contagion with it, lying over the land in a drifting curtain of madness until it dissipated at the end of the appointed time.
“And those caught outside?” Zared asked softly of the first group of scouts to report back.
“Some die,” one of the scouts said, “but most live, although their horror is dreadful to watch.”
“Live?”
The scout took a moment to answer. “They live,” he finally said, “but in a state of madness. Sometimes they eat dirt, or chew on their own excrement. I have seen some try to couple with boulders, and others stuff pebbles into every orifice they can find until their bodies burst. But many who live past their first infection — and those dangerous few hours post-infection when they might kill themselves in their madness — wander westwards, sometimes north-west.”
The scout paused again, locking eyes with his fellows. Then he turned back to Zared and Caelum. “It is as if they have been infused with a purpose.”
At that Zared had shuddered. A purpose? To what end? What were the Demons planning?
But the scouts had yet more to report. One group had also seen seven black shapes running eastwards across the Plains of Tare towards the Ancient Barrows. Horses they thought, but were not sure. Above them had flown a great dark cloud … that whispered.
No-one knew quite what to make of it.
“We have roughly three hours after dawn, four hours between mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and then another three hours before dusk,” Zared said to Caelum and Askam on the third morning since they had taken shelter in the Woods.
“Time enough for an army to scamper from shelter to shelter?” Caelum said, his frustration clearly showing in his voice. “And what can an army do? Challenge Despair to one-on-one combat? Demand that Pestilence meet us on the battlefield, weapons of his choosing? What am I supposed to do?”
“Be patient, Caelum,” Zared said. “We must wait for Faraday and —”
“I am sick of waiting for this fairy woman!” Askam said. “We must move, and move now. I suggest that —”
“Faraday?” put in a voice to one side of the clearing. “Faraday?”
They all spun around.
Axis and Azhure stepped out from the gloom of a tree. Just behind them StarDrifter leaned against the trunk of the tree, his wings and arms folded, his face devoid of any expression.
And, yet further behind him, pale shapes moved in and out of sight. Massive hounds — Azhure’s Alaunt. Most settled down out of sight, but one, Sicarius, their leader, walked forward to sit by Azhure’s side. Her hand touched the top of his head briefly, as if for reassurance.
“Father!” Caelum hugged his parents tightly, relieved beyond measure that they’d arrived. All three had to blink tears from their eyes. They were alive, and for the moment they were safe, and that meant there was still some hope left. There must be.
Caelum nodded at StarDrifter, who raised a tired hand in greeting, then returned his attention to his parents. “You were in the Star Gate Chamber? What happened? Did you see the Demons step through? And Drago? What of him?”
“Caelum, enough questions!” Axis said, but his tone was warm, and it took the sting out of his words. “Give me a moment to catch my breath and I will answer them.”
He swept his eyes about the clearing, taking in Zared, Askam and DareWing. Together? This group that had only days previously been committed to civil war? For the first time in days Axis felt a glimmer of true optimism. He looked Zared in the eye, remembering the last time they’d met — the heated words, the hatred — but now all he saw was the son of Rivkah and Magariz, his brother, and a man he would have to relearn to trust.
Caelum had obviously done it, and so could he — and Axis knew it would not be hard. This brother was one that, despite all the arguments and differences, he knew he could lean on when they faced a common enemy.
“We left the Chamber before the Demons broke through,” Axis said. “We didn’t see them — or Drago — although I imagine he came through with his demonic companions in treachery.”
Axis paused, and his voice and eyes hardened. “I hope he is satisfied with what he has accomplished. His revenge was harder than I ever imagined it could have been.”
“None of us know what was in Drago’s heart or mind when he fled Sigholt,” Zared said. Like Axis, all Zared’s ill-feeling for his brother had vanished. Their personal problems and ambitions were petty in the face of the disaster that had enveloped them. “And we do not know if he was the instigator or just another victim of this disaster. Perhaps we should not judge him too harshly until we have heard what he has to say.”
Axis’ face hardened, and Zared decided to leave the subject of Drago well enough alone for the time being. “Axis,” he said, and stepped closer to him. He hesitated, then took one of Axis’ hands between his. “How are you? And Azhure?”
In truth, Zared did not have to ask, for both Axis and Azhure, and StarDrifter who still lingered in the shadows, looked as did every Icarii Enchanter Zared had seen in the past few days. They looked … ordinary.
“How am I?” Axis said, and, stunningly, quirked his mouth in a lopsided grin. “I am Axis, and that is all I am.”
Zared stared at him, holding his gaze, still holding his hand. “Is ‘just Axis’ going to be enough, brother?”
“It is all we have,” Azhure put in softly, and Zared shifted his gaze to her. There was still spirit in her eyes, and determination in her face. “Just Axis” and “just Azhure” might still be enough to stop the sky from falling in. Might.
Zared dropped Axis’ hand and nodded. “What do you know?”
“First,” Axis said, “I need to know what you have here. Zared and Caelum … together, in the one camp. And with no knives to each other’s throats. Have you made peace? And you mentioned Faraday. Have you seen her?”
Caelum hesitated, glanced at Zared, then spoke. “Father, we fought —”
“And I lost,” Zared put in, and grimaced.
“I had the advantage,” Caelum said, glancing again at Zared. “We agreed to unite against the threat of the Demons. We were riding to meet you at the Ancient Barrows when … when … Zared, you finish. She spoke to you, not me.”
“On the night before the Demons broke through,” Zared said, “we were camped some four leagues above these Woods. I’d been to talk with Caelum, and when I returned I found Faraday and Zenith seated at my campfire.”
“Zenith?” Azhure said. “Are you sure it was she?”
Behind her StarDrifter finally straightened from the tree trunk and showed more interest in the conversation.
Zared frowned at her. “Yes, I am sure it was her. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Azhure turned her head aside. Axis had been right then. Niah — her mother — was truly dead. Yet one more grief to examine in the dead of night.
“Faraday and Zenith had just walked out of the night,” Leagh said, joining the group. She linked her arm with her husband’s, and shared a brief smile with him. “They were well, and more cheerful than any I had seen for weeks previously, or since.”
“She said that we had to flee for the Woods,” Zared said, “and that we’d be no more use than lambs in a slaughterhouse if we continued on to the Barrows.”
“In that she was right,” Axis said. “None of us were of any use.”
Unnoticed, StarDrifter had moved to linger at the outside of the group, listening.
“After some persuasion,” Caelum said, “I agreed to divert the army