Bloodfire (The Sojourns of Rebirth)

by Matthew Medina

  The girls looked pleased with themselves and ran off to explore the warehouse.

  “Girls, be careful!” Erich called after them.

  Ortis strode away to the corner where he’d spent the previous prayers in waiting, and sat down on the loading platform. She could smell and hear that something in him had changed though. She didn’t know what, but it felt almost like...contentment.

  Silena came over to Catelyn as she stood up and the two of them hugged.

  “So glad you made it,” Catelyn whispered.

  “Me too,” Silena replied.

  “Did you see this?” Catelyn said, pointing to the gate leading into the sewer system.

  Silena look past her, and down the dank hole and she shuddered.

  “I’ve never been much a fan of being under the ground. Can’t even handle a basement.”

  Catelyn smiled, trying to look reassuring.

  “So, we can rest here awhile, then we’ll head out,” Catelyn told Silena, reaching out and squeezing her arm. She looked over at Sera and Elexia, and the two girls were taking turns balancing on one of the loading platforms. “The girls look great.”

  Silena looked at her and smiled. “Yes, they do, don’t they? Being around Erich seems to agree with them. I must admit, since they came to stay with us, I’ve seen another side to him. It’s been illuminating.”

  Erich must have heard his name or felt his ears burning, because he stepped over to the two women. “What’s been illuminating?” he asked Silena.

  “Never you mind, young man. You just keep an eye to our girls, yeah?”

  “You see what I have to put up with, Catelyn? Constant demands. It’s a wonder I can get anything done, what with three women in the house, all telling me what to do.”

  Silena clucked her tongue at him.

  “Oh pfah, you stubborn man. You never listen anyway,” Silena said, reaching out and poking his shin playfully with her foot.

  Catelyn smiled at the exchange. Despite the vast difference in their ages, they seemed to have mutual caring and respect for one another, and Catelyn was happy for both of them, and perhaps a little bit envious.

  Catelyn looked past Erich and toward Ortis. He was still sitting, facing the open warehouse floor, watching the girls at their play. She wondered what the man was thinking, but his expression was unreadable.

  “So Catelyn, tell us about your journey while we catch our rest?” Silena said. Catelyn agreed and the three of them turned and sat down on the ground, and she began.

  Two prayers later, their strange party gathered at the mouth of the entrance to the sewer system below the Seat. The sewers themselves were ancient, in many cases even older than The Before; remnants of the ancient times before the world came to be known as Ereas. Catelyn’s books had taught her that no one knew of that time, other than the few scant artifacts that survived whatever had befallen humankind in those days.

  The six of them filed through the gate single file, traveling down a slight slope, which flattened out after about ten paces, and stretched off into what seemed to be an endless darkness. Ortis reached into his satchel and produced a torch, which he lit using a device he had in his possession, a portable oil jar with some type of contraption on top. He squeezed the head of the jar and it shot sparks, and Catelyn could see that there were two chips of flint that scraped against each other when he squeezed. The sparks ignited the oil, and a small flame burned at the top of the device. He touched the flame to the torch, and the pitch-coated torch head caught, sending its light bouncing off the walls.

  After passing through the gate, they walked along featureless damp stone corridors for what seemed like ages before reaching the beginning of the sewer tunnels. The cavernous stone corridors now gave way to narrower passageways lined with steel and a smooth type of stone which Ortis called concrete. Ortis climbed through, into the pipes.

  Silena followed, then the girls, Erich and Catelyn entered last. She looked ahead and could barely make out the light dancing paces ahead of her. The smooth circular walls were cool to the touch, but dry, as was the ground beneath her feet, which took her by surprise but pleasantly so. She had anticipated being forced to wade through ancient sludge.

  As they walked, Ortis informed them that the men of The Before had built the Belkyn Channel above the ancient sewer system as a way to make use of any existing infrastructure that was still functional. Whatever had happened in those days hadn’t destroyed things like sewers or other below ground structures. Catelyn admitted to herself that she was more than a little curious about exploring that part of the history of their people, of how humans might have lived in the past, but as soon as they passed from the wide stone corridors into the tighter confines of the sewer system, Catelyn also felt her hands and feet begin to sweat and her pulse began to race as she felt the tightness of the corridors, felt the walls closing in around her.

  Her memories of her time spent in the Imperial holding cell, with its walls not even wide or tall enough for her to stretch or stand upright, came flooding back and she felt herself falling into a panic. She bent to one knee.

  Somehow, the girls noticed first, calling out to Ortis to wait. Sera squeezed past Erich to come to Catelyn’s side, and put a small hand on her shoulder.

  “Catelyn, what’s wrong?” Sera asked her. Catelyn reached up and grabbed the young girl, squeezing her arm reassuringly.

  “It’s OK, I just...I need a whisper.”

  Catelyn took a number of deep breaths, trying not to focus on the smell of the close air down here, until she felt her heart rate slow and her breathing returned to normal. She squeezed Sera’s arm again, and said “OK, I’m better. Let’s keep going.”

  Catelyn expanded her bubble in the hopes that it would help settle her nerves if she could sense more of her surroundings, but all it did was make her more aware how close in the walls of the sewer were, and so she focused her bubble to just a pace in front of her.

  She followed along like that for the bulk of their trip through the abandoned sewer tunnel. The trip itself was almost entirely uneventful. The sewer system had dried up long ago, and the smooth metal and concrete slabs that made up the structure were sparse, and only every once in a while did they come to a junction where another tunnel system intersected the one they were in. Twice they passed under a vertical shaft leading upwards, but each appeared to be cut off by cave-ins above, so they continued onward.

  Catelyn began to wonder if Ortis actually knew what was at the far end of the sewer tunnel or if he was simply guessing. He’d seemed convinced that the sewer system would allow them to come up in the heart of Belkyn, bypassing the entry gates and the guards dividing the city from the Belkyn Channel altogether, and then from there they would be able to cross the city toward the Grand Gate and formulate a plan for getting through it.

  Catelyn had no idea how possible that would be. She didn’t know how big this Grand Gate really was, or even whether the name made reference to its size or to its composition. In her mind’s eye, it wasn’t so much vast as it was extravagant. But for all she knew, the Grand Gate was as big as the Citadel was. She should have thought to ask Ortis some of these questions. She in fact had many queries for him that she had mentally filed away as a “just in case”. She figured it would be better to ask now, while they still had breath to spare, and she started with the one she was most curious about.

  “Tell us about the Grand Gate, Ortis. What can we expect when we get there?”

  Her voice echoed down the chamber and bounced back at her a couple of times before she heard Ortis’ reply.

  “It’s a massive gate of quarried stone. It stands twenty paces high and forty paces long, and is connected to it’s hinges by enormous metal girders. It’s so heavy that it takes five whispers just to get it moving, and then another ten to fully open. As a result, it’s only opened once a span and only for a few moments to allow certain approved traders to leave and return.”

  Catelyn was only mildly surprised to learn t
his information. She wasn’t surprised that an Empire with walls designed both to keep others out, as well as its own citizens in, would control access so tightly. Still, the fact that there was a scheduled opening once per span was good news. If they could somehow get past the guards, perhaps all they would need to do would be to wait for the next scheduled opening and slip through. However, Catelyn thought better of that idea almost as soon as she went over it in her head.

  “I would guess that those traders are all checked and inspected both coming and going, right?” she asked him.

  “Yes,” came the reply.

  “Could we slip through while they’re still opening the gate, since it takes so long?” Erich asked.

  “Impossible. The gate opens just before midday. The guards will be at their most alert, and there will be tens of units. The Grand Gate is the second most defended point in all of the Empire,” Ortis replied, his voice almost boastful.

  Catelyn was confused.

  “So what is your plan for getting us through?” she called to him.

  “We cut our way through.”

  Catelyn was much more surprised to hear this answer. She presumed that he had some plan or some trick to distract or divert the guards and get her and the others past the Gate. A full on frontal attack by their group, only two of whom could actually last more than a whisper against trained soldiers, would be suicide. Catelyn said as much.

  “Ortis, that’s insane. We wouldn’t stand a chance! I thought you had some plan to sneak us out,” she said, her frustration growing.

  “I never agreed to that. I agreed to get you and your friends out of the Empire. You asked for my help. That is the help I can give.”

  “Ortis, stop. We need to have a conversation.”

  She could hear and smell Silena and Erich’s discomfort, and the girls were silent, but anxious. The four of them knew that Catelyn was right, but she had been the one to convince them that they would have a plan and a chance, and now it was becoming clear that they didn’t have even that.

  Silena and Erich took the girls and sat them down on the dusty ground, and broke out some dried meat sticks and a hunk of cheese that they broke off and shared with one another. Catelyn walked past them and stood near Ortis. She held out her hand, indicating she wanted the torch and he passed it over to her. She in turn gave the torch to Erich, and then she walked past Ortis a few paces past the others, and he followed behind.

  When they were far enough away from the others to not easily be overheard, she stopped. The light from the torch flickered from behind the two of them, and she looked up at Ortis. He was, as usual, expressionless and serious.

  “Ortis, what on Ereas makes you think that we can cut our way through the Imperial guards at the gate?”

  “I should not have said we.”

  Catelyn didn’t know what sort of answer she had expected from her question, but this wasn’t one of them.

  “What does that mean? You intend to cut your way through the entire Imperial Army detachment? Alone?

  He looked down into her eyes, paused to make sure she was reading his sincerity and answered with a simple “Yes.”

  Catelyn felt awash with conflicting emotions from such a simple answer. She had at least tens of questions that all vied for her attention, and she reached for one with her mind and pulled out the first that came away from the rest.

  “Are you insane?” Catelyn asked, and she saw that question register in his face, and he looked sheepishly at her.

  “I’ve asked myself that question many times since meeting you,” he began, and Catelyn could sense that this was the truth. “But in every case, I’ve only questioned my sanity about my response to you. I’ve since resolved that to my satisfaction. When it comes to this plan, there is no better plan, so no, I am not insane to suggest that it will work.”

  She tried to step in with another question, but he raised his hand, stopping her. She folded her arms, heaved a sigh of frustration, and tried to wait patiently. She was still not entirely sure how she felt towards him after the realization that it had been him who had left her to fend for herself all those sojourns ago.

  “Catelyn, think back to spans ago, when you were still blind. How did you find your way? And don’t tell me that it was just something you learned how to do. You have a gift, don’t you? Something that makes you...different from the rest of us?”

  This question, and the implications behind it, admittedly took Catelyn by surprise. She’d never told anyone about her bubble. She hadn’t even fully confided this to Silena yet, for some reason she didn’t fully understand. How could Ortis know? Unless…Catelyn saw it then, in his eyes. He had seen such gifts before. Though what he said next truly surprised her.

  “I too have a gift. Something that makes me...different. My gift is not freely accessible to me, as yours is. But when I’m in the heat of battle, it comes on me like a storm raging inside my body. When that storm is over, my enemies lie dead and I emerge unscathed. It’s the reason that the Emperor chose me to lead his army and secure the Empire in his name. I once believed that he had chosen me because he loved me, as I loved him. I have lived my entire life using my gift in the service of another, and for the worst of reasons.”

  Catelyn saw in that moment a glimpse of the mountain of pain and shame buried deeply inside this man, and she began to understand what it was that had prompted him to help her.

  “I can never atone for the sins I’ve committed in the name of Uriel, and I don’t intend to mock the memory of those I’ve slain by trying. But my last act in this life will not be in service to a madman, but to my self. Believe me when I say that I can, and I will, get you to the Grand Gate.”

  Catelyn remained silent, pondering his words and her own feelings. Her senses were telling her that everything he had just told her was true, and where before she had felt little more than loathing for this man, more complex feelings surfaced, some of which made her uncomfortable. Instead, she simply acknowledged the basic truth.

  “I believe you.”

  Ortis nodded and turned to return to the group. Catelyn stopped him.

  “Ortis, if you have this gift, how on Ereas do you expect that I can kill you when the time comes? How can I do what an entire Imperial squadron can’t? Won’t this gift of yours take over and you’ll kill me?”

  Ortis pondered this a moment before replying.

  “Because it’s what I want. My gift responds to my need. It keeps me alive in battle because in battle I want nothing more than to live. When it comes to you, I wish nothing more than for you to put an end to my pain.”

  “But why? Why me?” she blurted out, desperate for the answer.

  He smiled sadly, then simply turned and made his way back to the group. Catelyn walked back as Ortis took the torch from Erich, then he walked past her, leading them through the sewers once more.

  Erich followed with a wan smile, leading the girls who looked frightened. Catelyn gave them both a smile to let them know it was OK, and as Silena passed she reached out and squeezed her hand.

  “It’s going to be fine. We...are starting to understand each other. More than we did before.”

  Silena nodded, but didn’t say anything. Catelyn turned and followed behind, wondering what fate would await them as they made their way through the darkness, and towards the next stage of their journey.

  Chapter 23

  Ortis led them through the cramped tunnel, the torch casting shadows on the wall that fluttered like the memory of the wings of the butterflies he had so admired as a child. He thought about those days more and more often, since he had fallen away from the Emperor’s side. He remembered warm summer days chasing after the multicolored insects, and lying on his back chewing sweet-root with his feet in the grass, or splashing in the cool river with his brother.

  He remembered his father’s broad face, and the love he had known in those days. It seemed a lifetime ago; part of a different world. It might as well have been for all the good it did to reca
ll such memories. Uriel had come into that life and stolen him away from it. And Ortis had let it happen.

  Ortis thought about what he had just done, revealing his secret to the girl. To Catelyn. He reminded himself that he needed to stop thinking of her as “the girl”. That was one of the mind games that the Emperor had used, and Ortis had adopted, referring to others with an impersonal description, to distance himself from the individuality of others.

  Even between the Emperor and himself, they had never spoken of Ortis’ gift for any length of time. Uriel knew of it, of course, and had taken full advantage of that fact but it had never been acknowledged in conversation. Ortis revealed his gift in battle, and it was plain to anyone who faced him in combat, and to the men who fought by his side. The nicknames he had earned throughout the Sojourns were all attributable to his gift. The Emperor had been all too willing to exploit Ortis’ natural talent and press him into service.

  In turn, as sojourns passed and Ortis watched the Emperor bend the world to his whims, he had witnessed Uriel’s gift. His Will, as he often called it. It was a palpable thing, like Ortis’ storm or, as Ortis had observed on more than one occasion, Catelyn’s incredible senses. She hadn’t told him outright about her gift, but it was plain to see if one was paying attention. Similarly, Uriel’s Will was visible to him now, even more so now that he’d distanced himself from the man.

  The Emperor Uriel the Third of His Name had not simply taken power through guile and force of arms. He had also had a distinct advantage. Ortis had watched strong men, men who held great power of their own, become convinced that they must bend their knee and support the cause of Uriel. Ortis knew that it was not that Uriel could control the will of others. Such stories belonged in the fantasy tales his wet nurse used to tell him as a babe.

  Uriel’s talent was quite mundane actually, but immensely powerful. He possessed the uncanny ability to so beguile others that they willingly set aside their own desires in favor of His own. Uriel was charismatic, almost hypnotically so, and even men who were accustomed to ruling their own will were subject to his charms in the early days of the Empire.