The Labyrinth of Flame

by Courtney Schafer

  “Don’t you say that to him,” I told Cara, dead serious. “Don’t even tease. He doesn’t—” need any reminders, I almost said, but swallowed it in time. “Doesn’t need that kind of talk.”

  She hadn’t seen as much of Ruslan and Kiran as I had, but she likely guessed what I was being careful not to say. Her grin gone, she nodded. “I’ll play it gentle with him.” A hint of mischief returned to her eyes. “But can I tease you?”

  “Anytime,” I assured her, but the tension in her muscles didn’t ease. Was she still worried I might reconsider our partnership because she didn’t want children? “Look, about kids…I never expected to live long enough to have any.” Maybe I still wouldn’t, but I didn’t want to think about Ruslan. And I’d give up a lot more than some nebulous future fatherhood to have Cara at my side.

  “Cara—I want you for a partner. On whatever terms you set.”

  The smile that lit her face was so bright I’d forever treasure the memory of it. “Whatever terms? Now you’re tempting me to take advantage.” She slid a hand behind my neck and pulled me in for another devouring kiss. I took her hips, ready to show her just how eager I was to be taken advantage of—

  Someone cleared a throat, and we jumped apart like embarrassed kids. Mostly I was praying that if our visitor was Kiran, he hadn’t heard any of our talk about him.

  Thank Khalmet, it was Lena standing in the atrium, eyeing the dead nightclaw lizard with an expression that said, I’m not even going to ask.

  “Any news?” I asked, half-hopeful, half-annoyed. After all these hours, couldn’t she have waited a little longer?

  “Nothing you’ll like.” Lena took our arms and drew us to the far side of the atrium. “Dev, I know you’ve been pushing for Kiran to make an alliance with the demon that killed Lizaveta. But the more I read about demons, the more I fear this isn’t the right path. When Marten begged me to keep Kiran out of demon hands, I don’t think he meant just the ssarez-kai. In all I’ve read tonight, bargains with demons lead only to suffering and death.”

  “You think I don’t know it’s a hell of a risk? But we’re going against a blood mage, Lena. Defeating Ruslan is like—like—” I thought of Pello’s bitter rebuttal when I’d suggested that Lord Sechaveh simply kill a blood mage threatening Ninavel. “Like trying to snuff out the sun. It’s not going to happen without some serious help. Sometimes to bring down one enemy you have to risk using another.”

  “No! Dev, listen. In Ninavel, Marten thought he could manage the risk, but he was wrong. We should have chosen another path. Here, now, we face another crossroads. We can take the path that seems more certain, and find it comes with a terrible price. Or we can find a better course. One that’s harder, but safer.”

  Cara was nodding. I wanted to agree, but… “What if there isn’t another way?”

  “There is,” Kiran said.

  I jerked around. He was standing in the workroom doorway with an open book in his hands, and gods, the blaze of triumph on his face—

  “You found something about the weapon?” Hope rose in me like the dawning sun.

  “Not that.” Kiran brandished the book at us. “I know how to cross between realms. Listen: ‘When summoning Shaikar’s children, a mage must be careful to obscure the pattern of his or her soul. Otherwise, the creatures can use it ever afterward as a lodestone for their translocation, much as a mage might use blood or bone to key a seeking spell.’ That’s how the demon used Dev—not just to anchor the crossing, but as a means to propel my travel. Now I understand how, I could do the same with anyone whose ikilhia I know well enough.”

  I didn’t understand all that, but one part I grasped. “You’re saying you can blink yourself over to Ruslan. But then what? Stab him in the heart? Zap him with a spell?”

  Kiran laughed, short and sharp. “If the ssarez-kai are protecting him, I doubt I could reach him without them intercepting me. No. I’m saying that I don’t need to bargain with the scarred demon because I can reach another source of information. One who may know exactly where Ashkiza’s weapon is hidden in Alathia and what protections the Council set to guard it.”

  Beside me, Lena sucked in a shocked breath. “You’re saying—”

  “Marten.” Kiran stepped over the dead nightclaw without even looking at it. His smile was as darkly satisfied as one of Ruslan’s. “I’m going to rescue Marten from the Council.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  (Dev)

  Astounded, I said, “Rescue Marten? Not just go talk to him, but bring him here?” Could Kiran really whisk Marten away from the Council the way Vidai had snatched Melly in Ninavel?

  Cara was frowning in confusion. “I thought ordinary mages couldn’t survive the demon realm.”

  Kiran said, “If Marten agrees to let me within his barriers, I believe I can shield his ikilhia with my own. If he’s no longer in danger of the Council’s judgment and prefers to remain in Alathia, then I’ll simply ask for information. But if he faces execution—Lena, I can save him.”

  As if by saving Marten’s life, he could make up for taking Stevan’s? I wondered how much of this plan was born out of guilt.

  Lena’s mouth had fallen open. “That’s…a bold plan, but I have many concerns. For one, how would you even reach the demon realm? If you go to an earth-current, the ssarez-kai may be lying in wait to capture you.”

  “I don’t need an earth-current,” Kiran told her.

  Lena’s brows drew sharply together. “You intend to cross from inert ground? The demon inside the scholar had to murder its human host to raise the necessary power.”

  “I don’t need to kill anyone. All I need is…” He turned to me, and his dark confidence cracked into something far more shy and uncertain. “You. If you’re willing to help me.”

  “What?” I boggled at him, more confused than ever. “How? I’m no mage.”

  “Your bond to the confluence.” He spoke in an earnest, passionate rush. “I used it once to save your life, and after, the scarred demon reminded me that channels work both ways. If you and I were linked by a blood-binding, then I could use the demonfire in my ikilhia to draw confluence energy through your bond without harm for either of us.”

  “Blood-binding?” Oh, I didn’t like the sound of this.

  “I won’t hurt you. Can’t hurt you. Nor would I ever use the binding in any way for which you did not give consent. This wouldn’t be a slave-binding such as Simon Levanian cast on his servants, or even a bone-binding. Just a simple link between your ikilhia and mine. I already discussed it with Teo.” Kiran turned to the doorway, where Teo stood watching us. “You agreed such a binding wouldn’t harm Dev.”

  “I said the binding itself wouldn’t hurt him,” Teo said. “I didn’t say I thought your plan a good idea. For you to reach the confluence through Dev, Lena would have to remove her block.”

  “If he’s bound to me, I can protect him,” Kiran said.

  My head was reeling. “You can’t cast. Ruslan will pounce on you.”

  “Lena could cast the blood-binding. Afterward—when I cast to cross into the demon realm, yes, Ruslan will feel it. But the demon told Lizaveta: No spell you cast can follow me into our fire. Before Ruslan can strike, you and I will be out of his reach. First in the demon realm and then behind Alathia’s wards. When we return, I can use Lena as my anchor.”

  “You want to take Dev to Alathia.” Cara gripped my arm as if she feared Kiran meant to snatch me into the demon realm right that instant.

  “I must,” Kiran said. “With Dev at my side, not only can I cross between realms, I can draw upon the confluence to defend against the Watch. I can’t imagine Marten is unguarded.”

  “If he’s even alive. Hate to say it”—Cara threw an apologetic glance at Lena—“but it’s been weeks since his arrest. What if the Council already executed him?”

  Lena stiffened. “I know you think the Council’s judgments harsh, but they are never made in haste, and deliberations over Marten will be far from the
Council’s top priority. They’ll be much more concerned with addressing the danger from Ruslan. But Kiran…” The struggle on her face was painful to see. Obvious how deeply she feared Marten’s fate and how tempted she was by Kiran’s offer to save him. “I take it you hope to avoid the ssarez-kai by entering their realm unexpectedly and crossing it so swiftly they haven’t time to take you. That’s too much of a gamble.”

  Kiran said, “My plan is dangerous, I don’t deny it. But even as Ruslan prepares his next strike against me, he’ll be planning how to take Ashkiza’s weapon, and he has all the knowledge of the ssarez-kai at his disposal. I don’t see any other way we can get ahead of him.”

  Lena stood silent, twisting at her rings. Teo was watching her like he was praying she’d come up with another plan. Cara hadn’t taken her gaze from Kiran, her expression wary and her fingers still biting into my arm.

  Me, I didn’t know what to think. Easy to see this could go hellishly wrong in a thousand ways. I’d heard Kiran talk about the confluence enough to know that if he fucked up pulling magic through me, we’d both be ash in an eyeblink.

  Kiran said, “Lena. At least cast the blood-binding and let me try to touch the confluence through Dev. That would let us know if my plan is even possible. That is, if…” He shot me another uncertain glance. “If you’re willing.”

  Well, fuck. What was I supposed to say? Don’t you dare cast that binding, I’ve got more than enough creepy magic lurking inside me? I felt like I had on my very first winter climb with Sethan, facing a fanged icefall I wasn’t sure I could ascend without ending up a bloody smear at the cliff’s base.

  Everybody was looking at me. I could see in Lena’s eyes that if I said yes, she’d cast.

  Cara said in my ear, “If you judge the risk too high, for any reason, there’s no shame in saying so.”

  Sometimes, Sethan had said, you’ve got to trust your rope-partner and make a climb on faith.

  I took a shaky breath and told Kiran, “You think this is the right call, I’ll take your binding.”

  “You’re certain.” Now he was the one looking all nervous. “The blood-binding won’t harm you, but if I misjudge what I draw from the confluence…”

  “For Khalmet’s sake, shut up before you talk me out of it.”

  * * *

  Morning sunlight lanced through the holes in the atrium’s domed roof like spears of golden magefire. The sky outside was a dry, dusty blue; already the atrium felt like an oven. Yet the heat that sent sweat trickling down my sides wasn’t near enough to warm the chill in my bones. The only thing that helped was Cara’s hand tight in mine. She stood silent at my side, but the solid, comforting pressure of her grip said more than words ever could.

  Kiran and Lena conferred at the atrium’s center, intent as outriders planning a route across avalanche-prone terrain. Teo sat against the atrium wall with Melly, who was still licking the remnants of breakfast off her fingers. Cara had insisted we eat before Lena cast the binding. The nightclaw was nothing but a pile of scaled skin and yellowed bones, and our packs were fat with spell-cured meat. I’d been too nervous to eat half as heartily as Melly, who’d attacked her portion like she hadn’t seen food in weeks, but I’d forced down enough to be sure I wouldn’t collapse from hunger. As long as what I’d eaten stayed down in my stomach.

  “Dev. We’re ready.” Lena beckoned me. A knife glinted bright in Kiran’s hand.

  My gut spasmed. Khalmet’s hand, you’d think I’d never been bound before. I forced myself to let go of Cara. She hugged me and whispered, “If you’ve changed your mind, it’s not too late to say so.”

  I wanted to answer with some joke or boast like I’d do before a climb, but I didn’t trust my voice. Instead, I kissed her. One brief taste of sweetness, enough to give me the strength to cross the stone to where Kiran and Lena waited.

  Kiran cut a line down the inside of his wrist. I held mine out to him and was proud my hand didn’t shake. A thin, sharp pain, and then he pressed his wrist against mine. I gripped his forearm with cold fingers. My sense of his presence abruptly strengthened, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. Except this sun was in my head. I sucked in a breath through a throat that felt as narrow as a slip of straw.

  Lena laid her hands on our joined arms and sang a low, repetitive chant. A cool tingle of magic prickled over my skin. I shuddered, but didn’t pull away. The sense of Kiran grew brighter, stronger, until the world blurred. I saw him in front of me, pale and serious, but I saw myself too, panting, the whites of my eyes showing. Queasiness swept me; I struggled to force the world back the way it should be.

  Easy, Kiran said in my head, the thought accompanied by a wash of soothing calm. Fighting the link will only make the disorientation worse. I can help you if you let me.

  Behind his waves of calm lay nervous anticipation and granite-hard determination, and beyond that a black vortex of grief and fear and loss with something red and malignant glimmering right at its heart—

  Stop. He was panting as hard as I was. I can’t set restrictions on the binding, lest I hurt you. If you press me, I won’t stop you, but I’d prefer it if we left each other some privacy.

  I didn’t know how to pull back from him. He was bleeding into me and me into him and I wasn’t a mage, how could I possibly…?

  He stifled my panic with a firm blanket of calm. You don’t need to be a mage for something as simple as this. I’ve seen you prepare yourself before a difficult climb. You shut out fear and focus solely on your physical senses, right? Do that.

  I closed my eyes and took deep breaths from the gut. My lungs inflated and slowly released, not his lungs, mine. I noted the wet warmth of blood slicking my skin, the balance of my weight on my feet, the soft song of Lena’s chanting, and yes, I felt steadier now. But I couldn’t help thinking of the terrible storm I’d seen in Kiran. Was that red glimmer at its heart his mark-binding? Hell, and how was he able to deal with anything at all when he had that kind of mess churning inside?

  I knew the answer to that. He kept going because he had to. Just as I’d done in the days after my Change. Though left to my own devices, I might well have decided I didn’t want to live. It was Jylla who’d forced me to keep walking and talking and eating until one day I realized the black weight had become bearable.

  As you’ve done for me, Kiran thought. Such a tangled flood of gratitude and regret and apology accompanied the words that I couldn’t think of what to say in response. Then realized I didn’t have to say anything; he knew every damn thing I was feeling.

  Lena stopped singing. “The binding is complete, and I’ve removed the block on your bond to the confluence.” Her words sounded faint and faraway, much less real than the sense of Kiran right there in my head.

  Does it have to be like this all the time?

  Don’t worry, Kiran said, more apology and reassurance spilling into me. When we aren’t in physical contact, my amulet will block the bond. But now…

  Go ahead and try for the confluence, I told him. Fear leaped between us like lightning, mine mingling with his for me, but he damped it down. He went all cold and clear like a lake of icemelt. A trickle of that meltwater seeped into me, seeking something—

  I glimpsed a cord made of crackling indigo light that was rooted in my body like a snake with its fangs buried deep. Fear surged up again, all my own this time. Hastily, I focused on the physical world, praying I wasn’t distracting Kiran so much he’d fuck up and kill us both.

  A twinge inside me, like a hook joggled deep within my chest—and oh gods! An answering spark woke in the dead void in my mind where the Taint had once lived.

  Worry rippled up through Kiran’s icy clarity. Dev?

  Don’t stop. Do it again, do it again! I could barely form coherent thoughts, I was so overtaken by disbelieving hope.

  I can’t. Not if I hurt you. A score of memories followed, pulled right out of my own head: sharp agony cramping my gut as I hammered Ruslan into a tree, the charm that had reawake
ned the Taint gleaming bright on my wrist; me snatching for the charm as Kiran held it out of reach, shouting at me, The charm was killing you! Ruslan himself telling me, The charm works because of the damage caused; it is not a mere side effect.

  I didn’t care. You weren’t hurting me! Try again.

  He showed me spidery threads snaking up from the binding in my body to a scar deep in my mind. The threads were pulsing with new energy.

  Try again, I insisted, willing him to obey. Just to check. Maybe I imagined it. We won’t know for sure unless you do whatever you just did again.

  The lakewater of his thoughts stilled, and he reached into me. The spark burst to life in my head, swiftly growing brighter, joy exploding with it. I focused past Kiran’s white, intent face, wanting to try and lift something, anything, the smallest pebble would do. The Taint wasn’t like magic; no need for study and design and effort. All I had to do was reach with that gloriously alive part of my mind, and I could move things without touching them, smash wardlines to bits, even fly—but I should start small. I reached for a shard of stone by Lena’s foot and felt the old familiar twisting sensation in my head—

  Kiran yanked his arm from mine. Just like that, he was gone from my mind, as though a door had slammed between us. A door that’d snuffed the spark of the Taint into cold, dead ash.

  “Hey! I didn’t get to see if I could—”

  “I touched the confluence,” he said to Lena. “I can draw power. But when I did, Dev felt the Taint. Please, you must check him. I haven’t the knowledge to spot any damage.”

  I backed away from them. “Hold on. If you tell Kiran he’s hurting me, Ruslan’s binding won’t let him cast, will it? When he touched the confluence, it wasn’t like when I used Simon’s charm. Nothing hurt. I swear to you, I feel fine.” I wasn’t even lying. I felt great. Like I could leap up a mountain and soar right off the summit into the clouds.

  If Kiran drew on the confluence again, maybe I really could.