“Absolutely,” Esset responded instantly. Toman rolled his eyes, making Kessa giggle.
“So why do you wear all that?” Kessa asked, gesturing at the clothes hanging on the hooks. Esset blinked, not anticipating that particular question.
“Yeah, Esset, why do we wear all that?” Toman asked his brother, grinning from ear to ear at the awkward situation he’d brought down upon himself.
“It seems like it just slows you down,” Kessa proceeded innocently.
“Well, ah, warmth, for one, and protection, sometimes, and, uh…y’know, it’s a cultural thing too,” Esset stammered. “And pockets—clothes have pockets to carry things in.”
There was a little sound from the entryway, like the bead-curtain had been jostled. Toman glanced that way, but with the steam filling the small room, he didn’t see anything. Dismissing the tiny noise, Toman looked at his brother again, enjoying watching him squirm.
“Well you don’t need the warmth here—you said yourself that it is warm enough belowground,” Kessa said, her head still tilted slightly. “And just a little bit of cloth surely can’t provide much protection, and it looks terribly uncomfortable.”
“Well, you know, our skin isn’t as tough as your scales. It doesn’t keep the heat in so well either. From what I’ve seen, Nadra are much less sensitive to heat than humans,” Esset said, defending his choice to wear clothes.
The “argument” was so absurd that Toman almost snickered—but then he caught that little sound again, and he once again looked towards the doorway.
“And your pockets are very small—surely they are not all that useful,” Kessa prodded. Esset and Kessa seemed oblivious to the little sounds that Toman kept hearing. Was someone in the room with them now? Was it Tseka, up to some trick? But the sound had been so small… Maybe he was imagining things. Brightfires only knew that traveling the dark tunnels all day, on constant lookout for the venomous Reshkin, had put him on edge.
“Pockets are very useful!” Esset objected defensively. The steam behind him shifted. “They can—”
“Jonathan!” Toman yelled. The animator lunged forward and grabbed his best friend’s shoulder to yank him forward. It hadn’t been his imagination, and it certainly wasn’t Tseka sneaking up on them. Esset cried out as Toman’s hand smashed into his bruises, but that was the least of the animator’s worries. Reshkin had found their way into the bathing chamber. If Toman hadn’t moved when he had, Esset would have fallen to the venomous Reshkin’s bite; at the last possible moment, Toman had seen the creature behind Esset, hiding in the steam.
“What—?” the question was cut short when Esset saw another of the creatures and responded with a brief prayer. “Oh Brightfire—”
“Kessa, get away from the edge!” Toman ordered the little Nadra. “Put your back against ours!” Eyes wide, she did as she was told, and they felt her tail curl around their feet under the water. They could both feel her shaking as they stood in the center of the spring, back-to-back, with a ring of Reshkin surrounding them.
But they weren’t defenseless.
Esset shouted an incantation. At the same time that the fiery wolf materialized, Toman brought to life the clothes hanging on the hooks around the room. His belts shot quickly towards them, entwining in the Reshkin’s legs and winding around their heads to cover their glittering eyes. Their coats flooded forwards and wrestled with a creature apiece to drive them back. Esset’s dirk flew up into the air and darted around like a small bird—like a kingfisher, actually—swooping down and stabbing the Reshkin in their faces. It was minimally effective, but it was something.
Fortunately Esset’s assault was far more effective. The first summon didn’t stand a chance, but it had only been a first response. The steam in the air weakened it immediately, and it was swarmed almost right away. Two incantations later, however, two fiery panthers were tearing through the Reshkin like kindling. The three in the spring were forced to shield their faces against splatters and bits that were sent flying, and Kessa soon hid beneath the surface of the water. Toman and Esset could still feel her there, shaking with terror, but she was hidden from sight and at least somewhat more protected from projectiles. Toman didn’t blame her—the summons added to the heat already in the room, making the place stiflingly hot. The steam choked down on them, making it not only difficult to see very far, but creating a claustrophobic atmosphere that made breathing the already scorching air even harder.
A panther roared its endless fury, and Esset prayed to Bright Hyrishal that the Nadra would hear the sound echoing down the tunnels and come to their aid. The sound cut off as the cat’s jaws closed on a Reshkin head and crushed it. The two panthers darted, swatted, and bit the Reshkin, trying to drive them towards the curtain.
Steam and ash swept around, obscuring everything, so it was difficult to see what exactly the Reshkin were doing; just when Esset thought his herding tactic had worked, one of the deadly bugs emerged out of the steam, mandibles clicking. It was well behind his cats.
Toman’s coat dropped atop the Reshkin. The bug skittered backwards and flailed, slicing through the thick material before shaking it free. Only a moment later, a fiery panther pounced on it, molten teeth clamping on a leg and throwing it against the far wall.
Esset gave up the herding tactic in favor of keeping his summons close enough to protect them.
“Jonathan, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Toman said to his brother, sparing a glance to see how he was faring. Toman was trying to shape the water, but it wasn’t making a terribly effective weapon against the Reshkin. It was easy to shape, but the Reshkin smashed the water-creatures easily. Toman was focusing on getting them in the eyes to distract them long enough for panthers to dispose of them, but the panthers weren’t keen to get near anything excessively wet.
“Ya think?” Esset yelled back. “I’m trying, but they keep getting behind the panthers whenever I try to drive them to the doorway!”
“What about wolves? They’ve gotta be better herders than panthers. Strength in numbers?” “No way!” Esset objected. “They’d be overwhelmed in seconds, and that’s all the opening the Reshkin would need to reach us. I’m just barely keeping them back!”
“Well I’m doing all I can over here! I don’t have the time to make anything effective. I’ve called some of my soldiers from up top, but frankly, I doubt they’ll get here in time,” Toman warned.
“We’ll have to hold on until help comes, Toman. We don’t have any other choice!” Both brothers set their mouths into grim expressions. There was nothing more to say; all they could do was fight until help arrived.
Neither was really sure how much time had passed before they heard traces of a scuffle outside.
“Summoner! Are you in there?!” It sounded like Nassata—at any rate, it was the voice of a female Nadra. Toman guessed it was Esset she was calling since it was the summons that were making all the racket.
“We’re in here!” Esset yelled back. “Thank bright, Bright Hyrishal,” he prayed briefly. He reached under the water to grab Kessa’s arm and pull her up. She’d only surfaced briefly a few times for a fresh breath, and there was no way she’d heard the call from beneath the surface.
“Help is here,” he said urgently to her. “Get ready to move if we need to.” She looked at him and nodded, still utterly terrified.
“We’re coming!” they heard their rescuers yelling from the tunnel.
Just then, one of the panthers reached its limit. There was a puff of ash and smoke and suddenly there was a gaping hole in their defenses.
“Jonathan!” Toman yelled, seeing the Reshkin flood into the sudden opening. The animator managed to get the shreds of his coat to intercept the nearest, but it would hold only moments. He heard Esset chanting the incantation behind him. Toman abandoned animating the water and just splashed it—the Reshkin was so close that it was caught full in the face. It drew back for a moment as the mineral-rich water stung its many eyes—and Toman had stalled it just l
ong enough. A massive fiery panther descended atop the creature in a spray of sparks and Reshkin blood. Toman had to duck as the panther’s tail swung dangerously close to his face, but he wasn’t about to complain—the Reshkin were that close, so they needed the summons that close, even though the fiery cats could hurt them as easily as the Reshkin.
Suddenly the Nadran rescue party was in the room. Tseka was unmistakable, even through the obscuring steam. She battered her way through a group of them, twirling her spear around as if it were no more than a featherweight, and not the hefty metal rod it was. She used a combination of surprise and pure ferocity to drive her way through the Reshkin mass to the edge of the pool. Without waiting on them or asking consent, she reached in and grabbed Esset by the arm, forcibly hauling him out of the water.
“Kessa! Go!” Toman yelled at the little Nadra, using a free hand to pull her around to his other side and shove him towards Tseka. Toman kept right behind Kessa, accidentally stepping on her coils under the water a few times. Then he felt her being hauled out of the water behind him. He stayed until he was sure she was out, and then glanced behind him just in time to see Tseka reach for him. He whirled and grabbed her arm to launch himself out of the water. By that time, the rest of the rescue party had joined them. Kessa was tucked between two of the three warriors, as safe as she could be.
With fewer sides to cover, the panthers suddenly became very effective at driving away the Reshkin. They managed to make a path back to the exit and the whole group managed to get back into the tunnels. There was a brief moment where Toman was absurdly grateful that he’d decided to keep his smallclothes on during his bath in the hot spring, but the thought was fleeting at best, since he was the least effective combatant at the moment. Without any effective soldiers to animate, he was almost as helpless as Kessa. He knew some self-defense, but that was useless when he needed to stay out of range of the poisonous Reshkin fangs. Esset needed to be shielded from incoming attacks too, but at least he had a powerful offense going elsewhere. Toman hated being caught off guard—he was so useless. He gritted his teeth as they fled down the tunnel. He swore to himself that he’d make his dent yet.
The panthers stayed behind to decimate the Reshkin, but with their original targets out of range, the Reshkin were suddenly uninterested in the fight. They began to retreat. The group stopped when they reached the main city, waiting just inside the tunnel to catch their collective breaths and compose themselves. Tseka crossed her arms—not an easy feat while holding a spear, but she still managed to do it and look formidable—and she looked Toman and Esset up and down.
“My, but you humans sure are scrawny. I mean, I knew it already, but without your silly coverings, it is even more obvious.” She was wearing a snarky smirk, but even Esset was willing to forgive her for it, given how she’d just helped save them. Her smug little moment was ruined a moment later by Kessa. The little sapphire-blue Nadra had been keeping as close as she could to Nassata without really being in the way, but now she darted forward and threw her arms around Toman, sobbing. He was rather surprised, but he recovered quickly.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Toman comforted her, stroking the back of her head and putting his arms around her back. She was still shaking, but he could tell she was beginning to calm down. Toman saw Esset’s surprise and realized that Esset had really only interacted with warriors so far. Given Kessa’s explanation of how highly prized peace was, it stood to reason that the general populace might be extra sensitive to violence. They were a close-knit bunch, after all, so hurting one of them would hurt the whole. And Kessa seemed to be particularly sensitive.
“We’re all okay now, see?” Toman said, pulling back slightly and using one hand to turn her chin so she’d look around the group. “Everyone’s here, and we’re all fine.” Down the tunnel, a panther screamed its rage, a reminder that this wasn’t over, not completely.
“Nassata, where did those Reshkin come from? I thought this tunnel was a closed loop, with its only entrances to the main city,” Esset asked while Toman continued to comfort Kessa.
“It is. I don’t know how they got in,” Nassata replied, looking into the darkness behind them.
“Well, Reshkin can dig, can they not?” Tseka asked, tapping her spear-butt on the floor.
“What?” Esset interjected, startled.
“They can dig, but not well. At best they can expand an existing tunnel, or cause troubles for our food production. They cannot dig entirely new tunnels,” Nassata responded.
“Is that true of them now, or how they were before?” Esset asked. “They’ve adapted rather well to fight you… Is it not possible that this may be a new quality of theirs as well?”
“I’m afraid that’s the only logical explanation,” Nassata said, looking troubled. “But we should be able to detect them before they get close enough for an ambush.”
“What about the heat tracks? Kessa was telling us about how you distribute heat to your city—could they not mask their heat signatures using your heat tracks?” Esset pointed out. Nassata looked at him seriously, disturbed by the implications of his suggestion.
“This is very bad news,” she replied. “This puts the whole city in danger—security is just an illusion if they have become this intelligent. We knew they had gotten smarter, and that they seemed to have grown a hive-mind of kinds, but this… This is high-order strategy.”
“Okay, but why attack these two?” Tseka said, gesturing at the young men with her spear. “Why are they the first attack like this?”
“No offense, but I think we’re the first majorly dangerous individuals to target here,” Esset replied. Tseka scowled fiercely at him.
“No, think about it,” he said to her. “From what I’ve gathered, the Nadra rule themselves by council and general vote, right?” Nassata nodded, not sure what that had to do with anything.
“So if you lose any one individual, even a council-member, your government can compensate,” Esset continued. “It’s tragic, but it doesn’t cripple you as a people. It doesn’t prevent you from being able to organize and defend yourselves. The same goes for individual warriors. You’re all incredible fighters, but no one warrior poses a drastic threat to the Reshkin.”
“Shows what they know,” Tseka muttered, but everyone ignored her.
“But then you bring us in. My summons are immune to Reshkin venom, and they pack a pretty hard punch. Toman’s creations are causing serious problems for the Reshkin already by blocking their access to you, and he hasn’t even really started building you an army yet. He’s going to make you a huge force that’s immune to their venom as well. Between the two of us… Well, we’re well worth assassinating,” Esset finished.
Nassata was nodding. “You are right.”
“But how would they know you would be in the hot spring?” Tseka prodded.
“They probably didn’t. However, the sleeping quarters you gave us are right on the other side of those walls, are they not?” Esset replied. Once again, Nassata nodded.
“And this means that we have been extremely negligent in guarding you,” the green warrior said. “From now on, you do not go anywhere without protection.”
“Agreed. But can I suggest something?” Apparently Toman had comforted Kessa enough. Everyone turned to look at him, and he returned their gaze steadily. Kessa stood right beside him with Toman’s arm securely around her shoulders. She was still huddled up next to him, but no longer clinging.
“Some of my stone soldiers are already heading this way—I called them when we were in trouble, having no way of calling anyone else.” He paused, then added, “By the way, they might have spooked your sentries. Sorry about that.” His thoughtful expression turned more serious again. “My animations should do well enough. I’ll keep them around whenever we’re in the city, and leave them behind when we’re with your warriors if you don’t want them around. But they don’t need sleep or food or anything, so it’ll be easiest to use them as sentries while we’re doing the b
oring stuff, like sleeping.”
Nassata considered his suggestion. She didn’t look entirely satisfied with the idea, having the correct impression that an animation couldn’t replace a real person.
“I can also create something that can go for help if anything happens again,” Toman put in as an afterthought.
“Very well,” Nassata finally agreed. “Well, keep calling your soldiers. I want to go back into the spring to investigate as soon as we can, but I want to alert the council, more of the warriors, and my sentries first.”
“Fair enough,” Toman replied. He wasn’t keen to go out into the rest of the city wearing just his boxers and gloves anyways. Esset looked slightly relieved too, standing there in his underwear.
“Hurry back,” Esset suggested with a wry smile.
Within half an hour they were carefully making their way back to the hot spring chamber. Typical of the Reshkin, the carcasses of their kin—and one of Esset’s socks—had been dragged away, leaving only blood behind. The missing sock wasn’t their first concern, however.
“Look at this,” Esset said, kicking a rock on the ground beside the rough little tunnel that the Reshkin had burrowed to get into the chamber. “I’m guessing there’s a second one out in the tunnel wall somewhere, given that they were coming from outside too.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Nassata agreed, and she motioned for two warriors to look.
Esset glanced over as Toman picked his coat up off the floor, clearly unhappy. There was a giant rip in the back and it was covered in… He didn’t want to know what it was covered in. Toman held the offending garment away from himself with one hand.
“May I borrow your spear?” he asked Tseka, who was standing beside him. Esset was pretty sure she was laughing inside, given the smirk she had on her face when she saw the state of his clothes.
“Sure,” she said, passing it over to Toman, clearly curious. Toman took it for a moment and then let go; the metal staff collapsed to the ground, curling about into a pile like a snake, the spearhead its head. No sooner had it landed then it slithered over to the water and vanished beneath the surface.
Calling On Fire (Book 1) Page 18
