Maria Snyder - Fire Study

“Come on,” he said, turning to join the others.

“No,” I said.

He stopped and looked back. “What?”

“Too obvious. I don’t think Cahil would go along with that.”

“Then where did he go?” Moon Man demanded.

“The bulk of the Daviians went east, but I think a smaller group either went west or south.”

“My people are in trouble,” Moon Man said.

“And so are mine,” I replied. “You go with your warriors. If I’m wrong, we’ll catch up with you.”

“And if you are right, then what?”

Then what, indeed. There were only three of us.

“I will go with you,” Moon Man said. He called one of the Story Weavers and a touch of magic pricked my skin as they linked their minds.

Not wanting to intrude on their mental conversation, I focused on finding Cahil. I examined the edge of the plateau. A branch from one of the tall jungle trees reached toward the cliff. I could use my grapple and rope and hook it—

No, Leif said in my mind. Suicide.

I frowned at him. But I could swing—

No.

Nutty could do it. Our cousin climbed trees as if valmur blood coursed through her veins.

You’re not Nutty.

I reluctantly abandoned that course of action. Even if I could swing to the tree, I doubted anyone else would follow me. Then I would be alone. I berated myself for being worried about being on my own: living in Sitia had made me soft.

It has made you smarter, Leif said. Then he added, not much smarter, but we can still hope for improvement.

“Where to?” Tauno asked as he joined our group.

I looked at Moon Man.

He shrugged. “He is better at scouting than fighting. We will need him,” he said with certainty.

I sighed at the implication. “West.”

Perhaps we would find a better way down into the jungle or, failing that, we would follow the plateau’s edge west toward the Cowan Clan’s lands. Once in Cowan land, we would turn south into the forest then loop east into the Illiais Jungle. And hope we weren’t too late.

We mounted the horses. Tauno and Marrok once again led us. The point where the Daviians had turned around was obvious even to me. The hard-packed sand had been scuffed where they stopped, and only flat unblemished sand continued westward.

Tauno halted the horses and waited for more instructions.

“A ruse. I can smell deceit and smugness,” Leif said.

“Why so smug?” I asked. “Laying a false trail is a basic strategy.”

“It could be Cahil,” Marrok said. “He tends to think he is smarter than everyone. Perhaps he thought this would fool the Sandseeds into sending half their warriors in the wrong direction.”

I projected my magical awareness over the smooth sand. A few mice skittered into the open, searching for food. A snake curled on a warm rock, basking in the afternoon sun. I encountered a strange dark mind.

I withdrew my awareness and scanned the plateau. Sure enough there was a small area a few feet away where the sand looked pliant, as if it had been dug up and packed back down. I slid off Kiki and walked over to the patch. The sand felt spongy beneath my boots.

“A Vermin must have buried something there,” Marrok said.

Tauno snorted with disgust. “You have probably found one of their waste pits.”

With Moon Man still on her back, Kiki came closer. Smell damp, she said.

Bad damp or good damp? I asked.

Just damp.

Taking my grapple out of my pack, I started to dig. The others watched me with various expressions of amusement, distaste and curiosity.

When I had dug down about a foot, my grapple struck something hard. “Help me clear the sand.”

My reluctant audience joined me. But eventually we uncovered a flat piece of wood.

Marrok rapped his knuckles on it and proclaimed it the top of a box. Working faster to remove the sand, we sought the edges. The round lid was about two feet in diameter.

While Tauno and Moon Man discussed why the Vermin would bury a circle box, I found the lip and pried the top up. A gulp of air almost sucked the lid back down.

Everyone was stunned into silence. The lid covered a hole in the ground. And, judging by the pull of air into its depths, a very deep hole.

THE SUNLIGHT ILLUMINATED a few feet of the hole. Below the lip a couple rough steps had been cut into the sandstone.

“Can you sense anyone in there?” Leif asked.

Pulling a thread of power, I projected into the darkness. My awareness touched many of those dark minds, but no people.

“Bats,” I said. “Lots of bats. You?”

“Just smug satisfaction.”

“Could this be another false trail?” Marrok asked.

“Or a trap?” Tauno asked. He glanced around with quick furtive movements as if worried the sand would erupt with Vermin.

“One of us needs to go inside and report back,” Moon Man said, looking at Tauno. “I knew we would need a scout.”

Tauno jerked as if he had stepped on a hot coal. Sweat ran down his face. He swallowed. “I will need a light.”

Leif retrieved his saddlebags and removed one of his cooking sticks. “This won’t burn long,” he said. He set the end on fire and handed the stick to Tauno.

With the flaming stick to lead the way, the Sandseed scout crawled into the opening headfirst. Tempted to link my mind with his to see what he found, I forced myself to focus instead on the ground beneath my feet, trying to discover a sign of life that would indicate the end of the cave.

The jungle’s pulse throbbed in my soul, but I couldn’t tell if it came from an opening below the ground or just from being so close to it on the plateau.

Waiting proved difficult. I imagined all types of hazards in Tauno’s way and was convinced he had fallen and broken a leg or worse when he appeared at the hole’s opening.

“The steps lead to a big cavern with many tunnels and ledges. I spotted a few footprints in the dirt, but had to come back before my light died,” Tauno said. “I also heard water gurgling nearby.”

Now we knew. Vermin had gone through the cave.

“Leif, what do you need to make a light last longer?” I asked him.

“You’re not thinking about going in there, are you?” Marrok asked, sounding horrified.

“Of course. You want to find Cahil, don’t you?”

“What makes you so certain he went that way?”

I looked at Leif. Together we said, “Smug satisfaction.”

While Leif and Tauno returned to the Daviian camp for firewood, Moon Man and I discussed what to do with the horses. We would need Marrok’s tracking skills and Tauno’s keen sense of direction to find our way through the cavern. Leif and I needed to take Cahil back to the Council, so that left Moon Man.

“I am not staying behind,” Moon Man said.

“Someone needs to feed and water the horses,” I said.

Kiki snorted at me. I opened my mind to her.

Don’t need , she said. We wait then go.

Go where?

Market. An image of the Illiais Market formed in my mind. As the main southern trading post for Sitia, the market was tucked between the western edge of the Illiais Jungle and Cowan Clan lands.

How do you know about the market? I asked.

Know land like know grass.

I smiled. Kiki’s concise view of life kept surprising me with its many layers of emotion. If I could view the world the same way, I knew it would make my life easier.

Moon Man had been watching me. “Perhaps Kiki should mentor you.”

“On what? How to become a Soulfinder?”

“No. You are a Soulfinder. She can help you be a Soulfinder.”