“That’s good, isn’t it?” Tseka asked.
“It is, but it’s much faster than we planned. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but we’re not prepared. We should make our next move today,” Erizen replied. Esset opened his mouth—he himself never found out if he intended to object or make a query, for Toman came in behind them.
“And I agree,” the Animator said. Esset closed his mouth.
“Another castle?” Tseka asked, grinning. She nudged Esset in the side with her elbow. “Melting that castle was way cool, by the way.” She hissed under her breath in a Nadran form of laughter.
“If I’d just blown it, we would’ve been gone before the attack,” Esset said darkly. Tseka refused to bow to his black mood. She nudged him again, still grinning.
“But it was cool,” he finally said, forcing a smile and somehow feeling a little better for it. Maybe she was right—wallowing wouldn’t get him anywhere.
“But really? This whole time you’ve been using turtles to blow up the castles? That’s way less impressive,” Tseka said, sailing past him and poking her nose in the pantry. The corner of Esset’s mouth twitched as a more genuine smile tried to surface.
“Tortoises,” he said.
“What was that now?” she asked, leaning back out and grinning at him.
“They were tortoises, not turtles,” Esset corrected her. Her smile grew downright evil.
“Yeah. Sure they were,” she said, vanishing into the pantry. Esset finally gave up his battle and grinned back.
“I thought it was awesome,” Toman supported him, also smiling in recognition of the banter. “I’d wondered what they looked like. And even though we only caught a glimpse of them, they were definitely awesome.”
“Thank you, brother. Nice to know someone has taste,” Esset replied.
“Hsst, we all know I am the only one with taste,” Tseka said, emerging from the pantry with a basket of mushrooms, a Nadran favorite.
“Er, yeah. You go on believing that,” Esset suggested, eyeing the basket distastefully. Fortunately the humans had their own breakfasts. Esset glanced over at Erizen to see why he was being so quiet and found him with a woman on each side, nuzzling—Esset looked away. That man had no sense of decency.
“So which castle are we hitting first?” Tseka asked, ignoring the jibe.
“The nearest, and we can work our way further out,” Toman replied.
“We’ll have to be more careful—we don’t know which castle Moloch might be at, if any of them,” Esset pointed out. “We were able to scout in advance before, but if we’re moving today, there’s no time for that.”
“Honestly, if he shows up, I think we can take him,” Erizen said, suddenly present in the conversation again as he stepped forward. He fixed Esset with a penetrating stare that made him very uncomfortable. The summoner fought not to show it and met Erizen’s gaze.
“I agree,” Tseka added.
Esset looked at her, surprised by the unexpected comment.
“What?” the Nadran warrior asked. “That was some display of power last night. If Toman keeps more of his animations nearby, and you are recovered, as I am, then we stand more than a chance. Erizen is at more than full power after last night, and Moloch is weakened.” She shrugged. It seemed obvious to her.
“What do you mean, more than full power?” Esset asked suspiciously, looking at Erizen, who had long ago perfected the nonchalant demeanor he now donned.
“You use blood and death magic on occasion, do you not?” Tseka asked of Erizen, not really expecting a response. “You would have seen letting all that energy go last night as a waste, wouldn’t you? Not harvesting it would have been foolish.”
Erizen smiled; Esset felt sick.
“Indeed,” Erizen replied, inclining his head to her. Toman felt a shiver and dared to hope—maybe this was it. Maybe this would be the end of Moloch.
“Most of the animations I’ve made lately are winged,” Toman said. “I’ll get them airborne, high as my dragons, so if we find Moloch or we need them, they’ll be close. Now, let’s eat and get going. I don’t want to give Moloch a chance to recover.”
“Agreed,” Esset said—for once he wasn’t the differing opinion. In fact, for what felt like the first time, they were all on the same page. This time, Moloch was going down.
Breakfast went quickly and they departed swiftly despite the usual drama on the part of Erizen’s harem, giving their farewells. As usual, they flew high to avoid detection on their way to Moloch’s kingdom, but they kept an eye on the ground far below. Before, it had been obvious exactly where the border to Moloch’s lands were—this time they missed it, only realizing they were in his kingdom when they saw a noteworthy landmark that signaled their position some distance inside the border.
Toman gave a low whistle, although the wind whipped the sound away before anyone could hear it. The reversal of the Greymaker had apparently been a success beyond what they’d hoped. But hope was a dangerous thing—with Moloch, it was always best to prepare for the worst. Toman began running through his mind all the ways this could be a ploy of some kind, a trick that gave Moloch the upper hand. Moloch was ruthless and devious, and Toman wouldn’t underestimate him again. Such thoughts were more than enough to keep his mind occupied until they landed discreetly amid some trees near another of Moloch’s castles.
They wasted no time—the firebird would be less visible in daylight than it was at night, so Esset took extra measures to ensure it would be seen. The fiery bird materialized over the castle, burning like a small sun on the wrong side of the clouds that obscured the sky. It dove out over the walls and flew a full circle following the line they drew. It was impossible to miss—it flew so close and so fast that the sentries on the wall felt a blast of heat and a gust of wind as it passed, and it was about as subtle as a smack in the face. It didn’t take long before people were shouting and pointing and running around. Once it completed its rounds, the fiery bird flew up above the castle into its signature position—it climbed, went into a dive, spiraled, and then circled high above.
As always, Esset waited until he was as certain as he could be that the castle was empty. Then, deep in the recesses of the castle, he summoned his tortoises and wasted no time in demolishing the fortress. When there was only rubble left, they quickly departed; the smoke and dust hadn’t even cleared before they were out of sight.
The next castle fell much the same, but the third greeted them with an unexpected sight; it had already been destroyed. Esset had the great smoky birds circle lower, but he didn’t land them right away. Instead they circled, surveying the damage. It was obvious that this was recent damage—it had happened last night or this morning, at the latest. There were bodies intermittently littered around the site, but living people weren’t yet combing through the wreckage. After they’d had a good look, Esset landed them discreetly a ways away.
“What do you suppose happened?” he asked once they were assembled.
“My guess?” Erizen said, and carried on—of course they wanted his opinion: he was Erizen, after all. “The other Mage Lords finally made their move.”
“I thought Moloch had them thoroughly cowed after their last attempt failed,” Toman said in surprise.
“Aye, he did, but Dark Mages aren’t always predictable. If they saw an opportunity…” Erizen shrugged.
“But so fast?” Tseka asked. “It was only just last night that we disabled the Greymaker and fought his mages.”
“Word of that nature can travel fast,” Erizen said. “But you’re right, that does seem fast. I think we need more information.” He and Toman exchanged a look, and Esset tried not to let that bother him—he disliked how in sync the two had become. It didn’t speak well for Toman to become more like Erizen.
“Semrus?” Toman asked. Erizen nodded.
“Let’s get out of here. We should get him to come some place remote,” Toman suggested, to Erizen’s agreement. Esset found his mood blackening again.
> “I know just the place,” Erizen said.
“Perfect. If you ride with Esset, you can give him directions,” Toman suggested. Esset didn’t like it, but he complied.
Esset held his peace as he took them where Erizen directed; he even kept his peace while Erizen “called” Semrus and they waited for him to arrive. In fact, silence prevailed as they waited, but then the mage arrived and things changed.
“Let’s go have a word,” Erizen said, gesturing to the cave they waited outside of. He had his hand on Semrus’s arm to lead him inside. Toman turned to go with them, then paused and looked over his shoulder at Esset.
“Maybe you should keep watch,” Toman suggested. Tseka was already reclining at the entrance with clearly no intention of moving.
“Yeah,” Esset said. Toman nodded and started walking after Erizen and Semrus, but Esset reached out and caught him by the arm.
“Toman.” It was clear from Esset’s tone that he was unhappy.
“What?” Toman asked, meeting Esset’s eyes squarely. He knew exactly what, Esset knew, but the summoner didn’t intend to go unheard.
“I’m worried about you,” Esset said directly.
“I’ll be fine,” Toman said. “Erizen’s geas on Semrus will hold. Erizen might be an arrogant jerk, but he’s good at what he does.”
“I’m not worried about you physically—you can take care of yourself,” Esset said. “Just think about what you’re doing. Dad warned us about walking this road. We’re strong enough that we shouldn’t have to compromise our morals—we shouldn’t have to kill, we shouldn’t have to torture, and we shouldn’t have to play in grey areas and you know that’s what this is. We put a geas on that mage. We took away his free will.”
Toman shook his head. “Dad said we’re strong enough to not have to do that, but Moloch proved him wrong. We’re not strong enough.”
“We are. We’re stronger than we were before,” Esset said.
“You’re stronger, sure. What’s your limit now? How many can you summon?” Toman asked.
Esset kept his mouth shut.
Toman gave a grim little nod. “You might be stronger in magic now, but I’m not. I have one new skill that only just barely keeps me from being a broken man. What difference can I make? I could sit in my castle, closeted for eternity, and never make enough animations to take Moloch down. But you…don’t you dare try this, but part of me wonders if you couldn’t just walk up to Moloch’s doorstep and put an end to him.”
“I’m not that powerful,” Esset objected.
“Maybe. Maybe not. But I know I’m not even close. No, against Moloch, I have to use every skill at my disposal to its utmost. I want to keep being one of the good guys too, Esset, but we can’t afford to be naïve anymore,” Toman said back with perfect conviction. Esset felt his heart constrict.
“If we want to beat Moloch, we can’t hold back. We did before, and it got you killed and me captured. I won’t let that happen again,” Toman said.
“So instead you’ll sacrifice your soul?” Esset argued. “You’ll sacrifice your values? Your ethics?”
“You know me, Jonathan,” Toman replied. “You know I’ll always work towards what’s right—”
Esset cut in. “And if you get lost getting there?”
“I won’t,” Toman said. “I won’t cross the line. But I will push it. I will do what I have to.”
Esset locked his gaze for a moment longer, then dropped his hand without breaking eye contact. Toman held his brother’s eyes, then turned and followed the mages into the cave. Esset watched him go, then found a seat on a rock across from Tseka.
After a long silence, Esset spoke. “What do we do?”
“We fight.” Tseka didn’t even hesitate before answering.
Esset looked at her in surprise. Tseka turned her head and lifted a scaled eyebrow at him.
“You expected a different answer?” she asked. Esset didn’t know what to say.
“Your brother has been scarred beyond our comprehension,” Tseka continued. “So, you need to hold fast. Keep your own values and ethics no matter what anyone else says or does. Don’t let your brother forget what’s right. When he wanders too far, pull him back. He will walk a darker path than you, but that doesn’t mean he’ll turn to the dark completely. So, we fight.”
Esset turned Tseka’s words over in his mind. Finally, he nodded. He’d never had to struggle like this with his brother over ethical values; Esset’s was a difficult stance to keep, especially when they were, essentially, at war. He’d always had to fight; now he’d just have to fight a little bit harder.
“Thank you,” Esset said quietly. Tseka just smiled.
Toman and Erizen emerged without Semrus a while later.
“We sent Semrus away already, but he had some information for us,” Toman began. “It’s a good-news, bad-news situation. We struck quite a blow to Moloch in reversing the Greymaker. Apparently he was in council with two other Dark Mages when we did it. Moloch nearly collapsed and had to bail in a hurry, but the damage was already done—the Mage Lords saw him severely weakened. The other Mages convened without him. That was going on when we took out his first castle—they scried the scene and watched us wipe out his mages. Then they decided this was their best chance to get rid of him for good and took the opportunity at dawn this morning to launch their own assault. It was successful.”
“So what’s the bad news?” Tseka asked.
“Moloch escaped. He’s on the run, and we don’t know where,” Toman said darkly. Esset sympathized when Toman kicked a rock in frustration.
“The other Mage Lords are scrying for him, but blocking search spells is child’s play for someone like Moloch,” Erizen said. Tseka hissed at nothing in particular.
“So what do we do?” Esset asked, looking between Toman and Erizen.
“We track him like my predecessor did,” Toman replied. “The old-fashioned way; we look. I’ll cast a net of animations and see what they find. Since we destroyed his power-base, he’ll be looking to make a new one. Moloch is incapable of staying completely beneath notice—he’s too sadistic, too greedy. So we track him whenever he crawls out of his hole. Sooner or later we get ahead of him, and we nail him.” The look in his eyes suggested failure wasn’t an option. Esset could only agree.
Two frustrating weeks of nothing later, the group in the castle were convened for breakfast. It was the only time Esset even saw his brother anymore, since Toman had been slaving over his animated army, knowing he’d need them eventually. Esset was inwardly lamenting their inability to find Moloch when a thought struck him from out of the blue.
“We’re going about this all wrong,” Esset said, earning confused looks from Tseka and Toman.
“What do you mean?” Toman asked; Esset hadn’t given any context, after all.
“You made a network of animated spies throughout the Dark Mage kingdoms and beyond,” Esset said to Toman. “So that if Moloch were seen or even mentioned, we’d know. If anything strange happened, we’d know. Anything at all, and we’d know, but we’ve passed two weeks without a single alarm.”
“Yeah…” Toman said. They all knew that, but Esset wasn’t done.
“We learned this lesson before—we don’t wait for Moloch to come to us. We should be trying to get ahead of him,” Esset said.
“And how do we do that?” Tseka asked.
Esset glanced at Erizen, but he seemed completely oblivious to the conversation. One of his women was feeding him his breakfast in tidbit-sized morsels. Esset thought it a sad state of affairs how used to his behavior they’d all become and shook his head before continuing.
“Well, we know Moloch—if we can work through this scenario, we can figure out what he’ll do next. We sort of already did, but it seems we were wrong the first time. We created a network here in the Mage Lord kingdoms, since we assumed he’d want revenge on them and us and stay here himself. Only he doesn’t seem to have stayed here. So where did he go?”
; “That’s exactly what we don’t know,” Tseka replied, not getting where he was going with this.
“What do we know about Moloch?” Esset asked, backing up to the first step.
“He’s sadistic, greedy, loves power, and has a massive ego,” Toman replied promptly.
“He holds a grudge and can’t let go if he thinks someone has bested him. So we’ve bested him and he’s lost much of his power,” Esset added.
“That’s why we predicted that he’d go on a killing spree in these territories to replenish his magic with blood and death energy,” Toman said.
“But he clearly isn’t doing that, at least not anywhere near here. It’s safe to say that he wants revenge against us more than against the Mage Lords—I imagine he sees the other Mage Lords as petty threats at best. So how else might he try to get back at us?” Esset asked.
“Well, he can’t find us personally,” Tseka said—the pendants given to them by the Ashiier ensured that.
“So he’ll try to go after those close to us,” Toman said logically, but without urgency. “But Salithsa is safeguarded, and Sergeant Warthog and our parents are safe there with the Nadra. Moloch can’t reach them.”
“Okay, so what would he do next? You know him best, Toman,” Esset said. He glanced at Erizen—Esset wasn’t actually whether Toman or Erizen knew him better, but Erizen still didn’t seem to be paying attention.
“Oh that’s easy. He’ll try to undo or outdo any notable accomplishment of yours that he can discover,” Erizen said. Apparently appearances could be deceiving. His lady cooed and fed him another tidbit.
“Okay, so we list places that are important to us,” Esset said.
“Home. Sedina,” Toman said.
“Salithsa, but that’s safe. If he couldn’t break the defenses before, he won’t be able to now,” Tseka added. “What about Sergeant Warthog’s tavern?”
“I could see him targeting the Staggering Tankard,” Toman agreed.
Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) Page 27
