"So that's what I said," the voice huffed, and a scoop of dirty straw flew into a wheelbarrow in the breezeway.
Cita blinked at the bay flank in front of him.
'Aspen?'
Wooden half-walls were evenly spaced up and down the aisle. Some were occupied with horses munching hay. Others were empty. Rashida's packhorse stood in front of him. Leadlines on either side of her halter led to metal loops attached to a pair of support posts.
"She wasn't too impressed. I think she likes Ash better than me," the voice concluded morosely as the dark head popped over the stall wall. "Hey, are you done currying Aspen? If you are, could you get the sorrel in the next stall over? There's another set of lines and clips."
It was the dark-haired flame sorcerer — the one who said to call him Cetan.
'But … didn't we leave this morning?' Cita rubbed his aching head.
"Are you okay?" Cetan leaned on the stall wall and frowned. "You seemed fine at breakfast, but you shouldn't overdo it. Grauntie Sophia will have my head if I wear you out."
"Who?" Cita asked.
"Great Aunt Sophia — you met her yesterday morning when you arrived. She tore into Jenny, Ash, and I when she found out we'd hosted you for two days and not given you our real names."
He looked closer at Cita. "You don't remember that," he stated.
Cita shook his head, dizzy and nauseated.
Cetan slipped from the stall he had been cleaning into the breezeway. He pulled Cita away from Aspen and led him to a bench along the wall. He pushed Cita down to sit.
Cita complied, too shaken to protest.
"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked as he sat next to Cita.
Cita licked his lips and reflected. "Well … we left here going east. There was a forest ahead and … maybe we went through it?" Spikes of pain stabbed his head. He pressed both palms to his eyes, and flames sparked behind his eyelids.
"Okay," Cetan replied. "Well, to start with, I'm Kody — Kody Peacefallow. Ash is my brother, and Jenny is our cousin." He quirked his lips. "We should be easy enough to recognize, all things considered."
Cetan — 'no, Kody' — continued, "You left … two mornings ago? Yeah. After you left, around midday, Grauntie Sophia came in with a couple herds. The next day, right after morning feeding, you lot dragged back, looking like death warmed over. So we had to explain to Grauntie Sophia ..." He trailed off with a shudder.
"I'm not rehashing that row — no, thank you — but she told us off good. She got everyone cleaned up, fed, and tucked away. Bilal and Rashida were up yesterday afternoon, and even the children were awake by dinner. You slept clear through till morning, which almost started another go around between Jenny and Rashida. Bilal swore Rashida hadn't given you anything other than mint leaves, and you were exhausted."
Kody shrugged. "Makes sense to me — I'd sleep the day round if I was up all night walking."
"I think." Cita struggled to chase down a wisp of memory. "I think Rashida said something about my head injury causing disorientation and fatigue."
"Head injury? Did you hit your head?" Kody asked.
"Yeah, before we got here … the first time." He laughed a little. "She said … I don't remember what she said. Maybe we should ask her."
Kody looked at him oddly.
'Surely it makes sense to ask a healer for advice on an injury?' Cita shook his head and regretted it.
"Okay, sure. Let me finish cleaning out Aspen's stall and then we'll go find her. Why don't you rest here while I do that?" Kody went back into the stall while Cita watched the world undulate around him.
**
"Burn the village? Oh yeah, I can do that." The darkness washed pure blue as Akicita swung onto Nocturne's back. A giggle escaped, kindled like a campfire that will become a wildfire.
'And that's what we are. Wildfire.' Akicita turned Nocturne back to the stairs leading to the metal door and kneed him into a trot.
"Cita?" Bilal's concerned voice drowned in the echoing screams.
Akicita called the fire — a tiny, blue flicker that danced over his fingers before coming to rest in his palm. Nocturne reached the stairs and didn't hesitate to climb them. He reared, screaming, at the top, and Akicita grabbed his mane to stay astride until the snorting stallion returned to four feet with a jarring thump. The tiny flame was lost in the burning mass that was the stallion.
'I suppose it's redundant to have a small fire with Nocturne here.' Akicita drew his hand back, pulling a stream of deep blue fire from Nocturne's mane. It flowed up, a fire whirl answering only to him. He gifted it to the building with the metal door. The screams intensified, accented by hollow thuds.
"Cita! You idiot! Wait until we get the children clear of the village!" The shrill voice cut through the screams and buzzed around Akicita's head like a mosquito.
He sneered down at Rashida, her dress dyed cerulean in the fire-lit darkness.
'Who's the idiot? I'm not the one defending the Infected.'
"It is too late. The fire is spreading too fast. Hold Aspen." Without waiting for Rashida's cooperation, Bilal tossed the two smaller Infected on the restless packhorse. He grabbed the larger one around the waist and slung her over his right shoulder, snatched his glaive from where it was propped on the well, and looked around. "Where is the kitten?"
Flames leapt from the tiled roof to the ragged thatch on the buildings flanking it. Akicita smiled.
'Be free.' Laughter escaped but was quickly stifled. 'Be free, and I will be free with you.'
"No time! Run!" Rashida urged Aspen toward the gate.
Bilal swore and ran, holding the Infected tightly as it bounced. Sapphire eyes glared above a scowling mouth.
Red-orange eyes narrowed, focusing on the Infected that he'd been prevented from exterminating. What's stopping me now?
Darkness rose in his mind, like a bubble of swamp gas rising to the surface. A basso profundo voice echoed through his skull. Akicita wrapped his arms around his head, trying to keep his brains from leaking out his ears.
'No. Not yet. They are needed, for now, and you're not free. Did you forget our bargain?'
Laughter and screams echoed through the flames as Akicita kneed Nocturne once more, and the stallion leapt down the stairs, galloping out the gate.
**
"She'll need to be brushed again," Kody said.
Cita blinked up at Kody and then looked at Aspen, tucked in her stall with her nose stretched up to her hay net.
'I thought he was cleaning Aspen's stall. Did I fall asleep?'
"You missed a few spots, but she'll do for now. Come on — up with you." Kody offered a hand to pull Cita to his feet.
Cita looked at it in surprise before accepting the assistance.
Kody grinned and led the way outside into a bright, chill autumn morning.
Swaying, Cita paused to take in the whitewashed buildings, some of which looked at least three stories tall. Tidy shutters stood open, allowing the breeze to flow through open, unglazed windows.
"We'll start in the kitchen. But first …" Kody paused at a shallow, stone-lined trough running past the stable and scooped out a bucket of the free-flowing water. "Scrub up. You won't want to hear what Grauntie Sophia has to say if we track stable-dirt into the kitchen." Kody knelt and scrubbed his hands and forearms.
Cita followed suit. The water was lukewarm against his clammy flesh.
"Is this runoff from the baths?" Cita asked, remembering their visit to the bathhouse.
"Yeah — it's one of the outer channels. It comes out of that pipe there." Kody pointed to his left and then his right. "And then goes back into that pipe there. This is one of the last places the water flows before going into the pond, though."
He stood and shook his hands mostly dry. "Good enough," he declared. "Come on. Kitchen's this way."
Cita shook as much water as he could from his hands. The somewhat familiar steading seemed bigger. A brief flash overlapped the cheerful, sturdy buildings with a grim collection of hovels. Then the image was overtaken with another building engulfed in flames. Cita shook his head and had to stop, too dizzy to walk.
"Hey, are you coming?" Kody called from an open doorway ahead.
"Yeah," Cita answered. He rushed forward, taking the shallow double step into the kitchen in one stride, and then had to grab the doorjamb to catch himself.
Kody opened his mouth and then shut it. He led the way into the kitchen.
The kitchen seemed filled with noise and heat and bustling bodies, but when Cita forced his eyes to focus, there were only three people working amid cheerful banter. One he recognized as their hostess. 'Gotta pencil her in as 'Jenny' in my contact list.' An older woman with silver-frosted, short black hair looked like a mirror into Jenny's future. Her presence filled the kitchen, making it clear that it was her domain. She instructed a slender, ash-blond youth on bread kneading, but looked up at the newcomers.
"You'd better have washed up before you came in. And did you already get all the horses tended?" She frowned sternly, but her voice was not cruel. "That was fast, even with two of you."
"No, Grauntie Sophia. We came to find Rashida. Cita's head is bothering him, and he doesn't remember what she said about his head injury —"
"Head injury?" Frowning, Sophia cut him off. She wiped her hands clean on a threadbare towel. "That's not to be taken lightly. Jenny, pull up a stool but set it next to the wall. Jacob," she addressed the youth, "I think Rashida is in the bathhouse. Fetch her if she's done."
The youth hurried off.
"But don't open the door without knocking and getting permission first! This isn't one of your cousins!"
Kody stifled a snicker.
"It's not that bad — it happened several days ago," Cita protested.
"He just doesn't remember the last two days," Kody told his great aunt.
"Way to throw me under the bus," Cita muttered, bending over to rub his forehead.
"Bus?" Kody asked.
"Nevermind that, Kody. Get the kettle on the fire and start some pottage."
"Yes, ma'am." Kody tied on an apron with nimble fingers.