d.a.m.n it! Why hadn't he killed Eleanon a long time ago, when he'd had the chance? The man was incapable of responsible action!

The One had no choice now but to leave the comfort and safety of the Dark Spire. It was earlier than he'd planned, but needs must.

His hands pressed against the tip of the spire, bringing the full force of Infinity to bear on the structure.

He may as well make a grand entrance.

Chapter 19.

Elcho Falling.

Eleanon stumbled backward, one small part of his mind petrified that the water creatures would murder him as Inardle had murdered his fellows, but the major part engaged in the one activity he was certain would save him and the rest of the Lealfast.

He communicated with the Dark Spire, screaming at it, demanding that it attack the creatures now within the lake surrounding Elcho Falling.

Ozll might want to murder the Lealfast, but the Skraeling had severely underestimated the power now at Eleanon's disposal.

The Skraelings had always been stupid.

The River Angels frolicked in the water. They had been reborn only a short while, but they felt that their life as the Skraelings was so far behind them it was scarcely a distant memory.

The lake was deep and wide, and it contained the millions of River Angels easily, but even so, the River Angels began to whisper among themselves about perhaps investigating some of the small streams that fed into the lake . . . and if those streams might somewhere connect with larger rivers .

Their reborn lives were filled only with happiness and relief and hope, and that was all they desired.

Until something rose from the lake bed.

At first the River Angels ignored it, this dark-tentacled creature that reached toward the sunlight, but then the tentacles began to s.n.a.t.c.h at the River Angels and squeeze them and pain them.

Many of the River Angels so caught managed to slither free, but some did not, and they died crushed within tightening dark coils and then left to drift broken and lifeless in the lake's currents.

The reaction of the River Angels was instant and it was as if they acted as one ent.i.ty. They were under attack for no other reason, it seemed, than that they existed and this dark creature wanted them dead. They had done nothing to provoke or warrant such an attack.

And so, they defended themselves.

Tens of thousands of them clung to each of the Dark Spire's roots. The roots cracked through the water, trying to dislodge the River Angels, but to no avail. The River Angels clung with tenacious purpose, running their strangely-shaped hands along the surface of the dark roots, further and further along, and everywhere those hands touched, so the dark root crumbled.

As the dark roots crumbled one by one, so the River Angels slithered further along, seeking as yet untouched parts of the roots to destroy.

"What is happening?" Maximilian said, leaning as far as he dared over the edge of the balcony. "What in the G.o.ds' names is happening?"

Below, the surface of the lake churned. The roots of the Dark Spire broke the surface, each covered with some sort of gelatinous substance. As those within Elcho Falling watched, it seemed that every time the roots broke the surface, they were just that little less . . . intact.

"Eleanon commanded the Dark Spire to attack the River Angels," Inardle said. "He panicked. He remembered the time I had attacked his group and thought the River Angels would thus attack the Lealfast."

Axis stared at her, then actually grinned. "He thought what? He had no idea that the River Angels were harmless?"

Inardle shook her head. "I don't think so. They must not have told him."

"Maximilian!"

Everyone turned. It was Ravenna, breathing heavily from her rush to reach Maximilian.

"The One is on the move," she said. "If you want this plan to succeed, Maximilian, then Ishbel needs to --"

She was interrupted by the arrival of Ishbel herself, who put a hand on Ravenna's shoulder.

"Get down to the spire," she said. "I will do what needs to be done while you run down the staircase. Go, Ravenna, go!"

Ravenna gave Ishbel one hard look, then turned and ran.

"G.o.ds pray we can trust her," Ishbel muttered. She walked over to Maximilian and put her hands on his shoulders. "I am sorry this can't be done with more ceremony, my love."

Then her hands tightened on his shoulders, and her eyes narrowed in concentration.

Axis, watching, thought that Ishbel would weave some mighty spell, speak words of heavy portent and bleak enchantment. But all that he saw or heard was Maximilian's widened eyes, his staggering backward a step before catching his balance.

Tears welled in Ishbel's eyes and she caught Maximilian in a brief, tight embrace before she whipped about to Axis.

"Axis," she said, "I will need to be the one to transfer you and your men now and it comes with a condition. I am coming with you."

"Ishbel!" Maximilian and Axis said together, but Ishbel forestalled any further protest.

"I must go with him!" she said to Maximilian. "If you have any sense, Maxel, you'll d.a.m.ned well know why!"

The River Angels seethed along the roots, their determination only growing the more they destroyed. They understood now that these tentacles were only a small part of something much larger and darker, and it was this larger ent.i.ty they now attacked.

They wanted to live their lives in peace in the water, and to achieve that, this jealous, hateful creature which had launched such an unprovoked attack upon them needed to be negated. So they seethed up the roots, millions of them, covering every available surface of every last one of the roots, and as they destroyed the roots, so they worked their way into the unprotected underbelly of the Dark Spire.

Ravenna came to a breathless halt, grabbing at a piece of broken handrail just before her momentum plummeted her into the s.p.a.ce just above the tip of the Dark Spire.

The Dark Spire was slowly collapsing in on itself as if it were being destroyed from within. Its sides were deflating inward, and the very tip of the spire tilted to one side, as if it were losing whatever structural support was needed to keep it upright.

But that tip was also bulging and glowing ominously red, and Ravenna felt a pang of true dread.

The One.

For a moment she considered running, but then she forced herself to tighten her hands on the handrail and to summon forth every last piece of power she commanded as a marsh witch.

It was almost time, The baby within her now throbbed with the power of Elcho Falling, Ravenna closed her eyes briefly, visualising the paths into the Land of Nightmares, then she opened them again, concentrating on the very tip of the collapsing spire.

It was now seething with dark shadows.

The One was not far distant.

What is happening, friend Axis?

Axis' head whipped up. I am about to need you very badly, friend eagle, Are you ready?

I am, Axis, Axis lowered his eyes. "Ishbel, I need to move now. And I hope you can look after yourself, because I cannot spare a single man."

"I will not need your help, Axis." Ishbel and Maximilian exchanged a brief glance, sharing in that glance all they needed to say, then Ishbel turned back to Axis and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It is time for us to move."

Chapter 20.

Elcho Falling.

Axis bounded up several flights of stairs, moving through the ma.s.sive gathering of fighting men.

Ishbel followed close behind, her movements sure and certain.

"We go in a few minutes," Axis shouted, the shout being taken up and pa.s.sed further and further up the stairwell. "Prepare! Prepare!"

He ran up two more flights of stairs. "Egalion?"

Egalion shouldered his way through the packed soldiers. "The Emerald Guard stand ready, StarMan." He gave Ishbel, standing a few paces behind Axis, a curious glance but Axis ignored it.

"Ishbel will transfer a thousand Lealfast into the Common Room. Are you --"

"Ready? Yes, StarMan."

Axis gripped Egalion's shoulder. "Good."

"What are the Lealfast doing now?" It was Ishbel, coming to stand at Axis' shoulder.

Axis closed his eyes a moment, communing with the eagle. "They are still around the lake, still somewhat scattered and confused, but Eleanon is organising them. We have to go soon, Maxel."

"I need to see, too," said Ishbel. "I need to know where we need to go."

Egalion gave Ishbel a startled look at the "we".

"Then watch," Axis said, and Ishbel's mind was filled with a vision of the outside.

She saw with the eagle's eyes, high above Elcho Falling. There was the citadel, great gaping holes in its walls, and she saw the lake, its surface still churning somewhat with the activity of the River Angels deep below; she saw the Lealfast, now clearly gathering into their twelve groups.

I have no idea what Eleanon hopes to do from this point, Axis said into Ishbel's mind. But I do not wish to give him the chance to execute it, I need to strike now.

Where do you wish to go? Ishbel asked Axis.

Then, and then, and there, and there, Axis said, showing Ishbel four points that would give his troops best advantage. You need the lealfast in the air, Ishbel said.

Once they know we're then, they'll take to the wing instinctively, Axis said. Any winged race would do so.

The vision faded.

"You are ready now?" Ishbel said.

"A moment," Axis said. "Egalion --"

But Egalion had already gone to join his men in the common room.

"Let me just share this vision with the men," Axis said. "They need to know where we go and how I wish to deploy them."

Ishbel waited, watching the faces of the men glaze slightly as vision filled their minds, then watched them nod, just slightly, as they responded to something that Axis said. Ishbel felt the first real frisson of hope that she'd felt in many, many months.

Maybe, maybe, if Ravenna could be trusted, then this would be the final act.

Axis reopened his eyes.

"Now," he said, and Ishbel drew on all her power as Lady of Elcho Falling, and did as Axis asked.

Axis felt as though a giant had squeezed his midriff and forcibly expelled all the air from his lungs. He had no sensation of moving, or of being transported. He just suddenly found himself face down in the dirt by the lakeside of Elcho Falling, heaving breath into his lungs.

He rolled over, forcing himself to move, desperate to get his men positioned before the Lealfast could do much more than rise into the air in panic. He rose to his knees and was relieved beyond measure to see all the men rising and forming themselves into their practised, shield-protected squads.

Ishbel was there as well, crouched low to the ground, and she gave a small wave at Axis' concerned look. I am all right. Do what you must without thought of me.

Axis risked a quick glance upward -- already the air was filled with startled Lealfast -- then he was down on the ground, rolling as fast as he could under the shield wall of the nearest squad of bowmen. Once inside he rose to his feet, bending over slightly at the shoulders, and grabbed the shoulder of the nearest bowman.

"See what I see," he whispered. He communed with the eagle, sharing the view from a height far above Elcho Falling, then, using all of his skill as an Icarii Enchanter, he twisted the vision, translating it to what a man on the ground would see, then shared this vision with the bowmen.

See, he whispered among all their minds. See . . . and act.

In the four different locations, bowmen slotted their arrows through the tiny openings between the shields, took a breath, and, using Axis' vision as their only guide, let loose their arrows.

Immediately each bowman's arrow keeper slapped a fresh arrow into the bowman's hand, and a moment later a second wave of many thousands of arrows skewered the air.

And again.

And again.