Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

through the countryside, then, after a quarter hour or so, he realized that they were utterly alone

in the landscape.

Isaiah must have ordered the fields emptied earlier in the day.

It was now very hot, and even though there was a cooling river breeze, Axis was

sweating in the blazing sun. He wore no shirt, and he could feel the sun burning his shoulders

and back.

For a moment he was almost overwhelmed with a pang of nostalgia for the cooler climate

of Tencendor.

They rounded a bend in the road and suddenly the thick reed banks came to an end. A

massive stone wharf had been built into the riverbank: from this wharf a stone causeway moved

in a direct line toward DarkGlass Mountain, rising almost a mile away in the desert plains.

Isaiah looked at Axis, and smiled a little at the expression on his face.

“This is the Great Processional Way,” Isaiah said as they turned their horses onto the

causeway for DarkGlass Mountain. “When the river is at its peak, the land to either side is

flooded, and it is as if one rides across water to reach DarkGlass Mountain.”

Axis did not respond. He had attention for nothing but the glass pyramid rising in the

distance.

The pyramid had looked large from the distance of Aqhat, but riding closer Axis realized

its true size.

It was gigantic.

Graceful.

More beautiful than anything Axis had ever seen—and he”d been privileged to witness

some astounding marvels. He”d thought it stunning when he”d viewed it from the balcony of

Aqhat…but this close…no words any man could mouth could possibly do it justice. Even though

there was still some distance to cover before they reached the pyramid, Axis was now close

enough to see that the blue-green glass that coated the stone walls glowed with a preternatural

light. The glass almost throbbed, and Axis could feel something deep within himself tug in

response.

He raised his eyes to the very peak of the structure, his neck cricking a little painfully

after his earlier exercise, his eyes squinting in the sun.

The capstone of golden glass reflected so much light it was almost impossible to make

out any details. Axis narrowed his eyes even more, and for a moment thought he saw a pillar of

blinding light ascend into the sky from the capstone.

They pulled their horses to a stop perhaps eighty paces away, and Isaiah watched the

emotions play over Axis” face as he gazed at the pyramid.

“It stands almost two hundred paces tall, from foundations to capstone,” Isaiah said

softly. “Its four sides are perfectly aligned, perfectly square. Its builders must have been

extraordinary. We could not do this today.”

Axis managed to find his voice. “Ba”al”uz told me something of its history…built two

thousand years ago by ancient mathematical wizards to touch the power of Infinity, abandoned

after a rebellion. Dismantled, and then—”

“We will talk of that later,” said Isaiah. “Not here, not now.”

They were riding forward again now, very close to the pyramid, and suddenly Axis felt

cold, as if the pyramid”s shadow had swept over him, even though he could see it stretching out

to the west.

“I want to take you into the heart of DarkGlass Mountain,” said Isaiah. “I want you to see

what lies there, and”—he swiveled on his horse a little so he could look directly at Axis—“I

want you to tell me what you think of it.”

Axis loathed it the moment they set foot inside the structure. He”d been growing

progressively uneasier from the moment they”d dismounted outside (a groom appearing from a

shadow to hold their horses) and stepped inside via a small door set unobtrusively into the

pyramid”s northern face.

The outside of the pyramid throbbed with beauty and reflected light.

Inside, the pyramid seemed to eat light and life and breath.

Isaiah led Axis along corridors lined on walls, ceiling, and floor with black glass that to

Axis looked as if it had been melted, or in some manner otherwise fused, to the underlying stone.

Every now and then he”d glimpse red light flickering through the glass, as if serpents lived under

the glass, and spat their forked tongues at him.

There were torches set into the black glassed walls, but the light radiated only a

handbreadth or two from its flames before being absorbed utterly by the glass. Axis and Isaiah

walked down tunnels of darkness in which the only illumination was provided by the intermittent

lamps and the odd flickering of red deep within the glass itself.

As they passed one lamp Axis peered at Isaiah, a pace or two ahead.

His shoulders and back were stiff.

Why has he brought me here?

“This is a strange place, Isaiah,” Axis said softly, wanting to say, This is a bad place,

Isaiah, but understanding, even after such a short time within the pyramid, that those would be

unwise words to speak…

Within the pyramid”s hearing.

“We do not have far to go now, Axis,” Isaiah said softly, “until we reach this structure”s

golden heart. Be quiet until then.”

By now every nerve in Axis” body was screaming at him to turn around and walk out—if

DarkGlass Mountain would allow him that privilege—but just as he opened his mouth to speak,

Isaiah stopped, and turned about.

“We”re here,” he said, his face barely visible in the gloom. “There”s light ahead.”

Somehow Axis doubted that—visual light, maybe, but he wondered if whatever lay at the

heart of this structure could ever be characterized with a concept such as “light.”

Isaiah turned about, touched something on the wall with his hand, and Axis heard the soft

sound of a door sliding open.

CHAPTER TEN

Pelemere, the Central Kingdoms

The situation in Pelemere had deteriorated from the bad to the abysmal. The Outlands

Council and King Sirus of Pelemere had ceased talking to each other—which was in its own way

a relief, as their words had become ever more bitter and vengeful—and had moved instead to

overt militarization. The Outlanders claimed Sirus, allied with King Fulmer of Hosea, had

murdered Rilm Evenor as an initial strike in a planned invasion; Sirus and Fulmer believed the

Outlanders had murdered Evenor themselves in order to invent a reason to war against the

Central Kingdoms.

Maximilian felt increasingly uneasy as he became ensnarled in the middle of this

diplomatic catastrophe. Sirus and Fulmer believed that Maximilian should be their natural

ally…but Maximilian not only did not want to involve Escator in what he believed would be a

fruitless and ultimately devastating war, but also felt it was the last thing he could do, given that his new wife was an Outlander herself. He was having enough trouble trying to work his way

past Ishbel”s outer reserve without alienating her by involving himself in a war against her home.

For the past ten days or more Maximilian had been engaged in a delicate dance of

evasion; today he would not be so lucky.

Ishbel and Maximilian were lunching with Sirus. This involved not only eating with the

king, but with half of Sirus” court, as well as servants and sundry hangers-on and curiosity

seekers—Sirus kept, to Maximilian”s thinking, a dangerously open court. They were all seated

within the great hall of Sirus” palace, Maximilian and Ishbel at the high table on the dais closest

to the huge fires used to heat the hall, everyone else seated according to rank at varying distances

from both kings and fires, at long tables that ran at right angles to the high table.

Ishbel was seated next to Sirus” right hand, but was looking isolated and bored, which

Maximilian knew meant she was intensely uncomfortable. He wondered if it was the

baby—recently Ishbel had been feeling nauseous during the day—or Sirus” glowering face.

Maximilian, seated two places farther down from Ishbel, was sandwiched between Baron

Allemorte—supposed assassin of Evenor—who sat to Ishbel”s right, and another of Sirus”

barons, a man called Veremont.

Given the topic of conversation—the looming war with the Outlands—Maximilian

thought it far more likely that it was the angry words surrounding Ishbel making her

uncomfortable, rather than the baby.

At the rear of the hall a man slipped in, unremarked by the guards. He was of an

unthreatening demeanor, true, and clad in the garb of a servant, but it was more likely Ba”al”uz”

use of power that caused the guards” eyes to drift over him rather than anything else.

Ba”al”uz and his Eight had traveled hard and fast to reach Pelemere this quickly.

Nonetheless, they”d spared time to inflame the burgeoning war between the Outlanders and the

two kingdoms to their east by intercepting—and augmenting the inflammatory comment

therein—many of the diplomatic messages flying via carrier bird between the combatants.

Ba”al”uz was never one to miss an opportunity.

That was precisely why he was here today. He didn”t think Maximilian and his new wife

would long linger in Pelemere—not with Sirus glowering in such fashion—and he wanted an