The old woman and the front ranks of creatures, perhaps some three score of humans, cows, pigs and assorted wildlife, tried to turn back and flee from the reaching, grasping flowers.
Get back! Get back!
They tried to flee, but could not, trapped between the horrid flowers and the hundreds of creatures that continued to rise up over the ridge and press down towards their prey.
The mad had their orders, and their thoughts were not ordered enough to rethink them.
Death dropped out of the sky. At first Leagh thought it was the Hawkchilds, either forgetting the fragile alliance they had with DragonStar and his witches, or actually deciding to aid her.
But these were not the black, fearsome Hawkchilds.
They were ethereal, beautiful, seemingly fragile creatures of silver and vivid colour.
Beautiful, and deadly. Arrows rained down, each one finding its mark in the throat or eye of a human or animal.
The Strike Force, or, at the least, a few hundred of them.
For a moment Leagh raised her head and watched the Icarii, then she lowered her eyes ... and could not restrain a sob of sorrow.
Before her hundreds upon hundreds of humans and animals lay dead and dying, some still clawing frantically at arrows that protruded from their eyes or the base of their throats.
They might have been in the employ of the Demons, but they had once laughed and sang and cried as Leagh could still do. They had once served their masters with good will and willing backs.
They had once been a part of Leagh's world, a loved and respected part, and she now found it hard to watch their dying before her.
She lowered her head and wept, and as she did so the flowers faded and disappeared.
It made no difference to the dying before her. As successive waves of creatures crested the ridge, so they fell.
The Icarii wraiths had, it appeared, limitless amounts of arrows.
Eventually it was done, and an Icarii birdwoman settled to the ground before Leagh.
She was exquisitely beautiful, with her ethereal form and sapphire wings and eyes. "My name is FireCloud," she said, and rested one hand comfortingly on Leagh's arm. "And I, as my fellows, are here to help protect you at DragonStar's command."
Leagh nodded, her sorrow still not enabling her to speak, and she patted FireCloud's arm.
"DragonStar? DragonStar?"
DragonStar closed his eyes momentarily in impatience, and then turned slightly to the figure which had climbed to join him.
"What are you doing here, StarLaughter?"
She sat down beside him, encased in a thick wrap, but with her head bare and her hair flying in the wind. Gods, DragonStar thought, isn't she cold?
StarLaughter truly did not appear to notice the extreme of the temperature.
"Something has happened!" she said, and grabbed at DragonStar's arm. "I can feel it!"
"Yes?"
"WolfStar has escaped Sanctuary! He is safe! "
"Careful," DragonStar said, "for this wind might carry your gladness to the Hawkchilds."
But he nodded to himself anyway. DragonStar had felt the rift in the matter of existence when Urbeth had torn a hole from Sanctuary into the northern wastes. He had no idea how they were managing to survive, or if the Demons had followed them through ... but he had felt the escape.
"WolfStar must still manage his survival," he said. "He is not so much 'safe', as currently beyond the Demons' reach."
"Safe enough," StarLaughter said, determined not to let DragonStar's pessimism ruin her joy. She sighed happily, her fingers kneading uncomfortably into DragonStar's arm. "And soon we will be reunited. DragonStar, where is he? Where?"
DragonStar jerked his arm away, annoyed not only at her inane and persistent belief that WolfStar could not wait to see her again, but also at her irritating presence. This would be a long night, and he would prefer not to spend it with StarLaughter at his side.
"North," he said, not wanting to give StarLaughter the happiness of a more specific answer.
"North? North? What? In the depths of the Iskruel Ocean? DragonStar, I must go to him! I can't leave him to the fishes and the —"
"Oh, for the gods' sakes, woman! Leave it alone! He is in the northern tundra, and —"
"The tundra? But there are Skraelings out there and —"
Despite the trouble a harsh word might bring him, DragonStar's temper snapped. He twisted around and grabbed StarLaughter's shoulders. "Leave him be, you demented woman!"
"I cannot!" she responded, her eyes flashing in the clouded night light and pushing his hands away.
"He is mine, and I will not let him go!"
Dear stars in heaven, DragonStar thought wearily, but he moderated his tone when he replied to her.
