Siege of Stone

CHAPTER 51

As Utros stared through the blood-tinted lens, he couldn’t tear his eyes from his beloved Majel, the woman he had longed for since leaving Orogang. He had vowed to conquer the world for her husband, but his heart belonged to her. He remembered her pointed chin and delicate nose, the full lips he had kissed so many times.

Now, she was a horror, her entire face peeled off, her eyes intact, but with the lids flayed away so she could watch what her husband did to her body. Her jaw muscles were leathery red strips. As she spoke, her teeth clacked together, exposing her meaty tongue. “Utros, my love! You called for me.”

He stared through the lens, stricken. Even Majel’s spirit was mutilated, an eternal reminder that Kurgan had personally imposed this punishment upon her.

“Utros, why don’t you speak to me?” she pleaded, coming closer to the other side of the glass. “You called me through the veil.”

Despite the shocking wounds, he could see Majel in her eyes, the woman he had caressed and loved, and it was still her voice calling to him. “Oh, Majel…” he said. “Keeper and spirits, what has he done to you?”

“The form of a spirit doesn’t matter,” she said. “What counts is the heart and soul.”

Ava and Ruva stood back watching this conversation, fascinated by the shadowed souls lurking in the greenish mists behind the lens.

The general’s focus remained on his beloved, and he heard the wisdom in her words. “It’s been so long, Majel,” he said, in a quiet voice. “I left Orogang and conquered many lands, as I swore to do. We swept across the Old World and sent reports back to the capital. I did what Iron Fang commanded … but I missed you so much.”

“By then I was already dead,” she said. “And so was my husband. Your battles were for nothing.”

“No battle is for nothing. Because of … us, I had to prove that I was also loyal to my emperor.” The words pained him as he spoke, and he forced himself not to turn away from her horrific visage. “I didn’t mean to be gone so long, my love. The centuries must have been agony for you in the underworld, but I was stone. I could not help. I could not join you.”

Majel looked at him with her raw, naked eyes. “Time has no meaning here beyond the veil. My death was like yesterday, or maybe it was forever ago. I have missed you, Utros, and that makes even an instant seem like an eternity.”

He extended his arms, but didn’t touch the glass. He wanted to embrace her, wanted to remember her. Perhaps the only way to join Majel was with his own death, if the Keeper would allow them to be together.

She looked alarmed as she saw him more clearly. “Your face, Utros! What happened?” The question seemed a great irony to him, considering what she had endured.

He reached up to touch his cheek, felt the long-healed scar there that ran from his temple, around his eye, and down his cheek to vanish into the patchy area of his beard. “It is a burn from dragon fire,” he said, lowering his head. “We captured a silver dragon and meant to unleash it on Ildakar, but the dragon turned on us instead. I was burned badly, but my sorceresses healed me. Others did not recover, and the dragon escaped.”

Utros didn’t want to talk about past history or tactical mistakes. He longed to tell Majel how he wanted to bring her back through the veil, but that was impossible. Ava and Ruva reaffirmed what Nicci and Nathan had said. The veil was forever sealed, and he would have to content himself with seeing her, hearing her. They were separated by an impenetrable wall between life and death.

“I love you,” he said.

The flayed spirit answered, “I love you too. I long for you. I did everything for you, Utros, and I lost everything for you. But I…”

Another voice, grating, deep, and shudderingly familiar, emanated through the lens. “But she is mine.”

A second form appeared out of the greenish mist, a bulky copper-skinned man with oiled black hair tied in dozens of thin braids. He had a heavy brow, a hooked nose, a strong jaw. Emperor Kurgan, his emperor, was an imposing man who had gone to fat after years of hedonistic life. When he spoke, he exposed his teeth, showing one hooked iron fang on the left side of his mouth. “Just as you are mine, General Utros. You swore your loyalty to me, as did Majel. That vow cannot be broken. Loyalty is stronger than love. I command that you remember it now!”

The response was automatic. Utros placed a fist against his heart and bowed. “My liege.”

Kurgan pressed closer to the lens, standing next to Majel. From his actions he still considered her his wife, his possession, his symbol. “You betrayed me. You both betrayed me.” His eyes blazed with more than just anger. “You swore. You cut your hand and poured blood into a goblet, which I drank. Majel also gave me her blood. We were bound forever. You think the Keeper ignores such vows? I demand your loyalty, both of you!”

Utros dropped to his knee in front of the lens. “I betrayed you, my liege. I have no excuse, other than that I loved her. You have already inflicted your punishment on Majel.” His voice was raw with horror. He was glad his army could not see or hear this.

“I need no apologies, no groveling, no explanations,” Iron Fang said.

Inside, Utros felt as if wild horses were ripping apart his heart. “I remain loyal to you, my emperor. I conquered many lands in your name. My military force still numbers in the hundreds of thousands. I have laid siege to Ildakar as you commanded and dispatched other armies to reconquer the cities and lands that have been lost over the centuries.”

“What is taking so long?” Kurgan demanded. “If you had been swifter in your conquest, I would have had wealth and power, and my people would never have turned on me. I would have been the greatest emperor in history, yet you left me in Orogang with this treacherous woman who pretended to love me. But now I know that when she gave me her body, she was imagining your kisses, your caresses.” He turned his glare upon the mutilated woman who stood beside him in the spirit world.

“Loyalty is stronger than love,” Majel said, as if he had drummed it into her for fifteen centuries. “I am loyal to you, my husband.” Her voice cracked. “And I’m sorry for you, Utros.”

The words resonated in the general’s mind. He muttered, repeating them. Loyalty is stronger than love. That was how he had been raised and trained. That was what he had held dear, until Majel changed his heart.

“You say that?” Utros asked her. “Even after what he did to you?”

“I remain loyal to my husband,” Majel said meekly, “to Emperor Kurgan.”

“And I still command you, General Utros,” Iron Fang said. “Your original orders stand, now that I can communicate with you from the underworld. You must pay your price. You must do as you promised and hope for forgiveness.”

“I will, my emperor,” Utros said, still kneeling. “A great deal has changed over the centuries, but I will regain the lands I once conquered for you.”

Kurgan sounded annoyed, impatient. “Why don’t you have Ildakar yet? With an army of hundreds of thousands, surely you are strong enough to defeat one city.”

He knew Emperor Kurgan was capricious, volatile. He issued orders that thousands of followers worked to implement, only to change his mind before the task was completed, while General Utros was a steady and rational commander. His soldiers followed his orders, but Utros had always done his best to do as Iron Fang instructed. Now, even though death separated them, the general vowed he would do no less.

“My armies continue to press our siege, but the wizards of Ildakar are powerful. I don’t know if I have the weapons necessary to tear down the city just yet.” He climbed to his feet and stood as a military commander should. “But I will find a way to conquer Ildakar.”

Kurgan spoke in a harsh voice. “If your army is too weak and you don’t have the proper weapons, then get more powerful weapons.” He snorted. “I know of the silver dragon you captured. Another failure of yours! You should have used the dragon to destroy the city, to grind those people under fire and terror. Don’t fail me again. If you are as great a general as you claim, why not capture another dragon? That shouldn’t be impossible.”

Majel turned away. “Loyalty is stronger than love.”

Utros swallowed and forced himself to repeat her words, for Kurgan’s benefit: “Loyalty is stronger than love.” His thoughts began turning as other parts of his mind pondered tactics, possibilities. “I will discuss the matter with my sorceresses. I had not considered calling another dragon, but that might be possible.”

He had to try. Maybe at long last he would achieve his victory over Ildakar.