City of Fire

Chapter Forty-Two

"Ilona"

"What do you mean there's no other way?" Ilona demanded as she glared at the Fire Council. They eyed her with disdain but she didn't care. A map of the city lay before her with a map of the castle to its right. Markings in red showed where the walls had been taken and markings in black showed the movements of the army. They were sweeping along the northern wall and she'd just learned that they'd taken the northern gate, the last outward defensive device. There would be nothing left to stop them from laying siege to the town and destroying the castle.

"We are boxed in," Lord Raphael hissed as he glowered at her. "No such army has been able to lay siege to this city in over a hundred years. Not even the Wicked King Stangmar was able to do so." He looked back towards Lord Michael. "Order an evacuation of the people to the eastern gate. Dispatch a group of soldiers to guide them through the volcano passage." As he said the words the castle shook and Ilona grasped the table to steady her body. Lord Michael bowed his head before turning and disappearing through the doors, shouting orders as he did so.

"What about the people in the northern section?" Tidus demanded; his eyes like flames as he glared at Lord Raphael. Lord Raphael returned it with his own heated glare.

"There is nothing that can be done for them," he straightened his ruffled robes, "Sending soldiers there would only waste lives, not save them." At his words Tidus's hands slammed down onto the table.

"You cowards!" He snarled and would have leapt across the table at Lord Raphael had Fendrel not grasped his arm.

Ilona looked down at the maps, her mind racing. She noticed that in the northern part of the city there was a square. On all sides it was encased in stone, creating a large rectangle. Ilona frowned and pointed to it, her head snapping up to catch the attention of Tidus who looked ready to bite someone's head off.

"What's this?" Tidus looked down at what she was pointing to.

"It's sort of like a coliseum where we host games and our ceremonies." He shook Fendrel's grip off of his arm. Ilona then shifted her finger to what appeared to be a gate that blocked off a large river but it held no water.

"And this?" Tidus stepped closer to peer over her shoulder.

"It's the gate where we let the lava in from the volcano. It's required whenever we do the ceremonies." He pointed to a large basin in the middle of the square, "The lava is collected here and then dispersed to the other smaller basins." He traced the lines on the map and Ilona looked up at Lord Jasik.

"What if we were to lure the Hollows and demons here?" She turned the map so that he could see. "That would buy the people in the northern section time to escape and also allows us to trap them." She pointed to the gate that led in the lava, "If we were to destroy this gate and let the lava flow freely, then they'd all be killed." The words tasted bitter in her mouth but she saw Lord Raphael's brows furrow.

"That could work," Tidus looked up as well. "The platforms inside the arena would allow our soldiers to make it to high ground and once they were out, we could destroy the platforms." He straightened, "The walls would hold the lava." He looked down at Ilona and she saw his eyes shining with warmth. "We could do it," he whispered.

"Yet why would the demons so readily want to entrap themselves in such a closed space? The Hollows are mindless; they'll wander blindly about, killing at will." Lord Jasik snarled and shook his head. "We would only be wasting lives—"