Part 1 (2/2)

Elcho Falling lay quiet in the night. Its lord slept in the antechamber off the main command chamber, his lady wife by his side. An hour or so ago he had been dead, murdered through the treachery of a woman he'd once taken to his bed, but now he lay whole and clean and breathing again due to the power and love of his wife, Ishbel.

They lay sleeping, Elcho Falling quiet about them.

All was still, save for the deeper treachery that was about to be enacted against them.

Go! whispered the One, and in Elcho Falling Eleanon and his twelve thousand fighters picked up their weapons and dissolved into invisibility.

A moment later and they were dispersing throughout the citadel, seeking out the units of the Strike Force, an unseen cloud of silent death.

Go! whispered the One, and in the Twisted Tower Josia frowned at the scratching at the door.

He opened it, and stared bemused at the red tabby cat that entered and wound its way about his ankles.

And now I! whispered the One, and he stepped through Eleanon's Dark Spire, which the Leafast man had placed in the very depths of Elcho Falling, flexed his shoulders, and began the long climb up into the heart of the citadel. As he rose, he began to sing, a triumphal chorus drawn from the depths of darkness.

Infinity had come to claim Elcho Falling, and death its inhabitants.

Maximilian Persimius rolled out of the bed, hitting the floorboards with a thump.

For a moment he lay half crouched on the floor, his eyes keen, his head tipped very slightly to one side.

Then he rose in one fluid movement and grabbed the blood-stained breeches that had been tossed to one side of the bed.

”The One is here,” he said, almost conversationally.

Ishbel rose from the bed, winding a sheet about her body. ”Where?” she said, her voice and demeanour as calm as Maximilian's.

”Far below,” said Maximilian, sliding his feet into his boots. ”We have a little while. Some minutes, perhaps.”

”How?” said Ishbel, and for the first time Maximilian displayed some emotion.

”We have been betrayed once more,” he said, and strode for the door.

Axis and Inardle were on the stairs, walking down to the level which held their suite of chambers. They were still quiet, stunned into introspection by what Garth Baxtor had told them as he'd come from the antechamber which both Axis and Inardle had thought held only Maximilian's dead body.

”Ishbel healed him,” Garth had said. ”Now they sleep.”

They rounded a corner and Axis stopped suddenly. He lifted his head, peering upward.

”What is it?” Inardle said.

Axis held up a hand for silence, then spoke after a moment's hesitation.

”I can hear the clash of swords,” he said. ”There is fighting somewhere.”

His entire body tensed as he spoke, and now he peered about, listening intensely, not noticing that Inardle had gone utterly white.

”Treachery,” whispered Axis, then he began to climb the stairs three at a time.

Inardle stared after him, then followed.

She didn't know what to do, or what to say. She knew what had happened -- her brother Eleanon would have launched an attack against the Strike Force -- but what could she say to Axis?

As she trailed behind Axis, sick to her stomach, she used a discreet amount of her power to heal her wings.

Then she started to look for an open window.

Two turns of the stairs and Axis literally ran into Maximilian who was on his way down.

Axis grasped Maximilian by the shoulders. ”Thank the stars you live,” he muttered. ”Maxel, there is treachery. I --”

”Indeed,” Maximilian said. ”There is fighting above us. And, worse, the One is in Elcho Falling's bas.e.m.e.nt, rising up this very stairwell.”

Before Axis had a chance to respond, one of the Strike Force members, StarHeaven, spoke into his mind.

StarMan, we are under attack. From the Leafast, we think. They are invisible, appearing only if we can wound one through sheer luck. StarMan, we are desperate. BroadWing is dead. We are all dying. . .

”Dear G.o.ds,” Axis whispered. Help is on its way, he sent back to StarHeaven, although he had no idea what help could be of aid to them. ”The Lealfast are attacking the Strike Force,” he said to Maximilian. ”They are invisible, and are murdering my fellows.”

Then he spun about and seized Inardle by the wrist. ”What do you know of this?” he hissed at her. He saw that her wings were healed and hatred filled him.

She had betrayed both him and Elcho Falling.

Inardle shrank back as far as she could. ”I'm sorry, Axis. I couldn't tell you. I --”

Axis' hand jerked even tighter about Inardle's wrist, and she cried out in pain, half sinking to her knees. He opened his mouth to speak, to hiss at Inardle, to hurl abuse at her, but was forestalled by Ishbel's calm voice.

”I can help with the invisibleness,” she said.

Axis whipped about.

Ishbel stood a few steps above Maximilian, garbed only in a sheet wound about her body.

In her hands she held the Goblet of the Frogs.

”This remains filled with Maximilian's blood,” Ishbel said, her voice unnaturally calm given the circ.u.mstances. ”It remains filled with the power of the murdered Lord of Elcho Falling.”

She lifted one hand, dipped its fingers into the goblet, then flicked them out in a circle as she turned on her heel.

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