Heart of Fire

by Kristen Painter

  His fey blood had healed his throbbing head, but the hush night brought to the city pleased him. He relaxed against the wall and opened his senses. A full spectrum of sounds filled his angled ears.

  The thump of his own heart, the soft snuffling of Dragon hidden in the alley behind him, the whoosh of wind through the streets, water dripping, the distant scutter of nocturnal creatures. The quarantine had made Slodsham unnaturally quiet. Focusing, he shut out those sounds and listened again.

  This time footsteps echoed in the distance. Footsteps that had better belong to Haemus. Before long, the merchant arrived at the meeting place.

  Ertemis reached out and gripped the merchant’s shoulder. The man stiffened, his breath caught. Haemus whirled around, his face gnarled in fear.

  Ertemis dropped the enchantment, stepped out of the shadows, and revealed himself. Haemus slumped with relief, then opened his mouth to speak. Ertemis put a finger to his lips and motioned for the man to follow him into the alley.

  The dank lane stunk with the butcher’s refuse. The fetor evoked memories he longed to forget – battlefields littered with sun-bloated corpses, puddles of blood dotted with flies. He forced the thoughts from his head. Dragon snuffled in recognition of his master, and Ertemis greeted the big grey with a hearty nose rub.

  The shadows sculpted Dragon, magnifying his size. Haemus eyed the beast warily. “That’s the biggest horse I ever seen. Whaddya pay for him?”

  Ertemis focused on the merchant and bolstered his gaze with a dose of elven magic to set his eyes afire. The look had the desired effect, stifling the man’s question and sending him back a step.

  “You ain’t gonna hurt me, are ya, now?” Haemus rubbed at the scars on his throat.

  Ertemis ignored the question. “Is your contact in place?”

  “Aye. We best go. I don’t know how long he’ll wait.” Haemus coughed nervously.

  The man needed be quieter. Ertemis checked the wraps on Dragon’s hooves, a precaution against clatter waking any light sleepers or busy bodies. Killing someone would only complicate his night. The wraps were snug. He nodded his readiness.

  Dragon’s leads in hand, he followed the merchant through a series of back streets and side lanes, until they arrived in Slodsham’s Stew. The mosslights here held devil’s fire, the same lights used by the Legion for night patrols. The warm-water algae shed a red glow over the bawd houses.

  Tonight, the regular bustle and hum of the Stew was silenced. The bawd house balconies stood empty of their usual painted faces. Even the pink skirts didn’t work during quarantine. Only healers were allowed on the streets during a quarantine curfew.

  Ertemis studied the rusted, rundown postern. Easy to see why it was the least used gate in the entire city. It looked barely wide enough for Dragon.

  Lantern light shimmered through the dirt-streaked window of the dilapidated guard shack beside the locked passage. Haemus walked toward the shack and Ertemis hid himself and Dragon with magic. Might as well let Haemus have first go.

  The merchant rapped twice, paused, and then rapped once. The door creaked open. A stunted creature with watery eyes and swamp-colored skin emerged.

  “Haemusss,” the goblin hissed through large, wet lips. “Twuag wasss about to leave.”

  “Good of ya ta stay since ya owe me,” Haemus said.

  “Perhapsss a little gold would help Twuag find the key fassster.” The goblin offered up his warty palm suggestively.

  Haemus sighed. “I thought ya might feel that way. Twuag, meet my banker.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder as he moved out of the way. “Ya want gold, ask him.”

  Ertemis dropped the enchantment slowly, revealing only his eyes at first. Experience had taught him just how effective the sight of two glowing, disembodied eyes could be.

  Twuag shuddered and herked his bulk back into the guard shack, peering around the doorframe. “What givesss?”

  Dragon slid his head over Ertemis’s shoulder. He dropped the enchantment altogether. Man and beast came into full view, outlined by mossglow, a glimmer of moonlight and the unmistakable sheen of elven magic.

  An uneasy smile twitching on his lips, Haemus crossed his arms over his chest. Twuag whimpered, taking obvious notice of the high, tattooed ears. Goblins rarely fared well against the fey, be they half-blood or full.

  The squat-legged creature dug the keys out of his pocket and scuffled toward the gate. Frantically trying each key, Twuag peered over his shoulder every few moments, keeping one bulging eye on the dark elf’s whereabouts.

  Ertemis grinned slightly when he saw the smug look in Dragon’s eyes. By Saladan’s britches, that horse is full of himself. He stepped a little closer to the fumbling goblin. “Hurry, goblin,” he whispered into the creature’s knobby ear, “or Speckled Fever will be the least of your worries.”

  “Twuag isss hurrying,” the goblin whined under his breath.

  At last the lock popped open. Twuag dropped the keys and disappeared into the city.

  Haemus grinned his gap-toothed grin. “I knew ya was goin’ ta be handy with that one.” Spinning on his heel, he sauntered through the gate.

  Ertemis shook his head and began easing Dragon through the narrow space. He walked backward through the corridor, leads in hand, mindful of the limited room for his own passage. “Head down, one shoulder at a time,” he urged. “Come now, you can do it.”

  He worried the beast would be caught at the hips. “Steady now, almost through -”

  But it was not to be. Dragon stuck fast and fumed about it, snorting hot breath, nostrils flaring, eyes wild. Knowing the horse’s strength and persistent nature, Ertemis goaded Dragon further.

  “Pity you haven’t the strength to get through, old friend. If you hadn’t gorged on that second helping of oats, you might be standing next to me—”

  Dragon burst from the gate with enormous force, knocking his master back. Ertemis stifled his laughter as the beast pawed the ground indignantly, snorting and stomping his still-muffled hooves. “All right, hush, you’ve proved me wrong.”

  He righted himself and shook the dirt from his cloak. He reached for Dragon’s front hoof and stripped the wrapping off, working his way around until all four were freed. After stuffing the wraps in his pack, he adjusted the cinch on his scarred black leather saddle.

  Haemus coughed again. “That’s quite a piece of horseflesh ya got there.”

  “Do not refer to my fine equine friend as ‘horse flesh’, unless you prefer to deal with him directly.” Humans were such bothersome creatures.

  Dragon tossed his head and snorted.

  Eyeing the horse, the merchant swallowed hard. “Does the beast understand what yer...never mind. My apologies. Dint mean any disrespect.”

  “Fine.” Ertemis held his hand out. “My coin.”

  “About that...” Haemus rubbed his scarred hands together. “I have another proposition for ya.”

  * * *

  Jessalyne awoke with a start, the remnants of the same familiar nightscare fading as she remembered her patient. Corah and her very pregnant mother sat at Orit’s bedside. Elegant in a robe of pale green linen, Lady Dauphine held Orit’s small hoof and whispered soothing words to her sleeping son. She gazed at her child with a tenderness that made Jessalyne’s heart ache.

  “I’m sorry, I meant to stay awake with him.” She’d fallen asleep perched on the stool, head against the wall, the shawl still draped around her shoulders. She rubbed her neck.

  Corah nodded. “I’m sure you needed the sleep. Papa left already to attend the morning council.”

  “Orit should have a mug of willow broth.” Jessalyne arched her back, trying to wake up.

  “I’ll make it.” Corah headed to the kitchen.

  “He will be fine.” Jessalyne tried to comfort Dauphine. “He just needs rest.” The words rang false even to her own ears.

  Dauphine kept her gaze on her son, her hand trembling slightly as she caressed his head. “He is very warm.”

>   Jessalyne rubbed at the stiffness in her neck again. “It might be best if you gave me a moment to check his wound.”

  With a soft grunt and a hand under her belly, Dauphine pushed to her feet and joined Corah in the kitchen.

  Once alone, Jessalyne pressed the back of her fingers against the little fawn’s nose. Fever burned through him. She pulled the coverlet back and flinched. The gash on Orit’s flank puffed around the stitches and oozed yellow fluid. A sick-sweet odor filled her nose and knotted her stomach.

  No poultice or balm alone could fix this. Thoughts of the cervidae who’d been bitten last season by a water serpent filled Jessalyne’s head. Tyber had forbid her to use magic. The elder buck had died. She recovered Orit and went into the kitchen.

  “He isn’t healing like he should. I need to...to try something else. Something Lord Tyber may not like.” Something I may not be able to control.

  Dauphine blanched in comprehension, more tears spilling. “I’ll speak with him.”

  “I’ll wait for his decision then.”

  “Nay,” Dauphine’s voice wavered. “Don’t wait. I’ll make Tyber understand.”

  She closed her eyes briefly. “Can you heal him, with your...gifts?”

  “I can only try.” Jessalyne wished she could promise more.

  “Please do your best. He is our only son.” She cupped her very pregnant belly. “So far.”

  Another tear slanted down Dauphine’s cheek and Jessalyne started forward to hug her. Dauphine shifted back out of reach.

  Jessalyne dropped her hands to her side. “I didn’t mean...”

  Sadness softened Dauphine’s tone. “I know.” Hesitantly, she put her arms around Jessalyne.

  The rare contact nearly brought Jessalyne to tears. She inhaled. The scent of new earth and sun perfumed the expectant mother. She felt the faint kick of Dauphine’s unborn babe. If the woman was willing to touch her, Jessalyne knew how desperate she must be.

  Jessalyne pulled out of the embrace, knowing what the contact cost Dauphine.

  “I will heal him.” Jessalyne prayed her words weren’t a lie.

  Once Dauphine and Corah were gone, she checked on the sleeping fawn again. “I’ll be back soon,” she promised.

  She headed through the garden and into the woods behind the house. There a grove of tall, fragrant rowan trees encircled a moss-carpeted patch of ground. A solitary stone marked her mother’s resting place.

  “I wish you were here, Mama. I need you. There’s so much I don’t know, and now a life rests in my charge. I wish you’d left me books to teach me about this magic. I know it comes from you.”

  Her sigh disappeared on the wind. “I don’t know if I will heal Orit or hurt him, but I have to try.” The lingering sensation of Dauphine’s arms around her sharpened the pang of missing her mother.

  She wrapped her arms around herself but it was a cold comfort. “I hate this useless, misplaced feeling. I hate it!”

  Clenching her fists, she struggled to calm herself. “It can’t be this power is just for lighting candles and warming bath water.

  “If I heal him, maybe the cervidae won’t be so afraid of me. Maybe they’ll be willing to touch me.”

  Her voice quieted. “Not that it matters.”

  She dropped to her knees in the grass. “Dauphine hugged me today, Mama. That’s the first time anyone’s held me since you died. I can’t live like this. I can’t. I have to leave, Mama. I need to. I need to go somewhere people aren’t afraid of me.”

  Jessalyne knelt with her arms outstretched. She willed the leaf-filtered sun to melt her doubts and strengthen her spirit for the work ahead.

  Orit showed no change when she returned.

  There was no reason to delay. She waved her hand and lit the beeswax candles in the wall sconces. After easing the coverlet back, she stood at the footboard and blocked out all but the wounded child. Occasional moans punctuated his ragged breaths.

  The room blurred as she focused on Orit’s innocent face, on his small body racked with fever and infection, and the angry seeping gash. Heavy magic prickled her skin as power flowed through her.

  She closed her eyes and visualized Orit’s flank perfect and blemish free. In her mind, she saw him healthy and well in both his human and deer forms.

  Holding her hands over him, she wished she could bear his injury herself. She imagined his wound as her own. Heat coursed over her in rippling waves, lifting the hair off her face. Sweat trickled down her spine. A shard of pain stabbed her side. Orit’s hurt was hers for one long, hard moment and then dissolved, extinguishing the fire within her as it faded.

  The heat drained out of her and she wobbled, her balance gone. She opened her eyes but couldn’t focus. She clutching for the footboard, as her knees give way. She dropped to the floor with a sharp crack. She gasped and her eyes watered at the jolt.

  On all fours, she tried to catch her breath. She blinked, unable to clear her vision. Then she heard a child’s voice.

  “Lady Jessalyne?”

  She tipped her head up, the action spinning another wave of dizziness through her.

  “Lady Jessalyne, are you sick?” A blurry Orit stood before her, in his human form.

  Small hands wrapped around her waist trying to help her up. She laughed weakly.

  “Orit, Orit...” Her voice trailed off as she pulled the boy against her and hugged him, kissing his little cheeks. He squirmed out of her embrace.

  She studied him, searching for a mark. Nothing remained of the wound.

  “What’s wrong, Lady Jessalyne?”

  “Nothing...absolutely nothing.” Cool relief filled her as she collapsed to the floor.

  Chapter Two

  “Our business is concluded, Haemus.” Ertemis swung into his saddle.

  “But wait, ya haven’t heard what I have to say!” Haemus looked as if he might weep. He rubbed his throat again.

  Ertemis peered at Haemus, impatient to be paid. Dragon tossed his head, ready to go.

  “Yer a man fer hire, ain’t ya?”

  “Aye.”

  “Well, I want ta hire ya.”

  Ertemis wrinkled his brow. “For what? And how much?”

  “Guard my way ta Drust and then Callaoja River. Ten pieces of gold.” Haemus pulled a small pouch off his belt and tossed it up.

  Ertemis counted the coins in the pouch. Seventy-five as promised. Haemus might be human but his money was good. Ten pieces of gold. Perhaps Haemus could be quieter. “Twenty. And conversation is not provided.”

  “Aye, agreed! Again, we have a deal.” Haemus started to reach for a handshake but stopped short, clapping his hands together instead. “Now, ta the stables ta gather my steed.”

  As Ertemis expected, the stables outside Slodsham were deserted, no guards anywhere. He shook his head with disgust. Only the wealthy and careless left their mounts at the city mews. They might lodge the animal well enough, but here was a prime example of what happened in time of crisis. When the cry of quarantine went up, the guards on duty probably took the best mounts and got as far away as possible. Anyone could walk in and help himself to any horse he wanted. Ertemis wondered if that wasn’t exactly what Haemus planned to do.

  An unusual quiet greeted them as they went inside, no shuffling of hooves or whinnied greetings. The pitch-black gave way as Ertemis’s elven sight took over. There was good reason for the quiet. “Your horse is gone with the rest of them. Nothing left but one scraggly donkey.”

  “I beg ya pardon, she ain’t one bit scraggly!” Haemus dug in his waist pouch for a flint and began sparking it to locate a lantern.

  As soon as he got one lit, he found the jenny’s stall and led her out, scratching the animal’s head. The donkey had a marking around one eye in the shape of a flower. “Petal, my sweet girl, did ya miss me? Here’s a carrot for ya.” He pulled the promised treat from a pocket inside his cloak and fed it to her, stroking her neck. “I don’t see my cart.”

  Ertemis shrugged. “Probably stolen
as well. You’ll have to ride that animal.”

  Haemus grumbled something about the cost of the cart, but soon found a light blanket and some tack and fixed Petal up to ride. Hoisting himself onto the donkey’s back, he followed Ertemis out of the stables.

  By firstlight, they were well beyond Slodsham. Haemus pattered on non-stop about buying a new cart, the price of silk in Drust and many other things Ertemis wished he could shut out.

  He pulled his hood down against the rising sun. They traveled through the low country forests all morning, finally breaking at midday for Haemus’s sake. Dragon and Petal grazed near a small shaded stream, while Ertemis and Haemus ate bread and hard cheese from their packs. Ertemis finished first. He contemplated how much longer he would have to abide his noisy human companion while he refilled his waterskin.

  Another day’s ride and the foothills of Shaldar’s Wyver Mountains would spread before them. The port city of Drust lay slightly further east on the Callaoja River. Maybe someone in Drust would have the information he needed to find his father. Time was slipping away. Once the Legion declared a bounty on his head, he’d have to be more cautious than ever. Maybe he should go to Shaldar City first, see if what the Travelers had told him was true. Or maybe he should abandon the idea of punishing his birth father until his bond was paid and he was truly free.

  Perhaps in Drust he would ditch Haemus and find passage on a ship. He had heard rumors that the games in Myssia were about to begin as their new queen sought a husband among the fittest men. The thought tempted him. Myssia’s queens were fierce warrior women, not soft, pampered nobility. He doubted they would be afraid of him, and they’d have coin enough to buy his freedom. Even so, the thought of himself as king of anything was laughable.

  Maybe he would seek work through the black markets. There was always someone willing to pay a hefty fee for some scurrilous deed. No. Black market dealers were not the kind of people a wanted man did business with.

  If he could just earn enough to buy his freedom. Freedom. He couldn’t imagine what it would feel like. He would find a quiet spot in the mountains somewhere and disappear, away from the stares and whispers. Concentrate on other ways of finding the blackguard who’d fathered him. Plan the weasel’s slow death.