Chapter 24

Eliza was never going to be able to scrub the images of that night from her memory, no matter how long she lived. It had started out innocently enough…

We are here, Mardu sent, once she and Scraw had reached their chosen spot. Scraw had settled himself down onto the bank of the stream to watch, directly across from the island, half way between two of the Gnome guards. Neither had seen him approach. The island was higher than the surrounding bank, so Scraw was little more than a black ruffle in its shadow. Even so, Mardu still felt badly exposed, and despite the crow’s assurances that he was much faster than a Gnome, Mardu remained unconvinced. In the end, she had no choice. They needed this to work if they were going to gain access to the power idling beneath that island, and every step closer Scraw brought her to the fire would make it that much easier for her to control the flames. She grumbled something about risk-taking males, but resigned herself to the situation. Scraw laughed at her in his head.

Hearing them bicker over their shared connection, Eliza was struck by how familiar her crow friend’s sense of humor seemed. He’d have made a good Unlovable. Eliza smiled at the thought as she pulled her attention back from the remote team and opened her eyes to check the physical world around her. Mehklok loomed above her, on top of a large knob of rock, swinging his arms into different positions, searching for his scariest pose. Any of them would be fine. We’re set, she replied. Ready when you are.

It was an odd sensation for Eliza, as she sat there, watching Mehklok through her outside eyes, as he puffed and pinwheeled in anticipation, while her inside eye showed her a large fire, flanked by two enormous Gnomes, which she also watched, carefully, looking for signs of change in the flames. It was like trying to watch two movies on the same TV at the same time.

Dimly, she was also aware that she could hear Mardu’s inner voice as the Flame of the Dragon cast her charm, muttering to herself in a quiet kind of sing-song voice. At first, nothing seemed to be happening, but after a while, the fire did appear to be somewhat less than it had been.

Are you having trouble? Eliza sent.

Not yet, Mardu replied. Her low singing dropped into a background murmur when she spoke, but somehow she was able to maintain it in the back of her thoughts. I want them to think the fire is dying naturally. If they suspect a charm, they will be on guard for trickery. We need them to look at it, not peer more grimly out into the night with suspicion.

Good point, Eliza sent. We’re standing by. She raised her hand in a halting gesture to Mehklok, indicating that he would be needed shortly. He nodded to her and settled himself into readiness.

Through the crow-cam, Eliza watched the Gnome’s fire continue to lose energy as the flames licked and danced. Little by little, as one moment followed the next, the brilliant tongues dipped, bowed and then guttered. Not too quickly, not all at once, but with steady regularity. Within five minutes or so, the light had dropped low enough to catch the attention of one of the Gnomileshi guards—the one on Scraw’s right. The guard turned to glance over his shoulder at the fire. Eliza couldn’t make out specific words, but she did hear a guttural grunt of some kind as he turned to investigate.

It’s working, she sent to Mardu. Hold it there a moment. Now that somebody’s watching, we don’t want him to notice anything weird. The background murmuring stopped, and Mardu watched along with her, scarcely daring to let Scraw even breathe.

Excitement edged into Eliza’s thoughts. Look! That far guy is glancing at it too. Sure enough, the Gnome on the far side of the fire had twisted around to see what was going on, but the third one, to Scraw’s left, remained solid, as though rooted deep down into the soil.

And then, as if out of nowhere, Eliza had an idea. Here they were, standing on top of what Mardu had said might be the most powerful magic battery remaining in this world, and they hadn’t even considered trying to make use of it.

Oh my god, she sent, sharing her sudden revelation with Mardu. I know how to make this loads better. But for the moment, she didn’t want to distract Mardu, who had gone back to her charm song and seemed to be having to concentrate more intently now. Just don’t run out of juice for a little bit longer, Eliza sent. Stay ready. That last guy looks a bit peeved. Things should happen any second now.

With her hand, she motioned at Mehklok to go into his pose, and the little guy didn’t miss a beat, stretching up onto his toes and glaring down at her, arms curled in front of him as though he were lifting a heavy rock in front of himself. He looked every inch the angry fire demon. He even seemed to be wreathed in flames already, on account of the weird double vision thing she had going. This was going to be stellar!

Steady… she sent to Mardu.

The guard on the right had now turned fully around to watch as the far one poked a stick at the coals, trying to get the fire to come back up, but the guard on the left was still facing away, looking out into the night. More guttural comments were exchanged between the two fire-tenders and then a louder demand. They both looked toward their companion as though waiting for his opinion. The entire Flame gang had agreed that they needed all three guards to see the fire ancestor, because anyone who did not might not believe what the others had seen and might choose to remain on guard duty instead of obeying the flames.

Eliza gripped Mardu’s hand over the link—or it felt like a hand grip, anyway. Whatever it was, she sent some kind of squeeze of reassurance and shared excitement. Steady…

Time seemed to stand still for one eternal heartbeat and then the last guard—the one Eliza had come to think of as the boss—spat out a reply and turned around to face his cohorts.

Now, Mardu! Now! Grab power from the dragon thing! Use it to make a huge flame ancestor puppet guy. Here comes Mehklok! And then she threw her vision of the towering Gnome chaplain down the link—but not just the one posturing in front of her now. She could not help but mix in her recollection of the leering, salivating Hell-beast that had greeted her back in his cave when she’d first opened her eyes, so many days ago. It was a truly terrifying sight.

She felt Mardu recoil at the image, but then steady herself. Then she felt the Flame of the Dragon reach down into the soil, deep beneath the fire, questing, reaching, until she touched it. Pure power. She could feel Scraw preparing to speak.

And then the night exploded.