Chapter 43
Ear to the Ground
The angel's eyes were huge, dark and soulful, smoldering with a passionate heat. She frowned seriously, as if trying to get the measure of him. “Will you accept this gift, and with your passion shape the world?” Her lips were fascinating. Ezra glanced around dreamily. There was the world, bright and beautiful, off in the distance. Off in the distance? That's right, the shuttle had broken up. Oh, there it was, drifting around him in little pieces.
He looked back at the angel. Didn't she know that there was no sound in space? Asking him nonsense questions like that, and where no-one would be able to hear her, to boot. It was too bad, she had a pretty voice. Musical and exotic. You didn't get an accent like that in Sanctuary. Really a shame that there was no sound. But then again, it was just so cold out here, and she was just so lovely, he couldn't bring himself to be too upset with her. Instead he smiled and closed his eyes, letting go.
Sudden heat pressed against him, heavenly in the numb darkness. Her lips crushed to his. She tasted of something spicy. Nutmeg? His mouth burned with it. Then his throat, his lungs, until he was on fire.
Must be the oxygen deprivation, he thought in a daze. Is this what it feels like when you body shuts down?
Her breath rushed into him. His lungs expanded and his eyes fluttered open. The angel fell away, but now it was Gal's face looking back at him serenely. “See you later, Ezzy,” she called, completely ignoring the fact that there was still no sound in space.
He closed his eyes in frustration, and was just about to let her know that talking was pointless when a cool hand pressed to his forehead. Kirsten's face glared down at him. “Ezra James Hawkins, don't think you can get out of your date with Miss Parnasus just by pretending to have a fever,” she said severely.
“No!” he yelled.
==
“Not that!” He jerked awake, disoriented.
“Blighted thunder,” Mat cursed from where he was crouched, one hand reaching for his sword. “Scared me half to death!” He put a hand on his knee and blew out a breath.
“Quiet,” Sarah snapped, peeking out at the town to make sure the outburst had gone unnoticed. Both she and Mat were dressed for infiltration, homespun clothes deliberately baggy to allow for hidden weapons.
Ezra wiped the sweat on his brow. He had been sweating? Right, because everything was still so warm from the fire. That must have been it. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Ezra stumbled to his feet. He blinked out at the sun, just barely peaking over the valley's rim.
“No movement in town yet,” Mat jerked his head toward the staircase. “Better take care of business before you pick up your watch.”
Ezra nodded and hurried downstairs. After relieving himself, he made his way back to the top of the tower, accepting a cup of instant soup from Mat with a nod of thanks. The first sip scalded his mouth. “Anything interesting happen last night?” he asked with a grimace, blowing on his meal.
Sarah shook her head. “Not on my watch. I spotted your fire-kissed. Seems to be staying in one of the makeshift hostels with everyone else. Can't say that I've seen one of them willing to rough it with the common people... but then, we never deal with saints.”
“The ground cooled off a bunch during the night,” Mat noted as he finished his soup, slurping the noodles down. “I checked for any other big heat sources out there. Nothing came up.” He shrugged his big shoulders. “I don't know, Ezra. If another fire-kissed was close enough to start that fire, he must have gotten out of here in a pretty big hurry afterward. Not saying that you're wrong, but I'm still not seeing any way that kid out there wasn't responsible.”
“Guess it's time to get some more information then.” Ezra took a long drink from his cup.
“Okay,” Sarah said, sheathing a dagger with professional ease. “Think you can drop us about two miles out of town, behind those hills?”
Ezra nodded. “Shouldn't be a problem.” He set his soup down and began mapping out the wormhole.
“Merchant interests looking for... I don't know, did you see any gems in that cave last night?” Mat asked Sarah, examining a blackened walking stick he'd picked up the night before.
She rolled a shoulder. “Sounds as good as anything else. I know I saw some fool's gold around that stream where we dropped the rods. And we're out of Eastpoint, that should be believable.”
“Ready to go,” Ezra announced as he finished priming the portal.
“Right.” Mat nodded, he and Sarah stepping close together. The floor beneath them flashed to the burnt turf of the road outside Helena and they were gone.
Ezra picked up his soup, idly sipping it as he watched the town come to life through the railgun's scope. A gangly teenager hoisted a barrel around the back of the tavern. The vender he'd seen the night before began opening his shop as young women came and left with baskets containing produce or other miscellaneous household items.
Switching to thermal imaging showed him the fire-kissed about ten seconds before he left the hostel, yawning and stretching. Various people throughout the square called friendly greetings to him, and he smiled and waved in response. Ezra shook his head. There was no way that kid had caused the fire. Something else was going on here, and struck him if he couldn't find out what it was.
Reaching around the scope, Ezra fiddled with the controls until the remote audio indicator came on, immediately syncing it with his earpiece. “–sure that everything's ready? They're not gonna spook 'cuz of the fire, are they?”
Ezra blinked, glancing down through the scope to see what he was listening to. Toward the back of the tavern, near the bar, stood two dark-skinned men. One of them, the bartender, was calmly cleaning a glass while the other glanced around, fidgeting nervously.
“Oh yeah, Ezra,” Mat's voice came over the communicator. “I think you should tell us–”
“Wait a second, Mat,” Ezra said, keeping his sights trained on the men at the bar.
“Bert, when have you ever heard of a Besmirched being scared off by a little fire?” the barkeep snorted. He nodded as the gangly teenager shuffled past. “Stop worrying. We've already gone over the new plan a dozen times. So shut your mouth and make sure your boys are in place tomorrow.”
“I don't know, Ernest...” The shifty eyed man, Bert quickly shot a look over his shoulder. “Doesn't sit right, you know? Thought we were done for with that fire yesterday, then the kid wakes up a fire-kissed... you sure they didn't catch wind of it or–”
“They will if you keep flapping your mouth,” Ernest snapped at him. “Now get out of here and stop acting suspicious.” His eyes tracked the fire-kissed as the youth snuffed out the lanterns. “Nothing's changed. Now we just have one more reason to do what must be done.”
“Ezra, you okay up there?” Mat sounded concerned. “Did something happen or...”
“Sorry Mat,” Ezra continued to scan the town, picking up snippets of conversation as he went. “Just stumbled on two shifty looking men at the local tavern talking about a plan and a Besmirched coming to town tomorrow or something. They made it sound like the fire-kissed in town only got his powers yesterday, and after the fire started.” Ezra briefly outlined the conversation, along with descriptions of the men.
“Interesting... hey, speaking of your kissed, what does he look like? I don't want to bump into the wrong guy on the street and end up getting blown to cinders. I like these boots.”
“Oh, yeah,” Ezra reoriented on the fire-kissed. “Medium height, slight build. Dark skin, just like everyone else in town. Hair looks dirty blonde and unruly.” A thought popped into Ezra's head. “Hey guys, how does a fire-kissed end up as one of the Beloved or Besmirched? I mean, they don't just wake up with their powers one day and already know which side they're on, right?”
His question was met with a few seconds of silence, then Sarah answered, “We're not... sure what happens. Word of mouth around the Guild is that when a new kissed gets his powers, both sides know about it so
mehow. Depending on how strong the new fire-kissed is, the Beloved and/or Besmirched will send out parties to whisk him away for indoctrination and initiation into their ranks... but don't take that as gospel truth, no-one's ever actually seen it play out.”
“So... what if the Besmirched knew that this kid was a fire-kissed, and they burned down the valley to keep him in place so they could collect him?”
“Maybe...” Mat let out a frustrated sigh. “Look, we're walking into town now. Keep an eye out while we try to get to the bottom of this.”