Sunset of Lantonne (84 page)

Getting right up to the doorway, Ilarra finally got a clear view of the city and the plains surrounding it. What she saw terrified her nearly as much as the dead near the dining hall did.

The inner city still stood as she remembered it, but the walls were covered with soldiers firing arrows and throwing rocks. Though she could not see what they were fighting, farther out in the outer city were vast hordes of undead, pushing at one another to reach the walls. Everywhere she looked, the undead were at least a hundred deep, and fresh dead littered the outer city streets. Dozens of buildings in the outer city were burning, sending black columns of smoke into the sky and coating everything, including the soldiers on the balcony, with a layer of ash.

As she watched, a section of the wall exploded inwards in a flash of magic. In Ilarra’s mind, she could almost make out the incanting of a Turessian hurling the spells at the wall. With them so close, Ilarra could barely block out their influence, but she could certainly feel them.

Ilarra backed away from the doorway and made her way across the floor toward the southern entrance to the balcony. She had to be sure how bad things had gotten. If one group of the Turessians’ forces had pushed ahead early, there might yet be hope of stopping them before the others arrived. It would probably require her helping the city, rather than finding Therec, but she would do it if it would make the difference.

The southern door was less guarded, though several soldiers were visible to either side farther down the curve of the narrow battlement-lined balcony. Bows and piles of arrows were ready at the entrance, but there were no soldiers to use them, at least not yet.

Creeping onto the balcony, Ilarra first checked the base of the keep for signs the undead were attacking the inner city. Below, a few soldiers waited with pikes to hold off anything that got that far, but there were no indications the battle had gotten past the city walls. The walls dividing the inner and outer cities appeared intact on the south, making Ilarra feel a little more confident. The southern gates were packed with people trying to make their way inside before the gates were shut to cut off any attackers. A single wagon pushed its way out from those gates, clearly trying to escape into the plains before a siege began…which Ilarra could not help but feel was the smartest decision any of the citizens were making.

Looking farther out past the walls, Ilarra could see the plains were still open to the south and southwest, but would not be for long. Dark waves of thousands of undead were running hard across the plains out past the range of the city’s archers, attempting to close off the southern exit and fully circle the city. Within the hour, there would be no way out.

Ilarra leaned over the balcony, peering west and east. There, the undead forces were so thick she could not see the far side. Once they had closed the southern gap, the city would be surrounded by a wall of undead at least a hundred deep, if not a thousand. There was no way of being sure how many Turessians might be backing up those zombie foot-soldiers with enough magic to level a city by themselves.

A horn cry echoed all through the city from somewhere over Ilarra’s head—the standard call to alert any reserve soldiers to get their weapons and report to the keep—and when she looked up, she could see there were people at the top of the central tower, leaned over the battlements. That made sense, she realized, as they would have the best view of all aspects of the siege even though they were safe from it until the keep was taken. That would be where she would go if she were the ruler of a city or its regent. If she had to guess, Therec and the king, as well as a small contingent of soldiers, would be up there.

“The king is already dead,” came a voice Ilarra thought was from one of the soldiers farther down the balcony. After looking around, she realized it came from within her head, signaling a new and disturbing advancement of the Turessian influence on her. Usually she could tell when the voice was from the Turessians.

“How long until we seal the southern gates?” she asked, going back inside the keep. She knew there was only so long she could keep the Turessians from seizing control over her, but she decided to push her luck and try something. “I need time to complete my mission inside the city.”

“You have two hours. I will hold the gate,” the voice replied. “What is your mission? I thought we were all to meet outside…”

“Delay blocking it as long as you can,” Ilarra insisted, cutting off the other speaker. “I need my target to believe the way out is still safe. Give me four hours, if possible.”

“Who are you?” the woman’s voice came back almost immediately. “I can’t see your thoughts.”

Ilarra pushed down the voices that came to her mind, smiling as she ran for the central staircase of the keep. Losing her sanity to the Turessians had a few small benefits, apparently. Foremost among them was they did not seem to question anyone else who could communicate with them, assuming they were part of the family. Soon enough, she probably would be, but the advantage of getting information from the enemy was not one she would pass up.

Starting at the tenth floor of the keep, a single wide staircase spiraled its way up to the school of magic and the roof of the central keep. Every twenty feet or so, a platform allowed archers to fire out the windows, though the entire staircase was empty. With the majority of the army somewhere in the mountains, there were far more places soldiers could fight from than there were soldiers.

Ilarra ran up the steps, fatigue soon making her legs ache even before she had gotten a quarter of the way up. Not wanting to stop and waste any more time, she did as Nenophar had taught her, convincing her body there was no pain. Almost immediately, her strength returned as magic fueled her, allowing her to push herself far beyond her physical limitations. As it did, the voices of the Turessians grew stronger in her mind and her ability to hold them back faded the longer she accepted the benefits of their powers.

With each floor of the keep she passed, Ilarra had to work harder to keep her hands from shaking as memories and thoughts she did not want came rushing in. Violence like the brutal murders she had committed back at the dinner hall flashed across her mind, making her watch as Turessians killed indiscriminately. Some she knew to be old memories, the backdrops of which were miles away and somewhere in lands Ilarra could not even identify. In them all, she saw the Turessians killing every living being and sweeping the land clear of life with their armies. They might have purpose in Lantonnian lands, but the war was hardly limited to one part of Eldvar.

By the top of the staircase, Ilarra had to wipe at tears that ran freely down her cheeks, making it difficult to see. She could not go faster than a walk, her head spinning with the massacres she had no choice but to see. She leaned numbly against the door, trying to steady herself before the fight she knew was coming. For days, she had looked forward to a singular goal like this, prayed for the chance to do something to help save Lantonne. Now, with the memories pouring into her mind, she wanted to kill the soldiers with Therec, to see them scream as they died. She could not even be sure why she wanted to kill them, but the urge was there no matter how hard she tried to suppress it.

Ilarra took as long as she dared, fighting the cravings to butcher the first people she saw. With the desires growing stronger, she could wait no longer, or she might not be able to stop herself.

Throwing the door open, Ilarra took the last few steps quickly, coming out onto the flat roof of the tower. She expected to be attacked immediately, but instead found a half dozen soldiers facing away from her. The men and women were kneeling around someone who had their back against the battlements, mostly blocking her view. None of the soldiers so much as looked her way.

“Bring the staff to us.” Ilarra recognized Dorralt’s voice from when she had first come back to Lantonne. “This is why we made you. This is your reason for existing.”

Shaking her head to try and concentrate, Ilarra started to cross to where the soldiers were, then realized the man they were huddled around was Therec. Unlike the last time Ilarra had seen him, he now looked entirely broken. Gone was the noble demeanor and confidence. The man was curled up with his face buried against his knees, the staff clutched to his chest, rocking as he wept.

At Ilarra’s approach, Therec lifted his head and stared at her in terror, clinging to the staff as he tried to slide backwards away from her. “Kill her,” he told his soldiers, though Ilarra heard him faintly over the sound of the winds that raced over the top of the tower. “Do it quickly.”

“Don’t make me do this, Therec,” Ilarra told him as magic flowed through her and formed into white-hot flames covering her right arm and crackling lightning on her left. “They’re coming for the staff. We need to get it out of the city or everyone will die. I will kill them if I have to, but I would rather we find another way.”

The soldiers drew their weapons and positioned themselves between Ilarra and Therec, but made no attempt to rush at her. From the looks on their faces, they were hoping Therec would reconsider, something Ilarra had in common with them.

“I know why you’re here,” Therec replied, clutching at his head with one hand and the staff with the other. “They’ve told me you would come. That you would destroy this city. They told me you would lead the armies back to Turessi and finish conquering my homeland.”

“Whoever ‘they’ are, they’ve lied to you,” she pleaded, taking a step forward. As she did, the soldiers raised their weapons and shields. “We are on the same side, Therec. We both want that army to fail. I don’t care where you’re from…we’re both trying to keep a city full of people alive.”

Therec let out a scream and clawed at his head. “Why are you doing this? Why did you make me kill Arlind?”

“What?” Ilarra asked, nearly losing her concentration on her spells. The soldiers seemed equally shocked, lowering their weapons and turning to stare at Therec.

Therec’s tears stopped abruptly and he nodded grimly. In that moment, Ilarra saw his eyes flare bright red for a brief second. Using the staff, he pushed himself to his feet, bracing himself against the low stone wall behind him. He took a steadying breath, then wiped the moisture from his face.

“You’re right,” said Therec, rolling his shoulders. He held the staff out at the length of his arm, tapping it on the stones as he examined it. “We are on the same side.” Swinging the staff suddenly, Therec caught the two closest soldiers with it, knocking them over the side of the battlements. They fell screaming as the others, who were farther from him, began moving.

“We’re on the same side because we’re both serving Turessi,” he added, grinning. Therec waved his empty hand toward Ilarra, and her muscles froze, preventing her from acting. “Lantonne will fall before the week is done.”

The soldiers attacked without hesitation, rushing at Therec in an attempt to get to him before he could use magic against them.

Faster than Ilarra had thought possible and certainly faster than she could cast, Therec raised his arms. The already strong winds swirled violently around him, pushing the soldiers away from him. With the extra time gained by the shield of wind, Therec cast another spell Ilarra could not identify, even with all her ill-gained knowledge. When it completed, she watched as the magic formed and began to divide, arcing toward each of the soldiers. All of them went rigid as the magic hit them, then convulsed as blood ran from their mouths and ears, steaming as it flowed. A second later, all four soldiers collapsed where they had stood.

“Ilarra, my child, why did you have to make this so difficult?” Therec asked, stepping over the bodies to walk toward her.

“Therec…stop this…” she grunted, unable to move her jaw. “This has…to end.”

“I agree completely,” the man replied, grinning as he circled her. “However, Therec is no longer in charge. I’ve been waiting for this moment, and you both played your parts perfectly. You occupied one another, while tying up those who might have some vague chance of interfering. No one left Lantonne, as I had hoped. Here, I will reestablish Turessi’s rule after making an example of the nation.”

“Dorralt?”

“Very good, Ilarra. I’m certain I’ve reminded you that I’ve been called the Puppet Master…and I am afraid you both are just more of my puppets. The plan was that Therec here would find the staff, then you would steal it and bring it to me. All the while, Therec would believe he was helping this city, right up until the moment I had him open the gates for my army. He was not supposed to even know he was one of us, watching helplessly as he believed he had made up his own mind to kill every man, woman, and child in this city. Then you went and started in with the foolishness, attacking my people and trying to get to the staff. I think you can understand why I was not going to allow that.”