Fire Study (43 page)

I triggered my switchblade and yanked my knees toward my chest, pulling the

surprised Vermin holding my feet into my knife. Hot blood gushed onto my hands. I

wrenched the blade out of his stomach before the other Vermin dropped me onto

the ground. I scrambled to my feet as he pulled his scimitar.

Switchblade against scimitar. Bad odds. And I had used the Curare on my

weapon on the first man. This wouldn’t be a long fight. I glanced at Valek. He

fought Tauno and the woman. His sword against their spears. Better odds. I hoped I

could last long enough for Valek to help me.

“Drop your weapon,” the Vermin ordered me.

When I didn’t obey, the man swung and I dodged to the side. He lunged. I

backed away. He swiped at my neck. I ducked. He hacked and I danced.

Winded with the effort, the Vermin said, “You will not be harmed if you

surrender.”

After another attack, I realized what he was doing. “You’re not allowed to kill

me,” I said. “Jal wants me alive so he can feed me to his pet Fire Warper!”

My smugness infuriated him. He increased the pace of his swings. Bad decision.

“I can still hurt you. Bleed you. Torture you.”

His blade sliced through my cape. I stepped back as blood welled from the slash

along my arm. Really bad decision. He advanced. I retreated. His scimitar found

more open areas and soon my arms and legs were crisscrossed with bleeding cuts. I

felt light-headed and my feet moved with an unusual slowness. My energy drained at

an alarming rate.

My bat appeared. He flew at the Vermin, diving and pulling his hair. The Vermin

flailed his arms, giving me an opening, but my switchblade felt so heavy and my

body reacted too slowly. The Vermin must be a strong Warper. He had weakened

my mental defenses without my notice.

The Warper stared at the bat and the poor creature crashed to the ground.

“Is that all you have?” he asked. “What about your great soul magic? I think the

Fire Warper will be disappointed.” He shrugged. “Orders are orders.”

He swung his weapon. My arms moved, but couldn’t block the hilt of his

scimitar from striking my temple.

My vision blurred as I crumpled to the ground. The world spun. I rolled away

from the Warper. When I reached Kiki’s hooves, I let the blackness claim me.

A hammer pounded on the side of my skull. Wake up, it pounded. Open your

eyes. More hammering. I refused. The next time, a dull throb intruded on my

oblivion. Come on, it pulsed. Open your eyes. Please.

I woke, feeling like a cutting board. My arms and legs burned with pain and my

head hurt. Valek hunched over me, pouring water on my cuts, inflaming them.

“Ow! Stop that,” I said.

“Finally,” he said. But he didn’t stop. He dabbed at them, cleaning the

lacerations, and sat back on his heels. “That’ll have to do for now. Come on. We

need to go.”

When I failed to move, he pulled me into a sitting position. A wave of nausea

swelled.

“Here.” He thrust red leaves into my hands. “I found them in your saddlebags.

The note said to eat them for head pain.”

I chewed one. My stomach settled, but my sight remained blurry. I peered into

the semidarkness, assuming the fuzzy white blob in the sky meant the moon had

risen. Had I slept all day? Valek’s words finally sank in.

“Go where?” I asked.

Valek yanked me to my feet. “We need to find the barn.”

My thoughts still moved as if coated with sap. “Barn?”

Valek shook the rest of the canteen’s water onto my shorn head. A jolt went

through me when the cold breeze hit my wet skull.

“When the Vermin don’t come back with us, the others will know something has

happened and will either kill their hostages or move to another location.” Valek

ennunciated each word as if speaking to a simpleton. “Here.” He handed me a set of

clothes. “Hurry.”

I changed. The carnage around our campsite made me sick and I sucked on

another red leaf. Valek had killed the woman and Tauno. Traitor! Marrok remained

where he had fallen asleep. And the Warper lay on his side. His head looked

misshapen, as if kicked by a horse.

Kiki? I asked.

Bad man. No one hurt Lavender Lady.

Thanks.

Peppermints?

When we’re done. And apples, too!

I wore my coral-colored shirt and matching skirt/pants. They reflected the

moonlight. No hope for me to blend in. Valek dressed in the Warper’s clothes and

he applied makeup to match the Warper’s skin tone. Fear twirled up my spine as I

figured out what he planned. At least, I wasn’t going to be bait for a necklace snake.

This time.

We untied the other horses. The smell of blood made them skittish, and they

were happy to leave despite being tired. Valek and I rode Kiki and Onyx while

leading the others. We traveled the four miles to the barn in silence. Approaching the

edge of the woods with care, I strained to see a sign of the Vermin hideout. An eerie

red glow shimmered above Diamond Lake. The small structure looked deserted, but

after a moment, the figures guarding the doors became visible.

“Which horse?” I asked.

“Onyx. Kiki is too well-known.”

I dismounted and told the horses to stay in the woods until I called.

“Take off your cape,” Valek said. “Lie in front of me.” He took his foot from the

stirrup.

I pulled myself up and lay across the saddle. He handed me my switchblade. The

weapon had been cleaned and the blade was retracted.

“It’s been primed with Curare.” Valek grabbed the reins with his left hand and

held a scimitar in his right.

“Pretend to be unconscious,” he ordered as he clicked at Onyx.

We entered the open area, hopefully appearing as the Warper coming back with

his prize.

Feigning to be a dead weight, I bounced on Onyx’s saddle. The motion made me

nauseous. A whoop of joy cut through the air as we neared. I prepared for Valek’s

signal.

“Where are the others?” a male voice asked.

“They’re coming,” Valek said in a rough tone.

“Finally! We have her!” another man said as he tugged my legs. “Help me.”

Valek slid off on the opposite side of the saddle, keeping Onyx between him and

the Vermin.

Another person joined in pulling me off. “We’ll keep her asleep until she reaches

Jal. Get the wagon, you’ll leave tonight,” the man ordered. He cradled me in his

arms.

“Where is Jal?” Valek asked.

The man froze and I risked a peek. The tip of Valek’s scimitar touched the

Vermin’s neck. Although armed with his own scimitar and a spear strapped to his

back, the Vermin’s hands held me.

“At the Magician’s Keep. Go ahead and find Jal. Just make sure to take her with

you.” The man tossed me at Valek and yelled for help.

At that close distance, even Valek couldn’t dodge out of the way. I hit him in the

chest. We tumbled to the ground, but I kept going until I cleared his body. Jumping

to my feet, I spun in time to see Valek rolling away to avoid being sliced by the

Vermin’s blade.

Four more Vermin with weapons drawn ran toward us.

I triggered my switchblade and threw it at the Vermin attacking Valek. He grunted

when the blade nicked his shoulder, but he didn’t stop. However, the Curare on my

blade spread throughout his body and paralyzed his muscles. I grabbed the man’s

spear. Valek regained his feet and his weapon.

A mere second later, the others reached us.

Events blurred into one long fight. I used the spear’s length to my advantage,

keeping the scimitars from reaching me. After a fake to the midsection, I swept my

opponent’s feet out from under him. I didn’t hesitate to plunge the tip of the spear

into his neck. His soul rose from his body and hovered above it. Should I help his

soul?

Before I could decide, another man approached. But he stopped and I felt

strands of magic tug at my spear. A Warper who could move objects. The spear

flew from my grasp, turned and pointed straight at me.

“Jal wants me alive.” I reminded him.

He advanced. “Why not use your power to stop me? Afraid the Fire Warper will

tell Jal what you’re doing?”

“Give the man a prize. Your intellect is truly amazing.”

The spear’s tip came closer and poked me in the hollow of my throat. “Surrender

or I’ll skewer her,” the Warper called to Valek.

Valek disengaged, his gaze questioning.

“He won’t do it,” I said to Valek.

“You are right. How about surrender or I will set the barn on fire?” The Warper

pointed to the building. “Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of ten

children?”

“NO! DON’T,” I YELLED. “Let the children go and I’ll come with you.”

“I know you will,” the Warper said. “I am more concerned about the Ghost

Warrior.” He looked at Valek. “Put your weapon down.”

Valek placed his scimitar on the ground, but as he straightened, he flicked his

hand twice. A small dart pricked the Warper’s neck. The man jerked in surprise.

“Move,” Valek ordered.

I twisted, avoiding the spear’s thrust, but I wasn’t fast enough to stop the sharp

edge from cutting a gash across my neck. A line of stinging pain registered in my

mind. It was forgotten as soon as I saw the Warper turn. Fire erupted under the

barn’s door. He collapsed beside his colleague, finally overcome by Valek’s

sleeping potion.

Smoke reached my nose, igniting memories of dread and fear.

“Valek, go!” I waved him on and whistled for the horses.

They came and I raced toward the barn. Kiki help! I said.

Valek had gotten the burning door opened, but flames crept toward the roof.

Topaz and Onyx shied away from the acrid smoke, but Kiki and Garnet braved the

heat.

“Tell them to move to the left side,” I yelled to Valek over the roar.

He sprinted through the opening and I led Kiki and Garnet to the right side. I

waited for two horrible seconds then banged on the barn’s wall.

Kiki. Garnet. Kick. I dived to the side. The animals aimed their back hooves and

punched a hole in the wall with their powerful legs.

When the opening was big enough for the adults, I stopped the horses. Pulling a

few splintered boards clear, I looked inside and called to the captives. Even with the

bright firelight, the room was obscured by smoke. But a person grabbed my hand. I

pulled coughing children through the hole, counting them as they came out.

The smoke thickened and the inferno advanced.

When Councilor Greenblade’s husband crawled out with a small child clinging to

his back and a baby clutched to his chest, my count totaled ten children and one

adult.

“Where’s Gale?” I asked.

Hacking with the effort to expel the smoke from his lungs, he pointed through the

opening. “Collapsed.” He wheezed for air. “Couldn’t take…them all.”

I moved to go in, but he pulled me back.

“Roof.” He coughed.

We shooed the children away from the barn mere moments before the roof

buckled with a shower of sparks and an explosion of sound.

I counted children again. Ten. One adult. No Gale. No Valek. He was still in the

barn!

Horror and anguish twisted around my throat and shredded my heart. I bolted

toward the blazing building. The heat rolled off the structure, pushing me back. Roof

beams had fallen on top of the Vermin. The flames lapped at their bodies and

sucked their souls into the inferno.

A porthole into the fire world opened in front of me. I could have grabbed one of

the Vermin’s souls and returned to the Fire Warper. But I wasn’t ready. I had a few

more things to accomplish and a few goodbyes to make before I embraced the fire.

Then I would crave the fire. Living in this world without Valek held no appeal for

me.

The blaze raged all night. By morning it settled into a large smoldering heap. Still

too hot for me to search among the ruins for some sign of Valek or Gale. Instead, I

led the children over to Diamond Lake to get cleaned up and tried to ignore the grief

burning inside me.

Councilor Greenblade’s husband, Kell, helped feed the children and tend their

wounds. Kiki and Garnet drank from the lake, and I washed the soot from their

coats. The water was clear. The red color came from the bottom of the lake as if

someone had painted the rocks and gravel. Perhaps they had. After all, it was a

man-made lake.

When everyone’s needs were met, we headed back to the campsite. We found