Fire Study (50 page)

Roze, under the control of three Master Magicians, was forced to mount the

gallows’ steps. The noose was tightened around her neck and the executioner

stepped back. Her face contorted with rage and she shouted.

Time froze for a moment and I felt what it would have been like to stand there

terrified, waiting for the floor to open and my life to end with a quick snap of my

neck. If I had chosen the noose instead of becoming the Commander’s food taster

two years ago, I wondered if any of this would have happened.

Roze fell in slow motion. Her body jerked at the end of the rope. Her soul flew. I

captured it.

Her hateful thoughts filled my mind. Guardian of the underworld suits you,

Yelena. You belong here. You don’t really believe you can go back? You’ll be

feared by all and become an outcast in record time.

If I was a Soulstealer, I would agree with you, I said. You don’t scare me, Roze.

You never did and that bothered you more than me being a Soulfinder.

Opal blew. I sent Roze on her final journey. Then Gede. Then the other four

Warpers. Seven in all, including the Fire Warper.

When all the Warpers had been encased in glass, Opal sank to the ground in

exhaustion. Now I could leave. I glanced around, trying to determine whether I

missed anything, whether a soul who could do harm remained. Roze’s words had a

bit of truth to them. Regardless of my explanations, Sitians would be frightened of

me and the Council’s suspicion and unease would linger for a long time.

I welcomed the difficulties. All part of living, and I planned to enjoy every minute.

As I walked through my window to the Keep, sounds reached me first. The roar

of the fire. Leif calling my name. Then scalding heat sucked my breath away. Bright

yellow and orange stabbed at my eyes. My cape caught fire. I dived to the sand and

rolled on the ground to snuff the flames. So much for my grand entrance.

I SPENT MY FIRST HOURS back cocooned in an excited babble of all my

friends and family. Everyone except Valek. But I knew I would see him when the

horde dispersed.

Once my fire had finished its macabre task of burning the traitors to ash, it was

doused. Thick smoke boiled from it and clung to the ground until Gale Stormdance

created a fresh breeze to whisk it away.

I noted with much interest how fast life resumed. Though glad I had returned, the

Councilors left for a meeting, and Fisk and his guild hurried off to work in the

market.

Before he left, Fisk flashed me a wide smile and said, “Lovely Yelena, you’ll

need new clothes for the hot season. I know the best seamstress in the Citadel.

Come find me when you’re ready.”

The hot season? Ari told me it had just started. I had lived in the underworld for

seventy-one days, missing the entire warming season. I viewed the time with mixed

emotions: glad my perceptions in the underworld didn’t match reality, especially if I

ever needed to go back; and upset I wasn’t here to help clean up the mess left

behind by the Vermin.

Ari and Janco grumbled over the hot, sticky weather and confessed their desire to

go home to Ixia.

“We had fun rooting out all those Daviians,” Janco said. “But I’m sure Maren

misses us.”

Ari looked doubtful. He had washed the black dye from his hair, and his light

skin had burned in the Sitian sun. Janco’s skin had tanned, matching his Sitian

clothes.

“Oh this?” Janco said, when I mentioned his new coloring. “You missed some

beautiful days.”

“Janco’s been sunning himself every chance he gets,” Ari said with obvious

disdain. “He claimed he kept the fire going, but I caught him snoozing in the sand a

few times.”

“Once!” Janco said.

They began to bicker. I laughed and moved away, but heard Ari call out,

“Training yard, five o’clock.”

Kiki’s urgent summons had nagged me the whole time I’d been back. I hurried

over to the stable to spend an hour with her. Perhaps Valek would show up and we

could get reacquainted in the straw.

I scratched her ears, fed her peppermints and ducked behind a stack of hay bales

when the Stable Master came looking for me, probably to give me a lecture about

borrowing Garnet for so long.

Lavender Lady not go again, Kiki said in my mind.

I’ll try to avoid it. No promises, though.

She huffed. Next time Kiki go.

A Horsefinder?

Help Lavender Lady, Kiki said, as if that ended the discussion.

Even though I longed to return to my rooms in Irys’s tower, my parents insisted I

come to their quarters in the Keep’s guest wing after I visited the stables. Leif, Irys

and Bain followed me, and the six of us sat in the living room, sipping tea. Wedged

tightly between my father and mother on the couch, I was held prisoner. My desire

to seek Valek would have to wait.

Bain and Irys were most interested in what had happened in the fire and shadow

worlds. After giving them a brief sketch, Bain made me promise to visit him and

recite the details for his book.

“You passed the Master-level test,” Irys said.

“What?” Caught off guard by this sudden change in topic, I choked on my tea.

“You entered the underworld and returned with a spirit guide. Your encounter

with the Fire Warper was your challenge, and his defeat your success.”

“But I don’t have a spirit guide.”

Leif laughed. “Your bat! I thought he was strange. Beside the obvious fact that he

wanted to hang out with you.”

“Leif. That’s not nice, considering all your sister has done for you,” Perl

admonished.

“Oh, right. How can I forget that she made me bait for a snake, left me under

house arrest in Ixia and smuggled me into the Keep in a coffin. And don’t forget the

time…”

I ignored Leif’s rant. I wondered, why a bat? Why not something fearsome like a

fire dragon or necklace snake? Irys had a hawk, Bain a wind leopard and Zitora a

unicorn. Thinking of Zitora, I reminded myself to go visit her in the infirmary. She

had been severely wounded during the fight with the Warpers, and her recovery had

been slow.

I kept glancing out the window, hoping to see Valek. My mind circled through

various excuses for me to leave everyone to search for him.

Bain interrupted Leif’s list of grievances against me. “According to our policies,

Yelena is Fourth Magician.”

I raised my hand to prevent any more wild speculation. “No. I can’t light fires or

move objects like the Masters can. I’m a Soulfinder. My job is to find lost souls and

send them home, including the souls of Ixia. There is still need for a Liaison between

the two countries. I plan to reassume the role.”

And the first order of business would be to assess Cahil’s intentions. His help in

defeating Roze and uncovering all the Vermin nests had proven invaluable to the

Council, but I wasn’t convinced his new role meant he wouldn’t try some way to

claim Ixia’s throne.

Leif asked, “What do we do with those glass prisons? They’re under guard, but

we don’t want them falling into the wrong hands.”

“What would happen if they break?” Perl asked.

They all looked at me. “If the souls are freed, they will go to the fire world, unless

there is another Soulfinder to place them elsewhere.”

“Elsewhere?” Leif raised his eyebrows.

“Into another body or to the sky.” I sighed. “We will have to find a place to

protect and to hide them.”

“The Keep,” Bain said.

“The Illiais Jungle has some deep caves,” Esau suggested.

“Under the Emerald Mountains,” Irys said.

“Sunken in the deepest part of the sea,” Leif said.

“Buried under the northern ice,” Perl recommended.

“All good ideas, but the Council will need to debate the issue and decide.”

My gaze met Irys’s. She gave me a wry smile. We both knew the Council would

argue for months, and it was up to me to find a home for them.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with my family. Perl and Esau made me promise

to come visit them.

“A nice relaxing visit,” Perl ordered. “No chasing Vermin or saving anyone.

We’ll sit and talk and I’ll make you a new perfume.”

“Yes, Mother.”

She made me eat before I could leave. I hurried to the training yard, hoping Valek

would be there.

He was not. The man must be torturing me on purpose. I had made him wait over

two months. Perhaps he was returning the favor.

Ari and Janco sparred with swords. And although Janco sang his rhymes and Ari

used his brute strength, they were equally matched in skill. They stopped when they

saw me.

“Come on,” Janco said. “Ari wants to make sure you’re in good fighting shape

before we leave.”

“I do?”

“Yes, you do. Otherwise you’ll worry about her.”

“I will?”

“Of course.” Janco waved away Ari’s comments. “Besides, this is just a lull

before the next storm. We need to be ready!”

This time I piped in. “The next storm?”

Janco sighed dramatically. “There’s always another storm. It’s the way the world

works. Snowstorms, rainstorms, wind-storms, sandstorms and firestorms. Some are

fierce and others are small. You have to deal with each one separately, but you need

to always keep an eye on what’s brewing for tomorrow.”

Ari rolled his eyes. “Janco’s unique view of life. Yesterday he compared living to

food.”

“That’s because some food leaves you full while others—”

“Janco,” I said. “Prepare for my storm.” I swept my bow toward his feet.

He jumped over it with a nimble grace. Dropping his sword, he reached for his

bow and our match began.

Since I had returned from the underworld, I could see everyone with a new sight.

With a blink of my eyes, I saw through their bodies and directly into their souls. I

knew their thoughts, feelings and intentions as if they were my own. Before I had to

pull power for the source and project myself to them. Now the connection was there

the second I thought about it.

Janco’s comical surprise when I dumped him on the ground in three moves was

almost worth my trip through the underworld. Almost.

He huffed and blustered and tried to make excuses. I stopped our second fight to

guide a soul to the sky. Many hung around the Keep and I knew I would have to do

a sweep of the Citadel.

Janco viewed my magical actions as if they were distasteful to him. “At least

you’re expending energy. You’ll be easier to beat,” he smirked.

“Wishful thinking,” I said.

After losing the next four matches, Janco finally conceded.

“Am I ready for the next storm?” I asked him, smiling sweetly.

“You are the next storm.”

Bruised ego aside, Janco and Ari were pleased with my fighting skills.

“You found your center,” Ari said with a note of approval in his voice. “You’re

not afraid to embrace who you are. Now Janco won’t have to worry anymore.”

“I’ll let Ari do all the worrying for both of us. Oh wait! He already does.”

“I do not. You’re the one who moaned and fussed about Yelena all these

weeks.”

“I did not.”

They launched into another round of bickering. I never thought I would enjoy

listening to them, but I did. Until I saw Cahil walking toward the training yard.

He held his long broadsword. I watched him approach, preparing to defend

myself if need be. I studied his emotions with my other sight. Hate, determination

and anxiety dominated his feelings.

Cahil stopped at the fence. “I didn’t come here to fight,” he said. “I want to talk

to you.”

Ari and Janco didn’t seem concerned by his presence, and continued their

debate. But they hadn’t been on the wrong side of Cahil’s wrath. I moved closer

with my bow in hand, keeping the wooden fence between us.

“What do you want to talk about?” I demanded.

Cahil pulled in a deep breath and let the air out fast. “I wanted to…”

“Go on. Say it.”

Irritation flared in Cahil’s light blue eyes, but he stifled it. “I wanted to explain.”

“Explain why you’re nasty, ruthless, opportunistic—”

“Yelena! Will you shut up.”

My expression must have warned him, because he rushed to continue. “You

bring out the worst in me. Can you listen?” A pause. “Please?”

“All right.”

“When I found out that I didn’t have royal blood, that my whole purpose in life

was a sham, I refused to believe it. Even when Marrok admitted I was just a soldier’s

son, I didn’t want to hear it. Instead, I transferred my anger to you and Valek and