Was there nothing that could be saved from this chaos?
"I wish you luck," DragonStar said, gripping Axis' hand and arm, "with your self-appointed task."
"As I wish you well with yours," Axis said.
They fell silent, each staring into the others' eyes, each wondering if this was the last they'd see each other, and if this was one of the last moments of hope that Tencendor would have.
Azhure stepped forward and briefly, but fiercely, hugged DragonStar, then she turned and embraced the other four who would leave with him.
Katie clung to Azhure's skirts, and Faraday embraced the girl so tightly she squeaked in protest.
Azhure had to prise her loose from Faraday's grip.
"Let nothing happen to her!" Faraday said to Azhure, and Azhure touched Faraday's cheek with her fingers.
"I promise to do my best for her, Faraday. Will you accept that?"
Faraday hesitated, then nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. Azhure's best was better than virtually anyone else's. But even though Faraday knew she left Katie in the best of hands, she still hungered to be able to watch her herself.
"I love you," she whispered to the tiny girl.
"Love DragonStar instead," Katie said. "He needs it as much as I do."
Faraday's face closed over slightly, and she straightened and stood back, turning her face to look about her.
They were standing at the entrance to the valley of Sanctuary: Axis and Azhure, Zared and Theod, and DragonStar and his group. Behind DragonStar sidled Belaguez, anxious for war; the Alaunt, sitting, but very evidently impatient for action as well; and the blue-feathered lizard, irritably combing out some of the feathers on his off-hind leg. His emerald and scarlet crest was rising up and down so rapidly his plumage appeared blurred.
Zared was holding Leagh, as Theod held Gwendylyr; hard and angrily (why did their wives have to go?}, desperately, knowing they would, in all likelihood, never see them again.
"We will meet again," Gwendylyr tried to reassure Theod, "in the Field of Flowers, if nowhere else."
"And if the Demons get into that, as well?" Theod said. "If they destroy the Field? If they destroy everything else, Gwendylyr, and if they control the power of the Enemy, then they will inevitably get into the Field."
Gwendylyr clung to Theod, burying her face in his chest, fearing the truth of his words, and totally unable to speak.
Theod met Zared's eyes over her head. They were as hard, as angry, as implacable as his own.
Of the entire group, only Goldman seemed at ease, bending down and ruffling the thick hair on FortHeart's head, and clucking to her as if she was a child.
The hound relaxed into his hand, seemingly grateful for the reassurance.
"What will you do?" Axis asked DragonStar.
DragonStar shrugged a little. "What I must. And you?"
Axis smiled slightly. "This place must have some other way out. I cannot believe the Enemy built Sanctuary without a back door."
A back door to where? To what? DragonStar wondered, but said nothing. He gripped Axis' hand and arm again, then let go.
"Goldman, girls ... it is time we left." And he adjusted the Wolven where it hung over his shoulder, raised his sword, and drew the door of light.
"Come," DragonStar said, "let us dare Spiredore one last time."
Chapter 28
Destruction
The Mother sat on the bench outside Ur's cottage and contemplated death. Even the mere contemplation of Her utter annihilation seemed out of place, let alone the imminent reality of it.
The Mother knew She was about to die, but She simply couldn't quite come to grips with the concept. She represented the life and well-being of the land of Tencendor, and in the past, even though wars and destruction had rained above and through the land, nothing had come close to harming the land itself.
But now Tencendor lay wasted and barren. The Earth Tree and the forests were gone, the Lakes were dried up, all hope and love had been consumed and translated into the despicable.
All that was left was here, and the Mother knew that this, too, would shortly be gone.
She could hear the Demons hunting through the glades and forests of the Sacred Groves.
The noise was appalling. Trees screamed and tore themselves up by the roots in an attempt to get away from the Demons. The Horned Ones bellowed and roared ...
... and fell, one by one, as the Demons ate them alive and absorbed their power.
The Mother winced every time another was consumed, for She could feel the teeth slice into Her own flesh as Demon fangs tore into the Horned One.
There was a whistling and a screaming in the air: the sound of Death approaching. The sky was being torn apart, the earth destroyed, and the Mother put Her hands over Her face and wept.
Isfrael crouched, one arm flung over his head.
He wept and bellowed at the same time as both fury and fright coursed through him.
