CHAPTER SIX

Salamaan Pass, and Serpent’s Nest

StarHeaven, closely accompanied by her three Icarii companions, banked her wings to prevent further descent, and hovered in astonishment a hundred paces above the northern entrance to the Salamaan Pass.

A large army was winding its way out of the Pass, moving north.

“They’re Isembaardians,” said BrokenFlight, one of StarHeaven’s companions.

“Yes,” said StarHeaven, “and look who is riding at their head! Is it Isaiah? I have not seen him before.”

“It looks like it,” said BrokenFlight, “but it can’t be. He’s dead.”

“Apparently not,” StarHeaven murmured. She thought for a minute, deciding what to do. “BrokenFlight, you and the others stay here. I need someone to report back to Axis if I don’t come back.”

“StarHeaven,” said SureSong, another of the Icarii, “that may not be Isaiah. It may be a phantasm.”

“I know,” StarHeaven said softly, then began her descent.

 

Isaiah pulled his stallion to a halt, almost unable to believe that an Icarii woman was spiraling down from the sky.

Thank the gods!

“And pray to the gods that she is an Enchanter,” Isaiah muttered. “Please, please, let her be an Enchanter.”

And please, please, let it be in time.

“Who is it?” Lamiah said, pulling his horse in beside Isaiah’s.

“One of the Icarii,” said Isaiah. “At last we’ll get some news…and hope we can get some news out. Take your hand off your sword, Lamiah. She means no harm.”

Lamiah hesitated, then did as Isaiah asked. In the four days since he’d met Isaiah coming out of Isembaard, Lamiah had to all intents and purposes handed command of the one-hundred-thousand-strong army back to Isaiah. There had been no overt discussion of this, but Isaiah had taken command upon himself, and Lamiah had just allowed it.

It had, in the end, been the easiest thing to do. The first time that Isaiah had issued a command to Lamiah’s men in front of Lamiah, Lamiah had opened his mouth to protest…and then closed it as Isaiah had sent him a hard look.

It had been the easiest thing to do, allowing Isaiah control, and no one in the chain of command had questioned it.

Now Lamiah looked curiously at the winged woman who had landed some distance away and was approaching Isaiah and Lamiah cautiously.

“Who are you?” the woman asked Isaiah as she stopped three or four paces away from his horse.

“Isaiah,” he said, “Tyrant of a wasteland.”

“You’re dead,” the woman said.

“Lessened,” said Isaiah, “but not dead. You are…?”

“StarHeaven,” she said. “Isaiah—”

“StarHeaven,” Isaiah said, “thank the gods, an Enchanter. Listen to me, please. I have a story to tell you and a message I need to get to Maximilian as soon as I can. Are you able to do that for me?”

“I can get a message to Axis, and through him to Maximilian,” said StarHeaven. “I can do that fairly quickly.”

Isaiah dismounted from the horse. “Lamiah,” he said, “can you continue the march north? I’ll rejoin you in an hour or two. I need to tell StarHeaven what I know.”

Lamiah nodded and, as Isaiah moved StarHeaven to one side, waved the column forward.

“StarHeaven,” Isaiah said as soon as they were safely out of the way. “How long is it since you have been with Maximilian’s column?”

“A week, perhaps.”

“And when you left, had Maximilian and Ishbel renewed their marriage?”

“No,” she said, “they are close, but something still makes them hesitate.” She shrugged. “No Icarii would act that way.”

Isaiah almost sagged in relief. “StarHeaven, listen closely, for I have a tale to tell that you need to get back to Maximilian’s ears as soon as you can.”

 

“I want to show you something,” Ishbel said to Maximilian, who now sat on the bench beside her, and she unwound her plait and loosened her hair.

“I was marked,” she said, “and you ran your hands over it many times, but never saw it or intuited it.”

“Your scalp,” he said.

“You knew?”

Maximilian laughed. “Well, the fact that you are talking about your hidden mark while shaking your hair loose gave me a hint.”

“Oh, well, yes. Look.”

Maximilian hesitated, then took Ishbel’s bowed head in gentle hands, parting the hair. “I can’t see anything.”

“No.” Ishbel lifted her head and Maximilian lowered his hands. “I looked this morning,” she continued, “for the first time since I left Serpent’s Nest, and it is gone.”

Maximilian sat silent, looking at her.

“I sat in the room I’d had as archpriestess, Maxel. Sat there all night. I had yearned for that room so much, yearned to come home.”

“I know,” he said softly.

“But…last night…there was nothing left there for me. It was empty.” She paused. “What I had once been was gone. Empty.”

“I know you’d wanted to see how you felt when you came back here.”

“I was sure I would feel something. Sadness. Regret. Sweetness, perhaps. But there was nothing at all. Just emptiness.” Another pause. “And when I realized that, Maxel, I grew fearful.”

Again he sat silent, regarding her.

“I thought that perhaps I had left it too long. That I had missed the bridge that would lead from the life I had lost to—”

Maximilian leaned forward and kissed her, very gently. “Be my wife, Ishbel.”

“I’ve been so angry at you, Maxel, and so scared of you. I am still scared.”

“Of what?”

“I am terrified of once more ruining a marriage with you. I don’t think I can survive again the pain we caused each other the last time.”

“No one can guarantee anything, Ishbel. We can simply do our best.”

“No secrets?”

“No. So confess to me whatever remaining secrets you have kept hidden, Ishbel.”

“I stole my mother’s favorite brooch when I was five,” said Ishbel. “I hid it in the flour jar.”

Maximilian smiled. “I can live with that.”

“This is proving easier than I expected.”

“That is because we are making a more honest start this time.”

Ishbel took a deep breath, and nodded. “I have loved you for so long, Maxel.”

“And I you, and we both needed to say that, very badly.” Maximilian took her face between his hands, and kissed her again, very gently.

“What now?” Ishbel said, when he drew back.

 

StarHeaven had gone utterly white. She stared at Isaiah, unwilling to believe what he had told her.

“I don’t need you to believe it,” Isaiah said. “I just need you to pass it on to Axis and from him to Maximilian. Can you do that?

She nodded, her eyes huge.

Now?

Again StarHeaven nodded. “I need somewhere quiet. Somewhere…”

“Oh for gods’ sakes,” said Isaiah. He waved his arm at the three Icarii he could see overhead, and they slowly, and with obvious uncertainty, spiraled down to him.

“Get her somewhere safe and quiet,” Isaiah said to them when they’d landed. “And when she’s done, get back to me.”

 

Axis was walking with Egalion and Clements by the front gates to Serpent’s Nest, checking the portcullis.

“Although why we bother,” Egalion said as they stood back, watching a group of five soldiers lower the metal gate up and down, “I don’t know. Maximilian says he will raise Elcho Falling the day after tomorrow, and what will become of all this,” he waved a hand at the gates and the forecourt, “I have no idea.”

“I doubt it will be substantially different,” said Axis. “Just…different.”

“Well,” said Clements, “that’s helpful. But I would have thought that…Axis? What’s wrong?”

Axis had gone very pale, and had literally swayed on his feet for a moment.

Egalion grabbed at his elbow, steadying him. “Axis?”

“It is StarHeaven,” Axis said. “Reporting back…”

Egalion kept his hand on Axis’ arm, but he and Clements stayed silent for five or six long minutes as Axis listened to what StarHeaven said in his mind.

“What is it, Axis?” Egalion said as Axis finally blinked and came out of his fugue.

“Trouble,” Axis said, and he pulled his arm from Egalion’s grip and sprinted for the inner courtyard.

 

He found them where he’d left them, in the chamber where Maximilian had held his morning conference.

Unfortunately, they were not quite as he’d left them. A flush-cheeked Ishbel was sitting in a chair, braiding her loosened hair. When she saw Axis she gave him a part secretive, part self-satisfied smile, then dropped her eyes.

Maximilian was standing by a chair, lifting up his jacket and sliding an arm through one sleeve.

Axis stared at the jacket…had Maximilian been wearing that earlier…or not?

Oh stars…

“Axis?” Maximilian said. “Is there something the matter?”

“I need to speak with you,” Axis said.

“What is it?” Maximilian said.

Axis hesitated, and Ishbel finished with her plait and rose. “I think he wants to speak with you alone, Maxel.” She walked past Axis to the door, giving him another enigmatic smile.

“I’ll see you tonight, Maxel,” she said, and left the room.

Axis waited until the door closed.

“Maxel,” he said, “Isaiah is alive.”