Axis, StarDrifter, and Inardle were still within the command room when Ishbel returned. She came through the door, and gave them a cool look.
“There will be no attack,” she said.
Then, without waiting for a response, Ishbel entered Maximilian’s death chamber and closed the door behind her.
Garth sat five or six paces away from the daybed that held Maximilian’s body. He could not look away from it. In the past few hours it had cooled and mottled into the terrible gray and blue of death, its flesh cold and slightly clammy. Maximilian lay on his back, a bloodied sheet pulled up to his chest.
His face was slack, all expression wiped from it when his life had expired.
The door opened and Ishbel entered, startling Garth.
“Did Madarin bring water?” she asked, and Garth nodded at the large urn and basin set on a side table.
“Ishbel?” he said.
“Later,” Ishbel said, and walked over to the table. She stripped off her blood-stiffened clothes, dropping them to the floor before kicking them to one side.
Garth stared, unable to look away. The blood which had soaked through her clothes had dried in crusty drifts all down Ishbel’s body, and she wrung out a washcloth and scrubbed her flesh until it glowed. Then she shook out her hair, and poured water through it, soaping it thoroughly before rinsing and toweling it dry.
Then, as if oblivious to Garth’s presence, she walked over to Maximilian on his day bed, lifted the sheet, and slid in beside him.
“He is so cold,” she murmured.
Garth opened his mouth to say something, then realized Ishbel did not expect a reply.
She snuggled in close to Maximilian’s corpse, her body against his, one arm sliding under his body so that her arms enclosed him.
She lay her face on his shoulder and clasped her hands about his chest.
Then, rhythmically, Ishbel’s hands began to beat gently against Maximilian’s sternum.
“I shall find all my strength,” she said, “in the beat of your heart.”
Ishbel walked into the Twisted Tower. Josia stood just inside the door, his face lined with desperation.
“You have little time,” he said.
“I have time enough,” Ishbel replied, turning for the stairs.
She walked up them unhurriedly, her naked body gleaming in the warm light, and Josia’s eyes followed her until she disappeared from view.
For the next few minutes he listened to the soft footfalls of her steps as they climbed upward.
“Hurry!” he whispered.
Maximilian stood naked before the open window on the very top level. One foot rested on the windowsill, and his body leaned very slightly toward the opening.
His eyes were fixated on what lay beyond, his face awash with a soft green light that pulsated through the window.
Ishbel stepped into the chamber, pausing for a moment as she caught sight of Maximilian. Then she walked over to him, keeping her eyes averted from the view through the window, and stood behind him, pressing her body the length of his, her face resting between his shoulder blades, her eyes closed.
She slid her arms under his and clasped her hands gently together against his chest.
Then they began to beat slowly, rhythmically, against his sternum.
“Maxel?” she said. “Come home, please.”
He didn’t respond.
She kissed the cold skin between his shoulder blades. “Come home, Maxel.”
She pressed herself even more strongly against his back. “Can you feel the beat of my heart, Maxel? Do you remember what you said?”
He didn’t move, but Ishbel sensed something deep within him shift.
“Every beat of my heart, Maxel, is your strength. Come home, Maxel, come home.”
He shivered, and Ishbel felt a sudden jerk beneath her hands as they pressed against his chest.
Her eyes filled with tears. “Maxel, come home, please.”
He relaxed against her, and she had to take a deep breath and hold it to control her emotion.
Then she unclasped her hands, and began to run them very gently over his body.
Wherever they passed, so the scars left by his time in the Veins vanished.
“Let them fly through the window, Maxel,” she murmured. “Let both the scars and nightmares go into death. You don’t need them anymore.”
“Am I dead?” Maximilian said.
“No,” she said, kissing the skin between his shoulder blades more strongly now. “No.”
Maximilian took a deep breath, his first, and lifted his foot from the windowsill and placed it on the floor.
“Come home, Maxel,” Ishbel said, and he sighed and turned into her arms.
Garth started in amazement. Maximilian’s body, mottled with death, suddenly flushed a rosy pink.
All the scars that had marked his body faded, then vanished.
Maximilian’s eyes flew open. They stared at the ceiling of the chamber, then he turned his head and saw Garth.
Garth saw recognition in Maximilian’s gaze, but Maximilian did not say anything. Instead he stretched his body very gently, then smiled suddenly as he realized Ishbel’s presence beside him.
He rolled over, wrapping her in his arms.
Garth’s eyes gleamed with tears. He rose and left the chamber, quietly closing the door behind him.