this tent,” Armat muttered.
“There was a force of some twenty thousand that went south into Isembaard to aid
refugees,” said Axis. “We don”t know what happened to those. We don’t, Armat. Isaiah was with
them, and they have all, apparently, been killed by whatever it is that now controls Isembaard.”
“A toddler with a reed could kill the Lealfast,” said Armat. “If they are dead it doesn”t
signify that what waits in Isembaard is of any concern.”
Fool, thought Axis, hoping that Armat was about to murder himself by ordering a march
back south through the Salamaan Pass.
“Malat?” Armat said, surprising Axis with the question. “The state of the Central
Kingdoms?”
“Malat has taken a small force to go back and see,” Axis said. He glanced at Lister,
knowing that Lister knew this information and that he couldn”t lie. “While Pelemere was
destroyed, as was much of the western parts of the Central Kingdoms, I believe the rest of the
Kingdoms escaped fairly unscathed from the Skraeling invasion.”
“So Malat could raise an army?” Armat said.
“Not enough to bother you,” Axis said.
Armat grunted. “Perhaps.” He turned and looked to Lister. “Has he told the truth?”
“Mostly,” said Lister. “As he understands it.”
“What are you doing, Lister?” Axis said. “Why turn on Maximilian like this? I had
thought you”d dedicated your life to grooming him for Elcho Falling. And why allow such
treatment of Inardle? She was your lover! Do you have no feeling for her at all?”
That was quite a speech, and Axis was sure that Armat would punish him for it, but
Armat seemed unconcerned, and motioned to Lister to answer.
“Inardle is immaterial,” said Lister. “There is too much at stake to waste energy on her.”
He looked at Inardle. “I am sorry, my dear. I was quite fond of you, but there is far more here
than you can comprehend.”
Lister looked back to Axis. “As there is much you do not know, nor comprehend.
Ravenna and I are certain that Maximilian has been corrupted, and—”
“For stars” sakes, Lister—you cannot surely have been seduced by Ravenna”s jealousy of
Ishbel?”
“This goes far beyond Ishbel,” Lister said quietly. “I liked her, too, as once I liked
Inardle. But Ishbel needs to die if this land is to be saved. Maximilian cannot see that.”
“You”re going to march on Elcho Falling, aren”t you?” Axis said. “Armat, have you told
your men that? They were not happy to march to Elcho Falling with Maximilian while
Isembaard was being eaten; they”ll not do it for you!”
“Silence!” Armat shouted. “You have no idea of what this army will do for me!” He
looked at the guards. “Take him back to the pit. We can haul him out later, with his friends, for
an execution at my pleasure.”
“Inardle—” Axis began.
“Inardle can live,” said Armat. “For the time being. I am giving her to Risdon as a reward
for his services.”
The guards behind Axis grabbed at him, hauling him away toward the door.
Axis managed one brief glance at Inardle, and stumbled in horror at the expression in her
eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Armat’s Camp, and Maximilian’s Camp, the Central Outlands
They took Axis back to the pit, literally throwing him into it before resealing it with the
great logs of wood.
“Axis!” Georgdi helped him to his feet. “Where”s Inardle?”
“Armat…” Axis had to stop and bring his anger under control before he could continue.
“Armat tortured her to get information from me, then gave her to Risdon to play with as he
wanted.”
“Shit!” Georgdi said. “What—”
“Ravenna and Lister have joined Armat and are aiding him to launch an attack on Elcho
Falling.”
“Ravenna I am not surprised at,” Georgdi said, “but Lister?”
“Aye,” Axis said. “Gods, Georgdi, Isaiah is dead, and Lister turned traitor. Maximilian
has sore need of good and true friends.”
“And us?” Zeboath said softly into the darkness. “Are we soon to join the list of
Maximilian”s once-friends?”
Axis hesitated, then spoke plainly. “He has ordered our execution—at a time of his
choosing. No doubt he will let us linger here a while and fear. I am sorry, my friends.”
“This is hardly your fault,” Georgdi said. Then he grinned, his teeth a brief flash in the
darkness. “We”ll just have to fight this one out, Axis.”
Axis could not find the heart to smile at the jest. “I fear the odds are a little against us,
Georgdi.”
He felt his way over to one of the earthen walls, too dispirited to work the enchantment
for light, and sat down, back against the wall.
He stayed like that for hours, staring into the darkness, trying not to think and worry
about Inardle, and failing utterly.
Maximilian had pushed the columns hard during the day, determined to reach Elcho
Falling as fast as possible, but tonight, instead of resting, he went to Josia in the Twisted Tower.
Ishbel did not come with him this time. Tonight, as Maximilian suspected every night for the
foreseeable future, would be spent with Josia, learning the objects that had vanished.
“What did you mean about the top chamber?” Maximilian asked Josia as they climbed
into the first of the chambers which had items missing. “You said that had I ever looked out the
window I would have died.”
“What exists out the window,” said Josia, “requires a Lord of Elcho Falling to be at his
full strength and power to view. We will work our way there gradually, item by item, chamber
by chamber.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“Yes.”
“Not even a hint?”
Josia laughed. “Not even a hint, Maximilian. Tell me, you said you have been to the top
chamber…yet you never looked out the window? Most people would, having climbed all that
way. They would think a view recompense for the long climb. Why didn”t you look?”
They had reached the chamber they would be working in tonight and Maximilian
stopped, thinking. “I don”t really know, Josia. I certainly looked at the window, and I remember
taking a step toward it, but I always turned away.” He shrugged. “I don”t know.”
“Then you either have good instincts or a good protector, Maximilian Persimius,” said
Josia. He leaned back against a wall, crossing his arms, and regarded Maximilian speculatively.
“You love Ishbel, yet are not with her. Do you doubt her still?”
“No. I don”t doubt her at all. I am sick of doubting her.”
“Yet others plead with you to forsake her.”
“Ravenna?”
Josia inclined his head. “And others, too, I suspect.”
“I am sick to death of doubting her, Josia. That”s all. I doubted her once, and look what a
disordered mess we have found ourselves in.”
“It would be better, for everyone, if you were husband and wife again.”
Maximilian smiled. “At least you do not doubt her. But as to the husband and wife, Josia,
that needs to be decided between Ishbel and me.”
“Indeed.” Josia straightened up. “I am going to take up six of your hours tonight,
Maximilian. These are six hours when you should be sleeping, but we have little time and much
to accomplish.”
“I can doze well enough in the saddle.”
“Good! Then see here, this space between the brass lantern and the egg cup. Can you
imagine what should sit here?”
“Something tall and heavy, by the shape of the dust-free area and the scratches on the
table surface.”
“Yes. It is in fact a porcelain candlestick. See?”
As Josia spoke, Maximilian saw the air move slightly and a shadow grew in the space of
the missing object.
“You need to realize it, not just accept what I say,” Josia said softly, watching
Maximilian keenly. “You need to understand not only what the object physically is, but what
knowledge it represents.”
“How can I know what knowledge it—”
“Look to the objects surrounding it: the lantern, the egg cup, the folded hessian cloth just
behind it. You know the knowledge they represent?”
“Yes. They are all concerning the peak of Elcho Falling, and what it contains.”
“And you know what that is.”
“Yes.”
Now it was Josia who smiled. “So tell me what knowledge this candlestick will contain.”
Maximilian frowned. Surely Josia could just tell him? But then he realized that no, Josia
couldn”t “just tell him.” Maximilian had to somehow “remember” it.
He concentrated, looking at the lantern, the egg cup, and the folded hessian cloth, and
going over in his mind what knowledge they represented. They were all to do with the mystery at
the top of Elcho Falling, and specifically how to access that mystery. Maximilian cast his gaze
about the table, going over all the objects, looking for the missing blank in his knowledge of how
to access the…
“The candlestick contains the knowledge of the location of the door to the peak of Elcho
Falling,” Maximilian said, and as he said the words the candlestick materialized in the space it