Page 78 of Siege of Stone (Sister of Darkness: The Nicci Chronicles 3)

As Nathan and Elsa walked alongside the slow-moving carts with Nicci leading the way, the wizard looked at the enormous warriors lying back and staring upward at the starry sky through the slits in their helmets. Nathan realized this was the first time these titans had seen the stars in more than fifteen centuries. He thought again about what those innocent young men had sacrificed. Jonathan, Rald, and Denn.

The procession passed gathered crowds. Children looked wide-eyed at the colossal warriors rolling past, while parents, old men, merchants, and freed slaves watched uneasily. With forced good cheer, Nathan ignited a bright fire in his palm. “Why so sullen? Dear spirits, we must cheer for these heroes, our Ixax warriors! They will save Ildakar. Show how much you appreciate them. They have given everything for your city.” He flared his hand torch brighter.

Elsa smiled, realizing what he meant. “Yes, everyone—cheer!” She let out a whistle and lit her own magical fire. “For the Ixax warriors, for the defenders of Ildakar!”

With a slowly building ripple, shouts rang out along the streets, and the congratulatory applause grew louder. Walking beside the armored head of one Ixax, Nathan bent close to whisper, “Listen to them, my friend. They know you and they appreciate you. Soon, you will finally get to do what you’ve waited to do for centuries.”

Elsa’s bright glow lit the other side of the groaning cart. After Nicci heard Nathan urge greater and greater cheers, she responded by sending up a column of fierce wizard’s fire in a dazzling beacon that awed the crowd.

The heavy carts rolled down the streets, passing the now empty and shadow-filled combat arena, the merchants’ district, warehouses, and workers’ homes, to finally arrive on the broad lower levels in front of the high walls. Dawn was just breaking, a glow rising to the east behind the city. The towering gates were closed and barricaded, and the carts bearing the two Ixax warriors stopped just behind them.

“These Ixax warriors remember their hearts, their families, and their city,” Nathan announced. “They will defend us, as they swore to do so long ago.”

High Captain Stuart commanded his sentries to release the locking spells, roll back the gears, and ratchet the crossbars out of their sockets. With a mighty heave, dozens of workers hauled on ropes, slowly creaking open the gigantic gates of Ildakar.

Impatient with the ponderous barrier, Nathan waved his hand and added a push of magic. By now, the sky was brightening, and the sun was over the river behind the bluff. When the gates were open far enough, teams guided the two carts carrying the colossal warriors through the gap.

The general’s army had withdrawn far from the walls, and the ancient soldiers stirred in their camp.

Concerned, Nicci said to Nathan, “Look at the army. Something is happening. General Utros is making his move.”

“Then we must make ours,” Nathan said. “Quickly now.” He turned to Elsa and the duma members who had accompanied them. “No time for a work crew. Use your gift. Let us stand our defenders on their feet and prepare to set them free at last.”

The newly constructed carts tilted down, placing the giant boots of the Ixax on the ground. Nathan released his gift. Nicci added her push. Oron, Damon, Quentin, and Elsa all used their magic, helping to raise the first warrior upright. He stood on his massive legs like a sentinel statue, half as tall as the huge city gates.

Working together, they raised the second Ixax warrior, so that the pair stood immobile but ready. Nathan could sense a difference in the giants, a tingling anticipation behind their armor, as if their blood was beginning to boil, trapped inside their encased forms.

“Soon,” Nathan said to them, gesturing. “Soon! You can see your enemy now, that giant army out there.” Though he wasn’t sure the Ixax could shift their gaze, thousands and thousands of troops filled the plain before Ildakar. The sheer number of foes was breathtaking, but the Ixax seemed ready. Anxious.

“Those soldiers are a threat to Ildakar. They want to shatter the walls and ransack the city,” Nathan said. The sky continued to brighten. “They plan to conquer Ildakar in the name of Emperor Kurgan, who has been dead for centuries. You can save us.” He looked up at the giant warriors. “The two of you can save us.”

Shouts came from the sentries on the walls above. General Utros was clearing a great area in his camp for some unknown purpose, and Nathan felt a growing dread. The other wizards looked around, also expecting something.

Nathan swallowed hard, and turned to Elsa. “Very well, my dear, let us prove ourselves right.” He looked at the towering inhuman soldiers. “Remember who you are. Remember why you were created.”

Elsa added, “Remember us. You have to remember us.” Then she activated the embedded rune on the plates of the Ixax armor, illuminating the mark with a glow of magic, setting them free.

The symbol flared, brightened, and Nathan heard a cracking sound as the joints became unfrozen, long-hardened muscles thawing. The eyes in the helmets blazed brighter, bonfires of anger and frustration. In a flash, Nathan remembered the night he had almost died when he’d faced a single Ixax. He, better than anyone else, knew the danger and power these things represented.

Now he was unleashing them, on purpose.

Moving now, coming alive again, they swiveled their huge helmeted heads down to give a knowing look to Nathan. Then, with a groan of ancient, unparalleled power, the Ixax warriors began to move.

CHAPTER 62

It was a bright morning, a fateful morning, and the sun rose above Ildakar’s bluffs, silhouetting the city. General Utros studied the haze in the air, the orange colors of brightening dawn, and he felt the magic around him strengthening—the magic that Ava and Ruva had released.

Because the spell was tied to the skin they had peeled from his face, Utros was part of the magic as well. When his sorceresses had burned the dragon-fire scar and mixed the ash with his blood in the water basin, a magical bond had been forged like a gossamer net cast throughout the gift. They knew it would take time. Finally, days later, in the darkness of the headquarters structure, all three of them had sensed … a dragon. Yes, their spell had found one of the magnificent ancient beasts, and caught it.

Even during Kurgan’s original reign of conquest, dragons had been imposing, unpredictable beasts, and rare. Now, with the powerful spell Ava and Ruva cast, they had found one dragon. Only one.

“He is distant,” Ava said in a hushed whisper. Ruva leaned closer, stroking Utros’s cold, hard skin. They shared their body warmth, their magic, their presence with him. “But we will make him come to us, through you.”

At midnight, Utros had withdrawn his lines of troops from the wall, where their unceasing pounding had begun to shiver Ildakar’s defenses. He knew the unexpected silence would unnerve the enemy, make them cower because of the quiet as much as they feared the hammering.

Sooner or later the walls would come down. The wizards inside had reinforced the blocks with their spells, but it was only a matter of time, and after fifteen centuries as a statue himself, Utros wasn’t worried about time. His emperor and his beloved Majel were already with the Keeper in the underworld. Utros wanted to succeed, needed to succeed to atone for his broken loyalty. Having seen Iron Fang’s absolute fury and vengeance, Utros knew he would not be forgiven easily. Maybe if he conquered the entire world …

Ildakar was the first step.

Once the pounding soldiers retreated, the night had been left with resounding silence while Utros made final preparations.

After painstakingly removing any hint of hair from their bodies, the women had used fingertips and bright pigments to daub designs over each other’s arms, necks, faces, breasts, each making her sister an exotic sensual masterpiece. With their bodies so colorfully painted, neither of the sorceresses needed clothes.

Utros knew they wouldn’t fail him. During the initial workings of the spell, after they dissolved his scar and sent out their call, they had discovered the water-scrying sorceress from Ildakar, but Ava and Ruva had dealt with the spy.

Now his enemies inside the city were likely aware of his plan, even though they could do nothing to stop it. How could even Ildakar prepare against a dragon in thrall to Utros?

After tense days of waiting, the time had come, and there was no sense in hiding their plan. Ildakar would burn, its walls would fall, its people would scream and try to surrender, though it would be far too late. Now, at the break of dawn, Utros walked with the twin sorceresses to the center of the plain. He had ordered his soldiers to clear a great open area in full view of Ildakar. It was time for Ava and Ruva to pull on the unbreakable spell chains and drag the giant dragon here to do the general’s bidding.

The women walked naked alongside General Utros out to the summoning point. Ruva spoke in a husky whisper. “Daybreak is the cusp between darkness and light, a time when magic is at balance, when certain spells are easier.”

Ava added, “It is not easy, beloved Utros, but my sister and I will give all we have. We will bring you the dragon.”

Now that the sun was up, the twins were ready. Utros stood in his ancient uniform, leather armor with polished metal strips, the helmet with the imposing bull’s horns. Around him, his army had erected banners to bring Iron Fang’s flame emblem to the battlefield again. Utros touched the large sword at his side, squeezed the leather of his gauntlets, felt the tight bracer on his right arm.

Sunlight reflected off the beaten-gold mask that covered the left side of his face, where his skin had been cut away. Ava and Ruva had used magic to fashion a half mask out of raw gold, shaping rings, bracelets, and necklaces into a covering that fit precisely against his exposed flesh. It seemed more glorious than his old dragon scar. It made him feel legendary.

“From which direction will the dragon come?” Utros asked.

Ava and Ruva turned slowly. “He will come from the sky, but we can’t know more than that. We have yet to call him.”

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