The Smoke-Scented Girl

by Melissa McShane

“Unless you’re not immune because your fire came from the same place.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that. I guess now I have to worry about both our safety.”

  “Time enough for that when we get there.” Evon stood and offered her his hand. “If you’ve packed everything, I suppose we should say goodbye to our oh-so-gracious host.”

  No part of the old woman made an appearance when they knocked on her door, and Evon forbore to leave her any more money. He hoped he had enough left to supply them for the rest of the now extended journey. They rode back across the fields under a light sprinkling of snow and watched the southern sky clear as they rode in its direction. The winds had prevented much snow from building up, though Evon only recognized the road because it was a long, mostly straight stretch of snow through which no stalks of yellow dead grass protruded. Kerensa took charge of the map, though they didn’t need it as long as the road remained clearly marked. She held on to Evon’s waist and leaned against his back, and he marveled at how different it was now to have her riding behind him, occasionally laying her cheek against his shoulder and hugging him tighter. It was hard to remember that they were riding into danger and possible death.

  They reached the village by midafternoon and Evon, reluctantly, took two rooms at the town’s lone inn. The memory of waking up next to Kerensa that morning made him long to represent her as his wife so he could share her bed again, but the way his body responded to the idea made it unlikely that he would be able to restrain himself, and by the look in her eye Kerensa was thinking the same thing. So he called her his sister, and offered her his arm instead of his hand, and hoped his eyes didn’t give them both away. They bought staples, long-lasting foods like cheese and apples, and stowed their purchases in Evon’s room for safekeeping, then ate supper and went to their separate beds. It took Evon a long time to fall asleep, and when he finally did he was plagued by dreams of Kerensa bursting into flame and taking him with her, over and over again.

  More snow was falling when they left the next morning. Evon hated the snow. He couldn’t remember a time when the world wasn’t made of snow. His hands were freezing inside his gloves, which was stupid because gloves were supposed to keep your hands from freezing. He pulled his ugly hat down over his ears and glowered out at the world over the horse’s head. He knew that horses were reasonably intelligent, but whoever had sold him this one must have laughed himself sick at unloading it on Evon, because it was surely one of the stupidest creatures ever given breath by the Gods. If he didn’t goad it, it would stand in the snow until it froze to death. He should have sold it and bought a better one.

  “Evon,” Kerensa said. “Look at me.”

  He turned his head and was utterly surprised when she pressed her lips against his. The cold tip of her nose rubbed across his cheek. He automatically put out a hand to keep her from overbalancing and falling off the idiot horse, and felt his bad mood melt away. By the Gods, but he’d needed that.

  “You had the most unpleasant expression on your face,” Kerensa said, “and I thought you shouldn’t be allowed to go on thinking whatever horrible thing you were thinking.” She sat back, and Evon made a noise of protest. “We don’t have time to stand around kissing, Evon.”

  “We have a little time.” He took the horse off the road and dismounted, then lifted Kerensa down and circled her waist with his arms. “And I like this way better.” He pushed her hood back from her face and proceeded to kiss her all across her face and exposed neck while she laughed and pretended to struggle to free herself. Eventually he found his way to her lips and they kissed, slowly and intently, until Kerensa lifted her head and said, a little breathlessly, “Feel better now?”

  “Much.” Evon rested his forehead against hers.

  “That’s good, because someone’s coming and I don’t want us to be a spectacle for everyone’s amusement.”

  Evon turned to see riders approaching from the direction of the village. There were four or five of them, coming along slowly, but as Evon watched they broke into a run. He boosted Kerensa back onto the horse and mounted, moving further off the road. If they were in such a hurry, better to let them pass now.

  “I wonder why they started running suddenly,” Kerensa said. Her words made Evon feel uneasy. He fumbled around until he found his quizzing glass, gestured and said, “Solto spexa.” The lens glowed with a greenish light like the belly of a firefly, and Evon held it to his eye. It felt as if he’d leaped forward to stand near the riders, and he swallowed against the lurch in his stomach. Five riders, their faces hooded against the cold...and one rider with a red beard that spilled over his collar. Valantis.

  “It’s Speculatus,” he said, shoving his lens into his pocket and kicking the horse out of its mindless stupor. “Hold on tight.”

  Stupid the horse might be, but it had a turn of speed that had Evon hoping Kerensa wouldn’t be flung off. They galloped down the road, the horse’s footing unexpectedly sure on the frozen ground beneath the snow. “How are they faring?” Evon called out.

  “I think they’re drawing closer,” Kerensa replied. “Where are we going?”

  “Away,” Evon said. “Get out the map and let’s see what’s ahead.”

  He felt her moving around, one hand clutching his waist, the other spreading the map across his back. “Evon, there aren’t any villages for miles,” she said. “What are we going to do?”

  He cursed. “They’ll kill me and take you back. We should choose our ground, see if I can’t eliminate a few of them.” He didn’t say that Valantis was likely to have brought magicians, or that they’d be prepared for him to attack. He was desperately running through spells in his head, trying to find ones they wouldn’t know to defend against. Presadi, but that was one target at a time, and the others would be on him in seconds. If he knew how to use solto olficio or solto spexa against another person, those would be disorienting...but “if” was pointless now.

  Kerensa still held the map against his back. She shifted to look behind, then said, “I have an idea, but it’s dangerous.”

  “More dangerous than those five men?”

  “It’s possible danger versus certain death.”

  Evon felt the horse stumble a little and drew in on the reins slightly. “What is it?”

  “There’s a place of power only a quarter mile from here.”

  “That could kill us all by itself!”

  “Maybe. But they certainly will. There’s no name, so I don’t know anything about it, but I think it’s worth the risk.”

  Evon pressed his lips close together. “How close are they?”

  “It will be a race to get there ahead of them. And there’s no guarantee they won’t follow us.”

  Evon nodded, then flicked the reins to urge the horse back into a full-out run. “Let’s just focus on getting there.”

  Now he crouched low on the horse’s neck and felt Kerensa grip him as if she were afraid of falling off, which was probably true. The rough road and the horse’s speed made Evon a little afraid of falling himself. He imagined he could hear their pursuers’ horses drawing nearer, though he knew that was impossible because if they were that near, they were near enough to cast spells. He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that they were about a hundred yards away, and they were gaining. One of them raised a hand, and Evon shouted, “Retexo!” just in case, nearly falling off the horse with gesturing over Kerensa’s head, but either the magician’s aim was bad, or he was just too far away, because nothing happened.

  “Turn off the road now!” Kerensa shouted. “Right, right! Turn right!” and he yanked on the reins and the horse veered right, stumbled a little over the verge, and took off running across the field. If it broke a leg now, they were finished. But though its gait went erratic, it didn’t step in any holes or trip over fallen branches, not that there would be any branches in the middle of this treeless, horribly exposed stretch of land. In the distance, a copse of trees, their branches bare and spiky, stood huddled like trav
elers crouched around a campfire. “How far?” he called back to Kerensa.

  “We’re nearly there. The silver dot is starting to vibrate. I don’t know what that means.”

  “It might be reacting to the presence of free magic. Not something we can do anything about. Keep your head down!”

  Flames burst up on their left, melting snow and producing a huge cloud of steam. Forva. He twisted around quickly to look at their pursuers, only about a hundred yards away now, faced forward long enough to make certain the horse was still pointed in the right direction, swung around and tossed the same spell back at them. One of the riders, unfortunately not Valantis, screamed and fell off his horse, beating at himself and rolling in the snow to put out the fire that engulfed him. Evon grinned, though he knew he couldn’t count on that kind of luck again.

  Then the horse screamed, and lurched, and Evon shoved Kerensa away as the horse fell hard on its side and began thrashing. He barely missed being crushed under its massive body, but had the wind knocked out of him and lost precious seconds trying to recover. Kerensa came to crouch next to him, casting terrified glances back at Valantis and his riders. “Evon,” she said, “now what?”

  “Get the bags and get clear of the horse. Keep running until I tell you to stop.” Evon backed away from their pursuers as quickly as he could, passing the helpless horse and silently apologizing to it for their desertion. He hoped it had just stumbled and hadn’t broken a leg. He kept his hands raised, and was heartened to see the men slow as they neared and then match his pace, keeping about fifty feet of space between them. It was good that they knew his reputation. That might keep him alive.

  Valantis, at the front of his little band, pulled his horse up and dismounted, holding his hands well away from his sides to show that he was unarmed—or at least that whatever weapons he had on him weren’t in his hands at the moment. He continued to approach Evon on foot while his men pulled back a little, each also displaying empty hands, though if they were all magicians, that was more a threat than a reassurance. “Kerensa, stop!” Evon shouted without looking behind him. He continued to back up; Valantis continued to follow.

  “You saved my life,” Valantis said. “Though you probably didn’t mean to.”

  “That’s correct. I should have killed you for what you did to Kerensa.”

  “That was Cattertis. She liked pain far too much for my comfort, but she did her work well. You have your revenge, though. She died in the fire.”

  “I had my revenge before that when I snapped her neck,” Evon said, raising his voice to make sure all the riders heard him. Two of the men glanced at each other uneasily. If he had time, he could take advantage of that. He probably didn’t have time.

  He became aware of Kerensa’s presence just before she put her hand on his elbow to steady him. “How close are we to the place?” he asked in a low voice.

  “I’m not sure. I don’t dare pull out the map right now. We might be right on top of it.”

  “In any case, I owe you a life,” Valantis continued. “I’ll spare you if you give us the woman.”

  “Mr. Valantis, has anyone in the history of the world ever accepted that offer?”

  “You’d be surprised at what people will do to save their own necks.” Valantis pushed back his hood so Evon could see his face and held up a palm-sized glass sphere. It was pulsing with a cool violet light. “I’ll just keep coming after her if you don’t.”

  Evon ground his teeth. They’d been using a simple tracking spell, far less complex than the one on the coin, the kind of thing any ten-year-old who could say reperto could perform. If he’d been thinking at all, he could have countered it. “I can render that useless,” he said.

  Valantis shrugged. “We have other methods. Come, Lorantis, be reasonable. I swear I won’t hurt her. You can even have her back when I’ve gotten what I want out of her.”

  Evon was watching Valantis’s men as he said this, so he saw the look that passed over one rider’s face that said more than one person intended to get what he wanted out of Kerensa, and fury swept over him. “Forva!” he shouted, and immediately after, “Presadi!”

  The man went up in a column of white fire, making his horse squeal and fling him off before dropping to the snow itself to soothe its burns. Valantis’s remaining two magicians raised their hands. And a six-foot-tall iridescent bubble of presadi sprang up around Evon and Kerensa. Whatever spells the magicians cast struck the impermeable shield and bounced or trickled off harmlessly. Valantis gestured wildly at his men, then pulled out a highly illegal dueling pistol and aimed a shot at Evon’s head. It ricocheted off the shield and Valantis ducked just in time to have the bullet zing past his ear. He began gesticulating and presumably shouting at Evon, who innocently tapped his ear and shook his head.

  “I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I am right now,” Kerensa said. “But aren’t we trapped here?”

  “Not exactly. We’ll probably look stupid, but there isn’t anyone here whose opinion I care about.” Evon walked to the far side of the bubble and put his hands against it. “If we walk and push at the same time, we can make this roll all the way to the dubious safety of that unknown magical place.”

  Kerensa put her hands against the bubble and followed his movements. “I thought the shield spell was small.”

  “So did I. I took a chance that I could make it bigger. If it failed...I used most of my reserves to cast this, and we would have been defenseless. So I’m glad it worked.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t mention that before.” The bags tumbled against Evon’s ankles, rolling with presadi. The copse of trees grew nearer.

  The shield shivered a little. Evon glanced over his shoulder and saw Valantis hacking away at the bubble, his lips spewing soundless invective. “I wonder if I could combine this with recivia, make a shield that returns blows with equal force on the attacker,” he mused.

  “Evon Lorantis, you really are always thinking up new spells in the back of your head.”

  He reddened. “I try not to let it interfere with other things, but sometimes I become moderately obsessed. Something you should no doubt know about me.”

  She smiled and laid her hand atop his. “Your obsession is going to save my life. I can hardly complain about it. But when all this is over, you can expect me to give you gentle nudges when your obsession interferes with your life.”

  “I welcome it. I look—”

  With a soundless burst, blinding red light flared up around them on every side.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Blinking back tears of pain, Evon squinted to see what had attacked them. They were surrounded by a ball of sparkling crimson light, sometimes flaring like a flame given new fuel, sometimes spitting like water dropped into hot oil. Valantis was gone. Evon couldn’t see anything past the red light, which, it occurred to him, was exactly the same size as presadi and formed a wall in front of them, exactly where they’d been pushing the shield along. Evon reached out and put his palm flat against it, and it gave a little, just like presadi. He looked down and saw that the crimson light ran under his feet as well. He walked back to what had been the rear of the bubble and tried to see out, but the light was opaque as well as coruscating. It was starting to become a little stuffy where they were. “Desini,” he said, and a thin mist of black dispelled the shield and made the flickering red light vanish.

  They stood about a hundred feet from the copse of trees. Previously bare, the trees now clung to the last of their autumn leaves, which covered their roots in inches-deep color. There was no snow on the ground, which felt soft, not yet frozen. Valantis and his men were nowhere in sight. Evon turned to say something to Kerensa and took a step back. “You’re glowing,” he said. She was surrounded by flying spell-ribbons, dark blue and dormant, but also by a flickering golden light that limned her silhouette and the lines of her body. It looked as if someone had used a burning taper to outline her with fire.

  She looked down at her hands and gasped. “
I don’t feel anything,” she said.

  “I think there’s something about this place that makes magic visible,” Evon said. “As if it had a kind of permanent epiria cast over it. There’s the spell, and...that must be the fire magic.”

  “But epiria never showed this before.”

  “Epiria is for revealing spells, organized magic, not raw magic. This place must be incredibly powerful to do something like that.”

  She turned her head to look over her shoulder. “It’s everywhere.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Evon said. “You look extraordinary.” He reached out and took her hand. “It’s not actually fire. I can still touch you.”

  “Thank the Gods,” Kerensa said, and flung herself on him. She was shaking. “I’m sorry,” she said, “it was just facing Valantis, and now this....”

  Evon held her close. “Be glad,” he said. “I might be able to figure the fire out here, without our having to go all the way to Nystrantor.”

  She nodded. “This place seems sort of peaceful, flamboyant visual displays aside. I wonder when we are.” They began walking toward the copse, which lay still in the face of the slight breeze that brushed their faces. Even the dying leaves were motionless.

  “It looks as though we’ve gone back in time a few months,” Evon said, scanning the ground ahead.

  “Or forward by nearly a year. Or several years. Or a millennium.”

  “You’re right. I just hope we don’t stay offset in time when we leave. If we return to find a landscape decimated by the Despot’s armies, I don’t know what we’ll do.”

  They reached the copse, where Evon had to duck a little to avoid the low-hanging branches. Leaves brushed softly against his hair and face, dry but soft, like old parchment. “Let me get that,” Kerensa said, and removed a rust-colored oak leaf from his hair. “How long do you think we should stay in here?”

  “I don’t know. I was thinking we should circle around and come out at a different place.” Evon looked at the map again, then folded it and put it away. “Though if this doesn’t restore itself, we could end up very lost.”