Maximilian and Ishbel spent six to seven hours each evening in the Twisted Tower with Josia. They used this time going through chamber after chamber, recovering lost objects and knowledge. Rediscovering objects Maximilian found increasingly easy, even in the virtually empty chambers, as he became more intuitive and more attuned to the Tower, but the lost sleep…that was growing more difficult. He’d told Josia that he could doze in the saddle, and yes, from time to time he managed that, but generally someone required his attention, and he got very little rest throughout the day. He managed two or three hours at the most from the time he returned from the Twisted Tower to when they broke camp in the early morning, but that was it.
Maximilian found himself lusting after a soft bed and an uninterrupted night.
On this morning he was riding only a short distance from Ishbel, and he pulled his horse back so that it fell into step beside hers. Apart from the occasional few minutes spent together in the Twisted Tower, they hadn’t had much chance to talk over the past few days.
“You look dreadful,” she said. “Exhausted.”
“As always, your compliments warm my heart. Have you looked in the mirror yourself recently?”
Ishbel smiled, keeping her eyes on the road ahead. “Madarin keeps it hidden from me.”
“You are doing well,” Maximilian said. “Where are you now? The eighth level?”
“Ninth,” said Ishbel, “as well you know.” She paused. “Maxel…it is so exciting.”
“What?”
“The learning, the discovering. I cannot wait to reach Elcho Falling, and to see you raise it into the skies.”
Maximilian laughed. “You could do it yourself, almost.”
“Where are you now?”
“In the fifty-third level. This one is more difficult, as it is virtually empty, but Josia shouts, and I fumble, and somehow we manage.”
Ishbel smiled, knowing all too well how Josia could shout, and they rode a little distance in companionable silence.
“BroadWing sent one of the Strike Force back with messages,” Maximilian said after a few minutes. “He arrived early this morning.”
When Maximilian would have been snatching a few hours’ sleep, Ishbel thought, and resented the Icarii man’s intrusion. “What news?” she said. “Axis is safe?”
“Yes,” Maximilian said, and Ishbel let her shoulders slump in relief. Thank the gods. “He, Georgdi, and Zeboath were rescued from Armat’s camp,” Maximilian continued, “together with a Lealfast woman.”
There was something in that last which made Ishbel glance sharply at him, but he did not say more about the woman.
“Axis sent news,” Maximilian said.
“Yes?”
“Ravenna and Lister are with Armat.”
Ishbel drew in a deep breath and studied his face carefully. “We suspected that.”
“Yes, but still…”
But still it hurts, Ishbel thought. He may have cut her from his life now, but once Ravenna had meant a great deal to Maximilian.
“Lister’s disloyalty turns my stomach,” Ishbel said. “How many years has he manipulated people to get what he wants? And now he abandons all those manipulations to chase after another cause? Do you think he will give you your seventeen years back, Maxel?”
“Ishbel, I am not as upset as you seem to think that—”
“Well, you damn well should be.”
He gave a small shrug.
“Why has Lister gone to Armat?” said Ishbel. “I can understand—just—Ravenna’s blackened, jealous heart turning her loyalty, but Lister? Maxel, what is going on?”
He gave another shrug, and Ishbel repressed the urge to slap him. He knew, but he wouldn’t tell her.
“Is this why you wanted me to start learning the tricks contained within the Twisted Tower?” Ishbel said.
“Partly,” Maximilian said, “but also because it is your heritage as well.”
“I cannot replace the Lord of Elcho Falling should he fall,” Ishbel said.
He gave her a very small smile at that. “I do not intend to fall, Ishbel.”
She sighed. “What do you think Armat is planning?”
“Axis thinks, and I agree, that he intends to lay siege to Elcho Falling. He wants it for himself. Gods alone know what Ravenna has promised him.”
“Armat and his army are close, yes? Then why doesn’t he attack now? We only have a relatively few thousand.”
“Armat and Ravenna want to wait until we open Elcho Falling.”
“They don’t have the skills to do it themselves?”
Maximilian shook his head.
“Have you had any further news from the south, Maxel?”
“No.”
He was very isolated, Ishbel thought. So much to bear, so much unknown, the whole burden to carry alone. She felt a great ache within herself, and knew that, whatever rationalizations she used to deny it, there was only one way to resolve that ache.
“Madarin’s belt buckle,” she said, “and Serge’s sword think we should marry.”
He looked at her, and she at him.
“I’ll make a decision at Elcho Falling,” she said, and something about him relaxed. He smiled, nodded, then pushed his horse forward, leaving Ishbel to ride on alone again.