Fire Study

by Maria V. Snyder

  Within seconds the ball transformed into a cat sitting on its back legs. She stood and put the cat back into the kiln, but this time she just spun the pipe above the pot. “You have to keep plenty of heat in the glass or you can’t work with it.”

  Sitting back on her bench, Opal exchanged her tweezers for another set. These were bigger and as long as her forearm. “Jacks, a great all-purpose tool. I’m putting in a jack line so I can crack the piece off the pipe.”

  When the groove was to her liking, she took the tweezers in hand again and dipped them into the bucket of water. She dribbled a few drops into the jack line. “You have to be careful not to get water onto your piece. So you move from the pipe down.” The glass hissed and a spiderweb of cracks spread over the glass on the pipe.

  She carried the pipe to another oven close to the kilns. Shelves of trays had been stacked inside and Opal banged the end of the tweezers on her pipe. The cat fell onto the tray. She closed the door.

  “If the glass cools too fast, it’ll crack. This is an annealing oven.” Opal pointed to the tracks underneath the oven. “To slowly cool the piece, the oven is pulled away from the kiln over the next twelve hours.”

  “Why do you blow into the pipe if the glass doesn’t expand for you?” I asked.

  “It’s a step I have to do.” She made a vague motion with her arms as if casting about for the right words. “When Mara does it, she makes beautiful vases and bottles. Mine always ends up looking like an animal and if I don’t blow into the pipe it doesn’t look like anything at all.”

  She cleaned up her work area, taking the tools from the water and drying them before replacing them. The bench needed to be ready for the next project, and working with glass didn’t give you time to search for tools.

  “I love creating things. There’s nothing like it,” she said, more to herself than to me. “Working the glass. Turning fire into ice.”

  I thanked Opal for her demonstration and rejoined Marrok. He leaned against Garnet.

  “I think your definition of ‘won’t be long’ doesn’t match mine,” he said by way of a greeting. “Did you encounter another change in plans?”

  “Yes. You might as well get used to them.”

  “Yes, sir!” He grinned.

  “Sarcasm? You’ve been hanging around with Leif too long. What happened to the tough old soldier who mindlessly follows orders?”

  His demeanor sobered. “He lost his mind. And when he found it again, his priorities had all been rearranged.”

  “For the better?”

  “Only time will tell.”

  We mounted and headed to the western edge of the Avibian Plains. Once in the plains, Kiki and Garnet broke into their gust-of-wind gaits and flowed over many miles. We camped outside the plains at night. I hoped our passage wouldn’t attract any unwanted attention. My thoughts lingered on Opal’s glassmaking skills. Better than giving in to the deep despair that threatened to overwhelm me whenever I thought of Valek.

  Our journey to the rendezvous location lasted three days. During that time, Marrok had spotted signs of a large army that had crossed from the Avibian Plains and turned north toward the Citadel. At night, the glow of many fires lit the distant sky and wood smoke tainted the air.

  We had agreed to meet Moon Man and the others in Owl’s Hill, a small town within the Featherstone lands. According to Leif, the Cloverleaf Inn’s owner could be trusted not to report us. “He owes me one,” had been Leif’s explanation.

  Owl’s Hill was located on a small rise about three miles northeast of the Citadel. The four towers of the Magician’s Keep were visible from the road into town. A bright orange radiance shone from within the Keep’s walls. The Fire Warper’s home fire?

  Still disguised as Krystal Clan traders, Marrok and I entered the town. Situated near the main crossroads, the Cloverleaf Inn’s common room bustled with activity, but the stable was only half full. The stable lad suggested we arrive early for dinner as the inn was a popular stop for caravans.

  “One less night of road rations,” the boy said as he helped me rub down Kiki. “And the merchants prefer camping near here instead of overnighting in the Citadel.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “The rumors have been wild, so I don’t know what to believe. But the merchants who do come back say everyone is afraid of these new Daviians and they say the Daviians have convinced the Council to prepare for a war.”

  “With Ixia?”

  “Don’t know. They’ve drafted every able-bodied person. Benn said the Daviians are in league with Ixia, and once a person’s drafted they hypnotize him. They plan to use them in the army to turn Sitia into another Ixian Military District. MD-9!”

  The boy regaled me with even wilder speculation. I knew the Commander wasn’t in league with the Daviians, but the possibility of using the Sitian army against Sitia sounded like a Vermin tactic.

  When we finished with the horses, I entered the inn. Marrok had already paid for two rooms for the night.

  “We’re running out of money,” he said.

  “Are the others here?” I asked.

  “Ari and Janco are in the dining room. Leif and Moon Man haven’t arrived yet.”

  That worried me. It had been thirteen days since we had left to rescue the hostages. Plenty of time for them to discover anything about the Keep’s emergency tunnel.

  In the back corner of the inn’s common room, Ari and Janco held court. Drinking from tankards of ale, they were surrounded by a group of merchants. Serious expressions gripped all their faces and they peered at us with suspicion.

  Marrok and I picked a table on the far side of the room. Eventually, the knot of people disbanded and Ari and Janco joined us. Ari had dyed his hair black and both of them had darkened their skin.

  “Janco, do I see freckles?” I asked, failing to suppress a snicker.

  “Don’t laugh. It’s this southern sun. It’s the middle of the cold season and it’s sunny! Bah.” He looked at me. “Although, I’d rather have freckles than be bald!”

  I put my hand to my hair. “It’s growing.”

  “Enough,” Ari said, and the mood around our table immediately dampened. “Were you successful?”

  The question stabbed into me as if his words were flaming daggers. I struggled to collect my thoughts; to shoo my emotions away from the black, burning grief that refused to die down. Marrok saw my inability to answer and he told them about Tauno, the rescue and about Valek. To see my pain and shock reflected in my friends’ eyes became unbearable. I excused myself and went outside.

  Taking deep breaths of the cool night air, I wandered through the town. A few people walked along the dirt streets, carrying lanterns. I felt a tug on my cape as my bat landed on my arm. He stared at me with a sense of purpose in his eyes then flew off to the left. He returned, swooping around my head and again flew to the left. Getting the hint, I followed him until we reached a dilapidated building.

  The bat settled on the roof as if waiting. I pulled the warped door open with trepidation, but the interior held a collection of discarded barrels and broken wagon wheels. When I turned to leave, I stepped on a wooden ball. A child’s toy. I picked it up and examined it. My bat wanted me to find or see something in here.

  I squashed my growing frustration and concentrated on using my other senses. Closing my eyes, I inhaled. The musty smell of decay dominated, but I detected a faint whiff of lemons. I followed the clean and pure scent—not easy as I tripped and banged my shins on the clutter—until I stood in the back corner. There a tingle danced on my skin, raising the hair on my arms. Instinctively I whispered, “Reveal yourself,” and opened my eyes.

  Gray light bloomed before me and transformed into a young boy. He sat on one of the barrels.

  A ghost. A lost soul.

  “Where is my mother?” he asked with a thin, tentative voice. “She was sick, too. She went away and never came back even when I cried for her.”

  I moved closer to the boy. The li
ght from him illuminated the room. The rusted remains of a bed frame and other items indicated the area had been used as the child’s bedroom long ago.

  My bat fluttered in and circled above the boy’s head. I waved it away and muttered, “Yes, yes, I know. I get it.”

  With a squeal sounding like an exasperated finally, he flew out.

  I asked the child questions about his mother and family. Just as I suspected, they had lived and died here many years ago.

  “I know where they are,” I said. “I can take you to them.”

  The boy smiled. When I held out my hand, he grabbed it. I gathered him to me, inhaling his soul before sending it to the sky.

  The true job of a Soulfinder.

  Not to save souls and return them to their bodies, but to guide them to where they belonged. My true purposed flared to life finally. Stono and Gelsi should have both been released to the sky. Their personalities changed because they were unhappy at being denied peace.

  Death was not the end. And I knew Valek waited for me, but he wouldn’t want to see me until I finished finding all the lost and misplaced souls and sent them to their proper destinations.

  There hadn’t been a Soulfinder in over a hundred and twenty-five years. Why wasn’t Sitia filled with lost souls? Perhaps they were rare.

  Renewed determination to find a way to defeat the Fire Warper spread throughout my body. I left the building and stopped. Five souls hovered in different locations along the street. The leathery flap of wings announced my bat’s arrival. He settled on my shoulder.

  “Did you call them?” I asked the bat. “Or did I?” I guess I should have been more specific when I called to the boy. Either that, or now I’d learned a trick I couldn’t shut off.

  I gathered and released souls as I headed back to the Cloverleaf Inn. Most went to the sky. One dripped with hate and when he sank into the ground, I worried I might have increased the Fire Warper’s powers.

  Before I could enter the inn, the clatter of hooves sounded behind me. I spun in time to see Leif stop Rusalka. His panic reached me before his words.

  “Moon Man,” he gasped. “Moon Man’s been captured!”

  31

  BACK IN THE INN’S common room, the five of us sorted through all the details we had. Moon Man had been captured that afternoon.

  “We found no references to the tunnel in the Council Hall’s library,” Leif said. “We were meeting with an old magician who was hiding from the Vermin. Another had told us he had information on the construction of the Keep, but when we talked to the magician he only had vague details. He knew how to create a null shield and he taught me how to make one. I shouldn’t have tried it. The magic called the Warpers and we were attacked as we left his house.”

  “How did you get away?” Janco asked.

  Leif threw his hands up. “One minute we’re surrounded by Vermins, the next a group of brawling merchants and screaming children practically rolled over everyone. It was mass confusion. A man grabbed my hand and pulled me out. I hid until dark. One of the children from the Helping Guild told me Moon Man hadn’t escaped.”

  “The Vermin will know we’re here,” Ari said. “We need to leave now. There’s a caravan camping about two miles north of here. We can stay with them.”

  “Which way is the caravan going?” I asked Ari.

  “They have a delivery in the Citadel tomorrow, and then they’re going south to the Greenblade lands. Why?”

  “Oh no!” Leif said. “She’s got that look in her eyes. What are you scheming, little sister?”

  “We have to get inside the Keep.”

  “Impossible. There’s a bubble of protective magic around it. We couldn’t find the entrance to the tunnel. A few Warpers have gained master-level power. You’re powerful, but nowhere near their level. You’ll be caught in an instant.” Leif crossed his arms as if his statement ended the discussion.

  “That’s a great idea,” I said.

  “What?

  I ignored Leif’s confusion. “Ari, how ready are the people in the Citadel to revolt?”

  “They’re organized, have some weapons and a few magicians. What I would really like to do is run a few training sessions, but that’s not going to happen. They’re as ready as they’re going to get.”

  “Would the caravan be willing to lend us one of their wagons?” I asked.

  “Something could be arranged.”

  Comprehension dawned in Janco’s face. “If we get you inside, can we keep the five golds?”

  “Only if you get us back out again,” I said.

  “I don’t like the odds,” Janco said. He brightened. “Gotta love the underdog, though.”

  “There are no odds. It’s suicide,” Leif said.

  “Look at it this way, Leif. It’ll put an end to our arguing,” I said.

  “How?”

  “We die, you’re right. You don’t die, I’m right.”

  “I feel so much better now.”

  Janco tsked. “Sarcasm is detrimental to the team spirit.”

  Ari frowned at me. “Don’t you mean, we don’t die, Yelena?”

  I didn’t answer. Valek waited on the other side. My reward.

  We packed our supplies and headed out. The merchants of the caravan agreed to include us in their group and we spent most of the night preparing our wagon. When we finished with the cart’s alterations, we stood around it, discussing the plan for the next day.

  “Marrok, you’ll ride Garnet. Janco can take Kiki, and Ari, you’ll drive the wagon. No matter what happens, Ari, make sure we get to the Keep’s gate,” I ordered.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What about me and you?” Leif asked.

  I grimaced. “We’re the cargo.” The last thing I wanted to do was get inside one of those crates again, but there was no other way. “Ari is going to use me to get us inside. He’ll demand his five golds for bringing me to the Vermin.”

  “I never thought I’d miss my days as necklace snake bait,” Leif said.

  “What happens once we’re inside?” Ari asked.

  “That will be the signal for the Citadel’s citizens to riot, which should keep a bunch of the Vermin and Warpers busy.”

  “But what about all those powerful Warpers?” Leif asked.

  “Can you make a null shield?”

  He hesitated. “Yes.”

  “When the riot starts, all the magicians will come to the Keep’s gate and help you build and maintain a null shield,” I said.

  “But it won’t last long.”

  “I just need a little time.”

  “Time for what?”

  “To get to the Fire Warper.”

  Leif stared at me. “You can fight him?”

  “No.”

  “Tell me again why this isn’t a suicide mission.”

  “I think I can stop him and keep him in the fire world. And in doing so, I think I might be able to pull some of the Warpers’ powers from them. If Bain and Irys are still alive, and if you round up as many magicians as you can, then you should be able to counter the Warpers.”

  “That’s a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘thinks,’” Janco said.

  “And there’s no ‘when,’” Ari said.

  “When?” Leif asked.

  “When she returns. There’s a when, isn’t there, Yelena?” Ari asked.

  “The only way to keep him in the fire world is if I stay, too.” The words tasted like ash in my mouth. Thinking about an event was completely different than stating it aloud. Once said, it was final. But Valek would be there and I would find him. No “if,” “think” or “when” about it.

  “There has to be another way,” Leif said. “You always manage to produce ingenious plots.”

  “Not this time.”

  Everyone remained quiet.

  I was about to suggest we all get a little sleep when Leif asked, “What if we can’t counter the Warpers?”

  “Then you’d better have a person who’s unaffected by magic on your side,” a vo
ice said from beyond the wagon.

  We all looked at one another. The same question perched on everyone’s lips. A ghost voice?

  “Although this time I would appreciate it if you didn’t leave me behind.” Valek stepped into view. He appeared to be solid. His angular face held annoyed amusement. The faint moonlight glinted off his bald head. He wore the brown tunic and pants of a Bloodgood clansman.

  Disbelief followed surprise; I reached out to touch him. He pulled me close and my world filled with the sight, smell and feel of Valek.

  Seconds, minutes, days, seasons could have passed and I wouldn’t have noticed or cared. I clung to him as if my feet dangled over a precipice. His heart beat in my ear. His blood flowed in my veins. I molded my body to his solid flesh, wanting to fuse with him and let nothing—not even air—come between us.

  Relief and joy frolicked in my heart, extinguishing the smoldering grief until I remembered my promise to the Fire Warper.

  Blazing sadness ignited, flooding my senses. My reward for babysitting the Fire Warper would have to wait. Better to have him here.

  I gathered my resolve and calmed myself. The others moved away, leaving Valek and me alone. His lips found mine. Our souls twined. The gaping emptiness inside me filled.

  He pulled away, breathless. “Easy, love.” His panting turned into a coughing fit.

  “How did you survive the fire?” I asked. “The roof collapsed and you didn’t…”

  “Two things happened at once. At least, I think they did.” He gave me an ironic smile. “I was carrying Gale when the roof fell. The force of it sent us through the floor and into a small root cellar.” Valek rubbed his ribs and grimaced.

  “You’re hurt and I can’t heal you!” A nasty gash snaked along the side of his skull.

  “Just bruised.” He ran a hand gently over his head. “A beam knocked me out and I would have probably died from the smoke and heat, but Gale kept us in a pocket of cool air. She had been hit by a piece of the barn’s wall when it shattered. But she came to and used her magic. She conjured a cushion of air around us to keep the burning debris from filling our hole.”