forever. He said that he had died and yet lived again, and that I would follow a similar path.
He said that he loved me.
Perhaps he lied, but I choose not to think so. To do otherwise would be to submit to despair. His promise, as your
life, will keep me through and past my death into my next existence.
I hope that Hagen will allow me enough time with you for you to be able to remember clearly how dearly your mother loved you.
Know that I love you and will love you past death and into the forever that your father has promised me.
Niah By the time she had finished, Azhure was trembling so violently and her eyes were so blurred with tears that she let the letter fall to the floor.
“Damn you!” she cried. “Damn you, WolfStar, for lying to Niah so badly!” She leaned her face into her arms and wept.
After a long, long time she sat up and wiped her eyes, picking up the letter and folding it carefully before slipping it into a pocket in her robe.
Outside the First Priestess was waiting. She reached out for Azhure, but the woman stepped back. “What do you know of my conception, First Priestess?”
The Priestess’ eyes were bright with compassion. “Only what your mother told me. That a god came to her in the Dome and that he wanted her to leave this isle. That is all.”
Azhure’s shoulders stiffened. “And when you sit in the Dome, First Priestess, in the fullness of the moon, has a god ever come to you?’
The woman lowered her eyes. “No. None has ever come.”
“Then be grateful,” Azhure said bitterly, “that you have been so blessed.”
StarDrifter started, wakened by the opening door and the soft footfall. “Azhure?”
He heard her take a tremulous breath, and realised she had been crying. He sat up. “Azhure? What is it? What’s wrong?”
She sat down on the bed beside him, and for a very long time she did not say anything. He took her hand and stroked the hair from her forehead, and she seemed grateful for the contact.
“StarDrifter?”
“Yes?”
She was quiet for a very long time. “May I stay the night with you?”
“Azhure!”
“Please,” she said, tears trickling down her cheeks, and StarDrifter gathered her into his arms and his wings. “Please, just hold me, StarDrifter, and tell me that you love me.”
Planting From the Silent Woman Woods Faraday moved slowly north-east towards the Ancient Barrows, finally planting out the Enchanted Wood. Within days she was sore and tired and lonely beyond belief. She was almost constantly nauseous, and at night when she sank to her knees, exhausted, she could hardly force herself to eat. The warmth and comfort of the Silent Woman Keep seemed a lifetime behind her.
She had not thought that the planting would demand so much of her physical and emotional strength.
Each night Faraday spent tossing and turning, spending her dreams between Ur’s nursery and dark, uncomfortable places that she could not recognise. Each morning she woke to find herself surrounded by several hundred tiny terracotta pots, every seedling brimming with zest and cheerfulness. Faraday was not entirely sure how they reached her, but she thought that she must spend much of her sleeping hours moving between the Sacred Grove and this world, carrying the pots two by two. No wonder she woke more exhausted than when she lay down to rest. She would struggle up and smile wanly at the seedlings, force herself to eat a few mouthfuls of food, and then begin yet another day of planting.
The morning Faraday had left the Silent Woman Keep, she had walked outside to find only one of the donkeys laden with its saddlebags. The other was harnessed to a small, blue, flat-trayed cart. She was puzzled by this, until the first morning she