Girl of Fire

by Gabrielle Mathieu

  My company needed help. Kendall, Oberin, and Kilgad fought; Rheyna and Namur huddled behind them. Alse was slumped down on the ground by the second Elemental, a thin trickle of red coming from his lips. Ilse’s dagger still protruded from the hard hide of his attacker.

  She grabbed for her wooden staff and thumped the monster on its kneecap. Green light flickered from the impact. The Wood Elemental seemed to puff up. “Don’t use your staff,” I screamed.

  At the sound of my voice, the remaining Elementals hissed, turning their green piercing gazes on me. Blood drummed in my ears. My head threatened to explode. I heard myself moan. Dizziness forced me to my knees. Kendall crouched down and tried to tug the magic sword out of my grasp. I couldn’t let go. My hands held so tight that my fingers cramped.

  As one charged us, she yanked me to my feet. “Damn you. Fight. Let the sword feel your intention.” My vision trembled, little explosions of light going off. Dimly I felt her hands, a light warm touch, guide my strokes, as she had done when she first taught me. I hit something solid; the blade shivered, and a tremor ran through my body. Kendall grabbed my elbow and pushed the blade further in. There was a wet tearing sound, followed by a high thin scream. A howl came from the Elemental, mournful and long, like the cry of a million wolves packed into one terrible moment.

  What have I done?

  The monster was on its knees before us. My blade had struck its heart. The branches of the surrounding trees tossed wildly, though the air was still. Pine needles turned brown and fell; entire limbs dropped, leaving tall ramrod trunks accusing the sky. Thunder rolled, and the woods menaced us, the air close. Kendall threw her arms around me protectively as a hail of twigs clattered down. Green energy twinkled and surged around us.

  When the invisible storm passed, I looked up. The forest had become a barren plain, the dead Elemental’s body shrunk to the size of a small boy. There was no sign of the other attackers. Ilse bent over Alse, cradling his head. His eyes were open, though he looked stunned. Namur prayed, and Rheyna whimpered. Kilgad’s thick arms sagged against his side. Oberin had his face close to my beater, speaking calm, reassuring words. The horses, not as temperamentally calm as the beater, had fled.

  Kendall recovered first. “I don’t think anyone for miles around missed that. Let’s move before the Cherry Tops show up.”

  “We need to bury the Elemental,” Namur suddenly said. “Pay our respects. We’ve ruined this forest.”

  Rheyna picked up some leaves and dropped them over the body.

  “No burying. The ground is frozen. We need to go. We’ll put Alse and Rheyna on the beater,” Kendall said. She looked at Namur thoughtfully. He didn’t look like he could walk far.

  Ilse shook her head. “I can find the horses. Give me the brush used for grooming so I can sense them. Oberin can ride out with me and calm them.”

  * * *

  The rest of us started on foot, eager to get away from the site of the Wood Elemental’s death. Kilgad supported Alse while the beater carried Namur. Kendall led. We marched through a bare, blasted area until we encountered the intact forest. A few villagers collecting firewood gaped as we staggered past, still worn out from our battle. When the leaves began to rustle, they startled and fled.

  By then, Ilse and Oberin had gathered the last of the horses and returned. It didn’t take long to decide that a chance meeting with Cherry Tops was better than staying under the dark boughs of the angry trees. Kendall, Namur, and Oberin packed their Robes away. The rest of us were acolytes, so we wore our unremarkable charcoal-colored garments.

  We cantered along a rutted market road, moving out of the way for wagons laden with pumpkins and apples, freshly made cheese, or barrels of beer. Kendall stopped a vendor coming back late from the market day and passed around the cheese and bread she bought.

  “We’ll find shelter in a barn. Oberin, you’re going to have to act as our leader. If they see two women with weapons, they’ll know we’re Mannites.”

  “Three women,” Ilse reminded her. She’d retrieved her dagger from the creature’s hide, and now she touched it protectively.

  “I’ll do the talking,” Oberin agreed.

  Namur added, “I’ll be glad of a rest.” The old healer’s face was white, and his hands shook as if he had palsy.

  “Are you well, Master?” Rheyna said.

  “Just a pounding headache. Feel like I’m going blind from pain. Odd.”

  That night, as the others curled up in the hay, Ilse, Kendall, Oberin, and I talked long past dusk.

  * * *

  I hated that Ilse joined us so easily and spoke like an equal, but since Oberin and Kendall accepted her presence, I was forced to as well. She had found our horses, after all.

  Ilse crackled her knuckles and wriggled her fingers, as if her hands were stiff. “You killed a Wood Elemental, so the trees turned against us,” she pointed out.

  “That’s very helpful. I would have never guessed,” I snapped.

  “Leave off. She’s on our side,” Oberin reminded me.

  I glared at him, tucked my legs up under me, and wrapped my cloak tighter.

  Kendall clapped her hands. “Listen up, girls. Kea’s gone. You’re my warriors—you two, Moab, and Kilgad, who is slow as a turtle. Do you want to be alive at the end of the day, or do you want to be right?”

  “I’m sure you all want to be alive,” Oberin soothed, when neither of us answered. “So let me share my knowledge. In the past few months, I’ve been able to obtain some scrolls from the Cabinet about the Elementals. The Elders wrote them. They understand the First-Born better, as they’re chronologically closest to them.”

  Kendall arched a brow at him. “When did you learn Eldering?”

  “Shandon taught me some.” Oberin looked at us each in turn. “We need to be prepared for more attacks. The Elementals can affect those they look at, or touch, by evoking the feeling associated with their Element. Wood is associated with anger. It’s why Namur had a headache too.”

  “The other Elementals?” Ilse asked.

  “Fire will cause an overabundance of joy, a jittery unfocused state. Metal freezes with its grief. Earth focuses us on our appetites and makes us heavy. Water engenders fear.”

  “If only we knew the nature of each Elemental we face,” I said. “There’s no way to prepare.”

  “You’ve hit on the crux of the matter. If only we had the Book of First Naming,” Oberin said.

  “I’m sure Hirschi knows where it is,” Kendall pointed out.

  “Yes.” I remembered. “He came by that evening when I was in Shandon’s room. I left to get water. That’s when she slithered out of the well, and I fell ill.”

  Oberin nodded. “In the confusion, Hirschi must have stolen into Shandon’s room. Perhaps that’s why Georsi was watching us at the camp. He may have known the Book was there.”

  I turned to Ilse. “You’re a Finder. Can you locate the Book of First Naming?”

  She sighed. “No. I’ve never held it in my hands.”

  “Can you find Hirschi?”

  She sighed.

  Oberin held up his hand. “The Book of First Naming is very valuable, Berona. But you are more so. You will be the champion that destroys the soul snares.”

  “And you will be my company,” I said. “What of the others, though? Alse is not recovered from his wound.”

  Ilse frowned, picking at a nail.

  “Your brother is delicate,” Oberin pointed out.

  “You think I don’t know that?”

  “Is that why you fled your holding? Your brother’s health?”

  She paused for a minute. “No. There was another reason. It was my decision. But he wanted to come. I can’t leave him alone in this village, among strangers.”

  “We wouldn’t do that,” Kendall said. “Namur and Rheyna should be sent back to Yassin. Alse as well. They can’t withstand the rigors of this journey.”

  “Then we wouldn’t have a healer among us at all,” Oberin said
. “What if one of us takes ill?”

  “Let’s see what they say tomorrow.” I had a feeling Rheyna would come, whether we wanted her to or not. She and Moab were inseparable.

  CHAPTER 39

  The High Plains of Kreysa, Berona

  We said our goodbyes to Alse and Namur the next morning. After a dawn conference with the group, Oberin had made a sending to Yassin. Five of the remaining Reds, along with Soa, would ride out to meet them. The climb back up through the snow would be slow, but with so many Mannites, they should be relatively safe.

  Namur promised to give the Council a full report. Sendings between Yellows involved fleeting images of events, colored by the emotional context of the sender. The Council understood only that we fled Amur’s Chosen after the camp burned and then encountered Elementals. It had proved too difficult for Oberin to explain that we were on our way to the Forest of Bones, ready to take the fight to the Demon. We hoped the Council members would understand our decision, but even if they did not, we would persevere. We were on our own now, with Kendall as our leader and Oberin as our spiritual guide. I trusted both not to fail me. We were wise to the Demon’s tricks. She could not pry these two from my side.

  * * *

  We kept a good pace. The snow on the flatlands was thin and wet, more uncomfortable than an actual hindrance. We kept off the Priest-King’s road, finding lanes that led from village to village, though we had to cross muddy pastures and the occasional brook. When dusk fell, we sought shelter in barns, eating leftovers from the peasants’ tables, sometimes subsisting on only a few rinds of cheese and a shriveled apple. We slept next to the beasts in their stalls, among scurrying rodents and lethal, silent cats. A blood-curdling squeal often woke me as a rat met its end in the jaws of the hunter.

  We gave the town of Dale a wide berth, despite the availability of comfortable inns and our aching backs. Moab had spotted some of Amur’s Chosen riding through the city gates, and the black dye in my hair had washed out. We sent Moab and Rheyna with some of Kendall’s coin to buy hardtack and dried fruit, as well as tinder and water bags for each of us. Fire would come in handy to fight Metal Elementals, should we be lucky enough to recognize one, and Oberin promised to set a Spell of Augmentation on each bag of water, to protect us from Fire Elementals.

  Winter arrived in earnest by the time we reached the western border of Trea and the high plateau of Kreysa, where the poppy trade flourished. The folk of this region were quiet but well-armed, and Amur’s Chosen stayed away. We took lodgings at the renowned Inn of the Sleeper. Their after-dinner potions were reputed to ease one into a deep, calm slumber, though of course poppies were illegal.

  More or less. No one was enforcing the law.

  Kendall assured us we wouldn’t have to go looking for her cousin. The arrival of an armed party would excite immediate attention. The poppy bandits were always alert for signs of incursion.

  The next day we rose early, clearheaded except for Rheyna who hadn’t been able to resist a taste of the renowned sleeping concoction. We rode out in hopes of finding Lelana, Kendall’s cousin.

  We had just passed a fallow field of poppies when a party of heavily armed men, dressed in soft buffed leather and well-woven woolens, cantered up. They came to a stop, blocking further passage. Though they were dressed like wellborn, their hair was long and tangled and there was a disconcerting savagery in their eyes.

  The leader’s black hair blew in the wind. His voice was hoarse and deep when he spoke. “Your robes are turned inside out, but your women are armed and your men have shorn hair. You are Mannites. Are you here to purchase medicine?”

  “And who might you be?” Kendall asked.

  “I’m Okan. And these are my men.” He gestured to his fierce escort.

  “I want to see my kinswoman, Lelana. Do you know her?”

  “Who hasn’t heard of her? The woman who sawed off her henchman’s arm with a bread knife when he stole from her. So you’re another swordswoman, like her? You’re better looking.”

  Kendall inspected the bandit leader carefully, as if he were a fine stallion. “We need to see her.” She smiled, showing her teeth.

  “I’ll let her decide. I have no wish to incur her wrath. Povel here will bring word to her, if you make it worth his while,” Okan said.

  Kendall deftly tossed a coin to the man he’d pointed out. Seeing the leader’s eyes widen appreciatively, she reminded him, “We have four armed Reds, and two Yellows who can muddle your head with magic. Don’t get greedy.”

  Okan looked over the party, his gaze resting skeptically on Rheyna, the lone Green, before he spoke. “A silver coin for my lonely palm would be welcomed. For that I’ll escort you off my fields to an inn that has excellent wine from the south. A personal recommendation.”

  “Is your palm lonely? Perhaps it’s been working too much on its own.” Kendall gave him a lewd grin as she tossed him the coin. “We lodge at the Inn of the Sleeper. But I’ll allow you to be my escort. I’ll expect you to amuse me.”

  “I can do that,” he assured her, spurring his horse to ride abreast.

  * * *

  The next morning passed slowly. Rheyna and Moab went out to buy medicine, Kilgad and Oberin were at the local smith’s, getting our horses shod, and Kendall was gambling in the inn’s common room. That left me and Ilse in the dormer room we shared with Kendall and Rheyna. Ilse sat quietly on her bed, mending. The candle light glinted off Kea’s gift, the locket dangling between her sumptuous breasts. I went out, slamming the door.

  I found Kendall just finishing up a game of cards. She was the only woman there. Four hardened men shoved their coins at her.

  She gave them a sunny smile, even as she leaned back in a gesture calculated to reveal her sword. “Sorry. Let me make it up to you. A round of small beer for my new friends.” The servant scuttled off, and I pulled up a free chair.

  “Can you play cards?” she asked.

  “Kendall,” I whispered.

  The men eyed me curiously as she leaned in close. “What?”

  “Why are we wasting time here? We could leave as soon as the horses are shod.”

  She made a dismissive gesture that brought heat to my cheeks. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “We’re on a serious mission,” I hissed.

  “And I’m trying to make back some of the coin I’ve spent on our journey.” She hissed back. “Now leave me in peace.”

  I slammed the door that time too.

  * * *

  We spent all day long waiting around for the fabled Lelana. Okan, the bandit chief we’d met, rented a private chamber for himself and Kendall in the afternoon. After their tryst, they joined us at the common room’s hearth fire, where Oberin was teaching me a few words of Eldering, while Ilse and Rheyna pounded comfrey root and Johnswort into beeswax to make an ointment for future bruises and sprains.

  Okan lit up a long, thin pipe. The scent of tobacco and poppies coiled into the air.

  “Hey there, wench, want a smoke?” he asked Kendall.

  “I told you not to call me wench.” She booted the bandit’s backside softly.

  I could tell Oberin was displeased by the banter. “When will your man Povel reach Lelana?” he asked yet again.

  “He might be there already. She’s a busy woman, collecting gold and chopping off arms.” He made a show of turning away from Oberin. “Is there aught I can do for you, Kendall? I’ve laughed more with you than I have in a long time. I like women with some spirit.”

  She smiled and swatted him. “More of the same, tonight.”

  Ilse raised an eyebrow at me, giving me an amused smile, woman to woman. I frowned at her. Just because she’d forced her way on my quest didn’t mean we were friends.

  * * *

  After supper, I took refuge in the relative quiet of the men’s sleeping chamber. Kendall and Ilse’s giggles and snickers, as they took turns washing in the great copper kettle, had driven me away, though I could have used a bath.

&
nbsp; Oberin took out a map which displayed the plains of the Krill and the Western Wilderness; it also showed the mountain range we’d have to cross to approach the Forest of Bones. He pointed his finger to a spot in the Western Wilderness, and I squinted to read the faded red ink.

  “What do you see?” he asked.

  “Looks like a forest, but I can’t read the name.” It was south of the pass that led to the Demon’s stronghold, perhaps a day’s walk.

  “That’s where the Elders once lived. They might still live there. As does your Fire Elemental, by what you told me.”

  “So are you hinting we should…”

  A knock on the door interrupted us. When Oberin said, “Come in,” Kendall entered, followed by Ilse, who wore one of her smug looks.

  “Ilse’s a Finder,” Kendall said.

  I tried to look bored, though it was plain Kendall was up to something. “Yes, we know.”

  “She asked me for something of Georsi’s. I kept a scarf of his. He’s an old fool, but he’s my uncle.”

  Ilse spoke directly to us. “You described Georsi’s love of mind-altering herbs. It occurred to me he might be here. The bandits don’t only trade in poppies.”

  “I’m assuming you found out something?” Oberin said.

  Ilse stroked the scarf she held, a tatty woolen thing. “Georsi’s around. I feel him.”

  Kendall addressed us. “Come with me. We’re going to ask Okan if he recognizes anyone by that description. Might just as well put this time waiting to good use.”

  The four of us thundered down the stairs and into the common room where Moab, Okan, and Kilgad sat playing dice and drinking ale.

  Kendall approached the bandit, who gave her an appreciative leer. “Have you seen an old man around? He wears the Green Robe, but his is stained and fraying. He’s skinny and well-versed in substances that bend the mind.”