Page 8 of Siege of Stone (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles 3)

The third man had an arm shattered off at the elbow, and his ragged, bloody stump dripped onto the ground, though a leather belt had been cinched around it in a makeshift tourniquet. The fourth victim had a mangled crotch, as if someone had used a dull axe to chop away at his groin, striking off his privates and leaving torn flesh on his thighs. The victims moaned with the abject misery of their inexplicable wounds.

“We found dozens like this, General,” said the subcommander. “They’re alive and awake, and yet they’ve been mutilated. I can’t understand how it happened. It is malicious, senseless damage.”

Utros tried not to show his revulsion. His thoughts spun in different possibilities, looping around until he finally understood. “They were attacked while they were petrified and helpless. Some cruel person smashed off their features and left them horribly damaged.”

The general remembered when his army had swept through conquered cities, ransacking them. They would tear down the capital buildings, burn the temples, and destroy the statues, because General Utros would allow no god other than Emperor Kurgan. Yes, the Keeper dominated the underworld behind the veil, but here in this world, Iron Fang must be the one they feared and worshiped. If the conquering soldiers found revered statues of their leaders, they would batter the faces until they were nothing more than chipped stone.

Seeing the mangled wreckage of these soldiers, the broken arms, the maliciously destroyed groin, he knew someone had done the same thing, vandalizing the stone figures in his petrified army. But these weren’t just statues. These had been real men, loyal men, and Utros felt enraged.

“It is one more thing we will avenge when we invade Ildakar,” he said. “Tend these poor men, care for them however you can.” He wasn’t sure if the moaning, agonized victims could hear him. “You have already paid a tremendous price, and for that I am eternally grateful. I vow that Ildakar will pay a greater price than you’ve suffered.”

After they departed, Utros needed a moment to compose himself. He looked up with relief when First Commander Enoch entered, his rugged face showing a hint of satisfaction. Utros gave a lopsided smile with his scarred face. “Enoch, I hope you have a good report. I’ve heard enough details about latrines and campsites and mutilated soldiers.”

Enoch seemed pleased. “Yes, General. We finally have some answers.”

Three armored soldiers wrestled a pair of captives through the open door, a man and a woman. They were middle-aged, but bent with the years added by a lifetime of hard labor. They wore patchwork leather, wool, and fur garments. The couple huddled close to each other, but the soldiers pushed them into the dim room. The woman stumbled, and the man caught her arm, holding her upright. They trembled as they stood in front of the table.

The first commander stepped off to the left. “Our scouts found these two camped in a high meadow. They are animal herders tending fifty creatures called yaxen.”

“Yes, sir,” said the captive man, trying to sound helpful and cooperative. “We’re yaxen herders, just simple people. We pasture the animals and bring them in to sell at Ildakar or to other towns in the mountains.”

Utros was glad to have real witnesses, a man and woman who had not been petrified for years. “Then you have vital information for us. You know what’s been happening in the world.”

Ava and Ruva glided forward to regard the captives in predatory silence, their eyes boring into the shivering man and woman.

Enoch said, “We captured their animals as well, sir. Scouts are herding them back to camp right now, so we’ll have some food supply. Enough for our officers, maybe.”

“Good thinking, First Commander.” Utros steepled his fingers as he leaned over the table. He spoke in a calm voice, hoping the captives would not need to be coerced. “Tell us about the lands around us. Apart from Ildakar, where are the nearest towns and cities? Who are the leaders?”

“My lord, we are simply yaxen herders! We don’t know anything,” said the man.

Utros added an edge to his voice. “You may address me as ‘sir,’ not ‘my lord.’ I serve Emperor Kurgan, and I will be the judge of how much you know.”

The woman sputtered. “Emperor Kurgan? But, my lord … but, sir, he’s been dead for ages. He—”

Utros pounded his fist on the table, not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. “What are your names? Let’s start with simple information first.”

The man reached out to touch the woman’s arm. “My name is Boyle. This is Irma, my wife. We’ve herded yaxen all our lives. Our two children are grown up and now they live in a mountain town to the north.”

“What is it called?” Utros asked.

“The town? Why, it’s … Stravera, my lo—… sir,” said Boyle. “Stravera. It’s the nearest large town.”

Irma cleared her throat. “Many of the other villages grew over the centuries after Ildakar disappeared, but now that the city has come back, we have a new market for our yaxen.”

Utros frowned. “What do you mean, now that Ildakar has come back?”

“Why, the whole city vanished for centuries, sir, disappeared behind the shroud of eternity. And your army … sir, it was turned to stone, too. Thousands and thousands of statues. They were there all my life, many lifetimes. There are legends about where you came from, but we were never sure,” Irma said.

Boyle broke in, “We’d take our yaxen to the high pastures in the summer and then down to the plain as the weather grew colder. We’d camp among the stone soldiers year after year. I think I may even have seen one that looked like you, sir, and … and the ladies.” He glanced at Ava and Ruva.

“Explain these legends. How were we turned into statues?”

“Why, everyone knows that, sir,” said Boyle, indignant.

The twin sorceresses quivered like serpents preparing to strike. Utros said, “If we knew the answer, we wouldn’t need to question you. Speak!”

“Why, sir, when the army of General Utros came to lay siege to the city, the wizards of Ildakar worked a powerful spell to turn them all to stone,” said Irma.

“After that,” Boyle continued, “the wizards knew that Ildakar would keep being a target for outsiders, so they worked more magic and swept away the entire city for more than a thousand years. Only in the past couple of decades did the magic fade. The city reappeared after all that time, so we started selling them our meat and pelts again.”

“Then why did my army awaken just yesterday?” Utros asked.

Boyle and Irma were confused. Their mouths opened and closed, but no answers came forth. They looked at each other, and Utros saw an undercurrent of caring and mutual protection flash between them. That was a weapon he could use.

“We’ve been up in the hills. We didn’t even know you were awake, until your soldiers captured us. Always before, we just saw the statues,” Boyle said. “That’s all.”

The general did not expect subtle explanations of magic from these two. “Tell us where to find Stravera and also describe the other cities in the area. As herders, you must know where they are.”

“We know of a few,” Irma said, “but I’ve never been farther than Stravera or down here to Ildakar, not in all my life.”

“Our two sons live in Stravera,” Boyle said. “Why would we need to go farther? The yaxen have all the pasturage they need.”

Utros didn’t think they were lying, but, to be sure, he asked the questions again, pressing for more details.

Because he sensed their vulnerability, he had Enoch snap Irma’s two little fingers, a brittle hollow-branch sound that was much more delicate than her shrill wail of pain. Boyle babbled and repeated his information, and the threat of breaking more of his wife’s fingers finally elicited the names of four more mountain and river towns that Boyle had heard of, but never visited.

“Thank you,” the general finally said, looking at the sobbing old woman, the ashen and wrung-out man. “You have been most helpful.” He turned to the two sorceresses. “Do you think they’ve divulged ev

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