Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) (35 page)

Esset continued. “Since they don’t seem to be leaving anytime soon and I caught wind that they were afraid of you…”

“Hide away,” Tseka said dryly.

“Why
are
they afraid of you?” Esset asked.

Tseka did sigh now and explained as briefly as she could.

Esset pulled a face. “Sorry.”

Tseka knew he meant it and appreciated it. “I was always the one who caused mischief among my people. It always seemed like things needed stirring up. Now…everything is always stirred up, and it would be nice to have a little more peace, but I am getting my just desserts.”

“I don’t think you deserved that,” Esset said. “At least your heart is always in the right place, and you never let anyone get hurt. I cannot say the same for Erizen. Or his harem, necessarily, though I don’t know most of them.”

“You knew Orchid, though.” Tseka couldn’t help herself. Maybe it really
was
her just desserts, since she couldn’t help teasing.

Esset shifted. “Er, yes, Toman and I met her when we stayed in Erizen’s kingdom. Nothing, uh, happened.”

This time, Tseka let it drop there. “So what now? Are we back to waiting again?”

“When we vowed to hunt down Moloch, I never thought there’d be so much time where there’d be nothing we
could
do,” Esset confessed. “I know Toman and Erizen will be busy searching for the next focus, but…”

“With patience, all things are possible,” Tseka said. It was a quote, and from Esset’s baffled expression, not one he’d ever thought he’d hear her say. He raised an eyebrow.

Tseka grinned. “Or so I’ve been told. I’ve not had much experience with the matter.”

Esset grinned back and shook his head. “Alright, well let’s help each other be patient then. I’m sure time will pass faster in company.”

“Likely. Although if you don’t mind, I’m going to quickly sneak to the kitchen before Erizen and his harem go for their meal,” Tseka said.

“Oh, you missed them already, actually. Shortly after they were shown their room they all went wandering, looking for food. It was after that I came to find you,” Esset said.

Tseka smiled. “Good, then there’s likely to be no one there. I’ll be back shortly.” She leaned her spear against the wall—no need to bring it.

“Alright, I’m going to sneak back to my room to grab a book and then meet you back here,” Esset said. He joined her by the door and peered nervously into the hall.

“Aw, come on, Esset.” Tseka slapped him on the shoulder. “Afraid of some little women?”

“Afraid isn’t the right word,” Esset objected.

Tseka’s grin widened.

“Nevermind,” Esset muttered before taking off down the hall—quick but light-footed, she noticed. Tseka mapped her own course to the kitchen.

Esset snuck back to Tseka’s room without his book.

“Where’s your book?” Tseka asked immediately upon seeing him.

“One of them was waiting for me in my room. She was sitting in my chair, looking out the window. She didn’t see me, but…” Esset was more upset about it than he perhaps should have been, but it had been a very interesting book. Ominecan philosophy was fascinating.

Tseka grinned and shook her head. “They may not all be bad. Orchid seemed nice.”

“She’s nice enough.” Esset spoke in a way that didn’t encourage elaboration.

“Mhm. But you’re not going to seek her companionship?” Tseka asked.

“She’s nice, but she still belongs to Erizen. I’m not keen on spending time with someone who’s under orders to sleep with me if she can,” Esset said. To his surprise—although he really shouldn’t have been surprised—Tseka’s next words articulated his own feelings.

Her good humor had trickled away. “I don’t understand that at all. The harem, that is. I understand their position is poor, but they could be free now, if they chose. But I don’t get the impression they have any desire to leave him.”

Esset shook his head. “I don’t have any better understanding.” For all his book smarts, sometimes people were still a total mystery to him. Women especially.

“Do you think it’s the companionship?” Tseka asked.

Esset tilted his head at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that they have each other, not just Erizen. Perhaps it would be difficult to maintain that relationship outside his…ownership.” Tseka still had a perplexed expression on her face, but she seemed determined to figure this out.

“Maybe. Would that really be worth it? They could always meet other people, maybe find husbands or other benefactors if they struggled without each other,” Esset said. He wondered if the Ashiier, with all their magical prowess and extensive studies, truly understood people, or if it were a lost cause entirely.

Tseka lifted an eyebrow at him. “I’m surprised you take such bonds so lightly. I saw how you were without Toman, and it wasn’t all because you were worried about him. You struggled without him. Would he really be so easy to replace?”

“Er, no, I guess not,” Esset replied.

“I may not have appreciated it before leaving my people either,” Tseka added.

It suddenly occurred to Esset that maybe that was a problem for her.
Idiot, of course it’s a problem.
Tseka was used to sharing a bed and always being in physical contact with others. Here, Esset was usually sitting somewhere reading, and Toman had been working non-stop. Toman even had an animation that chased people away when they tried to bother him. Even someone less used to social contact could become lonely in those conditions, and Esset kicked himself internally for missing that.

“Are you okay?” Tseka suddenly asked, eyeing him, and Esset realized he’d been silent for a minute or two.

“Yeah, fine,” Esset said lightly. Better not to get into it. He could help.

“Okay…” Tseka eyed him for a moment longer. “I’ve been meaning to ask, did Toman and Erizen get anything out of Semrus?”

“Not really. I mean, we learned about another of Moloch’s castles, which is nice, but nothing big. He knew a couple things we already knew, but his greatest value will be as our spy.” Esset’s gut churned thinking about the geas and about Toman’s reaction—or lack thereof—to the very principle of it. Tseka was unusually silent about it; Esset couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and a strong part of him didn’t want to know what she thought in case she agreed with them too.

Since Tseka didn’t say anything else, Esset sighed and changed the subject again. “Feel like playing cards? I’m sure we could waste an evening that way.”

“I thought you were going to read your tome?” Tseka asked.

Esset shrugged. “I was. But I’ve been reading it to death. I could use a change of pace.”

Tseka grinned. “I’ll get the cards.”

Esset woke in Tseka’s bed the next morning. He’d “accidentally” stayed too late and become drowsy. Then he’d let Tseka persuade him that the concubine was probably still in his room and that he should stay put to avoid her. Tseka’s giant mound of pillows and blankets certainly made a comfortable enough bed.

Tseka’s tail was wrapped around his right leg four times, and her arm was flung across his chest, but her head was completely buried in blankets and pillows. A thicker portion of her coils was under his other leg.

Now that he was awake, Esset was acutely aware of how his shirt was twisted around his torso, leaving a rather uncomfortable knot wedged in his armpit. Esset tried to delicately fix the wardrobe malfunction without waking Tseka, but she shifted the moment he moved.

The warrior’s grip on his leg eased as she unwound and stretched, dumping a pillow on his face.

“Guff!” was the startled, smothered cry that emitted from Esset as he flailed under the sudden waterfall of pillows falling on him. How had they all become so precariously positioned above his head?

Nefarious giggles emitted from the other side of the pillows. Esset growled and started digging his way out of the bedding, shoving her tail away in the process.

They both froze when someone knocked on the door.

Esset resisted the urge to hide in the blankets in case it was a concubine—or worse, more than one of them—on the other side of the door. To his horror, Tseka instead issued a perfectly relaxed, “Come in,” at the door.

Erizen entered, his eyebrows rising as he looked them over. Esset just knew his hair would be sticking out in all directions, in stark contrast to the mage’s ever-perfect ponytail. Not that he cared. Of course not. Not at all.

“I found the next focus,” Erizen said, and turned to go.

Esset glanced at the curtains; the light that glowed from them was barely pre-dawn. “How?” he blurted.

Erizen’s reply was more than a little condescending. “Scrying, of course. The same way I’ve been searching from the start.”

Esset scowled; Erizen knew very well that wasn’t what he’d been asking. “But it’s barely morning.”

Erizen’s smirk widened. “My bedroom activities last night left me…invigorated. Did yours?”

Esset hated that he couldn’t stop the flush from spreading across his cheeks.

“Yes,” Tseka replied, languidly rising from the pillows. “Sleep generally leaves one feeling restored.”

Erizen’s gaze shifted to Tseka and his smile broadened into something only slightly less smirk-y.

“Come, I’ll need you to get past Toman’s watchdog.” Erizen didn’t wait this time; he simply turned left.

Esset scowled at the empty doorway.

“At least he didn’t bring his harem with him?” Tseka said. There was a hint of amusement in her tone as well, something Esset’s still-sleep-fogged mind didn’t appreciate.

Esset grunted and struggled his way out of the blankets.

Erizen was tapping his foot by the time they caught up with him, and it was at least ten minutes before they were all gathered back in the planning room. The meeting place was the one room in the castle where they centralized all their information and plans for taking down Moloch, including maps, spell diagrams, and what intelligence they could gather on Moloch and his people. Right now, Erizen had a map spread out on the table and was marking down the four foci he’d tracked down and where he thought the others would be based on spell structure.

“Now, I’ve also been studying Atah’s scrolls, and I’m confident that I’ve come up with a counter pattern that will reverse the Greymaker’s energy flow. We won’t even need to touch the foci themselves, so it’s less risky than our original plan to just destroy foci.” Erizen grabbed a cup of colored pins and began sticking them into the map in a pattern that complemented but never touched the existing pattern he’d marked in ink.

“How long will it take?” Toman asked.

“I’m not sure,” Erizen admitted, and went on to explain. “The Greymaker feeds the connected mage in a trickle and gathers a reservoir of power, like a stream feeding a lake. However, the Greymaker is drawing from a massive area and channeling it to a small point. When reversed, it might still only operate at a trickle, like a slow, debilitating illness. Or, given the reversal of the volume ratio, it’s possible it will work more like the suctioning back of a flood, and take everything all at once. Honestly, I think it will be somewhere in between. If he doesn’t break the connection, the Greymaker would probably drain him dry in about half a day. But that’s just an educated guess, and it’s likely he’ll break the connection when he realizes something is wrong. He’ll still be weakened, but not by much. However, the Greymaker will be effectively dismantled if he does that, and a major power supply will be gone.”