“We will make do,” Lila agreed.
Perspiration sparkled on Emmett’s forehead as he looked from side to side. He hunched his shoulders as he hobbled along a corridor, leaving the mayhem of the kitchens. “Come with me! We won’t have much time.”
They took a side corridor, then worked their way down a narrow set of stone steps that were slimy with moss. They descended steeply, running fingers along the wall to keep their balance. The veteran slave looked behind him often, stared longingly up the stairs as if desperate to get back to his duties. He winced with pain as he limped along on his poorly set leg.
Bannon would not turn down any chance to escape, but he realized that if he and Lila were going to sail off in a small boat, they had no water, no food, no clothing or blankets, not even any charts. They could rush back to the kitchens, grab some supplies. . . . No, he shook those thoughts away. This was their first opportunity to escape, and if he and Lila died out on the open water, at least they would die with some semblance of freedom.
The tortured staircase turned again and spilled them out onto a wider landing where daylight flooded through a small barred gate. Bannon drew in a deep breath of the fresh, salt air that replaced the dankness. Outside, he could hear waves crashing on the rocks.
He worked the gate’s metal latch. Caked with salt and rust, the hinges groaned in protest, but he and Lila managed to swing the gate open, to freedom.
A stone jetty extended into the choppy surf, and two small boats were tied to the pilings. One was rotten and half full of water from the crashing spray, but the other was a fishing boat large enough to take two or three people and a haul of fish. It had a single mast and a roll of gray sailcloth tucked against the bow under the front gunwale. A pair of oars rested in the bottom of the boat.
Bannon controlled his disappointment. “I had hoped for something better, but I expected nothing less.”
Lila said, “We will cross the ocean in a rowboat if we need to.”
“You’ll need to,” Emmett said.
Bannon clung to a shred of optimism. “Two people can sail this boat. We will make it work.”
Emmett squirmed, desperate to bolt back inside before the Norukai noticed his absence. Bannon looked at him, thought of the innumerable years of captivity the old man had suffered. “Come with us, Emmett. Escape! We’ll all survive together.”
The old man was taken aback by the suggestion. “N-No, I couldn’t. I don’t dare.”
“You will never get away from King Grieve unless you come with us now,” Lila said. In disgust, she yanked at the ragged neck of her wool garment, tore it, then flung the shapeless dress away. She stood proud, clad as a morazeth again.
The old slave struggled with his decision, but shook his head. “I can’t! All of the other slaves . . .”
“All of the other slaves would also escape if they could. This is your chance! I’m begging you, Emmett,” Bannon said.
But the old man was too frightened. “Go.” He waved them off. “Don’t waste your opportunity. I-I wasted mine long ago. Now I continue to serve.” He swallowed hard. “Until I die.”
“Until you die,” Bannon said. It sounded like a prophecy.
Lila had no further patience. “Here’s the boat, boy. The celebrations are getting louder. The Norukai are intoxicated, and night is falling. If we are to have any chance, it is now.”
Bannon climbed aboard the battered fishing boat, giving a last glance back at the gate, but Emmett had already limped back inside, pulled the bars closed again, and vanished into the shadows.
Lila sprang into the boat with perfect grace. “You know how to sail, boy. Take us away from here.”
Bannon undid the ropes on the piling and used one of the oars to push them away from the jetty. Rowing carefully, he dodged the first line of rocks and spraying waves, then worked his way into the open water. He looked at the towering black Bastion behind them and shuddered as they headed out to the open sea.
CHAPTER 57
Because she would stay in Tanimura to help build the city’s defenses, Nicci found temporary quarters in the main barracks at the garrison. It was only a small room with a narrow bunk and a writing desk, but it was sufficient for her needs.
General Linden stood at the door after escorting her to the room, still nervous after having seen her work with the Grace and the verification web. “I wish I had more appropriate accommodations, but the garrison has swelled with new arrivals, visiting commanders, and volunteers from the city guard.” He fidgeted at the door. “Tomorrow, I will have my adjutant secure a more spacious room for you in one of the boardinghouses.”
“I don’t require extravagance, General. I just spent several days aboard a kraken-hunter ship.” She inhaled deeply, smelled the fresh wood, the clean bedding. “This is a great improvement.”
Linden wrinkled his nose. “I thought I smelled something a little off. Now I know what it was.”
“I’ve had little rest since I first arrived in Serrimundi, and I will sleep well here.” She felt disappointingly washed out, her strength diluted. Nicci’s gift was her greatest weapon, and just as a soldier needed to sharpen his sword before going into battle, she needed to recover her strength.
General Linden gave a quick bow and closed the door, leaving her in the room. Alone and calm, Nicci allowed herself to relax, if only a little. She could never relax entirely, but she needed the rest and the strength.
Before attempting to sleep, knowing the questions would worry her throughout the night, Nicci again took out the small bone box from Richard. She opened the lid, probed it with her gift, but the answers still eluded her. Her sense of frustration increased. Why would Richard send such a cryptic message? Why not just a straightforward answer? This was not a time for games! She had been clear about the incredible threat they faced. If Utros and the Norukai raiders conquered the Old World, they would surely push northward into D’Hara.
Yet Richard’s response had been . . . this?
She set the open bone box on the wool blanket and bent close to the rotating pearl of energy. She could smell the faint metallic crackle in the air. What did Richard want her to do with it? Why would he assume she could understand the message, even if she did read the language of Creation? After so many years of her being close to him, she and Richard were so tightly connected that Nicci knew his thoughts, his heart. She had been in love with him for a long time, but when she accepted his undying devotion to Kahlan, she resolved to become the second-most-important person in his life. Nicci believed she had achieved that.
Her powers were greater than those of any other sorceress. Along with Nathan, her vital mission was to tame the Old World in the name of the D’Haran Empire. But she knew Richard. She understood how his mind worked. She could often anticipate his thoughts and actions, and he understood Nicci with equal alacrity.
By sending this strange message, Richard knew that this was something she, and only she, would understand. It was a solution, if she could decipher it. “This object is all I need,” she reminded herself, still perplexed. “It holds the key somehow.” He was counting on her. She stared at the bone box, trying to find the missing piece, to understand how she could use this enigmatic constructed spell.
After about an hour, she gave up. Too exhausted to think about it anymore, Nicci knew her thoughts would be clearer after a good rest. She closed the box and pocketed it, then lay back on her bed, worried that her churning thoughts would keep her awake. But moments after closing her blue eyes, she fell into a deep slumber.
In the calm emptiness of a dream state, Nicci’s thoughts stretched over vast distances, and she was surprised to connect with her sister panther again! She looked through Mrra’s sharp feline eyes. Nicci had unwillingly been whisked away from the battle in Orogang, and now she was overjoyed to know the big cat was still alive. Considering the bloodthirsty ancient army in the abandoned capital, she feared that Mrra and the Hidden People had been massacred, though she knew
they would have fought to the last. But her sand panther had escaped somehow.
Now, through her dream connection, Nicci knew that Mrra was running overland, loping along the hills and forests to get back to her. Because of the sliph, they were separated by a great distance. She could feel her sister panther’s weariness, the sore pads of her enormous paws, but Mrra kept coming.
Through the animal’s predatory senses, she realized that the big cat was not alone. Other panthers from her new pride accompanied her, and Nicci was overjoyed to know that some of the big cats had survived the battle at Orogang.
Even as Nicci slept in the Tanimura barracks, she and her sister panther ran along, linked together. Their bond was strong, and Mrra followed it like an implacable summons. Yes, the panthers were coming! No matter how long or arduous the journey, across the wilderness, over the mountains, Mrra would find her.
With her panther senses, though, Nicci detected something else, and she realized that the big cats were not alone. There were other fighters coming to Tanimura, moving at their best speed. Mrra’s focus was not on them, so Nicci could not tell who or what they were, but she knew they were coming.
Armies were gathering. . . .
When Nicci awoke the next morning, not only was she well rested but she also felt a spark of hope, which refreshed her as much as the long rest had.
CHAPTER 58
While many refugees from Cliffwall scattered into the desert wilderness, Nathan and the surviving defenders headed directly westward, anxious to reach the coast in time to prepare the major cities for war. They pushed themselves hard, knowing they had to stay ahead of General Utros’s army.
Their group passed small farming settlements, intrepid villagers who had come back to reclaim all the land that had once been drained by the Lifedrinker. Nathan’s heart ached when their group paused one night to water their horses and beg food from a group of pioneer families. The settlers had established a foothold, tilling the land, planting crops, building a few homes and even a schoolhouse near a stream. Four milk cows were penned in a stockade, and the cattle lowed as their group approached. The villagers came out, suspicious of the large armed party of strangers.
Sitting tall on his own horse next to Nathan, Oron said in a low voice, “They think we are an army.”
“They will not welcome the news we bring.” Nathan stroked his chin.
The pioneer families gathered in the falling darkness to face the riders. A bearded farmer in a wide-brimmed leather hat stepped forward. “We have little for you to take, if you mean to raid our lands.”
General Zimmer pulled his horse to a halt at the head of the party. “We mean you no harm, though we bring you a warning. A large enemy army is marching behind us, a hundred thousand strong. They will take everything you have, and you can’t stop them.”
From his own horse, Nathan leaned forward and said, “Pack up your things and run to the hills if you value your lives.”
The farmer families were dismayed. “But we can’t abandon our homes! We just built this village, now that the Lifedrinker is dead.”
Nathan straightened his rumpled cape. “I know. I saw what this valley was like before, but you can rebuild again. Please, heed what we have to say. Don’t leave a scrap of food for the enemy. Go hide in the forests for a few days.” He knew his words were hard. “When they are gone, you can start over, but at least you’ll be alive.”
The bearded farmer looked angry. “Who are you to tell us this? Why did you lure an army here?”
General Zimmer said, “The army will come, whether we are here or not. General Utros is on his way.”
Thorn and Lyesse, who jogged along with the group, said, “We are killing as many as we can, but it will take a long time to wipe them all out.”
The horses drank from the stream. Nathan knelt on the soft bank, cupped the running water, and brought it to his lips. The worried farmer families had little food to spare, and the retreating defenders took nothing more than was offered. General Zimmer led the party onward as the alarmed settlers scurried about, packing what they could.
As the group covered mile after mile, Nathan felt an eerie sense of familiarity to retrace his journey from when he, Bannon, and Nicci had traveled inland. Similarly, Oliver and Peretta rode together on their horse, pointing out landmarks they remembered from their own journey to Tanimura. Next to them, Amber looked ahead, wistful. “In a week we’ll be in Renda Bay, won’t we, General? My brother will help us. I’m sure he’s made the town fully defensible.”
Zimmer gave the young novice a sad look. “I don’t doubt Captain Norcross has made remarkable progress, but I can’t imagine what sort of defenses could stop the army of General Utros.”
Oron snorted, “If all of Ildakar couldn’t defeat them, what hope does a fishing town have?”
“What hope does any of us have?” asked Sister Rhoda. “Even after the prelate’s sacrifice, they are still coming.”
“I will not abide talk like that! The hope we have is the hope we make,” Nathan said. “Gigantic armies have been defeated before, and invincible enemies have fallen. Think of Darken Rahl. Think of the Imperial Order and Emperor Jagang. Think of Sulachan and his hordes of half people. Utros is just another one to defeat, and we will do exactly that!”
Taking heart, the group rode onward.
Days later, when they crested the last line of hills before descending to the river valley that led to the ocean, the group stopped and looked back at the many miles they had traveled. Even from a distance they could see the dust and the trampled subjugated landscape from so many thousands of Utros’s marching soldiers.
“They are keeping up with us,” Captain Trevor said. “How can they move so fast?”
“How can they be alive at all, when they should have died centuries ago?” asked Sister Mab.
Nathan grimaced as sharp pain shuddered through his chest. His heart pounded as if it meant to burst out of the long scar, and he pressed his palm hard against his breastbone. “Leave me alone,” he snapped under his breath, but Ivan’s heart continued to pound with the eager anticipation of violence.
*
As the group followed the widening river toward the coast, they encountered trade roads and finally reached the outskirts and pasturelands of Renda Bay. The clear, sunny morning suggested that all was right with the world. A boy tending sheep and playful lambs greeted them, amazed to see General Zimmer and the battle-worn party. The shepherd boy had a mop of dark hair that looked as woolly as the sheep he tended. “Are you going to help us against the Norukai if they come back?”
Amber pushed her horse forward. “Have they come back?”
“Once.” The boy’s expression was troubled, then he grinned. “But we fought and we drove them away!”
Amber beamed. “I knew it!”
Nathan leaned down from his horse. “Be a good lad and run ahead. Find town leader Thaddeus and tell him we’re coming. We have urgent news.”
The boy awkwardly regarded his sheep. “I can’t leave my flock. They’re my responsibility.”
“Your sheep will be fine for a little while. Now run along. Go! Fast as you can.” The boom of command in the wizard’s voice startled the boy, and he bolted off, racing down the road to the town.
Warm memories of Renda Bay filled Nathan’s heart, enough to eclipse the shadow of Ivan for a time. He felt a fondness for this place, the first town they had discovered after he, Nicci, and Bannon were shipwrecked. The people of Renda Bay had welcomed the castaways, and the three of them had helped defend against a horrific Norukai raid.
Now, riding into the busy town, they wearily raised hands in greeting. The curious townspeople came forward to greet them. Resplendent in his D’Haran armor, Captain Norcross rushed through the streets and came up to present himself to General Zimmer. The voices and happy cheers rose to a loud clamor in the town square. It felt like a grand homecoming.
Thaddeus, a bearded, strong-backed fisherman, was soft-spoken but c
onfident. Since the last time Nathan had seen him, the new town leader had grown into his role. “Welcome back after your long journey! The shepherd boy said you looked tired and hungry, and I have already ordered the inn kitchens to prepare food.” He scratched his beard. “After all you’ve done to save this town, I won’t scrimp on our hospitality.” Thaddeus did a double take as he recognized Nathan. “Wizard! I never expected you to come back.”
“Yes, I am truly a wizard again. My gift is back . . . and we are all going to need it.”
“Where is Nicci?” The town leader looked around the dusty group of travelers. “And the young swordsman Bannon? He was a whirlwind with his blade. I think he killed twenty Norukai all by himself.”
Nathan frowned. “We were separated.” He gestured back to the group. “But we have several other powerfully gifted individuals with us, and we have much to tell.”
No longer able to restrain herself, Amber rushed forward to embrace her brother, who seesawed between wanting to sweep her into a hug and trying to be formal in front of his commander. He managed to splutter, “I relinquish command to you, General. Renda Bay is yours.”
Zimmer looked at Norcross. “And we have many preparations to make. I want to see what you’ve done while I was away.”
Standing at rigid attention, the young officer delivered his report. “The town’s defenses are in place, and they’ve already proved effective. Only a month ago we defeated a significant Norukai raid. The slavers ran away from here like beaten dogs.” He allowed himself a smile. “They learned their lesson. I doubt the Norukai will come back.”
“We have more to worry about than just the Norukai,” said Nathan.
Oron rode forward with a sour expression and spoke without introducing himself. “We don’t have much time, perhaps two or three days.”
“If we are lucky,” Lady Olgya added.
“Two or three days?” Thaddeus asked. “For what?” More townspeople came closer, dreading what they were about to hear.
Heart of Black Ice (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles Book 4) Page 34
