"If myself," DragonStar said, "or Faraday, Goldman, Leagh and Gwendylyr are trapped here, then we can do no good at all. We must return to the wasteland —"
"No!" Zared said, stepping forward and brushing past Axis. "Take Leagh back into the wasteland?
Have you seen her, DragonStar? Have you seen how sick and exhausted she is? Have you —"
"We have no damn choice, Zared!" DragonStar said. "None. It will be up to myself and my five companions to battle the Demons, and we cannot do it here. I doubt that Spiredore will remain viable much longer. We must leave now."
And I must get my witches to the places where they will confront their respective Demons, DragonStar thought, and where they will prepare the "weapons" that Qeteb has so kindly allowed them to choose. We must leave now if they are to have enough time to prepare.
"And the rest of us?" Axis said as Zared turned away in disgust. "What happens to the rest of us? You and yours might be able survive the wasteland and the Demons' influence, but none of us can.
What happens if — when — Sanctuary falls? Where do we go?"
And the rest of the people and animals of Sanctuary. Where do they go now? Where, if nowhere is safe?
DragonStar spread his hands helplessly. "I do not know, Axis. I simply do not know —"
Axis stepped forward and stabbed his finger into DragonStar's chest. "If you walk out of here now and take your four damn witches as you call them, with you, then I am assuming command of Sanctuary! I will work to keep safe what remains of Tencendor! Run about the wasteland all you like, DragonStar, play whatever game you want to, but I will assume responsibility for the saving of Tencendor's life!"
There was a silence as DragonStar stared into his father's eyes. Then ...
"Thank you," he said. "That would be a great weight off my mind."
Axis stared at DragonStar, then he burst into laughter: genuine, heartfelt laughter.
"Thank you," he said, "for allowing me some purpose back into my life."
DragonStar nodded, smiling a little himself, then looked at Faraday. "When we leave," he said, "we will leave Katie behind."
"No!" Faraday said in a low, harsh voice. "You've said yourself that Sanctuary will fall. She will die if we leave her here!"
"I thank you for your vote of confidence," Axis said to one side, but Faraday ignored him.
"We take her with us! I can protect her! I will —"
"No," DragonStar said. His voice was very flat, very hard. "She must stay here."
Faraday stared at DragonStar, almost loathing him. Ever since she'd seen Qeteb speak out of his mouth, seen the Demon's malice shine from his eyes, she'd not been able to forget that voice asking her if she would ever know whose hands caressed her body, whose voice spoke to her of love, whose love reached out to her in the night ... It had been enough to undermine the hard-found trust she had in DragonStar, and in herself. Would she ever know
who it was? DragonStar, or Qeteb? Who was it now saying, "We must go forth into the wasteland?"
DragonStar, or Qeteb?
Katie, and her desire to protect the girl at all costs, was all that was left for her. Illogically, even though she was not sure who was going to lead her back into the wasteland, and what might be waiting for them there, Faraday wanted to keep Katie with her. If only Katie was with her, then she would find some way to protect her, some way to keep her from harm. The vision she'd had many, many weeks ago of the armoured man — Qeteb — slicing open Katie's throat with a kitchen knife returned night after night to haunt her.
Faraday would let nothing harm Katie. Nothing.
"Faraday," Azhure said gently, putting her hands on Faraday's arm, "I will look after Katie as if she were my own."
"As if she were your own?" Faraday hissed. "You were never good at playing the caring mother, Azhure!"
"Faraday," DragonStar snapped, "that is enough!" He stepped forward and took Faraday's other arm, pulling her away from Azhure and the rest of the group.
"Faraday," DragonStar said in a low voice as he pulled her, stiff and resisting, over to a far corner of the chamber, "if you cannot trust me then we might as well lie down and offer our throats to Qeteb here and now."
She was silent.
"You have let me lay by you at nights," DragonStar said, his voice softer now, "and let me love you.
You trusted me then. Trust me now."
She stared at him with hard eyes, and then tried to pull away from him.
He grabbed her before she could walk away, hanging on to her arm and speaking hard and low into her ear; she would not look at him.
"You will know in here," he tapped her breast with his other hand, "when it is DragonStar who speaks to you, and when — if— it is Qeteb. You will know that!"
Faraday finally turned her eyes to him. They were wide, stricken, and so frightened that DragonStar felt his chest constrict.
"I want more than anything in this world, or in the thousand worlds that surround and touch ours, to be able to trust you, DragonStar. Yet to think that by trusting you I will be laying down and offering my throat to yet another demonic lover terrifies me."
DragonStar felt his heart break. "Gods, I love you, Faraday," he whispered, his mouth almost touching her ear. "I will never harm you, I will never offer you to Qeteb to save Tencendor. Please, gods curse it, please believe me."
"I will try," she said, a tear finally escaping from an eye. "I will try, DragonStar."
She pulled away again, and this time DragonStar let her go.
He wondered if he would ever have her back.
