StarDrifter and MorningStar paled in shock, unable to say anything. Rivkah shook her head. Of all Enchanter-Talons to step back through the Star Gate, it had to be WolfStar. What had the Icarii done to deserve this?

Steps sounded in the stairwell and MorningStar and StarDrifter jumped nervously.

"I asked Arne to send the Sentinels up," Axis explained. "Perhaps they can help explain what WolfStar might want, why he came back."

"Axis? What is it?" Ogden asked, noting the tension.

Briefly Axis told the Sentinels about WolfStar's return.

"WolfStar!" Veremund muttered. "But Axis, why are you so sure?"

Axis related how he had discovered the illusion of WolfStar's statue in the Chamber of the Star Gate, and how the Ferryman - Axis did not give them his name - had realised WolfStar had come back through the Star Gate. He paused and looked around. "It is more than time you told me WolfStar's story, and explained why you fear WolfStar so much. I need to know why he has come back."

"It would sicken me to tell the entire tale," MorningStar said. "Veremund?

Will you speak of WolfStar?"

Veremund nodded. "WolfStar's story belongs to a lost world, Axis, a world of four thousand years ago. WolfStar was a remarkable Icarii Enchanter who, at the extraordinary age of only ninety-one, succeeded as Talon of Tencendor."

"There was always rumour about his succession at such an early age,"

Ogden interrupted. "His father was young and fit, only some two hundred years old, and should have lived hundreds more years. But..."

"He fell out of the sky one fine afternoon," MorningStar finished for him.

"And no-one claimed the arrow that feathered from his chest."

"Murder, or accident?" Veremund mused. "Who knows? WolfStar had an alibi - he was in council with several of the Crest-Leaders at the time - but it was rumoured and is now generally believed that he planned, if not executed, the murder of his own father."

"He wanted the throne. Badly," Jack said, gazing out across the Urqhart Hills so none could see his face.

"Yes. He wanted the throne badly, Jack." Veremund sounded annoyed at the constant interruptions. "WolfStar, ever since he was a flightless child, had been fascinated by the Star Gate. Access to the Star Gate was much more open then, although only a Talon and his heir were allowed completely free use of it.

WolfStar would spend hours, sometimes days, simply staring into the Gate. He was consumed with the idea that the universe contained other worlds."

Axis looked up in surprise. Other worlds? The thought had never occurred to him, but now he felt a tug of curiosity. "Other worlds," Veremund repeated. "WolfStar surmised that each sun was paired with a world, perhaps like ours, that circled it, as ours does. He looked at the multitude of stars in the universe, and surmised that a multitude of worlds also existed."

"Crazy," StarDrifter muttered.

"For years WolfStar had lived with his obsession, and then, suddenly, he was Talon. Now he felt he could do something about it. The Icarii had long talked about the possibility that someone could step through the Star Gate, and survive to step back through it." Veremund laughed quietly. "But who would be the first to try? One day WolfStar approached the Assembly and asked permission to send an Icarii child, one with Enchanter talent, through the Gate. He claimed it was better to waste the life of a child, if waste it would be, than the life of a fully trained Enchanter."

There was horrified silence around the rooftop, as there had been in the Icarii Assembly that long-distant day.

"The Assembly, as you might expect, refused WolfStar permission to so sacrifice one of their children." Now Veremund was almost whispering. "But WolfStar s obsession was consuming him, and perhaps now he was slightly mad.

He was determined to step through the Star Gate and explore other worlds, but he also wanted to be able to step back into this one. And he needed to know he could step back. One day a young Icarii child, only fourteen years, went out flying and never returned. He was mourned; it was believed that perhaps he had suffered a fatal wing cramp while flying. But then, a few weeks later, another child disappeared, and then another. Then someone realised that all three had possessed Enchanter powers. And then someone accused WolfStar of child murder."

Veremund paused for breath. "WolfStar, defiant and very sure of his own powers, said that it was not murder, but necessary experiment. The secrets of the Star Gate must be solved. He asked what would happen if one day a race from another world wanted to invade our world through the Star Gate? What would happen if someone else, something else, discovered the secrets of the Star Gate, and Gates like it, before he did?"

Axis rocked on his feet at the idea. WolfStar's methods may have been appalling, but were his concerns so crazy as the others seemed to think? He started to speak, but Veremund continued.

"WolfStar claimed it would only be a matter of time before one did come back. Dear ones, WolfStar was an Enchanter-Talon, and he was very powerful.

Far from feeling remorse for the three children he had murdered to this point, NWolfStar produced a roster of children, all with Enchanterpowers, whom he proposed to send through the Star Gate one by one until he found one who could come back."

Bile rose in Axis' throat as he thought of his own son growing safe in Azhure's womb. How would he have felt, sitting among the Icarii, listening to his child's name read out by WolfStar as the fifth, or sixth, or twenty-sixth child to be sacrificed to the Enchanter-Talon's mad obsession?

"As I said, WolfStar was powerful, very powerful, and by now none dared challenge him. All, I suppose, hoped that a child before theirs would be the one to come back."

"I don't believe it," Axis whispered. "They let their children be murdered?

How could they? How many?"

"He sent a further two hundred and seven children tumbling to their deaths in the Star Gate, Axis," said Veremund. "Some only as old as three or four, the oldest about sixteen. He sent his own niece, daughter of his younger brother. He sent," and Veremund almost did not say this, knowing how much it would pain those listening, "he toppled his own wife, heavy with child, through the Gate."

Axis went as white as the snow eagle. "Why?" "Because WolfStar thought his wife's body might serve as some protection for the child within. WolfStar knew his wife carried an extraordinarily talented child, and he hoped the unborn child might be able to succeed where other children had failed. It was a procession of death, Axis. The Icarii parents wept and grieved and lamented, but still they brought their children to the Star Gate as WolfStar demanded."

"Part of the reason why the Icarii are so sensitive about WolfStar,"

MorningStar explained brokenly, "was that our ancestors did not try to stop him.

Virtually an entire generation of Enchanters was lost."

Veremund was glad the tale was almost at its end. "WolfStar almost crippled the Icarii race with his obsession. So many died, and those left were emotionally and mentally scarred. Many parents who had lost children threw themselves from high rocks in their grief, dashing themselves to death on the hard earth."

. "And did WolfStar discover the secret, Veremund? Was all this sacrifice worth it?" Axis asked, his voice hoarse with emotion. He was descended of such mad blood?

"No. None ever came back. WolfStar would stand on the lip of the Star Gate and scream abuse at the children who had gone through, scream at them to take their courage in their hands and make the effort to come back."

"Why didn't someone push the murderer through the Star Gate himself?"

Axis demanded.

"It took WolfStar's younger brother, CloudBurst SunSoar, who had watched his own daughter scream as WolfStar hurled her into the Star Gate, to put an end to his brother's murderous ways," said Veremund. "One day in Assembly, CloudBurst simply walked up behind his brother, and stabbed him. Just once, but it was a fatal blow."

"That was the only way the SunSoars managed to salvage their self-respect, Axis," MorningStar said. Her face was pale and lined. "CloudBurst managed to save both the SunSoars and the Icarii people. He took the Talon throne and stopped the murders, but the scars remain."

"We so rarely speak of WolfStar," StarDrifter explained, "because of our deep shame." MorningStar's mouth twisted. "The murder of so many children was not WolfStar's only crime. He was guilty of many other crimes against the Icarii People ..."

"He stole the Enchantress' ring," interrupted StarDrifter, and Axis jumped a little guiltily. He fingered the pocket where he'd secreted the ring.

"... but the children's murder was one that the Icarii have never, never forgotten," MorningStar finished. "What is an ancient ring, even one so precious, when compared to so many wasted lives?"

"And now WolfStar is back," Axis mused. No wonder the Ferryman had reacted with such horror. "He learned the secrets of the Star Gate, and now he has stepped back through. All right. Why? Jack? Do you have any idea why WolfStar has come back?"

Jack had been very quiet as the horrific tale unfolded. Now he faced Axis, composed, his green eyes tranquil and steady. "No. I have no idea."

Axis looked inquiringly at the other two Sentinels, and then to his father and grandmother. "Anyone?!' All shook their heads.

Axis studied the blank faces carefully. Why did he feel as though someone on this rooftop knew precisely why WolfStar had come back through the Star Gate?

"Well then, if we cannot know precisely the reason why WolfStar has come back, does anyone know how long he has been back?"

Again everyone shook their heads. Axis gestured with impatience. Someone must know something "If WolfStar has been back some time, he would have to protect himself against discovery. He would not want people to know. And yet the Icarii, as others, perhaps," he glanced at Jack, "were still using the Star Gate until a thousand years ago. MorningStar, Veremund, how long has the tradition of not touching any of the statues been around?"

It was Jack who answered. "Three thousand years."

Axis took a horrified step backwards. "Three thousand years? He has been back three thousand years? What mischief could WolfStar have got up to in three thousand years?"

"Surely," StarDrifter said irritably, "the more pertinent point is, where is WolfStar now? And what disguise does he wear?"

"What disguise does WolfStar wear?" Axis said. "I don't know. I know / am not WolfStar, but any of you here could be. How can I know? WolfStar must be a master of disguise."

Eyes and mouths opened in horror and indignation. "Us?" Ogden spluttered.

"But we are the Sentinels! It cannot be us}"

Ogden's indignation was nothing to MorningStar's and StarDrifter's angry and resentful denials. Harsh words were shouted. "Peace!" Axis said, holding up his hands. "Do you think if I seriously thought any of you might be WolfStar I would have actually approached you with what I know? But I cannot know for sure. It could be anyone, and," he stumbled, "and the third verse of the Prophecy warns me that I have a traitor within my camp, someone who will betray me to Gorgrael. Who else could that be except WolfStar? Where is he?

Where?"

"I fear I might know," MorningStar said very, very quietly, almost too afraid to speak.

Axis whipped around. "Who?"

"Too much of WolfStar is resurfacing, Axis, and it is resurfacing about one person. Azhure."

"No!" Axis and StarDrifter exclaimed together, and Rivkah cried out softly in denial as well. "No! It cannot be!"

"Thinkl" MorningStar hissed. "The scars on her back, as if someone has ripped out Icarii wings."

"No," StarDrifter said. "If WolfStar assumed the form of a woman - and a woman who can fall pregnant - then he would be able to assume the form of a smooth-backed woman. Mother, be sensible."

"WolfStar's bow, and WolfStar's hounds," MorningStar continued. "Both came to Azhure. Would Sicarius answer to anyone but WolfStar?"

Jack watched MorningStar very, very carefully.

"You cannot be right, MorningStar. You cannot" Axis insisted.

"Of course," said MorningStar. "I am not surprised that both you and your father defend her. If she was WolfStar then she would be of SunSoar blood, and both of you lust after her as if she were SunSoar bred and blooded."

Axis and StarDrifter stared at each other. Both remembered how their blood had sung for her.

"No!" Axis cried. MorningStar must be wrong. "If she were SunSoar, MorningStar, you would feel it too. Am I right?"

"Not necessarily, Axis. The sexual tug is always the strongest." She arched an eyebrow. "And perhaps WolfStar did not want to conceal it."

By the Stars! Axis thought, trying to control his anger. "MorningStar," he said, "WolfStar is going to extraordinary lengths of disguise if he assumes the form of a woman who can fall pregnant. That extreme is surely not necessary.

Besides, Azhure cannot sing, as Rivkah, Ogden and Veremund can vouch," the three nodded vigorously, "and, most important, she grew up in Smyrton, younger than me. What opportunity did she have to creep into Carlon to teach me as a baby? What?"

"Axis is right," Rivkah said evenly. MorningStar was a cold-hearted bitch on occasion. "You forget that I have known Azhure since she was about fourteen. I have watched her grow. Azhure may be a mystery but I stand with Axis and StarDrifter in denying that she is WolfStar SunSoar."

"Nevertheless, Axis," said MorningStar, not ready to concede. "It might be a good idea to send for word to Smyrton. Make sure that people remember her being born, remember her growing from a small child."

Axis nodded curdy. "If that will ease your mind, MorningStar. But I am already convinced." He stepped forward and caught MorningStar's chin between his fingers, and his voice took on the menace of threat. "Do not think to attack her again, MorningStar, or move against her in any way. I value Azhure more than most about me. Do I make myself clear?"

Rjvkah smiled to herself. She had waited thirty years to see MorningStar finally put in her place.

"Above all," Axis said, stepping back from MorningStar and looking about him, "there is one thing that convinces me beyond doubt that Azhure cannot be WolfStar. No compassionate man, whatever the cause, could send hundreds of children as well as his own pregnant wife to the deaths that he did. But Azhure overruns with compassion and love - for me, for her child, and indeed, for all those who she calls her friends. All this despite nearly a lifetime of rejection.

That alone convinces me that she cannot be WolfStar. Leave her alone."

He stared unblinking at the silent group watching him, then turned on his heel and stalked down the stairwell.

Winter ApproachesWinter approached, and with the arrival of Frost-month swarmed a dark, writhing mass of Skraelings above Jervois Landing. Gautier had stopped sending patrols northwards over the past few weeks -patrols had become a pointless waste of life. Gorgrael did not even bother to disguise his intention of storming into Achar through the defences of Jervois Landing.

On the third day of Frost-month, Borneheld's determination to hold Jervois Landing and redeem his performance at Gorkenfort was almost fanatical. He had returned from Carlon the previous evening, leaving behind a grateful Faraday (and a furious Timozel to guard her), and was now gathered with most of his commanders in the Tired Seagull.

"And," Nevelon stuttered, painfully aware qf Borneheld's expression, "Magariz said,, and I quote, 'Tell Borneheld that if he does not ally himself with the cause of the StarMan he will die. Tell him that only Axis can lead Achar to victory. Tell him that if he persists in denying the Prophecy then the Prophecy will tear him apart. If he has won a kingdom, then he will not long enjoy it. Tell him Axis comes, and he comes with the power of the Prophecy behind him.'"

Nevelon stopped, awaiting the inevitable outburst.

Yet Borneheld did not explode instantly into fury. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Nevelon, his lips thinning.

What could Roland have been thinking of to pick this man as his second-in- command? Borneheld looked at Gautier. "Well?" he barked.

"Axis must be alive, Sire," Gautier said finally. "Magariz's words, foolish and demented as they are, are full of confidence. He must know Axis is alive."

Borneheld grunted. He'd hoped that Axis had died amid a gnashing of Skraeling teeth above Gorkenfort, but deep down he wasn't surprised to discover his traitorous brother had managed to survive. "And?"

"And," Gautier said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "he must have a force somewhere. Who knows how many of the three thousand who fled with him lived? Some must have died. Perhaps a thousand. Even the best commander, and Axis is not the best," he hastened to add for Borneheld's benefit, "would have lost a significant number to the Skraeling host which followed them out of Gorkenfort."

Borneheld stared back at Nevelon. "Well fed and uniformed, you say?" he snapped.

"Yes, Sire, at least the two I saw were. Both were fit, and their uniforms clean and well made."

"And the emblem of the blood-red blazing sun," Gautier murmured. "Axis has found a new mark, it seems."

Borneheld frowned. Where was his bastard brother? Over the past two months the men Gautier had sent into the southern Urqhart Hills had met with increasing resistance from patrols of a well-trained and well-supplied force. All wore the blazing sun emblem and one or two were led, it appeared, by this same woman who had struck Nevelon. It was now unsafe for Borneheld's men to ride anywhere close to the Urqhart Hills, and even the eastern reaches of the Nordra were becoming dangerous. Not only did Axis have a force somewhere, it was growing stronger and extending its influence.

"Where are they?" Borneheld asked.

Nevelon cleared his throat nervously. "Uh, Sire, I've been thinking about this. It must be Sigholt. The garrison there deserted when they heard the Skraelings were moving eastwards. It has to be where Axis has based his force."

Borneheld jerked up, shocked, sending a goblet of wine spinning to the floor.