Flameseeker (Book 3) (28 page)

“Zarya?” Jarial called, breaking her from her
thoughts.

When she didn’t turn around to acknowledge him, she
heard him approach from behind her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, and a
slight shiver ran through her.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concern in his
voice.

She sighed again. “I’m all right. I ... I’m sorry
I could not do more to help the group. If only I were stronger, we could take
this portal right to them.” She felt his fingers touch her chin, and he lifted
it up and turned it until she looked into his slate-grey eyes.

“Hey, it’s all right. Really.” Jarial smiled
reassuringly. “And your ability to detect that this was a portal, and even see
its destination is more than any of us could have done. We know, at least, that
we are on the right track. We will make haste to Zebi.”

Zarya managed a small smile.
So he’s not
disappointed after all.

Jarial let his hand fall away from her face, and
he brushed his fingers over one of her hands. “You’ve done your best, Zarya.
That’s all I could ever ask for. Now, let’s return to the others.”

XXIX

Kaijin and his group remained at the oasis until
late afternoon to rest and replenish themselves before setting out again. In
two hours of slogging along the dunes, Kaijin began to see small streams of
smoke rising in the distance.

“Zebi is just beyond,” Jahi said from behind him.

As they continued on, Kaijin noticed the terrain
slowly changing. The ground underfoot was harder than the soft sand the
dromedaries’ hooves sank into before. There was more trees and dry underbrush
that grew freely. Small rodents, insects, and other desert life forms were more
abundant. And Kaijin even saw what looked like a river in the distance—or
perhaps it was a mirage. Still, he couldn’t deny the physical life forms he saw
all around him, and knew they were approaching civilization.

As they neared the
walled city of Zebi, they discovered the place in an uproar. Greyish-white
smoke lingered in the air. People scrambled back and forth, carrying buckets,
which they used to fling water on to small fires that burned the shutters and
doors and trees. The group detoured to a group of trees not far from the city
and dismounted. Kaijin, Omari, and Jarial gathered their familiars. Jahi and
Haas stayed with the mounts while Kaijin and the rest of his friends continued
on to the gates. The smoke became thicker as they neared.

“What a mess,” Jarial
muttered, covering his nose and mouth.

Kaijin did the same. “Do
you think this is the work of Vargas or the afriti?”

“Perhaps both.”

Omari waved the smoke
away from his face with his hand. “We cannot say for certain that—”

“Oy! Look there, mates!”
Nester suddenly said, pointing.

Upon reaching the gates,
the group stopped walking and discovered the bodies of guards as well as
citizens strewn about near the entrance. They all had serious burns. Some had
missing limbs, which appeared to have been burned off.

“How terrible,” Zarya
said. “Who or what could have done this?”

Aidan wrinkled his nose.
“Aidan does not think those burns are natural.”

“Because they’re not.”
Kaijin rubbed the back of his neck. The sight and smell was similar to what he
remembered of Easthaven.
Za’thaak. When I find you, I will make you pay for
this.

Kaijin sensed something
odd about the gates, a deadly kind of magic. Miele screeched in his mind,
conveying concern. The charm beneath his robes burned his chest. Grunting, he
grabbed his chest and squeezed a handful of his robes. “Master,” he began,
looking to Jarial. “Do you—”

“Yes, Kaijin, I can
sense it,” Jarial said. He walked ahead of the group and held out his arms,
barring the rest of them from proceeding. “And I can dispel it.”

Percival, who was
sitting on Omari’s shoulder, gave a wary squeak. Omari narrowed his eyes at the
scene. “Is that ...”

Nester whipped his head
back and forth between Kaijin, Omari, and Jarial. “What? What is it? Some kinda
fiddlin’?”

Kaijin nodded to the
brownie. “It is an
invisasizzle
spell. You can’t see it, but if
you pass through the enchanted area—the entrance—you will receive terrible
burns, and end up like them.” He gestured to the bodies.

Nester blinked. “Soddin’ ’ells! Thanks for th’
warnin’ mate!”

“They must have been
caught by the spell when they tried to escape,” Zarya said.

“Whoever is responsible,
they obviously did not want anyone to leave or enter this city,” Omari said.

“Whoever is
responsible,” Jarial said, looking to Omari, “seems to also know
transmutation
magic.”

Omari rubbed his chin.
“Transmu—oh. Oh!”

The invisasizzle spell
was of the transmutation variety. Kaijin recalled the talk he and Jarial had
had at the Pyre, where Jarial had speculated that Na’val’s murderer was
associated with transmutation magic.

Jarial ordered everyone
to stay, including Sable, who had been sitting at his feet, and then he walked
up to the gates. He stood but a breath away.

Eyes wide, Kaijin
yelled, “Master! Please be careful!” Jarial didn’t answer. Kaijin was ready to
rush to him when he heard the man chanting a spell, which Kaijin immediately
recognized.

The enchantment around
the entrance became visible, glowing a bright red. The red glow turned solid
and shattered into tiny red fragments before disappearing.

Jarial returned to the
group. “It is all clear now. Let’s go.”

Kaijin called for Miele
and tucked her safely away in his haversack. The smoke was thick, and she would
have not been able to see much from flying above.

The group continued
through the gates, unharmed. Jarial fell back and walked beside Kaijin while
Omari walked ahead and took the lead.

As the group followed
Omari through the city, Kaijin noticed Nester eyeing their surroundings as if
nervous. The brownie even drew his two daggers from the sheaths at his belt.

Something twisted in
Kaijin’s stomach, and he also looked around. “What’s wrong, Nester?”

Nester scowled, his eyes
still darting about. “I got this funny feelin’ I’m bein’ watched. An’ I don’t
like bein’ watched if I can’t see th’ watcher!”

Frowning, Kaijin
discreetly focused on a protective spell, in case things got out of hand.

Nester turned to Aidan,
who had been bringing up the rear. “You can smell th’ blokes, can’t you, mate?”

Aidan shook his head.
“Aidan smells nothing but smoke, but Aidan does have funny feeling that he is
being watched.”

Miele shifted inside the
haversack resting against Kaijin’s hip. Kaijin could feel her unease.

A sea of frightened
people were gathered in the city’s plaza by armed city guards, who tried to
keep order in the midst of the commotion.

Kaijin and his friends
walked swiftly, bypassing the plaza. Between the breaks in the smoke, Kaijin
noticed a large building sitting atop a plateau in the distance.

Omari pointed toward it.
“There. Tachus’s mansion. I have only been there once. It was the first time my
father ever allowed me to go with him on his trips. I always remembered the way
he described it: ‘The Beshara’s great castle on the hill, looking down on all
their pawns’.”

“Sounds ... narcissistic,”
Jarial said flatly.

“When you meet Tachus,
you will understand why—” Omari grunted, his body jerked, and he grabbed the arrow
sticking out of the upper left part of his chest, just below his shoulder.

Everyone stopped. Kaijin’s
feeling of being watched was stronger than ever. His heart pounded. “Omari?”

Omari gave another grunt
and crumpled to the ground. There was a loud squeal, and Percival wriggled out
from under him.

Zarya immediately began
tending to Omari as they all gathered around him.

Engraved on the arrow’s
wooden shaft was the image of a firebird.

* * *

Aidan couldn’t smell the
attacker, but he thought he saw a flicker of movement in the smoke above the
rooftops.

Aidan glanced to his downed
comrade. Omari’s eyelids fluttered, and his breath came in ragged gasps. Blood seeped
from the wound.

“Stand back, everyone,”
Zarya ordered. “I need room.” She grabbed the arrow, and a white glow emitted
from her hand. With a steady hand, she carefully removed the arrow from his
chest and set it aside.

Nester swept around her
and snatched it up. He stuck his tongue in his cheek as he examined it, turning
the metallic tip in the light. “It’s poisoned, all right.”

Jarial frowned. “Can you
determine the type?”

Nester shook his head.
“Maybe desert rose. Or datura. Though there’s a li’l tint to it, in th’ blood.
It’s a wee thick, so it could be scorpion or snake venom instead.”

Zarya retrieved a small
bottle of light blue liquid from her bag. She uncorked the bottle, poured half
of its contents down Omari’s throat, and massaged his throat to force him to
swallow. “Don’t worry, everyone,” Zarya assured them, not looking up from her
work. “Omari will be all right now. Just give him time.”

Aidan turned and scanned
the rooftops again. There were some people huddled together on the tops of some
of the burning buildings, while others were struggling to climb up.
Whoever
did this might have not gotten too far. There is still a chance to catch them.

A distant shape, too
agile to be any normal commoner, leapt across a rooftop, then disappeared again
in the smoke. Aidan took off running. He turned down an alley and easily scaled
the side of a building with his clawed hands. When he reached the top, he
caught another glimpse of the figure through the smoke, three rooftops away.
Aidan hustled to the edge of the roof he was on, peered ahead to the adjacent
one, then down.
It’s a long jump.

He flexed his back and looked
behind him at his wings.
I wonder if they work?
Aidan pondered.
They
must be useful for something. I guess there’s only one way to find out.

Aidan stretched his
wings, then leapt off the edge of the roof.

He fell. His heart
dropped in his gut.

Shutting his eyes, he
flapped his wings a few times, and he caught a wind current that lifted him up
to the next building’s rooftop. He tumbled and landed face-first.

Groaning, he crawled
back on his feet and dusted himself off.
That was ... interesting.
He
looked to the next rooftop and judged its distance. It seemed to be the same
width as the last. He got a running start, and as he leapt from the edge, he
stretched his wings so he glided to the other side.

This time, he managed to
land on his feet. He ran to the edge in time to see the figure running on the
ground just below the building he was on.

I can’t let him get
away!
“Stop!” Aidan yelled.

The stranger, a male, stopped,
turned, and shot his already-nocked arrow at Aidan. Then he took off running
again.

Aidan turned his body
slightly and shielded himself with his wings. The arrow plunked off the back of
them. Unshielding himself, Aidan peered at the assassin, who had begun gaining
distance again.

Aidan leapt from the
rooftop and glided toward the man. He folded his wings slightly, drawing just
enough air to give him a stronger forward thrust. He ripped through the air,
and soon, Aidan caught up to the man and tackled him to the ground from behind.
Pressing the smaller man to the ground by sitting on him, Aidan felt various
lumps and sharp objects against the man’s hips. He seized the assassin by both
arms and lifted them so any sudden torque would break the man’s arms. With his
prey secure, Aidan tilted the man’s head back so he could get a glimpse.

The lower part of the
assassin’s face was covered with a dark red scarf, but the man’s eyes looked
young. The assassin only struggled once in Aidan’s grasp. He grunted in pain
and immediately stopped.

The shadows near Aidan
moved, and Nester suddenly appeared beside him, twin blades in hand. The
brownie was panting, out of breath and coughing.

“Aidan! S ... soddin’ ’ells!
Were you ... really flyin’ back there? That ... was th’ most amazin’ thing ... I’ve
ever seen, mate!” He settled, fixing his gaze on the assassin. “That th’ sneaky
bloke?”

Aidan nodded, though he
wasn’t entirely sure. “Aidan believes so. What should we do with him?”

“Why, we’re gonna gut ’im
of course. Make ’im bleed. String ’im up by ’is intestines an’ make ’im pay for
’urtin’ Omari.” He raised one of his daggers to the assassin’s abdomen,
scowling. “Ain’t that right?”

The assassin gave him a
cold stare.

Aidan grimaced. “No,
Aidan has better idea.”

“You’re gonna turn ’im
into an ice statue?” Nester’s face lit up.

“No! He is going to lead
us to Tachus Beshara.” He grabbed a handful of the assassin’s hair and jerked
his head to make the man look at him again. “Or else, Aidan
might
think
about turning you into ice statue.”

The man struggled again.
Something made a cracking sound, and he winced and stopped.

Nester rolled his eyes
and groaned. “You’re too soddin’ nice, you know that? Fine. We’ll do it your
way. At least let me get th’ others, first.”

Aidan nodded, and Nester
rushed off, disappearing in the shadows and smoke.