Heart of Black Ice

CHAPTER 28

The smoke from moss-covered firewood had a sour smell, but the odor of decaying flesh bothered Lila more. She cautiously hunkered down across from Adessa. The older morazeth had an unsettling gleam in her eyes as she sat by her campfire.

Lila explained, “I am pursuing the Norukai serpent ships down the river, looking for my chance. I need your help.”

Adessa was puzzled. Her voice sounded distant and strange. “Why do you care about Norukai?”

“Much has changed since you left on the night of the revolt.” Lila frowned. “Nothing is left of Ildakar. The army of General Utros awakened and laid siege to the city, and then a Norukai fleet attacked us from the river. Ildakar vanished under the shroud of eternity again, and I was trapped outside. We can’t go back. No one can.”

Adessa turned her gaze to look at the severed head resting on the matted grasses. She glowered at it. “That’s what he just told me.”

Black bugs scuttled over the pus-filled flesh. The head was hideously decayed, the eyes swollen shut, the mouth sagging. It took Lila a moment to recognize the dark hair, the goatee, the distorted features. “That is Wizard Commander Maxim.”

“Sovrena Thora commanded me to bring back his head, and I am doing so.” Adessa unconsciously swatted away a biting insect. “He was Mirrormask and he wanted to bring down Ildakar. He has paid for his crimes, but not enough.” Her expression darkened, and she suddenly yelled at the decomposing horror. “You hear me, Maxim? Not enough! I will place your head on a spike before the gates of Ildakar, where the entire population can know what you did.”

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.”