Sinner by Sara Douglass. Book One of The Wayfarer Redemption

Axis held his tongue, although he resented being called an outsider. He knew from his own experiences that many who acted in the best interests of Tencendor sometimes took mysterious paths whose purposes were not immediately apparent.

“The writing has shifted,” WolfStar murmured, moving to the Gate. “Changed.”

Axis and Adamon followed him, and studied the mysterious characters. They were so alien, almost incomprehensible – yet scattered symbols made a subtle sense.

“Here,” WolfStar said quietly. “And here, here, and here, and yet again here.”

Axis followed his finger. WolfStar pointed to identical symbols that depicted a star surmounted by a sun. “StarSon,” Axis said.

“Caelum,” WolfStar agreed. “The Gate mentions him again and again.”

“WolfStar,” Adamon said, stepping back so he could view the entire Gate. “Does the Gate show what must be done?”

“Yes,” WolfStar said.

WingRidge regarded him wryly. Yes, the Gate does show what must be done, he thought. But have you got the translation right, oh vaunted Enchanter?

“Well, what does the Gate say?” Axis asked-.

WolfStar studied it closely. “It shows Caelum,” he said quietly, “battling to save a world disordered by the Questors. Here it speaks of peoples lying down in the streets to die of despair, here they capitulate to terror, here to hunger. It speaks of a world where the Demons run rampant, where Qeteb rises from the grave, where hope and joy exist not even in memory.”

“And yet if Caelum – if we – lose our powers when the Demons break through the Star Gate, then how can he master them?” Adamon paced back and forth. “What hope has he?”

“The Rainbow Sceptre contains its own powers,” WolfStar said. “With that, with the power of the ancients, Caelum can master them! Remember the ancients managed to contain Qeteb in the first instance. Adamon, Axis, that Sceptre is our only hope. See how the Gate intertwines the symbol of the StarSon with that of the Sceptre time and time again! The Sceptre must be Caelum’s only hope. Our power is likely to be useless before the Demons and certainly before Qeteb. But with Caelum wielding the Sceptre…”

“And yet Drago has the Sceptre, and uses it to help drag the Demons through the Gate and enslave us all.” Axis’ voice tightened in frustration. “And Caelum is entangled with Zared.”

“Axis,” Adamon asked very quietly, speaking as tactfully as he could, “can Caelum deal with this threat? He has so very little experience.”

Axis opened his mouth, then snapped it closed again. Finally, reluctantly, he spoke. “Caelum needs the experience and, dammit, the confidence of winning this conflict with Zared. He must deal with Zared on his own, and he must win. He needs to be trained to deal with the Demons and Qeteb – but I dare not drag him away from his fight with Zared. To do that would totally destroy his confidence.”

“And there would be no need for Caelum to meet these Demons if we manage to stop them first,” Adamon said.

WolfStar looked away from the piece of script he was studying. “What do you mean?” And if the Demons were stopped, would that give him free rein to gather together the life parts he needed?

“I am talking of warding the Star Gate so the Questors cannot break through – even if they hammer on the other side.”

“Can we do that?” Axis asked.

Adamon suddenly looked very tired. “It would take all our remaining power, and then more. Axis, we would need the help of a hundred of the most powerful Enchanters, as well as Isfrael’s assistance.”

“The trees,” Axis said. “We will need the magic of the trees behind us.”

“We will need everything we can bring to bear to stop these fiends,” Adamon said quietly. “Because if we do not stop them at the Star Gate, then I fear they will turn Tencendor into a wasteland of desolate souls in their quest to reform Qeteb.”

“I pledge my every power, my last effort, in the building of those wards,” WolfStar said fiercely. “We must stop the Demons!”

Weakened both physically and emotionally, Zenith still found the strength for laughter and optimism. She sat with Faraday and StarDrifter on the upper steps of the empty Assembly Chamber. The wind stole gently about them, carrying with it the scent of flowers and mown lawns.

Zenith took Faraday’s hand, turning it palm uppermost in her own. “I find it difficult to find the words to express my gratitude, Faraday.”

“You do not need to.” Faraday kissed her cheek softly. “I have thanks enough to see you sitting here smiling.”

StarDrifter sat slightly apart from the two women, a soft expression on his face, loving both of them. He loved Faraday for finding Zenith and bringing her home, and he loved Zenith for her slight of WolfStar. StarDrifter loathed WolfStar, hating his dark influence on so many lives, his power, his self-righteousness. How could an Enchanter who had murdered hundreds, and sent yet more to dreadful deaths, who had manipulated with such ease, still earn the admiration and respect of so many?

After Zenith had flung the dead foetus in his face, WolfStar had picked it up gently from the floor, held it in his hands, then raised his head to Zenith. He’d said nothing, just looked at her, and then, the foetus still in his hands, he had walked calmly out the door. None of them had seen him since.

StarDrifter sincerely hoped WolfStar didn’t have the power to resurrect that foetus. Zenith had twisted its neck as it was being born, and had then crushed its skull. That should be enough, surely, to kill the most persistent of spirits.

“Faraday,” Zenith said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence that had built up between the three of them. “What happened to Drago?”

“Oh! I’d forgotten that you wouldn’t know. He stepped through the Star Gate, and he took with him the Rainbow Sceptre.”

“He had the Sceptre with him?” Zenith’s eyes opened wide. “He carried that sack so tight and close…”

She turned her head slightly so she could see StarDrifter. “But, grandfather, surely the Star Gate would have killed him?”

StarDrifter thought carefully before answering. “What happened to Drago when he stepped through is largely conjecture, Zenith. Your parents think he went through to aid the TimeKeeper Demons.”

“The who?”

StarDrifter and Faraday explained what they knew.

“Poor Drago,” Zenith said quietly when they’d finished. “I cannot condone what he has done, but…”

“But,” StarDrifter edged down the steps between them so he could sit on the other side of Zenith, “but you aided his escape from Sigholt.”

“Aided it, yes,” Zenith answered, thinking of the peculiar role the Lake Guard had played in that escape as well.

Faraday glanced at StarDrifter, then back to Zenith. “Why?”

“Because I do not believe he killed RiverStar.”

“Why innocent?” StarDrifter asked. “Was he not found by RiverStar’s body, knife in hand? Did not the Song of Recall show him to be the murderer?”

Zenith’s eyes focused on the star-map mosaic in the chamber floor far below them. “I cannot explain it, StarDrifter, beyond saying that the Song of Recall was conjured by WolfStar, and I had seen already how deeply WolfStar loathed Drago. He would have done anything to see him convicted and executed.”

StarDrifter nodded. He could understand why Zenith would not trust WolfStar… but did that make Drago any the less guilty? But Faraday had asked him to have faith in Drago, and if she believed in him, then StarDrifter thought that he could too.

“And if not Drago, then who?” Faraday asked. “Zenith, you must have some suspicion. Neither StarDrifter nor I were there.”

“RiverStar claimed she had a new lover, very powerful, very potent. She said she loved him, and wanted to wed him. I think he may have murdered her. If not, then why hasn’t he come forward? Why so secretive?”

“She was SunSoar,” StarDrifter said. “She could have loved only SunSoar or been sated by a SunSoar.” He shrugged slightly. “It is the nature of our blood.”

Zenith raised her eyes from the mosaic floor and studied her grandfather. “Did you ever lie with her, grandfather?”

The directness of the question discomforted StarDrifter. “For many years I thought I loved Azhure. I did not know why then, because it took us years to discover that she, too, was SunSoar. But I lusted after her, I adored her, I plotted to snatch her from Axis.

“Of course, I did not succeed, and when Caelum was born I realised that I never would. So I swore to myself over Caelum’s birth-bed that I would take Azhure’s first daughter for myself.”

He paused, remembering. “When RiverStar was thirteen, she came to my chamber one night, flaunting her naked body and, even at that age, her experience. I was repelled. I could hardly believe that reaction in myself, for RiverStar is – was – almost sexually irresistible, but I was repelled nonetheless.”