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She walked along one of the canals until a boatman drifted by and offered her a ride. Nicci didn’t mind walking, but she was in a hurry, and so she accepted. As she balanced on the boat while the man poled them along, she scanned the hills, buildings, commercial districts, orchards. Serrimundi was open, thriving. They would be entirely unprepared if General Utros’s invading army crashed into the city.
Serrimundi had been mostly unscathed by the Imperial Order, and now she could see they were too complacent. She would have to change their mind-set.
Eventually, she reached the offices of the harborlord, near the water’s edge. Clerks inside the harborlord’s office kept detailed ledgers of all ships that entered Serrimundi Harbor, along with notations of their captains, their primary cargo, and their ports of origin. Three older men with nearly identical fringes of short white hair around their bald skulls sat squinting over their books.
One of the men glanced up at Nicci, squinted as if she were more difficult to see than the notations in his leather-bound ledger. “Harborlord Otto isn’t here, miss. He went down to meet a ship. His daughter’s just been betrothed to Captain Ganley.”
“Which ship?” Nicci asked. “I will find him on the docks.”
“The Mist Maiden,” said one of the other men. “He should be there.”
Nicci set off along the harbor’s edge, carrying the cloth-wrapped rectangle of glass that showed the vast ancient army. She passed a foul-smelling krakener, whose hull was permeated with the slime of the tentacled sea creatures they hunted. One ship had just pushed off from its dock and drifted away from the crowded piers, heading toward the mouth of the harbor, where waves crashed against a rock outcropping that stood like a sentinel. A towering female figure had been carved there, a woman bursting from the raw rock, the Sea Mother. Again, Nicci recognized the familiar features of the sliph.
The Mist Maiden was a three-masted cargo ship, even larger than the Wavewalker. Its sails were tied up, and thick hawsers lashed the hull against the largest pier in the harbor. The ship’s crew had already disembarked except for a handful of men still lounging aboard on the open deck. Large crates of cargo had been stacked while workers and carters hauled the goods away. Merchants squabbled over the division of the shipment.
Nicci recognized Harborlord Otto as he strolled down the gangplank of the Mist Maiden. He walked with a spring in his step, adjusting his floppy leather hat that she remembered from before. On the deck of the Mist Maiden, she saw a young woman talking to the bearded captain and guessed it might be Otto’s daughter, Shira. The young woman had lost her husband, Captain Corwin, when the Wavewalker was wrecked by the selka. Soon, Shira would be marrying a new husband, Captain Ganley.
The harborlord was hearty, good-humored, and well respected in Serrimundi. If Nicci could enlist Otto as an ally, he would help spread the warning and prepare the city’s defenses.
She called out in a brisk, businesslike voice. “Harborlord, I need to speak with you.”
He turned his caramel-colored eyes to her. “How may I help you?”
“You can help me spread a warning throughout Serrimundi.”
He frowned. “A warning about what?”
“An enemy army, a huge force of ancient soldiers that may eventually move against the Old World. They are far away, laying siege to Ildakar, but Serrimundi must be prepared. Luckily, there is time, if you act.”
Harborlord Otto seemed more puzzled than alarmed by the suggestion. “An enemy army? Do you mean the Imperial Order? We heard that Emperor Jagang is dead and his entire force defeated. What is there to worry about?”
“Yes, Jagang is dead.” Nicci didn’t point out that she herself had killed him. “This is another army, one that served Iron Fang fifteen centuries ago. They were under a spell, but now they are reawakened.”
Otto chuckled. “I’ve heard sailors tell many stories about sea monsters, selka, and krakens. You are having a joke on me.”
Nicci unwrapped the glass and showed him the image of Utros’s army. “It is true. The legendary city of Ildakar is besieged, and regardless of whether they survive or fall, General Utros is likely to continue his conquest. He will eventually come to the coast and Serrimundi. You need to build up your defenses.”
Otto chuckled again. “But Ildakar is on the other side of the world, if it even exists! No one has heard of it in centuries.”
“Ildakar exists, and is not as far away as you might think. The D’Haran Empire has been alerted, and Lord Rahl’s soldiers will be moving south from the Tanimura garrison. Serrimundi needs to help as well.”
The harborlord scoffed. “We don’t fear any invasion. We survived the Imperial Order, miss.” He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the glass. “How did you get this image?” He tapped the pane with his fingernail as if expecting the figures to dissolve. “Did you come by ship? Which vessel were you aboard?”
“I am a sorceress, and I came by other means,” she said. “You and I met briefly some months ago, when I arrived aboard the Wavewalker. Afterward I sent a message by courier that the ship had been sunk by selka.”
He hung his head, suddenly serious now. “Yes, we received that news. It was tragic.” Otto struggled to recall a name. “You are … Nicci?”
“Yes.”
She held up the glass again. “And you need to listen to me about this army. General Utros has a force as great as the Imperial Order. Sooner or later you will be under attack.”
He frowned as he struggled to recall a conversation. “Now that you mention it, I heard secondhand from a fishing boat that came in this morning, something about one or two coastal villages being destroyed, Effren and one other. But I have no further proof, and I don’t think we should overreact until the news has been verified. Is that what you mean? Is this enemy army attacking the coast?” He pointed toward her pane of glass.
“No. General Utros is far inland, but he will be moving. I promise you, this is a threat. You must prepare.” She could see that her words were not getting through to him.
He nodded distractedly. “Thank you, I will make note of it, but Serrimundi has no standing army. Our harbor is busy, as you can see. Our population is healthy and prosperous. Everyone trades with us. We are not on a war footing.”
“That’s why I came to warn you.” Even though Elsa’s preserved images proved what Nicci said, the sheer distance from Ildakar to Serrimundi made the threat seem a small one, but Utros had already dispatched large portions of his army. If those forces continued marching, needing no supplies of food or water, they could cross the continent more swiftly than anyone expected. “You don’t comprehend the danger, Harborlord. This is not an army to be ignored.”
Otto paused to consider the glass again. “The Sea Mother will protect Serrimundi as she always has. We need not fear an attack.”
Growing frustrated, Nicci wrapped the cloth over the glass, covering the image. “Remember that I warned you.”
As if he didn’t give her a second thought, Otto adjusted his leather hat and strolled down the dock, still smiling. From the deck of the Mist Maiden, his daughter waved and wrapped her arm around the other captain, her fiancé.
