Stunned silence followed her statement. Oliver froze, cup halfway to his lips, and simply stared at her. The tavern erupted in cheers as one of the Master Fulminant began to pluck a few strings of an instrument with her Fulminancy. A soulful, warm sound filled the air, even as the hair on Kess’s arms stood up.
Oliver shook his head, his eyes narrowing. “Kess, there’s nothing out there. Just clouds, and fog, and…rocks, I guess. What is this all about? Your Fulminancy? Kess, I acknowledge that you need help, but throwing yourself out of the city isn’t the way to do it. Let me make contact with some people who specialize in your type of condition and—”
Kess cut him off before he could suggest more insanities. “You’re a scholar,” she snapped. “Surely your studies touched on other cities, other civilizations outside of the mountains.”
“Of course,” he said. His eyes focused on a distant point, as if he were parsing through maps in his mind. “Miles and miles away. Further than a defenseless woman with no travel skills or abilities would get.” He let out a long, heavy sigh, the levity from earlier gone. “I mean clouds, Kess, what are you going to do when Floodstorm season comes along? Drown? That’s if you’re not swept off the mountains during Drystorm season, and if for some reason you make it to the Lightstorms, they’ll find your charred corpse as a marker on the mountain. There’s a reason why we’re only letting Fulminant outside the city now.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice further, though he had already been speaking in hushed tones. “The Council found a whole pile of corpses outside of the city, trailing all the way down the mountain— mostly Downhill people. Supposedly they were hoping to settle the farms off the mountain, but the weather was wild and unpredictable— more so than usual, anyway. Two of them made it back alive out of nearly fifty, so we shut the gates to anyone not Fulminant.”
Kess blinked as she realized something. “Wait,” she said. “We shut the gates?”
“Well,” Oliver amended, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Perhaps not we in the full sense of the word, but it was a topic of much interest at the university. We held forums, discussions, debates. I was part of the team who presented to the Council, and they came to the same conclusion that we did.” He met Kess’s eyes with his own dark blue ones so much like her own, his face shadowed by the light of the Fulminancy dancing around the room. “Leaving Hillcrest will get you killed.”
Kess stared blankly at the table grain, refusing to meet her brother’s eyes. She wasn’t a fool— she knew what lay beyond Hillcrest— but surely anything was better than running and hiding. Fighting for survival in the mountains would be better than days spent in the shadow of the Fulminant, waiting for someone to recognize her, or for her powers to spill over. Outside Hillcrest, she could be free at least.
Or dead, she thought. Still, even that possibility seemed less daunting than dealing with Fulminancy here. Oliver regarded her, his eyes sharp when she glanced up at him briefly. For Oliver, everything was a puzzle— even people. Kess hadn’t had long with her brother, as they’d spent a childhood mostly apart, but it seemed that Oliver’s desire to fix, repair, and put everything in its proper place had persisted from childhood. He couldn’t fathom Kess’s idea of running away or fighting just as she couldn’t share his fascination with Fulminancy.
“How do you intend to get out in the first place?” he asked, rubbing a hand against the stubble on his cheek. “With the Council’s proclamation you’ll—“
“A fight tomorrow,” Kess said, hardly believing what she was saying. “If I win they’ll make me Fulminant, with all the rights and privileges of the rank, even if I don’t show a drop of it in the ring.”
Oliver sat back and whistled slowly. “Forgive me for saying so, sister, but that doesn’t seem like something you were willing to do even a fortnight ago— though I suppose it would give you access to the gates. From there, though, you’d still face the same issues I brought up before.” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “What did change your mind?”
“A lack of options,” Kess replied quietly. “I want out of Hillcrest, Oliver— whatever it takes. If that means selling out, then I’ll do it.”
“Selling out—“ Oliver shook his head, a look of distaste on his face. “Kess, it’s not ‘selling out’ to do what you were born to do. Every Fulminant had a bad experience or two when they first started using the power. I would say it’s abnormal not to have such an experience. Whatever it was— whatever you’re refusing to tell me— it’s not as big of a deal as you’re making it. We can—“
“No,” Kess said, more firmly. The longer she sat in that tavern, the more her will to go through with her insane plan solidified. “I’m leaving, one way or another. There are more Witchblades Downhill than ever, that thing,” she gestured wildly outside, “keeps following me, and I can’t go a single night without having to fight one in the lower city arenas.” She took a deep, shaking breath, and fought to lower her voice as a few nearby patrons stared. “Oliver, we can’t escape them here. I can’t escape them here. I don’t know what’s out there, but it’s better than this.”
Oliver sat there for a very long moment, his hands around his drink. Fulminancy crept towards him, snapping and crackling, a constant companion though he wasn’t Fulminant himself. A wan smile appeared on his lips, though his eyes remained sad. “You promised you’d give up those fights you know.”
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“I know.”
“And yet you’re doing the opposite.”
“This will be my last one,” Kess said. “Then no more, just like I promised you.”
“Well, dear sister, that’s not much of a promise, is it?” His eyes fell on her marked cheek, then drifted back towards the room, and for a brief moment, Kess thought she caught something unfamiliar in his gaze— like catching a stranger lurking inside of her brother. Of course, she thought, it’s not like we know each other very well to begin with.
Oliver had lived most of his life apart from Kess, sequestered away with her aunt and uncle— a situation she’d always found distinctly advantageous for her brother— but a life spent far away from her own wild problems had resulted in a brother she barely knew. I’m trying to fix it, she thought, fiddling with her drink. But how do I fix a relationship that’s barely started? It seemed an impossible task, and Kess had never felt she was very good with people to begin with.
Then it occurred to her— the answer was right in front of her, wrapped up in her other problems.
“Come with me,” she said, meeting her brother’s eyes. He blinked and looked away from the center of the tavern, surprised.
“Kess, I have a life here,” he said. “A good one, but…” He trailed off, and held her eyes, seeming to work through some puzzle in his mind. “We’ve never really had the chance to do much together, have we?”
Kess shook her head, smiling. “I’d also be safer with you along, wouldn’t I?”
Oliver rubbed at the stubble on his face, thinking. “I suppose I could borrow a few of the contraptions at the university— shelters and the like. You won’t like how they’re powered, though.”
“Fulminancy?” He nodded. “I’ll tolerate it if it’ll get me out of the city.”
Oliver regarded her with serious eyes for a few moments, as if trying to figure out her angle. After a few moments of silence, he nodded slowly.
“I’ll go with you— on one condition.”
Kess frowned. “I thought those were the conditions.”
Oliver laughed and shook his head, then ducked down beside the booth to pull a small, wrapped package onto the table. “This condition is more fun, I assure you,” he said, and pushed the package towards her. Wrapped in fine blue and silver silk, a silver ribbon cascaded away from the box, finer than most clothing Kess could afford. “I got you a gift.”
Kess pulled it towards her tentatively, marveling at the quality of the silk, and shook her head ruefully. Oliver could be awfully extravagant with their family’s money, but without Kess or anyone else there to spend it, there was no real point in being miserly. Still, Kess had a hard time wasting good coin.
“If we’re going to be on our own,” Oliver said as she gently pulled the ribbon off, “I’d like you to see what you can remember. See if you can’t get it back, Kess.” His voice lowered, and he leaned forward as he spoke. “Fulminancy would be useful between here and the next outpost, you know.”
With a sinking feeling, Kess realized what her brother had done. The silk fell away, and a gorgeous wood slab appeared before her. She ran her hands over the checked pattern of the wood, obviously made by a master craftsman. As she did so, she found a catch at the bottom of the board, and flipped it to reveal a drawer. Tiny golden towers studded with rubies were lined up neatly in the drawer, and Kess took one out. She reluctantly snapped it to the board, where it stood without issue from a few well placed magnets in the bottom.
“Stormclap,” she said slowly, placing a few more of the pieces on the board. Oliver nodded eagerly. He took out a few more pieces, grinning, obviously unaffected by the sickness Kess now felt deep in her gut.
“This game’s all the rage Uphill,” he said, placing a few more pieces with a snap. “I had to go to four shops to find one with a board still in stock— Fulminancers love the things. It’s a game of strategy, supposedly, though I’ve never had the chance to play it, given that I’m, well…”
“Unaffected?” Kess offered. Oliver gave her a wry smile as he turned one of the pieces in his hands.
“Not gifted,” he said softly. “In any case, I’m told it requires an extreme amount of control. Master Fulminancers can play the game without issue, and can focus on the strategic elements of it. Novices have to work just to control their Fulminancy around the poles, but for that reason it’s a great training tool.” He paused, then watched Kess as she pretended to study one of the little pegs. She was fairly certain she was probably a shade of green, and as she looked up, her brother’s face softened a little further.
“Well,” he said, shrugging a little apologetically, “I know it’s not really your thing, but try it when you get home. We can take it with us when we leave.”
“Thank you,” Kess said, helping him gather the pegs from the board. “I will.” She really was grateful for the gift— it was a nice gesture, even if the idea of attempting to play the game made the hair on her arms stand up. She studied her brother’s face as he helped her tuck the board away in its silk bag. “You’ll really come with? You mean it?”
Oliver nodded, moving to stand. Kess glanced at the clock across the room— her brother was embarrassingly late to the late night class he ran at the university. “I’ll be there,” he said. “Provided you find a way out of the city in the first place.”
Kess nodded sullenly and sat back in the booth as her brother left, but he turned to regard her again.
“And Kess?”
“Yes?”
“Make sure you win tomorrow night,” he said. “You seem to have a penchant for…losing.”
Kess narrowed her eyes at her brother, then shook her head.
“Not this time.”