Enchanter: Book Two of the Axis Trilogy

Axis laughed softly. Azhure had reacted as quickly and as decisively as he’d hoped. He let her head go and stepped back, dropping one hand to gently clasp her wrist and pull the knife away from his belly.

“Azhure came closer to killing me with that knife than any member of the Strike Force has come to bruising me with a stave,” he said finally, his eyes not leaving Azhure’s face. “I hesitated with the kill and now I should be dead instead. Azhure, I am grateful you stayed that knife.” He looked around at the Icarii. “Azhure has shown you two lessons. The deadliness of even a small knife in close combat, and the need to develop that instinct to attack without the slightest hesitation – even if your enemy has got a death grip on you.”

Axis let Azhure’s wrist go and then turned to face the Icarii. After a moment Axis heard a faint movement behind him as Azhure sheathed the knife.

“Enough for today,” he said mildly. “But remember the lessons. Once you begin to train with Belial’s men you will develop the killer instinct quickly or risk losing more than a few of your proud feathers. SpikeFeather, you may dismiss your command.”

As the Icarii filed from the chamber, Axis climbed the ladder into the gallery and stood talking quietly with FarSight, organising a meeting of all the Strike Force commanders so he could discuss future training plans. Although he hadn’t yet discussed it with FarSight or RavenCrest, Axis planned on leaving Talon Spike for some weeks after Beltide in early Flower-month. Axis needed to complete his training elsewhere – as well as fulfil a vow – and he wanted the Strike Force to continue training in his absence.

When he turned back into the chamber, Axis saw that only Azhure was left. She stood in a far corner, lifting the Wolven from a hook on the wall and slinging its accompanying quiver over her shoulder.

Axis stood a moment, a soft smile playing about his mouth, then he leapt down to the floor of the chamber and silently walked towards her. Azhure gave a small jump of surprise when she saw him standing only a few paces away.

“I am sorry,” he said, “that I used you so poorly. But if I had warned you, you would not have reacted so swiftly or so reflexively. Not only were you the only one I trusted to react so instinctively, you were the only one present I could trust to stay the knife. Even so,” he fingered his belly gingerly, “you have added one more scar to my growing collection.”

Azhure relaxed a little. “I had to stay the impulse to slide that knife all the way in, Axis, but I thought you should suffer a little for the ache you caused my scalp.”

“Are you going to practise with the bow?”

“Yes.” Azhure fingered the bow, and Axis wondered at her smile as she touched the weapon.

“I see you have a quiver full of new arrows. Should I blame SpikeFeather’s tattered appearance on those blue-feathered arrows?”

Azhure laughed. “He did not think I could use the Wolven. He was willing to bet his own pride and feathers, on it.”

“It was a lesson not only SpikeFeather, but most of the Icarii, will not readily forget. The Wolven is one of their greatest treasures.”

Azhure’s smile faded. “Should I give it back?”

“No. I think the Wolven chose you. It is an enchanted thing.”

Azhure looked down at the beautiful bow she held in her hands. “But the Wolven let SpikeFeather use it.”

Axis remembered a conversation he had overheard between SpikeFeather and EvenSong several days ago. “It took SpikeFeather nine years before he fully mastered the Wolven – and he is the only one who has been able to use it in some four thousand years. It was only late last year that he managed it.” Axis paused. “It is as if the Wolven knew you were coming and finally let SpikeFeather use it so he would pick that bow to demonstrate for you. The Wolven tells you it wants you, Azhure. It is yours.”

She ran her fingers gently through its blue and scarlet silken tassels. “Then it honours me, though I know not why.” She raised her smoky eyes. “Enchanted, you say?”

Axis reached out and ran his fingers along the string of the bow. “WolfStar SunSoar made it, many thousands of years ago. WolfStar was the most powerful of the Enchanter-Talons – there has never been another like him.” He stopped, considering. Due to his extraordinary power, WolfStar’s name had cropped up many times during Axis’ training, but curiously StarDrifter and MorningStar had evaded his occasional questions about the mysterious ninth Enchanter-Talon. After a moment Axis continued. “He wove enchantments into the bow’s making. No-one really knew what. No-one has been able to see.” He dropped his hand. “I cannot see. It is as though a film of ice covers the bow’s soul. I can see the shape of the enchantments, but they are hazy, out of focus. I can hear them, especially when you use the bow. But the music fingers at the extreme edge of my hearing, and I cannot quite catch the tune. WolfStar took his enchantments and the key to the Wolven to the grave with him.”

“You will prevail even without the knowledge of the ancient Icarii Enchanter-Talons, Axis.”

Axis’ mouth quirked at the absolute certainty in her voice. “With the faith of such as you by my side then I am bound to,” he said softly. Their eyes caught, then Axis turned away slightly. “I am thinking of using you in the Strike Force’s aerial training, Azhure, if you would consent.”

She laughed, incredulous. “Will you build me wings, then, like StarDrifter offered to do for you?” Axis had vehemently refused StarDrifter’s offers to coax his dormant wing buds into flowering. He had lived his life thus far without wings, and he would live the rest of his life without them.

Axis smiled. “No. With FarSight I have been putting the Strike Force through various evasive manoeuvres designed to lessen the risk of arrow strike. But now I want them to have some real arrows to out-manoeuvre. Will you shoot at them?”

Azhure’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t mean that!”

Axis’ eyes twinkled. “Perhaps I still have a trace of BattleAxe in me, Azhure.”

“But I do not know how to fire an arrow to miss, Axis! It would be a betrayal to the Wolven to aim to miss.”

“Then wrap the arrow heads in cloth or dip them in wax to blunt them. That way you will give them bruises, but not heart-piercing wounds.”

Azhure did not want to risk the Icarii’s acceptance now that she had finally won it. “They will not resent me?” she asked doubtfully.

“They will resent me. It will be my suggestion. My order,” said Axis. “Will you do it? You could stand on that ledge that overlooks the Iskruel Ocean. The extent of the air field on the northern face of Talon Spike will give the Strike Force their maximum manoeuvring field.”

Azhure thought for a moment. “They’ll need it. Yes. I’ll do it, so long as we can blunt the arrows sufficiently. And I will have to use less exotic arrows than these. SpikeFeather won’t be pleased to see his feather-fledged arrows tumbling down the chasm at Talon Spike’s feet.”

Axis nodded. “Good. I’ll discuss the plan with FarSight and the other Crest-Leaders tomorrow. I will go ahead with it only if they think there is little danger to the Strike Force. Well, I’ll leave you to your target practice. Perhaps you will soon have something larger and more difficult to aim for.”

Azhure’s face darkened. “The sooner I have a Skraeling eye to aim for, the better.” She ached to appease the agony she still felt at her friend Pease’s terrible death in the Earth Tree Grove, chewed into bloody fragments by the Skraeling wraiths as Azhure stood by, horrified, unable to act through her own terror.

Axis’ mood shifted abruptly. “Your first target in war may not be Skraelings, Azhure,” he said a little sadly.

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll discuss it when the time comes. Azhure, I must go. I thank you again for your assistance here this afternoon, and again I apologise for my rude treatment of you. I am glad our friendship has survived this afternoon.”

Axis turned to go.

“Wait!” Azhure cried, rummaging in the shoulder sack she carried about with her and withdrawing a bundle of dark golden silk.

She stood, gently fingering the material, her eyes downcast, then she looked up, and Axis felt his heart clench a little at the expression in her beautiful eyes.

“I’ve noticed you touching the tunic over your left breast, where once the twin crossed axes of your station rested. Now you are no longer BattleAxe, but rather Axis SunSoar, son of Princess Rivkah and StarDrifter, heir to the powers and gifts of the SunSoar Enchanters and to the Prophecy of the Destroyer. You need a new emblem, Axis, a new standard, a sign to mark you the StarMan.”

She shook the material out. “Rivkah found the fabric for me, and over the past few weeks I have spent the occasional hour sewing this for you.”

Axis took a sharp breath of amazement as the material unfolded in Azhure’s hands. It was a finely crafted tunic of deep golden silk, its texture slightly roughened so that it caught the light. Around the bottom of the sleeves and the high neck Azhure had embroidered designs recalling the exotic writing of the ancient Icarii language. The design embroidered in silk on the centre of the golden tunic made him catch his breath anew. It was the SunSoar blazing sun, but in blood-red rather than its usual insipid pale gold.

Azhure relaxed at the expression on Axis’ face. She hadn’t known whether or not he would accept it. “I have almost finished a battle standard for you in the same design, Axis SunSoar.”

“I will be proud to accept tunic and standard and to embrace this emblem as my own, Azhure,” Axis whispered, cradling the silken tunic in his hand. It was light, so light. “You have done me honour.”

10 (#ulink_a88c79db-d4d0-55ce-9a72-9ab0c7ea4932)

Propositions and Endings (#ulink_a88c79db-d4d0-55ce-9a72-9ab0c7ea4932)

Azhure shot off yet another arrow, hitting the scarlet target globe which already bristled with her previous shots. She gazed at the beautiful bow. No-one knew what wood it had been made of. Perhaps WolfStar had altered it with his enchantments, she thought vaguely, running her fingers over its smooth ivory surface. Strange patterns in gold tracery spiralled about the length of the bow, like nothing else she had seen decorating Icarii walls or art works. She wondered what WolfStar had been like. No-one among the Icarii liked talking about him much. Would he have minded that his bow had been lost into the possession of an Acharite woman?

She reached for an arrow and finding her quiver empty, abruptly realised she had a problem. Always there had been an Icarii present to retrieve her arrows for her. But now the target ball swung sixty paces above her head. She could hardly leave the ball bristling with arrows – the next Icarii to use the chamber would be furious at her carelessness. She sighed and hung the Wolven on a wall hook. Either she’d have to climb up herself, a choice she quickly discarded as she glanced about the smooth walls, or she would have to find an Icarii willing to retrieve the arrows for her.

“I should be pleased to retrieve them for you, Azhure,” a voice said from behind her, and Azhure whipped about.

StarDrifter stood at the rail of the observation gallery, smiling down at her, then launched himself into the air with his powerful wings. Watching him, Azhure envied the Icarii ability to fly. What would it be like, she thought, to be able to escape into the limitless freedom of the skies?