“No. No novelty could make me feel as anxious as I feel right now.”
Axis didn”t know what to do. He wondered if Inardle was waiting for something, some
words said, or some action.
Very hesitantly, he leaned over and kissed her. Just gently.
She didn”t react for a moment, then she moved closer to him and kissed him more
warmly.
“Very well,” she murmured against his mouth. “I will stay, and we shall see.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
On the Road to Serpent’s Nest
Armat sat at the table, tapping his fingers slowly, pretending to read once again the report
he”d just received from Kezial. He”d ingested its contents at first glance, but now he spent his
time feigning deep interest in the report, simply to annoy (and hopefully worry) Ravenna and
Lister, who sat silent and watchful.
They were also cold. Armat had set the table in the open air, just beyond his tent. He sat
nonchalant in leather body armor over a sleeveless linen shirt and heavy breeches. Ravenna and
Lister were both wrapped in cloaks and regarded him with stony, white faces.
Armat didn”t trust them. He was certain one or both of them (and he suspected Ravenna
before Lister) had been involved in Axis” escape and the debacle which followed. He had
pretended to accept both their denials, but privately Armat wouldn”t have trusted them with the
breaking of a single egg, let alone his inner thoughts.
“What does Kezial report?” Lister said finally, and Armat dampened his smile. He”d
known it would be Lister who would break first.
“He is well on his way,” Armat said, carefully folding the single-page communication
before laying it on the table to one side of the oil lamp. “He has consolidated all the troops from
the central part of these godforsaken Outlands. Sixty-five thousand. They have made Margalit,
and should now be well north of the city, marching on this Elcho Falling.”
Armat paused, sighing theatrically and looking up, as if he sought salvation from the
stars.
“There”s more,” Ravenna said, her breath frosting in the night air.
“Unfortunately, yes, there is more,” Armat said, lacing his hands across his belly and
allowing himself one more large sigh. “Kezial has heard word from Lamiah.”
“Lamiah was at the Salamaan Pass, was he not?” Lister said.
“Aye,” Armat said, “he was supposed to be guarding it. Well…apparently Lamiah has
made the unilateral and singularly stupid decision to march back through the Pass and save what
he can of Isembaard.”
“No!” Lister said. “By the gods, has he no sense?”
“He has, from what Kezial reports,” Armat said, tapping the folded report on the table,
“fallen victim to his soldiers” delusions that somehow they can make a difference.” He paused.
“Lamiah is a fool. Isembaard is lost, from what you tell me.”
Armat stopped, and looked keenly at Lister. “Isembaard is lost, yes?”
“I have told you all I know,” Lister said. “I cannot know precisely the details, but I know
that whatever has happened in Isembaard has destroyed Isaiah, and every single life within the
nation. Armat, whatever was in that pyramid, whatever made it live, has now escaped and—”
“Yes, yes,” Armat said, “you”ve told me all this before. I shall choose to believe you for
the time being, and I suppose that I might as well assume Lamiah and the men he commands, all
one hundred odd thousand of them, by the gods, are as good as dead?”
“They”re dead the instant they set foot in Isembaard,” Lister said.
“Well…at the least they won”t be about to bother me,” said Armat. “Lamiah was ever the
fool.”
“At least he”ll die trying to save his own land,” Ravenna said softly.
Armat shot her a sharp look. “Stupidity should never be admired, my lady.”
“Loyalty is always—”
Armat guffawed loudly. “You are a fine one to talk so pretentiously of loyalty!” he said.
“I assume that one day you will show me the same kind of loyalty you have shown your lover,
and father of that child you carry?” He gestured at her belly.
Ravenna pulled the cloak even more tightly about herself. “I will not betray you, Armat.”
“Of course you won”t,” he said, holding Ravenna”s eyes with such a malevolent stare that
she had to drop her own gaze away from his.
“So here we are,” Armat said after an uncomfortable silence, “trailing after a ragtag army
of about twenty thousand pitiful soldiers, with command of over three hundred thousand. I must
tell you, my friends, the urge to order my massive force forward is almost overwhelming. We
don”t even need to fight. My army will simply trample whatever pathetic force Maximilian has
into the gravel of the roadway. Even the Strike Force cannot dent three hundred thousand,
surely.”
“We can”t—” Ravenna began.
“After all,” said Armat, “what do I want with a mountain? Shall I mine it for gold? No,
for I have no miners among my men. Should I till its soil? No, for its slopes shall be too steep.
What on earth does a conqueror want with a mountain, Ravenna? I might as well—”
“It contains power and mystery beyond knowing,” she said.
“I have power,” Armat said, his voice low but infinitely powerful. “With Kezial”s force I
have almost four hundred thousand men under my command. This land is mine. I cannot think
why I have not already declared myself Tyrant. And mystery? I have no use for mystery. It bores
me.”
“You need Elcho Falling”s power to live,” Lister said. “For all the gods” sakes, man—”
“Of which you continually inform me you are one,” Armat said with a dismissive air.
“—whatever is in Isembaard is not going to stay there! It is going to see the north and it
will eat everything—”
“Such melodrama,” Armat said, now investigating the fingernails of one hand.
“Armat,” said Ravenna, “stop playing the fool. If nothing else, there are a million
Skraelings there. They”re going to want to go home, eventually, and everything between
Isembaard and the northern wastes is going to be—”
“I”m no fool,” Armat said, leaning forward and abandoning the indifferent air, “but I
don”t trust you. I think you want the mountain for yourself and that baby,” he nodded at her
belly, “you carry. And I wouldn”t be surprised if you want Maximilian as well. I think you”re
using me to get what you want from your pretty Maxel.”
“Maximilian is set on the path to destruction,” Lister said. “He cleaves to Ishbel, who will
ruin him.”
Armat had not taken his eyes from Ravenna. “Is that what you think?”
She nodded.
“Speak it!” Armat said.
“Maximilian is set on the path to destruction if he cleaves to Ishbel,” Ravenna said, her
voice steady. “She will ruin him.”
“You”re jealous,” said Armat.
“For gods” sakes!” Ravenna said. “Stop toying with us, Armat. All we need is for
Maximilian to resurrect Elcho Falling, and then…then…”
“Then we can kill him,” Armat said.
“Indeed,” said Lister.
“Yes?” said Armat, still looking at Ravenna.
“Then we can kill him,” she said, her voice low.
“You”re a nasty enough piece for any man to take to his bed, eh?” said Armat.
One of the lamps was still burning, flickering madly on the last few drops of oil as Axis
lay on the bed, staring up at the shadows chasing each other across the canted roof of the tent.
Inardle lay at his side and half across his body, warm and heavy, her injured wing lying across
them like a soft blanket.
She was awake as well, moving very slightly every few minutes, one of her hands
stroking occasionally on his chest. They hadn”t spoken for over an hour, content just to lie.
Axis didn”t think either of them would sleep. It would be nice to ascribe a romantic
reason to this, but the brutal reality was that the narrow camp bed was uncomfortable for two
people to share with any ease, let alone when one of them had a heavy and very large pair of
wings. He thought the fact they had lain relatively unmoving for this length of time was close to
being a miracle.
One of his hips and legs was paining him, however, and he knew he”d have to readjust
his position soon.
“I”ll ask Yysell in the morning if he can find something more accommodating,” Axis said
quietly. He slid an arm about Inardle”s waist, holding her still, and turned over on his side so that
they lay belly to belly and face to face. He was glad Inardle made no comment about Yysell
finding them a more commodious bed. It meant she was prepared to stay.
“Better?” she said.
“My hip was on fire,” he said, then kissed her softly.
“Lealfast make love in the sky and on the wind,” she said. “We don”t generally put up
with this degree of discomfort.”
He chuckled. “No wonder Armat”s arrows caught you so unprepared.”
Inardle”s face went carefully expressionless as she tried to decide if she needed to be