Dream of a City of Ruin: Dreams of QaiMaj Book II

Chapter 22: Battle Dawns: Glace

Glace had heard the scouts' reports as he neared Triton Square, but he had not been able to fully appreciate them until he stood at the corner of a building and looked out on the square. His plan had worked almost too well.

Mast's trident-armed warriors filled the square by the hundreds, shoulder to shoulder, completely surrounding the boat-shaped building. A few dips in the ranks indicated where the child warriors were, but most of the enemies standing in the square were tall enough to be accounted as men. Glace was not sure whether to be relieved that he would not have to slaughter children today, or dismayed to be facing grown men. Even if his forces hadn't been outnumbered, it would still have been a tough battle; Mast had the advantage of his stronghold. By the time Glace and his warriors reached it, they would be thoroughly bloodied. If they reached it.

Glace intended to reach it before Medoc's flood came. He did not trust the Flame's promise to split the stores in Mast's building evenly. He did not think Medoc would consider the hunger of the several thousand people stranded on rooftops throughout the city now—the very people who had risked their lives to gather the stores. That was one of the reasons why Glace had chosen to join the attack in the square, though Medoc had offered him a place in his own boat.

Glace had not trusted that the Flame would treat the people of the city gently, either. He had traded sleep to work at Medoc's side, organizing and directing the herding of terrified people onto roofs. He had ordered his men, and the Semija that Medoc had surprisingly put under his leadership, to reassure the people as they left them that they were safe, and would be rescued on the morrow. But of course, not everything went as smoothly as Glace had imagined it when he'd devised the plan. Some of the people refused to leave their basement homes and had to be forced out at spear point. Violent struggles broke out, and some of the very people he was trying to save were wounded.

Beside that, Glace had underestimated Mast's patrols; there were reports of attacks by the child soldiers everywhere in the city. They had to be fought back to the lower levels before Medoc's men could come through and close up the water gates for each level that Glace cleared. By sunset, they had cleared the largest, outer level, and Medoc had closed the water gates that exited the city, starting the slow flooding of that level. The other levels went quicker, but were thicker with Mast's patrols, and the night grew bloodier as it went on. By first light, Glace felt like he had already fought his share of the battle.

But the whole city was flooded to the brink of the last watergates before the square. Right about now, Medoc should be rowing up through a series of locks to open the gates that would let the muddy river outside the walls into the city in a great gush. The deluge should overspill the flooded levels in a matter of moments and fill the square with water, up to the very roof of Mast's building. There was no possibility of delay or retreat, not now.

"Do you still insist on leading the charge?" Adde asked at his elbow, startling Glace out of his thoughts. She wore some of Jarvis' leather armor and carried several crude daggers.

"I do," Glace said. "I'll not hide behind this crown while others die in my name."

"That is what a King does," Norle protested. He gripped a corner of the ladder. "If you fall, who will lead us?"

"This is what the Sword of Justice does," Glace said grimly, and they stopped arguing. "Why are you here, Catherone?"

Adde's cheeks reddened. "You are King of Iskalon, elected by a full council. I am loyal to Iskalon. I won't stand by and let you die in battle."

Glace looked out over the square again. The Khell Chief stood just behind him, holding up a corner of his own ladder. The other ladders—they had built twenty altogether, more than Glace had expected—were born by Semija as strong as Miner. Beside Hakua, Pit carried her squad's ladder.