I want to say that I can’t, I’m too weary and don’t know the spells. But my incinerated vocal chords and lips won’t let me form the words. Annoyed, I try to fix the damage, so I can tell the woman I’m finished. Magic flows to the areas that I’ve targeted and cells knit together in response to my command. As my lips return, bloody and stinging but workable, I start to complain. Then I realize — the fact I can complain proves I have the power to heal myself. So instead of whining, I set to work on the rest of my wrecked body.
It takes several minutes, and is every bit as painful as the woman predicted, but eventually I’m almost whole again, scorched and blackened from the heat, pink new flesh glistening sorely in the yellow light, scarred around the places where I’ve had to create fresh flesh and bones, tender as... well, as somebody who’d been dunked in a river of lava! But I’m alive and mostly in one piece.
Smiling painfully, I lift my face to thank the woman who came to my rescue. I’m expecting Sharmila — I figure she couldn’t stand by and watch me die, so she entered the Board to save me — but the face my new eyes fix on is much younger and paler than the Indian lady’s. But just as familiar.
“Nadia!” I gasp.
She stares at me with an angry but wary expression. “You should have been prepared for an attack. You fell too easily. It would have served you right if I’d left you.”
“But you’re dead!” I cry.
She laughs. “Then you have a ghost to thank.” She stands and looks into the distance. “Dervish is on his way. I was leading him to you when I sensed you fall into the lava.” She starts to walk away.
“Wait! I don’t understand! I saw you die. How can you be here?”
She hesitates and looks up. Following the direction of her gaze, I see that the sky is hazy now, cutting off my view of Lord Loss and Beranabus. “You must not tell him,” Nadia says quietly.
“Tell who what?” I frown.
“Beranabus. That I’m alive.” She faces me, and now she wears a cool, flat look. “I had enough of it, Kernel. He treated me like scum, using me any way he wished. I had no freedom or say over my life. So I decided to trade allegiances and go where I’d be appreciated and rewarded.”
“You mean...?” I can’t bring myself to say it.
“I joined Lord Loss,” she whispers. “I spoke to him secretly when we arrived at his castle. Told him of my gift. Promised to serve him if he’d allow me a few simple pleasures and some time to myself.”
“But he’s a demon!” I shout. “They kill humans!”
“Yes,” she answers smoothly.
I gape at her, unable to believe it. She shifts uneasily and looks away. “Beranabus can’t see us now. He’ll never know I’m alive. Unless you tell him.”
“But Lord Loss is our enemy. You —”
“I saved your life!” she snaps. “I didn’t have to. I could have left you to sink.”
“Why did you save me?” I ask softly.
“Because I like you.” She laughs, and there are tears in her eyes. “I like all of you — except Beranabus. I hate him, with good reason. But I don’t wish harm to anyone else. I came here to hide. Lord Loss separated my soul before destroying my body — or most of it. He kept my brain and heart whole. He can put my flesh and bones back together around them later, and restore my soul from here. When I felt you and the others enter the Board, I asked Lord Loss if I could help you. He said I could, but only once. So this is it. You’re on your own now.”
“Nadia... you mustn’t do this. Lord Loss is evil. If you stay with him, he might ask you to do evil things.”
“I’m certain he will.” She shrugs. “But I no longer care. I’ve been away from humans so long, I don’t feel like I have anything in common with them. This might be the final decent act I ever perform. But I’m fine with that. If I’m to become like the Demonata... like my new master . . .” She draws herself up straight, blinking the tears away, eyes flashing. “So be it.”
“Nadia.. .” I try again, but she stops me.
“I saved your life, Kernel. In return, I’d like you to keep my secret and tell no one I’m alive. I can’t make you promise, but I’ll be disappointed if you betray me.”
“I won’t tell,” I mutter.
“Thank you.” She smiles awkwardly, but it quickly fades. “One last warning. If you escape this Board and our paths cross in the future, we’ll be on different sides. Don’t expect me to ever help you again.”
With that, she turns, raises her face to the sky, extends her arms, then turns into a beautiful, swanlike demon. As I watch, she gracefully rises and glides away, picking up speed, soaring higher and higher, until she’s only a speck against the skyline... then gone.
Dervish arrives some time later. I’m lying in the same spot, still in agony, using magic to make little changes and tweaks. As Dervish fusses over me, I tell him about the attack and my fall, but claim I pulled myself out and patched my body together unassisted. I don’t mention Nadia.
“Can you stand?” Dervish asks, fanning his face, sweating from the heat of the river.
“I don’t think so,” I croak.