Shroud of Eternity

CHAPTER 14

Nicci came instantly awake the next morning when she sensed someone in her room. She opened her eyes to see Wizard Commander Maxim looming over her bed, his lips quirked in a thin smile.

“I came to greet you, Sorceress,” he said, looking down at her wrapped in the slick sheets. “I trust you had a restful and comfortable night … though not nearly as enjoyable as you could have had in a more active bed.”

On the cusp of lunging, she felt the gift surge within her, ready to attack, but she held it back with great effort. He was a formidable wizard in his own right. “You’re lucky I awoke quickly enough to understand where I was. Under other circumstances, I might have killed you before I recognized you.”

The wizard commander raised his eyebrows. “It is always a good idea to recognize someone before you kill them. That’s the best way to be sure.” He stroked his goatee.

She wore a scant, soft shift that had been among the garments left out in her quarters. She sat up, not bothering to cover herself, unwilling to show him any discomfort. Nicci had never been ashamed of her body. “What are you doing in my room?”

“It’s actually my room. This is my villa. You are my guest.”

“Guests deserve certain consideration.”

“I came to wake you. Out of consideration,” he said dismissively. “Thora suggested that you and Nathan see the central pyramid, which is an important part of your understanding of Ildakar.”

Nicci recalled the stair-stepped pyramid. “We saw it when we approached the ruling tower. Is it a temple of some kind?”

“A temple?” Maxim laughed. “With all the great powers we possess, why would we need to worship at a temple? We acknowledge the Creator and the Keeper beyond the veil of death, but we don’t need to rely on supernatural interventions. As we proved when the army of General Utros came to us, we are impressive powers in our own right.”

She remained sitting in her bed with the silken sheets pooled across her lap. “Leave. I will dress and then join you. Has Nathan been informed?”

“The sovrena herself went to wake him. I hope she enjoyed her task as much as I enjoyed mine.” He gave her a lilting smile, then walked out of her room, leaving Nicci unsettled.

She could easily have summoned fire and scorched him on his way out, but Maxim was the wizard commander. She kept in mind that Nathan needed something from the wizards of Ildakar.

After she washed herself and donned her black dress and black boots, Nicci brushed out her golden hair and ate a private breakfast from a platter of fruit, pastries, and cheese that someone had silently delivered to her chamber while she slept. The lack of privacy, the vulnerability, made her uneasy. From now on, she decided, she would sleep with both daggers at her side.

When she joined Nathan in the main foyer, she saw he had combed out his long white hair and donned his copper-trimmed green wizard’s robe again. He seemed to think it looked good on him. He certainly looked more wizardlike than in his black trousers, boots, and ruffled shirt.

The wizard commander cheerfully turned to Thora, who stood with them. “I told you Nicci would come.” He lowered his voice to a stage whisper. “She seemed quite eager to see the pyramid.”

“The sorceress was eager?” Nathan asked. “I’m sure you misinterpreted her mood.”

“He did,” Nicci said. “It wasn’t the only thing he misinterpreted.”

Nathan changed his tone, sounding like a careful diplomat. “We have much to learn about each other’s cultures. I understand the pyramid is the heart of your city’s power? The projector of the shroud of eternity? I want to get the details right.” He seemed to be already considering how to describe the encounter in his life book, which he carried at his side.

“The pyramid is a focal point, a convergence of the lines of magic laid down in intricate spell-forms that permeate the streets and buildings of Ildakar,” Thora explained.

Departing from the grand villa, they walked along a path covered by an arbor that hummed with bees pollinating pink blossoms. With the shroud down, exposing Ildakar to the outside world, the skies were clear and blue. From the top of the plateau, the city all around them seemed pristine, peaceful, untouchable.

Ahead rose the imposing structure built of dark gray stone blocks. The blocks formed a square base, then seven successively smaller platforms like giant stairsteps, leading up to an open platform at the apex. Slashed through the center of the wide levels was a narrower ramp with smaller steps built for human feet.

Maxim went forward with a cheerful demeanor, leading them to the steps. “This is the place from which all of our magic emanates. From here, we will perform the magic to activate the shroud once more.”

“Maybe that’s where I’ll need to go in order to have my gift restored,” Nathan said.

“First, we must find out what is wrong with you,” Maxim said. “And I’m sure Andre will relish the challenge.”

“The pyramid is reserved for the bloodworking that creates the shroud,” Thora said. “The power required for that should remain undiluted.”

Nicci didn’t like the sound of “bloodworking.”

“It was just a suggestion,” Nathan said quickly. “I’m always happy to consider all alternatives.”

Halfway up the second platform, Maxim turned so that he could look down on Nathan. “All alternatives? Even the possibility that you might never get your gift back? What if you must remain a normal and powerless man for the rest of your life?”

“If that’s the case,” Thora said, “he has no reason to stay here in Ildakar.”

“We haven’t decided to stay in Ildakar either way,” Nicci said, climbing the stone steps.

Nathan said, “I’ll visit Fleshmancer Andre later this morning. Because I am a scholar myself, he and I can pool our knowledge and understand what we have to do. The witch woman predicted this is the place I must be.”

“So very quaint,” Thora mocked. “And your primitive little witch also predicted that the sorceress would save the world. It seems to me more like she was trying to stroke Nicci’s ego rather than give you any useful advice. Are you sure you’ve found the right sorceress from the prediction?”

Nicci refused to rise to the bait, though Nathan looked crestfallen.

At the pyramid’s top platform, which was cluttered with gleaming, reflective devices, Thora and Maxim stood like the king and queen in a strategy game the Sisters of the Light had often played in the Palace of the Prophets.

The stone floor of the top platform was etched with silver-lined channels, prominent troughs laid out in complex spell-forms with geometrical angles and loops. Nathan was drawn to the intricate polished apparatus standing on display, graduated arcs of reflective metal, empty basins that gleamed like huge crucibles to collect the sun. Tall metal poles were mounted on each of the four corners, like lightning rods stretching up to the sky; each pole was capped with a quartz prism. Two lenses were held within spinning hoops of metal.

Nicci stepped into the middle of the patterns and spell-forms. She couldn’t see the entire pattern, but easily discerned its purpose. “The wizards use this pyramid as a focal point when they cast powerful spells? They can draw the power needed to generate your protective shroud?”

“Usually,” Maxim said. “But as time has gone by, the bloodworking takes greater and greater effort.” He sniffed. “We are still assessing.”

Thora cut in. “But we have to understand. The shroud has come down too often over the past ten years, leaving us unprotected against outside threats.”

Nathan shaded his eyes and peered out beyond the periphery of the huge city, turning toward the sheer drop-off to the Killraven River, then in the other direction, back to the plain. He gestured toward the waves upon waves of stone soldiers strewn across the open grasslands. “But you worked your spell long ago. You petrified the army of General Utros, and there is no longer any threat from them. Why maintain the shroud if it requires so much energy?”

And so much blood? Nicci thought.

Thora’s expression darkened. “The shroud was not just to protect the city from Emperor Kurgan’s bloodthirsty armies. It was to preserve our society, to prevent contamination from the outside. But now it is fading, and I feel great fear for our continued existence.” Her face looked pinched. “Each exposure erodes what we have created.”

The wizard commander was not so convinced. “On the other hand, my dear, opening Ildakar to the outside has allowed an infusion of resources and added new life to our society. Think of all the fresh blood the slavers have brought for us.”

“And how many slaves have escaped out into the wild?” she asked.

Chuckling at his wife’s pained expression, Maxim turned to Nicci and Nathan. “As you can see, we’ve had this argument many times.”

“The outside world has changed greatly in fifteen hundred years,” Nicci said, thinking of Richard and D’Hara. “Lord Rahl put an end to oppression, brought down tyrants, defeated the Imperial Order. Slavery should be a thing of the past.”

Thora looked annoyed. “And he has decreed this from a throne so far away that no one has ever heard of it. You’re being naive.”

“I am following my beliefs,” Nicci said. “And my beliefs are correct. I have seen the poison of tyranny, and I will have none of it. Even Ildakar can change for the better. We will help.”

Nathan looked nervous at the tension in her discussion, but Nicci did not back down.

Thora narrowed her sea-green eyes. “You would come here and change the underpinnings of a society? All by yourself? Ildakar has functioned perfectly well for thousands of years without your help … and without your interference.”

“Perfectly well? That is a matter of some debate,” Maxim said. “Just as you’ve lost your deep-seated love for me after all this time, my dear, you’ve also lost your objectivity. Ildakar has changed. The people are beginning to grow restless, and Mirrormask is taking advantage of that. Perhaps a small shift in the way we do things would reestablish contentment. Is that not better than waiting for something to explode?”

“I’m not waiting,” Thora said, with a stony sneer. “We will have nothing to worry about once we exterminate Mirrormask and put an end to the trouble he’s caused.”