Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) (34 page)

Like Esset, Tseka chose to shift her focus to finding the women—that, at least, was simple enough.

“In this room, under the bed,” Tseka said, gesturing inside the room they’d come to but stopping at the door. “I’d best wait here so as not to scare her.” She’d seen how humans at the village near Salithsa could react to her unexpected appearance.

Esset nodded to her and disappeared into the small room. Tseka leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, although she could still “see” heat just fine. Regardless, her paranoia at being in hostile territory precluded her from keeping her eyes closed for long.

Feel that thrill, Tseka,
she reminded herself,
and remember you’re doing this for your people.
Yes, stressful and strange though the world outside Salithsa could be, it was invigorating too. And she had a purpose here. She let that fuel her.

Esset emerged from the room with the concubine. The concubine’s semi-transparent dress was tattered, and bruises marred her skin—Tseka couldn’t help but feel fascination along with pity when she saw the dark marks. Why did human skin blemish so easily? It was very unfortunate for them.

The concubine’s eyes widened when she saw Tseka, but she didn’t react otherwise, which was more than the Nadran warrior had hoped for. Tseka didn’t try to interact with her though—Esset seemed to have the comforting part covered with an arm around the woman’s shoulders.

Tseka went to get in front of them to lead the way to the next woman when Esset caught her eye. He had a pleading, this-woman-is-crying-HELP-ME expression on his face, and Tseka could only smirk. Nice to know some things didn’t vary between species, but no way was she getting involved in
that
.

They found a group of three women next. When Tseka peeked in the room at them, she found two of them standing protectively over the third, who was curled on the floor. Both of the women standing held shards of broken crockery in front of them like weapons.

Tseka just slithered aside and let Esset take the lead again. She got the same pleading look briefly cast at her before the woman he was holding saw the others and darted over to them.

The rescued woman called out to her comrade. “Ruby!” The concubine was welcomed into Ruby’s arms.

“There, there, Topaz, it’s okay,” Ruby reassured her.

“Esset, is that you?” the other crockery-wielding woman asked.

Esset looked at her in surprise. “Orchid?”

The blonde concubine gave him a friendly smile and lowered her crockery shard to her side. “Hey, cutie.”

Esset blushed, which never ceased to fascinate Tseka and trigger her mischievous side. She almost taunted him about it, but the weeping of the other two women put a quick damper on her humor.

“Let’s go find the rest,” Tseka urged instead. This time—much to Esset’s obvious relief—Ruby and Orchid took charge of the other two women as they rounded up the last three women.

Tseka kept her mouth shut and her antics to herself so as not to scare the already traumatized harem. Even she wouldn’t test the measure of someone near their breaking point—she could only be grateful that her serpentine appearance didn’t seem to be perturbing them overmuch.

Tseka was eager to be out of the caves and back to the safety of the tunnel, so she led them back to the hall outside where Erizen and Toman held Semrus. To her relief, they were done whatever they’d done with Semrus—there was no sign of the mage, and she wasn’t the only one to notice.

“Where’s Semrus and his mages?” Esset asked immediately.

“They won’t be a problem again,” Erizen replied with a self-satisfied smile. “Semrus is geas-bound to serve me now.” His eyes ran over each member of his harem at a time, but he didn’t say or do anything else to acknowledge them. Ruby and Orchid spared a moment to curtsy to him, but they immediately went back to caring for the others, who were too distraught to do much of anything.

“Geas-bound.” Esset’s voice was flat as he looked at Toman. Tseka was surprised too; after being prisoner to a geas for two years, Toman was willing to inflict that experience on someone else?

“It could be useful to have someone inside the council,” Toman replied. His tone was perfectly neutral.

“Is that…safe?” Esset asked stiffly.

“I may not use geas spells as often as Moloch—I don’t think anyone does—but I can assure you the spell is sound and the parameters carefully crafted,” Erizen said. Tseka couldn’t help but notice that Esset was ignoring Erizen and looking at Toman, but the unspoken question went unanswered.

A tense silence ensued; finally Orchid broke it.

“Lord Erizen, can we go somewhere else, please?” she asked.

“Yes, we should all go to the castle,” Erizen said. “Toman, I trust your dog won’t eat my harem?”

“He won’t,” Toman said, tone and expression still carefully neutral. “There’s nowhere else you can take them?”

“No place safer,” Erizen said.

A short silence passed before Toman said, “Very well.”

“Thank you, Lord Erizen,” Orchid said, curtseying again. Then she turned to Toman. “We are grateful for your benevolence.”

Toman inclined his head at her, although he was looking sidelong at Erizen. Erizen ignored him in favor of gathering magic for the transportation spell.

Tseka didn’t much appreciate Erizen’s jarring teleportation spells, but at least they were faster than the long, uncomfortable rides aboard Esset’s summons. The stone tunnels disintegrated into Arxus’s stone walls.

“Arxus,” Toman said to the courtyard when they were fully “landed.”

“Yes, Master?” The stone mastiff was already behind them. One of the concubines shrieked in surprise—all of them whirled around to regard the stone creature.

Toman paid them no mind. “These women are our guests. Please assist them should they need anything and help them stay in the unrestricted areas of the castle.”

“Yes, Master.” As always, Arxus was perfectly obedient.

“I really need to get me one of those,” Erizen mused aloud.

“You really don’t need any more servants,” Esset muttered under his breath—Tseka wasn’t sure if anyone else had heard him.

“Tseka, why don’t you show the ladies to the guest rooms?” Toman suggested.

Tseka nodded and gestured for the women to follow her. She thought about smiling, but that would show off her fangs, so she just made sure she was moving slowly enough for them to easily follow.

The women of the harem peered around curiously as they entered the main doors into the great hall and then cut down a side passage to the guest rooms.

“Ew, gargoyles,” one of the concubines—a pink-clad one—said when she saw the small snarling figures on the wall sconces.

“Yes, the decorating is a little…lacking,” the one called Ruby said. “The castle’s owner should get some decorating tips from Erizen. Or us.” She giggled, and the others tittered along with her.

Tseka found the comment in poor taste—even if Toman couldn’t hear them, Tseka was right there. “I don’t know if Arxus is capable of taking offense, but so you know, the castle can hear you, and he reports to Animator Toman.”

“Oh!” The entire harem stopped dead and stared at her. The one in purple looked chagrined, but the others were simply surprised.

“What?” Tseka asked, her tail-tip twitching. It was a little unnerving knowing the castle itself was alive, but the comment hadn’t warranted this response.

“You can talk!” Ruby exclaimed.

“Yes…” Tseka wasn’t sure why that was so surprising.

“We thought you were…one of Lord Erizen’s chimaeras,” Ruby said.

“She still could be,” the one in pink protested. “Just because he hasn’t made talking ones in the past doesn’t mean he
couldn’t.
”

Tseka stiffened.

“Or she could be Animator Toman’s. He has a talking dog,” one in green said.

“I am
not
a creation,” Tseka hissed. “I am Nadran. And I do not
belong
to anyone, least of all Erizen.” She was angrier than she could ever remember being—and more insulted. Were these humans really that arrogant?

Ruby had the gall to look even more surprised. “Really? You’re not a chimaera? You
look
like one. You like something he would make…and enjoy.”

You are a child of peace. You are a child of peace,
Tseka repeated inside her head. She was frozen in place, wanting to
correct
these arrogant humans so they would never make such an insulting mistake again. But even if she knew how to do that, it would probably be futile, and besides, she believed in peace. Even with Erizen, for all that she’d come within a hairsbreadth of slamming a door in his face in the past, she’d never been this angry.

You are a child of peace.
Once more, just for good measure. The concubines were starting to look nervous now—good—and startled away from Tseka when she finally moved.

The scarlet Nadra turned away from the group. “Arxus, please give them directions to the guest rooms.”

“Yes, Warrior Tseka.” Arxus’s voice issued from a wall sconce, making the harem startle again.

Tseka slithered away, her grip tight on her spear. She needed to go find a sparring dummy to let off some steam on.

Tseka felt a little better after bashing the pells for a while. She breathed heavily and leaned on her spear as she debated going up to the kitchen for a snack. Or better yet, an early meal, so she wouldn’t run into Erizen or his harem later.

She had just turned around to head for the kitchen when she saw two heat signatures approaching. She knew immediately that she wasn’t lucky enough for them to belong to Toman and Esset.

Erizen and Orchid rounded the corner a moment later. Erizen wore his usual smirk, and the concubine gave Tseka a shy smile. Tseka reminded herself to give the woman the benefit of doubt and forced a smile back.

“Tseka, you are as lovely as always,” Erizen said by way of greeting. Tseka couldn’t prevent her lip curling in something akin to a distasteful sneer.

“Oh yes, always a pleasure, I’m sure.” Tseka’s sarcasm was difficult to miss but possible to ignore, which they did. “What brings you here?”

“My ladies told me about your little misunderstanding earlier, and Orchid here wanted to apologize on everyone’s behalf,” Erizen said. Tseka was glad she’d had time to cool her temper.

Erizen nudged Orchid forward. “Go ahead, my dear.”

Orchid curtseyed to Tseka. “Warrior Lady Tseka, please forgive us our assumption. I hope you understand that we meant no offense. We spoke without truly thinking.”

Tseka found herself caving a little, although she still felt a small simmering anger in her core. “I forgive you,” she said, and found that she meant it—for Orchid, at least, since the apology seemed genuine. She wasn’t sure about the others. Maybe time would tell.

“Yes, though it was all quite understandable,” Erizen cut in. “I’ve made a number of fascinating creatures in the past with the help of magic.” He looked at his concubine. “And she would be a particularly fine creation, wouldn’t she? But don’t worry, my flower, no creation could ever replace you.”

Tseka’s grip on her spear—still in her hand from practice—tightened as Erizen smirked. Orchid shot her an apologetic smile. Tseka wondered how Erizen always knew just what to do to get under her scales; she was so careful to keep her reactions under wraps.

“Well,
Lord
Erizen, maybe if they were free to explore the areas outside your bedroom, they could learn that many species wander this world.” Tseka didn’t wait for him to respond. She slithered towards him boldly, forcing him to step aside or be shoved aside. Wisely, he chose to move.

Tseka heard Erizen murmur something to Orchid, but she couldn’t tell what, or if the concubine responded. Telling herself she didn’t care but wishing she had a fellow Nadra to lean on, she headed back to her quarters.

She found Esset reading his tome in her room. He looked up and smiled at her—a real, genuine smile upon seeing a friend, not one loaded with additional meaning or insults.

Tseka relaxed a little and smiled back. “Esset, is something wrong?”

“Er, no. Not really. I was looking for you earlier, then decided to wait here,” he said.
Now
he looked a little sheepish, and Tseka resisted the urge to sigh. What was with humans and ulterior motives? Maybe this was payback for all the times she’d created mischief among her own people.

“What did you need?” Tseka asked. She was at least amused because he seemed to be embarrassed by something.

“Do you mind if I hide in here with you for a while?” Esset asked. There was even a hint of desperation in his voice.

“Hiding from what?” Tseka asked with a little hiss of amusement.

“Erizen’s harem. They are, uh, exceedingly grateful for being rescued. Their attention is a little, uh, disconcerting.” Esset rubbed the back of his neck.

“Oh?” Tseka arched an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t normally mind attention from women, but, uh… Well, they keep offering me, ah, ‘favors.’ I’m fairly sure Erizen is putting them up to it, knowing it’ll embarrass me,” Esset said. Tseka was finding this as amusing as Erizen probably did, much as she hated sharing anything with that man, but she kept her mouth shut.