Even so, Nicci suspected the blaze wouldn’t be sufficient. With her gift, she would add much more to create a dazzling, irresistible beacon. It would be as bright as the sun, bright enough to call the zhiss.
When the preparations for the beacon were complete, Nicci ordered all of the master artisans, masons, and stonecutters to prepare for a furious, desperate night of work, stacking up all the supplies so they were ready at hand. Once Nicci did her part—if it worked—they would have only one chance and very little time.
By living inside the abandoned buildings every day, the Hidden People knew the architecture from the inside out. They understood how stones fit together, and they knew how to build arches and vaulted ceilings. They could cut stone with great precision, and they knew the mixtures for fast-drying, permanent mortar and plaster that would endure for ages.
After measuring the sunken amphitheater, their architects designed support struts and mapped out the blocks that would be needed. Though they rushed back inside each sunrise when the zhiss returned, the shadowy people worked with tremendous energy and increasing hope.
Each night Mrra ran free, reuniting with the other sand panthers that lurked in the mountains. The big cat made fresh kills and feasted with her new pride, but she always returned to spend the day in the shadows with Nicci. Mrra could sense her sister panther’s restlessness, wanting to attack the formless black cloud, but Nicci couldn’t allow her to be in danger.
When the preparations were at last complete, a tension built among the Hidden People. They watched the daylight wane through chinks in the barricaded windows. Nicci scratched the big cat behind the ears and led her into her own bedchamber, blocking her thoughts. She had a heavy heart, knowing that Mrra would see her actions as a betrayal.
“I have to keep you safe,” Nicci whispered. “This is my fight. I need to make sure you stay here.” Mrra growled and tried to push past her to escape the chamber, but Nicci blocked her way. “I will come back for you.” She pulled the thick door shut, locking Mrra inside.
Angry at her confinement, the panther thumped against the door. Loud scratches came from the other side, along with a frustrated yowl. Nicci suspected that by the time she returned—if she returned—the door would be torn to splinters. She had to move quickly.
Nicci hurried through the corridors to where Hidden People had gathered. Cora waited with dozens of eager and nervous people at the towering palace doors, while other Hidden People lurked inside many secondary buildings. They were ready.
“We have to wait until the darkest hour of the night,” Nicci said.
Cyrus adjusted his gray cowl, frowning. “We’ve waited long enough.”
“And tonight, if we are successful, your waiting will end.”
CHAPTER 27
At midnight, before the waning moon rose over the mountains, Nicci led the Hidden People out for their attack against the zhiss. Her beacon in the darkness would be an irresistible summons to the horrible black cloud.
She would eradicate the deadly swarm that had terrorized this city since the fall of Iron Fang’s empire. Once freed, the Hidden People could rebuild the capital and turn Orogang into a trading hub again. They could name their own leader to become part of the D’Haran Empire. Once she knew the zhiss were no longer a threat, she would set off overland to find the army of General Utros.
But only if her plan worked against the zhiss.
Five of the gray people carried torches down the steps of the sunken amphitheater and ignited the piled wood on the central stage. The flames caught in the kindling and flared up, sending sparks that swirled like night wisps. The bonfire snapped as it consumed the dry branches then fed upon the split logs. The flames danced and reflected on the array of mirrors and polished metal surfaces placed in the concentric rings of seats around the sunken stage. Smoke writhed in the air and the fire stretched higher.
Nicci stood on the topmost tier, watching the blaze grow. She had wrapped her blond hair and her face with scarves and veils, which she hoped would keep the zhiss away from her bare skin. She wore gloves on her hands, fabric windings down her legs. After lighting the bonfire, the Hidden People tossed their torches and backed up the steep ramps to street level. At the bottom of the crater, the fire was definitely the brightest light in Orogang, but she would make it even brighter. Irresistible.
“Go,” she called to Cora and the others. “When the swarm comes, I want you all safe.” She hoped the cloth wrapping her body would be enough protection, would give her enough time.
“But we need to help you, Nicci,” Asha said. “We can lure the zhiss into the pit. This is our battle, too.”
“Leave that to me. The flames will be bright enough.” Nicci looked at the determined young woman. “You have made enough sacrifices.” She urged them to retreat, and the group backed away but did not lock themselves inside the buildings.
She descended to the bottom of the sunken amphitheater and approached the low stage, which held the blaze. In order to draw the zhiss out of their lair, Nicci needed to make the bonfire many times brighter, a beacon to rival the sun, and so she drew upon her gift. She could summon wizard’s fire, one of the most dramatic and deadly spells, but she didn’t need such destructive heat now, only the brilliant light. So she altered her spell, removed the energy of heat, and focused on creating wizard’s light instead of wizard’s fire.
The bonfire flared as if a sun had suddenly appeared at the bottom of the amphitheater, a blinding silent explosion that made Nicci shield her blue eyes. From above, she heard a collective gasp, and the Hidden People backed farther away from the rim, unable to tolerate such an outpouring of artificial light. Shielding her eyes with her palm, Nicci managed to look at the blazing orb she had created. It engulfed the speaking stage and surged like a scream of brilliance enhanced a thousandfold by the mirrors, crystals, and polished precious metals. Even from their lair, the zhiss had to see it and be drawn across the night like moths to a flame.
Continuing to release her gift, she kept the beacon shining bright and listened for the deadly buzz, but heard no sounds except the crackle of the central fire. The wizard’s light pulsed with a hypnotic thrum, and the city held its breath.
As more minutes passed with no sign of the throbbing cloud, Nicci waited, tense, feeling a shred of doubt. What if the zhiss really did go dormant at night? What if they retreated to sealed lairs, like bats hanging in caves, where they couldn’t see her beacon? What could flush them out?
Using both the Additive and Subtractive sides of her gift, just as when she had tried to summon the sliph, she sent out her thoughts to draw the zhiss. Light! Come feed on the light! Come feed on the blood!
Finally, a different sort of hum penetrated the air, a thrumming that increased to a grating buzz. She looked up, away from the dazzling beacon, and saw a featureless black swirl blotting out the starlight. The zhiss swarm broke apart and spread over Orogang, called by the irresistible glare. She raised her cloth-wrapped arms to beckon them. She pulled the cloth away from her face so they could smell her blood.
The Hidden People fled back to their sheltered doorways, but the movement attracted the zhiss. One arm of the dark cloud extended toward the gray-cloaked people.
With her wizard’s light still flaring, Nicci moved up the arena steps to street level, intent on distracting the swarm. The mindless, bloodthirsty flecks had already swooped down upon two lagging people, who collapsed, covered with feeding zhiss. Nicci couldn’t reach them in time to save them, but their unwitting sacrifice would kill many of the swarming creatures. As the zhiss gorged themselves on the tainted blood, clouds of swollen globules lumbered away, sated with poisoned blood. As before, the fat spheres turned a sickly purple and burst to spatter across the flagstones.
The rest of the zhiss cloud, though, hurtled toward the bright light like a swarm of ten thousand bees. Nicci stood on the rim of the amphitheater. “Here! Over here.” She waved her hands, hoping that her unpoisoned and gifted blood would be more
desirable than the blood of other victims. “Over here, by the light!” She tore the scarves away from her face and head, shook her hair free. “Here! To me!”
The black cloud swirled like a pall of greasy smoke, while the nexus of light continued to crackle and shine at the bottom of the amphitheater. The zhiss were hungry, looking for prey, and she needed to lure them to the cauldron trap. The ravenous black swarm probed doorways and windows, trying to find cracks in the masterfully laid stones.
When the zhiss sensed her, Nicci felt her skin tingle. At last the smell of her untainted blood drew them, and the black cloud surged all around her, swooping in even faster than she had expected. As if she were engulfed in thick smoke, the zhiss blanketed her body. It was like a surprising hailstorm of black ice, shapeless nuggets that moved and pulsed and bit, each one no larger than the nail on her little finger. They tried to penetrate the fabric, and they found folds, created small rips, worked their way to her skin. Each small thing was covered with pointed needlelike legs that jabbed into her skin, one zhiss on top of another, blanketing her arms, her face, her neck, nesting in her hair, covering her eyelids.
Suffocating, Nicci used her gift to summon a pulse of wind that blasted them away, but it was like coughing out a breath against pollen in the air. The zhiss came back with a vengeance. She staggered to the steep steps, trying to draw them down into the sunken amphitheater, the tantalizing fire. After feeding, hundreds of them rose from her body, swollen globules filled with dark red fluid—her blood, gifted blood. She knew that once they had drained her, the swarm would reproduce explosively. She had to stop them!
Determination gave her strength, and she pushed harder with her magic. This was her blood, her blood! She called on a thread of Subtractive Magic to burst every one of the rising globules, destroying dozens at a time.
