Enchanter

by Sara Douglass

  She looked about her, and quickly realised that the sun was already well above the horizon. If she did not hurry, the entire garrison might come searching for her. Azhure shot to her feet and grabbed Belaguez’s reins, making the horse toss his head in alarm.

  “Damn,” Azhure muttered feelingly as she mounted the restless stallion. He would have to forgo his run down HoldHard Pass this morning. Was Belial already waiting for her in the stable?

  He was.

  Belial smiled at Azhure and took the stallion’s reins from her. Azhure busied herself with unsaddling Belaguez.

  As she undid the girth, Belial stepped up behind her and touched the back of her neck with his fingers. “Azhure, I hope you did not misunderstand me last night. I meant marriage, not simply a casual affair. I do not want you simply for a night, but for my life.”

  “I know,” Azhure whispered, then closed her eyes as he gently kissed her neck, then her cheek, and then slipped his arms about her. He would make a good father for my children, thought Azhure. My dreams of heroes were so childish. What woman could ask for anything more than a good, solid man to support her?

  “And your answer?” he said, his mouth in her hair now.

  “Belial,” she took his hands where they rested against her waist and slid them gently over her stomach. “Belial, I am pregnant. I cannot accept.”

  She felt his breathing falter and closed her eyes as she felt his pain. He did not deserve this.

  “Axis,” he said woodenly.

  Azhure hesitated, then nodded. “Yes.”

  “Do you love him?”

  “Yes,” she said, and at her answer Belial tore himself away from her and thumped the stable wall in frustration and anger. Belaguez jumped sideways, startled, his ears laid back along his skull.

  “Damn him,” Belial seethed. “I have never, never, envied him his women until now!” He turned to face Azhure again. “Azhure, I love you. I want you whether you are pregnant or not. Whether you love Axis or not. You know that you have no life with him! You know that we could build a good life together!” Why couldn’t Axis have left her alone? Had the man no conscience? No self control? What of Faraday?

  Azhure started to cry silently. “Belial. You must know more than anyone how it would hurt Axis to know that a child of his would be raised without true knowledge of its parentage. Do I know that I have no future with him? Yes, I do, Belial. But until Axis returns and the child is born I can make no decisions. None.”

  Belial looked away again, his eyes dull now. “When?”

  “Early Raven-month next year. The child was conceived at Beltide. The first day of Flower-month.” She looked down at her hands. “It was just that once.”

  Belial laughed sourly. “Once? That was all he needed?”

  Azhure nodded, knowing that Belial was angry at Axis rather than at her. She wiped away some of her tears.

  Belial shook his head in disbelief. “Axis should have bastards littered across half of Achar if once was all he needed to get a woman with his child. Why you, Azhure? Why you?”

  He reached out and cradled Azhure against his body, certain that this would be the last time he held her. He could not compete with Axis. “Azhure, if you had not been pregnant, would you have come to me?”

  Azhure did not hesitate. “Yes, I would have been honoured to do so.”

  For a long time they stood there quietly in the stable, listening to Sigholt wake up about them.

  Rivkah had been up an hour when Azhure came back to change. Rivkah knew immediately she saw her that something was very wrong.

  “Azhure? What is it?”

  Azhure could say nothing as tears streamed down her face, and Rivkah hurried across the room and folded her in her arms. She hugged the younger woman and rocked her a little.

  “Azhure, I know that you are pregnant.” She smiled, trying to cheer Azhure up. “This will be my first grandchild.”

  “Belial asked me to marry him last night, and I cannot. Not carrying Axis’ child.”

  “Ah.” Rivkah began to see. Azhure had wanted to walk away from the inevitable pain of Axis. Belial would have provided the perfect escape for her. But Azhure had not walked far enough nor quickly enough. And Axis was not likely to let a child of his go, especially if it was an Enchanter.

  Rivkah led Azhure to the bed and held her while the woman cried herself out. Like Belial, Rivkah wondered at the fact that Axis had left no children behind him to this day, despite a string of lovers. Azhure’s child would be his first.

  Unlike Belial, Rivkah knew the reason why. Male Enchanters—indeed, Icarii birdmen generally—found it difficult to father children. And once they had managed it with one woman, they were as reluctant to let that woman go as they were to let the child go. In fact, Icarii often did not formally marry until the couple were expecting their first child—and sometimes a marriage would never take place if a child was not conceived. The couple would simply separate and reform partnerships with other people. A large part of the reason StarDrifter had been so fascinated with Rivkah, a large part of his love for her, had been her ability to bear him children. Now she was too old for a pregnancy, and StarDrifter still had the majority of his life to find another woman to bear him more children.

  Rivkah rocked Azhure in her arms. After only one night, Azhure had fallen pregnant to Axis. No matter what the bond between Axis and Faraday, Azhure’s simple fecundity would weld him tightly to her. Had Azhure left it too late to walk? Yes. Azhure could run as far as she liked now, but Axis would hunt her down. He would be unable to help himself.

  23

  THE ENCHANTRESS’ RING

  They sat in a flat-bottomed boat in the centre of a vast violet lake. Above them soared a massive domed roof of multifaceted crystals.

  The Ferryman’s eyes reflected the violet of the lake. “Your mother won for you the right to ask me for assistance. You ask to be taught. I will do that. But I have a condition.”

  “What?” Axis’ voice was wary. Both StarDrifter and Rivkah had warned him that the Ferryman was a cunning bargainer—and one who spoke in riddles.

  “I will teach you whatever you ask. But of you I will ask one thing. Whatever I teach you is for your use and the use of your issue only. When you return to the OverWorld, you will not teach StarDrifter, or any other Icarii Enchanter, what you have learned down here. My teaching is for you and your children only. Do you agree?”

  “Why?”

  The Ferryman’s eyes glinted. “My purpose is not your concern. Do you agree? Or would you like me to return you to the OverWorld?”

  “Agreed. I will teach none but my children.”

  “Good. What do you wish to know?”

  “Your name.”

  “My name was once Orr, and you may call me that. What next?”

  Axis looked about him. The massive lake was completely deserted except for the boat they sat in, and Axis had seen no-one else in the waterways they had travelled. “Where are the other Charonites?”

  “I am the Charonites, Axis SunSoar. Not simply the last one left alive, but I am myself the complete race. We all reside in here.” Orr tapped himself on the chest.

  Axis looked at him strangely, but decided to let it pass. “Orr, what are the waterways?”

  Orr actually chuckled, surprising Axis. “The waterways are far less mysterious than most suppose. It is simply that they are hidden so far from sight and so deep in memory, that whenever anyone from the OverWorld thinks of them, they think of them in shadows of mystery.”

  “Then tell me.”

  “You are impatient, Axis. That is your father in you.”

  Axis had already learned that Orr did not think very much of StarDrifter. “Don’t waste my time in riddles, Orr.”

  Orr sighed and meticulously adjusted his ruby-red cloak. “You have learned of the Star Dance?”

  “Yes. I hear it about me every moment I am awake, and at night it rustles through my dreams.”

  “Axis, as you know the Icari
i Enchanters use music to mirror the patterns of the Star Dance. The waterways do the same thing, except the pattern is laid down in a physical form. To travel the waterways is literally to move through the patterns of the particular ‘Song’ you wish.”

  “So for each Song there is a corresponding waterway?”

  “Yes,” the Ferryman said, a little hesitantly.

  “As an Enchanter I have learned Songs, melodies, each with a specific purpose. I use each Song to manipulate the power of the Star Dance, the Songs serve as a conduit to weave the power of the Star Dance to my particular purpose.”

  “Yes, yes. All know that.”

  “But the waterways act as a different conduit for the power of the Star Dance? Instead of singing a Song, I simply travel the particular waterway that suits my purpose? Each of the waterways has its own purpose?”

  “Yes. The waterways are just another way of manipulating the power of the Star Dance. Icarii Enchanters use music. The Charonites travel a particular waterway. It is a, ah, slightly more cumbersome way.”

  “In Talon Spike StarDrifter and MorningStar taught me all the Songs they knew. It is a finite number,” said Axis.

  Orr’s great violet eyes sparkled. “A finite number? Really? How many?”

  “Perhaps a thousand. It is what I find most restricting. If I have a purpose but no Song to suit, I cannot use my powers.”

  “They only know about a thousand Songs?” Orr said, his mouth twitching. “Have they forgotten so much?”

  Axis leaned forward, his excitement growing. He had been right to come down here. “How many do you know?” he asked, his voice tight. “How many waterways do you have?”

  Orr fought to control his humour. “Let me answer that by asking you another question, boy. Did StarDrifter teach you how to use your ring?”

  Axis frowned and looked at the ring on the middle finger of his right hand. Made of red gold and encrusted with diamond chips in star patterns, it was the SunSoar ring. Each House only had one ring, passed down through the generations, and StarDrifter had been happy to let Axis wear it.

  “It is simply a symbol of my status as an Enchanter,” Axis said finally. Use it? What for? “The senior Enchanters of each House wear them. It has no use…does it?”

  Orr covered his face with his hands and rocked back and forth with silent merriment. Axis frowned in exasperation. What had he said now?

  “My dear young man,” Orr said finally, patting Axis affectionately on the knee. “My dear young man. I had not realised that the Icarii Enchanters had forgotten so much, had slipped so deep into ineptitude. How can they still call themselves Enchanters?”

  Axis almost shouted in his impatience. “ What is it?”

  “Axis,” Orr said, “there is almost no limit to the Songs you can sing, just as there is almost no limit to the waterways you can travel. You can wield the power of the Stars virtually any way you wish. How is it that the Icarii have forgotten this? Look at your ring.”

  Axis dropped his eyes.

  “Is the pattern uniform?” Orr asked.

  “No. The same pattern never seems to be repeated.”

  “Quite. Now, think of a Song you know, think of the music, and look again at the ring.”

  Axis thought of the Song of Harmony. As the music ran through his head, his eyes widened. The pattern of the stars on his ring had shifted to match the Song.

  “Now, Axis,” Orr whispered, “think of a purpose for which you have no Song. Something simple. I do not want you to blow us out of the water. Think of the purpose, and then look at the ring.”

  Axis thought, and the colour of the Ferryman’s cloak caught his eye. A Song to change the colour of Orr’s cloak to silvery grey, he thought to himself, then glanced at the ring.

  The pattern of the stars on his ring had shifted again—into a configuration that he did not know. He translated the pattern the ring showed him into a melody in his mind and instantly the Ferryman’s cloak altered colour from ruby red into silvery grey.

  Orr smiled. “Such a simple thing, eh? Yet the Icarii Enchanters have forgotten how to use their rings. The number of Songs that can be sung are limited only by the number of purposes you have.”

  “Do you mean,” Axis said, hardly believing it could be this simple, “that all I have to do is to think of the purpose, watch the ring show me the pattern of the melody, and then I have the Song for the purpose?”

  Orr nodded. “In the same way I use the waterways. There are relatively few physical waterways. If I have a purpose, or a place to go for which there is not a physical waterway, I simply think of the purpose, and the waterway is created.”

  “Can I use the power of the Star Dance for any purpose?”

  “No. You can’t. Certainly there is a Song for most purposes, and all you need to do to learn the Song is to watch the patterns that the ring forms for you. But some Songs, some melodies, would be too dangerous for you. They would allow too much of the power of the Star Dance through—and you would die. A great deal of your learning as you grow in power, Axis SunSoar, is going to be knowing what patterns, what Songs, are too dangerous for you to attempt to use. That is why I asked you to think of a simple purpose. Generally, the more complex the purpose, the more you need to do, and the more power of the Star Dance you will be required to manipulate through Song. Having learned to use your ring, Axis, you must be very, very careful. Otherwise you will die as you attempt to use it.”

  Axis looked at the ring with new-found respect. For what purposes would the ring show him Songs that were too dangerous to use?

  “You will learn, Axis,” Orr said. “You may scorch yourself now and again, but you will learn. There are purposes for which no Song exists. Only a few, and they are mostly to do with healing. Rarely will you be able to use the music of the Star Dance to heal. Strange, because you can manipulate the Star Dance to recreate the dying, but a simple cut or bruise? At that the Star Dance baulks. I do not know why.”

  “For what you have told me I thank you, Orr,” Axis said finally. “It is a great gift you have given me.”

  Orr inclined his head. “And you have given me a gift in return, Axis SunSoar. I had not realised to what depths of stupidity the Icarii had sunk, but your revelations have been most informative. Forgotten how to use their rings, indeed!”

  “Orr. MorningStar has told me some disturbing news,” Axis said, cutting through the Ferryman’s laughter.

  “What is it?”

  “She believes I was taught many Songs as a baby. She tells me no Enchanter knows a Song intuitively, yet I already knew many before I began training with her and StarDrifter.”

  “She is right. You did not have that ring as a baby?”

  “No. I only received it some eight months ago.”

  “An Enchanter needs a ring, or someone else of their family, to teach him or her what Songs to sing. What were the Songs you already knew?”

  “The Song of Recreation, and the Song of Recall.”

  “Both are powerful and complex Songs!”

  “Yes. Orr, is there another SunSoar Enchanter about? StarDrifter believes the same Enchanter has taught Gorgrael.”

  Orr hissed in surprise. “I had never wondered who taught Gorgrael. It was remiss of me.”

  “And Gorgrael uses the Dark Music of the Stars,” said Axis. “So whoever taught him knows how to use that music as well?”

  Orr nodded, obviously troubled.

  “Orr, can I use the Dark Music with this ring?”

  “No. The rings are only designed to draw on the power of the Star Dance itself. Gorgrael has no ring in any case, and what Icarii Enchanter knows the use of the Dark Music? None that I know of. Axis, your words trouble me. I will have to think on them further.”

  After a long while Axis spoke again. “Orr. I have seen some of Gorgrael’s creatures fade from view. They seem to be able to use their magic to move through space, perhaps time. Can I do that?”

  Orr nodded. “Obviously they use the Dark Mus
ic to do that, and that you cannot touch. But it is possible for you to travel across vast distances in a fraction of a heartbeat using your ring. Nevertheless, there are limits,” he said quickly as he saw excitement on Axis’ face. “Although you can travel from anywhere, there are only a few sites you can travel to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  The Ferryman’s fingers tapped the side of the boat. “Only certain sites in Tencendor can pull you to them. If you try to use the Song of Movement to travel to some other place, you will simply disintegrate into thin air. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes. What sites can pull me to them?”

  “Sites with enough inherent magic to act as beacons, as it were, for the Song of Movement. The magical Keeps—Sigholt, the Silent Woman Keep, Spiredore—”

  “Spiredore?”

  “What you know as the Tower of the Seneschal. Yes,” Orr said wryly, noting the stunned look on Axis’ face, “the Seneschal has taken up residence in one of the ancient and certainly the most magical of the Keeps of Tencendor. But be wary of trying to use that as a base for travel, Axis, because Spiredore’s magic currently lies slumbering under the weight of the Seneschal’s lies. Until it is awakened, like Sigholt has recently been, then you cannot use it.”

  “I understand. Are there any other sites?”

  “Yes. The Earth Tree now that she sings. The Star Gate—”

  “I have heard of the Star Gate,” Axis broke in, “but I have not seen it.”

  “Be patient,” Orr snapped. “I will take you there eventually. The Island of Mist and Memory is another, but, like Spiredore, its Temple needs to be relit before you can use it.”

  “So, when you have finished teaching me, all I have to do to travel to Sigholt is to think of the Keep, note the pattern of stars on my ring, and sing the melody it depicts?”

  Orr nodded. “Yes. That is all. But remember, Axis, only those sites that I have mentioned—and only those among them that are currently awake—are strong enough to pull you towards them. Try the Song of Movement with any other site and you will die.”