The One looked about, wondering for the first time where he was. Elcho Falling had expelled him with great power and the One knew he had come a vast distance, but where. . .
He moved in a slow circle, looking at the lightening landscape with narrowed eyes.
Where was he?
Ah . . . there. What remained of Sakkuth after the Skraelings had been through it. He was in the north of Isembaard, then.
Why had Elcho Falling sent him here? What purpose?
The One furrowed his brow, thinking. Why not send him back to DarkGlass Mountain?
He stilled, very suddenly, his gaze flattening.
Elcho Falling did not want him at DarkGlass Mountain. Instead, it had sent him to a point halfway between Elcho Falling and DarkGlass Mountain.
It did not want him at DarkGlass Mountain just as badly as it did not want him at Elcho Falling.
The One roared, then summoned forth the power of Infinity so that he might transfer himself instantly back to DarkGlass Mountain.
But . . . Infinity came forth jumbled and confused, and the One clenched his fists and shook them at the dawn sky.
Whatever had happened in his transfer here had disorientated his power. It was not gone, nor even permanently impaired. Just . . . damaged, for the moment.
The One roared once more, shaking his fists until the distant stones of Sakkuth trembled. Presently, he strode south-westward, heading for DarkGlass Mountain.
He could not transfer himself there instantly, but the One could still eat up the distance with his unnatural strides, and it would take him but a short time to reach DarkGlass Mountain.
“Axis,” Insharah said as Axis and Ishbel came up to him.
Axis saw the man’s head tremble very slightly, as if he had started to incline it, then had stopped himself.
“How do you, Insharah?” Ishbel said brightly. “It has been a long night and many things have happened of which we need to appraise you. But not here in the open. Where is a suitable tent? This? Good, let us enter.”
“What is going on?” Insharah said as soon as they were inside and the tent flap fallen closed behind them. “There has been fighting in Elcho Falling. Maximilian? He is alive, yes? Ishbel?”
“Maxel is alive and well, Insharah,” Ishbel said, “as you so rightly expected. But there has indeed been bother in Elcho Falling. The Lealfast —”
“The Lealfast have proved true traitors,” Axis said, looking Insharah directly in the eye. “They have ever been allied with the One — with DarkGlass Mountain. They, as the One, want Elcho Falling for themselves. Just like Armat and his companions, eh?”
“Armat has been dealt with,” Insharah said, his eyes angry at the implied condemnation in Axis’ voice and words.
“But not by you!” Axis snapped. “It took Ishbel to focus your loyalties, did it not? It would be good to see you choose a cause and stick to it, Insharah!”
“You two can sort this out later,” Ishbel said. “Right now. Insharah, you and your men are in terrible danger. You have seen the Lealfast in the air — Elcho Falling has expelled them — and I have no doubt that they will have no compunction about attacking you.”
StarMan, StarHeaven said, the Lealfast have vanished.
“And then there are the Skraelings —” Ishbel said, then stopped as she, too, caught StarHeaven’s message. She looked at Axis, who had drawn his sword and was now staring about the tent.
“Then there are the Skraelings, indeed,” said Eleanon, materialising to one side of the three.
Axis lifted his sword arm, then froze, his face registering both surprise and horror as he discovered his arm no longer responded to his commands.
The Lealfast commander smiled, his entire form frosting in pleasure. “I am sick to death of you, Axis,” Eleanon said. “For weeks I’ve had to put up with your snide remarks and your insufferable superior swagger. You insulted me, you insulted every last one of the Lealfast, and for that, one day, you will pay.”
“Not today,” said Ishbel. She looked at Eleanon very carefully. “No doubt this tent is full of your comrades?”
“At least five others,” said Eleanon. “None of whom you can see.”
“Then neither Axis, nor Insharah, will be so stupid as to strike at you,” Ishbel said. “I am sure you can release Axis from whatever enchantment you have cast upon him.”
Eleanon gave a small shrug, and the next moment Axis found his arm once more under control. He glared at Eleanon, glanced at Insharah, who was standing very slightly back, regarding the other three with an intense wariness, then lowered his sword arm.
“You have learned interesting new tricks, Eleanon,” Ishbel said.
“You fought — betrayed — the Strike Force while invisible,” Axis said. “You were not able to do that before.”
Again that indifferent shrug from Eleanon. “We have changed, StarMan. We have touched Infinity and bonded with it and are the better for it.”
He turned, speaking to Insharah. “Which brings me to the point of my visit. Greetings, Insharah, we have not had the pleasure of direct speech previously.”
Eleanon inclined his head and upper body in an elegant bow, his wings sweeping out behind him.
Insharah gave the Lealfast man a careful nod.
Eleanon straightened. “I am come to speak with you about what approaches and about your course of action. You now command the Isembaardian soldiers?”
Another nod from Insharah.
“A goodly army, then,” Eleanon said. “Many hundreds of thousands strong. You command great power, Insharah, and you have my respect.”
Insharah glanced at Axis, then returned his regard to Eleanon.
“I wonder if you have had time to reconsider your allegiances,” Eleanon said.
“Insharah always has the time to reconsider his allegiances,” Axis muttered.
That earned a very small smile from Eleanon, but no other reaction. “My friend,” Eleanon said to Insharah, “troubled times lie ahead. I command a group of fighters who are, in fact, a great deal more skilled than Axis ever gave us credit. If you want proof of that, then you need only glance outside to see the pitiful remains of the oh-so-vaunted Strike Force, now too scared to venture further than a wingspan from the comforting bricks and mortar of Elcho Falling. You have seen this, yes?”
“Yes,” Insharah said.
“I command currently some twelve thousand fighters —”
“A few less, now,” Axis said sotto voce.
Eleanon ignored him. “Another twenty-odd thousand fighters will be with me within, oh, half a day, and the rest of the Lealfast Nation also, travelling behind them. You know how fast we can travel. You know that we can invisible ourselves, and you have just learned that we can fight in that state, too. It is how we decimated the pitiful Strike Force.”
“Where is all this leading, Eleanon?” Axis said.
“I am merely demonstrating to Insharah what good allies we might be for him,” Eleanon said. “And I should mention . . . and it is good that you, Axis, and Ishbel hear this . . . that some several millions — after all, who has ever done an actual head count — of by now supernaturally-enhanced Skraelings are seething this very way. They, too, shall be under my command.”
Axis’ mouth lifted in a slight sneer.
“Thus you can understand, Insharah,” Eleanon said, “what a bad enemy I might be. I offer you, however, my alliance, my friendship —”
“And we all know how much that is worth,” Axis said.
Eleanon whipped about to him. “You are surrounded by people who betray you, Axis! Have you never once considered why that is so? Your very nature attracts it! Your sons — who can forget what they did —”
Axis, Ishbel said to him, don’t let him needle you. Let it go.
“— and not forgetting your current lover, who has told me everything, Axis. Everything. You are not such a good lover by Lealfast standards, you know.”
Ishbel reached out a hand, certain that Eleanon had by now said enough to goad Axis into attack, but Axis simply stepped back, folded his arms, and regarded Eleanon with a slight smile.
“Your attack failed,” Axis said. “You need to learn to accept your defeats. The One has been repelled. You have been repelled. Elcho Falling is stronger than it has ever been. Go back to chasing your snow rabbits through the frozen north, Eleanon. It is really all you are good for.”
Ishbel fought to stop herself rolling her eyes. Men!
“Elcho Falling is stronger than ever, Axis?” Eleanon’s mouth quirked. “Really?” His eyes glittered with genuine amusement as he held Axis’ stare, then Eleanon returned his attention to Insharah. “I give you the chance to ally yourself with me, Insharah. Elcho Falling has no hope, nor does Isembaard, without my aid or the One’s. There is no reason to be afraid of the One, he —”
“My wife was in Aqhat,” said Insharah. “My children, too. Prove to me that they are alive, as also the families of all my men awaiting outside, and I am for you and for the One.”