Calling On Fire (Book 1) (37 page)

“Toman! Oh Brightfire, please be okay. Toman,
Toman
!” The scene felt all too familiar; his brother writhing in agony, himself impotent to help. What could he do?

This was the hardest thing he’d ever done; it was almost impossible to think with Toman in this state. Normally, in times of crisis, Toman was the one who was good at thinking under pressure. Now, Toman was the one who needed him, so it was up to Esset to figure it out. Esset stopped his thoughts in their tracks and breathed for a second, calming his mind as much as he could.

Toman needed a healer, and the closest healer was among the Nadra; they may have been useless against the Reshkin, but wounds like Toman had now, he thought, should be within their realm of expertise. But Esset needed help to move him—he found himself strangely exhausted after summoning the Guardian, and he wasn’t entirely sure he had the strength to get Toman outside so he could summon a bird to carry them back to the city. Besides, having another Nadra with him would grant him smoother entrance into the city. He needed to contact Nassata, and get her here as soon as possible.

Esset was unwilling to leave Toman’s side to get the Nadra himself—he was not leaving his brother undefended again. So, he needed to send them a message. Esset pulled his side bag over his head and emptied it onto the floor. Then he grabbed a corner of Toman’s bloodied sheets and tore a strip off. It was difficult tearing the slick red fabric, but he managed to extract a mangled piece and tie it to the strap of his bag. The Nadra would know that the bag and summon were his, see the blood, and come running. He just had to get it to them. He was forced to either leave his brother’s side for a few moments or set the house on fire, so he opted for the former. He sprinted to the front door, passing Melanie on the floor, who was holding her head and looking around, extremely dazed—he would worry about her later.

Esset skidded to a stop on the front step and summoned the fire horse. It took him only moments to loop the strap of his bag over its neck and send it running in the direction of the Nadra. Esset went back to his brother’s room and only then went briefly into a trance to make sure the horse met the Nadra . The horse practically flew when it ran full speed—it took less than a minute to reach Nassata, and he waited only until he saw them spot the horse before banishing the creature and leaving the bloody call for help on the ground.

Coming back to himself, Esset tore apart the room until he found bandages. The summoner’s knowledge of first-aid was sketchy, but at least the bleeding had stopped. Toman was obviously in horrible pain, but Esset frankly didn’t trust any of the medicinal items in Lady Ateala’s arsenal—after revealing herself as an enemy, who knew what they could be. Hopefully the bandages weren’t tainted at all—those, at the very least, he needed. A medic he was not, but Esset managed to at least cover and brace Toman’s three wounds by the time the Nadra arrived. He’d left the front door wide open, and the three came in, spears bristling.

“Please, help me,” Esset pleaded. Nassata immediately threw down her spear and slithered over to help.

“What happened?” Nassata was shocked by the scene, and no wonder.

“Just help me get him outside, please. I will explain, I will, but we need to get him to your healers.” Esset recognized a hint of hysteria in his voice. He was losing his grip on the cool detachment that had allowed him to plan to this moment. Now he was beginning to falter, but he had to force himself to hold it together until Toman was to a healer.

“Out of the way.” That was one of the other Nadra, a red-scaled male warrior who put down his spear as well and pushed Esset aside so that he could help Nassata pick up Toman in a way that wouldn’t be excruciating to his stump of an arm. Esset found himself staring at Toman’s severed limb and wondering if there was any salvaging it. But no—it would take a mage-healer to salvage it, and the Nadra didn’t have any of those. It was lost, all too surely.

“Summoner, come on.” It was the red warrior, giving his shoulder a little shake, and Esset realized he was probably going into shock. But not yet—he couldn’t yet. He snapped back to himself and grabbed the animator’s gloves from where they’d been dropped before moving to catch up to Nassata.

“Nassata, I need to fly to your city, can I ask you to come? One of my summons would have to carry you, and it won’t be comfortable,” Esset requested, an edge of a desperate plea to his voice. As he finished asking, they reached the front step and moved into the street in front of the house.

“Of course,” Nassata replied, understanding. With two incantations and two bursts of flame, two giant, fiery birds materialized in the street. Esset climbed up the back of one and the Nadra helped him get Toman secured in front of him. This way, Esset could make sure Toman didn't lose a bandage and bleed out. Nassata, however, was too awkward to ride on the back of the bird—one would have to carry her in its talons.

Both birds took off, but then one swooped down to pick her up. The bird’s talons were hot, but they wouldn’t burn her. Still, the summon gripped her firmly, and Nassata’s whole weight pulled earthward. Nassata clenched her teeth against the pain; her arms would be too wrenched for her to fight for a few days after this. But they got to the Nadran city of Salithsa far sooner than they possibly could have otherwise.

Somehow Esset managed to keep hold on his sanity long enough to get them to the entrance to the underground city. Toman had mercifully lost consciousness sometime shortly after they took off, although occasionally he moaned or reacted to a bit of rough air. The landing was rough too—Esset was completely exhausted and running on fumes at that point. Nassata shouted down the cave entrance for reinforcements; one Nadran sentry emerged and he and Nassata picked Toman up and began carrying him down the tunnel. Esset staggered along beside them; the summoner felt dazed and wasn’t entirely aware of his surroundings.

Then the Nadran reinforcements arrived, and Esset was picked up and carried down the tunnel, the group making far better time on Nadran coils than stumbling feet. They went straight to the healer. Esset heaved a sigh of relief when Toman was finally in a bed and under the healer’s attention, so relieved that he began to sway on his feet. Nassata took his arm before he could fall asleep upright and led him to another bed.

Esset didn’t remember anything after that.

Esset was shocked awake by a nightmare sometime during the night. He couldn’t remember a single detail the moment he woke, but the feeling stayed with him. Unfortunately, his memory of recent events wasn’t much better. Esset felt his stomach clench and his throat tighten as he frantically looked around the room.

“Whoa! Calm down, Esset, it’s all right.” Nassata was right beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. “Toman’s right here.” She looked towards his brother to point him in the right direction. Esset saw his brother then, asleep in the bed beside him. Kessa was on the other side of the bed, coiled around a large cushion. She perked up a little when she saw Esset looking at her, but she was clearly there for Toman, not the summoner. And Toman didn’t look good. His skin was pale and a bit waxy, and his sleep was obviously drug-induced. But at least he was sleeping quietly, if not peacefully, and he had fresh bandages and clothes. The Nadran healer had looked after him, but there was only so much that could be done without the aid of time or magic.

“He’s out of danger,” Nassata assured Esset, knowing how bad the animator looked. “Thanks to you, he’ll live. He’ll get better.”

“Oh Brightfire… How did this happen?” Esset buried his face in his hands and tried to get a handle on his emotions.

“Esset, what did happen?” Nassata asked gently, her hand still on his shoulder to comfort him.

“We trusted her…” Esset murmured. Nassata waited patiently for him to explain, and eventually he did.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but it was the healer, Lady Ateala. I, I didn’t just trust her, I
liked
her. I thought of her as a friend. I don’t know what happened, why it happened, but I’d left him alone with her. I’d done it before and nothing had happened, but this time he had his gloves.” Suddenly he looked up, alarmed. Where were the gloves? They had to make sure they were safe, not in the wrong hands.

“The gloves!” Esset exclaimed, but Nassata was already withdrawing them from her braided harness, where she’d been keeping them.

“They’re right here,” she said, passing them to him. He instantly relaxed.

“Thanks…” he murmured in relief.

“You were in complete shock yesterday by the time we got the two of you down here. We couldn’t figure out what the issue was with the gloves until Kessa came and explained it. I’ve been keeping them safe,” Nassata explained.

“Thank you, Nassata. We owe you so much,” Esset said genuinely. He was on the verge of an emotional collapse, and he struggled to control himself.

“We are only doing what we can.” Nassata squeezed his shoulder to reassure him it was nothing. “Go on with your story.” Esset took a deep breath and picked up the narrative again.

“She’d sent me on an errand, across town. When I was on my way back, my clothes jerked all of a sudden, towards the house. It was Toman—it was the only call for help he could manage, I guess, before Ateala took the gloves from him. He trusted her too. But he wasn’t well. It was my job to protect him, to make sure he was okay.” Esset was getting worked up again, but Nassata forestalled him before he could sink into a full, guilt-ridden tirade.

“Esset, he’s going to be okay. Come on now, what happened next?” The teal Nadra coaxed him. Esset was so distraught he missed the steely anger deep in her eyes, the hidden ferocity directed at the one who’d dared hurt her friends.

“I tried to get back to him right away, but Ateala had some kind of magic keeping me away. I got through it, but I took too long. By the time I got there, she’d, she’d taken his arm—” Esset choked and couldn’t stop tears from rolling down his cheeks. There was no stopping the flood of guilt, the feeling of failure. Across the room, Kessa gently slipped her hand under Toman’s and held it.

“Go on,” Nassata prompted gently, her compassion and sympathy towards Esset overpowering her anger at Lady Ateala. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“When I opened to the door to the room, she’d already… It was already too late. Somehow, I summoned something I’d never summoned before. The Guardian… I don’t know how. But I killed her, and then I called you for help.” He had failed, at the worst possible time, when he could not have been needed more. His brother had lost an arm,
because of him
.

“Esset.” He didn’t respond to Nassata this time—the story had been told.

“
Esset
!” She gave him a shake, not to be denied, and this time he raised his brown eyes to her brilliant teal ones.

“Esset,
you saved your brother’s life
. Twice. He’s alive because of you, and because of you, those gloves aren’t going to be used for evil. You did that—you did all you could. She was smart, and she tricked you. She hurt your brother, but he will live—because of you. Without you, he’d be dead, and she’d have the gloves. Do you understand that?” Nassata demanded forcefully. Esset dropped his eyes from hers, and she gave him another shake.

“
Esset
!” When she had eye contact again, she continued.

“Say it with me—he’s alive because of you. Say it.”

“He’s alive because of me.” It was a half-hearted statement, said to satisfy her, to get her to leave him alone.

“Good,” Nassata said, letting him go and letting him drop his eyes this time. “Now you work on believing that, okay?”

She waited until she got a half-hearted nod from him.

“Okay. Now lie back down and try to get some rest. I’ll have some food brought in the morning, it’s not too far away. Kessa or myself will always be here if you need anything, and we’ll keep watch for you. No one will hurt you here, and they certainly won’t get to your brother. Rest.” She reached out to him again and this time laid a heavy hand on his shoulder to get him to lie back down.