Order of the Fire Box Set

by P. E. Padilla

  Kate sat across from Peiros, next to Wilfred. “That’s good, at least. I thought maybe they had attacked everyone.”

  “You are not far from mistaken,” Peiros said. “While I was eating, I heard many speaking about the bodies that had been found in several parts of the city.”

  Kate sat up straighter at that. “Really? Were any of the bodies…you know, familiar?”

  “I am sorry. I do not know. I have contacted my two and they are both alive, though Benedict was indeed attacked last night. He is well. I asked them to tell everyone who can to report in. We must get a count of incidents. I had thought I would stay up and stay here to receive the reports, but Wilfred has graciously volunteered to do it in my stead.”

  “Yes,” Kate said, glancing to her side to see Wilfred studying the pen in his hand. “That’s good. We can’t afford for you not to get some sleep. We’ll all need to be in top form.”

  “As you say.” Peiros bowed over his hands at her. “Well, then, it is probably to my advantage to sleep now. I am not on duty until tomorrow night, but I do not believe I will make that duty. I think I shall probably be…preoccupied.”

  “I agree. And Peiros, be careful. Two of those that attacked me last night were invisible.”

  “What?” Wilfred shouted, coming halfway out of his seat. He immediately flushed and sat back down. “Sorry. What do you mean they were invisible?”

  Kate put her hand up to calm the young man. “The invisible demons, the ones called assassin demons in the few accounts of them available, are in the fortress. Those are what killed those Black during the last big battle. We’ve known about them for a little while, but have kept the knowledge between me, Peiros, and Molara.”

  “It is troubling,” Peiros said. “That they so blatantly use those tools now proves the time is near for their plans to come to fruition.”

  “It also proves that they’re not taking chances with you,” Wilfred said. “They only sent four regular guys after me. But hey, at least you killed two of those demons. How many could they have?”

  “Uh,” Kate said. “I didn’t kill them.”

  “You didn’t? But you’re still alive. I’ve never seen anything try to kill you that didn’t end up dead. If they’re not dead and you’re not dead, what happened?”

  “I took the smarter course. I ran away.”

  From the corner of her eye, Kate saw Peiros nod and smile slightly. Wilfred slumped in the chair, deflated.

  “Ran?” the Blue said. “I never thought I’d hear about you running.”

  “Would you rather I had fought invisible enemies and died? As it is, one of them slashed my shoulder with its claws. I had to repair my armor.” She pointed toward the mended pauldron.

  “No. It’s just that, well, you are very nearly indestructible. I didn’t think anything could make you run away.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “Wilfred, you’ve seen me nearly dead at least twice. I’m a human like anyone else, and I’d like to think I’m a smart human. When faced with enemies you can’t possibly defeat, you change the battlefield, change the rules, or you flee. There is no shame in it. How much good could I do if I had stayed and died?”

  “Of course, you’re right. Sometimes I forget that the normal rules for humans apply to you.”

  “I have one question, Kate,” Peiros said. “How did you flee from them? Did they not chase you?”

  “I ran into a crowd of people, in a better lit intersection. Thankfully, I don’t think they want everyone to know about the presence of invisible demons in their midst just yet. Maybe that kind of evidence would break the hold the demons have over everyone’s minds.”

  “Ah, yes. I agree. That was clever thinking.”

  Before Kate could answer, the door swung open and Koren and Aurel rushed in.

  “Oh, thank the Creator,” Aurel said. “Are you well, Pretty Kate?”

  “I am, Aurel, thank you. What of you two? Were you attacked last night?”

  “Yes,” both Aurel and Koren said at the same time.

  “They only sent five after me,” Aurel said. “They will not cause trouble anymore.”

  “I rated six,” Koren said. “They were good, I’ll grant, but they were no demons.”

  “Are you injured?” Kate asked.

  “A few minor cuts,” Koren said. “Nothing to worry about. And you?”

  She pointed to her mended armor. “I got a gash in my shoulder. There were two of the invisible demons in my group. One of them slashed me with its claws before I knew it was there.”

  Aurel’s eyebrows jumped up his forehead. “Invisible demons?”

  “I’ll tell you all about them,” Kate said. “First, tell us of your attacks and if you’ve talked with anyone else.”

  They did so, Wilfred scratching wildly to record it all. While the two told their stories, several more of the Infirium came in and sat silently, waiting for Koren and Aurel to finish.

  It continued, a few more adding to their number and telling their tales. In another two hours, everything had been written down and Kate had told her own story about the invisible demons. She, it seemed, had been the only one who had been assigned the assassin demons. For that she was thankful.

  “Perhaps there are so few of them, they are used sparingly,” Peiros offered. “That, at least, is good to know.”

  During the telling of the tales, the others reported that one of their number had been killed and two others had been injured moderately. Nearly all of them received small wounds, but the Black weren’t called elite for no reason.

  “Jeet Malaya seemed to have had the bad luck of not only being targeted, but apparently running into another group of the traitors,” Visimar said. “Judging by the scene—I saw it myself while leaving the site of my own attack—there must have been at least ten of them. He killed five, but at least five sets of bloody boot prints left the area.”

  Just when it seemed they had gathered all the information they could, another Black, Leighton Moss, entered the room.

  “Have you heard?” he asked.

  “About the attacks?” Kate responded. “We were just talking about them.”

  “Attacks?” he said. “No, I was talking about the army.”

  “What ar—?” Kate started when Bernar Giron rushed in on the man’s heels.

  The door closed behind the hero of the Black and he started to speak, but saw he was interrupting, so he merely stood and waited.

  “What army?” Kate finished.

  “There is an army a day away from us, maybe a bit more,” Leighton said. “Rumor is that there are at least a thousand men.”

  “There are at least twelve hundred troops,” Bernar added. “Four hundred horse and the rest foot soldiers.”

  “How do you know that?” Leighton asked.

  “Because I counted them myself,” Giron answered. “They are flying the colors of Cebet. My homeland.”

  “Cebet?” Peiros said. “Why would the army of Cebet be so far north from their home?”

  “I know not, though I fear to know the reason,” Giron said. “If you recall, I told of them gathering their forces.”

  “A day out, you say?” Kate asked.

  “Yes,” Giron confirmed. “A day, perhaps a day and a half.’

  “Then they are here for the battle,” she said. “But on whose side?”

  The fourteen members of the Infirium present discussed matters for another hour before they all left, singly or a few at a time, with instructions to contact their two others in the chain of communication to tell them they were all to meet the next day in the secret section of the library.

  When only Kate, Wilfred, Peiros, and Koren were left, Kate slumped in her chair. “What are we going to do? We still have not figured out how they’ll start the battle or how they’ll use our weapon against us. We are undermanned and underprepared. How are we to fight a battle against all the demon armies with so few?”

  None of them had an answer for her.

  “
Is this how it is to be?” she asked. “Are we to go into the battle for all humankind with nothing more than a vague idea of what we will face and only a handful of warriors? How I wish Molara was here. I hope she’s safe.”

  “She’s bound to be safer than we are,” Koren said, “even if she’s at the tip of an assassin’s blade.”

  Kate glared at the man but couldn’t blame him for his statement. It was true. They were in dire straits.

  “Well,” she said, rising from her chair, “Peiros, you go get some sleep. If anyone can think of anything else we can do, come and tell us immediately. I’ll stay here for most of the day, and Wilfred will be here indefinitely. We have one day left. We should try to make it count.”

  With silent nods, the two Black departed, leaving her and Wilfred contemplating their own dark thoughts.

  “I’m going to go into Molara’s workshop to see if I can find out anything about the projects she was working on. Maybe they can help. You won’t be able to get through the wards, so I’m afraid you’ll have to stay out here.”

  “It’s fine,” the Blue said. “I’ll go back over my notes from this morning and see if anything jumps out at me.”

  Kate sighed and nodded, dragging herself into Molara’s workshop. Maybe she could find a miracle in there. She surely needed it.

  32

  By the end of the day, Kate’s eyes drooped and all she wanted was her bed. She had been reading for hours, looking through Molara’s research and the notebooks on her projects. Many of her records were written in the special runes only the Purple used. Of the sections Kate could read, a lot of it she didn’t understand. The parts she grasped made her respect the Purple’s intelligence even more. She honestly didn’t know how Molara accomplished all she did. The Purple had to be the most competent person she knew, at least intellectually.

  She wished she could find Valerio, but she hadn’t the first clue as to where to look for the man. They were on their own.

  She stumbled out into the general area to find Wilfred slumped over in his seat, his head on the table. He was snoring softly.

  Kate smiled. At least she wasn’t the only one who was tired.

  She shook her friend by the shoulder, and he snorted and came awake.

  “What? Who? Is there something I need to record?” he said, searching the area for others. When he found Kate, he rubbed his eyes and looked at her blearily. “Oh. What is it?”

  “You fell asleep, like I almost did. Why don’t you lie down on the couch and get some rest? I’ll go get us something to eat and bring it back.”

  “I don’t…oh, okay. I’ll rest for a little while as you go and get the food. I’m hungry.”

  She retrieved some food for them and returned. When she did, he was fast asleep on the couch. Rather than wake him, she sat, nibbling on cheese and thinking about what she’d seen in Molara’s notes.

  Her dark-haired friend had been researching something about the firestones. She had commented a few times on how they were much more complex than even she realized, even though she was the one who made most of the stones for the current generation of Order soldiers. There was something in the notes about their power source and how they functioned, but it got very technical and Kate couldn’t follow it.

  Could that be the edge they were looking for? Their current theory was that the firestones would be used against them, but how?

  Wilfred woke with a start, nearly falling off the couch. He frantically searched the area, and when he finally found Kate, he breathed out and relaxed. “Oh, I dreamt someone was here and was going to kill me.”

  “Nope, just me, and I’m not planning on hurting you, just feeding you.” She pointed to the food she had set on the table.

  “That’s even better than not killing me,” he said with a smile that looked forced.

  They chatted about what they had figured out—almost nothing—in their individual research during the day. It was getting late, and Kate knew she had better get some sleep. She needed to be well-rested and ready when the new day began.

  They still didn’t know if the attack would come in the daytime or at night. Demons seemed to prefer nighttime, probably because of how dim their own world was, but they didn’t have any particular weakness in daylight. At the gate, their attacks came at all hours, so there was no value in expecting they would wait for darkness to fall before making their assault.

  “Tomorrow,” she said to Wilfred. “Tomorrow may be the day humans suffer their worst defeat and may be the beginning of the end for us. If the Order falls, all the combined armies of all the nations won’t be able to push the demons back. Without the firestones, all the armies in Telusium won’t even be able to harm the demons.”

  “Somehow,” Wilfred said, “I always thought that when I died, I would have a clear picture of how it happened. I’m still confused about what’s going on and what will happen tomorrow. I think that’s what scares me most of all. How do you fight something if you don’t know what it is?”

  “I understand. It aggravates me, too. It seems that there is something missing, something we’re not seeing. It could be as simple as just fighting and killing demons, but that won’t save us. It’ll take more. There are too few of us and too many of them. All we can do is hope something changes, something like this fog over everyone’s mind suddenly lifting in time for the Order to come together to fight.”

  Wilfred chewed his food silently. It was fine. Kate didn’t need his comments. They both felt the same about it. Better to bravely accept it in silence.

  “I should go and get some rest. Remember, just before dawn tomorrow, the entire Infirium should be meeting here.”

  “I remember,” Wilfred said. “Kate, be careful. They may still want to kill you. Don’t relax your guard.”

  She laughed. How long had it been since she had done that? It seemed like a long time. “I never relax my guard, Wilfred. Especially now. I’ll be fine. Stay here where it’s safe. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  She left. As she made her way out of the main library door, she looked back. She remembered when she took refuge in that place before, when she was newly arrived from Faerdham. Back then, it was to take solace in books, to spend time away from the squad she detested. Since then, the place had become like a home to her. Not necessarily the regular library, but the hidden world within it.

  A lot of it, she knew, was because of Molara. “Mole, keep safe,” she whispered and trudged to her barracks to take to her bed perhaps one last time. She settled in and was asleep in seconds.

  Kate woke with a jolt of pain. She threw her blanket off, drew her dagger with her left hand, and grabbed the hilt of the sword propped up next to her in one motion. It felt like she had been touched with red-hot iron between her breasts, but she didn’t see any enemies around. The other women were still asleep, Dark softly snoring and the breathing of the other two regular and deep.

  She held her sword and lowered her dagger to the bed while she scanned the room for what caused her to wake. She reached up under her shift and rubbed at her chest. The firestone hanging there on its cord seemed warmer than normal—warmer than her body. Even as she ran her fingers over her skin, the burning sensation faded and with it the pain.

  Firestone! How could she have forgotten? If the firestones were to be used against them, then the demons would have to do something with them. It was mere hours before the next day, the day of the glory of darkness, started. If they were to do something with the stones, it would be now, when there were not as many people about and the guards were tired.

  She dressed quickly and strapped her armor in place. The unhealed cut on her shoulder protested, and she felt like she might have torn it open again but didn’t pay it any mind. She expected she would receive worse injuries before the day was done.

  Finally ready to go, she slung her shield over her back and slipped her sword in the scabbard. She turned to leave and found Mouse’s eyes reflecting the little light that came through the window from
one of the lamps on the street.

  The woman didn’t say anything, as usual, but her wide eyes gleamed.

  “You are going to have to make a choice,” Kate told the woman in a whisper. “Today there will be no one who does not take sides. Fight for the Order or side with the demons. If you don’t fight, I will cut you down myself. There is no halfway.”

  Mouse nodded and settled back down to sleep.

  Kate had no time to ponder whether or not Mouse would report her or do anything at all, but it didn’t matter. They could not capture her and court-martial her in time to make any difference. She would prefer not having to kill humans to keep that from happening, but she would if she had to. She would do anything she had to in order to prevent the demons from killing them all.

  Without another thought, she left the barracks on quick, silent feet.

  Once in the street, Kate took off running. She wasn’t sure where she was going, wasn’t even sure what time it was, but the sky seemed a tinge lighter to the east. Was it almost dawn?

  Almost on instinct, she let her feet guide her. She felt a slight tugging, and she aimed her body to accommodate it. Before long, she thought she understood. She was heading to one of the large firestones. Though she didn’t understand what was happening, she would not question. She put her head down and ran south for all she was worth.

  When the firestone nearest the library came into view, some unseen pressure squeezed her heart. Four men dressed in red were hacking at the wooden pillar with axes. Another stood nearby with a sledgehammer, apparently waiting for the others to cut the stone down so he could smash it.

  Kate wanted to shout a battle cry as she charged, but didn’t want to waste the element of surprise. She swung her shield down onto her arm and drew her sword on the run. At the last moment, she snugged her shield to her shoulder, lowered her head, and rammed the men.

  Two of them took the full force of her shield and her momentum. Another was caught by a part of her body as it hurtled through them. The last one got the worst of it. Kate had angled her attack so that she could slash at the final Red. As the other three scattered, she brought her sword across his belly, opening it up and spilling his entrails on the stone platform.