Vivien and the Scoria

Chapter 9: Back to Aernir and into the fire

2nd night hour

Path to Twister's Shop

Aernir City Centre

4th Year of Lord Tante's rule

Finding clothes that weren't bloodstained was difficult, but not impossible. I ended up raiding Will's chest of clothes and putting on one of his shirts and pair of his breeches, which I had to roll up a bit at the waist, but they did the job. My boots, belt, and sheath with daggers completed the look, and I joined Blaze outside, ready to traipse down the mountain for the third time that day.

We were silent as we walked down the path, dodging children who ran circles around us as they played, nodding occasionally to the odd Elder who plodded slowly and carefully up the mountain. I wasn't really expected Blaze to know anyone here on Mount Api, but he surprised me by greeting Am Sausu, a middle-aged blacksmith who, as far as I knew, never left the mountain, by name.

At my curious glance following the exchange, he told me, "My brother Janna is engaged to his daughter Lucia. I know his family well now." I hummed in agreement, slightly amazed at just how far this young man's connections on my mountain reached. I had thought that I knew most people and their stories on Mount Api, from my years playing, being mischievous, and apprenticing here, but apparently not.

We didn't utter a word to each other the rest of the journey down to Aernir.

As we passed through the marble arch dedicated to Wraith Master Zhou Laing, the official boundary where Mount Api met the city centre of Aernir, Blaze put a hand on my arm and pulled me to a stop. The moon was bright overhead, a quarter full, and it illuminated the buildings just in front of us, casting the others into shadows.

I looked at him, eyebrows raised in exasperated confusion, as he held up one finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. "There were Scoria clans raiding near here when I left to go find you. There's a strong chance that they're still around here. We need to be quiet."

"I know!" I whispered furiously to him. "There were raids on the mountain too today, Fellan raids, not just Scoria. If they were on the mountain, then of course they're still active in the city. I'm not an idiot. I know what I'm doing."

"Fine." He grumbled, and began walking quietly away from me and into Aernir. "But if you get caught in a raid, it's not my fault." I shook my head in annoyance at him, and followed silently after, my boots making no sound on the cobblestones that paved the street. Blaze's boots, not designed for silent walking, made slight clicking noises with each step that he took, which made me smirk. He may know about the city and its inhabitants in ways that I had not expected, but he wasn't accustomed to going around it unnoticed, which was something that I had perfected years previously, when the Fellan and Scoria had first come to the city as Tante's soldiers.

Sure enough, the light clicking of Blaze's boots on the cobblestones were soon very audible in the silence of the city centre after curfew had begun. Within minutes of us passing through the arch, the distinctive sound of a Scoria clan approaching filled our ears, and we were forced to duck into a narrow gap between two houses to avoid being seen. Instead of continuing on the main streets now, we ducked through back alleys and gardens, a path which, though out of sight of the Scoria and noticeably quieter for Blazes boots, was a much slower and more roundabout way to Twister's shop.

As we neared out destination, a mere two blocks away from where I sincerely hoped Twister was waiting for us, our luck ran out. Out of nowhere, a small ginger cat, illuminated momentarily by the light of the houses whose gardens we were walking through, ran across our path, hissing and wailing loudly when I accidentally stood on its tail. "Shit..." I uttered into the night, and locked eyes with Blaze. That sound was sure to rouse the Scoria clan and send them our way. The Scoria may have been good soldiers but they had difficulty distinguishing animal from human sounds. As a result, a cat wailing was basically an invitation for them to come running.