Pilgrim (13 page)

D
rago retraced his steps through the craft and the crystal forest. When he finally entered the green shade of the live trees he stopped, hesitated, then turned and plucked one of the golden leaves from one of the crystal trees, and slipped that into his sack as well.

He was not sure why he did so, as he was not sure why he’d plucked the thread from WingRidge’s emblem nor collected some of the dried blood, in each case yielding only to a sudden urge.

“I am glad
you
do not ask questions!” Drago said to the lizard crouched beside him. It opened its mouth in a parody of a grin, and then bounded forward. Drago smiled to himself as he walked the final few paces into the Silent Woman Woods.

Faraday emerged from behind one of the trees, her face relaxing in relief.

“Drago!” She halted a pace away from him, her eyes searching his.

“Well?” she asked softly.

He stared at her, wondering what she knew. Did
she
also think…?

“You cannot hide from who you are,” Faraday said, watching the denial in Drago’s face, “nor from your heritage.”

She started to say more, but Drago cut her off.

“We have to go north. To Gorkenfort—”

Sudden emotion flared in Faraday’s eyes, but Drago did not see it.

“—where,” his mouth thinned, “I must meet with my mother. My ‘ancestral mother’. Do you know what this means?”

Emotion relaxed to puzzlement in Faraday’s eyes, but she did not question him. She shook her head. “What else?”

“And you are to find that which Noah lost,” Drago continued. “He said you would know what he meant.”

“Katie’s Enchanted Song Book,” she said. “It will, I believe, be a help against Qeteb.”

At the name of the Midday Demon, Drago stared into the trees at Faraday’s back.

He took a deep breath. “Faraday, Noah told me Tencendor must die and Qeteb must walk. How can I let this be? Gods,
how can I let this
?”

Faraday stared at him, almost unable to believe what he’d said, then she collected herself and gave him a brief hug.
But all she could think of was the land dying, the trees toppling, the lakes disintegrating, the dust drifting…drifting…

She turned her head aside, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes.

“It must be,” Drago repeated in a soft voice. He was still staring into the forest, almost unaware of Faraday, and certainly completely unaware of her own distress. “Whatever it takes, I will let nothing,
nothing
, stand in my way. I came back through the Star Gate to help Caelum and to save this land, and
damn me to the pits of the AfterLife if I cannot repair the horror I helped sow.
”

Faraday jerked her gaze back to his face, disturbed by his determination without quite knowing why. Drago would let nothing stand in the way of his quest. Tencendor would always come first in his affections and loyalties.

The land would always come first.

Faraday had known another man like that, and had been hurt beyond compare by him.

She turned away and walked back to the donkeys.

They took four days to move back to Zared’s camp. They could have moved faster, but both wanted to put off the moment when they would have to share their grim news with Zared. Both Drago and Faraday, each driven to chronic loneliness by either circumstance or choice, also needed the time to forge the bonds of a friendship that would prove comforting, but not taxing or dangerous or potentially painful.

Both found themselves very much aware of the other, and aware of the other’s reaction. For one that was a welcome surprise, for the other a frightening and unacceptable risk.

“Can you tell me what happened with Gorgrael?” Faraday asked one day as the thin Snow-month sun filtered down through the forest canopy and she caught Drago watching her from the corner of an eye. The lizard rode with her that day, curled up behind her back, snuggled between Faraday’s warmth and that of the donkey.

Drago nodded. His passage back through the Star Gate had shattered all the enchantments that had crippled his memories. “I came to awareness early.” His voice was very quiet. “I was growing in Azhure’s womb, RiverStar wrapped tightly about me. Maybe the third or fourth month of life. I knew even then that I had…that I had a task. I believed I should be Axis’ heir. I
knew
it!”

He turned to stare at Faraday. “I cannot know how. But I knew it. I was so stupid. I imagined a life full of greatness and pride, of reverence and of muscle-throbbing power. I thought of thrones and courts and the masses of Tencendor spread at my feet.”

Drago’s eyes slipped back to the path before them. “I understood the power of both my parents. I revelled in it.

And I thought to be twice as powerful as them because in me was combined the power of both.

“And then…then I became aware of Caelum. Gods, Faraday, you cannot know the resentment that swept me!
Another
son? Born
before
me? A son that my mother rocked to her breast, only thin layers of flesh between us. A son that my father tossed high in the air and proclaimed StarSon.

“I thought that title should have been mine.”

To that Faraday said nothing. But now? she wondered. Now?

Drago glanced at Faraday, his mouth crooked. “Of course, I set about my ambitions all the wrong way. I wanted to escape from that womb and set things to rights so badly. The moment I knew I could survive beyond it I beat my way out, dragging RiverStar with me.”

“You almost killed Azhure.”

“I know that now. Then, I did not care. She was useless. She had done her task in breeding me.”

“And so you conspired with Gorgrael?”

Drago was silent a while before he replied, and when he did his voice was distant. “Yes. So then I conspired with Gorgrael. With his help, I hoped to be rid, not only of Caelum, but also of my parents. One or both of them would surely die in Caelum’s rescue.”

“You underestimated Azhure.”

“Yes. I surely did.” Drago sighed. “Gorgrael’s mind was so easily manipulated. My success with him blinded me to the fact that my parents might have greater power.”

“You were very stupid.”

Drago stared at her, but let the remark lie. “Then I almost ruined Caelum. Now I will do my best to help him.”

“Of course you must,” Faraday said, and Drago glanced at her, trying to interpret her remark.

But her face was in shadow, and he could not read her expression.

As soon as Drago looked away, Faraday spoke again. “If circumstance shows you a path that is distasteful, Drago, but one that will result in a freed Tencendor, will you take it?”

He took a long time to reply. “Stop trying to convince me that—”

“Will you?”

“There is only one person who can persuade me to—”

“Then Caelum will do that,” Faraday said.

Drago’s face closed over. “I can hardly imagine that ever being the case. He rightly loathes me.”

“Will you do whatever you have to in order to aid Caelum and Tencendor?”

“Yes!”

“Then that is enough,” Faraday said. “No-one can ever ask more of you.”

Drago sat on his donkey and wondered if he had just been outwitted. She was as smooth-tongued as WingRidge. He suddenly grinned, dissipating the tension between them. “You retain the sharp skills of a Queen immersed in court intrigue, Faraday.”

She laughed softly. “Naturally. One never knows when they will come in handy.”

“We worry,” said a soldier by the name of Gerlien.

“I know,” Zared answered, rubbing the bridge of his nose between forefinger and thumb. He’d hardly slept the past few nights. “But—”

“Sire? We do not know if our wives and children are safe or wander the plains demented. We must find out.”

To one side, Askam lounged against a tree and watched. Zared had command. So be it. He could deal with this nasty mess, then.

“We must wait for Drago and Faraday to—”

“How much longer must we wait?” Another man stepped forward from the group facing Zared.

“What do you propose?” Zared snapped. “That we just march out into the plains? How long do you think we would last before one of the Demons’ miasma found us? There is no shelter out there, and at least two weeks between us and Carlon!”

“Zared, hush one moment.” Leagh stepped to her husband, and took his arm, although she kept her eyes on the knot of men before them.

“Gerlien, Meanthrin, my husband speaks the truth. Do not blame him that at least he knows where his wife is.”

She smiled to take any sense of chastisement out of her words.

The soldiers relaxed a little, impressed with the fact that Leagh knew their names. But then, she’d been tireless this past week, moving among the campfires of the army each night, spending a few minutes and words at each. And although Zared had done the same, Leagh had always managed to raise a few more, and far more genuine, smiles.

“I ask you to wait,” Zared said. He smiled lopsidedly. “None of us can know where, or how, to move until Drago and Faraday return.”

“And yet,” Askam’s voice cut in from the side, “some people might think you should be out there, saving as much of Tencendor as you can, Zared. After all, is that not what Axis asked you to do?”

“And I will do so,” Zared said, keeping his tone even, “when I know how it is that I may keep most of these men alive.”

“You would put your trust in someone as treacherous as Drago?” Askam asked. “Or as unknown as Faraday?”

“Faraday is hardly ‘unknown’, Askam,” Leagh said, her voice sharp. If her husband necessarily had to guard her tongue in front of Askam, then she did not. “She died for—”

“Ah,” Askam said dismissively, turning away as if to walk into the forest. “And yet here she walks again. Not quite
‘dead’, is she? What did she promise to the Demons to get her life back? The green fields of Tencendor? The jewelled corridors of the Minaret Peaks? And I hardly need start on Drago—that man has never had anything but deadly intentions for Tencendor, or for anyone who steps in his path.”

“No-one can blame you for being scared, Askam,” said a voice to the side, “but you should learn to look beyond past grievances. Don’t fight that which may well save your life.”

“Faraday!” Zared strode forward and helped her from her donkey, relieved beyond measure that she was back. He looked over to Drago. The man was different. Sadder, almost.

“Drago?”

“Soon, Zared, but—”

A lizard scrambled from the donkey’s back and scrambled up the nearest tree. Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

“—a meal first would surely be appreciated.”

Sitting about the fire with Zared and his immediate command, Drago told them what he could.

There was little to say but the worst, and no way to say it but in the worst way possible.

Drago studied his hands, and when he looked up his face was neutral. “Qeteb must be allowed to live,” he said.

The listeners erupted with exclamations, and Drago held up his hand for silence.

“There is worse.”

“And why am I not surprised?” Askam muttered under his breath, but none heard.

He shot a glance at Faraday. Askam wasn’t fooled by her. She sat close by Drago’s side, her lovely face demure, her eyes downcast, but Askam wondered if she wasn’t casting some spell to enchant all into Drago’s web.

“Tencendor will be devastated by the Demons,” Drago said softly. “Especially with Qeteb at their head. The land will be destroyed. It must be.”

“Why say this?” Zared cried. “You think this is going to
help
?”

“Zared…everyone…please listen to what I say before judging either the speaker or the message.”

Drago paused and thought carefully before continuing. The journey through the Silent Woman Woods with Faraday had given him time to think and to reason things out, and what he’d come to understand needed to be said carefully, and yet plainly.

“You all know the tensions of the past, tensions that have been present within Tencendor for over a thousand years. Not even Axis’ battle against Gorgrael managed to truly unite the three peoples of Tencendor. Sin, bias, bigotry, dissent and distrust still walk the land. Tencendor must be ravaged clean to…wait!…let me finish! All the bigotry and distrust must be burned clean before the peoples of Tencendor can find the heart and the courage to truly unite against the Demons.

“The field must be left fallow for it to flower full bright in the season that follows the night.”

Zared dropped his gaze. He could not trust himself to speak.

If Zared thought it best not to immediately vent his anger, then StarDrifter had no hesitation in speaking his mind.

“
But to allow Tencendor to become a wasteland.
” His face was tight and ashen, his pale blue eyes furious. “Allow Qeteb to arise? How can—”

“I am sorry, StarDrifter. But Qeteb must be allowed to live before he can be killed. Nothing ‘unalive’ can be made dead.”

“And how is this killing to eventuate?” StarDrifter asked, no less angry.

“With the magic of this land combined with the magic of the Enemy’s craft,” Drago replied.

“There is no magic of the land remaining,” StarDrifter said, making an emphatic gesture with his hand. “None.”

“No.” Faraday turned from watching Zared to look at StarDrifter. “You are wrong. This land reeks with enchantment. We must learn how to use it.”

“And the magic of the craft?” Zenith asked. She hated what Drago said, but she also believed they had no option but to trust him.

“We must learn to use that as well,” Drago said. “Faraday is to seek—”

“For the gods’ sakes!” Askam shifted irritably. “No doubt you are going to blind our senses and woo our favour by speaking of some glittering and glorious quest. Bah! You speak of nothing but dreams.
Caelum
will help us, and he will do right by us.
He
will not allow this Qeteb to raise from whatever crypt he is stored in.
He
will not allow—”

“Askam,” Drago said, fixing the man with his eyes. Both his stare and his voice were steady, and very compelling. “You speak nothing but truth when you say that Caelum will help us and do right by us. I am here to serve this land above all else, and I am here to right what wrongs I have done, to both land and Caelum. But Qeteb
must
be allowed to rise, for there is no other way he can be destroyed. No-one can fight a memory, not even Caelum.”