In disgust she plunged her hand into the water, and the fish scattered to hide in the reeds. Grasping his hair, she lifted the head back onto the grass. Some of the stains had rinsed off, but Maxim was no more attractive.
Once out of the water again, he opened his mouth and continued the conversation as if he’d never been interrupted. “You will not make it back to Ildakar.”
She snorted. “You said I would never kill you either, yet I succeeded in that.”
“This is different. I told you before, by now Ildakar has fallen. The wizards raised the shroud of eternity, and the city is gone. You have no home.”
“I will still go there. I don’t believe you.”
Maxim continued to taunt. “Even if you complete your journey, you will never find Thora. Alas, my dear wife is already dead. Her spirit is in the underworld—I have seen her myself. The Keeper is quite happy to have her. I think he has a lot in common with the unpleasant bitch.”
“You lie!” The thought of the sovrena being dead hurt Adessa more than any of his other statements. “You lie!”
“Poor Adessa, am I not in a position to know? After all, I’m dead, too—as you yourself reminded me.”
“Then stay dead. Stop speaking.”
“The dead are not the same as they were, and I have drifted back and forth through the veil. We arrogant wizards of Ildakar caused our own damage to the order of the universe by turning General Utros and his army to stone. We stole all those souls from the Keeper, held them away for centuries. The shroud of eternity also kept our nobles out of the stream of time. But the Keeper is patient. He will claim what he is owed. He will come for you too, Adessa.”
“The Keeper always does,” she said. “You don’t frighten me.”
“Maybe I’ll stay here to keep you company after all. Or maybe I can call the Keeper’s attention and have him come for you now.”
“Be quiet!”
Maxim laughed.
Her voice rose to a shout, or maybe it was a scream. “Stop laughing!” Thoughts echoed inside her head, and a dark inner doubt made her wonder about her sanity. The wizard commander and his insidious taunts would be enough to drive any morazeth insane.
The campfire crackled and popped as the flames hit a loose knot of wet wood. Trembling with anger, Adessa stuffed the head back into its sack, hoping that would shut the man’s mouth. “There, you can rot in the dark.”
She heard a rustle in the underbrush nearby, a splash in the water, something large approaching. Wary, Adessa grabbed her short sword and stood by the campfire. The movement didn’t sound like a marsh deer or a bear. She had thought the campfire would keep large predators away. She crouched, holding her silence, her ears attuned to any sound.
A lean mud-spattered woman stepped forward into the circle of firelight as if she feared nothing. Adessa was astonished to recognize the scant black leather outfit, the protective runes on the skin just like her own, the pale brown hair.
“I didn’t expect to find you,” Lila said, “but I need your help.”
CHAPTER 22
After darkness fell like a protective blanket over the ruins of Orogang, the palace doors opened again. The Hidden People performed the same tasks they had undertaken for countless generations, and they were no closer to defeating the zhiss.
Nicci explored the streets, looking for something she could use. She understood the danger of the bloodthirsty cloud, but she could not stay here. Unlike the Hidden People, Nicci was not satisfied with just waiting. Since the sliph refused to answer, she needed to take supplies and head out on her own, though the journey would take many days or weeks. But it was her only option if she had any hope of intercepting General Utros and his army.
In front of the statue, a group of twenty men and women practiced with swords from the armory vault. Nicci watched them with a skeptical eye. They had sparred with one another for so long, using the same skills and moves, but they had never battled a real opponent. She realized that if Cyrus and his zealous followers actually joined Utros somehow, then they would become her enemy. They didn’t understand their own legends.
Nicci spent the night searching the wide streets and plazas, the empty passageways and alleys. The sliph well remained silent. The bowl-shaped amphitheater was like a deep crater in the middle of the city, and Nicci stood on the outer rim, looking down. She imagined Kurgan down there skinning Majel alive and then planting flesh beetles in her wounds. No wonder the people had risen up and overthrown him, pulled down and smashed his towering statue.
Suddenly, she sensed another presence nearby, powerful and dangerous. She snatched one of the daggers from her waist as a tan shadow leaped over a collapsed marble column. The big cat bounded toward her, and Nicci gasped, opening her arms wide. The sand panther drove her backward with momentum and exuberance, then licked her face with a raspy tongue. Laughing, Nicci wrapped her arms around Mrra’s neck. Pulling away, the cat paced around her, rubbing her fur against Nicci’s black dress, nearly knocking her over again. An ominous purr rumbled through her chest.
“Mrra, you’re back!” Nicci held the big predator tight. She had lost so much, been through such ordeals, that just having her sister panther gave her great reassurance. “Oh, Mrra! I can’t imagine how far you’ve come.” She pressed her cheek against the soft fur.
When she saw more movement at the edge of the plaza, she realized that other cats had entered the city, a dozen or more. Their glowing eyes gleamed in the shadows of the ruins, but they did not venture closer, even though Mrra had convinced them to join her pride.
“The people in this city are my friends, Mrra,” Nicci explained. “Allies. Your sand panthers must not harm them. They are not prey.” She concentrated hard, hoping that Mrra could communicate the warning to the other panthers.
Across the city Nicci heard the Hidden People raising their voices, and she saw a faint glow outlining the eastern mountains. Daybreak. Recalling what had happened to the two hapless deer, she felt sudden alarm. “Mrra, we have to get inside. You can shelter in the palace with me and my friends.” She tugged on the panther’s neck. “You need to tell the others to hide, though.” She summoned an image in her mind of the deadly zhiss swarm that would appear with the sunrise. Under normal circumstances, sand panthers would bed down in a dark protected area during the day, but she felt a great sense of urgency. “Tell them, Mrra! This is important.”
When her sister panther roared, the other cats twitched their tails, flashed a last feline glance at Nicci, and bounded off into the ruins in search of a shadowy lair. Nicci hurried with Mrra back to the palace entrance. Cora and the Hidden People looked at the predator with alarm, drawing back as Nicci led Mrra inside. “She is mine. She won’t hurt you.”
The drab people withdrew as she took Mrra inside the sheltered corridors before the sun spilled over the mountains. Throughout the ruined city, barricades slammed into place, entryways sealed to hide from the sun. In a rush, the Hidden People pulled shut the palace doors.
In a last glimpse, Nicci saw the swirling black cloud flowing into Orogang like a million wasps.
Mrra growled, and Nicci held her sister panther as the Hidden People barred the door.
*
The wild cat did not like being trapped inside the stone walls. Mrra was haunted by horrific memories of being tortured and trained by Chief Handler Ivan. Through her spell bond, Nicci saw memory flashes of the young cub clawing and biting the iron bars of her cage. Back then, the only freedom Mrra and her sister panthers had experienced was when they were turned loose onto the bloody arena sands. Now, she longed to be outside.
But Nicci knew what the zhiss would do to any living creature they encountered. She stroked the panther’s tan fur, running her fingertips along the branded rune scars. “I need to keep you safe. Trust me.”
Today, the Hidden People seemed tense and fearful, but it had nothing to do with the big panther locked inside with them. They were preparing to do something Nicci had not seen before
. A group of the muttering people moved to the barricaded entrance. Young Asha caught Nicci’s eye and hurried in among the nervous gray-robed men and women.
Intrigued, Nicci followed them to the closed main door, where one middle-aged man stood alone, facing the rest of them. He had a worn expression and sad brown eyes. He braced himself and ate a mouthful of the fleshy, poisonous mushrooms as if for extra energy.
The Hidden People looked at him with reverence. Several touched him on the arm. “Thank you, Cal.”
“We appreciate you, Cal,” said another.
A drab woman kissed him on the cheek. “Oh, Cal?.?.?.” She couldn’t form any other words.
