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Verna added, “Even this far south, Lord Rahl considers you his people.”
As the first cutter tied up at the dock and a group of relieved soldiers climbed onto dry land, Zimmer spoke to the pilot of the small boat, who was about to turn about and head back for the next load of passengers. “Have Captain Norcross come in the next wave. I have a local assignment for him.”
The pilot and two rowers turned about, plying their oars to return to the anchored ships without resting. Zimmer crossed his arms over his armored chest as Thaddeus led them into the town. “We are leading an expedition upriver and overland, eventually to Cliffwall.” He seemed concerned with the unimpressive stone barricade walls and the half-completed guard towers. “But it is also part of my mission to defend against enemies, and those Norukai sound like precisely the sort of enemies Lord Rahl warned us about.”
The town leader breathed swiftly, as if he couldn’t get enough air to express his gratitude. “If you left some of your soldiers here to help us build better defenses against the slavers, we would be eternally in your debt.”
“Not our debt,” Verna said, “but Lord Rahl’s.”
“And the way you can repay it,” Zimmer added, “is by helping to insure the cause of freedom throughout the world.”
“That is a debt we will gladly pay,” Thaddeus said. “We will do everything we can to help you.”
CHAPTER 52
After she had cleaned the blood from herself, Nicci went to the fleshmancer’s studio to watch over Nathan. Andre invited her inside, delighted with what he had done. He was charged with nervous energy as he paced back and forth around the table where he had performed the sorcerous operation.
Lean and handsome, Nathan lay stretched out on the flat surface, his face slack, his skin pale, his long arms at his sides. His eyes were closed, his white hair spread out around his head. Clumps of dried blood smeared the skin and hair below his ears and neck. Nicci couldn’t tell if the blood belonged to him, to the slaughtered combat animals, or to Chief Handler Ivan. His broad chest was caked with additional dried blood that did not obscure a wormlike line that wiggled from the base of his throat down to the center of his chest.
“That looks like a long-healed scar,” she said, “but you did your work just last night. A potent healing spell?”
Andre beamed. “Far more than that, Sorceress. As I told you, I am a master fleshmancer. I shaped his skin, redesigned his insides, and provided him with the heart of a wizard. A new heart. I’m certain Ivan wouldn’t mind.…”
“But will Nathan’s body accept a foreign heart?” She felt certain that the cruel chief handler would not have been Nathan’s first choice.
“That is up to his Han,” Andre said. “I created a complete map of the gift throughout his body, and I could sense the strands myself. I reconnected them, using Ivan’s heart. In theory, his gift will be restored when he awakens. The heart will beat again, and Nathan will be a true wizard once more.”
Grinning, he reached down to touch the broad, naked chest, stroking the scar line carefully, casually. “It is some of my greatest work, maybe even better than the combat bears or that two-headed fighter.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now that was quite an accomplishment!” As Nicci regarded him with a cool stare, Andre’s eyes took on a wistful, distant look. “But not better than my Ixax warriors. Oh, no! Now those three are special—a shame they have never been used.”
Nicci didn’t know what the eccentric fleshmancer was talking about. “When will we know if it worked?”
“The dear man did endure quite a traumatic experience.” Andre smirked. “Not quite as traumatic as Ivan’s, naturally, but he is in a deep recuperative slumber. The Han must coil and uncoil, regrow within him, connect its strands, and find itself once more. Nathan must also discover his new heart.”
Nicci didn’t take her gaze from the old wizard’s form. She considered remaining here to guard him, to make certain that Andre did not perform twisted experiments, just because he could. She realized that Bannon would likely be willing to sit a vigil here, too, sword propped in front of him, but she had not seen the young man. Feeling an increasing uneasiness, wondering what he was doing to occupy himself, she hardened her determination to find Amos and demand to know where their young companion was.
“What did you do with the body of Chief Handler Ivan?” she asked.
The fleshmancer lifted his chin. Parts of his thick braided beard had come undone, but he didn’t seem to care. “After I removed his heart, I had no use for the husk. Normally, a fallen duma member would receive a fine funeral of state, but I decided on something more befitting on behalf of my friend.” His lips quirked in a smile. “I had his body chopped up and fed to the remaining combat animals in their cages. Much more appropriate, hmmm?”
Nicci grunted, though she did not argue. “It does seem fitting.”
Nathan’s chest rose and fell with only the faintest sign of breathing. Nicci looked down, concerned for the man, for the wizard … for her friend. She asked again, “How long will he sleep?”
“Until he is healed.” Andre spoke as if the answer were obvious.
“And how long will that take?”
The fleshmancer shrugged. “Until he is healed.”
Nicci felt impatient. Nathan—the wizard Nathan—would be a great ally when he recovered, but right now, Nicci had plans to set in motion. Even with the city trapped beneath the shroud of eternity, she knew there must be some way to bring freedom to Ildakar.
Mirrormask had caused mayhem by unleashing some of the combat animals. While his followers had run among the beasts, the rebel leader himself had not been present, although Nicci suspected he might have been watching from a safe distance. How could he have resisted?
But Nicci didn’t know what exactly that turmoil was meant to accomplish. It was just an annoyance—a spectacular annoyance that had left its mark and resulted in the death of one of the duma members and all of those animals, but just an annoyance nevertheless. The reckless act had not been part of an overall plan. Richard Rahl would have developed a complete strategy for overthrowing a tyrannical rule. If Mirrormask had such a plan, Nicci needed to know what it was.
A sudden flare of instinctive defensiveness rippled through her. It seemed to come from outside of herself, and Nicci couldn’t identify it. She looked around, seeing the bubbling specimen tanks on the walls of the chamber in the studio, smelling the chemical powders and the sour old blood.
No … the feeling was something else.
Someone shouted in the spacious entry portico, “Wizar
d Andre! Another of the wild beasts has been caught nearby.” A uniformed city guard hurried into the studio’s main wing, squinting in the midnight-blue dimness. “High Captain Stuart begged me to come for your assistance.”
“Another animal? Did we not kill them all last night?” Andre asked in a huff.
Nicci felt a twinge again in her mind, defiance mixed with an instinctive fear. She shook her head to get the buzzing out of her thoughts, felt her skin crawl—and she knew where it came from.
Mrra.
“It is a sand panther, all alone, marked with the chief handler’s runes,” the guard said. “I don’t know about the other members of its troka, but we have to capture it alive. Sovrena Thora says we need the animals for the combat pits.”
“Then I shall create more, when I have time,” Andre said.
Nicci watched his attention shift from his patient to another amusing obsession, but she knew she had to take charge, to go to Mrra. “I will take care of this,” she said to the fleshmancer. “You need to stay here with Nathan. Make certain he heals as quickly as possible.”
Andre gave her a dismissive wave, bending down and placing his ear very close to Nathan’s nostrils. “I have no interest in chasing cats, no matter how large they are. I didn’t create them, you know. They’re wild sand panthers captured and forced to breed, and then we raise the cubs.” He shook his head. “Ivan used to enjoy that part, as I recall. Now his apprentices will have to do the work.”
