Free Burning Bright by Megan Derr Page B

it should have been late evening. He more fell off his horse than properly dismounted, and did not protest when Shinju ushered him into the tavern and to a table all the way in the back—and near a door so that it would be easy to flee if necessary.
    Slumping on the table, he slipped into a doze. The smell of food a few minutes later made his stomach growl, and he groaned in protest when a sharp-nailed finger poked him hard in the side. "Mrgh. Snuff it."
    "Sit up and eat," Shinju chided. "You need to replenish the energy you wasted on magic."
    Raz lifted his head just enough to scowl. "Magic? I can't use magic. What are you talking about?"
    "I know the signs of magical over-exertion when I see them," Shinju replied tartly. "I don't know what you did in the cathedral, but everyone in the city must have felt the reverberations."
    "Wasn't me," Raz muttered, but conceded defeat and obediently sat up, pulling the bowl of stew Shinju pushed toward him closer. "Where's Pechal?"
    Shinju sipped at her beer and said, "Shio took him upstairs. She'll stay with him, so stop fretting for a few minutes and eat. You'll be of no use to anyone if you can't even stand, little bird."
    Raz obediently wolfed down his food, consumed once more by his whirling thoughts. They flickered between worry for Pechal and confusion over the High Priest. Dym, he thought, the High Priest's name was Dym.
    Why did that sound so achingly familiar, like a name he'd never forgotten and yearned to say again? He'd heard the High Priest's name in the past and never marked it. Why now? What was going on? "I think I'm losing my mind," he whispered.
    Shinju moved closer, slid an arm across his shoulders, and lightly stroked his hair with her other hand. "Shh, little bird. All will be well."
    Raz laughed bitterly at that. Pechal was a Vessel, they were on the run, and if they could not get out of the country Pechal was going to die. The High Priest had done something to Raz, and every time he thought of the man he started crying again.
    Fire and ash, nothing was well, and he could not see how it ever would be.
    He stood up, shoving Shinju's hands away when she tried to stop him. "I'm going to see Pechal." Not waiting for her reply, he strode up the stairs and poked around until he found Pechal and Shio. "I'll sit with him," he said. "You should go eat with Shinju."
    Shio nodded, kissed his cheek, then slipped out of the room. Raz sat down on the side of the bed, and mustered a smile as Pechal slowly opened his eyes. "How are you feeling?"
    "Awful," Pechal said. "I'm a Vessel."
    Raz nodded, unable to speak. He gently combed through Pechal's hair. "I won't let them have you. We've been through too much, you and me, to let anything happen to us now. You're my family. We'll get our house and stop being thieves and everything will be fine."
    "Definitely," Pechal said, smiling at him, looking so young and fragile that it left Raz once more at a loss for words.
    What would he do without Pechal? Why would anyone want to kill Pechal, who was sweet and earnest and only a thief from necessity-and stubbornness, because Raz knew people had offered to take Pechal in and give him honest work. Pechal stuck with it because of Raz, because if they couldn't be honest citizens together then they would be thieves together.
    Raz could not repay that loyalty, that love, by letting Pechal go to the Fires. "Get some sleep, you. Everything will be better in the morning. We'll come up with a plan."
    Pechal started to reply, but sleep stole him first, and Raz watched him until his own eyes could no longer remain open.

Chapter Six: Curse
    Ivan reluctantly sat up in bed, mourning the loss of warmth when Ailill rolled over with a grunt and settled back into sleep. Sighing, Ivan climbed out of bed and slowly went around the room retrieving his hastily discarded clothes. When he was dressed, he sat down to pull his boots on, and then buckled his sword belt into place and made certain the blade fell as it