Page 58 of Siege of Stone (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles 3)

Nicci didn’t know which one dwelled here.

Nathan and Elsa stood beside her at the cold stones surrounding the well. “Reach out with your gift,” Nicci urged. “Call to her. Ildakar is far from any other sliph well we know, and we need to make her remember this one.”

She focused her thoughts, extending lines of magic like a fisherman trolling in the water. She sent her thoughts into the infinite black well, while Nathan and Elsa concentrated hard, straining with everything they had. Nicci shouted in her mind at the same time she shouted aloud. “Sliph!”

Finally, a faint, gurgling echo came from far below, like water dripping down a very long pipe. Nicci sensed a churning sound that grew louder and closer, a waterfall charging straight toward them from the depths of the world.

Nathan and Elsa recoiled in alarm, and Nicci stepped back from the edge of the low wall, but stood straight as a turbulent froth of silver roiled up like a geyser about to explode. She didn’t flinch as the quicksilver liquid boiled just to the edge of the well and stopped, perfectly smooth like a razor edge of ice. A shape formed in the mirrorlike surface, rising up until its features sharpened into the hard and beautiful form of a woman.

This sliph looked different from the original, eager one and the less compliant Lucy. This sliph had long locks of hair like molten metal, blank mirror eyes, thin lips that showed no hint of a smile. Her cheekbones were high and her face was wide. She would have been a beauty in life.

“You wish to travel,” the sliph said, a statement rather than a question. Her voice sounded cold, impatient, certainly not solicitous. “It has been a long time, but I know no time.”

“Yes, I wish to travel,” Nicci said. “I have urgent business. I must go to some of the cities in the Old World to spread news of a war.”

The sliph’s expression grew more animated. “I exist to serve the cause. I was created to help deliver our faithful spies and saboteurs to fight the wizards of the New World. I am disappointed that the war isn’t already won.” She looked at Nathan and Elsa. “You all wish to travel? You all serve Sulachan?”

“Dear spirits,” Nathan said. “I don’t think—”

Nicci quickly held up her hand to silence him. “Is a war ever over? We must continue to fight. If you serve the cause, then you will help me travel.” She shot a quick glance at the wizard, who understood the danger of revealing too much.

“I serve the cause. Once, Emperor Sulachan even traveled within me. I still have his taste as part of me.” She turned those eerie silver eyes to Nicci. “How will you taste? You must be within me and I within you, then we will travel.”

Troubled, Nathan lowered his voice. “Sorceress, maybe we should reconsider.”

“I need to present our report, and quickly.” She faced the sliph. “It is vital that I deliver my intelligence. Others are waiting. The cause may depend upon my report.”

“I sacrificed everything for the cause,” the sliph said. “We will travel. Where do you wish to go?”

Now Nicci was at a loss, because sliphs could go only where they had been before, where a counterpart well existed. After so many centuries, she suspected the names of many cities had changed, so how would the sliph know? Getting her warning to Richard was Nicci’s priority, though. “Do you know the People’s Palace near the Azrith Plain? Or perhaps Aydindril?”

“I do not know the People’s Palace, but Aydindril?” the sliph asked. “The Wizard’s Keep? You wish to go into enemy territory? It is too dangerous. I was never allowed to go anywhere in the New World. I was only required to go where our spies and operatives have business.”

“Where is the last place you went?” Nathan asked. “Perhaps we know that.”

“Tanimura was the farthest boundary, although I delivered many faithful fighters to Serrimundi, Larrikan Shores, Orogang.”

Nicci quickly formed her plans. “Tanimura is acceptable.” She knew that city from her time at the Palace of the Prophets, and she would find a way to dispatch a message from there to Richard’s capital.

“Then come, I will deliver you,” said the sliph. “The mission must not wait. You will help us achieve victory against the enemy wizards of the New World.”

Nicci didn’t respond, deciding not to tell this sliph that millennia had passed, that the ancient wizard wars were long over, and that Sulachan had been defeated, not once, but twice.

“Be careful, Sorceress,” Nathan warned.

She turned to him and Elsa. “I won’t be gone long. Meanwhile, keep looking for ways to defend the city.” She flashed a hard smile. “I’d be very displeased if I returned from Tanimura only to find Ildakar destroyed.” Nathan chuckled weakly. Nicci faced the sliph. “I’m ready. We must travel.”

“You will breathe.” The sliph loomed higher, rising up like a molten sculpture. “Breathe in me and come with me.”

The silvery figure enfolded Nicci in a wave of cold liquid metal. The froth boiled all around her, engulfing her, and Nicci fell forward into the well. The sliph embraced her, pressed harder. In her mind, Nicci heard the command. “Breathe!”

She inhaled the silvery essence of the strange being, felt the sliph fill her mouth, her throat, her nose, her lungs. Her heart kept beating, but she was drowning.

The sliph carried her down and down and far away.

CHAPTER 44

After Nicci was swallowed by the silvery sliph and pulled down into the well, Nathan stared uneasily into the darkness, smelling the metallic dampness in the air. He glanced at Elsa, who was amazed at what had happened.

“Perhaps it’s a good thing I am unable to travel in that manner,” she said.

Nathan turned back toward the daylight outside, confident in Nicci’s abilities. “I’m sure she will be safe, my dear. But while Nicci is off to save the rest of the world, we have the far simpler task of protecting only one city.”

Elsa’s full lips turned down in a frown. “I never know when you’re joking, Nathan.”

“I insist on looking at difficult challenges from a certain perspective. It helps me consider extraordinary solutions, and it’s preferable to wallowing in despair, don’t you agree?”

Elsa gave him a wan smile as she followed him out of the enclosure. “My Derek was always a cheerful person, too. It was infectious.”

“Then let me infect you.” He extended his elbow, and Elsa slid her arm through his. He could see how beautiful she must have been as a young woman. He corrected himself: she was still beautiful now, as well as admirable and intelligent. “Now let us find a weapon powerful enough to destroy the army of General Utros.”

Elsa brushed against him. “That sounds awfully ambitious.”

“Since you helped me restore my gift, how can I be anything but ambitious?” Nathan suddenly winced with a flicker of unexpected pain as his thumping heart tripped over a beat. He rubbed his breastbone, feeling the long thin scar there.

Elsa looked at him with concern. “Is something wrong?”

“Just a bit of indigestion.” He wondered if a faint remnant of Chief Handler Ivan remained within the muscle of his new heart. Before she could press further, he said, “Come along. I have an idea I’d like to show you.”

Elsa would undoubtedly be alarmed by what he intended, and his suggestion was extremely dangerous, but he thought his idea was their best chance to hit General Utros hard.

They passed the huge combat arena and the larger noble homes, heading toward Fleshmancer Andre’s mansion. Giant sandstone blocks lay strewn about the streets where city buildings had been brought down. Workers had cleared some of the rubble since the night of the rampant destruction, but debris still clogged a few streets. Stonemasons loaded the broken rock in carts and wheeled them down to the outer wall, where the sentries used them as missiles to pelt the enemy warriors below.

Elsa paled as she realized where he was taking her. “This is a terrible reminder of what happened that night. And how you saved me.”

Nathan patted her arm. “Saving y

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