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* * *
When they reached the towering main gates, High Captain Stuart was barking orders for his sentry soldiers to be ready for an attack, but the ancient soldiers had withdrawn beyond the fallen moats. Stuart rushed over to Nicci and Nathan. “Some sort of signal came from the center of the army. The soldiers stopped their pounding and marched back.”
From the high battlements, Nicci peered over the wall, noticing the chipped outer surface of the huge blocks at the base. The endless pounding had marred the stone, gouged divots and small cracks, but the gifted wizards had reinforced the blocks with strengthening spells. At the base of the barrier, she saw smoke stains, pools of oil, scattered boulders, and other missiles that had killed hundreds of the enemy, whose bodies had been hauled away.
Out on the plain, General Utros’s army spread apart with eerie coordination, the ranks forming an open path for a single man to ride forward. He sat astride a chalky war mount that plodded forward like a plow horse instead of a charger. The rider wore leather armor with broad shoulder plates, a blocky helmet, and a wide curved sword at his side, but he did not draw it. He rode at a methodical pace up to the enormous gates, where he stopped.
From the high parapet, Nicci looked down. The man was a craggy-faced veteran, an older warrior who exuded power and efficiency. He stared up at them for a long moment while High Captain Stuart and the wall guards muttered, waiting for the representative to say something.
Finally, the scarred veteran raised a gauntleted fist and shouted, “In the name of General Utros and on behalf of the almighty Iron Fang, Emperor Kurgan, we demand to speak with a representative of Ildakar. We will negotiate how much damage your city must suffer before you surrender.” He waited.
The wall guards whispered to one another, glancing at Stuart, who in turn waited for Nicci and Nathan. None of the other duma members had yet arrived at the wall.
Nathan furrowed his brow and called down at the man on the horse, “So, you’re not General Utros, then? You are just a lackey.”
The armored man’s expression twisted, then returned to stony frankness. “I am First Commander Enoch. I speak for Utros, and Utros speaks for Emperor Kurgan. We will withdraw our forces so you can send us your negotiator. We guarantee the safety of your representative. The general wishes to be sensible, until you give him reason not to be.”
Enoch wheeled his horse around and rode back out to where he disappeared among the countless enemy soldiers.
* * *
Without the firm hand of the sovrena or wizard commander, the duma members were disorganized. For centuries under the shroud, their city business had been aimless, but now that they faced a terrible crisis, the council members weren’t sure who would make such an important decision, or even who would speak for Ildakar. No one seemed eager to volunteer.
Nicci and Nathan sat among them, impatient. The duma members Elsa, Damon, Quentin, and the half-petrified Lani discussed Utros’s ultimatum among themselves. Oron, the newest member of the duma, had the most to say. “We have no choice but to speak with Utros. It’s the only way we can get information.”
“It’s the only way to resolve this,” Damon agreed. “What if he offers tolerable terms?”
“But we can’t send our most powerful people out there,” Quentin said. “What if it’s a trick? If General Utros holds us hostage, our city will be that much weaker.”
“He gave us his word, promised the safety of our representative,” Elsa said. “That army has pounded on our walls for days, but this is the first we’ve heard from the general. Aren’t we obligated to find out what he wants?”
Oron agreed, resting his chin on a bunched fist. “It’ll buy us time until we figure out how to drive them off, or how we can all escape.”
“Escape?” Nathan said with a snort. “Dear spirits, there must be half a million people in this city. You mean to send them all out, down the bluffs with ropes and ladders, to sail away down the river? That would be impossible.”
“Not evacuation,” Quentin said. “We were thinking of other alternatives.”
Nicci said, “General Utros may know nothing about what happened to him. They just awakened after being turned to stone for centuries. He might not realize how much time has passed.”
Lani nodded. “I myself didn’t notice any passage of time when I was petrified. Maybe he doesn’t know that his emperor is long dead.”
“His entire siege is pointless,” Elsa said. “Maybe we can make him see that. Will he see reason?”
“He’ll be the desperate one. This city has been self-sufficient for a long time, and we can withstand a siege indefinitely, but all those soldiers need to be fed,” Quentin pointed out. “Hundreds of thousands of soldiers without supplies. We can just wait until they all starve. We have the advantage here.”
Oron laughed, a cold twisted sound. “We should send our best orator. If Utros has no emperor to serve, we can recruit his army for Ildakar.”
“Then we would have to feed them,” Elsa said. “Even if they agreed to cease hostilities, how could the city support countless thousands more people?”
“It was not a serious suggestion,” Damon said.
Nathan wore a puzzled look. “No, that’s an important point. It’s been days already. Surely, they haven’t eaten since they awakened. There should be panic, mass desertions, yet they seem well disciplined. How can there be hundreds of thousands of soldiers without food or shelter?”
Lani had a confused expression of her own. “I haven’t felt the need to eat or drink since I awakened.” She touched her chalky skin. “Part of the spell still lingers. Maybe they don’t need food.”
“If that’s true, they can maintain the siege forever,” Nicci said.
Damon groaned. “I wish we could simply raise the shroud again and go about our business as before, when Ildakar was at peace.”
“Ildakar was never at peace,” Nathan muttered. “You just didn’t see it.?
??
Nicci pulled the conversation back to the point. “Once Utros knows that Iron Fang is long dead, that the empire itself has crumbled, he should realize his siege serves no purpose. Someone should be able to convince him of this.”
“Who would go out there and tell him?” Quentin asked. “I certainly won’t volunteer. I don’t trust those bloodthirsty soldiers not to kill our representative and launch the severed head over our walls.”
“Why not send Thora to do it?” Damon asked. “Let her take the risk. She insists she only wants the best for Ildakar, and she’s expendable.”
This provoked loud, angry muttering. “We cannot trust her,” Lani said, with surprising venom. “Not at all.”
Nicci hardened her voice, disappointed in them. “You are the members of the duma. Will none of you go and face General Utros for the sake of your city? You will not walk out there and parley with your greatest enemy?”
Elsa sighed and seemed to be deep in thought. Damon and Quentin looked to Oron, as if expecting the new duma member to accept the challenge, but he merely picked at his fingernails with a small dagger.
“Enough of this foolishness,” Nicci said. She had walked among enemy armies before, had seen the worst the Imperial Order could do. “It must be done.” She glanced at Nathan. “Will you accompany me, Wizard? You and I can speak for Lord Rahl as well.”
“Of course,” he said with a wistful smile. “I spent centuries studying history. If nothing else, I’d be delighted to meet the legendary General Utros himself.”
CHAPTER 13
The gates of Ildakar opened with a slow, grinding groan. All the locking spells and protective wards had been removed by the wizards working together to release their defenses. The towering slabs of reinforced wood began to creak apart on mammoth hinges.
Nicci’s blond hair flowed loose in the breeze that stole through the widening gap. Her clean black dress fit her form perfectly. Nathan was beside her, an equally striking figure, with his pale hair brushed to a silky luster and his gold-trimmed white wizard’s robes that made him look powerful and imposing.
