Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

“What you heard and saw would have tested anyone”s patience, Maximilian. I, ah, I

just…I can”t believe you came all this way for me.”

“There was no reason for you to believe it. Not the way I”d treated you after Borchard”s

death.”

There was another awkward silence.

“I suppose you”ll be leaving soon,” said Ishbel, her voice now slightly strained.

“No. I will be traveling north with Isaiah”s army.”

“Oh.”

“I”m sure there will be enough room for us to avoid each other.”

“Yes.”

Silence.

“Ravenna seems a nice girl,” Ishbel said, both her color and her tone revealing her

desperation to find something to say.

Ravenna seems a nice girl. If it had been under any other circumstances Maximilian

would likely have smiled at Ishbel”s distracted attempts to keep conversation going. He might

even have laughed.

But not after last night.

Guilt swept through him, stronger than ever before. “Yes,” he said, “Ravenna is a nice

girl.”

Then he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Ishbel staring after him.

CHAPTER TWO

Salamaan Pass, Northern Kingdoms

Axis had led some massive armies in his time, but nothing like what Isaiah now

commanded, nor had he ever managed to trail behind such an army with half of their wives and

children and great-aunts, not to mention livestock and worldly goods. He would not have liked to

lead this number of people (almost a million, by the stars! ) and he most certainly would not have

liked to be responsible for its organization. Isaiah, however, managed it without apparent effort,

or concern, or a single worry line down the center of his tanned forehead.

The running, organization, and movement of this unbelievable column of people certainly

kept his generals busy, and it most definitely kept Axis running from the time he rose in the

morning until that blessed hour when he could hit his sleeping roll late at night. Isaiah had

ordered the march forward three days after Maximilian and his party had arrived in Sakkuth.

Getting the army (and its innumerable followers) on the move had been like trying to waken a

vast, grudging, sleepy monster—but once wakened, it was seemingly impossible to stop. Axis

was not sure that the entire column ever did halt. There always seemed to be some part of it

snaking forward. Ten thousand may stop here for a meal and a rest, but somewhere else ten

thousand rose from their sleeping rolls, and stretched, then picked up their packs and weapons

and trudged forward yet once more.

Isaiah traveled in a relatively small convoy of commanders. He lived as one of the

soldiers, and moved his convoy between others within the greater column. Isaiah”s convoy was

Axis” “home” within the vast mass marching forward, but he tended to see Isaiah only once

every two or three days as Isaiah constantly had him traveling between different sections,

probing, delivering orders, chatting to commanders, receiving reports, laughing, shouting, and

sometimes sitting down for a few minutes with his harp, entertaining men grouped about fires

with songs and tales from the myth and reality of Tencendor. Axis spoke with generals and foot

soldiers alike, and covered leagues of territory every day as he moved about his appointed tasks.

Each day was hectic and tiring beyond belief, but Axis loved it. He gained a sense of the

army, of its structure, its abilities, its heart and soul, which would otherwise have been virtually

impossible.

Nonetheless, it surprised him when, a few days after they”d entered the Salamaan Pass,

and about ten after they”d left Sakkuth, a group of men in a section he passed on his horse called

out to him, and cheered him as he went, as if he were their chief instead of Isaiah.

His father, StarDrifter, and Maximilian and the others of their party, traveled in their own

convoy, which kept to its strictly appointed place in the overall army. They were not guarded as

such, but Axis was aware that Isaiah had set men to watching them.

Maximilian had mostly kept to himself since he”d arrived in Sakkuth. He had spoken

with Isaiah on several occasions that Axis knew about, but Axis did not think he”d seen Ishbel.

StarDrifter had told Axis that Maximilian spent a great deal of time alone, that he appeared

preoccupied with something, whether Ishbel or some other worry, and that only Ravenna had any

real contact with him.

Axis knew that Ishbel and Isaiah now spent their time apart. Ishbel traveled with Isaiah”s

convoy, but Isaiah had made a great show of saying that he now slept on the ground with his

troops rather than in a softer bed. Axis interpreted that as meaning Ishbel did not want him near her.

Unhappiness prevailed, and Axis wished that Isaiah, Ishbel, and Maximilian could sort

out the mess among them. He was, to be frank, surprised that Maximilian remained with Isaiah”s

column, but supposed that traveling with this massive convoy, which was, after all, heading

directly north, was the most direct route home for Maximilian. He would hardly want to

scramble his independent way back through the mountains with little food and support.

It must, nonetheless, be galling for him to travel with the invader.

There was something going on that Axis did not understand, and he found that

unbelievably frustrating.

On this day, a half hour or more after Axis had been surprised by the cheer that went up

for him from some of Isaiah”s soldiers as he”d ridden past, he saw StarDrifter and Maximilian

riding up ahead. His father”s wings, as Salome”s, had emerged about a week ago, accompanied

by much moaning and groaning (according to Salome, who swore it wasn”t anywhere near as

painful as childbirth and she didn”t know what StarDrifter was complaining about) from

StarDrifter and a few choice swear words that had surprised even Salome.

While their wings had now emerged completely from their backs, they were yet to fully

fledge and muscle, so thus far neither could fly. Both of them grew similar wings—once fully

feathered, they would be a silvery white, their feathers tipped with gold.

Airborne, both would be spectacular.

Axis knew that Zeboath had examined StarDrifter and Salome on several occasions,

fascinated by their wings. StarDrifter and Salome were apparently philosophical about Zeboath”s

interest, and Axis thought it indicative of Zeboath”s tact that he”d managed more than one

examination.

Publicly, Salome was less enthusiastic about her wings and the possibility of flight, but

Axis thought she was growing not only more curious about her wings, but also hid a growing

eagerness to try them out. Sometimes, when she thought no one was watching her, Axis would

catch her looking skyward, wondering…

Salome was good for his father, he decided. StarDrifter had loved Axis” own mother,

Rivkah, deeply, but she had been an Acharite, a human, and she”d not been able to hold his

interest as she aged. She”d also been too nice, too good, much as Zenith—Axis” own

daughter—had been. StarDrifter had an arrogant bad streak in him that could light up a moonless

night as if it were day, and Salome, just as arrogant, just as bad, was his perfect match. They

were rarely publicly affectionate toward each other, but Axis sensed a deep bonding between

them that had never been present between StarDrifter and his mother, and certainly not between

StarDrifter and Zenith.

Watching his father ride, Axis could see him stretching and flexing each wing, one at a

time, and knew it would not be long before StarDrifter would be able to take to the thermals.

Axis grinned. He”d hardly seen his father for more than a chance to exchange a few hasty

words since leaving Sakkuth, and, while he still had a thousand things he needed to do today, he

could spare a half hour for a chat.

He rode up behind them quietly, his approach masked by the sound of a thousand

horsemen nearby. StarDrifter and Maximilian were riding along easily, both men relaxed,

Maximilian actually smiling a little, their horses at a loose-limbed trot.

It gave Axis heart to think that Maximilian could smile. It changed his face completely,

all the darkness sloughing off to reveal charm and charisma.

Axis suddenly spurred his horse forward, pushing in between the mounts of both men and

making their horses shy a little in surprise.

“Axis!” StarDrifter exclaimed, reining in his horse and pulling it close enough to that of

his son”s to give Axis a welcoming slap on the shoulder.

Maximilian smiled as well, looking genuinely pleased to see Axis.

“Such guilty expressions!” Axis said, still grinning. “What were you two planning? Tell

me, that I might report it to Isaiah.”

“We were talking about my wings,” said StarDrifter. “About how splendid they are.” He

stretched both of them in a luxurious manner, the sun catching the glints of gold at the point of

each emerging feather.

“And I was just remarking to your father,” said Maximilian, “that he shall be fully