next light was just a glimmer in the distance; his chances of reaching it just as high as the ones of reaching the moon. He was alone in the dark. There was something wrong with his head, something very wrong. And there were spirits. He could feel them watching him. The chill of their gaze was already draining the heat from his skin. Soon they would see what the Lemme did; they would know he was a seer. They would come for him then. And Sojun wouldn’t be there to drag him to safety.
“Please, Mother Lemme,” he muttered as he dragged his feet forward. “I know you won’t help me. But she is your voice. You have to care about that. Please.”
Kaie closed his eyes, trailing his hand along the wall for a guide. It was stupid and he knew it. There wasn’t much light but there was some. He should be using it to help find what they needed and to make sure there were no unexpected turns. Just one could see him lost in the tunnels forever. But he couldn’t stand to see the darkness spanning out before him, didn’t want to see when the spirits manifested to rip him apart.
Time moved like sludge. He shuffled on slowly, hoping each move would run him up against some great pot filled with just enough water to take care of them. He decided to stop counting his steps at 82. At 124, he did. The next step, slide really, his toe caught on a stone and Kaie tumbled forward. His eyes flew open, but there was nothing to see. Just like he feared, the walls turned him away from the light. He threw his hands out in front of him, remembering only in that instant the fall from the tree, the way his little finger bent, the sound of the bone snapping. Gods, it was going to suck.
When he hit, it wasn’t stone.
The water filled his mouth before the cry of pain could get out. It surged up his nose and down his throat. His eyes burned and he lost all sense of direction. He flailed, his response instinctual and panicked.
No.
Lungs aching, Kaie forced himself to think through the terror. He didn’t know which way was up. But he didn’t swallow too much water, and it didn’t feel like he was caught in a current. If he was wrong, he would drown. If he kept on like he was, that would happen anyway. So he stretched out his body, thought light thoughts, and waited.
He gave up, certain he made the wrong choice and was dying alone in the dark, when a cold brush of air kissed the back of his neck. The temperature difference was slight, and it was everything. Kaie reacted instantly, flipping his body over and sucking in as much as he could. A second later, he was hacking up all the water he swallowed, but it didn’t matter. It was still the sweetest thing of his life.
Breathing resolved, he tackled the next problem: finding his way back. Without the light it was impossible. He didn’t know where he started from and wouldn’t be able to find his way back even if he did. But he couldn’t tread water forever. He needed to find land again. Closing his eyes, not that it made much difference, he picked a direction and swam.
It didn’t take long. He took it as a good sign. Either the pool was small or, hopefully, he didn’t get far from where he fell in and chose the right direction. Pulling himself out of the water made the world lurch dangerously. He nearly passed out, could feel the blackness of the vault trying to pull him down into the frozen depths, but he fought his way back and up to solid ground. He struggled back to his feet, trying to force himself to believe that he was facing the right direction. He would know in 125 steps. The cold air leached what life was left in him, but Kaie pressed his hand against the wall. Closing his eyes again, he did what he could to fight through the tremors ripping through his body and reproduce his slow, shuffling gait of before. And, between each count, he prayed.
Nine
He woke up aching, back in the light of Toman’s lamp. Kaie didn’t remember making it back, didn’t even remember losing consciousness, but the sight of that small globe of safety brought tears to his eyes. When Sojun’s grisly mask appeared over him he actually laughed.
“Thank the gods!” Sojun jerked him up off the ground and hugged him. Kaie winced and laughed again, all at once. “I can’t take losing you another time, Rosy. Lemme’s name, I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”
Kaie was too tired to weigh the merits of that. All he could think was that he wouldn’t be alone in the dark again. “That works for me. You can be the one who goes swimming next time.”
Jun let him go and tried a smile. The face paint made it a very grisly look. “I wasn’t sure if that was water or you figured sweat works just as well.”
“That might be your worst joke ever,” Kaie said, realizing he was wearing Sojun’s shirt, large enough to fit three of him, and that his own was gone. With some curiosity, he tracked it down. Part of it was wrapped around his hurt arm, the rest seemed to be around his head. The one on his arm was stained dark red. He didn’t remember it bleeding before. “And that’s really saying something Jun. The Lemme?”
He was afraid of the answer. The way Sojun’s eyes darted away told him he was right to be so. “She’s not ok. I can’t…What are we going to do?”
Of course she wasn’t ok. Even asking was stupid. He scooted up against the wall. The stone was so cold. Everything was so damn cold. “Jun, I know you’re scared. But…”
Sojun sighed again and dropped his head against his knees. Kaie listened to his friend suck in several long breaths. “Destroyer take me.”
“There weren’t any spirits, no spirits. There was just water, lots of freezing water. If there was another way…”
The other boy looked up, his eyes so wide they were more white than brown. “I know. There’s not. You couldn’t carry her if you weren’t half dead. I’ll do it. Gods.”
Before the fire, before the visions, he would be furious about the implication that he was weak. Now he couldn’t summon up enough energy to care about the half dead part. “Ok. I need a minute.”
Jun scoffed and rolled his eyes, making a pretty decent attempt at good humor, for all that he was obviously frightened. “Take five, Rosy. For me.”
Before they left he convinced Sojun to pull the lamp out of the wall. Neither one of them wanted to spend any more time in the darkness. Kaie took the light, Jun took the Lemme. Hand pressed firmly against the wall, he led the way back to the pool with eyes open.
The trip was easier now. The distance that seemed so impossible transformed into a short distance just off the main path. The circle of light he carried made them blind to everything outside its small radius but it made all the difference in the world. He was still exhausted, still hurting, but all his fear seemed to be banished to the darkness outside the span of light. They were at the pool before his shaking could really get started again.
The darkness around the water refused to be broken, so Kaie still couldn’t tell how large the pool was, but it was clearly big. Even the small stretch the lamp illuminated was more than enough to get lost and drown in. At least one of the gods were with him, that he found his way out and back to where he needed to be. He could almost believe it was a sign they were going to be ok.
Sojun settled down with the Lemme near the pool. Much as he longed to lay down himself, Kaie crawled over next to them and began scooping water up to her. It took a great deal of coaxing, but they got her to drink. She waved them away before he thought she got enough, but no amount of wheedling would get her to swallow after that. So, giving up, they let her go to sleep.
A few minutes later, Kaie knew exactly how she felt. Once the Lemme was down, the other boy turned all attention to him. His head was poked at, his eyes checked, water was shoved down his throat until Kaie feared he was drowning, and he came dangerously close to being stripped and bathed by his best friend. It was a singularly horrific experience, and if Sojun wasn’t clearly struggling for distractions from the fear that kept the boy’s eyes far too wide, Kaie would be pissed off about it.
He let it go as long as he could stand it in the hope that his friend would relax when the spirits continued to leave them be. But he was not one to be fussed over, even when he was sick. “Jun, I love you, man, but y
ou’re not getting my pants off.”
He didn’t get a laugh, didn’t get much of anything. Sojun looked up slowly, as if not seeing him. When the other boy spoke, there was no question what Jun was really looking at. “Why did you leave me, Kaie? I know I’m not as fast as you, but I could’ve helped.”
Kaie cringed. What answer could he possibly give to that? Nothing he said would make up for the fact that Jun went to sleep next to his friend in a peaceful village and woke up to a world on fire, all alone. His own experience was bad. That would be so much worse. And that was on him. “I didn’t. Not like that. I went before anything was happening, to talk to the Lemme.”
Sojun focused on him, but just for a moment. Then the other boy’s eyes dropped. “You changed your mind, didn’t you? You were going to take exile.”
Kaie dropped down to the ground, not caring that it was cold and hard. “I don’t think it matters anymore.”
“I knew it,” Jun said wiping at the ash and blood mask with wet hands. “You can’t ever go along with someone else’s plan. Not even if it’s in your best interest.”
“I’ll stick to your next plan. Promise.” He could tell Sojun wasn’t angry. There was no trace of any emotion in the other boy. Somehow, that made it worse. He wanted to apologize, but there
Burnt (Blood and Fire Book 1) Page 11
