“From the moment I walked through the door to that moment in the clearing, I’d not had a thought of my own. I’d let my fury lead me, let the fire take charge. But now, I remembered my mum. I’d left her alone, battered and bleeding, surrounded by that horror.
“I ran back home, but it was too late. She’d bled to death there in our kitchen, right next to my dad.
“I buried my mum and dad together, where the hyacinths grow. I fed those tainted fuckers to the wolves, all except one piece of skin, with the tattoo of their guild. Because one day, I’ll find the rest of them, and I’ll make them pay.
“Thing is, if I’d kept control, if I’d stayed at the house instead of hunting them down, I might have saved my mum. That’s what I’ve got to look out for, any time I taste the fire. Not letting it take control. Because if I let it, who knows who I might hurt next time.”
“You didn’t hurt her,” Vesma said, laying a hand on his arm. “You know that.”
“But I didn’t save her. And that part; that’s my fault.”
I walked on in stunned silence, not knowing what to say. I’d heard awful stories from other operatives, people who’d been to African war zones or dealt with Mexican cartels. But this was the first time I’d heard anything so terrible firsthand. It made me want to find every tainted guild member in the Seven Realms and make them pay for their crimes. For now, I had a sword to retrieve, but I’d get my chance to cleanse this world one day.
We kept descending deeper into the ground and reached the cavern where I’d killed my first Scorched Salamander. The body was gone, perhaps carried off as food by some other creature. I looked around at the tunnel mouths and tried to determine which would take us deeper into the mountain.
“This way.” Kegohr growled and pointed with his mace.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“The fire,” he replied. “I can feel it. Can’t you?”
I closed my eye and tried to feel the magic flowing through me. But whatever Kegohr had sensed, I was missing it.
Kegohr led the way down a sloping tunnel that emerged into another large cave. Lava fell like a waterfall at the back of the cavern, from a hole close to the ceiling down into a broad, deep pit. In front of it, Scorched Salamanders lay basking on rocks, while Ember Sprites wandered back and forth. The sprites summoned fire with their hands, coated their bodies with it, and ran around in some sort of strange sport.
As we entered the chamber, the sprites stopped their games and the salamanders raised their heads. The great lizards slid off their rocks as fire flared between their teeth.
“Well, now, it’s a party,” I said.
“Right now,” Kegohr said, “this is just what I need.”
He hefted his mace and charged.
I drew my sword and ran after him, Vesma beside me.
We hit the Ember Sprites first as the mad little creatures leaped at us. They clung to my limbs as they clambered over each other to climb up me and attack. I flung one aside and kicked another away, but the rest had a tight grip. I swung my sword down, cut one in half, and knocked another off my leg. One sank its teeth into my right arm, and a jolt of hot, intense pain lanced through me. I brought my left hand around, called forth the power of wood, and shot three large thorns into its face. It fell to the floor as smoke streamed from the holes in its head.
Kegohr was swinging wildly about with his mace and hammering at anything within reach. Ember Sprites turned to dusty smears as he crushed them between his weapon and the ground.
To my right, Vesma darted around the cave while her spear swung in long, smooth arcs. She moved so fast that the sprites couldn’t get a grip on her. They charged in, and she leapt over their heads as her blade sang through the air. The creatures became diced remnants of their former selves even before she landed. As a salamander charged Vesma with its jaws flashing, she held up her arm, and a Flame Shield appeared, just in time to protect her as the creature released a fireball.
Two of the salamanders lumbered toward me, and I leapt into the air as the first one spouted a sphere of flame. I landed on its back before it reared its legs and threw me off. The other charged straight at me, and its snout slammed into my side. I hit the rock hard, and the sword almost fell from my hand.
The lizard opened its mouth wide, seconds away from frying me or biting my head off. In desperation, I thrust up with my sword, straight between its jaws, through the roof of its mouth, and up into the brain. It let out one last hot breath before it collapsed. I only just managed to pull my sword out in time before its jaws closed around where my arm had been.
The other salamander approached, and fire shot from its mouth. I rolled clear, took momentary shelter behind the body, and looked around.
