The Serpent Bride

by Sara Douglas

  He looked at Isaiah, sitting his horse with such confidence and such natural arrogance that it appeared he could fear nothing.

  Axis suddenly thought of the assassination attempt on Isaiah at Aqhat and, his heart thudding in his chest,

  glanced upward at the roofline.

  Straight into the eyes of his father.

  Maximilian had been transfixed by the sight of Ishbel. She looked so beautiful, and very obviously no longer pregnant.

  His eyes quickly scanned back through Isaiah's column, looking for the nursery litter, a wet nurse cradling the child, anything, then decided that perhaps the baby would come into the city later, when everything was calmer, or that, gods forbid, Ishbel had left it behind from wherever she had come.

  Would she have done that? Why?

  Then, four or five horsemen back from Isaiah, a man had looked up directly at the roof where Maximilian and his party stood, and StarDrifter had cried out, softly and heart-achingly, "Axis!"

  Maximilian acted instantly. He grabbed StarDrifter, now stepping forth to the very edge of the building,

  and hauled him backward toward the trapdoor that led from the flat roof down into the bakery.

  "Everyone back, now!" Maximilian hesitated. "Save you, Serge. Watch as carefully as you can. Let me know if you think Axis has reported us."

  "Axis will keep his mouth shut!" StarDrifter hissed.

  "Yes?" said Maximilian, angry with frustration at being so near Ishbel and yet so damned distant, and angry also that he hadn't thought to use either his power or that of Venetia and Ravenna to cloak them from prying eyes. Gods, what had he been thinking? Had the thought of seeing Ishbel so addled his wits?

  And where was their child?

  "Really?" Maximilian continued, his grip tightening about StarDrifter's arm. "He's been living in Isembaard with Isaiah for many months at the least, and he didn't look a reluctant captive to me just then,

  eh? Downstairs. Now!"

  Axis couldn't think. He could not manage a single, damned coherent thought. He sat his horse in a state of shock, riding forward with Isaiah's train automatically, trying to marshal some sense from his brain.

  StarDrifter. StarDrifter. Stars, his father was here in Sakkuth!

  Axis had not thought of StarDrifter in many, many weeks. To see him now, here, of all places, left him breathless not merely in shock, but in joy as well.

  His father.

  Oh, gods...what should he do?

  Axis managed to glance behind him again, trying to see the roof where he'd seen StarDrifter, but they'd ridden forward too far, and around a slight curve in the avenue, for him to be able to make it out.

  His brain, finally, managed to send out a few cautious observations.

  The darker man who had grabbed at StarDrifter, pulling him away.

  "Oh no," Axis whispered, knowing intuitively who that must be. He had no reason at all to know it was Maximilian, but somehow he just knew. Axis' hands, which to his amazement he discovered were trembling, tightened about his reins, making his horse jitter a little.

  What should he do?

  He looked ahead.

  Isaiah had turned on his horse and was smiling at Ishbel, then laughed at something she said.

  Axis' face lost all expression. Isaiah and Ishbel had underestimated Maximilian. Very badly.

  He glanced upward again, although he knew he had no hope of seeing StarDrifter.

  What should he do?

  Nothing. Watch. And wait for his father.

  Axis knew StarDrifter had seen him as well, and he knew his father well enough to know that StarDrifter would seek him out.

  And what was Maximilian going to do?

  He looked ahead once more to Isaiah and Ishbel, revising his opinion that he should say nothing. But what to say? If he told Isaiah that Maximilian was in Sakkuth, would Isaiah then close down the city while soldiers searched door to door? Was that fair to Maximilian? To StarDrifter?

  Was it fair to Ishbel not to tell her that her husband was in town?

  "Stars," he muttered, "what should I do?"

  Once more safely ensconced in the storerooms under the bakery, Maximilian finally let StarDrifter go and turned to Ravenna.

  "Tonight," he said. "You and me only. Isaiah's palace."

  "Maxel--" StarDrifter began.

  "Ravenna and me only," Maximilian snapped, and such was the expression on his face that no one argued the point.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Sakkuth, Isembaard

  The supply column?" Isaiah said.

  "Already heading through the Salamaan Pass," said Morfah. He tapped the map on the table about which Isaiah, Axis, and the five senior generals were standing. "There are already supplies of food positioned here, here, and here." His finger stabbed down at locations in northern Isembaard between Sakkuth and Salamaan Pass, and then once at a point a third of the way through the pass. "And the supply train will encamp just before the pass widens into the plains leading to Adab. The army will move smoothly,

  Excellency, and shall not lack for food, equipment, or weapons."

  Axis stood to one side, still in a quandary about Maximilian and StarDrifter. He'd not had a chance to speak privately either to Isaiah or Ishbel, and could hardly say something in front of the generals. With luck, he might manage a word once the generals had left.

  "Good," said Isaiah. "And the settlers?"

  "They are traveling in a convoy just behind the army column," said Ezekiel. "They are well provisioned and tightly organized. No laggards among them. Several Rivers"--a River was a unit of ten thousand soldiers--"come behind."

  Axis set aside his quandary about Maximilian for the moment, thinking instead about the resettlement issue. It seemed extraordinary to him that Isaiah would want to weigh down the invasion column with women and children and great-aunts, plus their belongings and livestock, but Isaiah was insistent. The Outlands were to be colonized with native Isembaardians as rapidly as possible.

  Axis wondered how the settlers felt about this--ordered from their homelands into the unknown--but from all the reports he'd heard they appeared resigned. He remembered what the country had been like in the northwest when he'd ridden to meet Ishbel, and thought that perhaps they might even be a little glad to leave a land of arid and poor soil.

  "This is a huge column," Axis said, keeping his thoughts about the settlers to himself. "You are not concerned that its existence, lurking just inside the northern entrance to the Salamaan Pass, will not be reported to the Outlanders?"

  "No one is being allowed through the pass to discover the column," said Morfah. "We keep the pass so tightly closed that few people ever attempt its passage in any case, and the few stray peddlers who try are either turned back or, if too persistent, otherwise stopped."

  Axis grimaced at the "otherwise stopped," but said nothing.

  "No one will realize until it is too late," said Ezekiel.

  "Besides," said Isaiah, "the latest intelligence puts the majority of the Outlands' armed forces up here."

  He pointed to an area halfway between Pelemere and Hosea. "No one in their command will realize until too late just what it is comes up the Salamaan Pass."

  He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "It is late, and I am tired. I thank you," he said to the generals, "for these reports. All goes well. By tomorrow--"

  He turned as the door opened, then smiled as Ishbel walked in.

  In contrast to the men, all of whom looked weary, she looked refreshed and lovely, her hair left in a long loose plait over one shoulder, wound about with a thin bejeweled gold wire, and wearing a simple white linen robe that accentuated her figure and coloring.

  Axis froze. His reaction was not at Ishbel's entrance as such, but at what he'd felt from the shadows in the back of the room at her entrance.

  Everything Ishbel had told him about Maximilian suddenly roared to the forefront of his mind.

  Stars...

  Ishbel went directly to Isaiah, who laid a hand on
her shoulder, and pulled her close for a slow kiss.

  The generals all looked on impassively.

  Axis watched Isaiah and Ishbel, then, so briefly most would have missed it, glanced toward the shadows at the rear of the large chamber.

  "Well," said Isaiah, still smiling down at Ishbel's face, "tomorrow is another day and, right now, I would rather think about the rest of this night."

  Axis suppressed a wince.

  Taking the hint, the generals murmured their good-nights, and left.

  "I'm sure," said Isaiah, as the door closed behind the departing men, "that you also need your rest,

  Axis."

  "Isaiah--" said Axis, then got no further.

  "Ishbel," said a voice, "what have you done?"

  Axis looked to the back of the chamber as Isaiah and Ishbel spun about, Isaiah pushing Ishbel a little way behind him.

  A man and a woman had stepped forth from the shadows.

  The man, tall, dark, and with a face marked by pain and tragedy, registered briefly in Axis'

  mind--Maximilian of Escator, it could be no other--but his attention was almost immediately and completely caught by the woman.

  For a single heart-stopping moment he thought it was Azhure, then realized that she was far younger and,

  while as tall as Azhure had been, slighter. She shared Azhure's long and almost blue-black hair, but her face was finer, and her eyes...they were the most extraordinary eyes Axis had ever seen. Pale gray, the irises ringed with black, they were startlingly beautiful.

  Then Ishbel gave a cry, and Axis looked at her directly.

  He'd never seen such a look of utter devastation, such all-consuming guilt, on anyone's face as he saw now on Ishbel's.

  It was, she thought, the most terrible moment she could ever possibly suffer. She'd thought that Maximilian would have gone home to Escator, and stayed there. She'd thought him to have forgotten her.

  But no, he'd come all this way--a hard, terrible journey, if his appearance was any indication--and she did not know how she could possibly tell him about their child, or explain Isaiah.

  Isaiah had grabbed a sword from the table, but Ishbel reached out one shaky hand and waved him away.

  "No," she said, "not that."

  Isaiah let the sword droop, but did not step away from Ishbel's side.

  "That was a poor way to announce yourself, Maximilian Persimius," Isaiah said, softly.

  Maximilian ignored him. He stepped forward, walked toward Ishbel, stopping two or three paces from her. "Ishbel?"

  She realized that he was as shocked as she, she could see it in his eyes.

  Along with such astounding pain that each successive breath she took became harder and harder.

  I have caused that pain, she thought. Oh, gods, what can I do?

  Ishbel became aware that everyone in the room was incredibly tense, and that no one knew what to do or say.

  "I would like," she said, holding Maximilian's eyes and speaking with as much dignity as she could, "to speak with Maxel alone."

  "The baby is dead, isn't it?" said the woman, who, to this point, had hardly even registered on Ishbel's consciousness. "The baby is dead and you have fallen gratefully into the bed of a man who seeks to invade your homeland. Maxel, you are well rid of this woman. I think we ought to--"

  "Be quiet, you fool!" Isaiah snapped at the woman.

  "Dead?" Maximilian said at the same time, and Ishbel's eyes filled with tears. She did not know how she could keep standing. She wished everyone would just go so that she could speak to Maximilian.

  She wished...oh, she wished that everything had been different.

  "Will she be safe with you, Maximilian Persimius?" Isaiah said, and Ishbel saw Maximilian look at him.

  Something altered in Maximilian's face, even more shock, if that were possible, piled atop everything else he must be feeling.

  Recognition.

  "What have you done?" Maximilian whispered, still staring at Isaiah.

  "Nothing but prepare the way for the Lord of Elcho Falling," Isaiah said, and then Maximilian stepped forward and hit him.

  Axis' first thought was to wonder if it were some northern trait, this ritual of face-striking on first acquaintance.

  His second was one of astonishment at Maximilian's strength, for the power of his blow sent Isaiah--a big man--sprawling back several paces.

  Axis grabbed at Maximilian, pulling him back, although it was apparent that Maximilian had no intention of continuing the assault.

  "Let me go," Maximilian said, and Axis did so. The dark-haired woman was by his side now, taking his arm.

  "You are Axis," she said. "My name is Ravenna."

  Axis' sense of disorientation deepened. Social introductions? Now?

  Isaiah slowly rose to his feet, one hand rubbing at his jaw, his eyes wary.

  "Will everyone please leave Maximilian and me alone," Ishbel said. Her voice was strained, her entire body stiff, and Axis noticed that she held her head slightly to one side so that she did not have to look anyone in the eye.

  "I will not leave you with--" Isaiah began, but Axis interrupted.

  "Isaiah, out, now. Maximilian will not hurt Ishbel. Ravenna, come with me."

  Within a moment, Ishbel and Maximilian were left alone as Axis hustled the other two out the door.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Sakkuth, Isembaard

  Axis turned to Ravenna the moment they were in the corridor. "My father is with your party. Where is he?"

  "What?" said Isaiah. "How do you know this?"

  "I saw Maximilian and my father, StarDrifter, today," Axis said. "While we were on your grand procession into Sakkuth. They watched from a rooftop."

  "And you thought this was not important enough to tell me, or Ishbel?" Isaiah said. "Damn you! Did you not think enough of Ishbel to tell her that her husband was close? Did you not have the courtesy?"

  He whipped about to Ravenna. "Who are you?"

  "I don't think I need to--" Ravenna began.

  "Tell me your name, curse you!"

  "My name is Ravenna," she said. "I am a marsh woman, one who patrols the pathways between this world and the Land of Dreams."

  "Very pretty," said Isaiah. "Unfortunately I am not impressed with your pretensions." He took a step forward, jabbing a finger in Ravenna's face. "How dare you interfere between Maximilian and Ishbel!

  You have no right."

  "That is hardly an accusation you can toss about lightly."

  "My father..." Axis said, desperate to edge the conversation back into civility.

  "He is well, Axis," Ravenna said. "More than anxious to see you."

  Axis smiled. "And I him."

  "Oh, for the gods' sakes," Isaiah muttered. "Ravenna, who else do you have in `your party'? Who else can I expect to find emerging from the shadows?"

  "My mother, Venetia," said Ravenna. "StarDrifter's wife, Salome"--she sent an apologetic glance to Axis as she said this--"and two men-at-arms. Not an invasion force. Not the kind you feel you need to carry about with you."

  Axis broke in before Isaiah could speak. "Isaiah, I apologize to you, and I will humble myself before Ishbel when I have the chance. I should have said something and it was wrong of me not to do so. The fact was, the sight of my father stunned me so much, roiled my emotions so deeply, that I was unable to think clearly, and--"

  "You were one of the greatest military commanders this world has ever seen," said Isaiah, "and I do not believe for a moment this excuse that the sight of your father upset you so much you forgot to mention to me you had seen both him and Maximilian."

  Now he addressed Ravenna again. "I knew Maximilian was in that room, hiding in the shadows. What I

  am most angry about is not so much his presence, but the manner of it. That degree of slyness does not suit a man of his station and responsibility--and I know that it is not the first time he has practiced it. Oh,

  I know, you do not need to tell me, always with the best possible rea
sons, of course. I gave Maximilian the opportunity to act honorably, and he did not take it. Spare me your indignation, girl. I find it as unjustifiable as Maximilian's righteous anger."

  Axis thought that Ravenna was the kind of woman who would very rarely be put in her place, but he thought Isaiah had just managed it. Ravenna kept her tongue still, but her eyes glittered, and Axis wondered if Isaiah had just made himself a bad enemy.

  "Axis," Isaiah continued, "you will go with Ravenna and you will fetch to this palace the rest of Maximilian's party. I am sure that you will be glad to see your father again."

  "Are we to be captives?" Ravenna asked, bright spots of color in her cheeks.

  "You will be treated with the honor I am not sure you completely deserve," Isaiah said, "but the conditions of your time at Sakkuth remain to be negotiated between myself and Maximilian. Not with you."

  Isaiah injected enough derision into that last that Axis glanced worriedly at Ravenna.

  The spots of color in her cheeks were, if anything, much brighter. "You have no idea," she said, rather quietly, "to whom you speak."

  "And you can have no idea either, you petty little marsh woman, to whom you speak."

  Ignoring her gasp, Isaiah looked at Axis. "See that Maximilian's party gets back here safely," he said.

  "Assure them I mean them no enmity, and see that they are quartered comfortably. If I get the chance, I

  will speak with Maximilian myself later tonight."

  And with that he turned on his heel and stalked off.

  Maximilian and Ishbel sat at opposite sides of the table, neither looking at the other.

  "The baby?" he said, his voice wooden and cracked, an echo of how he felt inside.

  Ishbel made a helpless gesture with her hand, then brushed away a tear that had crept down one cheek.

  Her hand trembled badly.

  "There was a man called Ba'al'uz," she said. "He was responsible for the deaths in the Outlands and Central Kingdoms and for taking me from your side. He--"

  "The baby?"

  "Ba'al'uz killed the baby, Maxel. Just after she was born. I'm sorry."

  She, he thought. A daughter.

  He sat in silence for a long time, unable to look at Ishbel, and unable to accept even the concept of the death of the child he'd wanted so badly.