The sun was low in the sky when Esset tensed. He reread the same passage three times, then looked up from the page and ran the incantation through his mind. He shook Tseka awake.
She came to with her hand reaching for her spear, but she relaxed when she saw Esset smiling at her.
“I found it!” Esset said. Still grinning, he murmured the arcane syllables and a creature materialized next to them.
It wasn’t unlike the fanciful shapes Esset had seen a pipe-smoker conjure at a traveling fair as a boy. It looked spider-like, but it was the size of a large cat and strangely insubstantial. Its body was made of smoke, like the giant raven, but lighter in color and less dense-looking. Its smell was faint, too, like a candle burning in the next room. Esset wasn’t much of a fan of its spider-like shape—it reminded him vaguely of the Reshkin—but it would fulfill all his needs.
“We can do this,” Esset said to Tseka in a hoarse, hushed tone. And he believed it.
Time passed. Toman dreamed.
Toman sat with his hands on the ground, the geas forcing him to create stone soldier after stone soldier. The ground was rocky and uncomfortable, but when he thought about what his creations would do at Moloch’s behest, Toman felt discomfort was the least he deserved.
He hated each creation he made, but he no longer tried to resist the geas or Moloch’s commands. There was no point. Resisting only pleased Moloch, because it gave him an excuse to torture Toman. Not that he needed an excuse; at the very least, what Esset had done to Moloch with his parting blow was excuse enough for Moloch to torture Toman any day or time.
Esset… Toman bowed his head. Part of Toman still hoped for rescue, but he knew it wouldn’t be at his brother’s hands. No, the phoenix had taken his life as its price for being summoned, even though Moloch yet lived.
“Hey, Toman.” Esset’s voice.
Toman’s head jerked up, not believing his eyes when they told him his brother stood before him.
“Esset.” Toman could barely breathe.
“Come on, let’s get out of here, brother,” Esset said, extending a hand.
“The geas—I can’t,” Toman said. He couldn’t even lift his hands from the ground, so strict was Moloch’s command.
“You can,” Esset said. He walked over and draped some sort of amulet around Toman’s neck, and Toman found he could move.
“Now let’s go,” Esset said, turning. Toman stumbled to his feet, only to fall over when a mage bolt struck him in the back. Toman twisted and writhed on the ground, his brother jerking in agony next to him.
“Thought you could escape, did you?” Moloch’s voice was full of disdain. Toman could only watch as his brother was lifted by his neck. Esset struggled against nothing as magic choked the life out of him.
“No!” Toman gasped. With a sudden jerk and a vicious crack, Esset went limp, his head rolling unnaturally to the side.
“NO!” Toman screamed. Moloch laughed, and Esset dissolved like mist in the wind.
“You’re weak, Animator! Your brother is already dead, more’s the shame. That cursed phoenix made sure we knew what was going to happen, don’t you remember? How could you forget your own brother’s death?” Moloch laughed mockingly, then stopped abruptly. “Oh yes, and the phoenix made sure we knew what was going to happen. I will never stop torturing you for what your brother did to me. What he cost me.”
With those words, a fire lit within Toman’s veins, and he screamed again. Moloch didn’t need to leave marks to inflict pain. The only solace was that when the pain was great enough, it would drown out the pain in his soul, the pain he felt every moment of every day, the pain of losing his brother.
Toman woke with a gasp. He was shaking, and his nerves were still afire from the memory of pain. As the fire faded, Toman consciously evened out his breathing until he was staring vacantly at the ceiling, doing everything he could to keep his mind perfectly empty.
A small sound caught his attention and Toman dully turned his head to the side and scanned his surroundings. The cell adjacent was silent, its occupant unconscious after his latest session with Moloch. Toman was about to dismiss the sound as nothing when his eyes locked onto a smoky form.
The spider-like creature blended into the shadows and shared its color with the stone walls, lending it camouflage. It was obviously a creature of magic, but Toman wondered where it had come from and whose it was. It would have to be controlled to have found its way in here; most likely it belonged to one of Moloch’s enemies. Just as Toman was wondering if the spider would try to kill him, it scuttled away down the corridor where he couldn’t see.
Esset banished the smoke-spider and returned to himself. He spent a moment blinking and rubbing his temples, trying to readjust to reality. A rude prod against his back helped. Tseka grinned as she withdrew the spearbutt she’d poked him with and held out a juicy piece of meat—probably rabbit.
“Food,” she said unnecessarily.
“Thanks,” Esset mumbled, torn between scowling at her for the prod and smiling at the food.
“Is it that bad?” Tseka asked, peering at him.
“Huh?”
“Seeing through your summons. You always get all red-eyed and disoriented when you return,” she said.
“Which is why you poke me,” Esset muttered.
Tseka grinned brightly. “Of course.”
Esset shook his head.
“Not bad, just…difficult. Looking through the eyes of the spider… Well, when you get past all your senses being crossed—you know, hearing smells and seeing sounds and whatnot—then it’s like everything is smoky. Everything is hazy, ethereal, and shifting, all the time. It even took me awhile to recognize Toman the first time,” Esset explained.
“Huh,” Tseka said, considering that.
Esset found himself hoping that Toman’s imprisonment hadn’t altered him so much that he’d be just as hard to recognize through normal senses. Shaking off the melancholy thought, Esset spoke again.
“But soon now. Moloch’s at the castle for the moment, but I’ve learned all the guard patterns and schedules, and thanks to the phoenix, I can summon a new creature while looking through the eyes of another. Since security isn’t as tight when Moloch isn’t around—and y’know, since we don’t want Moloch around either—we just have to wait for him to leave and we can go in and rescue Toman.”
“Good. You know I’m more than willing to help, but I don’t know how much longer we can stay hidden out here. We’ve had too many close calls for my liking,” Tseka said.
“I know.” Esset knew that Tseka’s sharp eyes and quick reactions had saved them from Moloch’s patrols more than once.
“And I do— I mean, thank you,” Esset continued. “I don’t know how I’d have done this without you. Between hunting and scavenging and standing sentry while I’m scouting with a summon…”
“Don’t forget waking you up before you can set off a fire show,” Tseka interjected.
“And for keeping me from burning myself and giving away our position.” Esset humored her with a smile. Tseka shook her head.
“Meh, save it. Thank me when this is all over, and we have Toman back.”
Esset nodded his agreement.
“I’ll do that.”
Toman saw the spider several more times after that—he wasn’t sure exactly how long the intervals in between had been, since his miserable existence had gained a rather interminable quality that was almost timeless. If he were forced to guess, he’d say every day to every other day. Then, one day, the creature came within an arm’s length of him; it had something strapped to it. When it vanished into a puff of smoke, it left a water skin on the ground. Toman glanced up and down the corridor, but no sentry came to investigate. He leaned forward and scooped up the flask. He uncorked it and sniffed it, then considered his options.
The odds that it was just water were slim to none. No one would go to such effort to get him an extra drink; the only reason to do that would be to gain favor with h
im, and that would be pointless since his will wasn’t his own anymore. No, since the creature most likely belonged to an enemy of Moloch, the object was probably to kill or kidnap him. Whoever it was knew Moloch well—any captive of Moloch’s would choose death or kidnapping over remaining in Moloch’s possession. After all, any other alternative couldn’t be worse. And since he didn’t know if this would kill him or not, or if it would enable someone to kidnap him, the geas would let him drink it.
Toman tilted his head back and drank the whole thing. Within five minutes, everything went blissfully black.
Through the eyes of the smoky spider, Esset called another summon. A ferocious, fiery panther appeared in the cell with Toman once he was unconscious. It bit the chain joining the manacle around his wrist, and the extreme heat of the beast’s jaws was enough to melt through the metal in moments. Then the cat turned its attention to the bars of the cell, and it made short work of those too. Then the cat vanished in a burst of sparks and flame. Now everything was ready. Esset let his spider vanish into smoke and opened his eyes. He blinked several times to get used to normal senses again, then accepted Tseka’s hand up.
“Okay, we’ve been over the plan a few times, but you’ve got it, right?” Esset asked. Tseka gave a tight nod, but Esset fidgeted.
“It has to be perfect,” Esset said. “We have to get in and out without raising an alarm. Even if Moloch himself doesn’t come—and he might—he has enough mages to—”
“I know, Esset,” Tseka said, but without her usual sass. “We’ve got this. We’re ready. Let’s go.” Esset stared straight into her crimson eyes, then finally nodded.
“You’re right. It’s time,” Esset said.
Scouting and planning for two weeks had been torturous for Esset, but he knew the necessity of it; now he finally got the chance to rescue his brother. Esset summoned the dark bird again, and its stench of smoke and rot washed over him. Esset coughed and pulled a kerchief over his nose and mouth belatedly.
“Come on,” he said to Tseka. He helped her up onto her awkward perch on the bird’s back. Powerful thrusts of the bird’s wings lurched them skywards, and soon the air cut past them so quickly that the stench was carried away from them. Despite the smell that remained, Esset and Tseka crouched low over the bird’s back as it carried them between the sentry posts. For a moment, the bird hovered in the lee of the wall where a deep shadow lurked. A patrol passed by on the cobblestones inside the keep walls, oblivious to the intruders. As soon as they passed, the bird swooped down next to a small, barred window.
The dark bird disintegrated beneath them, and Esset took a quick look around, ensuring no one was near enough to spot them. Now for the most dangerous part; Esset summoned a battle cat. Its eyes and the molten cracks in its coal-like body lit up the area far too much for Esset’s liking, and they didn’t have long. An even brighter light flashed as the cat opened its mouth and closed its jaws around the bars on the little window. The metal melted easily under the onslaught, and Esset banished the cat again as soon as they were through.
Careful not to touch the parts of the metal that were still hot, Esset descended though the window first. He dropped into the corridor and listened, but he heard nothing.
“Psst,” he whispered up to the window. Tseka lowered her spear through first; Esset took it and got out of the way so she could squeeze through after him.
They were only a short distance from Toman’s cell. So far everything had gone according to plan; hopefully no one would know they had been there until they were gone. They stealthily made their way down the corridor and paused to peer around a corner. A guard was posted at the end of the corridor where Toman’s cell was. He stood at attention with perfect discipline—anything less would get him killed in Moloch’s employ.
Esset closed his eyes and summoned one of his giant spiders right behind the man. Then, looking through the smoky creature’s eyes, he directed it to jump loudly against the bars of the nearest empty cell. Predictably, the guard turned to investigate, and that was all Tseka needed. The scarlet Nadra launched herself across the small room easily and struck the man on the back of the head with the butt of her spear. Esset winced at the sickening crack; he wasn’t sure the man would recover from the injury, but he didn’t have time to spare further thought for him. Later, it would haunt him.
Esset and Tseka swiftly made their way down the corridor to Toman’s cell. Esset slipped through the hole in the bars and went to his brother.
“Bright Hyrishal, look at him,” Esset said, stopping dead when he saw his brother. Toman was gaunt and pale; normally Toman was huskier than Esset, having a sturdier build and all, but right now he didn’t have the weight he should have. He wore the same clothes Esset last recalled seeing him in, but they’d been shredded to practically ribbons, and what was left was stained and dirty. Toman wore a patchy, scraggly beard poorly, and his hair had grown long. The summons’ skewed vision had kept him from seeing the extent of Toman’s ill health.
“Mom’s gonna have a heart attack when she sees him,” Esset said under his breath.
“We have to get him out of here first.” Tseka whispered as she looked back from her guard position. “Hurry.”
Then Tseka did a double-take.
“He’s got his gloves.”
Esset had to look again too; sure enough, Toman still wore his gloves. Esset had fully expected to have to go without them. It was clear why Tseka had noticed them so quickly though; despite the tattered state of everything else Toman wore, the gloves were still pristine, preserved by their magic. Toman had always found that quality of theirs rather useful, but at the moment, Esset found it a little unnerving.
“Move!” Tseka whispered harshly, and Esset sprang into action. He slipped the gloves from Toman’s hands and stuffed them into his pockets, making sure they were secure and wouldn’t drop out by accident.
Esset stuck his head under Toman’s arm to haul him upright, and that was when he noticed the rough scar on his throat. For a second, his eyes locked on it, but then Esset kicked himself into motion again. Even though Toman was lighter than usual, the weight was too awkward for Esset. He struggled for a moment, then urgently whispered at Tseka to help. Tseka scowled and helped get Toman slung across Esset’s shoulder. It was awkward, and the going would be slow, but Tseka needed to be mobile—her attacks were far more discreet than Esset’s. They headed back down the corridor to the window they’d come in through. Tseka raised her torso to peek through first, then squeezed through. Esset passed her up her spear, then heaved Toman up towards her. They were struggling to get him through the small opening when Tseka suddenly hissed at him.
“Esset, stop!”
Esset froze. He listened hard, then turned his head slightly from side to side to make sure no one was sneaking up on him. He didn’t see anyone, nor did he hear anything. Seconds ticked by, and his arms began to ache, stretched above his head against Toman’s weight. It seemed like an eternity before Tseka hissed again.
“Okay, come on, they’re gone.” Tseka didn’t mention who they were, and Esset didn’t ask. He didn’t need to know, and it would just slow them down.
They got Toman through the window, and Tseka helped Esset through too. Calling the smoky carrion bird was a simple matter, and it shielded them from view, a shadow within a shadow, until the sentries had maximized the blind spot between them. Then the pair quickly secured Toman between them on the bird’s back and made their escape into the night.
They returned to Salithsa to find Kessa and Nassata standing vigil at the cave mouth. When they saw Toman, Nassata’s lips flattened into a grim line and Kessa was unable to smother a gasp, but no one said anything about his poor health. Nassata reached up and took Toman in her slender arms, accepting his weight as if it were nothing. Kessa helped Esset down as Tseka simply flopped down off the raven’s back, none the worse for it. Esset barely even had to think about it to banish the raven.
“Come, let us hurry,” Nassata urged them.
Ten paces inside the tunnel entrance they passed a small group of Nadra and Esset hesitated.
“Come, Esset, the Shapers will close the mouth,” Nassata said. Esset set his mouth in a grim line and followed.
“You’re sure the city is inaccessible after they close the cave mouth?” Esset asked.
“Of course. There is magic in the very stone of our city. No one can teleport or otherwise magically access it once the entrances are sealed off,” Nassata assured him. Tseka nodded her agreement.
“Besides, it’s unlikely Moloch will even know who has taken Toman,” Tseka added.
“I know,” Esset said. “I’ve just…underestimated Moloch before.”
No one could argue with that.
Esset was blind to the maze of tunnels they navigated, even though he had to jog to keep up with the swift coils of the Nadra. They’d chosen a more remote location to try and lift Toman’s geas. Just in case.
“Here we are,” Nassata murmured as they entered a large cave. On the far side was a massive container that stole attention from the rest of the sparsely furnished room.
“Shaper Sosen, are you ready?” Tseka asked, slithering over to the Nadran elementalist.
“Almost,” Sosen replied, looking up from the papers he’d been poring over, the scrolls Esset had supplied him with.
Nassata gently laid Toman on a table that had been cut into the stone of the wall and furnished with pillows.
Esset peered at the strange container and quietly fretted while Sosen prepared. The container was easily five feet by five feet and about eight feet deep. It was made of some strange crystalline substance and thus mostly transparent. There was a little distortion, but its contents—right now just water—were clearly visible. Esset had seen such tanks before; it would have been repurposed from a more decorative purpose, like holding marine life for decoration or study. They normally fascinated Esset, but right now, his mind couldn’t stay focused on anything anymore than his body could stay still. He kept glancing over at Toman, who was still sleeping off the effects of the sleeping potion, and wandering over to Sosen as he tried to study the Atah scroll.
Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) Page 10
