case there was any hope there . . . but no hope and little memory. The Twisted Tower must be drifting farther and farther from this world, and with it goes all its knowledge.”
“Then we need to discuss StarDancer’s —” Axis began.
“No,” Maximilian said. “There is one further thing Ishbel and I can do.”
Before Axis could press him for more information, Georgdi came into the room. “The Lealfast are winding up for the day,” he said.
“I wonder what tomorrow will bring,” Ishbel said quietly into the thoughtful silence.
Maximilian stood, Ishbel with him. Axis rose as well, wanting to speak with Maximilian, but he and Ishbel were gone before Axis had the chance.
In the cold depths of the night, Ishbel and Maximilian ventured to the edge of the Otherworld.
There, waiting for them according to the call Maximilian had sent out earlier in the night, stood Boaz.
“You face a dilemma,” Boaz said. “Infinity has moved close to your world.”
“The One, yes,” Maximilian said. “Boaz, we need to ask how you managed to trap the demon Nzame when he waited in Threshold, and to drag him into Infinity. I —”
“Want to do the same with the One?” Boaz said, his face incredulous. “You can’t.”
“We must be able to do it,” Ishbel said. “I, as your descendant, or Maximilian as Lord of Elcho Falling.”
Boaz gave a slow shake of his head, holding both Ishbel’s and Maximilian’s eyes. “What I did to trap Nzame,” he said, “was to use the power of the One which I commanded as a Magus, and then drag Nzame through to Infinity.”
“And then you escaped,” Ishbel said.
“And then I escaped by transporting myself to the very edges of the Otherworld — which at that time I called the Place Beyond — where I lingered until my wife Tirzah could pull me into the world of the living. Ishbel, Maxel, you cannot do this with the One.”
“But why not?” Ishbel cried.
“Because I used the power of the One to do it,” Boaz said. “Neither of you command that power and even if you did you cannot use it against the One himself. He would toss it back in your faces as a useless and broken thing. The One is infinitely more powerful than Nzame. The One is Infinity. I could not touch him. Neither can you.”
Ishbel and Maximilian shared a look.
“StarDancer has given you the only plan that can possibly work,” Boaz said softly. “I am sorry.”
“You would see the end of the Lords of Elcho Falling?” Ishbel said.
“I would prefer to see that than see the One step through the Infinity Gate into the world of the living and decimate it. No one could stand against him. No one. There is only going to be a moment when he can be trapped, and Ravenna is the one to do it.”
“The Land of Nightmares will hold him?” Maximilian said.
Boaz gave a nod. “It will hold him.”
Maximilian looked at Ishbel, and saw his own desperation reflected in her expression.
They sat in their chamber atop Elcho Falling, not speaking, communicating only through their silence and shared concern.
“How can we trust Ravenna?” Ishbel said finally. “How?”
“You can almost certainly trust her in this,” said a strange voice, and both Maxel and Ishbel sat up, swivelling toward the sound.
A tall well-built man stood a few paces away. He smiled and walked to stand before their chairs. Thick cobalt hair fell down over his brow, and his eyes sparked with blue fire amid fine, almost ethereally beautiful, features.
“My Lord of Dreams!” Maximilian said, rising to his feet, Ishbel only a moment behind him.
“Drava, please,” the Lord of Dreams said. He gestured to Maximilian and Ishbel to sit again, before he took a chair opposite them.
“You think you have a terrible choice before you,” Drava continued, “but in reality it is an easy one. Ravenna, via StarDancer, offers you a good solution to your dilemma.”
Ishbel wanted to say something, but she didn’t know the Lord of Dreams, so left it to Maximilian to lead the conversation.
“You think we can trust her?” Maximilian said.
“Yes,” Drava said. “She has learned well from the ruin of her ambitions, and her learning has sickened her. She will not prove disloyal again.”
“I can hardly believe that,” Ishbel said, forgetting her decision to leave the conversation to Maximilian.
“You are jealous of her —” Drava began.
“Jealous?” Ishbel said. “She murdered Maximilian — only my magic returned him from the gates of death! — and sought to destroy his authority as Lord of Elcho Falling