Siege of Stone

CHAPTER 56

In the duma chamber, while Quentin reviewed lists of names that his representatives had gathered from among the population, Nathan and Elsa worked side by side, sharing ideas in low voices. They had not yet openly raised the suggestion of the Ixax warriors to the duma.

Though the hour was late, Lani also joined them, her skin pale and hard. Nathan knew little about her, but she had challenged Thora for her rule, and that made Lani a decent person, as far as he was concerned.

Without explaining her actions, Lani walked up to the stone table and picked up the pitcher of water left for the duma members. Nathan looked up, curious. “I thought you didn’t need to drink or eat?”

Lani looked down into the water in the pitcher. “This is a weapon. It’s my own magic.”

“I remember your scrying magic.” Elsa smiled and turned to Nathan. “It is similar to my transference magic, but Lani has an affinity for water. She can call on it, use it as a conduit, like the aqueducts beneath Ildakar.”

“That gift comes from within me. My blood is infused with it.” Lani caressed the curve of the pitcher. “Renn and I would share the things we read in obscure texts, and we discovered many forgotten legends and spells. Thora didn’t much care about our studies. She considered herself at the pinnacle of her strength and did not need to learn anything else.”

“One should always keep learning,” Nathan said. “Even when I was stuck in the Palace of the Prophets for a thousand years, I continued to read and study.” He stroked his chin. “Actually, my reasons weren’t entirely altruistic. I was hoping to discover a way to escape my prison, so I could live my own life.”

“I am glad you finally succeeded, Nathan,” Elsa said. “I rather like having you here.”

“I can help Ildakar, now that I have the heart of a wizard again.”

“But is your gift powerful enough to stop General Utros?” Lani asked.

“Not alone, of course.” He self-consciously brushed the front of his wizard’s robes. “But surely with everyone joining their magic, we can defeat an old general and a half-petrified army.”

“Only if we are aware of what the enemy is doing.” Lani turned with the pitcher and surprised them by pouring the water in a spreading pool onto the blue marble.

Nathan yanked his feet up so the water wouldn’t splash on his boots. At the opposite table, Quentin looked up from his list of names. He grumbled impatiently, then went back to his work.

Lani knelt next to the spreading pool on the polished floor. “I can use scrying magic to spy on our enemy. I can see what Utros is doing, if he has open water nearby.” She sighed. “I wish Renn were here. He always gave me strength, but I will do it without him.” She looked up and met Elsa’s eyes. “I’ll do it for him.”

“He will return someday,” Elsa said.

Lani held her hands over the water and called upon her gift, making images appear. Thora had used the same magic, scrying through the water basins in Ildakar as an illicit way to spy on her own people. “General Utros will not suspect. I just need to find water, close to him.…”

Lani closed her eyes, holding her chalk-white hands above the surface of the pool. She pulled on her gift and pressed her hands lower, until with the faintest of touches, her fingers met the still surface. The images sharpened, and she opened her eyes again.

Curious, Nathan could see shadows forming, and he recognized the place where he and Nicci had spoken to the general in their parley session. “That is his headquarters.”

Lani narrowed her eyes. “This is what Utros is doing right now, what he is saying, what he is seeing. I am looking through a water basin in his quarters.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, and her expression grew more intent.

The rippling images stilled, and the pool looked like a mirror on the floor. Through the water, Nathan saw Ava and Ruva, their heads shaved, their white skin painted with cryptic swirls and designs. The vision was tinged red, as if seen through stained glass.

General Utros loomed closer as the two sorceresses chanted, pulled with their own magic. Sitting close to the water on the floor, Lani gasped. She seemed frozen, but could not break the vision. She struggled, and the images grew more potent, more startling.

Utros had lost half of his face. Someone had cut the entire burn scar from his cheek, his mouth, beneath his eye. The wound was fresh and raw, dripping blood.

The sorceresses continued their chant, calling in an ancient tongue, then spoke to the general. “We are summoning the dragon. He must come.”

Nathan and Elsa both recoiled in astonishment. “Dear spirits, how can they call a dragon?”

When Lani gasped again, the two sorceresses suddenly looked at the water, like eagles spotting a rabbit on the ground. Lani yanked her hands back from the pool, trying to break the scrying spell, but Ava and Ruva leaned closer on their side, throwing harsh magic into the water and following Lani’s connection back to her.

“No!” The water on the blue marble floor roiled like soup in a cauldron. The scrying images shattered, but the water continued to writhe, pulling itself together. The liquid rose up in a translucent frothing column and flung itself at Lani’s face. She lifted her hands, clawing at the water, which covered her like a smothering sheet.

Nathan and Elsa leaped over the stone table, running to help her. Quentin stood up from his books, staring in disbelief.

Lani thrashed, but could not tear away the water that covered her face, pushing into her mouth, her nose. She couldn’t breathe, and the water forced itself inside her.

“She’s drowning!” Nathan said. “We have to help her!”

Elsa scribbled a transference rune, tried to move the water. It pulled and squirmed like a jellyfish on Lani’s face, pressing into her nose, her eyes. Lani couldn’t breathe, but she fought back.

Nathan manipulated the air, creating a vacuum to suck the water away, but Ava and Ruva combined their gift and counterattacked. He couldn’t react swiftly enough.

The water pressed into Lani’s sinuses, into her throat. Its force broke her jaw, ruptured her windpipe, shattered her cheekbones from the inside, and the smothering water filled her, flooding her head, her lungs.

Even as Nathan and Elsa frantically tried to help, Lani collapsed to the marble tiles. The floor was now dry, because all the water was within her. The visions were gone.

The sorceress lay dead, her face misshapen and flaccid now that all the bones that held her features had been pulverized. Her stiff skin folded in on itself, and in an evil irony, all the water flowed back out of her nose and mouth, running across the floor.

“Oh, Lani!” Elsa wrapped her arms around the dead woman’s shoulders. “Oh, Lani.”

Quentin stood behind them, appalled.

Nathan felt stricken and helpless. “I didn’t know how to stop it. I could not save her. Dear spirits…”

“Dear spirits, indeed,” Quentin said. He turned to Elsa and Nathan. “And now we should be even more afraid. We know that General Utros is calling a dragon.”