Call of Fire

by P. E. Padilla

  As the night went on and more drinks were consumed, Kate’s squad mates almost seemed to treat her like a person, like someone they didn’t detest. She had never been one for much drink and was sipping wine, merely watching and taking part in conversation when the opportunity arose.

  She thought she might have turned a corner. Maybe she would be accepted. Of course, when the others didn’t have so much drink in them, they may go back to treating her as if she had a disease, but she hoped not.

  All of them except Wilfred were sitting at the same table, mugs in front of them or in their hands. The young gambler was in the corner hovering over a group of men dicing, but he had, so far, not joined the game himself. Kate watched him warily, ready to step in if he brought his purse out.

  Arronax, in typical fashion, was whispering with a young woman who was perched on his lap. Kate had to smile. There was no changing the man. He probably told the woman he was a high lord’s son or something.

  “Get your hands off my woman,” a deep voice said from behind Kate’s right shoulder. She turned to see the speaker. He was a tall, muscular young man in homespun clothes. One of the locals.

  No one else seemed to be paying attention to him. Sampson continued talking with Jasper and Charity, Jasper stared into his mug as if by doing so he could make more drink appear, and Arronax kept stroking the woman’s hair and talking close with her.

  “I said—” The man brushed by Kate toward Arronax. “Get your hands off my woman.”

  It all became suddenly clear what would happen. Kate stood to stop it, but she was too late.

  The man tore the woman off Arronax’s lap, spinning her across the floor, and then he aimed a punch at the minor noble.

  Arronax was intoxicated, but he had been training for several weeks. His reflexes took over, and he leaned far enough for the strike to miss him. As he tipped over too far and started to fall off his bench, he kicked up at the man, landing a solid foot in the local’s ribs. The man grunted as a great rush of air was expelled from him.

  Arronax scrambled to his feet, and the other man backed up two steps to catch his breath.

  “Jeb! How dare you push me aside like that,” the woman said, getting to her feet herself. “What is this all about?”

  “I turn my back on you for a second, Millie, and you’re falling all over some pathetic dandy. Now keep your mouth shut while I deal with this lump of horse dung.”

  The woman shook her head, ran her hands through her hair, and then put them on her hips. “Jeb Cooper, you stop this and leave right now. I was just talking with the lord. Don’t start no trouble.”

  “I ain’t gonna start nothin’. I’m gonna finish it. You just stay outta the way.”

  “See here,” Arronax said. “If you insist on starting trouble, come on outside with me and we will settle this.”

  “Outside, nothing,” Jeb said and lunged at Arronax.

  Both the men had been drinking, and their movements were slower, more imprecise, than they otherwise would be. They defaulted to grabbing at each other and trying to wrestle their opponent to the ground.

  Kate looked to Sampson. Despite drinking all night, his eyes were clear, and she could see he understood the problem as she did. He started to get up as Kate moved toward the two combatants.

  Arronax broke his arm free of Jeb’s grasp and swung it toward the side of the local’s head. Kate was there in an instant, slapping the blow aside and putting herself into between the men.

  It was Jeb’s turn to swing at Arronax. Again, Kate deflected the blow so it passed harmlessly wide of anyone.

  Both combatants glared at the woman between them. The hatred shone through in Arronax’s bleary eyes just as strongly as in Jeb’s. They both changed their attacks to aim at her.

  Even sober, Arronax wasn’t nearly fast enough to hit Kate. Jeb was even less able to do her damage, not having any combat training at all. As many blows as they threw at her, she evaded or parried. She could have kept it up all night.

  Kate met eyes with Sampson, and they acted together. She spun Arronax and grabbed him by the shoulders, steering him toward the door. Sampson tangled up Jeb’s arms and dragged him to the other side of the tavern.

  “Let me go,” Arronax said to Kate. “There is a lesson this man must learn, and I will be the teacher.” His opinion of Jeb was clear from the way he said man.

  “Arronax, no,” Kate shouted. “Remember the rules. No fighting.”

  By this time, Charity had stepped up and had her arms spread out toward Arronax to stop him from breaking free and going back to attack Jeb again. Kate applied an elbow lock Dante had taught her and steered the noble toward the door. As they went, she jerked her head toward Wilfred, and Charity nodded. The gambler would probably need to be dragged out, too.

  Outside the tavern, Arronax finally gave up his struggle against Kate, realizing she was not only stronger, but that she could use leverage to move him anywhere she wanted.

  Charity stomped out of the tavern door, a sullen Wilfred close on her heels. The hefty woman went straight for Arronax, not even bothering to acknowledge the two people gawking in the street. She seemed to grow as Arronax shrank in on himself, so much so that they almost appeared to be the same height. She slapped him on top of his head. Hard.

  “What in Hell’s name is wrong with you?” she said. “We basically had one rule—do not fight—and you couldn’t even control your urges enough to obey it. You could get us kicked out of the Order for this. Thank the heavens we were there to pull you two apart before any real damage was done.”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” he said in the most timid voice Kate had ever heard him use. “How was I to know Millie had a boyfriend?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, slapping his head again. “Maybe ask. Or, how about this? Maybe you could have just gone one night without trying to have sex with everything you come across in a dress.”

  Arronax opened his mouth to reply, but Sampson crashed through the door and was in front of them in five running steps.

  “We need to get out of here,” he said. “I can’t stop that local from coming after you with anything short of knocking him out. I tried to talk, bought him a drink—you owe me a silver, by the way—but he is riling himself up again. And he has friends. If we do not go now, we will have to fight. And then we will have to explain to Phileas how we knocked out or injured a handful of boys who are too stupid to back down.”

  Arronax seemed to get his nerve back. He straightened to his full height. “Do you mean to say that we should run away? Like cowards?”

  Before Sampson could answer, Charity slapped Arronax on the head again. “Not like cowards, you idiot. Like smart people who don’t want to be kicked out of the Order of the Fire. You’ll go with us, or we will leave you to fight the whole damn town yourself. It’s your choice, your lordship.”

  Kate chuckled inside. She’d only ever heard Charity use that term with Arronax once, and she had been livid at the time, her face redder than looked healthy and her hands shaking like she wanted to strangle him.

  Arronax understood the severity of their situation, whether through some insight or just because of the derogatory tone Charity used. He nodded and folded in on himself again.

  “Let us go,” Sampson told them. “We do not need to run, but we should walk. Quickly. Where is Jasper?”

  “I’m right here,” the farmer said. He had been standing near them the entire time. He was so quiet. Despite his size, he seemed to disappear into the surroundings sometimes.

  “Right,” Sampson said. “Let’s go.”

  The hurried down the street and out of the town while trying to look like they were not hurrying. All except Wilfred. He very nearly ran.

  Kate didn’t like leaving a fight, possibly giving a bad name to the Order, but it would be much worse if they stayed and fought with the locals. Besides, there was no contest. Even if the townies had twice as many men fighting them, she and her friends would clean the street w
ith them.

  Her friends. She stopped walking for a minute to think about it. Were they actually her friends? They had tolerated her during the night, though she wasn’t sure how much of that was the drink. She hoped when they were all sober, they still treated her like one of the group. She was tired of being so alone.

  “Are you coming?” Jasper asked. “You’re not thinking of going back and tussling with them, are ya?”

  “What?” Kate said, realizing she was standing still while everyone else was moving. “Oh, no. I was just thinking about something.”

  “Well,” Jasper said. “I know it’s hard sometimes, but maybe you could think while you walk. It sounds like them boys is out on the street now. We should go.”

  “Yeah. Thanks.” It was probably the longest speech she had ever heard Jasper make.

  The six were soon on the empty road. They knew the townies wouldn’t try to follow them all the way back to the fortress, so their pace relaxed and they started chatting. It mostly consisted of Arronax bragging about his fictitious victory and Charity telling him to shut it, but it made the trip seem shorter.

  Kate remained quiet, not wanting to ruin the camaraderie she was enjoying. But there was another reason she didn’t participate in the conversation. This was not finished. There were other Order soldiers in that tavern—she had seen them—and Phileas would find out about the trouble. She didn’t know what would happen, but the matter was not done. She dreaded facing the consequences in the morning.

  13

  As soon as the squad got back to the fortress, they went straight to their bunks. Even with her mind whirling over what would happen, Kate fell asleep immediately.

  The next thing she knew, Phileas was yelling for everyone to get up.

  “Get on your feet, you bulging, bilious blobs. Get up, get up.”

  Kate’s head felt like the clapper on a bell. A large bell. She didn’t understand why. She hadn’t drunk that much. She peeled herself from her bunk, stumbled to her feet, and headed out toward the training grounds.

  “Not you,” Phileas said as she went to pass by him. “Your squad has a special appointment this morning.” He smiled at her with way too many teeth. Her stomach dropped. Arronax and Sampson were already standing nearby, and Phileas turned his attention to Chastity to tell her the good news as she came out of the barracks.

  Kate and Sampson shared a look, one that said “uh-oh.” Arronax was too busy rubbing his temples to notice.

  They were ushered into an office in the command area of the fortress, a location they had been told about but had never had to visit. Phileas was talking to the desk sergeant, leaving them alone.

  “Where’s Wilfred?” Kate whispered.

  “We all know what this is about,” Chastity growled, staring daggers at Arronax. “Wilfred was the only one not involved in some way. Maybe he’ll get away without whatever punishment we’re about to get.”

  Phileas stepped up with a smile on his face. They had seen him smile more this morning than in the entire time they had been at the fortress. “The captain will see you now. Go on in.” He smiled at each of them individually, turned, and walked away.

  They filed into the captain’s office. Captain Ephratus Bant was a slender man, probably in his early forties, with horrible posture. Kate recognized him from their orientation speech, when he had stood there serving no purpose whatsoever. Now, he sat slumped behind his desk littered with papers and no less than three pens scattered about.

  There were two chairs in front of his desk. Arronax went to sit in one.

  “You’ll stand, recruit,” the captain said firmly. Arronax straightened up and stepped back to where the rest of them stood.

  “Now,” the captain said, fingering a piece of parchment in front of him. “It has been reported that you broke some rules and caused some problems last night.”

  None of them said anything. Kate wasn’t sure if they were supposed to.

  The captain lifted his eyes from the paper to stare at them, his eyebrows arching.

  “Well?” he said.

  No one else answered, so Kate did so for them. “Yes, sir.”

  “Yes, sir, what?”

  “Yes, sir, there was trouble last night.”

  “In town,” he said. It was a statement.

  “Yes, sir,” Kate answered.

  “What kind of trouble, recruit?”

  “A local, sir,” Kate said. “He tried to start a fight with Arronax here.” She pointed toward the man.

  “And what was the outcome of this attempt?”

  “A few minor blows were thrown, the parties were separated, and we left the town to prevent further…ah…difficulties.”

  As she spoke, Arronax glared at her as if she were making the whole thing up. Kate didn’t believe in lying, definitely not to a superior officer. If he didn’t like her telling the truth, he should have opened his stupid mouth.

  “The mayor of Leydford sent a messenger to me saying that a squad of my soldiers were carousing and starting fights. That does not look good for me or for this fortress.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kate said, wishing someone else would jump in and speak. She looked toward Sampson, but the man seemed to be inspecting his boots for holes.

  The captain stared at Kate, his watery hazel eyes seeming lazy and uninterested to her. He sniffed and raised his eyes toward the ceiling. Kate wasn’t sure what he expected or what he was thinking, but she supposed it didn’t matter. He would tell them when he was ready.

  “You lot, always trying to prove how tough and strong you are,” he finally said. “Always with your contests and swinging those blasted swords around. I wish just one of you now and then would have the brains to realize that what this Order needs is more thinkers and organizers.”

  Was he even still talking to them? It sounded like he was speaking to himself.

  His eyes snapped back to the five in front of him. “Since there was no great damage done, I will not expel you from the Order. God knows that bodies are needed to stop the demons from reaching those who are truly important.”

  Kate sighed in relief. She heard the outrush of air from her squad mates, too. They had all been worried about being kicked out.

  “That does not mean you will not be punished, however.” A slow, wicked grin spread over the captain’s face. “You are to report to Laskaris. He’ll be in the small chamber next to the supply depot. He will describe to you what your detail will be for the next two weeks.

  “Do not think that your new responsibilities will be replacing your normal training. It will be added to what you already do. I can only hope that you will learn a lesson from what you will be doing and will not cause me further problems. Have no doubt about it: I am being lenient. You will get this one chance to prove you can follow orders. Any further infractions will be rewarded with expulsion. Or execution, if the infraction allows.” He flashed a feral smile and then waved them toward the door, leaving no doubt that he hoped the infraction would allow it. “Go, Laskaris is waiting for you.”

  They left the captain’s office, Arronax, Charity, and Jasper smiling.

  “Do not think that we have gotten off easy,” Sampson said, his face stern. “We cannot have another misstep. I do not want to be removed from the Order. My family is depending on me.”

  Kate appreciated that at least one of the others realized how serious the situation was. She couldn’t help but to look at Arronax, still trying to stifle his smile for Sampson’s benefit. The moron was the one who got them into this. She’d have to watch him to make sure he didn’t drag the rest of them down with him with his next stupid mistake.

  “Come on.” Phileas stepped out from a side hallway, making all of them jump. For such a large and loud man, he could really sneak around when he wanted to. “I’ll take you to Laskaris to make sure you don’t get lost along the way. He’ll explain your tasks, and then you will join the others on the obstacle course. You will do double turns.”

  He gave them the fa
kest smile Kate had ever seen on the man—and that was saying something—and began walking.

  Laskaris Brendel was a different kind of man. He was almost as tall as Arronax, though he slumped so badly his back was rounder than his belly. From the side, he looked like the number eight. His hair, grey and scraggly, stuck out as if he had been struck by lightning, and his clothes were unkempt and filthy. The most prominent things about him, though, were that he was missing an eye, two fingers on his left hand, one finger on his right, and had jagged scars all over every bit of exposed skin, as if someone had gone at him over and over again with a dull knife. Or with sharp claws.

  “Laskaris here is in charge of the demons,” Phileas said. “Laskaris?”

  The man half-bowed to the sergeant. “These is the ones the cap’n sent to help with the upkeep?” His voice had a grating quality that made Kate think she would choose chewing glass to listening to him further. It also gave her a powerful urge to clear her throat.

  “They are.”

  Laskaris rubbed his hands together, and his face split into a semblance of a smile that showed all six of the man’s teeth. “Good, good. Always good to have extra hands. Lots of fingers.” He cackled and Kate winced. He was well and truly cracked.

  “Yes,” he continued, spinning to face the five. “You will be helping with the demons. Mostly you will be feeding them and cleaning up their…you know…the…”

  “Demon shit,” Phileas said quickly.

  “Ack,” Laskaris said, folding in on himself as if struck. “Please, no foul words. God does not like bad names and words and things.” Phileas rolled his eyes. Laskaris poked a finger toward the ceiling. “Doodie. Yes, that is a better name. Demon doodie.” He cackled again. “You will be on demon doodie duty.” He began to wheeze and shake violently.