Siege of Stone

CHAPTER 80

Two more reckless Norukai ships plowed into Serrimundi Harbor. The raiders tossed torches onto the wooden docks and into the rigging of commercial ships tied up to the piers. The burly attackers abandoned their oars, leaped onto shore, and ran forward, striking down terrified dockworkers who tried to defend their city.

The Norukai men and women were unstoppable, letting out wordless screams to terrify their victims. They lunged forward, hacking with axes, twirling and smashing with heavy battle hammers, thrusting with bone-tipped spears. They raced along dock boards slippery with blood, leaving mangled bodies strewn about.

The dockside fires began to spread into the warehouses and marketplaces. Families evacuated, taking small boats up the canals or running into the hills. Serrimundi had been sure of its peace and prosperity for far too long.

Slowly, though, the frightened people began to turn like a wave that breaks on the shore. After sending their families off to hide, brave citizens returned to the harborside, carrying household weapons. Some old veterans managed to find armored chest plates, heirloom swords, shields that had been used for decoration, and dented helmets from near-forgotten conflicts in the past.

Even with three serpent ships piled against the damaged docks, the landed Norukai numbered less than two hundred, and Serrimundi could call many more defenders. The tide turned as the city awakened.

From the deck of the Mist Maiden, Nicci saw the clash on the docks, but she focused on the five nearest ships. Her own makeshift navy was crowded with determined but frightened sailors to stand against them, and they also had Nicci.

As the lead serpent ship caromed off the Mist Maiden’s hull, its charred snakelike figurehead still smoked. The barbaric Norukai leaped onto the deck with bare arms, wearing engraved metal bracers, spiked collars on their necks, rings and chains that made both the male and female warriors look more like demons than humans. When they let out ululating war screams, their jaws gaped wide from sliced-open cheeks.

The Mist Maiden’s first mate gripped his sword with both hands. He held the blade up to defend himself, but a Norukai bone-tipped spear plunged into his chest. Choking blood, he dropped his sword and fell to his knees. The armed crew of the Mist Maiden moaned at seeing the first casualty, but they had no time to wait. Dozens more raiders landed on their deck, charging forward with a forest of sharp weapons.

Nicci couldn’t help the first mate, but she reached out with her gift and focused on the Norukai who had thrown the spear. The broad-shouldered woman stood crowing in triumph, but Nicci concentrated, found the woman’s heart, and used her gift to crush it. The Norukai woman fell with a thud in front of one of her running comrades, who tripped and sprawled over the body. Nicci shifted her focus to the man, and as he lurched to his feet, Nicci found his heart and stopped it as well.

The ship’s deck became a flurry of screams and deadly weapons. Three more Mist Maiden sailors fell. Harborlord Otto used a large staff to smash skulls and break arms.

Captain Ganley had a ceremonial sword, but it was dull, and he was unpracticed. As two Norukai closed in on him, he swung the sword, then dropped it and grabbed a boat hook instead, with which he seemed more familiar. He swung with all his strength, raking one Norukai’s face with the curved hook. The second Norukai thrust in viciously, but Ganley caught him with the point of the boat hook and shoved it into his abdomen. The raider grabbed the slick shaft of the weapon and stared at it, apparently offended to be killed so early in the battle. The ship’s captain, ashen but determined, shoved hard again, pushing the dying Norukai backward until he fell off the end of the boat hook.

After landing on the deck, Captain Kor roared, urging the raiders on. “Norukai! King Grieve ordered you to die, but you are not allowed to die until we secure our victory for the serpent god.” He held a long-handled axe in one hand, a sword in the other. “We ransacked five villages so far, but now we take on an entire city!”

After Renda Bay, all Norukai were her enemies, but Nicci would take great pleasure in killing this particular one. She already loathed the man from having seen Kor beat slaves in Ildakar and laugh at the pain he inflicted. She held up her hand, felt the gift building, eager to be released. She could stop Kor’s heart. She could throw wizard’s fire at him. She could knock him overboard with a blast of wind.

But when he saw her and recognized her, his words made Nicci pause. “The sorceress from Ildakar! I thought King Grieve would kill you there in his invasion, but now the pleasure falls to me.”

Nicci had no time to parse his words as she faced him. “I don’t know your King Grieve, but I will be happy to kill you first.” She had to dispatch the Norukai captain swiftly, so she could defend the other sailors. She raised her hand, felt the magic surge in her grasp to annihilate him—

Just then, the adjacent serpent ship exploded. An intense flash of light speared upward through the hull below the waterline, shattering the deck and erupting in a spray of fire. Wizard’s fire. Wherever the spattering flames caught the Norukai, the deadly fire burned through their flesh and bones and kept burning. The serpent ship groaned and listed to one side, taking on great amounts of water from below, filling the hold. The raiders who had boarded the Mist Maiden spun and howled in outrage, astonished by what had happened.

A second Norukai ship burst into flame, more wizard’s fire spewing upward from below, cracking hull planks, shattering the keel, turning the vessel into a burning wreck. The Norukai wildly searched for this unexpected enemy.

Nicci saw the remaining pair of glowing spheres below the waterline, where the last two wishpearl divers were delivering glass bottles filled with magical fire. Two more Norukai ships suffered the same fate, wizard’s fire shattering out of the glass bottles and ripping upward.

Within minutes, the four wishpearl divers broke the surface, treading water and sucking in gulps of air.

As the battle continued aboard the Mist Maiden, Nicci called more wizard’s fire with her hand, but she wouldn’t risk unleashing it here. Kor’s raiding vessel was smashed up against the ship, and the fire would surely spread.

Realizing that Nicci was somehow responsible for the explosions, Kor sprang forward, swinging his heavy axe. She ducked, felt the blade swoop just above her head, and he followed through with a swift jab of the sword in his other hand.

Nicci spun away, but the sharp blade sliced her black dress and laid open a gash across her ribs. She slammed him backward with her gift, but Kor planted his feet and shoved forward, swinging both weapons. Nicci reached out to stop his heart, but he moved too quickly, spitting, attacking, and she couldn’t spare an instant to find the right point.

The Norukai attackers were more frenzied after seeing four of their ships wrecked. They became suicidal, attacking without any thought of surviving the battle. It reminded Nicci of when she saw Bannon consumed with his uncontrollable blood rage.

“You will all die!” Kor said. “And you’ll all grieve, just like everyone in Ildakar right now.” He swung his battle-axe and struck the deck boards, gouging out large chunks. “The whole world will know King Grieve, but Serrimundi will never forget Captain Kor.”

Nicci was about to crush his spine, but she needed to know. “What do you mean Ildakar is under attack? How?” She had traveled through the sliph, left the city to face the siege of General Utros, but she had not considered a Norukai invasion.

“Fifty ships, Sorceress. King Grieve has thousands of Norukai warriors.” Kor chuckled. “I have told our king everything he needs to know to take the city. Ildakar will be his capital when he conquers the Old World.”

Nicci imagined a force of ships five times greater than what was now attacking Serrimundi. Could Nathan and the gifted duma members handle such attacks from two sides, the Norukai and Utros?

“I will go back and help them defeat King Grieve as soon as I have eliminated you,” Nicci said. “I will tell your king how you died.”

Kor sneered at her. “I’m already dead. Grieve ordered me to fight until I died in battle, and I intend to do so. But I will see you dead before I fall.” He charged toward her, his eyes blazing.

Since he wanted to die here, she granted Kor his wish. She summoned her focus, shaped the air, and slammed it together, crushing his skull from all sides. She caved in the bone and turned his brain into a pulp.

Even as the Norukai captain collapsed, Nicci turned to the remaining raiders, anxious to defeat them and save Serrimundi. She saw the ships in the harbor and the warehouses in flames. Hundreds more Norukai fought their last battles, but the people had rallied and were driving the scarred warriors back.

Nicci drew one of her daggers in her right hand, and called up magic in her left. For now, she devoted herself to this battle. She had killed hundreds before, and she would do it again today. She got to work.