Battleaxe

by Sara Douglass

  Far below Rivkah’s hand crept to her throat. Again the faint memory of Raum turning to Axis outside the Avarinheim and calling something about Faraday back to her son niggled at her mind. What was it he had said?

  “Can we afford to lose her as well? StarDrifter needed her to wake the Earth Tree, and without her the Avarinheim will never march forth to face Gorgrael. My friends, Gorkenfort virtually is the Prophecy at the moment with so many named by the Prophecy trapped within it. On these grounds alone you should assist Gorkenfort in whatever manner you are able. But there is another argument for aiding the Groundwalkers. My friends, please do not take what I am about to say amiss. I judge my own people as well as yours in this.” Raum paused. “Both the Avar and the Icarii need a war leader. We need the StarMan to lead us against Gorgrael. I have seen Axis, albeit briefly. I have seen his command and the manner in which his men respond to him—he controls probably the best fighting force in Tencendor at this moment. I have seen his compassion—I am alive because of it. His name has become legendary within Achar in only the five years that he has led the Axe-Wielders. Azhure,” he turned to the woman at his side. “Tell the Icarii what you know of Axis BattleAxe.”

  Azhure took a deep breath and looked down, her voice steady. “Our youths flock to the Axe-Wielders to train under his command. Toddlers seize twigs from firewood and wield them like swords, invoking Axis’ name. Grown men speak his name both with approval and envy over their pots of ale. Women,” she smiled slightly, “dream of spending the night in his arms.” StarDrifter smiled also. His son had apparently inherited more than enchantments from him. Had this woman dreamed of Axis in this way? His smile faded and he frowned slightly.

  “His is the name that Achar might well rally to,” Azhure continued. “He has good men under his command, and I can think of no other war leader in Achar who could call on both the hearts and hands of so many of my countryfolk.”

  Raum spoke again before any of the Icarii could answer. “For all these reasons I add my supplication to StarDrifter’s. Aid Gorkenfort and you will in the end aid yourselves. Let Gorgrael destroy all those within Gorkenfort and the Prophecy dies before us. Let Axis become our war leader. We have no other to lead us.”

  Almost before Raum had finished speaking the Strike Force, almost to a man and a woman, stood up and shouted objections. They would stand against Gorgrael! Their Crest-Leaders, FarSight CutSpur senior among them, would provide the leadership to win this holy battle. Talon RavenCrest would lead the combined might of the Icarii and the Avar to victory against the Skraelings!

  Far below FreeFall stood forward again. “Yes, it will be a SunSoar who will lead us to victory!” he shouted. “But it will not be RavenCrest, nor StarDrifter, nor even myself ! It must be Axis! Hold, my friends! Have you forgotten Earth Tree Grove so fast? Will you let Icarii pride drive us to our graves? We need the battle experience and the leadership of Axis!’” He paused, his eyes burning bright. “And what better training could he have had than as BattleAxe?” he said softly into the silence. “Tell me, my people. What better training could the StarMan have had? Have not the BattleAxes kept us from Tencendor these long centuries?”

  He paused once more, letting each and every word bite deep. “Then let a BattleAxe lead us back again.”

  FreeFall stepped back, drained, but his words had cut deep. StarDrifter nodded at him.

  PerchSure HoldFast, one of the Elders, stepped forward. “But has not the BattleAxe lost the battle for Gorkenfort? If he has miscalculated this badly then how do we know he won’t do it again?”

  StarDrifter cut in quickly. “PerchSure, Axis would not yet know how to control his power or how to really use it until I show him. At the moment he is literally half a man, perhaps driven mad by the glimpses of power that he has.”

  “Your decision!” RavenCrest shouted, stepping back into the centre of the golden circle. Most had forgotten he was there. “Do we aid Gorkenfort?”

  “How?” a lone voice cried. “How do we aid Gorkenfort when we could not stop the slaughter in Earth Tree Grove?”

  FreeFall stepped into the void. “We will send an envoy to Gorkenfort and initiate negotiations with the Groundwalkers…with Axis BattleAxe. Will we place ourselves under his leadership for the battles ahead?”

  Again murmurings among the Strike Force began, but FarSight CutSpur raised his hand for silence among his command. “I have lain awake nights thinking on how badly we failed at Earth Tree Grove,” he said quietly, the shame in his voice for all to hear. “It took a Groundwalker woman, Azhure, to show us how to use our weapons. Do I want to see the Strike Force led by a BattleAxe?” He laughed mirthlessly. “No. But we have no choice. If he is as good as some say he is…if…then I will stand aside for the man. But I want one of the Crest-Leaders to be among those who go forth to Gorkenfort.”

  “Do we agree to send a small number to meet with the Groundwalkers at Gorkenfort and to meet this Axis BattleAxe? Do we agree to offer our aid?” RavenCrest threw open his arms to the Assembly, appealing for a quick decision.

  One by one the Icarii stood, many still obviously unhappy with their lack of choice in the action ahead, others more sure that Axis could perhaps lead them out of the Prophecy of the Destroyer and back into Tencendor.

  “Aye!” voices began to call singly, and then, as more and more joined in, “Aye!” thundered to the domed roof.

  StarDrifter turned his head aside and wept, and FreeFall enveloped his uncle in an embrace.

  56

  FREEFALL SUNSOAR

  Axis, Belial and Magariz stood in the cold dawn light on the roof of the Keep in Gorkenfort, wrapped in thick cloaks, gazing down at the Skraelings massing below them. It had been almost two weeks since the fall of Gorkentown and, for those inside the fort, the situation had steadily worsened. Axis shifted from foot to foot, still weak. But he was alive, and for that, according to Belial and sundry other witnesses, he had Faraday to thank. Under the cloak Axis’ hands touched the side of his chest where the new scars still itched. No-one could satisfactorily explain what Faraday had done, how she had healed him, and Axis had no chance to ask himself. For a week after the fall of Gorkentown she had been careful to avoid Borneheld’s ire, staying within her room, whispering words of apology and endearment to her husband whenever he came to her. But Borneheld remained cold. She had disobeyed him in countermanding his orders, but Faraday knew that in Borneheld’s eyes her worse crime was saving Axis’ life. She must not let Borneheld suspect her true feelings for Axis; he could still kill Axis in a fit of jealous rage.

  As they stood there in the cold dawn, the northerly wind wrapping their cloaks even closer, Magariz felt that much of the coldness surrounding him emanated from Axis himself. Axis had been angrily incredulous that Magariz had allowed Faraday to accept the responsibility for the opening of the gates, and had hardly spoken to him this past week. Magariz could not blame him. He shifted his injured leg slightly and pulled his cloak a little closer, surreptitiously looking at Axis from the corner of his eye. Only a few weeks fighting alongside this man had twisted Magariz’s loyalties out of shape. For years he had been Borneheld’s right-hand man, his senior commander, trusted with Gorkenfort. But now Magariz, as others, wondered if Axis was not the better man to hold the supreme position of WarLord. He sighed.

  Belial heard Magariz sigh and glanced at him. Artor! he thought silently, Axis and Faraday’s pain touches and envelops us all. Was love worth this much pain? Would it not be better if Axis and Faraday simply forgot each other, turned their backs and accepted that their feet trod different paths? Let me never love a woman so desperately that I know only pain because of it, he prayed. Belial lived for his military calling and had never been tempted by the thought of marriage or children. Women passed in and out of his life like shadows, there for a night or a week, leaving no trace of themselves once they had left. Thinking about Axis and Faraday now made Belial sigh as well, wondering why some men let themselves love and suffer to this deg
ree.

  Axis heard both men sigh and turned away, irritated. Everyone was sunk in gloomy thoughts, sunk in contemplations of their own doom. Well, looking down on the Skraelings massed through what was left of Gorkentown and about the walls of the fort itself, Axis supposed that he could not blame men for such contemplations. The Skraelings had almost completely destroyed the town, piling rubble into tall piles and burrowing beneath. Axis shuddered to think what they might be doing underneath there.

  The fort’s gates, iron-plated, held fast against the SkraeBolds’ attempts to crack them with their icy claws, the bolts remaining securely fastened. But the number of Skraelings grew day by day so that they were now a sea of undulating grey forms beyond the fort’s walls, silver eyes and toothy jaws constantly raised to the walls in anticipation of the feed that awaited them.

  Although starvation was a real possibility, and while most believed that the fall of Gorkenfort was inevitable, equally no-one believed that Gorgrael would waste the time needed to starve them out. He would want to move south as soon as he could, grab as much territory as quickly as possible while Achar still reeled from the disaster of Gorkenfort. He would not want to move south while he had such a large number of enemies encased in the fort behind him, ready to burst forth for the attack once his lines were stretched. But what would he do? When would he attack? The waiting was wearing down men’s nerves, nerves already shredded by the loss of Gorkentown.

  Since he had crawled out of his bed and resumed his responsibilities as BattleAxe Axis had been almost impossible to be around. He infuriated Belial who had one night shouted at Axis when they were alone in their quarters, trying to make him understand that anyone else would have lost Gorkentown sooner and would have lost the lives of all who had defended the town. But Axis merely remarked bitterly that was all very well for Belial to say, wasn’t Belial the one who had managed to not only save Axis’ life, but the lives of those remaining in the street? Belial had truly lost his temper and had only just restrained himself from striking Axis, eventually turning and stalking out of the room.

  The three men stood alone on the roof of the Keep. It was the highest point in the fort’s defences and all the other sentries were well below them on the battlements and walls. They were alone, wrapped in their own thoughts.

  Alone, until all three men realised that they could hear the soft beat of wings. Magariz, memories of the SkraeBold’s previous attack on him rushing to his mind, was first to draw his sword and crouch into a defensive posture, his eyes scanning the low cloud above, his left hand pushing his cloak out of the way of his sword arm.

  Three forms dropped out of the cloud and onto the roof a safe distance away from the three men, all now with their swords drawn. Axis narrowed his eyes at the three winged men, dressed in warm woollen garments, standing across the far side of the roof. Two had jet-black wings, the third had snow-white wings, golden hair and the deepest violet eyes Axis had ever seen in any creature. None of them were armed and all held their hands well out from their sides to show that they carried no weapons, drooping their wings until they rustled along the splintery wood of the roof.

  One of the black-winged creatures stepped forward and bowed slightly at the three men. “Greetings, BattleAxe Axis, StarMan,” he said in a deep musical voice.

  All three men started at the sure naming of Axis, but Magariz was especially stunned by the use of the title “StarMan”. His eyes momentarily flickered to Axis. StarMan?

  “I am Crest-Leader HoverEye BlackWing, commander in the Icarii Strike Force.” Axis almost dropped his sword in astonishment. They are Icarii! he thought, his heart starting to bound in his chest. Icarii! “My companions,” HoverEye continued, after a moment’s pause, “are FreeFall SunSoar, heir to the Talon throne, and Wing-Leader SpikeFeather TrueSong.” It had taken FreeFall hours of heated argument with his father to obtain permission to fly in with HoverEye and SpikeFeather and the Talon had been heartsick as he waved his only son goodbye from Talon Spike.

  HoverEye stopped and looked expectantly at Axis who suddenly realised that HoverEye was waiting for him to introduce his two companions. “Ah, Lord Magariz, commander of Gorkenfort under Borneheld Duke of Ichtar,” Magariz bowed slightly, his cautious but intensely curious dark eyes not leaving the group of three Icarii, “and my lieutenant, Belial.”

  Belial sketched a bow, his eyes friendly. So these were Axis’ father’s people? “It is strange,” he said, “that my first impression of the Forbidden should be that they are hardly forbidding at all.”

  Magariz gawked at the three creatures. Forbidden? They were nothing like the foul creatures of the Seneschal’s teachings.

  FreeFall walked forward, stopping only a few paces from Axis. Axis lowered his sword and turned to his companions. “We have nothing to fear from these Icarii. Put your swords away.” He sheathed his sword and an instant later Belial did the same. Somewhat reluctantly, even though he believed the three Icarii were little threat, Magariz lowered his own sword and sheathed it. The scar throbbed on his cheek, reminding him of what injuries winged attackers could inflict.

  Axis turned back to look at FreeFall. He couldn’t believe how beautiful the Icarii was. No wonder his mother had loved one of them.

  Magariz grasped Belial’s arm, his eyes wide in shock as he looked between Axis and the Icarii. “Artor save us!” he whispered, “I think I can now see who, what, fathered Axis!”

  “Indeed, my Lord Magariz. Axis is as much Icarii as Acharite.”

  Magariz dragged his eyes away from Axis and the Icarii and looked at Belial in amazement as he realised that Axis and Belial were already well aware of Axis’ Icarii connection and of the idea that Axis might be the StarMan.

  For their part FreeFall, HoverEye and SpikeFeather were equally enthralled with Axis. Could he be the One to save them? HoverEye thought he saw the lines of strain and self-doubt around the man’s eyes and wondered if this could truly be the StarMan. Surely the One would be more confident?

  FreeFall smiled at his cousin and held out his hand. Slowly Axis stepped forward and extended his own. FreeFall grasped it “Greetings, cousin. StarDrifter and Rivkah send greetings and their love and would, had they been able, have come here to greet you themselves. But Rivkah, alas, has not the gift of flight and your father is only just recovering from cruel injuries inflicted by a SkraeBold at Yuletide.”

  Axis wavered on his feet and FreeFall’s grip tightened about his arm. “Axis?”

  Magariz looked, if possible, even more stunned.

  “Rivkah is alive?” Axis whispered. His whole life had been built about the presumption of her death at his birth, yet now this Icarii—his cousin?—stood before him and smiled and said that Rivkah was alive. How had she survived Jayme and Moryson?

  FreeFall blinked in some bewilderment, then laughed as he realised what had shocked Axis so much. “Of course, cousin. Ah, but I can see that there has been some confusion. Truth to tell, StarDrifter and Rivkah believed until very recently that you were dead, too. Ever since they found out the truth of your existence they have fretted to see you.”

  After all the cruel lies, after a lifetime of believing there was no-one in the world for him, that he had no family, suddenly Axis discovered that his parents were alive and loved him. His parents…what a strange concept. He had never had parents before now. And this man had called him cousin? “Cousin?” he frowned.

  FreeFall smiled more gently at the man. How strange he must be feeling. “StarDrifter is my uncle, brother to my father RavenCrest, the Talon.” His smile broadened. “And you have a sister, EvenSong. So you see, Axis, you have an entire family that you knew nothing about until now. Welcome to the House of SunSoar.” FreeFall hesitated an instant, then he leaned forward and embraced Axis.

  Axis stood, completely overwhelmed, then he suddenly hugged FreeFall tightly. “FreeFall,” he laughed, some of the tightly coiled emotions within him unwinding, “what a ridiculous name!”

  “And what of Axis? Ther
e has never been an Axis SunSoar before. But it sounds good. It sounds good, cousin. And I am glad that we have found you.”

  All watching felt the emotion between FreeFall and Axis and none were unaffected by it. Belial stepped forward and briefly embraced Axis. “Axis SunSoar,” he said grinning, “I like it. And a sister? I think I’d like to meet her! I hope she has not got your temper.”

  FreeFall grinned at this likeable man, but thought it best to banish any romantic thought about EvenSong from his mind. “She has the worst of the SunSoar temper, Belial. You would do better to avoid her. Besides, daily she torments me with the threat of becoming my wife.”

  Belial bowed slightly to the Icarii. “Then you have my apologies and my condolences, FreeFall SunSoar. I have lived with Axis’ temper for many years now and can only imagine what it must be like in a woman.”

  Axis’ smile faded a little. StarDrifter. “FreeFall. My father. I must get to my father.”

  “Yes. I understand, Axis. That is partly the reason why we are here. HoverEye? SpikeFeather?” FreeFall gestured the other two Icarii forward. All three had folded their wings against their backs now that the greetings were over.

  “Axis SunSoar,” HoverEye began formally. “We know of the Prophecy and, with so many of the Sentinels with you, then I can only assume that you do also.” Axis nodded. “You are the StarMan,” HoverEye said bluntly, “and you are the one who will bring Gorgrael to his knees. Here you are impotent,” HoverEye gestured about Gorkenfort and Axis winced. HoverEye noticed the expression in Axis’ eyes. “No, Axis SunSoar, do not blame yourself for this. No one could have prevented this rout. And perhaps you should know that both the Avar and the Icarii have stood as helpless against the Skraelings as you do now” He grimaced at the memory. “It took a Groundwalker woman, Azhure, to show us how to kill the wraiths.”