The lantern smoothly turned when it reached the next corner. Kay continued along behind it, her mind quiet and calm, eyes fixed. The Fire Eye was out of view above, blocked by the buildings shouldering over the narrow alleys. She followed the lantern as it rounded another corner. Now she hadn’t seen the Fire Creep for several blocks, but the lantern wasn’t guiding itself. There was no one else around, a quiet corner of the busy city.
An open door was ahead at the end of the next alley. The lantern flew unerringly towards it and then through, into a black room. When it left her view, Kay felt a sort of cloud over her mind dissipate. She looked around, looked up. The door opened into a tower, round with an exterior staircase encircling the stones. It was dotted with small windows, no other features. She hadn’t ever noted it before. Kay stepped inside and gave her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. Her hand was tight on her baton, for a moment thinking more of the soldier Reagan’s betrayal than the Fire Creep leaping out of the shadows. The light of the lantern was dimly visible near the center of the room. As she approached, she saw there was some sort of crude wooden structure in the room. Beams piled in a vertical latticework. They made odd shapes as the light passed through the many openings, casting strange shadows on the walls. There were large spaces between the beams that she could easily slip between to get to the open interior, many paces across. The lantern hovered inside at eye level. She couldn’t see anyone in there, the Fire Creep or anyone else, though the uneven light made it difficult to make sense of the room. The structure looked something like a massive wooden birdcage. She couldn’t tell if it capped off at the top, but even if it didn’t, it looked like a trap.
The lantern went out, then immediately relit. It repeated three times. A long pause and then it did it again. Kay, mesmerized by the blinking fire, got closer until her hands were touching the rough wooden structure. The light was blinking again. Kept repeating the same pattern. Compelling. Beautiful. She could almost hear a whisper from the flame. She leaned in closer to hear it. Now the paper lantern was gone, it was just a single flame floating in the air. It was calling her. Kay crawled through one of the openings, not taking her eyes off it. Wait, she thought, why am I going inside? The light drew her forward. She stood upright in the center of the cage and the light went out. Kay slowly returned to her senses. Had she somehow been entranced? Why was she brought here?
Suddenly the wooden beams around and above her burst into flames. The fire traced its way around the structure in a flash, weaving up and down with the pattern of the wooden beams. It spelled out the words SHE MUST STAY LOST. The words held for a moment, then the fire raced to cover every piece of wood that surrounded her in the makeshift oven, the trap she’d walked right into. Or rather been led into. It was gorgeous, one of the most beautifully perfect fires she’d ever seen, each beam a slightly different color. A quilt of stunning flames. A tapestry of fire, second only to the Fire Eye, whose beauty was untouchable. Kay fell to her knees, ready to die, ready to become one with the flames. She was flattered to die like this, become part of something so wondrous and primal. Then the smoke hit, followed by the heat. The dream ended. The fire was real, it was hungry, and she had only seconds before the structure would collapse and bury her screaming.
Kay dropped the heavy bag with the gold off her shoulder. She whipped out a glass jar from beneath her cloak and yanked the lid off, letting it fall to the stone floor. She couldn’t tell which way the door was, so she randomly picked a direction and brought the open jar down in a sweeping motion, flinging the grey dust the jar held towards the flames. Where the dust landed, the fire died. One small section of the structure was doused, now black and smoking wood, creating a hole. She dived through it moments before the flames overran the dust and raced back.
The heat was just as bad on the outside of the trap. She’d be crushed against the stone walls when the structure collapsed. She’d burn to death at the bottom of this chimney. At least the smoke was funneling up so she could see. The door was not far from her but was shut. The Fire Creep must have closed it behind her. The staircase that encircled the exterior, where had it started? Eyes stinging, she scanned the walls, stopping when she saw, oddly enough, a cloak hanging down from an open window. It was waving. She heard a woman’s voice from the other side. Yelling her name.
Kay ran to the cloak, leapt up and grabbed it. There was a surprised shout from the other side, but the cloak only slid back down a little before stopping. Kay was clawing at it, trying to get higher, when she heard the structure behind her fall. One or two heavy pieces of burning wood crashed into her, and all Kay could do was hang on for a terrifying moment, the crash loud and flinging up stinging embers. The structure had folded into itself rather than bowing outwards, buying Kay a few more seconds, though now the heat rising from the massive bonfire on the floor was staggering. She pulled herself up and got a hand on the windowsill. Now she could see Abi’s frantic face, eyes wide, yelling something at Kay she couldn’t hear. Kay got her other arm up and Abi let go of the cloak to grasp her with both hands. She leaned back and managed to pull both of them out of the flames. They fell out onto the staircase which wrapped the building, just about half a story off the ground.
Abi leaned over Kay, pulling at the whirlwind of clothes, making sure Kay was alive. She gave a small shriek when she realized Kay’s boots were on fire and beat at them with her cloak. When they finally went out, she looked at Kay’s face, flushed and coughing. Abi fell still for a moment as Kay fought for breath.
Finally Abi said, “Fuck me, Kay, isn’t it supposed to be your week off?” Kay lay sprawled across the stairs, gasping. Abi stood over her, examining the cloak she’d used to pull Kay out. “This is absolutely ruined. You’re buying me a new one.”
Chapter 7. A Comparison of Notes
Abi looked around in disgust. “Only you would be dragged out of a deathtrap and then want to come eat at a place like this.”
They were seated across from each other in a dingy wooden booth. Abi was pretty, a delicate rounded face with black hair that fell in waves over her shoulders. A classic Gol beauty. Shorter than Kay and much more stylish in dress. She’d made several oblique comments to the condition of her cloak and used it as an excuse to bare her smooth shoulders to the bar crowd. A wasted effort, the bar quiet despite the prime hour. The other patrons were mostly working men, grabbing a few beers before heading home. None would have met Abi’s high standards for evening company.
Kay opened her mouth to retort but instead unleashed another series of sharp coughs. Working the smoke from her lungs. Abi’s face grew concerned. “Seriously, Kay,” she said, “what were you thinking, following that creep into that building?”
Kay was able to slow her coughing. She took a long drink of beer. “Did you see the lantern?”
“I saw a lantern in the street in front of the office. I saw the Fire Creep. Then I saw my willfully ignorant employer follow him straight into a fire.” Abi, a great lover of drama, began waving her hands. “No, no, no. Let me start at the beginning. First, I hear that my boss, who is supposed to be on her week off, which means I’m supposed to have a rare week off too, I hear that she shows up at an underground fight outside the walls, getting cozy with Calum Borlish and the western Farrows, for all I know looking for a new boyfriend among the Bosun. This is the night she’s supposed to be home staring at her precious Fire Eye and drinking herself stupid on that hideous argosy gin she likes. So, being a tireless and deeply caring employee, I check in at the office first thing in the morning, on my day off, mind you, to see if she needs any help, and when I get there I find an extremely surly and argumentative messenger from the Farrow, no idea how he got inside the walls, and he says he heard the mixed-blood Keara works out of the building. Ugly too. Terrible teeth. I won’t even tell you about his breath.”
“What did you say?” Kay asked.
“I played ignorant. I said I’ve never heard of any Keara. Told him I didn’t like his attitude and chased him
off. But he seemed like the persistent type. Probably asked around and knows there’s a Kay of mixed-blood in the building, so I figure he wouldn’t go far. So I went looking for you. Joah didn’t know where you were. I tried a few other places, running around town, on my day off, I’ll remind you again, and I keep checking back at the office, hoping to catch you before you walk into something without a heads up. Guess I didn’t have to worry about that, huh? No danger of you walking right into a trap, not our Kay?”
“He must have been from the westerners, didn’t know I was already headed to them.”
“The messenger? Do we care? So, I come back to the office one last time, like the very good but underpaid employee I am, and I see my beautiful and smart and admirable boss standing in the middle of the street staring at a lantern like a drooling idiot. The lantern floats away, some sort of cheap trickery from a cut-rate street performer, and she follows it all the way into a building she has no advance intelligence on. And the Fire Creep? Who would have thought he could be trouble? I see you go into the building. I see him walk around the corner and shut the door. And suddenly flames are coming out of the windows. I bravely abandon my dignity, and, after verifying that the door has been somehow wedged shut, head for the nearest window and save the day, dragging said boss to safety and singeing my favorite maroon cloak in the process. The cost of which I will be adding to my next payday.”
“So the Fire Creep left?”
“He left quick. Didn’t even look back. Probably thinking about all the coin to be made off the tourists while the Fire Eye is open.”
Abi folded her hands across the table. Kay knew her well enough to recognize when she was thinking. Abi’s deliberate flair and calculated self-deprecation hid a powerful mind. It was one of the reasons they worked so well together in spite of Abi’s tireless efforts to bend Kay into someone more like her. Abi was one of the few Kay truly trusted in Celest. She trusted Abi and she trusted Joah. She knew where both of them came from. And they knew her past, to varying degrees. There was really no one else. Outside the walls, she knew she owed Ewan. She believed in his kindness. But she could have no idea what kind of pressures he was getting, what hooks had dug in beneath his skin.
Abi asked, “What pulls the Fire Creep from the sidelines? Not a very discrete choice for a paid killer if someone wants you dead. We obviously need to revisit what we know about him, but the words reliable or invested don’t exactly leap to mind when I think of a freak in a white robe juggling flaming apples or whatever it is he does.” She leaned forward to look at Kay, her face concerned. “What are you into, Keara?”
“I’m looking for someone. A little Farrow girl. But it looks like someone wants her to stay lost.” In her head she saw the words SHE MUST STAY LOST lit in flames. “Also, the Farrow are pulling at my leash. They staked me a fortune in gold, which now lies melted at the bottom of the Fire Creep’s deathtrap.” Kay told Abi about the job given her by Ban Terrel, the soldier Reagan, and her meetings with Alban and Ewan. After another round of beer, Abi switched to wine and Kay got gin.
“So what next? Do you need anything tonight?” Abi asked. “I was joking about the day off stuff, but I did miss a date to haul your ass out of the fire.”
“No. My guess is Joah will be at the office tomorrow?” When Abi nodded, Kay went on, “Good. The Farrow are sending someone too. We’ve got to find something to feed them about the refugee council that’s getting formed. I’ll need you to start looking into that. I’ll use the first thing we find as an excuse to get back outside the walls and look around the camp more. See about Leah and Maggie Jordene. And we’ll see what we can learn from whoever my new Farrow handler sends without tipping them off we’re playing more than one hand at a time. I’ll put Joah on Ban Terrel. They’ll be expecting a progress report soon but I want to know more about who this guy is.” She looked at Abi. “If I set you on the refugee council tomorrow, where would you get started?”
After a rocky start, Kay had spent the past ten years sending good intelligence reports back to Alban, no doubt to his great surprise. She just hadn’t been the one collecting the intelligence for the past five. Abi had. She’d developed a solid network of informants, mostly men with an eye on bedding her, and several who had. She would have had a far better answer than a shrug if a roomful of Farrow pressed her on the refugee council. Kay paid her handsomely for the reports on top of her standard salary for managing the office. The arrangement freed up Kay to focus on her fetch work, something far more spiritually and financially rewarding than doing anything that helped Alban.
Abi folded her hands on the table. “The City League has had a representative on every council as far as I can remember. They tend to swing with the broader Kingdom’s group, but they’ll probably set the public sector agenda on this one. Hard to argue they won’t see the greatest impact, especially if they open the gates.” She paused, sipping her wine. “I’ll start by visiting Jan at the City. He lets me look through their mail sometimes. Probably some interesting things happening tomorrow.” She sighed. “You know, this really would be a lot easier if you hadn’t lost that gold.”
“I’m trying not to think about it.” Could she get it back? The Fire Creep had left quickly, but the building wouldn’t be safe to return to for a while. Might be crawling with leftovers from the fire brigade if the blaze hadn’t died swiftly. Even if she got to the gold, would it be in a form that was worth anything?
“Will you be safe tonight?” Abi asked. “If that Fire Creep knows where you work he might know where you live. And when he finds out you’re alive…”
Kay had strategically packed the building’s walls and doors with a pearl ash deposit. The same greyish dust she carried in her jars. It wasn’t cheap, but was widely used by the glass and soapmaking industries, which made it easy to get. A powerful way to kill fires or protect buildings. Both her apartment and the office had been given the treatment top to bottom. A girl couldn’t be too careful. Structure fires had a totally different meaning to her now. For a fourteen-year-old orphan unloved and alone, they had been a way of punishing the world for her fate. Now she had a home to protect and people she loved. Well, at least Abi and Joah. They probably counted. “I’ll be fine.”
“Just don’t chase anymore strange lights into the alleys and you might be.”
Chapter 8. The Remaining Seats
Kay sought out the Fire Creep the next morning on her way to the office. There was little point in hiding that she lived. Even if he hadn’t seen her escape, he’d learn sooner or later.
She’d seen him in his element last night. Attacking from the shadows. Luring in his prey. He’d somehow seen inside of her. He knew what was in her, knew her spark better than anyone else inside these walls. She’d always suspected there was some real magic within him. Last night she’d seen it. It had been used against her, used to lure her into a trap. But it was still magic, as rare and beautiful as the Fire Eye. Now she wanted him to feel exposed, the way she had felt last night. She wanted to extract some small measure of revenge. Provoke him. Confront him with her presence in the daylight, in a crowd, where he couldn’t do anything. And maybe learn something of how he was involved with the missing girl, if Leah Jordene was in fact the one who MUST STAY LOST. So she found him, performing in the Goalen Plaza, just as she’d anticipated.
The crowd at the Plaza was large for so early in the morning. Gol tourists, mostly in from the eastern countryside to see the Fire Eye. They’d stay another day or two before the city prices drove them back to their farms and villages. The Fire Creep didn’t have a basket out to capture coin but there was still a pile in front of him. Still, she didn’t think he performed for the money. He liked the shock and amazement of the crowd.
He was in the middle of building a set of complex intertwined fire rings when he saw her. The flames, less impressive in the daylight, fizzled out. His eyes were wide at first, then tightened to slits. The crowd shifted restlessly, some following his eyes to her, wondering what h
ad happened. Kay studied him for a moment, seeking some sort of inspiration as to his place in the story. Nothing came. She turned to cross the plaza. She didn’t look back but listened carefully for what the crowd noise would tell her.
Suddenly a searing pain started in her head. She shook her head, trying to escape it. A horrible heat right in the center behind her eyes. She staggered, fell to her knees. It felt like an animal was chewing its way out from inside. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. Her vision was fleeing, replaced with a bright white, her eyes burning from the inside. She felt panic, once again that girl clawing at the ground in a shed until her hands were bloody. Why was that where she retreated?
Just as suddenly the pain left. She gave a sharp moan of relief. She found herself on her knees, clutching her head, a few concerned Gol gathered around her. There was a collective gasp from the crowd behind her followed by an excited murmur. Was he coming for her? She turned but only saw a set of white robes running off from the center of the crowd in the opposite direction.
“Miss, are you okay? Miss!” The man clutching at her arms seemed more interested in getting an answer than in her actual condition. His wife hovered worriedly at his shoulder.
“What happened?” she asked, looking back towards the crowd.
“You fell. You were holding your head.” The man exchanged a look with his wife. “Look, we’re just visiting, don’t know where there’s a doctor around here. Is there someone who could help?” From their dress they were in from the country and didn’t look too comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings. Kay watched as the woman grabbed the man’s arm and mouthed the word wetblood.
The Fire Eye Refugee Page 5