Chapter 19
Nineteen
Rheave
I’m not sure whether I like the “apartment” Ivy’s new friend found for us to stay in better than camping.
It is much bigger than the tent: two attached rooms, one with enough space for a table and set of chairs as well as a wood-burning stove that helps warm us, the other empty other than the blankets we’ve laid down to form beds.
The walls hold in the heat better than the tent’s canvas, so my fingers and ears don’t get tingly and numb.
But there’s only one small window overlooking the street. It’s impossible to tell that anyone’s coming up the stairs to the second-floor hall until you hear the boards creak, and equally impossible to know which of the three apartments they’re going to unless they knock on the door.
We only have one way to flee if danger arrives, and it’ll probably have to be right through the danger.
I understand we need to be in the city so we can make our plans effectively. The people who trapped so many of my kind need to be stopped.
But I miss the wide-open space of the forests and fields we kept to on our journey here. My spirit is used to roaming.
I don’t think Ivy’s friend likes being in this room either, at least not with me. Since we’ve been squeezed around the table, discussing our next steps to disrupt the scourge sorcerers, she’s been shooting little frowns my way.
She didn’t know I wasn’t exactly human until the others told her, but I don’t see why it should matter. Especially when it means I can be useful.
Because the main thing we’ve been talking about is how I can use the energy I seem to be able to generate to create a disturbance.
“What would be the best target for Rheave’s daimon magic?” Ivy says, rubbing her chin as she studies a map of the city that Alek and Casimir were able to obtain. We’ve marked the known sites of major Order of the Wild activity on it.
Stavros folds his real hand over his prosthetic as he leans his elbows against the side of the table. “His energy appears to burn very quickly. We could destroy supplies they’re relying on.”
I consider the materials that I’ve observed humans require most often. “Food?”
Hanie jumps in with another of those quick frowns and a hasty protest. “If you mess with their stores of food, they’ll just take from the rest of us.”
“What about weapons?” Alek suggests, rubbing the edge of his mask.
He put it back on when he heard Hanie would be coming to this meeting, although I don’t know why he feels he needs to hide his interesting face from someone who’s supposed to be our friend.
“They aren’t going to win many battles if they haven’t got the tools to fight with.
I’d bet Rheave could damage even swords and daggers. ”
I imagine the crackly energy that can flow out of me searing through metal blades and leather-wrapped handles. A grin springs to my lips. “Yes, I could muddle them!”
Ivy turns to Hanie. “Have you seen any place where the Order seems to be stashing that kind of equipment?”
The local woman shakes her head. She gestures to one area of the map where several buildings are marked.
“They’re mostly operating out of that neighborhood.
I’d imagine any stores of supplies they’ve built up are somewhere in there.
I don’t—I don’t want to risk wandering around too close without any real reason to be there, or they might assume I’m spying. ”
Casimir touches her arm. “It’s all right. We can scope out the situation. You’ve helped a great deal already.”
Ivy smiles at him as if she’s the one he was speaking kindly to. Like he’s done a wonderful thing.
If I can burn up a bunch of swords and shields, will she smile at me that way?
It’s not that she never aims any smiles my way at all. But they always look a little… uncertain compared to how she is with the other men.
She helped me snap out of the spell the scourge sorcerers had me under. She led me to freedom.
I can’t shake the feeling that I haven’t done even half as much for her yet. But I want to.
I also want her to touch my face again like she did when I was out in the cold night. That was a special kind of warmth like nothing else I’ve felt.
But I don’t have any wish to frighten her again like I did that time.
It’s a complicated desire.
“We could ride through on the horses to take a look,” I suggest. “Then we’d be able to leave quickly if anyone acts suspicious.”
Ivy hums. “I think it’d be better if I sneak around and don’t let anyone see me at all. It shouldn’t take very long to figure out their operations.”
Stavros turns to me. “You haven’t seen any signs that they’re producing clay bodies in the city?”
“No,” I have to admit. “It was a big space where I first woke up. I’m not sure there would be room in a city.”
“Well, that was a long shot anyway. Even if the production is happening in Eppun, Nikodi is only a sixth of the province’s territory, and Pima a fraction of that.”
The big man sighs and shifts backward in his chair. “We can continue monitoring the few other brothels in the city and watching for shrouded figures in general. The more accomplices we displace, the less power they’ll have to maintain their authority.”
Casimir nods. “The cleric we brought the others to said he’d be happy to take in more. He was horrified by what’s been done to them. With Prospira’s influence, we can hope he’ll be able to help them grow beyond the near-slavery the scourge sorcerers consigned them to.”
Alek clears his throat. “I should mention—my conversation with him was somewhat fruitful. It sounds as though there may be detailed records on certain aspects of the Great Retribution at a temple of Jurnus a few hours east of here. I think fully understanding how the godlen dealt with the original scourge sorcerers could be essential to challenging them now. I’d like to take a day or two to visit and go through the accounts, since I haven’t been needed for much here so far. ”
Worry clouds Ivy’s bright blue eyes. “You’d go alone? That doesn’t seem safe.”
“Who could you spare to come with me?” he asks, his normally flat tone softening the way it often does when he’s talking to her. “This is the best way I can contribute. The scourge sorcerers won’t be searching for solitary scholars on the road. They’re watching out for armies.”
His logic makes perfect sense, but Ivy’s brow stays furrowed. She reaches across the table to squeeze his hand.
Another pang of that uncomfortable emotion hits me in the chest.
I don’t think she’d look at me like that either. If I offered to go on a quest by myself, would she try to convince me to stay for my safety?
I wouldn’t, though. I don’t even like it when we’re apart within this city, even though I can see why sometimes it’s necessary to carry out our mission.
Everyone starts to get up from the table. Stavros tips his head toward Alek. “Let me go over some self-defense techniques for when you’re on horseback, just in case. So our lady can worry a little less.”
“Yes, you do that,” Ivy mutters, but the look she gives the big man is undeniably fond too.
I nudge back my chair and push to my feet, still fascinated by the sensation of moving through physical space: the air shifting against my skin, the recalibrating of my center of gravity. I went through my entire past existence totally unaware—
A force wrenches through me like a rake hooking its prongs around my insides. As I stumble backward, bumping into my chair, a command that’s as much felt as heard reverberates through my nerves.
Come here, the call says. Come to me. Now!
I have only a vague sense of where the magical command is directing me to go, but my body lurches around before I can get a grip on it. The chair clatters over on its side.
Ivy’s voice reaches me as if from a distance. “Rheave? What’s the matter?”
Then Alek’s: “It might be the scourge sorcerers trying to regain control. They did it before. Remember what we talked about, Rheave!”
And then Hanie, panicked: “The sorcerers can still make him do things?”
I try to focus on Alek’s words. Remember what we talked about—the advice he gave me back at the Haven.
Focus on all the ways this body is mine now. All the things I can make it do.
I try to stomp my feet against the floor so the impact will reverberate through them, but I nearly trip over them instead. A flare of my own panic crackles through me.
I can’t let them manipulate me. I can’t let them make me hurt anyone.
I can’t let them kill me.
My hands flail out. One smacks into the wall; the other swings toward the table.
In my urgency, the energy I can call forth courses up my arm as if it can anchor me to the furniture. A bright streak sears across the wood, blackening the surface in an instant.
Hanie yelps. Stavros charges toward me, but Ivy darts in front of me first.
She grabs my face between her hands, turning my head so her face fills my field of vision. All I can see is her bright blue eyes, her skin turned even milkier than usual, her pale orange hair billowing around her.
“Rheave,” she says. “You’re staying with us. You don’t belong to them anymore. You can fight them off.”
I find myself swaying toward her even as the command yanks at me again. As if she’s a tether holding me in place.
No, I don’t belong to them anymore. I belong to myself—and to this woman who’s always cared even when I couldn’t do the same in return.
I set my hands against her forearms to help solidify the connection between us. From somewhere beyond her, I’m vaguely aware of Hanie saying, “I’ve really got to get going,” and scampering out the door.
Ivy doesn’t break eye contact with me. “Better?”
“Yes.” Then I shudder with another magical tug. The rake prongs are digging in with little points of pain.
That’s another sensation I never experienced as a pure daimon. Pain is fascinating but also unpleasant—especially when I know that the purpose of this specific discomfort is to break my will.
“Come here.” Ivy guides me into the sleeping room and closes the door, putting one more barrier between me and the sorcerers attempting to repossess me.
“If you need any help…” Casimir calls after us.
“I think I’ve got this.” Ivy slides her hands down to my shoulders. “Deep breaths. Feel your feet on the floor. Feel my hands squeezing you. You’re here. They can’t take you away.”
I inhale and exhale, abruptly conscious of the act my body performs so automatically most of the time. It’s easy to hone my attention in on the feel of her fingers against my shoulders, pressing through the fabric of my shirt.
She didn’t want me to get too close to her that night she brought me in from the cold, but every particle of my being resonates with the need to get as close as I can. It’s a demand loud enough to drown out most of the sorcerers’ call.
I step closer and wrap my arms right around her. Ivy’s breath hitches with surprise, but then she hugs me back.
“It’s okay. You can stay right here with me, as long as you want to.”
I’ll always want to. I know that right down to the core of my being. With every word she says, every gesture she makes, every second I spend observing her, I know that wherever she ends up is the only place I want to be.
I don’t know how to say that to her in a way she’ll understand or accept. I turn my head and brush my lips against her cheek like she let me the other night.
A softer sound escapes Ivy, one that sends a very different jolt to the mostly useless appendage between my legs. A strange heat creeps over my skin, but she’s already easing back.
She gives my arm one last pat and smiles at me—her usual cautious smile, not the one I want.
“It’s good to have you back with us. You just keep shutting the scourge sorcerers out.
Practice those techniques even when they’re not badgering you, and you’ll be better prepared when they do. At least, that’s helped with my magic.”
“Thank you,” I say, the heat from before prickling into a flush of shame. I’m supposed to be protecting her, and now she’s had to do it for me again.
But the worst knowledge niggles at me as we walk back into the other room.
She grounded me. She drowned out my former masters’ call.
What will happen if they yank at me that hard again—or harder—when Ivy isn’t around?