The next instant Axis felt himself enveloped in a great wash of water. He felt as if he were tumbling over and over, and as if huge boulders—the remnants of Serpent’s Nest—tumbled beside him, and yet he was also aware that he was not actually moving. He could feel his horse tight and tense beneath him, panicked but too terrified to move, and if he turned his head he could see the water so far above his head that the light was only a tiny emerald circle far above, and he could feel the mass of rock and debris grinding through the water…and yet…
There is no danger, Maximilian said in his mind, and Axis could feel his voice echo through everyone enclosed in this sorcery. There is no danger.
Then…Axis blinked, and the enveloping sea was gone.
He blinked again, his vision clearing, and saw that while he still sat his horse, and that Inardle still sat hers beside him, and everyone else appeared as they should be, they sat those horses in an entirely different landscape.
The mountain was gone. There was not a single rock remaining.
In its place shimmered a vast expanse of turquoise water, rippling slightly as if it had just settled after a great turbulence.
Axis gazed around in wonder. The water extended as far as he could see—his horse, as all the other horses, and all those on foot, stood in the shallow water which reached partway up hoof and boot.
Ahead, Maximilian and Ishbel stood, arms loosely about each other’s waist.
Maximilian turned slightly, enough to see the group of commanders.
“Wait,” he said.
Axis looked about, more carefully this time, making sure that everyone was all right. Inardle looked shaken, but she nodded as she met his eyes. StarDrifter looked both shaken and very, very wary, an expression Axis supposed mirrored his own.
“What—” StarDrifter began, and stopped, staring ahead, his mouth open.
Axis turned back to the front.
“Oh stars…” he murmured.
In the distance, over the area of water where Serpent’s Nest had once stood, three colossal twists of emerald water were winding up into the sky. They wound up and up, enclosing a space the height and breadth of Serpent’s Nest, until, far, far into the sky, their three heads met.
For a moment, nothing.
Then Axis heard a heavy rhythmic whisper, as if somewhere a god swung his ax through the air again and again, or as if a massive windmill spun its sails over and over in the wind.
Thrum.
Thrum.
Thrum.
Axis could feel it through his entire body.
There was a movement at his side. Inardle, nudging her horse closer, and reaching out her hand.
Axis took it, squeezed it gently, and looked back to the twists of water rearing into the sky.
There was a glint of gold where the three twists met just below the few white clouds that dotted the sky. The sun caught the gold now and again, and Axis narrowed his eyes, knowing he had seen that same effect very recently…
The crown of Elcho Falling had glinted gold through the darkness that wreathed it when Ishbel had handed it to Maximilian!
“Inardle,” Axis murmured, almost not believing what he was seeing as, very, very gently, the crown of Elcho Falling appeared in the sky at the very summit of the three twists of water, its three golden bands spinning about each other slowly, slowly, slowly, thrumming as they cut through the air. The crown had now grown to a vast size, and as the sun caught at it, it sent shimmering shafts of golden light scattering about the entire country.
Axis had never seen anything like it. Not the Star Gate, not Talon Spike, not the Temple of the Stars.
He wanted to check what was happening behind him in the army, but couldn’t tear his eyes away from the spinning crown so high in the sky.
No wonder Maximilian had asked that all the bird peoples remain on the ground. Up close, those massive twisting rings would be deadly, and Axis had no doubt that they radiated sorcery.
“Axis!” Inardle said. “Axis!”
He couldn’t reply. He was stunned Inardle had even managed to get those two words out.
Very suddenly, a mountain—no, no, not a mountain, a citadel!—started to fall from the spinning crown. The great twists of water merged, and from their very peak, where it passed through the spinning crown, spires and turrets and arches and windows started to appear, as if they were being poured out of a heavenly vessel. It happened in less than six heartbeats, so fast that Axis could barely comprehend what he was seeing.
Silence.
It felt to Axis as if the entire world was staring, unable to move or make a sound, at the wonder that rose from the shallow, shimmering lake of water.
For all he knew the entire world could see it, for Elcho Falling would surely be visible eight to ten days’ ride away.
It was a citadel of enormous size and of extraordinary construction. It rose from the surface of the lake as emerald and turquoise and silver water, forming walls and arches and columns. About a third of the way into the sky the water slowly turned to crystal, and then a little higher to stone of a bright turquoise set off with traceries of gleaming ivory. At the very peak of the citadel, far, far into the sky, the three bands of the crown of Elcho Falling continued their slow sweep through the air.
It was so big, and so beautiful, that Axis could barely comprehend it. He’d thought Serpent’s Nest a massive mountain, but it was as nothing compared to this. This…this could swallow nations, if it wanted.
“Elcho Falling,” said Maximilian, now turned slightly so he could look behind him, “is not a castle, nor is it a mountain. Elcho Falling is a world within itself.”
He gave a very slight smile, as if waiting for something.
Axis tore his eyes away from Elcho Falling to frown slightly at Maximilian, wondering why he had paused, then Axis jerked and groaned, along with every other Icarii and Lealfast present, as abruptly the Star Dance thundered out over the land.
“Elcho Falling,” said Maximilian, his quiet voice carrying into every mind, “is also a gateway, which is why we have armies and ambitions converging upon it.”
And soon it will be ours, sister, Eleanon said in Inardle’s mind, and she let Axis’ hand drop away.
Six or seven hours away Armat, together with Ravenna and Lister and his entire army, sat their horses and stared.
From their distance Elcho Falling was clearly visible.
“It is…” Armat began. “It is…”
Ravenna was crying, silent tears that streamed down her cheeks. “It is extraordinary,” she said, “and the most magical thing that any of us will see, in this lifetime or in any to come.”
“I want it,” said Armat. Indeed he wanted it. He wanted it so badly that it took all of his strength not to dig his spurs into his horse and gallop headlong toward it. He’d always held his doubts about what Ravenna and Lister had told him about Elcho Falling…but, if anything, they had considerably understated its beauty…and power.
Armat was not a magical man, but he knew that Elcho Falling was of such power that the man who commanded the citadel could command the world.
“I want it,” he said again.