Crusader (31 page)

So long used to the visage of the hawk, StarGrace was finding her old form uncomfortable.

About them were grouped DragonStar and his five witches, plus two wings of the Strike Force. The ethereal bodies of the Strike Force members, their vivid plumage undulled even in this dank cellar, drifted this way and that, creating a silvery jewelled backdrop to the central drama.

The rest of the Strike Force lined the corridors outside the basement.

“Talk about what?” StarLaughter said, widening her eyes disingenuously.

DragonStar gestured impatiently, and walked away a step or two. Faraday and Gwendylyr sat slightly to one side, supporting Leagh between them. Leagh still looked exhausted, but her face was calm, and she wore a light smile. Goldman and DareWing stood just behind them.

“StarLaughter,” DragonStar said, “you drifted for thousands of years with the Demons. Their revenge was your revenge. They were your friends.”

“They were yours once, too.”

“I do not trust you, StarLaughter.”

She laughed, a pretty, light sound. “And for that I cannot blame you! I was as much to blame for your horrific handling by the Demons as they.”

DragonStar’s eyes shifted to StarGrace.
And what was she doing here?

“The fact is,” StarLaughter continued, “StarGrace and myself have become somewhat disenchanted with the Demons.”

StarGrace shifted slightly, but said nothing.

“They promised us revenge—” StarLaughter hissed the word “revenge”, “—and yet what have they done? Nothing! They had WolfStar within their grasp, and let him slip away. I, as StarGrace and all the other Hawkchilds, have come back to Tencendor for only one purpose: to kill WolfStar.”

StarGrace suddenly spat, flinging her arms up as if they were wings.

Black material billowed out behind.

“We want him
dead
!” she said.

Gwendylyr caught Faraday’s eyes, and raised her eyebrows in an expression of wondrous distaste. Faraday inclined her head slightly, but immediately returned her attention to DragonStar and StarLaughter. What
had
DragonStar told her
about StarLaughter? Not a great deal, when she thought about it.

Faraday narrowed her eyes.

“What StarGrace is trying to say,” StarLaughter said, rising in a sinuous movement, “is that while the Demons helped us as far as getting us back into Tencendor, they haven’t done much else. Well, not much else apart from completely destroy the land.”

“You must have known they were going to do that,” DragonStar said.

StarLaughter shrugged dismissively. “That’s as may be.”

She walked slowly in a circle about DragonStar, moving ever closer with each step. She shifted the material of her scarlet and gold robe slightly, pulling it closer against the curves of her body. She did not take her eyes from his face.

“Now it appears that the Demons have wandered off on their own crusade,” StarLaughter continued, “and forgotten entirely their promises to us. StarGrace and I admit some impatience.”

She pouted, then tilted her face to one side and smiled at DragonStar. “We are tired of the Demons,” she said, “and would rather concentrate on our own purpose. WolfStar.”

DragonStar stared at her, then looked down to StarGrace. “And you? And the other Hawkchilds?”

“We are being used to hunt you,” StarGrace said, and smiled. Unlike StarLaughter’s, her expression was utterly feral and malicious. “But we would rather hunt
WolfStar
!”

“Thus, we,” StarLaughter said, moving away a pace or two and airily waving a hand, “are prepared to do a deal. Help us find WolfStar and we will help you against the Demons. We all have a chance at succeeding if we work together.”

“How?” DragonStar said. “How will you help?”

StarGrace laughed, low and husky, and answered for them both. “By not telling the Demons where you and yours are, DragonStar SunSoar. Qeteb will use the Hawkchilds in the
effort to hunt you down. We will soar and we will swoop, but, oh dear me, we will never find!”

“Do we have a deal?” StarLaughter said. “Do we? You give us WolfStar, and we aid you against the Demons.”

DragonStar stared at her, wondering what it was that she wasn’t telling him. These were explanations that he could accept…on the surface. But there was something
else
going on here that he could not yet discern, and that made him unsure.

He turned to look at his five witches.
Well
? he asked them.

DareWing, who had previously heard StarLaughter and StarGrace’s deal, nodded.
Can we afford to refuse? We need every piece of aid offered us.

Gwendylyr and Faraday again exchanged glances.
I don’t like her
, Gwendylyr said in DragonStar’s mind,
but does that mean we can’t trust her? DragonStar, you know these two. You decide
.

DragonStar’s mouth twitched in a very small grin—who could ever know StarLaughter and StarGrace? Their inner minds and emotions were the end product of three thousand years of twisted hate, and their inner writhings could not be tracked by any observer who had not travelled the same three-thousand-year road with them.

Faraday?
he asked.

She shrugged.
Your decision
.

Thank you very much
, he replied, but without any rancour.
Goldman?

He grinned, including StarLaughter and StarGrace in his smile. Surprisingly, StarGrace returned it, although StarLaughter looked surprised.
I’m with DareWing
, he said.
We have little choice. Besides, they are an adventure, and I for one relish the chance to explore them further.

Just don’t let them bed you
, DragonStar said, grinning himself.
It’s murder
.

Now Faraday did look at him sharply, the question all over her face, while Gwendylyr’s mouth dropped open.

DragonStar ignored them, squatting down before Leagh.
Well?

She smiled, a very gentle and sweet expression.
I think they are true…or, at least, true enough for us. If you think WolfStar’s sacrifice worth the bargain, then agree. Trust them as much as you dare, DragonStar.

DragonStar blinked, surprised more by Leagh’s inner calm and happiness than by what she’d said—what had happened to her since she’d fallen screaming to the floor earlier?—then nodded, and rose again.

“I think we have a bargain,” DragonStar said to the two birdwomen.

“Do you know where WolfStar is?” both asked in unison, both equally eagerly, and DragonStar narrowed his eyes.

StarLaughter and StarGrace had, at that moment, revealed completely different purposes: to him, if not to each other.

“Yes,” he said. “WolfStar is in Sanctuary.”

They ate from the remains of whatever dried food had been stored in the lower levels of Star Finger, and then DragonStar told his witches to lay down and rest.

“In the morning,” he said, “we will begin.”

Faraday curled up next to Leagh, pulling her cloak tight about them both, and DragonStar smiled cynically. He and Faraday were, it seemed, back to the coolness of their initial pilgrimage north to Gorkenfort and back to Carlon.

Goldman had cleared a space for him close to the fire that DareWing had built, but DragonStar shook his head.

“There is something else I need to do first,” he said, and turned away.

He looked around. StarGrace had left an hour earlier saying that she needed to return to her sky patrol before Qeteb and the other Demons reappeared, but StarLaughter was curled up in a thick woollen cloak against a far wall.

DragonStar walked over, and gently shook her shoulder.

StarLaughter opened one eye and peered irritably at him. “Yes?”

“We need to talk,” DragonStar said. “Now.”

“Then talk,” she murmured, closing her eye.

“Alone!” DragonStar said, and shook her harder.

Now StarLaughter opened both her eyes, and she grinned lasciviously. “So! I thought you would never ask!”

“Don’t play games with
me
!” DragonStar snapped, and grasped her arm tightly, hauling her upwards.

“You’re hurting!” StarLaughter said, and tried to wrench herself free.

But DragonStar was too strong. He pulled until she was on her feet, then gave her a none-too-gentle shove towards the door. “Outside.”

“Not all the way outside, I do hope,” StarLaughter muttered, but DragonStar did not speak, contenting himself with an impatient shove in the small of her back.

As they left the room, Faraday opened her eyes and stared at the empty door.

“Whatever my companions think,” DragonStar said as he pulled StarLaughter to a halt in a deserted part of the corridor several twists and turns away from the chamber, “I admit harbouring some doubts about the sincerity of your turnabout. Frankly, I find it astonishing.”

StarLaughter’s eyes darted about the corridor. It was deserted. The Strike Force were either at ground level to watch the sky, or were patrolling what was left of the complex, either to find if there was anything left that could prove serviceable to DragonStar or to search for any traps and surprises that StarLaughter and StarGrace may have planted.

She sighed theatrically. “You have discovered my secret.”

“Oh, for the Stars’ sakes, woman! Stop performing these dramatic roles! What is it you really want here?
You
were lying back in that chamber, although StarGrace was not.
What is going on
?”

StarLaughter stared down the corridor, her eyes unfocused, silent for the time being.

DragonStar was content enough to let her think, although he still wondered if she was assuming a facade she believed would aid her cause.

“The Demons tricked me,” StarLaughter said eventually, quietly, still staring into infinity down the corridor, “and then they tired of me. They said they were going to restore my son to me, but all they did was make use of his—” her voice broke a little, “—dead flesh to create a haven for Qeteb’s warmth and breath and movement and soul. Having tricked me, they then tired of me.”

DragonStar hesitated, then placed a hand on her shoulder.

StarLaughter did not react. “I escaped, but only barely.”

“And?” DragonStar prompted as StarLaughter hesitated.

“And I began to think,” she said, “about myself and WolfStar.”

StarLaughter shifted slightly, bringing herself closer to DragonStar’s body.

“When we were husband and wife I loved him desperately, completely, with my entire being and purpose,” she said after a moment’s silence.

“And yet you plotted against him.”

She half-smiled, lost in her deluded memories. “We were so mutually ambitious, DragonStar. We could not help ourselves. We became cold and hard and calculating, and somewhere along the way the love was lost. I planned his murder; he accomplished mine instead. WolfStar was ever quick on his feet.”

“And now?” DragonStar said very softly. “And now?”

“And now I want him back,” StarLaughter said, “as he must want me.”

DragonStar drew back from her in complete shock. “You
what
?
He wants what
?”

“I want him back!” StarLaughter turned to DragonStar, her face alive with passion and purpose. “As he must want me! Who else can WolfStar ever love? Who else can I? We have made our mistakes, true, but—”

DragonStar laughed hollowly. “You’re mad, StarLaughter. Mad! WolfStar will never—”

“Yes! Yes! He
must
!”

“Wait…have you told StarGrace this?”

“No. She would not understand. All she wants is his death.”

“And the other Hawkchilds? They want the same?”

StarLaughter nodded.

“So let me see if I understand this completely,” DragonStar said. “You have decided that, against all odds and expectations, your purpose in life is to love WolfStar again—”

“And he me!” she said. “We were born for each other, and we have spent the past several thousand years moving back towards each other!”

Gods, DragonStar thought. The woman is completely insane!

“Let me finish,” he said. “You have decided you want to find WolfStar to throw yourself into his arms, while you have managed to convince the Hawkchilds that you remain committed to his death.”

“They would accept no other arguments,” StarLaughter said.

“True,” DragonStar said, “but what will happen if the Hawkchilds realise that you are double-crossing them? Or if you get away with that, what will you do when you all happen on WolfStar? You want to love him, the Hawkchilds want to kill him. It’s bound to be a mess, StarLaughter.”

“Leave that to me,” she said. “All that need concern you is that I and the Hawkchilds work on your behalf—”

“Until the Hawkchilds realise you’re tricking them,” DragonStar said a little dryly.

“And who will tell them, DragonStar?
Who
?” She sighed. “You do not need to concern yourself about me, or the Hawkchilds, or even WolfStar. Help us to find him, and then turn your back. You get what you want, and I will get what I want.”

And the Hawkchilds, thought DragonStar? What
do
you plan to do when everyone finally meets up with WolfStar?

She pressed herself against him, burying her fists in the folds of his shirt, her face upturned to his, her eyes blazing. “WolfStar and I—what a team! We can best the Hawkchilds, and then…then…”

StarLaughter lapsed into silence, her mouth open, her eyes moist with emotion.

DragonStar stared into her face, and with a sudden shock realised that she was either completely mad, or absolutely, frighteningly sane.

And DragonStar did not know which he feared more.

“StarLaughter,” he finally said. “I need something solid to convince me that I can trust you. For all I know, you are still in league with the Demons.”

“What would convince you of my genuineness? The secret to the Demons’ destruction?”

“That would help.”

She sighed. “I thought you already knew that.”

“You thought wrong.”

She thought a moment before she spoke. “If there is one thing I have learned about the Demons during my sojourn with them—and Qeteb behaves as do the others—it is that they are one-dimensional only.”