Fire Study (49 page)

waiting for them.”

“Not if I can help it,” I said.

“Then you will have to spend eternity with me to prevent it. The knowledge is out

there now. Another fool will figure out how to contact me through the flames.”

He had a point. But I was the Soulfinder. In order to do my job, I would have to

stay in the underworld and send the souls to their proper places. Thinking about my

job, I remembered a promise to Moon Man.

“Can you guide me to the shadow world?” I asked him.

“No. But you can lead me.”

“And you call yourself a guide?”

He smiled serenely.

“I hate you.” I clasped Moon Man’s hand.

I thought of the shadow world with its gray plain and sky. The red glow faded

and soon the featureless expanse spread in front of us.

“This is only the corridor between worlds, Yelena. Look deeper to see the real

shadow world.”

Another cryptic instruction. For all my abilities, I still couldn’t get Moon Man to

give me a straight answer. I pushed away my frustration and focused on who I was

trying to find. The Sandseeds who had been killed by the Vermin in the Avibian

Plains.

The flat area began to undulate and transform into the plains. Small outcroppings

of rocks grew and the smooth gray ground sprouted grass and a few bushes. A

cluster of canvas tents popped up and circled a fire pit. The scene before me

resembled a Sandseed camp. Yet there was no color. Only black and white and

every shade of gray.

Sandseeds huddled together in this camp on the altered Avibian Plain, living in the

shadow cast by the real world. They clung to their memories of life, not realizing

peace awaited them in the sky.

I walked among them and talked to them. Their numbers grew and I had to stop

myself from reliving the horror of the Vermin’s attack and massacre. I made

promises to watch over the living Sandseeds who had hidden during the attack. Days

and weeks could have passed while I convinced them to move on. I had no concept

of time.

Again, as I sent each one into the sky, my strength grew. “There are many more

souls clinging to the shadow world,” I said to Moon Man, thinking about all the

towns and cities in Sitia and Ixia. “Let me return you to your body and you can tell

the others my fate.”

“I can not return,” he said. “My body has died, unlike yours. And even if you

heal me, I would be unhappy and would wish for death.”

“Like Stono and Gelsi?”

“Yes. Eventually both will find their way back to where they belong.”

“Then I will send you to the sky. You deserve to be there.”

“Not until you understand.”

“I do understand. I’m doing my job. I’ve resigned myself to living here to keep

Sitia and Ixia safe from more Warpers!” I clamped my hands together to keep them

from wrapping around Mr. I-know-everything-and-you-don’t Man’s thick neck.

“Have you truly resigned yourself?” he asked.

“I…” I huffed in frustration. I would rather be back with Valek, Kiki, my parents,

Leif, Irys, Ari, Janco and my other friends. I had learned my true job, but there were

still many aspects of my magic and others’ magic to explore. I thought about Opal’s

unique ability. Then I remembered my glass bat.

Had it survived the fire? I felt inside my pockets. Odd how my clothing had

survived the flames. My fingers touched a smooth lump. I pulled the animal from my

cape. The inner core glowed with magic. Staring at the light, I saw Leif’s sad face.

He peered at me in sorrow, then disbelief when I smiled at him.

“Hello from the underworld,” I said.

“Yelena! What the…? Where are…? Come back!”

“I can’t. Tell me what has happened?”

He gave me a quick sketch of how the battle had played out after I jumped into

the fire. Most of the Warpers were dead, only Roze, Gede and four others remained

alive. They were in the Keep’s cells, awaiting trial.

“They will be hanged for treason and murder,” Leif said. He grew somber. “We

buried Moon Man last week.”

“Last week? But—”

“You’ve been gone for weeks. We keep the fire burning, hoping you’ll return.

Also Valek will not let us quench it. He’s been helping the Councilors and Master

Magicians recover from their ordeal and to smooth out relations with the

Commander via Ambassador Signe. Valek went from the scourge of Sitia to the hero

of Sitia.” Leif smiled sardonically.

Valek. The one person I wouldn’t mind spending eternity with.

Leif continued, “And the rest of us are coping with the aftermath. Many students

were killed by the Vermin. We’re still sorting out who is left. Your friend Dax is

okay, but Gelsi died resisting a Warper.”

Moon Man was right, Gelsi found her way back. I hoped Stono wouldn’t suffer

too much before his soul found the sky.

He paused. “The Sitian army’s hunting down the remaining Vermin who escaped.

The Sandseeds have moved back to the plains to repopulate.” Leif sighed. “You’re

missed by everyone. Why can’t you come back?”

“Someone needs to keep the Fire Warper from regaining power.”

Leif frowned as he thought, then looked hopeful. “Bain has burned those old Efe

texts to stop someone from learning about the blood magic.”

“But there are others who know how to perform the ritual, and, even though you

will execute them, they will be here in the fire world and able to communicate to

someone who is determined to seek them out.”

“You’re a Soulfinder, can’t you send them somewhere out of reach?” Leif asked.

“They don’t deserve to be in the sky.”

“Why not?” Moon Man said.

My mind thought over what I knew of the sky, which was very little. “I think they

would taint it. It’s pure and their vile deeds would soil it.”

“Finally. What is the sky?”

What indeed? When I sent souls there, I felt refreshed, energetic even though I

used power, which usually caused me fatigue. I added souls to the sky. Adding to

the power blanket surrounding the world.

The source of magic!

The world’s soul.

Moon Man beamed at me. “Now you can send me there! And then you can

return to your life.”

He chuckled at my dubious expression. “You will find a way, Yelena. You

always do.”

“Last piece of cryptic advice?”

“Consider it my farewell gift.”

I hesitated for a moment. Once Moon Man was gone I would be all alone.

“All the more reason not to stay,” Moon Man said.

“There’s one thing I won’t miss.”

“And that is?”

“You reading my mind all the time and making me figure things out for myself.”

“All part of being your Story Weaver. It does not stop, you know. You will hear

my voice in your mind from time to time, giving you my unique advice.”

I groaned. “And I thought living in the underworld for eternity was bad!”

Before sending him to the sky, I stared at him, trying to hold his features,

including his sardonic grin, in my mind. When he disappeared, his absence felt like

an icy coating on my skin. I realized I still held Opal’s bat, but my connection to Leif

was broken.

I wandered through the shadow world and found lost souls. Every so often I

checked in the fire world to make sure the Fire Warper remained as he should be. He

cursed, taunted and tried to cajole me, depending on his mood.

Irys, Leif and Bain all talked to me through the glass animals. They were the only

ones who had the ability to use them. Through them I knew Roze, Gede and the

other Warpers would be hanged soon. I prepared to receive them in the fire world.

In the meantime, I stared at my bat, trying and failing to connect to Valek. My

desire to talk to him, to hold him, clawed at my body. Frustration at my inability to

communicate with him caused a window to open to the real world, and I could view

events around my fire. I laughed at my intense feelings of ownership. My fire. But I

sobered. I knew after they hanged Roze and the others, my fire would be doused

and my window closed for good.

The Council planned to hang Roze and her accomplices on gallows built in the

bloodstained sand then burn their bodies in my fire. An insult given only to traitors.

The sand would be cleaned up and perhaps the gardeners would plant grass in

the space. Or some trees. Flowers. A memorial? Perhaps a structure similar to one

of the Citadel’s jade statues or fountains. To remember me and Moon Man.

Now I was being maudlin and dramatic. Next thing I knew, I’d be designing the

memorial, sketching its dimensions in the sand. I wondered about what they would

do with all the sand. Send it to Booruby to be melted into glass? So Opal could turn

fire into ice?

I froze in shock as a wild idea formed in my head. Thinking it through, I found

many holes and reasons for it not to work. But success or not, at least I could say I

tried. And the effort alone would keep Moon Man from nagging me for a while.

CALLING TO LEIF through my bat, I hoped there would be enough time. He

seemed eager to help and rushed off to make the arrangements.

Events had to happen in a particular order for this to work. I returned to the fire

world. The Fire Warper would be our first test subject. Watching out my window, I

waited for Leif to return. I didn’t like being in the fire world. The shrill noise drilled

through my skull and the putrid smell permeated the air. I preferred the quiet dullness

of the shadow world.

The Fire Warper enjoyed my anxiety. “Look at how you long to return. Your

suffering is my only pleasure. And I will enjoy keeping you here. Already I sense an

unhappy boy who seeks revenge on his tormentors. If his desire grows, I’ll be able

to talk to him. Unless you prevent it.”

Doubt flared about what I planned. Was I being selfish? Could I still rescue souls

lost in the shadow world? Yet I had done it before with the ghosts in Owl’s Hill.

Suppressing all my fears, I ignored the Fire Warper’s comments.

What seemed like a couple of weeks to me, but could have been a month or

more, passed. By my brief glimpses into the Keep, the cold season had ended and

the warming season was in full swing. I received updates from Leif, but now that I

had a chance to escape, my impatience grew.

Finally, all the elements were in place. The gallows were built and the needed

equipment brought in. My incredible relief at seeing Opal surprised me. Her mouth

was pressed in pure determination as she readied her tools.

Another worry crossed my mind. Within the underworld, I hadn’t felt cold, hot,

hunger or thirst. But if I stepped back through the fire, would it burn me? I would

find out soon enough. The Fire Warper hovered near me, his amusement plain.

Opal grasped a long metal pipe and poked it into the kiln. I wondered where they

had gotten the glassmaking supplies. She turned the pipe and drew it out. And

proceeded to create a glass animal.

When she moved to blow into the pipe, I inhaled the Fire Warper’s soul. He

yelped in surprise and seared my skin as I sent him through Opal and into the glass.

He screamed in panic and resisted. But I controlled him. He was a soul after all.

Opal jerked as if burned, but returned to her task, making the ugliest, squattest

looking pig I ever saw.

Placing the animal into the annealing oven, the wait began. Had our experiment

worked? If the Fire Warper was truly trapped within the glass, then we could encase

all the Warpers who knew how to perform blood magic, preventing them from

passing the information along. And I could go home.

Twelve of the longest hours passed before Opal withdrew the pig and held the

statue up for all to see. It was then I noticed just how many people had come to

watch. I expected Leif, the Master Magicians and Councilors, but it appeared that

Fisk and the entire Helping Guild members were there. My mother and father

lingered at the edges. Perl’s hand was clamped to her throat in dismay, but she

looked as determined as Opal.

Cahil and a regiment of soldiers, including Marrok stood at attention. Ari and

Janco waited with Leif. Janco scowled, showing his extreme dislike of magic.

Valek glowed with his own inner fire. For him, I would risk the flames’ heat.

I turned my attention to Opal’s creation. It pulsed with a muddy red light. The

Fire Warper was locked inside.

The audience cheered. Opal placed the pig in the sand, and gathered another blob

of molten glass, preparing for the next soul.