An Affinity For Fire

45. Clover

It was the smell that struck her first.

With the damp, smoky scent of the ash and charred, rain-soaked wood subsiding, a more disturbing odour began to emerge - that of burned hair and flesh.

Clover swallowed, struggling to keep the contents of her stomach from resurfacing in response to the horrific smell, and its even more horrific implications. She kept her eyes away from the black, crumpled wreckage of the stables as she trudged through sludge towards the edge of the woods. The mage-induced rain had already reverted back to natural snow, which was just about beginning to settle over the sloshing, thawed ground.

A flurry of servants and guests were rushing backwards and forwards between the woods and the Mouth of Dormis, carrying torches, coats, buckets of grain to lure out the escaped horses and half-breeds, and leading those they had managed to find back to the castle. Without stables to return them to, the Toritrel family had suggested they be kept in the lower cellars, where the cheaper barrels of beverages were stored. It was the safest and securest place anyone could think of on short notice.

At the edge of the woods, Clover found Tarry handing over a bundle of blankets to a pair of servants, who took them from him with grateful nods before carrying them into the woods, presumably to offer to the searchers. He turned to return to the Mouth, but stopped when he noticed her.

"Clo. How are you?" He cast a glance up and down her body, eyes wide in concern.

"Fine," she said honestly. "Not a single burn, I checked. Thoroughly," she added, shuddering at the memory of Calio's warning about the permanence of burns.

"And Leo? Have you managed to find out if he's alright?"

She shook her head, worry gripping her insides. "I gathered that he's still unconscious, but the physician wouldn't let anyone except his family in, so that's all I know. But I think if he was dead, news would have left the infirmary by now."

His grimaced. "Great. So, the best we've got in terms of his condition is he's not dead, you think."

"Hey, calm down," Clover said. "Thanks to the miracles that are Calio Serassi and Malbaryn Lapisalis, he's past the worst. Now, we just have to wait, and be optimistic. I realise neither of those are a strong point for you, but that's all we can do. In the meantime, what's the situation out here?"

Tarry frowned. "Well, other than Leo, it looks like no humans managed to get seriously harmed. Also, you'll be pleased to know, Comet has been found alive and well."

Clover sighed. "That's good."

"Well, that's where the good news ends, I'm afraid," he continued, keeping his eyes away from hers. "You'll be less pleased to know that Thunder was found ... not so well. The red mages did their best to open the stalls before the smoke became overwhelming, but they didn't manage to get to Thunder in time. She didn't make it out."

Clover felt a wrenching rip in her heart, but she nodded, desperately trying to suppress the memories of the many miles the half-breed had faithfully carried her across in the past month. "And Ivy?"

"Still unfound, but not among the dead, thank the Fates. Based on the body counts, less than a third got out, of which we've located about a dozen."

"Well ... that's a start," Clover said. "We can keep looking."

"No, Clo, I don't think you realise how bad this is." He met her eyes, not making any attempt to mask the fear. "There are hundreds of people staying in this castle, many of which we know are being targeted by assassins. And now they have no way of getting off this bloody mountain. We're all pinned in here."

Clover swallowed back her panic. "So we tell people. Because, not only is everyone stuck here, but after that fire, the assassins know who all the red, blue and yellow mages are. We have to warn everyone of what's coming."

Tarry shook his head. "We can't. What are they supposed to do, run away?" He threw his arms wide with a bitter laugh.

"They can protect themselves," she argued.

"From what? We have no idea who's a threat. Kona Roxeth proved that much. If we tell everyone that they're in danger, we'll have a castle filled with trapped, frightened nobles throwing suspicion and blame at each other. They can't trust their own guards, their own families, and certainly not strangers. How long do you think it will be before chaos descends, even without the assassins contributing?"

He was shaking, and Clover could tell it wasn't from the cold.

"Hey, listen to me," she said, somehow managing to keep her tone far calmer than she felt. "We're going to fix this. We can still find Merith-"

"Not without Nepheline," Tarry cut in.

"She had other pets. We can keep trying. We're so close, Tarry. We just have to find one of them and we can use the summoning spell to communicate with her and tell her we need her help. Once we have her on side, then we can tell people about the assassins, and they won't have to be scared because they can be healed."

"No," he said. "No, it won't work. We don't have time-"

"We do," she insisted, gripping his shoulders. "We will do this, if I have to read every bloody book in the royal library to figure out where her pets are."

"The attack could be any day, any minute, and they'll be coming for you, too, now. They saw you in the stables-"

She forced an unaffected laugh. "You really think I'm going to let anyone touch me?" She pulled him into a tight hug, which was as much for her own comfort as for his. "I will gut anyone who tries to come near me, you know I will."

He paused for a moment, before squeezing back and nodding into her shoulder.

"For now," she said, pulling away, "we can help to find more horses."

"We'll have to find Weyra, too," he pointed out. "After you got her out, she bolted for the woods. I haven't seen her since."

Clover bit back a frown. "Well, as much as I love that weird wolf, I don't think she's our priority right now."

"I don't know. Given what we know is coming, it wouldn't hurt to have a wolf on side, especially one that can defend us without even being told to."

She considered, then nodded. "That's a fair point. Alright, then. Let's go find ourselves a wolf."