had once occupied.
“Exactly!” Josia said. “Pick it up now, and learn what you need.”
But Maximilian hesitated. “Josia, I could work that out because of the objects
surrounding the candlestick. I could discover what blank I had in my knowledge. But so many
chambers are utterly empty. There are no clues. How then can I—”
“By skill and cunning,” said Josia. “But do not worry about it yet. By the time you reach
the utterly empty chambers you shall have learned a few new talents. Now, pick up that
candlestick and learn the location of the door to the mystery at the peak of Elcho Falling.”
They worked for hours through the night, until Josia called a halt.
“You are tired, Maxel. Return to your bed, and sleep for a few hours.”
They walked to the door, but before he left, Maximilian turned to Josia. “I have a request
of you,” he said. “A favor I would ask you grant me.”
“Yes?” said Josia.
Axis supposed that he had slept a few hours, for when he heard his name being hissed
through the gaps in the wooden logs which imprisoned them in the pit, he felt groggy and a little
stupid, as if he had just woken.
“Axis!”
He blinked, trying to orientate himself.
“Axis! ”
He rose to his feet, slipping a little on the damp floor. Stars, he would end up crippled
with rheumatism if he had to spend much longer in this hole!
“Axis!”
“Insharah,” Axis said softly. He stretched his back and legs, then jumped up, managing to
slip his fingers through the cracks between the logs. He swung his legs up so that his feet pushed
against one of the pit walls and, thus propped, firmed his grip on the logs.
“Axis, are you all right?”
Insharah sounded as though he was leaning over the logs, his mouth pressed close to the
gap where Axis had his fingers.
“Oh well,” Axis said, “apart from living under a death sentence, and a few scrapes and
bruises, I”m perfectly well thank you. You?”
“Axis, I came to explain—”
“I don”t want any explanation of why you deserted Maxel. I do assume, however, that
you now live with peace and joy in your heart at discovering such a fine commander to serve.”
Insharah didn”t immediately respond. “Axis, we needed to aid our families and—”
“And you think the fuck Armat is going to do that for you? He is planning on making war
on Maximilian at Elcho Falling, my once-reliable friend. Isembaard can go to hell for all he
cares.”
Now Insharah was completely silent.
“Look,” Axis said, adjusting his grip with both legs and arms, all of which were
beginning to ache. “I think Isembaard is lost anyway. Isaiah is dead, so we believe, and I think
all the Lealfast that went south with him are dead as well. Isembaard is lost.”
“Then I might as well stay with Armat. He is what I know.”
“As you wish, Insharah, but there is war coming, and you are going to have to make a
final choice. Maximilian or Armat.”
“We”d choose you, StarMan.”
“Oh, fine words, indeed, considering you will not lift a finger to aid me to escape!”
Again Insharah was silent, and Axis sighed. “I know you cannot aid me, Insharah. To do
so would be to sign your own death warrant. But I ask you, how can you respect any man who
thus imprisons me, and Zeboath, who is also your friend, and so brutalizes a woman? You have
heard what happened in Armat”s tent?”
Again silence, but Axis could swear that this time it was far more uncomfortable than
previously.
“He tortured her, Insharah, having just murdered a few thousand of her wounded kin.
How many of those did you murder, Insharah? How many did—”
“That”s enough, Axis!”
“No, it isn”t, damn it! Is any of this to your liking? If it was, you wouldn”t be here trying
to seek absolution.” He paused. “Insharah, is Armat planning on executing Zeboath as well?”
A hesitation. “Yes.”
“Ah, for the stars” sakes! Zeboath is a physician! Armat doesn”t need a physician?”
“He doesn”t trust him.”
“Then the man is a fool as well as being a bully. What happened to Zeboath”s assistants?”
“They were killed.”
Axis heard Zeboath cry out softly below him, and then a movement, as if the physician
had slid to the ground in his distress.
“Insharah, Armat has killed the defenseless and the innocent, and he has given a crippled
women to Risdon to rape as he wants! Tell me you respect this man! ”
Axis waited a few heartbeats. “Ah,” he said softly, “your silence says it all, eh? Insharah,
where has Risdon taken Inardle?”
“His tent is some fifty paces directly east of Armat”s.”
“How does the rest of the army feel about what Armat has done, Insharah?”
“Uneasy, which is why I am here talking to you now, and which is why I can talk to you
now without your guards hauling me off to Armat. Axis, I am sorry, but I am afraid that I can do
nothing. The world is chaos and I do not know which way to turn.”
“Then dispel some of that chaos by aiding a woman in need, Insharah, if not myself,
Zeboath, and Georgdi.”
But there was no answer save the sound of a man rising and taking a step away.
“Insharah?”
The sound of steps stopped.
“Insharah, look after yourself and yours, but when the time comes, make the decision that
is right.”
There was no movement for several heartbeats, then the sound of steps resumed.
Axis jumped back down to the floor of the pit, rubbing his fingers.
“Do you think he will help?” Georgdi asked quietly.
“He agonizes within himself,” said Axis, “and maybe one day he will turn against
Armat…but not in time to save either our lives, or Inardle”s.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Armat’s Camp, the Central Outlands
More time passed. The three men sat against three different walls of the pit, not speaking,
but not sleeping, either.
Axis shifted uneasily, unable to stop thinking about Inardle.
He hoped that Risdon would kill her sooner rather than later, and then hated himself for
that thought.
He wondered if her body would frost when he raped her, and loathed himself for that
reflection.
Eventually, through sheer determination to empty his mind, Axis slipped into another
fitful doze. As he slipped deeper into unconsciousness, disconnected images began to flit across
his mind until, finally…
“Axis?”
He blinked, then leapt to his feet, staring about.
“Axis, don”t worry. We are in the Land of Dreams. I brought you here while you slept.”
He turned around.
Ravenna stood there, wrapped in a cloak she hugged about herself. Her lovely face
looked gaunt and pale.
“What do you want?” he said, his voice harsh.
“I needed to talk.”
“Everyone seems to need to talk to me.” Axis paused, again looking about. He seemed to
be standing on a pathway in the middle of a marsh, mist drifting out of shadowy, ghostly trees to
either side. He could hear the sharp plop, plop, plop of condensation dripping from their
branches. “Where are we?”
“In the Land of Dreams. This is just glamour, Axis. I have not removed you physically
from the pit.”
She had huge power just to do this much, Axis thought. “I suppose you need to explain
yourself to me as well,” he said. “Guilt is keeping everyone awake tonight.”
“Axis, I can save your life, but I need you to do something for me.”
“And Georgdi”s life? And Zeboath”s? And Inardle”s?”
“Inardle is already dead.”
“What?”
“Perhaps not literally, not just yet, but she can”t be saved now, Axis.”
He turned and walked away from her at that point, standing a few paces distant, staring
into the marshland.
She can’t be saved now, Axis.
“I can save you, and Georgdi and Zeboath,” Ravenna said, “but I need you to do
something for me.”
“No.”
“Will you not hear what it is I want? Axis, please…”
He turned to face her. “I”ll say again what I said in Armat”s tent, Ravenna, you are a
traitorous—”
“I have reason for what I do, Axis! Please, please, I beg you, listen to me!”
He stood still, silent, stony.
“Ishbel—” Ravenna began.
“Don”t start on her,” Axis said. “Everything you say is tainted by your jealousy.”
“Everything I say is tainted by my knowledge, Axis.” Ravenna was calmer now. “Ishbel
the woman, I have nothing against. If she were not caught up in this nightmare then I would
undoubtedly like her. She would make a good marsh witch.”
Ravenna gave a tiny smile at the expression on Axis face. “Ah, that wasn”t what you
were expecting to hear, eh? But Ishbel as Maxel”s lover or wife? No, then she becomes
dangerous beyond knowing. Then she becomes this world”s destroyer.”
“Oh, for the stars” sakes, Ravenna—”
“If Ishbel continues to live then she will eventually destroy this world. I have seen this!