The Legend Of Eli Monpress

by Rachel Aaron

  CHAPTER

  16

  Eli woke with a start. He was lying on his side, curled in a ball on a cold stone floor with his face pressed against a stone wall. He lifted his head away from the wall and gave his limbs an experimental wiggle. Tied, of course, ankles, legs, arms, and hands. He sighed and flopped his head back down on the stone. This captured thing was becoming depressingly frequent. Still, he wasn’t wet anymore, which meant he wasn’t with Miranda, and that greatly improved his chances of escape. Spiritualist spirits were so stingy. Of course, if he wasn’t with Miranda, where was he?

  Slowly, painfully, Eli wiggled against his bindings, turning by fractions until he was on his back. Unfortunately, this only made him more confused. He was in a cave, a high one from the little scrap of sky he could see through the distant opening. A thin, cold breeze blew across him, carrying the smell of snow. He sniffed again, searching for woodsmoke or pine, but he caught nothing but wet stone and frozen water. Wherever he was, he was far away from Izo’s camp, far away from anywhere, and that, much more than the ropes, posed a problem.

  Eli started wiggling again, turning until his back was to the wall. First rule of thievery, always know what’s around you. The cave was quite small, barely six feet across and twice as deep, with a ceiling low enough to make a child claustrophobic. Still, despite the cave’s tiny dimensions, it took three look-overs for Eli to realize he wasn’t alone.

  Sted’s enormous shape took up the entire back of the cave, his dull clothes blending perfectly into the dark stone. He was hunched over with his eyes closed, his right arm resting on his knees and his head touching the cave’s ceiling even sitting down. His other arm he held cradled against his chest, the black claws twitching. Even in the dark, what little Eli could see of the claw was enough to make him ill. It was simply too alien, too inhuman, the way the black, hard shell met Sted’s flesh in that sickening melding at the shoulder …

  Eli shuddered and looked away before he really was sick. But as he lay there waiting for his stomach to calm down, he realized something else. With the exception of the place where his hideous arm connected to his body, Sted had been uninjured. Frowning, Eli snuck another glance, just to be sure. It was true. Sted’s clothes were blackened in places, ripped in others, but his flesh was whole and uninjured.

  Eli bit his lip. Sted was a demonseed, that much was obvious, but even Nico didn’t heal instantly. This left two possibilities: Either he’d been out longer than he thought, or Miranda had gone down very quickly. Neither was a possibility he liked to consider.

  Sted’s eyes were closed, but Eli was sure he wasn’t asleep. Never one to lie in silence, Eli took the opportunity to speak first.

  “Congratulations!” he said, lifting his head to grin at Sted. “You’ve caught—”

  “Shut up.” Sted’s voice was flat and annoyed. He opened his eyes a fraction, revealing the eerie, unnatural glow beneath the heavy lids. “Prisoners who talk too much end up dead.”

  “That would be some very expensive silence,” Eli tsked. “I’m worth much more alive.”

  “You think I care about money?”

  Eli considered. “No. No, I don’t think you do.”

  Sted nodded and lapsed back into silence. After about three minutes, Eli couldn’t bear it any longer.

  “At the risk of the aforementioned premature death,” Eli said in his most charming voice, “would you mind if I ask why you took me from the Spiritualist? Doesn’t seem your style, quite frankly.”

  Sted said nothing. As the minutes stretched on, Eli resigned himself to curiosity. But then, suddenly, Sted answered.

  “I took you to force Izo’s hand,” he said. “That idiot was going to give Josef Liechten to the Council, but now that I have you, all that’s changed. Izo will have no choice but to give me my fight.”

  “Hold on,” Eli said, wiggling along the stone floor until he could look at Sted straight on. “You stole me, Eli Monpress, greatest thief in the world, a ninety-eight-thousand gold-standard bounty, just so you could fight Josef?” If his hands hadn’t been tied, he would have thrown them up in the air. “ Powers, man, he’d fight you for free. Just take me back. I’m sure he’ll oblige.”

  “I will,” Sted said. “In three days.”

  Eli frowned. “What happens in three days?”

  “I’m letting him heal,” Sted said simply. “My victory over the Heart of War and its wielder is not something I want polluted by a handicap. I will fight Leichten when he’s at full strength or not at all. You’re here to ensure I am not rushed or dictated by the petty ego of that bandit thug. Once I’ve defeated Josef, I’ll set you free.”

  “Set me free?” Eli said. “Just like that?”

  “Or kill you,” Sted said, tilting his head. “Depends on how generous I’m feeling and how much trouble you make for me. Whatever happens, you won’t be going back to Izo. That bastard deserves nothing, trading away what he’d already promised.”

  “Well,” Eli said, “he is a bandit.”

  Sted gave him a murderous look, and Eli snapped his jaw shut.

  When he was sure the thief would stay silent, Sted continued. “In three days, we head back down the mountain. Until then, you’re going to sit there and not talk. And don’t even think about escaping. I don’t sleep much these days, and your dead carcass will still buy me my fight. Am I being clear?”

  “Decidedly,” Eli said. “But can I ask you one last question?”

  Sted frowned. “You can ask.”

  “You used to be League, or that’s what Josef told me after your fight,” Eli said. “So why did you kill Nivel? When Pele said you took Nivel’s seed, I assumed it was some internal League struggle. But now it’s clear that you took Nivel’s seed for yourself, even though Josef said you were spirit deaf. So, why? How did it happen? Why did you switch?”

  “To fight Josef Liechten,” Sted said simply. “I made a deal. A bad one on both sides, as it turned out, but I won’t give up until Josef Liechten is lying dead at my feet. He’s the only man who ever truly bested me, and if I’m going to die, I’ll die undefeated.”

  Eli’s eyebrows shot up. “But—”

  He swallowed his words at Sted’s glare. Clearly, that was all the answer he’d be getting. Turning away from Sted’s uncomfortable, glowing gaze, Eli rolled back toward the wall. He wiggled a bit, trying to find the most comfortable angle, but it was hopeless. Finally, he gave up and flopped on his back, staring up at the low stone ceiling.

  It was going to be a very long three days.

  Gin crashed through the forest, panting as he jumped over fallen logs and scrambled up slopes slick with fallen leaves. Miranda hunched low on his back, doing her best to avoid looking at the lightening sky or thinking about the fact that they’d already passed that rock formation twice before. But even as she tried to keep hope alive, the ghosthound padded to a stop at the edge of a creek.

  “It’s no good,” he panted. “They’re gone. Sted was too fast. I don’t even know if we’re in the right part of the mountains anymore.”

  “Just a little farther,” Miranda said, clenching her hands in his fur. “We just need a hint of his scent.”

  “He’s gone.” Gin snapped the words, then shook his head and lowered his tongue to the swift water, drinking deeply. “I lost him hours ago,” he said when he was finished. “We need a different plan.”

  “Like what?” Miranda said, gritting her teeth. “Go back to the bandits? Wait?”

  “We’re not going to find him by wandering around,” Gin snarled.

  His tone stopped her cold, and Miranda leaned back. He’d been running all night; of course he was tired. They were both tired, but the idea of going back to that camp empty-handed, of letting Eli slip through her hands again…

  She leaned forward, resting her forehead against Gin’s neck. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t lose again, not like this. But what else was there to do? Saying he couldn’t find Eli wasn’t something Gin would admit unless
he was truly out of options. The forest was huge, and they didn’t even know if Sted had continued north or changed direction entirely. No, finding him in the woods would require more luck than she had. She needed to reconsider her options.

  Miranda took a deep breath and forced herself to think clearly. There were only two reasons Sted would have taken Eli: the bounty or as a bargaining chip against Izo. That meant he would eventually be headed either toward Zarin or back to Izo’s camp. She discarded the bounty idea immediately. If Sted was going to Zarin, then he was already so far ahead of her there was little point in giving chase, and Eli would end up in custody whether she caught him or not. Also, whatever Sted was, he certainly didn’t seem like the type to walk into Lord Whitefall’s office and ask for a voucher. And there was that display last night. No, Sted was after Izo. She was sure of it, and that meant he’d be heading back to the camp.

  Miranda grimaced. As much as the idea of going back to Sparrow empty-handed grated, she had to admit it was the best choice. Also, Josef and Nico were still at the camp. If Eli escaped from Sted, that’s where he’d go, and if Sted wanted something from Izo, that’s where he’d take the thief.

  “All right, mutt,” she muttered into Gin’s fur. “Take us back to Izo’s.”

  But the ghosthound didn’t answer. He was standing still as a statue below her, staring down the stream bank.

  Miranda looked around. “What?”

  “We’re being watched,” Gin growled low in his throat, ears going flat against his head.

  Miranda pressed herself against his back, mentally nudging her rings awake. She winced when she was forced to skip over Kirik’s smoldering ember, but she couldn’t think about that now. “Is it Sted?” she whispered, slightly hopeful.

  “No.” Gin was growling full tilt now. “It’s a wizard.”

  Miranda was about to ask how he could be so sure when a man appeared on the bank a dozen feet downstream. Miranda didn’t see where he had come from—he seemed to just appear from the woods—but once she saw him, she could look at nothing else. There, walking toward her, was a large man with a bear’s head. She thought it was a mask until she saw the eyes staring at her, intelligent and dark above the sharp-toothed muzzle. Miranda swallowed and began to call her spirits. But even as she reached for the threads of power that tied her to her rings, the bear-headed man stopped and put up his hands.

  “I mean no harm, Spiritualist.” The voice that came from the bear’s mouth was deep and gruff, but undeniably human. “You seem to be lost and in need of some assistance.”

  “We need no assistance,” Miranda said carefully.

  “No?” The bear face looked skeptical. “Do you always keep your fire spirit on the brink of flickering out, then?”

  Miranda paled, and the bear-headed man smiled. “I thought not,” he said. “Miranda Lyonette would never put her spirits in such danger unless things were very grave.”

  “How do you know my name?”

  The bear-headed man laughed, a deep, rumbling sound. “There aren’t many Spiritualists who ride ghosthounds and carry great seas inside their bodies. For those of us who study spirits, you’re quite the oddity. I would know, being somewhat of an oddity myself.” He touched his muzzle with his hand. “Come,” he said, turning. “Let’s get your fire stoked before it flickers out. I can hardly bear to look at it.”

  Gin did not budge an inch, and Miranda made no move to force him. “Who are you?”

  The bear-headed man kept walking down the bank. “I’m Heinricht Slorn. Now come.”

  For a long moment, Gin and Miranda could only stare at his retreating back. Then Miranda looked down at Kirik’s dark ruby, and they followed.

  The bear-headed man led them up the creek bank to a row of tall bushes, the deep green, waxy-leafed kind that thrive on steep mountain slopes. He pushed the branches gently aside and turned to motion Miranda forward like a well-mannered host inviting guests into his estate. Miranda dismounted stiffly and ducked under the branches. Gin eyed the tiny space with scorn and lay down on the bank. Slorn waited a moment more, and then he turned and followed Miranda into the canopy, letting the branches fall quietly behind him.

  Miranda had not gone more than a few steps into the bushes before she stopped, staring in amazement. Parked at the heart of the little grove was a large wagon. No, that wasn’t right. Wagons had wheels. This was shaped like a wooden traveler’s wagon, complete with a rounded wooden roof, shuttered windows, a chimney pipe, and a set of folding steps going up to a painted door. But down at the bottom, in the spots where the wheels should have been, were six long, splayed legs. Each leg stuck out from the wagon’s body at a right angle and cornered sharply at a knobby joint before reaching the ground on a wide, flat foot with five splayed toes, like a lizard’s. Each leg appeared to be newly carved from green wood, bright yellow-white and smelling of sawdust, and they sprang from the cart as though they had grown there. There were no joints, no nails, just the fresh wood of the legs lying flush against the older, stained wood of the wagon’s body, molded together as though they’d always been that way. She was still trying to make sense of it when she saw something even stranger. The legs shuffled, adjusting their weight, each one flexing and adjusting its splayed foot so that the cart sat slightly closer to the ground as Slorn came up and flipped down the little stair.

  “There,” he said, smiling as the red-painted door opened for him of its own accord. “Come in and we’ll have a look at your ring.”

  “How did you do that?” Miranda said, and then bit her tongue. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out like a child gawking at a street magician’s trick, but Slorn didn’t bat an eye.

  “I’m a Shaper,” he said as he stepped inside, as though that explained everything.

  Well, Miranda thought, in a way it did. Even Master Banage wasn’t exactly sure how the Shapers did what they did. One thing was certain, though, the bear-headed man wasn’t abusing his spirits. She could practically hear the wood beaming as she gawked at it, the legs shifting to show the cart at its best. That pride made her feel more comfortable than any assurance Slorn could have given, and she hurried up the folding stair after him.

  The covered wagon was much more spacious than she would have guessed from the outside. One wall was lined with hinged bins, all neatly latched and labeled. The other was taken up by a folding cot, now stowed away, and a little table that bolted to the floor. Slorn was already sitting on one of the folding seats, his large hands fussing with the small iron stove just large enough to heat a kettle that was built into the wall just above the table.

  Slorn unlatched the cold grate and placed a few sticks of wood into the stove’s tiny iron belly. “There,” he said, leaning back. “Put your ring in.”

  “Are you sure?” Miranda said, unfolding the chair opposite him and sitting down. “Kirik’s a bonfire spirit. I don’t want to risk your wagon.”

  Slorn’s bear eyes widened, and he looked at the stove. “What do you think?”

  The stove made a scornful sound. “I’ve never met a fire I couldn’t contain,” it said, opening its grate wider. “Give him to me.”

  Miranda blinked in surprise, first that the grate was awake, and second that it was so confident. She slipped Kirik’s ring from her finger and placed it with the wood in the stove’s belly. The second her hand was clear, the stove snapped shut and a blast of hot air hit her face as the fire crackled to life. A surge of relief radiated up Kirik’s connection, and Miranda felt like sobbing with relief herself.

  Across the table, Slorn’s eyes glowed with pleasure. “My stove is very good with fires,” he said. “An hour and your Kirik should be good as new.” He reached overhead, taking a shiny copper kettle from a hook on the ceiling. “It would be a shame to waste the heat; may I offer you some tea?”

  “Yes, please,” Miranda said, still shaking.

  Slorn got up and walked over to the water barrel, holding the kettle crooked as the water arced up the spout of its own accord. Imp
ressed as she would have been, Miranda saw none of it. Her eyes were locked on the roaring blaze behind the stove’s grate as a great lump of guilt rose up in her throat. She hadn’t realized how close she’d come to losing Kirik. Her thoughts went to Gin outside; Gin, who’d run all night for her. Her mind flashed back to the night before, to Gin retreating, blood dripping from his muzzle as he glared at Sted. Was he really all right, or had she been too blind in her pursuit to see? What had she been thinking, fighting a demonseed? She should have tossed Monpress at his head rather than risk her spirits. Miranda clenched her fists. She was becoming as obsessed with him as everyone else seemed to be. What must Slorn think of her, a Spiritualist who nearly killed her fire for a thief? What would Master Banage say?

  She jumped as Slorn placed two steaming mugs on the table and looked up to find him staring at her, his dark eyes almost human in the glow from the stove.

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” he said. “It’s a strong spirit’s deepest nature to fight a demon and save the weaker ones from the panic. That you were able to pull the fire back before it was devoured is a sign of the deep bond of trust between you.”

  Miranda gaped at him. “How did you know?”

  “What?” Slorn said. “About the demonseed? What else could do that to a spirit? Also, I’ve been keeping an eye on Izo’s camp for some time.” His voice deepened into a growl. “There’s a man there I have unfinished business with.”

  Miranda swallowed, suddenly very aware of Slorn’s massive jaw full of sharp, yellow teeth. “Is that why you wrote to Sara for help?”

  “At the simplest level, yes,” Slorn said, his voice suddenly calm and smooth again. “But Sara and I have been professional colleagues long enough that I knew a simple letter wouldn’t be enough to get her to act, at least not in the immediate, large-scale way I needed her to. That’s why I made sure my daughter knew how to find Monpress, and that Sara would find out.”