Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

thousand years ago.”

Very briefly, Isaiah told the group the tale he”d told Ishbel. How the Magi had built their

glass pyramid, through which they meant to touch Infinity, over the precise point where Water

and Light had placed the stopper to Kanubai”s abyss. Boaz had opened the pyramid into Infinity,

and in the doing cracked the stopper. Kanubai had been crawling his way free ever since.

“This is where the legend of Kanubai and that of the Lord of Elcho Falling begin to

merge once again,” Isaiah said. “Boaz was a magus of the land, and one so powerful he headed

the entire Threshold project, but he was the son of a northerner, a man called Avaldamon, a mage

the likes of which few of us have ever met.”

“Ah!” Maximilian said. “We had never known what happened to Avaldamon! How

ironic, Isaiah, that his issue caused the stopper holding Kanubai to crack.”

“Aye, ironic indeed,” Isaiah said.

“I didn”t know,” said Maximilian. “No one knew where he”d got to. We thought him lost.

Is that where…” He glanced at Ishbel.

“Yes,” said Isaiah, “Ishbel is a direct descendant of Avaldamon”s line through his son,

Boaz.”

“So that is where the connection happened,” Maximilian said. “I could not work it out.”

“Will one or both of you start to speak sense?” Ishbel said. “What are you trying to say?”

Isaiah looked pointedly at Maximilian, and he sighed, and stepped close to the group so

that he became fully a part of it.

“Avaldamon”s elder brother, named Fledge, was the Lord of Elcho Falling at that time,”

Maximilian said.

“Yes,” Ishbel said, “I know this. I just don”t understand what this has to do with you,

Maximilian.”

“Ishbel,” Maximilian said, “the name of the House of Elcho Falling is Persimius. I am the

current Lord of Elcho Falling. You are also of the family of Persimius. I knew it the first time I touched you. I am descended from Fledge, you from Avaldamon.”

Ishbel stared at him. Her face was white, her eyes huge, and she trembled very slightly

where she stood. Salome came to her, and put a hand about her waist, but Ishbel scarcely felt it.

Maxel was the Lord of Elcho Falling? Maxel?

“Kanubai is risen,” said Isaiah. “Water and Light are once more incarnate. The Lord of

Elcho Falling needs to assume the throne of his mountain fortress at the edge of the world.”

“Really?” said Salome. “Where is that, then? I”ve never heard of it.”

“The fortress of Elcho Falling,” said Maximilian, “fell into disuse perhaps two thousand

years ago, fairly soon after Avaldamon went south. It was abandoned by the Lords of Elcho

Falling, who took up residence in their summer palace, now the king”s palace in Escator.” He

took a deep breath. “Elcho Falling is Serpent”s Nest.”

“And Ishbel,” said Isaiah, “through the knowledge gained in her training as archpriestess

of the Coil, is the one who shall need to unwind it for Maximilian—to present to him his throne.

She is far less an archpriestess of the Coil than she is of Elcho Falling, which is her inheritance,

too.”

Ishbel finally found her voice. “You”ve been manipulating everyone”s lives for all of our

lives, haven”t you, Isaiah? My parents, my entire family…were they murdered so that I would be

raised within Serpent”s Nest? What of Maximilian? Were his seventeen years of hell necessary to

hone him for the crown he needed to assume? Did you allow a child to endure a nightmare, and a

youth to lose half his life, just so that you could mold us into what you wanted?”

“Lister and I did what was necessary,” Isaiah said, “to save us all from Kanubai. The

future rests in your hands, Maximilian and Ishbel.”

“Well,” muttered Axis, “thank the stars it”s not up to me this time.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Salamaan Pass, Northern Kingdoms

Ravenna had no idea where Maximilian was. She”d searched up and down the column,

had virtually exhausted herself and her horse, and almost burst into tears of relief when she saw

him, StarDrifter, and Salome riding to rejoin the column from a path that led into the mountains.

“Maxel? Where have you been? I”ve been so worried.”

He gave her a glance, but kept riding so that Ravenna had to push her horse to catch up

enough to hear his answer.

“I”ve been out riding,” he said.

Ravenna looked at StarDrifter and Salome, knowing something had happened, but that

they were not likely to tell her.

What were they up to? It involved Ishbel, no doubt. A pang, part of anger, part of

jealousy, shot through her.

“Maxel?” she said again.

“We”ve been speaking with Isaiah,” Maximilian said. “It was nothing important,

Ravenna.”

“You were not so very surprised at the story I related, Axis,” Isaiah said. He and Axis

were left alone atop the mountain peak.

Axis gave a shake of his head. “I”d heard a little bit of it from Maxel before we left

Sakkuth. The rest…well, the details I did not know, but none of it surprised me.” His mouth

twitched. “And I am glad it won”t be me to save the world this time.”

“Considering you did such a shitty job of it the last time around, Axis, I”d be hardly

likely to hand it on to you.”

Axis laughed. He waved a hand at the column grinding its slow way through Salamaan

Pass. “And this is evacuation rather than invasion, am I right?”

Isaiah nodded. “Invasion was the only concept my generals could accept.”

“The Skraelings are heading south.”

“They will provide Kanubai with his army.”

“Stars, Isaiah, what about the millions of people left behind?”

“We can leave the Salamaan Pass open for some weeks after the Skraelings have moved

into Isembaard, but once Kanubai moves, we shall have to close it against his eventual march

into the north. People will be able to flee north once word of the Skraelings spreads.”

They were quiet a moment, thinking about the terror that would spread throughout

Isembaard. Axis hoped that the news would spread fast, and that many would have the chance to

make their escape.

“And me, Isaiah?” Axis said eventually. “I have a feeling that there is a far greater reason

for you to have dragged me back from death other than to have a useful counselor for your more

insecure moments.”

“Aye, there is. The first reason that I, that Maximilian, needed you back you can see

before you. Kanubai is going to invade the north, Axis. He is going to try and destroy both Elcho

Falling and its lord before they have a chance to destroy him. Maximilian will need an army, and

he is going to need a general who can command it for him. You are that man.”

Isaiah now turned to look at Axis directly.

“The second reason Maximilian needs you is because he is going to need a friend.

Someone who has been through what he now faces—the assumption of an ancient title, the

resurrection of an ancient realm, in order to repel an even more ancient enemy. There is no one

about him now who can provide that friendship, save you.”

“Not Ishbel?”

“No,” said Isaiah, “not Ishbel.”

That evening, just as Maximilian and his group were finishing their evening meal, Ishbel

walked into the circle of firelight.

“Maximilian? Would it be possible to speak with you?”

She looked gaunt and anxious, and held her cloak gripped tightly about her.

“Have you not done enough?” Ravenna said. “You can”t just walk in here and—”

“Ravenna,” Venetia said in a low voice, gripping her daughter”s arm.

“Maximilian,” Ishbel said, ignoring Ravenna. “We need to talk about what Isaiah said

today. Please.”

Maximilian gave a nod, rising to his feet.

“Maxel—” Ravenna began, making to rise herself, but Venetia literally hauled her back

to the ground.

“No!” Venetia hissed as Maximilian and Ishbel faded away into the night. “You need to

let them speak, Ravenna. Alone!”

Ravenna stared at her mother, then reluctantly nodded.

Venetia studied her, wishing she knew what to say. She”d watched her daughter work her

way into Maximilian”s bed, and she”d seen—clear to anyone save her blinded daughter—his

reluctance to keep her there. Venetia had traveled with Maximilian for many weeks now, and she

thought she knew the man. Guilt and honor bound him tightly, as did his wish not to hurt

Ravenna”s feelings, whom he felt he owed for his release from the Veins.

But guilt and honor and debt did not make a good foundation for a relationship,

particularly when Maximilian still yearned for Ishbel.

“Ravenna,” Venetia said gently, “Maximilian will break your heart eventually. You do

know that, don”t you?”

“He loves me.”

Venetia looked across the fire to Salome and StarDrifter, both watching and listening

carefully.

“He does,” said Ravenna. “We”ve been through so much together. You just don”t

understand.”

“Maximilian, I had no idea you were the Lord of Elcho Falling. I”m sorry.”