The crowd muttered at having their entertainment cut short. The wine merchants dropped their prices and shouted their specials. Food vendors waved leftover skewers and pastries in the air.
Queasy, Bannon shook his head. “I do not like this city,” he said, looking at Nathan. “Do you have any hope Andre will restore your gift soon? There’s so much more of the Old World to explore.” He swallowed. “Isn’t there?”
Nathan said, “I’m as anxious to be on our way as you are.”
Nicci, though, was hard and determined. “I am reluctant to abandon these people. Ildakar was once a bright and legendary city, but now it is a festering sore. Lord Rahl sent us on our mission. Could there be any more fundamental need than these people have demonstrated? How can we not help them? We must find a way to overthrow this practice and bring freedom—as Richard demands.”
Nathan looked as if he had swallowed a piece of rotten fruit. “I cannot help you fight until I get my gift back … and in order to accomplish that, I have to play along with these people, even though I’m beginning to despise what I see all around me.” He looked discouraged, angry at his own helplessness. “Sorceress, you can’t bring down a city’s centuries-old tradition all by yourself.”
She fastened her blue-eyed gaze upon him. “I’m not alone. I have you.”
Bannon stepped close and touched the hilt of his sword. “And me.”
CHAPTER 28
That night, the sovrena and the wizard commander hosted another celebratory banquet, this time to welcome the vile Norukai.
Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon were invited, though their presence was clearly an afterthought. The brutish slavers were the center of attention. Captain Kor and three other representatives from the serpent ships came up to join the duma members, while the remaining thirty Norukai sailors were turned loose on the city’s drinking establishments, restaurants, and silk yaxen dachas. Despite the honor of the invitation to dine with the city’s most important wizards, Kor and his burly companions—Lars, Yorik, and Dar—clearly would have preferred to join the rest of their comrades in more hedonistic settings.
As brittle as glass, Nicci chose a seat at the far end of the table, next to Nathan, and although Bannon sat with Amos, Jed, and Brock, he looked uncomfortable to be there at all. Nicci had not seen him smile in days, and she understood why. She hadn’t smiled either.
The Norukai captain sat with his elbows spread, ready to eat with both hands as a huge joint of roast yaxen was brought in on a spit, slaves carrying it on their shoulders; younger slaves kept pace, holding a pan beneath the meat to catch the drippings. Servants circled the table pouring goblets of bloodwine, but Kor gruffly declared, “This takes too long. Just bring a bottle for me and for each of my men.” He made a guttural sound that might have been laughter. “In fact, bring two bottles for Yorik; otherwise he will complain.”
Dar gulped from his goblet, then wiped a forearm across his lips as a dribble of red liquid seeped from the scar at the side of his cheek. “A good vintage.”
The other Norukai drank and agreed.
Kor yanked a leather pouch from his waist and tossed it to Dar. It clanked with golden coins. “Here’s part of our earnings from today. Find a wine merchant and buy as much as you can to load aboard our ships.”
“We’ll drink it all on the voyage back,” Yorik said.
“Better keep at least a keg for King Grieve,” Kor said.
The other Norukai suddenly looked tense at the mention of the name. “We’ll set one aside for him.”
Maxim nodded to the pouch of coins. “That much gold should buy several kegs.”
“Good, then buy some of this meat too.” Kor used his own knife to cut off a hunk of the roast, while the servants were more delicate as they carved the choicest morsels for the guests.
Silent and alert, Nicci watched their movements, studying the Norukai like a predator ready to pounce. The wizards of Ildakar unsettled her, but she hated the Norukai in a different way. As second-tier guests, she and her companions were served last. Nicci ate quietly so as not to draw attention to herself, while Nathan consumed the meat and tubers on his plate, mopping up the juices with fresh bread. Bannon didn’t touch his food.
“Where are your best silk yaxen whores in the city?” Kor asked.
“We’d like to sample several,” said Lars, “but we don’t want to waste our time.”
Amos interjected, “I know the best ones.”
Sovrena Thora sat at the head of the table using her jeweled dining implements. She ate as if she were made of lace and gold wire. “Yes, my son is well versed in these things.”
“Our friend Bannon may be interested in joining us,” Jed said, but it was less of an invitation than a sarcastic barb. “We’ll take good care of him.”
Bannon flushed and carefully admitted, “The women are very beautiful.”
The scarred raiders looked at one another and chortled, muttering in a gruff language that sounded like rocks grinding together. Dar said, “Ildakar women are too delicate and break too easily.”
“We prefer the sturdy beauty of Norukai females,” said Kor. “But your women will do. We have been lonely enough at sea. The slaves were serviceable, but they can only slake so much of a man’s thirst.”
Wizard Commander Maxim said, “Because you are welcome trading partners, we would also invite you to one of our pleasure parties, if you prefer noble Ildakaran women. We can make an exception, and it would be an experience you’d not soon forget.” With a wicked smile, he gestured toward the sovrena. “My lovely wife would be most willing to accommodate you. She is not choosy about her men.”
Thora gave him a venomous glare. “We will indeed have a pleasure party this evening with many nobles, if that would be something you and your men might enjoy, Captain Kor.” She seemed to force the words out of her.
The scarred Norukai leered at her.
Maxim added, “And the sorceress Nicci is welcome, as always.”
“As always,” Nicci said. “And as always, I choose to decline.”
He let out a good-natured chuckle. “As you wish. Considering your cool demeanor, some nobles have suggested your nipples are made of ice chips.”
“Fools can suggest whatever they like,” Nicci said.
Nathan couldn’t help but smile as he sat beside her.
Maxim laughed again. “Adorable, just adorable.”
Kor looked from Thora to the prim duma members and turned back to young Amos, who was helping himself to a second serving of the yaxen meat. “We’d prefer the whorehouses. Noblewomen talk too much, at a time when talking is unimportant.”
For the next course, servants brought in platters heaped with small grilled birds, each one no more than a morsel. The wizard Damon perked up, stroking his long mustaches. “Ah, delicious! Honey-roasted larks. Are they yours, Sovrena?”
She nodded. “Yes, their music is sweet, but their flesh is sweeter. I will need to catch more. We have nets strung out across the rooftops.”
“How many more slaves do you need us to bring?” Kor interrupted. “And when? We have many serpent ships in the estuary, as well as the islands. We’ll acquire what you need. Just tell us.”
“Slaves perish, although they do reproduce quickly as well,” Ivan said, holding up his empty plate, impatiently waiting for a servant to add more meat.
“Today’s group will serve us well,” Thora said. “It should allow us to work our spell and restore the shroud for a very long time.”
“If your shroud is in place, then how can we sell you more slaves?”
“Ildakar lived beneath the shroud for many centuries,” said Maxim. “We were a closed system with no outside commerce, but I much prefer the infusion of outside goods, and fresh blood. Believe me, we’ll still have to drop the shroud occasionally in order to replenish our resources.”
“You expect us just to wait in our ships until your city shows itself again? What will happen to our cargo in the meantime?” Kor asked.
>
Bannon stared down at his food, moving it about with his sharp-tined fork. “They’re not just cargo,” he growled loudly enough for the others to hear. “They’re people … like my friend Ian. He was a young man with a future ahead of him, until you took him. We’re going to get him his freedom.” He shot a meaningful glance at Amos, who ignored him.
The Norukai looked surprised that Bannon had spoken. Andre stroked his thick, braided beard, amused. “The nongifted swordsman has a voice after all? This could be entertaining, hmmm?”
“Every person in our perfect society has their function,” said Thora. “Some of us bear the burden of being leaders. Others simply work. They know their place.”
Nicci saw that Bannon had gulped his entire goblet of bloodwine. He was flushed and angry, and now he spoke more loudly. “We’ve seen how the Norukai attack helpless villages.” He stabbed his fork with a clang onto his plate. “How you prey upon the innocent.”
Kor’s eyes smoldered. The other Norukai seemed annoyed, but they let their captain speak for them. “We don’t prey upon the innocent—we prey upon the weak. That is how nature works. We cull the herd of humanity. Some die, and others are put to good use as slaves. We are the strong, so we do as we wish.”
Bannon clearly wanted to start a fight. Fortunately, he had not been allowed to bring his sword to the banquet, or he might have provoked a bloody brawl.
Nicci touched her companion’s arm, and he froze, though he still looked ready to explode. Turning to the slavers, she used a different weapon. “If you are so powerful, Captain Kor, then explain something we found on our journey here to Ildakar.” Her blue eyes flashed, and the others paused, waiting to hear what she would say. “We encountered four Norukai … or at least, four Norukai heads. They had been skewered on high spikes, left to rot in the road as a warning. Were they weak?”
Angry mutters rippled around the banquet table like the sound of a distant thunderstorm. Both the sovrena and the wizard commander looked uncomfortable, but they made no excuses. Amos glared at Bannon, who didn’t seem to care.
“Perhaps they were just there as decoration,” Nathan said flippantly. “Not a very good one.”
Thora said, “Beyond our protective shroud there are many hazards. Who knows what happened to the other Norukai? Since it was well outside Ildakar, it has nothing to do with us.”
Yorik gulped another goblet of wine, finishing his first bottle and pouring from the second.
High Captain Avery marched into the banquet hall as the final dishes were being taken away. He bent close to Thora. “Is there anything you desire, Sovrena?”
“Why, yes.” She reached up to touch his hand. “We have another pleasure party this evening. I would like you to attend as my personal guest.”
The handsome captain nodded. “As you wish, Sovrena. I will serve Ildakar in any way I am required.”
Beside her, Maxim rolled his eyes and turned a hopeful look to Nicci, but she gave him a cool stare from across the table.
Nathan said uncertainly to the fleshmancer, “Andre, shall we discuss ideas of how to intensify the Han we mapped out on the chart of my body? I would like to devote more time to the problem.”
“Not tonight, dear Nathan. We must have time to relax and recover, hmmm? You should rest and gather your strength.”
The Norukai drank the rest of the bloodwine at the table while Amos and his friends offered to guide the brutish guests to the lower levels of Ildakar. They did not extend the invitation to Bannon again, and he did not seem disappointed.
CHAPTER 29
Bannon’s anger made him see red shadows as he strode out into the darkness. He had no interest in carousing with Amos and his friends, especially if they were with the loathsome Norukai. Amos had promised to help him with Ian for two days now, made offhand reassurances, but Bannon had seen no real interest there.
Therefore, he would try to do what he could on his own. After having seen what had happened to his poor friend, who was alive but still destroyed, he felt a dangerous restlessness.
The Norukai sickened him. They had laughed and snorted during the banquet, gorging themselves on roast yaxen and bloodwine … and the council members greeted them as welcome visitors, respected merchants. In the slave market Bannon had watched the battered captives hauled onto the platform for sale. Any one of them might have been Ian as a young man, clubbed and abducted from a peaceful cove on Chiriya Island.…
Bannon blinked hot tears out of his eyes as he stumbled into the middle levels of the city. The boulevards were busy with evening customers. Taverns and restaurants served food and drink, while shopkeepers stayed open late, hawking their wares to nobles out for an evening stroll.
Bannon knew where he had to go. He made his way past the large and eerily empty combat arena and went directly to the tunnel opening in the sandstone outcropping that led to the training pits.
Torches in iron racks flickered outside the tunnel, but he saw no barred gate, no guard. Bannon drew a breath, focused his hazel eyes, and entered the dark passage.
His hand strayed to his hip. He wished he had brought Sturdy, but his hosts had insisted he leave the blade in his room. Ildakar was supposedly a perfect society, so why would anyone need weapons to defend themselves? But one of the city guards had recently been murdered, so the streets were indeed dangerous … to certain people, at least. Bannon had sensed the unrest among the people like rot spreading through a barrel of apples. Without his sword, his hand clenched into a fist instead.
He walked deeper into the disturbingly dark tunnel toward the warren of warrior cells. If he could get Ian free, then everything would feel all right.
He heard a sudden movement and whirled, reacting as a pale figure lunged out of the shadows. Hard muscle slammed into him. A hand grabbed the front of his chest, threw him against the sandstone wall, and another hand seized his long hair, yanked it back.
Bannon swung his fist, flailed, and by sheer luck, connected with soft flesh. He heard an outburst of pain, a quick exhalation of air. He struck again, but the wiry figure kept attacking him, a dynamo of muscles and swift, successive blows. He took a punch to his ribs followed by a crack to the side of his head, and his skull struck the wall of the tunnel. Stars sparkled in his vision and he reeled, fighting back. A swift chop to the base of his neck turned his legs to jelly.
As Bannon began to slide to the floor, his attacker grabbed him by the back of the shirt and dragged him along. He could hear heavy breathing, but no voice, nothing beyond the ringing in his ears. He kicked out with his feet, tried to drag the heels of his boots, but nothing slowed his movement. Finally the darkness grew brighter around him, and he realized he had been hauled to the larger grotto with sunken fighting pits along with numerous warrior holding cells in side tunnels.
Trying to get his wits about him, he saw the young morazeth with light brown hair standing over him: Lila, wearing only a black leather wrap around her hips and another strip covering her breasts.
“Normally, I would kill an intruder,” she said, “but you sparked my curiosity.”
He wiped blood from his mouth and struggled to his feet. “Sweet Sea Mother, why did you do that?” He shook his head and the ringing began to clear.
Lila’s thin lips quirked in a smile. “For practice.” Her skin was covered with the branded symbols, but she wore them with confidence, like badges of honor rather than scars. “I could have kicked you in the crotch and dropped you like a stone, but then you wouldn’t be much for conversation.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Now tell me, why did you come here?”
“My friend, Ian,” he said. “I came for Ian.”
Lila sniffed. “Are you stupid as well as weak? He doesn’t want to see you. He made that clear earlier.”
“But I want to see him. I want to free him. I’ll do anything—can I pay for his release? Can I arrange for him to be pardoned?”
Lila blinked. “Pardoned? He has committed no crime. He is our champion.”
r /> “Ian was taken as a boy, ripped away from his home by Norukai slavers! Who knows what torments he suffered? And now he’s forced to fight in your combat pits.”
The morazeth gave him a withering stare. “He was a weak child with no future other than to be a dirt farmer on a dull island. Now he’s been toughened and trained. He has slain a hundred opponents. He is the champion of all Ildakar, and Adessa herself has taken him as her lover. By the Keeper, why would he wish to leave all that?”
“To be free,” Bannon said.
Lila sniffed. “No one is free. Every person is bound by chains of one sort or another.”
“I’m not,” Bannon said.
“Of course you are—or you will be. Perhaps your chains are your ignorance of the way the world works.”
Bannon brushed himself off, wiped more blood from his split lip, and tried to be businesslike. He brought out the gold coins Amos had given him in case he wanted “special services” from the silk yaxen, as well as the additional coins the doorman had given him. “I want to buy his freedom.” He held out the coins. “Real gold.”
She let out a scornful laugh. “A few coins? For the champion? Gold is not enough.”
“Then what would it take to free him?”
Lila seemed amused. “What do you have to offer?”
“Anything I have,” he said, swelling his chest.
She was unimpressed. “Then you have nothing of interest. Can you get a dispensation from the wizard commander? Or the sovrena? Would any member of the wizards’ duma speak on your behalf to transfer ownership of the champion?”
Bannon looked away. “Not yet.” He could ask Nicci and Nathan to make his case, but their position here was weak as well. They had used any goodwill to ask the wizards to help Nathan with his gift. His heart ached, and he felt true despair. “I’ll think of something.”
“Then you’d best keep thinking.”
Lila turned him around and herded him back up the tunnel. Ahead, he discerned a brighter swatch of night, stars and streetlights. “But I want to see Ian again.”