Sinner by Sara Douglass. Book One of The Wayfarer Redemption

“I was born to the throne of Achar,” Zared said, his voice ringing to the very peak of the brilliant blue-enamelled dome itself, “and so I will assume it.”

The chamber erupted. Goldman waited until the noise had died down, then he looked at Leagh. “And will you accept the wishes of the Acharites, Princess?”

She stared at him, then Zared leaned across and took her hands, turning her to face him.

“Will you be my wife, Leagh?” he said. “Will you be my Queen?”

She looked at him, studied his face, and knew she had no choice. “Yes, Zared,” she finally said, “I will be your Queen.”

Caelum Amid tbe Ruins Caelum had viewed the disaster of Kastaleon for a full week, and yet still he could hardly credit his eyes. The castle was a ruin – no longer smoking perhaps, but the piles of cold, useless stone were as painful to gaze upon as the burning wreckage had been.

What remained of his command was still camped about the ruins. Six hundred men, many still abed from their injuries. Straggly tents, ragged horse lines, and morale that was as damp and grey as the moat most had been forced to swim through to survive. Beyond the camp site, thousands of sad mounds stretched into the distance. Graves. Reminders of the treachery Zared had visited on him.

“How could he have done it?” Caelum muttered, but no answer occurred to him as it had not occurred to him every time he’d asked himself that question over the past week.

He turned from his useless contemplation of ruins and camp and walked towards a tent set aside from the others. A guard outside saluted as Caelum approached, but Caelum noted the guard’s eyes slid away, refusing to meet his.

Lingering grief for his comrades, Caelum told himself.

He lifted the tent flap and entered. It was dim inside, too cool, and Caelum thought about asking a servant to light the brazier. He half turned back towards the tent flap, intending to ask the guard to fetch someone, then thought better of it and lit the brazier himself.

“Caelum?”

Caelum closed the brazier hatch. “You’re awake, Askam. Did the herbal brew not work?”

Askam struggled into a sitting position on his bunk. “The pain has dulled, but my left hand itches abominably. Ah!” He spat into a corner of the tent. “The ghost of this arm haunts me, Caelum! Will it never leave me in peace?”

Caelum sat down on a stool close to the brazier and watched Askam warily. He did not know the words needed to comfort the man, but he suspected that Askam would accept no comfort. All Askam wanted was revenge. Revenge for his castle, revenge for his arm. He had lost more weight in the past week than Caelum had thought possible any man could do. The skin hung grey and slack from Askam’s bones, his eyes were red-rimmed with pain and exhaustion, and the fingers of his remaining hand constantly trembled. His breeches were stained by wear and the exudate from the crusty bandages about his torso.

Askam could hardly bear the pain when the bandages were changed and, to Caelum’s knowledge, they had not been touched these past three days.

There was a sweet stench in the tent that could not entirely be explained by the fragrant wood burning in the brazier.

“You should rest, Askam, perhaps eat more. And someone should surely clean your -”

“I will bite off the hand of the person who dares touch me!” Askam snarled, and Caelum reflexively jerked back on his stool.

“Askam -”

“I will flay the skin from Zared’s body with my remaining fingernails for what he has done!”

To that Caelum had nothing to say.

“When do we move? What else of mine has he seized?”

“We cannot move while you still lie so weak, Askam.”

Askam lurched to his feet. He swayed alarmingly, but threw off Caelum’s concerned hand and managed to find his balance.

“I can ride, Caelum. And it was not my sword arm that was stolen.”

“You can hardly stand,” Caelum said carefully. “And the lack of your left arm will severely hamper your sword balance.”

“,’ can fight! When do we move?”

“I have not yet -”

Whatever Caelum was about to say was halted by a movement outside the tent, an exclamation of surprise, and the lifting of the tent flap.

Axis SunSoar, God of the Star Dance, entered the tent.

Caelum gaped at him, then enveloped him in a huge hug. “Father!”

Axis briefly returned the hug, then pushed Caelum back.

He looked almost as grey as Askam. “By all the stars in creation, Caelum, what has happened here?”

For eight days the Star Gods had talked, argued, and studied the black stain in the universe as also the slight taint that each felt in their powers. What to do, and how?

Finally they’d decided that Caelum had to be told what was happening. If the saving of Tencendor rested on his shoulders, then he needed to be informed.

Thus Axis had materialised just outside Kastaleon, focusing his Song of Movement on the faint tug of his son’s blood.

When his vision cleared from the enchantment, the sight that met his eyes caused him to cry out in shock.

The destruction appalled him. He’d had no idea of any war being fought on Tencendorian soil. He, as his companion gods, had been so consumed by the problem of the TimeKeeper Demons he’d paid no attention to the daily travails of Tencendor.

Besides, Caelum now ruled, and Caelum needed to be left alone to rule as he saw fit.

But what in the name of all Stars had happened here? There were graves… thousands of them! For the first time in a week all thought of the TimeKeeper Demons and their potential for utter disaster had fled from Axis’ mind.

Now Axis grasped his son’s shoulders, as worried by the pallor of his skin and the dark circles under his eyes as he was by the destruction and death outside. “Caelum? What has happened here?”

But it was not Caelum who replied.

“Your brother” Askam almost spat the word, “has committed such treachery that this land has not seen in decades.”

Axis ignored him, his eyes still locked with his son’s. “Caelum?”

Caelum glanced at Askam, then took his father’s arm and steered him outside.

Askam made as if to follow, but faltered at the first step and sank back to his bunk again. He muttered Zared’s name as his head hit the pillow, and even he was not sure if the word was a curse or a promise.

“Zared had seized Kastaleon as part of his quest for the Acharite throne -” Caelum began.

“What?” Axis exploded, then subsided as he noticed small groups of men turning to stare at them.

Damn Zared into a thousand pits of fire! Damn Rivkah for breeding him!

Caelum nodded. “Even with the mention of the throne, Father, it seems that the hatreds of the past have flared into war. Zared claimed that the human populations felt slighted, that they needed their throne back.”

“Stars,” Axis muttered. “Was all I fought for in vain? Had he no thought?”

He took a deep breath and calmed himself. “What did you do?”

“I raised five thousand men and came here to personally supervise his expulsion. But…”

“But it did not go well for you, did it, my son? I assume Zared does not lie in any of those graves.”

Caelum hesitated, then shook his head. “We approached stealthily. I hid the force under cloak of enchantment -”

Axis glanced sharply at him.

“- and I thought us to be safe enough. The castle was quiet. I thought Zared and his men asleep. But as we entered the courtyard… once most of us were in…”

Caelum turned to his father and shared with him the vision and experience of the explosion.

Aghast, Axis halted him. “You led your men into a trap, Caelum! Did you not think to send scouts… make sure all was as it seemed before you blithely marched your entire force inside?”

Caelum flushed. “All seemed well, Father! How could I have suspected such foul -”

“As easily as Zared anticipated your approach, Caelum! Why were you not more careful?”

Axis took a deep breath, averting his eyes from his son’s face. “Did you not think to parley first?” he asked in a quieter tone. “Zared would have talked. His seizure of Kastaleon was just a theatre to gain your attention.”

“What? Look at this, Father!” Caelum waved a hand at the ruins. “Is that ‘talk’?” He turned to the field of graves. “Are they’theatre’?”

“I might have done the same had I heard a force of five thousand approached, Caelum!” Axis snapped. He paused, and collected himself. It was no use expending his anger at Zared on his son.

“You are right,” he said. “He should not have gone to these extremes. Where is he now?”