Siege of Stone

CHAPTER 41

Bannon couldn’t remember what had happened to him, but the ache of his muscles and his bruised and battered skin gave him a dull awareness. Memories began to return, though they remained a blur. Previously, whenever he went into his blood-maddened state, he didn’t remember what he had done.

Nevertheless, against all odds, he was still alive.

As he blinked his way back to consciousness, Bannon discovered that he was confined inside a wooden shack. Dim morning light filtered through gaps in the mismatched boards. When he drew a deep breath, he hissed in involuntary pain. He hurt everywhere, inside and out. He gingerly touched an egg-sized lump on the back of his head where someone had struck him a hard blow.

“He’s finally awake,” said a ragged voice.

A second, closer voice sounded forlorn. “Maybe they’ll kill him first, but I know they’ll kill us all.”

Bannon turned toward the voices and winced. The aching throb turned into loud drumbeats in his skull. He saw Jed and Brock huddled against the wooden wall of the shack. They sat on the ground, knees drawn up to their chests. Their bright silken robes were stained and bloody, their eyes swollen, their faces covered with scabs.

“You survived, too!” Bannon said. “Where are we?”

“In the enemy camp, of course,” Brock said. “Prisoners.”

“Keeper’s crotch!” Jed hung his head. “I suppose we should thank you for getting us captured instead of killed outright.”

“He only delayed what’s going to happen,” Brock groaned. “It might have been cleaner to let them kill us out there. At least it would be over with.”

Bannon pressed the swelling on the back of his head, felt dried blood in his hair. “I got us captured? How did I do that?” He touched his bruised eye, looked at the cuts on his arm, and decided not to take a complete inventory of his injuries. “I don’t remember anything except fighting the soldiers.”

“We knew we were going to die, but you battled like a madman,” Jed said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. When you threw yourself on them, something changed. You went berserk.”

“I…” Bannon shook his head, which made him grit his teeth from the pain. “Sometimes that happens. I lose myself in a fighting frenzy.”

“You saved us, whatever it was,” Jed said. “Brock and I tried to defend ourselves, but you—I think you killed a dozen of them before they finally took you down. The soldiers said you fought so well, they wanted to show you to General Utros. We surrendered, too. We had no other choice.”

Brock added, “These silk robes showed that we are important people. That is probably why they saved us.”

Trying to look outside, Bannon pressed his good eye against a gap in the wall boards. He smelled thick, pungent smoke. In the daylight he saw blackened hillsides and hundreds of warriors scurrying across the scorched area, putting out smoldering patches. As his thoughts came back to him, he recalled Lila and the morazeth fighting and Mrra tearing apart enemy soldiers. He remembered Nicci and the other gifted using wizard’s fire and lightning, while he and the countless Ildakaran defenders fought with more conventional weapons.

“Did we win?” Bannon asked. “Is the rest of the army safe inside the city?”

Brock made a rude noise. “We didn’t win. It was never possible we would win. We killed plenty of them, and they killed a lot of our army.”

“We caused some damage, though,” Jed admitted. “More than Utros expected, I think.”

The shack’s door flung open and one of the pale soldiers stood there. “I am commanded to bring you to General Utros. You will come.”

Bannon lifted himself to his feet. “Good. I was going to demand to see him.”

“He’ll kill us now,” Brock groaned.

“The general will question you first,” said the soldier. “Maybe he will kill you afterward. It depends on your answers.”

The three captives were marched out into the open, and Bannon shrank from the bright morning light after the rank-smelling shadows of the shack. He saw the enemy soldiers working in the encampment, repairing damage. The hills still smoldered, but the conflagration had been stopped. Some of the swift flames had encroached on the great camp, burning tents and structures. The blaze had even approached the general’s headquarters, but a valiant effort had stopped the fire’s progress in time. Ancient soldiers, some singed, glowered at the three young prisoners walking under guard toward the command structure.

Though his head throbbed, Bannon dredged up bravery from within. Jed was physically shaking, and Brock sniveled. The two noble boys had been so haughty when they were with Amos, but now they seemed broken and terrified.

Bannon had wanted so badly for them to be his friends, but Nicci often told him he was naive. He realized that he no longer had Sturdy, which was no surprise, though he didn’t remember being disarmed. The loss of the weapon saddened him, but Bannon feared he was about to lose much more.

As the captives approached the rough headquarters, he recognized the legendary figure of General Utros. He was a big man, well muscled, wearing a leather vest that sported a stylized-flame symbol. Utros had a full beard, neatly trimmed, but the left side of his face was scarred from an ancient burn. His skin and hair were grayish white from the stone spell.

Two strange, beautiful women emerged from the dark interior of the command structure and took places on either side of Utros. They stared at him with predatory eyes. He realized they must be the sorceresses who had attacked Nicci with her own hair.

Jed and Brock fell behind Bannon as if hiding in his shadow, but he had learned a great deal about bravery. He moved closer to the general without being encouraged. “My name is Bannon Farmer. I’m a swordsman and a traveler. I came to Ildakar with my friends Nicci and Nathan.”

Utros remained silent, then gave a respectful nod. “You are an exceptional fighter. You managed to impress even my invincible army.” He took a step closer. “You are not of Ildakar, then? And you know the sorceress Nicci and the wizard Nathan, who came to parley with me?”

“Yes, I’m friends with Nicci and Nathan.” He turned to his companions. “And these are Jed and Brock, from Ildakar.”

The two young men scowled, as if they preferred to remain invisible and unidentified.

“I know they are nobles, possibly worth a ransom,” Utros said. “They did not help you much during the fight, however.”

Jed and Brock looked offended, and Bannon said, “They aren’t fighters.”

“Ildakar’s defenders did surprisingly well,” Utros said, in grudging acknowledgment, “but you cannot win. I have orders from Emperor Kurgan.” He gazed over Bannon’s shoulder, as if seeing something that wasn’t there; then his focus snapped back to Bannon, like a raptor sighting prey. “Those two are useless, but you fight well, Bannon Farmer. Why not join my army? Be part of the victory.”

Bannon was horrified. “I would never do that. I couldn’t betray my friends.”

“We’re not useless,” Brock said. “Even before your stone army woke up, we destroyed hundreds of your soldiers. That’s more than anyone else in the city accomplished.”

Utros flipped his attention to the young man behind Bannon, and his stiff features twisted in an expression of disgust. “You smashed statues? When we were helpless?”

Jed said defiantly, “We didn’t know you’d ever wake up, but we damaged hundreds.”

Brock said, “I wish we had destroyed all of you.”

The twin sorceresses whispered in voices that hissed like serpents. Utros said, “Then I change my opinion. You weak nobles caused inexcusable damage.”

Bannon squared his shoulders, facing the enemy general. “The people of Ildakar are not helpless. They have many powerful wizards, and Nicci and Nathan are the strongest of them all. Your siege doesn’t have a chance of succeeding.”

One of the painted sorceresses said, “How did Nicci survive our spell that possessed her hair?”

Bannon flared his nostrils. “We all fought together. I was there. Nathan and I helped cut her hair, and she used her own magic to break the bond. They’re stronger than you think.”

“So are we,” Utros said.

Another ancient soldier rushed up to report to the general, interrupting their conversation. Utros listened to the whispered report, then called two guards. “Take them back into confinement. I will interrogate them further after I finish my work here.” He turned a steely glare at Jed and Brock. “These two noble boys deserve painful questioning to reveal everything they know about the inner workings of Ildakar.”

Chalky guards manhandled the three prisoners back toward their shack. As he was herded along, Bannon studied every detail of the camp, hoping to see some chance of escape.