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    THIRTY


    <h2 style="text-transform: uppercase">SARIEN</h2>


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    "Do you think he''s dead?" Goslin asked.


    "We should leave now," Emiril said. "Preferably while water is still dousing out the flames."


    They waded through the room and heaved the door open. Water gushed out into the corridor like a river. The molten magma from before still glowed under the water''s surface. The water boiled and steamed. Sarien was drenched, both from the water and his own sticky sweat.


    "We’re heading up," Sarien said, grasping Daisy by the scruff and helping the dog to stand in the deluge. He considered opening a gateway to send the dog to safety, but it would take too much of his already diminishing power.


    Daisy shook his shaggy fur as soon as the dog found dry ground. Sarien noticed something around his neck that he hadn’t seen before. "What’s this?"


    He got down on one knee and reached around Daisy''s neck, finding a collar. "Have you always had this?"


    Daisy sneezed.


    "What are you doing?" Goslin asked, coming up behind Sarien.


    Myn got down on her knees next to the dog, patting it. "Good boy."


    "Can we go check on Haen now?" Emiril asked. "I don’t want to be the one telling Freyn her husband is gone."


    "Embers first, they might still need our help," Sarien murmured, turning the collar in his hand. There was a small metal cylinder affixed to the fabric. He removed it and found he could screw it open. Inside was a rolled-up piece of paper. With trembling fingers, he unrolled it while everyone peered over his shoulder.


    Sarien recognized the handwriting instantly. It was his mother’s.


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    Sarien. Do not let your father come look for me. You stay away too. I love you.


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    Sarien grabbed Daisy’s head and looked into the dog’s face. "You know my mother? How?" The dog sneezed again, his tail wagging.


    "I don’t think you’ll get much of a response from the dog," Goslin said, placing a hand on Sarien’s shoulder.


    Sarien straightened, clutching the small piece of paper. "No, you’re right."


    "Why doesn’t she want you to come looking for her? Do you think she’s in danger?" Myn asked.


    "I don’t know," Sarien said. "But I don’t like this."


    "Where is your father?" Emiril asked.


    "Sent him to look for my mother."


    "Oh," Myn said. She cleared her throat. "Maybe we should focus on what we can do now. Let’s find those children so we can leave this horrid place."


    Sarien blinked. Myn was right. There wasn''t anything he can do for his father now. "Right. Yes, let us continue."


    He put the paper into his pocket and gave Daisy another glance before following Goslin, who took the lead with his shield held out before him. The dog must have been carrying the message since they first found him. Had sending his father to look for his mother been a mistake? It was too late to change what had happened, but he couldn’t shake the itch of wanting to go look for them both. If only he could.


    "There is a god coming," Goslin said, as if reading Sarien''s thoughts about leaving.


    "A god?" Sarien asked. "How do you know?"


    "We have rhinn on our side too, and we’ve heard it from their priesthood. They’re turning men into monsters. Well, you’ve seen that now."


    "Yes," Sarien said, disgust welling up in his gut. "Why are you telling me now?"


    "The message from your mother."


    "What about it?"


    "Your parents overthrew the old gods and killed them. Can you do the same?"


    "Me? Kill a god?" Sarien knew that none of the gods were dead, only imprisoned. He would have to tell the others soon.


    "If you can’t, we’re going to need your parents. We might have to go against your mother’s wishes and try to find her."


    "A god," Sarien repeated.


    "Can we discuss this later?" Emiril asked, his shadow dashing after a rhinn traveler who opened a gateway nearby. A city street lay on the other side.


    "Fyrie," Goslin muttered. "We’ll talk after we find embers and get them to safety," Sarien said, continuing up the stairs. "Can’t be many more floors to go."


    He was wrong. There were plenty of floors, but no more people as far as they could tell. The group stopped by each landing, listening closely for any sounds of movement. They found the cooling bodies of pyromancers, most slain from stab wounds.


    "Lana is ahead of us," Goslin said.


    "Do you think she would kill the embers?" Sarien asked.


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    "Why shouldn’t she?" Kax asked. "They’re pyromancers."


    "They are students," Sarien corrected. "Children."


    "I don’t think she would kill children," Goslin said, but he seemed uncertain.


    "I’m taking us there by gateway," Sarien said. "We have to get there first."


    The thrumming of the wayfaring was strong and comforting inside his chest, like an extra heartbeat in step with his own. His white flame surged, and he willed a gateway to the embers’ common area open, and stepped through, panting. The windowless space was pitch black. A bad sign. Sarien used his white flame as light. The room was cold and empty.


    "Where are they?" Myn asked.


    "The stairs keep going up," Kax noted. "Perhaps they’re hiding on the roof?"


    Sarien opened a few of the doors to the cramped private rooms, but they were all empty. "Can’t hurt to check, I suppose."


    A bad feeling was weighing on him, like a stone in his gut. "I just hope they didn’t bring the embers into the war."


    "We have fought against a few young ones," Kax said, peering first up, then down the stairs.


    "How young?" Sarien asked.


    "The youngest was a woman," Goslin said, looking over at Kax. "A girl, really. Fourteen, maybe fifteen."


    "Could have been Freja," Sarien said.


    "She’s dead," Kax said. "Didn’t ask her name."


    "You killed a girl?” Sarien asked.


    Kax looked back at him, his face blank like he didn’t possess any feelings on the matter. "She burned our men, Sarien. The girl had to die." Kax closed the distance to Sarien. "This is war. You understand, right?"


    "I understand," Sarien said, not backing away. "Doesn’t mean I have to like it."


    Lana appeared in the stairwell, daggers of white glowing light in her hands. "So, is this it? Have we won?" she asked.


    Myn pointed up. "A few more floors."


    "Then stop standing around and let’s get going," Lana said, running up.


    A panting, sweating Wade followed. He waved without looking and shambled after Lana.


    The group didn’t find anything of note on the two floors between the embers’ chambers and the roof. Lana waited, leaning against the stone wall. This high up, Sarien thought he felt the stone tower shift with the wind.


    "Nothing here," Lana said.


    They passed an exhausted Wade on the stairs and the aeromancer stood and shuffled up behind them. "Please. No more stairs."


    "We’re at the top," Goslin said, looking out a small window. "Can’t see any fighting below. I think we’ve won."


    "That was easy," Kax said, almost sounding displeased.


    "Sarien, can’t we go outside?" Myn asked, pulling on Sarien’s hand.


    "Hold on to something," Lana suggested. "Or you might be swept away with the wind."


    Myn’s face paled. "Maybe we should stay inside."


    Emiril tapped his foot impatiently against the stone floor. "Now, can we go check on Haen?"


    "Of course," Sarien said, sweat running down his face as he set his jaw, opening a gateway to the ground below. Daisy leapt through first, barking with excitement.


    The day was won.


    A mass of slain monsters wearing the clothes of villagers lay strewn in a wide circle in front of the main gate, along with an incredible number of dead rhinn soldiers.


    "Are those?" Sarien asked, pointing at one of the dead creatures.


    "Afraid so," Goslin said, his nose wrinkling. "The priests have a terrible power to corrupt and control any living being."


    "We’ll stop them," Sarien said. He turned to Emiril. "Do you see Freyn anywhere?"


    Emiril pointed. Haen’s wife was sitting by a large white tent, stitching up a soldier’s wounded shoulder.


    "Let’s check on Haen first," Sarien said. He drew in a deep breath and strained, struggling against the resistance as he opened a gateway. Emiril stepped through and Sarien followed. Goslin wasn’t far behind, and neither were the others, when they spotted a tall, red-haired man sitting on the ground opposite a prone Haen.


    "Tom!" Lana yelled, throwing herself in the arms of the much larger man. They both went down in a heap.


    Emiril and Myn hurried to Haen. "He’s dead," Emiril said, his voice void of emotion.


    Myn fell to her knees and took one of Haen’s huge hands into her own and leaned forward, pressing her head onto his still chest.


    "It was his time," were the first words Tomford uttered, after setting Lana gently aside.


    Goslin got down to sit in the grass next to their friend. "I’m sure you did everything you could."


    Sarien gave Tomford a nod, then looked at Haen and at Myn, then to a scowling Emiril. He couldn’t find the right words to say, so he kept his mouth shut.


    "It wasn’t your fault," Emiril said.


    Sarien nodded to the dour man.


    "Good to see you again, Sarien," Tomford said, getting to his feet. "What brings you all to Vatnbloet?"


    They embraced, and Sarien thought he sensed a change in the tall Vatner. A calm determination. "We wanted to check in on Haen," Sarien said, indicating the still form on the grass. "Didn’t know I’d sent him to you, but it makes sense."


    "It does?" Kax asked, raising a hand in greeting to the healer.


    Onlookers were gathering, pointing with shocked expressions on their faces. They were in a park with lush grass, plenty of wide-open space framed with leafy trees and bushes heavy with berries. Further in the distance, white-painted houses peeked through openings in a hedge that walled in the park. The air smelled clean, a relief after breathing in smoke and death.


    Sarien looked at Tomford. "You''re the only healer I know."


    "There aren’t many to be had, to tell you the truth," Tomford said. "I’ve gathered those who will help. No rhinn have been seen in Vatnbloet. We figure they wanted to take Eldsprak first."


    "Perhaps," Goslin said, "But we think they’re waiting for their god to arrive. Wyndemir."


    “A god? I don’t like the sound of that," Tomford said. "I thought you’d come get me sooner."


    "Took me some time getting back to Maydian," Sarien said.


    "And you made some new friends."


    Myn stood, her eyes filled with tears. "Thank you for trying to help him," she said, holding out her hand.


    "The burning wouldn’t stop, and it was too severe to close his wounds. Never seen anything like it," Tomford answered, taking Myn’s hand and squeezing it.


    Tomford and Emiril exchanged a nod, but they didn’t feel the need for words.


    "Vatnbloet will support the Eldians?" Goslin asked.


    "No."


    "No?" Goslin asked.


    Tomford shook his head sadly. "Not in any official capacity. I’ll bring around half our hydromancers and all our healers but one, along with armed men from perhaps two-thirds of the personal guards and troops from the nobility."


    "And your fists, I hope," Kax joked.


    "My focus will be healing," Tomford said, a gentle but playful smile crossing his lips. "And what happened to you, Kax?" The healer stepped closer to Kax, their difference in height almost comical. "You look seriously ill. Want me to take a look?"


    Kax backed away. "I’m not sick."


    Tomford let his hands fall back to his side. "Very well." He spoke on to Goslin, "I’ll need a little time gathering the Vatners who will follow.”


    Sarien turned to Myn. "Do you bury your dead in Malac?"


    "We do."


    "Then we must return Haen to Freyn so that he may be properly put to rest."


    "You could send her here," Tomford suggested. "It will give her some time away from everything so she can properly grieve."


    Sarien looked to Myn and Emiril, who both nodded.


    "Thank you, Tom," Sarien said.


    "Once I’ve spoken to Freyn, we should see if Emeryn and the Kin are ready to join us," Sarien said, looking to Goslin, whose face shone at the mention of her name.


    "Yes," Goslin said. "Let’s go see my wife."