Page 79 of Inferno
“I’m right here,” Yorin’s voice came to him, slightly muffled, and Nerik squinted up at him, seeing that he still had his shirt wrapped around his face. That was his fault. If there wasn’t so much smoke in the air, Yorin would be able to breathe more easily. “What you just did was amazing.”
He couldn’t go back into the flames. Yorin was here. Yorin was human. Humans didn’t belong in the flames.
Nerik took another few breaths, slow and deep, and then his body suddenly relaxed as the urge to ignite himself faded out, the gnawing hunger for power seeping out of him like smoke on a breeze.
“Feeling better?” Stanley was peering down at him with a concerned look on his face. Rimdolen was close behind him, presumably having carried the two humans across the river.
“Fuck you, you cranky old bastard,” Nerik muttered, still pissed off about what Stanley had said the last time he’d sent Nerik up the mountain with a unicorn.
“I’m old enough to know when I’ve spoken out of turn,” Stanley grumbled. “And you’re right. I said some things I shouldn’t have, that were none of my business. So, I’m sorry. And to you, Yorin. Not my place to be butting into other people’s happiness.”
Yorin nodded to the surly old man, while Nerik simply ignored him – not through deliberate rudeness, but rather an astounding lack of energy with which to form a response.
“Are you all right?” Yorin asked. He was keeping his distance, and it was only then that Nerik noticed he was dripping wet. “Do you have enough fuel? Or are you too hot? Do you need some water?”
“I’m fine. Just tired. Fire’s fine. But I could sleep for a fucking week.”
“Not likely you’ll get the pleasure,” Stanley said. “Renfold’s going to want a full reporting of this, and then there’ll likely be a lot of muttering and grumbling while they figure out what they’re going to do with you. I wouldn’t hold your breath, lad. Even if they let you live, it’s not likely you’ll be allowed to stay in Minia. Might have to pack up and start again somewhere else.”
“Wherever you go, I’ll be there with you,” Yorin promised, but even as tired as he was, Nerik knew it would never be that simple. Yorin still had a debt to pay on his shop, and a long list of regular customers, and starting again in a new town would cost a fortune in order to get a new shop up and running properly.
But they were all problems that would have to be solved another day. For now, they needed to go and talk to Renfold, and see what his decision would be about whether or not a demon could prove his worth and be allowed to live.
Nerik hauled himself to his feet, feeling like he was made of stone, rather than smoke. But he’d barely gone two metres when a new set of hooves thudded up the road to greet them.
“Rayken! What are you doing here?” Stanley scolded the unicorn. “You go running about all over the place and the warriors will have your hide!”
That would be rather rude of them, after I towed a cart full of water barrels out to one of the cottages for them. They were all very impressed with how tame a unicorn can be. But that’s beside the point. I came to see how things were going. There was a man on the roof of one of the houses who said he suddenly saw the flames all disappear. And it looks like you’ve got the situation nicely under control,Rayken finished, looking expectantly at Nerik.
“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” Nerik said, looking over his shoulder at the smoking remains of the forest. “There’ll be plenty of spot fires that need putting out, but the humans should be able to deal with that.”
Let me carry you back to Minia. It’s a long walk and you look exhausted.
Nerik felt a rush of gratitude, but nonetheless, he shook his head. “You don’t have to do that.”
It would be my honour,Rayken insisted.
If Rimdolen was surprised or shocked by the offer, it didn’t show. Nor did Stanley dare say anything about this most unusual gift.
Nerik sighed. “Okay, fine. But I might need a bit of… fuck…” he muttered, as he stumbled, not even making it halfway to where Rayken was standing. Yorin darted over to help him, then drew back with a curse, remembering his own damp state. “Stanley, could you…?”
“Already on it,” Stanley said, coming forward and taking Nerik’s hand. He had thick, leather gloves on, so Nerik allowed himself to be helped over to Rayken, then Stanley simply lifted Nerik up onto the unicorn’s back. Given that unicorns were rather impervious to fire, Rayken wasn’t at any risk of being burned by having an infernal sitting on him.
“Let’s get back to town, then,” Yorin said, tugging his damp shirt back on. “I would be most interested to hear what Captain Renfold has to say about this now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
On the way back into town, Yorin and his companions passed two fire carts and four groups of the townsfolk, each of them heading off in a different direction to put out spot fires and check on various cottages that sat in the forest. Just as the trees thinned out and the first of the houses of Minia came into view, the little company came to a halt. Coming the other way, with a crowd of townspeople following him, was Captain Renfold. Henrick and Bril were by his side, along with one of the fire wardens, and Renfold was pointing and waving, getting various people to go and douse a pile of smoking leaves or check the thatching on the roof of a house. It would take the rest of the day and well into tomorrow to make sure the fire was properly out, but it looked like he’d got things under control.
Renfold paused as he saw Nerik coming towards him. Perhaps he’d hoped that after he’d dealt with the fire, Nerik was going to just disappear and they’d never see him again. If that was the case, he was in for a serious disappointment.
Rayken stopped a respectful distance back, and Stanley offered his hand to help Nerik down. As Yorin waited for Renfold to say something, he felt the by-now-familiar buzz of an open communication channel in his head.
Brace yourselves. No telling what might happen next,Rimdolen advised him – and presumably, the rest of the Chalandrians in their little group. Gosta and Kit and Forlegard and the fire-dogs were all there, doing their best to act like innocent bystanders to the whole thing, in awe of the ‘demon’ who had saved all their lives.
“You’ll forgive me if I go and take a look at the forest before we make any decisions,” Renfold said, a stalling tactic if Yorin had ever heard one. Renfold, he suspected, had had no expectation at all that Nerik would come through on his claims, and now that he had, the captain needed some time to figure out what he was going to do next.
“Take your time,” Nerik said, not quite bothering to disguise the disdain in his voice. “I’m not going anywhere.”