Shroud of Eternity

CHAPTER 35

Nicci stood at the ruling tower’s wide observation windows, peering out at the precipitous drop, which plunged down to the clustered buildings and tangled alleys of the city. The breezes that wandered into the open chamber were cool and crisp.

She stood with her back to the gathered duma members, uninterested in their droning irrelevant nonsense. The muscles in her back twitched and rippled as if some ghostly hand had brushed her. Nicci’s blond hair hung to her shoulders, and her intense blue eyes stared out at Ildakar, focused on what she knew, rather than what she saw. The city had not settled down since the previous day’s combat exhibition.

Sovrena Thora sat on her high throne like an ice queen. Behind her, a pair of silent slaves erected a set of empty songbird cages, while others carried silken nets that held small struggling captives. The hunters delicately extricated the birds one by one, placing the larks inside the golden cages. They twittered and cheeped in terror, but Thora sat back in her chair with a cool smile. “It is good to be surrounded by music again, although the others were delicious.”

“Crunchy bones,” said the Norukai captain, who wandered about the duma chamber, looking for something to amuse himself. Kor and his comrades had marched into the ruling tower, uninvited. Taking any available seats, the Norukai looked bored. Dar announced he had secured a shipment of wine casks and dried Ildakaran fruits, but he still intended to get some freshly butchered yaxen. “Easier cargo than walking meat,” he said.

The captain grumbled, scratching the implanted shark’s tooth on the side of his shaved skull, “But just as expensive.”

“And yet you keep coming back to Ildakar whenever our shroud is down,” Maxim said. “You seem very curious about our city.”

“King Grieve is curious, and so we come back,” Kor said. “But I would rather be home on our islands.”

Nicci turned from the wide windows. Every time she thought about the Norukai, she wanted to unleash her gift and incinerate these abhorrent beings. She also wanted to take down the preoccupied and heartless council members and free the people, as Mirrormask intended.

But she had to find a way that would not be a futile gesture. Nicci was confident she would come up with an approach that would free Ildakar.

Bannon was off again with his friends, but Nathan joined the group in the ruling chamber for the opportunity to talk with Andre. “Fleshmancer, as there are no crucial items on the agenda, couldn’t we perhaps go back to your studio? Keep working to restore my gift?”

Andre brushed him aside as if he were a persistent fly. “Right now it’s imperative that I study the fragments of the dead stone warrior. What if the wizard commander’s entire spell is fading? We must be concerned.”

“My spell is not fading,” Maxim said. “Something has changed in the underpinnings of the world.”

Nicci stepped away from the window. “We told you that already. Lord Rahl caused the star shift and sealed the underworld for all time. You can see the difference in the night sky.”

“Thank you for your information,” Thora said, her words as sharp as the edges of broken glass. “But our solution is obvious.”

Nathan unconsciously brushed the green silk of his sleeves. “I’m afraid it’s not obvious to me, Sovrena. What solution did you have in mind?”

“We will work our magic from the pyramid. The Norukai have delivered enough slaves to us, so we should raise the shroud again with all due haste, even if it is just a temporary measure, as before. Then our beloved city will be safe from that great army, even if it should awaken.”

“An army of statues might not be the worst threat you have to worry about,” Nicci said quietly.

Elsa and Quentin looked up, surprised. Chief Handler Ivan picked at his fingernails with a stubby dagger. “What threat is that?”

Uninterested in the discussion, Captain Kor said, “Just keep your damned shroud down until our ships are away. We plan to stay a few more days.”

“Preparations will take time,” Maxim said. “You have plenty of opportunity to cause trouble in Ildakar before you sail back downriver.”

Kor, Lars, Yorik, and Dar chuckled mischievously at the invitation.

“We’ll still go home with plenty of gold,” Kor said.

“And an extra barrel of bloodwine for King Grieve,” Dar added.

Nicci looked at Nathan, knowing that neither of them wanted to be bottled up in Ildakar for years. But they each still had important work to do here.

Interrupting the malaise of the meeting, one of the city guards burst into the main council chamber with a clatter of footsteps. “There’s been another killing! Sovrena, it’s…” He fell silent, sickened.

Maxim brushed lint from his black pantaloons. “Murder? Is it those vile malcontents again?”

Tears streamed from the breathless guard’s eyes. “Sovrena, I ran to tell you, but they are just behind me—”

A procession hurried up the stairs, marched into the open chamber. Uniformed guards carried a body wrapped in cloaks. Patches of blood were already soaking through the silken cloaks that covered the body. The men were somber and shaken.

Thora stood tall in front of her throne. Maxim hurried across the blue marble tiles, curious rather than horrified. “And what have we here?” He pulled one of the cloaks away to reveal a stained red shoulder pauldron.

The first guard’s face was flushed from exertion and fear. “It is High Captain Avery! He was out on night patrol, and we found his body this morning. It was hoisted up in the slave market and left on display.” He choked out his words as Thora stepped down from the dais, visibly shaking. “He was stabbed repeatedly with mirror shards.”

Horrified, Thora turned white and removed the silken cloak from the corpse’s face. She stared at Avery’s handsome features, now marred by gashes and dried blood. His eyes had been gouged out, and long crystalline shards had been thrust into his chest, his throat, his mouth, left there to reflect the pain of his dying.

Thora let out a keening wail. “Nooo!” Her immaculately coiffed hair wafted and her skin seemed to crackle as her fury summoned the magic within her. “Those savages must be eradicated.” Grief-struck, she backed away, covering her face.

Maxim was flippant. “You will find other lovers, my dear.” He intercepted the guard procession before they could set the body on the marble floor. He shooed them away. “You will not leave him here, and we will not let his body lie in state as an honored gifted noble.”

“But he was the high captain!” said the lead guard.

Maxim gave the man a withering frown. “Any guard captain who would let himself be killed by street rabble is worthless.”

Nicci stepped forward, even though she knew they didn’t want to hear her speak up. “This is a sign of dangerous unrest in your city. You should do something about it, understand why the people would react this way. Let me and my companions help, and maybe we can release the pressure before it’s too late. Avery should be the last guard who needs to die.”

“Avery didn’t need to die!” the sovrena shrieked.

Maxim seemed more amused than horrified. “Ildakar has been a fine and stable place for many centuries.”

Nathan continued to look at the bloody body wrapped in cloaks. “It doesn’t appear to be entirely fine and stable.”

Thora wasn’t listening. She shook her head, closed her eyes, and retreated to her raised chair, where she collapsed, weeping.

Maxim shot a glance at Chief Handler Ivan. “Feed the body to the arena animals. That way he can at least serve some small purpose other than as a sexual plaything for the sovrena.” He made a vehement gesture, and the unsettled guards hurried out with their bloody burden.

Ivan cracked his knuckles. “An excellent suggestion, Wizard Commander. I can use it for training purposes.” As he followed them out, the body left a trail of blood on the polished blue marble floor.

The visiting Norukai looked after the murdered guard captain and seemed to find the entire scene amusing.