"You are my countrywoman, Azhure," he said. "I knew when you walked into the treaty tent earlier this afternoon beside Axis that I would be able to refuse him nothing. I am but wet clay when faced with such beauty." He turned a little to Axis, although he kept his grip on Azhure s hand. "She is your most dangerous weapon, Axis. Use her well and your enemies will all fall at your feet."

Axis laughed. "You are quite the courtier, Ysgryff."

Azhure smiled graciously. "My mother was a Nors woman, Baron, but I was born and bred in northern Skarabost."

"Your mother?" Ysgryff raised his eyebrows. "Lost to us in northern Skarabost? Please, tell me her name. I might have known her."

A look of deep distress crossed Azhure's face and she snatched her hand from Ysgryff's fingers. "She died when I was very young," she stammered, white-faced. "I cannot remember her name."

Axis slipped a hand about her waist, concerned at Azhure s reaction. Why did she say her mother had died? Had she heard something of her mothers fate after she had run away with the pedlar?

"Azhure, I apologise if my remark caused you distress," Ysgryff said hastily.

"Please, accept my belated condolences. Your mother must have been very beautiful if I can judge anything by her daughter's beauty."

Azhure relaxed slightly and her face regained some colour. "Yes," she said, "she was very beautiful." Her eyes became dreamy. "She would talk to me of many things." "Of strange and faraway lands, perhaps? Of seas and tides and long pale beaches?" YsgryfFs voice was curiously insistent.

"Yes. Yes, she had seen many wonders."

"And what did she tell you about these strange lands, Azhure? What did she show you?"

"Flowers," Azhure said, her voice curiously dull. "Many flowers.

Moonwildflowers. Yes. She liked those. And hunting...and...moonlight... and...the Dome ..." she whispered. "The Dome. I remember the Dome."

Axis glanced at Ysgryff, puzzled, and he tightened his arm about Azhure's waist. Had she had too much wine?

Azhure blinked at the pressure of Axis' arm. "Oh, Ysgryff, it was so long ago.

I cannot remember. Her tales are lost in the mists of memory."

As is her name, Ysgryff thought. As is her name. All the priestesses lost their names the day they took their final vows. But what was one of the nine doing in northern Skarabost? And which one was if? The first opportunity Ysgryff got he would be making some very specific inquiries at the Temple of the Stars.

Meanwhile he had a Sacred Daughter standing before him. He must determine her age - that would make his inquiries the easier.

"Then, Azhure, if such things are lost to you, perhaps you will let me tell you of your mother's homeland?"

"I would be delighted," Azhure said. "Please, tell me about Nor. I have often wondered what my mother's people are like."

No wonder, Ysgryff thought, Axis had taken up with this woman. Did he know what he had won for himself? Did he know what the gods had given him?

Apparently not, for otherwise the man would not have hesitated to marry her.

rEvery so often Ysgryff's eyes would drift to the child in Azhure's arms, equally fascinated by the baby as he was by his mother. This was a magical line indeed.

In Carlon, Borneheld was enjoying himself immensely. Before him sat the Corolean Ambassador, almost as thin as the pen he held poised in one hand. The man's dark eyes skimmed over the page before him.

"Where do I sign, Sire?"

"Here," Borneheld pointed with his finger. "And here."

The Ambassador signed perfunctorily, then handed the pen to Borneheld, watching as the King of Achar signed the document as well. The man was almost obscene in his haste. As soon as he had finished Borneheld sat back, feeling a deep sense of peace and security. Let Axis come for me now, he thought, let him come and see what a surprise I have in store for him. "When will the Emperor begin to send the troops, Ambassador?"

"Most of the troops are waiting to embark, Sire," the Ambassador said.

"They should be here within two weeks."

Not before time, Borneheld thought. Not before time. He had worked hard to conclude this treaty with the Corolean Ambassador - and the troops which the Emperor had promised him would win him back his country.

"Some more wine?" he inquired politely, although he disliked having to waste such good wine on this constipated vegetable. "It is of the finest quality."

The Silent Woman Dream It was the last week of Harvest-month, only eight weeks before Axis had to fulfil his side of the contract with the GateKeeper. Axis' temper grew shorter day by day as he realised how little time he had before his bargain died. But his army had now grown so vast it could not possibly move at the same speed as Axis'

former Axe-Wielders had been able to. As tents were erected at a site just south of the Silent Woman Woods, Axis remembered how his Axe-Wielders had taken three days to traverse the distance between the Silent Woman Woods and the Ancient Barrows. His thirty-one thousand had taken just on nine days to travel the same distance.

Axis sighed and stared at the Silent Woman Woods. He had not objected when his father, grandmother and sundry other Icarii Enchanters had flown into the woods earlier that morning. There was little of danger within the Silent Woman Woods to harm the Icarii, and much to fascinate them, though three Wing of the Icarii Strike Force had accompanied them. Surprisingly, both Ogden andVeremund had shrugged when Axis had asked them if they wanted to ride in, saying that they would return to the Silent Woman Keep one day, but not this one. Raum, beside them, had stood staring longingly at the Woods from beneath the deep overhang of his hood, but had turned away shaking his head when Axis asked him if he would walk among the trees. "Later" was all he had said.

Axis walked slowly towards his tent, preoccupied. His relationship with Azhure was becoming more strained the closer they came to Carlon and to Faraday. Every night between the Ancient Barrows and the Silent Woman Woods Azhure rolled herself and Caelum into her bedroll and turned her back on him.

One night Axis had laid his hand on Azhure s shoulder and murmured into her ear. "Do not lock me out of your life, Azhure, I do not intend to let you go."

She had been silent for a long minute, and Axis had thought she was pretending to be asleep. But she had finally spoken. "You and I have lived together almost a year, and every day I have fallen a little more deeply in love with you. Do not blame me if, now that you draw closer to Faraday, I try to reconcile myself to losing you."

"You will not lose me -" Axis started, but Azhure rolled over and stared him in the eye.

"I will lose you the moment Borneheld dies, Axis. No matter how much you protest that you love me, I know that one day you will let me go entirely for Faraday. Forgive me, Great Lord, if occasionally I allow myself a little self-pity."

At that she had rolled back towards Caelum and determinedly shut her eyes, refusing to respond as Axis stroked her and whispered protestations of love for her.

Damn her! Axis swore as he stepped carefully around ropes and tent stakes, perhaps it would be better if I just let her go! But even as the thought crossed his mind, Axis knew he could not do it. Not now that she had bitten so deeply into his soul.

As the night thickened about the Silent Woman Woods, the Cauldron Lake slowly began to boil. A deep golden mist rose from the Lake's surface and drifted through the trees towards the camp site of Axis SunSoar's army.

Deep into the night, Axis opened his eyes. For a long time he lay on his back, staring at the dark canvas stretched above him, listening to Azhure breathe deeply by his side.

He was not sure if he dreamed or if he was awake.

Finally Axis rolled out of his blankets and stood up. He considered waking Azhure - for something strange seemed to be about to happen - but decided against it. She had been looking tired and drawn of late and needed her sleep.

Axis ducked his head low and pushed the tent flap back. The camp was shrouded in a thick golden mist. Strange. Perhaps this was a dream. He stepped outside the tent and straightened up. A glint of gold caught his eyes as he dropped his arm from the tent flap. How strange! He was dressed in his golden tunic with its blazing blood-red sun. The one Azhure had stitched for him so long ago in Talon Spike. But why was he wearing it now?

Axis contemplated his appearance, then shrugged. This was a dream, and anything could happen in a dream.

He walked through the camp. About him the camp fires had burned down to glowing coals - no flames leaped to challenge the intruding mist. The Alaunt lay in a sleeping circle about the tent Axis shared with Azhure. None stirred as he walked past, though their sides fell up and down as they breathed deep in their own dreams. Guards, both within the camp and at its perimeter, gazed straight ahead as if in a trance. They did not challenge Axis as he walked slowly past.

None of this troubled Axis. It was a dream, after all.

Slowly, very slowly, Axis moved on, pausing at Belial's tent and glancing in.

Belial lay deep in sleep, twisted into his bedroll beside a dark-haired young girl who travelled with YsgryfFs retinue. A red wool dress lay thrown carelessly across the foot of the blankets. Axis' mouth twitched. Had Belial found a woman who could take his mind off Azhure?

Axis let the tent flap drop and went to the next tent. Like Belial, Magariz also lay twisted with a woman, but this one Axis knew. Rivkah. His mother.

Axis stood a long time staring at the outline of their entwined bodies beneath the blankets. Was this simply a figment of his sleeping mind? He told himself this was only a vision, and, even if it did speak of truth, why should he speak out against this? But something, deep inside him, told Axis this was a development that should - must - concern him. It bespoke danger, although Axis could not see what kind.

Axis let the canvas of the tent flap slip from his fingers, and he resumed his slow walk through the tents and camp fires, winding his way past sleeping forms towards the perimeter of the camp. Nothing moved. Even time seemed not to breathe within this mist.

Beyond the camp Axis turned towards the Silent Woman Woods, perhaps a hundred paces away. When he had camped here on his journey towards Gorkenfort, he had kept his Axe-Wielders as far from the trees as practicable.

Then he and his had feared the trees. But as fear of the Forbidden had lessened and died among those who rode with Axis SunSoar, so also dread of trees and shadowed places had been replaced with acceptance, and even a mild curiosity.

When the forests were slowly replanted within eastern Achar - Tencendor - Axis had no doubt that Acharite men and women would walk its paths along with the Avar and the Icarii.

A movement in the mist ahead caught his eye. Movement? In this, the most motionless of dreams? A figure walked ahead, almost totally obscured by golden tendrils of mist. Axis tried to walk faster, but the mist clung heavy to his limbs, weighing them down, and it felt as though he were striding through thigh-deep water.

As he gained on the figure ahead of him, Axis could finally see that it was Raum. He was naked and now Axis could see how his body had twisted almost completely out of shape. Great misshapen growths humped out of his back and chest, and his limbs were twisted and- malformed. His face, when he turned, was so warped it was almost unrecognisable, and he lurched rather than walked, rolling from one leg to another, his pace so unsteady that Axis feared he would fall at any moment. He quickened his own pace as much as he was able, thinking to aid Raum.

But before Axis could catch Raum the Bane abruptly halted and bent down.

Axis saw the flash of a knife, then Raum lifted something in his hand. It was the body of a hare. The Bane dipped the fingers of his hand into the open cavity of the hare's chest, then lifted his fingers to his face and chest.

Axis finally caught up with the Bane and stepped to his side. Raum had drawn thick lines of blood down his face, the middle line centred on his nose, the two companion lines running down either cheek. Three more lines ran down his chest, ending at his nipples. The thick blood had clotted among the hairs of the Bane's chest and its warm coppery freshness clung to Axis' nostrils.

Raum's eyes widened. "Have you been called also?" he whispered.

Have I been called? Axis wondered sluggishly, unable to collect his thoughts. "I do not know why I am here."

"You are here to witness, Axis SunSoar," a voice said behind him, and Axis swivelled around as if in slow motion. The three Sentinels, Jack, Ogden andVeremund, stood three or four paces away, each dressed in a plain white robe that hung down to bare feet.

"Have you been called?" Ogden wondered aloud. "You must have been, else you would not be here. Tread carefully where you go, Axis SunSoar, and do or say nothing that will offend your hosts."

Ogden stepped forward and kissed Raum softly on the cheek, slightly smearing one of the lines of blood. "Be well, dear one," he said. "Find peace where you go."

Jack andVeremund also stepped forward, kissing Raum on the cheek and repeating Ogden's blessing. "Find peace," Veremund muttered a second time, tears glistening in his eyes, and Axis noticed, with some surprise that Raum's eyes also glittered with tears. What was going on?

"Raum finds his home and his peace tonight, Axis SunSoar," Veremund said, "and you have been called to witness. You have walked the Sacred Grove once before and tonight you will re-enter. By invitation, this time."

Axis remembered the dream that had visited him the previous time he had slept outside the Silent Woman Woods. Then he had found himself in a dark grove peopled by frightening and dangerous creatures. The Horned Ones. Axis felt a small tremor of anxiety, but he had grown since that night two years ago.

He knew more, and he was more.

Axis nodded. "Will you come with us?"

"No," Jack replied. "This is for Raum and yourself alone. Be at peace."

Impatient now, Raum turned to the opening among the trees. "Come," he said, and Axis followed him into the forest.

They walked slowly through the dark trees, the mist dissipating as they moved into the Silent Woman Woods. Colours shifted about them until Axis breathed deep in excitement -the light among the trees had lightened and brightened until they were walking through a tunnel of emerald light. Even the forest floor beneath their feet had disappeared so they were completely suspended in the emerald glow.

"We walk through the Mother," Raum muttered hoarsely, his eyes bright, almost feverish.

Axis could feel the power floating about him, and he shivered. It was good that this was a dream, he thought, for otherwise this power would perturb him.

This was the source of the power that Faraday had used to give Axis and his three thousand the means to escape and then destroy much of the Skraeling force surrounding Gorkenfort. Axis remembered the emerald flame he had summoned to destroy the Skraelings and he took a deep breath of awe - Faraday must be powerful indeed to handle such forces as drifted through this emerald light!

They walked until Axis suddenly realised that he could feel leaves and twigs under his feet again. At exactly that moment the emerald light started to mottle and shadow about him, resolving itself into close, dark trees. Stars whirled across the dark velvety sky above them.

"The Sacred Grove," Raum whispered beside him, and Axis realised with a start that this was the first time in months he'd heard Raum speak in a voice that held no shadow of underlying pain.

Before them the trees opened into the circle of the Sacred Grove, and both Raum and Axis slowed. Power drifted among the trees. Unseen eyes watched. It no longer felt like a dream. All traces of the mist had disappeared long before in the brilliance of the emerald light, and Axis understood that he stood here in the Sacred Grove in reality.

He felt gaudy and overly conspicuous in his gold and red. For the first time since he had accepted the golden tunic from Azhure, Axis felt slightly uncomfortable in it.

"You will never feel comfortable here, Axis my heart," a woman's voice said quietly beside him, "because your power is tied to the stars, and this power emanates from the earth. From the Mother."

Faraday walked slowly out of the trees to one side, wearing a loosely draped robe of peculiar shifting greens, purples and browns. Her long chestnut hair lay thick and loose over her shoulders and down her back.

"Faraday?" Axis whispered, completely forgetting Raum on his other side.

"Faraday?"

She smiled and touched his arm gently. "How long, Axis? Twenty months?

Too long, my love. But wait. I must greet Raum."

She stepped past Axis and wrapped her arms about Raum, laughing and crying at the same time, murmuring to him as she hugged him close, softly stroking his face as if she could soothe away the bumps and lesions that marred it.

Axis stared at her. Faraday seemed different from when he had last seen her. No longer was she the innocent girl who first caught his eye at Priam's nameday feast in the Chamber of the Moons. Nor was she the beautiful but sad woman he remembered as Borneheld's wife. There were lines of pain about her eyes that Axis did not remember, and lines of humour at the corners of her mouth. Both experience and power had changed her. Would this Faraday accept Azhure?

Axis hastily clouded his thoughts - Faraday had demonstrated only a moment ago that she was as capable as he at reading the mind of another, and Axis did not want her finding out about Azhure from his unguarded thoughts.

What would be the best way of telling her?

"Why do you frown, Axis? This is the first time we have seen each other for a very long while, and this is a very special moment that I have asked you here to witness. It is one of the few occasions that I could invite you here and the Horned Ones would accept your presence. You are almost as closely linked to Raum as I am." "You asked me? You were responsible for pulling me into this dream?"

Faraday smiled and slipped her hand about Axis' arm, entwining her fingers through his. "No dream, Axis. The dream is the husk of your body which awaits you in your camp beyond the Silent Woman Woods. Now, be silent. We are both here only to witness - for the moment, at least."

Raum stumbled into the centre of the Grove, moaning again, as if his pain had returned. Faraday's hand tightened around Axis', warning him to keep silent.

Raum dropped to his knees, his head twisted to one side, his hands held out as if in supplication.

Nothing moved, save the stars that whirled overhead and the watching eyes that shifted among the trees.

Raum screamed, and Axis' entire body jerked. Be silent, Faraday's stare said, then she shifted her eyes back to Raum.