Enchanter (55 page)

At the bridge, a dark man limped forward, holding a tattered cloak tight about him.

"Are you true?" the bridge asked, distracted by the revelry in the Great Hall.

"Yes, I am true," the figure replied.

"Then pass, and I will see if you speak the truth," the bridge replied perfunctorily.

"As you wish," the dark man replied, and stepped onto the bridge.

The Icarii Enchanters had moved from light background music into songs and revels that invited the feet to skip and dance and the body to sway in rhythm. Seven or eight couples danced the Hey-de-Gie, a merry dance between two opposing lines of males and females, and the rest of the crowd had stood back to make room for them, laughing and clapping as the dancers bent and swayed to the music floating down from above.

Rivkah turned at a touch on her shoulder.

"It has been a long time, Princess," Magariz said, "but I wonder if you still remember?"

"My memory remains clear on the important issues, my Lord Magariz, and the Hey-de-Gie remains, after all, one of the more important issues of life."

Magariz laughed and held out his hand. "Then, Princess, I wonder if you would do me the honour of accompanying my halting footsteps one more time through the dance."

Rivkah took his hand. "It would be my pleasure, Lord Magariz."

Axis took a healthy mouthful of wine, and watched his mother dance with Magariz. For a man with a pronounced limp, he managed to manoeuvre his way through the intricate dance with particular grace. Where was Azhure? He looked about the crowd, and finally spied her moving towards him, Caelum in her arms.

Axis kissed her cheek as she joined him, then lifted his eyes. "Ah, here are Belial and EvenSong." Axis smiled com-panionably at Belial, then narrowed his eyes at his sister. EvenSong blushed, and both Axis and Azhure smiled knowingly.

"Axis," Belial said. "I was talking to Roland about Burdel. It reminded me that we must move soon."

Axis instantly sobered. Yes, it was time they moved. Gorgrael still waited, and the GateKeeper would be counting the days off on her thin-fingered hands, waiting for Axis to fulfil his side of their contract before the year and a day expired. How long had he spent here at Sigholt? Axis quickly calculated. Five months?

"Soon," he agreed, and pushed the GateKeeper's contract into the back of his mind. Gorgrael was the more pressing problem. "My friends, I fear greatly the prospect of Gorgrael pushing further south while I am mired down in Arcness or Tarantaise. He could reach Carlon before me."

Axis stopped abruptly. Gorgrael reach Carlon before I? Reach Faraday before I? For the very first time Axis wondered about the identity of the Lover mentioned in the third verse of the Prophecy — Faraday or Azhure? Which one?

"Neither is the news from Jervois Landing good, Great Lord." Ho'Demi had joined their circle, and the four stared at him.

"No. No, it is not," Axis conceded.

Spies, both Icarii farflight scouts and ground spies, had reported in the past few days that Borneheld was building his forces at Jervois Landing. With the Skraeling attack deflected, Borneheld appeared to be concentrating his forces for an attack on Sigholt. Not only had further reinforcements from Coroleas arrived, but Borneheld had apparently conscripted every able-bodied man within fifty leagues of Jervois Landing. "It would be best to move before Borneheld does, Axis," Belial remarked quietly.

"And before Gorgrael has bred up an army of these newly armoured and fleshed Skraelings," Axis said.

The dark man reached the Keep. He was cold, despite the balmy air surrounding the Lake of Life, and he missed his shadowed habitat. Would he ever see it again?

The guard at the entrance to the Keep eyed the approaching cloaked figure warily, not liking the closely drawn hood, nor the strange gait of the man. "Your business?" he demanded, as the figure stepped closer.

The man threw back the hood of his cloak, and the guard stiffened in surprise and more than a little shock.

"I have come to join Axis SunSoar and Azhure, the woman who carries the Wolven," the man said. "I need to travel south with them."

Though the man had managed to cross the bridge, the guard was still wary.

But, just as he was about to bar the entrance and turn the man away, he heard a step behind him.

"I will vouch for this man," Ogden said softly. "He is true, and he is a friend to both Axis and Azhure."

"And I will vouch for this man," Veremund echoed. "He is a good man, and vital to the cause of Axis SunSoar and the Prophecy." So, it had begun.

Axis waited until the dance was over, then motioned Rivkah to his side. She was breathless, her cheeks red and her eyes sparkling.

"I have not danced the Hey-de-Gie for over thirty years, Axis. I could hardly remember the steps." She laughed at Magariz as he joined her. "And neither has my Lord Magariz, if his fumbles were any indication."

"A fighting man soon loses courtly skills, madam," Magariz said. "I claim my stiff leg as adequate explanation for my lack of skill here tonight."

Axis regarded them dryly. Their words regarding Magariz's fumbles were artificial - he had clearly been the best dancer on the floor, and Rivkah seemed to have no trouble remembering any of the steps.

Axis refilled his glass, then signalled to the Icarii musicians. They stopped instantly, and conversation in the Hall ceased with the music. All knew that Axis had called them together tonight to speak to them. Most thought they knew what he wanted to announce.

Axis stepped forward. He made an imposing figure, golden and blood-red, and as he halted at the front of the dais he turned and held out his hand for Azhure. He wanted all to know that she stood at his side as his equal. Azhure hesitated a moment, then stepped forward to take his hand. He smiled at her before addressing the Hall.

"Tonight is a special occasion," he said clearly. "We have come together to celebrate several events. It is my mother Rivkah's nameday, and I would like to use this occasion to welcome the Princess Rivkah back home to Achar after so long in exile. Welcome home, Rivkah."

Rivkah inclined her head gracefully at his words. "Princess Rivkah," the crowd murmured politely, raising their glasses.

"I would also like to thank you, my friends," Axis said, "for your work on my and on Achar's behalf, this past winter. If Achar owes its current liberty from Gorgrael's creatures of frost and ice, then a large part of the reason why rests with the commanders in this room, particularly with the Icarii Strike Force. I thank you."

He paused, and ran his eyes over the crowd. They were tense, waiting.

By the door, the dark man hesitated, suddenly shy within this company. He squinted to the front of the Hall and saw Axis and Azhure standing side by side on the platform. They looked like the sun and the moon standing there, Axis golden and vibrant, Azhure dark and pale and serene by the StarMans side. The dark man's eyes filled with tears as he watched them. Then his black eyes widened in shock as he saw the baby which Azhure held.

"As you can see," Axis continued, "this gathering is unusual for we have among us Acharites, but we also have Ravensbund men and women, the Sentinels of the Prophecy, and the Icarii. We stand in Sigholt, a Keep revitalised and reborn into the magic of the past. Perhaps it is no longer so correct to speak of this land as Achar, my people."

The Hall was completely silent. Axis' eyes caught those of StarDrifter, standing twelve or thirteen paces back from the dais. For once his eyes were on his son, rather than Azhure.

"We have done what we can here. It is time to move on." Axis paused and ran his eyes around the Hall. "It is time to move south, my friends. It is time to reforge Tencendor."

The Hall erupted. The Icarii, always excitable, whooped and screamed with joy. They were taking the next step on the long road home! South! South towards those high places so long denied them and towards the lost Icarii sacred sites! StarDrifter's face was tight with excitement. Lead us home, Axis, he prayed silently, lead us home.

The dark man started to shoulder his way through the crowd towards the dais. In the general hubbub, few noticed the strange man who passed through their midst.

The Acharites among them, particularly the newer arrivals, looked a litde discomfited. They were unsure of the Icarii, unsure of the new order. Most had worked well with the Icarii at Sigholt, fought side by side with them. But what would happen when the war was won? Would they lose their homes to the Icarii? Would the greater number of the Icarii, still in Talon Spike, seek to revenge themselves on the Acharites for the Wars of the Axe and their thousand-year exile?

"It will not be the old Tencendor but a new one," Axis shouted above the Icarii jubilation. "A new Tencendor! One where all races will live side by side."

Azhure caught a slight movement at the front of the crowd, and she gasped in shock. Axis followed her startled eyes.

The dark man stepped to the edge of the dais and stared intently, almost feverishly, at Axis and Azhure.

"Will you take me south? South to Faraday?" "Raum!" Azhure gasped. "Wliat has happened to you?"

A week later, the beginning of Thaw-month, Axis' army moved out of Sigholt and down through the HoldHard Pass. They stayed in the Pass only a league before swinging south through the Urqhart Hills towards Gundealga Ford. It was a calculated risk, but Axis didn't want to be delayed at the Smyrton ferry crossing as the army units were slowly ferried across. At least they could cross Gundealga Ford in a day, then swing east again to relative safety. And, unlike Borneheld, Axis had the advantage of the Icarii Strike Force who could both warn and protect should Axis' force be threatened by another. Axis could hardly believe how large his command had grown. He had led some three thousand men out of Gorken-fort before going into the Icescarp Alps alone. Now, fifteen months after Gorkenfort, his force numbered almost seventeen thousand.

Trundling along behind the mounted and winged force was the supply train, perhaps a thousand packhorses, several dozen sturdy wagons, and sundry cooks, physicians, servants and, no doubt, Axis thought, a dozen or so whores as well. A large number of the Ravensbund women also rode with the supply column, although the majority of the women and children had remained behind in Sigholt and Lakesview. Riding the wagons much of the day were also those Icarii, mainly Enchanters, who had chosen to go south with Axis, StarDrifter and MorningStar among them. Axis was still concerned about the Gryphon. If the Strike Force was not about, either flying ahead to scout the terrain before them, or lagging leagues behind to cover the rear of the army and supply column, then the Enchanters were grounded, complaining, to the supply wagons. Two of Azhure's squads of archers and several units of mounted soldiers travelled with the supply column for protection.

Leading the supply column were the Sentinels, Ogden and Veremund atop their ever-placid white donkeys, Jack riding a quiet brown mare. In the wagon immediately behind them rode Raum, feverish and distraught much of the time.

He was transforming into a Horned One, Ogden and Veremund had explained to a concerned Axis and Azhure, and his transformation was connected in some as yet ill-defined way with Faraday. Normally Raum would not have dared to leave the Avarinheim in the middle of transforming, but he was desperate to reach Faraday. Somehow she held the key to his successful transformation.

Raum's entire head looked as though a giant had grasped it in his hands and forcibly rearranged the bones. His forehead bulged unevenly and was covered with transparent down. Just above his hair line what appeared to be nubs of bone glistened whenever he turned his head. His nose was broad and long, his mouth twisted, and his teeth grown yellowed and square. Despite his frightening appearance, Raum's eyes still glistened black and friendly underneath his heavy brows. The Raum inside,- Azhure realised, was no different despite his external appearance.

Azhure usually rode with her archers in the main column of Axis' army, although she sometimes reined Venator back to wait for the supply column.

Caelum was always with her, generally securely fastened in a sling about her back. Over her shoulder was slung the Wolven, and at her side ran the Alaunt hounds, pleased beyond measure to be out of the confining Keep and running free across the plains. They could almost smell blood on the wind.

Axis spent most of the day at the head of his force. Belial and Magariz sometimes rode with him, at times further back in the column of soldiers, sometimes further back still with Ho'Demi and his ten thousand, all mounted on the sturdy, shaggy yellow horses of the northern ice plains. Despite their bells and chimes, the Ravensbundmen moved silently.

Sigholt and the people of Lakesview had been left protected with a token force of five hundred men. Roland, sick but cheerful, was put in overall control, promising Axis that he would remain alive until Axis could reclaim his home. Axis had spent a day and a night wrapping Sigholt in enchantments with the help of the bridge, collapsing exhausted in his bed to sleep two days and nights at the end of it. A thick blue mist surrounded Sigholt and its environs, leaving the Keep itself, the town, the Lake and the immediate hills in clear and sunny air. The mist had been created using various Songs of Moisture and Muddlement. Any stranger looking for Sigholt would ride about in circles for hours, confused and bewildered. Only those the bridge knew could find their way through.

Sigholt was safe, and Axis was on the move. Finally, he breathed, I am moving. He had to have gained control of Achar by the first day of Bone-month, six months away, or else all would be lost.

Far overhead, the eagle soared, also glad to be moving, but unable to understand why.

Once past Gundealga Ford, Axis swung his column east and south through Skarabost, bypassing Smyrton completely. Somewhere south Earl Burdel waited with an unknown force. Axis signalled to the farflight scouts far above. Find Burdel. He had been burning and murdering in Borneheld's name for months, and now it was time to stop him. Burdel would be the first obstacle Axis had to counter in his bid to reforge Tencendor.