StarMan (45 page)

Their pale shapes wove between the shadows of the rubble and slipped into the darkened crevices.

Eventually, the entire pack disappeared from sight, but Azhure could still hear the echoes of their hunting clamour reverberate through the underground chambers and around and about the city's dead streets.

Before them the Alaunt drove screaming Skraelings, both parents and hatchlings. The Skraelings tried to turn and nip and bite at the hounds, but they couldn't touch the beasts because they seemed only pale shadows, golden eyes and hot, sharp teeth, and the Skraeling teeth, constantly snapping, constantly missed. And so they ran.

Above, Azhure could hear the Skraelings screech. "To the surface," she cried, "to the surface!" Far below her the Alaunt heard, their lips drew back in savage smiles, and they drove the Skraelings before them.

This is what they had been bred to do. To hunt, and to hunt with the Huntress.

Her stallion dancing beneath her, Azhure raised the Wolven to her face and sighted down the shaft of the arrow...and, in their scores and their hundreds and their thousands, the Skraelings surged to the surface, arms flailing, eyes shining in terror, teeth exposed in fulsome voice ...

And Azhure let fly, seizing another arrow in almost the same movement, and let fly, and seized another

. . . and let fly...

And the Skraelings died.

They thought there must have been ten thousand archers waiting to greet them as they fled the ten thousand hounds at their back, for arrows appeared out of the nasty, bright moonlight in such thick rain that none could escape their sting. Without fail each arrow flew through the narrow gap between bony protuberances into silver eyes, and soon the sound of bursting eyeballs drowned out the noise of the screaming of those left alive and the rising excitement of the hounds.

And, drifting gently through the night, came a Moonwild-flower for each Skraeling killed, and soon the ground was covered with the delicate violet flowers sliding through rivulets of bright red blood.

Azhure did not pause to wonder where the arrows came from, nor where she found the speed and the strength to litter the ground with so many corpses. But while the Alaunt drove the Skraelings forward, she continued to rain her arrows upon them, and the red stallion rolled his eyes and skittered and wondered, in his foggy equine way, if the flowers might be good to eat.

Then, abruptly, it was over. Azhure blinked, and lowered the Wolven, an arrow still notched. She looked about her. She sat her horse in the main square of Hsingard, bathed in intense moonlight, and it was littered with the corpses of Skraelings and the rivers of their blood . . . and Moonwildflowers, some of which still drifted from the night above.

"Stars," she whispered, "what have I done?"

Her shoulders slumping in exhaustion, Azhure slid the arrow back into the quiver, noting dully that it was still full of its blue-feathered arrows, then whistled for the Alaunt.

They emerged from crevices and dark holes, their faces grinning happily, tongues lolling past blood-stained muzzles. Azhure swung down from Venator and touched the head of every hound that crowded about her, silently thanking them for the service they had done her. Then she patted the horse, and gazed about the square again.

A flicker of light caught her eye, and she saw that in a sheltered alleyway to one side of the square a man sat at a fire, slowly turning a spit.

He looked up, and even from this distance Azhure recognised the gleam of Adamon's eyes.

You must rest, Azhure, and eat. Come join me.

About them the hounds and the horse lay curled in sleep. /
enjoyed the hunt.

Adamon nodded, handing Azhure another piece of roast partridge. She would need to replenish her energy. Azhure took it and tore into it hungrily, vaguely aware that this must be her ninth or tenth piece.

Why am I so ravenous?

Hunting consumes energy. You will need to rest for a day and a night before you resume your journey west to Axis.

Azhure licked her fingers and eyed the spit. Another three birds were roasting over the flames, and she wondered if that was all.

You will have all you need, Azhure.Adamon's eyes twinkled.
Even such as us can become tired if
we expend too much energy...too much magic.

Can I destroy the Gorgrael's host the way I destroyed these Skraelings?

Adamon's eyes lost their amused gleam. No,
Azhure. Do not even try it. Gorgrael's host is three
hundred times the size of the number you destroyed tonight. Could you face three hundred times
the exhaustion you feel now? Can you face what Axis did?

Azhure plucked a Moonwildflower from her hair and turned it over in her fingers.
Then even gods
have their limits. Yes. Even we.

She lifted her eyes. /
enjoyed the hunt so much. Surely I can use that to Axis' advantage?

You will hunt other creatures, Azhure. Gryphon?

Yes, Gryphon. And others.

Azhure thought about it.
The Gryphon will be harder to kill. And what others will I need to hunt?

You will know when the time comes. Now, eat some more, and then rest.

From Hsingard, Azhure rode south-west for several days, skirting the southern Urqhart Hills. This far north the wind and

snow still screamed, but Azhure thought she could feel a slight difference. The wind still hated, but it was almost as if there were less...vigour...behind its blasts. Plant, Faraday, she thought, plant.

And watch the shadows.

Azhure still worried about Faraday, but the more urgent problem was Axis. Could she help him when she arrived? Would she have the power for that now? How long had it been since he had crippled himself with the use of the Star Dance? Where was he? Azhure did not know if her message to Belial had got through, and as she rode she chewed her Up in thought. If she were leading a crippled army, where would she take it?
Where was it now?

"Search," she whispered to the hounds before her, and Sicarius turned his head, his eyes questioning.

"Search for Axis, Sicarius, and bring me to him."

And the hound lowered his great head to the snow and loped faster.

And so she rode. Often, she had company.

Azhure,Xanon said to her one day as she ran effortlessly beside Azhure's stallion, her hand tangled in his mane,
let me tell you more about the Star Dance. This you must know, if you are to help Axis.

Yes. Tell me.

Do you remember the secret Adamon told you?

Azhure felt a shiver of excitement ripple down her spine.

Yes.

Good. Azhure, all life exists within the Star Dance. All life must listen to it.

I don't understand.

You will. Let us keep silent for a few minutes and, as we run, listen...listen for the Star Dance.

I can always hear it.

iYes, you can, but I wonder if you trulyhear
it. Let it suffuse you...and then listen to the sound of
your horse's hooves as they thud in the snow, and to the pitch of the hounds as they pant, and to
the throb of your own heart.

Azhure closed her eyes, her body swaying to the rhythm of the horse as he cantered forward, and let the music of the Star Dance engulf her. Her lips parted, and by her side Xanon smiled.

Once she had relaxed completely within the music of the Star Dance, Azhure slowly let other sounds intrude. The thud of Venator's hooves...the pitch of the hounds' breath as they ran...the throb of her own heart. . .

... the surge of the tide as it beat against the shore ...

...the rise and fall of the moon as she dipped through the sky. . .

XANON/

Xanon tipped her head back and laughed, the music and beat of her laughter adding to Azhure's understanding.

Xanon,Azhure's mind whispered,
all life sways to the Beat of the Star Dance. We all keep time.

Yes. The Beat suffuses every aspect of life. Good. You understand. Now ride, and as you ride, listen to the Beat of the Star Dance . . . itis
the throb of life.

Three days from Hsingard, .Azhure rode through Jervois Landing. It stood silent and empty of human or Icarii life, the snow drifting through deserted streets. But the ice and frost that Azhure remembered seeing when Axis recalled RuffleCrest JoyFlight's memory had gone. Now Jervois Landing was still winter-swept, but it was not frozen, and in sheltered corners Azhure could see the occasional bird or squirrel crouched, waiting for the thaw.

Perhaps they could somehow feel the spread of the Minstrelsea forest so many leagues to the south.

She camped that night in a small house on the outskirts of the town, and Adamon joined her about the fire.

Adamon, Xanon has shown me bow all life sways to the Beat of the Star Dance.

Yes.

Azhure thought for a while, her chin resting in her hands as she stared into the fire.
Adamon, I can
hear the Dark Music as well. Few Icarii - none, really, save Wolf Star - can do that.

Yes, Azhure. And can you feel its crazy beat?

Azhure shuddered.
Yes. Yes, I can.

Imagine, Azhure, if that crazed beat became stronger than the beat of the Star Dance. Imagine what would happen.

Life would tear itself apart if it tried to follow the lead of the Dark Music.

Indeed.

Azhure sat up straight, pushing her hair back from her face.
Adamon, stars and sun and moon must
be surrounded by both Star Dance and the Dance of Death.

Both Dances constantly court the heavenly bodies, Azhure. But which do you love?

Azhure smiled.
You know that. I love the Star Dance.

Yes.

Axis.

Yes. Help him.

From Jervois Landing the Alaunt led Azhure west-south-west. Above them and behind them drifted Moonwildflowers, and over them shone moonshine, whether the moon was full or dark.

During those hours when Azhure rode, Xanon, and sometimes Pors or Silton, ran by her side, explaining to her the ways of the gods, deepening her instinct, satisfying her curiosity, letting her grow.

Sometimes, when she rode, the hounds would sniff out small bands of Skraelings, sometimes a nest or two, and then Azhure would let the hounds clamour, and hunt.

During those hours when she stopped to rest and eat, Adamon invariably joined her, and both would share the partridge they roasted above the flames, and divide the bread they baked among the coals.

Azhure was never sure where the fires came from, nor the food. She would be riding one minute, then sitting before a fire the next, the hounds curled in sleep about her and Adamon smiling into her eyes.

Tell me of your fight with Artor,she asked one day.

Adamon sighed, and his handsome face crinkled. He rubbed the furrows on his trow and glanced at Azhure. Do
you really want to know?

I have to know, don't ?

He laughed, and the hounds stirred in their sleep.
How well you have learned, Azhure. How well
you have grown. Very well. I will tell you of Artor.

He was silent for some minutes, but Azhure did not push him.

The Star Gods are tied to this world - to this earth and water and air and fire, Azhure. This sun and this moon.

She nodded.
You are tied by those who worship you.

Adamon started. He had not thought her instinct had deepened to this extent.
Yes, Azhure. The
worship of the Icarii binds us to this world.

Azhure thought about that for a while. Tied.
Would you like to...travel...if you could?

Adamon smiled, introspective.
Would we? I am not sure. But it does not matter. Azhure, beyond
this world, beyond the Star Gate, there are many beings -

Gods?

Adamon shifted uncomfortably.
Some have god-like powers, certainly. Many of these beings are
free, not tied. They seek.

For what?

For worshippers. Sustenance. Souls.

Artor is one of these beings, isn't he.

Yes, Azhure. He is.

Azhure took a deep breath.
Artor came through space...? Through the Star Gate.

Ah. Through the Star Gate. Artor came through the Star Gate, seeking adulation and sustenance, and he managed to imprison you. How?

We were weak then. We were only seven, the Circle was not complete. And Artor is old and very powerful; he is a Circle complete in himself. As the Seneschal cast the Icarii, and the Avar, out of Tencendor and imprisoned them behind the ' fortress Ranges, so Artor drove us into the interstellar wastes where we drifted, imprisoned. When Axis recreated Tencendor, when the Icarii came south...

When the sacred sites were opened again and the Temple relit, then you were freed. Yes, I understand that. The actions of this world mirror those of the gods.

Adamon reached out and stroked her cheek.
You understand so well, Azhure.

Azhure let him stroke her cheek for a moment longer, then she gently lowered his hand, smiling.
And
why do you think we will be able to defeat Artor now?

We were weaker, but also we did not understand that to defeat Artor we needed to combine with the force of the Mother.

And this time?

Adamon sat forward, his eyes serious.
Azhure, this time you will have to fight for us. You grew in
Smyrton, close to
Artor ...

Azhure felt a surge of excitement.
WolfStar said I had to grow in Smyrton so that I could be close
to Artor, so that I could understand him!

Yes, Azhure. Of all of us you have been closest to Artor.

You know him the best.

Azhure thought about that.
But Axis was BattleAxe. Surely he...?

No. Smyrton is a place of power. Of Artor's power. Of all people who were born there, you were the only one who managed to resist that power. When it comes time to face him, you will be the strongest. Most capable of facing him and of resisting his power.