in his haste to step backward.
“What manner of cruel mischief is this, then?” StarDrifter said, striding up to him and
taking a fistful of the man”s shirt in his hand. “Who put you up to this?”
The man did not flinch in the face of StarDrifter”s anger. “I am sorry to so disturb you
with the news of your son”s return,” he said softly. “I apologize. I should have spoken more
circumspectly.”
“Who are you?” said StarDrifter. “And what the fuck do you want from me?”
“Merely a few moments of your time,” said the man, who seemed to be growing in
confidence with every breath. “I can offer you news of your son, and I can offer you a means by
which to regain the Star Dance, but if you”re not interested…”
StarDrifter almost hit the man. He was furious, not only that this man had been sent, for
whatever reason, to torment him, but that he might actually be telling the truth. Axis had
returned, and there might be a means to once more revel within the magic of the Star Dance, but,
oh, to even think about that was so brutally painful that StarDrifter did not think he could bear it.
“Who are you?” he said, almost spitting the words out.
“My name is Ba”al”uz, and I come from the Tyranny of Isembaard to the south of the
FarReach Mountains. I understand your distress, StarDrifter, and once again I apologize for my
overdirectness in approaching you, but if you could kindly release me…”
StarDrifter let the man”s shirt go and stood back. His blue eyes were brilliant with
emotion, his face flushed, and anger radiated out of him like a dangerous fever. Ba”al”uz thought
that StarDrifter exuded far more presence than his son, the Icarii”s anger being underscored by a
powerful sensuality and an undisciplined ego.
He would suit Ba”al”uz” purpose very well.
“I don”t believe you,” said StarDrifter.
“Of course you don”t,” Ba”al”uz said, “for I have not yet had a chance to explain myself.
May we sit?”
“No. Just tell me what you must, then leave.”
“You are not going to want me to leave once you hear what I have to say,” Ba”al”uz said
softly.
“Just say it!”
“In the land where I come from, we have a powerful structure. We call it DarkGlass
Mountain, although in ages past it was known as Threshold. It acts in the same manner as your
Star Gate once did, and, although it is infinitely more powerful than the Star Gate was, it is
capable of being controlled and directed. It is perfectly possible that DarkGlass Mountain can
filter the music of the Star Dance for you. If it does not do so already, then that is because no one has ever asked it to try.”
StarDrifter did not know what to say. He stared at this man, almost hating him for what
he was saying—Was it true? Could it possibly be true?—and wanting to have the strength to just
turn his back and walk away from him.
“Perhaps a small demonstration?” Ba”al”uz said.
StarDrifter replied only with a flat stare.
Ba”al”uz gave a small shrug of indifference to StarDrifter”s continuing hostility and
gestured to a stone bench, where StarDrifter sat down, his every movement stiff.
“So far distant from DarkGlass Mountain,” said Ba”al”uz, “I can only draw forth a
fraction of the power normally available to me, but it shall be enough to give you an idea of the
pyramid”s potential.”
He gathered some twigs from the ground and sat at the other end of the bench, leaving a
clear stretch of stone between himself and StarDrifter. “Now, if you could hold these twigs here,
like this, yes, thank you, and I take these and hold them so, then we have the most basic of
structures, a pyramid, yes?”
StarDrifter made no response. His anger hadn”t abated, but now he felt foolish also, for
allowing this man to trick him into this—
“Watch,” said Ba”al”uz, very softly. “Watch the pyramid.”
The two men held between them a loosely constructed pyramid of twigs. As StarDrifter
looked down, he felt the unmistakable aura of power emanating from the man Ba”al”uz. He
glanced at the man”s face, then looked down at the twigs again.
And gasped.
A moment ago the structure had been nothing but loose twigs held together in the vague
semblance of a pyramid.
Now the twigs had vanished, replaced by lines of light enclosing a space that glowed with
a very soft rosy radiance.
Ba”al”uz muttered something, and the rosy radiance dissipated, replaced with a view of a
fair-haired and bearded man sitting under the stars by a fire, entertaining a group of soldiers with
a harp.
StarDrifter”s mouth dropped open.
That was Axis!
The vision faded, and a moment later the lines of light were replaced once more by twigs,
which Ba”al”uz let topple slowly to the ground.
StarDrifter could not for the moment speak. He was still stunned at seeing his son. He did
not doubt what he”d seen. That had not been a vision conjured from the far past, when Axis had
been BattleAxe. For one thing, Axis had been wearing unfamiliar clothes, and for another, he”d worn the face that StarDrifter had last seen—tired and careworn—if now overlaid with
something else…a sense of mischief, StarDrifter thought. His son was having fun, whatever he
was doing.
“Why is my son back?” StarDrifter said. “How did he come back?”
“I brought him back,” said Ba”al”uz, lying in order to secure StarDrifter”s full
cooperation, “using the power of DarkGlass Mountain. If it can do that, StarDrifter, it can touch
the Star Dance for you as well.”
“Take me to him,” StarDrifter said. “Please.”
Oh, gods, Axis was back!
Slyness slipped all about Ba”al”uz” face. “Of course,” he said, “but in return I would ask
that you do something for me.”
“What?”
“I would like you to steal the Weeper from Salome, the Duchess of Sidon.” Ba”al”uz
smiled as StarDrifter looked shocked. “You can think of it as a parting gift to the Coroleans.”
“I can”t…no one can get near the Weeper. Stars, Ba”al”uz, that is the most closely
guarded deity in Coroleas!”
Ba”al”uz noted that StarDrifter had not actually refused.
“Perhaps we can discuss this over a glass of wine somewhere?” he said. “If you are
willing, I can tell you just how easy it shall be to take the deity…and free its soul.”
Ba”al”uz had noted StarDrifter”s disgust during Fillip Day, and thought he understood the
reason behind it.
“I want to free the Weeper,” Ba”al”uz said. “Do you?”
CHAPTER FIVE
The FarReach Mountains
The group of five Icarii had been searching for weeks with no success save for rumors
and some unsubstantiated reports. They”d flown to Deepend, to discover that, yes, a group of
men had come through, and they might have had a woman with them, but no one could
remember much detail. One man suggested that the group had continued farther south, perhaps
aiming for the FarReach Mountains.
StarWeb had never liked Ishbel, and by now had come to loathe her. Without even trying,
so it seemed, Ishbel trailed havoc, murder, and heartache behind her. StarWeb could not
understand why Maximilian was so besotted with the woman.
Personally, she would have let the kidnappers do what they wanted with the cursed
woman.
And why would anyone want her, anyway?
Oh yes, of course, she was pregnant.
Wasn”t that a cunning move on Ishbel”s part. She probably felt that Maximilian was
slipping away from her and so had conceived. She had known from the marriage negotiations
how much Maximilian wanted a child, must have thought to herself, Ah yes, I can do anything
with him once he knows I am carrying his child…
Who knew if it was Maximilian”s baby anyway?
Damn it! Why couldn”t Maximilian have picked someone else as his wife?
StarWeb grew progressively more ill-tempered as the days and weeks dragged by. In the
evenings, when they sheltered by a small fire, or were together at the dining table of a roadside
tavern, she reasoned that they”d done enough, they should return to Ruen, and Maximilian would
just have to get used to the idea that he”d lost his wife almost as soon as he”d found her.
But none of the others agreed with her. BroadWing EvenBeat was the most vocal.
Maximilian was distraught, his wife had been taken from him, she was carrying his child, and
Maximilian”s life had already been too wrapped in tragedy to allow it to strike once more.
As if our lives haven”t also been wrapped in enough tragedy, StarWeb always thought at
the last argument, but she never spoke the words aloud, knowing BroadWing and her other
companions could see it written all over her face.
Besides, it wasn”t just altruism that drove the others onward in their search for Ishbel. It
was also joy at having a purpose, joy at being allowed to soar over plain and mountain, joy at