Enchanter (63 page)

"To Tencendor," the gathered crowd chorused, draining their Tekawai at a gulp, then reaching with somewhat indelicate haste for more alcoholic sustenance.

Both Ho'Demi and Sa'Kuya smiled as they retrieved their cups. What a crowd of savages they found themselves among.

And then they set about enjoying themselves.

If Embeth and Judith thought they had received all the shocks they were going to get, then they were in for yet more surprises. As they chatted quietly in a corner of the main tent, a handsome middle-aged woman approached them, a young baby of some six or seven months in her arms.

Judith looked at her in some puzzlement. The woman's face seemed somewhat familiar.

"Judith." The woman smiled, and Judith frowned. This stranger was addressing her with a little too much familiarity!

"Do you not remember me, Judith?" the woman asked. "Do you not remember how we used to steal peaches from the cooks in the kitchens of the palace in Carlon when we were children? How we used to chase the pigeons from the courtyard at dawn?"

"Rivkah!" 'Judith breathed, unable to believe that her closest girlhood friend, whom she had thought dead some thirty years, now stood before her.

Rivkah smiled and embraced Judith briefly. Then she stood back and took her first good look at the woman. Judith looked wan and fragile, her skin papery and translucent. She had always been delicate, but now she looked like a dream-image which would be shattered by a simple puff of breeze.

Judith, overwhelmed to find Rivkah standing here before her, began to cry silently, reaching out her hands for Rivkah, almost as if she would not be able to believe that she was really there until she could touch her.

"Shush," Rivkah said. "Axis should have said something. It was remiss of him. Judith, I am sorry beyond telling to hear of Priam's death."

"He was your brother as well as my husband," Judith said through her tears.

"We have both suffered loss through his death."

Rivkah said nothing for a moment, but when she spoke her voice was hard.

"Axis tells me that you blame Borneheld for Priam's death."

Judith reached out a trembling hand. "Oh, Rivkah, I forget so easily that Borneheld was your son. I...I do not mean ..."

Rivkah was instantly contrite. "Judith, I do not chide you for blaming Borneheld. I disassociated myself from my eldest son the instant he slipped from my body. I have no intention of bonding with him now, or of acknowledging him.

Knowing his father, I can well believe that Borneheld murdered to gain the throne. He murdered my brother as well as your husband, Judith, and I cannot forgive him that. Do not fret that you accuse him."

As Judith and Rivkah s conversation turned from Borneheld to mutual friends, Embeth let her eyes slip about the room. It was so strange, being here in this company. The Icarii dominated the room, their extraordinary beauty and grace, as well as their wings, catching Embeth's eyes at every turn. It was the men among them who commanded her attention, however. Men like StarDrifter, who, when he caught her looking at him, had such a knowing look on his face that Embeth felt her legs weaken. It was easy to see who Axis had inherited his magnetism from. She hastily looked away, but found her eyes being dragged back to the Icarii Enchanter. He was still looking at her.

Embeth closed her eyes, clenching her fists by her sides, trying to break the spell he had woven about her. By Artor, she breathed, these Icarii will wreak havoc among the loose morals of court. When she opened her eyes again StarDrifter had turned away, and Embeth breathed a little more easily. She saw Belial, smiling gently at a young Nors girl, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, who chatted animatedly to him. She wore a bright red dress of fine wool that highlighted her pale skin and blue eyes and contrasted with her black hair. When

Magariz stopped momentarily to catch at Belial's arm and indicate a group of soldiers and Crest-Leaders a little further away, Belial shook his head and pulled his arm free, moving a little closer to the girl. Embeth raised her eyebrows. So he preferred the company of a young girl to that of fighting and drinking comrades?

The soft chiming of bells caught Embeth's attention. Many of the Ravensbundmen, some with wives, were also present, and Embeth watched them, fascinated, for a long while. Each had different patterns tattooed into his or her face, but all had the blazing sun emblazoned across their foreheads.

Embeth wondered at the Ravensbund devotion, that they would mark themselves so for Axis. Their black hair glistened blue and green as the lamp light caught the glass among their braids, and they marked their passage through the throng with soft chimes and whispers. Behind the Ravensbundmen were a group of three men who, someone had whispered to Embeth, were the Sentinels mentioned in the Prophecy. Embeth regarded them curiously as they chatted to Baron Ysgryff, almost as if they were old friends.

Axis caught Embeth's eye, and she watched him move among the crowd for a while. The Nors woman was by his side again, laughing and chatting familiarly, not only with Axis, but with most of those he spoke to. She was wearing a black gown, startling in its simplicity, cut low over her breasts and clinging to her slim form. Her hair hung loose down her back. She looked stunning. A true Nors woman, Embeth thought, refusing to admit to herself that she was bitterly jealous.

She did not realise that, to one side, Belial had turned from the lovely young Nors girl and was watching her with some concern. Whispering an excuse to the Nors girl, Belial slowly began to move through the crowd towards Embeth. The girl stared after him, her face losing much of its radiance as she watched Belial move away.

At the same moment Azhure turned and saw Embeth staring at her. Smiling and touching Axis' arm for a moment, murmuring a word or two of excuse, Azhure also began to make her way through the crowd towards Embeth.

"But, Rivkah, explain this baby," Judith asked finally, and Embeth turned back towards the two women. The baby was very handsome, chubby pale cheeks beneath a loose mop of black curls. Smoky blue eyes regarded the women solemnly.

Rivkah smiled. "Judith, Embeth, I would like you to meet my grandson, Caelum."

Embeth's heart thudded painfully. She did not need mystic vision to know who had bred this child.

Azhure joined them in a rustle of silk, and Rivkah turned and handed Caelum across as he wriggled and laughed at the sight of his mother. "And this is the woman I regard as my daughter, Azhure."

Embeth's ill feeling only increased. Wormed her way into both Axis' and his mother's hearts.

"How nice to meet you, Azhure," Judith said.

"And you are Axis' wife?" Embeth asked.

"No. No, I am not. But we are lovers," Azhure said coolly. She knew who Embeth was, and who she once had been. "And Axis does not hesitate to acknowledge me"

Embeth took a sharp breath at the woman's emphasis on the last word. Her eyes glittered angrily, but before she could respond, Belial stepped up to the group and put a restraining hand on her arm.

"Azhure," he said, "I'm sure Axis would appreciate both you and Caelum back at his side as he speaks to Baron Ysgryff."

Azhure nodded stiffly. "I am sorry, Embeth," she said. "My remark was uncalled for." Then she was gone.

"Do not be fooled by her Nors looks, Embeth," Belial said in an undertone.

"She means far more to Axis than you give her credit for."

Embeth dropped her eyes as Azhure rejoined Axis. He had turned and smiled at the woman with such love that she had felt a painful jolt of memory. Ganelon had once smiled at her with love, but never Axis. Axis had offered her friendship, no more.

"I have been a fool, Belial. Come, talk to me of some of your exploits over the past two years."

Baron Ysgryff bowed low over Azhure's hand and smiled at her.

"You are my countrywoman, Azhure," he said. "I knew when you walked into the treaty tent earlier this afternoon beside Axis that I would be able to refuse him nothing. I am but wet clay when faced with such beauty." He turned a little to Axis, although he kept his grip on Azhure s hand. "She is your most dangerous weapon, Axis. Use her well and your enemies will all fall at your feet."

Axis laughed. "You are quite the courtier, Ysgryff."

Azhure smiled graciously. "My mother was a Nors woman, Baron, but I was born and bred in northern Skarabost."

"Your mother?" Ysgryff raised his eyebrows. "Lost to us in northern Skarabost? Please, tell me her name. I might have known her."

A look of deep distress crossed Azhure's face and she snatched her hand from Ysgryff's fingers. "She died when I was very young," she stammered, white-faced. "I cannot remember her name."

Axis slipped a hand about her waist, concerned at Azhure s reaction. Why did she say her mother had died? Had she heard something of her mothers fate after she had run away with the pedlar?

"Azhure, I apologise if my remark caused you distress," Ysgryff said hastily.

"Please, accept my belated condolences. Your mother must have been very beautiful if I can judge anything by her daughter's beauty."

Azhure relaxed slightly and her face regained some colour. "Yes," she said,

"she was very beautiful." Her eyes became dreamy. "She would talk to me of many things."

"Of strange and faraway lands, perhaps? Of seas and tides and long pale beaches?" YsgryfFs voice was curiously insistent.

"Yes. Yes, she had seen many wonders."

"And what did she tell you about these strange lands, Azhure? What did she show you?"

"Flowers," Azhure said, her voice curiously dull. "Many flowers.

Moonwildflowers. Yes. She liked those. And hunting...and...moonlight... and...the Dome ..." she whispered. "The Dome. I remember the Dome."

Axis glanced at Ysgryff, puzzled, and he tightened his arm about Azhure's waist. Had she had too much wine?

Azhure blinked at the pressure of Axis' arm. "Oh, Ysgryff, it was so long ago.

I cannot remember. Her tales are lost in the mists of memory."

As is her name, Ysgryff thought. As is her name. All the priestesses lost their names the day they took their final vows. But what was one of the nine doing in northern Skarabost? And which one was if? The first opportunity Ysgryff got he would be making some very specific inquiries at the Temple of the Stars.

Meanwhile he had a Sacred Daughter standing before him. He must determine her age - that would make his inquiries the easier.

"Then, Azhure, if such things are lost to you, perhaps you will let me tell you of your mother's homeland?"

"I would be delighted," Azhure said. "Please, tell me about Nor. I have often wondered what my mother's people are like."

No wonder, Ysgryff thought, Axis had taken up with this woman. Did he know what he had won for himself? Did he know what the gods had given him?

Apparently not, for otherwise the man would not have hesitated to marry her.

r Every so often Ysgryff's eyes would drift to the child in Azhure's arms, equally fascinated by the baby as he was by his mother. This was a magical line indeed.

In Carlon, Borneheld was enjoying himself immensely. Before him sat the Corolean Ambassador, almost as thin as the pen he held poised in one hand. The man's dark eyes skimmed over the page before him.

"Where do I sign, Sire?"

"Here," Borneheld pointed with his finger. "And here."

The Ambassador signed perfunctorily, then handed the pen to Borneheld, watching as the King of Achar signed the document as well. The man was almost obscene in his haste.

As soon as he had finished Borneheld sat back, feeling a deep sense of peace and security. Let Axis come for me now, he thought, let him come and see what a surprise I have in store for him. "When will the Emperor begin to send the troops, Ambassador?"

"Most of the troops are waiting to embark, Sire," the Ambassador said.

"They should be here within two weeks."

Not before time, Borneheld thought. Not before time. He had worked hard to conclude this treaty with the Corolean Ambassador — and the troops which the Emperor had promised him would win him back his country.

"Some more wine?" he inquired politely, although he disliked having to waste such good wine on this constipated vegetable. "It is of the finest quality."

The Silent Woman Dream

It was the last week of Harvest-month, only eight weeks before Axis had to fulfil his side of the contract with the GateKeeper. Axis' temper grew shorter day by day as he realised how little time he had before his bargain died. But his army had now grown so vast it could not possibly move at the same speed as Axis'

former Axe-Wielders had been able to. As tents were erected at a site just south of the Silent Woman Woods, Axis remembered how his Axe-Wielders had taken three days to traverse the distance between the Silent Woman Woods and the Ancient Barrows. His thirty-one thousand had taken just on nine days to travel the same distance.

Axis sighed and stared at the Silent Woman Woods. He had not objected when his father, grandmother and sundry other Icarii Enchanters had flown into the woods earlier that morning. There was little of danger within the Silent Woman Woods to harm the Icarii, and much to fascinate them, though three Wing of the Icarii Strike Force had accompanied them. Surprisingly, both Ogden andVeremund had shrugged when Axis had asked them if they wanted to ride in, saying that they would return to the Silent Woman Keep one day, but not this one. Raum, beside them, had stood staring longingly at the Woods from beneath the deep overhang of his hood, but had turned away shaking his head when Axis asked him if he would walk among the trees. "Later" was all he had said.

Axis walked slowly towards his tent, preoccupied. His relationship with Azhure was becoming more strained the closer they came to Carlon and to Faraday. Every night between the Ancient Barrows and the Silent Woman Woods Azhure rolled herself and Caelum into her bedroll and turned her back on him.

One night Axis had laid his hand on Azhure s shoulder and murmured into her ear. "Do not lock me out of your life, Azhure, I do not intend to let you go."