Lila found her comments and mannerisms tinged with madness. In a calm, even voice, she explained again. “Ildakar is gone, Adessa. We can’t go back.”
The other morazeth cocked her head and seemed to hear a response from the rotting lump. Adessa sat up straight as if preparing to fight. Though her hard years were showing, she had once been beautiful in a feral way, her close-cropped dark hair shot with lines of silver. Her face was lean, her body muscular, but now Adessa’s dark eyes held a haunted shadow. Her gaze flicked back and forth, as if she was watching things unseen. “No, no. He was lying! Ildakar can’t be gone. I still have to bring Maxim’s head back to the sovrena.”
Sitting near the fire, Lila laced her fingers together around one bare knee. “I am your morazeth sister. You know I would not lie to you.”
Adessa sagged, then glared at the severed head. “Yes, Lila, I know you speak the truth.” She grabbed the clumps of dark hair, then carried the head to the campfire. “Shall I roast you here? If the sovrena is gone, then I don’t need to deliver the trophy anymore. I’d like to hear you scream as the fire cooks the remaining skin off your face.”
Decaying drops of fluid oozed down the chin to drip in sizzling bursts in the coals. Lila kept her voice low and guarded. “What are you doing, Adessa?”
“Making him stop his taunts!”
The wizard commander’s sunken eyes were pools of gray jelly, like rotten egg whites. With a wet sound, part of his scalp ripped from the skull, and the loose head dropped toward the fire, but Adessa rescued it by grabbing the soft neck stump. “Not yet. Not so easy for you.”
Adessa returned the wizard commander’s head to the stained sack. “Be silent!” Then she turned back to Lila. “If what you say is true, if the sovrena is defeated and Ildakar is gone, then my quest is ended.” The disappointment on her face struck Lila’s heart. The quest, the woman’s reason for suffering so many hardships, was all that had kept her going. “Now where do I go? What do I do?”
“I have a mission of my own,” Lila said, “and it is a morazeth mission. You could help me. There are many Norukai to fight and kill, and it will give you a chance to spill more blood. That would give us both a purpose.”
“Tell me about your mission.”
Lila delivered a formal report to her commander, hoping to get through to Adessa. She talked at length about Bannon, the young swordsman she had trained in the combat pits.
Adessa raised her eyebrows. “Yes, Bannon was your special pet. He corrupted my champion Ian and forced me to kill him. If you are hunting Bannon now, I will help you. He should die for the damage he did to our society. For making me waste a good champion like Ian.”
Lila considered how to answer that question. “Yes, I am hunting him, but not to harm him. Bannon and I fought alongside each other to defend Ildakar, and we even battled King Grieve himself.” Her voice dropped. “He was taken captive along with many Ildakarans. With the city gone and me trapped outside, I took on my own mission. I have to rescue Bannon.”
“Why?”
Lila felt a flare of defensive anger. “Because I choose to do so! I consider the mission worthwhile, and if you are my morazeth sister, then you will accept that reasoning.”
Adessa pondered. The mossy fire was burning low, and Lila added some green twigs to it. The darkness around them remained deep, but a low mist had risen from the marshes. Adessa nodded distantly. “Sovrena Thora disliked the Norukai, called them brutes. She would have wanted me to kill them because they attacked the city, but why would I do it to save a skinny arena slave? Bannon caused a great deal of trouble. Is he that remarkable a lover?”
Lila had already thought of the answer. “Now that the shroud of eternity is back, Bannon Farmer is the only warrior who remains. In a sense, he is the champion of Ildakar, and he could be useful.”
Adessa considered that. “One should not discard useful tools or fighters.”
“Then let us plan a trap together. We will fight the Norukai, and I can free Bannon, as I vowed to do.” The intensity of her gaze caught Adessa’s attention. “Will you help me, morazeth to morazeth?”
Adessa snapped at the unseen head inside the sack. “I don’t care what you wish, Maxim! I make my own decision.” The flecks of madness in her eyes grew brighter. “Stop laughing, or I’ll submerge your head again and let the fish eat more of your face.”
Composing herself, Adessa faced Lila across the campfire. “If you and I are the only two morazeth that remain outside the shroud of eternity, then your mission is mine. I will battle the Norukai with you, but you can save the scrawny swordsman on your own.”
CHAPTER 29
A thousand soldiers carrying flame-symbol banners pressed toward Orogang. As they gained altitude and the terrain grew more rugged, General Utros recognized the dark crags with patches of snow on their summits. He inhaled the thin, chill air, a refreshing change from the dust of the road, the thick odor of horses, and countless sweating men.
“Will we see the capital today, beloved Utros?” asked Ruva, riding beside him.
He lifted his head high, a victorious military commander coming back to report on the lands he had conquered. They were close to the city; he could taste it. “Yes, it will be today.”
That dawn, while his soldiers broke camp and prepared for another long march, Utros had polished his gold half mask. He studied the burnished metal, the idealized sculpture of his features. When he entered the imperial palace, he wondered if anyone would remember the face of Utros after all these centuries. History recorded large-scale events and political consequences, but rarely preserved the details of a man’s physical appearance. Would anyone know him at all?
“They will remember your legend,” Ruva said. “History is filled with stories of General Utros. That is what the wizard Nathan said.”
He gazed along the widening road shadowed by tall mountains. “We shall see for ourselves. I’ll face the man who now sits on the throne in Orogang, and I will determine if he is worthy.”
He dispatched a pair of scouts to ride ahead to announce their arrival. He selected two men who were originally from Orogang, fighters who had left their homes and loved ones to follow General Utros, long ago. The two scouts proudly shouldered their responsibility.
“We will bring you news, sir,” said a man with an unfortunately large nose. “And we’ll make sure the people of Orogang prepare a welcome celebration for your returning army.”
“We’re going home!” the other scout cried with such enthusiasm that his voice cracked like the voice of a boy struggling with puberty. They galloped off.
Utros kept silent as he rode forward, leading his escort army. The twin sorceresses looked eagerly ahead, their bright eyes searching for the grandeur that Utros had promised them ages ago. He was perplexed and disappointed by the sad state of the main roads. This close to the great city, he expected to see overburdened caravans, farmers with wagons, travelers, military patrols. With Orogang’s population of nearly a million people, even the outlying areas should have seen much activity.
Dark pines rose all around, and he knew the forests should have been cut for firewood and construction material. The rocky slopes should have shown the stair-stepped gashes of stone quarries. Why were there no fields of grain, no orchards, no grazing sheep or cattle? Where were the people?
They passed only the foundation stones and crumbling walls of long-collapsed cottages. The twins picked up on his uneasy mood. Ava and Ruva kept glancing at him, wondering how they could help. The mounted army began to display an odd mixture of impatience, joy, and concern.
By noon the pair of scouts galloped back to the general, and he could already read the grim news on their faces. The large-nosed man had tear tracks through the dust on his cheeks. Both scouts lowered their voices. “We found Orogang, sir. The city?.?.?.”
“The whole city is empty and abandoned!” blurted the other scout. “The population is gone, the streets are empty.”
“Was the
city ransacked?” Utros demanded, trying to keep his dismay in check. “Conquered?”
“I don’t know.” The scout with the big nose had lost his sincere smile. “The buildings don’t look burned or destroyed, just abandoned. The structures are intact, but they’re sealed up.”
“I will see this myself.” Utros urged his horse forward.
The scouts turned their mounts about and led the way. “It’s less than half an hour’s ride, sir. Follow us.”
Utros grasped the reins and kicked the stallion into a gallop. Ava and Ruva raced alongside their general. Behind them, the army let out a cheer and urged their horses faster, rushing toward Orogang like a battlefield charge.
When they reached the outskirts of the city, Utros suddenly had trouble breathing. Silence loomed like a pestilence in the air. The towering structures were washed by the sun like bleached bones in a desert. Silent and dead.
