Trial by Fire (43 page)

Lily scrambled back up onto her feet and grabbed the nearest torch off of its sconce on the wall. She took in the torch’s heat, and a witch wind whistled toward her from all directions. Lily changed the gathered heat into force and fed it to Rowan. The sounds of the fight in the corridor picked up again.

Go get the scientist, Rowan. We’re almost out of time.

I’ll lose contact with you if I go for Chenoa. She’s all the way down a corridor at a right angle from yours. It’ll put fathoms of granite between us.

It’s okay if we’re out of contact for a bit. You draw off the guards, and I’ll start up the steps while you get her. I’ll meet you aboveground.

I don’t like it.

I’ll be fine. Just do it, okay?

Okay. Go quickly.

“Lily?” Juliet said, her voice ragged.

Lily’s head snapped around, and she saw that she was standing in front of a dark cell. Juliet was in there.

“What are you doing down here?” Lily said disbelievingly. She put the torch back in its sconce and grabbed onto the bars of Juliet’s cell. Her sister came to her and hugged her through the bars.

“I told you I got into a little trouble with Lillian,” Juliet replied.

“How could she do this to you?” Lily said, her teeth grinding together. She called out to Rowan in mindspeak, but she got no reply.

“I told Lillian if she wanted to hang them, she’d have to hang me first. The scientists, I mean,” Juliet admitted sheepishly. “I couldn’t stand back and let one more person die. And apparently killing them means more to her than I do.”

The sisters broke apart and Lily looked at Juliet. “I need a vessel. I can’t rip this door off, but if you let me claim you, I can give you strength and you’ll be able to.”

Juliet shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. “Lillian claimed me when we were kids.”

Lily knew that two witches couldn’t claim the same person. Juliet was stuck with Lillian unless she smashed her willstone and got a new one. Lily looked down the long corridor. There were more cells. Lily saw faces pressed against the bars, and even a few mirrors sticking out, as the inmates tried to see what was happening down the passageway.

“Who wants their freedom?” Lily screamed.

“Me! I’m not a scientist, I’m a tanner. I was only looking for a better dye for my skins,” one woman said loudly. She came forward and clutched the bars of her cell. She was an Outlander. Her face was covered in bruises, and her thick wrists were rubbed raw as if she’d been kept in iron shackles.

“I was accused because my neighbor wanted the reward money! I’ve never even dabbled in the scientific arts!” yelled the man across from her. He was waving his arms through the bars. His nails were long and grubby, and his sleeves threadbare rags. “Help me, witch! Help me, please.”

More voices joined theirs—all of them protesting their innocence. A great clamor erupted down the passageway. Arms waved and people banged on their cell doors.

“Everybody settle down,” Lily yelled, holding up her arms for silence. The noise stopped. Lily could still hear the clash of swords far off down one of the passageways and desperately hoped that Rowan was okay.

“Who here
hasn’t
been claimed by a witch?” Lily asked as she walked down the passageway and looked into each cell.

“None of us,” the tanner replied. “If we had, we could’ve proved our innocence in mindspeak. But witches don’t care who’s innocent or who’s guilty. They just want more names.”

Lily’s brow furrowed. It was so easy for a witch to find out the truth. All Lillian had to do was share mindspeak with a suspect, ask a few questions, and she’d know if that person was a scientist or not.

“Did you refuse to let Lillian claim you?” Lily asked.

“No,” the tanner replied, offended. “She refused us.”

“She needs us down here,” another woman said. Her voice was weak. When Lily looked in on her, she saw that she was an old woman. “We’re the example so all those that the Citadel can’t reach are too scared to even try to learn science.”

Lily nodded and stepped forward. She positioned herself halfway down the corridor so as many inmates as possible could see her. “Who wants to be claimed by me?” she asked. Silence. She didn’t have time for this. “Let’s try that again. Who wants to be claimed by me so you can free yourself and fight the Citadel?”

The clamor erupted again. Arms reached toward her. Lily went to the nearest, the tanner, and took her stone between her fingertips.

… A baby. My sweet little man. He needs me.

Lily gathered the pattern and released that stone, moving on to the next.

… A pretty little yard. I just want to go back home and see my garden.

Lily moved on to the next stone.

… A stack of books. I have so much reading to do. And I’ll never get it done before testing time, especially not if I’m stuck in this stupid hole. I don’t want to die here.

Lily sped up as she went. By the time she arrived at the last few cells she was swimming in other people’s loves and losses. She didn’t have time to process any of it. She just gathered the patterns and the most basic sense of each individual. The clock ticking, she ran to the nearest wall sconces and pulled down a torch.

A witch wind rushed toward her, moaning as it raced down the passageways. She changed the heat into energy and poured it into her newly claimed willstones. She didn’t turn the heat directly into force. She didn’t know what the gift would do to people who weren’t trained mechanics. Her instinct proved right. Most of the prisoners could only handle a tiny bit of power, barely enough to pull the bars of their cells apart, but still they gasped with awe at their first taste of a witch’s strength.

Lily grabbed the Outlander tanner by her shoulder as she raced by. She was physically the strongest of all the prisoners, but more importantly, Lily had noticed that she could handle a huge amount of power in her willstone. Briefly, Lily wondered why she hadn’t been trained as a crucible because she certainly had the talent.

“Free my sister,” Lily said, pointing to Juliet’s cell. The woman looked into the cell, recognized Juliet, and then peered into Lily’s face. She began backing away fearfully.

“You’re
her,
” the tanner whispered.

“No. I’m not,” Lily pleaded, reaching out again. The woman easily threw off Lily’s arm and began to run away.

The rest of the freed prisoners had already fled. Lily couldn’t let her go. No matter what she had to do, Lily knew she would do it to get her sister out of that cell. She hesitated a moment, but knew she had no other option. Lily played back the woman’s pattern to her willstone, unlocking it, and did what she’d promised Rowan she would never do. She took over the woman’s will. As Lily filled the woman like a hand in a glove, she resisted reveling in the delicious feeling of being in total control. She found the woman’s name in her mind and called to her.

Stop, Dana. Turn around. Come back.

Dana had no choice but to do as Lily commanded. Lily smothered a triumphant laugh, reminding herself that this was wrong.

Pull the bars apart.

Dana obeyed. Juliet slipped out from the between the bent bars and hugged Lily. Then she looked at Dana.

“Did you—” Juliet asked, unable to finish her thought aloud. Lily nodded and grabbed Juliet’s hand.

“Let’s go,” Lily said, pulling Juliet along. “Good-bye, Dana. I’m sorry I did that to you, but I had to. She’s my sister.”

Lily gave Dana back her will, even though she had to force herself to do so.

Go be with your son. Good luck.

Wait, Lily! I’ll never make it over the wall without you.

“I’m out of strength. Give me some more power so I can fight my way out,” Dana called aloud. Lily stopped and turned. “You owe me,” Dana said in a low voice.

The torches flickered with witch wind, and Dana’s willstone flared with power. Dana smiled and rolled her meaty shoulders as a huge measure of strength filled her.

“Now
I
owe
you
. Get behind me, you two,” Dana said, rushing down the corridor. “If anyone comes up from the rear, you holler and duck.”

And if you ever try to possess me again, I’ll find a way to kill you, Lily.

Understood.

Dana paused at the end of the passageway to look up and down the abutting main hallway. She waved Lily and Juliet forward, and then darted down the main hallway to grab a sword from a fallen guard.

“Oh my,” Juliet breathed when she saw all the bodies.

Lily had helped create this slaughter. It was inhuman to have enjoyed it as much as she had, and she wondered what had happened to her to make her so bloodthirsty. Was it the thrill of power, or was there something sinister growing inside her? She thought twice about possessing Dana, and still she did it. That worried her.

“Come on!” Dana said, charging toward the stairs. “Don’t get squeamish on me now.”

Lily and Juliet raced after Dana, taking the steps as quickly as they could. They encountered a pair of soldiers on the stairs, and Dana ran them both through before they could even call out. Their bodies slid past Lily and Juliet. Juliet shied away from the corpses, her hand at her mouth, and Lily had to pull on her arm to get her to move again. As they got closer to the surface, Lily tried to touch the minds of her mechanics.

Rowan? Tristan? Caleb?

She heard nothing in reply and kept climbing. Both she and Juliet were drained, and they were flagging. As they reached the surface, Lily heard the shouts and clangs of a huge fight. The three women passed through the broken bars of the portcullis and came out into the courtyard.

“Rowan!” Lily screamed.

He was fighting in the center of at least three-dozen soldiers, his legs planted around the crouching figure of a woman. He was bleeding.

Lily! Help me.

“Get back!” Lily yelled at Juliet and Dana. She yanked the pocket bomb out of her skirts, pulled the pin, squeezed the lever, and slid the clip over the lever to keep it in place. Dana recognized what was in Lily’s hand and tackled Juliet, who was staring at her sister, slack-jawed.

Lily threw the pocket bomb at her feet just as it exploded. The white-bright fire expanded, slowed, and then retreated back on itself as Lily devoured its energy. Instead of the deafening clap of a bomb there was silence, followed by the shrieks and howls of a fierce witch wind as it rushed over the ramparts. The wind hit Lily like fists on all sides and pushed her high into the air, arms straight up, head thrown back, and lips parted like she were trying to jump up and swallow the moon.

She sent the Gift to Rowan and felt him exalt in it.

The shrieking wind was nearly overshadowed by the screams of the soldiers as Rowan renewed his attack. He quickly blazed a path through the circle surrounding him and pulled the scientist out with him. He managed to stop himself from turning and facing the rest of the guards in the circle. He didn’t want to kill them all.

We need to run, Lily, before Lillian comes.

Wait, Rowan. My sister is down there. I have to Gift Dana to get them out of here.

Lily took the last of the heat from the smoldering wreck of the bomb, turned it directly into force, and channeled it into Dana’s stone. She felt Dana’s elation at this new and much more intense level of power and had to fight to stay focused.

Get my sister out of here, Dana. Don’t wait for me.

Alright. Good luck, Lily.

With its energy source almost completely spent, the witch wind grew weak and began buffeting Lily unevenly. Lily looked down as she was being tossed about violently and saw Dana pick up Juliet, throw her over her shoulder, and climb up the wall in a few fluid movements. She heard Rowan in her head.

I’m coming.

Rowan jumped and snatched Lily out of the air. He landed once, rebounded, and leapt over the Citadel wall, holding Lily on one side and the exhausted scientist on the other.

As they sped through the city, knocking stunned and frightened people out of the way, Lily heard Lillian’s voice in her mind.

Give them back! They must be hanged, Lily.

No, Lillian. I won’t let you do this.

You don’t know what they’re capable of. You don’t know because you haven’t woldjumped on your own. You haven’t seen the cinder worlds yet. Do you have any idea how many of them there are? I won’t let this world burn, too. Think of it, Lily—a few lives to save an entire world, a beautiful world. I know you agree with me. I know what you believe, and I know you’re strong enough to do what has to be done, no matter how hard it is. Deep in your heart, you ARE me.

No, Lillian. You’re wrong.

Am I? I didn’t want to do this, but I don’t have a choice anymore. I’m going to show you a version of your world I found on a spirit walk a month before I found you.

Lily tried to block it, but Lillian shoved the memory into her head so forcefully, Lily went board-stiff in Rowan’s arms.

… My spirit arrives to empty streets and abandoned cars. It’s a cinder world—yet another Earth that has been devoured in a holocaust of ambition and stupidity. Houses are burning down at the end of the block, and if the wind off the water picks up, the rest of the neighborhood will go up in flames as well. I can feel a version of myself down below, beneath the ground, even though she hates it down there. She’s with Juliet. I tell myself to get out of here. This is just one of millions of wasted worlds, but the pull to see what’s happening to them is strong, even though I’m sure I will see nothing but heartbreak.

I send my spirit through the poisoned air and down underground to find them hiding in the cellar. They are skinny and covered in sores. They won’t live much longer. If they’re lucky, the fire will suffocate them in a few hours. Better that than—

Lily finally managed to shove Lillian out of her mind.

“Lily!” Rowan squeezed Lily, trying to snap her out of it, “What happened? You’re shaking.”