Starman

by Sara Douglass

  “This is the fifth toast to Azhure we’ve drunk,” Magariz noted, but he drank anyway. Men laughed, and emptied their mugs.

  “Well?” Axis demanded, “who else would you have me toast? Your brave self, perhaps? Clinging to a toddling boy for support? Shame, Magariz!”

  Magariz spluttered indignantly. “And who put him there, StarMan? That eighteen-month-old boy was the only impediment to my charge down the Gorken Pass to deal with the Skraelings all by myself!”

  Belial laughed and leaned over to Magariz, almost tilting a bit too far and losing his balance. “Magariz, Axis is out of sorts because he didn’t get to draw his sword himself.” He winked broadly at Axis. “His wife took care of it for him.”

  “Belial.” Azhure’s voice was clear and sweet, and it cut across the drunken banter. “I did but win the day—and that was with the help of tens of thousands of trees planted out with Faraday’s love and care. You forget that Gorgrael still lurks, and he waits. Axis is the only one who can face him. It will come down, in the end, to a duel between the two brothers. That’s the way it will be.”

  “That’s the way it’s always been,” Axis said, his voice hollow, and he threw the dregs of his mug into the fire.

  61

  GORKEN PASS

  “Axis?” “He knows,” Axis replied softly, and Azhure closed her eyes.

  Axis sighed and sat up from their sleeping roll, sliding his legs into his breeches. “He felt his death, as he felt MorningStar’s, and…”

  “And as we both felt it when you ‘died’?”

  “Yes.”

  Azhure regarded Axis as he pulled on his clothes. He had reached out to StarDrifter in the calm of the early morning, reached out to tell him of the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law and all those who had remained in Talon Spike—as well as the better news of the destruction of both Gryphon and Skraeling armies. Azhure envied Axis’ ability to contact his father so far away. It spoke of the depth of both of their powers, and of the bond between them. Azhure, who wielded such a different power, still found it hard to communicate with Axis when long distances lay between them.

  “StarDrifter pronounces awe at your role in yesterday’s victory,” Axis said.

  That made her laugh, and Azhure rolled out of the blankets and began to dress. Caelum still slept soundly amid the comfort of his parents’ residual warmth.

  “Will he meet us in Talon Spike?”

  “Yes. And FreeFall and EvenSong. All will need to be there.”

  “How long will it take for them to fly north?”

  “Several weeks at least. They will fly the long way, to the Ancient Barrows, then the cities of the Minaret Peaks, through to Sigholt, the groves of the Avarinheim, and then…then to Talon Spike.”

  Azhure frowned. “Why so long?”

  “There is no rush, Azhure, and…I want to send the Strike Force from here to clean the complex before they arrive.”

  Azhure dropped her eyes.

  “And StarDrifter and FreeFall want to visit the various Icarii communities on the way. Not only to spread the news about what has happened in the north, but FreeFall is the Talon-Elect, and there are various rituals to be observed as they go.”

  “And us?”

  “Well, that’s what we’ll have to decide this morning. Come, sweetheart, finish combing your hair and we shall talk to the others. If their headaches permit it.”

  Faces were drawn, and some eyes reddened, but headaches were only minor, and after everyone had breakfasted Axis called a conference of his commanders to discuss the future.

  “My friends,” he said, “above all I must thank you for the friendship and support you have given me over the past years. Without you…none of this could have been accomplished. I would have lost heart and faded, allowing Gorgrael to move unhindered over this land. But, at long, long last, hope is now stronger than despair. All of us, I think, can afford to smile.”

  “There is still Gorgrael.” Belial remarked.

  “Yes, there is still Gorgrael. But it will be just him and me now, and no-one here, not even Azhure,” he paused to take her hand briefly, “can help me.”

  “When?” Magariz asked. “How?”

  Axis leaned back. “When? Sometime after Fire-Night, five weeks distant. Where? In the northern wastes. You, at least, can enjoy the resurgent summer, for I shall have nothing but snow for some weeks to come.”

  “And us?”

  “And you, Belial?” Axis paused. “An army will be of little use against Gorgrael. Belial, Magariz, I want you to return south.”

  “No!” both cried out together.

  “Yes,” Axis said. He reached out and took both their hands. “Belial, Magariz, to you both I owe the most. You supported me after the disaster of Gorkenfort, and built me a power base at Sigholt. You have led my army, and you have argued and shouted at me when I would have given up. Now, you can serve me best by moving back south.”

  He let their hands go. “Magariz, you have a province to reclaim from the devastation to which it has been subject. Go home to Rivkah, wait for the birth of your son. Then rebuild Ichtar.”

  Magariz nodded, his eyes downcast.

  “Magariz?”

  Magariz looked up. “Yes, Axis?”

  “Where will you construct your home base in Ichtar? Hsingard is in ruins, and yet there is nowhere else.”

  Magariz stared at him. He had just been informed in no uncertain terms that he could not use Sigholt as his permanent home base in Ichtar. Well, that was no surprise. Axis had claimed Sigholt as his own when he proclaimed Tencendor, and he would want it for himself and Azhure—and their rapidly expanding family—when all was finished.

  “I don’t know,” he began, then smiled. “You know, Axis, the country cupped by the Rivers Azle and Ichtar is rich and fertile. I sometimes summered there when I was stationed in Gorkenfort. I shall build there.”

  “You and Rivkah, and your son, will be welcome in Sigholt until the construction is finished, Magariz.”

  “Thank you, Axis.”

  “Belial, Ysgryff currently holds court in Carlon.” Axis’ mouth twitched. “I dread to think what he does there. No doubt pirates wrestle in the corridors and clerks and scribes are banished to loiter in the streets. Ysgryff, I think, is disinclined to administration.” He paused. “Then again, he has more than surprised me in the past. Belial, will you collect your wife and return to Carlon? Western Tencendor needs its Prince, I think.”

  Belial took a deep breath. “I’ll return to Sigholt, Axis, and go no further.”

  Axis stared at him, his eyes sharp.

  “I will not return to Carlon until I know the outcome of your battle with Gorgrael. I will not!” Belial said. “I have not come this far to be relegated to the sunny south and to the damned clerks and scribes while you battle for your life—and, ultimately ours—in the frozen north with Gorgrael! When I know that you have bested him, when you arrive home, then I will leave for Carlon.”

  “You show a singular lack of faith in my ability to defeat Gorgrael, Belial.”

  “I show a singular concern for your life, Axis. I can do nothing until I know that you live.”

  Axis’ smile faded and he gripped Belial’s hand briefly. “Then wait for me in Sigholt, and when I come home we can share a jug of Reinald’s spiced wine and celebrate my victory.”

  “A deal, Axis. Ysgryff can continue to wreak his havoc on Carlon for a few weeks yet.”

  “And the army, Axis?” Azhure said.

  “Well.” He thought about it. “I have an army. What to do with it now?”

  Ho’Demi, silent until this moment, spoke urgently. “Axis—”

  Axis halted him with a raised hand. “Peace, Ho’Demi. I will get to you in a moment.” His gaze shifted back to his other commanders. “There are a large number of volunteers in the army. Men from Skarabost, Arcness and Carlon. They are now free to go home. Belial, will you arrange their journey south? Tell them…tell them that pay and compensatio
n will be arranged when you return to Carlon. I can speak to you about it in Sigholt when I arrive home.”

  Belial nodded.

  “There must also be thousands who are career soldiers. Men who were in Borneheld’s units or Achar’s regular army.” Axis grinned suddenly, remembering. “And a thousand or so of the former Axe-Wielders. Magariz, of the regular units you may take half to help you rebuild Ichtar; Belial, you may have a quarter of the remaining to help rebuild Aldeni.”

  Both men nodded.

  “And the remaining units,” Axis said, glancing first at Ho’Demi and then at Azhure, “the remaining units can go north with Ho’Demi to help him reclaim his homeland from whatever currently inhabits it.” He paused. “Under my command.”

  Do you mind, Azhure?

  It sounds like an adventure, Axis. I will be delighted.

  “I will be in that quarter,” Arne said from the outer ring of those grouped about the fire.

  Axis smiled. “I would have expected nothing less from you, Arne. I have forgotten what my back looks like, so long have you watched over it for me.” He looked at Ho’Demi. “You do not mind Azhure and myself coming north with you, Ho’Demi?”

  “I and mine will be honoured, StarMan.”

  “The honour belongs to me, Ho’Demi,” Axis said, “for without the assistance of you and yours the battle against Gorgrael would have been lost years ago. Besides, I have a hankering to see this northern land of yours, and to see the icebergs crash against the Icebear Coast.”

  “You shall find our land surprisingly pleasant, StarMan. Or should, if the Skraelings have not eaten most of it.” Ho’Demi frowned. “I have great concern for those I had to leave behind. When the Skraelings invaded I could only bring twenty thousand of my people south with me. A twentieth of the Ravensbund people. The rest…” He shivered.

  Axis could understand his anxiety, but for now he turned his mind from the plight of the Ravensbund people. “SpikeFeather?”

  “Yes, StarMan?”

  “I want several Wings of your command to fly south with the news of the events here. But the majority of your command…”

  “To Talon Spike,” SpikeFeather said.

  “Yes. To Talon Spike. It will be a hard task for you, SpikeFeather, but the mountain will have to be cleansed. Do you still have the jewelled torc in your care?”

  SpikeFeather nodded.

  “Good. StarDrifter and FreeFall will be joining you there, and Azhure and I will move from Ravensbund to Talon Spike by mid-Rose-month. Then the mountain can be reconsecrated and the torc passed to FreeFall.”

  Axis looked slowly around the circle. “And from there…I will move down to the Avarinheim groves for Fire-Night and to meet my destiny with Gorgrael.”

  62

  THE NECKLET

  The farewells were over-bright and cheerful. Magariz and Belial spoke only in terms of “when we see you again” and not “if”. Axis smiled, unable to speak, and embraced them. Azhure stood silently to one side, then she stepped forward and hugged both men herself.

  Then Axis and Azhure mounted their horses, Caelum strapped once more to Azhure’s back, and Axis waved his command forward to join Ho’Demi’s Ravensbundmen further up the Pass. Only three thousand men now, and he was reminded of the days when he rode at the head of the Axe-Wielders. He hoped he would never again have to command an army of thirty thousand. He hoped Tencendor would never again need an army of that size.

  Ho’Demi nodded to his own command, and, as one, eight thousand Ravensbund fighters wheeled their yellow-haired horses for the north. There were almost ten thousand Ravensbund women and children camped about Grail Lake, and soon they would strike camp and move slowly north. Axis had ordered that the river-boats operating along the Nordra be put at their disposal. That, at least, would make the initial part of their journey easier.

  Axis and Azhure waited until the Acharite units had joined the Ravensbund, then Axis saluted to Belial and Magariz. Azhure waved, and both swung their horses northwards, the Alaunt baying excitedly as they raced to catch the units ahead of them.

  Belial and Magariz stood and watched until they were out of sight, and then they turned silently and ordered their men south.

  Soon all that was left in Gorken Pass was the drifting snow and the occasional Skraeling tooth. Far above, the remaining Wings of the Strike Force wheeled and dipped, then they too were gone, flying eastwards over the alps to Talon Spike.

  It was a sadly anticlimactic end to what had been a sometimes grand but often tragic campaign.

  They rode through Gorken Pass for many days and the entire way they saw not one living creature save ravens come to fish in the Andakilsa.

  They did not see Timozel.

  “He would have run directly for Gorgrael,” Azhure said one day as she saw Axis absently finger the hilt of Jorge’s sword. “Cut straight through to the Icebear Coast.”

  “Pray the icebears do not eat him before I have a chance,” Axis replied, but he dropped his hand, and Azhure knew that he had not truly expected to find Timozel wandering the northern regions of Gorken Pass.

  Ho’Demi affected unconcern about the lack of life in Gorken Pass and southern Ravensbund. “None would have lingered here,” he said to Axis and Azhure late one night about the fire, “for this was the haunt of the Skraelings. When they first invaded, the wraiths swung south and west about the western tip of the Icescarp Alps. Any of my people who remained would have made for the extreme north in the hope that the Skraelings were too busy eating their way south to detour after them.”

  But each day Ho’Demi’s concern grew more palpable. There was nothing, nothing at all, and his worst fears seemed confirmed.

  It took them a week to ride through the Pass. Cold winds swept the land, and snow lingered, clinging to the tough grasses.

  “Sea birds often nest in the rocks of the Icescarp,” Sa’Kuya explained one day as she rode next to Azhure. “But none are here this year. No doubt for the past four years Skraelings have been climbing the walls after their eggs. Well, gods provide, the birds will come back one day.”

  When they rode out of Gorken Pass, the landscape did not alter appreciably. Flat plains spread to the west and north, great expanses still covered in light snow, other swathes where thick grasses had managed to push through the soil.

  “The grass can sprout and reach its full height in only ten days,” Ho’Demi said. “The growing season is short here, and neither grass nor beast wastes time in reaching for whatever sun there is.”

  The country seemed as barren and desolate as myth described it, and Axis prepared himself for a long and boring ride north. But, just as he was about to ask Ho’Demi where they should stop for the noon break, he noticed a green line perhaps half a league ahead. It did not reach above the brown grass they currently rode through, so Axis thought that it must be a different variety of grass—perhaps reeds about a marsh.

  Ho’Demi had seen Axis squint ahead and he winked at Sa’Kuya. “The hole,” he said enigmatically. “We’ll stop there for the noon meal, then push hard for the next hole for our night campsite.”

  “The hole?” Axis said, then probed Ho’Demi’s mind, seeking clues. The next hole? But the Ravensbund Chief had locked his thoughts about with shadows—or was that drifting steam?—and Axis could not discern the reason behind the man’s slight smile.

  Within an hour he had his answer. Once they rode closer, Axis could see that the line of green was the tops of trees that grew to the level of the surrounding grasses. The air above them shimmered slightly.

  “What?” he began, then Ho’Demi laughed and waved Axis and Azhure to his side. “Mind you stop your great horses when I tell you, StarMan, or else I shall have to waste the rest of this afternoon rescuing you.”

  Ho’Demi led them forward, then abruptly held up his hand. Axis and Azhure reined their horses back instantly, and Azhure sent a silent command to the hounds. Then she looked down.

  They had stopped at the rim of a gi
gantic hole in the ground. Azhure held her breath and stared. It was, she calculated quickly, easily some two thousand paces across and well over a thousand deep. Worn paths wound their way down the steep sides until they disappeared into the trees that grew up the rocky walls from the hole’s floor.

  “A small and insignificant hole,” Ho’Demi said with studied indifference, but his eyes twinkled as he watched Axis’ and Azhure’s reactions. “You and your command are the first southerners to see Ravensbund’s secret for many thousands of years, StarMan.”

  Axis, like Azhure, just stared. The hole—if such a mediocre word could describe this remarkable geological feature—contained steaming springs and luxuriant vegetation. Whatever winds and storms swept the flat plains would not reach down into this haven.

  “What is it?” he asked eventually.

  “A hole, StarMan.”

  Axis finally wrenched his eyes away from the sight before him. “How?”

  “How is not an established fact, StarMan, but we have stories. It is said that tens of thousands of years ago, the Icescarp Alps swept even further westwards than they do now. But one day, when the gods were in a playful mood,” at this Azhure exchanged a glance with Axis, “they caused a great earthquake, and the final thirty leagues of the Alps sank.”

  “Sank?”

  “Sank, Enchantress, leaving these great holes before us now. Of course,” he blew out his cheeks as if he did not believe a word he was saying, “some say it is a fanciful story, but then others say that the hot springs found at the bases of these holes mirror the hot springs that sit in the depths of Talon Spike. Of course, I would not know about that.”

  Again Axis and Azhure looked at each other, but they did not comment.

  “How many of these are there?” Axis asked.

  “Perhaps three hundred. They stretch across the centre of Ravensbund to the western shores of the Andeis Sea, but they do not extend very far north.”

  “They must be very beautiful,” Azhure said, and Ho’Demi nodded.