“My friend eagle,” Axis said softly.
They looked through the eyes of the eagle as it soared high into the thermals. Below they could see themselves, the tiniest of specks on the ground, while between them and the eagle’s position they could see the distorted air left by the invisible Lealfast fighters.
“Shetzah!” Isaiah muttered to Axis. “There are thousands of them above us. Axis, can you ask the eagle to fly closer to Elcho Falling?”
Axis nodded, and spoke to the eagle. Friend eagle, can you approach Elcho Falling safely?
From the south and east, said the eagle, yes. But I do not want to fly above the Lealfast encampment, nor above Elcho Falling itself.
It will do nicely, friend eagle, I thank you. Go as close as you dare, but do not endanger yourself.
Isaiah and Axis waited as the eagle soared closer to the citadel. He approached from the easterly route, up the canal which connected the citadel’s lake with the Infinity Sea. Axis studied the thick reed banks to either side of the canal with interest, the germ of an idea forming.
From the eastern canal the eagle tipped his wings and veered northerly, over Kezial’s encampment, giving Isaiah and Axis a clear view of the Lealfast Nation’s camp to the west.
We thank you, friend eagle, Axis said to him. Fly away now, linger no longer lest the Lealfast attack.
That evening Axis and Isaiah sat alone at a campfire, talking. Axis had asked that none of the others join them. What he wanted to say he wanted only Isaiah to hear.
“I wonder if we ride into a trap,” Axis said.
Isaiah nodded. “But of what kind?”
“I don’t know. But I do not like the fact that Eleanon allows us to approach so unharried. Why? He has the strength and the advantage. If I commanded a winged force of the magnitude of his I would have attacked many days before this. They have no reason to allow us so close to Elcho Falling, or to allow us to continue toward Elcho Falling.”
“Aye. I agree. What are you thinking?”
“I am thinking he wants us in Elcho Falling, or at least very, very close to it. I have no idea why, or what he has planned . . . ”
“Again, I agree,” Isaiah said. “And again I can see that you want to say more, so speak it.”
Axis sighed, playing for time as he ordered his thoughts. “I don’t think we should give Eleanon what he wants.”
“Explain.”
“I don’t think we should allow all of us to be herded into Elcho Falling.”
Isaiah nodded slowly, smiling. “I was going to suggest the very same thing.”
Now it was Axis who grinned. “Of course you were! You just wanted me to have the honour of suggesting it first!”
They both laughed, spending a moment pouring ale into mugs and sipping it.
“You want to remain outside?” Isaiah said to Axis.
“Yes. I had thought to keep a small force of men with me, but I think the Lealfast would spot us too easily. One man stands a chance of remaining hidden.”
“You’ll be spotted anyway,” said Isaiah. “The Lealfast have the advantage of flight.”
“Not necessarily,” Axis said. “I have an idea about that . . . but just imagine, Isaiah, how useful I could be outside Elcho Falling. I can sound out Kezial. Keep an eye on Eleanon. Be watchful. And we can keep in contact easily.”
Indeed, said Isaiah in Axis’ mind, so long as you don’t wander more than a day’s walk away.
One of Axis’ fingers tapped at the rim of his ale mug as he thought. “Isaiah . . . how helpful can those juit birds be?”
Isaiah chuckled. “Depends what you have in mind.”
“Can we speak to them?”
“In the morning, my friend. Now, tell me what it is you have planned.”
As Axis and Isaiah sat at their campfire, so Kezial and Eleanon stood at the edge of the Lealfast encampment, staring south.
“Isaiah isn’t far away,” Kezial said.
“Two days,” said Eleanon. “But I doubt he will march straight into our maws. Kezial .”
“Yes?”
“The Skraelings have vanished.”
“What?”
“Many days ago.”
“You made no mention of this.”
Eleanon shrugged, dismissing Kezial’s anger. “They were herding Isaiah and his army northward . . . and then one dawn my scouts reported the entire horde had vanished.”
“How could they just ‘vanish?”
Another shrug, and Kezial bit down a bitter retort. What else was Eleanon keeping from him?
Likely an entire “horde” of secrets.
“Can Skraelings just vanish?” he asked Eleanon.
“It is possible. Who knows what the One has done to them.” Eleanon paused, and Kezial sensed that Eleanon was now getting to the reason he had summoned Kezial.
“Isaiah is also travelling with a few million, give or take five or six, pink birds.”
Kezial gaped at him, unable for the moment to speak.
Eleanon turned his cold eyes on Kezial. “Do you know what these pink birds are?”
“Are they tall gangly things, long necks and legs, oversized beaks?”
“Yes. They apparently squabble a great deal. They arrived at Isaiah’s force just ahead of the Skraelings.”
Kezial’s mouth curved in a small smile. “Then they are most likely juit birds. They come from a lake to the south of Aqhat.”
Eleanon’s gaze grew more intense. “And what significance are the juit birds? For what reason do they attach themselves to Isaiah?”
“As for reason, I am guessing they escaped the Skraelings who —”
“But the Skraelings had left Isembaard, massing north.”
Kezial shrugged.
“What significance, then?” Eleanon said, his tone now growing as sharp as his eyes.
Kezial held his gaze steadily. “No significance. They are water birds, they squabble a great deal as you have said and they are truly terrible eating. I have no idea why they have attached themselves to Isaiah’s army, but if I were him I’d be truly irritated about it.”
“They’re trouble,” Eleanon said. “I can smell the stink of trouble about them.”
Kezial shrugged. “They are silly pink birds,” he said. “They have no significance at all beyond that, Eleanon.”
Later, when Kezial was alone in his tent, he spent long hours sitting at his camp table, staring at the moths fluttering about the bowl of the lamp.
Isaiah has the juit birds?
Kezial had been down to Lake Juit several times. He had been there when Isaiah had pulled Axis from the Otherworld.
The juit birds were not just “silly pink birds” at all. They were one of the great mysteries of Isembaard.
Kezial began to think carefully about his next move.
Chapter 6
Elcho Falling and Isembaard
Axis hardly slept for worrying. Everything could go wrong far too easily. He wondered if Maximilian, somewhere on the northern plains of Isembaard, was also lying awake, perhaps staring at the stars, wondering if Josia’s message had got through to Axis, and if Axis and Georgdi could coordinate enough to accomplish what Maximilian needed.
If only he could tell Georgdi the reason behind what was about to happen. It would make everything so certain. But Axis couldn’t tell him. He didn’t know if the One could intercept his mental speech or not, and he didn’t know if Eleanon could.
Too many uncertainties. Too many things to go wrong.
Axis sighed, turning over restlessly in his blankets to stare at the stars.
Maximilian was so anxious he could not even lie down. He spent the night pacing about the camp, sometimes standing for almost an hour at a time, staring northward.
He loathed the fact he had so little control. He depended on Axis and Georgdi coming through for him: the plans had to be ferried from Maximilian to the land of the dead, and from there back to the land of the living where so many other factors could warp the original message.
Axis had only to sleep in and everything would fail.
Eleanon could attack precipitately and neither Axis nor Georgdi would be able to follow through.
Georgdi, not knowing what was at stake, could prefer to have his breakfast than to contact “Josia” so early.
No one else in Maximilian’s camp slept, either. They sat around the campfire, eyes following Maximilian as he paced, and no one, not even Ishbel, dared say a word to him.
Axis rose well before dawn. He tried to keep his activities routine — perhaps the Lealfast were watching him from above, relaying his movements to the One — but he was too restless to do much other than dress, fidget, ignore the food one of the soldiers brought him, and wander around the campfire, turning to watch the eastern sky for the first intimation of dawn every minute or so.
If he were being watched, Axis knew he could be making either Eleanon or the One, or both, very anxious. They would wonder what he planned.