Hero of Fire

by P. E. Padilla

  Kate looked over at Aurel, still carrying Jurdan’s body. She regretted deeply that she couldn’t have made a decision that would have saved him, but that was something entirely different. With the poison in him, he probably would have been dead by now even if he made it through the fortress alive.

  “Does anyone have an idea of how we can do that?” Kate settled in for whatever answers her team provided.

  36

  “We need to charge those blinding stones,” Koren said. It was the only suggestion anyone had.

  “I am not comfortable with someone giving their life so we can use the stones,” Kate threw back.

  “There isn’t—” Koren started, but was interrupted by two voices saying the same thing at the same time.

  “I volunteer.” It was both Benedict and Visimar. They looked at each other, and Kate thought that maybe there would be an argument, but they only flashed wry smiles at each other.

  “It’s time I started acting like a Black,” Visimar said. “I’ve spent too many years being bitter. I’ll do it.”

  Benedict looked at his former enemy and current friend. He sighed.

  “It needs to be me. I’m only half a warrior right now with my arm still affected by the poison. All I can say to convince you is…”

  Mid-sentence, Benedict struck out like a snake, punching Visimar squarely in the jaw and knocking him out. He grabbed at the falling man’s clothes and managed to soften the fall.

  “He’ll be upset at me for more reasons than one,” Benedict said, “but it’s the right thing to do. I’m a liability. Kate, let me charge the stones. It’s the best way I can help the team.”

  Kate’s stomach dropped. She had already decided she wouldn’t ask anyone to use their life to power the stones, but what could she do if Benedict was volunteering?

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Yes. Please let me help.”

  Kate was silent for a moment, trying to figure out something—anything—to keep it from happening.

  “You realize you might die. Even if you don’t, we’ll have to try to carry you to the gate.”

  “Then let’s hope I die,” Benedict said, his eyes showing what Kate thought might be compassion. It was definitely not his normal creepy look. “Listen, Kate, I would like your agreement, but even without it, I will do this. It’s the best way to make sure the team can get back home to warn the Order.”

  Kate squeezed her eyes shut and nodded slightly. He volunteered, but she would still feel responsible for what happened to him.

  “Okay, Koren,” Benedict said. “Tell me what we need to do. Let’s get this over with.”

  Koren looked to Kate, a question in his eyes. He was asking her permission before he did something he probably thought she didn’t want to happen. She frowned, but nodded.

  “I’ll need the stones,” he said.

  Kate handed them over to him.

  “You need to help with this, Benedict. I can’t simply suck power from you and put it into the stones, fortunately. You’ll have to help by lending your power to the gems. I’ll walk you through it.”

  Benedict’s eyes widened when Koren mentioned someone taking his energy by force, but they went back to normal size when the older man explained it couldn’t be done. Kate echoed Koren’s thoughts exactly: it would be horrible if someone’s life force could be taken without their permission. She wondered if even the demon mage Arkith could do that. If so, why would he torture Koren instead?

  Koren continued. “Have you ever felt a resonance with your firestone?”

  “A…resonance?” Benedict said.

  “Yes, a feeling that you were connected, that it echoed you somehow, or that you echoed it. Don’t worry if you haven’t. Most never have. I didn’t until the demons took mine away.”

  “No, I haven’t felt anything like that,” Benedict said. “I have always had it on me since I first got it eight years ago.”

  “Okay. I’ll explain it to you, and we’ll work through it together. I want you to close your eyes and picture your firestone. Do it in great detail. The shape, its exact color, that rate at which it flickers, pulses, or flares. Really see it, as if you can reach out and touch it in your mind.

  “Then I want you to center on it and feel the waves of force going back and forth between you and it.”

  Koren waited for several minutes while Benedict did what he was told.

  “Can you feel the power channeling back and forth between you and the stone?” Koren asked.

  “Maybe just a little bit, but I’m not sure if it’s because I want to or because it’s really there.”

  “Exactly,” Koren said. “Now, I want you to try something. Change the flow of energy. Push more away from you, into the stone. Not a lot, but more than is normally flowing.”

  Koren waited again.

  “There,” Benedict said. “I can feel it moving through me and to my stone. It’s…hot.”

  “Yes, that’s it. Now I’m going to ask you to make a small jump. Picture the blinding stones in your mind. Once you do, once you can see every detail of them, I want you to shift some of your energy to them. I only need you to get it started. Once you have, I’m pretty sure I can help channel it into the stones until they’re recharged.”

  Benedict’s face scrunched up in concentration. His breathing increased and small drops of perspiration appeared on his forehead.

  “Not so intense,” Koren said. “Relax. You should be gently pushing the energy to the stones, not trying to force it. Breathe more slowly and loosen up.”

  Benedict’s training took over and he controlled his breaths. His inhalations slowed and his face grew calm.

  “Very good,” Koren said. “I’ll try to siphon off some of your energy to the stones now. Don’t panic. It will feel strange.”

  Benedict gasped and his eyes flew open, but he didn’t say anything.

  Koren didn’t notice. His own eyes were closed.

  “It felt like I was trying to throw a knife and something pulled it from my hand and made it fly to the target on its own,” Benedict said. “I’ve never felt anything like that before. Now I can feel power draining out of me.”

  He stumbled as his left leg collapsed. Kate caught him by his left arm before he fell, and he cried out in pain when she tweaked his injured arm.

  “Sorry,” she said as she helped him sit. His face began to pale.

  Koren didn’t pay attention. He was focused on the stone he held in his hand. After a few minutes, he pocketed it and brought out the other stone, then went back to concentrating on it.

  Benedict lay down. As Kate watched him, dark circles appeared beneath his eyes and his face took on a gaunt look. His breathing became more labored.

  Kate was about to ask Koren how much longer it would be, how much more energy the stone would drain from Benedict, when something moved in the corner of her vision.

  “Nooooo,” Visimar said, a whisper even though the urgency was plain. He rushed toward his friend. Taking one look at him, he turned to Koren.

  “Stop, you have to stop. You’re killing him.”

  Koren didn’t respond. He just kept staring at the stone in his hands.

  “You’re killing him,” Visimar repeated and snatched the stone from Koren’s hands. As he did, Benedict’s eyes rolled up in his head and his body went limp.

  Koren staggered back as if he’d been struck, blinking and bringing his hands to his head. Visimar went to his friend and checked to see if he was still breathing.

  “Wha…” Koren said, shaking his head as if he was disoriented. His eyes became lucid and he noticed Visimar. “You fool. You could have killed him by breaking the connection like that. You could have killed me, too, and even destroyed the stone. What is wrong with you?”

  “He was dying,” Visimar said, cradling Benedict’s head. “You would have killed him if you took any more of his life force.”

  “He knew that was a possibility.”

  “Yeah, well, I d
on’t accept it.”

  Koren considered the other man for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. His face grew thoughtful. After tilting his head as if in thought, he did speak. “The stone. Where is it?”

  Visimar seemed to realize that he was holding it. With a frown, he tossed it to the other man and then went back to checking Benedict’s breathing.

  “It’s barely half full of energy, if the magnitude of its light is any indication,” Koren said. “I’m not sure if that means it won’t work or if it’ll work for less time or that it can’t be used for more than one person.” He turned to Kate. “Did Molara tell you exactly how they worked?”

  “Only how to use them,” Kate said, shaking her head. “She didn’t go into how they used their energy. I think it can still be used, just for less time.”

  “Well, the fully charged stone should be able to keep us concealed for long enough to get through the gate.” He handed both stones to Kate. “Now all we need to do is to figure out where to be when they open the gate, and then slip out while using the stone.”

  “That’s all, huh?” Kate said bitterly.

  37

  While Benedict was charging the stones, the demons hadn’t been idle. Kate didn’t notice until Visimar confirmed that his friend was still alive, though weak, but once she heard the good news, she allowed herself a breath.

  Scanning the area, as she had become accustomed to doing, she was the first to see that the army was on the move. Thozrixith’s forces had joined Arkith’s, and the entire mass of demon bodies was marching on the gate. Thozrixith had left his mount somewhere else, probably not wanting to risk it on the battlefield.

  When they were a quarter mile from the gate, Thozrixith waved his staff and gestured. The doors began to move, but stopped as Arkith and Thozrixith began to gesture and speak with each other.

  It was time.

  “Here,” Kate said, handing the fully charged stone to Koren. “Even invisible, it will be difficult to get through the gate without demons running into you. Aurel is carrying Jurdan, and Visimar is all but carrying Benedict. You’ll need a diversion.”

  Koren stared at Kate and the stone in her open hand. He made no move to retrieve it. “No, Kate. Don’t do it.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “Just a little distraction so you can get clear. It’s easier for one person to slip through without bumping into the crush of bodies than for a group. The half-charged stone should last as long for one person as the full one will for a group. It’ll be fine.”

  “It won’t be fine. I know what you’re up to. I wasn’t born yesterday. You’re planning some kind of heroic action that’s going to get you killed.”

  It was Kate’s turn to stare blankly at the older man. “Do you disagree that a distraction will vastly increase the chances of the rest of you getting out more easily?”

  “No,” Koren said with a scowl. “But there must be another way.”

  Kate glanced at the others, still preparing to leave. “You’re wasting time. Take the stone, get the others out when there is a commotion. That’s an order.”

  Koren smirked. “I don’t much like taking orders.”

  “Well, please take this one. We really do need to get started. Get them out. I’ll see you on the other side. All you need to do is to focus on the blinding stone and touch everyone’s firestones to it in order to activate the magic. I’m hoping that since Aurel is carrying Jurdan’s body, it will be invisible too.”

  Koren grunted and stepped over to the others. He said something too softly for Kate to hear. He would do his job. She had only to do hers.

  The others cast glances at her but no one spoke. The disappointment on Aurel’s face made her feel like she was going to be sick, but she put on the most convincing smile she could muster and gave him a thumbs up. He watched her for a moment and then broke eye contact to pick up Jurdan and prepare to leave.

  As they moved off toward the gate using the new vegetation as cover, she took one long last look at them. She hoped they understood what she was doing. And why. Being in the Black had been a dream come true.

  But all dreams came to an end eventually.

  She swallowed and considered where she would be headed in a moment.

  The heart of the demon army. The place where Thozrixith and Arkith were planning the destruction of the human world.

  She would complete her mission, though that was not the primary reason she was about to do what she was planning. As she had told Koren, her team needed a distraction for their best chance at getting back home. She would help them with that.

  It wasn’t getting any easier standing around thinking about it. She had told Koren to watch for the distraction. He would hardly need to be paying attention if it went like she believed it would.

  The fear and sadness dissipated and in its place was…excitement. She had always loved the pure rush in energy, the battle fever. She would have that in spades. All things considered, it wasn’t a bad way to go out.

  There was no use in delay. She cast one more look at her team, waiting at the edge of the last bit of plant matter before the clear space in front of the gate. With a silent wish for good luck, Kate headed toward the army.

  She moved stealthily through the bushy foliage, but it soon ended and she had no choice but to activate her blinding stone. She concentrated on the small gem and touched her firestone to it, willing it to conceal her. A brief flash of fear assailed her that she was as visible to the demons as she was to herself, but she cast it out of her mind. She’d find out soon enough.

  She skirted the edge of the army, working toward where the troops were thinnest between the edge and the demon lord. Her luck was in; Thozrixith and the mage were close to one edge, with only a dozen or so of the higher-ranking demons around them. Kate’s task would be slightly less impossible.

  The smell of the amassed demons made her dizzy and called back memories of when she had to clean their cages at Faerdham Fortress. Those were not pleasant thoughts. The putrid stench threatened to make her retch, but she clamped her jaw down and put her mind on the task at hand.

  Kate threaded her way through the demons surrounding the leaders. She was able to find a small pocket of space fifteen feet from them, and she settled in for a moment to see if she could glean anything useful from their conversation.

  One thing she hadn’t counted on was that Arkith and Thozrixith were speaking the demon language. She wasn’t Peiros; she didn’t know what they were saying.

  She bit her lip in frustration. A prime opportunity to spy on the enemy, and she was not able to understand a word of what they were saying. The coarse, guttural language sounded like the grunting of beasts, not the relatively refined demon upper level.

  The blinding stone had limited power, so she could not stay for long in her hiding place, but she took the opportunity to scrutinize her enemies, starting with the demon commander standing beside Arkith.

  She had seen the huge type of demon before, of course, at a distance closer than she cared to recall. She had, however, not been able to take the time to inspect it closely as she could now with those in front of her. An eight-foot-tall monster demon trying to kill you will do that.

  Though the ones she had seen before were red, this one had skin the color of stone. It wore a breast plate of overlapping metal plates, but the demon’s arms were bare. Small spikes or thorns protruded from its skin at random locations. Especially with the coloring—the same as its skin—the projections looked like razor-sharp stone slivers.

  As with all of the demon commanders, the one in front of her was muscular, the striations in its sinewy form standing out every time it shifted positions or moved its arms or legs, which could be seen between the skirt-like armor plates covering its waist and groin area and the high boots that looked like nothing so much as hard leather wrapped around the lower leg with thick leather cord. Instead of shoes, its feet were exposed in a sandal kind of contraption strapped to them.

&nbs
p; The ugly face had thorns sticking out of it as well and the same-colored horns on this one swept back as if they were pliable and the demon was staring into a strong wind.

  Beside the demon commander was a massive two-handed sword, carelessly leaning against a crate with its point in the dirt.

  Around the monstrosity’s neck was a stone that looked like the ones they had found earlier. It was tethered with a leather cord, and Kate had no doubt it gave the thing immunity to the firestones.

  But was it total immunity or did it merely weaken the firestone’s power? Could she damage the thing at all?

  Arkith looked like exactly what he was: a magic user. He was muscular, too, but instead of being huge like the demon commander, he looked to be built for speed, leaner and more sinuous. From his forearms to the tips of his claws, he was covered in red fur, though the rest of his body seemed to be hairless. A bony ridge traveled across his scalp from front to back, looking for all the world like the hair style Kate had seen some of the poor children in villages near Kalytras wear.

  What really made him look like a mage, though, were the multiple belts slung across his waist. Scrolls, pouches, and a few stiff leather boxes hung there for ready use. The red tunic, split and open to show impressive chest muscles, had golden lightning and runic designs dancing down the front.

  As Arkith stood listening to Thozrixith, the ruddy batwings on his back flexed and occasionally extended, stretching the membrane in between the bony supports. At one point, Arkith flexed his right hand and flamed jumped from finger to finger. Kate didn’t think the mage had even meant to use magic. It almost seemed like a habit.

  Thozrixith gestured toward the gate and grunted something in the demon language, attracting Kate’s attention. She focused on the demon lord she had been sent to Hell to kill as the gate began to grind open with loud scraping and screeching.

  The demons arrayed in front of the gate began to scream, gnashing their teeth and dancing in anticipation of their attack.