Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

being able to discover new lands and skyscapes. It was either search for Ishbel and revel in life

as they did so, or return to a useless existence in Ruen or wherever else they drifted.

Ishbel was an excuse, and they refused to let it go.

So they went on, day after day.

From Deepend they”d flown ever south, following a trail toward the FarReach

Mountains. At that point StarWeb knew there was no holding Broad-Wing and the others back.

The chance to soar over mountains almost as tall as the Icescarp Alps was irresistible, and as

much as she hated to admit it, StarWeb enjoyed it as well. They had all missed the Icescarp Alps

so much, and to feel once more the power of the thermals generated by the huge

mountains…well, some days there was far more soaring done than searching.

Then, on the fifth day of the fourth week of the tenth month, they flew over a ravine, and

they saw, far, far below, the thin trail of smoke from a fire.

Reluctantly, for the thermals were particularly enticing on this day, they spiraled

downward for a closer look.

They crouched on a rock just below a peak that rose at least a thousand paces from the

floor of the ravine.

It was cold here, and uncomfortable, but for the moment the five Icarii huddled close and

peered down. Their eyesight was excellent, as good as an eagle”s, and they could very clearly see

the group of eight men…and the unmoving figure of a woman shackled to one of the men.

“It is her,” said StarWeb, every word forced out. “See the color of the strand of hair

fluttering from beneath the hood? It is Ishbel.”

“Well, she”s alive, at least,” said ViewSky, one of the other Icarii. “She may not be

moving, but they”d not shackle her if she wasn”t still breathing.”

“They”re taking her into the Tyranny of Isembaard,” said BroadWing. “Why, I wonder?”

StarWeb didn”t care. All she wanted now was to get out of here. Even the mere sight of

Ishbel made her almost nauseated with hatred.

“We”ll need to report this to Maximilian,” she said. “It”ll be a long flight back to Ruen.”

“No,” said BroadWing. “We need to rescue her.”

“No!” said StarWeb. “Stars, BroadWing! We cannot try to rescue her! There are more of

them than us, and—”

“We don”t fly away and leave her,” said BroadWing. “Dear gods, StarWeb, she”s

pregnant! And they”ve shackled her! Stars alone knows what else they have done to her…look,

they”re eating, but Ishbel not. We rescue her.”

StarWeb looked to the others for support, but they were all nodding at BroadWing.

Suddenly StarWeb felt very ill. They were going to risk their lives for that cursed

woman?

“Imagine,” said ViewSky, “Maximilian”s face when we arrive back at Ruen with Ishbel.”

StarWeb did not know how ViewSky, or any of the others, imagined the manner in which

they were going to transport the fair and ailing Ishbel back to Ruen…if one of them wanted to

carry her, then they could bloody well do it without her aid.

“I think I have a plan,” said BroadWing.

CHAPTER SIX

Palace of the First, Yoyette, Coroleas

StarDrifter was more than slightly drunk. Not just with alcohol, although he”d surely had

enough of that, but also with hope and purpose and joy. He didn”t like Ba”al”uz, and he didn”t

particularly trust him, but he appreciated him.

Ba”al”uz was reinvigorating his life.

While the concept of once more touching the Star Dance was exhilarating, the other piece

of news about Axis was the supreme joy for StarDrifter. Suddenly the universe seemed a much

less lonely place. His son was back! StarDrifter could not wait to embrace him.

He wanted to be with Axis, desperately.

He wanted to escape the Corolean court, desperately.

All this Ba”al”uz offered him, with the added pleasure of not only being able to rescue at

least one soul from its accursed imprisonment within a bronze shell (and that soul the most

pitiful of all, the Weeper), but in the doing being able to destroy Salome. For StarDrifter, Salome

epitomized the immorality, the cruelty, and the sheer horror of the life of the Corolean nobility.

People had often criticized the Icarii for being arrogant, unfeeling, and selfish, but the Icarii were innocents in the arts of immorality and arrogance when compared to such as Salome and all she

represented.

He and Ba”al”uz had retired to StarDrifter”s tiny chamber in the bowels of the Palace of

the First. StarDrifter had always hated this chamber, representing for him everything that had

gone wrong with his life. It was deep underground, not having even a window, and there was

nothing worse for an Icarii than to feel trapped underground, lacking the ability to soar. It was

tiny, constantly reminding StarDrifter of all the grandeur he had lost. It was pitiful, constantly

emphasizing StarDrifter”s own pathetic existence. It was plain, utterly unadorned, and drab,

when all Icarii gloried in color and vibrancy.

Ba”al”uz and StarDrifter both had to sit on the narrow bed pushed hard against one

wall—there was no chair. StarDrifter had managed to purloin from the kitchen several jugs of

rough ale, and they sat, drinking from the jugs—they had not even glasses or mugs.

“Tell me, then,” said StarDrifter, “how easy is it going to be for me to steal the Weeper

for you?”

The Weeper, the most desired deity in all of Coroleas, renowned for its ability to grant

its owner almost anything he or she wished.

“Very easy,” said Ba”al”uz. He had matched StarDrifter swallow for swallow, and now

his eyes glittered, his cheeks glowed, and his mouth and chin were moist with spilled ale. “You

seduce Salome—all know the Weeper is kept in her bedchamber—and then while she sleeps in

postcoital abandonment, you take the Weeper, meet me outside, and we flee the palace for

Isembaard.”

StarDrifter laughed. “No wonder you need me, Ba”al”uz. You”d not have a hope of

seducing a mouse, let alone the beautiful Duchess of Sidon.”

Something shifted momentarily in Ba”al”uz” face, but then the addled, happy look slipped

back into place. “You can seduce her, yes?”

StarDrifter remembered Salome”s look of interest at him on Fillip Day, and he also

remembered his speculation regarding her Icarii blood.

“Yes,” he said softly, “I know precisely how to seduce her.” He took another swallow of

his ale. “But, tell me this, my newfound friend—Salome has been taking lovers into that

bedchamber of hers for years. No doubt many of them have hoped she would slip into a

postcoital slumber deep enough that they might risk dashing off with the Weeper. I appreciate

that you think my lovemaking skills so extraordinary that I might exhaust the lady when none

before have managed the feat, but still…”

“Ah,” said Ba”al”uz, “I have a small pessary locked away in my bag. It is a most potent

pessary. It shall send her into a slumber so profound that she shall not wake for an entire day.”

“Really. And this pessary goes…?”

Ba”al”uz smiled, the expression cold and uncompromising, and told StarDrifter.

StarDrifter laughed again, a little uncomfortably this time. “Well, I suppose if I”m going

to sleep with the woman anyway…But there is another problem.”

“Then I shall solve it for you.”

“I have heard also that no one can touch the Weeper without it…weeping. Not just

weeping, but screaming, sobbing, and calling much unwanted attention to itself. Only its master

or mistress can handle it without the deity calling down retribution upon its unwanted handler.”

“I think I have the—”

“Think?”

“Well, neither of us will know until the theory is tested, will we?” Ba”al”uz paused,

holding StarDrifter”s somewhat incredulous stare. “But I am very sure that this will quiet the

Weeper…”

“Yes?”

“Before you touch it, introduce yourself, then tell it that you want to take it home.”

“And where might that be?”

“Tell the Weeper that you wish to take him home to the Lord of Elcho Falling. It shall

want nothing more than to go home to Elcho Falling, StarDrifter. He will come with you then, of

that I am sure.” Kanubai had whispered this plan to Ba”al”uz the night before, and Ba”al”uz had

no reason to doubt its efficacy, although he certainly doubted Kanubai would ever allow the

Weeper anywhere near Elcho Falling or its lord.

“And you can free him?” StarDrifter said.

“Yes,” Ba”al”uz said, his voice so gentle it brought tears to StarDrifter”s eyes, “I can free

him. We”ll take him home to the Lord of Elcho Falling, and we”ll take you back to your son.

Two lives, regained. Two sorrows, erased.”

“Then I”m your man,” said StarDrifter.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Southern Reaches of the FarReach Mountains

Ishbel was not quite unconscious, drifting in that half-awake land where all sensations

and perceptions are grossly distorted. Her eight captors were seated about a fire, eating, and their

conversation filtered into Ishbel”s mind as if it came through water. She could understand none