Calling On Fire (Book 1) (40 page)

Drums reverberated through the tunnels, both heard and felt in every corner of Salithsa. The relentless pounding was a primal call to the body of each and every underground denizen to dance in whatever fashion matched their form as the Nadra celebrated the return of peace. Few slept for the three-day duration of the celebration, but for Toman's healing body, that wasn't an option.

"Victorious again!" Esset crowed as he walked into Toman's room and saw his brother awake.

"Won another puzzle game, did we?" Toman asked wryly.

"I don't win them all, but they're
fun
," Esset said, eyes alight. "Although Tseka keeps trying to get me to spar with her. Yeah, right, like being thumped around with a spear butt is fun." Then he spotted the piece of wood on the bedspread.

"Whatcha doing?" Esset asked.

"Just…practicing," Toman said, moving the piece of wood to the floor.

"How's that going?" Esset asked.

"Slow." Toman's frustration was in the clipped word. "It should be possible, and every so often I get far enough that I really believe it is, but… it's just so much more complex than anything I've ever done before. It has to be an extension of myself and able to deliver sensory information back to me. It has to behave so I don't even have to consciously think about it."

"You'll get it," Esset assured him. "But shouldn't you be taking a break? Resting, letting your arm heal?"

"Yeah, probably. I just—" Toman gave a huff. "It's driving me crazy. If I can't manage this, there's no way we'll be able to take on Moloch. Ever. And I have to know. I have to know if that's still something that's going to happen."

Esset looked away. "We might just have to wait to find out," he said.

"I know." Toman rubbed the skin above his stump in irritation.

"You know, after you were bit, there was a moment where I wanted to give up the chase for Moloch," Esset said.

Toman jerked and he flushed, opening his mouth to say something. At a shake of Esset's head, Toman's eyes narrowed and he closed his mouth.

"Let me finish," Esset said. "I was so afraid of what might happen to you. What could still happen to you if we kept on this road. As you're always reminding me, our lives aren't one of the old tales. There isn't always a happy ending. But it's the same as it always is, isn't it? Like after the Baliyan war. The things we saw…"

He trailed off, but Toman held his silence until Esset spoke again.

"Every time one of us has a brush with mortality, we question our path, but we always keep going." Esset squeezed his eyes shut. "This needs doing. Moloch has to be stopped. I don't question that." He opened his eyes again and met Toman's.

"If you decide you still want to chase Moloch, I'll follow you. Just like always."

"Thank you," Toman said, even though it didn't need to be said. Esset just nodded.

"So let's get you better. Once the celebration is over, we can go talk to Sergeant Warthog and tell her we won't be taking jobs until you're healed up, and then go see Mom and Dad," Esset said.

"They'll like that," Toman agreed.

"She'll freak out, seeing you like that," Esset said, suddenly grinning.

"Bright Hyrishal, she'll feed me until I explode." Toman groaned just as Tseka barged in.

"What are you groaning about?" her sharp voice asked from the doorway, but she didn't wait for an answer. "You two spend entirely too much time moping in here. Come on. Toman, Kessa's looking for you. We're celebrating! No sleeping." She slithered over and shoved Esset towards the door, nearly knocking him over.

"Hey!" he protested, but all he got was a poke in the back from her tail.

Tseka was already hauling Toman unceremoniously out of the bed.

"Hey! Ow! Stop it, I'm moving!" Toman protested until she let him alone—that was only after he was on his feet.

"And don't stop," Tseka warned Toman as he moved very slowly and carefully towards the doorway.

"I won't. Sheesh, you wouldn't know I'd only been on my feet again for a couple days. I can't move that fast," Toman said.

Tseka ignored him. "The kitchen made some of that nasty sweet food you humans like so much, so you better eat it all.
I
certainly won't be touching it." She looked like she was going to give Toman an "encouraging" prod when Kessa poked her head through the curtain.

"You're coming! Good, the kitchen made cake!" she announced. She shot Tseka a wary look but wasn't deterred from going to Toman's side.

"Good, Kessa, you make sure these lazy louts make it to the celebration. No more slacking off," Tseka ordered. Kessa gave a meek nod before the scarlet Nadra slithered away.

"Yeesh," Toman muttered under his breath, and Kessa peered at him.

"She cares, doesn't she? She's scary, but she cares." Kessa looked a little confused.

"Yes," Toman answered simply. Kessa shook her head at the little puzzle of life.

"Oh, Esset, I just remembered," Kessa said. "Orisna says there's a new game for you to try. She seemed sure she'd beat you this time."

Esset grinned wolfishly. "Bring it."

After three solid days and nights of celebrating, the entire city collapsed into sleep for a full day before normal activity resumed and Toman and Esset prepared to leave. Leaving was more difficult than either could have imagined when they'd first stepped foot in Salithsa.

“Hey, I promise we’ll try to come back and visit someday,” Toman said, hugging Kessa back after she’d launched herself into his chest. It was obviously a one-armed hug, with his empty coat-sleeve stuffed with cloth and propped in a sling to hide the loss of his limb. He had yet to make a working replacement.

“Don’t go yet,” Kessa pleaded. “You’re not better yet, you could stay a while longer…” She looked at him, her brilliant blue eyes watering.

“We’re going to see our family,” Esset said, even though she already knew that. “We’ll be safe, and Toman’ll heal up all right.”

“I know,” Kessa admitted reluctantly, snuggling into Toman’s chest. Both of the young men had grown used to the Nadra’s tactile inclinations, but even so, it was obvious that Kessa was clinging to him a little longer to delay their departure.

“Who knows, maybe one day, after everything’s all over and done with, we could take you on an adventure, see some human cities,” Esset suggested cheerfully, trying to brighten the mood in the tunnel. They had stopped to say their last farewells just inside the entrance to the tunnel that led to the city.

“It will be but an eyeblink to us,” Nassata added to Kessa, reaching out to her cousin to draw her away from Toman and back to her own side.

“I will miss you both,” Kessa said sadly, looking between the animator and the summoner.

“We’ll miss you too,” Toman responded.

“We owe you much,” Nassata said, leaning forward and extending her arm. First Esset, then Toman clasped it in a warrior’s grip.

“We owe you as much,” Esset professed. “If you ever need us, the sergeant will probably know where to find us.”

“And if you need us, you know where we can be found,” Nassata responded solemnly. Esset nodded, and they smiled at each other.

“Well, we’d best be going. We’ll be traveling the same way we came, and the sooner we get that over with, the better,” Esset said. That small, bumpy carriage was boring, and spending days in it… he couldn’t wait for it to be over. He was looking forward to seeing his family again, too.

“Bright Hyrishal keep you,” Esset said by way of goodbye before turning and heading out the tunnel. Toman was a moment longer, meeting Nassata’s and then Kessa’s eyes and giving them each a deliberate nod before following his brother. He’d never been good with words.

“Peace be with you,” Kessa whispered after them.

Once they were a few paces away, Nassata tugged her cousin’s arm and pulled her back towards the underground city. “Come Kessa, let’s go back.”

Toman knew they’d be fine—he’d left his soldiers with the Nadra, and all the Reshkin were dead anyways. That wasn’t why he glanced back to watch them go. Esset looked back too, and not just to see if Toman was coming. They’d both miss the snake-folk. But they had a job to do, and it wasn’t done yet. They could look back, but they couldn’t linger.

“Blueberries are in season now, aren’t they?” Esset asked when Toman caught up with him.

“Maybe?” Toman hazarded—he didn’t really keep track.

“Maybe Mom will have pie.”

Toman and Esset arrived at the Staggering Tankard early in the morning and ate breakfast while waiting for Sergeant Warthog's usual midmorning arrival.

“Sergeant!” Esset called to her, waving her over. Not that she wasn’t heading in their direction anyways—they were both seated at the table always reserved for her.

“Boys,” she returned their greeting more conservatively. “The Nadra are faring well again then, I take it?”

“Their problem has been taken care of,” Esset confirmed with a nod. Sergeant Warthog drew even with the table and then noticed Toman’s state for the first time.

“Had a little trouble, by the looks of it,” she commented blandly.

“Yeah, we—” Esset was cut off by a sudden puff of black smoke that burst into existence in the center of the room.

A young man clad in black stepped from the smoke; he didn’t press the element of surprise with an attack, but no one present liked the look of him. Sergeant Warthog whirled around, drawing a knife so quickly that it seemed to just appear in her hand.

Esset jumped to his feet, an incantation ready to spill off his tongue. Only Toman didn’t move, trapped between Esset and the wall as he was. Not that he wasn’t preparing for battle as well—he had touched almost every piece of furniture in the building at some point or another, and he was giving them instructions so that they would become animated at his whim. If this intruder proved hostile, he would find himself fighting every single object occupying the room.

The intruder was young, Toman and Esset’s age or younger. He was pale and made paler by the contrast with his black garb. He wore a trim black suit and a sweeping black cape with a high collar. His black hair was pulled tight against his skull by a harsh leather band in a knot at the nape of his neck. Even his eyes were dark; Toman couldn’t tell what color they were exactly, but they seemed to be a very dark shade of grey or brown. His expression suggested that he wasn’t a very pleasant person, nevermind the fact that he looked like the villain out of any children’s tale of heroes versus evil magic. His eyes fell on the sergeant, ignoring the others completely.

“You are the one known as the sergeant?” he asked her, almost disdainfully.

“Who wants to know?” she snarled. He ignored the question in favor of a demand.

“Meet at the eastern side of town. Half an hour.” The black smoke lingering in the room suddenly condensed into a puff around him and multiplied. A second later, he was gone.

“Well that was special,” Esset muttered darkly. The sergeant, meanwhile, was sheathing her knife and checking all her weapons.

“Wait, you’re not going to meet him, are you?” Esset asked, surprised.

“I am,” Sergeant Warthog replied evenly. “I think I’ll slap him around with the flat of my blade a bit, and then, if he’s properly repentant and not a total darkling, I’ll hear him out.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“His behavior was unacceptable. I can’t have him setting precedent,” the sergeant replied shortly, walking away from them towards the bar.

“Okay then, I’m coming with you,” Esset said, following her. Toman sighed inwardly and braced himself to get up. There was no way he was being left behind.

“If you like, but stay out of my way,” the headstrong mercenary agreed.

“I’m coming too,” Toman said, following more slowly.

“You sure that’s wise?” Esset asked. Toman glared at him and he subsided. The sergeant ordered a portable meat-pie for her breakfast and ate it quickly before setting off. Late morning found the dusty streets busy with traffic. Carriages, riders, and pedestrians navigated the broad streets easily. Everyone went about their business with a minimum of fuss between the low, simple buildings that made up the town.