Maker of Fire

Emily in Captivity

I woke up on a cold wood floor. Obviously, the two Cosm men in black killed Kayseo and kidnapped me. I worked hard at not weeping because I didn't anyone to know I was now awake. Her death made me realize how much I had come to care for her, her gentle disposition, and her silly love of gossip.

My feet were tied together and so were my hands. There were bloodstains all over the front of my nightgown and there was a bloody bandage on my left hand which hurt if I thought about it. My hand felt weird but I couldn't figure out what was wrong from the pattern of the pain. It just felt wrong somehow.

Whoever tied me up did a really bad job of it. It looked like I could pull apart the knots with my teeth. I wouldn't even have to fish my throwing spike out of my pocket to use as a blade to cut the rope. Seeing that the rope was on the thick side compared to my wrists, I should be able to pull my hand through the loop.

Now was not the time to try. I could hear heavy footsteps on some outside steps. Then the door opened.

"Hey, midday feed is here. Hey, where are you? Garf? Garf?"

"Quit your yelling," a voice outside said. "Can't a guy go relieve himself in peace?"

"If anything happens to her, it won't go well for anybody, but particularly you. Why are you leaving her on the floor? You could at least put her on the window seat." Footsteps approached. Someone picked me up, carried me a short distance, and put me down gently on something padded. It certainly was better than the floor. Whoever it was then covered me with a blanket and put a small cushion under my head.

"The master will make use of her if the exchange doesn't happen so take better care of her. She's valuable," the one who was not Garf said. "A little kindness goes a long way with Coyn. It wouldn't hurt you at all to use some when she wakes up, and save some of that food for her."

"Huh."

The nicer Cosm man left. Garf puttered about the room, working on something at a table close to where I lay. I nodded off at some point. I woke to the sound of a scuffle and body falling onto the wood floor. Then someone gently shook me. "Great One? Great One?"

I opened my eyes to see a Cosm man all in black, including a hooded mantle, hair scarf, and face covering. He looked somewhat like a ninja. "I'm one of the Foskos corps of wraiths. I hope you are well enough to travel because I'm getting you out of here. Can you grab my collar with your right hand?" He cut the ropes tying my hands and feet. Then he bent down so I could grab his collar and picked me up to seat me on his left arm. "Are you sitting firmly?" I nodded.

It did cross my mind that he might not be the rescuer he claimed to be; but knowing to call me "great one" was reassuring, even if I hated being called that. I had no idea what a wraith was but it sounded like special forces to me. He cracked the door open and ran for the tree line. Once there, he kept running until he reached a clearing holding a giant eagle. After he leaped onto the eagle's saddle, the bird took off and flew into the soon-to-set sun.

"Great One, can you swim?" I nodded yes.

"Good, we may need to do so. We are being pursued and by other eagles. We can't outrun them. Cadrees, head for the Island Swamp. We'll hide there and you can get help."

"I can fly faster than they can," the eagle replied.

"No, you can't, not with passengers. We've been awake too long. We are both too tired for this. You can be in Is'syal in less than a half bell. Get help."

"I don't like it. I don't want to leave you."

"It's not the first time."

"Yes, boss. Don't drown."

I looked back over his shoulder and spotted three eagles chasing us.

"Take a deep breath, Emily," his right arm came around to get a firm grip on my nightgown. When the eagle was within a meter of water, the ninja guy pushed himself out of the saddle. We fell for a breath and hit the water back first. He swam underwater long enough that I really needed more air. At the point of desperation, he surfaced within a colony of cattails.

He immediately broke off two cattails and decapitated them. "Think you can breathe through this," he handed me one. I nodded though I was unsure if I could.

"Quick, get under the water," he placed me on my back and I stuck the reed in my mouth. He did the same and held me while we both sank. It was a very ninja move. We stayed that way for what seemed like a year until it was dark. Then he surfaced.

"We'll float downstream now," he whispered as he dog paddled out of the cattails and into the Salt River. "Expose as little as you can above the water."

The float was quiet and uneventful. I was feeling optimistic when three arrows landed in my ninja's back. His grip relaxed and I floated free. I dove under him, flipped him, and pushed him toward the riverbank, thanking the American Red Cross for all those senior lifesaving classes in a previous life.

I dragged what I could out of the water and onto a gravel bar. Because of the arrows, I left him on his side. I realized my mouth was too small to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He still had a pulse. I pulled down his mask and tried to get a breath in doing mouth to nose.

Immediately, he began to cough and then threw up on me. I should have expected that. Drowning victims almost always threw up. I dunked myself to clean up my nightgown.

An archer with mostly white hair landed next to us on a giant eagle. "Step away from him," she ordered. I scrambled up the gravel to get between my ninja and the eagle rider. I pocketed a handful of rocks. Then I ripped a strip off the bottom of my nightgown.

"I said, step away," the archer pulled out a crystal mounted in a wand. A charm of discipline hit me. The pain took my breath away.

Despite the pain, I made a sling out of the fabric strip and used a headshot to drop the archer. The eagle protested and started to come toward me. I had to use two stones to force the eagle to stop.

My ninja dragged himself out of the water and stood up. "You have to kill the rider or they will just keep coming after us." A bronze knife appeared in his hand. The eagle tried to attack but I slung a piece of rock into its eye. The ninja stabbed the unconscious archer who he then threw in the river. The eagle flew off.

My ninja looked bad but picked me up and walked across the gravel bar, "we need a better hiding spot." He got back in the river and we floated downstream to a wooded island. He staggered out of the water and into a thicket where he sat down, shielded from sight by a thick patch of bushes.

"There are two more eagles searching for us," he said softly. "Are you cold at all?" I nodded since I was quite chilled after getting wet twice. He pulled out a crystal and dried our clothes. Then he cast a charm of warmth. It felt wonderful.

With the mask gone, I saw that he had a beak of a nose and a slightly sloping chin. It was too dark to see his eyes but his short hair sticking out of his headscarf was completely white. "Ah, help is coming," he smiled but sagged from fatigue. "The eagles are leaving."

A riderless eagle landed outside the thicket. "You don't look so good," Cadrees the eagle stated.

"I don't feel so good," he picked me up and walked over to his eagle. "Let's get off this island," he put me in the saddle and climbed on. "Find a decent field to land in."

Cadrees landed in a recently cut hayfield. My ninja rescuer slid off and then lifted me down. He sat down crosslegged and placed me in his lap, casting charms of warmth and light. The warmth was nice though the pain from my hand had steadily grown during the evening. Now it threatened to overwhelm me. I wondered if it was wise to pull the bandage off and see what was wrong with my hand.

"Your wound is bleeding," he said to me. "I can sense your pain from here. Help is only a few minutes away, Great One. The Queen should be here first. Close your eyes and rest for now." He pulled me against his warm chest and wrapped his arms around me. We sat together like that, waiting and enduring.

---

The Queen's Solar

The king addressed General Lynhaydras and the high priestesses who were seated in a circle with him and the queen. "The note reads 'Free Kushamar at the Gate of Kesmat or else you will never see the Blessed Emily again. We send you a token of our resolve. We will send one every day until Kushamar is freed.'"

"Unforgivable," Foyuna growled.

"Whoever sent this, sent it to the King, who can not reverse a judgment made in the Well of Galt," Kamagishi remarked.

"The most likely suspects behind this are King's own family," said Senlyosart.

"Don't remind me," Imstay said, grief-stricken but resolute. "Even if it is my family, it can not save them from the King's justice. I will not make a mockery of the law." More than one pondered the irony of the King's statement. He had spared his relatives numerous times before from the consequences of their actions. Many guessed that the kidnapping terms targeted the King's feelings for his family.

"The kidnappers did not fully account with the involvement of the shrines," Fassex stated. "If we act as a body, we can expose the kidnappers and recover the Blessed Emily. Great Aylem, can you locate Emily?"

The queen made a sour face, "I can not, which disturbs me since I have always been able to find her before this."

"Even without the great crystal at the shrine of Tiki?" Raoleer asked.

"Yes, even without the great crystal if she is close enough, which is to say within ten wagon-days. But I can not find her. She is either too far from us or we may be dealing with a charm of nothingness or circular light, though that narrows the list of suspects to full silverhairs who can cast those."

"The charm of circular light is one of the lost charms," Fassex looked startled.

"The prerequisites to be one of the wraiths is the ability to cast the charm of circular light and clairvoyance," the King disclosed. "My spymaster, who learned his magic outside of Foskos, teaches it to wraith candidates he deems able to learn it."

Just then, someone knocked at the door despite the presence of a guard to prevent any intrusion. The door opened a crack and Garki stepped in. He knelt in full obeisance, "my apologies, Great, Mighty and Holy Ones, there is a messenger from the Healing Shrine of Mugash outside the door with dire news."

"May we invite the messenger in, sisters?" Lisaykos asked her outward demeanor at odds with her inner worry.

"I believe we all wish to hear this, given the circumstances," Fassex remarked. "Is there any dissent?" She waited several moments for a response. "I believe we agree. Young man, please invite the messenger in." Garki made a second obeisance and slipped out.

The door opened wider to accommodate Healer Thuorfosi, who knelt with her hand over her heart. "Holy One, my mistress, may I speak?"

"You may," Lisaykos granted, her fists clenched.

Thuorfosi remained on her knees. "Late last night, between the quarter and the half-night bell, two intruders entered the fourth floor of the shrine through the south balcony, fouled the charms of warning and repulsion on the quarters of the high priestess, and entered the bedroom. There they struggled with Healer-in-training Kayseo, who was stabbed through the abdomen. They abducted the Blessed Emily and fled."

Lisaykos turned white with an anguished expression. The Queen's wooden face at this news was unreadable.

"An unknown person mindcasted both the temple and the garrison, waking numerous magic users with a message regarding the kidnapping and the assault on Healer-in-training Kayseo. Because of this person's mindcast, Kayseo was discovered within scant minutes after the attack, before death became irreversible. We anticipate that she will make a full recovery."

Lisaykos let out a breath of relief. Foyuna, who was sitting next to her, reached out and squeezed Lisaykos's hand in sympathy.

Thuorfosi continued: "One of Emily's sky metal tools was thrown through the clear stone window in her bedroom. Her sky metal hatchet was on the floor in front of her bed. There were no other signs of struggle. We believe she was wearing only her nightgown when she was taken."

"I see the aura of shame on you, my daughter," Ashansalt of Mueb remarked. "What is it you are not saying?"

Thuorfosi flushed and hung her head, "Only that it was supposed to be my night to stand watch over Emily. Kayseo and I traded nights so I could spend the time with my husband."

"So you feel that you traded your fate with this young healer-in-training? Many would feel the same way, but it is not your fault. Blame those who violated the shrine, not yourself, child."

"Holy One," Thuorfosi bowed her head.

"Healer Thuorfosi," Lisaykos said in her usual calm and unshakable voice, "you should heed the words of High Priestess Ashansalt. Now please, go and rest, and we will speak later."

Thourfosi bowed herself out of the room.

"Well," Aylem began, "that answers the question of what happened in Aybhas."

"But who is this unknown great mage who mindcast the temple and garrison?" Foyuna pondered.

"I believe he may be one of mine," Imstay said to everyone's surprise. "I sent my very best to Aybhas, to keep a very discreet watch over the Blessed Emily. He has greater magic than myself. I did not receive his report this morning, which suggests to me he was too occupied to send it. If it was him who mindcast the shrine and garrison, then we may be in a better position than we thought since he will do all in his power to pursue the kidnappers and rescue Emily."

"You set surveillance on Emily in Aybhas," the Queen said in a pleasant voice and a malevolent smile she only used when she was on the tip of losing her temper.

The truce was nice while it lasted, Imstay thought to himself. "At the time, I was not exactly in a position to ask you for information about this most unusual, and might I add, dangerous visitor to our kingdom." He braced himself for her reaction.

The room held its breath while the Queen digested Imstay's reply. Aylem relaxed her shoulders and calmed her expression, "if I were in the same position as you, I would have likely done the same." She looked at Imstay, still annoyed, "Usruldes?"

"Yes, Usruldes," he kept his voice neutral.

"Then there is a chance," she concluded. "That miscreant is more than competent," she conceded, remembering the time Imstay had set Usruldes to spy on her movements and the operation of her villa and estate.

"Great One, you should leave to use the Great Crystal," Foyuna prompted. "If you leave now, you can be at the Shrine of Tiki before dark and can return here before midnight. Then we would gain unequivocal answers if there is no progress this evening."

"You would not come with me?" Aylem asked, confused.

"I have a punishment to witness in the morning," Foyuna pointed out.