Authors: Sara Douglass
Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Epic, #Horror, #Fantasy fiction, #Tencendor (Imaginary place)
Crusader (64 page)
Then the arrow sighed, and let itself be consumed, for its work was done.
Something grew.
Axis and Azhure both cried out and clung to each other as the waves of light and sound engulfed them. Pain and joy in equal amounts devoured them.
Peace
, said Leagh’s Child.
The pain eased, and the intensity of the light dulled back to a soft and gentle radiance.
But the joy remained.
Azhure, among all others, was the first to open her eyes and look.
She shuddered, wracked by emotion as the import of what she saw sank in.
A Tree. Gigantic, all-encompassing. Its leaves every shade of green, its trumpet flowers a brilliant gold edged with scarlet.
It stood in the void, shedding a soft, gentle light.
Then, as Azhure put trembling hands to her face, and everyone else opened their eyes, the Tree’s leaves trembled, and…
…and a garden rippled out from its base, consuming the blackness and the void, and all trembled as earth and grasses and flowers formed under their feet as the Garden flowed outwards.
For those who had known the Field of Flowers, the Garden was like, and yet unlike. It was filled with flowers and their scents, but the Garden was more formed than the Infinite Field of Flowers had been. There were paths and glades, and shadowed, dappled spots of coolness where trees congregated.
It was like Sanctuary, save it did not share Sanctuary’s sense of impermanence.
This Garden was the reality from which everything else had been insubstantial reflections.
Above, in a deep blue sky, millions of stars blazed.
Azhure cried out softly again, and pointed.
DragonStar and Faraday were walking through great, gorgeous drifts of flowers, the Star Stallion sauntering behind them, his head nodding and dipping with happiness.
Behind the stallion bounded the Alaunt, and behind them, carefully adjusting his vest lest it had become creased during Creation, walked Raspu.
The Garden
A
ha!” cried the GateKeeper. “I know what this is!” “What?” said Azhure politely, her eyes still on DragonStar and Faraday.
“It is that which existed beyond the Gate!” the GateKeeper said.
DragonStar, now within two paces of them, smiled and nodded. “In a manner of speaking, yes. But this Garden is far more than an ‘AfterLife’. It is a ‘BeforeLife’ as well. It is a beginning and an end within itself. It is a well, a reservoir, of life.”
Azhure disentangled herself from Axis’ grasp, and slid down from Pretty Brown Sal.
There was something…someone…walking through the flowers towards her.
She gave a great sob—would she never stop crying?—and leaned forward to embrace Caelum and RiverStar, and Zenith just behind them.
And then there were the thousands, the millions, walking out through the flowers from the oblivion of death—Rivkah, Belial, MorningStar, a hundred neighbours and friends, ten thousand names and memories, faces and voices drifting out of the forgetfulness of death, but reaching out with living arms.
But among them all, there was no StarDrifter.
“Why?” said Azhure, distraught. “Why?”
Rivkah, Magariz beside her, had her arms about Azhure, comforting her as she had done so often when Azhure had been so lost and lonely and friendless within Smyrton.
DragonStar shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “I do not know.”
The GateKeeper, strangely soft and pretty in this place, said:
“I
know. He did not pass through the Gate, nor even through the Butler’s gate.”
“But I
saw
StarDrifter’s wings!” said Axis. “He was
dead!
He must have been!”
“Nevertheless,” said the GateKeeper, her eyes resuming a hint of their former steeliness, “he did not pass through either Gate.”
And to one side the Butler, polishing a tableful of silver, nodded his agreement.
“Then where is my father?” Axis shouted.
Leagh walked up with her Child in her arms.
Beyond us,
said the Girl.
If he is not here, then he is somewhere back there.
“Back ‘there’?” DragonStar said.
The wasteland of Tencendor only was consumed,
said the Child.
The other lands bordering it still exist. StarDrifter, perhaps as a result of some magic, must still be there. He was not in the wasteland when it was consumed.
“Then we must go after him!” Azhure said.
No.
“No?”
No. You may not pass from the Garden and return. I would have you here with me.
StarDrifter, somewhere in the lands bordering Tencendor? thought Axis. How? How? What magic could have transported him? And
where?
“What exactly does remain of Tencendor?” he asked the Child.
Nothing. Not in the flesh. The land was consumed by earthquake and waves when DragonStar struck the fatal blow to Qeteb. To those who lived outside the borders of Tencendor, there is nothing left of that land. Only waves.
Axis, as Azhure, opened his mouth to say something more, but the Child forestalled him.
He is gone. Not here. Grieve, if you must, but know also that his time had not yet been completed.
“And what,” said Zared, walking up to Leagh’s shoulder, and looking down in perplexion at his Child’s face, “do we do now?”
The Child laughed, and thrust her tiny fists into the air.
You populate the Garden in peace and contentedness!
T
he Corolean Emperor leaned forward on his throne, one hand absently laying to one side the heavy folds of his purple and gold silk mantle.
“What do you mean, Tencendor is ‘gone’?”
“Highest One,” the Admiral said from his position of laying face down on the floor, arms spread out to either side of him. His voice was very slightly muffled. “We spent weeks sailing over the entire ocean. The continent is
gone
. Sunk beneath the waves. Even the barren land bridge connecting our continents has gone. Waves. Only waves are left.”
“Nothing
is left? Not a single piece of flotsam? Not one puffy corpse?”
“Nothing, Highest One.”
“What happened?”
The Admiral took his time answering, not knowing quite what to make of the hundreds of reports he had had from, not only the crews of Corolean fishing vessels in the area but also from Escatorian cargo ships sailing for Tencendor, as well as the odd pirate, who relinquished their information only grudgingly, and under the threat of having their genitals skewered by hot pokers.
“Highest One,” the Admiral eventually said. “From what I can gather, the land suffered a cataclysm so complete we can barely comprehend it. The entire continent of Tencendor has sunk beneath the waves. Even the barren land bridge connecting our continents has gone. Waves. Only waves are left.”
The Admiral paused again, wondering whether to relate
the other piece of information that had persistently come to his ears.
“Tell me!” the Emperor snapped.
“It is said,” the Admiral said very slowly, “that Tencendor was so riddled with sin, corruption and vileness that the gods decided absolute destruction was better than redemption.”
The Emperor stared, then sat back in his throne, his chubby, sweating face smiling beatifically.
“I always knew they were a bad lot,” he said.
At the very back of the crowd in the public throne chamber, a fair-haired man with extraordinarily compelling blue eyes grinned sardonically. After a moment he turned away, wincing as some unseen injury caught at his back, and he faded into the crowd.
The pain of not finding StarDrifter faded. His time had not been right, and he had passed elsewhere, not into the Garden.
So be it.
Axis and Azhure, as every other person who had passed through death—whether during the final moments of Tencendor, or ten thousand years beforehand—accepted the joy and peacefulness of the Garden.
They were contented, as were the entire populations of peoples and creatures who had entered the Garden.
The Icarii fanned out in the skies, beautiful jewel-like creatures who populated the air with music and wonder.
The Ravensbund, with Urbeth grumbling good-naturedly at their head, moved to the cliffs and beaches of the never-ending coasts that bounded the Garden, and explored the mysteries they found there.
The Avar wandered the Garden, shaded by the ethereal trees, learning the ways of the flowers and the winds that tipped them into cascades of delight.
They became gardeners.
The Acharites built themselves pale-stoned homes that bordered the glades and walks, and spent their time—not
ploughing—but sitting on doorsteps or in rocking chairs under verandahs, and passing the time of day with each other, and any other who passed by.
SpikeFeather wandered off with Urbeth’s two daughters, and the threesome explored the more secretive glades, and kept to themselves.
The Alaunt settled down, and FortHeart gave Sicarius a fine litter.
Belaguez courted Pretty Brown Sal, but she spent her time sliding tantalisingly just beyond his reach.
Axis and Azhure were reunited with the other seven once-Star Gods come back from their spin through the stars, and they, as had been their wont in the years before the TimeKeepers’ invasion, explored the mysteries they could see circling in the star patterns above their heads.
Theod and Gwendylyr raised their twin boys, and added a baby girl to their family.
Zared and Leagh, meanwhile, raised their Daughter through wondrous babyhood, into girlhood, and then into womanhood. The Woman sat beneath the Tree, and dispensed laughter and advice and wisdom, and She and the Tree were the centre of Creation.
Sometimes people thought they saw Katie flitting between trees, and in the shadows of glades, but none ever spoke to her, and the Woman told them to leave her alone.
She has had her share of pain, and now is at peace in her aloneness. Leave her.
DragonStar and Faraday grew restless. Everyone else had adjusted themselves to the Garden, and its serenity and beauty, but they could not.
They had not been granted the grace of contentedness.
One day, they went to see the Woman. “We think,” DragonStar said slowly, holding Faraday’s hand tightly in his own, “that there remains something else for us to do.”
Aye. There is.
“But it does not rest within the Garden, does it?” Faraday said.
No.
“Beyond, then?” DragonStar said, and felt a small kernel of excitement flower deep within him.
Aye. Beyond. You have a life that yet lies ahead of you. The wasteland that was Tencendor has transformed, but there are other wastelands, StarSon, that need your strength, and Faraday’s love.
The Woman looked at Faraday’s swelling belly.
Bear your child elsewhere, Faraday. Give birth to hope in a desolate wasteland.
“We will never come back,” Faraday said, but there was no anger or regret in her voice.
No. You will find your contentedness elsewhere.
The Woman stood, and reached one hand high above Her. She plucked a fruit from the Tree, and held it out to DragonStar and Faraday.
Take this, and eat of it with My blessing.
Faraday took the fruit, and cradled it within her hands. “What is it?”
Wisdom and Love.
Faraday’s eyes filled with tears, and she slowly raised the fruit to her lips and ate.
Something in her face shifted, something in her soul altered, and Faraday understood the road before her.
She turned to DragonStar and offered him the fruit. “Eat.”
And he did, and he, too, was altered.
He looked at Faraday. His eyes were alive with excitement. Faraday stared, and then she burst into laughter, and leaned forward to embrace him.
The Woman smiled.
Step forth, and birth your new world within the wasteland. Go, with My blessing, My love, and My eternal gratitude.
Axis stared at them. He half raised a hand, then dropped it. “Stay. Please.”
DragonStar smiled gently, and took his father’s hand. “No. We cannot. If we stayed here we would only destroy the Garden with our restlessness. Our journey is not yet done.”
His eyes flickered over the ranks of what had once been the Strike Force standing in ranks behind Axis: winged, ethereal, serene. Then DragonStar leaned forward and kissed Axis on the mouth. “We will never forget you, nor this place. It will become the foundation myth of our children. Goodbye, Axis, farewell Azhure.”
And, once Faraday had kissed Axis and Azhure goodbye, she and DragonStar walked hand in hand through the doorway that the Butler opened for them with a reverential bow of his head.
They walked from the Garden into the Wastelands beyond, there to build a life untarnished by fate and enriched by the gifts the Woman had given them.
They did not look back.
ACHAR: the realm that once stretched over most of the continent, bounded by the Andeis, Tyrre and Widowmaker Seas, the Avarinheim and the Icescarp Alps. It was integrated into Tencendor during the time of Axis StarSon.
ACHARITES: a term used fairly generally to encompass all humans within Tencendor.
ADAMON: one of the nine Star Gods of the Icarii, Adamon is the eldest and the God of the Firmament.
AFTERLIFE: all three races, the Acharites, the Icarii and the Avar believe in the existence of an AfterLife, although exactly what they believe depends on their particular culture.
ALAUNT: the legendary pack of hounds that once belonged to WolfStar SunSoar. They followed Azhure for some time, but now run with DragonStar. They are all of the Lesser.
ALDENI: once a small province in western Achar, it was administered by Duke Theod.
ANDAKILSA, River: the extreme northern river of Ichtar, dividing Ichtar from Ravensbund.
ANDEIS SEA: the often unpredictable sea that washes the western coast of Achar.
ARCEN: the major city of Arcness. Before Qeteb’s destruction, it was a free trading city.
ARCNESS: a large eastern province in Tencendor.
ARTOR THE PLOUGHMAN: the now disbanded Brotherhood of the Seneschal taught that Artor was the one true god. Under His sway, the Acharites initiated
the ancient Wars of the Axe and drove the Icarii and Avar from the land. Artor was killed by Azhure and her hounds.
ASKAM, Prince of the West: son of Belial and Cazna. Now dead.
AVAR, The: the ancient race of Tencendor who live in the forests of the Avarinheim and Minstrelsea. The Avar are sometimes referred to as the People of the Horn. Their Mage-King is Isfrael.
AVARINHEIM, The: the northern forest home of the Avar people. It was destroyed when Qeteb was resurrected.
AVENUE, The: the processional way of the Temple Complex on the Island of Mist and Memory. The term ‘The Avenue’ comes to have a slightly different meaning by the end of
Crusader
.
AVONSDALE: Once a province in western Achar. It was administered by Earl Herme.
AXE-WIELDERS, The: once the elite crusading and military wing of the Seneschal, led by Axis as their BattleAxe.
AXIS: son of the Princess Rivkah of Achar and the Icarii Enchanter, StarDrifter SunSoar. Once BattleAxe of the Axe-Wielders, he assumed the mantle of the StarMan of the Prophecy of the Destroyer. After reforging Tencendor Axis formed his own house, the House of the Stars before beginning a new existence as the Star God of Song. Having lost all his powers due to the invasion of the Timekeeper Demons, Axis is once again a mere mortal.
AZHURE: daughter of WolfStar SunSoar and Niah of Nor, and Goddess of Moon. She is married to Axis. Their children are Caelum (now dead), Drago, RiverStar (now dead) and Zenith. As With Axis, Azhure is once again merely mortal now the Star Dance is dead.
AZLE, River: a major river that divided the provinces of Ichtar and Aldeni. It flows into the Andeis Sea.
BANES: the religious leaders of the Avar people. They wield magic, although it is usually of the minor variety.
BARROWS, The Ancient: the burial places of the ancient Enchanter-Talons of the Icarii people. The Barrows were destroyed when the Demons broke through the Star Gate.
BATTLEAXE, The: once the leader of the Axe-Wielders. The post of BattleAxe was last held by Axis. See ‘Axe-Wielders’.
BARZULA: one of the TimeKeeper Demons, Barzula is the Demon of mid-morning, and of tempest.
BEDWYR FORT: a fort that sat on the lower reaches of the River Nordra and guarded the entrance to Grail Lake from Nordmuth.
BELIAL: lieutenant and second-in-command in Axis’ army during the fight against Gorgrael. Belial was the father of Askam and Cazna. Now dead.
BELTIDE: see ‘Festivals’.
BETHIAM, Princess: wife to Prince Askam of the West.
BOGLE MARSH: a large and inhospitable marsh in eastern Arcness. Faraday emptied its strange creatures into Sanctuary to escape the Demons.
BORNEHELD: Duke of Ichtar and King of Achar. Son of the Princess Rivkah and her husband, Duke Searlas, half-brother to Axis, and husband of Lady Faraday of Skarabost. After murdering his uncle, Priam, Borneheld assumed the throne of Achar. Now dead.
BRACKEN RANGES, The: the former name of the Minaret Peaks.
BRACKEN, River: the river that rises in the Minaret Peaks and flows into the Widowmaker Sea.
BRIDGE, The: the bridge that guards the entrance into Sigholt is deeply magical. She will throw out a challenge to any she does not know, but can be easily tricked.
BROTHER-LEADER, The: the supreme leader of the Brotherhood of the now disbanded Seneschal. The last Brother-Leader of the Seneschal was Jayme.
CAELUM STARSON: eldest son of Axis and Azhure, born at Yuletide. Caelum is an ancient word meaning ‘Stars in Heaven’. Caelum is now dead.
CARLON: main city of Tencendor and one-time residence of the kings of Achar. Situated on Grail Lake.
CAULDRON LAKE, The: the lake at the centre of the Silent Woman Woods. Now destroyed.
CAZNA: wife to Belial. Now dead.
CHAMBER OF THE MOONS: chief audience and sometime banquet chamber of the ancient royal palace in Carlon. It was the site where Axis battled Borneheld to the death.
CHARONITES: a little-known race of Tencendor, they inhabited the UnderWorld. When Drago managed to kill Orr in the chamber of the Star Gate, the race became extinct.
CIRCLE OF STARS, The: see ‘Enchantress’ Ring’.
CLANS, The: the Avar tend to segregate into Clan groups, roughly equitable with family groups.
CLOUDBURST SUNSOAR: younger brother and assassin of WolfStar SunSoar.
COHORT: see ‘Military Terms’.
COROLEAS: the great empire to the south of Tencendor. Relations between the two countries is usually cordial.
CREST: Icarii military unit composed of twelve Wings.
CREST-LEADER: commander of an Icarii Crest.
DANCE OF DEATH, The: dark star music that is the counter point to the Star Dance. It is the music made when stars miss their step and crash into each other, or swell up into red giants and implode. Only WolfStar and Azhure can wield this music, although both lost the ability to do so when the TimeKeepers destroyed the Star Gate.
DAREWING FULLHEART: senior Crest-Leader and Strike Leader of the Icarii Strike Force
DEMONIC HOURS:
Dawn: ruled by Mot, a time of hunger.
Mid-morning: ruled by Barzula, a time of tempest.
Midday: the time of the greatest Demon of all, Qeteb.
Mid-afternoon: ruled by Sheol, a time of despair.
Dusk: ruled by Raspu, a time of pestilence.
Night: ruled by Rox, a time of terror.
DISTANCES:
League: roughly seven kilometres, or four and a half miles.
Pace: roughly one metre or one yard.
Handspan: roughly twenty centimetres or eight inches.
DOME OF THE MOON: a sacred dome dedicated to the Moon on Temple Mount of the Island of Mist and Memory. Only the First Priestess has access to the Dome, and it was in this Dome that Niah conceived Azhure.
DRAGONSTAR SUNSOAR: second son of Axis and Azhure. Twin brother to RiverStar. (Also known as Drago.) DragonStar is also the name of the son StarLaughter SunSoar was carrying when she was murdered by her husband, WolfStar.
DRIFTSTAR SUNSOAR: grandmother to StarDrifter, mother of MorningStar. An Enchanter and a SunSoar in her own right and wife to the SunSoar Talon. She died over three hundred years before the events of this book.
EARTH TREE: a sacred tree to both the Icarii and the Avar. It once lived in the extreme northern groves of the Avarinheim forest, close to the cliffs of the Icescarp Alps, but was destroyed when Qeteb created the wasteland.
EARTH TREE GROVE: the grove which held the Earth Tree in the northern Avarinheim where it bordered the Icescarp Alps. It was where the Avar (sometimes in concert with the Icarii) held their gatherings and religious rites.
ENCHANTRESS, The: the first of the Icarii Enchanters, the first Icarii to discover the way to use the power of the Star Dance. She bore three sons, the eldest of whom founded the Acharite race, the middle founded the Charonite race, and the youngest founded the Icarii race. The Enchantress also gave birth to twin daughters. Also known as Urbeth.
ENCHANTRESS’ RING, The: an ancient ring once in the possession of the Enchantress, now worn by Azhure. Its proper name is the Circle of Stars, and it is intimately connected with the Star Gods.
ENCHANTERS: the once magicians of the Icarii people—with the destruction of the Star Gate all have now lost their powers. All Enchanters have the word ‘Star’ somewhere in their names.
ENCHANTER-TALONS: Talons of the Icarii people who are also Enchanters.
ENEMY, The: the name given by the TimeKeepers to the ancient ones who trapped Qeteb and then fled with his life parts through the universe. It was the Enemy who crashed into Tencendor during Fire-Night.
ESCATOR: a kingdom far away to the east over the Widowmaker Sea.
EVENSONG: daughter of Rivkah and StarDrifter SunSoar, sister to Axis and wife to Talon FreeFall SunSoar.
FARADAY: daughter of Earl Isend of Skarabost and his wife, Lady Merlion. Once wife to Borneheld and Queen of Achar, Faraday now aids DragonStar. She is also the mother of Isfrael, conceived during her brief and tragic affair with Axis.
FERNBRAKE LAKE, The: the large lake in the centre of the Bracken Ranges. Also known by both the Avar and the Icarii as the Mother. Now a dessicated garden.
FERRYMAN, The: the Charonite who plied the ferry of the UnderWorld. His name was Orr, and was one of
the Lesser immortals. Orr is now dead after being struck by the Rainbow Sceptre in the chamber of the Star Gate.
FESTIVALS of the Avar and the Icarii:
Yuletide: the winter solstice, in the last week of Snowmonth.
Beltide: the spring Festival, the first day of Flower-month.
Fire-Night: the summer solstice, in the last week of Rose-month.
FIRE-NIGHT, The: see ‘Festivals’.
FIRST, The: the First Priestess of the Order of the Stars, the order of nine priestesses on Temple Mount. The First, like all priestesses of the Order, gave up her name on taking her vows. Niah of Nor once held this office.
FIVE FAMILIES, The First: the leading families of Tencendor: led, in turn, by Prince Askam of the West, King Zared of the North, Prince Yllgaine of Nor, Chief Sa’Domai of the Ravensbund and FreeFall SunSoar, Talon of the Icarii. The delicate balance between these families was greatly upset when Zared seized the throne of Achar.
FLULIA: one of the nine Icarii Star Gods, Flulia is the Goddess of Water.
FLURIA, The River: a minor river that flows through Aldeni into the River Nordra.
FORESTFLIGHT EVERSOAR: a member of the Lake Guard.
FORTHEART: one of the Alaunt, and mate to Sicarius.
FORTRESS RANGES: the mountains that run down Achar’s eastern boundary from the Icescarp Alps to the Widowmaker Sea.
FREEFALL, Talon: son of BrightFeather and RavenCrest SunSoar, husband of EvenSong SunSoar. They have no children.
GAPFEATHER: a member of the Lake Guard.
GATEKEEPER, The: the Keeper of the Gate of Death in the UnderWorld and mother of Zeherah. Her task is to keep tally of the souls who pass through the Gate. She is one of the Lesser immortals.
GHEMT: a game played with sticks and dice in a circle of diamond-shaped spaces.
GOLDMAN, JANNYMIRE: Master of the Guilds of Carlon. One of the most powerful non-noblemen in Tencendor.
GORGRAEL: the Destroyer, half-brother to Axis, sharing the same father, StarDrifter. Axis defeated him in a titanic struggle for control of Tencendor forty years before current events.
GORKENFORT: a major fort situated in Gorken Pass in northern Ichtar.
GORKEN PASS: the narrow pass sixty leagues long that provided the only way from Ravensbund into Ichtar. It is bounded by the Icescarp Alps and the River Andakilsa.
GRAIL LAKE, The: a massive lake at the lower reaches of the River Nordra. Beneath its waters it harboured the Maze, which has now risen and destroyed the Lake.
GREATER, The: the nine Star Gods.