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“Get those yaxen out of the way, boy!” Avery grumbled. “Use the back thoroughfares, not the main streets.”
“Sorry, my lord Captain.” The young man had a mop of brown hair and flashed a grin to reveal his missing front tooth. “The beasts need to drink at the fountain, and then I’ll put them right back down the side street.”
“They shouldn’t be drinking from the public fountain, not in the high levels of the city.”
“But the sovrena says the water is for everyone.”
“Yes, she does.” Avery’s voice turned into a growl. “But water them in your place. These fountains are for gifted nobles and higher tradesmen. They don’t want their water tainted by yaxen spittle.”
“Apologies, my lord Captain,” the boy said, without sounding contrite at all. He snapped the sharp tip of a switch against the hindquarters of the rearmost yaxen. The beasts moved forward, bleating out their dismal moans.
Two of the creatures turned their heads to look back at them, and Nicci was shocked to see not the wide-set eyes and flat bovine visage of a stupid cow. Rather, the yaxen faces looked eerily humanlike, with the distorted expressions of damned men. Shaggy hair covered their heads, and thick beards ran along their chins. Their mouths were open, letting pale ribbons of drool run out. Blunted horns atop the skull seemed to be no more than decoration. Both yaxen turned away and plodded onward.
Nicci stared, shocked by what she had seen. “Dear spirits, are they human?”
“Far less than human,” Avery said. “They are yaxen.”
After the boy had driven the animals away, the escort led them across the square toward a side street. When the buildings opened up above her, Nicci saw the ruling tower, which loomed above them at the top of the plateau, reminding her of the fortress lighthouse that rose over Grafan Harbor.
Among the milling people on this side of the square, Nicci detected an excitement she hadn’t noticed before. Men and women in the drab clothes of lower classes jabbered and whispered next to the more colorful merchants and nobles.
When Avery and his guards pushed forward to investigate, someone let out a warning whistle. The crowd melted into private businesses, ducking into doorways and hurrying away like a flock of birds that scattered into the sky.
Avery’s expression darkened as he marched up to a brick wall just around the corner in a side street. Glinting silvery shards had been thrust like ornaments between cracks in the bricks. Other reflective glints protruded from the wood of the doorjambs and window frames.
“Look at the little mirrors,” Bannon said. “Someone decorated this alley.”
Avery withdrew his short sword and used the flat of the blade to smash the mirror shards. He called to his men, “Remove them all! Search these streets and make sure there are no more.” He swept his sword again, releasing the sound of tinkling reflective glass. “Clean up every bit.”
“Are you afraid of your reflection?” Nicci asked with a hint of sarcasm.
The guard captain rounded on her. “I’m more concerned with rebels. The followers of Mirrormask did this. They want us to believe their numbers are greater than they really are, and they do this in the middle of the night to taunt us. We cannot let them gain a foothold.”
“Mirrormask?” Nathan mused. “Now that sounds like an interesting story. Would you tell us the tale before we reach the tower?”
“No. As captain of the city guard, it is my duty to protect and defend Ildakar. If you want stories, ask the sovrena or the wizard commander.”
He abruptly cut off his conversation as he marched at a faster pace. Near the top of the plateau, the sloping streets were filled with more gardens, orchards, and trellises. Avery did not speak another word until they reached the entrance to the ruling tower.
CHAPTER 8
The high pillar of stone rose up from the edge of the sandstone plateau like the tusk of some ancient beast. Serpentine loops and lines carved into the tower’s outer walls formed an intricate web that spiraled up to the pinnacle that overlooked the residential district and winding streets below.
Nathan stared up at the sheer face of the tower. “Dear spirits, that’s a web—a protective spell constructed into the tower. This place must be impregnable.”
“It is said to be,” Avery replied. “But it has not been tested, since no one ever breached the outer walls of Ildakar.”
The broad summit of the plateau was populated with numerous palatial buildings, villas, and an imposing pyramid adorned with curved metal devices; Nicci wondered if the stair-stepped structure might be an astronomical observatory.
They had a breathtaking view of the city below, with terraced fields and hanging gardens, fountains and reservoirs, glittering cisterns and enamel-painted tile roofs that spread out like a rainbow across the buildings far below.
“I am impressed with these defenses,” Nicci said. “A city endures if its people remember that there are always others who wish to destroy it.”
Avery stepped through the curved arch of the tower’s entrance, and they followed him inside. Nicci felt the temperature drop by several degrees. Bannon wiped perspiration from his brow, smearing his long ginger hair out of the way. “It’s much cooler in here.”
“The wizards keep it that way,” Avery said. “Note the glyphs on the walls.”
The strange designs carved into the interior stone blocks emanated magic, and Nicci realized these were concentration points of a passive spell. “Transference magic?”
Nathan nodded. “Yes, the glyphs drain excess heat from the air and channel it elsewhere, possibly to kitchens or fireplaces.”
Avery did not offer his opinion as he led them deeper inside to a dominant central staircase, a cascade of steps hewn out of variegated stone, green-veined granite, white and black marble. The ornamental balustrades were carved like eels looping down the staircase.
The stairs led up to a landing, then another flight of stairs, then a third landing higher in the tower. At the third landing, the stairs opened up into a wide receiving room. As she followed the guard captain, Nicci instinctively understood the psychology of the construction. Jagang had taught her much when he built so many enormous structures as he swept over the land. The steep stairs, the several landings, and finally the open gallery into a grandiose main room—the architecture was designed to delay supplicants, to leave them flushed and breathless by the time they faced the powerful rulers.
But Nicci refused to tremble when she met the leaders of Ildakar, whoever they were.
Inside the great chamber, slanted sunlight shone through high arched windows that dominated one of the side walls. The view through the thin panes of clear glass showed the sprawling city far below.
Avery’s boots made loud noises as he strode across blue marble tiles that were polished to such a sheen they looked like puddles of water. Like an island above the lake of blue marble, a raised dais featured two ornate and imposing chairs, on which sat a man and a woman. At each side of the main floor, two curved marble tables with empty stone benches were reserved for more council members, three or four on each side.
Avery stepped up to the rais
ed dais and dropped to one knee. His fur-lined cape spread out across his shoulders and back. “Sovrena Thora, Wizard Commander Maxim, I bring you visitors from beyond the shroud, from a distant land called D’Hara.”
Sovrena Thora was a tall, willowy woman so beautiful she seemed to be made of porcelain. She had a narrow chin, a rosebud mouth, and haunting sea-green eyes. Her lustrous hair was like threads of polished brass done up in intricate loops and whorls. Her fine gown of sky-blue silk was trimmed with bands of striped gray fur. The dress hung in a rippling band from her left shoulder, wrapped around her ample breasts; reaching her narrow waist, the fabric became a waterfall of skirts that draped over her bent knees and down to her ankles.
On either side of her chair hung two gold-wire cages that held flitting, chirping songbirds, but Thora seemed to pay no attention to the scattered birdsong.
Next to her sat a handsome man of average build, presumably Wizard Commander Maxim. He had short brown hair, dark eyebrows, and a dark goatee. Wearing an impish smile, he lounged back in his throne, one knee crossed over the other. His black pantaloons seemed woven from obsidian fiber rather than silk. His shirt was open, and an amethyst pendant hung from a gold chain around his throat to nest among the dark curls of his chest hair.
Drawing upon her promises to Richard, Nicci took charge and stepped forward, head held high. She summoned the presence of her personality as she faced the two leaders, refusing to bow as High Captain Avery had. “We’ve heard of this legendary city, and we come with the news of Lord Rahl and the golden age he will bring to the world.”
Thora sat ramrod straight and looked directly at Nicci, ignoring Nathan and Bannon, and spoke in a strong, husky voice. “We welcome you, but Ildakar is independent. We have little interest in the outside world.”
