Starman: Book Three of the Axis Trilogy
Epic fantasy in the tradition of Trudi Canavan, Fiona McIntosh and Robert Jordan. StarMan concludes the first Tencendor trilogy with an unexpected and glorious climax.Weakened by their terrible encounter with Borneheld’s men, Axis and his army are forced to march north as Gorgrael breaks through Jervois Landing and invades Tencendor with ice and terror. But under a sky black with Gryphon, Axis discovers that he’s confronting a seemingly invincible enemy.As the Prophecy of the Destroyer hurtles towards fulfilment, Azhure and StarDrifter unravel the mysteries of the Island of Mist and Memory, where they finally confront WolfStar; Faraday moves east to replant the ancient forests of Tencendor; and the Sentinels begin a lonely journey planned for them thousands of years ago.Enveloping all looms the promise of treachery – treachery that threatens to strike into the very heart of Axis and Azhure’s family.
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Sara Douglass
StarMan
Book Three of The Axis Trilogy
For Lynne, Tim and Frances, and with thanks to
Louise Thurtell and Fiona Daniels of HarperCollins for all their hard work on this trilogy.
Nothing but idiot gabble!
For the prophecy given of old
And then not understood,
Has come to pass as foretold;
Not let any man think for the public good,
But babble, merely for babble.
For I never whisper’d a private affair
Within the hearing of cat or mouse,
No, not to myself in the closet alone,
But I heard it shouted at once from the top of the house;
Everything came to be known.
Who told him we were there?
Not that gray old wolf, for he came not back
From the wilderness, full of wolves, where he used to lie;
He has gather’d the bones for his o’ergrown whelp to crack;
Crack them now for yourself, and howl, and die.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
from Part II.v of Maud
Table of Contents
14 Goodwife Renkin Goes to Market
16 The Island of Mist and Memory
31 “May We Learn to Live with Each Other”
37 “Your Tongue is Far Too Sweet”!
71 Five Handspans of Sharpened Steel
A day will come when bora will be
Two babes whose blood will tie them.
That born to Wing and Horn will hate
The one they call the StarMan.
Destroyer! rises in the north
And drives his Ghostmen south;
Defenceless lie both flesh and field
Before Gorgrael’s ice.
To meet this threat you must release
The StarMan from his lies,
Revive Tencendor, fast and sure
Forget the ancient war,
For if Plough, Wing and Horn can’t find
The bridge to understanding,
Then will Gorgrael earn his name
And bring Destruction hither.
StarMan, listen, heed me well,
Your power will destroy you
If you should wield it in the fray
’Ere these prophecies are met:
The Sentinels will walk abroad
’Til power corrupt their hearts;
A child will turn her head and cry
Revealing ancient arts;
A wife will hold in joy at night
The slayer of her husband;
Age-old souls, long in cribs,
Will sing o’er mortal land;
The remade dead, fat with child
Will birth abomination;
A darker power will prove to be
The father of salvation.
Then waters will release bright eyes
To form the Rainbow Sceptre.
StarMan, listen, for I know
That you can wield the sceptre
To bring Gorgrael to his knees
And break the ice asunder.
But even with the power in hand
Your pathway is not sure:
A Traitor from within your camp
Will seek and plot to harm you;
Let not your Lover’s pain distract
For this will mean your death;
Destroyer’s might lies in his hate
Yet you must never follow;
Forgiveness is the thing assured
To save Tencendor’s soul.
It was a long day, the day Axis tried to kill Azhure, then married her. It was a day filled with power, and thus power found it easy to wrap and manipulate lives. The power of the Enchantress – untested and, for the moment, uncontrolled – had dominated the morning. Now, as the Enchantress smiled and kissed her new husband, it lay quiescent, waiting.
But as the gate that had imprisoned Azhure’s power and identity had shattered that day, so had other gates shattered, and so other powers had moved – and not all of them welcomed by the Prophecy.
As the Enchantress leaned back from her husband, accepting the warmth and love of her friends and family about her, so power walked the land of Tencendor.
It would be a long day.
Axis pulled the Enchantress’ ring from a small secret pocket in his breeches. He held it up so that all in the room could see it, then he slid the ring onto the heart finger of Azhure’s left hand. It fit perfectly, made only for this woman, and for this finger.
“Welcome into the House of the Stars to stand by my side, Enchantress. May we walk together forever.”
“Forever?” the GateKeeper said. “You and the Enchantress? For
