Part 59 (1/2)

Elcho Falling.

The mayhem rolled in from the sea, spitting fire and ice, drenching Elcho Falling and the surrounding landscape in pelting rain. The wind was not as bad this time, but it was still a terrible storm.

Eleanon and Falayal watched it approach. Both wore irritated expressions, but neither looked particularly worried or angry.

”Well, it surprised me Isaiah left it this long,” Falayal said. ”I'd expected it yesterday.”

”Perhaps Isaiah is growing old,” Eleanon said, ”and mayhap grows weak. This doesn't look as terrifying as that one he summoned during the battle.”

”But bad enough. We'll need to leave soon.”

Eleanon nodded. ”Do it now,” he said. ”There is no need to linger. Fly an hour to the north. You shall be safe there. This storm is only very local. Return once it is calm.”

”You will be safe?” Falayal said.

”You wouldn't be pleased to see me gone?” Eleanon replied.

”Don't be foolish, Eleanon,” Falayal snapped. ”We'd be lost without you.”

And pray you don't forget that, Eleanon thought.

”Keep well,” he said, ”and so shall I. And by the time this is done, you can be a.s.sured that Isaiah will never, never summon a mayhem again.”

Falayal grinned at Eleanon, then he was gone. A few minutes later the Lealfast Nation rose into the approaching winds, veering northward.

Axis watched the Lealfast leave, feeling some deep satisfaction that the storm forced them to flee.

He wondered how often Isaiah could summon these mayhems.

But for now he stood in the chamber which held the pool leading to the underwater escape from Elcho Falling. Apart from Inardle, who stood before him, the chamber was empty.

There were cracks in some of the walls, though. It would not be many more days before the Dark Spire broke through to this level, likely destroying this chamber in the process.

”Be safe,” he said to her. They were standing close but not touching, and Axis was feeling awkward. He hated goodbyes, and he had a terrible feeling that Inardle might not come back -- or at least not as someone who would want to be his companion.

She smiled. ”I will be safe. I do not fear the Skraelings.”

”Still .”

She leaned into him, their bodies touching in myriad places, and they kissed, softly.

”You are a different person, now,” Axis murmured as she leaned back.

”Which do you prefer, Axis? This, or the other?”

”Come home,” he said.

”This is not your home,” she replied, the waters s.h.i.+fting behind her eyes, and with that ambiguous reply she turned away from him and disrobed. She gave him one last, long look over her shoulder, then, before Axis could say anything else, turned into a column of water, which then crashed into the pool.

This is not your home, she had said, and Axis stood there for a long time, staring at the blank pool, feeling terribly lonely and dislocated.

Eleanon had escaped into invisibility as the Lealfast Nation left, and secreted himself within the reed banks surrounding the eastern sh.o.r.es of the lake. He would get wet, violently wet, but the thick, tall reeds would give him protection against the ferocious winds.

The mayhem hit suddenly, forcing Eleanon to grab onto thick bunches of reeds to keep himself from being blown away and sucking the air from his lungs. For long minutes it was all Eleanon could do to breathe and keep himself within the shelter of the reeds, but gradually he became used to the wind and the driving rain and managed to settle himself in among the reeds in such a manner that he no longer needed to fear being blown away.

He was drenched, and the sheer force of the storm had stripped away his cloak of invisibility, but that no longer perturbed Eleanon. No one in Elcho Falling could possibly see him through the thick, sheeting rain.

He relaxed, communing with the mayhem, seeking to understand it amid all its twists and secrets.

It was not, for one as skilled as Eleanon, all that difficult. The mayhem was a very basic enchantment, although one wrought with a vast power that Eleanon could not match.

Matching that power did not worry Eleanon.

All he wanted to do was reflect it.

Eventually, even as the storm worsened about him, Eleanon began to grin.

Then, he began to commune with the Dark Spire.

Deep within the Dark Spire, the One concealed himself from Eleanon's power. It was easy enough to do and he did not want Eleanon realising his presence.

If Eleanon knew the One had returned, he'd not do what the One wanted, which was to continue to aid the Dark Spire.

The One lurked in the shadows of his power and listened to what Eleanon whispered to the Dark Spire.

He grinned. It was a shame Eleanon would eventually have to die, for he was gifted with a fine sense of humour.

There were several Enchanters, as always, hovering about the Dark Spire deep within Elcho Falling. They were there to watch it and, in the most hopeful of universes, to glean some understanding of it.

They were also here maintaining a watch lest the One's presence grow closer.

But for today, as for the past few months, there was nothing they could learn.

One, an Icarii named StarSlider, had just decided he would return to one of the higher levels in the citadel when he paused, frowning at the Dark Spire. There was something odd . . . StarSlider couldn't quite place it and he was about to call out to the other two Enchanters present when he stopped, mouth agape.

Storm clouds had gathered about the spire's peak.

”Spring--” StarSlider began to call to one of his companions, SpringStar, but suddenly lightning forked out of one of the clouds and struck close by him.

StarSlider jumped out of the way, then cried out in horror as torrential rain swept him off his feet and toward the Dark Spire.

The mayhem had come to visit within Elcho Falling.

Completely unaware of what was happening behind her, Inardle merged with the water as she entered the underwater tunnel, moving with it and through it until she entered the lake. Here she paused, looking around.