Heart of Black Ice Read online

  But only if her plan worked against the zhiss.

  Five of the gray people carried torches down the steps of the sunken amphitheater and ignited the piled wood on the central stage. The flames caught in the kindling and flared up, sending sparks that swirled like night wisps. The bonfire snapped as it consumed the dry branches then fed upon the split logs. The flames danced and reflected on the array of mirrors and polished metal surfaces placed in the concentric rings of seats around the sunken stage. Smoke writhed in the air and the fire stretched higher.

  Nicci stood on the topmost tier, watching the blaze grow. She had wrapped her blond hair and her face with scarves and veils, which she hoped would keep the zhiss away from her bare skin. She wore gloves on her hands, fabric windings down her legs. After lighting the bonfire, the Hidden People tossed their torches and backed up the steep ramps to street level. At the bottom of the crater, the fire was definitely the brightest light in Orogang, but she would make it even brighter. Irresistible.

  “Go,” she called to Cora and the others. “When the swarm comes, I want you all safe.” She hoped the cloth wrapping her body would be enough protection, would give her enough time.

  “But we need to help you, Nicci,” Asha said. “We can lure the zhiss into the pit. This is our battle, too.”

  “Leave that to me. The flames will be bright enough.” Nicci looked at the determined young woman. “You have made enough sacrifices.” She urged them to retreat, and the group backed away but did not lock themselves inside the buildings.

  She descended to the bottom of the sunken amphitheater and approached the low stage, which held the blaze. In order to draw the zhiss out of their lair, Nicci needed to make the bonfire many times brighter, a beacon to rival the sun, and so she drew upon her gift. She could summon wizard’s fire, one of the most dramatic and deadly spells, but she didn’t need such destructive heat now, only the brilliant light. So she altered her spell, removed the energy of heat, and focused on creating wizard’s light instead of wizard’s fire.

  The bonfire flared as if a sun had suddenly appeared at the bottom of the amphitheater, a blinding silent explosion that made Nicci shield her blue eyes. From above, she heard a collective gasp, and the Hidden People backed farther away from the rim, unable to tolerate such an outpouring of artificial light. Shielding her eyes with her palm, Nicci managed to look at the blazing orb she had created. It engulfed the speaking stage and surged like a scream of brilliance enhanced a thousandfold by the mirrors, crystals, and polished precious metals. Even from their lair, the zhiss had to see it and be drawn across the night like moths to a flame.

  Continuing to release her gift, she kept the beacon shining bright and listened for the deadly buzz, but heard no sounds except the crackle of the central fire. The wizard’s light pulsed with a hypnotic thrum, and the city held its breath.

  As more minutes passed with no sign of the throbbing cloud, Nicci waited, tense, feeling a shred of doubt. What if the zhiss really did go dormant at night? What if they retreated to sealed lairs, like bats hanging in caves, where they couldn’t see her beacon? What could flush them out?

  Using both the Additive and Subtractive sides of her gift, just as when she had tried to summon the sliph, she sent out her thoughts to draw the zhiss. Light! Come feed on the light! Come feed on the blood!

  Finally, a different sort of hum penetrated the air, a thrumming that increased to a grating buzz. She looked up, away from the dazzling beacon, and saw a featureless black swirl blotting out the starlight. The zhiss swarm broke apart and spread over Orogang, called by the irresistible glare. She raised her cloth-wrapped arms to beckon them. She pulled the cloth away from her face so they could smell her blood.

  The Hidden People fled back to their sheltered doorways, but the movement attracted the zhiss. One arm of the dark cloud extended toward the gray-cloaked people.

  With her wizard’s light still flaring, Nicci moved up the arena steps to street level, intent on distracting the swarm. The mindless, bloodthirsty flecks had already swooped down upon two lagging people, who collapsed, covered with feeding zhiss. Nicci couldn’t reach them in time to save them, but their unwitting sacrifice would kill many of the swarming creatures. As the zhiss gorged themselves on the tainted blood, clouds of swollen globules lumbered away, sated with poisoned blood. As before, the fat spheres turned a sickly purple and burst to spatter across the flagstones.

  The rest of the zhiss cloud, though, hurtled toward the bright light like a swarm of ten thousand bees. Nicci stood on the rim of the amphitheater. “Here! Over here.” She waved her hands, hoping that her unpoisoned and gifted blood would be more desirable than the blood of other victims. “Over here, by the light!” She tore the scarves away from her face and head, shook her hair free. “Here! To me!”

  The black cloud swirled like a pall of greasy smoke, while the nexus of light continued to crackle and shine at the bottom of the amphitheater. The zhiss were hungry, looking for prey, and she needed to lure them to the cauldron trap. The ravenous black swarm probed doorways and windows, trying to find cracks in the masterfully laid stones.

  When the zhiss sensed her, Nicci felt her skin tingle. At last the smell of her untainted blood drew them, and the black cloud surged all around her, swooping in even faster than she had expected. As if she were engulfed in thick smoke, the zhiss blanketed her body. It was like a surprising hailstorm of black ice, shapeless nuggets that moved and pulsed and bit, each one no larger than the nail on her little finger. They tried to penetrate the fabric, and they found folds, created small rips, worked their way to her skin. Each small thing was covered with pointed needlelike legs that jabbed into her skin, one zhiss on top of another, blanketing her arms, her face, her neck, nesting in her hair, covering her eyelids.

  Suffocating, Nicci used her gift to summon a pulse of wind that blasted them away, but it was like coughing out a breath against pollen in the air. The zhiss came back with a vengeance. She staggered to the steep steps, trying to draw them down into the sunken amphitheater, the tantalizing fire. After feeding, hundreds of them rose from her body, swollen globules filled with dark red fluid—her blood, gifted blood. She knew that once they had drained her, the swarm would reproduce explosively. She had to stop them!

  Determination gave her strength, and she pushed harder with her magic. This was her blood, her blood! She called on a thread of Subtractive Magic to burst every one of the rising globules, destroying dozens at a time.

  But her body was encrusted with the black things, and they kept drinking her blood. Using her deadly magic, Nicci tried to stop their hearts, but the zhiss had no hearts. They were just tiny ravenous membranes.

  Weakened from sudden loss of blood, she dropped to her knees on the amphitheater steps and fought to hold on to her strength. If nothing else, she would crawl down into the crater to contain them, even if she trapped herself as well. She needed to retain enough of her gift to form the shield, or the zhiss would escape. And for that, she had to be alive!

  Outside, a woman’s voice was loud enough to penetrate the buzzing clamor. “Here, take me! Feed on me, and follow me to the light!”

  It was Cora! The old woman ran from the palace archway, throwing aside her gray cloak to expose leathery wrinkled skin.

  Seeing another victim, the zhiss did not need to be encouraged. Part of the swarm around Nicci shifted course, and countless thousands of the black specks rushed in to engulf Cora. The old woman kept running even as the black things covered her skin, plastered her face. She slowed, then staggered until she barely plodded forward, each step taking her closer to the sunken amphitheater. Countless zhiss drifted up after sucking her tainted blood and burst in the air, but thousands more swarmed around the old woman.

  With her last energy, Cora reached the edge of the amphitheater and collapsed on the sloping ramp. Her body rolled down the tiers of seats as the zhiss closed in, dead before she slid to a stop at the third tier. Zhiss blanketed her motionless body, but no
w they were also drawn to the blazing beacon at the central stage.

  Nicci pawed at her face to tear away the feeding creatures, felt the countless stinging bite marks on her skin, the loss of blood. Knowing this was her last chance, she called up a powerful wave of her gift. She heated her skin, hardened it, sent rippling bursts of force that scraped the bloodsucking specks away, and then with a heavy wind she herded the entire cloud toward the shining wizard’s fire, the waves of reflected light from hundreds of polished surfaces. The glow was irresistible.

  She withdrew her magic from the blazing beacon, which made the light retract, like a setting sun. In the dark and empty city, the zhiss were drawn toward the light, following it like moths spiraling into their doom around a single flame.

  Though drained from expending her gift and weak from blood loss, Nicci rose to her feet again and climbed down to the bottom of the crater and the blazing stage. The zhiss cloud closed in, nearly eclipsing the shrinking globe of wizard’s light. When the complete swarm was within the bowl of the amphitheater, she called up another wave of magic to establish a shield, a curved shimmering barrier like a bubble over the stage.

  The zhiss were bottled up, but only for as long as she could hold the shield in place.

  “Hurry!” Her voice was just a croak. She hoped the Hidden People could hear her. “I need you. Builders—now! You are ready for this.” A flood of gray-robed people rushed out from the sealed buildings.

  Though her thoughts were dizzy, she shrank the shield, retracted the bubble to push the bottled zhiss farther and farther down toward the central fire, to contain them in a controllable space. The rim of the hemispherical shield dropped to the middle levels of seats, then kept shrinking, pushing the black swarm into a smaller and smaller confinement.

  Inside the palace, Mrra finally smashed through the last shreds of the wooden door and escaped, bounding out of the building and into the streets to help her blood-spattered sister panther. Nicci fell to her knees and felt the blood-soaked fabric of her black dress. Mrra pressed against her, offering strength and protection, but Nicci could not let her concentration falter.

  The bubble was now small enough that it was only a dome over the stage at the bottom of the amphitheater, a sealed prison with the waning bonfire and the buzzing zhiss. To maintain her strength, Nicci withdrew her energy that kept the wizard’s light glowing, and the fire died out, leaving the sealed bubble in darkness and all the frustrated zhiss trapped with no light and no blood. They battered against the invisible curved wall like thousands of vengeful hornets.

  “Now!” she gasped. “Contain them!”

  Architects, carpenters, stonemasons raced out, along with all the labor force they could need. They had drawn their plans, laid down their supplies, gathered their tools, and they were prepared. Working like agitated bees, the builders of Orogang threw long crossbars over the lower part of the amphitheater. They had already sealed the floor of the stage, caulked and bricked even the tiniest of openings. Next, they crisscrossed the beams and added a structural layer of wooden slats, which they covered with opaque tarpaulins, sealing the dome. More teams slathered the thick fabric with fast-hardening plaster. On top of that, they laid layers of bricks, building up an impenetrable cap to cover the imprisoned zhiss.

  All the while, Nicci focused her effort into maintaining the shield that trapped the black cloud, holding them until the permanent containment could be finished.

  The Hidden People moved in a coordinated flurry. They reinforced their solid barrier, covering any open gaps, then slathered the bricks with more thick plaster and mortar, layer upon layer, to a thickness of many feet and impenetrably black.

  Before dawn, hundreds of workers had entirely sealed the zhiss in a prison that would hold them forever. No light, no blood, no freedom. They would wither away and die.

  Nicci groggily realized that Asha was shaking her shoulders. “It is finished. You can rest now.”

  The sorceress couldn’t even lift her head, but she slumped against the big panther who purred beside her. With a sigh of relief, Nicci released her hold on the gift, letting the inner shield fade. The zhiss were forever sealed within the impossibly thick and opaque walls of their enclosure. The solid barrier held, but the Hidden People would keep reinforcing it, thickening it for days.

  Nicci didn’t know how long it would take for the zhiss to starve, to dwindle away to nothing, but she was certain they would never get out.

  She didn’t have the strength to struggle as the Hidden People picked her up and carried her back into the shelter. She could rest with confidence now. As her eyes closed, she felt the weakness of blood loss and the utter weariness from expending so much of her gift. But she would recover.

  She had done what she’d promised. Now all she had to worry about was preventing General Utros from conquering the world.

  CHAPTER 28

  The smoke from moss-covered firewood had a sour smell, but the odor of decaying flesh bothered Lila more. She cautiously hunkered down across from Adessa. The older morazeth had an unsettling gleam in her eyes as she sat by her campfire.

  Lila explained, “I am pursuing the Norukai serpent ships down the river, looking for my chance. I need your help.”

  Adessa was puzzled. Her voice sounded distant and strange. “Why do you care about Norukai?”

  “Much has changed since you left on the night of the revolt.” Lila frowned. “Nothing is left of Ildakar. The army of General Utros awakened and laid siege to the city, and then a Norukai fleet attacked us from the river. Ildakar vanished under the shroud of eternity again, and I was trapped outside. We can’t go back. No one can.”

  Adessa turned her gaze to look at the severed head resting on the matted grasses. She glowered at it. “That’s what he just told me.”

  Black bugs scuttled over the pus-filled flesh. The head was hideously decayed, the eyes swollen shut, the mouth sagging. It took Lila a moment to recognize the dark hair, the goatee, the distorted features. “That is Wizard Commander Maxim.”

  “Sovrena Thora commanded me to bring back his head, and I am doing so.” Adessa unconsciously swatted away a biting insect. “He was Mirrormask and he wanted to bring down Ildakar. He has paid for his crimes, but not enough.” Her expression darkened, and she suddenly yelled at the decomposing horror. “You hear me, Maxim? Not enough! I will place your head on a spike before the gates of Ildakar, where the entire population can know what you did.”

  Lila found her comments and mannerisms tinged with madness. In a calm, even voice, she explained again. “Ildakar is gone, Adessa. We can’t go back.”

  The other morazeth cocked her head and seemed to hear a response from the rotting lump. Adessa sat up straight as if preparing to fight. Though her hard years were showing, she had once been beautiful in a feral way, her close-cropped dark hair shot with lines of silver. Her face was lean, her body muscular, but now Adessa’s dark eyes held a haunted shadow. Her gaze flicked back and forth, as if she was watching things unseen. “No, no. He was lying! Ildakar can’t be gone. I still have to bring Maxim’s head back to the sovrena.”

  Sitting near the fire, Lila laced her fingers together around one bare knee. “I am your morazeth sister. You know I would not lie to you.”

  Adessa sagged, then glared at the severed head. “Yes, Lila, I know you speak the truth.” She grabbed the clumps of dark hair, then carried the head to the campfire. “Shall I roast you here? If the sovrena is gone, then I don’t need to deliver the trophy anymore. I’d like to hear you scream as the fire cooks the remaining skin off your face.”

  Decaying drops of fluid oozed down the chin to drip in sizzling bursts in the coals. Lila kept her voice low and guarded. “What are you doing, Adessa?”

  “Making him stop his taunts!”

  The wizard commander’s sunken eyes were pools of gray jelly, like rotten egg whites. With a wet sound, part of his scalp ripped from the skull, and the loose head dropped toward the fire, but Adessa rescued it by gra
bbing the soft neck stump. “Not yet. Not so easy for you.”

  Adessa returned the wizard commander’s head to the stained sack. “Be silent!” Then she turned back to Lila. “If what you say is true, if the sovrena is defeated and Ildakar is gone, then my quest is ended.” The disappointment on her face struck Lila’s heart. The quest, the woman’s reason for suffering so many hardships, was all that had kept her going. “Now where do I go? What do I do?”

  “I have a mission of my own,” Lila said, “and it is a morazeth mission. You could help me. There are many Norukai to fight and kill, and it will give you a chance to spill more blood. That would give us both a purpose.”

  “Tell me about your mission.”

  Lila delivered a formal report to her commander, hoping to get through to Adessa. She talked at length about Bannon, the young swordsman she had trained in the combat pits.

  Adessa raised her eyebrows. “Yes, Bannon was your special pet. He corrupted my champion Ian and forced me to kill him. If you are hunting Bannon now, I will help you. He should die for the damage he did to our society. For making me waste a good champion like Ian.”

  Lila considered how to answer that question. “Yes, I am hunting him, but not to harm him. Bannon and I fought alongside each other to defend Ildakar, and we even battled King Grieve himself.” Her voice dropped. “He was taken captive along with many Ildakarans. With the city gone and me trapped outside, I took on my own mission. I have to rescue Bannon.”

  “Why?”

  Lila felt a flare of defensive anger. “Because I choose to do so! I consider the mission worthwhile, and if you are my morazeth sister, then you will accept that reasoning.”

  Adessa pondered. The mossy fire was burning low, and Lila added some green twigs to it. The darkness around them remained deep, but a low mist had risen from the marshes. Adessa nodded distantly. “Sovrena Thora disliked the Norukai, called them brutes. She would have wanted me to kill them because they attacked the city, but why would I do it to save a skinny arena slave? Bannon caused a great deal of trouble. Is he that remarkable a lover?”