But if Maximilian puts Ishbel to one side, or if—”
“If he kills her.”
“Yes, if he kills her, then this world has a chance. But I fear he will never do this.”
“What do you want me to do, Ravenna? Kill Ishbel for you?”
Again, that tiny, sad smile. “Would you? No, I thought not. I just need you to agree to
talk to Maxel. Maybe from you…”
“He loves her, Ravenna. He won”t listen to me.”
“He is the lord of Elcho Falling first, Axis. The Lord of Elcho Falling might listen to you,
even if Maxel won”t. If he could just set her aside…I can hold Armat back for a while, give him
time to think about it. But Axis, whatever else Maxel does, he can”t take Ishbel back into his
bed.”
Axis gave a disbelieving laugh. “I can”t tell him that!”
“Then you must ensure it!”
“I won”t—”
“Axis, listen to me. Once I showed Maximilian a vision. It depicted Ishbel opening the
doors of Elcho Falling to a nameless monster. A dark creature of great evil. Then, neither of us
knew who that was. Recently, the vision changed, Axis. Very recently. Within the past day.
Look, Axis.” Ravenna flung one arm out toward the mists. “Look.”
Axis looked, and saw that the marshlands had vanished. He saw a roadway winding its
serpentine path toward a distant mountain which gleamed with gold at its top set among the
clouds.
Elcho Falling.
The road was littered with the bodies of men and horses. Icarii lay among the dead, and
Emerald Guardsmen, and Axis could see Georgdi lying atop a heap of Outlanders to one side of
the roadway.
“Look,” said Ravenna.
An army now marched along the roadway toward Elcho Falling, pushing aside the bodies
of the fallen as it went. The army consisted of creatures distorted into gruesome form, their eyes
wide and starting—lost and hopeless.
At their head marched a man made of liquid glass, a tiny glowing golden pyramid
pumping within his chest.
“This is what Ishbel shall call upon this land,” Ravenna said.
The army marched its way to the doors of Elcho Falling, and Axis and Ravenna saw, as if
they stood only feet away, the man of glass reach forth and pound his fist on the gates.
The gates shrieked, and opened, and Maximilian saw Ishbel crawl forth on her hands and
knees, weeping.
The man of glass reached down to her, and lifted her left hand, and Maximilian saw
gleaming on Ishbel”s fourth finger the Queen”s ring.
“You are the One,” Ishbel whispered, “and you are the One I worship.”
Then, suddenly, the vision winked and blurred, then vanished.
“Do you know who, what, that is?” Ravenna said.
“Visions can lie,” he said.
“Why will no one believe me? ” Ravenna cried, and it was her evident distress that finally
earned some sympathy from Axis.
“What do you want me to do?” he said.
“Please, just talk to Maxel. Tell him that I love him, and that I am not trying to destroy
him. Tell him that all I want is for him, and this land, to survive. But tell him also that I know
Ishbel will be his undoing, as that of this land. Tell him…” She hesitated. “Tell him that is why I
killed my mother, because—”
“You killed Venetia? ”
“She tried to stop me, Axis. Do you think I wanted to do—”
Axis took a step back. “Stars, woman, you are crazed! You murdered your own mother? ”
“Axis, please, will you tell Maxel what I have said? Will you tell him what I have seen?
If you promise me, then it is your life, and Georgdi”s and Zeboath”s. I can get you to safety.”
The last thing Axis wanted to do was to bring news of this vision to Maxel.
On the other hand…if Ravenna could aid him escape…
“I will tell him, Ravenna. But he won”t listen to me.”
“All I need is for you to tell him what you have seen, Axis. Thank you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
On the Road to Serpent’s Nest
Ishbel? Will you ride with me a while?”
“Of course, Maxel.”
She turned her horse after Maximilian, who was riding a little distance into the
surrounding countryside.
“You look tired,” she said as she reined in beside him.
They both pulled their horses back to a walk, ambling along twenty paces from the main
part of the column.
“I spent most of last night with Josia,” Maximilian said. “He left me enough time only for
a few hours” sleep.”
“And?”
He smiled. “So now there are a few more objects in the Twisted Tower, and a little more
knowledge is gained.”
“I”m glad.”
“Ishbel, I asked Josia for a favor.”
“Did he grant it?”
“I asked him to teach you as much as he could about the Twisted Tower, and the
memories it contains. He agreed. Ishbel, I want you to know as much as I about Elcho Falling.”
“Why?”
“Because I do not want it to just be me with this knowledge, Ishbel.”
Ishbel took a deep breath, still staring at Maximilian. “Thank you,” she said.
Maximilian gave a nod, but didn”t say anything.
“When should I go?”
“I don”t see any reason why we cannot work there together, Ishbel. The evenings and
nights are the only time when we can spare the hours to slip away to the tower. I can work by
myself a good deal of the time, while Josia works with you. If I need him I can call. With luck,
you can catch up with me.”
They talked for a while about the Twisted Tower, and the training both would undergo
within its walls, then Ishbel changed the subject. “Garth told me something of what happened
between you and Ravenna. I wish that Venetia had not had to give her own life to save mine.”
“It is not your fault that Venetia is dead.”
She shrugged.
“Ishbel, I am going to say something now, and I do not want you to either interrupt me or
to spur your horse away from me. Can you just listen?”
She gave a nod.
“You and I, Ishbel…we met at the wrong time, and married at the wrong time. We both
made some terrible mistakes, and said things that we both regret. I certainly regret what I said to
you in the snow, when I denied you for Ravenna. No, Ishbel, hear me out, I beg you.”
Maximilian paused to take a deep breath. “We would make a good marriage together
now, I think. I know you said that there was no possibility of this, and that whatever was once between us was gone. Maybe so, and maybe that is a good thing. But what we could make
between us now, Ishbel…I think that could be very good indeed.
“Just think about it. Please. Just think about it.”
Ishbel stared at him, and Maximilian held her eyes for a long moment before he spurred
his horse away.
That night they met within the Twisted Tower. There was a moment of awkwardness,
then Ishbel relaxed and smiled, and the awkwardness passed.
They worked through the night with Josia, who spent most of his time with Ishbel. Three
hours before dawn, he sent them back to their beds.
Alone in her tent, Ishbel dressed for bed, then sat on its edge, the Goblet of the Frogs in
her hands. Holding it each night had become almost a ritual for her, strengthening her sense of
peace.
Tonight, it wanted to chat.
Maximilian has asked you to marry him once more.
“How did you know that?” Ishbel asked.
Well, he was wearing his Persimius ring, and the ring told Serge’s sword, which told
Madarin’s belt buckle when the two met for a game of dice at dusk. Then—
“Then the belt buckle told you,” Ishbel muttered. “Am I to have no secrets?”
We all think it would be a good idea, the goblet said, and Ishbel sighed and put the goblet
away. She was damned if she was going to marry a man simply because a ring, a sword, a belt buckle, and a goblet thought it a good idea.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Isembaard
On the morning of the third day after the One had shown Isaiah the curse, and had caused
Hereward to be so badly injured, Isaiah busied himself making final preparations for the journey
back to Maximilian. Every day that he had spent waiting in their little camp by the river had
galled him, but there was little he could do about it. Hereward had been in no condition to travel
in the immediate days after she”d been injured, and even now Isaiah knew he was risking her
life.
But he had to leave for the north. He had to.
Hereward could totter a few steps about the camp, but she was incapable of doing
anything more. Isaiah couldn”t leave her—to do so would be to make a mockery of relinquishing