The Twisted Citadel

by Sara Douglass

  Axis looked between StarDrifter, BroadWing, and Egalion. "You agree with this? StarDrifter, you are prepared to hand the Strike Force into my complete command, answerable only to me, and not to you?"

  "It's yours, Axis," StarDrifter said.

  A slow smile spread over Axis' face. Command of the Strike Force again!

  "And you, Egalion," Axis said. "You are bound to Maximilian by strong obligations and bonds. You can accept my command?"

  "If it means Maximilian's safety, yes," Egalion said. "If it means serving under the greatest legend this world has ever known, then yes again." He extended his hand over the table. "I am yours to command, Axis."

  Axis shook his hand, his smile broadening even further, then leaned back to look about the table.

  "Why do I suddenly feel so optimistic?" he said.

  "Well, I don't feel optimistic," said Ishbel. "This is no reflection on you, Axis, but on the odds we face. It isn't just that Armat controls so many soldiers, hundreds of thousands to our pitiful twenty thousand, but that he also has Ravenna and Lister with him. Lister, particularly, is a powerful, powerful man. A god.

  And without Isaiah to counteract him..."

  "I suppose we could hope that Armat puts a sword through Lister as he put a blade through Vorstus,"

  Axis said. "But seriously, Ishbel, while I don't discount him, I am not terrified of him, either. He hasn't exercised the best judgment to this point, and actually is in a fair amount of danger in Armat's camp. I

  may have jested about Armat killing him, but it is a possibility. Lister will need to watch his step while he rides with Armat. And as for all those hundreds of thousands of men..."

  "When we attacked the men who pursued Axis," BroadWing said, "Axis commanded us not to kill any of them, but merely their horses. He also commanded us to whisper to them that this was a message from the StarMan."

  Maximilian caught Axis' eyes and smiled.

  "I was merely following your own strategy, Maxel," Axis said.

  "Axis wants it known that those men survived by his grace," Maximilian said. "They'll not forget it.

  Likewise, I allowed Insharah to desert so readily and with good wishes. Neither he nor his men will forget that, either."

  "I told Maxel this last night," Axis said, "but should share it with the rest of you now. I spoke briefly with Insharah while I was in Armat's camp. I think the man already harbors doubts. Maybe his men do, too."

  "I hope that there will be enough doubts within Armat's force," Maximilian said, "that he cannot be sure of it. From what I know of Armat, he is not the most charismatic of generals. He leads through fear, not through skill. It is a weakness."

  "The other generals?" Egalion said.

  "Further south, I believe," Axis said. "They command the other half of the Isembaardian force between them. Considering their general tendency toward internal treachery and fighting, we could also hope that they distract Armat at some point."

  "Can we ensure that happens?" Maximilian said.

  "I'll look into it," Axis said. "Ishbel, may I have permission to talk to Madarin later today? He may have some useful ideas...and contacts."

  "Of course," she said.

  "And not to forget everyone's favorite assassins, Serge and Doyle," StarDrifter murmured. "They can both pass for Isembaardians if needed, and to think of the chaos they could cause..."

  Axis grinned. "A suggestion taken, StarDrifter. But for now, and until we arrive at Elcho Falling and I can judge for myself what its defenses are like, I am going to concentrate on the Strike Force. BroadWing, you have...how many now?"

  "Five hundred, StarMan."

  Axis tapped his fingers on the table, thinking. "And how many more Icarii to join with you, StarDrifter?"

  "Possibly another two thousand," StarDrifter said. "Icarii are still flying in from as far distant as Coroleas."

  "So perhaps a few score more of former Strike Force members," Axis said. His fingers continued to tap slowly as he thought.

  "Perhaps you can add the Lealfast eventually, Axis," Ishbel said.

  "Perhaps," Axis said, without any conviction. "They are currently useless but they have talent and good skills with the bow and arrow. They lack any experience at all, which lack of experience they combine with a self-certainty in their own superiority. It is, I have to say it, the early Strike Force all over again."

  "We were never quite that bad," BroadWing snapped.

  "That's because you hid in the Icescarp Alps and didn't fight anyone," Axis retorted. "At least the Lealfast left their snowy safety and came looking for a fight."

  "I had no idea you were their champion," Ishbel said.

  "I watched as thousands of them were slaughtered in cold blood," said Axis. "I owe them something, and that something is a second chance, if they want it. I admit I have been their vicious detractor as well, but now...now, well, perhaps I see them in a different light."

  Axis noticed that Maximilian was regarding him with a twinkle in his eye at that last, but he chose to ignore it. Stars alone knew what gossip BroadWing had been feeding him.

  "We can't afford to ignore any potential military aid," Axis said. "And we should also remember that Georgdi will be meeting us at Elcho Falling with the forces he has mustered. From what I know of Georgdi, from my own experience and from what Malat told me, a single man of his is worth ten Isembaardians. I don't want anyone in this tent to discount what we have. I've faced worse odds than this before and won."

  "A good point, Axis," Maximilian said. "Is there anything else to discuss? It is growing late, and we need to get on the road."

  "Just one thing, Maxel," Axis said. "I want to send some Icarii south. We need to know what is happening."

  "Not into Isembaard," Maximilian said, frozen in the act of rising.

  "Not into Isembaard," said Axis, "but as far south as they dare."

  Maximilian nodded. "Let's get moving," he said, and left the tent.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Hairekeep, Isembaard

  Hereward sat behind Isaiah on the horse, swaying rhythmically to its gait. It had been over two weeks since the One had almost killed Hereward, and in that time she had recovered well. The scab on her neck had fallen off, and she had a shiny, pink, coin-shaped scar at the junction of neck and shoulder to remind her of just how close she had come to death.

  Six days after they had talked to Bingaleal (or to whatever he had become) they had traveled closer to the fort of Hairekeep, which guarded the entrance to the Salamaan Pass. At first the countryside and road had appeared normal, but in the midafternoon of the fourth day since encountering Bingaleal the road they traveled turned to glass.

  Both Isaiah and Hereward were appalled, and it made them wonder what they'd discover at Hairekeep.

  There were far more Skraelings about, as well. They were traveling in large groups of fifty or more, in the same direction as Isaiah and Hereward, although they kept their distance.

  Isaiah and Hereward, by silent mutual agreement, chose not to step onto the glass. Isaiah turned the horse off the road and traveled parallel to it. Every so often the sun glanced off the surface of the road, and they would think it flashed and grinned at them.

  On the morning of the thirteenth day after they'd left the Lhyl, they drew close to Hairekeep. Isaiah was particularly tense, and kept glancing at Hereward to make sure she was close.

  "At least I have a sword," he said.

  "I would prefer ten thousand swordsmen at my back," Hereward replied, and Isaiah managed a brief laugh.

  "Aye, ten thousand swordsmen would be much better. Hereward, keep close to my side, will you? I

  don't know what we will encounter ahead."

  "I have no intention of straying, Isaiah."

  Isaiah glanced over his shoulder, and they shared a brief smile. His dislike of Hereward had ebbed over the past weeks. He wasn't sure that he actually liked her, but he had grown used to her presence, and felt responsible for her.

  An
hour later Hairekeep rose in the distance, and as soon as he could see it clearly, Isaiah pulled the horse to a halt.

  "What is it?" she said.

  "The fort is different," he said. "You've not ever seen it before?"

  "Servants didn't have much travel opportunity," she said. "We tended to be working too hard."

  She earned herself a black look from Isaiah for that comment, but he didn't otherwise respond to it.

  "Hairekeep should be a massive, rectangular sandstone tower," Isaiah said, "rising almost a hundred paces into the sky. This..."

  This, thought Hereward, peering ahead, wasn't exactly rectangular.

  Isaiah clicked his tongue at the horse and they rode closer, a little more warily now, senses alert for hidden dangers.

  "Isaiah," Hereward said softly a few minutes later.

  "I've seen them," he murmured.

  Skraelings, tens upon tens of thousands of them, sitting in ordered ranks on the far side of the road, starting about fifty or sixty paces distant. They were hard to spot, because they were mere unmoving humps close to the ground, and their heads were lowered so that their silver orbs didn't catch the sun's rays.

  "The One's invasion force," Isaiah muttered, and as one the Skraelings lifted their heads and their terrible orbs flared at Isaiah and Hereward.

  "Walk on," Isaiah said to the horse, now skittering about in fear.

  It got worse as they approached the fort. The ranks of Skraelings stretched back as far as either could see--there were likely millions waiting here.

  And among them--rising now and again as if caught by the wind--were Lealfast, or whatever they had turned into. There were thousands of them--Bingaleal's entire force.

  "My fellows," said Bingaleal to Isaiah's and Hereward's other side, making them jump. He was walking parallel with them about five paces distant. "They are like me," he tapped his chest. "They have a heart of glass. A heart devoted to the glass." He grinned, showing the unearthly blackness behind his lips. "Axis SunSoar thinks to build a Strike Force again. But the One commands a Strike Force unlike anything Axis has ever had to deal with."

  "The One is remarkably well informed," Isaiah said, keeping his eyes ahead as he and Hereward rode forward. He was tense now, worried not so much that Bingaleal would attack him (the One did, after all, need him to deliver a message), but that the stallion would panic and throw one or both of them. The horse was very tense, and Isaiah kept a close hold on his halter rope and a tight grip with his knees.

  "The One is omniscient," Bingaleal said. "Look," he waved a hand ahead, "do you see?"

  Isaiah took a deep breath of shock, and felt Hereward do the same behind him.

  They were close enough to Hairekeep now to see it for what it had become. Not a huge block-of-sandstone fortress, but a twisting, writhing mass of darkness that rose to a peak in the sky like a distorted pyramid.

  Faces and hands pressed against the darkness, desperate to escape.

  "That's our larder," said Bingaleal. "That is what we feed on while waiting to invade, Isaiah. Your subjects. The ones you abandoned. We drag one out every so often and tear it open to eat. Would you like one now, for your supplies?"

  Bingaleal watched Isaiah and Hereward ride past Hairekeep toward the Salamaan Pass.

  Once they were out of sight, he resumed his normal appearance, then turned his head slightly.

  Eleanon materialized beside him.

  "Well?" said Bingaleal.

  "The Nation has agreed," Eleanon said, then grinned at the delight on his brother's face. "We are all One."

  "Yes," Bingaleal said. "We are all One."

  "What was that face you showed Isaiah?" Eleanon said. He looked behind him, where the Lealfast were now lifting away from the Skraelings and vanishing into the air. "Why the disguise of horror?"

  "It was what Isaiah expected to see," said Bingaleal, "and I did not want him to see me as I truly am.

  Isaiah needed to see a victim of the One, not an ally. What now for you, Eleanon?"

  "For the moment I am keeping the fighters within the FarReach Mountains with the rest of the Nation,"

  he said, "until Maximilian raises Elcho Falling, which is when Axis expects me to return, full of humbleness and contrition."

  Bingaleal smiled. "Of course. But you are not remaining within the FarReach Mountains?"

  Eleanon shook his head. "I want to see what is happening between Inardle and Axis," he said. "I want to see how well she is positioned. Inardle can work much good for us, brother, if Axis has become besotted with her."

  "Be cautious with Inardle," said Bingaleal. "I do not trust her as once I did."

  "She is a female," said Eleanon.

  "And thus," Bingaleal said, "she has the potential to subdivide. She can never be a part of the One as can we."

  "But she can still be useful," said Eleanon.

  "She can still be useful," said Bingaleal, "but you should be cautious in sharing secrets with her, Eleanon.

  Go discover, then, if she has slid cold treachery between Axis StarMan's sheets."

  When Eleanon had gone, Bingaleal turned to find a Skraeling standing just behind him.

  Bingaleal jumped, wondering how much the Skraeling might have overheard.

  "What do you want?" he snapped, annoyed at himself for being so obviously startled.

  "To talk," said the Skraeling.

  "What is there to talk about?" said Bingaleal. He looked behind the Skraeling at the army of Skraelings still massed across the plains behind Hairekeep, their front ranks only ten or twelve paces away.

  Bingaleal felt the tiniest frisson of fear. There were millions of the creatures, all silent, all waiting, all staring at Bingaleal. In all the time he'd known the creatures they had been chilling, yes, but now...now they had a singularity of purpose about them, a steadiness of eye, that he found potentially terrifying.

  With what had the One infused them? Purpose? Cunning? Knowledge?

  Power?

  The Skraeling lifted its top lip and silently snarled. "We are your fathers," it said. "Have you forgot that?"

  "We have long grown up and left the nest," Bingaleal said.

  "You still owe us life," said the Skraeling.

  "We owe you nothing," Bingaleal said, holding the Skraeling's eye.

  "Who continued south to worship adoringly at the One's feet while you dithered in the FarReach Mountains, uncertain of who to support?" the Skraeling said. "Do you think that the One has not remarked upon that fact? That he has not noted well that it was we who came to him unhesitatingly? That it--"

  "You fled south to slaver at the feet of Kanubai," Bingaleal said. "Not the One. Your allegiance turned with the swiftness of a treacherous wind. Do you not think the One has not noted that? Our decision was deliberate and considered. Yours was born on the back of your innate idiocy."

  Something in the Skraeling's face stilled. "You think to despise us," it said softly. "You think to outwit us.

  You think to turn the One against us. No, no. You cannot do that. We were his first, and he will never forget that."

  The Skraeling stared at Bingaleal a heartbeat longer, then he melted back into the mass of Skraelings.

  Bingaleal looked at them for a long moment, needing to show them he was not cowed; then his mouth turned up in a slight sneer, and he lifted into the air.

  The One sat cradled within the heart of the Infinity Chamber. His eyes were open, but they did not see the interior of the chamber; rather, they looked upon the ground outside Hairekeep where the Skraeling had just confronted Bingaleal.

  The One smiled, then his eyes refocused within the chamber, and he picked up the red-haired adolescent cat, stroking its back and murmuring softly to it.

  There was looming a great battle between the Lealfast and the Skraelings. The One wondered which he should allow to emerge victorious.

  The Skraelings were so useful, but the Lealfast potentially more so.

  The One sighed, and tickled the cat under
its chin.

  "It is time to move," he said. "We shall leave the Book of the Soulenai here."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  On the Road to Serpent's Nest

  Axis was riding with Maximilian and Ezekiel, discussing tactics that Armat might use in any possible siege of Elcho Falling. They had let their horses' reins lengthen, allowing their mounts the opportunity to relax back to a walk and stretch out their necks while the rest of the convoy moved past at a brisk trot.

  "Siege engines?" Axis said.

  "We use them as needed," Ezekiel said. "Expect them from Armat."

  "Against a mountain?" Axis said, raising an eyebrow at Maximilian.

  "Elcho Falling has its own defenses," Maximilian said. "I do not think siege engines will be of any concern...but it has been so long since Elcho Falling stood, and who can tell?"

  "We should--" Axis began, then stopped as a soldier rode up.

  "My lord," the man said, saluting Maximilian. "The contingent of the Emerald Guard with the physicians is rejoining the rear of the convoy."

  Maximilian grinned and gathered up the reins of his horse. "Garth is back! Axis, keep the convoy moving, would you, while I--"

  "Ezekiel can do that, surely," Axis said. "I'd prefer to come back with you, Maxel. I'd like to see--"

  Inardle "--Zeboath, and check that Inardle is well."

  Maximilian gave him a guarded look, but nodded, and the two men turned their horses for the rear of the convoy.

  She was riding a horse, which surprised Axis. He'd expected to see her still resting in a wagon, not sitting easy on the back of a rather large bay gelding watching him with wary eyes.

  Inardle looked well, which also surprised Axis, who had somehow assumed her to remain swollen and bruised despite it being almost two weeks since she'd been injured. But her wing, while still splinted, was now back to its normal size, as was her left arm. All her bruises had vanished.

  In fact, she looked rather lovely. Her hair was freshly washed and plaited into the elegant crown atop her head, and she was dressed in pale gray, almost silvery clothes: very slim, form-fitting trousers and a top of soft, almost gauzy fabric that wound simply about her breasts and left her shoulders and arms bare.