She, as Gwendylyr and Goldman, rose from their chairs, circled slowly, then knelt with Faraday.

Gwendylyr placed her hand on DareWing's other shoulder, while Leagh and Goldman each took one of the birdman's hands.

"We love you," Leagh whispered.

We love you, whispered her voice through DareWing's tortured existence.

All of us, said a different voice, and Dare Wing realised it was the land itself.

"Really?" he said.

"Really?" Dare Wing whispered, and his eyes opened and stared into the four faces above him.

"I have relinquished my wings," he said, and smiled.

Faraday returned his smile. "Is that so? Then how is it that they still sprout from your back?"

Dare Wing jerked in surprise, and rolled so he could see them for himself. "Oh," he said, with such an expression of amazement on his face that his companions laughed.

"DareWing," Goldman said. "Did you realise your ground fever has broken?"

"I am well," DareWing said. "I am well."

And then Leagh gasped, and all looked about. Flowers were spreading over the entire field of bare, ploughed earth, covering the ridges and furrows so completely that no one could see where the plough had been.

"Artor is truly dead," Faraday said, "and we are finally free."

Chapter 9

Of Predestination and Confrontation

They stood before the seven-sided, white-walled tower and hated. "It stinks of the Enemy," Sheol said.

"Badly."

Qeteb did not speak. He sat his black beast and regarded the tower thoughtfully.

Finally he turned his head slightly to where StarLaughter half-sat, half-crouched on the ground. "Tell me of its nature," he said.

StarLaughter hissed.

Something frightful reached out from Qeteb and sunk deep talons into StarLaughter's mind, and she screamed, writhing amid the dirt.

"Spiredore! Its name is Spiredore!"

"You are such a fount of information," Qeteb said. "Mother dear."

The other Demons giggled.

StarLaughter quieted, but her eyes never left Qeteb's form.

She had been a fool to allow this Demon to steal her son! Could she yet save her boy? Was there something to be done that might mean —

"Your son died thousands of years ago," Qeteb said. "Nothing can bring him back. Resign yourself to a worthless and unwanted motherhood, StarLaughter."

Her eyes glinted.

Qeteb took no notice. "Tell me about this tower."

StarLaughter thought about remaining silent, but her lust for revenge had imbued her with a strong sense of self-preservation.

She knew Qeteb was now only looking for the merest hint of an excuse to kill her.

Qeteb shifted slightly, and StarLaughter spoke. "Only a very few Icarii have ever been able to use the tower. Its secret was closely guarded."

Sheol muttered irritably, but Qeteb sat his mount silently, waiting.

"Nevertheless ..." StarLaughter smiled, remembering how powerful she had once been, and how great her destiny was bound to be, "I have eyes with which to observe, and a mind with which to think —"

Mot sniggered.

"— and I believe that the tower will take a person — maybe any who ask it — wherever they wish to go. Even its name points to its actions. It is a spire and it is a door."

Qeteb sat, staring at the Icarii woman, knowing she spoke the truth. A useful piece of Enemy magic, then, he thought, and pondered its implications. Could he use it? Perhaps. Was it a trap? Possibly...

possibly ...

Could he risk the trap?

He turned his head and regarded the other Demons. He could send one of them ...

No. Rox was gone — for the moment — and Qeteb did not want to risk the others. Qeteb's eyes flickered over Niah, but she was an impossible choice. Niah had no soul with which to form the question, let alone a desire strong enough to make Spiredore act.

Who else?

Ah, of course! The Midday Demon lifted a mailed hand and beckoned.

A dark shape spiralled down from the sky and alighted before the Demons. It was StarGrace SunSoar.

"Great Father," she said, and bowed before him.

"StarGrace," Qeteb said. "I have a task for you."

StarLaughter looked at StarGrace, looked at Qeteb, and wondered. Would the Hawkchilds join her in exacting a revenge upon Qeteb (he had stolen her son!}, or would they remain blind to the Demon's duplicity, and continue to obey him?

StarGrace did not even look at StarLaughter, and bowed her head as Qeteb spoke to her. Once he had finished, she moved quickly to do his bidding.

And still she did not look at StarLaughter. StarLaughter's mouth thinned. She was alone, then.