Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) (38 page)

The gem embedded beneath the skin in Esset’s chest blazed with light, shining through skin and clothing alike with the flickering colors of fire. It cast an eerie light on his face as it competed with the silvery light from above that now lit the whole battlefield. Esset’s hair was wild, even more so than usual, after his tangle with the bramble-bush, and it was blackened with soot in the front. His whole face was smudged with ash, as were his clothes down to his toes, but the fire itself didn’t seem to have actually injured him—Toman wondered if that was a new ability of Esset’s or if something else was at play. The force of the attack he’d absorbed seemed to have done more damage than the fire in it. Still, Toman worried about him. Esset’s face was grim and his gaze was locked on the battlefield. His hands swept over the battlefield, directing his summons with unnecessary gestures and lighting fires of his own around their enemies. Toman wondered if his brother knew how powerful he’d truly become—and how frightening. In a way, he hoped not. But he didn’t have time to examine that fleeting thought either; another group of mages transported in.

“Erizen, quit slacking and let’s finish this!” Toman yelled at the mage, finally coming to the end of his patience with him. Erizen fired off another small spell and looked back at him calmly.

“And when Moloch finally shows up? Would you like all of us to be exhausted?” Erizen asked blandly. Toman stared at him, then cursed at himself. Of course. On the other hand, wouldn’t it be better to finish this and get away before Moloch arrived? Could they really face Moloch now, even with Erizen holding back to conserve energy? He felt a twinge of doubt, but he didn’t gainsay the mage. It did raise another question though—where was Moloch? Shouldn’t he have shown up by now? Toman found himself scanning the battlefield again.

The battle waged on. Stone dragons pounded on shields and stomped out any undead or constructs that came into range. Fiery panthers harried countless enemy mages, dodging or absorbing attacks as they persisted, until shields shattered and exposed those within. Erizen’s shield-disabling spells made matters more complicated for the mages, but in the end, they were slowly grinding into a stalemate. More attacks for Tseka to block were being flung their way.

“Erizen—” Toman began, but then he felt heat on his shoulder. Startled, he glanced over and saw Esset’s hand on his shoulder—his skin emanated heat as hot as an oven, but he seemed no worse for wear for it—there wasn’t so much as a single bead of sweat on his forehead. Toman wasn’t sure Esset knew how hot he blazed. He wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

“I’ve got an idea,” Esset said—at least he sounded like the normal Esset, more or less. Grim, but battle did that to him.

Out on the battlefield, next to one group of mages, one of the molten tortoises materialized next to their shields. A group of these tortoises, after going critical, had taken out a castle—a building meant to withstand attacks both magical and physical for an indefinite period of time. One flimsy mage-shield wasn’t going to make any difference.

The tortoise exploded, annihilating magical and physical defenses both and consuming those who had been nearest to it. All over the battlefield, tortoises materialized, each next to a target; after the smoke cleared, these was no more contest. Esset had targeted those mages banded into groups, for the moment ignoring those fighting alone. When the remaining mages saw their numbers halved in the face of a single attack, they knew they stood no chance. Chaos befell the enemy ranks as those remaining cut and fled. Some of them died even as they tried to run, falling to fiery claws or stone talons, but then Esset called his summons back to him. They were a flood of fiery streaks as they obeyed. Toman was shocked by their number. Previously, Esset had been able to call two cats at a time, at most. Now there were at least a dozen, if not more, but they vanished one by one before he could count them. Esset sagged by the time the last of them were gone.

“Hey,” Toman said as he ducked under his brother’s arm before he could collapse. At least Esset still had some limitations; that was comforting, somehow.

“I think you should be the one to get us out of here,” Esset said, exhaustion clear in his voice.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Toman agreed. His massive stone dragons were already coming towards them. One took off, climbing high to circle above them, but the other two waited for the four to mount. Tseka and Erizen took one while Toman helped Esset onto the back of the other—it was clear that Esset was having difficulty keeping his grip on consciousness. Shortly after they were in the air, he passed out completely. Toman kept Esset firmly in front of him until they reached Arxus. They’d planned to take out multiple castles tonight, but this had been a bigger blow to Moloch than they’d intended to deliver, and they were exhausted. The next battle could wait.

Esset woke with a familiar weight draped across his legs and torso; he kept his eyes shut, not needing to open them to know that Tseka’s coils were sprawled atop him. Despite the comfortable familiarity, a black mood settled over him.

“You’re awake, I know you are, so stop pretending you’re not,” Tseka said in his ear. When he tried to pass of as asleep for a moment longer, she gave him a rude prod in the ribs, causing his eyes to pop open. He frowned at her.

“Must you?” he asked drolly, trying to hide behind humor.

“I must,” she assured him. Then she propped herself up on an elbow for a moment and studied him, her inhuman eyes far too perceptive for his liking.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I was just prodded awake by an obnoxious woman,” he grumbled, rolling onto his side so his back was to her. A moment later he grunted as the weight of her torso settled on his side and her face appeared sideways in his field of vision.

“No really, what’s wrong?” she asked. Evidently she had no idea how uncomfortable this position was for him.

“Nothing,” Esset said, knowing the futility of the attempt before he even made it. He winced when Tseka’s full weight shifted onto his side. At least she noticed that too and moved off him. Then, since his back was to her, she slithered off the bed onto the floor in front of him.

“I would have thought our victory last night was something to be celebrated,” she said neutrally. “We struck a great blow against Moloch.”

“Yeah,” Esset said.

“It’s the death, isn’t it?” Tseka asked.

Esset looked at her, surprised.

“Who do you think would understand better than I?” she asked. “Better than a warrior of the Nadra?” Esset hadn’t thought of it that way, and said as much.

Tseka’s mouth twisted in a humorless smile. “We value peace above all things, yet we have warriors, because we see the necessity of them. And for those of us who are warriors, we struggle with our place in our society and in the world. In a way, we are sacrifices for the greater good…but even besides that. I value peace, yet I love fighting. Where does that leave me? You feel that way too, don’t you?”

“Exactly,” Esset confessed. “I hate taking lives. It doesn’t matter how evil the life is, or how necessary it is…I just hate it. And yet I love fighting. It’s the thrill, the adrenaline, the challenge. It’s incredible! I love how strong I’ve become, and like everyone, I like winning…but after a battle like that, I just feel sick. I feel guilty for liking fighting when that’s what happens. How can I be a good person and still like fighting?”

Tseka shook her head; so she knew no better than he. “So what do we do about it?”

“Maybe the Ashiier have it right. They remove themselves from all this. Maybe there’s peace in that,” Esset said.

“Maybe,” Tseka acknowledged. “And all this has definitely had me considering their offer even more seriously than before, but what do we do about it
now
?”

“Well, I’d planned to wallow in self-pity for a bit,” Esset replied.

“Until deciding that there was no point to that and acknowledging the necessity of what we’re doing and emerging to face the world again,” Tseka finished. There was a short silence.

“Yeah,” Esset finally said.

“How about we get breakfast instead?” Tseka suggested.

Esset still felt the weight of guilt on his shoulders and the black veil over his mood, but he shrugged.

“Sure.”

As it turned out, the decision had been wise.

“Color has already returned to Moloch’s kingdom.” Erizen—and his harem, incidentally—stood waiting for them in the kitchen. Well, Erizen stood, but his harem was
arranged
—Esset could think of no better word to describe it—around the room, some sitting, some leaning against the counters, all in provocative positions. Orchid winked suggestively at Esset, making him blush.

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Tseka asked.

“It is, but it’s much faster than we planned. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but we’re not prepared. We should make our next move today,” Erizen replied. Esset opened his mouth—he himself never found out if he intended to object or make a query, for Toman came in behind them.

“And I agree,” the Animator said. Esset closed his mouth.

“Another castle?” Tseka asked, grinning. She nudged Esset in the side with her elbow. “Melting that castle was way cool, by the way.” She hissed under her breath in a Nadran form of laughter.

“If I’d just blown it, we would’ve been gone before the attack,” Esset said darkly. Tseka refused to bow to his black mood. She nudged him again, still grinning.

“But it was cool,” he finally said, forcing a smile and somehow feeling a little better for it. Maybe she was right—wallowing wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“But really? This whole time you’ve been using
turtles
to blow up the castles? That’s way less impressive,” Tseka said, sailing past him and poking her nose in the pantry. The corner of Esset’s mouth twitched as a more genuine smile tried to surface.

“Tortoises,” he said.

“What was that now?” she asked, leaning back out and grinning at him.

“They were tortoises, not turtles,” Esset corrected her. Her smile grew downright evil.

“Yeah. Sure they were,” she said, vanishing into the pantry. Esset finally gave up his battle and grinned back.

“I thought it was awesome,” Toman supported him, also smiling in recognition of the banter. “I’d wondered what they looked like. And even though we only caught a glimpse of them, they were definitely awesome.”

“Thank you, brother. Nice to know someone has taste,” Esset replied.

“Hsst, we all know I am the only one with taste,” Tseka said, emerging from the pantry with a basket of mushrooms, a Nadran favorite.

“Er, yeah. You go on believing that,” Esset suggested, eyeing the basket distastefully. Fortunately the humans had their own breakfasts. Esset glanced over at Erizen to see why he was being so quiet and found him with a woman on each side, nuzzling—Esset looked away. That man had no sense of decency.

“So which castle are we hitting first?” Tseka asked, ignoring the jibe.

“The nearest, and we can work our way further out,” Toman replied.

“We’ll have to be more careful—we don’t know which castle Moloch might be at, if any of them,” Esset pointed out. “We were able to scout in advance before, but if we’re moving today, there’s no time for that.”

“Honestly, if he shows up, I think we can take him,” Erizen said, suddenly present in the conversation again as he stepped forward. He fixed Esset with a penetrating stare that made him very uncomfortable. The summoner fought not to show it and met Erizen’s gaze.

“I agree,” Tseka added.

Esset looked at her, surprised by the unexpected comment.

“What?” the Nadran warrior asked. “That was some display of power last night. If Toman keeps more of his animations nearby, and you are recovered, as I am, then we stand more than a chance. Erizen is at more than full power after last night, and Moloch is weakened.” She shrugged. It seemed obvious to her.

“What do you mean, more than full power?” Esset asked suspiciously, looking at Erizen, who had long ago perfected the nonchalant demeanor he now donned.

“You use blood and death magic on occasion, do you not?” Tseka asked of Erizen, not really expecting a response. “You would have seen letting all that energy go last night as a waste, wouldn’t you?
Not
harvesting it would have been foolish.”