Trial by Flame

Chapter 68

Dust, blackness. A red stain against pale stone, fizzling softly. There was a faint shimmer where pulverized rock met the night, a gaping hole just above the circle of rubble he was buried in. Shieldskin did some, but not enough, to defend him, and his hood had fallen with it.

"You really do look like Naleya."

The voice, along with its approaching footsteps, reminded him of a fork scratching a plate. As if the fall wasn't bad enough.

Trelisti tried to lift himself, a motion that didn't come without strain. His fingers twitched, and his shoulders were almost reactive, but the rest of his body was still detached. Everything felt like a dream, from the blurry haze of a scene to the muscles he couldn't feel.

"Come, now. It's no fun if you don't wake up." A few loose rocks fell from the ceiling as Anansi spoke, bending down by Trelisti. In the corner of his eye, he saw the pulse chains he'd failed to secure stuck between two fallen stones, before Anansi picked them up. "Though I suppose I can't really take my chances with you."

Ash, falling like snow. The scent of smoke and pines.

Trelisti's magic went under as Anansi clasped the cuff on one wrist, then the other, and took the dagger out of his sheath. No shieldskin to defend him, barely any consciousness to hold onto.

Splintering wood and a sinking thatched roof. Windows spewing black smog.

The blade dove for his throat. Sparks leaped from coal to coal. Red spilled over his vision.

His parents' screams. Orange devouring every memory, every chance to escape.

The flame roared to life.

Metal struck stone. Trelisti dodged to the side. Anansi was startled to a pause. Trelisti rammed his head into him, letting him fall dizzily to the ground, and everything grew clear.

Blood fizzling when he woke. A cave of biege-white stone. The sequence of the prayer, the story of Sa'ryn, the placement of the ruins...it all made sense now. Pulse magic was born here, through sacred words in these hidden caverns.

So Trelisti would kill it here. The same place, the same way.

He pulled back as Anansi attacked, dodging a blow that would've been fatal. He didn't fully evade it, though—rather, he let the dagger drag his skin, spattering blood on the walls and floor.

"With my own wounds a sacrifice, in this cave to be a tomb," he began to mutter, feeling a weight on each syllable. He didn't remember the exact words of the invocation, but he followed the general format, adding his own sense of honesty where he felt it deserved. "I demand amends from you assholes playing god."

His blood sizzled. Anansi struck again. Trelisti blocked with his chained arms, letting the dagger peel his skin. It prickled as red poured out.

"What in the world are you trying to do?" Anansi scoffed, starting to summon the flame-blade at his side.

"Silence the magic of my enemy, and the power in our blood."

Anansi's eyes fell to the blood on the ground, hissing louder with every second. Then they went wide.

"Then erase the curse you've created. Banish pulse magic beyond reach."

A belt of stars glimmered above, and the chains on Trelisti's wrist bloomed indigo.

"Make it so no people will be hunted as prey, so no chains can fall into the wrong hands."

Anansi's magic flickered, grey staining the color of his flame. He clenched his fist around the dagger and charged forward. Even if he wanted to, there was nowhere for Trelisti to dodge—they were surrounded by rubble and walls on all sides. But more than that, there was no way to counter without getting close. Both of his wrists were chained.

"If my own blood's not enough," Trelisti coughed, blood spattering onto Anansi's hands. A piercing, gut-wrenching pain tore through him as the dagger drove into his core. Trelisti smiled despite the blow, locking him between his chained wrists. Grappling him in place, if only to ensure he'd kill him himself. "I hope the suffering of my people has satisfied you."

Trelisti ended the prayer by sinking his teeth in Anansi's neck.

Then he ripped out his throat.

Anansi's gargle added to his own gag, spitting out broken flesh. He wished he couldn't taste the iron in his mouth as they both dropped to the ground, Anansi drained of magic and Trelisti's surfacing too late.

But that meant it worked.

Blood trickled over his lip as he struggled against the chains, pushing them back just far enough to grab a match. He struck it against the floor, realizing Anansi's breaths had gone quiet.

"Trelisti?" The reply was alarmed, met with deafening noise in the background. "Where are you? What's going on?"

"Rowan," he sputtered as soon as the flame lit. "Find them. Get someone to help them. Please."

"You mean your allies? They're—" Muffled voices from the background sounded over them. "Yes, that's what my flame says! Keep looking. Trelisti, you're at the ruins, right?"

"They're wh—?" Trelisti's own voice failed with the reply, a sharp pain spreading through his body. The world was fading in and out, a black vignette swallowing the edges of his sight. "Please, Rowan."

The noise in the background overlapped with sounds above, but all of it sounded underwater. A gust of wind blew his match out before he got an answer.

Trelisti swore and tried to reach for a new one, but he couldn't find the strength. His body was out of adrenaline. All he saw before his eyes closed was the night sky, absent of any moon and dimming stars.

Ne'syra, new moon. It was fitting, he supposed, to die to a childhood nickname.

All of the world's sounds were drowned out, churning like water under the waves. A ring thrummed over them, muting them all to a dull throb, until...

"Over here!" screamed a voice that sent a chill through him. "Come on, hurry up!"

Trelisti struggled to force his eyes open, barely catching a sliver of the scene beyond. He heard light, agile footsteps, then a thud. A shadow rose next to him, met with two fingers pressing on his neck.

"Av..." he groaned, fighting for seconds. He felt something warm splash onto his cheek.

"No, no, no," she said, clasping his hand between hers. Another shout rang through the cave. "For gods' sakes, Tellik, hurry!"

Trelisti didn't hear the response. The last thing he felt was a swell of relief, faith he'd gone a lifetime without.

"I'm glad you're okay."