by Terah Edun
“Which is?” asked Thanar, a tad impatiently.
“Protect the remaining citizens within the walls the only way it knows how,” said Seven bitterly. “By strengthening the walls, keeping the horde contained unless we have a need of them, and keeping us from killing ourselves.”
“How?” Thanar demanded urgently while crossing his arms.
Oiye shrugged. “We've studied the city documents for a long time. But you must understand that we are not historians or mage architects or even the true council entrusted to rule this city.”
“Because they were all cowards,” said Seven.
Oiye nodded. “We do the best we can, and from what we've been able to glean, the city itself is like a very large basin of residual magic. It was imbued with the power of the mages who lived in it. With so many still here, trapped in these walls, dead but undead, the city has never lost its reserve of power, but it didn't have any sense of direction as to how to use it either.”
“And we cannot alter that direction, as there are no master mages living in these walls who retain his or her true mind,” said the woman with the rheumy eyes with a frown.
“Fascinating,” said Christian.
“So it improvised,” said Thanar in astonishment. Or maybe it was approval?
“Yes,” said Oiye. “And we, although appreciative, have just tried to find a way around its rules. The hordes, for instance, only obey orders from us if the city deems it wise. So when you were surrounded at the gates, it was by the city's orders.”
“And the wyvern?” asked Sebastian. “Would that being not be considered a direct threat to the well-being of the citizens the city so ardently tries to protect?”
Seven smiled. “And that is why it's been in hiding since it arrived. Moving from abandoned building to crumbling warehouse to dilapidated mansion, one after the other. The city can sense its presence, but to do more would require the conscious and intelligent aid of the sentient living dead members still present.”
“And fortunately for us,” said Oiye with a wicked bite, “we represent about sixty percent of that number, with the rest on our side.”
Sebastian murmured in assent.
Councilor Oiye said, “So forgive me for being so direct, prince heir, but will you do your duty as an heir of the Algardis throne? Will you put the needs of the people above your own?”
Sebastian looked up with a sharp eye.
That had been quite the calculated move on Councilor Oiye's part.
“And if that plea doesn't suffice,” said the old councilor with the rheumy eyes, “then know that we are demanding justice. Justice for the injustices wrought here. For the people imprisoned and abandoned. For a city forgotten. We demand that you use your gifts to let us die in peace with dignity.”
“But at the hands of a wyvern?” Sebastian protested weakly.
The woman turned her eyes to him. “It is the only creature here that can penetrate the city's defenses. Its concentrated dragon fire is like the stoked heat of a thousand ovens, the cancerous projectile it spits will eat through stone and bone, and if that fails, its rage knows no equal—it has the ability to crush our very bones.”
“Believe us,” said Councilor Oiye with a nervous lick of his lips. “We have left no stone unturned in our search. And we have come up with the very best option for us.”
“How do you think the wyvern got here in the first place?” Seven said with coldly calculating eyes. “We paid that woman—”
Oiye cleared his throat.
Seven amended his statement. “Excuse me. We paid the princess heir her weight in gold for it.”
“Well, that explains that,” Ciardis muttered to herself. But something still troubled her.
She looked over the council for a second and decided it couldn't hurt to ask.
“Permit me a question?” Ciardis asked formally.
Councilor Oiye waved his hand in acceptance.
“Could not the prince heir merely order the city to stand down? As it was his power and blood that allowed the city to give us entrance in the first place?”
“We fear not,” a tremulous council member said. “The city isn't so much sentient, as relying on instinct. It recognized the prince's blood and allowed him and his retinue entrance, but it will not drop its guard because it is willed to do so. I do not believe it even can.”
“Well, that settles that,” said Thanar with a bright smile as he clapped his hands together. “Shall we get started?”
Oiye peered down at Thanar with a curious expression. “You know, young man, I do believe I like you.”
Thanar gave him a fierce grin. “Believe me, old-timer, I'm a lot less young than you think.”
Ciardis opened her mouth to object. Then she felt a slight tug on her side. She looked back to see Terris shaking her head and moving her eyes side to side.
Ciardis stared at her, flummoxed, until Terris said, “Group huddle. Now.”
Ciardis bit the inside of her cheek but passed on the request to the two princes who stood near the front of the audience chamber.
Diplomatically, Sebastian said to Councilor Oiye, “If you could just give us some time to confer.”
“Of course,” said Oiye. “Just don't take too long or we'll have to rescind our request.”
Sebastian stood uncertainly. “And ask for what instead?”
Seven said with an evil laugh, “Well, we'd start with barbecuing you instead. Justice and all that.”
Sebastian wisely didn't respond to him. With a tightly clipped voice, he said, “Just a few minutes, council, is all we need.”
With that, he turned away, and Thanar followed him.
Behind them, Samuel and Tobias took up lookout posts in the front of the room. More of an honor guard than anything else, since Ciardis didn't think those old-timers were moving too fast anytime soon.
When they had all huddled in a circle, Sebastian, Ciardis, Thanar, Terris, Christian, Rachael, and Raisa looked at each other awkwardly. The Muareg stood forgotten in a corner of the room.
We really need to do something about him, Ciardis thought with more annoyance than was customary.
Sebastian said, “Why are we here?”
“Well,” said Terris, “correct me if I'm wrong, but we are deciding whether or not to burn a city to the ground? Just to be clear?”
Sebastian looked at her and said, “Well, I'm deciding whether or not to burn a city to the ground based on a feasibility study.”
“He means us,” Ciardis said while nodding.
Thanar pointed around the entire huddle. “All of us.”
Sebastian sighed and frowned. “All right, then, circle of chosen ones, what do you suggest?”
Terris paused.
Ciardis looked down at the floor.
No one wanted to say it was a good idea, but it was really a matter of what choice did they have otherwise?
Finally it was Christian who spoke. “We should do it.”
“Really?” said the shaman in disbelief. “Of all those here, it would not be a healer who I would have thought would have been most in favor.”
“My people are more than just healers,” said Christian forcefully. “We know what it is like for a patient to suffer. To linger beyond reason. To be destroyed from the inside out and for the healer beside them to be able to do nothing in assistance.”
“So you think that this is such a case?” Raisa asked.
Christian paused. “I think that these people have suffered more in their lifetimes than what some would call reasonable in ten lifetimes. If we can, it is our duty to help them.”
“To help draw them into the afterlife,” said Thanar.
Koreschie eyes met daemoni, and Ciardis could see that they were in accord.
The truth was she didn't really object either. Morally it just felt like the right thing to do, as long as the survivors who still lived with their mental faculties intact could all attest to being willing to proceed with this endeavor.
&n
bsp; Ciardis spoke up: “We need to be sure.”
“Sure of what?” Sebastian asked.
“That the other seven or eight sentient living dead want this as well,” Ciardis said.
“Seven or eight?” Terris asked.
“There are ten council members and Oiye says they represent sixty percent of the sentient beings left in the city,” Ciardis explained.
Terris nodded. “So it stands to reason that’s the number left or at least very close to it. Got it.”
“And we know that, in truth, the ravenous horde are truly without mental faculties,” Ciardis added.
Thanar snorted. “Trust me, they're raving lunatics.”
“But—” Ciardis said.
Christian waved his hand. “There's no need to speak further, Lady Weathervane. I will see to it personally.”
Gratefully, Ciardis nodded her thanks.
Sebastian spoke to the group: “Any other objections? We do this?”
Murmurs of consent sounded all around.
As one, they all departed from the huddle and took up their former positions in front of the council.
Sebastian said in a solemn tone, “You have our agreement. With some provisions, we will do our best to help you burn this city to the ground.”
A beatific expression crossed Councilor Oiye's face. “Delightful.”
He meant it, Ciardis could tell.
29
Ciardis had to wonder what her life had come to that she was gladly going along with a plan that involved protecting a destructive, fire-breathing beast for it to do exactly what its nature told it to do.
They had wandered back into the hall outside the council meeting room in somewhat of a daze. Four of the esteemed councilors were joining them now.
As Ciardis watched them walk over to Sebastian and Thanar and moved to join them, she hesitated.
She wasn't really sure what she should say, how she should react. She mostly wanted to run and hide.
This plan caused for decisiveness and emotional separation, and at the moment she wasn't feeling much capable of either.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand landed on her shoulder and she turned to see who had snuck up on her.
“Oh, it's you,” she said upon seeing Christian.
“Yes, it's me,” he said drolly. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“What?” she said while snapping out of her deep thoughts. “No, you didn't. I'm just…distracted.”
“So I see,” he said. “Shilling for your thoughts?”
Ciardis eyed him contemplatively and then said in confidence, “I'm not sure about this plan. I know we discussed it. It just feels wrong.”
Christian eyed her with complete understanding. “It should.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise. She'd been waiting for him to berate her. “Sebastian was set with it the minute the decision was made. Thanar was downright gleeful about it. How can I feel that this is so wrong, then?”
Christian sighed and said, “Because you are not them. You all may be fully bound now. You may be able to react together as one, speak to each other with hardly any effort, and feel the other's emotions, but make no mistake, your mind and your body are still your own.”
Ciardis had her doubts about that, but she clung to Christian's words like a lifeline that she needed to stay afloat.
“And my doubts about the plan?” she mumbled.
Christian grabbed her in a hug and said, “Anyone sane would have doubts about mass murder, Ciardis Weathervane.”
He said it in such a long-suffering tone that she had to laugh. “Are you saying Sebastian and Thanar are not sane?”
“Thanar?” said Christian. “He is most definitely not sane. But the prince heir, he is in a tough position. He is the ruler's representative, the emperor pro tempore in his father's place. He cannot afford to show weakness or indecision. Once he made his choice, it was set.”
Understanding welled in Ciardis as she leaned back and looked over at the two males who were still discussing plans with the council members.
She paused and then said, “They look good, don't they?”
“Those two?” Christian said in a slightly mocking tone. “They'd look better with you by their side.”
Ciardis blushed.
“But,” said Raisa, interjecting, “they don't need you at the moment. We do.”
Ciardis turned to her as she fully broke from Christian's embrace. “What is it this time?” Ciardis asked with a hint of toxicity in her tone. “Do you want to probe my memories some more? See if I'm ready for whatever you have planned?”
“Not this time,” said Raisa with frost in her voice. “This time we will complete the second mission that was tasked to us.”
“Which is?” asked Christian.
Ciardis blinked and then said, “Find the collar of Diamis.”
Christian's eyes lit up. “Yes, it has special properties. Its wearer can control many creatures and ethereal beings, including a wyvern.”
Ciardis nodded. “But that isn't all, and, in fact, our main reason for coming here”—she looked around carefully and saw no one in earshot—”is to obtain the collar in order to close the gate of Ban. We could head off a fight before it even materializes.”
“That's a big if,” said Christian.
“It's all that we have,” said Ciardis. “Hope and plans.”
She knew that the errand could possibly be the key to ending the war against the god before it began. But only if she and Sebastian were able to obtain the collar of Diamis in their hands and its wearer on their side.
They had the shaman, who supposedly had the gift to find the collar. The wearer was something else entirely.
Ciardis sighed. “One day at a time.”
They needed this, though. She knew that. If they could close the gate of Ban before the bluttgott emerged from its other realm, a lot of pain and suffering, not to mention death and destruction, would be averted.
“He's right,” Rachael said. “But so is the Weathervane. In any case, the collar provides an immediate tactical advantage to us, so we need to use it.”
Behind her walked the Muareg with a pair of shackles and a short chain that kept him as close to her as a dog heeling.
“After all, we do not want to depend on the princess heir's instructions to the creature, especially not after so long.”
Raisa's eyes danced and she played along. “I don't know about you, Weathervane, but I do not want to rely on the creature my people call a 'war machine' instinctively knowing who and what it is to kill.”
“You'll need to find him fast, then,” Christian said. “Because we're running out of time.”
Ciardis agreed: “Although there is a rush…we actually don't have long now before the planned eruption. I have to say, finding the collar is more important than finding the wyvern.”
Christian gave her a darkly amused look and pointed his chin to the huddled council members who looked like living death. “Does it look like they'll wait three days if they could go now?”
Ciardis grimaced. He did have a point. And if she had succumbed to a viral illness as they did, trapped in a living hell, she would want the fastest way to an exit as well.
“All right,” she said, taking a deep breath. “What do we do?”
Raisa said, “Good girl.”
Ciardis glared at her, and Rachael interjected before she could say something highly undiplomatic that she would regret, “We get to the highest tower in this town and we search grid by grid for that collar.”
Raisa nodded. “Then if the city plans are accurate, I have just the place to go.”
Ciardis nodded. “And do we tell the council?”
“No,” said Rachael and Christian simultaneously.
He looked at the shaman curiously and then indicated that she should speak.
“We'll need to do this quietly,” said Rachael. “Just tell them we're scouting the city for a place to lure the wyvern. One that will a
llow it maximum efficiency.”
“And they'll believe that?” scoffed Ciardis.
“Better than telling them we're hunting for a lost artifact just in case their entire plan goes sideways,” said the shaman pointedly.
“Touché,” said Ciardis.
“And I,” said Christian, “will be taking my leave.”
Ciardis looked at him.
“To assess the only other beings in this city with their minds intact,” he said.
“Oh yes, of course,” said Ciardis.
Raisa said before he could leave, “And take the Muareg with you.”
“Why?” said Christian with a glance at Rachael's prisoner.
Raisa gave the silent Muareg an annoyed look. “Because he irritates me, we have no need of him, and he will only slow us down when we reach the tower.”
“Fair enough,” said Christian. “But those shackles are not needed.” He turned to Rachael and said, “Please remove them.”
With a side-glance at the dragon, the shaman shrugged, pulled a lock pick out of her hair, and did as he'd asked.
As Christian walked away with the Muareg behind him, the ambassador said, “And Christian?”
Christian turned to look at her.
“If he gives you any trouble, feed him to the ravenous hordes,” Raisa said with glittering eyes.
Ciardis shivered.
Remind me never to leave that poor creature alone with her.
What? she heard Sebastian ask in her head.
Nothing, she replied while widening her thoughts to include Thanar. I'm going with Raisa and Rachael. We'll seek out the collar of Diamis. Keep the council busy, Seven especially.
There was a faint pause and then Sebastian said, Do you wish Thanar's aid?
No, Ciardis said. You'll need him more than I.
Thanar can speak for himself, said the daemoni prince icily. I would not have volunteered to go anyway. Ciardis has more than enough protection in the form of that obnoxious dragon.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ciardis saw Raisa's eye twitch. She was still convinced that the ambassador could hear her conversations with those two, but she couldn't prove it.
Still, she said, Thanar is right. With a dragon's protection and the shaman's natural instinct, we'll find the collar before dark comes.
