Order of the Fire Box Set

by P. E. Padilla

  When she and the rest of her squad—she didn’t bother trying to find out any of their names after the night before—made their way up the Great Stair, she surveyed the scene. She hadn’t been paying attention, but they had cut the numbers even more drastically. There couldn’t be more than thirty Reds manning the gate. Thirty!

  The plateau was as she remembered, except that she had never seen it empty before. The eerie scene looked as if somehow she had been transported to a time after the world had ended. Discarded cups and dishes lay on the field in the midst of scraps of cloth. Where were the Blue? For that matter, where were the officers for the Reds? The battlefield should never look like that.

  Kate stepped up to the front line and stood at parade rest. The sound of laughter struck her from behind, and she turned to see others pointing at her and making jokes.

  “Courtenay,” the sergeant said. “Come back over here. We don’t form the front lines up there anymore. There’s no need. This way, we have more time to spot the demons and prepare for them. That’s if they’re not too scared to show up anymore.”

  The others in her squad laughed, and a couple even patted the man on the back.

  Kate came back to where the others were and took up her stance there, facing the gate.

  “Look at her,” Dark said. “She likes to play soldier.” More laughter.

  Several of the others jibed her for a while until they tired of the game since Kate would not respond. When she glanced back at them, including the other two squads sharing the field with them, she couldn’t believe it.

  Many were sitting on the ground. One man had curled up as if he was sleeping. There was even a group of four men gambling with dice. Gambling! She glanced up to the lieutenant on duty, up on the officer’s platform. He was reading a book, not paying attention to the soldiers, or the gate, at all.

  The Creator help us, I’m surrounded by fools, she thought, but continued her vigil.

  The shift ended without so much as a ripple in the air around the gate. Kate had been on duty before when nothing happened, but she never thought she’d see what she had witnessed this day. She was glad to make her way down the stairs, passing by the waiting Reds who would relieve her squad. She didn’t have duty again for two days, so until then, she was free.

  She headed for the library.

  This time, no one else was in the secret section of the library or in the hallway where the door was. Kate went in, thankful she still had access. If Travada or whoever was orchestrating things knew how much of a blow it would be to limit access to the meeting area, they would have done so long ago.

  Molara appeared before Kate had even crossed the entry room.

  “Kate, good. Come in, I want to show you something.”

  “Good afternoon, Molara,” Kate said with a smirk.

  “What? Oh, yes. Good afternoon to you, Kate Courtenay.” She swept into a graceful curtsy. “My apologies for being impolite. I’ve been busy with a few projects, and I just finished the one I am about to show you. I’m sort of excited about it.”

  “I see. Well, then, considering this new information and the fantastic curtsy you just performed, I suppose I shall grant you my pardon.”

  She was hardly able to grab the small pillow Molara had produced from somewhere and thrown at her before it struck her. She laughed, placing the ammunition on the nearest table as she followed her friend.

  Kate inspected Molara’s workshop area. As always, it was an organized mess. Things seemed to be deposited haphazardly in the most awkward of locations, but the Purple could find anything in the blink of an eye. Kate had never quite figured out her friend’s method for storing things in the large room. One day she would have to ask Molara to explain it to her.

  “Come on, come on,” Molara said. Was that a whine in her voice? “You can gawk at all my wonderful in-process projects another time. Focus, Kate, focus.”

  Despite her gloomy outlook, Kate laughed. Molara had a way of brightening up even the most horrid of days.

  “Yes, yes,” Kate said. “Stop your nagging. Just like an old woman, you are. It’s no wonder you live alone.”

  Molara’s eyebrow raised. “As opposed to bunking with women I don’t like? I live alone because I have not found anyone worthy of sharing my personal space.” She winked at Kate. “Or maybe I have, but am too shy to make an invitation.”

  “Pft,” Kate scoffed. “You, shy? I think not, my convivial friend. You would talk the ear off a statue, given a chance. A statue you had just met. If you were not so fantastic, I would stay away from you and your lies completely.”

  “As if,” Molara said, sweeping her hand out as if throwing something away from her. She giggled and grabbed Kate’s hand, pulling her to one of the work benches. “Oh, how I miss being able to spend more time with you, Soldier Courtenay.”

  “I know, Mole. Me, too.” She pulled Molara’s hand to her mouth and kissed it, then jumped in place comically to face the table. “So, what have you got to show me today?”

  “Ooh,” Molara said, gritting her teeth and shaking. “It’s good. I think you’ll like it.”

  “As opposed to how I never like anything you come up with? Please, Mole, everything you have ever shown me is amazing. You are quite simply a genius, and I love every little thing you share with me.”

  Molara became very still and stared into Kate’s eyes. “Really?”

  Kate smacked her friend’s shoulder. “Stop it. Though you do a great job with that particular look, I won’t fall for it anymore. I know you too well.”

  “Damn.” Molara barked a laugh. “I need to get some new material if I can’t fool you, or even entertain you, with my existing stuff.”

  “Oh, you’re entertaining all right,” Kate said. “You just can’t fool me. I am too aware of your mischievous nature.” She pointed two fingers of her right hand toward her eyes and then flipped her wrist to point at Molara while mouthing watching you.

  “Enough of your trying to get me off subject,” the Purple said. “Do you want to see what I just finished or not?”

  “I absolutely do. Is it fantastic?”

  Molara giggled again. “It is.”

  “Then show me. What are you waiting for?”

  Molara leveled another serious look at Kate, but couldn’t maintain it and made a sound that was halfway between a hiccup and a chuckle.

  “Well,” Molara said. “You know how we have been talking about how we need to figure out how to get information without advertising to anyone who is watching that we are out trying to get information?”

  “Yes.”

  “I used some principles from my invisibility stones and modified them to create something new.”

  It was Kate’s turn to give Molara a flat look.

  “Oh, fine. Here.” Molara thrust what looked like a pair of eye glasses at Kate.

  “Um, thank you?” Kate said, though it came out sounding like a question. “What do they do?”

  Molara crossed her arms under her breasts and began to tap her foot.

  Kate turned the glasses over in her hands, inspecting them. They had red-tinted lenses that were a strange type of thick glass, almost as if they weren’t glass at all. Other than that, they looked like any eyeglasses she had ever seen, wire frames wrapped around the lenses with a rounded section that could sit on the wearer’s nose.

  “Do you give up?” Molara said. “Do you want me to tell you what they do?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Then why didn’t you ask me?”

  “I di…oh, never mind. Molara, will you please tell me what they do?”

  “It would be my pleasure, Kate. Thank you for asking.”

  Kate rolled her eyes.

  “I saw that,” Molara said.

  “Good, because I did it right in front of you. If you didn’t see it, I was going to offer you these eyeglasses.”

  Molara snatched the item from Kate’s hand. “Oh, give me those. I call them spectral peeps, or just peeps
for short. They let you see demon stink.”

  “They what?” Kate asked, putting her finger in her ear and wiggling it.

  “They let you see the residue that demons leave in the air or on objects. It’s like a smell, but visual, and it lasts a lot longer than any scent would.”

  Kate gently took the glasses back from Molara. “They can do that? Molara, that’s fantastic. I didn’t even know such a thing was possible.”

  “It is, and those glasses do it. With them, we can see if any demons have been loose in the fortress.”

  Kate tilted her head at her friend. “Loose? You think there may be demons about?”

  “Of course, and not just the invisible ones. Whether they are in the fortress, or people from the Order are meeting them in Hell or at another location somehow, these glasses should show us. They’re based on the particular kind of magic that demons have. It’s like their aura or life force. Since they all have it, it should be easy enough to track them using the spectral sight provided by my peeps.”

  “Are you really going to call them peeps?” Kate asked, twisting her mouth like she had just eaten something foul.

  “Yes. Don’t you think it’s cute? You know, peeping at things. Peeps.”

  “Fine. It’s your invention. Call them what you will.”

  Molara pulled another pair of them from behind a stack of tools on her workbench. “I made two of them. You can use one, and I’ll test out the other. You get outside more than I do, so I figured you would do better to test a pair.”

  “You made them for me?” Kate asked.

  “Of course. We have a matched set now. We’re like peeps sisters.”

  “Ugh.”

  “Here,” Molara said, handing Kate a small item. “It’s a case for the glasses. You can either put it in your belt pouch or strap it on your belt. It will keep the peeps safe from being damaged. The lenses are made of crystal, not glass. They’re fragile, and since there are only two in existence, well, you know.”

  Kate placed her peeps in the case. They fit perfectly, and the rigid container would most likely protect them even in a fight. “I will be very careful with them.”

  “Please do. When you’re testing them, it would probably be good to do it at night. Though some people wear eyeglasses, they are not very common. You’ll call attention to yourself if you walk around with those on. At night, with your hood up, you’re less likely to be noticed with them on.”

  “Great idea. I’ll test them as soon as I leave here. There are still a couple of hours left until dark. Is there anything else we need to discuss? I have no duties tomorrow, so I should be able to come over then to work on the chain of communication for the Infirium.”

  “That will be great. Peiros said he should be able to come tomorrow as well, so we can put out heads together and solve that little problem. For now, though, why don’t we just chat? We rarely have time for that anymore. For example, how do you like your new squad?”

  “Blech!” Kate stuck her tongue out. “I’d rather talk about anything else. I’d rather do anything else. How about torture? I’m sure that will be less painful than talking about Anvil Squad.”

  “Anvil Squad?” Molara repeated. “That’s the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard, unless there is a Fluffy Pink Bunny Squad.” The Purple tilted her head to look up toward the ceiling to her left. “No, I would prefer that last one over Anvil Squad.”

  “I might like to be part of the Fluffy Pink Bunny Squad,” Kate said. “I think my current squad was named for the lunkheads whose brains are solid metal. Not much thinking going on up there.

  “Of course, the sergeant spends most of his time trying to get me into his bed.”

  Molara gasped. “He what?”

  “He is not subtle about it at all. The very first thing he said to me was that he would do me favors if I did him favors in bed. He wanted me to let him take me right then, that first night. He said I could skip my gate duty the next day if I did. I don’t know how he would have worked that out, but that was the promise.”

  Molara’s face grew deadly serious. “Did you do it?” Before Kate could answer, Molara’s expression cracked and she burst out into laughter. “Damn, damn, damn my inability to keep a straight face. For a second there, you had the most delicious shock written all over your face.”

  “Really, Molara? You’re going to joke about this?”

  “Of course. Nothing is off limits.”

  Kate smiled. “I guess that’s true.” The smile died on her lips. “Seriously, though, Travada picked this squad carefully. Every one of them hates the Black. I think it all started with Sergeant Seeth. He—”

  “Wait.” Molara held her hands up. “Are you talking about Daren Seeth? About your height, short blond hair?”

  “Yes, that sounds like him.”

  “That bastard Travada. Seeth has been trying to get into the Black for years. He has delusions that he is somehow gifted and skilled, both of which are completely false. He finally gave up trying…about the time they asked you to join. He harbors a kingdom-sized grudge against the Black, and probably against you personally.

  “It’s no wonder he tried to conquer you sexually. He hasn’t a hope of doing it any other way.”

  Kate’s stomach roiled like something was hatching in it. She was beginning to feel physically ill. “It’s not just me. At least two of the three other women in the squad are doing what he wants. They both think they’re important to him, but he would try his luck with any woman, I think.”

  “The pig. I thought I had the lowest opinion of him I could have for any person, but I was wrong. I think even less of him now.”

  “In any case, I really would not like to talk about it. I think I may be sick if we continue.”

  “It’s no problem.” Molara took Kate’s hand and pulled her toward the little kitchen. “Tea and cookies will make you feel just fine. That and some conversation about other things.”

  “Aww, Molara, sometimes you are too good to me.”

  21

  By the time Kate left Molara’s kitchen, it was dark outside. She took the long way around to her new bunk, passing through emptier parts of the city. When she was sure there was no one else around to see, she put on the glasses.

  Though there was a slight red tint in the gem lenses, she couldn’t detect any difference between looking through them and seeing things without them in the darkness. She thought that maybe it would paint the world in a reddish light during the daytime, but in the low light conditions, it did no such thing.

  She swung her head carefully around, not sure exactly what she should be looking for. It took only a moment to find out.

  From a narrow alley between buildings, a glow assailed her eyes. It was a light-purple luminescence, something like a mist lit by a strongly focused lantern light. She had never seen anything quite like it. Absently, she wondered if Molara made them specifically to display purple or if that color was just a coincidence.

  She turned her attention solely on the glow, and it resolved into a sort of pillar lying on its side, stretching off down the alley. When she followed it, she found footprints within the lighted pillar. Rather, claw prints. It was as if something had stepped through a puddle of purple light and then tracked the substance everywhere it walked.

  They were demon claw prints. There was no doubt.

  Kate followed the tracks and the glowing column of purple mist down the alley and over to another street, all the while watching for other people…or things. The glasses didn’t interfere with her normal vision, but the glowing light could cause her to miss seeing anyone around if she wasn’t careful.

  The tracks led her to yet a larger street, one with lanterns mounted every twenty feet and people passing through on their way to somewhere else. She glanced once more at the trail that stretched on up the street and out of sight, and she took the glasses off. It wouldn’t do for someone to see her with them on.

  All the way back to her bunk, she pondered what she
had seen. If Molara’s invention truly showed demon stink—even though there was no detectable scent remaining—then what Kate had seen was very important.

  How long did the tracks remain? Was there a logical reason for them to be within the fortress? It couldn’t simply be guards escorting a demon that had been captured, because as soon as a demon was obtained at the gate, for study or other purposes, it was put into a cage and transported that way. What then?

  Kate pulled her cloak tight around her to combat the chill, but the weather was temperate. She had no doubt why she shivered.

  Her entire trip back to her room, she wondered about what she had seen. Demons prowling the streets of Gateskeep? How did they go undetected? The smell alone would notify anyone within a dozen yards of their presence. She had experienced that unfortunate trait more times than she cared to think about. Did the demons in the city wash regularly to prevent it?

  A bleaker thought invaded her mind. What were the demons doing? From what she had seen, most of them were guided only by the urge to destroy and to eat humans. If creatures were moving unseen and undetected in the heart of the Order itself, without indulging in mindless rampaging, that did not bode well. It meant these demons were more intelligent than most they saw at the gate.

  But she had known all of this, though she had never voiced it, somehow feeling it would become real if she said it aloud. There was no doubt: the Infirium was fighting for the survival of the Order, for the very existence of the human race.

  But what was she going to do about it? What could she do about it?

  Kate’s musings ended as she passed through the door to her room. It was late, and all three of her bunkmates were present.

  “Late night, Princess?” Dark said, her face wearing that perpetual scowl. How did Daren put up with it? He most likely did whatever he did in the darkness so he didn’t have to look at her.