Sinner by Sara Douglass. Book One of The Wayfarer Redemption

All the men present glanced between themselves. They were all loyal to Zared, and to the concept of a reborn Achar, but they were also men who had lived most if not all their lives within close proximity to the Icarü and to the magic and rites of the birdpeople. Many of them had travelled to the forests, and had felt the power there. They might have been only mortal, but they knew and recognised the worth of enchantment.

“Zared, gentlemen, listen.” Zenith leaned forward now, her voice sharp, demanding to be believed. “When the Star Dance fades completely, then there will be nothing that can prevent those Demons coming through. Nothing.”

“Then…” Zared’s voice trailed off.

“Then you are all riding to certain death!” Leagh cried, and grasped Zared’s hand yet harder. “Is that what you’re saying, Zenith?”

“Yes. I am afraid so.”

The commanders present exchanged fearful glances and shared murmured words.

“We can’t ride on,” Zared said.

Faraday shook her head very slowly and deliberately.

“Damn it!” Zared whispered, trying to think.

“Zared, is there any way you can persuade Caelum to turn about?”

Zared looked at Faraday. “I doubt it. He is convinced that Axis needs us at the Star Gate.”

“Lady Faraday,” Theod said. “What can we do? Are you saying that nothing can ever be done about these Demons? That our land is to be condemned to… what?”

Faraday and Zenith had a fair idea to what Tencendor would be doomed when the Demons broke through, but they had no intention of telling these men that. They had to leave them some hope.

“We cannot know,” Faraday said gently. “But we fear very much. We may not have answers, but we have advice, and we beg you to listen to it.”

“And that is?” Herme asked.

“You are currently about four or five leagues due north of the Silent Woman Woods. My friends, I think that for the moment the trees will provide your best cover. We think the Demons will leave the trees well enough alone for the time being.”

We hope, she thought.

“And our families?” Gustus asked, his voice tight and angry, although his ire was not directed at these two women. Damn Caelum to a worm-ridden AfterLife! The majority of the men still didn’t even have the vaguest idea about the danger threatening the Star Gate, let alone this horror!

“On our way north,” Zenith said, “Faraday and I met with several groups of merchants moving north, some to Carlon, some to other centres. We gave them what advice we could without unduly frightening them. The last thing we wanted to do was to create panic.”

“And that advice is…?” Killingrew asked. He had a wife and two young children awaiting him in Carlon. Right now he felt like abandoning everything and rushing home to see to their safety.

“There will be certain times of the day when it will be horrific to go outside,” Zenith said. “More than dangerous. Dawn and dusk, all through the night. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon. And, eventually perhaps, midday.”

If we cannot succeed, Faraday thought. If we do not succeed, then midday will be the most terrible time of all.

“But if people stay indoors during those bad times, if they shutter windows and doors, then they will survive.”

“But what sort of life is that?” Zared said angrily. “There will be only a few hours each day when people can go outside, when fields can be tilled, when -”

“It will be a life,” Faraday said. “During those times we have said, the Demons will roam.”

“But what can we do?” Herme threw up his hands in despair. “Can we battle these fiends with sword and steel?” “No,” Faraday said. “I do not think so – but, hush! I do think I can find a way. I am sure of it.”

“What?” Zared asked. Both his hands were wrapped about Leagh’s now.

“Zared, forgive us if I do not explain now,” Faraday said. “I am still unsure of my path, and there are unexplainables I cannot foresee.

“What I ask of you,” she continued, “what I beg of you, Zared, is to save as many of these men as you can. Get them to the Silent Woman Woods as fast as you can, because that is the nearest shelter for a body this size. I think there is less than a day remaining before the Demons attempt to break through. Once there, wait for us. But, hark me true, do not go near the Cauldron Lake!”

“Why?”

“Because I fear the Demons may visit. Zared, they come into Tencendor for what lies at the bottom of the Sacred Lakes. And Cauldron Lake is so close to the Barrows.”

Zared was too depressed to ask any more questions.

“Wait for us in the northern Silent Woman Woods,” Zenith said quietly. “We will return to you there. Believe in us.”

Faraday looked about the circle of light. “Believe in us, all of you, for at the moment we are all that you have left to believe in.”

No-one spoke for many minutes. Zared rested his face in his hands, Leagh holding his shoulders, trying to give him some comfort.

Zared’s misery was mirrored by most of his commanders. They could comprehend none of this, and yet they believed and trusted these two women without exception.

“Where do you go now?” Zared finally asked of Faraday and Zenith, raising his head from his hands.

“Us?” Faraday said. “Why, we go to the Star Gate, of course. There is someone we have to meet there.”

The Fading of the Dance StarDrifter stood in the chamber of the Star Gate and mourned. He leaned against one of the carved pillars, one wing wrapped about it for support, and grieved for the fading of the Dance. His whole life had been lived to its beat, all his laughter attuned to its merriment, his entire purpose bent to its tune.

Now, slowly, surely, inevitably, it faded.

He did not look into the Star Gate itself, because he knew what he would see.

Swirling bleakness, consuming their vision of the universe.

Black doom, streaked with shrieks of lightning that was itself blighted and cancerous.

Demonic voices, laughing at the dwindling of the Star Dance.

Whispers.

We’re coming for you, Wolf Star.

He looked across the chamber. WolfStar stood there, just beyond the huddled Circle of the Star Gods. His face was grey, his breath too rapid for calmness.

We’re coming for you, WolfStar.

And the worst thing of it was that their coming was inevitable.

StarDrifter looked back to the wards above the Star Gate. How bright and powerful they had once seemed! Now the wards were fading and warping. Greyness slunk over them, a reflection of the blackness seeping closer through the stars, but also a reflection of the fading powers of the Enchanters and Star Gods.

StarDrifter had never imagined what it would feel like to be… human. No power of any sort. No joy in touching with the Star Dance. But StarDrifter had a truly dreadful feeling that he would know exactly what it was like all too shortly.

A human with wings. That is all he would be.

StarDrifter lowered his head and wept.

We won’t be able to stay here, thought WolfStar. He was wrapped in misery at the loss of both the Star music and the death of the woman he loved.

How could Zenith have done that?

We won’t be able to stay, he thought. He wouldn’t be able to stay. Too dangerous – the children, StarLaughter (and, by the Stars! what kind of revenge would she seek?), the Demons. He knew he must run far and fast if he was to have any hope. If Niah was to have any hope.

But for now, he thought, I shall just stand and witness the final hours of Icarü Enchantment.

It deserves that honour, at least.

Zared, Leagh and the commanders farewelled Faraday and Zenith as starlight faded into daylight.

The two women had left the pair of white donkeys tied to a gorse bush beyond camp. Now they untied them, climbed into the small blue cart, and waved as the donkeys cheerfully trundled their way east towards the distant dark line of Minstrelsea and the Barrows.

“Those donkeys,” Herme murmured. “It couldn’t be. It couldn’tl” He shook his head. It just couldn’t. “Herme?”

Zared’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Yes, sire?” “Caelum has ordered the pull-out. So mount up the men and, as soon as the order is given to ride out, do so. I will ride back to Caelum, try to persuade him. Herme, once you see that I have reached him, give the order for the men to turn their horses due south. And ride. I want you within the Silent Woman Woods by afternoon.”

“But you’ll -” Herme began, but was cut short by a wail from Leagh.

“Zared, no! He’ll not let you go!”