Nicci didn’t know which one dwelled here.
Nathan and Elsa stood beside her at the cold stones surrounding the well. “Reach out with your gift,” Nicci urged. “Call to her. Ildakar is far from any other sliph well we know, and we need to make her remember this one.”
She focused her thoughts, extending lines of magic like a fisherman trolling in the water. She sent her thoughts into the infinite black well, while Nathan and Elsa concentrated hard, straining with everything they had. Nicci shouted in her mind at the same time she shouted aloud. “Sliph!”
Finally, a faint, gurgling echo came from far below, like water dripping down a very long pipe. Nicci sensed a churning sound that grew louder and closer, a waterfall charging straight toward them from the depths of the world.
Nathan and Elsa recoiled in alarm, and Nicci stepped back from the edge of the low wall, but stood straight as a turbulent froth of silver roiled up like a geyser about to explode. She didn’t flinch as the quicksilver liquid boiled just to the edge of the well and stopped, perfectly smooth like a razor edge of ice. A shape formed in the mirrorlike surface, rising up until its features sharpened into the hard and beautiful form of a woman.
This sliph looked different from the original, eager one and the less compliant Lucy. This sliph had long locks of hair like molten metal, blank mirror eyes, thin lips that showed no hint of a smile. Her cheekbones were high and her face was wide. She would have been a beauty in life.
“You wish to travel,” the sliph said, a statement rather than a question. Her voice sounded cold, impatient, certainly not solicitous. “It has been a long time, but I know no time.”
“Yes, I wish to travel,” Nicci said. “I have urgent business. I must go to some of the cities in the Old World to spread news of a war.”
The sliph’s expression grew more animated. “I exist to serve the cause. I was created to help deliver our faithful spies and saboteurs to fight the wizards of the New World. I am disappointed that the war isn’t already won.” She looked at Nathan and Elsa. “You all wish to travel? You all serve Sulachan?”
“Dear spirits,” Nathan said. “I don’t think—”
Nicci quickly held up her hand to silence him. “Is a war ever over? We must continue to fight. If you serve the cause, then you will help me travel.” She shot a quick glance at the wizard, who understood the danger of revealing too much.
“I serve the cause. Once, Emperor Sulachan even traveled within me. I still have his taste as part of me.” She turned those eerie silver eyes to Nicci. “How will you taste? You must be within me and I within you, then we will travel.”
Troubled, Nathan lowered his voice. “Sorceress, maybe we should reconsider.”
“I need to present our report, and quickly.” She faced the sliph. “It is vital that I deliver my intelligence. Others are waiting. The cause may depend upon my report.”
“I sacrificed everything for the cause,” the sliph said. “We will travel. Where do you wish to go?”
Now Nicci was at a loss, because sliphs could go only where they had been before, where a counterpart well existed. After so many centuries, she suspected the names of many cities had changed, so how would the sliph know? Getting her warning to Richard was Nicci’s priority, though. “Do you know the People’s Palace near the Azrith Plain? Or perhaps Aydindril?”
“I do not know the People’s Palace, but Aydindril?” the sliph asked. “The Wizard’s Keep? You wish to go into enemy territory? It is too dangerous. I was never allowed to go anywhere in the New World. I was only required to go where our spies and operatives have business.”
“Where is the last place you went?” Nathan asked. “Perhaps we know that.”
“Tanimura was the farthest boundary, although I delivered many faithful fighters to Serrimundi, Larrikan Shores, Orogang.”
Nicci quickly formed her plans. “Tanimura is acceptable.” She knew that city from her time at the Palace of the Prophets, and she would find a way to dispatch a message from there to Richard’s capital.
“Then come, I will deliver you,” said the sliph. “The mission must not wait. You will help us achieve victory against the enemy wizards of the New World.”
Nicci didn’t respond, deciding not to tell this sliph that millennia had passed, that the ancient wizard wars were long over, and that Sulachan had been defeated, not once, but twice.
“Be careful, Sorceress,” Nathan warned.
She turned to him and Elsa. “I won’t be gone long. Meanwhile, keep looking for ways to defend the city.” She flashed a hard smile. “I’d be very displeased if I returned from Tanimura only to find Ildakar destroyed.” Nathan chuckled weakly. Nicci faced the sliph. “I’m ready. We must travel.”
“You will breathe.” The sliph loomed higher, rising up like a molten sculpture. “Breathe in me and come with me.”
The silvery figure enfolded Nicci in a wave of cold liquid metal. The froth boiled all around her, engulfing her, and Nicci fell forward into the well. The sliph embraced her, pressed harder. In her mind, Nicci heard the command. “Breathe!”
She inhaled the silvery essence of the strange being, felt the sliph fill her mouth, her throat, her nose, her lungs. Her heart kept beating, but she was drowning.
The sliph carried her down and down and far away.
CHAPTER 44
After Nicci was swallowed by the silvery sliph and pulled down into the well, Nathan stared uneasily into the darkness, smelling the metallic dampness in the air. He glanced at Elsa, who was amazed at what had happened.
“Perhaps it’s a good thing I am unable to travel in that manner,” she said.
Nathan turned back toward the daylight outside, confident in Nicci’s abilities. “I’m sure she will be safe, my dear. But while Nicci is off to save the rest of the world, we have the far simpler task of protecting only one city.”
Elsa’s full lips turned down in a frown. “I never know when you’re joking, Nathan.”
“I insist on looking at difficult challenges from a certain perspective. It helps me consider extraordinary solutions, and it’s preferable to wallowing in despair, don’t you agree?”
Elsa gave him a wan smile as she followed him out of the enclosure. “My Derek was always a cheerful person, too. It was infectious.”
“Then let me infect you.” He extended his elbow, and Elsa slid her arm through his. He could see how beautiful she must have been as a young woman. He corrected himself: she was still beautiful now, as well as admirable and intelligent. “Now let us find a weapon powerful enough to destroy the army of General Utros.”
Elsa brushed against him. “That sounds awfully ambitious.”
“Since you helped me restore my gift, how can I be anything but ambitious?” Nathan suddenly winced with a flicker of unexpected pain as his thumping heart tripped over a beat. He rubbed his breastbone, feeling the long thin scar there.
Elsa looked at him with concern. “Is something wrong?”
“Just a bit of indigestion.” He wondered if a faint remnant of Chief Handler Ivan remained within the muscle of his new heart. Before she could press further, he said, “Come along. I have an idea I’d like to show you.”
Elsa would undoubtedly be alarmed by what he intended, and his suggestion was extremely dangerous, but he thought his idea was their best chance to hit General Utros hard.
They passed the huge combat arena and the larger noble homes, heading toward Fleshmancer Andre’s mansion. Giant sandstone blocks lay strewn about the streets where city buildings had been brought down. Workers had cleared some of the rubble since the night of the rampant destruction, but debris still clogged a few streets. Stonemasons loaded the broken rock in carts and wheeled them down to the outer wall, where the sentries used them as missiles to pelt the enemy warriors below.
Elsa paled as she realized where he was taking her. “This is a terrible reminder of what happened that night. And how you saved me.”
Nathan patted her arm. “Saving y
ou from that gigantic Ixax was exactly the right incentive for me to find my gift again.” He led her up the street. “Just keep an open mind.”
She held his arm more tightly. “For you, I will.”
He took her through the piles of rubble, collapsed columns, and fallen walls of the fleshmancer’s studio. She looked around in concern. “Do you expect to find some of Andre’s chemicals or writings still intact? How can they possibly be helpful to us now?”
“Not his writings or chemicals.” Smashed stones rattled underfoot as they worked their way through the collapsed entryway toward the rear wing. “I believe these two may save Ildakar after all.”
He stopped in front of the Ixax warriors.
Elsa’s eyes went wide, and she withdrew her arm from his. “You saw what one of them did to our city! That thing almost killed both of us.”
“Almost, Elsa. Remember that word—‘almost.’” He looked up at the towering brutes that had once been human. From what Andre had told him, those starry-eyed young men hadn’t been coerced to become the Ixax warriors. They had volunteered themselves, offering everything to save Ildakar.
Elsa appeared nervous as she stared at the colossal warriors. “But the fury they contain,” she whispered, gesturing toward the rubble all around. “When Mirrormask awakened only one of them, it killed our most powerful fleshmancer and brought down this entire villa, wrought havoc in the streets of Ildakar, tried to kill both of us.”
Nathan turned to look at the pair of motionless warriors. “Remember what Andre did to those poor creatures. He held them frozen here in maddening boredom for centuries upon centuries. He taunted them, drove them to murderous rage. But they still know why they were created. I believe they still have Ildakar in their hearts.” He lowered his voice. “We just need to help them remember.”
With her expression of consternation, Elsa reminded him of Prelate Ann, with whom he had spent so much time after the two of them had escaped from the Palace of the Prophets. He had at first resented Ann because she was responsible for holding him prisoner all those centuries. She had been his nemesis, but he’d gradually come to respect her, even love her.
He knew that Elsa was special from the start, though. Among all the gifted duma members, she had been the most compassionate, the most understanding of his plight, and she had helped him get his gift back.
Elsa made him remember how he had fallen in love with Ann, who was killed by Sisters of the Dark in service of Jagang. Before that, he’d been smitten with young Clarissa, another romance that ended tragically. Love had left Nathan with many scars, and by now he should have been embittered by the capriciousness and pain associated with it. But that was the thing about love. It was always accompanied by hope and the confidence that next time would turn out right.
“I have been coming here for days, just talking to them, reading to them, keeping them company. They are quite an attentive audience.”
Nathan took a few steps closer to the titans. He raised his voice and spoke directly to them. “I’ve come to tell you more stories from history, and some of my own exploits. I’m sure you are not familiar with the Imperial Order and the Emperor Jagang. Let me tell you what the world has been doing since Ildakar vanished beneath the shroud.”
Speaking in a raised voice, he explained about the evil dream walker who tormented and controlled people through their nightmares. “Jagang was a brutish man who enslaved the Sisters of the Dark, including Nicci herself.” He smiled. “Ah, let me tell you about Nicci. So many stories, we could talk for hours.” Nathan stroked his chin and glanced at Elsa. “In fact, I think I will. You’ll find it a welcome diversion.”
He sat on a toppled column. “Afterward, I’ll need to tell you about Richard Rahl, his D’Haran Empire, and how he defeated not only Darken Rahl, but Jagang as well. He even sealed the veil to the underworld and ended prophecy for all time.” He chuckled. “I wish dear Richard were here now. He would certainly help save Ildakar.”
Nathan studied the glowing yellow eyes of the armored warriors. “You both were created to do just that, to save Ildakar.” Had the hatred begun to dull? He seemed to have their attention. “I know how terrible it has been for you to be trapped like this, unable to serve your purpose, but the time may soon come, I promise.”
Elsa blurted out, joining the conversation as she primly took a seat beside Nathan, “I am Elsa, one of the duma members. I just…” She shook her head. “I want to say I am sorry for what Andre did to you.” She gestured with her open hand toward their towering forms. “I honor your sacrifice. I am proud of you, and I deeply apologize in the name of Ildakar. Andre is dead now. Please don’t hold it against all of us.”
The colossal figures remained unable to move, unable to speak. Nathan continued in a congenial voice. “There’s so much more to tell, and I can keep coming back to entertain and enlighten you. Just before I traveled to the Old World, our most recent war was against the resurrected Emperor Sulachan. You might have heard of him, because he used Ildakar as one of his bases during the wizard wars three thousand years ago. He led a huge army of half people from the Dark Lands. They surged out of the Third Kingdom to destroy D’Hara.”
He mused, his eyes twinkling. “I wish we could have turned you two loose to fight on that battlefield. You’d have smashed thousands of the undead. Just look at you!” Nathan was sure the blazing light in their eyes was softening. Soon, he might consider them ready to be unleashed.
CHAPTER 45
From inside the dusty shack where he, Jed, and Brock were held, Bannon listened to the distant pounding on the walls of Ildakar. He didn’t know how much damage the ancient warriors were causing, but the monotonous drumbeat would set the city on edge. Imprisoned here, Bannon had more important things to worry about.
“How soon do you think they’ll kill us?” Jed asked. “I expected they would torture us by now.”
“Are you in a hurry? Keeper’s crotch!” Brock huddled against the rickety wooden wall.
“I don’t think it will be quick,” Jed groaned. “They want to make a spectacle of us. They’ll probably cut us to pieces in front of the city gates where everyone can watch.”
Brock knotted his fingers together. “My father had no business forcing me to fight like a common foot soldier. I’m a noble!”
“You are a captive,” Bannon corrected him, “and your time would be better served if you considered ways to escape instead of how painful it’ll be when you die.”
“Escape?” Brock squawked.
Bannon shushed him for his outburst. “Be quiet! The soldiers out there will hear you.”
The young man didn’t lower his voice at all. “Yes, thousands of soldiers! Who cares if they hear us? How are we supposed to fight our way through them?”
“Think of some way to break free that does not involve fighting.” Pressing his face against the wall, Bannon peered through the crack in the boards. It was late afternoon and the sun had already set behind the mountains. Long shadows crept across the plain. “Wouldn’t you rather die trying to escape than be murdered as a showpiece? Remember how you wanted me to die in front of an audience, for your entertainment?” Bitterness edged his voice. “I’m done with that.”
He turned away from the wall and looked at the other two young men. “I was never your slave, yet you and Amos arranged for me to be sent to the combat pits. I am free now.” He pounded on the wooden wall, and the boards rattled. “Even here, I’m free. And if you want to be free, you’d better start thinking about how we can get out of here.”
He knew that Jed and Brock would be useless. It was going to be up to him.
He expected Utros to use them as hostages, hauling the three in front of the gates and threatening to execute them unless the city surrendered. Even though Jed and Brock were the sons of powerful nobles, he knew they weren’t that important. And Bannon didn’t believe for a minute that Nicci, or even Nathan, would sacrifice Ildakar to save him.
“We’ve got to get out of
here,” he muttered to himself. Jed and Brock still weren’t his friends, and he knew who they really were in their hearts, but Bannon was better than that. The two young men were human beings and fellow captives, and they were all in the same dire situation. He would at least try to help.
He pressed his eye against the crack, trying to see details in the shadows as twilight fell over the camp. Fires were lit, comrades gathered together. Like soldiers in every army far from home, they talked and boasted with one another. Some sang, while others gambled. Because of their invincible numbers, the warriors wouldn’t be overly worried about their prisoners. Only a fool would attempt to escape.
Bannon had no choice but to do the foolish thing, though. What other option did he have? He stared through the crack in the shack’s wall and pondered, struggling to find ideas. His heart leaped as he saw a flash of tawny fur just barely flickering into his view, far from the fires. He spotted the movement again. Yes, it was Mrra!
Two of the ancient warriors walked past, blocking Bannon’s view. The sand panther ducked into the darkness, and when the chalky-gray soldiers were gone, Bannon couldn’t see her anymore. He whispered through the crack. “Mrra! I’m here! It’s me.”
He didn’t know what the big cat could do to help, but knowing she was out there gave him hope. He rattled the wall boards, testing them. This confinement structure had been built quickly with makeshift tools and rough-sawn lumber. The boards had been sunk into the ground, but they were loose. Bannon pushed on them and managed to get his fingers through the crack. Splinters dug into his knuckles when he pulled.
Neither Jed nor Brock bothered to help him. “They’ll probably interrogate us before they kill us,” Jed said. “General Utros will want to know all details about Ildakar.”
“I’m not going to tell him anything,” Brock said.
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