Page 91 of The Study of Fire
“Where’s Kiki?” she asked.
“Once you disappeared into the stable, she ran off and hasn’t come back.”
They entered the house.
“Where’s Bavol?”
“The Daviian Warper captured him while I tried to douse the fire. Will they kill him?”
“No. They need him and all the councilors for a while to keep up the pretense that the council and master magicians are in charge.”
“How long will it last?”
“Not very.”
“Will they come after us here?” he asked.
“No. But we need to retake control.”
“We, love? I thought you could handle this by yourself.”
“I was wrong.”
Valek heated water and filled the cast-iron tub. He removed her burned clothes, and helped her in. While Yelena bathed, he rummaged in her pack, looking for clean clothes. He found a glass statue of a bat. When he picked it up, magic stuck to his skin. Odd.
He returned with the clothes and the bat. “What’s this?”
“I visited Opal at her family’s glass factory when I was in Booruby. As a fellow artist, what do you think of the construction?”
Valek examined the statue, turning it this way and that. “It’s an accurate reproduction. The coloring matches one of the smaller jungle bat species. It’s sticky with magic. I feel it but can’t see it. Can you?”
“The inside glows as if molten fire has been captured by ice.”
“That would be something to see, then.”
Yelena touched Valek’s shoulder, and his heart tingled. The statue came to life with an inner fire. “Ahh, spectacular. Can everyone see this?”
“Only magicians.”
“Good. That lays that debate to rest. I am not a magician.”
“Then what are you? You’re not a regular person either.”
Valek pretended to be mortified.
“Come on,” she said. “Your skills as a fighter have an almost magical air. Your ability to move without sound and blend in with shadows and people seems extraordinary. You can communicate with me over vast distances, but I can’t contact you.”
“An anti-magician?” He rather liked that moniker.
“I suppose, but I’d bet Bain could find it in one of his books.” She sighed. “There might be a way inside the Keep. Bavol said that Bain told him an emergency tunnel had been built. It’s located on the east side of the Keep and supposedly big enough for a horse.”
“What else did you learn from your connection with Bavol?” he asked.
“I was able to connect with his daughter and Councilor Stormdancer’s wife, Gale. The Daviians have kidnapped nine children and two adults. They’re locked inside a barn. Gale thought they might be in the Bloodgood lands, but she remembered seeing a pond with crimson-colored water. It was shaped like a diamond.”
He remembered looking at a map of Sitia, noting the various distinctive features of each clan’s territory. “That sounds like Diamond Lake in the Jewelrose lands. It’s near the Bloodgood border. The Jewelrose Clan has built a series of lakes that resemble shapes of jewels, and the water reflects the colors.”
“Why red?”
