She kisses her hand, then bends down and presses it to Jafari’s forehead. She stands and presses the same hand to the center of the iron door. Its dark, cold metal immediately begins to glow yellow, then orange, then red. A shape forms in the fiery hues, a single flame that flickers as if alive. It reflects brightly off the ruby ring on Jacana’s finger. She turns her hand over the fire, and the door slowly swings open. There’s a stone stairway and bright blue sky through the door.
“Do it right,” Jacana says to Khan before walking away, red dress swaying.
“Almost there,” Khan says to Seth and me. “Let’s finish strong.”
We haul the body up onto our shoulders again. Khan leads us through the open doorway. As soon as we’re outside, a blast of cold wind hits us. We’re hundreds of feet above the ground, with the Scouring far below us. There’s no railing. The air is thin. The stairway coils up to the top of the Red Tower. Each stair reaches as high as my knees, and we’ll have to climb more stairs than I can count.
Khan starts the ascent. As I try to keep up, my calves and thighs protest. I keep my eyes on the step in front of me.
One step at a time. Don’t look down. Keep climbing.
A drop of sweat falls into my eye, making me slip. The sole of my boot lands partly over the edge, with no railing between the open air and me.
I stagger and fall back toward the wall. My lost balance makes Khan and Seth fall to their knees, trying to hold up Jafari’s body on their own.
“What gives, man?” Seth shouts.
“Sorry. I slipped.” My back presses against the wall, staying as far from the edge as I can. The wind whips at my hair, cooling the sweat on my face. “I’m tired. Can we take a break?”
Khan glares down at me like I’m pathetic. “Stay there. We’ll do it ourselves.”
As he and Seth carry the body ahead, my head hangs in defeat. I have to be stronger. I’m group one just like they are. My body might be weak, but my mind is still strong. Maybe the strongest.
Respect the mind.
We’re not inside the Red Tower. We’re outside, climbing these stairs with a giant limp body. I don’t need to ask for permission. I focus on the wind whipping around me and channel it into a tight, powerful stream, which I slide under Jafari’s body like an invisible bed, and lift.
Khan and Seth snap around, astonished.
“I got it,” I say.
On my feet again, I slip past them on the stairs and carry the body, floating invisibly a few feet in front of me, up the path. The effort drains me, but I refuse to show it. The body is weak, but the mind is strong. I am still Cipher of the Blue Tower. I do not have to conform to all of Red’s ways.
When we finally reach the top of the tower, I lower Jafari’s body on the ground and release the air. The top is a circle twenty feet across. A low wall rings the edge like a parapet, rising only as high as my knees. In the center of the circle there’s a large fire blazing out of a recess in the ground. There’s no wood or fuel that I can see, but around the fire lays an orderly circle of dragon teeth. This must be where they bring the ones we find. Maybe they somehow fuel the fire. The heat feels like a sauna, drying my sweat as soon as it emerges from my skin.
I sit on the ground, beside Khan and Seth, with my back against the parapet. Endless mountain ranges spread out into the distance. The three suns blaze just above them in the sky.
We sit in quiet for a while. Khan breaks the silence. “Thanks,” he says softly, his eyes studying the horizon. “Go ahead, put it in the fire.”
“The body?” I ask.
“Yes. That’s the way we do it here. He’ll come back.”
I hesitate, studying Jafari’s large form on the ground. For some reason I can’t bring myself to summon the wind. I can’t bear the thought of the body burning.
“If ya don’t,” Seth says. “We will.”
He starts to stand, but I put my hand on his arm. “Okay.”
I do as they say, lifting the body and moving it into the fire. The flames blaze brighter for an instant, but then the body is gone and all is back to normal, flickering fire. It almost seems...uneventful.
“How do you do it?” Khan asks me.
“The power came to me in the Blue Tower,” I say. “I’m not sure how. At first it came when I got angry. Then I got better at controlling it.”
“So Rahab won’t let you use it?” he asks.
“Not inside the Red Tower,” I say. “But I figured we were outside...”
“Creative.” Seth glances at me with a smirk scrunching the freckles on his face. “But ya better get used to life for a boy inside the tower.”
“I’m trying,” I say. “I don’t exactly...fit in here. Blue felt more like home. Were you guys ever in other towers?”
Seth shrugs. “Wish I knew.”
“Do you remember anything from before?” I ask.
“Oh yeah, lots,” Seth says. “Khan and I were a lot alike, even if I’m much better looking.”
Khan laughs but doesn’t look at us. He still seems more interested in the view.
“How were you alike?” I ask. It’s hard to believe. They have to be from far different places—Khan with his straight black hair and olive-colored skin, Seth with his red curls and freckles.
“We herded animals,” Seth says.
“Not alike,” Khan replies. “Very different.”
“Eh, horses and sheep are not so different,” Seth says. “They both eat grass, run around, and serve men.”
Khan turns to Seth with one brow raised in amusement. “Don’t get me started.”
Seth winks at me. “Khan here thinks horses are better than sheep.”
“This is obvious,” Khan says. “A flock of sheep is hardly more than a field of grain. Let ‘em grow, eat ‘em, and use some wool. They got no brains, no souls. But horses, ah, they are our friends. We ride them across the plains. We charge with them into battle. A man with a horse is like a god. A man with a sheep is... as annoying as Seth.”
Seth bursts out laughing. Khan turns away with a bemused smile, looking out over the mountains again as if the debate is won.
“Khan just thinks he’s special because he groomed a warlord’s horses. He even named himself after the guy.” Seth nudges Khan’s shoulder to get his attention. “Genghis, right?”
Khan grunts in agreement and stands, catching my eyes. “Sheepherder will answer your questions. I’m going to have a look in the fire.” He walks around the blazing flames to the other side of the wall, where he’s blocked from view by the fire.
“Guess he didn’t want to talk?” I ask.
“Eh, he’s easy to get worked up,” Seth says. “All you have to do is mention horses and Genghis and he’ll go stare into the fire.”
“So he can see his past?” I ask.
“Aye. To each his own. I’ve seen enough of the past lately. I’d rather enjoy the mountain view. Reminds me of home.”
So we can control when we see the past. I’ll need to be more careful about fires. It was looking into water, in the Sieve, that showed memories in Blue. Fire for Red, water for Blue.
I ask Seth, “What’s home for you?”
“The Scottish Highlands,” he says with reverence. “There was no finer place on earth. It was close to the heavens. Windswept mountains and the deepest, clearest lakes you’ve ever seen. I had a little place there, a warm home made of stone, full of children and song. My sheep roamed the grassy hills. It was a good life.”
A good life? This is the first time anyone has sounded so pleased with their past. “Why do you think you ended up here?”
“Aye, that’s the question. I figure we got lucky. We’re the chosen.”
“Chosen for what?” I ask.
“To stay alive. To remember the past. It beats death, right?”
“I guess,” I say, “but didn’t we already die?”
Seth reaches over and presses his freckled hand to my chest. “Bu-bump, bu-bump. Aye, that’s a beatin’ heart.
You ever met a dead man with one of those?”
I shake my head as my former doctor mind considers it. Sometimes a heart could stop, and a person could look dead. But then you pump it back to life with fists on the chest or, better yet, an electromagnetic pulse. It was my job not to give up on a body. There was something in the brain that held the secret to life. That’s why I loved to study it. But I never figured out the secret. Some people’s bodies died temporarily, only moments later they’d come back good as new. Other people’s bodies lived while their minds died. As long as the heart pumped blood and neurons fired in the brain, you’re certifiably alive.
So I admit to Seth, “We seem alive.”
“Aye,” Seth laughs. “Everyone here should quit whinin’ about whatever they left behind. Remember it, sure. Learn from it. Scour it. But we should be dancin’, singin’. We died. But now, my friend, we’re alive!”
The suns are low on the horizon when Khan approaches us from around the other side of the burning flame. He looks golden between the fading sunlight and the pulsing firelight. His hand rests on the collar at his throat. “They’re calling us,” he says to Seth.
“Aye, felt that,” Seth says. “Just had to finish teaching Cipher here why it’s good to be Red, good to be alive.”
Khan does not look so sure. “As if we have any choice.”
He holds out his hand to Seth and helps him up. The two of them say a quick goodbye, telling me I’m free to stay here but should head to the Feasting Hall by sunset. Then they take off down the stairs, bounding like mountain goats. The girls who paired with them must have ordered them to come. I figure it’s like what I had with Emma in Blue. She was my servant, just as the boys serve the girls here. They share feelings through the link. My hand goes to my neck and feels the metal band. It’s cold to the touch despite my closeness to the fire.
I could look into the fire. I could see my past. My Mom, wife, son...Samantha. I have to know more. I can’t resist it.
The flames pull my gaze into a vision.
It’s a picnic. I stand beside a foldout table and pour a cup of lemonade. The glass pitcher is wet with condensation. Past the table there’s an oak tree shading a grassy lawn where kids are running and playing.
“Aren’t they adorable?” the woman beside me asks. She’s my wife, Susan, smiling warmly under a white sunhat, as she watches the children play.
“So adorable!” answers another woman, who stands to my other side. It’s Samantha, the woman who came to my home at night. She smells of the same perfume. She grins at my wife. “Your little Benjamin looks just like his dad.”
Benjamin. That’s my son’s name.
I sip the lemonade. My throat is tight.
“You should see pictures of Paul’s dad,” Susan says. “Benjamin is his spitting image.”
“He must been a handsome man,” Samantha replies.
The two of them continue talking, casually, about kids and the weather, while we drink lemonade and sweat beads on my forehead. Behind us a large white steeple rises with a cross at the top. Its shadow falls directly over us.
One of the children trips and starts to cry. It’s not Benjamin, but a little girl. Susan rushes over to her to help, gently soothing the child’s bruised knee and ego.
With Susan occupied, Samantha leans closer to me, and whispers, “Friday night was fun. When can we do it again?”
“Please,” I say softly, “not here.”
Her smile does not falter. Her lips radiate like embers. They spark into fire and burn the outer edge of my vision until the whole memory is engulfed in flames and blows away like ashes in the wind.
17
THE THREE SUNS have just crested the mountains when the vision ends. I’m still on top of the Red Tower. Still alone. No one can see my flushed cheeks or tears. No one can know how it ripped me apart to see myself standing between Susan and Samantha, helplessly watching as my universe imploded around me.
The sky grows dark. It’s time to go to the Feasting Hall. It’s time to leave the past, as much as I can. I turn away from the fire and start the climb back down the tower. It’s easier going down, without a body to carry.
By the time I make it to the doorway into the Hall, the boys and girls of the Red Tower are looking for their spots. As before, the black rocks on the long table have names carved into them. I head to the front, where the Scouring group sits.
A familiar voice brings me to a stop.
“Hey Cipher!” Seymour approaches me with a goofy smile. “This place is amazing, right? I spent all day learning how to take care of the tower’s pigs. And I get to come here! Just look at all these girls. Did any pick you for Pairing?”
I shake my head.
“Yeah, me neither.” He lets out a nervous laugh. “Guess we’re still free agents then. Seems like they only pick the tall ones, the strong ones, and the handsome ones.”
I look at his pudgy face, then down at my feet. “Guess so. If we even want to be picked...”
“Hey, no use worrying about it!” he says. “But you gotta tell me, what kind of magic makes those flames float up there by the ceiling? And what’s with that woman on the throne? Rahab, right? She’s the one who took me to that awful dragon at the bottom. Don’t get me wrong. She’s beautiful, stunning. But kind of...terrifying, don’t you think?”
“She’s like wildfire,” I say, “better viewed from a distance.”
Seymour laughs. “So, when do we get to eat? It smells great in here.”
I force myself to be patient with his barrage of words. He was the one who showed me how this worked when I first arrived. It’s the least I can do to return the favor.
“We’ll eat soon,” I say. “We each get assigned seats. Come on, I’ll show you.”
I lead him toward the far end of the room, where there are empty spots along the benches lining the table. I explain as we go that food will be served and then we’ll go to the board to see our tasks for the next day. I’m careful not to say more than the basic facts. It feels crazy not to tell him about his own memories, but it seems like he should uncover them some other way.
“Seymour, see?” I point to the rock bearing his name. It’s the last one, the furthest from Rahab and Axe.
“Oh yeah, great, thanks! Want to join me?”
“Sorry, I can’t.”
We say goodbyes and I’m turning away when something makes me pause. The rock to the left of Seymour’s shows the name Hank.
Hank. Is it really him? Will he remember me?
Moments later he approaches us. He looks just like he did in the Blue Tower. He’s tall, with sandy brown hair and a thick frame that looks stable as an oak. A short boy is by his side, talking. The boy must have newcomer welcome duty, like Seymour did when I first arrived.
My breath freezes when Hank first catches my gaze. Remember, please remember.
He pauses, as if processing who I am, but then he smiles and runs toward me and wraps his large arms around me. He squeezes so tight I can’t make a sound. I had almost forgotten how big he is.
“Cipher!” he says, letting me go. “You’re here. You look...rough, but hey, you’re here! Wait, do you remember me?”
“Of course, Hank. Respect the mind, right?”
“Respect the mind!” he says.
My throat tightens as emotion sweeps over me. I never expected to see him again, much less to have our memories intact. “I can’t believe you’re here,” I say. “And you weren’t wiped.”
“Nope, I let them catch me in the Scouring. They didn’t kill me.”
“You let them?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I told Emma I’d help. She really wanted to find you.”
She came for me. “Is she okay?”
Hank hesitates, looking worried. “I’m not sure. We were together in the Scouring when Red got us. You know this leader, Axe, he’s the one you...in Blue...”
“I know. It’s Max. He doesn’t remember.”
“I figured,” Hank says. “I
t’s probably better that way. He’s stronger now, with a beard and all. It’s like he fits better here in Red. In the Scouring he led an attack against us. It wasn’t pretty, but Emma...she should be here.”
“You haven’t seen her?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “Haven’t really seen anyone here until now.”
“The girls get their own quarters,” I say.
He glances around the room. “So I guess I have to learn some new rules. Everyone’s dressed the same, so no levels?”
“Right, it’s not like Blue. Instead of four levels, there’s a long list of tasks that seem like a ranking. The first task is the Scouring. I already had the lowest one. I had to go out and bring back a dragon’s tooth.”
“A dragon’s tooth?” Seymour interrupts. “There are dragons here?”
“At least one,” I say. He really remembers nothing. I’m still not ready to break the news to him. “It’s the creature you saw below the tower. It’s called Behemoth.”
“Well then, I’d rather feed the pigs!” Seymour laughs uneasily. “Hey, it looks like we should be sitting down. Everyone else is. I don’t want to start out in trouble and have to go out and fight a dragon or something. Know what I mean?”
I turn to Hank and can’t resist a smile. His solid presence is more comforting than ever. “Seymour’s probably right,” I say. “We should sit. I’m at the other end of the table. You’re here beside Seymour. He just had his memory wiped, but loves to talk. Good thing you’re patient. We’ll catch up more after we eat, okay?”
Hank clasps my shoulder. “I look forward to it, my friend.”
I turn away and walk the entire length of the table, checking the names on the rocks in front of the few empty seats. Still no sign of Emma. I make it almost to the end, just a few paces away from the dais with the two thrones, when I see the rock that says “Cipher.”
Axe gives me a cold smile as I take my seat, three from the front. Marcus has the spot to my left. He says hi but barely seems to notice me. His eyes are on the girls across from us. They are stunning in red sequined dresses. They pay as much attention to me as to the rocks on the table.
The Red Tower (The Five Towers Book 2) Page 9