As soon as Aziel had gone, Maximilian gave the order to enter the mountain, and for the next half an hour Axis concerned himself with moving the army forward. Inardle alternatively rode at his side or out to outlying units to relay his orders. Axis kept an eye on her, but was not worried about either her fitness or her reception. The Isembaardians and the Emerald Guard had never had a problem with her, and the Icarii had accepted her in the five days since StarDrifter had made his dramatic apology. It was a grudging acceptance, and overlaid with coolness, but at least Inardle and the Icarii had managed to get themselves to a point where they were prepared to consider the possibility of mutual regard if not outright friendship.
Inardle was also much better physically. She’d recovered well from the bruising and swelling of her arm and shoulder, although the wing still gave her, and Garth, some concern. Garth said the tendons were healing better than expected, but he was noncommittal when Axis pressed him privately about whether or not Inardle might fly again.
Maximilian and Ishbel rode ahead, and entered Serpent’s Nest’s first. Axis was some fifty or sixty paces behind them, and he and Inardle rode into Serpent’s Nest together.
It was extraordinary.
Axis hadn’t known quite what to expect. They’d had the opportunity to study Serpent’s Nest for two days before actually arriving—it had appeared as a purple smudge on the horizon two dawns ago—and all he could make out of it was its massiveness…and the sense of magic that pervaded it. Today, as they’d ridden to their meeting with Aziel, Axis had seen the road sloping its way up the lower part of the mountain to a set of two huge wooden gates, but not much else apart from the world of rock that extended skyward.
But once through the gates…
Axis’ first impression was of a deeper sense of magic. The second was that he and Inardle had ridden into a forecourt that was already far too crowded. They pulled their horses over to a far side and sat looking around.
The gates led into a semicircular forecourt, its straight back wall being formed by the mountain itself. There were three large arched openings in this wall, and Axis spotted Egalion walking out of one of them. He called the captain of the Emerald Guard over.
“Egalion? What is beyond those arches?”
“Another court, much larger than this one,” said Egalion. “And beyond that are gates and doors and archways leading to stables, kitchens, corridors…I don’t know what else. It’s huge. Ishbel is in the far court, trying to direct people and horses.” He grinned. “She’s losing her temper.”
Axis chuckled. “I’ll stay out of her way for the time being, then. Inardle, would you go and try to get some sense of where she’s sending people? Of where are stables and dormitories, where halls and chambers? Of where people are actually going? We’ll meet up again…ah, find us a chamber, would you, if you can dare Ishbel’s temper? And send me word once you have one, and we can meet there once all this fuss has died down.”
She nodded, riding her horse toward one of the archways leading to the court beyond. Axis watched her go, checking her wings and shoulder for any frost.
But there was none, and, satisfied that she was in no immediate discomfort, Axis looked back to Egalion.
“Can you send a unit of your Guard to assess the defenses, Egalion? So far as I can see, this is the only entrance to the mountain, but I need to be sure.”
Egalion nodded, and strode off.
Axis went back to his silent study of the mountain as men and horses moved about him, and Icarii dropped down from the sky to land on wall tops and ridges.
It looked like a mountain at first glance. There appeared to be little above the structures of the forecourt and archways save slabs of rock.
But if he narrowed his eyes, Axis could almost see the structure beneath. The “mountain,” the rock, was a falsehood.
Elcho Falling waited.
Axis jumped down from his horse, then led it through the confusion of the forecourt, under one of the arches, and into the even greater confusion of the inner courtyard.
It took five or six hours to sort everyone out. Axis saw Inardle from time to time, either talking with Ishbel or various commanders within the ranks of the Emerald Guard and the Isembaard contingent. She stopped at one point to confer with Ezekiel, and laughed at something he said, and Axis was glad that she was relaxed enough, and confident enough, to smile with the Isembaardian general.
The chaos of the inner courtyard gradually abated as various units were assigned, and then directed to, quarters within the mountain. Axis met Inardle briefly on the steps of the main staircase leading deeper into the mountain, where she gave him directions to a chamber she’d managed to obtain for them.
“What do you think?” he said to her, nodding about them.
“Of the mountain?”
“Yes.”
She smiled again, transforming her face. “It’s excited.”
“You’re excited, I think,” he said, returning her smile.
“Yes, I am, but the mountain is as well. It knows Maximilian is here.”
“Perhaps. Has everyone found quarters?”
“Yes. Aziel left servants here who have been scurrying about leading people to chambers and dormitories. Ishbel has been a help, too. Axis, the mountain is huge…there are doorways and corridors and vast chambers everywhere. What Maximilian brought with him today will take up only a hundredth of the space available, if that.”
“I’m going to find Egalion, and then Maxel. Get some rest, Inardle. You are starting to look tired.”
All her diffidence returned. “I’m not so tired.”
“Get some rest, Inardle.” Axis touched her cheek, then ran lightly down the stairs, calling out to Egalion, who was crossing a far corner of the courtyard.
Axis found Maximilian in the early evening in a massive space deep in the mountain. The chamber was floored in smooth buffed stone and had a great domed roof of roughly chiseled rock. When Axis entered, closing the door quietly behind him, Maximilian was standing in the center of the space, looking at a far wall where hung chains and ropes.
The floor just beneath the restraints was discolored.
Maximilian turned very slightly as he heard Axis walk up behind him. “It is very quiet here,” he said. “Very peaceful. Very still.”
“What is this place?” Axis asked.
“It is the Coil’s Reading Room,” said Maximilian. He nodded at the restraints hanging from the wall. “That is where Ishbel caused her victims to be chained, and where she disemboweled them, and where they died in agony while Lister pretended great wisdom and beneficence and spoke to her through the windings of their bowels.”
Axis looked at Maximilian curiously, not sure how to respond.
“Oh, I have made my peace with Ishbel’s past, Axis,” Maximilian said. “I stand here and feel…slightly saddened, I think, that this is what Elcho Falling came to for so many hundreds of years.”
“What will you do with it?” Axis said.
“Before I raise Elcho Falling,” Maximilian said, “Ishbel will need to unwind the taint of the Coil from the mountain. She will cleanse it, so that Elcho Falling can rise anew. This chamber, and anything that has any association with the Coil, will be destroyed.”
“Where is Ishbel now?”
“Gone visiting her old haunts, I believe. Gone to sit in empty chambers and reflect.”
Then Maximilian smiled, that sudden, unexpected expression which lit up his face. “But enough of the past. What has Egalion said?”
“About the defenses?”
Maximilian nodded. “And stores, and whatever it is we need to maintain a possible siege in this place—although unless Armat arrives within the next day or so I doubt Serpent’s Nest will need to contend with a siege.”
“Well, the news is mostly good. The only entrance into the mountain is via the gates we entered by, unless Armat wants to set his men to weeks of mountain climbing. The gates themselves can be shut, barred, and bolted, and each has a strong metal portcullis which can be lowered into position to reinforce it. The gate access to the inner courtyard likewise. The mountain is easily defensible—Armat would lose most of his men just trying to get them in the gates.”
“So he’ll need to talk us out with sweet words.”
“Very sweet words.”
“And stores?”
“Egalion says the mountain is extraordinary. The cellars and basements are packed with dry goods and salted and smoked meats and preserves. There are also wells deep under the mountain which will provide fresh drinking water for many months, if not years. Even the horses are well provided with hay and grain stores. I have no idea where Aziel would have—”
“The mountain provided them, Axis.”
“Well, if it could do this as Serpent’s Nest, then I can only expect that as Elcho Falling it will wrestle Armat to the ground for us, as well.”
Maximilian laughed, the sound ringing through the cavernous chamber. “Don’t get your hopes up, Axis.”
“When will you raise Elcho Falling, Maxel?”
“In two or three days. I’m not going to waste time.”
“BroadWing tells me that Armat is perhaps that distance behind us.”
“Then he will get a good showing for his arrival, eh? Have you heard anything of Georgdi?”
“Yes. One of the Icarii scouts reported him two days to the south. He has perhaps twenty thousand men with him, Maxel, and, knowing the Outlanders, they’ll be exceptional fighters. Stars alone knows where Georgdi found them—the man is extraordinary.”
“Then pray he gets here before Armat, because I doubt Armat will be kind enough to just wave Georgdi’s twenty thousand through the ranks of the besiegers.”
“Have you heard anything about Eleanon and the Lealfast?” Axis said.
Maximilian nodded. “Eleanon contacted me briefly earlier today. He says he is bringing the Lealfast fighters in this evening.”
Axis grunted.
“Be careful with Eleanon, Axis.”
“What? I shouldn’t hurt his feelings? I will be as careful as needed, Maxel, but I won’t coddle him. He’ll have to accept BroadWing’s command, and somehow, somehow, they’re going to have to be ready to fight within the week if Armat does what we expect. It isn’t long enough to transform them into usefulness. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I will be careful enough.”
“Have you heard from StarHeaven, Axis? It has been a week, surely, since she left.”
“Just occasional reports as she and her companions flew south. They should be in the area of the Salamaan Pass now.” Axis paused, shifting a little uneasily on his feet. “I should hear from her soon.”
“Let me know once you do, Axis. I do not like this silence from the south.”
Axis nodded. “Do you need me anymore tonight?”
Maximilian smiled. “No. Go back to your Lealfast lover. Her wing…?”
“Is healing, but we still do not know if she’ll be able to fly again.”
Maximilian nodded. “Good night then, Axis.”