The Infinity Gate: Darkglass Mountain: Book Three - By Sara Douglass Page 0,14

approaching Skraelings.”

Insharah opened his mouth to say something, but was forestalled by the sound of fighting outside.

“We need to move,” said Ishbel. “Now. Insharah, get your men moving toward the causeway, in whatever manner you may.”

Chapter 8

Elcho Falling

The battle to get the Isembaardian army inside Elcho Falling was a bloody, terrible nightmare, and without Ishbel it could easily have turned into a rout.

The sudden visibling of the spatters of blood over the Lealfast saved hundreds, if not thousands, of Isembaardian lives. The Lealfast remained invisible, but the blood glowed, betraying their presence. While the Isembaardian army had no warning of the attack, they had been armed and ready to fight: initially, under Armat’s command, to attack Elcho Falling, but now, under Insharah, as a precaution against the power and treachery of the previous night. The surprise attack by the twelve thousand Lealfast killed many, but the Isembaardians were skilled and practised soldiers, and it took them but heartbeats to realise that the glowing blood revealed their enemy.

On the ground the Lealfast had no chance against the sheer numbers of Isembaardians, especially if they were trapped inside tents when the blood glowed to betray them. They soon lifted into the air, and there they did hold the edge. Not merely did they hold a height advantage, but the Isembaardians, now organised into the move to Elcho Falling, were trapped in a bottleneck — the causeway was narrow and the army needed to be guided across it by Ishbel, for otherwise Elcho Falling would not have accepted the foreign soldiers. Everyone was frighteningly vulnerable on that causeway, and it was to the causeway that the Lealfast directed their most murderous efforts.

In the air the Lealfast maintained their invisibility. Above two or three paces high the glowing spatters of blood became indistinct and at ten paces high few ground soldiers could see them at all. The Strike Force members with their enhanced Icarii sight could see the spatters of blood well enough from even a hundred paces distant, but the Isembaardian archers could only shoot blindly into the air, and while doing so could not protect themselves. The Strike Force’s arrows caused some casualties among the Lealfast, but mostly the Lealfast stayed out of arrow range of the Icarii, who were tied to their narrow protective airspace about Elcho Falling.

The ground forces used their shields, raised above their heads, to create a defensive roof between themselves and the Lealfast arrows. But arms grew tired and it was hard to keep shields perfectly aligned to maintain an impenetrable roof. All too often arrows penetrated through widening gaps in the shield roof and struck soldiers beneath.

Many Isembaardians died. Within an hour of the army starting its painfully slow way into Elcho Falling, the turquoise waters of the lake surrounding the citadel were thick with floating bodies feathered with arrows.

Axis spent most of his time either protecting Ishbel, or organising protection for her. Nothing could be allowed to harm her. His task was made easier by Egalion who, understanding what was needed, sent a squad of Emerald Guardsmen out to protect her. They surrounded Ishbel on all sides, using their uncanny ability to deflect arrows from above with their shields.

Without them, Axis thought Ishbel may well have been dead within a few minutes.

It took the entire day to get the Isembaardians inside Elcho Falling, and all day they were subjected to attack. Tens of thousands died, but the number would have been hundreds of thousands had it not been for Ishbel, for the Emerald Guardsmen, for the Isembaardians themselves who put up their own spirited defence and had it not been for the remnants of the Strike Force, who, while they did not venture far from Elcho Falling’s protection, nonetheless managed to make the final third of the journey across the causeway safer for the Isembaardians.

Axis did what he could, but in the end it was not much more than providing a little guidance and an extra sword. He tried using the Star Dance to aid the Isembaardians, but his powers were either blocked, or somehow subdued. It was irritating — and frightening. He and StarDrifter had managed to use the Song of Mirrors against the Lealfast earlier, but now it appeared that the Lealfast were using something else against him, something that made it difficult for any Icarii Enchanter to raise the Star Dance against the Lealfast.

Was it the Lealfast’s own command of the Star Dance . . . or something else? Was it Elcho