Chapter 3 – A Fire in the Night
Gerok, clutching a metal tray on which a lit candle balanced precariously, stood just outside their open door in the main street. He was talking to a pair of individuals wearing long, black cloaks. Both individuals had their traveling cloaks’ hoods drawn low, concealing most of their faces. The twins could tell from their tone that the pair was involved in a pitched argument with Gerok.
“…For the last time, I will not help you! What you are asking me to do goes against my principles, everything I have ever worked for!” Gerok protested.
“Are you sure, Hemomancer?” the figure on the right said. Their voice was deep, coarse, and harsh, as if the speaker spat every word they uttered. “Everyone’s ‘code’ has holes, things they are willing to overlook. If the price is the issue, we’ll double it. Triple it, even.”
Gerok sniffed angrily. “My morals, unlike my hemomantic services, are not for sale, gentlemen. What you are asking me to accomplish I could never do in a clean conscience.”
“But it is imperial business,” the figure standing on the left said. In stark contrast to their companion, the speaker’s voice was high, reedy, and anxious, and Zull saw that they were wringing their hands nervously even while they spoke. “You have served her majesty in the past. Can you not do this one thing for her, despite your principles?”
Gerok let out a short bark of cynical laughter. “Imperial business indeed. Bring me an order with the Empress’ royal seal on it, or better yet, the empress herself, and I might consider it. Until then, good night, gentlemen.”
Gerok stepped back and tried to shut his front door then, but the figure on the right stuck out a burly arm, wedging the door open. “We’re not done with you yet, Hemomancer,” the figure growled. They threw back their hood as their companion did the same. The figure on the right was an ugly, scarred man with a surly expression, while the man to his left was a thin-faced, nervous looking fellow whose forehead was slick with sweat. Both men had the black tattoo of a rat on their right cheeks, and Gerok’s eyes widened as he and the spying twins realized they were dealing with members of the crew of criminals known as the Plague Rats.
“Listen, hemomancer, we didn’t want it to come to this, but you don’t leave us with much of a choice,” the scarred man growled. “If you don’t agree to follow us willingly, then there will be consequences.” His eyes slid past Gerok across the room, before landing on the twins. He grinned slightly, before adding, “And not just for you.”
Gerok nervously adjusted his spectacles and looked over his shoulder, noting the presence of the twins. He gulped once, then standing as upright as he could, snapped angrily at the thugs, “If you don’t leave my home this instant, I will call the town guard. Do you understand?”
The scarred man grimaced, but with a flick of his head towards his companion the pair stepped back out of the doorway into the street, never taking their surly gazes off Gerok. “We gave you a chance, Hemomancer. Remember that,” the scarred man snarled. He and his companion pulled their hoods low and, turning around, vanished into the gathering gloom at dusk.
As soon as they left, Gerok seemed to fade slightly as a weary expression spread across his features. “Oh my,” he said softly, turning to face the twins. “Oh my, it appears that we are in quite a deal of trouble.”
Zaphyr gulped nervously. “Trouble?” After the excitement of the afternoon, to come home to such an odd scene felt to her like a splash of cold water in the face, and it disturbed someone even as normally distracted as her.
“What kind of trouble?” Zull asked. “The Plague Rats have never had business with you before. What did they want?”
“They wanted…,” Gerok began, before cutting himself of. “No, if you know anything more than necessary, I will simply be endangering the two of you further. Listen closely: I have a letter I must write to the Empress. She must know about what has occurred here tonight.”
“Why would the Empress be concerned about a small crew of thieves?” Zull asked curiously.
“The Plague Rats, I suspect, are only a small piece of something greater and far more dangerous,” Gerok said somberly. “My guess would be that someone close to the Empress has put plans into motion which I barely even dare contemplate, and I fear that the corruption is already too deep for anyone but the Empress herself to root out. Once I have written the letter, tomorrow the two of you must deliver it to her before she leaves Varin. I would send you tonight, but the Plague Rats are no doubt out in force in the streets, counting on me to do exactly that. The daylight should give you the protection you need. Oh, one more thing; make sure that no one else reads the letter, under any circumstances, even the two of you. Is that understood?”
Zaphyr and Zull said, “Yes, Teacher.”
Gerok nodded, somewhat relieved. “Very well, then,” he said, hobbling past them into his study. “Please, give me some quiet so I may write.” Pulling an ancient quill and inkpot out of the clutter on his desk, as well as an empty sheet of parchment, he began writing frantically, the soft scribbling the only sound in the hushed room.
“Looks like you will get to meet the Empress after all,” Zull whispered to Zaphyr.
His sister gulped nervously. “Somehow, that idea doesn’t appeal to me anymore.”
They waited anxiously until Gerok had finished writing the letter, which he quickly rolled up before pouring hot wax into a neat seal along the letter’s center. He stamped the seal with his signet ring, both binding it shut and showing that he, and he alone, was the original writer.
“The Empress will recognize this signet,” Gerok told the twins as he passed the letter into the trembling hands of Zull. “She and I have worked together in the past. Now, again, listen closely: as soon as the sun has risen, take this letter directly to the Empress. Let her know that I sent you. Give it to no one else, no matter who tries to take it from you. Is that understood?”
The twins agreed as Zull stuffed the scroll into the sleeve of his robe.
“Good,” Gerok said, clearly exhausted. “Now, get some sleep. It may well be your last for a while. The three of us could have much traveling, and, I fear, running ahead of us in the future.”
Ordinarily, the idea of traveling would have been thrilling to Zaphyr, but under the circumstances, all she felt was confusion and a lingering sense of dread. From the look on her sibling’s face, she could tell he felt the same. Leaving Gerok alone with his worries, the twins entered the rear room that served as their sleeping quarters. It was incredibly small, with just enough space for the pair of mats they slept on. The twins each laid down, the scroll nestled safely on the ground between them, as they tried and failed to fall asleep.
“Zull?” Zaphyr said after several minutes of quiet. “What do you think happened?”
“I have no idea,” Zull admitted. “But whatever they asked for, it has Gerok shaken. I’ve never seen him so scared.”
“Do you think we will be safe?” Zaphyr asked.
Zull fell quiet for a long moment, then at last, said frankly, “I don’t know, Zaphyr. But I do know one thing. No matter what happens, I will be there for you.”
“And me for you,” Zaphyr agreed. The twins lapsed into silence once more, before shortly falling into a gentle slumber, dreams untroubled by the looming danger all around them, as tangible and oppressive as a spider’s web.
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Zull awoke abruptly in the middle of the night, nose wrinkling in disgust. He felt instinctively that something was wrong but being still only half awake, he couldn’t tell exactly what bothered him. He struggled to wake up fully, rubbing the backs of his hands against his gummy eyes, then frowned as he sniffed at the air. A definite smoky smell permeated their sleeping chamber, which only grew stronger with each passing second, and he could hear, although muffled, the steady roaring of an ever-growing fire.
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Grabbing his sister’s shoulder, Zull shook her, hissing “Zaphyr!” as he did so. She didn’t respond, at first, then she stirred. Opening her eyes slowly, Zaphyr asked groggily, “What is it?”
“Something’s very, very wrong,” Zull told her. Zaphyr sat up, looking around blearily as she did so.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, before stopping and sniffing at the air for herself. “Wait a minute. Is that…”
“Smoke?” Zull finished for her. “Yes.”
Eyes widening, she grabbed Zull’s arms tensely. “That means a fire, and nearby.”
Zull nodded bleakly. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” he told her. “We need to leave.”
“We have to find Gerok first!” Zaphyr insisted.
Zull nodded as he picked up Gerok’s letter and stored it once more in his robe’s sleeve. “Of course. Follow me and keep close to the ground. The less smoke we inhale, the better.”
Zaphyr copied her brother as he slowly snaked his way across the room, inching along the oaken floor to keep as far away from the clouds of smoke they could already feel coalescing near the roof as possible. Zull reached the portal connecting their sleeping quarters to the rest of the house and, gingerly, reached up and grabbed at the edge of the curtain which divided the two chambers. He tore the curtain open, nearly gagging on the mouthful of smoke he inhaled in the process, then gaped at what he saw beyond.
Flames danced across the main room of their house, several smaller fires eating their way towards the center where they would soon combine into a single mighty inferno. A thick, noxious cloud of smoke hung over everything, making the twins’ eyes water as they tried to see through it.
The door to the house’s exterior had collapsed inwards, rubble piled in a way that Zull thought looked deliberately designed to block the entrance. The door and curtain to Gerok’s study had not collapsed yet, Zull noted. More importantly, however, the twins saw Gerok lying in the center of the room, a pool of blood and a fallen cudgel beside his head, trapped beneath a fallen wooden beam.
“Teacher!” Zaphyr cried out. “We have to save him.”
Zull nodded wordlessly and began crawling across the floor of the living quarters towards where Gerok had fallen, wincing to himself as he inched his way along across shattered pieces of wood and stone which scraped his arms. An instant thought and his hemomancy kept the gouges from bleeding, preventing blood loss from sapping what remained of his strength. He could feel Zaphyr behind him, holding on to his foot as he crawled, unable to see far through the flames and ash in the air.
How could this have happened? Zull wondered to himself. Was it an accident? As much as he wished that were the case, he couldn’t bring himself to believe that. The only logical option is that the Plague Rats did it, but usually they stick to simple robberies. What is in that message Gerok wanted us to deliver that has them acting so viciously?
Aloud, Zull shouted, “Teacher!” hoping that his mentor would react, but Gerok remained motionless. Zull pushed himself frantically to finish snaking across the blazing floor. He grabbed the old man by both of his arms and tried to pull him out from beneath the fallen beam but lacked the strength required.
“Zaphyr! Help!” Zull pleaded as she squirmed her way up next to him, but even working together they were unable to pull Gerok free. Zaphyr grabbed their aging mentor by the shoulders and shook him, hoping to elicit any kind of response, and almost wept for joy as the old man finally stirred, staring up at the two of them through bloodshot eyes. “Zull? Zaphyr?” he said hoarsely. “What are you doing here? You must flee!”
“Not until we save you,” Zaphyr insisted, while Zull nodded his agreement besides her.
Gerok shook his head violently. “No, you must leave. Now. Zull, do you still have the letter I gave you?”
Zull confirmed by showing the letter to Gerok, seal still unbroken.
“You must deliver it to the Empress before it is too late,” Gerok told them. “Whoever is behind this is playing far more aggressively than I had anticipated. He will stop at nothing to destroy you.”
“That letter can wait!” Zaphyr said, tears welling up in her eyes. “We have to save you first.”
Looking at her sternly, Gerok said. “No. Go. Every moment you wait here you put your lives, and all Waed, at risk.”
“I…but…Yes, Sir,” Zaphyr said. Zull sat besides her quietly, watching the approaching flames around them with evident concern. “We won’t let you down.”
“Then go!” Gerok commanded. Zaphyr and Zull, who still clutched the letter against his chest, turned and started crawling towards the door, before Zull grabbed his sister by the wrist, startling her into halting.
“Not that way,” he told her. “It’s completely blocked, and it would take us minutes to clear all the rubble away. Besides, whoever set this fire, I’d bet they are waiting beyond the door for us to try and leave that way.”
“Then where do we go?” Zaphyr asked, her voice ragged from the smoke.
“We crawl out through Gerok’s study,” Zull said, gesturing with his head in the direction he meant.
“But that’s over twice as far!” she said.
“I know,” Zull said quietly. “But I think it’s still the safer option.”
Zaphyr looked at her twin for a moment, then nodded. “Very well,” she said. “I’ll follow you.”
Zull looked at the curtains which hung between the living room and Gerok’s study, which were in the process of being devoured by the greedy fire. “If we try to crawl, we’ll pass right through the flames,” he said. “We have to stand and make a run for it.”
“Are you crazy?” Zaphyr asked. “You’re the one who said that we needed to crawl to begin with!”
Ignoring her complaint, Zull got unsteadily to his feet, eyes watering further from the smoky haze. He took several shallow breaths to steady himself, then waited for just an instant longer to gather his courage before charging towards the curtains. He could feel the heat around him like constricting bands of molten agony on his limbs as he tore through curtains which disintegrated into ash upon his touch.
He felt that he was on fire now, but he ignored the pain as best he could, relying upon his momentum as he blindly ran through Gerok’s study, until he found his charge stopped by the wooden door to the outside, which he slammed into full force. Stumbling backwards, Zull steadied himself than ran again towards the door, hitting it with his shoulder as he did so. This time, the door shattered outwards in a pile of splinters as Zull fell onto the street, nearly senseless, flames sputtering before going out in his hair and along his back.
Zaphyr, meanwhile, standing in the center of the ring of fire, watched Zull run away, hands shielding her eyes. And normally I’m the reckless one, she thought as she steeled herself for a similar charge. She ran after Zull, following his path as exactly as she could, making it halfway through Gerok’s study before the heat and fire proved too much and her legs gave way beneath her. She screamed in pain, feeling the flames lick at her arms as she collapsed to the ground, then frantically scrabbled forward through the shattered glass and burning books that were once Gerok’s prized collection. Vision reduced to little more than a blur, she reached out a charred arm towards the open doorway, certain she would pass out before dragging herself free.
I never thought I would die like this, she thought remorsefully, feeling surprisingly lucid. At that moment, another hand reached through the flames and grabbed her outstretched wrist, before dragging her through the door into the blissfully cool alleyway beyond the flame’s reach. She lay on the cold stone for a moment, lacking even the strength to raise her head, as she slowly opened her eyes to see Zull’s sooty face staring down at her.
“We made it,” she said in a strained whisper.
“I know,” he replied. She had been burned along her arms from her wrists down to her elbows, and Zull could tell that they ran deep and doubtless would leave scars. As gently as he could, he ran his fingers along her arms, seeing her writhe in pain even as he did so. Using his hemomancy, he tried to redirect the flow of blood in her arms to aid in the healing process, but there was little else he could do.
He reached back and felt his own wounds, wincing as he did so. His burns extended from his right shoulder up and along his neck, culminating in the back of his head, where he felt he had lost most of his hair. They aren’t pretty wounds, but they’ll heal, he thought. At the very least, we’re alive. His hand shaking, he looked down to see that he still held Gerok’s letter, protected by his own flesh from the fire. He almost dropped it in his relief, then clutched it against his chest protectively.
The twins heard a thunderous crash from behind them and turned to see the roof of their house finish falling in, the flames now blazing up openly into the night sky above. Those around were starting to notice the fire now, and the distant shouts of Varin’s panicked populace could be heard as news of the fire spread further and further.
“He’s dead. Gerok’s dead,” Zaphyr whispered through chapped lips.
Hanging his head, Zull simply said, “Yes.” There was nothing else to say as he took his sister’s hand in his own. Tears ran down their faces, smudging the soot even further.
How long the two of them sat there in that alley, neither knew. The world around them seemed to disappear as each dealt with both their physical pain and the crippling knowledge that, once more, a parent had been brutally ripped away from them by an unseen foe. As the night dragged on and more and more people arrived to witness the blaze, Zull finally stirred, slowly getting to his feet. He did his best to ignore the protests of his aching joints and the suffering of the already peeling skin along his back as he stood up. Reaching out, he helped Zaphyr get to her feet as well, being careful not to touch her arms along her burns.
“We need to get out of here,” Zull told his sister. “Sooner or later, someone in that crowd is going to notice us, and if they do, and word gets back to whoever set this fire, then we are as good as dead.”
Wordlessly, Zaphyr nodded, leaning on Zull as the two hobbled their way out of the alley into the street beyond, where a sizable crowd of close to a hundred people had gathered, watching as the building finished burning down into little more than smoldering embers. There were some people that Zull recognized among the crowd, like the local fishmonger Zeid, but no one that he thought would be capable of or have the desire to kill them.
But there is someone who might, Zull thought, recognizing the scarred man who had threatened them and Gerok earlier that same night standing amidst the crowd, watching the fire’s chaos with marked interest. Even as he stood there, Zull knew with a quiet certainty that his suspicions from before had been correct. The Plague Rats, at the order of whoever their mysterious employer was, had burned their house down.
Zull’s ordinary frown turned into an outright grimace at that thought as he turned to limp away from the crowd, only for he and his sister to find themselves standing directly in front of the nervous, rat-like man who had accompanied the scarred thief earlier. The eyes of all three widened in mutual recognition.
“Oh no,” Zaphyr said quietly.
“Boss!” the rat-faced man shrieked, his voice lost in the general confusion. “Boss! It’s the children! They escaped!”
The scarred man turned then to see what his associate was yelling about, his expression turning into first amazement, then quiet rage at what he saw. Zull and Zaphyr looked back and forth from the approaching scarred man to the rat-faced thief whose expression of panic had turned in an instant into a cold-blooded thirst for killing. The rat-faced man drew out a dagger and brandished it at the twins.
“Time to make sure we finish the job,” he said, a vicious glitter in his beady eyes as he spoke.