The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (i like reading books txt) 📗

Chapter 21

Captain Hotic stood outside the door to the city council chamber. The cool, stone room at the heart of the government building served as the seat of the city government. The lords of the city decided everything here. He clasped his hands behind his back, less for protocol than to keep them from shaking. He considered himself a brave man. In theory, anyway. The truth was, he’d never seen combat.

People came to the city to trade. None of them wanted trouble, only gold. And the undead infesting the desert hadn’t found a way into the city since before his grandfather was born. They had known peace for centuries. Who would have believed foreigners from the north would be the ones to change that?

Not him, certainly. He spoke with merchants from many kingdoms on a weekly basis. He’d heard news of the empire’s formation, but didn’t imagine it would change anything for them. How wrong he’d been.

Now he found himself in the great stone building at the center of the city where the lords decided everything from taxes to who to bar from the harbor. He didn’t want to be here. No one in their right mind sought the attention of the lords. But his duty was clear. As the senior officer of his ship, he had to report the threat.

“Captain?”

He’d been so focused on his worries that he hadn’t noticed the beautiful aide that had emerged from the council chamber. Thin, nearly sheer blue fabric covered her mahogany skin and lush curves. One of the benefits of being a lord of the city was having the most beautiful servants to wait on your every whim.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“They’ll see you now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She smiled, flashing perfect white teeth. “Try to calm down. Despite their fierce reputation, our masters are not the sort to punish someone out of hand. They value loyalty and you have been a loyal servant, have you not?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She shook her head and led him into the council chamber. The inside was dark and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he saw the six masked lords of the city. They wore billowing robes in addition to the masks to disguise their identities. Each oversaw a single aspect of the government and they worked together to ensure business went on as it should.

“Captain, your message sounded urgent,” Lord of the Watch said. “Please, tell us what has happened.”

He did so, detailing his brief encounter with the imperials. When he finished, he said, “According to my ship’s wizard, they have over two score wizards on their ships led by the most powerful wizard she has ever encountered. They want the Coiled Serpent assassins turned over to them by morning or they threaten to burn the city to the ground.”

“Of all the arrogance,” Lord of the Watch said. “The City of Coins has stood since the fall of the Arcane Lords. If these northern fools think we will fall so easily, they had best think again.”

“How many wizards can we field?” Lord of the Scale asked.

Lord of the Staff grimaced. “Twenty, twenty-five if we send the apprentices as well. But they need only defend. That is a far easier task than attacking. We’ll let the invaders exhaust their wizards then our harbor fleet will sail out to sink them.”

Lord of the Watch nodded eagerly. “My soldiers are the finest anywhere. They train to fight undead horrors that would turn an ordinary man’s guts to water. Mere humans will pose no challenge.”

Hotic’s throat tightened. They wanted him and his fellow captains to sail out and attack the imperials? If they held anything back, his people would be sitting ducks. And even if they made it to the ships, he’d seen the skill with which their warriors moved. Mortal men or not, this would be no easy fight.

Despite his concerns, Hotic remained stoically silent. He knew his duty even if it terrified him.

“Captain,” Lord of the Watch said. “Alert your fellows to the threat. When we give the signal, you will all sail out to defeat the invaders. Rest and prepare yourselves. Harbor patrols are suspended until this matter is resolved.”

“As you command, Lord.” Captain Hotic bowed and left the council chamber.

Outside he took deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He knew and accepted his duty. Come what may, he would not shirk this task.

That he may die in the doing changed nothing.

Chapter 22

Dawn was just tinging the sky red when Otto gathered the squad leaders of his war wizards for their pre-battle meeting. To a person they looked at him with a mixture of fear and eagerness. The group had gathered belowdecks on the ship Otto and Wolfric called home, for the moment anyway.

The war wizards had had little enough to do since the war with Straken ended. Not that guarding the empire wasn’t important, but with no external threat, it did become tedious. Otto only avoided the boredom because he had his own goals to accomplish. He thanked all the angels that this madness happened now and not when he was halfway around the world in the Celestial Empire.

“We learned a lot about assaulting a walled city during the battle with Straken,” Otto said. “One advantage we have today is that we don’t care about seizing the territory. We just want to do as much damage as we can to force the city’s leaders to give in to our commands.”

“We’ll be using large-scale attack spells then?” one of the leaders said.

“That’s right. I assume they have a force of wizards that will oppose us. You need to launch your spells on a high arc, force the enemy wizards to build a shield over their heads. With luck, that will leave their legs exposed.”

The war wizards looked around at each other then one finally asked, “Why would we want to leave their legs exposed?”

“So I can cut them off at the knees.” Otto’s smile was cold and humorless.