Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (37 page)

“
Gaav seemed pretty level-headed to me,” Mat said, considering.
“I don't know, man. Religion's supposed to show people how to be
good, right? Maybe some people don't need that. Maybe some people
are just good people, regardless of what they believe.”

The rest of the day slipped idly by, Ezra
occasionally leafing through the thunder-struck propaganda he'd
inadvertently brought with him. They took turns keeping watch, each
looking out for a few hours at a time.

The sun was just beginning to set when Ezra
suddenly sat bolt upright. “I've got it,” he whispered. Mat and
Sarah looked over with mild interest.

“
Would you like to share it with the rest of the class,
Hawkins?” Sarah asked dryly.

“
The fire,” Ezra said excitedly. “I know how we can find out
who caused it. We just ask!”

“
Oh?” Mat said, voice amused. “And who are we gonna ask? Are
you already on a first name basis with this god, or Earth or
Lightning or whoever it is?” He idly nudged
The Will of the Elements
with his
foot.

“
No, I mean, we ask the fire-kissed! The one who stopped the
fire, what was his name... Stephen!” Ezra announced proudly. “If
there was another fire-kissed involved, maybe he, I don't know...
felt something.” He beamed at his teammates.

“
Okay Hawkins,” Sarah said, serious voice belying merrily
dancing eyes. “I like this idea. So what's the plan? Wait, wait,
don't tell me... we march down, find this kid, explain who we are
with everyone looking on, and then ask him directly if he thinks
that maybe there's another fire-kissed around burning the place to
cinders?”

“
Well, that wasn't exactly-”

“
No, hold on, I got it!” Mat interrupted, snickering. “We go
down there, in the dead of night, and we... wait for it... we throw
a bag over his head and carry him off! But you're saying, 'Hold on
Mat, he's a fire-kissed, he'll just toast us the second we jump
him.' Well, I've got that covered too. You see, we soak the bag in
water. Get it? Water, so that he can't use fire!”

“
Fine!” Ezra threw his hands up in disgust. “I was just trying
to be helpful, but I can see that you two would rather just sit
around here until-”

The door to the bell tower creaked open.
Holding a long, heavy looking tube, Stephen the fire-kissed walked
into the room. Everyone froze. The boy's eyes locked on to the
obviously high-tech railgun next to Ezra.

The team burst into motion. Mat lunged
forward, disarming the fire-kissed and sweeping his legs with
blinding speed. The dart gun Sarah had just finished re-assembling
leaped into her hand as she sighted and fired in a smooth motion.
Stephen fell heavily to the floor as his legs flew out from under
him and the dart hit home. The Sanctuary team blinked at each
other.

Mat cleared his throat and said hopefully,
“I need to ask the Haldis girls a few questions about the fire too.
It would help if all three of them were naked.” He looked around
expectantly, then sighed in disappointment. “I guess that's not
working anymore.”

“
Huh,” Ezra said, looking at the young man on the floor. He
picked up the tube Mat had skillfully removed from the young
elementalist's person and carefully opened it. Inside he found... a
telescope? “Huh,” he said again.

“
Well... that... huh,” Sarah agreed eloquently.

Ezra's brain finally caught up. “Okay then,
uh... Mat. Do you have anything that will bring down a fever?”

“
I
don't think you're hallucinating, man,” Mat said wonderingly. “Or
maybe I'm hallucinating too. You might be on to something with the
fever-”

“
No, not for me, for him. I have a theory that if we can lower
his core temperature, we can essentially prevent him from using his
powers. I read about something like it in a mission report, where a
fire-kissed melted through a frozen lake. His people pulled him
out, but he couldn't call up any fire, at least for a little while.
The villagers chased him out of town.”

Mat snapped his fingers. “Got just the
thing.” He started going through his medical kit mumbling to
himself about body mass and average temperature.

“
Good. Sarah, how long will he be out? Can you tie him up
securely before he comes to?”

“
Um,” Sarah blinked away her confusion. “A normal person would
be down for eighteen hours, give or take, depending on body mass.
But... his core temperature is so much higher, I bet he'll burn
through it by morning. So yeah,” she uncoiled a length of rope from
her pack and went to work. “I think I can manage.”

“
Right, good,” Ezra leaned down to check the boy's pulse.
Strong and steady. “Interesting... looks like his powers are linked
into his conscious mind. He feels much cooler than he should now
that he's out.”

Sarah glanced at Ezra as she secured one of
Stephen's arms, then shrugged. “I guess. Still feels pretty warm to
me.”

Ezra nodded absently, lost in thought.

==

Stephen woke shivering. That was probably
for the best. “Who are you people?” He looked around wide-eyed.
“W-what are you doing you here?”

“
Calm down, no-one's going to hurt you,” Ezra said. “We just
need to ask you a few questions.”

The fire-kissed focused on Ezra, teeth
chattering. “Wh-why am I so cold?”

“
To prevent misunderstandings,” Mat muttered from his position
with the railgun, watching the road. Sarah remained silent,
standing behind the bound young man, crossbow trained on his
skull.

“
Stephen, please, we don't have a lot of time,” Ezra said
quickly. “We need to know about the fire that you stopped. Can you
tell me how you did it? Was there another fire-kissed out there who
was controlling it?”

“
Another... no, I-I don't know. It was like... Oh Mother help
me, I don't know anything. Please you have to believe
me.”

Ezra took a deep breath. “Okay, let's start
at the beginning, then. When did you realize you were a
fire-kissed?”

“
Um,” Stephen swallowed hard, “it w-was during the firestorm, I
guess. Y-you see, I star-gaze. I come up here on clear nights with
m-my telescope.” He suddenly started twisting around. “You didn't
break it did you?” he asked in genuine panic. “I-it's been in my
family for generations. Please, is it okay?”

Ezra scooped up the
telescope case and popped the top open for Stephen to see. The
young man sagged in relief. “Oh thank Fire and Earth. W-where was
I? Oh, right, star-gazing. I was sleeping late b-because there was
going to be a m-meteor shower. And Fire, she came to me, in a
dream... so b-beautiful. She s-said there was no time, then she...”
his face flushed and he squirmed awkwardly. “She k-kissed me. And
t-then, it was like I was on fire. I m-must have fallen off the
bed, I woke up, all sweaty, a-and stumbled outside.” The blood
drained from his face as he spoke. “Everything was b-burning. The
sky, it was all smoke and ash, and I could
feel
the f-fire coming. I tried to
push it back, b-but it was just t-too much. I tried, I did... I
just w-wasn't strong enough.” Stephen looked up, eyes
pleading.

“
That's enough, that's good, thank you Stephen,” Ezra glanced
back at Sarah, who shrugged her shoulders. The kid was clearly a
mess of guilt. Well, it was something, at least. Stephen probably
wasn't responsible for the fire, and if it had been the work of a
more experienced fire-kissed they would have most likely
overwhelmed him in short order. Ezra wiped his brow.

“
We've got incoming,” Mat said softly. “Holy... something out
there is really hot. And it's... it's like the same temperature all
the way through, no excess heat bleeding out at all. That's gotta
be her.” Mat deftly switched the scope from thermal to visual.
“Struck me, she's in some kinda palanquin or something, bare-backed
slaves carrying it on poles and everything. I can't see her at all.
It looks like she's got... four, eight, sixteen... at least sixteen
guards, and they're marching in good order.”

“
What are you t-talking about?” Stephen asked, teeth still
chattering. “Who's coming?”

“
Quiet,” Ezra hissed, watching Mat anxiously.

“
Wait, wait, two more and... thundering hell, they're wearing
these ridiculous full body black robes, cowls and everything. I
know it's not as hot as it was yesterday, but it's still blighted
warm out there. Something's off about this whole thing though... I
can't put my finger on it... it's like...” Mat froze. He didn't
even breath for at least ten seconds. “Bad things happen. Oh god,
bad things happen,” he whispered rapidly under his breath.
“Sarah... Sarah you need to come look at this.”

Ezra cleared his throat meaningfully while
Sarah stared daggers at Mat.

“
Struck security, you
need
to see this
now
!” he quickly got up, drawing his
bolt-thrower and leveling it on Stephen.

“
N-no, please I d-didn't-”

Mat kicked him in the head. “I'm not joking
around here.” His voice was calm, level, and made of something
unbreakable, as the fire-kissed slumped to the side, unconscious.
“Sarah, go look in the strucking scope.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “All right, all
right, I'm looking.” She laid her crossbow down and sighted along
the scope. “I don't see them, they passed behind a hill.”

“
Give it time,” Mat said, worried gaze still locked in the
direction of the Besmirched expedition. Ezra checked Stephen's
pulse. Still alive, just knocked out again. Well, he hadn't hoped
to get much more out of the young man anyways...

“
Okay, they're coming around the hill. Looks like your count
was accurate, still no visual on the fire-kissed. Yes those robes
are ridiculous, Mat what am I supposed to be looking for here?” She
turned and glanced back at Mat, exasperated.

Mat returned her stare in steely silence.
Sarah made a disgusted sound and put her eye back to the scope.
“They're maybe three or four minutes away at the pace they're
going. At least the blighted guards are keeping step like halfway
competent military and holding their guns...” Her breath caught in
her throat. “Their blighted guns,” she whispered. “Thundering hell,
those can't be their guns.”

“
What?” Ezra asked, confused. “What's wrong with their
guns?”

Sarah looked up at him, horrified. “Their
guns were made in Sanctuary.”

“
Their... what?” Ezra squinted out at the little group on the
road. “Where could they... how could they even
get
weapons made in Sanctuary? Do
we... we don't sell things to them, right?”

“
I
don't know, I just don't...” Sarah got up and started pacing
nervously, hands running through her hair. “But this... this is
big. A-and bad. This is... struck it, I don't even
know...”

Ezra grabbed the railgun and looked out at
the procession. Sure enough, their guns had a sleek, finished, and
distinctively modern look to them. He could even make out a Hughes
Legacy mark etched into the case of one of the weapons, attesting
to the quality of the materials. He whistled under his breath. No
doubt about it; those were manufactured in Sanctuary.

He turned the scope back toward town,
checking the tavern. Bert was pacing nervously next to the counter.
Ezra switched the audio channel to public. “Everything's ready, the
men are all in place.” The twitchy man glanced at Ernest, who was
meticulously cleaning the bar. “We know where they are, we know
when they'll get here.” He glanced up at the sun. “We know she
likes her jasmine tea strong, it's been simmering all morning.
She's probably thirsty from the trip. The outer table is cleaned
and set, everything else looks dirty, so we just have to-”

“
Jeremiah!” The barkeep interrupted Bert loudly. “If you're not
finished back there in the next thirty seconds, I'll tell Stephen
to burn that shack to the ground, you hear me?”

Bert stopped pacing and looked around in
terror. “Oh, oh, blighted hell, where's Stephen?” Ezra's mouth went
dry. “I haven't seen him all day. What if they caught him, or if
he's in on it with Val, or-”

“
Relax,” Ernest growled, eyes never leaving the bar. “He didn't
know anything about this and you know it. Doesn't matter where he
is.”

“
Right, right, doesn't matter, of course, you're right.” The
little man mopped at his forehead. “What about them other two? We
ain't seen hide nor hair of them, and my boys were looking, don't
you doubt it.”

The bartender's jaw
tightened. “Could be they were what they said they were, just
better at making themselves scarce than most. Must've been to
travel this country, just the two of em. Mother knows I'll tip my
hat to
competent
help.”

Bert looked at Ernest in confusion. “What're
you...” A sharp whistle went up from the gate. Bert frantically
shot a glance at the sun again, then grabbed a shabby, wide-brimmed
hat and screwed it onto his head. “Right, showtime.” He quickly
walked towards the village square, but stopped just outside the
tavern, looking back over his shoulder. “In case... in case this
all goes up in thunder, I just wanted you to know, it's been a
pleasure working with you, Ernest.” Bert bowed his head slightly to
the barkeep.