A powerful enchantment, dark and sinister, concealed him.
Isaiah was at his wits’ end. Quite frankly, he could have done without this latest drama. He was sick with worry about the Dark Spire, with wondering where Maximilian was, with what Eleanon and the Lealfast might be planning, and with what Axis and Inardle might be up to as they lounged in the reed beds.
The last thing he needed to fret about was a baby. StarDrifter and Salome were turning the citadel upside down. Isaiah had organised search parties, but most of all he wanted StarDrifter and Salome to calm down and let the the rest of them carry out a systematic and organised exploration of the citadel.
Isaiah hoped this was just a case of baby-snatching and not something more sinister.
“Isaiah?”
Isaiah turned from talking to Georgdi, almost snarling at the interruption.
Damn it, the last thing he needed was a rampant StarDrifter riling up the entire citadel!
It was Garth Baxtor, and Isaiah subsided, apologising for his black look.
“It’s about the baby, StarDancer,” Garth said.
“Yes?” Isaiah said, all his bad temper returning.
“I think it might have something to do with Ravenna,” Garth said.
Ravenna! Isaiah had forgotten all about her, and he realised that had been a stupid thing to do. “Ravenna?” he said.
Garth made a helpless gesture. “It is just a feeling, Isaiah, and I am sorry to trouble you with it. But if she had taken the baby . . . no one can see her .”
“Why would she take the baby?” Isaiah said.
“Maybe it is part of Eleanon’s plan. If he could see this amount of disruption .”
Isaiah took a moment to think it through. Maybe Garth had a good point. “So, if Ravenna did have the child, how would we find it?”
“I don’t know. No one can see Ravenna, and if StarDrifter and Salome can’t scry out their own son with their powers .”
Then what good is any of this? Isaiah thought, but discarded the thought. Garth was only trying to help and none of this current consternation, or the lost baby, was his fault.
Isaiah rested a hand on Garth’s shoulder. “Thank you, Garth. I’ll —”
He was interrupted by the approach of a sergeant-at-arms from the Isembaardian forces.
“Yes?” Isaiah snapped, not liking the look on the man’s face. More bad news.
“Excellency,” the man said, “I have news from the guard on the balcony.”
“Yes?”
“He said, um .”
“Oh, spit it out, man!”
The sergeant major took a deep breath. “He said that Axis and Inardle were attacked by six Lealfast. He said that Inardle turned herself into a column of murderous water and slaughtered five of the Lealfast. The sixth escaped.”
Isaiah stared at the sergeant, and then burst into laughter. He clapped the man on the shoulder. “Thank the gods for some good news!” he said. “Tell the guard he is due some goodwill on my part, and you, too, for relaying this news.”
The sergeant-at-arms bowed and retreated, the fact that his head remained on his shoulders goodwill enough for him.
Axis’ head broke the surface and he blinked the water out of his eyes, taking several deep breaths. That journey had been far better than the last.
Beside him Inardle emerged, not in the least out of breath.
There were several soldiers standing in the small chamber which held the entrance pool, and two of them held out their hands to help Axis and Inardle out of the water.
“I hope you didn’t want a welcome home party, StarMan,” one of them said. “There’s a bit of a fuss happening right now.”
Ravenna sat behind a tall stack of boxes in a storage chamber. She held StarDancer in her arms, but loosely, and the baby was calm now, regarding her with curious violet eyes.
Who are you? he asked her.
“My name is Ravenna,” she said.
I have heard of you. You were once a marsh witch, yes? Very powerful.
“Once.”
Now many have wrapped you in their curses.
Tears slipped down Ravenna’s cheeks. She knew she had to kill the baby, the One demanded it of her, but she couldn’t . . . she couldn’t .
Why do you want to kill me?
“I do not wish to, but I am obliged to by one of the curses placed upon me.”
Cursed by whom?
“By the One.”
Now StarDancer wriggled a little in his excitement. Of course! Now it was all making sense! He must have dreamed of the One! The One is here, in the citadel?
“Yes, he has hidden himself in the Dark Spire.”
He has only just moved here, from a place very far away.
“Yes.”
Ah, StarDancer said, understanding.
“He thinks you will expose him. Tell others where he is.”
StarDancer’s small mouth curved in a smile. That was likely not the reason the One wanted him dead.
“Axis!” Isaiah embraced Axis, then turned to look at Inardle. He took her face in his hands, looking deeply into her eyes.
“So,” he said, smiling a little now.
“So,” she said.
“How does it feel?” Isaiah said.
Inardle shrugged a little.
Isaiah sobered. “I heard what happened with the Lealfast, Inardle. Be careful of what you now control.”
“Of course,” she said, and Isaiah let her face go.
“Your brother has been stolen, Axis,” he said. “The citadel is in an uproar. Inardle, is this something Eleanon would have engineered?”
“How should I know?” she said. “But . . . no, I would have thought not. I have never heard him express any interest in Salome’s baby.”
“Garth thinks it may be Ravenna,” Isaiah said, and explained to Axis and Inardle how she’d come to be in Elcho Falling. “None of us can spot her, not even Garth. Inardle . . . is it possible .?”
“You want me to look for the baby?” Inardle said.
“If you could,” Isaiah said. “You may be able to see through Eleanon’s magics where none of us can.”
“You want me to look for StarDrifter’s baby?” Inardle said. “How would he feel about that?”
“Profoundly grateful, if you found his son,” Axis said.
Inardle shot Axis a cynical look, but inclined her head. “Very well. Can you show me the chamber from which he was taken?”
The One has cursed you and you shall be forced to kill me? StarDancer said to Ravenna.
“Aye. I can delay,” Ravenna said, “but eventually I will kill you. I cannot help it. I will dash you from one of the high windows. I am sorry. I do not really wish to do it.”
Ravenna, who else has cursed you? I can sense that Ishbel has placed three tight and binding curses about you, but there is one other besides that of the One . . .
“Eleanon, the Lealfast who has besieged Elcho Falling, placed a curse on me as well, warped in with Ishbel’s. It conceals me from the regard of others in Elcho Falling, and it forced me to do his bidding.”
Which was . . . ?
“Which was to midwive the Dark Spire’s terrible eggs and place them within the walls of Elcho Falling. I do not know what they do there. StarDancer, I am sorry.” Ravenna rose, not understanding why she was telling StarDancer this much. Perhaps she owed him some kind of explanation. “The urge to kill you now is overwhelming. I can delay no longer.”
I can remove the One’s curse from you, as well as Eleanon’s.
“ What?” Ravenna, who had taken several paces already, now stopped dead. “How is that possible?”
I am very powerful.. I can do this. I could also remove Ishbel’s curses, but I do not dare that far. I like and respect Ishbel and would not undo her work without permission. I can remove both the One’s and Eleanon’s curses and then it will be your own decision whether or not you kill me.
“You can remove the One’s and Eleanon’s curses?”
Yes.
“But you are just a mere baby!”
No mere baby. Again StarDancer’s mouth curved in a tiny smile. I am the most powerful Enchanter the Icarii have ever known. More powerful even than the great WolfStar, whom my father has told me about. More powerful than my brother and able to manipulate the Star Dance as easily as he. I am no “mere baby”. I can sing an enchantment, Ravenna, that will rid you of two of your three curses. Would you like me to do that?
“Yes,” Ravenna whispered. “Yes.”
Imagine, StarDancer said, what I will be like as a full adult, if I can do this much as a baby.
StarDrifter was unhappy about involving Inardle in the search. He paced the chamber he shared with Salome and, until so very recently, his son, and sent dark looks shooting between Axis and Inardle.
Salome stood to one side, her face pale with anxiety, her eyes reddened from weeping.