The more Kate thought about things, though, the more friendship seemed a two-edged sword. While it was nice to have friends, it also created certain burdens. Like the likelihood of her bringing danger and death upon her friends. One thing was certain: death stalked her like an unrequited lover. While it had not been able to grasp her in its claws, would her friends be so lucky?
She decided she shouldn’t burden them with such danger. She started avoiding them.
They reacted in different ways.
Peiros, being the newest of Kate’s friends, slipped into a purely professional mode. He still saw her in training, and when he was paired with her in the rotating assignments on the line, he was as kind and polite as ever but never asked her if anything was wrong.
She couldn’t figure out if he was upset that she shunned him or if he understood and was allowing her to dictate the terms of their friendship. She felt bad, but then she didn’t, and then she did again.
When it came down to it, all she did was for her friends’ benefit, after all, so she maintained her distance.
Wilfred hunted her down every day and asked her if he had done something wrong.
“I’m not mad at you, Wilfred,” she said. “I just need some space and time alone. I hope you understand.”
Kate shuffled her feet and tried not to look in his eyes as they started to tear up. He was kind of sensitive, after all. He accepted her isolation in sullen silence, though.
Molara, on the other hand, didn’t even try to engage Kate in conversation. The few times Kate went to the library, Molara acted as if the other woman wasn’t even there. What was that about?
Kate had been avoiding her friends for nearly a week, doing as many extra duties on the wall as she could, when Molara finally did something.
Kate stepped out of her room one morning and found Molara sitting in the hall near her door.
“It’s about time you got up,” the mage said.
“It’s barely sunrise,” Kate huffed. “How long have you been here?”
“A few hours.”
“A few hours? Why didn’t you knock or call out to me?”
Molara looked at her with serious eyes. “Really? With you trying to play hero and save us all from your presence? No, better I wait and snatch you up as you leave. Come with me.”
“No,” Kate said, “I can’t. I have to…”
“You’re not on duty this morning.” Molara threw a blistering glare at her friend. “I checked. Come on. I won’t argue with you about your stupid plan to save us all trouble and remove yourself from our lives. I have something much more important to discuss. Something I promised you but wasn’t able to deliver.”
Kate sighed and went with her friend toward the secret section of the library. On their way, Kate brought up something she had been wondering about. “What is the issue with officers who want to disband the Black, anyway?”
“What do you mean?” Molara said.
“A few days ago, I almost literally ran into Antoni Sera, and he gave me a dissertation about how the Black should be disbanded and how I would be better off pursuing a career as an officer. He’s the third officer I’ve interacted with who had the same attitude. The other two were captains.”
“Oh, that. It’s true, the Black are not as universally loved as those on the outside think. The individual soldiers look up to them, and everyone outside of the Order idolizes them, but there are some within the Order that would like them to be dispersed. Several of the higher officers seem to have made it their lives’ ambition to get rid of the Black Command completely.”
“But why?” Kate asked.
“Who knows? They say it’s because the focus should be on the Red or on other, more creative ways of dealing with the gate than just standing toe-to-toe with demons—”
“Other ways like what?” Kate interrupted.
“Like building walls or some type of contraption to block the gate permanently. They’re never specific. I think it’s because despite its faults, the shield wall is the most effective way to deal with the problem for now. I think we should look at alternatives, but the Black should remain in place until something is devised that can counteract the gate opening and letting demons flood across.”
“I don’t like it. I hope it doesn’t happen.”
“As long as Berart de Maligny is Supreme Commander, it won’t. He’s committed to the Black. He’s even all for increasing their number. If only we could find suitable candidates. You’re the first addition in several years.”
“Well, I hope the Black remain, and I’m not just saying that because I’m part of them now. It would be a strategic mistake to disband them.”
“I agree,” Molara said. They had reached her workshop, and the Purple picked up two items from her table and handed them to Kate. They were cut gemstones, their color a mix of pale purple and red. They sucked up the light and reflected some of it back weakly, almost as if they pulsed with life. “Here you go.”
Kate took the stones, turning them in her hand to watch the light from the torches and lanterns play across the facets. She lifted her head to meet Molara’s eyes. “Um, thank you?”
Molara laughed. “I know, they don’t look like much, but they are very valuable. I like to call them blinding stones.”
“Blinding stones?”
“Yep.”
Kate waited for something further, but Molara just stood there smiling at her. The seconds passing began to weigh on Kate, as if someone pressed down on the top of her head.
She let out an exasperated breath. “Come on, Mole. I know you like to tease me, but I don’t really have the time right now. What do they do?”
“They make you invisible to demons.”
Kate stared at the stones in her hand with her mouth hanging open. “Really?”
“Yep.”
“That’s fantastic. It’ll help immensely with our mission.”
“Yeah, about that,” Molara said. “They have definite limits. They’re useful, true, but maybe not as useful as you might think at first.”
“What kind of limits do they have?” Kate asked.
“Each can probably make your whole team invisible for something like five minutes.”
“Five minutes?”
“Yes,” Molara said, flushing slightly. “Ten tops. It should be enough time to slip past the demons to get into Hell. The other stone will let you slip back out when you’re finished with your mission. I’m afraid they won’t be useful for the actual mission, just for going in and coming out. If you use them up, you won’t have a way of getting back out without being seen.”
“Oh.”
Molara looked toward the floor. “I’m really sorry about the limitations, Kate. I did the best I could. As it was, if I hadn’t already added most of the magic before you even got the mission, they still wouldn’t be ready. Making them takes a very long time and infusing them with magic takes almost as long.”
“I know you did your best, Mole. I really appreciate it. I hadn’t figured out yet how to actually get in through the gate without being seen and attacked on the other side. Your stones have solved probably the biggest problem we had with the mission. Thank you so much.”
Molara raised her eyes and flashed her best smile. “It was pretty hard. I invented them myself. No one has ever made anything like them before.”
“You’re the best, Mole, and brilliant too, of course. Do I, uh, have to keep them secret?”
Molara shook her head. “No. I wouldn’t go spreading it around too much, just because they’re unique and someone might try to steal them from you, but definitely tell the captain and your team. I hope they help.”
“They definitely will.”
“You can tell by their glow how much power they have left. The less energy, the less light they’ll put out. If you hold them in your hand and close your eyes to concentrate, you can even feel how much power they have left.
“I wish I’d had time to work on how to recharge them. Using t
hem drains the magic out, but doesn’t damage the stone itself. It should be possible to put magic back in, but I’ll have to think about it. When I made them, I infused them with magic as I cut the stones. I can’t recharge them the same way unless I cut them smaller and smaller each time.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Kate said. “Listen, I have to go. I’m not sure when I’ll see you again, so you take care.”
“Before you go, let me explain how to activate them.”
Molara described exactly what Kate needed to do. In only a few minutes, Kate felt comfortable she could use them effectively. She put the stones in her belt pouch and bade her friend farewell a second time.
“Be safe, Kate. Maybe when you come back, you’ll put away your silly notions of protecting us with your absence. It really is absurd.” She put her arms around Kate and hugged her. Kate’s arms went around the smaller woman, too, and they held each other for a few seconds, eyes closed.
They released each other, and Kate slipped through the door back into the library on her way to tell Captain Achard and the others about the stones. She fished the blinding stones from her pouch as she walked and squeezed them in her hand, feeling their edges press into her palm. She smiled and hoped she would survive this mission. Even if she was still confused about what to do about being a burden on Molara and Wilfred, she finally had friends. It would be a shame to die now.
“The problem is that missions into Hell are normally only one or two people. Trying to sneak half a dozen in will be very difficult. Now, I think maybe—” The captain looked at Kate distractedly. “Do you have something to say, Kate? Or do you need to use the privy? You’re bouncing up and down like you’re anxious about something.”
“Oh,” she said. “Sorry. Yes, I have something to say, but I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“It’s your team. Speak whenever you have something to add.”
“Very well. I think I know how we can get in without being seen.”
The captain remained silent, looking from Kate to those in her team. After half a minute, he put one hand up, palm to the ceiling. “Will you tell us?”
“Yes, yes of course. I got some help from Molara. She gave me these.” Kate held out the two stones Molara had given her. “She calls them blinding stones, and they will hide us temporarily so we can slip into Hell during a battle.”
“Outstanding,” the captain said. “It’s just what we need. Can you show us?”
“Uh, no.”
“No?”
“No, sir. I’m afraid that they have only one magical charge each, one stone to get into Hell and the other to get out. Molara said it would take weeks to charge them up again after the one use.”
“I see,” the captain said. “So we are to let our entire plan hinge on two magical stones that we cannot test beforehand.”
“I’m afraid so. I trust Molara, though.”
“I trust her as well, but sometimes things don’t work as planned.” The captain ran his fingers through his hair. “Still, it’s a better option than anything else we have. If it fails to operate as planned, we’ll improvise. It’s what the Black do. Good work, Kate. This is what we have been waiting for.”
15
After receiving the blinding stones, the captain gave Kate’s team the go-ahead to enter the gate at the next battle. It wouldn’t be long. The demons had been attacking regularly, usually every day and sometimes more than once in a day. The team geared up for their journey into Hell.
Early the next morning, the bell rang.
Kate jumped up from her bed at the sound. Twice before, it had rung early in the morning when she was scheduled for front line duty, so her body automatically went through the motions of dressing in her Black clothing, which she had laid out in the most efficient order. In no time, she dressed, strapped her weapons in place, secured her death mask on the loop at her belt, and donned her pack.
She hurried down the hall toward the gate, picking up Peiros and Benedict along the way. The others were either ahead of them or just behind.
Benedict flashed the smile that made Kate so uncomfortable, like a rictus of a corpse that had died in horrible fashion. Peiros nodded and smiled at Kate.
“Good morning, Kate,” he said. “Nice day for a journey to Hell, no?”
She laughed nervously. “If any day could be said to be good to go into Hell, I guess this would be it.”
“Right you are, Pretty Kate,” Aurel said when he caught up to them as they exited the Black’s barracks, headed toward the Great Stair. He was smiling, too, but his and Peiros’s were friendly smiles that made Kate feel better they were with her, unlike Benedict’s mockery of a smile.
By the time they got to the gate, the battle had already started. The shield wall held off the front lines of the demons, at least for the time being. Three other Black brothers were in place to monitor the battle. They nodded in her direction, and she nodded back.
Kate faced her team.
“Aurel. Peiros. Benedict. Jurdan. Visimar. Good, we’re all here. Are you ready?”
A string of affirmatives came from the men.
“All right, then, let’s see how these gems we have work.”
She led them to the side of the battle, well behind the front line. Without a word, she did as Molara had told her to do. She brought her own firestone necklace up to the invisibility stone and concentrated on energizing it. Then she had the others all touch their own firestones to the blinding stone.
Nothing happened.
“Is something supposed to happen, perhaps?” Peiros asked.
“I…I don’t know,” Kate said. “Molara told me to activate it and that we would be invisible to the demons, but she didn’t say how we’d know.”
As she spoke, a group of demons broke through a section of the shield wall not twenty feet away. Half a dozen of them charged through, heading straight for the team. Steel rasped as it was drawn from scabbards and sheaths.
The demons rushed past, five feet away, but never looked at them. The monsters engaged with a backup unit as one of the other Black brothers on duty slipped in fluidly to seal up the breach. As he did, he tilted his head curiously, and Kate imagined she saw confusion in his eyes through his death mask.
The members of the team gaped at each other.
“It’s almost as if they didn’t see us,” Visimar said.
“Yes,” Aurel agreed.
“Well, then, I guess that’s the proof,” Kate said. “Hurry, let’s slip around the side of the demons’ forces so we can get in the gate. The stones will only last a short time.”
“And so it begins.” Benedict pulled his death mask on. The grinning parody of a demon imp’s face was disturbing, but not nearly as much so as the man’s cold smile. Kate pushed the image of it out of her mind.
Kate took her mask from the loop on her belt and put it over her face as the other members of the team did the same. She moved around the Red in the shield wall, squeezing through them and pushing through the shields at the very edge of the battle, so near the precipice that few demons attacked there.
She skirted the edge, pushing three demons off into the abyss with her shield when they got too close. Even then, they didn’t seem to see her. A few of them swiveled their heads, nostrils flaring when one demon or another fell to their deaths, but they all continued ramming the wall instead of investigating. Battle was so chaotic, few noticed.
The Red, on the other hand, shot glances her way, perplexed looks on their faces. With no masks to cover their expressions, it was clear they were perplexed about the Black being ignored by the demons.
Kate shared a look with Peiros, right behind her. He had seen it, too. The blinding stones made them invisible to demons, but not to humans. Luckily, all the soldiers were busy surviving and so they didn’t call attention to the black-uniformed figures sneaking through the ranks of demons in the most peculiar way.
The six finally reached the gate and gathered to the side, near where K
ate had first seen Peiros. The heat emanating from the opening was already causing her to perspire.
Kate checked the blinding stone she held and found it barely shining. She reached toward it with her mind as Molara had told her to do and was shocked to realize it was almost out of energy.
They had taken too long.
Kate put a hand up to halt the others, then pulled the other stone out. She activated it more quickly this time and she gestured for them all to touch their firestones to it. They did so without question.
She flashed the sign to ask if they were ready. Affirmatives came back from all of them.
Kate waited for a break in the stream of demons coming out of the gate and darted in, cutting to her left to move to the side of the gate on the Hell side. She snuck twenty feet before waiting for everyone to gather again.
Once they were all together, Kate looked up to scan the land they had crossed into. Her mouth dropped.
As far as she could see in the dim, otherworldly light, the rugged and completely inhospitable landscape seemed to stretch forever. The occasional flame burst up from the cracked ground, spewing smoke and light into the air. Those flames and that smoke were responsible for the hazy, flickering look to the place when she had glimpsed it from the other side of the gate.
Sweat poured from every pore, instantly drenching Kate’s tunic under her mail. It looked, felt, and smelled like a smithy during the busiest of times.
But that wasn’t what really threw her for a loop. Demon bodies writhed and fought to get to the gate. They, too, stretched on for as far as she could see. There had to be tens of thousands of them, maybe hundreds of thousands.
If it wasn’t for the choke point of the gate itself, the demon forces would have long ago overrun the paltry human defenses and taken over all of Telusium.
“Did you think perhaps that Hell was a small place, the size of a large audience hall or amphitheater?” Peiros asked her.
Order of the Fire Box Set Page 27