Many among the Skraelings began to weep, great painful sobs that left their silvery orbs quivering in distress.
"No," Ozll said for them all, "we don"t like that. And perhaps we"d like to change, now we have been given the opportunity."
He hesitated a moment. "And perhaps we have been too consumed by emotion these past days and hours to have noticed something. Something important. Who knows what it is?"
No one spoke for a long time, although many brows creased and mouths mumbled.
"The One is gone," Graq said, eventually. "The One is gone very, very far away."
"Yes," Ozll said. "We are now masterless. Again. And maybe that is a good thing, for maybe we might like to consider the opportunity to be our own masters, for a change."
Chapter 9.
Elcho Falling.
Isaiah stood motionless in the dim pre-dawn light. It was a week since Maximilian had succeeded in trapping the One inside the Twisted Tower. Over the past two days Isaiah had moved his army north to the very boundaries of Elcho Falling. He was directly south of it now, within fifty paces of the lake, the citadel looming high above him, his army arrayed in battle gear in formation behind him, Kezial"s force and the Lealfast similarly arrayed some five hundred paces further up the lakeside.
Everyone had deployed yesterday.
The night had been spent waiting.
"You have not slept," Axis said quietly to one side. The general Lamiah stood to Isaiah"s other side. All three had stood here in lengthy silence, watching, waiting, thinking. "Are you all right? You look exhausted."
"I have been preparing a treat for Eleanon," Isaiah said. "I will explain once it is fully light."
He looked a little anxiously to the east as he said this, and Axis had to bite down a further query.
"What is going to happen today, Isaiah?" Lamiah said.
"You know I think that Eleanon is going to play at keeping us out of Elcho Falling," Isaiah said.
"Yes," Lamiah said, "you have told me what you and Axis think. But are you certain?"
Isaiah gave a hollow laugh. "No. I am not. But why else has he allowed us to get this close?"
"Perhaps because he has a trap waiting," Lamiah said.
Isaiah and Axis said nothing. They also worried about this. It was all very well to theorise that Eleanon had not attacked them because he wanted them to enter Elcho Falling . . . but why would he do that? And what if he actually wanted them to get this far in one piece so that he could catch them in some as yet unsuspected trap? Too many what ifs.
"Too many unknowns," Lamiah said, echoing the thoughts of the three men. "Eleanon holds all the cards. We are going to be forced onto a tiny exposed causeway to enter Elcho Falling, and he has a ma.s.sive winged force."
"Plus Kezial"s force," said Isaiah.
"Isaiah?" Axis said, nervous and jumpy and wishing Isaiah would tell them what he"d been doing all night.
"Are the men prepared, Lamiah?" Isaiah said.
"Yes," the general answered, "they know what to do and say if they get into hand-to-hand fighting with Kezial"s men."
"Are you ready, Axis?" Isaiah said.
"Yes," Axis replied. "Isaiah, what were you doing last --"
"I see the juit birds are in position," Isaiah said.
Axis bit back a hiss of frustration. It was growing lighter and he looked toward the lake.
There bobbed the millions of juit birds, apparently oblivious to the extraordinary citadel rising at their backs or the opposing armies gathered on the sh.o.r.e.
Axis and Isaiah had conversed with the birds a week ago. It had been the most amazing conversation; Axis had understood most of it, but it had been difficult. It was similar to communicating with the eagle (Axis glanced up, searching for that speck in the sky, but as yet it was too dark to see him), but more . . . garbled.
The juit birds were not easy about it, but they had agreed to Axis and Isaiah"s request.
Stars alone knew if they would go through with it, and stars knew what the Lealfast had made of the birds" appearance.
"Have any of the scouts spotted the Skraelings?" Isaiah said.
Everyone remained worried about the Skraelings. They could appear at any time to create mayhem and destruction, and none knew which side they"d attack, or even if they would discriminate.
"And Georgdi and the other commanders in Elcho Falling?" Isaiah asked Axis.
"They are prepared," Axis said, "for just about anything -- they have as little idea as we as to what to expect from this day. But whatever eventuates, they have manned the entrance into Elcho Falling. They are prepared to help if they think we might need them, but they know that to a.s.say forth will create even more problems if we need to get into Elcho Falling."
"There are tens of thousands who may need to get into Elcho Falling in a hurry," Isaiah said, "and the only entrance they have is that narrow causeway. We can"t afford to --"
"They won"t come out of Elcho Falling unless it is absolutely necessary," Axis said. "Isaiah, for all the G.o.ds" sakes, what were you doing all night?"
"Creating mayhem," Isaiah said, "and I fear what I have done very much."
Axis shared a look with Lamiah.
"What have you done, Isaiah?" Axis said.
"It is light enough now," Isaiah said, and he nodded to the east, over the Infinity Sea.
Axis and Lamiah looked.
"Stars ." Axis murmured. Then, louder, "Isaiah, what is that?"
"It is a mayhem," Isaiah said.
All three stared east. In the far distance, over the Infinity Sea, gigantic black clouds roiled and lightning flashed. Axis, with his powerful Icarii vision, could see the waves beneath the storm clouds churning, the waters punctuated with what appeared to be thousands upon thousands of strikes by hailstones, or .
"Ice spears," Isaiah said, very softly. He sighed, raising his voice a little. "I am Water. I am a G.o.d. I have more powers at my fingertips than most mortals could even begin to imagine. The ability to create a mayhem is one of the most powerful of them."
"It is a storm," Lamiah said.
"No," said Isaiah. "It is not a storm. At the moment it looks like one, but there is a reason this is called a mayhem. I can create it . . . but I cannot control it. It will be a storm such as none of you have ever witnessed or endured, and it will be desperate."
"Why create it if it is that dangerous?" Axis said. "What will happen? How long will it last?"
"I made it because I do not trust this day ahead," Isaiah said. "I wanted some insurance and this is it. It will truly turn this battle into mayhem, and you two will need to prepare the soldiers as best you are able. It will strike the Lealfast from the sky, though. No one will be able to fly in this. Axis, make sure the Icarii within Elcho Falling know to stay inside"
"Will it damage Elcho Falling?" Axis said.
"No," Isaiah said, but his worried glance at the citadel belied his denial.
"When will it arrive?" Lamiah said.
Again Isaiah looked toward the mayhem. "It is moving faster than I"d thought," he said. "We have perhaps two hours, maybe less."
"Shetzah!" Lamiah muttered, then he was off, striding for his horse.
"Stars, Isaiah," Axis said. "Should we retreat?" This was such a f.u.c.king bad idea, Isaiah, he thought, not caring if Isaiah picked up the thought. "If we get caught out in the open in this then --"
"We"re going to get caught out in the open no matter what we do now, Axis. There is no shelter anywhere save within Elcho Falling. We don"t have a choice any more. I"m sorry. Mayhems are always difficult to manage. But if nothing else it will protect us against the Lealfast, and last night I could not sleep for worry that Eleanon has something deadly to throw at us."
Axis muttered something uncomplimentary, but he supposed he could understand Isaiah"s reasoning. "What should I do?"
"As we have planned," Isaiah said. "Both the lake and the juit birds will protect you. The mayhem will last --" he glanced its way again "-- maybe three or four hours. We will just have to survive it."
Axis looked at the approaching ma.s.sive tempest. "Well . . . if it keeps the Lealfast off our backs . . . when do we move, Isaiah?"
"Now."
Eleanon wheeled far above them, cloaked in invisibility. He, too, watched the mayhem.
He had a good idea what it was.
Eleanon smiled. It would work even better for him than for Isaiah. Then his smile died as he once more looked at the lake, now densely covered with bobbing pink-feathered bodies.
They were far too quiet.
He could control virtually everything . . . save those d.a.m.ned inscrutable birds.
Chapter 10.
Elcho Falling.
"When?" Kezial said, curtly. He sat his horse on a small rise to the west of the battle. Eleanon was standing to one side, his gaze fixed on the fighting. Wind from the approaching mayhem whipped about them, making the horse skittish and raising gooseb.u.mps on Kezial"s flesh.
"Soon," Eleanon said, the feathers on his wings rippling in wild patterns in the wind.
Kezial bit back his frustration. He wanted to order his men in -- if not for quite the same reason Eleanon might want to order them in.
He took a deep breath, concentrating on the battle.
Isaiah"s army had marched forward just after dawn, to be instantly attacked by the Lealfast. They"d been at it for half an hour now . . . and mostly the tide was turning in the Lealfast"s favour. While not many of Isaiah"s soldiers had fallen, they were pinned to the ground, shields in defensive array over their heads as the Lealfast attacked from above.
"That storm looks vicious," Kezial observed.
Eleanon shot him an amused glance. "Attack, then," he said.
Kezial hesitated a moment, staring at Eleanon, then he kicked his horse forward, signalling to his army. It began moving immediately.
Eleanon watched for a while, until Kezial"s men were almost ready to join in the battle, then he sent a pre-arranged signal to the Lealfast.
They would keep attacking Isaiah"s army for another ten minutes or so, then they had the freedom to attack anything and anyone they wanted.
Including Kezial and his men.
Eleanon smiled to himself, then his form frosted, iced over, and vanished completely.
All that was left on that windy hilltop was Eleanon"s final whisper.
Ravenna.
Axis was crouched down, buffeted by bodies, under a cover of shields raised over the unit of men he was with. A constant rain of arrows drummed down on the shield cover; no one underneath could do much save crouch and wait. But the Lealfast were doing nothing more than keeping everyone pinned underneath the shields. Axis knew that Eleanon had other abilities and strategies . . . if this was all the Lealfast were going to do then maybe this was just going to be a play-acting battle, after all.
And if it were play-acting, then why? Why?
It was dim underneath the cover of shields, the light cut by the close-pressed bodies, the shields, and the approaching mayhem. Axis relied on vision sent by the eagle circling high overhead to learn what happened in the vicinity.
The mayhem was now very, very close, and the eagle was concerned. Axis knew he would stay only a few more minutes before wheeling off to seek shelter. Axis took the opportunity to have a quick look over the scene far below the eagle -- Kezial was now pushing his army toward this! -- then broke off the vision.
Go friend eagle, he said. Save yourself from Isaiah"s mayhem.
I wish you well, the eagle said, and then he was gone.
Isaiah, Axis said.
He felt Isaiah twist his consciousness toward Axis, but he did not respond in words.