“Are you true?” it asked in a woman’s deep melodic voice.
Magariz leapt back a full pace, his eyes wide. “What?”
“Are you true?” the bridge asked again, patiently.
“Answer her, Magariz,” Jack said. “She will only ask three times, and after that you may never cross.”
“Answer her?” Magariz repeated, dragging his eyes away from the bridge and turning to stare at Jack. “Answer what?”
“Answer with whatever is in your heart, Magariz,” Jack snapped, “but answer! Now!”
Magariz stepped up to the bridge again.
“Are you true?” the bridge asked for the third time.
Magariz hesitated, then answered. “Yes, I am true.”
“Then cross, my Lord Magariz, and I will see if you speak the truth.”
Magariz stepped onto the bridge and paused, obviously expecting to fall straight through. Then he took another step, then another.
“You speak the truth, Magariz,” the bridge suddenly said. “Welcome to my heart.” And with that he was across.
Magariz noticed all the men watching him, and walked back across, his gait now confident. “The bridge let me cross back unchallenged?” he asked.
“Yes,” Jack said. “It is only the first time that the bridge will ask the question. She knows you now. She will greet you, but she will not challenge you again – unless she feels your heart has been corrupted since last you trod her back. Watch.”
Jack stepped up to the bridge and placed a foot upon its surface unchallenged. As his weight bore down on the stone the bridge spoke.
“Welcome, Jack,” the voice said warmly. “It has been many years since you have trod my back.”
“I greet you well, dear heart,” Jack replied softly, “and it gladdens my heart to see that once more the waters flow.”
“I have been sad,” the bridge said, “but now I am happy.”
Later, after the bridge had questioned each member of Belial’s force, Belial stood with Jack in the courtyard of Sigholt.
“Well? What of Zeherah?”
Jack shook his head sadly. “Perhaps she needs the Lake to refill before she can return.”
But as the Lake gradually filled over the next few days, there was no sign of the fifth Sentinel. After six days of watching from the rooftop Jack retired to his private chamber and did not emerge for many days. When he did, his face was creased and haggard with grief. There was nothing else he could do. Zeherah was lost unless he could discover the enchantments that bound her.
“I Will Lead You Back into Tencendor!”
The Assembly Chamber of Talon Spike was vast, tiered with dozens of rows of golden-veined white marble about a circular floor of translucent and very beautiful golden marble veined with violet. Pale gold and blue cushions lay scattered about the benches. The lower circles of benches were reserved for the Elders, the Enchanters and the family of the Talon. These benches were completely lined with crimson cushions for the Elders, turquoise ones for the Enchanters, and royal violet for those of the House of SunSoar. The very top seventeen rows of benches reserved for the Strike Force were uncushioned, as befitted the hard muscles of warriors.
A spectacular circle of gigantic pillars soared above the tiers and supported the domed roof of the Chamber. Five times life height, the pillars were carved into alternating male and female figures, their arms and wings extended joyously, their eyes open in wonder and mouths open in silent song. They were gilded and enamelled, with real gems in their eyes and in the golden torcs about their necks. Each individual hair on their heads and feathers in their wings had been picked out in gold and silver and the muscles in their pale naked bodies were carefully defined in the ivory tones of flesh. They supported a domed roof completely plated in highly burnished bronze mirrors which, due to the enchantments bonded into their making, gave off a gentle golden light that illuminated the enure Chamber.
The Chamber lay empty, awaiting the Icarii and the man of the Prophecy who would lead them back into Tencendor and back into the lands of myth and legend.
In the circular robing room RavenCrest SunSoar faced the man who demanded to be named his heir.
The Icarii Talon, his violet eyes furious, paced to and fro, his black and speckled-blue wings rustling angrily behind.
“I reserve the right not to name an heir!” he shouted.
Axis understood RavenCrest’s reluctance to act. The Talon had not yet accepted FreeFall’s death, but Axis had to make him realise that an heir needed to be named while RavenCrest still lived. These were bad and dangerous times, and if an heir could die so precipitously, then so too could a Talon – and nothing was so threatening to the stability of any realm than uncertainty over the succession.
Tonight Axis would address the full Assembly of the Icarii, and he needed to do that with the authority of an heir. He had to unite the three races – Icarii, Acharite and Avar – in order to weld them into a force that could defeat Gorgrael’s Ghostmen. He knew tonight could be his only opportunity to pull the Icarii behind him.
He walked deliberately towards his uncle, wearing the golden tunic Azhure had made for him, the blood-red sun blazing triumphantly across his breast. I bless her for this gift of the blood-red sun, he thought as he held RavenCrest’s eyes, for it will be the emblem of what I will become.
StarDrifter and MorningStar glanced at each other.
Axis stopped not a pace from RavenCrest, his eyes calm before the Talon’s temper.
“Your son is dead. Gone. You have no other children. RavenCrest, you have a duty to your people,” Axis paused, “and to your blood. You have no choice but to name me your heir. I demand it as my right. You have no choice.”
RavenCrest gestured towards StarDrifter. “My brother stands in direct line to the throne.”
Axis’ mouth curled ironically. “Uncle, if you follow that line of reasoning, then StarDrifter would be followed by his eldest son.” He paused, letting the full implications of his statement sink in. “Would you have Gorgrael knock on Talon Spike’s door to claim his heritage, RavenCrest? Gorgrael as Talon? If nothing else, I am the lesser of two evils.”
RavenCrest said nothing, the muscles in his jaw flickering.
“The whole mountain seethes with uncertainty over this issue,” Axis snapped. “Name me as your heir, or let your beloved people tear themselves to pieces once you have gone. You have no son or full-blood nephew to follow you, RavenCrest, and I am your only choice! You must decide and you must decide now! Why did you give me control of the Strike Force if you did not intend to give me the throne as well?”
RavenCrest tore his eyes away from his nephew’s and looked at his mother.
MorningStar inclined her head. “He is right, RavenCrest. You have no choice. You must name Axis your heir.”
Her eldest son did not like what she said.
“This has never happened before!” RavenCrest shouted, wheeling away and resuming his agitated pacing. “The Icarii have always had a full-blood Icarii SunSoar as Talon!”
“The whole world is changing and being refashioned beneath our feet, RavenCrest. Nothing will ever be the