Fire now blazed in all three of the men’s palms. Narrow Eyes held a ball he could hurl at me, Missing Teeth clutched a whip of fire, and Stubbled Chin commanded a cyclone of embers and ash.
I swallowed and held out my hands. “You don’t want to hurt me,” I said.
Stubbled Chin smiled, and it sent a chill down my spine. “Who said anything about hurting you? As long as you comply, there’ll be no need to hurt anyone.”
“Comply with what?” I asked, knowing I didn’t want to hear the answer.
The man nodded toward my satchel. “Give us all your gold, and we’ll be on our way, no problems.”
My stomach dropped. All my gold. I’d have no way to survive without Gran’s gold coins. I steeled myself, raising my chin. “No.”
Stubbled Chin took a step forward, cyclone of fire whirling closer, enough that the heat smothered me. “Wrong answer.”
“Wait!” I held out my hands. “You don’t want to hurt me,” I said again.
“And why is that?” Narrow Eyes asked.
I thought of all the stories Gran told me about the courts, the Seven Spirits, the way everyone avoided conflict at all costs, not wanting to earn the wrath of the spirits.
“Because Spirit Fire will surely be displeased.”
The men shot unsure looks at each other, and Narrow Eyes’s ball of fire faltered over his hand.
I took a step forward, my confidence growing. “You know as well as Ido that the spirits don’t like to see the magic they’ve gifted us misused for ill purposes.”
Missing Teeth grunted.
“The spirits gave us our powers, and you know as well as I do they can take it all away just as easily,” I said, thinking about Gran’s lessons, how afraid everyone was that the spirits would punish us should we misuse our magic. “That’s why we have the laws in place that we do.”
I wished I could name a specific law, but my brain couldn’t come up with one, though I knew they existed. Gran had quizzed me about them at one point. This would have to do. I could use everyone’s fear of the Seven Spirits against my attackers.
Stubbled Chin cleared his throat. “I wasn’t thinking of that.” His eyes shifted back and forth like he was contemplating my words.
“Oh yes,” I said. “And if you know anything about the lore of the spirits, Spirit Fire was the most vengeful of them...” I trailed off, letting my meaning sink in.
Though none of the spirits had been seen in over a thousand years, we knew much about them from historical texts and records. Spirit Fire had a reputation for being hotheaded, unsurprisingly. He had a temper and used it often to punish those who displeased him. Gran had once told me a story about Spirit Fire burning down an entire village who’d been warring for control, so caught up in their conflict, they accidentally destroyed his temple in the process—and earned his wrath.
Narrow Eyes gulped, the sound audible. “Maybe she’s right,” he said, his ball of fire disappearing completely. “Them spirits don’t like conflict. They could smite us from this mountain.”
Missing Teeth guffawed. “You mean the spirits who no one’s seen in over a thousand years? You think one of them is gonna pay attention to simpletons like us because we stole some gold coin?” He shook his head. “I don’t buy it.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, racking my brain for a Plan B. “You don’t know what the spirits are capable of, when they might be watching.” My brain scrambled through tidbits of information, stories from Gran, excerpts from books. “The frost court! They have those awful wildlands growing, creeping over their mountain territories, driving more and more people from their homes.”
A useful rumor Gran had told me—and something Fyriad had no idea how to fix.
Stubbled Chin scratched his head. “You think Spirit Frost has something to do with that?”
My eyes gleamed. “I know it.”
By now, all the fire had disappeared from their hands, but I held in my sigh of relief. Maybe I’d actually done it. I might not know how to use my magic or how to wield a sword, but I had my wits, and that counted for something. Maybe I could actually do this, save Gran, by myself.
Then Narrow Eyes stepped closer, drawing a dagger from his boot. “Looks like instead of using our magic, we’ll have to rough you up in the good old-fashioned way.”
He ran a finger along the edge of his dagger, and my blood turned to ice. So much for my wit. I had no other plan.
“Okay.” I dug through my satchel, heart sinking. “You can have my gold.” I drew out a small pouch, and with a shaky hand, gave it to Stubbled Chin.
He snatched it up and shook it. Coins jangled inside, making my stomach wither.
