Maximilian was concerned Ishbel might not be strong enough to stand on her own, but she shook off his hand as they stood on the path that led to the Twisted Tower.
“I am well enough, Maxel. Just a little tired. Not yet bedridden.”
“Ishbel—”
“Oh, for the gods’ sakes, Maxel, stop worrying. I am no invalid. Come, we need to go inside the Twisted Tower.”
With that Ishbel walked down the path, leaving Maximilian to follow.
At the door she paused, her hand on the knob. “Maximilian Persimius, I would like you to meet the man who has waited so long for you.”
Then she opened the door.
Maximilian stared into the Twisted Tower.
A man stood just inside the first chamber, regarding Maximilian with an expression composed partly of happiness, partly of relief. He was very young, which surprised Maximilian, perhaps no more than nineteen or twenty, olive-skinned, dark-haired, and with a fine, aquiline face.
A face that Maxel recognized, if only because of the lines of suffering on it. Whoever this was, he’d suffered as much—greater—as had Maximilian.
The man smiled, just a little, and then he bowed in an elegant, courtly movement.
“Greetings, my Lord of Elcho Falling,” he said. “My name is Josia Persimius. I am Keeper of the Twisted Tower.”
“Greetings,” Maximilian said, returning the bow. “You are Persimius?”
“Of the line of your ancestors, Maximilian,” said Josia. “Will you step inside? We need to speak of so much.”
The first thing Josia did once the door had closed behind Maximilian and Ishbel was to step forward and envelop Ishbel in a massive hug.
“Forgive me,” he said, standing back but keeping one hand on Ishbel’s shoulder, “but I doubt you will ever comprehend just how grateful I am to have finally escaped that cursed bronze statue! Thank you. Thank you.”
Maximilian’s eyes filmed with tears at the emotion in Josia’s face and voice.
“I thought Ravenna would kill her,” Josia said to Maximilian. “Ishbel was my only hope, she has ever been the only person with the training and power to free me, and I thought Ravenna would kill her. But then the woman Venetia came, and I am safe. Venetia is dead now, surely.”
Maximilian nodded. “She gave her life to save Ishbel, and you,” he said. “I never knew her well, and I cannot understand that she could have thought enough of me to sacrifice herself.”
“I imagine that most who meet you come to love you within hours,” Josia said.
“Not all,” Maximilian said, carefully not looking at Ishbel.
Her mouth twitched.
“Well, then,” said Josia, “perhaps we can fix that.” He let Ishbel go, then looked about. “Where shall we sit? I have a long tale to tell and nowhere to tell it.”
“There are many empty chambers above,” Maximilian said. “We can sit in one of those.”
“How many empty chambers?” said Josia.
“Well over half the tower is completely empty,” said Maximilian.
Josia’s face went expressionless. “Then I am here only just in time,” he said, and led the way up the stairs.
They settled in the first completely bare chamber, sitting on the floor with backs against the walls, facing one another, Maximilian warmed by the fact that Ishbel sat slightly closer to him than she did to Josia.
“My name,” Josia said, “is Josia Persimius. I am the son and younger brother of now long-dead Lords of Elcho Falling. I lived some two thousand eight hundred years ago at a time when the Lords of Elcho Falling were considering leaving the mountain and retiring to Escator. My father, Escretius, feared, however, that if the Lords of Elcho Falling abandoned Elcho Falling itself, then all the knowledge associated with it might fall into forgetfulness.”
“And thus this?” Maximilian said, waving a hand about at the Twisted Tower.
“Yes,” Josia said. “My father built it. My brother, Cooper, and I aided him.”
“You know what these chambers should contain?” Ishbel said, getting the question out a moment before Maximilian.
Josia grinned at the expression on their faces. “All in good time. Let me tell the tale my way, for I have been composing it for twenty-eight hundred years, and I think I am owed the stage.”
Maximilian inclined his head.
“My father worried that if too many generations should pass before the Lords reclaimed Elcho Falling,” Josia continued, “then items might be forgotten. But I never imagined so much could have been lost.” He sighed. “While my brother Cooper would wear the crown of Elcho Falling, my father asked me if I would shoulder the responsibility of remembering.”
“Remembering?” Maximilian said.
“Remembering everything for every chamber.” Josia said. “Yes. I can remember every object for every chamber.”
Maximilian lowered his eyes in order to gather his composure. The worry about the empty chambers had eaten away at him for so long that he could not believe it could be rectified this easily.
“I can help you put the objects back, Maximilian,” Josia said. “It is why I exist.” He paused. “It is why I have suffered.”
“Why is there so much suffering associated with Elcho Falling?” Maximilian said, very softly. “Why?”
“Because that is what built Elcho Falling,” said Josia, “and that is what powers it.”
He shifted a little, raising one knee and resting an arm across it.
“My father built the Twisted Tower, and populated it with the knowledge that every Lord of Elcho Falling would require. But then, as I said, my father worried that somehow the tower would degenerate and memories would be lost. My father was a pessimist.”
Josia paused. “But a realist, also. Cooper would wear the crown of Elcho Falling after our father, but I would remember the knowledge for all the generations ahead.
“This required me to live for a great deal of time. While the Lords of Elcho Falling can wield much power, granting indefinite life to a son is not one of their greater skills.”
“You father sent you to Coroleas, didn’t he?” Ishbel said.
“Yes,” Josia said.
“Gods damn Elcho Falling,” Ishbel muttered, “for all the suffering it requires.”
“He sent you to Coroleas as a god-offering?” said Maximilian. “So you could be slowly tortured into death and your soul encased in a bronze statue?”
Josia inclined his head. “How else could I, and all my memory, be kept alive, save inside one of the Coroleans’ cursed bronze statues?”
Ishbel and Maximilian could not speak. They looked at each other, then back to Josia, Maximilian making a gesture that was part disbelief, part anger.
“And in answer to your unspoken queries,” Josia said softly, “no, I was not happy about this fate, nor particularly willing.”
“But you went, in any case?” Maximilian said.
“Would you rather I had not?” Josia said. “Look, it was needed, and I went. I suffered, and for the longest time I wept, but then one day StarDrifter came to Salome’s chamber—ah, the things I had to witness under her companionship!—and said to me, ‘I have come to take you home to the Lord of Elcho Falling,’ and suddenly, again, I was happy. It has been a long imprisonment, Maximilian Persimius, but it gives me a little comfort to realize that my father was right, and that I am needed.”
He gave a wry smile. “I do not think I could be as joyous had I arrived back to find the Twisted Tower as complete as the day I had left it.”
“I could always throw a few more objects out the door, if that would lift your spirits even more,” said Maximilian, and Josia laughed.
“You cannot leave here, can you?” Ishbel said.
“No,” Josia said, “I have no physical body left. The Twisted Tower, in its own way, imprisons me as much as did the weeping bronze.” He gave a little smile. “It is a happier prison, though.”
“Well,” said Maximilian, “I am glad to discover you, Josia. To be frank, I think the Twisted Tower a more serene world than that which exists beyond its walls. Are you aware of what has happened in these lands?”
“Yes. You are in a pickle, Maximilian.”
“Then you shall need to help me.”
Josia gave another slow smile. “Tell me, Maximilian—”
“Maxel, please.”
“Maxel, then. Tell me, how far have you explored the tower?”
“I have climbed all the way to the top chamber. Everything above this chamber is empty.”
“Yes. Ishbel, how far have you climbed?”
“No further than this chamber, Josia,” she said. “I have been to the tower only rarely.”
Josia nodded, as if digesting this information. “Maxel, how many times have you been to the top chamber?”
“Once, when I was a boy, and once since I have been a man.” His eyes glinted with humor. “It is a long climb, and a depressing one.”
“True enough,” said Josia. He paused for a moment. “Maxel, have you ever looked out the window in the top chamber? It is, after all, the only level that has a window.”
Maximilian opened his mouth, then hesitated. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Just as well,” said Josia, “for if you had then you would have been dead.”
Maximilian looked startled, but before he could comment, Josia continued.
“I know something of Ravenna’s vision,” he said. “Tell me, Maximilian Persimius, how much do you trust Ishbel? Is she worth Elcho Falling’s betrayal and destruction?”
Maximilian looked directly at Ishbel as he answered. “I trust her completely, Josia, and I do not believe her to contain Elcho Falling’s betrayal and destruction, whatever vision Ravenna summons.”
Ishbel took a very deep breath as Maximilian spoke.
“Are you certain, Maximilian Persimius?” Josia said in a soft voice.
“Absolutely certain,” said Maximilian, and Ishbel gave him a small smile.
They stayed within the Twisted Tower until dawn. Maximilian came back to consciousness slowly, still sitting in the chair by Ishbel. He struggled to sit upright, looking at her.
She was awake, watching him.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For trusting me.”
He gave a nod, not knowing how to respond.
Then she gave a little smile. “I am afraid I do not have a flower to hand for your payment this morning.”
“Then I shall take my payment in other currency,” Maximilian said, and leaned forward and kissed her.
He meant to keep it brief, but somehow he did not quite lift his mouth before the kiss deepened, and he was leaning down to the bed, and she had the fingers of one hand soft against his neck.
“My lord?”
Maximilian pulled back.
Serge had entered the tent. “BroadWing has returned,” he said. “He needs to speak with you.”
Maximilian sank into his chair in his tent. “I cannot believe it,” he muttered.
“It was a slaughter, my lord,” said BroadWing. “Axis was furious.”
“And now Axis undoubtedly is in the hands of Armat because of those fools,” Maximilian said, and muttered a curse. He paused. “Where are the Lealfast now?”
“Axis said they’d eventually come to me for some training, but for now he has sent them off to lick their wounds. They will be rejoining you once they’ve had time to think. It cannot be enough time for me.”
Maximilian grunted. “I cannot for the life of me believe them capable of learning any skills. You shall need good luck and some inspiration, my friend, once they join you. Well, I for one don’t want to see them just yet.” He paused. “Damn them, BroadWing. I cannot afford to lose Axis for any reason, let alone their stupidity.”