Cold Fire

I sat down on a step, shuddering all over.



“I did not recognize yee at first, yee being so intertwined with the gal.” Kofi made a show of grabbing Vai by the back of his jacket. Surely Vai hadn’t doused the warden’s lamp on purpose; the uncontrolled surge of his emotions would, like a riptide, drag everything with it. But the false cobo hood lamp still shone, to confuse them into thinking he was no fire bane.



“Kofi,” I whispered, trying to tell him to warn the radicals. “The meeting…you know…”



“I have no mind to listen to yee, bitch,” he hissed in an undertone. Kofi supported Vai down the stairs while talking in a very loud voice to the wardens pushing up impatiently below. “Newly wedded and living with we aunt but no private room for they own selves. No wonder they took advantage of a dark stairwell. Just give them a moment. Would that not be a mercy? Don’ yee recall being newly wedded yee own self?? Or do yee lot get any pleasure? Or only pleasure from interrupting the pleasure of others?”



“What arseness! I can arrest yee as quick as I can some other lad. Get out of the way. We’s here at the order of the Council. Curse it! Cannot even get a spark!”



“Sorry to hear it, Warden,” said Kofi with a laugh. “Nothing worse for a man than no spark.”



“Let up,” muttered Vai. “I can walk…Where is Catherine?”



“There is not enough cold water in this world to cure yee of yee illness, Vai.”



Ten wardens crowded at the base of the stairs as if waiting for a signal. I smelled the steel of their unsheathed swords, and felt the exhalation of men waiting to strike.



“All we cursed lamps went out,” said one at the rear of the group.



Kofi shouldered past them, propelling Vai forward.



“Look down there in the courtyard,” the warden went on. “That cursed gas lamp is wavering, too. Here, yee.” I could not tell if he was addressing Kofi or Vai. “Is yee a fire bane?”



I shrieked and leaped down the steps, flailing into the throng of wardens and throwing myself from side to side to knock them off balance. “Spiders! All over me! He shoved me into a web and they’re crawling all over me!”



The moaning voice of a conch shell rose from nearby, stark and powerful, as Kofi shoved Vai through the wardens toward the curtain that led to the bar.



“There is the signal,” said the first warden. “Yee four, arrest them. The rest, with me.”



Six wardens pounded up the stairs. One of the remaining four flung me to one side. I slammed into a wall, pain exploding in my shoulder. Vai jerked away from Kofi and turned. Cold fire sparked, and ballooned. When by its light he saw the wardens with drawn swords threatening me, the air changed, all heat sucked from it. I knew what he was going to do before he did.



I drew my sword. My blade sheared the dark with a flare of light so strong it momentarily blinded me. The hammer of cold hit as icy wind, but the sword protected me. I blinked as the impact slammed into me, but I did not go down. Shouts of consternation rose from the main hall, cries and calls about the lights’ going out. My blade’s glow lit the corridor. The four wardens lay prone on the floor. Behind Vai, Kofi had fallen to his knees.



Upstairs, the wardens were shouting:



“Yee’s all under arrest by order of Warden Hall!”



“Line up, there! Yee, there, don’ move!”



“What right have yee to disturb our dinner! What in the ten hells did yee do to the lights?”



“We have orders to arrest an unregistered fire bane and seditionists in league with—”



Arguments erupted from the private parlors above. A fight broke out, chairs crashing over.



“Cat!” Vai flexed a hand.



I ran forward and grabbed his arm. “You’ve given yourself away. You’ve got to get out of here. Let’s go.”



He stared at me, eyes dilated and expression wild. “I don’t know you. How many lies have you told me, Catherine?”



“What makes you think I’ve told you any lies?”



He yanked his arm out of my grip only to grab my hand and pull me past Kofi toward the curtain and the howling clamor of the main hall as people called for light, any light, please light. “We’re going to find out, aren’t we?”



“How are we going to do that?” I retorted.



At the look he gave me, I ran suddenly so hot that I tripped over my own feet. He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me against him.



“You know exactly what we’re going to do,” he murmured, as if he intended to start interrogating me now.