Calling On Fire (Book 1) (23 page)

"It’s okay. I will protect you, Kessa," Nassata soothed her, stroking her hair. "We will protect our people." Kessa snuggled in against her chest, looking very child-like.

"I believe you," Kessa replied, gazing up at Nassata’s face with simple trust. "But it is frightening."

"Yes, it is," Nassata agreed. "But you must be strong too, yes? Can you do that for me?" She loosened her embrace and they drew apart slightly, their hands still on each other’s arms. Kessa nodded, her innocent smile returning.

"Good. You’re so brave, Kessa." Nassata gave her one last, quick hug before letting her go. They resumed their travel to the common eating area of the Nadra.

"Do you mind stopping a moment? I told Tseka I’d wake her up," Nassata requested a moment later, pausing next to a curtained doorway.

"Tseka?" Esset asked with a slightly pained expression, but Toman was already saying, "Not at all," and stopping to wait.

Nassata pulled back the curtain wide, and Toman and Esset got their first look at a typical Nadran dwelling.

Had they stopped to think about it, they probably would have realized that the room they were staying in was not typical, but made especially for bipedal guests. But they hadn’t thought of that—they hadn’t really had a chance to—and so they were somewhat surprised. The room was very round, the floor smoothly curved and depressed into the room. Flowing patterns of color splashed across the walls, lending additional brightness to the room. Two lanterns in the room shed light on the occupants, who were gathered in one spot. A Nadra’s bed, apparently, consisted of a smooth, deep depression in the stone floor that was filled with pillows and blankets in no sort of order. The "bed" was rather large, and there were four Nadra tangled in it.

The bodies of the four Nadra were so entwined and wrapped around each other that "tangled" truly was the only word to describe them. Dull scales mixed with painted, but even so it was difficult to tell which appendages belonged to whom. When the curtain opened, four heads popped out of the mix, blinking with varying degrees of bleariness to see who was calling. There wasn’t a shred of self-consciousness among the four.

Toman glanced at Esset, knowing his brother would probably be a little scandalized by the sleeping arrangement. The animator wondered if the Nadra in the room were kin, but he doubted it, and even so, such an arrangement would be bizarre in their own culture—to say the least. Here, it seemed normal. Sure enough, he found Esset’s expression mildly humorous, and he elbowed Esset before their hosts could see it.

"Ah, Nassata, that time already?" Tseka asked, disentangling her arms with perplexing ease to stretch.

There was some writhing movement in the bed as her companions shifted around to let her out. Tseka had no problems helping them along, either, it seemed, as she unceremoniously shoved a few coils out of the way as she extracted herself.

"Ah, our saviors," Tseka said when she emerged, eyeing Toman and Esset.

"Good morning," Toman greeted her. Tseka just kept eyeing him for a moment, not deigning to respond, while Esset blithely wondered if it really was morning or not. Finally, the red warrior looked away, placing a hand on Nassata’s shoulder and giving her a nod of greeting before looking down the hall.

"We have somewhere to be, yeah?" Tseka grinned, pushing past them to head in the direction they’d been going. Toman couldn’t help but notice that Kessa and Tseka didn’t greet each other. In fact, Kessa had shrunk back a bit, as if trying to avoid notice. Then again, if this was what Tseka was normally like, Toman didn’t blame her.

"Come, we should meet with our escort, or they will have to wait on us. We are all eager to increase the security of our city," Nassata said, increasing the group’s pace. Toman and Esset almost had to jog to keep up, but the Nadra kept pace effortlessly.

"What about breakfast?" Kessa asked. She shrank a little when Tseka raised an eyebrow at her.

"We're…not hungry," Esset said, thinking of the
real
food they'd be getting later.

"Then we can get started now," Nassata said. Tseka eyed Esset and Toman, as if suspecting them of something, but she held her tongue.

"Kessa, you might as well find other jobs for the day. Toman and Esset won’t be needing you until later," Nassata said to Kessa as they moved.

"Yes, Nassata. Bye everyone!" Kessa waved to them—at least there was one gesture humans and Nadra shared—and absently trailed her fingers down Toman’s arm as she parted and headed off in a different direction. Toman blinked but smiled at the unconscious gesture.

"We’re going to start with the east tunnels," Nassata said once Kessa was gone. "Reshkin attacks are worst from that direction."

They stopped at a small armory in the city so Nassata and Tseka could arm themselves. They met the rest of their escort there, four more Nadran warriors.

"What kind of parameters do you want my creations to follow?" Toman asked as they headed out.

"What do you mean?" Nassata tilted her head to the side.

"Well, I can have my creatures block the tunnel, but I have to tell them who to obey and who not to when ordered to unblock the tunnel," Toman explained.

"Hm… I should think that any Nadra should be able to command passage, and the two of you of course. That should suffice," Nassata said.

"
Any
Nadra?" Toman asked in surprise. "You don’t want to authorize just a few?"

"
Any
Nadra," Nassata confirmed, adamant.

"But—" Toman began to object, thinking of Nassata’s earlier comment that it seemed someone was behind the Nadra.

"Any Nadra, Animator," Tseka interrupted, her voice even, for once, without rancor or mischief. She and Nassata exchanged a knowing look before glancing back at the other Nadra with them.

They both believe someone’s behind this, but not Nadra, Toman realized. And the others either aren’t aware of this belief, or they don’t share it, so Nassata and Tseka don’t want to bring it up in front of them.

"Okay then." Toman shrugged. He wasn’t sure there was any particular reason to believe a Nadra wasn’t behind the changes in the Reshkin, but now clearly wasn’t the time to debate it.

"It’ll take me about fifteen minutes to shape the animation and define its orders," Toman informed the Nadra when they stopped in a vacant chamber on their way to the first choke point that they wanted blocked. Given that they had been swarmed when trying to block off tunnels in the past, they wanted their barrier ready to place as quickly as possible.

"Take what time you need," Nassata replied. It was implicit that it would be appreciated if he didn’t take more than that. With a simple nod, Toman got to work. He placed his hands against the wall and closed his eyes, and the stone began to shift.

Everyone watched with fascination, Esset included. He’d seen Toman make his creations many times, but it was still engrossing. It happened just quickly enough that there was something to watch. A long shape bulged from the wall; it was long and snake-like, but it became apparent after a moment that it was being created back end first. At the front, the tubular shape split into two, until its overall form was clear—it was a massive, two-headed snake.

When the form was done, Toman stood for a few minutes, firmly implanting its directives in his creation. When Toman finally opened his eyes, he didn’t seem wearied at all. The wall it had been born from was left smooth—the stone had been drawn evenly from the whole wall, so the tunnel was just slightly wider to account for the stone Toman had used.

"Let’s go," he simply said. "Hopefully this works as planned." Everyone was ready to get moving again. Fortunately, it wasn’t far to their destination.

"There are Reshkin further up the tunnel, but they do not seem to be moving overmuch," Tseka informed them from the lead. They’d passed the last sentries in the tunnel only a few moments ago.

"Good." They had a lantern with them, ready to cover if needed, but until then, the light was comforting for the two humans in the party.

"Warrior Tseka, could you please edge back a bit? You’re right in the best spot to block," Toman requested respectfully. Tseka shot him a look—what was that, distaste? It was difficult to tell in the dark—but she moved back. The stone snake slithered forward to where Tseka had been, then suddenly swerved right. Its body slid up the wall, around the other side, and then along its own body until it had coiled perfectly inside itself, braced against the tunnel walls. One head looked at them, and the other looked down the tunnel beyond. It took a second to settle, and then it had created an airtight seal on the corridor—no Reshkin were getting through.

"I think that will work," Esset commented, looking at Nassata to see what she thought. None of them had been entirely sure how Toman was going to block the tunnel with a snake, but it now looked like it would work quite well.

"I think so too," Nassata said, slithering forward to inspect the stone snake.

"If any Nadra tells it to move aside, it will. Tell it to move back into place, and it will," Toman explained concisely.

"Excellent," Nassata replied. She finished her brief inspection, then moved back towards them. "Okay, let’s keep going." They had many tunnels to block.

They were back in the heart of Salithsa after a long day of blocking tunnels—they couldn’t block them all, but they’d blocked enough to make a difference.

"Well I’m glad that went as smoothly as it did," Nassata said.

"It’s a sad state when having to drive back swarms of venomous monsters counts as smooth," Tseka said.

"Yes, but thanks to Esset, we never even had to close with the monsters ourselves, and we are far safer now than we were," Nassata countered. Tseka made a grumbling sound that sounded like begrudging agreement. Toman wasn’t fooled; he suspected she had actually already warmed to them.

"Man, I’m stiff," Toman said, stretching his arms as they stepped into the light of the main bowl of the city.

"Me too," Esset agreed, tenderly massaging his own sore shoulders. "What I wouldn’t give for a hot bath right now."

"Why not try our hot springs?" Nassata suggested. "There is a small spring chamber not far from your rooms that is rarely used. It’s a smaller spring, and only the guest quarters are terribly close to it. It should be empty now. Kessa could show you where it is."

"Speaking of—oh, there she is," Toman said with a smile.

Kessa had emerged from a curtained room and came darting towards them with a smile. "You’re back! It is good to see everyone safe."

"We had no trouble at all," Toman replied.

"These two have expressed interest in visiting the hot springs," Nassata put in, slithering over to Kessa to put an arm around her shoulders. "I suggested the small one near their rooms. Could you show them the way?"

"Of course, Nassata!" Kessa agreed happily.

"I don’t recall going down that tunnel before," Toman remarked. "It’s guarded further down then?"

Nassata shook her head.

"The tunnel is shallow; only the hot spring is down it, and it backs on your quarters. With no other access points, there’s no need to guard it."

"We should join them, Nassata," Tseka put in, her smile somewhat malicious. Toman and Esset exchanged hesitant glances at the suggestion.

"Hah! You know how small that spring is. They will find it comfortable enough, I’m sure, but we would overcrowd it. Besides, you and I both know that you do not care for the springs," Nassata retorted, letting go of Kessa to head back over to the rest of the Nadra. She gave Tseka a shove, which Tseka took with a grin.

"But think of the fun we could have with these two," Tseka wheedled. Esset shifted from foot to foot.

"You have far too much energy left after today, Tseka. Perhaps you should go help Asiran with training. I know how much you love beating the scales off the trainees," Nassata suggested.

"Have I earned no rest?" Tseka complained.

"Wicked scales must always move," Nassata quoted. She took Tseka’s arm and began leading her away. They bantered back and forth as they drew away from Toman, Esset, and Kessa, with Nassata successfully distracting the other warrior. Toman and Esset didn’t waste any time getting away, either. The moment the warriors began moving away from them, they turned to Kessa.

"Hot springs?" Toman asked hopefully. Esset’s eager expression echoed his brother’s.

"This way," Kessa replied with a bright smile, slithering away. Toman and Esset took up spots on either side of her. She took a corridor a ways before their rooms, but the way the tunnel wound about, when they finally reached the hot spring chamber, they were almost right next to their room on the other side of one of the adjoining walls.

The room might have been small by Nadran standards, but it wasn’t overly so by theirs. It was spacious enough, and the spring itself was large enough to fit probably up to six humans. The water steamed, betraying its temperature and filling the room with a gentle, humid heat and obscuring most of the floor to about knee-height. Toman guessed that it must also keep their sleeping quarters warm for them by heating the wall it was adjacent to.