believed to have been a secure life had in fact been so precarious.
And Isaiah had sat there on his throne and overseen the entire disaster.
Hereward tried to be angry with him, but she couldn”t summon the energy. Breathing was
more important for the moment.
“Hereward,” Isaiah said, “I”ve said some things to you that were unnecessary. Words that
were hard and cruel. I was wrong to do that. You are far more than „just” the bastard daughter of
a slave and servant within my palace.”
He stopped for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “The book that hit you on the
head has been missing for some two thousand years. It chose you to reveal itself to and it chose
to involve you in…all of this.” He waved a hand about as if indicating all of Isembaard”s
troubles. “You are far more than just Hereward the kitchen steward.”
Hereward was so incensed she had to close her eyes briefly. Isaiah had to make her
something other than a serving woman in order to feel comfortable? “Does that make you feel
better about traveling with me, Isaiah?” she said.
He sighed softly, then rose and left the campfire.
Axis had shifted himself closer to Inardle. His head still throbbed painfully, but the pain
was subsiding little by little, and he no longer felt nauseated or so weak.
“How are you feeling, Inardle?” he asked, his voice low in a somewhat futile attempt to
keep their conversation private in their cramped conditions.
“My wound throbs,” she said, “but it is well enough. Zeboath said you”d done a fine job
in stitching.”
“Zeboath is very kind. I fear you will be marked for life with the scar I have made for
you. The wing?”
“It throbs, and is swollen. Zeboath says he will need to wait for the swelling to go down
before he can examine it properly. Axis…” Her voice broke, and she paused to compose herself.
“They all were killed. Every one of them. The screams…”
“Inardle—”
“They died—and in fear and agony. How can one man be so cruel, Axis? What drove
Armat to it?”
“Necessities of war, perhaps,” Georgdi answered, breaking their illusion of privacy.
“Armat understands the Lealfast as his enemies, and there was little else for him to do with a
field full of wounded Lealfast than to slaughter them. Armat would not waste valuable resources
on trying to save them, Inardle, and he could not have left them alive at his back!”
“Would you have killed them?” Inardle said.
“I don”t know,” Georgdi said. “If I had been afraid enough of them, then yes, perhaps.
Axis? Would you have left a few thousand injured Skraelings at your back?”
Axis silently cursed the man for the question. Did Georgdi not know that Inardle was half
Skraeling? No, he answered himself. He probably didn’t.
“No,” said Axis, “I would not have left them at my back. I would have, and have in the
past, ordered them put to death.”
Inardle”s entire body tightened at Axis” side, and he felt her pull away from him slightly.
“They were injured, Axis,” Inardle hissed. “They were no threat to anyone!”
“Then they should not have been injured in the first instance,” Axis snapped. “For the
stars” sakes, Inardle, how could Eleanon have been so witless? He led them into slaughter!”
Inardle did not answer, but Axis could feel her trembling in anger.
“Axis is right,” Georgdi said. “If so many died, then it is Eleanon”s fault.”
“Eleanon didn”t—” Inardle began.
“Will you tell me what training the Lealfast have had?” Axis said. “I asked Eleanon and
Bingaleal once, and they snapped at me something about being an elite force. Well, I think we
can all dispense with that myth here and now, yes? What fighting experience have the Lealfast
had, Inardle?”
She didn”t answer.
“You have lived in the northern wastes for stars knows how many thousands of years,”
Axis said. “What enemies did you have there? Against whom did you perfect—” that word was
laden with sarcasm “—the arts of war?”
“Did you fight the Skraelings?” Georgdi asked.
“We are unable to fight the Skraelings,” Inardle said, very low.
“Why not?” Georgdi asked.
“Inardle, as all the Lealfast,” Axis said, “is half Icarii and half Skraeling. The Lealfast
are, apparently, unable to harm their blood kin.”
Axis couldn”t see either Georgdi, or Zeboath—who was keeping well out of this
conversation—very well in this darkness, but he could sense their shock.
“We trained in the frozen wastes,” Inardle said into the silence, her voice very quiet and
now completely devoid of emotion.
“Against whom?” Axis said.
There was a silence.
“We shot at the snow rabbits,” Inardle said, loathing having to paint herself and her
fellows in such a ridiculous light. Damn Eleanon! “We used them to perfect our skills with the bow and arrow.”
We shot at the snow rabbits? Axis was so appalled that he did not know how to respond.
“Then should we be faced with an invasion of devious rabbits,” said Georgdi, “we can all
rest easy knowing we have such skilled soldiers to hand.”
Axis couldn”t help himself. He laughed.
“I apologize, Inardle,” Georgdi said, his own voice still riddled with amusement.
Axis supposed he should apologize, too, but he couldn”t. He just sat there in the silence
that followed Georgdi”s apology, allowing his amusement to go some way to relieving some of
his frustration and anger.
“Why did you stay, Axis?” Inardle said eventually. “You could have left at any time.
There is no need for you to be here.”
“I couldn”t leave the Lealfast,” Axis said. “No matter how angry I am at Eleanon, or at
the entire situation in general, I just could not walk away from them.”
“Unlike Eleanon,” Georgdi said, “who lost no time in escaping.”
“That is not fair!” Inardle said. “Axis commanded him to go.”
“The only thing that is not fair at the moment,” said Axis, “is that Georgdi and I are
making you the focus of our anger and frustration. I think what we say about the Lealfast in
general, and Eleanon in particular, is fair enough. I asked Georgdi to go, and he didn”t. Eleanon
went, not through any cowardice as such, but because he was so shocked by what had happened
at the gully that he simply could not think. As a leader and a commander, Inardle, he has a great
deal to learn.”
“And you shall teach him, I suppose,” she said.
“If ever I get out of here,” Axis said, “then maybe. And if ever I think it worth the effort.”
“Are you such a good commander?” she said. “I heard that the main reason you stayed
was because of me. Zeboath told me while you were unconscious that you spent hours searching
for me among the wounded.”
Thank you so much, Zeboath, Axis thought.
“Surely it is a pitiful thing,” Inardle continued, her voice hard and bitter now, “to risk so
many men just for your concern for a half Skraeling?”
“I risked myself only,” said Axis. “Zeboath and Georgdi remained, or returned, of their
own free will. Perhaps they were fixated on you, too.”
This was beginning to sound like a lovers” spat, Axis thought, becoming ever more
uncomfortable and wishing he”d not allowed Inardle to needle him. Damn Zeboath!
“You should have left me,” Inardle said.
“Trust me when I say I”m coming around to that conclusion myself,” Axis shot back.
“Oh, peace,” said Georgdi. “Listen for a moment.” He paused so all could strain their
ears, although Georgdi thought Axis and Inardle would spend the time fuming at each other.
“There are men moving about above us,” he continued. “Perhaps someone will be kind enough
to remember us, and give us some breakfast.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Central Outlands
Maximilian pulled in his horse beside that of StarDrifter”s, who was choosing to ride
instead of fly this day to keep company with Salome, who was confined to the ground. He
glanced at her as she rode five or six paces behind, chatting to one of the Emerald Guardsmen.
“Salome is continuing well?” Maximilian said.
“Yes,” StarDrifter said, “she continues well. Impatient for this child to be born, as am I,
but she is well. What do you want, Maximilian? There is no need to run through the list of social
politenesses before you get down to business.”
“I was actually concerned, StarDrifter.”
“Yes, yes. What do you want?”
“I am also very concerned about Axis.”
“And so am I,” StarDrifter said. “I heard about the…the…” StarDrifter was so angry
about what he”d heard of the Lealfast that he simply could not finish.
“Yes, well,” said Maximilian. “Axis is currently caught between Armat moving west and
Insharah moving east. I worry not so much about Insharah—”
“Traitor that he is,” StarDrifter put in.
“—but about Armat, who has no love for Axis. I don”t know where Georgdi is right now,