Everything was happening at once. Axis was literally stunned by the intensity of the Star Dance flooding his existence—had he ever felt it this deeply before, or was Elcho Falling a gateway of such power that no one, perhaps not even WolfStar, had felt the Dance to this extent?
StarDrifter had stumbled the distance between them, putting a hand on Axis’ thigh and then turning as someone landed beside them. It was Eleanon—Axis supposed that the Lealfast, who had only ever before felt the barest of glimmers of the Star Dance, must now be overwhelmed—and StarDrifter reached out to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, and the two birdmen leaned close for a brief word, their shared amazement making them momentary friends.
Axis looked at Inardle. She was staring at Elcho Falling, her face white, her eyes brilliant.
There were stars dancing in them.
“Maximilian…” StarDrifter said, and there was such hunger in his voice that Axis almost cried out.
“Yes,” said Maximilian, and Axis wondered what had been asked, and what authorized, and was about to ask when suddenly there was a great sound and wind, and this time Axis did cry out, for every one of the Icarii and the Lealfast had lifted into the sky and for a moment there was nothing but the beating of wings and the rush of air.
Axis dragged his eyes away from the spectacle and looked again at Inardle. This time there was agony in her face as she stared desperately at the Icarii and Lealfast now circling high overhead.
Axis looked at Maximilian. “I had no idea,” he said. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“Would you have believed me?” said Maximilian. “Besides, I had no idea myself how intact Elcho Falling remained. It has been buried so long.”
“Maxel, why were there no myths of this? Stars, news of this should have entered the folklore of the entire world!”
“Everything was buried when Elcho Falling closed down,” Maximilian said, “even the memory of it.”
Then he smiled. “Come. Shall we enter?”
There were two horses held in reserve for Maximilian and Ishbel, and once they had mounted they led the nonflighted army across the shallow waters toward the citadel.
“There is actually deep water to either side of the causeway,” Maximilian said to Axis, pointing as they rode. “The causeway is only some ten paces wide. Anyone who stepped beyond it would be lost.”
“How can we make our way to and fro,” said Axis, “if you are not with us as guide?”
“Once Elcho Falling recognizes you as a friend—and that happens the moment you enter the citadel with my permission—you will always find your way without effort.”
“Armat? Will this keep him at a distance?”
Maximilian shook his head. “Armat has Ravenna with him, and she well knows the ways and paths of mystery. She can guide him, and his army, across these waters.”
“And once inside Elcho Falling?”
Maximilian gave a small smile. “Ah, once inside Elcho Falling it would be a different matter.”
They rode in silence after that, Axis alternately studying the citadel rising before them and looking up to see the Icarii and Lealfast circling overhead (some, he was aghast to see, actually flying between the massive moving bands of gold) or basking in the Star Dance as it radiated out of Elcho Falling. He thought about what Maximilian had taken from each of the commanders present—the song he had requested from Axis was clearly designed to align Elcho Falling with the Star Dance, but the other objects?
“Think back,” Maximilian said softly as their horses stepped onto the incline that led to a massive arch which appeared to be made of solid water and which formed the entry into Elcho Falling, “to that moment when you first felt the Star Dance. StarDrifter was beside you, and then…”
“Then Eleanon landed,” Axis said, thinking back. The moment when he’d first heard the Star Dance had been so overwhelming that everything about it was a jumble of images, and he had to sort through them to make any sense of what had happened in those first, remarkable moments. “Eleanon landed…and…oh stars, he and my father…”
Eleanon and StarDrifter had leaned close, smiling, sharing a word.
Previously, they’d been barely able to maintain any civility toward each other.
“Even Elcho Falling cannot heal all the rifts between them,” said Maximilian, “but it can make a beginning. The rest is up to them.”
Then Maximilian nodded at the archway.
“Elcho Falling,” he said, and then they were through.
Axis could not speak for some time. From the road that rose from the water up to the great arch, they rode into a vast chamber of hundreds of columns supporting a high fan-vaulted ceiling. Everything, from the floor to the columns to the fan vaulting itself, appeared to be made of luminescent turquoise water. There were lights glowing gold through the chamber, hanging within the columns at the point at which the columns curved out into the vaulting.
Light shimmered everywhere, glistening through and off water, striking stars into the vaulted ceiling and ripples into the flooring.
Despite the appearance of walking on water, his horse’s hooves sounded as if they struck solid ground with each hoof-fall, and as they passed one of the columns Axis reached out a hand to touch it.
It looked like flowing water, but it felt solid and cool to the touch.
He swiveled in the saddle, looking about and behind him.
All the horsemen were spread throughout the chamber as they continued to ride deeper into it. There was Egalion, and Garth, and there Inardle, there a score of men that Axis recognized, and every last one of them had a look of stupefied wonder on their faces. Even Ishbel, who Axis thought may have had some idea of what to expect, looked very much as though she might not be able to speak for some time.
“Maxel…” Axis murmured, turning forward once again in the saddle.
Maximilian nodded. “I can almost understand,” he said, “why the last of the Lords of Elcho Falling to live here decided to close it down. All this beauty must have been heartbreaking.”
“And Escator was better?” Axis said.
Maximilian gave a soft laugh. “No. Escator was not ‘better.’ But it was, I think, sometimes a little more comforting.”
They continued to ride deeper and deeper into the chamber.
“If someone entered Elcho Falling without my permission, whether tacit or spoken,” said Maximilian, “they would find it very hard to ever leave this initial chamber. They would lose themselves in it, and eventually sink into despair in their efforts to battle free. This is the first of Elcho Falling’s defenses.”
“It is big enough to take all of our army,” said Axis.
“It is always big enough to take whatever is needed,” Maximilian said. Then he nodded ahead. “Look.”
A wide staircase had come into view. It curved upward and upward in a spiral that reminded Axis of the spirals of water that had initially risen from the water after the destruction of Serpent’s Nest.
Light glimmered under each stair rise—not enough to distract, but just enough to light the way.
Maxel reined in his horse and dismounted, then moved to help Ishbel to dismount.
“Where do we go?” said Axis. “Where shall we stable the horses? What—”
He stopped.
From each column stepped forth men—at least that was Axis’ first impression, although his second thought was that he was not sure what they were. They looked like tall, slim men clad in simple breeches and jerkins, but on closer inspection they were somehow…not.
“They are Elcho Falling’s servants,” Maximilian said, “and they will show all, men and beasts, to their quarters. Spend tonight exploring Elcho Falling, Axis, and discovering its wonders. Speak with me tomorrow.”
Axis turned to say something to Maximilian.
But he and Ishbel were gone.