what she might do after those words he”d said to her.
A tall, well-built man stood a few paces away. Thick cobalt hair fell down over his brow
and his eyes sparked with blue fire. His fine, beautiful features were almost ethereal.
Maximilian gave a small bow. “My Lord of Dreams. Drava.”
The Lord of Dreams gave a small smile. “No need to bow to me, Maximilian. Tell me, do
you remember that day?”
How could Maximilian forget it? He”d fought with Cavor in the dark mine of the Veins,
battling for the right to regain the Escatorian throne. At first they”d fought with swords, but then the Lord of Dreams had set them a test of compassion and laughter, in which Cavor failed and
Maximilian triumphed.
“Yes,” Maximilian said, “I remember it.”
“And do you remember what happened once I appeared?”
Maximilian gave a short bark of grim laughter. “Ravenna turned from me in a moment,
and revered you.”
“Aye, that she did. And when I asked her to step into the realm of dreams with me, she
did so without hesitation. Maximilian, do not allow guilt over Ravenna to allow her to
manipulate you. One day you will need to act.”
“Are you warning me against her?”
“In a manner, yes. Ravenna is one of the very few marsh witches who has been able to
tread the Land of Nightmares beyond the Land of Dreams. Even I dare not tread into the realm of
Nightmare. She is very, very powerful.”
“She carries my child.”
Drava shrugged.
Maximilian sighed. “Have you seen the vision that she showed me in the Land of
Dreams?”
“Yes. It is likely something that Ravenna found in the Land of Nightmares. I cannot find
any other way to explain it, for this vision is foreign to me, and to the Land of Dreams.”
“Is it truth?”
“Who knows, Maximilian. All I can say is that dreams are too often misinterpreted or
misunderstood.”
“That is what Axis SunSoar told me.”
“Then he is a wise man. Maximilian, perhaps the vision shows a possibility, even a
probability, but not a reality that cannot be changed. That is why Ravenna acts as she does. She
wants to change that future for you.”
“But there could be other ways to alter the future.”
“There always are.”
Maximilian stood quiet awhile, comfortable in the silence between himself and the Lord
of Dreams.
“Everyone, so it seems, has warned me at one time or another against Ishbel.”
“But you always believed in her.”
“Until I began to listen to her detractors.”
“Elcho Falling is a great prize, Maximilian.”
“What is that supposed to mean, Drava?”
“That there are many who will confuse your path toward it.”
Maximilian took a deep breath. “Thank you, Drava.”
Drava gave a very small smile, and then he disappeared, and Maximilian was left alone,
the snow swirling about him.
That night, a terrible dream gripped many of the Isembaardian soldiers. They dreamed
that the Skraelings had seethed over the River Lhyl and were eating their way through the people
Isaiah had left behind.
Each sleeper saw members of his own family being slaughtered.
They saw also Isaiah and the Lealfast—standing to one side, too terrified of the
Skraelings to intervene.
In the morning, just after dawn, Insharah stood in Maximilian”s command tent, trying
very hard to hide his incredulity.
“You mean me to take Axis” command position, my lord?”
“Of the Isembaardian portion of my force, yes,” Maximilian said.
Insharah looked to Axis, standing to one side. “You suggested this?”
Axis gave a nod, watching Insharah carefully.
“I don”t have the seniority,” Insharah said.
“You do now,” Maximilian replied.
“Of course, I do expect you to give it back,” said Axis with a small smile, “when I return
from my foray into the wilds of the Outlands.”
“Can you do this?” Maximilian said.
Insharah gave a nod. “To my best ability, my lord.”
“Good,” Maximilian said, then turned away, signifying an end to the conversation.
“My lord?”
Maximilian half turned around, an eyebrow raised.
“Have you any news from Isaiah?” Insharah said. “The soldiers ask.”
“He has only just left, Insharah.”
“We are anxious, my lord.” Insharah hesitated. “The Lealfast can save our families from
the Skraelings?”
Maximilian and Axis exchanged a look.
“My lord?” Insharah asked, his voice tight.
“They will do their best to aid your people,” Maximilian said, “but unfortunately the
Lealfast will not do anything to harm the Skraelings. They are close kin and…”
Maximilian drifted to a close, seeing the horror on Insharah”s face.
“I am sorry, Insharah.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Salamaan Pass
Isaiah was a being many millennia old, and he had witnessed more things than most who
had lived, but he”d never before experienced anything like being carried a-wind with the
Lealfast.
He decided later, once he”d had some time to think about it, that it was very much like
flowing in a river, save that the river the Lealfast used was air rather than water. He could feel all
about him the strange, mysterious souls of the Lealfast riding the air currents beside him, and
feel deep within him the tug of their strange magic. Isaiah knew the Lealfast used the Star Dance
as the source of their power, but this…
This, he thought, is going to cause Axis some troubles.
They arrived at the southern end of the Salamaan Pass by late afternoon of the day they”d
set out. The speed of their travel was extraordinary. Nonetheless, Isaiah could see from the gray lines on Bingaleal”s face that it had also been exhausting—the Lealfast had been traveling here
and there for many weeks, and had covered an astonishing amount of territory within only the
past few days.
There was a moment when Isaiah could feel the transition from whatever state the
Lealfast had put him into back into his fleshed form, and then he was standing on pebbly, sandy
ground, and he could feel the soft breeze wrap about him, and smell his land, stretching away
south before him.
There was a soft sound at his side and Bingaleal appeared.
“Thank you,” Isaiah said simply. He and Bingaleal were standing just inside the entrance
to the Salamaan Pass, against the western wall, and Isaiah turned to look south.
“Oh my gods…” he whispered.
Before them the pass was filled with a jumble of disordered people, children, animals,
carts—the panicked flotsam and jetsam of a population fleeing rumor and terror. Even though
the gloom of dusk had enveloped the Pass, Isaiah could see that hundreds of thousands were
abandoning Isembaard.
On the one hand he was glad that so many had escaped; on the other the thought of what
might be happening further into the land appalled him.
“Where are the other Lealfast fighters, Bingaleal?”
“On the ridges of the pass where the gloom shall, for the moment, disguise them. I
thought it best that they not land within the pass itself and panic the refugees. Isaiah, what do you
want of us?”
“To rescue as many of the Isembaardians as you can. There are two escape routes—north,
through the Salamaan Pass, and south, through the Lagamaal Plains, to something called the Lost
Chasm.”
Bingaleal raised his eyebrows. “The Lost Chasm?”
“It lies on the borders of the Eastern Independencies, and is where the mortal Isaiah met
his fate,” said Isaiah. He grinned. “It is an abyss, Bingaleal, and likely to be a mystery that even
you have yet to know about.”
“And a chasm can somehow shelter,” Bingaleal waved a hand at the mass of people
moving north, “a crowd this size?”
“Even more,” said Isaiah, “although I think there will be few left alive in the south of
Isembaard.” He paused, staring at the mass of people trudging north. “Gods, where do we start?”
Bingaleal sighed. “In the morning, Isaiah. If we start now we will just create panic.”
In the end, the fleeing refugees accepted the Lealfast more easily than Isaiah had
imagined. It was likely, he thought, that the Lealfast were a great deal less terrifying than what
was at the refugees” backs.
They started early the next morning. Isaiah commandeered a horse from someone, then
rode up and down the lines of refugees as they approached the pass, waving overhead at the
Lealfast in the skies and saying simply that they were here to help the Isembaardians escape the
Skraelings.
At midmorning Isaiah waved Bingaleal down.
“Any signs of Skraelings?” he asked.
Bingaleal shook his head. “I believe they are still very far to the west, although I have no
doubts they will be moving this way swiftly. Currently, it is rumor and fear more than anything else driving these people.”
Isaiah thought a moment. “Your fighters are all still here? In the Salamaan Pass area?”
Bingaleal nodded.
“Then divide them up. Send ten thousand to the southeast. I am certain there will be
refugees moving to the south, as these here move to the north. The ten thousand sent south need