Laura Resnick - The Purifying Fire

Chandra turned to Gideon, who still lay upside-down on the table, blood coloring his once-pale face.

“Help me off,” he said.

She turned and went to him. “Can you feel it? Mana!”

“Yes, I can feel it.”

She wanted to revel in the flow of red mana that was suddenly there, had been there. She felt giddy, almost lightheaded. She undid the straps holding him to the table and helped him off it.

“Let’s leave. I’m sure I can planeswalk. Can you?” she asked him.

“I think I can, yes.” He was looking at her in astonishment. “Chandra, what was that?”

“It was a blade of fire. I’ve never done that before.”

“But how? I thought you were going to incinerate all of us. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

She thought about it for a moment, then laughed with pleasure. “I feel strong.” Her gaze wandered over his damaged, haggard appearance. “What about you?”

He looked down at his wounded, blood-streaked body. “I’ve been better.” Gideon’s eyes were wary, as though he was witnessing magic for the first time.

“We’ve got to get out of here, before someone comes, things are sure to be getting different out there,” she said.

“You’re right.” His face resumed the confident calm she knew. “We need to planeswalk.”

“Regatha?”

“I’m following you,” said Gideon as he went and gathered his weapon.

After several minutes of concentration they left Diraden.

They entered Regatha gently, landing on soft grass in a sunlit meadow.

Chandra lay on her back in the grass, looking up into the familiar sky. Gideon was stretched beside her. The sun came peeking through the lush trees at the edge of the meadow at an angle.

She touched his wounded, bloody chest. “Does it hurt very badly?”

His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Does what hurt?”

The trees overhead…

Chandra suddenly sat up.

Shoved aside, he lay looking up at her quizzically. “Is something wrong?”

“We’re in the Great Western Wood,” she said. “I’m, uh, not sure I should be here.”

He sat up, too, and looked around. “Ah.”

“We should go,” Chandra said.

And then she realized she wasn’t sure what to do with Gideon. She wanted to take him with her… but she thought it likely that the Keralians, though generally tolerant, would object to her bringing a mage with Gideon’s particular talent. Especially given how tense things were between Keral Keep and the Order.

Chandra stood up, looked around, and got her bearings… and then realized where she could take Gideon.

“A friend of mine lives near here,” she said. “We’ll go to his home.”

Samir would be distressed to see her in the forest, but she was confident he would nonetheless welcome them with sincere warmth and hospitality.

“This way,” she said to Gideon, leading him toward Samir’s nearby compound in the lush, green woodlands.

“Actually, Chandra, there’s something…”

His voice trailed off and they both stood still, listening intently.

Chandra heard the rustle of a bush, then the crackling of a twig underfoot.

“Someone’s coming,” she whispered unnecessarily.

Oufes rarely made that much noise when moving through the forest, but she felt tense until she saw who it was. When a lithe, familiar figure came out of the dense greenery a few moments later, Chandra relaxed.

“Samir!”

“Chandra!” He smiled and waved. “You’re back?” He looked around, as if fearing a hoard of angry oufes might instantly drop out of the trees and attack. “You shouldn’t be here!”

“I know,” she said. “And I’m leaving. But first-” Samir’s horrified gasp distracted her, as did the expression of shocked dismay on his face. “What happened?”

“What? Oh.” She realized he was looking at Gideon. And as she glanced at her wounded, bloody, bearded, unwashed, unkempt, half-naked companion, Chandra realized that Samir’s reaction was understandable.

“Chandra!” Samir said sharply, coming closer as he gazed at Gideon with appalled concern. “What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything to him! It was… uh, never mind. Listen, Samir, I would appreciate it if-”

“Young man, you’re badly injured! You need healing!”

“It looks worse than it is,” Gideon said.

Samir blinked. “Wait a moment. Have we…” He frowned and studied Gideon’s face more closely. “I know you, don’t I?”

Chandra said, “No, he’s-”

“Yes!” Samir said. “Of course I do! It’s Gideon, isn’t it?”

Chandra froze.

“We met…” Samir’s face clouded with dawning realization. “We met at the Temple of Heliud.”

There was a tense silence as Chandra turned her stunned, appalled gaze on Gideon.

“Yes, that’s right,” Gideon said, his voice calm, his expression impassive. “I hope you’ve been well since then, Samir?”

You’re from Regatha?” Chandra said in blank shock. Gideon’s blue eyes met hers. She couldn’t read his expression.

“From Regatha?” Samir repeated, sounding puzzled. “Er, where else would he be from, Chandra?”

Her gaze flashed to Samir. She blinked stupidly at him, abruptly remembering that he didn’t know she was a planeswalker. Indeed, she doubted Samir had ever even heard of planeswalkers. And this was no time to start explaining the concept to him.

“I mean, you’re from here?” she said to Gideon, feeling dumbfounded. Why had he never said so?

“I’m from Zinara.” Gideon’s voice was clear and firm. There was a flicker of warning in his eyes, reminding her to guard her tongue until they had a chance to talk alone together. Then he turned to Samir and said, by way of explanation for Chandra’s puzzling remark, “As you can see, we’ve been through an ordeal. Chandra’s disoriented.”

“I am not!” she snapped.

Both men looked at her, then at each other. There was a brief, silent moment of commiseration between them that she found infuriating.

“Chandra…” Samir approached her, his expression concerned, and laid a gentle hand on her arm. “You’re covered in blood.”

“What?” Chandra looked down and realized he was right. Almost every part of herself that she could see was messily splattered with blood-most of it Prince Velrav’s, she supposed. Cutting off his head had been messy, though that had not been her concern at the time. Chandra realized how grisly her face must look right now.

“I’m fine, Samir,” she said dismissively.

“But your friend is not,” said the woodland mage. “He needs-”

“We’re not friends,” she said, glaring at Gideon.

The truth about her mysterious companion was dawning on her with a deluge of appalling implications.

“You followed me,” she said accusingly to Gideon.

The two men looked at each other again.

“We should go to my home immediately,” Samir said to Gideon. “It’s nearby.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” Chandra said.

Even after learning he was a planeswalker, she had assumed that his business with her had originated on Kephalai and had something to do with the scroll. He’d been following her all along.

She said to him, “You lying, treacherous, cowardly-”

“Chandra!” Samir shook her shoulders. “We must go to my home. We can’t stay here.”

“I’m not staying here!” she said, contradicting her earlier assertion that she wasn’t going anywhere. “Not with him. I’m going to Keral Keep.”

“You can’t,” said Samir. “Not by day.”

“Of course I can!”

“No, it’s not safe.”

Gideon looked sharply at Samir. “What do you mean?”

Samir said to Chandra, “A great deal has happened while you’ve been away. Come home with me, and I’ll explain, while you wash and I look after Gideon.”