StarMan (35 page)

Now Xanon stepped forward and greeted and kissed her and Azhure felt something deep within her respond to her kiss, to her touch. Xanon smiled secretively, knowingly, but she said nothing, and made room for her husband.

"Welcome home, Azhure," Adamon said very softly, and Azhure turned to him. He took her face and cupped it between his hands. Through his skin Azhure could feel the potency of his power, but she was not afraid. Then he bent to kiss her, more deeply than any of the other six had, and Azhure inhaled his sweet breath, and sighed when he drew back.

She felt whole again, and when she looked down, she saw that her stained and sodden gown had vanished and that she wore a gauzy gown like those of Xanon, Flulia and Zest.

"You are only seven," she said quietly, looking about her. "Yet there are Nine Priestesses of the Stars to match the nine gods. Where are your companions?"

Adamon's face saddened. "We are not complete, Azhure. We are only seven. We wait for the Goddess of the Moon and the God of Song to join us.
Then
we will be Nine."

Azhure frowned slightly at his words, trying to remember what she had heard StarDrifter and MorningStar tell Axis about the Star Gods on those afternoons she had attended his training sessions in Talon Spike. There were nine gods, but StarDrifter had

said that while the Goddess of the Moon and the God of Song were of the Nine, their names had yet to be revealed. Her frown deepened. In their worship, the Icarii constantly called and prayed to the seven who stood here... but never to Moon or Song.

The Goddess of the Firmament held out her hand. "Azhure. Come, sit with us." She led Azhure to a circle of low couches.

"We asked WolfStar to bring you to us," Adamon began as soon as all had seated themselves,

"because we have need to speak with you."

Azhure hardly dared ask, but their smiles invited questions. "Is he one of you?" The God of Song, perhaps?

"He is of the lesser variety," Pors answered, his voice as light as the element he commanded. "And of them there are many. But there are only nine of
us."

"Your hounds are of the lesser, too," Zest said, and laughed at the expression on Azhure's face. "As is Orr and his hidden companions of the Under World."

"As myself," a sharp voice said, and Azhure looked up at the tall and thin woman who stepped into the light. She had a cadaverous face and jet black hair that swayed to her hips. Azhure could not decide if she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, or the ugliest crone to walk the face of the world.

"The GateKeeper," the woman said by way of introduction, and sat down on a small stool behind the row of couches, folding her hands awkwardly, as if to keep them still.

"Should you not be on duty, GateKeeper?" Adamon asked.

"It will be a good night, for the dark of the Moon," the GateKeeper said, "and none will die. What will happen here tonight is important. And I would witness."

"As you wish." Adamon turned his gaze back to Azhure. "Azhure, events of great moment move throughout the land. This struggle goes far deeper than you realise. It is not only a struggle between Axis and his brother, Gorgrael, but between gods. Artor now walks the land -"

Azhure shivered, remembering the dreadful deeds committed in his name.

" - and seeks to prevent us from doing the same."

"I thought all gods lived in sky kingdoms ..." Azhure's voice trailed off. Frankly, she had not thought overmuch about where any of the gods lived.

"We seven have been trapped for over a thousand years, Azhure, trapped in cold and dark spaces, unable to respond to the prayers of the Icarii." Adamon replied. "Of course, we were not complete then -

not a full Circle - and so could hardly fight back. But when the Icarii moved south, when they recovered the sacred sites and freed the land from Artor's grasp our prison bars were loosened. And when -"

Adamon broke off as his wife grew more excited.

"And when StarDrifter relit the Temple of the Stars we were freed completely!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands like a small child.

Adamon smiled lovingly at her. "Yes, when he relit the Temple of the Stars, we were finally freed from our prison. Of course, soon we will be Nine. That helped, too."

"Although we are free now," Silton leaned forward, his eyes afire with emotion, "Artor seeks to prison us again, and to kill the Mother, whom he has never before succeeded in touching. He seeks ultimate control."

"Faraday!" Azhure breathed.

"Yes, Faraday is in danger, and soon you will have to move to help her . . . but not yet." Adamon paused. "You must help Axis first. He cannot succeed without you, nor without Faraday."

Azhure bent her head. "Axis almost died, and even now he lies crippled."

"He could not die," the GateKeeper said in her sharp voice. "Because he does not have to go through my Gate. He begged," she said shortly, "and he wept, but I would not let him pass."

"You have done well," Xanon said, her eyes huge with relief. "We should all have been lost had he passed through."

The GateKeeper shrugged. "I only did what he asked." When the gods frowned in puzzlement, she explained further. "'Forever' he said, when he married the Enchantress, and so 'forever' it is."

Azhure lifted her head, refusing to understand the implications of what she'd heard. "No." She twisted the ring on her hand.

"Azhure," Xanon shifted closer to her on the couch so she could wrap her arm about the woman.

"You must accept who you are. And your task will be to make Axis accept who he is."

"The StarMan," Azhure said tightly.

There was complete silence.

"Yes, of course," Adamon finally whispered. "Axis. The StarMan. The God of Song."

Azhure stared. "No. It cannot be."

"Accept," Xanon murmured by her side, and turrfed the woman's shoulders towards the representation of the Goddess of the Moon.

The figure slowly turned in her sleep, and Azhure could see that she had raven-blue hair, and when she had rolled completely over, Azhure saw that the representation wore her own face.

"No..."

"Accept," the seven whispered.

"No," Azhure cried, but she let the Goddess cradle her in her arms as she stared sightlessly ahead.

"We are still vulnerable," Adamon said eventually, "and we can still be defeated. Artor is strong. And I spoke only in hope when said Axis was the God of Song. There are two claimants to the last place among us - Axis and Gorgrael. If Gorgrael defeats Axis - and Gorgrael is the
only
one now who can kill Axis - then he will take the place among the Nine."

"And we would not like that at all," said Flulia. "For the God of Song would wield the Dance of Death."

"Azhure," Adamon said, "what you have heard here tonight shall not alter your life very much. But you needed to hear it to grow into your power. Already the Alaunt have sought you out, as has the Wolven.

You wear the Circle of Stars, the symbol of unity and completeness -"

"Which was granted to the Enchantress to wear for her lifetime, but which truly waited for you," Pors interrupted.

Azhure shook her head. "No. This cannot be. There have always been the Nine. Always. How can Axis and I now stand forth and claim to be...to be ..."

"Claim to be of the Nine?" Xanon asked. "Those of the Nine have only come together gradually.

There was always potential and need for Nine. Gradually the Seven were revealed. But the need for Song and Moon remained. Until now. Soon we will be complete."

Azhure laughed softly, but her laughter was brittle. "No, no. No! This is going
too
far. Two years ago I was a simple peasant girl. Then I became mistress to the StarMan, then his wife and an Icarii Enchanter myself. Now . . . now you tell me that I ,am a god." She paused, her eyes flitting about the group, wanting them to deny her words. But they kept silent. "It is a dizzying journey from the depths. And I do not think I like it."

Xanon's arm tightened about her shoulders. "Azhure, believe me, we were all human or Icarii at one point. All lowborn . . . but all directly descended from the Enchantress. Each of us was Called, and our Calling awakened special powers within us. Low-born," she repeated, winking at Pors, and the god laughed.

"I was a simple marsh man, Azhure, seven thousand years ago. I thought
my
greatest calling was to trap the brown-legged frogs of Bogle Marsh to sell in the market places of western Tencendor. But then

..." He shrugged expressively and looked at Flulia.

"And I a laundress from the town that once stood in the same site as Ysbadd," she said. "I cared for sheets and starched creases and little else. And yet one day I found that I had a higher Calling. I found it hard to accept."

"We all found it hard," Xanon said, "especially those of us who were Called first. But it was a duty we were born into, destined for, and none of us could deny it."

"Azhure, of all the Nine, you have had the highest parentage. WolfStar, a powerful Enchanter-Talon and one of the Lesser. Niah, the First Priestess of the Order of the Stars, whose first duty is always to the Moon." Adamon sat back a moment and thought.
"And
you were conceived in the full of the Moon in the Dome of the Stars. How can you doubt your Calling?"

"You were the last chosen, Azhure. Born some two years after the StarMan and the Destroyer. Thus to you the Circle of Stars has come home. Soon we will be Nine. Soon we will be complete."

"But a
god?"
Azhure's eyes were still huge, still frightened.

Adamon reached across and took her hand. "Azhure, you place too much importance on the word

'god'. We are only creatures of magic and workers of magic. And you have met and accepted many such creatures before. Have you not accepted the Sentinels?" She nodded hesitantly. "And the concept of the Enchanters? WolfStar? Orr? Axis himself?"

Azhure nodded again, more strongly this time, and Adamon smiled reassuringly at her. "And yet WolfStar has returned from death, and has walked this land for three thousand years. Orr has sat in his ferry for very, very much longer. You welcomed the Alaunt, and yet they are stranger still. You have borne the children of a man who sings with magic. You have taken tea with the Mother and Ur in the Enchanted Wood. Why the difficulty with the concept of 'god'?"

"Azhure," Silton said intensely, "we have our responsibilities, but we do not interfere in the daily lives of men and women. We are creatures of magic, as Adamon has said, except that we exist on a different level than you have encountered previously. Accept."

"Immortal?" Azhure whispered.

Again Pors shrugged. "Who knows?"

For a long time Azhure sat silently. "Would Axis and I have to, ah, spend our time...here?"

The Gods looked about at each other, laughing. "Oh, Azhure," Zest said eventually, "do you think that we sit about these misty chambers and look solemn all day long? No. We meet as a group only occasionally. Now that we are free, we will spend our time as we want. If you and Axis choose to walk Tencendor, then that is what you do. If you wish to live in Sigholt or Carlon, well, that is your right. We all live our lives as we please. Of gods you have had experience only of Artor, and he chose to secrete himself from sight and wrap himself in pretensions. None of us are like that."

Such a look of relief crossed Azhure's face that the gods laughed again, and even the GateKeeper smiled. Azhure finally relaxed enough to grin herself. A worker of magic. Yes, she could accept that.

"Then will you show me how to use my power?"

"Azhure, it will be our pleasure," Xanon replied. "But you must learn slowly. For now all you need to know is that you do not have to
wield
or
command
power as such. You
are
magic, and eventually your power will come to you instinctively. As your acceptance deepens, so will your ability flower. But we will help."

"I don't have to learn to sing, do I?" Azhure asked with a wry grin, and Adamon patted her hand, restraining his smile.

"No, but one day you will learn more about the Star Dance than any of the Enchanters who surround you."

"And Axis? What can I do for him?"

"Go to him, Azhure, and we will speak to you on the way," Adamon said. "Teach you. And in turn you must teach Axis, and help him accept, too."

"You will grow on the way," Xanon said in a voice so soft that Azhure barely heard her.

"We will all see you again, Azhure." Pors.

"Soon we will be Nine." Flulia.

"Full Circle." Silton.

"And now," Adamon said briskly, standing up, "the sun is ready to rise, and you must return to your children and to StarDrifter, who will have need of your hands if his headache is to be assuaged."

Azhure found herself swaying on the steps cut into the cliff-top. Frantically she leaned in towards the cliff face, but then she stopped herself.

"Instinctive," she muttered, and let her hands fall to her side.

Instinctive,the waves sang as the tide surged forward. And Azhure laughed and ran lightly up the steps.

When she reached the top, WolfStar handed her a warm cloak and hugged her. "I may not see you for a very long time, Azhure, but always remember that I love you."

And then he was gone.

She found StarDrifter, his face contorted in pain, leading a band of worried Priestesses and Icarii towards the cliff. Sicarius bounded ahead, and bayed joyfully when he saw Azhure.

StarDrifter couldn't believe his eyes. Azhure had been weak and riddled with pain when last he saw her, but now she almost skipped along, holding a cloak tightly about her, her cheeks flushed with good health and vitality, and her hair streaming out behind her.

When she reached him she seized his head in her hands, kissed him, and leaned back. "Better?" she asked, her eyes mischievous, and StarDrifter realised his headache had completely disappeared.

"How?" he asked, but she laughed joyfully again, and took him by the hand.

"Instinctive!"

"May We Learn to Live with Each Other"