Salome, meeting your long-lost cousins.”
“I have only just got used to my new immediate family,” Salome said. “Now you say
there are fifty thousand more arriving the morning after next? And a quarter million more lurking
in the mountains? I shall never remember all their birthdays.”
The group about the table laughed, then chatted about inconsequential things for a few
minutes as they ate and drank.
“Maxel,” Axis said eventually, “we need to talk about the army. It is—”
“I know,” said Maximilian. “We can speak tomorrow. For now I am weary, and can think
clearly of nothing but my bed.”
“Before you think too longingly of bed,” Isaiah said, “there is something I need to talk to
you about. I would also ask that Ishbel stays with us. This concerns both of you. It is a personal
matter. Axis, would you stay, too?”
The group broke up with that, leaving Maximilian, Isaiah, Ishbel, and Axis sitting about
the remains of the meal. Serge and Doyle shepherded in some servants to clear the table and to
set out fruit and cheese, and then the group was left alone.
“If I can take a moment,” Maximilian said to Isaiah, “before you speak? Thank you. The
Isembaardian soldiers worry about their families. Who can blame them? And I worry about what
is happening down south, what is happening at DarkGlass Mountain and with the Skraelings.
Isaiah,” he said, leaning forward a little, “I am going to test our newfound trust.”
“You want me to go there,” Isaiah said.
“Yes. I want you to go into Isembaard, do what you can for your people, and discover for
me what that cursed glass pyramid is about, what it is doing, and what it has become. We know too little about it. Can you do that for me?”
Ishbel answered before Isaiah could speak. “Maxel! That is too dangerous! Isaiah is a
man apart from many others, and with powers that few can command, but even so you are surely
sending him to his—”
“I want to send some of Eleanon”s Lealfast fighters with Isaiah,” said Maximilian quietly.
“They can move quickly, and they are of great power. They command the Star Dance, and, from
what I have heard of the assassination attempt on your life, Isaiah, they are handy enough with
their bows. Isaiah, I will give you half of Eleanon”s force—twenty-five thousand. Will you go?”
“Yes,” Isaiah said, “if the Lealfast agree. I cannot travel as fast as they, Maxel, but I can
move faster than ordinary men. Once I reach the river, I can travel faster.”
“We will discuss the details later,” said Maximilian. “Axis, what do you think? If I send
their Tyrant into Isembaard to rescue what he can, and with a strange, magical, powerful force at
his back, will it ease some of the men”s fears?”
“It will surely surprise them,” said Axis. “But, yes, it will allay their fears, for a while. At
least you are being seen to do something, and they trust Isaiah. Mostly. But…are you sure about
the Lealfast? We know so little about them. To trust them with such a mission is—”
“Foolish?” said Maximilian. “Perhaps, but neither can I afford not to use them. I can”t sit
about for a year trying to gauge the Lealfast and their potential for treachery. I”ll risk it, Axis.
Isaiah knows how to look after himself, and how to command men.”
“Be careful, Isaiah,” Ishbel said, meeting his eyes. “Please.”
Maximilian hesitated as he looked between them, then spoke. “Once the Lealfast are here
we can hash out the details, but I needed to speak to you first, Isaiah.”
Then he looked at Ishbel. “Ishbel, I shouldn”t have treated you the way I did last night.
I—”
“It doesn”t matter, Maxel,” she said. “You have chosen Ravenna.”
“Ishbel—” Maximilian said.
“It is over now, Maxel,” Ishbel continued, her tone even and calm, her posture relaxed.
“That is the best for both of us, I think. I”m sick of harboring fears and grudges, and it is time we
forgot what lies behind us and just concentrate on what waits ahead. We both need to get to
Elcho Falling.” She paused. “What lies between you and Ravenna doesn”t bother me, Maxel.
Truly. I wish you the best.”
“Ishbel—” Maximilian said again, his voice tight.
“There was something you wanted to say to myself and Maxel?” Ishbel said to Isaiah,
and Maximilian bit his tongue and looked away.
Axis looked at Ishbel, his eyes narrowed. A pretty speech and, even better, one that
sounded relaxed and sincere. Had she truly turned her back on Maximilian?
Isaiah took a deep breath, and now Axis looked at him. That had been a breath of sheer
nerves. Stars, what was Isaiah going to say? “I need to talk to you about your child,” Isaiah said to Maximilian and Ishbel. “Particularly now I won”t be here much longer.”
“The child is dead,” Ishbel said. “She no longer matters. There”s nothing you need say.
Please don”t drag up the past, Isaiah.”
“She does matter, Ishbel,” Isaiah said. He took another deep breath. “Kanubai rose into
flesh in that moment when Ba”al”uz killed your daughter, and I took Ba”al”uz”s head and that of
the dog.”
Isaiah stopped there, wanting Maximilian and Ishbel to understand what he was trying to
say without him actually having to say it.
There was silence, everyone looking at Isaiah.
“Maxel, Ishbel,” Isaiah said softly, dragging each word out, “Kanubai took flesh and was
born of the sacrifice of your daughter. That was his plan. He wanted to take the flesh and blood
of his enemy. He was born of both of you. And now…whatever has taken him also has that
blood coursing through its veins.”
Again a silence, save that this one was rigid with shock and horror.
“I”m sorry,” Isaiah whispered, looking at Ishbel. “I should have taken better care of you.”
Ishbel left after that. She could not bear to stay another moment, nor could she bear to see
Maximilian”s face.
That child had been so important to him. It was bad enough that the baby girl had died,
but now to hear this foulness…to hear that Kanubai, and whatever had taken him, had
Maximilian”s and Ishbel”s blood coursing through it…that the girl had died to create flesh for
Kanubai…No. That was too much.
Ishbel could not have looked at Maximilian”s face at that point.
So she just rose and left.
Maximilian caught up with her within six or seven paces, catching at her arm with his
hand, forcing her to stop and face him.
“Ishbel, I”m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing to me, Maxel. And just let me be for a while, please.”
“We need to speak at some point. Tonight or tomorrow.”
“Yes, very well. But not now, please, Maxel.”
“Not now,” he said softly, letting his hand slide from her arm. “Ishbel…”
She stared at him, clearly wanting to get away.
“Ishbel, if you need me, you can find me in the command tent.” He nodded at the tent
they”d both just left. “I”m no longer sharing a tent with Ravenna and Venetia.”
Then he left her staring after him as he ducked inside the tent.
Ravenna stood in the shadow of a tent as Ishbel passed. She had watched the command
tent for a half hour or more, knowing Maximilian and his commanders and Ishbel were inside,
and not surprised at, yet resenting, the fact she had not been asked to attend.
She felt physically and emotionally exhausted. She could not understand why Maximilian
kept Ishbel close after she had lost the child he”d wanted so much, and then treated him so vilely
by flaunting Isaiah as her lover. She could not even comprehend why Maximilian could still
consider Ishbel an ally after Ravenna had shown him the vision, the truth, for the Land of Dreams did not lie.
But Maximilian wanted Ishbel as much more than an ally, didn”t he? No matter what he
had said to Ishbel last night in the snow, Maximilian still wanted her. Ravenna had watched as
Ishbel emerged from the tent, clearly upset about something (had one of the others justly
questioned her apparent good faith?), and then Maximilian had followed her, not a breath later,
catching at Ishbel”s arm and pulling her close for a quiet conversation.
Ravenna had been sure Maximilian would lean down to kiss Ishbel, but he did not, and
that likely due, Ravenna thought, to Ishbel”s determination to tease him and make him beg for
her after he”d humiliated her before Ravenna.
Ishbel would have her way with him eventually. She would cajole Maximilian into her
bed and his ring onto her finger.
Ravenna was now certain of that. There was nothing left that she could do or say to make
Maximilian see sense, and realize that Ishbel would bring catastrophe to his life, and to Elcho Falling and the entire land.
She felt ill at the thought, and wished that Maximilian had been a stronger man.