Page 28 of Sons of Sorrow
I almost snorted. “Oh my gods, Satchel, you can’t just ask someone why they’re alight.” I chewed my lip, swallowing my hypocrisy, mostly because I had a lot of the same questions. “Seriously, though, thank you for getting us out of there. Mister, um — what should we call you?”
“Ember,” the burning man said. “The name’s Ember. Not a pixie. I’m a fire sprite. And you did well to follow me. There’s a near-endless supply of fireflies deep within the Core. They would have just sent more after you.”
“Oh, please.” Luna clanged her sword against her shield, teeth bared. “And just how do we know we can trust you?”
Ember scoffed. “You don’t. But you’re more than welcome to weather another assault. I hear that death by firefly is extremely painful, but at least you won’t live long enough to suffer.”
Luna lowered her head and her armaments, saying nothing. Her hair hid her expression, but I could tell she was seething. With a silvery flash, both her sword and her shield vanished. She folded her arms and stomped wordlessly up to Evander. He was leaning against a rock, clutching his chest and heaving.
With a curl of his hand, Sylvain dismissed his own shield, recalling the leaves and reintegrating them with his armor. “This Core that you speak of, friend Ember. Do you mean the metal city?”
“A city?” Ember laughed, an edge of bitterness in his voice. “It’s a city in appearance only. It is the fortress of some of the most powerful elementals. They live deep within the rock, in the very heart of this place, where the magma flows through the land’s veins like blood.”
Goosebumps went all across my arms. Deep elementals, the most powerful of them all. Could we convince one of them to read and interpret the cursed parchment? How would we reach them within the Core in the first place?
“About these deep elementals,” I said. “Could we find them, speak to them somehow?”
Ember’s brow furrowed. “The question is whether they would be willing to speak to you. Do you still not comprehend? They sent those fireflies to destroy you. The fires are content to burn, to frolic within the bowels of the ground we walk upon. Leave them be, and they might just ignore you in turn.”
“So there’s no way under the city,” Sylvain said, gazing back in the direction we’d come from, at the sprawl of gold in the distance. “No way to parley with these beings of fire.”
“It’s as if you aren’t listening,” Ember grunted. “Fire’s impulse is to destroy. I should know. Even beneath the earth, the deep ones spend their time forging cruel metal contraptions. They send them up to the surface, growing this thing that you think of as a city. It expands upward and outward, more and more each day.”
Bruna wrapped her arms around herself, as if confronted by a sudden chill even in the scorching heat of the oriel. I could relate. This deep elemental talk was creeping me out.
“Some of their creations truly are heinous,” Ember said. “Machines designed to cut and to kill. They move of their own volition. They are spurred into action by the flames, driven to anger. No. It is best for you to stay far, far away from the Core.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, shaking my head in disappointment. “Okay, then. Understood. We stick to the plan, everybody. Seek out a guardian, try and claim its essence.”
Ember chuckled, but this time his laughter wasn’t laced with darkness. “Easier said than done, human.”
Now that he wasn’t flitting back and forth like an actual Earth firefly, I could get a better look at our haughty little hero. Ember definitely resembled a pixie, being about the same size and height as Satchel himself.
His skin was duskier, and it really was hard to ignore the fact that his hair and wings were perpetually on fire, something which didn’t cause him any apparent harm. But even his clothing was remarkably pixie-like — a vest that was open at the chest, and a matching pair of cropped trousers.
And as for why he seemed to tinkle and jangle when he flew, upon closer inspection, it turned out that Ember liked to accessorize a fair bit himself. Gold hoop earrings and gold bangles, and some anklets, too. His features were more angular where Satchel’s were soft, making him handsome in a harder, almost hawklike way.
I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed Ember’s handsomeness, apparently. Satchel had remained miraculously quiet throughout Ember’s explanation of the Core, but something told me that he was more transfixed by the messenger than the message.
“You can close your mouth now,” I told him. “A firefly might get in there.”
Satchel turned bright red, flew close enough to kick me in the collarbone, then zipped away again, harrumphing to himself. I massaged my poor, bruised clavicle, trying not to laugh.
13
I pushedlocks of sweat-slicked hair out of my eyes, up past my forehead, breathing deeply as I gauged the distance between our group and the great brass city behind us. All the autumn baubles in the world couldn’t cool me down fast enough. That run had taken a lot out of me. I always promised to invest more time in cardio, and yet.
The Core glinted on the horizon, the reflection of a dying sun. More importantly, it wasn’t unleashing any more of those fireflies to follow us. Ember had made good on his promise, leading us to a clearing among the perpetually burning trees. Plenty of rocks, some cracks in the ground, and not much else of interest.
Good. Boring was good. Presumably, none of these fissures were gas vents, either. We hadn’t spent an hour in the oriel and I was tired of big, flashy explosions already. The others were recovering from our brisk jog, with the exception of Luna, who still looked pretty miffed about being forced to run. These Iron College kids truly were suckers for punishment.
Bruna had pulled off her hat, using its huge brim to fan herself, her autumn baubles glowing faintly as they helped chill the air. I sidled up to her, trying to play it cool.
“Looks like the coast is clear,” Bruna said, pursing her lips at my obvious ploy to get in on some of that budget air-conditioning action.
“Thank you for you guidance, friend Ember,” Sylvain said, giving a brief bow of his head.
Ember opened his mouth like he was about to answer, except Evander got a word in first. Several words, in fact.
