Simon and Victoria followed him, and they stared in amazement. “Exactly where my memmers said it would be.” She flashed a sharp glance at Nicci. “You should have believed me, Sorceress.”
“I prefer to have proof,” Nicci said, not responding to the other woman’s edgy tone. “Now that I have proof, I believe you.”
Impatient, they moved around the museum vault, inspecting the marvelous items that had been sealed away for millennia. They searched among the exotic artifacts, carved vases and small marble figurines, bright glass vials, amulets worked in gold and jewels, fired-clay medallions covered with a jade-green glaze—and a wooden chest no wider than Nicci’s hand. She felt drawn to it, sensing an energy in the air, a power barely contained within the small box. When she removed it from the alcove, she felt a warm pulse through her palm. “This holds something very important.”
“That is it,” Victoria said, pushing closer. “I remember the descriptions from the original writings.”
Nicci opened the lid and looked at cushioned folds of purple velvet, which embraced a single acorn that seemed to be made of gold.
Nathan grinned like a young boy. “Quite extraordinary. The Lifedrinker will be no match for that. Now we have the weapon we need.”
“Yes.” Nicci closed the small chest. “I do.”
* * *
Nicci was impatient to leave immediately. “The Lifedrinker’s power grows every day. This mission will be more dangerous than our last expedition, but I will go.” The scholars could study the other artifacts down in the vault in due time; if she defeated the evil wizard, they would have all the time in the world. Nicci removed the acorn from its ornate chest, wrapping it in the scraps of purple velvet so she could tuck it into the pocket of her black dress.
As they returned to the main buildings of the archive, Nicci considered what she would need to do before departure. Aside from packing food and water, she didn’t need to make other preparations. Bannon and Thistle joined her, as curious scholars gathered around, eager to see the Eldertree acorn.
Victoria looked at Nicci, both stern and uneasy. Her brow furrowed as she spoke to the rest of the scholars. “I know she is the most powerful sorceress among us, but I am reluctant to give such a sacred treasure—the essence of life itself—to a woman who calls herself Death’s Mistress.”
Nicci continued her preparations, ignoring the memmer woman’s objection. “It must be done, and I am the one to do it.”
With a sidelong glance at Victoria, Simon suggested, “Every person in Cliffwall knows that this is a great battle. We can send scholars and trainee wizards to accompany you. We can be your army against the Lifedrinker.”
Nicci looked at the too-young scholar-archivist. “You would all be slaughtered. None of you here is fully trained in magic. The risk is far too great.”
Thistle ran up, excited. She had stars in her honey-brown eyes. “Nicci will do it, I know she will. Do you think it will restore the valley to the way it was?”
“Killing the Lifedrinker will end the spreading blight,” she said. She did not want to give the girl unrealistic hopes. “But the wound in the world is severe. It will take some time to recover, even after he is defeated.”
“I need to go with you,” the girl insisted. “I have to help restore the valley.”
Nicci would hear none of it. “Too dangerous. I cannot defend myself and finish my mission if I’m worried about you.”
“But you don’t need to worry. I want to go. I want to help—just like last time.”
Nicci crossed her arms. “No, and you will not slip out to follow me. I may have Nathan tie your arms and legs and lock you in a room until I’m gone.”
“You wouldn’t,” the girl said.
“Correct, I wouldn’t—but only if you promise me you’ll stay behind. That is what I need you to do, because it is the only way I can complete my mission. This is deadly serious.”
The girl fumed. “But—”
Nicci raised a hand, leaving no room for doubt. “Or would you rather I blanketed you with a sleep spell, so you do not awake for days?”
“No,” the girl mumbled. “I promise I’ll stay here.” Her voice was low and glum.
“And do you break your promises?”
Thistle seemed insulted. “Never.”
Nicci looked long and hard at her, and she believed the girl. “Then I will trust you.”
“That child must stay safe, of course,” Nathan agreed, “but in a great battle like this, you need someone to fight beside you. The Lifedrinker is an evil wizard, perhaps one of the most powerful you have ever encountered.”
“I have killed wizards before,” she said.
“Indeed you have, but not a wizard like this. We cannot guess how the Lifedrinker will try to block you. I should come with you, for whatever assistance I can provide.”
Nicci raised her eyebrows. “How could you help? Your gift is gone.”
He touched the hilt of his ornate sword. “I am an adventurer as well. Magic still resides within me, whether or not I can use it. Maybe if I encounter the Lifedrinker, it will help me to release my powers again.”
A chill went through Nicci. “That is what I fear, Nathan Rahl. I know how formidable a wizard you can be, but we cannot risk it.”
The old man huffed. “I insist—”
She shook her head. “Think about it. When you tried to heal that victim in Renda Bay, what did your magic do? The wild backlash tore him apart. And when you fought the Adjudicator, the magic backfired again, but fortunately for us, it folded that man’s own evil magic back upon himself. But the Lifedrinker is already out of control. If he encounters your wild, chaotic power and it twists further, just imagine the possible consequences.” She watched his eyes widen as the realization struck him. She continued, “When I unleash the Eldertree acorn, with so much magic surging through the air, blasting into the Earth—what happens if there is a backlash from your powers? The repercussions could tear you apart … or tear the world apart. We dare not risk it.”
Nathan gave a reluctant nod and said in a small voice, “I fear you may be right, Sorceress. If I somehow twisted the Lifedrinker’s magic and turned it against us but a thousand times worse, there would be no way I could place it back under control. Dear spirits, the damage I could cause…”
Nicci squared her shoulders, straightened her back. “I must depend on my own magic, and I can travel quickly.” She touched the folds of cloth that wrapped the throbbing golden acorn in her pocket. “Your sword would be welcome, Nathan, but I already have my weapon.”
Setting his jaw, Bannon stepped forward. “Then I am the one to go along. If you need a sword, you can have mine.” He gave her a cocky grin, mostly for the benefit of Audrey, Laurel, and Sage, who also stood listening. “And you already admitted that you never worry about me at all, Sorceress.”
Nicci gave him a skeptical frown. “You should not make such a brash offer simply to impress your lovers.”
He turned as red as beet soup. “But, I can help! Sweet Sea Mother, you saw how I fought the dust people and the sand panthers. If we are attacked as we approach the Lifedrinker’s lair, what if I can buy you the seconds you need to complete your mission? That might mean the difference between success and failure.”
Nicci pressed her lips together, assessing the young man. In their battles against seemingly insurmountable enemies, he had indeed killed more than his share of opponents. “I admit, you can sometimes be useful. But know that if you go with me to fight the Lifedrinker, you could face certain death. I will not be able to save you.”
“I accept those terms, Sorceress.” He swallowed hard, struggling to hide his fear, since he clearly understood the risk in what he was suggesting. “I’m ready to face the danger.”
Victoria’s acolytes watched him with admiration, which only seemed to increase Bannon’s eager determination. Nicci doubted she could change his mind, and she admitted she might need him. “Very well. If nothing else, you may b
e able to distract a monster at a key moment so that I can keep going.”
Audrey, Sage, and Laurel hurried to give Bannon their farewells, and Thistle threw herself against Nicci in a furious hug. “Come back to me. I want to see the world the way it was supposed to be, but I want to see it with you.”
Nicci felt awkward, not knowing how to respond to the girl’s enthusiastic embrace. “I will restore the world if I can, and then I will come back to you.” The next words came out of her mouth before she could think better of it. “I promise.”
Thistle looked up at her with her large eyes. “And do you break your promises?”
Nicci gritted her teeth and answered, “Never.”
CHAPTER 51
After climbing down the outer wall of the plateau on their way to the Scar, Nicci and Bannon made good time even across the rugged, dead terrain. During their earlier scouting expedition, they had cautiously picked their way, exploring, but now that she possessed the right weapon, Nicci had a clear, firm goal. With the Eldertree acorn, she was on her way to kill the misguided wizard who had caused such appalling damage, had sacrificed countless lives, all because he feared his own death.
Nicci considered the Lifedrinker a monster, an enemy to be defeated at any cost; she did not think of him as a sick and frightened man, a naive scholar playing with dangerous magic. He was not Roland in her mind. He was a toxin spreading in every direction. He was a scourge who could destroy the world.
And this was the reason Red had sent her on this journey, accompanying Nathan to find Kol Adair. Save the world. She would do her part.
Bannon kept up with her without complaint as they crossed the worsening landscape, and Nicci was impressed with the young man’s dogged determination. After emerging from the dying foothills, they made their way on an arrow-straight path across the cracked and rocky Scar. Wind whipped the powdery dust of dry lakes into a salty chemical haze in the air.
Nicci focused ahead. She did not run; she simply did not rest. The barren landscape sparked anger and impatience in her. She picked up the pace, covering miles at a steady clip. Bannon kept looking from side to side, wrinkling his nose in the bitter air. They passed under the shadow of a goblin-shaped pinnacle. Spiky branches of a dead piñon pine protruded from a crack in the rock formation.
Without stopping, Bannon took a cautious sip from his waterskin. A worried frown crossed his face. “Sorceress, is it wise to travel out in the open? Maybe we should try to hide our path so the Lifedrinker doesn’t know we are coming for him?”
She shook her head. “He knows where we are. I’m certain he can sense my magic. Skulking in the shadows would only slow us down.”
When Bannon offered the waterskin to Nicci, she realized her throat was parched. She drank. The water felt warm, flat, and slippery on her tongue. She handed the waterskin back, and Bannon fastened it at his side, then touched his sword and turned slowly. “I sense that something is watching us.”
Extending her gift, Nicci could detect that this desolate place festered with twisted life, the few surviving creatures that had adapted to the Lifedrinker’s evil taint. “Many things are watching us, but they don’t interest me unless they interfere with our mission.” Her lips curled in a hard smile. “If they do, then we will show them their mistake.”
Nicci intended to press forward without rest, without making camp, until they reached the heart of the Scar. They had left Cliffwall with the first glimmerings of dawn, and after they had trudged through midday and into the dry afternoon, their pace began to falter. She and Bannon perspired in the relentless heat, and white alkaline dust clung to them, making both of them look white as stone.
Nicci brushed the powder from her face and arms. Her black travel dress was now crusted with the harsh chemical residue.
After the sun set, thermal currents skirled up dust devils, blowing sand and grit into howling veils. As darkness fell, the building dust storm masked the strange stars overhead, but the two plodded on through the night. Near midnight, the raging winds had reached such a crescendo that she could barely hear Bannon behind her, and they grudgingly stopped in the lee of a tall rock. Nicci said, “Rest while you can. We’ll stop for no more than an hour.”
“I could keep going,” he insisted. His lips were cracked, his eyes swollen and red, nearly puffed shut.
“We are too vulnerable if we continue in this blowing storm,” Nicci said. “If we can’t see, we might fall into a pit, or the Lifedrinker could send dust people to attack us. We will stay here until it calms. It is not my preference, but necessary.”
During the brief respite, she released some of her magic to dispel the gritty residue from their chafed faces and burning eyes, but as she used her gift, Nicci felt the magic thrum and recoil inside her. Something else had detected it, tried to grasp it. This deep into the Scar, the Lifedrinker’s vitality-sucking power grew more oppressive. She immediately felt him struggling to gain a hold on her, to sap her strength and draw away her powers. Her small use of magic had triggered his response.
The howling wind and whipping sand diminished only slightly after midnight, but Nicci decided they had waited long enough. “We need to go.”
Bannon stumbled after her across the parched open terrain. The young man’s determined energy had flagged, and it was more than just weariness after the day’s long, rugged journey. Nicci could not deny what they saw. The closer they came to the Lifedrinker, the more they both began to weaken from his dark and oppressive thirst. He was draining them as well.
Hours later, the sky became a red haze as the bloated sun rose above the mountains like fire from the funeral pyre of slaughtered victims. Far ahead, Nicci spotted the black center of the crater, a vortex into which the Lifedrinker’s potent magic swirled.
“Sweet Sea Mother, we’re almost there,” Bannon said in a raspy voice. He sounded more relieved than frightened.
“Not close enough.” Nicci tried to put on a burst of speed, which only showed her how much the wizard’s relentless drain had diminished her. If they didn’t confront the enemy soon, she feared she wouldn’t have the strength to destroy him, even with the powerful talisman of the Eldertree.
Ahead, the ground became uneven. Slabs of rock tilted at shallow angles, as if restless upheavals continued to stir beneath the surface of the dead valley. Fissures sketched across the land like dark lightning bolts, and tall boulders lay strewn about as if the Lifedrinker’s rage of magic had scattered game pieces.
Nicci and Bannon climbed over the sharp rocks, tottering on unstable slabs and leaping across the fissures, from which foul fumes emanated. Even as they journeyed into the increasing heat of the day, the dark lair shimmered like a mirage in the distance. Nicci sensed a prowling presence watching them, closing in, though not yet ready to attack. Although she remained alert, the Lifedrinker was her real enemy, and everything else was just a distraction.
Though her irritated eyes were blurred from the dust, she saw a large shape move across the ground ahead of her, brown and angular. A hissing sound scratched through the air, and a well-camouflaged scaly figure scuttled toward them among the rocks. The creature opened its mouth to reveal moist pink flesh, rows of jagged white fangs, and a forked black tongue: a huge lizard armored with pointed scales, its back crested with a dark sawblade fin. The reptile moved forward on four legs, thrashing a long tail. The creature’s hide was mangy with oozing, red sores.
Nicci backed away, and Bannon held up his sword to face the lizard. As it charged at them with a swift skittering gait, Nicci caught more movement to her left and her right. Three more of the giant reptiles emerged from behind rocks or beneath the broken slabs. She had seen the dust-colored lizards that Thistle hunted in the desert, but these were each the size of a warhorse. All were scarred with countless lesions and festering sores.
Bracing himself for the fight, Bannon let out a low whistle. “I always wanted to see a dragon. I’ve heard legends but—these are real!”
“Not dragons,” Nic
ci said with scorn. “Just lizards.” But as the reptiles came closer, flicking their forked tongues and snapping their jaws, she added, “Big lizards.”
Beside Nicci, Bannon planted his boots in the dust and held Sturdy in front of him. Two of the lizards stampeded forward, focused on their prey, while the other two crawled on the rock formations around them, flanking Nicci and Bannon. The reptiles moved with a swift grace, warmed by the baking sun and driven by bloodlust.
Nicci held out her hand, curled her fingers. She concentrated on the lizard’s chest, found its heart, and as the nearest one bounded toward her, she released a burst of fire. In other battles, she had used her magic to increase the heat inside a tree, flash-boiling the sap and causing the entire trunk to explode. Now she did the same, heating the lizard’s heart until the blood burst into steam. The monster staggered and collapsed forward, ploughing a furrow in the rocky sand at Nicci’s feet. She knew she could make swift work of all four lizard attackers.
But after killing the first one, she felt a wave of dizziness. By releasing her gift, it was as if she had opened a floodgate to the Lifedrinker. Even from afar, he began to steal her magic, siphoning off her strength.
Long ago, Nicci herself had assimilated the powers of other wizards she had killed, and now the same thing was happening to her. Roland was stealing her life. In a reflexive survival measure, she wove shields to stop the bleeding rupture of power, but she realized she could no longer fight the lizards with magic. She reeled and slumped back against the nearby boulder.
Bannon was busy blocking the second lizard and did not see her stagger. Holding the grip with both hands, he swung his sword with all his weight and strength behind it. When the edge of his blade struck the scaly hide, the sound that rang out was like the tongs and hammer in a blacksmith’s shop. He wavered as the blade ricocheted off the lizard’s armor, leaving no obvious injury.
The reptile lunged back toward him. Bannon recovered and spun, clattering his sword across the scales, to little effect. When he finally pierced one of the oozing, mangy patches, the lizard did recoil and squirm, but then it kept coming.
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