Axis paused outside his father’s door, then slowly climbed the stairs toward the command chamber.
All about him Elcho Falling vibrated and cracked.
Axis thought about asking Maximilian one more time about the transference idea.
Eleanon stopped the beating of his hands before dusk and, as they had the previous day, the Lealfast filed back to their individual camps for the night. Eleanon was himself about to return to his tent when he saw, to the west, a shepherd driving his small flock of sheep toward the lake.
Eleanon frowned, for there were few passers-by at Elcho Falling, and he moved to intercept the man.
He was clearly frightened and fell to his knees before Eleanon.
“Please, my lord,” the man said, “my sheep need to water and I saw this lake . . . ”
Eleanon regarded him, trying to scry out any deception, but all he felt was sheer fright from the man.
Ah, he was but a common shepherd, and when Eleanon was Lord of Elcho Falling, he would be a generous lord.
“You may water your flock,” Eleanon said, “but be quick about the business.” As soon as he had finished speaking Eleanon turned away as another Lealfast called him urgently.
The shepherd stammered his thanks, immensely grateful that Eleanon was distracted and moving off. He rose to his feet, clicking his tongue at the sheep who followed him obediently.
The shepherd moved his flock to a spot halfway between two of the Lealfast camps, and the sheep lined the shore, some falling to their knees in order to drink. The shepherd unclipped the drinking flask he had at his belt, unstoppered it, and leaned down to the water.
Inardle flowed out of the flask and into the water, silently thanking the shepherd — who was truly nothing like the stammering fool he’d appeared to Eleanon, but rather a courageous Outlander keen to aid Georgdi and the Lord of Elcho Falling.
She moved swiftly, anxious to escape any detection, sliding through the calm waters about the southern walls of Elcho Falling. Her way was clear for the moment, but Inardle wondered how long it would remain that way: the black roots of the Dark Spire now filled almost the entire lower half of the lake, lying there coiled and waiting.
Inardle reached the entrance to the tunnel and moved up it, only to find that partway through, her progress was hindered by debris.
Nonetheless, there were tiny spaces between the rocks and masonry that had fallen when the Dark Spire had pushed its way through this chamber in its journey upward, and Inardle managed to find her way through.
When she emerged into what was left of the chamber that had held the pool, it was to find the space almost filled with the bulk of the Dark Spire.
Inardle stood still a moment, once more in her Lealfast form, pressed against the wall, the spire not an arm’s length distance from her.
The spire was looking more and more like Elcho Falling, with clearly defined windows and doors, and many balconies and turrets.
Axis sensed Inardle the instant she’d moved past the Dark Spire. He was in the command chamber with Isaiah and Maximilian — Maximilian had been telling them how he and Ishbel meant to untether the Twisted Tower — when he jumped up from his seat.
“Inardle is back,” he said, then he was out the chamber and running down the stairs to meet her.
“You’re back,” he said.
She grinned. “Obviously.”
“What news?”
“Not much . . . but I need to tell it. Is Maximilian . . . ?”
“In the command chamber. Come.”
They started to climb, Inardle looking about. “Axis? What has been happening? Elcho Falling looks as though a rampaging army has been through it. And what has Eleanon been doing outside?”
Axis sighed, and told her all the dire happenings since she’d been gone.
It was a heavy weight of bad news for someone who had only been gone a relatively short while.
“I hope your news is better,” Axis finished up, opening the door into the command chamber for her.
Inardle didn’t reply.
She walked into the chamber, greeting Isaiah and Maximilian, shocked at how tired they all looked. She’d thought Axis had looked terrible, but Maximilian particularly looked as though he’d spent the past few days fighting demons.
“The Skraelings?” Isaiah said as they all seated themselves.
“They are not far south of here,” Inardle said. “Isaiah, they are becoming beautiful. I can describe it no other way. They are losing their vile, frightful appearance and they are becoming beautiful.”
She paused. “And thoughtful.”
Isaiah gave a small smile. “That is good news. It means they are moving in the right direction mentally. Did they tell you what decision they are likely to make?”
“They knew I had changed into River Angel form. They questioned me closely. They wanted to know if I had murdered as a River Angel.”
“Ah,” Isaiah said, knowing that she had.
“I explained to them why,” Inardle said, “that it was justified, but they were deeply unhappy. Disappointed in me, and even themselves, so it seemed.”
“And then?” Isaiah said.
Inardle shrugged. “Then they just vanished. I did not see them again.”
“What do you think is happening, Isaiah?” Maximilian asked.
“They’re already changing,” Isaiah said. “The process has begun. They need to drown themselves to completely change back to River Angels, but they’re on their way.”
“Which means .” Axis said.
“Which means they will be driven to come here,” Isaiah said.
“But they seemed so disappointed in me,” Inardle said.
“As they were,” said Isaiah. “You had killed, and that saddened them. But think . . . these were once Skraelings, but are now creatures who are disappointed at one who kills. That gives me hope.”
Isaiah paused, the fingers of one hand tapping away at the table. “If you want a prediction, then here it is. The Skraelings will come to Elcho Falling’s lake. They will dive in and drown and complete their transformation. They will be driven to it. Whatever discussion they’ve been having over the past weeks has altered their mentality so greatly the change is now inevitable. But what will they do as River Angels? I am hopeful that what they will become will be a different incarnation of what once was. They hated that Inardle had killed as a River Angel. I suggest that they will not lift a finger to harm anyone when they become River Angels.”
Maximilian smiled. “Then that’s good news.”
“Not quite,” Isaiah said. “It means they will not lift a single finger to aid you against the Lealfast. They will not touch them.”
There was silence about the table, and Inardle realised that the three men had somehow, perhaps even unconsciously, been pinning their hopes on the Skraelings. It was a strange world indeed, she thought, when men such as these were frustrated that the Skraelings would not ally with them.
“Maximilian,” Inardle said, “you can do nothing about the Lealfast, or the Dark Spire?”
“No,” Maximilian said, without looking at Axis, who was trying to catch his eye. “Ishbel and I have spent sleepless nights — thus our somewhat bedraggled appearance — trying to remember what we could of the contents of the Twisted Tower, in case there was any hope there . . . but no hope and little memory. The Twisted Tower must be drifting farther and farther from this world, and with it goes all its knowledge.”
“Then we need to discuss StarDancer’s —” Axis began.
“No,” Maximilian said. “There is one further thing Ishbel and I can do.”
Before Axis could press him for more information, Georgdi came into the room. “The Lealfast are winding up for the day,” he said.
“I wonder what tomorrow will bring,” Ishbel said quietly into the thoughtful silence.
Maximilian stood, Ishbel with him. Axis rose as well, wanting to speak with Maximilian, but he and Ishbel were gone before Axis had the chance.
In the cold depths of the night, Ishbel and Maximilian ventured to the edge of the Otherworld.
There, waiting for them according to the call Maximilian had sent out earlier in the night, stood Boaz.
“You face a dilemma,” Boaz said. “Infinity has moved close to your world.”
“The One, yes,” Maximilian said. “Boaz, we need to ask how you managed to trap the demon Nzame when he waited in Threshold, and to drag him into Infinity. I —”
“Want to do the same with the One?” Boaz said, his face incredulous. “You can’t.”
“We must be able to do it,” Ishbel said. “I, as your descendant, or Maximilian as Lord of Elcho Falling.”
Boaz gave a slow shake of his head, holding both Ishbel’s and Maximilian’s eyes. “What I did to trap Nzame,” he said, “was to use the power of the One which I commanded as a Magus, and then drag Nzame through to Infinity.”