A young soldier reluctantly came forwards. He was holding the kettle with the paste that extinguished Lilith’s fire. The soldiers had rolled the dice to decide who would get this job. The boy had lost. He climbed onto Lilith’s lower lip and smeared the warm substance on her palate as fast as he could. Then he smeared the stuff on her tongue.
As soon as the soldier was ready, he jumped to the ground and ran off. The rope and sticks were taken away. And lastly, the rope around her upper lip was released. Lilith shook her head and roared. The crowd recoiled. Lilith tried to swallow the stuff that the soldier had smeared in her mouth. Again to no avail.
Lilith lowered her head in resignation. The main thing was to buy time and she had managed to do that so far. Pretty soon, Almor would reach Ferhdessar and then everything was going to be all right. It was only a matter of time before the soldiers received the message to let her go.
Lilith eyed the soldiers suspiciously as they formed a circle around her. Some had axes, and others drew their swords. The villagers gathered behind the soldiers. They were carrying kettles and water bottles.
“Kill the dragon!” someone shouted.
People cheered. Lilith shivered. She growled so loudly that it made the hair of the soldiers opposite her move.
Rodmer came to stand in front of her. He removed the cloths from her nostrils. “We received a message from Ferhdessar.”
Lilith heaved a sigh of relief.
“He wants you alive, but if you don’t cooperate, we’re allowed to transport you to Nadesh in pieces.”
Lilith was surprised. “You’re lying,” she snarled.
Rodmer produced a piece of paper from underneath his clothes. He calmly unfolded it, looked at Lilith, and cleared his throat. “I’m pleased that you’ve caught the dragon. I want to see her as soon as possible. If she doesn’t cooperate, you may kill her. It would be a suitable punishment for her crimes against Merzia.”
He turned the piece of paper around and showed it to Lilith. She recognized Ferhdessar’s neat handwriting. The letter said exactly what Rodmer had just read out.
Lilith panicked. Where was Almor? Surely Ferhdessar had listened to him, hadn’t he? He wouldn’t have turned down the help of such a powerful ally, would he?
“You have ten seconds,” Rodmer said. The soldiers closed in on her as he counted out loud.
Lilith sighed and changed back into human form.
Three soldiers seized her. They dragged her to her feet and someone put a sword against her throat. Rodmer walked up to her.
“You’ve decided to be sensible. Tell me, where’s your amulet?”
Lilith squinted and compressed her lips. Rodmer’s eyes travelled over her. He drew his sword and used it to produce the pouch that Ghalatea had given her at their farewell in Nadesh. Rodmer snapped the lace with his sword. He picked up the pouch and opened it. “This doesn’t look like your amulet. Do you have anything else with you?”
Lilith shook her head.
“It’s a pity that I can’t trust you.” Rodmer beckoned a few soldiers. “Undress her. I want everything that comes off of her.” He turned around and walked away.
Lilith was lifted up and someone pulled down her pants. She blindly kicked and hit a soldier. The men who were holding her forced her to her knees, so that the soldier she had kicked could hit her. Lilith fought as the soldiers took off her tunic and vest.
The soldier who had smeared the paste in her mouth every day was pushed forwards. “Look, you were scared of this skinny mongrel,” there was laughter. The boy blushed as he looked at her.
“Show us that you’re no longer afraid,” someone yelled.
The soldier looked around awkwardly. Then he unbuttoned his uniform jacket and handed it to the soldier next to him.
The soldiers roared. Lilith was forced onto her back and her legs were spread apart. The circle around her became smaller and more men were unbuttoning their clothes. Lilith didn’t understand what was happening. Her body screamed for her to offer resistance, but with every move she made, the soldiers held her even tighter. They were hurting her, but she hardly noticed. She wasn’t afraid of them, she feared the young soldier who was now wrestling with the laces of his undergarments.
“Just keep them on!” someone shouted as he pushed the young soldier in the back.
The soldier was looking at nothing else but Lilith. As he slowly walked towards her, Lilith closed her eyes. She heard the pebbles underneath his boots. He was panting as he knelt beside her. Lilith felt a hand underneath her head. It was shivering. Lilith growled and tried to bite his arm. The soldier grabbed her hair so that she couldn’t even move her head any more.
Then she felt something rub her face.
“What are you doing?” someone asked.
Lilith carefully opened her eyes. The soldier had pulled his tunic over her head. Now he grabbed her wrist. “Let her go,” he said to the soldier holding her left arm.
“No way. If you don’t want her, just leave, and let us have the monster,” someone shouted. He got a lot of support.
The young soldier looked at Lilith. She knew that she had to trust him. All of a sudden, there was a knife in his hand. He pointed it at the soldiers who were holding her. “Let her go.”
They were taking too long, so he lashed out. The soldiers darted back and let go of her. Lilith quickly put her arms through the sleeves of the boy’s tunic.
“This is your chance,” Lilith heard someone say. It was meant for the boy, but wasn’t any less true for her. Yet, she couldn’t find the energy to free herself. Her body felt so heavy.
Someone loomed up behind the boy.
“Watch out,” Lilith said in a throaty voice.
The boy turned around, but it was too late. He was wrestled to the ground, and Lilith was dragged away. One of the other soldiers dropped his trousers.
“What’s going on here?”
The noise died down. Rodmer walked up to Lilith. He glanced at the soldier who was quickly pulling up his trousers.
“Have you lost your minds? She’s a healeress. Who knows what she might do when you get this close to her. Bring her to the others.”
The young soldier was pushed forwards again. He tied her wrists together, pulled her up and dragged her through the streets to an abandoned house. Lilith was shoved inside. The door slammed closed behind her.
“Lilith.”
Ébha knelt down and helped her sit up. Lilith drew up her knees and wrapped the tunic around them. She shivered.
“What happened to you?” Ébha asked quietly.
Lilith shrugged. She let the events pass before her mind’s eye. The threat had awakened a primal fear inside her that she didn’t understand. If the soldiers had followed through, the pain wouldn’t have stayed submerged. They would have torn her soul apart.
Lilith stared straight ahead deep in thought. She’d been dreaming about hell again. It had been a long time since she’d had those nightmares. During the time that she had worked with Ébha, the dreams hadn’t disturbed her sleep.
She sighed heavily. Not so long ago, the dreams had made her determined to go on. Jakob was letting her know that he didn’t approve of what she was doing, and that was encouragement enough. But now that she had been taken prisoner again, she no longer felt so sure any more.
“Are you all right?”
Lilith shook off her thoughts and looked at Az-Zhara. He had finally regained consciousness.
“I think it’s best for you to keep lying down,” she said when he tried to sit up.
“Where are we?”
Lilith gave him a short explanation. “I’m glad that you’re doing better.”
“But how are you? I’ve been awake for a while. You’re worried about something.”
“It was only a dream,” Lilith answered without much conviction.
Hell had been different this time. She had found a Fountain that was an exact copy of the Fountain in Nadesh. Water ran down one of the columns in the middle o
f the temple. Lilith had drunk greedily from the refreshing liquid.
Contented, she had sat down beside the Fountain. Only then had she noticed that the water was flowing up the column. Where was it flowing to? As Lilith had been staring into the water in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the world on the other side, something else had drawn her attention.
“My name has never been written in the water,” she whispered. She had seen the names of all believers, but her name wasn’t on the list. It confused her. Why had Kasimirh never added her name?
“I don’t understand,” Az-Zhara said. Lilith hadn’t noticed that he had come closer. She moved away.
“It was only a dream,” she repeated. But still it kept eating away at her.
Lilith looked to the side. Az-Zhara raised his hands that were tied together, and brushed her hair back. Lilith had difficulty not recoiling from him. Az-Zhara noticed.
“What’s going on? What have they done to you?”
The door opened. “Wake up!” a soldier shouted.
Lilith pressed herself against the wall and pulled the young soldier’s tunic further over her knees.
“Get up!”
Lilith immediately obeyed. She helped Az-Zhara up.
“Change,” she whispered. “Get us out of here.”
Az-Zhara shook his head. “I lost my ring.”
Lilith looked at Az-Zhara’s hands. He’d still had the ring when she had saved him from the dragon slayer. Apparently Rodmer knew who Az-Zhara was and had taken his amulet from him.
Ébha was just waking up. A soldier dragged her up by her arm and pushed her in the direction of the door.
“We’re taking you to Ferhdessar,” said Rodmer, who appeared in the doorway.
The young soldier grabbed Lilith. She didn’t fight as he dragged her outside.
The villagers had gathered to see her one last time. There was a festive atmosphere. Now that she had been captured, they all believed that the war was going to end soon.
Lilith was grabbed and thrown onto a cart. The young soldier had shackled her and now she was chained to the cart. Ébha and Az-Zhara followed her. A soldier took up position next to the cart. He was holding a rifle at the ready.
As the cart started to move, Lilith spotted the little boy that she had cured. Michar frowned at her. Then he carefully waved. His mother immediately grabbed his hand. Lilith closed her eyes. Once more, she was being transported into Nadesh as a prisoner. What would be waiting for her this time? It had to be worse than last time, because the crimes she was being accused of were much more serious.
28
Ferhdessar’s gaze wandered along the thousands of soldiers lined up on the plain. These were Kiril and Zander’s legions, the largest of the Merzian army. Together they outnumbered Tokala’s troops.
“Lord Wolter.”
A soldier saluted the general as he entered the watchtower. Wolter nodded and walked up to Ferhdessar. He stood silently next to the sorcerer.
The wind picked up and carried inflammatory words from the plain. Ferhdessar used his binoculars to look at the officers who where riding among the ranks, keeping the soldiers alert.
He moved the binoculars in the direction of the approaching army. Tokala’s soldiers dragged themselves across the plain. For weeks, they had dragged and pushed their heavy artillery along. Most Jakobinian soldiers didn’t have horses, so they had travelled the long distance by foot.
“They’re heading for certain death,” said Ferhdessar to Wolter as he lowered the binoculars. Tokala’s army was weakened by famine and exhaustion. Ferhdessar’s army was fighting on home ground. The Merzian soldiers were well rested and prepared for the battle.
Wolter muttered something. Ferhdessar looked at him. The general seemed less certain of a good outcome.
“What is it, Wolter?”
“The odds are in our favour, but you can never be certain about what will happen. If Tokala didn’t think he could win, he would have stopped long ago.”
Ferhdessar nodded. It was a surprise that Tokala had broken camp that morning and had given his soldiers marching orders for the final stretch. The generals had been convinced that Tokala would grant his army some rest just out of reach of the Merzian army.
Ferhdessar shrugged. “A beginner’s mistake. We know that Tokala has no experience commanding an army. His troops are mainly ordinary citizens who were been trained to become priests and have now taken up arms for Kasimirh.”
He brought the binoculars back to his eyes and let his gaze move upwards along the rocks. He inspected the city walls of Nadesh. There were people lined up along the walls, but they were so small that it was impossible to see whether Kasimirh was among them.
“I know for sure that you’re there,” Ferhdessar muttered. “You’ll watch your reinforcements being slaughtered. They’ve walked all that way to die here.”
“Tokala’s army has stopped,” Wolter said.
Ferhdessar turned around and aimed his binoculars at the enemy troops. They were starting to line up. He lowered the binoculars and estimated the distance between both armies. “Let’s advance before Tokala has the chance to line up his entire army.”
Wolter shouted something at a soldier. A bugle sounded. Soldiers semaphored orders. A few moments later, the Merzian soldiers started to move.
The Merzian archers opened the first attack. Then the cavalry rushed forwards. Ferhdessar saw that Tokala responded as expected. His soldiers readied large spears to stop the horses. What Tokala hadn’t anticipated, however, was that the Merzian riders carried rifles. About a dozen yards before they reached the enemy lines, the soldiers fired their bullets. The line was breached and horses flooded through. The cavalry continued the fight with their spears.
Ferhdessar looked pleased. He gave a sign to the signalman. Moments later, two airplanes flew over. The gunmen up front saluted Ferhdessar.
“I wonder if Tokala has an answer to this,” Ferhdessar said to Wolter.
The first plane attacked the catapults. The second plane flew on. Its mission was to take out Tokala or at least his flagman. That would leave his army out of control.
Ferhdessar watched the attack through his binoculars. He was satisfied to see that the planes really did look like dragons. Tokala’s bodyguards fell victim to the fire that the gunner unleashed upon them. A flag caught fire and was blown away by the wind. Suddenly, the plane started to lose height. One of its wings came off. Only the gunner jumped out of the plane. Before he hit the ground he changed into a falcon and flew away. Zigzagging, he tried to dodge the fireballs that were thrown after him.
Ferhdessar moved the binoculars towards Tokala. He had his arms raised and launched another fireball. “A sorcerer?” Ferhdessar lowered the binoculars for a second but then looked again at Tokala. Ferhdessar had never thought that Tokala was a sorcerer. “A follower of Margal with an aptitude for magic,” he muttered to himself. “No wonder that he chose to convert.”
“Tokala’s lines have been breached,” Wolter said.
Ferhdessar moved his gaze. The armies were engaged in man-to-man combat. The Merzian army was forcing back the enemy forces. Tokala and his bodyguards took to their heels.
“The coward is running,” Ferhdessar laughed. He looked at Nadesh again. “How long before you’ll follow him?” he asked Kasimirh.
Ferhdessar had already turned around to face the battle, when something caught his eye. He swerved his binoculars to the left and the right, and then lowered them. He took a step back and gave Wolter a nudge.
“What is it?”
Ferhdessar pointed. Large pieces of rubble were being thrown down from Nadesh. They splintered the roofs of the barracks and shook the ground. Soldiers ran outside, but weren’t any safer in the square. Burning pieces of wood were thrown down next. Several buildings caught fire.
Branko came running up the stairs. “Tokala is attacking the fortress from the south,” he said out of breath.
Ferhdessar walked to the other side
of the tower. Through the binoculars he saw that the outer walls of the fortress were under attack.
“Call back Kiril and Zander,” Ferhdessar yelled.
“Already done,” said Wolter. “But Tokala has lured them too far away from the fortress.”
Ferhdessar watched as Eoghan sent his soldiers to the southern wall. “Join him,” Ferhdessar said to Branko.
“Let me take you inside,” Wolter said. He grabbed Ferhdessar’s arm and led him along. His soldiers formed a line around the headquarters.
Hours went by. The cannons protecting the fortress were shooting heavy cannonballs at the enemy, but without the desired effect. Meanwhile, the Jakobinians continued throwing pieces of rubble onto the fortress.
Ferhdessar was sitting with his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. With every tremor, the chair next to him moved further away. He was startled when a painting fell from the wall. He got up and started pacing the room. Wolter looked at him for a little while, but then bowed his head again. To reassure himself, Ferhdessar counted his steps. It felt as if the room was getting smaller, but the number of steps from wall to wall remained the same.
“I want to do something,” Ferhdessar growled. He was annoyed that he had to sit here and wait for the outcome of the battle.
Wolter opened his mouth, but Ferhdessar raised his hand. “I know, a leader shouldn’t go looking for danger.” Ferhdessar imitated Kiril’s voice, which was a bit lower than his own. It wouldn’t make much difference any way. None of his artefacts were strong enough to defeat an army. He stopped at the fireplace. “We’re going to Wigg’s temple.”
He left headquarters. At the top of the stairs he looked around. The headquarters were located in the centre of the fortress. It was far enough from the rock face, that no pieces of rubble had reached this part.
Ferhdessar’s bodyguards joined him. They descended the stairs, hurried across the square, and reached the temple. The priest was waiting for them at the door. Heat flowed past him in waves.
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