Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) (15 page)

Esset closed his eyes and summoned one of his giant spiders right behind the man. Then, looking through the smoky creature’s eyes, he directed it to jump loudly against the bars of the nearest empty cell. Predictably, the guard turned to investigate, and that was all Tseka needed. The scarlet Nadra launched herself across the small room easily and struck the man on the back of the head with the butt of her spear. Esset winced at the sickening crack; he wasn’t sure the man would recover from the injury, but he didn’t have time to spare further thought for him. Later, it would haunt him.

Esset and Tseka swiftly made their way down the corridor to Toman’s cell. Esset slipped through the hole in the bars and went to his brother.

“Bright Hyrishal, look at him,” Esset said, stopping dead when he saw his brother. Toman was gaunt and pale; normally Toman was huskier than Esset, having a sturdier build and all, but right now he didn’t have the weight he should have. He wore the same clothes Esset last recalled seeing him in, but they’d been shredded to practically ribbons, and what was left was stained and dirty. Toman wore a patchy, scraggly beard poorly, and his hair had grown long. The summons’ skewed vision had kept him from seeing the extent of Toman’s ill health.

“Mom’s gonna have a heart attack when she sees him,” Esset said under his breath.

“We have to get him out of here first.” Tseka whispered as she looked back from her guard position. “Hurry.”

Then Tseka did a double-take.

“He’s got his gloves.”

Esset had to look again too; sure enough, Toman still wore his gloves. Esset had fully expected to have to go without them. It was clear why Tseka had noticed them so quickly though; despite the tattered state of everything else Toman wore, the gloves were still pristine, preserved by their magic. Toman had always found that quality of theirs rather useful, but at the moment, Esset found it a little unnerving.

“Move!” Tseka whispered harshly, and Esset sprang into action. He slipped the gloves from Toman’s hands and stuffed them into his pockets, making sure they were secure and wouldn’t drop out by accident.

Esset stuck his head under Toman’s arm to haul him upright, and that was when he noticed the rough scar on his throat. For a second, his eyes locked on it, but then Esset kicked himself into motion again. Even though Toman was lighter than usual, the weight was too awkward for Esset. He struggled for a moment, then urgently whispered at Tseka to help. Tseka scowled and helped get Toman slung across Esset’s shoulder. It was awkward, and the going would be slow, but Tseka needed to be mobile—her attacks were far more discreet than Esset’s. They headed back down the corridor to the window they’d come in through. Tseka raised her torso to peek through first, then squeezed through. Esset passed her up her spear, then heaved Toman up towards her. They were struggling to get him through the small opening when Tseka suddenly hissed at him.

“Esset, stop!”

Esset froze. He listened hard, then turned his head slightly from side to side to make sure no one was sneaking up on him. He didn’t see anyone, nor did he hear anything. Seconds ticked by, and his arms began to ache, stretched above his head against Toman’s weight. It seemed like an eternity before Tseka hissed again.

“Okay, come on, they’re gone.” Tseka didn’t mention who they were, and Esset didn’t ask. He didn’t need to know, and it would just slow them down.

They got Toman through the window, and Tseka helped Esset through too. Calling the smoky carrion bird was a simple matter, and it shielded them from view, a shadow within a shadow, until the sentries had maximized the blind spot between them. Then the pair quickly secured Toman between them on the bird’s back and made their escape into the night.

They returned to Salithsa to find Kessa and Nassata standing vigil at the cave mouth. When they saw Toman, Nassata’s lips flattened into a grim line and Kessa was unable to smother a gasp, but no one said anything about his poor health. Nassata reached up and took Toman in her slender arms, accepting his weight as if it were nothing. Kessa helped Esset down as Tseka simply flopped down off the raven’s back, none the worse for it. Esset barely even had to think about it to banish the raven.

“Come, let us hurry,” Nassata urged them. Ten paces inside the tunnel entrance they passed a small group of Nadra and Esset hesitated.

“Come, Esset, the Shapers will close the mouth,” Nassata said. Esset set his mouth in a grim line and followed.

“You’re
sure
the city is inaccessible after they close the cave mouth?” Esset asked.

“Of course. There is magic in the very stone of our city. No one can teleport or otherwise magically access it once the entrances are sealed off,” Nassata assured him. Tseka nodded her agreement.

“Besides, it’s unlikely Moloch will even know who has taken Toman,” Tseka added.

“I know,” Esset said. “I’ve just…underestimated Moloch before.”

No one could argue with that.

Esset was blind to the maze of tunnels they navigated, even though he had to jog to keep up with the swift coils of the Nadra. They’d chosen a more remote location to try and lift Toman’s geas. Just in case.

“Here we are,” Nassata murmured as they entered a large cave. On the far side was a massive container that stole attention from the rest of the sparsely furnished room.

“Shaper Sosen, are you ready?” Tseka asked, slithering over to the Nadran elementalist.

“Almost,” Sosen replied, looking up from the papers he’d been poring over, the scrolls Esset had supplied him with.

Nassata gently laid Toman on a table that had been cut into the stone of the wall and furnished with pillows.

Esset peered at the strange container and quietly fretted while Sosen prepared. The container was easily five feet by five feet and about eight feet deep. It was made of some strange crystalline substance and thus mostly transparent. There was a little distortion, but its contents—right now just water—were clearly visible. Esset had seen such tanks before; it would have been repurposed from a more decorative purpose, like holding marine life for decoration or study. They normally fascinated Esset, but right now, his mind couldn’t stay focused on anything anymore than his body could stay still. He kept glancing over at Toman, who was still sleeping off the effects of the sleeping potion, and wandering over to Sosen as he tried to study the Atah scroll.

“You’re in my light,” Sosen said. Abashed, Esset went back across the room to stand by Tseka.

“What if we can’t remove the geas?” he murmured to the scarlet Nadra.

“We will,” she replied simply.

“But what if we can’t?” he pressed. Tseka sighed, a little of her confidence sagging from her posture.

“Then we keep him here. Without his gloves, he can’t fight us enough to get away. We would keep him here until we find another way. We will get Toman back, one way or another.” Tseka had noticeably
not
looked in Toman’s direction since they’d reached the room. Esset nodded, trying to draw strength from her words. She was right; he had to believe that things would turn out. He found himself praying as he walked over to his brother.

Kessa was fussing almost as badly as Esset. She was stuck to Toman’s side like glue, and when she’d found out there’d be a wait while Sosen prepared, she’d found a pair of scissors and started trimming Toman’s wild hair.

The beard was trimmed first, then the hair; once again, Esset was struck by how unhealthy Toman looked. His hair had gone flat and straggly in the way of those who never saw daylight. It made him look even more gaunt. Of course, it also didn’t help that they had stripped Toman of his rags, down to just his smallclothes, and that showed off how skinny he’d really become. Even his fake arm, made from animated metal, was scrawnier; intellectually, Esset knew it was because it was designed to imitate and fit in with the rest of his body, but even so. Esset knew the others noticed too, but no one said it aloud; it would take some doing to get Toman healthy again.

“Okay, Tseka, Nassata, if you could please get Animator Toman into the tank,” Sosen said. Esset immediately stepped back to let the two Nadra access his brother. It was no trouble at all for the two warriors to pick Toman up and carry him up to the ledge overhanging the crystal container.

They lowered him into the water and Tseka held his head above water while Nassata fitted a breathing device over his face. The breathing device consisted of a cup-like shell that fit over Toman’s nose and mouth; there was a reed jutting out the top so that Toman would have air from the surface. After all, they didn’t want to free Toman from the geas only to have him drown. Once the device was in place, they let Toman sink below the surface of the water.

Esset heard a hum and looked at Sosen; the Nadran Shaper had his eyes locked on the tank and his hands raised. A low hum issued from his throat as his magic kept Toman from sinking too far under the water. Then Sosen looked at Nassata and nodded. Nassata took the small bag of salt she’d carried up and poured it in a stream into the water.

Sosen’s tailtip rose in front of him and he made a twisting motion with it; the salt obeyed the motion and Esset could see the white grains spiral around his brother. The Shaper’s magic kept the salt from dissolving; instead it held each grain in precise position. But for a long time after the salt had spread out, it seemed like nothing was happening. Esset watched, every muscle tense, wishing he could better tell what was going on. Sosen was moving individual grains into position around Toman, trying to invoke that special arrangement that would use the natural energies of the world to tear apart the geas.

Esset jumped when Kessa came up behind him and placed her hands on his arms and her cheek against his shoulder. It was only a momentary distraction—a second later they were both staring at the tank again, waiting for something to happen. A glow began to emanate from the tank, so faintly at first that Esset wasn’t sure he was seeing it. But the glow grew in intensity until Esset knew exactly where each grain of salt was. Toman began to glow then too, faintly at first, then brighter.

Toman’s eyes snapped open. Shock, fear, and pain wrote themselves across his features as his pupils turned to mere pinpricks. He tried to move, but found the water was holding him in place. Reflexively, he tried to struggle, but could only wiggle the slightest bit, like a body-wide shudder. Bubbles escaped from around the mask and a muted sound came through the water.

Esset’s heart ached, but he couldn’t order a stop—this was all or nothing. Sosen continued working, and the glow kept growing. Toman kept struggling until a bright flash of light suddenly issued from the tank. Esset blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision; the glow was gone, and Toman’s eyes had closed and he’d gone limp.

“The geas is gone, get him out!” Sosen called to Tseka and Nassata, who still waited above. Sosen raised Toman in the water using Shaper magic, but once his head broke the surface, Tseka and Nassata had him and hauled him out of the water. Esset would have rushed up the ledge if it had been big enough to fit him, but it was thoroughly full with the two Nadra carrying Toman. Still, Esset hovered at the bottom, then followed them as they laid Toman out on the makeshift bed again.

“Relax, he’s still breathing,” Tseka said, pulling the breathing mask from Toman’s face and setting it aside. Esset hovered anyways and wasn’t satisfied until he saw Toman’s chest rising and falling for himself. Sosen came over too, to survey his handiwork.

“Thank you so much, Shaper Sosen,” Esset said, remembering his manners belatedly and resting a hand on the elementalist’s shoulder.

“But a small portion of our debt repaid,” Sosen demurred.

“More than you know,” Esset replied, but left it at that.

The Nadra efficiently bundled Toman in a blanket and began carrying him to a proper bedroom. Esset didn’t realize how long he’d been running on adrenaline until he found himself stumbling repeatedly as he almost fell asleep while walking. Nassata kept him from falling over the lip of a walkway once, and that was when she began to steer him in a different direction from Toman.

“What?” Esset said, his mind muddled. “No, I’m staying with him.”

“No, Esset, stop and think a moment,” Nassata said, physically stopping him and putting both hands on his shoulders so he’d look her in the eye. Tseka and Kessa carried on without them.

“Toman has thought that you’re dead for two years. Plus he’s been in captivity and no doubt tortured. He’s going to be fragile when he wakes up; we need to minimize the shock. We need to let him wake up and adjust to things first. Then we’ll tell him that you’re alive, and you can see him,” Nassata said.