Neimal, the Sworn of the wall, saw them coming first. Her farsight stretched many miles across the plain, and she recognized the five, the nightmare, and the witch.
Gasping, Neimal sent her thoughts soaring across the city and up to the summit of Tower Athanon, where they connected one by one with the other Sworn. Thus linked, her voice touched them all, and wherever they were, whatever business they conducted, all paused to heed her mind voice.
Together, they touched Uwan, their leader, and pressed for the Watching Blade’s attention. After a breath, his answer came.
“What do you see?” he demanded of the witch on the wall.
“They’ve returned,” Neimal told him.
Uwan felt her agitated state through the link. “Did they bring back the missing?” he asked.
“One,” Neimal said. There was an ache in her mind voice of both pain and joy. “Ilvani comes home, but without her flock.”
In his chamber deep within Tower Athanon, Uwan closed his eyes, and with Neimal’s magic he reached for Natan.
“She’s alive,” he said.
Natan’s answer came not in words, but as a swell of joy he’d never felt from the cleric before.
“Praise Tempus,” Uwan said.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The portal opened for them while they were still a quarter mile out. At that point the nightmare broke away from the group and galloped off across the plain. Ashok was not surprised, nor did he expect that would be the last time he saw the beast. They were connected, as Vedoran had observed.
Blood attracts blood, Ashok thought. When he lost himself to rage, the nightmare would be there, if only in his thoughts and dreams.
A crowd of shadar-kai had gathered by the time they crossed into the city, and the air trembled with celebration as the warriors surged forward to greet them.
“Ashok! Praise Tempus!”
“The emissary has returned!”
The crowd converged on them and splintered the party. People plucked at Ashok’s clothing and hair and that of the others, slapping them on the back or simply chanting their names.
He heard his own loudest of all.
Stunned, Ashok let the crowd carry him along toward the towers. He sought Vedoran to ask if such a reception was normal for a victorious mission, but he could not find him in the crowd. The others were with him but scattered. Chanoch accepted the praise and greetings with pleasure, but Skagi and Cree looked as baffled as Ashok felt at the attention, and when he could get close enough to ask them about it, Cree shook his head.
“We celebrate at the return of a successful raiding party, but this”-he surveyed the wild crowd-“is something different.”
“They’re showering you with kisses though, aren’t they?” Skagi said, nudging Ashok with his shoulder.
Cree looked around. “Where’s Vedoran gone?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Ashok said. “I lost him in the crowd.” Ilvani was missing too. Ashok felt a surge of distress. He shoved through the crowd of men and women, but they only called his name louder. “We’re all separated,” he said.
“Ah well, enjoy it,” Skagi said, clapping him on the back. “We wouldn’t be here without you. Hail Ashok, warrior of Tempus!’ he cried, and the crowd took up the chant.
Ashok found himself swept along to the gates of Tower Athanon, where another crowd waited with Uwan at its head.
The Watching Blade beckoned the crowd to let Ashok, Chanoch, and the brothers through. Bodies parted, and suddenly the four of them were standing before Uwan. Ashok bowed his head with the others.
“Where is Vedoran?” Uwan asked.
“We were separated at the gates,” Ashok said, “from Ilvani as well, we-”
“She is being seen to by clerics of Tempus,” Uwan interrupted. “Don’t worry. You’ve brought her safely home. You could not have cared for her better, or pleased me more.”
Ashok looked to Chanoch and the brothers, but they nodded that he should speak, so Ashok raised his eyes to Uwan’s.
“The others in Ilvani’s party we found murdered by another shadar-kai enclave,” Ashok said. He told the story of their journey across the plain and the rescue. He left nothing out except Chanoch’s defiance and confrontation with Vedoran. They were all alive and had returned safely. There was no reason to emphasize that conflict.
When it came to explaining the harrowing battle, he told of the nightmare’s appearance and Ilvani’s subsequent defeat of the hag. Neither Chanoch nor the brothers contradicted his story.
As he finished, the crowd erupted in cheers. Uwan let them go on for a time, then he gestured for Ashok and the others to follow him inside the tower.
They entered an antechamber on the first level. Neimal stood watch outside the door, leaving Uwan alone with Ashok and his companions.
“I asked Natan to join us,” Uwan said, “but as you can imagine, he is quite anxious to look after his sister.”
Ashok nodded, distracted by the continuous cheers and sounds of celebration filtering through the stone walls.
“You’ve heard your city,” Uwan said to them all. “And Ikemmu has heard the tale of your mission. Natan’s vision-Tempus’s word-has been fulfilled.” He looked at Ashok. “Ikemmu rejoices.”
“You told the people about the vision?” Ashok said. He felt suddenly uncomfortable, caged, with the shouts beating against the walls.
“Yes,” Uwan said. “The people have seen that Tempus is at work in their lives. He reserves a place for everyone”-he put a hand on Ashok’s shoulder-“even those who believe they have none.”
Ashok said nothing. The shadar-kai cheered for him, accepted him. They thought he was an emissary of Tempus. Ashok could feel himself sweating beneath his armor. He glanced at the brothers and Chanoch, expecting to see resentment. They had had as much a part in the mission’s success as he. He would be dead without them. Why should the people not cheer them-the city’s true sons?
Yet they cheered Ashok, messenger of Tempus, slayer of his own people. He was a hero and a traitor.
Cree and Skagi came to him, but instead of resentment there were only hearty grins and slaps on the back. Chanoch’s reaction was the most disturbing of all. He stared at Ashok with an awe usually reserved for Uwan’s presence. That he directed the feeling at Ashok was more than he could bear.
Ashok stepped back and stammered, “Vedoran should give you his report. His leadership was crucial to our success. We would all be dead without his guidance.” He shot Chanoch a meaningful look meant to wipe the awestruck fervor off the young one’s face.
It worked. Chanoch ducked his head and nodded, acknowledging Vedoran’s contribution along with Skagi and Cree.
Uwan nodded. “Vedoran will be well rewarded for his service. In the meantime, I will let you all go for some much-needed rest. Visit Makthar and accept healing. We’ll speak again soon,” he said, looking at Ashok.
When Uwan had gone, Cree said, “That’s done it all, hasn’t it? You’ll be accepted into the city for good. All that’s left is for you to take Tempus’s oath.”
Ashok didn’t know how to respond. His head was full of the crowd’s noise. He couldn’t think beyond the cheers.
Chanoch said, “You are taking the oath, aren’t you?”
“Come on, Ashok, don’t make the little one cry,” Skagi said, and dodged a swipe from Chanoch. “Of course he will.”
