The pyramid had taken the physical aspect of Boaz, the Magus who had once thought to
destroy it.
Boaz, Maximilian’s kinsman and Ishbel’s ancestor.
Then Isaiah”s eyes were caught by something trailing a pace or two behind the One, and
his eyes widened in shock.
It was a small, red kitten, gamboling along as if it didn”t have a care in the world.
Feed the pretty kitten, the Book of the Soulenai had said.
The kitten was so incongruous, and so bizarre, that Isaiah had difficulty dragging his eyes
away from it. It darted this way and that, enjoying itself hugely, chasing an insect here, an
airborne speck of dust there.
Then it suddenly realized its master had walked too far ahead, and it sped forward,
batting at the One”s ankles with its paws.
Isaiah managed to drag his eyes back to the One, who was ignoring the kitten. He was
very close now, and Isaiah could see the glow of the pulsating golden pyramid within the
creature”s translucent breast: he had the Infinity Chamber for a heart.
“Well met, Isaiah,” said the One, coming to a halt a few paces away. His voice was
strong and rich, surprising Isaiah, who had expected something uglier.
Instead, his voice was almost hypnotic in its beauty.
Hereward had by now crept so close to Isaiah that she was pressed against his side, and
he put an arm about her shoulders.
Isaiah doubted very much that either of them were going to get out of this alive.
“I”m not going to kill you,” said the One. “Not if you do as I wish. Shall we sit?”
“I know who and what you are,” the One said to Isaiah, once they sat in an awkward little
circle on the riverbank.
The kitten was playing a few paces distant, just at the corner of Isaiah”s vision, and he
found it irritatingly distracting.
He wondered what its purpose was.
“Water or river god, tyrant, meddler, call yourself what you will,” the One said. “It is of
no matter to me. All I need from you is to deliver a message for me.”
A message. Not death, then.
“And you?” said Isaiah. “What should I call you? Kanubai?”
“I am not Kanubai, as well you know,” said the One. “Kanubai is dead. Used and useful,
but very dead. Now I walk. I am the One. I have no name save for the indivisible.
“Now,” the One continued, not giving Isaiah a chance to respond, “you will deliver a
message to Maximilian Persimius.”
“As you will,” said Isaiah. “A message is easy enough. But will you not tell me of your
purpose? Why it is that you have chosen to wake from your pyramid and walk? Why you have
chosen to murder this land and river?”
The One smiled. His teeth were completely translucent, and Isaiah could see the green
swell of the creature”s tongue through them. “My land and river now. No longer yours, in any
measure. And how have I murdered it? I have merely turned it to my own will.”
The One”s tone changed as he spoke, becoming infinitely more threatening, and so Isaiah
inclined his head, deciding to deflect the creature”s anger. “As you will. Will you tell us the
message you wish Hereward and myself to deliver to Maximilian?”
“You are going to deliver the message to Maximilian Persimius for me, Isaiah.
Hereward”s fate is not yours to decide.”
Isaiah saw Hereward turn her head and stare at him, terrified, and he hoped she would
keep silent.
Hereward said nothing. She dropped her eyes to her hands clasped in her lap, and Isaiah
now found himself irritated that she had kept her silence.
“Maximilian and Ishbel,” said the One, “are committed to my destruction. It is in their
blood. So I need you to deliver to them this message.”
The One took a deep breath, and Isaiah found himself fascinated by the movement of the
glass of his chest. It looked very pliable, almost soft, and Isaiah wondered if it was warm to the
touch.
“Maximilian Persimius,” said the One, “and Ishbel Brunelle Persimius are to bring to me,
at Sakkuth—”
Isaiah kept his face impassive, but the choice of meeting place puzzled him. Sakkuth?
“—three objects. They are to bring the Weeper. They are to bring to me the Goblet of the
Frogs. And they are to bring to me the crown of Elcho Falling.”
“Or…?” Isaiah said.
The One smiled, very tight, very cold, and there was a brief gleam in his black eyes. “Ah,
in the „or” lies the rub, does it not?”
Bingaleal stood on the plains between Hairekeep and the entrance to the Salamaan Pass.
Thousands upon thousands of Isembaardians continued to stream into the Pass, hoping to escape
from the destruction of their homeland. Some of his companions had reported to Bingaleal earlier in the day that there was a massive wave of Skraelings sweeping through Sakkuth. Soon
they would be moving northeast toward the Salamaan Pass.
The reports had also said that there was not much left of Sakkuth.
The Isembaardians had generally accepted the Lealfast”s attempts to aid them. The
Lealfast were, after all, better than what lay behind them. Most of the refugees were completely
benumbed. All they could think of was that they needed to get beyond the FarReach Mountains
into safety.
Bingaleal did not know how “safe” the Outlands would prove. He was not sure if the
Skraelings would stop at the Salamaan Pass, or if they”d just continue to surge through.
And if they did? What then?
In the end, Bingaleal did not care overmuch. What he was truly interested in lay much
further south.
All he wanted was the chance to explore it. He wondered, not for the first time, if he
should abandon the Isembaardians and fly down to DarkGlass Mountain.
But every time this thought crossed his mind, something stopped him. Some deep instinct
told him that flying south to the pyramid was a useless exercise.
It was coming north to meet him.
Far to the north, in the Central Outlands, Bingaleal”s brother, Eleanon, led a large sortie
of Lealfast toward a column of soldiers some five thousand strong marching northwestward.
The Isembaardian column was led by the renegade general Armat, in full view of the
forward-flying Lealfast scouts.
“If Maximilian and Ishbel do not bring me these objects,” said the One, “I will invade
their lands with such horror that—”
“They will resist you,” said Isaiah.
“Ah, I was so afraid that you would say that,” the One said. “It might get very messy,
yes?”
Again, that frightful, cold smile and the brief gleam in his obsidian eyes.
“They will not refuse,” said the One. “I am, Isaiah, going to build a curse on their future.
It is not a „might be” curse, it is a reality. The instant I build it, their future has altered. Watch, Isaiah, and see what Infinity can do when it is roused.”
The One lifted a hand. “Watch,” he said, “the power of the One.”
“Armat!” the scout reported back to Eleanon. “Armat! ”
“Where?” Eleanon said. He, and the other Lealfast with him, were traveling on the air,
almost invisible.
“A half hour”s flight to the east,” said the scout. “He”s leading a column of some five
thousand men to the northwest, perhaps to try to intercept Maximilian”s force.”
“Perhaps.” Eleanon wondered why Armat had chosen to show his hand now.
“I”ll fly on to the StarMan,” the scout said, “and tell him what we”ve seen.”
“No,” said Eleanon. “Wait.”
He stopped, thinking. Was it a trap on Armat”s part? And if it was, what should he do? If
he was sensible, Eleanon should tell the scouts to keep an eye on the column while he relayed the
intelligence to Axis.
If he was sensible…
But “being sensible” stuck in Eleanon”s craw. Axis didn”t think much of him, and neither
did Maximilian, who, Eleanon was only too well aware, had sent Axis on this mission to test the
Lealfast.
Why not do what Axis and Maximilian assumed he would? Something foolish. It was
what Bingaleal had counseled—deceive Maximilian and Axis into thinking that the Lealfast truly
were nothing but arrogant foolishness. This would be the perfect opportunity, but, oh, how it
irritated Eleanon that for the moment Maximilian and Axis should have their egotistical
suspicions confirmed.
Still…it would position the Lealfast splendidly for the future.
Eleanon”s thoughts churned; he was aware that the scout waited impatiently. If he did
what Maximilian and Axis expected, then he would have the freedom to journey south without
raising their suspicions and confirm in their minds that the Lealfast were useless as
fighters—but, oh, the price…
“Eleanon? Should I fly on to Axis StarMan?”
“We can handle this,” Eleanon said, the bottom of his stomach almost falling out of his
belly as he made his decision. “We are tens of thousand strong, and far superior to five thousand