Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) (14 page)

Time passed. Toman dreamed.

Toman sat with his hands on the ground, the geas forcing him to create stone soldier after stone soldier. The ground was rocky and uncomfortable, but when he thought about what his creations would do at Moloch’s behest, Toman felt discomfort was the least he deserved.

He hated each creation he made, but he no longer tried to resist the geas or Moloch’s commands. There was no point. Resisting only pleased Moloch, because it gave him an excuse to torture Toman. Not that he needed an excuse; at the very least, what Esset had done to Moloch with his parting blow was excuse enough for Moloch to torture Toman any day or time.

Esset… Toman bowed his head. Part of Toman still hoped for rescue, but he knew it wouldn’t be at his brother’s hands. No, the phoenix had taken his life as its price for being summoned, even though Moloch yet lived.

“Hey, Toman.” Esset’s voice.

Toman’s head jerked up, not believing his eyes when they told him his brother stood before him.

“Esset.” Toman could barely breathe.

“Come on, let’s get out of here, brother,” Esset said, extending a hand.

“The geas—I can’t,” Toman said. He couldn’t even lift his hands from the ground, so strict was Moloch’s command.

“You can,” Esset said. He walked over and draped some sort of amulet around Toman’s neck, and Toman found he could move.

“Now let’s go,” Esset said, turning. Toman stumbled to his feet, only to fall over when a mage bolt struck him in the back. Toman twisted and writhed on the ground, his brother jerking in agony next to him.

“Thought you could escape, did you?” Moloch’s voice was full of disdain. Toman could only watch as his brother was lifted by his neck. Esset struggled against nothing as magic choked the life out of him.

“No!” Toman gasped. With a sudden jerk and a vicious crack, Esset went limp, his head rolling unnaturally to the side.

“NO!” Toman screamed. Moloch laughed, and Esset dissolved like mist in the wind.

“You’re weak, Animator! Your brother is already dead, more’s the shame. That cursed phoenix made sure we knew what was going to happen, don’t you remember? How could you forget your own brother’s death?” Moloch laughed mockingly, then stopped abruptly. “Oh yes, and the phoenix made sure we knew what was going to happen. I will never stop torturing you for what your brother did to me. What he cost me.”

With those words, a fire lit within Toman’s veins, and he screamed again. Moloch didn’t need to leave marks to inflict pain. The only solace was that when the pain was great enough, it would drown out the pain in his soul, the pain he felt every moment of every day, the pain of losing his brother.

Toman woke with a gasp. He was shaking, and his nerves were still afire from the memory of pain. As the fire faded, Toman consciously evened out his breathing until he was staring vacantly at the ceiling, doing everything he could to keep his mind perfectly empty.

A small sound caught his attention and Toman dully turned his head to the side and scanned his surroundings. The cell adjacent was silent, its occupant unconscious after his latest session with Moloch. Toman was about to dismiss the sound as nothing when his eyes locked onto a smoky form.

The spider-like creature blended into the shadows and shared its color with the stone walls, lending it camouflage. It was obviously a creature of magic, but Toman wondered where it had come from and whose it was. It would have to be controlled to have found its way in here; most likely it belonged to one of Moloch’s enemies. Just as Toman was wondering if the spider would try to kill him, it scuttled away down the corridor where he couldn’t see.

Esset banished the smoke-spider and returned to himself. He spent a moment blinking and rubbing his temples, trying to readjust to reality. A rude prod against his back helped. Tseka grinned as she withdrew the spearbutt she’d poked him with and held out a juicy piece of meat—probably rabbit.

“Food,” she said unnecessarily.

“Thanks,” Esset mumbled, torn between scowling at her for the prod and smiling at the food.

“Is it that bad?” Tseka asked, peering at him.

“Huh?”

“Seeing through your summons. You always get all red-eyed and disoriented when you return,” she said.

“Which is why you poke me,” Esset muttered.

Tseka grinned brightly. “Of course.”

Esset shook his head.

“Not
bad
, just…difficult. Looking through the eyes of the spider… Well, when you get past all your senses being crossed—you know, hearing smells and seeing sounds and whatnot—then it’s like everything is smoky. Everything is hazy, ethereal, and shifting, all the time. It even took me awhile to recognize Toman the first time,” Esset explained.

“Huh,” Tseka said, considering that.

Esset found himself hoping that Toman’s imprisonment hadn’t altered him so much that he’d be just as hard to recognize through normal senses. Shaking off the melancholy thought, Esset spoke again.

“But soon now. Moloch’s at the castle for the moment, but I’ve learned all the guard patterns and schedules, and thanks to the phoenix, I can summon a new creature while looking through the eyes of another. Since security isn’t as tight when Moloch isn’t around—and y’know, since we don’t want Moloch around either—we just have to wait for him to leave and we can go in and rescue Toman.”

“Good. You know I’m more than willing to help, but I don’t know how much longer we can stay hidden out here. We’ve had too many close calls for my liking,” Tseka said.

“I know.” Esset knew that Tseka’s sharp eyes and quick reactions had saved them from Moloch’s patrols more than once.

“And I do— I mean, thank you,” Esset continued. “I don’t know how I’d have done this without you. Between hunting and scavenging and standing sentry while I’m scouting with a summon…”

“Don’t forget waking you up before you can set off a fire show,” Tseka interjected.

“And for keeping me from burning myself and giving away our position.” Esset humored her with a smile. Tseka shook her head.

“Meh, save it. Thank me when this is all over, and we have Toman back.”

Esset nodded his agreement.

“I’ll do that.”

Toman saw the spider several more times after that—he wasn’t sure exactly how long the intervals in between had been, since his miserable existence had gained a rather interminable quality that was almost timeless. If he were forced to guess, he’d say every day to every other day. Then, one day, the creature came within an arm’s length of him; it had something strapped to it. When it vanished into a puff of smoke, it left a water skin on the ground. Toman glanced up and down the corridor, but no sentry came to investigate. He leaned forward and scooped up the flask. He uncorked it and sniffed it, then considered his options.

The odds that it was just water were slim to none. No one would go to such effort to get him an extra drink; the only reason to do that would be to gain favor with him, and that would be pointless since his will wasn’t his own anymore. No, since the creature most likely belonged to an enemy of Moloch, the object was probably to kill or kidnap him. Whoever it was knew Moloch well—any captive of Moloch’s would choose death or kidnapping over remaining in Moloch’s possession. After all, any other alternative couldn’t be worse. And since he didn’t know if this would kill him or not, or if it would enable someone to kidnap him, the geas would let him drink it.

Toman tilted his head back and drank the whole thing. Within five minutes, everything went blissfully black.

Through the eyes of the smoky spider, Esset called another summon. A ferocious, fiery panther appeared in the cell with Toman once he was unconscious. It bit the chain joining the manacle around his wrist, and the extreme heat of the beast’s jaws was enough to melt through the metal in moments. Then the cat turned its attention to the bars of the cell, and it made short work of those too. Then the cat vanished in a burst of sparks and flame. Now everything was ready. Esset let his spider vanish into smoke and opened his eyes. He blinked several times to get used to normal senses again, then accepted Tseka’s hand up.

“Okay, we’ve been over the plan a few times, but you’ve got it, right?” Esset asked. Tseka gave a tight nod, but Esset fidgeted.

“It has to be perfect,” Esset said. “We have to get in and out without raising an alarm. Even if Moloch himself doesn’t come—and he might—he has enough mages to—”

“I
know,
Esset,” Tseka said, but without her usual sass. “We’ve got this. We’re ready. Let’s go.” Esset stared straight into her crimson eyes, then finally nodded.

“You’re right. It’s time,” Esset said.

Scouting and planning for two weeks had been torturous for Esset, but he knew the necessity of it; now he finally got the chance to rescue his brother. Esset summoned the dark bird again, and its stench of smoke and rot washed over him. Esset coughed and pulled a kerchief over his nose and mouth belatedly.

“Come on,” he said to Tseka. He helped her up onto her awkward perch on the bird’s back. Powerful thrusts of the bird’s wings lurched them skywards, and soon the air cut past them so quickly that the stench was carried away from them. Despite the smell that remained, Esset and Tseka crouched low over the bird’s back as it carried them between the sentry posts. For a moment, the bird hovered in the lee of the wall where a deep shadow lurked. A patrol passed by on the cobblestones inside the keep walls, oblivious to the intruders. As soon as they passed, the bird swooped down next to a small, barred window.

The dark bird disintegrated beneath them, and Esset took a quick look around, ensuring no one was near enough to spot them. Now for the most dangerous part; Esset summoned a battle cat. Its eyes and the molten cracks in its coal-like body lit up the area far too much for Esset’s liking, and they didn’t have long. An even brighter light flashed as the cat opened its mouth and closed its jaws around the bars on the little window. The metal melted easily under the onslaught, and Esset banished the cat again as soon as they were through.

Careful not to touch the parts of the metal that were still hot, Esset descended though the window first. He dropped into the corridor and listened, but he heard nothing.

“Psst,” he whispered up to the window. Tseka lowered her spear through first; Esset took it and got out of the way so she could squeeze through after him.

They were only a short distance from Toman’s cell. So far everything had gone according to plan; hopefully no one would know they had been there until they were gone. They stealthily made their way down the corridor and paused to peer around a corner. A guard was posted at the end of the corridor where Toman’s cell was. He stood at attention with perfect discipline—anything less would get him killed in Moloch’s employ.