“Why are you chained up?” Donna asks, while looking around the room.
They exchange uneasy glances and seem very confused, but also, nothing in them screams loyalty to this place. “Who took you?” I ask one man, my instinct pulling me to him. Looking directly into the skull mask momentarily empties his mind as wide eyes connect with mine, until my words seem to mean something to him. “We’re Cinders. The men, anyway. The women are in the castle.”
“What?” Out of every answer, that was not what I anticipated. “I’m here to find a Cinder myself. A woman.”
The energy changes in an instant, intrigue flashing through them all, and one even motions with his hands for us to speak quieter. “We’ll help you if you get us out.”
“Where is their eternal flame being kept?” Donna asks, as if she has no patience. I don’t disagree with her, so I look around to indicate that I’m waiting for someone to answer.
One seems eager to speak, the same one I first approached. “Five rooms down, there’s an enclave which is guarded by them. That’s where their stupid flame is. It’s behind iron bars.”
“How protected are the mages?” I ask, not liking that some of them are starting to get anxious; the energy is drastically changing in here.
They don’t want to risk it.
“They ignite the floors if anyone gets too close. But it’s usually just one or two at a time,” he replies. “You can send me. I won’t burn. They’ve... tested us.” He speaks as if he’s overly eager, but doesn’t want to convey thattoomuch. “I just want to gohome. Please, I’ll help. They’re terrible at combat.”
That’s even more perfect. I turn to face Basilisk. “Let’s weed out the ones who will hesitate. We’ll use the rest to help.”
We move through the group, gauging their resolve in ways only a Sensor could. One man barely reacts, his round face impassive as the two of us pass him by; his heart, on the other hand… it’sconflicted.
I don’t need to know anything more; sliding out Jane’s dagger, gasps echo around the room like a window bursting open during a storm, the man in front of me only flinching as I cut at his garb and gag him, using some of the rope I have left to bind his wrists. He doesn’t fight it, seemingly hating himself for that, and I re-sheathe my blade. “For your own good,” I say.
When I’m about to turn to face another that Iknowwill scream as soon as I make eye contact, I lunge at the man before I even look at him, hand at his throat as he claws at me.“We’regoing to gag you, and you’ll shut the fuck about it. Do you understand?”
He nods, blood pooling underneath his skin, his bulging eyes wide as he can’t breathe. Basilisk gets to work before I can even let go, forcing fabric into the man’s mouth as we tie him up. He nearly slumps over when I release him, the color slowly draining from his face.
“Oh, thank the sirens,” one breathes out. “Thought he was going to scream at any moment.” It’s the one from earlier, a man whose features I take in as he becomes relevant: blonde, small beard, dark eyes. He glares at the one we just bound. “I don’t give a rat’s ass, Merle, if you want to bespecial?—”
“Enough.” I glare at the mouthy one, as we don’t have time. “What is your name?”
“Roy.”
I motion for him to stand on his bare feet, and he does so with hesitation, before I face Basilisk. “Stay in here with them. Keep them quiet until it’s time to move.”
A sinister play comes to life in his eyes as he scans the room, one of the Cinders lowering his gaze like he’s petrified of this; he knows of Basilisk.
Go. Opportunity is right here.
I guide Roy out, who is so springy in his steps from pure excitement I wonder how long they’ve all been here for. I motion for Donna to follow, and I hand Roy one of the spare blades at my thigh. “Do you know how their magic works at all?” I ask. “And how to use one of these?”
He nods. “I do, to both. The mages need utter concentration. It can be broken so easily, which is what that statue is for. It’s where they practice it, ceremonially, anyway. As long as you promise to come in behind me, I can get their concentration off, and you can finish them. I used to be a sellsword before they took me. I know what I’m doing.”
I grin under the mask. “Done.”
The effort is quick as he moves forward, the fire lighting up at Roy’s presence. The mages let out a confused scream when they realize what’s happening. When the whipping fires dwindle, I move forward, trusting every bit of this. It’s so fucking hot in here, but I ignore it as I dispose of one, and the other is already stabbed in the chest by Roy. I help him ease the body onto the floor, searching for the keys.
Glancing up once I find them around the waist of a mage, I examine what is more akin to a vault guarded by steel bars. My eyes fall on the chalice, its molten glow of the fire pulsing like a heartbeat.
All I know is what Donna explained to me earlier, that it’s a chalice forged in molten lava, cooled in sacred waters far from here. A mage donates their blood once a week to maintain the flame. To skip this step would be akin to injuring their god, and it’s how they command their power.
Donna comes in behind me. “That’s it. That’s the flame... There’s even the phoenix tears.” She laughs. “Cocky fuckers to leave it right there.”
“Are we sure it’s it?” I ask, starting to unlock the doors. “I don’t know shit about this. Could it be false?”
“Oh, it’s real,” Roy interjects. “It absolutely is. They leave it there in case they ever need to extinguish the flame, so they can restart it. Only if their god permits it, of course. But sometimes he does. Otherwise, they’re aslaveto it.” His words sharpen with rage as he speaks, like he’s eager to use it against them.
“We’re going to hand that to you,” I say. “And you will threaten to douse the flames if they don’t cooperate. Donotextinguish unless we say so.”
