Elcho Falling will prove the road to our ultimate destiny, maybe there is some other path for
us…we need to know, Inardle.”
“Yes,” said Inardle, now settling down cross-legged, as did her companions. “We need to
know.”
They sat facing one another in a small circle. Eleanon raised his hands before him,
frowning in concentration. For a moment, nothing, then a tall glass pyramid appeared within the
cup of his hands. In dimension and height it was the same as the glass spires the Lealfast had
given Isaiah, Lister, and Ba”al”uz, but unlike those spires, this was of a dark, almost black, glass
and was very slightly twisted, as if a hand had corkscrewed it while the glass was still hot from
its making.
“Lister would panic if he knew we had this much power,” Bingaleal said, looking at
Inardle as he spoke.
“I shall not tell him,” she responded. “He knows nothing about what we truly are.”
“It is better the world does not know,” Bingaleal said, “just what powers we do
command.”
“Shush!” Eleanon said. “Concentrate! ”
Bingaleal shot him an irritated glance, but did as instructed, and all three gazed intently
into the dark, twisted spire.
For several heartbeats nothing happened, then the spire glowed with light, cleared, and all
three Lealfast found themselves looking directly into the Infinity Chamber.
Several Skraelings huddled in one corner, but the Lealfast”s attention was completely
absorbed by the man-shaped creature of blue-green glass who stood with his back to them. He
was moving his hands very slowly over the tortured, blackened glass walls of the Infinity
Chamber and, as his hands passed over the glass, so the glass was restored to its full golden
beauty.
The creature paused, becoming aware of the intruders, and turned about unhurriedly.
“Who are you?” said the creature. “I know you somehow.”
The three Lealfast glanced between themselves, then Eleanon took a deep breath and
answered.
“We are the Lealfast,” he said. “We traveled a while with the Skraelings. You are…?”
The creature smiled, just a small uplifting of his mouth. “You do not know?”
Again the three Lealfast exchanged a glance, coming to a silent decision, then Bingaleal
spoke. “You are the One, who the Magi once worshipped, and for whom they built the pyramid.
You are perfection incarnate, and you are Infinity.”
The One lowered his head in assent. “I am all of those things. You wish to speak with
me? Why?”
“We do wish to speak with you,” said Eleanon, “but we thought the Skraelings with you
might like to be allowed to go hunt. I am sure our conversation would bore them.”
The One”s eyes narrowed, then he waved a hand in dismissal at the few Skraelings who
remained within the Infinity Chamber. “Hunt,” he said. “Now.”
The One waited until the chamber was empty. “You wanted them gone,” he said. He
paused, considering. “I know you now. Lealfast you may call yourselves, but you hold within
you the learning of the Magi who once honored me. How else could you have built that dark
spire you use so effortlessly, or even the ones you gave about to others…yes, I know of them.
And how is it you command the powers of the Magi?” His voice hardened, just slightly. “Come,
tell me now, if you value my benevolence.”
“You know of Boaz and his battle with the pyramid, Threshold?” Eleanon said.
The One bared his teeth slightly—they were curiously translucent—and they glimmered
in the soft light of the Infinity Chamber. Two thousand years ago the renegade Magi, Boaz—a
member of the Persimius family—had turned against his brethren and the One incarnate within
the pyramid, seeking to destroy both the cult of the Magi and the pyramid. The One could not be
destroyed—no one had the power for that—but the idea that Boaz even thought to make the
effort had infuriated the One.
And made him wonder if the Persimius family might try again.
Like Kanubai, the One had no love for Elcho Falling or its master.
“Boaz caused the Magi to be disbanded,” said Eleanon. “Many died, or killed themselves
so that they might not have to endure a world which no longer permitted worship of the One…of
yourself. But a few took what they could of the Magi”s hoard of books and scrolls before their
libraries were burned, and they traveled north, escaping the soldiers that Boaz”s brother, Zabrze,
sent after them. These few Magi arrived in the far north after years of travel and travail.”
“They taught you,” the One said.
“Yes. We welcomed them, for they brought a tantalizing glimpse of a future we had not
considered, and power that we had never dreamed existed.”
“Tell me,” said the One after a considered pause, “are you loyal to the Lord of Elcho
Falling?”
Inardle opened her mouth to speak, but Bingaleal forestalled her.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “It would depend very much on what we might find at the end
of the path the Magi showed to us.”
The One”s mouth curved upward in a wide smile. “We shall talk some more, I think,” he
said.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Sky Peaks Pass
They met very late that afternoon for an early supper in the command tent. Maximilian
had been out, and arrived in the tent once everyone had gathered. He looked tired and strained,
and only nodded in greeting as he entered. Two serving men were still bringing in platters of
food, setting them down before those already seated at the table. Maximilian ignored the table,
and walked over to join the four men standing at the wine servery.
“Georgdi, Malat,” Maximilian said. “Are you somewhat recovered? Have you slept?
How are your peoples?”
“Most are well enough, Maxel,” Malat said. “They are grateful for the shelter and
opportunity to rest and eat after so many weeks on the run from the damned Skraelings. But
within a day, I think, they shall be rested and fed enough to start worrying about what lies behind
them—how much of their homeland remains, and if any of their families survived the
Skraelings” horror. What I will say to them, I cannot think.”
“We can send a scouting party to see what is left,” Maximilian said. “I think—I
hope—the Skraelings will stay south of the FarReach Mountains for the time being. I want to know what has happened to Escator. Georgdi?”
“I”d like to know what Isaiah”s…sorry, your army has left of the Outlands, Maximilian,”
Georgdi said. “Once my men have rested sufficiently, I shall need to ride east to Margalit. I
assume it still stands after Isaiah dragged almost a million soldiers and settlers through it.”
“It still stands,” Maximilian said, “but Isaiah left many thousands of his soldiers there to
secure his rear. Wait,” he said, as Georgdi opened his mouth to speak. “I know you want them
gone, that you want us gone from the Outlands, but unfortunately this province is likely to
become the first to feel the full force of the Skraelings” push north. I am not going to shift men
from the Outlands until I know what is happening.”
“Which is what we need to discuss tonight,” Axis said, standing to Maximilian”s right,
with his father StarDrifter SunSoar at his elbow. He handed Maximilian a glass of wine, then
nodded at the table. “Shall we sit? The serving men have left us in peace.”
Salome, Ishbel, and Isaiah were already seated and had been conversing in soft tones.
Now they fell into a watchful silence as the men approached the table, all eyes on Maximilian.
In his turn, Maximilian watched Ishbel out of the corner of his eye as he took his seat at
the head of the table. Of all of them she looked the most rested, and certainly the most collected,
and he wondered at the tranquillity she appeared to have acquired after his rejection of her.
He thought of the vision Ravenna had shown him of Ishbel crawling through the gates of
Elcho Falling and opening the citadel to the dark invader.
Then he remembered what Axis had said the previous night: I had seen a truth, but I had
misinterpreted it, so badly I almost lost the woman without whom…well, without whom I would
have accomplished none of what later I managed. Ishbel”s chin rose slightly under Maximilian”s regard. He thought she looked very lovely, with her blue robe and soft fair hair falling over one
shoulder, and very noble, with her unexpectedly tranquil and collected demeanor.
She didn’t look to him like a woman who would betray Elcho Falling, but then who was
he to judge?
Maximilian gave her a brief nod, then acknowledged Salome and Isaiah.
“What has happened?” said StarDrifter. “Axis said something about Kanubai? That he
has…vanished?”
“The sense of threat from Kanubai abruptly ceased late last night,” said Maxel. “Both
Isaiah and I, and I assume Lister, could sense Kanubai previously. That sense has vanished.”
“DarkGlass Mountain,” Ishbel said. “It has taken him.”