“A great winged army, my lord. There were thousands of them! They swept down from
the heavens and—”
“Shot every one of your horses, but left you alive,” Armat said. “What extraordinarily
poor marksmanship, eh?”
“Such extraordinarily good marksmanship,” Ravenna murmured to one side.
Armat wasted a moment giving the witch and Lister a hard stare.
“Were they the Lealfast?” Armat asked the soldier.
“No, my lord. They were…something else.”
“The Icarii Strike Force,” Ravenna said. “It could only have been them.”
“And who the fuck,” Armat said, his tone low and dangerous as he turned to Ravenna,
“are the Icarii Strike Force?”
“They were legendary fighters among the Icarii,” Ravenna said. “Led and trained by Axis
SunSoar. I imagine that there were some members of the Strike Force among the Icarii refugees
rejoining with Maximilian”s column.”
Armat was so angry he could not speak. He wanted to strike Ravenna, but was restrained
by the fact that he thought he might kill her if he lost control that badly, and he had enough common sense left to know that he still needed her.
“You had not thought to mention them to me?” he finally ground out.
She gave a small shrug. “I had not realized they”d reformed, Armat. I had no idea…but it
could only have been them if not the Lealfast.”
Armat swore. He gestured to the soldier to leave, and the man almost stumbled in his
haste to get out, grateful beyond measure that Armat”s ill will was now directed at Ravenna and
not at him.
“How many does Axis have?” Armat said. “A „great winged army.” Thousands?”
“Probably only a handful,” Ravenna said. “That soldier likely exaggerated. But they”re
undoubtedly good…and now they have their fabled commander back.”
Armat”s temper finally gained the upper hand. “Get out,” he said. “Get out! ”
Word spread rapidly along the Isembaardian camp.
Axis SunSoar had made his escape, and in legendary spectacular manner.
Soldiers murmured about the Strike Force, but most of all they murmured about the fact
that Axis had spared every last man. He”d made certain they could not catch him, but he had
chosen not to harm them.
When Insharah heard the news he lowered his face into a hand in sheer relief.
Then he felt shame that he had not helped.
CHAPTER THREE
The Central Outlands
Axis sat with Inardle in one of the supply wagons. It had been emptied of its supplies and
its deck covered with many layers of canvas over which had been thrown blankets. Inardle lay
with her broken wing stretched down the length of the wagon. It looked heavy and awkward in
the splints Zeboath and Garth had applied, and almost twice as swollen as when they”d begun
their work.
Inardle had fainted with Garth”s first stamp on the wing, and Axis was glad. The
repositioning and splinting had been a brutal affair, requiring both Zeboath”s and Garth”s full
strength, as well as two guardsmen called in to help. Axis couldn”t help them. He stayed holding
Inardle as tightly as he could, murmuring her name occasionally into her hair, frightened both by
the frost which encased her body as it reacted to the pain and by his own emotional reaction to it.
When had she come to matter so much?
Eventually Axis had been forced to close his eyes, burying his face in Inardle”s hair. It
hadn”t helped; the sounds of screaming bones and tendons weren”t any less if he couldn”t see.
Now, thank God, it was over. Garth and Zeboath had looked haggard and utterly
exhausted once it was done, collapsing onto the ground, unable to speak for long minutes.
But they had fixed the wing. Garth said that as long as the splints remained in place for
the next few weeks, and the wing was kept as immobile as possible, there was every chance it
would heal enough that Inardle could use it again.
“It might be a little crooked,” Garth had said, “but if there is no infection, and if the
bones heal cleanly, and if the tendons regrow, and if…well. We can hope, and we can pray.
Zeboath and I have done the best we can, Axis.”
Axis had nodded, and thanked both of them.
She actually looked better, now, he thought, as he sat in the weak late-afternoon sun and
watched her. Whatever Garth had done to her bruises had made a difference, even in the course
of this day. Most had faded; the swelling about her face had virtually disappeared. She hadn”t
regained consciousness yet, and Axis wanted to be there when she did, if only because Zeboath
told him she would need to drink something, and take some more of the pain-numbing elixir he”d
mixed.
That was the only reason, he told himself, he”d not moved from her side all this day.
“Axis?”
Axis jumped a little, turning his head.
Georgdi had ridden his horse up to the side of the wagon.
“She looks frightful,” Georgdi said. “Makes me glad I have never had wings.”
Axis managed a weak smile. “StarDrifter wanted to give me my wings,” he said. “I still
have the wing buds, they”ve just never developed. But I said no. I”d have to agree with you,
Georgdi. Wings are not worth the trouble.”
“Not for their owners or their lovers,” Georgdi said, and went on before Axis could
speak. “Axis, I”ve slept and eaten, and I need to be on my way. I”m going to ride directly for
Serpent”s Nest, collecting what I may in terms of a military force as I go. I don”t think there”s
any point in my diverting to meet up with Maximilian to pass the time of day. Tell him I”ll meet
him at the mountain.”
Axis agreed. “Good luck, my friend,” he said, holding out his hand. “I want to fight by
your side again…so make sure you get to Serpent”s Nest safely.”
Georgdi grinned and gripped Axis” hand for a long moment. “You”ll be safe here?”
“BroadWing says there is, as yet, no pursuit from Armat”s camp. No doubt his men are
trying to explain why their horses were shot out from underneath them. We”ll be safe here for the
moment.”
“Axis…why didn”t you want any of the men to die?”
“Because I want them to remember, and to tell as many of their fellow soldiers within
Armat”s army as they may, that when I had the chance to kill them I did not. They”ll know that is
not something Armat would have done.”
Georgdi nodded. “You”ll stay with Inardle?”
Axis glanced at her. “For a day or two, until I know she”s well on the way to recovery.
Then I”ll ride hard for Maxel, and leave the Emerald Guard to escort Inardle at an easier pace.”
“Well then,” said Georgdi, gathering up the reins of his horse, “may the gods grace you,
Axis, and her.”
She woke in the middle of that night, suddenly, with a great cry, leaping halfway into a
sitting position.
Axis, who had been asleep himself, only just managed to restrain Inardle before she
shifted—and damaged—her broken wing.
“Inardle. It was just a dream. It is gone now.”
She was heaving in great breaths, obviously distressed. The blanket had fallen off her
chest as she”d jerked upright, and now Axis started to tug it back into position, feeling embarrassed and awkward at his clumsy attempts.
Damn it. Had he ever been this self-conscious, even as a youth?
“Risdon…” she said. One of her hands had found his, and now clutched it tightly.
“Risdon is dead.”
She continued to take deep breaths, staring into the night, then very gradually relaxed.
And immediately became aware of the pain in her wing. She turned to look, and gave a
soft cry at the sight of it.
“Garth says it should heal well,” Axis said.
“Axis…”
“Drink some of this, Inardle.” He reached for the flask Zeboath had left, twisted off the
cap with one hand, and put it to her lips.
She drank, a little reluctantly, but she drank.
“When the pain has subsided,” Axis said, “you”ll need to eat and drink something.”
She nodded, her eyes looking up at the stars. “I didn”t think you”d still be here.”
“Look, Inardle, I am sorry for what I said to you in the pit. I was angry, but I had no right
to—”
“You had every right to be angry, Axis. What happened in Armat”s camp wasn”t your
fault.”
Axis didn”t speak for a long moment, and when he did so, it was with some hesitation.
“Inardle, one of the enchantments I know and that I can work with great effect with the Star
Dance available to me is a Song of Forgetting. I can erase your memory of what happened in
Armat”s camp.”
“Everything?”
“Yes, everything. The enchantment is linked to location, so everything in the camp.”
“What happened to me in Armat”s tent?”
“Yes.”
“What Risdon did?”
“Yes.”
“The time in the pit?”