inexorable, unstoppable tide.
Isaiah sent a force of some twenty thousand men into Adab, and some forty thousand into
Margalit, to keep them submissive and to secure his own rear, but he did not enter either place
himself. Instead he pushed north, north, and then slightly northeast, moving the column as fast as
possible.
Isaiah”s route north was accomplished with virtually no military action whatsoever.
Village after village, town after town, had laid down before him without a fight. Most Outlander
men were fighting with Georgdi to the west, and none who remained was stupid enough to
attempt resistance.
By the time Isaiah had reached the west of the Outlands, a day”s travel from the Sky Peak
Pass, he had something like a third of the numbers that he”d led through Salamaan Pass. The rest
he”d left at various locations along his winding trail northward, partly to guard his rear and to
keep the Outlanders subservient, but mostly because he simply could not sustain and feed such a
massive number of people himself. The Outlands would need to dig deep into their reserves of
food, and no doubt their resentment would grow by the day, but very soon, Isaiah reasoned
privately, they would have far more, and far worse, things to worry about.
The remaining third of Isaiah”s column consisted of the core of his army—his best and
most experienced fighting men. It also contained his five generals (irritated at the lack of
fighting, but contented with the spoils in territory gained thus far), as Isaiah wanted none of them
left behind to become bored and perhaps decide to embark on some military adventures of their
own, as well as Axis, Maximilian and his company, and Ishbel.
Maximilian was largely content to allow Isaiah to push north as he wished. He still had to
take that final step of actually assuming the mantle of the Lord of Elcho Falling, but Maximilian
did not think he needed to do that until they reached Serpent”s Nest itself. He was mildly
surprised at the move to the northeast, but Isaiah had explained to him that they might meet
survivors of the Skraeling terror in the Central Kingdoms at Sky Peaks Pass. Maximilian spent
his days riding either with StarDrifter or with Axis, sometimes with Isaiah, deepening his
friendship with Axis and, somewhat to his surprise, with Isaiah.
In the evenings, Maximilian generally walked the boundaries of the column”s
encampment. Alone. He spent the time deep within himself, returning time and time again, in his
mind, to the Twisted Tower, wondering what he was going to do about its empty spaces.
Maximilian had accepted fully that his were to be the shoulders to bear the burden of Elcho
Falling, but he doubted his ability to bear the weight well.
Perhaps Serpent”s Nest held some answers, some hope.
He saw Ishbel occasionally. Sometimes they met in the evening, as Ishbel now made her
camp with StarDrifter and Salome, who shared a tent set apart from that of Maximilian,
Ravenna, and Venetia. Their brief conversations were awkward, and Maximilian supposed she was as glad as he to break them off. There was no animosity between them, but there was a huge
abyss of things said and done, of regret, of loss, and of that enormous weight of sadness and
despair with which Ishbel claimed he would burden her life.
Maximilian supposed they were better off apart than together. He couldn”t bear to watch
her gaze turn to bitterness because of the grief he had brought into her life.
Besides, there was the added complication of Ravenna.
On this night Maximilian sat in his tent, one hand gently resting on the Weeper as it lay at
his side, watching Ravenna and Venetia as they prepared a light evening meal. There was a
tension between mother and daughter that hadn”t been there when first they”d left Narbon so
many months ago. Maximilian was not sure what it was—he had avoided asking Ravenna—but
he did know that Ravenna had suggested none too gently to her mother that she seek somewhere
else to unroll her sleeping blankets.
Venetia had not shifted from Maximilian”s tent, for which Maximilian was grateful. He
did not particularly wish to be left alone with Ravenna, and he did not wish to cement their
relationship into semiformality by having people say There stands Maximilian and Ravenna”s
tent, rather than saying, as they did now, There stands Maximilian and his party”s tent.
Ravenna was a problem Maximilian did not know how to solve. He”d got himself so
drunk that first night in Sakkuth, both with wine and with enraged, frustrated love; he”d wanted
to forget everything that he”d seen and heard over the past evening, drink himself into oblivion,
and all he”d done was further complicate his life. He”d known of Ravenna”s interest, she”d made
it perfectly clear to him on their journey through the FarReach Mountains, but in the face of
finding Ishbel again it had meant nothing.
Maximilian wished he had not slept with her. Ravenna had used the opportunity to slide
completely into his life, so that now she shared his bed every night. If she had been some
nameless, anonymous woman Maximilian would have welcomed the physical relief from his
frustration, and he could have then thanked the woman and asked her to leave.
But he could hardly ask Ravenna to leave. Not after all she had done for him.
And most certainly not now.
At least with Venetia sharing the tent, he had an excuse to avoid making love with her.
He found that difficult…sober.
He sighed, imperceptibly, but Ravenna heard and turned her head to him, and Maximilian
could see her tensing, readying herself to rise and come to him.
At that moment Isaiah ducked through the flap of the tent, and Maximilian rose with a
too-wide smile on his face.
Isaiah saw the smile, glanced at Ravenna, and grinned in return. “Maximilian, can we
speak?”
“Let”s walk,” said Maximilian. “The crispness of the snow will do my head good.”
“The scouts report that there is a column of men, and some Icarii, less than a day”s march
to the west,” Isaiah said. They walked the northern border of the encampment, their boots
crunching through the snow.
Maximilian could not reply immediately. “A column”—all that would have been left of
the fighting forces, and perhaps even peoples, of the Central Kingdoms.
“How many?” he said finally.
“Perhaps fourteen or fifteen thousand,” Isaiah said, “and in a desperate state. There must
be more, Maximilian, further to the west perhaps. There must be more who have survived, I am sure of it.”
Maximilian did not want the comfort. “Fourteen or fifteen thousand?” Gods, what had
happened to Escator? Had the Skraelings seethed that far west?
“They will reach us by noon tomorrow,” Isaiah said. “Doubtless they shall be surprised to
see their old friend traveling with the invader.”
Maximilian spent a few minutes alone before returning to the tent.
Isaiah”s news had shocked him. It drove home how disastrous had been the wars, and
then the Skraeling invasion, for the Central Kingdoms. It particularly shocked him because he
realized in a blinding flash as Isaiah spoke that the time had come to leave Escator behind him
completely.
It was time for Elcho Falling.
Maximilian sighed. Then, suddenly, his shoulders straightened and he swiveled about on
his feet, turning to look northeast, toward where lay Serpent”s Nest.
The Mountain at the Edge of the World.
Home, as Ruen never had been.
Much later that night Ishbel woke from a nightmare, crying out in fear.
The Lord of Elcho Falling had been standing in the snow, his back to her, when he”d
slowly, slowly, turned his face to look over his shoulder at her.
The Lord of Elcho Falling wore a face, and it was Maximilian”s face, and the despair
Ishbel felt now was worse than she”d felt ever before.
“Ishbel?” It was Salome”s voice, concerned. Since leaving the Salamaan Pass, Ishbel had
traveled with Salome and StarDrifter, sharing a tent and deepening her friendship with them
both. Axis often joined them as well, but he was with some of the troops tonight, no doubt
indulging in soldierly camaraderie and building useful friendships and alliances.
“Ishbel?”
Ishbel felt a hand on her shoulder and finally blinked into awareness.
“I”m sorry, Salome, I woke you.”
“You woke half the encampment,” said Salome, “but now we”re all awake, come sip
some tea with me, and tell me of what you dreamed.”
“Oh, I don”t want to—”
“You will sit with me, and sip tea,” said Salome, somewhat grimly, “and you will tell me
of what you dreamed. I am sick to death of being woken up every second night with your
nightmares, and StarDrifter and I would both like to know to what we owe the pleasure.
StarDrifter? Get up.”
Ishbel rose reluctantly, hearing StarDrifter grumble as he, too, sat up from his sleeping
roll and moved over to the barely alight hearth in the center of the tent.