“She’s back on Ravnica,” Jace said.
“Who?”
“Vraska. I can sense her mind again. But I want more information before I see her.”
“Why?”
He started to speak but couldn’t find an answer. His face sank.
Or maybe he found an answer and doesn’t like it.
He said quietly, “I…I want to know if I’m being lied to without having to read her thoughts.”
“Okay,” Chandra said; her voice still sounded numb and dead to her own ears.
“I should just trust her, I suppose.”
“She’s a hard woman to trust, I imagine.”
“Then she’s found the perfect match.”
Chandra managed a smile and gave Jace’s arm a reassuring squeeze. She knew intellectually it was what he needed, though the action felt dishonest.
I want to help him. I just don’t feel it.
But it seemed to buoy his spirits a bit.
She said, “If we’re not going to Korozda, where are we headed?”
“Fire and Blood.”
“Is that a tavern?”
“More of a block party. A multi-block party. Rakdos and his minions have been celebrating his victory over Bolas for almost twenty-four hours.”
“His victory?”
“Yes, it’s funny how the story changes depending on the storyteller.”
Within minutes, they could hear the chants of a substantial crowd: “BLEED AND BURN! BLEED AND BURN! BLEED AND BURN!”
A few minutes more and they could see the glow of what Chandra could sense was a massive bonfire peeking over the intervening buildings.
“It’s just around the corner,” Jace said.
“That’s as far as you go, Beleren.” The blood witch Exava melted out of the darkness. “You’re not welcome at this celebration.”
Now Jace smiled. “And why is that?”
“You’re no fun.”
“I can be fun.”
“Also, I don’t like you and neither does the Defiler.” Exava turned to Chandra. “You, on the other hand, are more than welcome at the party.” She tried to sell it: “It’s a real chance to cut loose. Sample some true freedom. Admit it, wouldn’t you love to burn down a few city blocks of this plane?”
That does sound appealing. A fire big enough to defrost my heart…
Chandra forced herself to ask, “Have they been evacuated?”
“Why would we do that?”
Why is it still tempting? Damnit, what’s wrong with me!
“I’ll pass,” she said.
“Your loss,” sighed the blood witch.
Jace said, “I don’t need to crash your little soiree—”
“ ‘Little’?” Exava sounded outraged.
“—But I do need a few questions answered.”
Exava glowered for a moment, then her face broke into a smile. It was not the kind of smile that made one feel happy…or safe. She said, “Then you’ve come to the right place. I have many answers for you, Jace.”
“We’ve only come to talk. There’s no need for things to get nasty.”
“Oh, reason not the need. Nasty’s where I live.” She snapped her fingers. Nothing happened. Chandra and Jace both looked around, but nothing seemed to have changed. Yet Exava’s expression was borderline triumphant.
“What aren’t I seeing?” Chandra whispered.
“I don’t know…”
Around the corner, the crowd continued to chant “BLEED AND BURN!” punctuated by a handful of shrieking screams of pain that indicated the mantra wasn’t just symbolic. But when the noise briefly died down, Chandra thought she heard the sound of running water. She looked down at her feet. She and Jace had been standing on a sewer grate, and a dark liquid was swiftly rising around their feet.
“I have blood on my boots,” Chandra said flatly.
“Oh, crap,” Jace muttered, looking down.
Exava cackled and twisted both hands in a circular motion, and two blood elementals twisted up out of the flow and reached their liquid limbs toward the mouths of her two foes.
“Drown in blood,” Exava hissed.
Chandra wasted no time. She let loose searing torrents of flame from either hand, evaporating the elementals—and maybe singeing Jace just a bit. In any case, he winced and shielded his face with his near hand.
Should feel bad about that. Why don’t I feel bad about that?
Exava winced, too. Winced and then screeched in fury.
But now Jace snapped his fingers, and the blood witch abruptly went limp. Her arms fell to her sides, and her face went blank.
Jace said, “I told you we only came to talk. But to be honest, I was kinda hoping you’d pull something like this. Now I really feel no compunction about reading your mind. It’s a feeble excuse, I’ll admit. But also…I don’t like you, either, Exava. And you’re way less fun than you think.”
His eyes glowed briefly blue. Then they returned to normal, and Exava simultaneously fell into a heap on the cobblestones. Jace and Chandra turned and walked back the way they came.
“Well?” she asked. “Did you find out where Vraska went?”
He hesitated…briefly. But then came to a decision and said, “The guilds sent Vraska to Kaladesh to kill Dovin Baan.”
Chandra’s cold heart suddenly felt a little heat. “No, no, no, if anyone’s gonna kill Dovin Baan, it’s me.”
Jace’s eyebrow went up. “You’re not a killer, Chandra.”
“We’ve been through this. I’ve killed. You know I’ve killed.”
“I know we’ve been through this, and I also know you’re not a cold-blooded killer.”
That’s the only blood I have now, Jace.
She groused, “Well, if anyone deserves death, it’s Baan. Anyway, he definitely needs to be brought to justice. For what he did to Ravnica and Kaladesh.”
“Agreed. But you’re not thinking about the ramifications: Baan’s not the only target. The guilds have ordered hits on Baan and Tezzeret and…Liliana.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Look, no one knows more than I do that Liliana is no innocent. But she did kill Bolas, and—”
“Nissa said Gideon would want us to redeem her.”
“Or try at least.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I need to talk to Vraska. I’m ready to talk to her now.”
“Go. Find her.”
“What are you going to do?”
“For starters…get a drink. Or two. Or a dozen.”
“Really?”
“I need to think. I haven’t done much of that lately. It’s probably time.”
Suddenly Jace seemed reluctant to leave Chandra alone.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
“No,” she said. “Obviously, I’m not okay. But I’ll figure things out. Go. Find Vraska. Try to be happy.”
He had started to go, but as she said that last sentence, he stopped in his tracks. “That sounded like a goodbye, Chandra.”
“It was.”
“A ‘have a good life’ kind of goodbye.”
“Well, it wasn’t. Jace, I’m not suicidal, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I wasn’t thinking that at all, actually, but now—”
“Oh, please. Don’t read in. I promise you. I just need time.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. And I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”
He looked concerned.
Concerned enough to read my thoughts?
“Okay,” he said finally. “Take care.”
No. The new Jace wouldn’t do that.
“You, too,” she said.
He split off. Chandra walked on. The heat of their minor skirmish with Exava was quickly fading. The ice was forming again. She felt torn and yet distanced from both options she was trying to choose between.
Do I chase Baan to bring him to justice—or maybe even to incinerate him myself?
Or do I chase Liliana and try to save her? Have I even begun to forgive her for costing us Gids?
She should go home to her mother’s place and to her mother’s arms on Kaladesh. She should really try to put Ravnica and all that went with it behind her.
But that’s not gonna happen. That’s never gonna happen.
She had lied to Jace about wanting to get drunk, because she thought it was a socially acceptable response to all she’d been through recently and would free him to go see Vraska. It hadn’t worked, hadn’t allayed his obvious concern for her. In fact, it had backfired. It was too out of character for Chandra.
It’s just not my style and everyone knows it.
She spotted a tavern called the Titan’s Keg. She went inside. It was full of giants. She slipped between a couple of them and walked right up to the bar. With some effort, she managed to climb up onto an immense barstool.
The tapster, an ogre who amid any other crowd would have seemed gargantuan, asked, “What’ll you have, little lady?”
Can’t tell if he’s being condescending or literal…
“A hard cider,” she said. “No, a bumbat whiskey. Or two. Or a dozen.”