Heart of Black Ice

by Terry Goodkind

  Utros’s leather gauntlet creaked as he clenched a fist. Beyond the mouth of the bay he spotted three large ships departing under full sail. Then he caught his breath as he saw more than a hundred serpent ships pursuing them like a pack of wolves. “The Norukai are coming. King Grieve hunts them down as they try to flee.”

  Ruva raised her fingers and traced invisible lines of magic in the air. “I would be happier to kill those vermin ourselves, but I will rest easily just knowing they are dead.”

  “The fleeing people aren’t our concern. They are already gone.” Utros ran a finger over the smooth surface of his half mask. “We need to find what’s left of this town. We need to feed our troops.”

  The streets were paved with cobblestones, and the horses’ hoofbeats echoed loudly as they clattered forward. On the way to the central square, hungry vanguard soldiers rushed past the general and spread out to break into shops and homes. They smashed windows, battered down doors, and caused even more damage in their frustration. Utros expected they would find some stragglers barricaded behind doors, but Renda Bay was eerily silent.

  Ava’s spirit drifted about. “There’s nothing … but also something. I sense danger here. Beware, General.”

  Ruva sat on her bay mare, shuddering. Gooseflesh covered her pale skin. “I can feel deadly lines of force. This isn’t simply an empty town. Nathan and the others left something for us here.” She sketched in the air with an extended fingertip. Ava faced her sister, touching her spectral fingertip against Ruva’s, and together they opened a spiderweb of bright lines, identifying a pattern.

  “It is a trap. These buildings are more than empty. They’re waiting to be—”

  As the scouts broke into prominent storehouses near the town hall, they triggered an activation web. Bright lights sizzled through the walls of the storehouse, and the shuttered windows overhead burst open with a flood of bright light, a flare of heat. Gouts of flame erupted through the roof. Covered with fire, soldiers staggered back out, trying to smother the flames on their smoldering leather armor. In seconds, the entire storehouse became an inferno, as if it had been built of straw and kindling.

  On the opposite side of the square, another building ignited, then a third one with such a vigorous explosion that the wallboards shot deadly splinters in all directions.

  Ruva raised both hands. “I feel the tingling everywhere, down that street, down this street, along that alley!” She looked in horror at the cobblestones, where she saw painted lines that some wizard had left behind. “We are caught in the middle of the web.”

  The town hall suddenly glowed with jagged cracks of orange heat, like lightning bolts within the stone blocks. A blast broke down the façade, and the debris crumbled toward them. The general’s black stallion screamed, and he hunched over the saddle, holding on as he galloped away. Flames raged down the street as one spell triggered another.

  Ava’s spirit swooped along, leading him to safety. Other horses raced for the harbor and the open water. His soldiers scattered, charging at a full run down side streets, trying to stay ahead of the flame front. In doing so, they ignited one booby trap after another, setting off a cascade of magic.

  The cobblestones cracked and shuddered. Lines of magic drew down into swirling patterns that connected building to building and square to square. The Renda Bay streets became molten, and all the adjacent buildings ignited from the connected tapestry of magic.

  “Ride!” Utros roared.

  The entire town became an inferno, incinerating countless soldiers. Summoning her gift, Ruva called a downpour to drench some of the fire and douse the lower streets. It was enough to keep Utros and the front ranks safe, but behind them the burning town cut off the rest of his army, engulfing many of the soldiers in flames.

  Once he was safe by the waterfront, Utros turned away from the smoke and fire and looked angrily out to sea, where Norukai ships were approaching the fleeing cargo ships that carried the survivors of Renda Bay.

  * * *

  Out beyond the harbor, the two big sailing ships commanded by Captains Straker and Donell sailed away from Renda Bay full of evacuees. As the last of the gifted defenders came aboard the third ship, Captain Mills rang the alarm bell again and again. The serpent ships closed in on Renda Bay.

  Nathan took a position near the bow as they got underway, following the other two large vessels. A sudden ripple of dismay crossed the deck as the passengers watched orange flames blossom in the center of town. Smoke erupted in pillars. He smiled. “Looks like General Utros found our surprise.”

  Oron wore a grim expression as he stroked his thick, pale braid. “There is more to come.”

  Moments later, additional blazes surged, like storms of fire triggered by the unsuspecting invaders. The sky blackened as more smoke rose, and the inferno built upon itself. Before long, the entire town was engulfed in fire. The blazes leaped from building to building, raced down street after street.

  Thaddeus and other evacuees from Renda Bay stared back at their receding homes, weeping. The freed slave Rendell placed a comforting hand on the town leader’s shoulder.

  Olgya was more intent on the countless serpent ships racing toward them across the sea. “How do we fight against the Norukai? They are closing in fast.”

  Captain Mills paced the deck, shouting orders to his sailors. Familiar with their ship, they used the complex interaction of rigging, rudder, and sails to catch breezes and steer the ship at the greatest possible speed. Some of the gifted passengers assisted by increasing the wind in the proper direction.

  Norcross stood next to General Zimmer, who alternated his glare between the burning town and the fleet of pursuing serpent ships. “After attacking Utros so often, it should be a nice change of pace to fight the Norukai.”

  Nathan watched the receding siege towers at the mouth of the bay and felt a pang in his heart, which twisted as Ivan’s presence plagued him, but he pushed back the darkness. He turned his attention to the oncoming Norukai fleet.

  The serpent ships had the breezes at their backs, and they put on an additional burst of speed using oars manned by strong warriors. Ten Norukai vessels continued after the evacuating ships, while the rest of the enemy fleet slowed and diverted toward the burning town of Renda Bay. Increasing smoke rose into the sky.

  Next to Nathan, Bannon watched the inevitable approach of the dark blue sails of the pursuing ships, his face flushed with anger. “Looks like I’ll have another chance to kill some Norukai.” He touched the sword at his hip, a standard blade that General Zimmer had provided from the D’Haran spares. “Any sword is good enough, but I miss Sturdy.” He looked down at his unfamiliar weapon.

  “You’ll get practice soon enough, boy,” Lila said. She was armed with a dagger and a sword she had retrieved in Renda Bay, and she looked fierce. “Stay by me, and we will make a good accounting of ourselves.”

  Nathan knew how much the ungainly sword had meant to Bannon. Sturdy was a lot like the red-haired swordsman himself, unimposing and plain, but deceptively deadly. Nathan pondered the more ornate sword he had carried since leaving D’Hara. He had chosen it along with fine travel clothes to be part of his swashbuckling image. Nathan had considered the showy blade to be an important accessory for an adventurer, but now that he had his gift back, his real identity was that of a wizard. He could still fight with a sword whenever necessary, but the fancy, expensive weapon was not nearly as important to him—not as important as it would be to Bannon.

  He undid the buckle and removed the scabbard. “My boy, you deserve this.”

  Bannon looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  “Take my sword. It should be the best ever forged, considering how much I paid for it. The blade has served me well in many adventures, as you certainly know, but you would value it more than I.” He extended the sword. “It is my gift to you.”

  Bannon was hesitant to accept it. “I’ve never used such a fancy blade.”

  “You stab with the point a
nd cut with the edge,” Lila said. “Nothing unusual about it.”

  Nathan pushed the pommel toward him. “You’d best take this before I change my mind.”

  Bannon accepted the sword from him. “Thank you, Nathan!” In wonder, he drew the blade out of its scabbard. Tears shone in his hazel eyes as he held the gleaming steel up to the sunlight. “Maybe King Grieve will see it and run away.”

  “I would prefer that he come closer, so you can stick it in his heart,” Lila said.

  Nathan felt warm satisfaction. “Give me your borrowed blade in exchange, so I’m not entirely unarmed.”

  Bannon handed over his sword, then proudly strapped on Nathan’s belt and scabbard. “It is a sword more worthy of your skills,” Lila said.

  “I still miss Sturdy,” he replied.

  “You are the weapon, Bannon Farmer. A blade is just a blade.”

  The hounding Norukai kept closing the distance, and it was clear they would converge soon with their furious rowing. From the deck, Nathan could hear the shouts of angry warriors and the pounding beat of the oar master. “They are relentless. And a bit foolish.”

  One serpent ship pulled ahead of the other four, its oars moving like the blurred legs of a centipede. Standing behind the carved serpent figurehead, one Norukai roared out a challenge. He swung a spiked iron sphere on a chain.

  Bannon recognized him. “That one is named Bosko. He forced Lila and me to row until we were ready to die.”

  “He thinks highly of himself,” Lila said with a snort. “I can smell him from here.”

  Bannon looked at her with a hard grin. “His stench could be fierce enough to kill an enemy.”

  The foremost serpent ship raced ahead of the others as if Bosko wanted to capture them by himself.

  Amber, Oliver, and Peretta huddled together in a quick conversation. “We can help,” Amber said. “Watch this.”

  Oliver and Peretta stood beside her at the rail, shoulder-to-shoulder. They unleashed their gift and sent a joint wave of water and air that pushed across the sea and slammed the side of Bosko’s ship. Aboard the vessel, the Norukai scrambled to hold themselves in place as the force shoved them sideways and snapped several oars. Some Norukai ran to the rigging, while others crowded the opposite side of the tilted ship, adding weight to bring it back level. The oars began moving again, but the wounded ship cruised erratically.

  The three young friends cheered. “We did it. We stopped them!”

  Captain Mills shouted, “Steady ahead! We can gain more distance.”

  Scrambling to gain purchase on his buffeted ship, Bosko held the carved figurehead as he swirled his spiked mace. He roared a challenge, calling them cowards.

  Oron waited next to Nathan, his lips twisted in a frown. “It will not come to hand-to-hand fighting, not yet.” Impatient, he lifted a hand, palm outward. “We can strike them from here.”

  Nathan smiled. “Those trainees did a good job, but we can put an end to this right now.” Together, the two wizards summoned twin lightning bolts. Both jagged spears of energy struck at the same time, blasting the prow of the serpent ship and vaporizing Bosko in the blast of magic.

  “Must be all the gas pent up inside him,” Bannon said. Lila snickered.

  The rest of the Norukai ships pressed closer, and Captain Mills looked grave. “Good thing those other fishing boats got enough of a head start. I hope they found coves and other places to hide, but those Norukai will keep after us for day after day.”

  Behind them the smoke of Renda Bay towered like an anvil in the sky. The passengers stared at it, knowing their homes were now obliterated. The rest of King Grieve’s fleet clustered around the harbor town.

  “We have to get ahead of them and sound the alarm to the other cities on the coast,” Nathan said. “They will turn around soon enough once they know they can’t catch us.”

  “There’s another way I can help,” Olgya said. “A trick I learned back in Ildakar, and I used it to some effect back at Cliffwall.” Using her gift, she reached out to the water all around them and manipulated the weather to raise droplets. She summoned a fog bank as large as an island that spread out in a smoke screen behind them. White curls of vapor filled the air, hiding them from the Norukai captains. Soon, the evacuating ships disappeared entirely.

  Nathan smiled as he saw the swirling fog. Olgya seemed in a trance as she thickened the wisps, weaving it like a great silken cloth of vapor. The serpent ships were quickly lost inside the smoke screen. “Most excellent. Now we can be on our way unimpeded.”

  Racing ahead of the wall of mist, the ships sailed under sunny skies, heading toward the large cities in the Old World.

  CHAPTER 65

  Renda Bay burned uncontrolled for two days before all the fires died out, leaving nothing more than ashes and foundation stones. The main Norukai fleet had closed in outside the harbor, while several of the vessels pursued the three sailing ships that had fled the destruction. Eventually, they returned.

  Meanwhile, Utros ruled only ruins.

  During the worst of the blaze, First Commander Enoch sent scouts back up the river, keeping to the water to make it through the fires to reconnect with the main body of the army, which was trapped on the other side of the conflagration. Thousands of troops rushed to cut firebreaks with axes and swords and formed lengthy bucket brigades from the river, but still the town burned.

  Despite their best efforts and inexhaustible manpower, the army saved only a few dozen homes and shops, a pale victory since the buildings were empty anyway. Afterward, while ransacking the ruins in search of any scrap of food, they discovered more than two hundred charred bodies caught in the backwash of the fire, their bones mingled with ashes. More losses.…

  Ruva combined her gift with Ava’s spirit to clear some of the burned buildings in order to fashion a command camp, and General Utros used one of the intact houses as his base. He looked at the devastation and said in a low voice that only First Commander Enoch and the sorceresses could hear, “I had hoped to feed my soldiers here. Are they supposed to eat ashes?”

  Ruva glided up against him. “My preservation spell will last. The soldiers can keep marching all the way to Tanimura.”

  Utros rounded on her, glaring through his gold half mask. “And what if they burn Tanimura to the ground, too? And every other town on the way? What if those people are willing to devastate every city in the Old World just to deny me a victory? How long can we last?”

  Ruva gently stroked the skin on his intact cheek. “We will last as long as we need to, beloved Utros. We are loyal to you.”

  Shimmering in front of them, Ava said, “I stayed with you even through death, didn’t I? Your soldiers are with you instead of in the underworld because they have sworn loyalty to you. This war will not end until you decide it ends. Victory is in your eyes, depending on how you define it.”

  Surrendering, he reached up to press Ruva’s palm against his cheek. For just a moment he let himself remember Majel’s delicate touch, the one time in his life that he had felt love and happiness, a time when he had believed in a perfect future for himself, for his lover, and for his emperor … a time when he hadn’t needed to choose between loyalty and love. Now Utros made all choices for himself, to take from the Old World until there was nothing left.

  The core of his huge army camped up the river road on the other side of the holocaust, because there was no place for them in the soot and ash. Waiting to receive orders from the general, Second Commanders Halders and Arros pressed Enoch for answers, and he told them to wait. The first commander presented himself in the general’s makeshift command structure. “The soldiers are ready, sir. You need only issue orders. Do we continue our march? Do we leave Renda Bay behind and press on? What will we do with the Norukai ships?”

  After a long moment, Utros said, “What I truly need are maps and scouts, and then I can decide where to go.” He squeezed his hand into a fist.

  “You are a legend to us all, sir,” Enoch said. “What
ever you decide will be the correct tactical choice. We have lost many fighters in many skirmishes, and the enemy has proved to be far more troublesome than we expected, but your army can still overwhelm any city. Especially if the Norukai help.”

  Utros stepped out of the building and looked across the blackened city, where his people waited for his guidance. He looked toward the bay, where he saw many serpent ships gathered, including Grieve’s flagship, he assumed.

  He narrowed his eyes and nodded to himself. “Perhaps I need the Norukai more than I thought, at least right now. We can use their charts, their supplies, their manpower. Then King Grieve and I can plan our attack on the rest of the land. I need to speak with him.”

  Ava’s spirit hovered in front of them. “In my spirit form, I can travel out to the ships and tell King Grieve that you request a meeting.”

  “Yes,” Utros said, “but make certain he knows it is not a request.”

  * * *

  The serpent ships dropped anchor outside of Renda Bay beyond the stone siege towers, as if wary that unseen defenders might still rain down projectiles and flaming arrows upon them.

  After Ava had communicated with the king, the Norukai dispatched a landing boat to retrieve General Utros and Ruva. They waited together while four Norukai warriors rowed up to the intact dock. The men gruffly acknowledged Utros while leering at the slender, painted form of Ruva.

  She responded to them with a cold look. “You may want to have me, but you should be afraid. The intense pleasure you would experience is bound to burst your hearts.”

  Two of the Norukai grunted, but one bold warrior guffawed. “That would not be a fighter’s way to die, but it is a man’s way to die.”

  The last of the men taunted her, “Or maybe the pleasure you receive from a Norukai would kill you first!”

  Utros had no patience for the banter. “Enough! Take us to King Grieve. We have a war to win.” These subhuman raiders appalled him, and he hated the fact that he needed them—for now—to accomplish his goals.