"Skraelings," Urbeth said. "Yes. It is also very close to Tencendor, and the way south is relatively unrestricted now the forests have gone."
Behind her, Ur moaned, and hugged her pot tighter.
"But the biggest positive is the Skraelings," Urbeth finished.
"Why?" Axis said.
"Because I think we can come to some arrangement with them," Urbeth said, and Ur cackled with laughter.
"One that might not be entirely to their liking," she said, and then Urbeth and her daughters, and Katie also, who still sat with Ur, were laughing as if the entire future were clear of Demons and shadows alike.
Chapter 34
WolfStar Feels Beter
Urbeth said the tundra, and so the tundra, Axis supposed, it had to be. As for the Skraelings, Urbeth (and Ur, whom Axis privately thought was more than slightly senile) remained silent on that point, and said that it would be easier to show than explain.
Skraelings. Stars! Axis thought he had seen the last of them when Azhure and the eastern forests had destroyed Gorgrael's Skraeling army in Gorken Pass. But they'd all forgotten that the Skraelings came from the far north-eastern frozen tundra, and Axis supposed that a breeding population would have survived there even after the debacle of Gorken Pass.
Now they'd had forty-odd years to breed back to pre- Gorgrael numbers. Axis shuddered, remembering the nests that he and Azhure had discovered under the ruins of Hsingard. A breeding pair could lay hundreds of eggs per year. No doubt the northern tundra was now riddled with Skraelings.
And now they didn't even have the Alaunt, or the Wolven, let alone their magic.
What Axis wouldn't give for just one of Azhure's Moonwildflowers drifting down from the night skies!
He shook himself out of his memories and his regrets. There was far too much to do without wasting time in fears, as warranted as they were.
Urbeth had told him that the populations of Sanctuary, in escaping to the frozen tundra, would not need to survive very long before they would have a permanent shelter arranged.
"What kind of shelter?" Axis had asked, and Urbeth — back in her ursine form by this stage — had grinned and slouched off.
And what was "not very long"?
Axis sighed again, and turned back to his task.
Himself, Zared, Theod, Herme, WingRidge and Gustus, Zared's lieutenant, were deep within Sanctuary's main stores complex. Until an hour ago they had not known where this complex existed, but when Axis voiced a wish to see what stores Sanctuary contained, a corridor and a flight of stairs leading down into a series of massive stone-vaulted chambers appeared.
And these chambers were packed with stores. Food, clothing, blankets, medical supplies. All was here ... except...
"What would be more than useful," Zared said to Axis as they began the tiring task of inventory (which, if truth be told, Axis had delegated to the Lake Guard, but someone had to supervise the procedure), "is a few hundred carts with which to transport them."
And precisely at that moment, FeatherGrip, a Lake Guardsman, shouted from twenty-odd paces away: "StarMan! There's a series of chambers here filled with carts!"
Axis glanced at Zared and Theod, grinned, and added, "Equipped with sleigh runners for their easier movement across the snow and ice would be nice."
"And they've got sleigh runners fitted over their wheels as well!" came FeatherGrip's voice.
"Anything else we need?" Axis said quietly. "I do not think that Sanctuary will deny us a single quilt, if we ask it."
"I'll make a list," Theod said, "once WingRidge can tell me the precise numbers we've got in Sanctuary."
"Don't forget to put millipede food down," Zared said, grinning. "As well as starling fodder, seal snacks, and Bogle Marsh creature dinners."
Theod rolled his eyes, and walked away.
Zared's grin faded. "How long do we have? The logistics of the situation, the help of Sanctuary notwithstanding, are beyond a nightmare."
Axis stared into the distance of the underground vaults. "I have no idea, Zared. It could be two hours, it could be two weeks."
Pray gods that it's the latter, Zared thought, for we would never save more than ten percent of the peoples and creatures in Sanctuary if we only have two hours.
Roxiah, still naked, and delighting in that nakedness, stood before Sigholt — legs apart, arms wide, head thrown back and eyes closed.
Inside its body, the Rox foetus was exploring the Enemy's power contained within Niah's flesh.
So many thousands of years — so many tens of thousands of years! — had the Enemy denied them, and toyed with them, and made them scamper across half the universe, and now the Enemy's power was theirs\
Or mine alone, if I work this well, thought the infant Rox deep inside its developing brain cells, but, like most foetuses, it was patient, and was content that it should, for the moment, work its master's will.
And so it was doing: Roxiah was employing the Enemy's power to destroy Sigholt, stone by stone.
For thousands of years Sigholt had stood, a bastion of magic by its magical lake. It had laughed with its companion bridge, frowned at the mistakes of the Icarii and human alike who had lived within it, overseen the conception of Axis StarMan atop its roof (ah! the day that StarDrifter had spiralled down from the skies to seduce Rivkah!), witnessed the birth of Caelum, and tended — as much as it was able
— the growing SunSoar brood.
Now, Sigholt was dying.
Noisily.
