Isaiah gave a shrug.
Axis reached the very top of the stairs, out of breath and cursing Maximilian’s choice of location for his private apartment. There appeared to be a solid sandstone wall before him, but Axis placed his palm on it as Maximilian had instructed, and within a moment the entire wall dissolved, revealing yet another set of stairs.
Sighing, Axis began the climb.
Fortunately, in only twenty or so steps Axis found himself in a wondrous circular chamber. It seemed to be open to the sky, although, as the air within the chamber was still, Axis assumed there was some kind of barrier between the room and the outside.
Maximilian and Ishbel were sitting on a couch by a table completely covered with pieces of paper.
They were looking at Axis patiently.
Axis apologised for disturbing them as he walked over, then told them what the Lealfast were doing.
“That channel is not particularly deep,” Axis concluded. “It will be filled within a day or two if the Lealfast keep this up. Maxel, what significance does the channel have? Does Elcho Falling need to be connected to the Infinity Sea?”
As he spoke Axis looked down at the papers scattered across the low table. They were diagrams of rooms, carefully filled in with shapes of objects, each of those labelled.
“No.” Maximilian leaned back in the couch, looking even more exhausted than when Axis had seen him earlier. “The channel was formed when the sea rushed in during the raising of the citadel — waters from the sea formed the lake, although the lake is now fresh water rather than sea water.”
“Will the lake dry out if it isn’t replenished?” Axis asked.
Maximilian thought, then shook his head. “I doubt it. The waters of the lake are as magical as Elcho Falling itself. Even if they were not, the lake is deep and extensive. Natural rainfall would be enough to keep it filled. It would take decades to dry out.”
“Then why is Eleanon filling the channel in?” Axis said.
“I have no idea, Axis. If you would excuse us . . . Ishbel and I would like to get another level drawn and its objects identified before we have a rest.”
Axis murmured a goodbye, turning to walk away.
But just as he reached the stairs leading downward, he stopped, and turned about.
He’d just had an idea.
Maximilian and Ishbel regarded him with ill-disguised impatience.
“I beg your patience,” Axis said, walking quickly back to them. “Maxel, when you, Ishbel, Serge and Doyle left for Isembaard, how did you do it? When Elcho Falling expelled the Lealfast and the One, how did it manage it?”
Maximilian leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and regarding Axis with narrowed, thoughtful eyes.
“Elcho Falling assisted Ishbel and our two companions by transferring us directly into Aqhat,” Maximilian said. “It was a strange mechanism . . . it required the transference of matter the other way —”
“The juit birds,” Axis said.
Maximilian nodded. “And as for the Lealfast and the One, Elcho Falling expelled them as my murderers — Ishbel had spattered them with my murdered blood, and thus Elcho Falling rejected them.” He glanced briefly at Ishbel, who was frowning, then returned his regard to Axis. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that we have two ways at least to get men out of Elcho Falling.”
Maximilian continued to look at Axis, not speaking, thinking.
“Well?” Axis said after a lengthy pause.
“You want to get soldiers out to attack the Lealfast,” Ishbel said, “without exposing them to the difficulties of being penned up on the causeway.”
“Yes,” Axis said.
Ishbel and Maximilian exchanged a glance.
“The first method,” Maxel said, “expelling them as traitors, can not be used. No one here is a traitor —”
“At least we pray not,” Ishbel muttered.
“And even if so,” Maximilian said, “not in the numbers that could be of any use to you. I hope.”
“And the second method?” Axis said. “Using the same kind of transference that got you down to Aqhat?”
Ishbel and Maximilian exchanged another glance.
“Can it be done?” Axis said.
“It is possible,” Maximilian said, “but this is a powerful piece of magic you are asking me — even Ishbel and myself combined — to work, Axis. How many men would you want to attack the Lealfast? A hundred thousand? Two? Neither or us could manage that many.”
“How many could you manage?” Axis said.
“Maybe nine or ten thousand,” Maximilian said, “so long as they didn’t go too far. And this method of transference demands that something be transferred back inside Elcho Falling. And the only thing nearby are the Lealfast. Ah, Axis. No. Ten thousand men won’t be of any use. You’d be slaughtered by the Lealfast.”
“How many Lealfast would need to be transferred inside?” Axis said, and Maximilian grunted impatiently.
“A thousand maybe.”
“Why so few?” Axis said.
“It is a complicated calculation of power,” Ishbel said. “The Lealfast, with their command of both Infinity and the Star Dance, command much power, so fewer of them would be needed to counterbalance ten thousand fighting men.”
Axis tried a smile. “Even if I were with them?”
“Even if you were with them,” Maximilian said. “Axis, I do not like this and won’t agree to it. It is a desperate measure for a desperate moment. You’d have almost no chance out there . . . ten thousand against a quarter of a million? No. Never.”
“Maxel —”
“No, Axis. Now, if you would leave us to our work .”
They spent the afternoon watching the Lealfast drop boulder after boulder into the channel. They also continued eradicating Armat’s camp, and consolidating the twelve Lealfast camps, which were set well back from the shore of the lake.
Axis had told Isaiah about his discussion with Maximilian, hoping for some support from him, but Isaiah had only shrugged and said he could understand Maximilian’s reluctance.
It was close to dusk when Axis realised at least one part of the mystery.
“They’re keeping clear a ribbon of land about the shores of the lake,” he said to Isaiah as they stood on the eastern balcony, watching the boulders drop. “They’re keeping their own camps at a distance, and they’re clearing away Armat’s camp which, for whatever purpose they have, was obviously in the way.”
“Then .” Isaiah said slowly, his eyes narrowing as he thought, “they are not closing off the channel so much as completing the land circle about Elcho Falling? They are encircling us with clear land.”
But why? Axis wanted to scream, knowing it would do no good.
Inardle was with them, and now she touched Isaiah on his arm to gain his attention. “I need to go tomorrow to find the Skraelings,” she said. “I can’t get out of here unless you make your mayhem. The sky is clear for hundreds of leagues, and Georgdi tells me that summer in the Outlands is inevitably dry.”
Isaiah nodded. “Very well, then. I will build it overnight,” he said. “If nothing else it will put a stop to whatever the Lealfast do.”
Chapter 7
Elcho Falling
The mayhem rolled in from the sea, spitting fire and ice, drenching Elcho Falling and the surrounding landscape in pelting rain. The wind was not as bad this time, but it was still a terrible storm.
Eleanon and Falayal watched it approach. Both wore irritated expressions, but neither looked particularly worried or angry.
“Well, it surprised me Isaiah left it this long,” Falayal said. “I’d expected it yesterday.”
“Perhaps Isaiah is growing old,” Eleanon said, “and mayhap grows weak. This doesn’t look as terrifying as that one he summoned during the battle.”
“But bad enough. We’ll need to leave soon.”
Eleanon nodded. “Do it now,” he said. “There is no need to linger. Fly an hour to the north. You shall be safe there. This storm is only very local. Return once it is calm.”
“You will be safe?” Falayal said.
“You wouldn’t be pleased to see me gone?” Eleanon replied.
“Don’t be foolish, Eleanon,” Falayal snapped. “We’d be lost without you.”
And pray you don’t forget that, Eleanon thought.
“Keep well,” he said, “and so shall I. And by the time this is done, you can be assured that Isaiah will never, never summon a mayhem again.”
Falayal grinned at Eleanon, then he was gone. A few minutes later the Lealfast Nation rose into the approaching winds, veering northward.
Axis watched the Lealfast leave, feeling some deep satisfaction that the storm forced them to flee.
He wondered how often Isaiah could summon these mayhems.
But for now he stood in the chamber which held the pool leading to the underwater escape from Elcho Falling. Apart from Inardle, who stood before him, the chamber was empty.
There were cracks in some of the walls, though. It would not be many more days before the Dark Spire broke through to this level, likely destroying this chamber in the process.