StarMan (73 page)

gambolled, chasing birds or re-telling stories of their greatest seal hunts. It was across this ice that the Ravensbund people spent many months hunting seal themselves, and occasionally taking an icebear for its fur. When the seasons and ice were auspicious, they also hunted whale, but that was dangerous, and each tribe generally caught only one per year, using its meat and blubber to keep warm with food and fire, its curved rib bones as frames for their canoes, and its hide for clothes and the hulls of the canoes.

It was a beautiful, magical world, but it was also a cruel one.

Ho'Demi walked twenty or thirty paces into the ice, then he knelt and reached around behind him, freeing the box he had kept at his belt for many months.

Chitter, chatter.

My friends, I have brought you to your new world.

Chitter, chatter. Is it as cruel as you promised? Is it worth the help we provided?

Ho'Demi smiled and undid the thongs that tied the lid firmly in place.
Crueller, my friends. Can you
not feel the bite of the wind?

Yes...yes, we can, chitter chatter.

Then revel, my friends, and may you give this place more soul than it currently has.

He tore the lid off the box and leaned back. There was a burst of...energy — he did not know how else to describe it -and then the box was empty.

Well, my friends. Do you like it?

We love it! Thank you, Ho 'Demi!

Listen to me, my friends. As this pack ice moves and shifts, so you will spread out among the pack and the ice floes that surround it. Others share this ice. My people, as well as the birds and the fish and the seal and whale and all those who hunt them. None will disturb you, and you must not disturb them.

He paused. Do
not pick at their minds.

Never, never, chitter, chatter.

But if you see those Skraelings again, if they ever touch the ice, then you may nibble at their minds, for they are not wanted here.

Ho'Demi smiled. Few, if any, would realise the presence of these souls, for they only touched the minds of those with the gift. He turned and retraced his steps to his canoe, slipping as the ice moved underfoot, and anticipated the Tekawai Sa'Kuya would have waiting for him.

Finger of the GodsArne was as unobtrusive as possible, content just to be there, and he rode forty or so paces behind the StarMan and the Enchantress, allowing them some privacy. Axis and Azhure appreciated this, and after the first hour or so each day they forgot his presence. At night, they always blinked in mild surprise when they turned to see Arne setting up his solitary campsite some distance from their own.

Caelum slept. He woke in the evenings and played with his father and listened to the enchantments Axis taught him, and he spent the first hour of each day's ride gazing wide-eyed at the world from Azhure's back, but then he would gently drift into sleep, although his parents' conversations filtered into his dreams, and he learned even while he slept. And the tides spoke to him too, the waves crashing rhythmically into his sleepy mind, as did the wind and the scent of salt and ice along the hundred-league beach of the Icebear Coast. It was an extraordinary landscape, stark but majestic and beautiful. To the south, the alps rose sheer and black, while to the north the grey-blue sea crashed on the pebbled beach, the ice-pack grinding behind it, the sea birds wheeling and crying with eerie voices above.

Sometimes the beauty of the Icebear coast grew so extreme, and the cries of the sea birds so haunting, that Azhure and Axis would kick their horses into a wild and breathless gallop, the Alaunt streaming out to each side and in front of them, adding their cries to those of the birds.

Arne kept his horse to a restrained canter, knowing he would catch them in the end. Even he, dour as he was, was affected by the savage scenery they passed through, and sometimes tears streamed down his face.

Five days out from DeadWood Forest Axis reined Belaguez to a halt late one afternoon.

"Look," he said, pointing, and Azhure saw Talon Spike rearing out of the clouds. They sat for long minutes, staring at the mountain, wondering at its majesty and splendour.

"What will become of it, do you think?" Azhure asked eventually.

"Become of it?"

"For a thousand years it was the home of the Icarii, but now most, if not all, will live in the southern regions. StarDrifter told me that in the days before the Wars of the Axe the mountain was used as a summer residence - a playground for the Icarii." She paused. "It would be a shame if Talon Spike became a playground again. It has seen too much, and meant too much, for that."

"I know what you mean. StarDrifter should be there by now, and FreeFall. We can decide together what we shall do with the complex. Ah, here comes Arne. Arne, see that mountain? That is our destination."

Arne pulled his horse up and stared at the mountain. It was still distant, at least one day's ride away, but the sight took his breath away.

"Come," Axis said. "We shall turn south into the alps here. Say your goodbyes to the Icebear Coast."

"When you come home, Axis," Azhure said softly, "we shall return here and race our horses the length of this beach."

Axis reached across and touched her cheek. "Just you and me, Azhure, on a deep moonlit night.

Now," his tone turned brisk, "we shall have some climbing to do."

He took them through several small ravines that led south, then east, the ground rising the whole way.

To the north they could hear Talon Spike's glacier grinding and splintering its way to the sea, but soon even that was lost in the laboured breathing of the horses.

When they camped that night, Azhure asked Axis if the horses would have to climb much further.

There was little feed here in the alps, and she thought the three hourses might be weakening slightly.

"No. One of the things StarDrifter and MorningStar made me learn were the entrance ways and passages of Talon Spike. We will climb another hour or two in the morning, and then we should be able to enter one of the tunnels that lead to the foot of the great peak itself. From there we can bed the animals down in one of the lower chambers and ascend into the complex."

They were in the mountain by noon of the next day. The horses had struggled until they reached the tunnel, which was so smooth-floored and gently graded that they lowered their heads and breathed easy, jogging along with little effort. The tunnel, lit by magical enchantments like all Icarii creations, led into the lower regions of the mountain. Here the riders found stables and fodder for the horses, and once their mounts were comfortable Axis took Azhure and Arne through stairwells and shafts until they reached the higher chambers of the complex.

Axis led Arne to the dining halls where several Icarii sat eating and he left die man in their care. Then he and Azhure continued higher and higher into the mountain. Whatever destruction the Gryphon had wrought had been repaired. The complex was almost empty, and the sounds of the few Icarii who moved through it rang loud and clear.

Azhure shivered, trying to imagine what these corridors must have looked like with thousands of Gryphon crawling through them. For those remaining, the end must have been a horror.

"I wish I could have done something," she whispered, and Axis took her hand.

"You warned them. It was their choice."

"Where is he?" she asked eventually.

"In the Assembly Chamber," he replied, "waiting for us."

They entered the Assembly Chamber from the upper archways, silently, halting at the top tier to stare down to the circular floor below.

StarDrifter was there, lying face-down and spreadeagled in the centre of the golden marble.

Azhure gave Axis a gentle push in the back. "Go," she mouthed, and Axis walked slowly down the steps towards his father.

When Axis was a third of the way down StarDrifter raised his head, paused, then rose to his feet.

"Axis," he said, and held out his arms.

Axis took the remaining steps at a run and embraced his father fiercely. When Azhure joined them both men's faces were wet with tears.

"I thought I had lost you," StarDrifter whispered.

"You had. Azhure brought me home."

StarDrifter turned and embraced Azhure tightly. "Azhure. You are looking well. I have heard strange stories about you," he leaned back and ran his eyes over her dark blue suit, "and you shall have to spend many hours satisfying my curiosity."

Axis scrutinised them carefully, at first suspiciously and then he relaxed. Whatever desire StarDrifter had carried for Azhure now seemed to have gone. They were at ease with each other, the bonds of their friendship stronger than he could ever have imagined.

StarDrifter lifted Caelum from Azhure's back and hugged him as well. "I heard that Gorgrael had taken him..." His voice faltered.

Axis smiled. "Again we must thank Azhure." Then his smile died as realisation hit him. "Stars, Azhure,"

he breathed. "None of us would be here if not for you."

She looked at him quizzically. "Explain."

He took her face in his hands. "You
are
our salvation, Azhure, and you were birthed by a darker power - WolfStar. The last prophecy of the second verse of the Prophecy of the Destroyer has come to pass."

They were all silent for some moments. "Then it is just the prophecy concerning the Sentinels that needs to be fulfilled before I can wield the Rainbow Sceptre," Axis said. "Has anyone seen them, StarDrifter? In the events of the past months I had completely forgotten about them."

"No," StarDrifter said. "Wherever they are, whatever they do, they do not seem to want anyone else to know."

"Well, there is nothing to be done, I suppose. I shall have to trust in them to fulfil their part of the Prophecy."

"They have dedicated their entire lives to the Prophecy, Axis," Azhure reminded him, "and the other prophecies have worked their way through without any help or prompting from us. Trust. And try not to worry."

"Yes, you're right, Azhure. StarDrifter . . . have you . . . ?" He couldn't voice the question.

"Within a day of my arrival, Axis. SpikeFeather and the Strike Force had been here two weeks; Talon Spike was clean and the bodies of the dead neatly laid out. Stars!"

His voice quavered and he turned away, his shoulders trembling. Azhure stepped up and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "StarDrifter?"

StarDrifter took a deep breath and tried to smile, cuddling Caelum closer. "I'm sorry. But I have never seen such injuries. Not even after the Yuletide slaughter in the Earth Tree Grove." He took another breath, remembering. "We lit a great pyre at the peak of the mount and burned them there. Their souls drifted straight to the stars."

He paused, and Axis and Azhure held their peace. "RavenCrest and I were never particularly close,"

StarDrifter said after a moment, "for there was such an age difference between us, and our personalities were so different." The reflection in his eyes turned to pain.

"RavenCrest so often accused me of being reckless, Axis. Stars, but he was right! It was my own son who ordered this slaughter! My simple lusts brought all this death and destruction down upon my own people."

"Simple lusts, StarDrifter? Then blame yourself for the fact that the Icarii now fly the southern skies again," Axis said fiercely. "Blame yourself for the fact that the sacred sites are now reclaimed. Blame yourself that your simple lusts have resulted in your people's freedom!"

StarDrifter lowered his head. "With great gain needs must also come pain," he whispered.

"Would you rather that the Icarii sit here in the Assembly and mouth useless dreams, StarDrifter?

Gods, but I have not been through all that I have to stand here and watch you develop a conscience!"

StarDrifter stared at Axis. Then, unexpectedly, he laughed. "You bring me joy, Axis, and you have brought the Icarii far more joy than pain. Forgive my maudlin ramblings."

Azhure lifted Caelum from his arms. "RavenCrest and BrightFeather and all those who died here have been avenged, StarDrifter."

"Yes, SpikeFeather told me. Accept my thanks, Azhure, on behalf of all Icarii, for what you did in Gorken Pass." He laughed again. "I wish I could have seen it."

Azhure grinned. "No doubt Axis will recall the memory of it for you, when you both have nothing better to do but sit about a fire and cultivate maudlin thoughts."

"Axis? Azhure?"

They turned and saw FreeFall enter from the doorway in the lower tiers. EvenSong was directly behind him. Their greetings encompassed laughter and a few more tears, and Azhure hugged both tightly when she heard that FreeFall and EvenSong had, finally, formalised their union.

"The First heard our vows, Azhure," EvenSong told her, "and she cried even more than you do now."

That made Azhure laugh, and she wiped away her tears. Then she kissed FreeFall again. "Enjoy the SunSoar luck in marriage, FreeFall." She paused, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "And father a beautiful daughter for Caelum to love."

Both FreeFall and EvenSong reddened, but whatever retort they might have made was cut off when Axis looked to the upper Chamber. "SpikeFeather," he said softly.

SpikeFeather TrueSong stood at the head of the steps, resplendent in his true dark red colouring. But it was not SpikeFeather's red feathers that caught people's eyes.

In his hands he held the jewelled tore of the office of Talon.

FreeFall's eyes grew troubled at the sight of it, and as SpikeFeather stepped down slowly, he shuffled nervously. Axis spared him a puzzled glance - surely FreeFall had anticipated this? As SpikeFeather reached them, Axis looked at Azhure, and without a word they both stepped back, StarDrifter and EvenSong following their lead.

Now FreeFall stood alone and increasingly nervous in the centre of the golden circle. SpikeFeather stared into his eyes, then dropped gracefully to one knee, holding the tore extended in his hands.

"You are RavenCrest's son," SpikeFeather said, "and you are his heir, ratified by the StarMan himself.

This tore is yours."