Isfrael stared at the silver-haired Horned One. "I introduce no abomination into the grove!" he said. "I have every right to be here and —"
The silver-pelt stepped forward and slapped Isfrael's face so hard the Mage-King stumbled and almost fell.
Isfrael snarled, and swung back at the Horned One, but the creature was too fast for him, and kicked Isfrael squarely in the ribs.
The Mage-King fell to the ground, heaving in breaths in great gasps.
The Horned One kicked him again. "You gave the Demons the enchanted bowl!"
Isfrael rolled away and struggled to his hands and knees. "They already had it, you horned aberration! Faraday, your beloved Tree Friend, gave it to them! I brought it back! We are safe, and —"
"That," the Horned One said, pointing to the bowl where it had rolled several paces away, "is a copy. A fake. A trick!"
Isfrael stared at him, then shifted his eyes to the bowl. "No. It can't be."
He looked back at the Horned One and saw for the first time the tiredness in the creature's liquid black eyes, the slump of his shoulders, the sagging muscles. The creature was dying.
Isfrael narrowed his eyes. "What's happening here? Why are you so ill?" He finally struggled upright and looked about him. The trees of the Sacred Grove were as touched by malaise as the Horned One: their leaves were blotched and mouldy, their bark
was peeling away in great strips, their roots arched out of the earth as if trying to escape the disease within.
"The bowl is a fake," the Horned One said again, and lifted his hands in despair. "What are we to do?"
Two women walked slowly out of the tree line. One, the Mother, leaned on the other's shoulders for support.
Ur walked strong and determined, and her ancient face was lined with anger and resolution.
"My friend?" the Mother said to the Horned One.
"Isfrael has broken through the barriers You built to seal off the Sacred Groves," the Horned One said.
"Impossible," the Mother said. "No-one had the power to —"
"He sought the aid of the Demons to do so," the Horned One said. "And Isfrael left the enchanted bowl with the Demons. I'm afraid they now know the way along the paths."
The Mother's face crumpled, and She pressed a hand to Her mouth to suppress a moan.
"What does this mean?" Ur said.
"It means," the Mother answered in a tiny voice, "that the Demons will be able to access the Groves.
They have the power and they have the vehicle."
"Then we will fight!" Ur said, and she half-raised a fist.
The Mother smiled, a small, desperate attempt. "What with, my dear? Everything about the Groves
— the soil, the water, the air, the very soul — has been corrupted by the Demons' influence over Tencendor. We have nothing left to fight with. Nothing."
"I have my pots," Ur said, and her fist raised a little higher.
Isfrael gave a harsh bray of laughter, and turned away. Fools! He had managed to secrete himself with fools!
He sank down under a tree, ignoring the constant patter of dead leaves that fell about him. So
... the Mother and Her impotent companions are sure the Demons will destroy the Groves?
Isfrael thought about it ... what else did he have that he could bargain for his life with?
Chapter 23
Niah Reborn
"Well?" said Axis, his voice hard.
"Isfrael has betrayed us," DragonStar said. "He has given Qeteb some secret that will enable him to —"
"That is not what I asked."
DragonStar looked up. His parents, Faraday, Gwendylyr and Goldman were all standing about his chair, their faces carefully unreadable.
Only Faraday allowed the barest of emotions to glimmer forth: her eyes were pools of horror ... a remembered horror.
"What did I say?" DragonStar said. "Why do you all look at me like that?"
"Who are you?" Goldman asked. "You look like DragonStar, and you sound like DragonStar, but who are you?"
DragonStar frowned. "What..."
