Free Fire Within: Book Two of Fire and Stone (Stories of Fire and Stone 2) by Stephanie Beavers

that a man to the side and behind him had nocked an arrow to his bowstring. Most of the nervousness had vanished from the collective demeanor of the men, and he caught a hint of greed in their leader’s gaze.
    “If you want information, it’ll cost you,” the bearded man said. Not that he was the only one with a beard—far from it—but he certainly had the biggest, bushiest beard.
    Esset scowled, suspecting these men were of a criminal element, but he didn’t want to fight if he didn’t have to. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin; it wasn’t a lot, but it wasn’t insultingly small, either. He tossed it to the man, who caught it with a grin.
    “We’ll need more than that, laddy,” the bearded man said.
    “That’s all you’ll get. Did you see them or not?” Esset asked. Two swordsmen were slowly creeping forward behind him. Esset was thinking these men couldn’t be all that smart if they’d already forgotten that he’d come in on a giant flaming bird of prey.
    “Money makes the world go round,” the bearded man replied, holding out a hand and rubbing his fingers together.
    Esset was sick of wasting time. He let arcane syllables roll off his tongue, summoning not one, but two fiery birds. One screamed a war cry; it sounded like the high-pitched squeal of sap boiling inside trees before they exploded from the extreme pressure. The other just hissed, an eerie sound like steam escaping under duress. The ring of men staggered back in a gratifying fashion.
    “Raf. Teheba. Beow. Herega.” Esset carefully enunciated each name.
    Wide eyes reflected the new firelight.
    “We parted ways with them only earlier this evening. They were pressing on to make the next town by midnight,” one of the other men said. The bearded man was silent.
    “Thank you.” Esset kept an eye on them as he mounted one of the birds; if they were stupid enough to forget about the first bird, they might be stupid enough to attack now. Thankfully they weren’t that stupid, and he made it airborne without event.
    Once aloft, Esset concentrated on his breathing for a few moments to calm himself and clear his mind. He was close—very close, if the man’s words were true.
    Esset flew lower now than before, so that the bird’s light would illuminate the road and anyone still traveling upon it. It didn’t take long to find them.
    Talons extended and wings flared as the fiery bird landed in front of the scavengers, setting both the mules to distressed braying. Beow and Teheba immediately took to calming their pack-beasts while Raf stepped forward to greet Esset, who immediately banished his mounts. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the comparatively dim light of their lanterns.
    “Esset.” Raf gave him a small nod.
    “Raf.” Esset returned the gesture. “Sorry for the scare.” He was looking at the mules, not implying he’d scared the scavengers themselves.
    “They’ll get over it,” Raf said. Teheba already had hers standing still, although the poor beast’s eyes rolled and its skin twitched.
    “Come to pay us back?” Teheba called, smirking over at him.
    “I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon,” Raf added.
    “Me either, but I need your help,” Esset said. All three scowled at him, although Beow’s no-doubt-snarky response was forestalled as his mule was still trying to turn around and run back down the road.
    “We’ve helped you once already,” Teheba said, patting her mule on the neck. The mule was looking less agitated; the same couldn’t be said for Teheba.
    “I know. But you’re my only lead to finding any more of Jionar Atah’s work, and I need to find the other half of a spell diagram to save my brother,” Esset said.
    “So pay us, and we’ll help.” Raf crossed his arms.
    Esset wilted, although the demand for reward wasn’t unexpected. He just didn’t have much money. Then again… Esset straightened. Did he dare give them Garson’s work on natural energy healing? It was