Son of Thunder - Murray J. D. Leeder [111]
The city gates grew closer, and so did the archers defending them. Some of them lit their arrows ablaze, as if it would make a difference.
I've never been in a city before, Vell thought, though he had always been faintly curious about life inside them. Some of the merchants who had visited Grunwald when he was a child told him stories about these faraway places with mysterious names. As near as Silverymoon, or as far as Calimport, they were all the same to him-so far outside of his experience that Vell knew he would never come near them.
A few arrows flew from the top of the wall. The archers were firing too early and the missiles fell short, striking the road in the behemoths' path.
Vell thought, I never considered entering a city in this way.
* * * * *
The Mayor of Llorkh paced his residence, the Heart of Runlatha still held in his right hand. All of his ancient treasures, hanging on his walls or placed on pedestals, trembled with the vibrations shaking the city.
Ardeth appeared from her door on cue, as she always did. He did not need to summon her. She always seemed to know when to appear.
"I sense Sememmon behind this, Cyric take him," cursed Geildarr.
"Really?" asked Ardeth. "You think Sememmon sent these behemoths to destroy Llorkh?"
"Perhaps, perhaps," Geildarr thought aloud as he marched out onto his balcony. He could no longer see the behemoths; they were now close enough to the city walls that the angle hid them. In the town below, excitement spread as people dashed about in the early morning streets. "He probably made a deal with those ancients you discovered in the Star Mounts."
"But didn't you say he was determined to preserve Llorkh, so he could take it himself later on?" asked Ardeth.
"Yes! No!" Geildarr slammed his left fist down on his balcony rail. "Those damned Uthgardt are clearly involved somehow. The Thunderbeast tribe. Rouse Kiev. He needs to have a little chat with our friend the chieftain."
The rhythmic footfalls still sounded from outside the city walls, now so loud that Geildarr could feel them in his bones.
Ardeth nodded. "The Lord's Men will assail the behemoths with all they have. They'll stop them outside the gates, if they can. Perhaps we should join them… perhaps with our magic…"
"Some mages are down in the Merchant District, staying with a caravan from Darkhold. We'll see how they fare. If these behemoths should break through the walls, our magic will be needed to fight them here," said Geildarr. He shook his head in disbelief at the words he was speaking.
Ardeth reached out and clasped her small hand around Geildarr's right wrist. "What of the Heart of Runlatha?"
Geildarr looked down at it, its shimmering red energies radiating forth. "It is safe here. The Lord's Keep is warded and defended."
"This place may not be so safe after all," said Ardeth. "I can take it out of the city, deliver it to Zhentil Keep if you will it."
Geildarr peered into the artifact. He felt a hollowness in his breath, and he asked himself, Will all of Llorkh fall over this?
"Netherese magic," he marveled. "All those cities fell, all that civilization was lost. Yet this remains."
"Geildarr!" Ardeth protested. "Are you all right?"
The mayor looked down on her pale face, and a tear rolled down his cheek.
"What do we do?" Ardeth asked plaintively.
"We wait," answered Geildarr.
CHAPTER 20
The behemoths stepped over the ditch as if it were a scratch in the dirt. Each new thunderous step, with its hellish synchrony, kicked up clouds of soil, which the wind caught and blew into a brown haze. Clavel could feel each footfall, vibrating the stone walls all the way to the top where he stood.
Five or six dozen Lord's Men stood ready above the gate, their bows strung and arrows nocked. Without a bow of his own, Clavel stood behind the line of archers, facing