Cita froze.
Images ran unchecked through his mind.
**
The first swarm. Meeting Bilal. The dinner at the inn. The market and Lord Blaah's keep. The tourney.
**
A wave of guilt swamped him.
"He really is a babysitter," Cita scoffed.
He turned back to the fire. Nocturne stood still and silent as Cita stared at the bones again.
"Cita, please ..."
Cita turned back, waving a hand and cutting Bilal off.
"I'm sorry," Cita whispered. He drew a shaky breath and added, "I … sometimes, I just feel so …" He sucked in more air. "Anyway, I overreacted."
Bilal shook his head and approached Cita while keeping a wary eye on Nocturne. He sighed with a rueful look.
"You remind me of my younger brother, in some ways. Such passion, and headstrong. But quick-minded and insightful." Bilal bowed his head and whispered, "Jas povtorno nema da uspeam."
'I will not fail again.'
Cita looked up. 'So he does have a family. But that last part … he wasn't talking to me, was he? He keeps saying that, though.'
*Fool. Everyone has a family, living or dead, known or not. And no one has ever valued speaking to you.*
Cita shuddered away from the intruding chill.
Bilal interrupted Cita's thoughts with a silent invitation to sit facing the fire.
The guards rounded up the strayed horses again and kept their distance. But their weapons remained sheathed, as Bilal had commanded.
"I have not been entirely forthcoming since we met, Cita." Bilal paused at Cita's indrawn breath. "I am not sure … how much you remember of the time we have been together."
Cita's mind raced, re-combing his all-too-brief memories.
*Betrayed again,* the shadow cackled.
**Back off, old man!**
The fire flared blue before calming to crackling red. Golden eyes marked this before Bilal continued.
"Sometimes you … stop," Bilal confessed. "You are there, physically, but it is almost as if your soul has fled. And then you are back, and seem to have no idea that more than a breath of time has fled."
"No. I don't. I couldn't."
'Not again. I'm not …' Cita pressed a palm to his throbbing head.
Bilal hesitated.
"Do you remember walking from our camp to the inn?"
Cita searched his memory and came up with a few stray images wrapped in red haze, ending with a bloody, cracked arrow.
"Yeah, sure. Most of it." He shifted, plucking bits of stubble from the ground and shaking the dirt from the roots.
"You screamed like someone was killing you for five minutes. Running through the sandhills screaming." Bilal shuddered. "I could do nothing save keep pace. Even when you stopped, you were not there."
Silence fell, and the two stared at the fire. Nocturne fidgeted but still made no noise.
The youth slipped through the fire as if it weren't there and greeted Nocturne.
**He's right, you know. Sometimes I can cover for you. Most of the time …** The youth shrugged. **You fall into the nightmare pit until you can drag yourself out.**
Bile rose in Cita's throat. He laughed abruptly, and sang a scrap of tune in cracking falsetto,
"Memories … dah dah dum ... they're poisoning me —" His voice broke and he coughed. "What's the rest of that song?"
**Your singing sucks, and that's not even half the words.** The youth leaned against Nocturne.
Golden eyes watched him. Cita cleared his throat and ducked his head.
"Is … is that what you and Rashida argued about?" Cita asked.
Bilal nodded.
"Usually, when you are … gone … it is for only a few minutes. It seems like it is longer, but it is not. But never more than an hour. She insisted on pressing, trying to see what you remembered. And you … left. She did not even send someone to tell me!"
Anger filled Bilal's voice.
"I was practicing with Nathaniel, and when I returned, you were like that. She said it had been over two hours. We … quarreled. We both said things we should not have. But I told her to leave you be, at least for a time, and I would let her know if we … I mean, if you needed her. You were gone for hours — most of the day. I … was not sure if you were coming back."
Cita tried to piece this information into his recollections.
"You started telling me stories, right? Stories from your homeland."
'Stories you once told your brother?' he wondered, but did not ask.
Again, Bilal nodded.
"Do you remember anything else?" Golden eyes glinted in the firelight as they probed Cita's face.
Cita ducked his head. 'I can't tell him. The echo. The shadow. The youth. If he knew …'
"No," Cita replied. His voice was distant and cold in his own ears. He shook his head. "Does something trigger these blackouts?"
Bilal seemed to weigh Cita's answer. He glanced from Cita to the fire and back.
Cold sweat trickled down Cita's back.
"Nothing consistent. When you are pressed about your past — Rashida said that she was asking about your past yesterday before your … black … out. Other times?" Bilal shook his head. "I cannot parse it. Yet."
The youth swung astride Nocturne, and they trotted in tight circles and figure eights, keeping inside the flames.
"There is more you should know — things I suspect. Things Rashida is certain of." Bilal rolled his eyes.
"It is in her nature, perhaps, to be certain. I do not know that it makes her correct." He shrugged. "We — both of us — think you are a flame summoner."
Bilal's lips quirked as he looked at Nocturne.
"I do not think there is much doubt at this point."
"A flame summoner? Me?" Cita asked. "That's ridiculous. Flame summoners are rare and cherished as a national treasure. They're not…"
He shut off that train of thought with a shudder. He clenched his fists to hide their shaking.
Bilal watched him closely but pressed on. "They are … rare. Dangerous, without a doubt."
Cita mouthed the word.
'Dangerous.'
The youth laughed.
**If he only knew!**
*He will know. You can't keep hiding,* the shadow hissed.
Cita jumped to his feet and paced. He couldn't escape the words, but he couldn't sit still, either.
"Your eyes were my first hint. At first, I thought they were a sign that you were Infected. But you have not acted like it, and there are no other changes. And … I should be able to sense the Infected, though that —" Bilal drummed his fingers on his thigh. "That has been less than reliable of late."
"My eyes look like fire opals." Cita paused as a memory teased. "That's what … someone said when they gave me this. But anyone could have eyes like this!" Cita held up his long dagger, showing a polished red stone in the hilt. "And what do you mean, you can sense the Infected?"
**I like him, and all, but … You've got the blade there. Almost a shame not to use it.** The youth leaned forward on Nocturne's neck and stared. A smile teased at his lips. **Solve a lot of problems.**
"No!" Cita shouted. He panted, trying to draw a full breath as the fire roared and flared.
Bilal rolled to his feet. He scanned the night, but his golden eyes kept coming back to Cita.
The guards shuffled further away.
"Cita?"
Cita closed his eyes. He forced his breathing to slow.
"It was an earring. I wore it all the time. Until …" Cita fingered his earlobe, noticing for the first time a thin vertical scar.
Bilal inspected the stone from a distance.
"So you said before. My people call this stone 'heart of fire.' It is rare and from a distant land. I am not sure of the quality of yours — such is not my expertise, but a good quality stone of that size could feed the township on the finest imported goods all winter."
Cita groaned.
"Great. So I should watch for thieves, too. Thanks for that."
**Nope. Thieves should watch out for us.** The youth pivoted Nocturne in place.
The battle-trained stallion lashed out at the empty air.
Golden eyes darted from Cita to the stallion.
"You are welcome," Bilal replied with a straight face. "Another hint was your fascination with fire. Even when you were unconscious with fever, you gravitated toward the campfire. I had to keep moving you back. Candles, torches, and even this fire pit," he gestured, "draw you."
Bilal shuddered.
Cita froze, remembering Bilal's scars.
"The fire — it started responding. Today, the fire stayed low and controlled while you watched it, but flared up dangerously when you did not. I … had not wanted to burn the field today. It is dry, and the fitful winds make it too likely to spread out of control, even with the trench. And now the fire should be nothing but embers and ashes. But it blazes like it was freshly stoked."
Cita remembered staring at the fire most of the afternoon.
"The fire has secrets."
He jerked as if awakening.
Bilal waited expectantly.
Cita didn't add anything, and the youth held his peace as well.
"Most people do not say that fire has secrets," Bilal said. "They call it a tool, or a weapon, or a comfort."
Bilal eyed Nocturne, prancing through the bonfire.
"Flame summoners are also known to have wraiths — restless spirits of those who died by fire — at their command."
Stricken, Cita looked from Bilal to Nocturne.
"So, I summoned Nocturne's … what? Spirit? His soul?"
The youth grinned.
**Yep! Isn't he great? I wasn't sure you had it in you. But you proved me wrong. For once,** he concluded with a shrug.
The shadow snarled in icy displeasure.
"That is what common knowledge says." Bilal shrugged. "I do not know if it is the truth, however."
"Okay." Cita's breath came faster. "To the best of your knowledge, I've dragged the soul of Michael's stallion back from horse-heaven. Does that mean he's doomed to wander the earth now? Or just until I release him? Can I release him? Or will that destroy him? This isn't something we covered in world religion!"
Bilal's stone face was unreadable.
"Wait — no." Icy fingers dragged through Cita's short hair, raking it into wilder spikes. "This is okay. I just need to find another flame summoner — one who can answer my questions."
Bilal's face blanched to an ashen hue. He opened his mouth, closed it, and started again.
"Cita … flame summoners … they are evil incarnate. Every flame summoner in story, legend, and history has sought to conquer and destroy."
"What?" Cita heard the words, but they didn't make any sense. "No! They help people. The military trains them, and they fight forest fires and … and stuff."
Tiny flames licked up his arms. He swatted at them to no avail.
Golden eyes watched the flickering flames.
**Hmm.** The youth rode Nocturne closer. **That's new. It's never been real fire before this. Unless … would you count that one time?**
"What one time?" Cita snarled.
"What?" Bilal echoed.
"I … nevermind." Cita rubbed his throbbing head. "What about flame summoners?"
Bilal hesitated before continuing.
"The most recent flame summoner … she came against my people. She wanted to enslave us — use our warriors to conquer other lands. We stopped her … but at a price." Bilal's voice was grim, and he rubbed his scarred right shoulder, lost in memory.
"A flame summoner did that to you? Burned you?"
Cita's world-view pivoted again. Red hazed his vision as his ears rang while the flames on his arms blazed higher. Sweat dripped from Cita's body as the temperature rose.
"And you say that I'm a flame summoner, too? That I'm evil?"
"No!" Bilal cut him off, turning to face him. "That is why I doubted that you were a flame summoner, even as the signs pointed to such. There is no evil in you. Hurt, yes. Confusion, certainly. But anyone who has faced a conquering flame summoner — who has faced as many of the Infected as I have — knows evil. And it is not in you."
Cita sucked in a deep breath. He fought to bring the flames under control, but they flickered stubbornly.
"Thanks ... I guess. I don't know that I could be as … trusting if I were in your place." Cita shuddered. "If we don't have another flame summoner, I don't know … wait … what about …" Cita searched for the youth. "Where did ..?"
The flames flickered and lowered as if running out of oxygen. Ashes clogged Cita's veins. His limbs shook and his teeth chattered in the sudden chill.
Bilal rested a hand on Cita's shoulder.
"I recommend returning to Lord Blaah's keep. Eat, and then sleep. In the morning, things will not be so overwhelming. Beyond that ..." Bilal shrugged. "We take it one day at a time. Step by step."
Cita nodded.
Bilal stretched, poorly concealing the stiffness in his right arm and leg.
Cita hesitated, almost reaching out to offer a hand. 'But would he even accept a flame summoner's help?' He bent down to gather his bow and quiver in the firelight.
"I still can't believe I'm a flame summoner. Gran would be in seventh heaven! She always said I was special."
Bilal laughed. The sound was harsh in the night air.
"Rashida is furious with me. You say things … they must be words, but they mean nothing to me. She thinks I should ask you what you mean when it happens. 'Seventh' and 'heaven.' Separately, they are clear enough. But together?"
Cita burst out laughing. The dark night became the brightest moment he could remember. 'This. I want to keep this.'
"So, wait, don't tell me — every time you looked at me like this," Cita mimicked the stony looks Bilal sent his way from time to time, "you had no idea what I was saying?"
Bilal treated him to the very look Cita meant.
Cita laughed harder, and Bilal shoved him. Cita staggered sideways, wincing as his ankle protested.
"Compound bow," he snickered. "Apoptosis. Microcosm?"
He saw Bilal's stoic expression break into a wide grin.
"Oh — carbon fiber!"
They laughed like maniacs in the firelight.
When the laughter died, they returned to where the guards watched in trepidation.
The mounts grew restless, pulling against their tethers as the pair approached.
Limping closer, Cita glanced behind him. Nocturne followed peacefully.
One of the guard's mounts screamed. They all fought to escape.
Cita stopped and turned to the stallion.
"You can't come with us," Cita told Nocturne. He looked at the fire behind them. "You need to stop, too."
The flames died down until only embers remained once more. Blackened bones reflected hints of red from the coals.
The stallion was more stubborn than the fire, flickering as he struggled to remain.
"Go," Cita commanded firmly. "Rest, if you can, and return when you're needed." He added, "You know ... if you want to …"
Nocturne's eyes met Cita's. Cita realized the stallion's eyes matched his own: red with a hint of orange and possessing a jewel-like clarity.
The wraith bobbed his head and faded; the crimson swirls first dimming and then wholly gone.
Cita swallowed.
"Did I do the right thing? Or have I banished him to some sort of outer darkness?" The night didn't answer.
He turned and saw Bilal watching him with a hint of pride in his eyes visible even in the darkness.
The guards were also watching, but their eyes shone with fear.
*Run. Run and keep running. There's nothing for you here, and they seek to destroy you as you sought to destroy me.* The taunting voice was back, but weaker.
He quashed it ruthlessly.
'One night. One night to rest. Deal with the fallout tomorrow.'
Bilal commandeered two mounts for their return to the township. Even the newest reinforcements declined to return with them. Bilal and Cita rode back in silence.
Before they entered through the gate of Lord Blaah's keep, Cita gnawed his lip and peeked at Bilal's profile.
"Bilal, what is this place called? I keep thinking of it as 'the township,' but it has to have a name, right?"
Bilal's laughter filled the night.
"Bilal?"
He laughed harder.
"Seriously? Give me a break!" Cita huffed.