CHAPTER 17
I GAPED AT VALEK. Assassinating the Council would help the Vermin and support Cahil’s claims. “You’re not—”
“No. It’s the wrong thing to do right now. The Commander based his decision on the state of Sitian affairs before these Vermin showed up. He allowed me a degree of flexibility on this mission. We need to find out what’s going on. The Council meeting tonight might reveal crucial information.”
“We?”
“Yes. We.”
I sighed. I was disobeying direct orders from the Master Magicians and the Council again, getting involved with Sitian affairs. Would I ever agree with their decisions or was I deep down an Ixian just pretending to be impartial? Perhaps my session with Gede would be useful. I needed guidance as well as information.
Valek and I agreed to meet back in my room later tonight. He left.
Apprehension swirled around me like a thick fog as I dressed and walked to the Citadel’s guest quarters. The small clouds in the sky darkened as the light faded. The streets hummed with people finishing up their tasks for the day. Lamplighters began lighting the vast network of street lanterns. The main thoroughfares would be lit, but the back alleys would remain dark.
My concern grew as I passed a number of Vermin sauntering along the streets as if they owned the place. I avoided their gazes and wondered how the Council could be so swayed by Cahil’s words. Perhaps a Warper had influenced them with magic, making them more agreeable.
The Citadel’s guest quarters were located in a building behind the Council Hall and next to the stables. The two-story structure housed many apartments and I peered through the gloom, trying to determine which one Gede occupied. A shadow moved next to an entrance. Moon Man stepped from a pool of darkness.
“This way,” he said.
No emotion showed on his face. Gone was his sense of mischievousness and the spark of amusement in his eyes. I missed them.
“Moon Man, I—”
“You must not keep Gede waiting,” he said in a flat voice. “Your Story Weaver is ready for you.”
He ushered me inside, closing and locking the door behind us. Heat pressed against my skin as if I stood in an oven. A roaring fire blazed in the hearth, illuminating the living area. All the furniture had been pushed against the walls. Gede sat cross-legged on a mat in front of the fire. A few Sandseeds sat in the cleared space in the center of the room.
“Come. Sit.” Gede pointed to a mat in front of him.
I hesitated.
“You are the Soulfinder. You should not be afraid of fire. Sit or learn nothing.”
Removing my cloak and pack, I placed them by the entrance. I longed to pull my bow from its holder but ignored the desire. Instead, I joined Gede on the floor.
Sweat ran down his round face. His skin appeared black in the firelight. A trick of the light revealed an intricate tattoo design connecting the scars on his bare arms. But when I blinked, the design was gone.
“As a Soulfinder you can examine a soul, twist it, hold it and return it. You can send your soul to others. And you can project your soul to the other worlds, and return without any harm being done to your body,” Gede instructed.
“The other worlds?”
“The fire world, the sky and the shadow world. You know about the shadow world from Moon Man. Moonlight is the gateway to the shadow world. The sky is the final resting place of our essence. The fire world is what some call the underworld. What it is supposed to be under, I have no idea. But that is where the Fire Warper lives. And where you must go.”
“Why? Why must it be me?”
Gede’s disappointment was evident by the sagging of his shoulders. “You are the Soulfinder. The Fire Warper’s soul is there.”
The heat from the room baked into my body. My shirt clung to my back. “How do I get there?”
“Through the fire.”
When I didn’t say anything, Gede continued. “Only you can go in and leave without being harmed. The Warpers have been feeding this creature with souls from the Kirakawa ritual. His strength grows.”
The flames in the fire pulsed with an urgency. They swelled to man-size. I looked at Gede in alarm, but he appeared serene.
“He waits for you. Go to him,” Gede said.
I stood. “No. I’m not ready. I don’t even know how to fight him. With magic?”
Gede sneered with disdain. “You have no idea, do you? All the better.”
Confused, I glanced between Gede and the fire, expecting the Fire Warper to step from the conflagration.
“He comes for you. If you will not go on your own, then I will provide an incentive.” He snapped his fingers. “Moon Man, show your pupil what she needs to do.”
Moon Man strode toward the blaze. The flames reached out to him. He extended his hands and the fingers of fire wrapped around his arms.
“No,” I yelled. “Get back.” I grabbed Moon Man’s shoulders and pulled to no avail.
The tendrils of fire advanced and crawled over my hands. A burning excitement tingled and souls writhed in agony within the depths of the blaze. Caught between worlds. Hundreds of them. They dragged us toward them.
My first instinct had been to resist, but their need for freedom, for relief clawed at my body. I needed to help them. Leaning with Moon Man, I pushed forward. The fire burned on my skin, but the pain stayed bearable and a cooling relief lurked on the other side. If I could just get through.
A hand tugged on my shoulders. I tried to shake the person off. “It’s okay. They need me.”
An arm from outside the fire world circled my neck and squeezed. My hands still clutched Moon Man’s shoulders, trapped in the fire world. “No. Stop. I must…”
The souls ceased their pleading and flinched. “Wait.” The word wheezed from my lips as I strained for air. But they hid and cowered. “I’ve come to help—”
“But who will help you, my little bat?” the Fire Warper asked.
I lost my grip on the Story Weaver. Without the breath to speak, I projected, Do something! into Moon Man’s mind.
I can not. I have no power here.
The fire world blurred into a blob of orange and yellow. I plucked at the arm around my neck, but my hands weighed a hundred pounds. The blob transformed into black.
I woke. Lying on my back, I squinted and blinked until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. The cold air moved like silk over my hot body. My head throbbed and the skin on my hands and arms sizzled with pain. I drew a thread of magic and used it to soothe my head and heal the blisters.
“How about helping me,” Leif said. He held out his arms. They had been scorched.
Leif sat next to me. We were in an alley in the Citadel. Concentrating, I pulled power and healed his burns. My energy sapped, I leaned back against a wall as a wave of dizziness made my head spin.
“What happened?” My voice croaked as pain ringed my neck.
“I had business in the Citadel tonight and thought I’d wait for you by the guest quarters. Out of nowhere Valek appeared.” Leif paused, but when I failed to explain, he continued. “He muttered a comment about a Council meeting and asked where you were. By the firelight blazing through the windows, it wasn’t hard to figure out. Valek picked the lock and we peeked in time to see you and Moon Man hug the fire.”
He wiped soot from his face with a sleeve. “Valek attacked the Sandseeds inside and yelled for me to get you. Gede screamed for me to leave you alone, that you need to learn. Valek’s scarier than Gede, so I listened to
