StarMan (17 page)

That day Faraday had done nothing but eat and sleep - a fresh meal ready for her whenever she awoke from a nap - but subsequent days she had spent in the Sacred Grove and Ur's nursery.

Today, the eighth since she had arrived, Faraday intended to spend luxuriating in the comfort that the Keep provided her. Perhaps she would explore the upper levels and read, if she could, some of the ancient Icarii texts that Ogden and Veremund said were secreted there. Faraday knew she would have to leave the Keep soon. She had now learned almost all the names of the seedlings in Ur's enchanting nursery, and once the last one was committed to memory she would resume her journey east - and begin to plant the Enchanted Wood back into this world.

But for now Faraday squirmed deeper into the armchair and wriggled her toes with sensual abandon before the fire. She slipped into a doze, only barely aware of the Keep about her.

Suddenly she blinked and snapped awake.

She could feel Azhure very, very close.

"Azhure?" Faraday said, rubbing her eyes fully awake. "Azhure, is that you?"

She was puzzled, but not in the least afraid.

Almost as depressed as Faraday had been when she arrived at the Silent Woman Woods, Azhure asked Hesketh, the captain of the palace guard, to row her across to Spiredore. Azhure wanted nothing more than to escape the confines of the palace at Carlon. The royal apartments, so beautiful and comforting when she had shared them with Axis, were now lonely and cold.

StarDrifter had been a constant companion. He was, apart from FreeFall who was already on the Island of Mist and Memory, the most senior of the Icarii present in southern Tencendor and, as such, was involved in much of the discussions and decisions regarding the Icarii nation's move south. As grandfather to Caelum and to the unborn twins and as a powerful Enchanter, StarDrifter also spent time training all three of Axis and Azhure's children. Those hours, in the evening or early morning, when StarDrifter came to the Jade Chamber to sit by Azhure's side, place his hands on her swollen belly and sing to the twins, were uncomfortable ones for Azhure. She would recall Axis' plea that if anything should happen to him she should marry StarDrifter, and Azhure wondered if Axis had said anything to his father.

StarDrifter's face and thoughts gave nothing away and always he behaved with the utmost politeness when he was so intimately close to her, yet Azhure could never quite dismiss the thought that StarDrifter somehow hoped that one day his hands might touch her more intimately yet.

All in all, Azhure thought as she drifted across Grail Lake, it would be a pleasure to spend a relaxing afternoon in Spiredore. There was the possibility that WolfStar might appear, but Azhure did not particularly want to see him, and she thought that if she made her feelings known to Spiredore when she first stepped inside, then WolfStar might stay - or be kept - away.

Azhure carried Caelum with her, for over these past days she had not spent as much time with her delightful son as she had wished. The small row boat was also packed with the warm bodies of seven of the Alaunt hounds, including Sicarius. They had padded silently after her down the corridors of the palace and had leaped equally silently, but with discernible determination, into the row boat, eliciting a string of curses from Hesketh - who had then, embarrassed, begged Azhure's forgiveness.

Poor man, Azhure thought as they neared Spiredore's pier, he looks to be in the grip of an even blacker mood than me. A week ago, Yr and the rest of the Sentinels had disappeared and Azhure, as Axis and everyone else close to the Prophecy, had worried about their abrupt and secretive departure.

Perhaps Hesketh, deeply emotionally involved with Yr, had worried the worst, and Azhure thought she might ask him to share a midday meal with her one day. Perhaps he only needed to talk.

Perhaps, Azhure decided as Hesketh helped her out of the boat, the Alaunt bounding across the grass towards Spiredore, he only needs Yr.

The interior of the tower was cool and pleasant, and Azhure smiled as she leaned against the closed door. The seven Alaunt were sniffing out every secret corner they could find, and Azhure thought they might find a lot in this most secretive of towers.

Are we going to the rooftop, Mama?

Azhure could detect the faint undertone of worry in Caelum's thoughts. No doubt her son, like herself, had some extraordinarily unpleasant memories of the rooftop of Spiredore.

"Another day, Caelum, but not today. I am too weary to climb all the way to the top."

Then what will we do?

Azhure hesitated. She had thought about this as she lay sleepless in her bed last night. Close to tears from her loneliness in the empty bed, feeling the indifference of the babies within her, Azhure had decided that she would start to experiment with the tower today. See the extent of its power.

She hoped she was doing the right thing. What if she
did
get lost?

She halted at the foot of the first staircase, her hand resting on the newel post, and called the Alaunt to her.

As they gathered about her skirts, Azhure again remembered WolfStar's words.

Decide where you want to go before you start to climb the stairs, and then the stairs will take you to that place.

"I want to go to a place where I will find some comfort," she said, then she started to climb.

The feeling that Azhure was close was now so strong that Faraday leaned forward in the armchair, balancing on its edge, ready to leap to her feet at any moment. "Azhure? Azhure? Where are you?"

Azhure? Azhure? Where are you?

Azhure stopped climbing the instant she heard Faraday's voice, twisting and turning to peer into the heights above her. The stairs wound between crazily-canted balconies as far as she could see, and Faraday could be anywhere up there.

"Faraday?" she called. "Faraday?" What was Faraday doing in Spiredore?

Azhure gathered her skirts in her free hand and climbed as fast as she could, Caelum going red in the face as her arm squeezed tight about him. Sicarius opened his mouth and bayed, his cries echoing through the infinite interior of Spiredore.

Faraday heard Azhure call and now she did leap to her feet. "Azhure!" She thought she could hear the faint baying of hounds.

Breathless with excitement and effort, Azhure reached a wide landing. She paused then spun about, frowning. There were no more stairs leading upwards! What was this? A dead end?

"Faraday?" she cried. "I cannot find you. Can you hear me? Where are you?"

She stepped back down the stairs, certain she had missed her way.

Faraday heard footsteps on the circular iron stairway that wound into the heights of the Keep, and she rushed to its foot, laughing in excitement, grasping the iron railing and staring upwards.

A great pale hound suddenly leapt down the curve of the steps and brushed past her, followed an instant later by six others. This was followed by a stillness on the stairs, but Faraday could hear the faint fall of footsteps above her.

"Azhure!" and the next moment Azhure, her face alive with amazement and happiness, stepped down into her arms.

Faraday hugged her tight, laughing delightedly, and for the next few moments the women did nothing but laugh and cry.

"How did you get here?" Faraday eventually asked.

"Where am I?" Azhure asked at the same time.
How
did /
get here? Can Spiredore transfer me
from site to site as Axis' Enchanter powers can? Spire . . . Door?

"We are in the Silent Woman Keep, Azhure. Come, sit by the fire, and we will discover this mystery in comfort." She linked her arm with Azhure's. "See! Already the Keep has laid out tea for us."

As Faraday led her across to a couch, Azhure glanced about the room, noting its comfort and welcome - and also noting that seven bowls of food had been laid out beside the kitchen range. The Alaunt already had their noses buried deep.

Azhure quickly told Faraday of the mysterious powers of Spiredore.

"These magical Keeps must be linked," Faraday said, then smiled. "But let us not waste our time talking of the Keeps. Come, let me cuddle Caelum."

Caelum held out his arms, almost as delighted to see Faraday as his mother was. This was the woman who had healed his Mama when all others had wrung their hands uselessly.

As Faraday cuddled the baby to her, speaking softly to him, Azhure turned to the low table near the couch and poured their tea. Here we sit as if we were but simple housewives, she thought, talking babies and recipes, and no-one would guess the magic that surrounds us or the shared love for one man that has brought us both so much grief.

The Alaunt had finished their meal and drifted back to the fire, stretching out before it, completely encircling the two women.

"Azhure," Faraday finally said, not looking up from Caelum as he nestled in her lap. "Axis. Did he...?"

"He married me that afternoon," Azhure said, making her voice as gentle as she could, yet knowing each word would cut straight to Faraday's heart.

"Ah," Faraday said, and she looked up. "I am glad." Then, utterly surprisingly, a radiant smile broke out across her face. "Glad for all the hearts he must have broken over the years that someone has finally won him."

"Yes. Look, he gave me this ring."

She had wondered if Faraday would recognise it, but Faraday merely exclaimed over its beauty. Yet after a moment she frowned.

"It has the feel of power to it."

"It last belonged, so I am told, to a woman known as the Enchantress, the mother of the Icarii, Charonite
and
the Acharite races." Azhure's mouth twisted sourly. "Now people call me the Enchantress, but I do not know if I like it. I hope that I am not to be submerged in the personality of a woman fifteen thousand years dead."

Faraday patted her hand reassuringly. "I can only see Azhure sitting here before me, not the ghost of some long-dead sorceress."

"Hmm. WolfStar told me not to fear that the ring would seek to control me. He said that it sought my hand because it had found one fit to wear it. It has, apparently, come home to me.
He
seemed to fear it, though."

She looked up and started at Faraday's shocked white face.

"Oh," Azhure said, remembering that Faraday did not know of Azhure's connection to WolfStar.

"Listen," and she proceeded to tell her of all that had happened since Faraday had left Carlon.

"And so you will leave for the Island of Mist and Memory soon?" Faraday eventually asked.

"Within the week, I think. I cannot wait to find out what secrets it has to offer me." Azhure told Faraday about the fall of Jervois Landing and Axis' march north with his army. "And I think a trip to the island will comfort me. I find the palace a lonely place now that Axis is absent." She paused. "The Sentinels have disappeared, too."

Faraday put her cup down and looked at Azhure sharply. "The Sentinels have
gone?
What do you mean? Gone with Axis?"

"No. They disappeared the day before Axis left to march north. No-one knows where they are.

No-one."

Disturbed, Faraday thought for a few minutes. Had she upset them so badly with her recriminations and tears that they had vanished? She had been sure that the Sentinels would stay with Axis.

Azhure remembered Dru-Beorh's report. "And there is further worrying news, Faraday. Moryson and Gilbert have been seen travelling east. Be careful. I cannot but think that they might prove a danger to you."

And a warning is the best I can do for her, Azhure thought, if Axis thinks an armed escort would be inappropriate.

Faraday, still concerned over the disappearance of the Sentinels, brushed the matter of Moryson and Gilbert aside. "I cannot think that either of them would do much except rant at me, Azhure. But thank you for the warning. Now," she handed Caelum back to his mother and smiled. "I have a wonder to show you and wondrous people for you to meet. But I think you must leave the hounds here by the fire."

As they'd sat talking the idea had slowly grown in Faraday's mind that she might take Azhure to see the Sacred Grove. She wondered if the Horned Ones, or even the Mother, might object, but in the end Faraday decided that it was her decision.

"Come," she said, standing, and stretched out her hand. Carefully stepping over the sleeping hounds, Faraday led Azhure and her son into the Sacred Grove.

Both Azhure and Caelum were transfixed with wonder as Faraday's power then the emerald light of the Mother surrounded them.

Mama!Caelum cried, leaning forward and stretching his hands out as far as he could.

Azhure's arms tightened automatically about her son but otherwise she paid him no attention. While healing Azhure's back, Faraday had described to her the sensation of walking through the emerald light then watching it gradually shift and change until it resolved itself into the trees and sky of the Sacred Grove.

Now Azhure experienced it for herself.

Without knowing exactly when the transition took place, Azhure found herself wandering down a path carpeted with soft pine needles, trees to either side of her, the sky above filled with stars reeling through their eternal dance. She stared at them, thinking she could actually see them move.

Finally lowering her eyes, Azhure glanced to one side and saw that Faraday wore a gown such as she had never seen before. It reminded her of the emerald light as it had darkened and shifted and changed; when Faraday walked, the colours in the gown shimmered from emerald to blue to violet to brown, then back to emerald again.

Faraday herself seemed changed as well. Far more powerful, far more sure, far, far more lovely.

"Are you certain that I should step these paths?" Azhure asked, unsure about her reception here. "The Avar refused to accept me, and their Banes," she thought of the coolness Barsarbe had consistently displayed towards her, "might be furious that I now visit their Sacred Grove. They did not like my violence."

But Faraday did not seem perturbed. "I will accept responsibility," she said. "Now, hush. See? We enter the Grove itself. You will know soon enough how the Sacred Horned Ones regard you."