Seven Sorcerers(117)
A chorus of long, wavering notes rang across the battlefield from a thousand war horns at once. The Manslayer legions, whose vast numbers had already encircled the Uurzian forces, paused and broke away from their foes. The Trills turned back toward the waiting dreadnoughts. The Hordes of Zyung retreated now, as the remnants of Udurum and Uurzian legions had retreated from the Sharrian valley.
Men and Giants rushed to pursue the receding tide of enemies, but now it was Lyrilan’s voice that rang across the sky. “Let them flee! There has been enough death this day! We have won!” His magic ensured that every warrior heard and understood his words.
The land battle had not lasted long, and the Uurzian forces had not suffered greatly from it. The legions erupted into cheers at the words of their new Emperor. Khama watched the horde of Zyungians streaming toward the hills of smoking rubble and corpses. A million foreign lives and a thousand ships had been lost to the sky-reaping blade of Vireon. As the Manslayers had poured from the few hundred intact dreadnoughts, so they flooded back into them now. The glowing forms of Seraphim floated patiently above the last of the boarding legions.
Vireon no longer towered above the heaps of debris. Alua had also disappeared. Khama imagined them somewhere on the other side of the devastation, sharing a private moment of triumph. Then a pillar of Alua’s white flame sprang up and gushed like a torrent across the mounds of bodies and the splintered husks of dreadnoughts. Where the phantom city had stood earlier, there now burned a funeral pyre larger than any in history.
The irony was not lost on Khama: The Zyungians had come to burn Uurz alive, but instead it was their own multitudes of dead who burned.
D’zan sounded his own war horn again. The Uurzians turned away from the rising airships and marched toward their golden city. Floating above the triumphant legions, Khama wondered where the Shaper had gone. Iardu was not among the returning host. Sharadza walked with Dahrima and her spearsisters. The faces of the Uduri were agleam with the thrill of victory, yet the Vodsdaughter’s face was grave, her eyes reddened by tears.
Rain and wind had ceased. A bright moon rose over the horizon. Stars glistened as the calm of night fell upon the world.
Lyrilan rode beside D’zan on a steed made of swirling smokes. Perhaps he had learned the art of weaving phantoms from Vaazhia. The lad was a quick student.
Khama flew toward the walls of Uurz, Vaazhia hugging his great neck.
“Does this bold young Emperor have a Queen?” she asked in the rushing wind.
19
The New Seraphim
Due to the talents of Red Ajithi’s piloting, the Daystar had avoided Vireon’s awesome blade. Like all of the surviving dreadnoughts, the ship had taken to the ground and spilled its legions across the ravaged plain. Now those same legions returned with their battle lust unquenched. The order of retreat had been given by Eshad and spread across the armada by the voice of his sorcery.
There might have been a struggle over who would command the legions now, but Sungui was the tender of the flagship’s Ethus Tree, and the Daystar was the Queen of the armada. Therefore command fell naturally to Sungui in the absence of Lavanyia, who had remained at the New Holy Mountain. None of the seven hundred transformed Seraphim objected to this. Their minds were still swimming with the ingested power of Zyung and the great revelation of Iardu’s heart-essence. As a drop of poison will spread itself throughout an entire bottle of wine or carafe of water, so had the Shaper’s salt permeated that of Zyung.
Yet it was a venom sweet as honey and potent as flame.
At the rail of the forward deck Sungui stood between Ianthe and Gammir, watching the Manslayers board the several hundred remaining sky-ships. She sensed Ianthe’s brooding discontent long before the Panther revealed it with words. In that same mysterious way, she knew the still contemplation of the High Seraphim as they paced the decks of surrounding vessels. She recognized so much more of everything now, in the wake of Iardu’s gift.
She knew the confusion of the Lesser Seraphim, who did not understand the retreat any more than the armored legions who obeyed the order. Yet there was relief and fear mingled with the curiosity of the Lesser Ones. The High Seraphim had consumed a third of their own number; however, the Lesser Ones had lost more than half their ranks to the sorcery of Alua and Vireon. The Lesser Seraphim had no idea of the rebel coven’s existence until they had witnessed the unthinkable fall of Zyung, and his swift devouring. Yet it was far beyond their power to stop the mutiny, as it was now far beyond them to resist the Eaters of Zyung.
Sungui’s sharp eyes scanned the moonlit plain. The true Uurz lay to the south, a mountain of glittering lights rising above shadowed ramparts. Watchfires burned in the windows of its guard towers as the legions of Men and Giants marched through its open gate. By the actions of Iardu, Lyrilan, and their clever allies, the City of Sacred Waters had completely avoided another great slaughter.