Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) (27 page)

*And one last thing. Toman, we took the liberty of retrieving something for you,* Eskeer said. Another Farri came into the room, but this time it had something far less and yet far more valuable than the ensorcelled stones they’d just been presented with: Toman’s hat.

The very first time Esset had seen him, Toman had been wearing an old, worn, oversized, floppy-brimmed hat. It had belonged to the previous Animator, who’d taken Toman in after Moloch had killed everyone Toman had ever known, leaving him orphaned and alone in the world. Later, Moloch had managed to kill the Animator too, but the Animator had managed to escape and return to where he’d left Toman; his legacy was the Animator’s gloves, and, on a far more sentimental level, his perfectly ordinary hat. Toman had kept it and worn it all these years until Moloch had taken him prisoner. He’d written it off as forever lost until the Farri had entered the room with it.

“No way…” Toman said disbelievingly when he saw it. He held out his hands and the Farri deposited the battered article of clothing in his palms. He turned the hat over in his hands, staring at it like he couldn’t believe it was there. It looked like it had been cleaned, but other than that, it was exactly as he last remembered seeing it. He looked at it so long that Tseka grew impatient. Lightning-quick, she snatched the hat from him and stuffed it onto his head. They laughed, and Toman remembered himself enough to thank Eskeer.

“Thank you so much. Normally I’d say that you have no idea how much that means to me…but I guess you do. So just thank you,” Toman said. Eskeer tilted his massive rack of antlers towards Toman in acknowledgement of the gratitude.

*You are welcome. We ask no debt in return, but we hope to see you in our halls once more. One day,* Eskeer replied.

“We hope to come again too,” Esset said

*Then since you likely won’t see me tomorrow, I bid you good fortune. May your future bring you joy and eventually peace.*

“May you find joy and peace as well,” Esset responded. Toman and Tseka both nodded.

*Thank you. Farewell.* Eskeer turned and left the room, ducking his head to fit his antlers through the doorway. Esset watched him leave and mused that Eskeer
had
to have used magic to fit through the human-sized opening. How had he not noticed before? Maybe there was a magic for that too.

The trio was left alone for the night, or what they guessed to be night, since they had no outside markers of time. Still they didn’t speak of the future; they knew they needed to, but this was a last attempt to enjoy a good time before diving back into the grim life they’d forged for themselves. They knew they were heading back to Salithsa, and for now, that was enough.

Verett came for them at dawn.

*Good morning,* he greeted them when Esset opened the door.

Esset blinked. “Morning?”

*Indeed.* There was that wry amusement.

Toman, Esset, and Tseka looked at each other. None of them had slept, nor even felt tired.

Verett nodded. *You’ve spent enough time within the magic stone of Myzavere to forgo the need for sleep. Unfortunately it won’t last long once you leave our lands.*

“You know we’re leaving then,” Esset said.

*It is unfortunate you can’t stay longer. Orvanis will watch for you should you ever decide to return. We wish you well,* Verett replied. *Come, I will take you to the surface.*

As they walked the last stretch of tunnel to the surface, Toman felt Jonas’s mind brush against his in farewell. Toman sent a thought of thanks, knowing that the golden tortoise would get the message.

Verett bade them farewell at the last door to the surface, leaving the final farewell to Orvanis, who stood guard outside. The giant crystal bear closed the entrance behind them without so much as twitching. Tseka positioned herself before him and bowed in a gesture of rare solemnity for her. He inclined his head in return. Then she straightened and look him in the eye.

“So you’re sure you won’t help us fight Moloch?” Tseka asked, taking her last chance to ask. Toman and Esset looked at her, a bit surprised; consciously, they hadn’t realized that she intended to fight him too.

*I apologize, but no. But we have equipped you to do so. I believe that the three of you will prevail, if you decide to engage him in combat,* Orvanis replied, faith coloring the tone of his mental voice. Tseka nodded; they’d all thought as much. They were on their own. Then again, the faith of the Ashiier was worth much, and Orvanis was right.

“Thank you for everything,” Tseka said sincerely. She turned and looked at Esset, who took the hint and summoned his fiery birds to carry them back to their own lands.

*Farewell.* The single word entered all their minds once they were airborne. The voice was at once familiar and unfamiliar, and then Toman realized why; it was all the voices of the Ashiier as one. For a moment he squeezed his eyes shut, and even though he knew the answer, he wondered why he was leaving Myzavere. Hyrishal allowing, he would return some day.

They made speed back towards Salithsa, but the return trip ended up being much longer, as they’d decided to take a circuitous route to avoid any enemies who might be tracking them by non-magical means. Each night they found a place to make a discreet camp. All three got a full night’s sleep each night; however, thanks to five little stone ferrets that Toman had created to stand sentry over them.

“Only one more day to Salithsa,” Esset said; all three of them were sitting around a small, smokeless campfire. It wasn’t dusk yet, so the fire was deemed an acceptable risk.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad again,” Toman confessed. Esset grinned; they’d be happy to
really
have their son back this time.

“So when we reach Salithsa, what then?” Tseka asked. It was a question they’d avoided so far.

“Then…we plan our next move,” Esset replied. “So I’ve been meaning to ask. You’re joining us for this battle, then?”

“Of course. The Nadra have a stock in this now—after all, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we’re involved with you, so he’ll come after us too. And I’m a protector—I want to protect my people, and I want to protect my friends. Now that the Ashiier have given me these abilities, I have capabilities to match my will,” Tseka replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Just making sure,” Toman said lightly; they’d thought as much, after all.

“So where are we starting?” Tseka asked again.

“I imagine retrieving Arxus is high on our agenda,” Esset replied. He looked at Toman. “Whatever did happen to him?”

“Somehow, Moloch never found out about Arxus. And since he didn’t ask, I never had to answer. Hopefully Arxus is safe, but we’ll have to be very, very cautious about approaching him. I won’t trust that he’s safe until he tells me himself and we have him moved to a new location. Theoretically, he’s still where I hid him before the last battle. I could bring him to us, but in the event that Moloch did know about him…that would be a less than ideal option.”

Esset nodded—Toman’s words made sense. The castle was a great resource, so it was definitely a good thing that Moloch had never known about him.

“Wait. Arxus…that’s the castle, right?” Tseka asked.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot you’d never seen him,” Toman replied.

“An entire castle, animated…bizarre.” Tseka shook her head.

“It’s scary how used to it you get,” Esset added with a laugh.

“Yeah, somehow I doubt that,” Tseka replied. “I still haven’t gotten used to how awkward-looking you humans are.”

“Awkward? Imagine how you look to us!” Esset objected.

“We look perfect,” Tseka replied primly. “You’re the disproportionate ones. And your weird habit of draping cloths on yourselves…as if your bodies are something to be ashamed of. Well, I guess I might wear clothes too if I were so awkward-looking. I’d want to hide as much as possible.”

“Clothes are practical!” Esset objected, coloring again at the thought of walking around naked. He’d mostly gotten over the Nadra’s nakedness, but as far as he was concerned, humans should remain clothed.

“Yeah, you’ve tried arguing that one before, but I’m not buying it,” Tseka replied.

“Aren’t we getting a little off track?” Toman asked, amusement nonetheless clear in his tone.

“Yeah, come on Esset, what’s with you leading us off topic like that?” Tseka said. Esset opened his mouth to object—she’d been the one to lead them off track, after all—but she kept going.

“Okay, so we get your castle back, which gives us a base of operations away from Salithsa. What then? How are we going after Moloch?” Tseka pressed.

Esset’s mouth set into a grim line as Toman replied. “We need to destabilize him. Our main problem is going to be the Greymaker. He’s simply too powerful with it.”

“So how did you do it last time?” Tseka asked.

“We didn’t. Erizen did. He pretended that we’d sabotaged it and took it down for us. But we can’t count on him this time. We don’t even know what became of him—he could be dead, for all we know,” Esset replied.

“So if Erizen had one too, and they’re so powerful, why didn’t he just challenge Moloch himself?” Tseka asked.

“Because he’s a coward?” Esset replied darkly.

“Mostly,” Toman replied. “But he’s a clever coward. I think he’s quite aware that what happened to us could’ve happened to him—we’ve learned how far ahead Moloch plans.” Esset was unhappy because Toman was right; he personally preferred disliking Erizen. Esset knew Toman did too, but Toman’s logical mind seemed to be prevailing.

“Okay, so we get the castle, take out the Greymaker. What else?” Tseka asked, getting them back on track again.

“I learned some tactics from Moloch. I intend to make an army of assassins. I’ll make various creatures to attack him, and send them in a trickle. I doubt we’ll get lucky and actually kill him that way, or even cause him to lose him any sleep, but it’ll be like an open sore: irritating, even infuriating. He’ll hate to have his own tactic used against him,” Toman said.

“Good idea,” Esset said. “I was also thinking of making this a war of attrition. I want to explore what other new summons might be available to me. I figure there’s probably something that can take down a building, if used strategically. I intend to leave him with no place to sleep—at least not in the style he’s accustomed to. At the very least, it will be very expensive for him—and anyone he stays with.”

“We’ll have to keep on the move. Eventually we’ll have to face him, but it will be on our terms, when he doesn’t expect it,” Toman concluded.

“And I’m your security detail. Sounds like fun,” Tseka replied, sounding like she might actually mean it.

“We’ll try not to step on your tail,” Esset said offhandedly.

“Wise. It’s not good to slight the one guarding your back,” Tseka replied primly, nose in the air. A sly glance betrayed her pomp, and they dissolved in laughter.

They neared Salithsa in the afternoon. Esset could feel a tangible sensation in the air, like tension and a feeling of wrongness, before the rocks above the Nadran city came into view. All three of them were on the back of a stone bird at the moment; Esset had been trying to doze, but the off-putting feeling had roused him.

“Esset,” Tseka murmured in his ear. “What’s that?”

“Magic,” Esset replied, speaking louder so Tseka could hear him before the wind snatched his words away.

“I thought you couldn’t sense magic,” Tseka said. Esset could feel her coils shifting against his back.

“Some magic is powerful enough that anyone can feel it, at least to a small degree.” Esset’s voice was grim. That took very powerful magic. And that feeling of wrongness… He was guessing it was blood magic.

“Can we fly any faster?” Esset asked, calling back to his brother, behind Tseka.

“You know it can’t!” Toman called back—the wind drowned out his words, but the Animator’s head-shake was still clear enough. Still, Esset willed the stone creature to go faster, sending a brief prayer to Bright Hyrishal.

They crested the ridge to see scorched earth before them. The uneven rocks and boulders, mounds and hills, crevices and rocky outcroppings were marred and twisted by magic and uniformly blackened by mage-fire.

“No,” Tseka gasped in his ear. Esset could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. Two fiery birds materialized alongside them and began sweeping the area immediately, but there was no one in sight. The three made a pass over the landscape on the stone bird as well, but the search turned up nothing.