Part 43 (2/2)

How good a swimmer are you? Isaiah asked.

Ravenna stood before the Dark Spire. It was a horrid thing, reaching up through three of the lowest levels of Elcho Falling and pus.h.i.+ng at the fourth level. It twisted and twined, with great pulsing veins and thick roots that vanished into the stonework of the citadel.

It breathed, very slowly, in and out.

Ravenna had wrapped her arms about herself. She was so cold. She had a series of tasks to accomplish and Eleanon's spite, left deep inside her, niggled and bit at her, pressuring her to begin them.

But for the moment, Ravenna just stood and stared.

There were others in the chamber with her. Icarii Enchanters and a few Isembaardian soldiers. None of them saw her or in any way realised her presence. Eleanon's and Ishbel's curses, entwined together now, hid her from their perception. One or two of them had actually b.u.mped into her, but still they did not realise, cursing their lack of coordination as they stumbled, moving on.

The Dark Spire . . . Ravenna stepped forward, reaching out one trembling hand to touch the foul thing.

And then she stopped, staring upward, sending her senses straining through all the levels of Elcho Falling above her.

She had heard a baby gurgle in delight.

Salome sat in the chamber she shared with her husband, StarDrifter, Talon of the Icarii, and bounced their son on her knee. StarDancer had grown well since his birth, and had developed his powers quickly, as did all Icarii Enchanter children (Salome could barely remember her life in Coroleas, when she had fought to live as the human d.u.c.h.ess of Sidon, and not as she lived now, an Icarii Enchantress). She had once delighted in intrigue and despair, but now she delighted in nothing but the love of her husband and their glorious son.

He was an Enchanter, like his parents, and a powerful one. Now, as he bounced up and down on her knee, StarDancer shared his joy in life with his mother and he burbled with laughter.

StarDancer was but a baby, after all, delighting in his mother's love, and he had yet to tell his mother about his dream.

Ravenna's hand dropped away from the Dark Spire and fell back to her belly. She stared upward, her eyes filling with tears.

There was a baby above, burbling in delight.

Ravenna was struck deep with guilt again, guilt that she had condemned her own son to G.o.ds knew what. He might never have the chance that the baby above obviously did . . . he might never be able to sit on her knee and burble in delight.

Ravenna took a step away from the Dark Spire, wanting nothing more than to fade away into the shadows and weep, when she froze.

A group of men had entered the chamber, and among them was Garth Baxtor.

One of the men was Isaiah. He stepped forward to the Dark Spire, examining it closely.

He moved close to Ravenna, and she shrank back, distrusting his acute senses and power.

But he did not acknowledge Ravenna or give any indication that he knew of her presence. He was close enough to reach out a hand and grab her if he had wanted, so Ravenna a.s.sumed that Eleanon's and Ishbel's twisted curses were so powerful they could dupe even aG.o.d.

What hope for her or her son, then?

Isaiah was concentrating fully on the Dark Spire, his face twisted into an expression of distaste, and Ravenna took the opportunity of his preoccupation to move away from both Isaiah and the spire.

Perhaps the stairs, and the baby . . .

But Garth stood on the stairs, blocking her path, and he looked about.

”Ravenna?” he called, softly. ”Ravenna? I am sure you are here.”

Ravenna froze, unable to take her eyes from Garth. Could he see her? Could his Touch, and the fact that he had known her so well and for so long, circ.u.mvent the curses that bound her?

”Ravenna? Please, if you are here, speak to me. I will not harm you.”

He could not see her. He was only casting out in hope. Yet, even so, Ravenna was sorely tempted to step forward and take his hand.

Of everyone in this fortress, Garth was the only one Ravenna could be sure would not judge her. He would remember all the times they had shared, the laughter, the adventures.

”Ravenna?” Garth called out now, so softly and yet with such warmth and comfort, that Ravenna barely restrained another sob.

Surely it would be all right if she touched him, just for one moment -- And then riveting pain grasped her mind, making her stumble backward, hands clutching at her head.

Eleanon.

Ravenna, are you ready to commence your duty?

Isaiah looked away from the Dark Spire toward Garth Baxtor. ”Garth?” he called. ”What is it?”

Garth hesitated, then sighed. ”Nothing. I was just hoping that maybe Ravenna was here, and might respond to me. Just a forlorn hope, Isaiah.”

He walked closer to Isaiah. ”What do you think of it?” Garth said. ”It is a foul thing indeed.”

”Have you tried with your Touch, Garth? Can you make anything of it?”

”Aye, I have tried. All I can say, Isaiah, is that it is foulness incarnate. It feels to me like a cancer, but one with direction and purpose. It is growing into something, but I can't tell what? You?”

Isaiah turned his eyes back to the spire, studying it. ”It is a nightmare from another time and place. It is Infinity itself stepped into this world. It is coldness and darkness and hatefulness, and, as you say, Garth, all with a purpose and direction. I do not know if anyone can truly control what this is, or will become. I think this, right here, is Maximilian's worst enemy.”

Axis sat on his reed bed, disconsolately pulling on his clothes and wis.h.i.+ng he'd just braved the mayhem and got into Elcho Falling via the front door. The back door didn't sound like any fun at all. He was just about to slip into the water when one of the juit birds swam up to him and looked him in the eyes in that uncomfortably direct manner of the juit.

StarMan.

My friend juit. What may I do for you?

We have discovered something, StarMan. We think you need to see it.

Axis repressed a sigh. What manner of thing?

Something left by the Lealfast.

His interest p.r.i.c.ked, Axis nodded for the juit bird to lead on as he entered the water.

d.a.m.n, it was cold!

The bird led him part way round the northern sh.o.r.es of the lake which surrounded Elcho Falling, and nodded at the reed banks there.

Axis, who had decided he was thoroughly sick of swimming and of pus.h.i.+ng through juit birds while he was doing so, as also of being constantly wet and cold, heaved himself into the squelchy reed banks and began poking amongst them. For a few minutes he found nothing and was thinking longingly of hot food and a warm dry bed nestled within Elcho Falling, when suddenly he bent back a tangle of reeds and stilled.

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