Southern Gate for the last two days as the rest of the population fled toward the outlying villages. Guards had kept order as best they could, but there weren't enough of them to curtail some of the looting that had occurred. As soon as the sun had set the previous evening, the Gates had been closed and fortifications fixed in place.
Of course, the Ichani might ignore the gates. They might head straight for the gap in the Outer wall where it had once surrounded the Guild grounds.
There was nothing the Guild could do to prevent that. They already knew they would lose this battle. They only hoped to kill one or two Ichani.
Still, he hated to think of the destruction they could wreak on the grand old buildings. Lord Jullen had packed up and sent away the most precious books and records, and sealed the rest in a room underneath the University. Patients within the Healers' Quarters, servants and family had been sent out of the city.
Similar precautions had been taken at the Palace. Lorlen turned to regard the towers, just visible over the Inner Wall. The city's walls had been built to protect this central building. Over the centuries the Palace had been modified to indulge the tastes and whims of Kyralia's royalty, but the wall around it had remained intact. The best of the Guard waited within, ready to fight if the Guild was defeated.
'They've reached the slums,' Osen murmured.
Facing north again, Lorlen looked down at the slums. The labyrinth of unplanned streets spread before him. All were deserted. He wondered where the dwells had gone. Far away, he hoped.
The carts had reached the first buildings and the occupants were tiny figures now. As Lorlen watched, they drew to a halt. Six men and one woman stepped down from the vehicles and started walking toward the Northern Gates. The slaves drew the carts away into the slums.
'The King has arrived,' Osen murmured.
Lorlen turned to see the monarch approaching. Magicians knelt and quickly rose again as the King passed. Lorlen followed suit.
'Administrator.'
'Your Majesty,' Lorlen replied.
The King looked down at the advancing Sachakans.
'Have you tried to contact Akkarin again?'
Lorlen nodded. 'Every hour, since you first requested it.'
'No answer?'
'None.'
The King nodded. 'Then we face them alone. Let's hope he was wrong about their strength.'
Sonea had never seen the Northern Gates closed. The enormous sheets of metal had always been streaked with rust and the decorations obscured by centuries of dirt and grime. Now they were a clean, glossy black - restored, no doubt, out of pride and defiance.
A line of magicians stood on top of the wall. Brown robes were scattered among the red, green and purple ones. She felt a pang of sympathy for her fellow classmates. They must be terrified.
The Ichani walked into view on the road below. Sonea's heart lurched and she heard Akkarin catch his breath. They were only a hundred or so paces away, and this time she was not seeing them through the eyes of another magician.
She, Akkarin, Cery and Takan were watching from a house beside the North Road. Cery had brought them there because the building had a little tower room above the second floor, which had the best view of the area before the gates.
'The one in front is Kariko,' Akkarin murmured.
Sonea nodded. 'And the woman must be Avala. What about the rest?'
'Remember the spy whose mind you read? The tall one there is Harikava, his master. The two at the far end are Inijaka and Sarika. I've seen them in the minds of the spies I've read. The other two, Rikacha and Rashi, are old allies of Kariko.'
'There are seven,' she said. 'One's missing.'
Akkarin frowned. 'Yes.'
The Ichani continued for several paces past the house, then stopped. They looked up at the row of robed figures standing along the top of the Outer Wall.
The voice that drifted down was unfamiliar.
'Go no farther, Sachakans. You are not welcome in my land.'
Looking at the figures of the magicians on the wall above the gates, Sonea saw a finely dressed man standing beside Administrator Lorlen.
'Is that... the King?'
'Yes.'
She felt a reluctant admiration for the monarch. He had stayed in the city, when he could have fled with the Houses.
Kariko spread his hands. 'Is this how Kyralians treat a guest? Or a weary traveller?'
'A guest does not kill his host's family or servants.'
Kariko laughed. 'No. Welcome or not, I am in your land. And I want your city. Open your gates, and I will allow you to live and serve me.'
'We would die rather than serve your kind.'
Sonea's heart leapt as she recognized Lorlen's voice.
'Was that one of those who calls himself a 'magician'?' Kariko laughed. 'I'm sorry. The invitation wasn't for you, or your Guild. I don't keep magicians. Dying is the only way your pathetic Guild can serve me.' He crossed his arms. 'Open your gates, King Merin.'
'Open them yourself,' the King replied. 'And we'll see if my Guild is as pathetic as you say.'
Kariko turned to regard his allies. 'Well, that's all the welcome we're going to get. Let's break the shell and feast on the egg.'
Their movements were casual as they spread out into a line. White streaks of light sprang toward the gates, striking at the sides and center. Sonea heard Cery suck in a breath as the metal began to glow. Hundreds of strikes rained down on the figures below. All scattered against the Ichani's shields.
'See their weakness, Lorlen!' Akkarin hissed. 'Focus on one!'
Sonea jumped as the sound of something tearing filled the room. Akkarin's hand had been resting on the paper screen beside the window. He extracted his fingers from the torn paper and gripped the sill instead.
'That's it!' he said.
Looking outside again, Sonea saw that the Guild's strikes had shifted to a single Ichani. She held her breath, expecting the other Sachakans to blend their shields, but they did not.
'That man,' Akkarin jabbed a finger toward the Ichani under attack. 'He will be our first.'
'If he'll leave the group,' Cery added.
Kariko glanced toward his failing ally, then looked up at the wall. A streak of light shot from him to the figures above the gate, but was blocked by the Guild's combined shield.
Then a cloud of white belched out of the gates. A glowing hole had formed in the metal, and more clouds were billowing up from behind.
'Houses must have caught fire on the other side,' Cery said darkly.
Akkarin shook his head. 'Not yet. That's steam, not smoke. The Guard are throwing water on the wooden fortifications to keep them from burning.'
It seemed a ridiculously feeble attempt to stop the Ichani, yet every obstacle the Sachakans overcame used some of their power. Sonea glanced up at the wall again. The King and the magicians over the gate were hurrying to either side, away from the billowing clouds of steam.
Then one of the gates moved. Cery muttered a curse as it sagged forward. There were several loud cracks before it broke loose from its hinges and slammed to the ground. Beyond, a scaffolding of wood and iron filled the gap. As guards hurried to climb off the structure, the second gate fell.
Kariko glanced at his companions.
'They think they can stop us with this?' He laughed and turned back to stare at the fortifications.
