Chapter 189: Daemon Priestess Gallazza (1/2)
”Show me your face, Gallazza. Lost child, helpless male, newly born female.”
The voices mocked her. Gallazza pawed the air as the shadows crept closer, taunting. Was it the seneschal's books—whispers Gallazza was too lost to hear? Or was she truly going mad?
”Who am I? My sovereign, please tell me!”
”There's no hope for questioning her,” King Laggarma's deep voice yaomoned out the whispers briefly, but Gallazza could not see the dwarf's face. She'd fallen into darkness, and the shadows wouldn't let her go. ”She's half-mad already. Look at her.”
”Show me your face, Gallazza.”
Yes, look at me, Gallazza wanted to scream. Someone, look at me. Tell me who I am. During those times in her life when she'd felt lost, Gallazza had taken comfort from the knowledge that she was strong in her sovereign's love. But that was a lie. Hadn't she also felt strong as a male, knowing she would one day earn Atkhat's favor?
”I am not beloved by my divine. I am cursed, an abomination ripe for sacrifice.”
Dark laughter bubbled up inside Gallazza.
”Goddess, behold your servant. Mother Arkhat, behold Gallazza—smile at your instrument, your broken disciple.”
You need healing,” Ju Feng said. ”We'll get you to Druya.”
Trying to be as gentle as possible, he and Chang Chang helped King Laggarma to his feet. The dwarf swayed unsteadily, breathing hard, but he waved off their support. ”Don't worry about me. I'm thinking about that one,” he said, nodding at Gallazza.
The female yaomo lay on her back, chest heaving, staring vacantly at the ceiling. Every few breaths, she laughed, a horrible sound that raised the flesh on Ju Feng's arms. Chang Chang walked carefully up to the yaomo and spread a blanket over her to cover her nakedness before asking.
”Can we leave her like this
”We don't have a choice,” King Laggarma answered. ”If we can't question her, then we'll use her as bait. I'll send the scouts out with a message, see if her mistress wants to parlay for the return of her pet—or whatever this is.” King Laggarma looked at the yaomo in disgust.
Ju Feng met Chang Chang's gaze. Surely he saw the compassion there and the guilt. He must have known she felt responsible for Gallazza's current state. ”We have hope for the battle now that we didn't have before,” he told her. ”And she may recover in time. You've given her back her true form.”
Whatever reply Chang Chang might have made was interrupted when King Laggarma succumbed to a fit of coughing. ”Are you well enough to fight?” Chang Chang asked the dwarf, ”or even to parlay with the yaomo?”
”Aye, I think I can manage not to plunge my axe in the mistress mother's skull while we have a conversation—a short one,” King Laggarma said with a dark smile as he wiped a blood smear across his lips. ”Whatever's amiss inside me isn't going to be cured quickly. May as well live with it while I can.”
When Chang Chang stepped out of the hall, she swallowed an awed cry.
The dwarves of Myria had assembled. Bodies filled the plaza as if again in preparation for a wedding feast. The difference was the light from the glowing lichen that reflected of thousands of swords and axes, and the finest suits of armor in all underground by Chang Chang's judgment. Beyond the plaza, they stood shoulder to shoulder, filling the city streets. Banners from the dwarf clans waved when King King Laggarma emerged from the hall behind Chang Chang. Grim-faced and deadly, Iltkazar's sons and daughters had gathered for a fight. They awaited only their king.
The weaponmaster stepped forward. ”The scouts have reported in,” she said. ”We know the location of two of their attacking forces for certain—the western and southern walls. They must be planning to break through the magical barriers. The rest of their forces, if there are more, have the advantage in that we don't know where they will strike.”
”My thanks, Dorla,” King Laggarma said. He turned to the gathered army. Chang Chang heard him mutter a word under his breath, and a tingling sensation kissed the back of her neck, a momentary flush of arcane power.
”Warriors of Myria!” King Laggarma cried, and his voice carried to the farthest corners of the cavern, amplified by magic. ”We knew this day was coming, and now we stand on the precipice. The yaomo press us from all sides, attacking from the west and the south. They have already desecrated the Cavern of Lost Souls, slain thousands of our people in these endless battles, century upon century. We have suffered, bled, but we have not fallen!”
A deafening roar arose from the crowd. Boots stomped and blades pounded on shields, striking sparks in the cold cavern air. Gooseflesh rose on Chang Chang's arms at the fervor in the dwarves' faces.
King Laggarma raised his hands, and the army quieted.
”There are those who would have us believe we are a doomed people. They would have us roll over quietly and accept our fate, abandon our city to the shadows.”
”Never!” cried a single voice, and the cry echoed through the crowd like wildfire. ”Never!”
King Laggarma raised his hands again for silence. He hesitated, gazing with shining eyes over the army, though only those standing closest to him saw the tremor that passed over his face, the breath of sorrow and joy that seized him.
”I have lived long enough to dwell among the greater and lesser races of this universe and this world. Along that path, I've seen the towering spires of mighty empires and the hovels of the poorest, meanest wretches. I have walked alone and with others at my side. In all that time, I have never claimed a true home or family for myself. Clanless, I called myself, and clanless I remained. Until now.”
Chang Chang expected shouts and cheers from the crowd, but a hush had fallen over the army. Thousands of dwarf bodies pressed close, hanging on the words of their king, a kind of desperate longing in their eyes. Tears standing in her own eyes, Chang Chang reached behind her for Ju Feng's hand.