“What have you done?” she said.
“He made me,” Aldrik whispered. “I am no traitor.”
“Who made you? Please, Aldrik, just tell me what you did.”
“The essence,” Aldrik said. “It’s tainted. You have to understand—I had to!”
“Why, Aldrik? What could make you do such a thing?”
“They took my sister!”
“Where is she? Stop this, Aldrik. I’ll help you get her back.”
“There’s no getting her back. She’s with him, now.”
“There’s always a way!” Ella cried.
“He said if I do this, he won’t take her legs as well.”
As Aldrik’s words filled Ella with horror, she heard a noise, and two Akari warriors rushed into the tent. Ella saw the two men struggle to make sense of the scene.
Then Aldrik stood tall and looked at Ella sadly. He lifted up his hand.
“No!” Ella shouted.
Aldrik poured the contents of the vial over his head.
After explaining Aldrik’s betrayal to the Dain, Ella found Shani waiting outside the Dain’s tent.
“There are terrible rumors going around. Ella, what happened?”
“It’s over now,” Ella said.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. One of the Dain’s necromancers somehow tainted the essence. The Dain thinks Renrik, a senior necromancer who used to be one of his closest advisors, is behind Aldrik’s betrayal. Apparently, Aldrik’s sister went missing not long before the Dain’s army left Ku Kara. Aldrik had been acting strangely, but there are many reasons to act odd these days.”
“Lord of Fire, what a mess.”
Dain Barden strode out of his tent. “Enchantress, I’ve given this thought. We don’t have the strength or the ability to fight a series of protracted battles. I’ve made a decision. We’re going to draw them out and expend the last of our draugar to hold them as long as we can.”
“Are you sure . . . ?”
“I’m sure,” the Dain said, wiping a hand over his face. “I expected danger, but I should have expected betrayal. Now my daughter is dead.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”
Dain Barden composed himself. “Are you sure you are all right? I am sorry. I put you directly into harm’s way.”
“I’m fine,” Ella repeated.
“That brings me some relief. Tell the kalif our plan, and take your friends to Seranthia. We’ll hold them here.”
After the Dain’s pronouncement swarthy Hazarans scurried back and forth as the horsemen prepared to depart. Ilathor’s men gathered the barest amount of supplies; they would leave their tents behind and make all speed to Seranthia.
As Ella collected her few possessions, Shani poked her head into the tent.
“Here,” Shani said, handing Ella a metal plate with a piece of bread and a hunk of cheese. “Eat it—that’s an order. It’s probably the last food we’ll get for a while.”
Shani vanished again, and Ella gulped down the food as she packed to the noise of whinnying horses and shouting men.
The plate was soon empty, and Ella couldn’t help but look at her reflection in the shining steel. Her face was grayed and drawn, her green eyes haggard. She was still shaken by the encounter with Aldrik and only now realized how close she’d come to being splashed with deadly essence.
She ran her fingers through her pale blonde hair, trying to untangle the mass of knots and restore some semblance of order.
Ella’s heart gave a lurch as she looked at her hand. She’d torn free a clump of hair. The golden strands came out as easily as loose thread.
She remembered the scent of the essence as she’d drawn runes with the tainted liquid Aldrik had handed her, working for hour after hour, the smoke rising into her nostrils for an entire night.
Ella bowed her head, and as realization dawned, she dropped the plate in horror.
She remembered Ada’s body at the end. Ada’s hair was gone, and her face bore the marks of terrible pain. The Dain had spoken in desultory tones, explaining Ada’s last moments to Ella, hoping the knowledge would help. He’d said Ada clutched at her stomach, screaming in pain as she coughed red blood.
None of the stricken had survived; even now only a few still lived, writhing in the makeshift infirmary, more of a place to die than anything else.
And now Ella had the taint herself.
48
As the summer sun cast shining rays on the hills surrounding the city of Seranthia, a long line of Hazaran warriors rode down the hills to the open gates. They’d slowed the enemy, but too many saddles were empty.
Ella glanced at Ilathor when she heard his voice. The kalif rode gingerly, and Ella knew bandages circled his chest under his desert garb, but he was leading his men once more.
“Close the gates!” Ilathor called as they rode in. The Hazarans took up the cry as they spurred forward.
The enemy could only be a few days behind them. Dain Barden of the Akari wouldn’t hold them long.
Entering the city with a feeling of intense relief, riding with Shani by her side, Ella was surprised to see that all looked quiet in Seranthia. She’d seen so much blood and death that she wondered if she’d ever banish the terrible images from her vision.
Rider after rider passed through the gates, slowing as they began to move among the city folk. Ella glanced back over her shoulder as she heard a groaning sound, and when the last of Ilathor’s men entered, she saw Seranthia’s iron gates swing inexorably closed, smashing together with a mighty clang of metal on metal. It felt good to be inside the city, guarded by the Wall.
Seranthia’s denizens rapidly cleared way for the riders, staring up at them with wide eyes. Ella turned to say something to Shani, when she felt a sudden pain in her stomach and clutched at her chest, a grimace spreading across her face. Her horse shied and whinnied before Ella once more got her mount under control.
“Ella?” Shani said, concern in her eyes.
Ella fought down the pain and smiled, taking her hand off her stomach. “I’m fine,” she said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Ella said, “I’m fine.”
What had Sentar tainted the essence with? How did one set about altering essence in the first place? Ella knew that for all she’d learned, there was so much more to understand about the liquid.
She wondered how long she would last. She’d seen the terrible pain Ada had been in. Ella didn’t want to spend her last moments like that.
“Let’s get you to the palace,” Shani said.
“And a hot meal.” Ella smiled.
Shani fixed Ella with a penetrating stare. Ella knew her friend; she wasn’t fooled.
The hooves of the horses clattered on the stones as they rode along wide streets and past narrow alleys, through the district of Fortune, until they reached the Grand Boulevard.
Ella held back the pain as she saw the towers of the Imperial Palace ahead.
“Ella?” a voice came from the other side of the door.
It was morning, and Ella gulped, forcing the bile back down into her stomach. She was sitting at a table, rummaging in her satchel, taking out scrills and lining them up on the wooden surface. She couldn’t bear the thought of eating, and if someone was bringing food, she planned to send that person away. “Yes?”
Shani opened the door to the small bedchamber they’d given Ella in the palace, and glanced in. Her nose wrinkled as if she smelled something bad. “There’s news.”
“What is it?” Ella said.
“The Buchalanti scouts have sighted the enemy fleet. They’re going to attack the city by both land and sea.”
Ella glanced up. “How long?”
“Not long. I’m going up to the High Tower. Rogan’s there and he wants to see you. Will you come?”
Ella took a deep breath and then nodded. “Of course,” she said.
Shani filled her in with the details she’d gleaned from Rogan as the
y climbed up the stairs to the palace’s higher levels.
There had been early skirmishing, out in the Tingaran Sea, and they’d already lost two storm riders, in return sinking a dozen enemy vessels. Sentar’s tactics had changed from those employed at the free cities: rather than looking for a place to land, he was throwing his ships at any vessel coming close. His most powerful warships clustered around the center while the rest rushed ahead to do battle. Sentar was protecting his center; the sailmasters said that much was clear.
Ella and Shani reached the top of the High Tower, and Ella saw Rogan turn to greet her. His gray hair looked disheveled, but he’d lost none of his stature, and he looked leaner than ever. As Rogan said something in greeting, another spasm clutched Ella’s chest with searing pain. Ella gave Rogan a halfhearted wave and moved to the rail, anxious to avoid his gaze.
Ella saw that with the naval battle expected to take place at any moment, dirigibles were being sent out to hover over the docks. The ships of the Imperial fleet clustered around the Sentinel while the graceful Buchalanti vessels sailed in circles on the flanks.
Then the distant horizon filled with ships, sails growing larger with every passing instant. Ella had only heard Miro’s accounts of the titanic clash in the deep waters of the Great Western Ocean. Seeing the naval battle slowly unfold in this way was terrifying.
Ella sensed Shani and Rogan come to stand with her at the rail, and none of them spoke as they watched the armada approach. The island barring the harbor looked vulnerable; the Torak-built wall surrounding the statue suddenly wasn’t enough. From this distance the sturdy ships of the Imperial fleet looked puny, and most of the Buchalanti vessels weren’t much bigger.
The huge warships built in the lands across the ocean drew closer, and the defending vessels looked smaller still.
The city sounded the alarm as a dozen ships of the Imperial fleet and six Buchalanti vessels went out to meet them.
Ella almost couldn’t watch.
Puffs of smoke rose up from the ships, and it soon became impossible to see through the thick clouds. Rogan passed Shani a Louan seeing device, but Ella declined.
The pain in her abdomen grew greater with every passing moment. Ella now leaned hard against the rail, a hand on her hip and another on the stone. Each puff of smoke and blast of cannon sent a wracking shiver through her stomach, clenching her bowels, blurring her vision.
More of her golden hair had fallen out in the morning. Soon she wouldn’t be able to hide it. Ella felt fatigued in a way she never had before.
“Two Buchalanti ships are down,” Rogan said. “There goes another.”
The clouds of smoke now surrounded the tiny island, rising to cloak the walled statue. Now and then the wind tore holes in the clouds, and Ella saw big warships bearing down on the defending vessels, rows of cannon opening up fire in solid broadsides.
An enemy cruiser drew up between two Imperial ships, and then Ella flinched as a thudding boom resounded throughout the harbor. The cruiser exploded, vanishing in a single instant, becoming a boiling blur of flame and ash. Even as she struggled against the pain, Ella recognized the signature of black powder.
“He must have filled his ships with explosives,” Ella murmured.
“He’s sacrificing them. He doesn’t care if he destroys his entire fleet,” Rogan said.
“How can you stay so calm?” Shani said.
“Calm?” Rogan said. “I’m terrified.”
Shani turned and then gasped. “Look,” she said, pointing. “Back at the hills.”
As she whirled to look back at the landward side of the city, Ella saw the revenant horde pouring down the slopes of the hills to surround the city.
The city now sounded the call to arms, a heavy deep blare that shook the ground and sent tremors through Ella’s belly.
“We’re now under siege,” said Rogan.
“They’re sending the dirigibles out to the harbor,” Shani said.
Scores of floating wooden balloons glowed with shades of blue, emerald, and gold as they headed out from the docks in the direction of the Sentinel.
“I hope they can succeed where our navy can’t,” Rogan said.
Above the site of the naval battle, a speck rose from the smoke of war to fly high into the sky. The tiny figure hovered in the air, waiting as the dirigibles approached.
“It’s him,” Ella whispered.
She remembered witnessing the final battle between Evrin Evenstar and Sentar Scythran. The vision of Evrin screaming in pain as his flesh blackened was forever burned into her consciousness. Ella again felt the terror that had coursed through her as she’d watched black lightning pour from Sentar’s hands. Her heart thudded in her chest as she recalled waiting for Evrin to surface. But he never did.
Ella suddenly grabbed the Louan spyglass from Rogan and trained it on the black figure.
“They need to pull back,” Ella muttered.
The dirigibles were close now, drawing up to the heat of the battle. The figure in the sky slowly moved to meet them at their own height.
A jagged line of bright energy suddenly shot from the black figure to strike the foremost dirigible. The balloon flared up to meet the storm of fire, and for long seconds Ella held her breath as the lore of the Louans fought off the attack.
The dirigible exploded. Ella couldn’t help but think of the pilot.
“Isn’t there something we can do?” Shani whispered.
“Against that?” Rogan said as Sentar Scythran bathed the next dirigible in fire. The roar of the next explosion overshadowed even the blasts of the cannon below. Rogan glanced at Ella. “There’s only one among us who can face him.”
“And he left to rescue Altura,” Ella said.
“He left for you,” Rogan said, so low she could only just hear it.
The dirigibles at the rear now tried to turn back, and it became Sentar’s turn to play hunter. He followed after them, as if gleeful, his awful power making one after the other burn in the sky, falling down to the sea in ash and fire.
Ella took the seeing device away from her eyes. She couldn’t watch any more.
Smoke now enveloped the whole harbor, rising up high into the sky, clouding even the sun.
“I need to go,” Ella said.
She turned and staggered as she walked, leaning against a stone column for support.
“Ella!” Shani said.
“I’m fine. Let me be!”
Ella pushed away from the column and descended down the steps, clutching the wall as pain wracked her senses, clawing at her abdomen, leaving Rogan and Shani watching her as she fled the destruction in the harbor.
The human ships stubbornly resisted Sentar’s encroachment, darting out of the way of his attacks and veering off to turn and fight again. He was losing ships too fast to count, and the humans had learned to be wary of the explosive devices stuffed into the hold of every one of his vessels, yet he knew it was just a matter of time until he achieved dominance of the harbor. Why fight the inevitable? Humans were nothing if not obstinate.
Sentar stood with legs apart, close to the prow of his cargo ship, the vessel that had to be protected at all costs. He frowned as a huge explosion nearby caused water to smash against the sides of his ship, splashing his face with cool seawater. That one was a touch close.
Sentar spread his arms at his sides and once more rose into the air, climbing the sky until he was again high above it all, with a view of the entire battle. He’d lost a multitude of warships, but what did it matter? He no longer cared whether Renrik and Gorain enjoyed success leading the attack on Seranthia’s walls. His target was so close, he could reach out and touch it.
Looking ahead, Sentar saw with satisfaction that just one human ship remained. Even as he watched, one of Sentar’s cruisers drew close to the glowing Buchalanti dreadnought, and the two vessels exchanged fire.
Foolish.
Sentar’s cruiser exploded as her magazine detonated, destroying the last defender in the
conflagration, and as the dreadnought sank below the waves, the harbor was now his.
Sentar’s ships drew forward to surround the tiny island. The humans had walled the Sentinel, but against his power and his cannon, the wall wouldn’t last long, even enhanced as it was with the lore of these so-called builders of Torakon.
Sentar Scythran could now take his time.
He would order every cannon trained on the wall around the statue. If any more ships came, his warships would blow them out of the water. If more dirigibles came to bomb him, he would roast their crews alive.
Night would fall soon, but the bombardment would go on.
The Evermen would soon be home.
49
Ella’s chamber in the Imperial Palace contained a soft bed, but Ella didn’t sleep that night, and she doubted few of Seranthia’s inhabitants caught their night’s rest. Their city was doomed: revenants now occupied the land around Seranthia unchallenged, and the Imperial fleet guarding the harbor had been utterly destroyed. The Buchalanti storm riders, blue cruisers, and dreadnoughts were all gone. The Tingarans had seen many of their dirigibles burned out of the skies and were now saving the remainder for the Wall. Throughout the night bodies from the naval battle washed up to the docks, nudging against the wooden pilings as if trying to garner attention.
Nevertheless, she readied herself in the morning, washing her face, neck and hands, settling her green enchantress’s dress over her body, looking at her face in the mirror and staring back into her own eyes.
Ella brushed her hair, and still more of the pale golden strands came out with her comb. Her bones ached. The pains in her stomach now struck her with agonizing regularity.
There was a knock at the door.
Without waiting for her answer, the door opened and Rogan Jarvish stepped into the room. Not for the first time, Ella felt sad to see him as an old man. Lines of care wrinkled his face; his hair was entirely gray; and his scars had faded to become part of his skin. Ella’s eyebrows rose when she saw he wore his armorsilk.
The Lore Of The Evermen (Book 4) Page 33