Page 32 of Ensii
Chapter Nine
Debrei asked Ashek and Talitha four times if they had purged all the charms and talismans from their fighters. Talitha hadn’t been sure what the woman wanted to hear by the end.
“Yes! We’ve asked everyone and asked them again. Unless you want me to strip search our soldiers, I don’t see what else I can do!”
At that, Ashek stepped between them, speaking lowly to Debrei.
Talitha tried to remind herself that Debrei was the Hudspethites’ spiritual authority—and would probably be the same to all Ilios before long. It didn’t make her nagging any less annoying or any more effective. What did she want them to do?
Yet as Talitha climbed across the great tiled ceiling of her palace, Talitha found herself wishing she had checked everyone a third time, perhaps a fourth time. Her mind kept flitting to the ties in her armor, the orders she had given to the soldiers. Was there a way that they could win this?
After all, Nehemian had nothing to lose and he’d already proven he could summon monsters. What had been so worth this suicide mission that he dared return to the scene of his greatest crime?
“Steady.” Ashek touched her arm, his fingers brushing just above her bracer. “I sense it, too.”
“What?”
“The dread. Don’t let it get to you.”
Talitha took a deep breath. She ached to tell him he was being superstitious, but the words wouldn’t come. She couldn’t lead these people if she was shaking in her sandals. She imagined herself facing down a sandserpent, a doomworm, a battalion of bandits, her grandfather, or any number of dangers she’d faced over the years. Surely she had it in her to face whatever lay ahead?
They reached the narrow glass windows that lined the upper portions of the ceiling, running down the length of the throne room floor. From below, the windows let in multicolored light in fractured patterns. From above, they were dusty, mismatched shapes that were no more remarkable than any other stone.
Talitha gathered with the Hudspethites and her soldiers around the windows, careful not to step on any of them. Their group had made every effort to be quiet, yet it seemed a pointless effort. Their shadows fell over the windows. Even with the first sun already down and the second one fast following, Nehemian would know they were here.
“Are you ready?” Talitha asked Kasrei, adjusting her fingerless leather gloves. It would be a sharp descent down, a good fifty feet to the ground. She couldn’t afford to let her hands get damaged. She’d need them for gripping her sword.
“I just hope there’s enough still living in that throne room by the time we get in. Debrei said that the spells work through blood sacrifices. What if—”
“What if nothing,” Talitha said shortly, grabbing Kasrei’s shoulder with a confidence she didn’t feel. A few steps away, Ashek spoke lowly with Kurzik, but she was sure he was listening. Talitha would not let herself appear weak in front of him, not while others were there. “We will crush these monsters and their bitch goddess like we’ve crushed every foe before them. Do you believe that?”
Kasrei waved her off. “Of course. I’m simply concerned about letting Gilsazi and his troops in. And are you sure that both you and Ashek should be here?”
Talitha had wondered that herself, but Debrei had won out, saying that they should both go. It was infuriating and oddly comforting. Talitha clenched her teeth as images flashed across her mind—Ashek pinned to the ground beneath one of those black fiends, his ribcage ripped open and his heart clenched between the monster’s teeth.
Talitha rammed her fist between her eyes, pressing her knuckles against her skull until the thoughts waned. She turned her attention to the soldiers. Most of them were veterans, at least of the sands if not her army. Ashek’s warriors and hers still separated into their own ranks, parted neatly. They were already uncomfortable with one another and the added—bad air, witchcraft, whatever it was—didn’t help their spirits. Worse, Talitha didn’t know the first thing as to how she could help them.
“Are we ready?” She knew the answer, but everyone nodded and muttered yes in a blatant lie. They were as ready as they could possibly be, she supposed.
Several of the soldiers knelt and tugged at their grappling ropes, checking to be sure they were secured at the edge of the roof. Talitha had an abrupt image of everyone falling to their deaths as the ropes gave way. She shook her head, half hoping she could shake the thoughts out.
Ashek stepped up to the nearest window, crouching over it to peer below. “I can’t see much of anything.” He looked to Talitha. “Are you ready?”
For an instant, Talitha had the image of Naram standing over her, sword driving down between her eyes. She blinked the vision away. “Soldiers, get into position.” She crouched over her own window, rope securely fastened to her grappling harness. She checked her knives and her sword. When they jumped, there would be no time to untie themselves. The plan was to cut themselves free.
If they weren’t careful, the ropes would tangle and ensnare them like birds.
Talitha looked across the golden city, hers again already, and tried to push away that thought. She wasn’t usually one to keep contemplating the worst case scenario as they were on the cusp of battle. She was finding it easier to believe in witchcraft with every single moment.
Kasrei smacked her hands together, fidgeting anxiously. The magian had never been particularly good at hiding her emotions and several soldiers began fidgeting at her sides.
“Are we ready?” Talitha stood over the window, shoulders back and chin up,doing her best to look as unconcerned and confident as she ever had.
The soldiers gave a muffled round of affirmatives.
“Good. Ashek?”
Her husband gestured for them to proceed, done looking over his warriors just one last time. “Ready when you are.”
