Page 91 of Red Demon
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful. I’m very grateful for all you’ve done for my brother,” Asher said. “But I’ve heard so many things about you before last night, about what you do with your life and—”
“It’s fine, Asher.” She chuckled. “You should be terrified of me. It’s what your brother says that doesn’t make any sense.” Her gaze softened as she flicked her hair out of her eyes. “I don’t need you to think of me a friend, but I guess I don’t mind his pretending. It’s fun to have someone to talk to.”
“We’re running for our lives, and you’re having fun talking?” I asked.
She pointed out a patch of beechnuts nestled amongst the fallen leaves, their brown shells gleaming in the sun. “We’re walking for our lives, currently. For me, that’s an ideal day.”
I knelt beside her to collect nuts, trying to make sense of that smile.
“Bria likes you, Asher,” Faruhar said. “She says it’s okay to tell you most things, and she’ll answer what she can.”
Asher cracked a nut with his pocket knife, stuffing another in his pocket. “Who’s Bria? I mean, who was she when she was alive?”
Faruhar paused, listening. “She’s Attiq-ka, and she knew my mother before I was born. Bria has been in my mind as long as I can remember. She kept me alive when people attempted to kill me as a child.”
“As a child? Who?” Asher gave her a sidelong glance.
A bitter laugh. “I’m a halfbreed born during the Ghost War. Everyone wanted to kill me. Bria says I got my first scars as a baby when the town elders tried to throw me in the fire. She convinced someone to get me out.”
“Fuck, that’s horrible,” I said, especially how she said it, with so little feeling, like that didn’t matter.
Ash squinted as we walked, opened his mouth and closed it. “So, Bria’s in your mind? She can talk to you in your head?” Faruhar hesitated, seeming more upset by this question than the one about being burned alive. “I don’t like telling you things you could use to hurt her. But Bria said to just tell you yes. She’s a ghost. Too broken to rejoin Oria, but no demon.”
The path passed a fast-moving stream, the cool air carrying the scent of damp earth and running water. Faruhar hopped down the rocks to fill her canteen, motioning for us to follow.
“Jesse said you were trying to stop the ruren-sa; kill them before they hurt people,” Asher said, wary.
“He makes it sound noble,” she said. “I do what Bria says, because she keeps me alive, and because I want to keep her alive. She’s the noble one; I kill. I know what I’m good at.”
Screwing the lid on my canteen, I studied every flicker of light on her face, unsure if it was possible to reconcile her at all.
“Is Mahakal driving the ghost swarms, or following them?” Faruhar asked. “Bria thinks the worst, but she has no proof.”
Asher frowned. “He doesn’t talk about ghosts at all. Although his personal squad keeps a lot of secrets. They have a higher clearance level than the rest of us, and we don’t overlap much.”
Faruhar nodded. “Ruren-sa didn’t swarm like this until what happened in the Bend. They prefer to be alone. When Mahakal is anywhere near a swarm, his khels are up. Bria can’t hear through the khel, so she won’t go close until he’s on the move. He can’t keep them up while traveling.”
“So he can put the magic shields up in the field, like it’s nothing? And turn them off?” I’d thought that was something only Asri mages could do.
She nodded.
I turned to Asher. “Good enough for me. I think someone in Mahakal’s squad turned Nunbiren’s khels off from the North Barrack. That’s how the ghosts got in. I’m going to kill him.”
Asher inhaled a breath.
Faruhar’s expression frosted over. “Bria is screaming at you now, and me. She never wanted me to get anywhere near Mahakal, ever.”
“Last night, too?” Asher looked between me and her.
“Yeah, she’s pissed,” Faruhar said with a huff. “But she’s right. I can’t kill him alone.”
I met her gaze, my jaw set. “You don’t have to do it alone. Voids, I’ll kill him for both of us. I don’t care.” I gave Asher an expectant look. He kept his eyes on the road.
“If I can’t do it alone, neither can you.” Her head jumped at a sound I couldn’t hear. “We need to speed up.”
We rose and fell into a jog, and my body welcomed it. One kilometer, two. Asher’s breath picked up into a frantic rhythm when we pushed the edge of his endurance, so we let him set our pace.
“Jesse, we should tell Mira what we know.” Asher took a sharp breath. “Warn her about Mahakal, the virus—”
