BattleAxe by Sara Douglass

Author:Sara Douglass [Douglass, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-13T23:00:00+00:00

StarMan

Axis staggered out of the Forbidden Valley, his face expressionless, his sword still dangling naked in his hand, words and images jumbling chaotically through his mind. The Avar man had said he had the soul of an Enchanter...an Icarii Enchanter. The woman had said that all Icarii sang, that music coursed through their blood. He had sung and played music that no-one had ever taught him. Now more music, strange songs, were surging to the surface of his mind from long-hidden traps within his soul. He had sung an ancient ward against evil to protect himself against the apparition of Gorgrael. He had sung again yesterday to the Avar child, and had done something to her that had shocked Raum. His instant reaction to the sight of the trapped Avar had been sympathy, not hatred.

Who was his father?

Axis did not want to make the connection, could not make the obvious connection, lest he drive himself mad. All he wanted to do was put one foot in front of the other and somehow get himself back to the Axe-Wielders, back to a world that he understood and that understood him.

How could he be the son of one of the Forbidden when he had dedicated his life to serving the Seneschal — whose foremost enemies were the Forbidden?

How could he have Forbidden blood coursing through his veins when all his life he had hated and feared the Forbidden?

Had his sympathy for the Forbidden been prompted by the fact that he was Forbidden too?

"No!" he whispered, "it cannot be!''

And Raum had said that Faraday lived. How could that be? How could Raum have known that? If he let himself hope it were true, and it were not, then he would truly be damned.

"No," he whispered, "it cannot be."

"BattleAxe!"

Axis raised his head with a conscious effort. Arne was spurring his big roan gelding towards him, relief written across his face. Several Axe-Wielders followed close behind. Axis slowly straightened.

"BattleAxe! We found Belial hurt and Hagen murdered and the Avar missing.

Are you all right?"

Axis grimaced. "The Avar escaped. With the help of Azhure." He sheathed his sword.

Arne's face twisted into a snarl. "That Artor-cursed bitch! She murdered her father and dealt Belial a grievous blow."

Axis wiped a tired hand across his eyes, almost staggering with the effort.

"How is Belial?"

Arne looked down at his BattleAxe with concern. "Belial will live. Ogden and Veremund are with him now. They say they can help him."

"Ogden and Veremund." Axis' eyes gleamed. "Yes. I must speak to them,"

he said to himself, very quietly.

"And the Avar and Azhure?"

Axis sighed and looked over his shoulder into the Forbidden Valley. "They had too great a start on me. They disappeared into the Shadowsward."

"Cursed misbegotten animals!" Arne growled, and Axis flinched, losing even more colour. He wavered slightly, and Arne lent down his hand. "Swing up behind me, commander."

The good people of Smyrton were standing about in the main street and square. Word had spread quickly about the murder of their Plough-Keeper and the escape of the Avar man and the child.

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