Maximilian”s gaze changed slightly to take in Lister”s companions. “Who are those who stand
about you, and where are you?”
“My companions are the Lealfast,” said Lister, “and they are your servants. As am I. As
for our location, we stand at the foot of the FarReach Mountains where they meet the Sky
Peaks.”
“How soon will it take you to reach me?”
“The Lealfast could be with you within the day, two at most, should you ask it. I, like my
companion Isaiah, am confined somewhat by the limitations of human flesh. Nonetheless, I do
command some powers and could be with you within ten days.”
“Then do it. Lister, what do you know of Kanubai? Something has happened.”
“DarkGlass Mountain has eaten him, my lord,” Lister said. “I ever thought the pyramid
was the greater danger.”
“Then you will do well to get here as quick as you may, Lister, that you may share with
me the benefit of your infinite wisdom—as well as a plan of action that will see us all at home
safe and sound before our hearths within the month. Now, step aside, that I may converse with
whoever will speak for the Lealfast.”
Lister raised his eyebrows at Maximilian”s tart voice, but obediently stepped aside for
one of the Lealfast, a man of handsome aspect and keen, frosty eye.
“Your name?” said Maximilian.
“My name is Eleanon,” said the Lealfast male, “and I speak for the Lealfast.”
“You are their commander?”
“You are our commander,” said Eleanon, his voice heavy with sincerity, “but I speak on
behalf of the Lealfast Nation.”
“The entire „nation” of the Lealfast is currently with Lister?”
“Yes, my lord,” Eleanon said. “We number perhaps a quarter of a million. The larger
majority are women with children and the older among us, but myself and my brother, Bingaleal,
lead a fighting force of bowmen and women of some fifty thousand. We are experienced and
able fighters, my lord, and we are at your command.”
Maximilian did not reply for a moment. Then: “And you and yours can be here within
two days?”
“If you desire it. Do you wish the entire Lealfast Nation to descend upon you?”
Maximilian”s mouth curved in a wry smile. “I think not, Eleanon. Your fighting force,
however, I shall be very glad to welcome. Where will the great number of your people stay?”
Eleanon leaned to one side and conferred with Bingaleal before turning back to
Maximilian. “They will stay within the FarReach Mountains, my lord,” he said. “It is safe
enough for them at the moment, and provides good shelter. If needed, they can move. Quickly.”
Bingaleal and Inardle exchanged a look and a secret thought: The Nation can move from
the FarReach Mountains as needed. Either way, north to Elcho Falling, or south to whatever the
One might offer us. “Good,” Maximilian said. “They can also act as sentinels should anyone, or thing, move north. Eleanon, do you have any reports of what is happening within Isembaard?”
“Many thousands, tens of thousands, of Isembaardians are fleeing north through the
Salamaan Pass,” Eleanon said. “Men, women, children.”
Maximilian sighed. “We shall need to provide for them. Nothing pursues them as yet?”
“Nothing but rumor from Aqhat,” Eleanon said. “We know nothing of any solid fact
about what has happened in Isembaard.”
“Very well. Should I expect you the day after tomorrow, then?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Eleanon, is there any way you can warn me of your arrival two hours in advance?”
Yes, said Eleanon, and Maximilian nodded.
Good. Eleanon, who do you serve? Me, or Lister?
If you tell us to tear Lister’s head from his shoulders we shall do it, even though he has
been a pleasant companion to us.
Maximilian raised an eyebrow. “Good,” he said again, this time in his speaking voice. “I
shall see you and your fighters soon.” He gave a very small smile. “You shall be some good
news from my south, and I have had little of that recently. Is Lister still close?”
Eleanon bowed, handing the pyramid back to Lister.
“My lord?” Lister said.
“I am assuming Vorstus is with you,” Maximilian said, naming the man who had, for all
his life, acted as Abbot of Persimius in Escator, and who had conspired with Lister to inter
Maximilian in the Veins.
“Yes, my lord.”
“With my crown.”
“Of course, my lord.”
“Then I will see you both within ten days.”
“I shall look forward to meeting you, my lord,” said Lister, “and also to renewing my
acquaintance with Isaiah.”
Maximilian gave a very small, tight smile, and the next moment the pyramid that Lister
held dulled back into lifelessness.
“Just think, Eleanon,” Lister said cheerfully, “within two days you meet the StarMan,
Axis SunSoar himself.”
Eleanon gave him a short look, then turned away.
Are you certain we should still profess loyalty to the Lord of Elcho Falling? Bingaleal
said in Eleanon”s mind as they walked away from the group.
Eleanon”s stride did not falter and he gave no outward sign of Bingaleal”s private
communication.
For the moment, he replied, while it suits our purpose.
And the One? Bingaleal said.
When we know more, Eleanon said, we can make our choice.
Inardle watched Eleanon and Bingaleal walk away, feeling unsettled and disturbed. Her
brothers were clearly attracted to the power the One offered, but Inardle preferred to keep a more
open mind. The One was unknown, the Lord of Elcho Falling less so. The way of the Magi
suited Eleanon and Bingaleal, but not so much Inardle, for the Magi had despised women and
offered them little power.
Still…the way of the Magi, and the One, offered such rewards that it could well be that
the One was what the Lealfast needed.
“I hope you have no weakness, Maximilian Persimius,” Inardle muttered, “for otherwise
you and your world are dead if the Lealfast should turn our backs to you.”
CHAPTER NINE
The Infinity Chamber,
DarkGlass Mountain
The One could feel the use of the spires. The Lealfast had constructed the glass spires
with Magi knowledge ( with the power of the One) and their use always touched the One”s soul.
He moved slowly about the Infinity Chamber, running his hands over the ruined glass,
restoring it to its full beauty and power. Within a day or two the Infinity Chamber would once
again be whole, and would once again connect the pyramid with Infinity.
Then would the One be at full power.
He hummed as he worked, and occasionally sang snatches of song he could recall the
Magi singing to him in reverence as they built the pyramid. He was trying out his voice, seeking
the perfect pitch and timbre, endeavoring to make it as perfect and as beautiful as was the caged
golden glass and the dimensions of this chamber. The One also appreciated deeply the ability to
speak and sing. So long he had been nothing but an entity which had existed first in the abstract
and then as a glass pyramid. Now he was flesh incarnate, and he could move and speak and act
in a manner he”d never been able to previously. Physical form brought its own challenges, but the One enjoyed challenges.
He always won.
As he worked and sang, the One thought about the Lealfast. It was no accident that some
of the Magi had escaped so far north when the traitor Boaz sought to destroy the pyramid two
thousand years previously. The One had ensured that their knowledge did not die, but lived on
within the Lealfast.
They would be his new Magi.
They might hesitate for the moment, but the One knew that eventually they would bow
before him.
Servants.
“All my servants,” the One whispered, his hands continuing their slow purposeful
movement over the blackened glass, “all working my will.”
He paused a moment, amused as he recalled that he had come to flesh at that very same
moment Ravenna had shown Maximilian Persimius the vision within the Land of Dreams.
“Dear Ravenna,” the One whispered, one of his fingers now stroking a piece of glass that
once more glowed golden. “Sweet Ravenna, believing everything I show you. So malleable.”
The One”s hands resumed their slow dance over the glass. The Persimius family had tried
to destroy him through the renegade Magi, Boaz, who was a prince of the Persimius blood. They
would not get the chance again. When the One moved against Maximilian Persimius and his
erstwhile bride, Ishbel, the death strike would come from any one of four or five directions.
Maximilian would never be able to anticipate or counter all of them.
The One smiled, then resumed his singing, perfecting the pitch of his voice until the
Infinity Chamber rang with its glory.
CHAPTER TEN
The Sky Peaks Pass
If I”d had to listen to a single more „my lord” from Lister,” Maximilian muttered, “I
swear I would have shattered this damn glass.”
He looked up at the table. “It shall be most interesting for you, Axis, StarDrifter, and