Blasio nodded grimly.
"He's an ugly, old idiot," Scholar Blasio said quietly. He took the kindling from Kiram and they both stood. "You on the other hand are bright and kind. Don't give him the satisfaction of taking any of that from you."
"No sir," Kiram replied. "I won't. I'm just angry."
"Yes, and that's understandable. I do know how very frustrating he can be. Just be glad you don't have to take your Sacreday supper at the instructors' table with him." Blasio pulled a mock grimace. "On top of it all he farts and tries to blame the stench on the rest of the staff."
Kiram laughed at that and Blasio smiled.
"Were you on your way to work on your project for the Crown Challenge?" Blasio inquired.
"Yes, sir."
"I won't keep you then." Blasio shifted the kindling in his arms. Kiram noticed that several of the rough branches had scratched the scholar's cheek and palms. And for the first time, seeing Scholar Blasio's bare hands, he wondered how little a young scholar was paid.
He didn't feel he ought to ask, but he made a note to himself for ask his mother to send something special for Blasio with her next package. Perhaps gloves.
Outside the sun already hung low, casting only a few gold beams across the blue shadows of the deep banks of snow. Frost filled the air and Kiram could feel the moisture in his nose and mouth freezing as he drew in each breath. White clouds plumed from his lips as he exhaled.
He ran for his work shed, hoping that vigor would keep the chill away. As he drew close, a loud crash and a clang rang through the still air. Some low, animal growl carried from the shed and then more crashing of metal. It sounded like some beast had gotten into the work shed. Alarm shot through Kiram and he forgot the cold completely.
The door hung open. Kiram rushed in, expecting to find a badger caught up in his tools. Instead, Fedeles pounced out of the dark shadows, swinging an iron pipe like a staff and slammed it into the face of Kiram's beaten engine.
"No!" Kiram threw himself onto Fedeles.
Fedeles staggered as Kiram collided into him, but then caught himself and shoved Kiram away from him with shocking strength. Kiram fell back against his workbench. Pliers and hammers clattered down with him as he hit the ground. Fedeles spun back to the steam engine. With a howl, he smashed through the delicate valves and then hammered at the secondary tank with a wild abandon. Metal rang and bowed.
Kiram staggered to his feet. Disappointment crashed through him. All that work, destroyed.
"Fedeles! Stop it!" He grabbed one of the hammers that lay at his feet and stepped forward, rage pounding through his body. But he couldn't bring himself to strike.
Fedeles made a sound as if he were in agony. Tears rolled down his face as he beat at the steam engine. A piston snapped from its mounting and smacked into Fedeles' side. He stumbled back, gasping and moaning, then dropped to his knees. The pipe fell from his hands as he gripped his own head and wailed. He looked nearly as wretched as Kiram's mangled engine. Scrapes and cuts marred his hands and arms. Sweat and machine oil coated his face and clothes.
"I'm sorry." Fedeles sobbed, his mouth gaping as he dragged in a choking breath. "I had to kill it! I had to."
"I was building it to help you. To free you from the curse." Kiram's own breath caught in his throat.
"NO!" Fedeles screamed and Kiram recoiled from the fury in his expression. "It's killing me! Eating me from the inside out. Crawling through my guts and laughing in my head. He put it inside me because he couldn't get it into Javier. He-" Suddenly Fedeles went silent and his face drained of all color. Terror contorted his features as he looked down to where his bloody hands rested on the dirt floor.
"I wasn't telling," he whimpered. "I wasn't telling. Please don't hurt him, please…"
A shudder passed through Fedeles' body. Then Kiram saw the shadow. It spread from the dark hollows between Fedeles' splayed fingers and crept out from beneath his folded legs. More and more of it rolled out from Fedeles, moving like a spill of oil, pouring towards Kiram. Prickles of pain bit into Kiram's flesh as the shadow slithered closer.
"Run!" Fedeles shouted.
Kiram sprinted out of the work shed and a wave of darkness followed him.
Chapter Three
Kiram ran hard and the curse rushed after him. He felt its pursuit, like hot breath and sharp teeth snapping at his back. Something sliced through his pant leg and slashed open his calf. The pain flooded him with an animal desperation and his body responded with a rush of speed.
In the back of his mind he knew he should return to the security of the dormitory but the writhing black mass of the curse spread between him and the school, so Kiram wasn't going to turn around.
He abandoned the thought of reaching any destination; nowhere could be safe. All that mattered was escape. He had to keep moving. His muscles burned and his lungs ached as he threw himself ahead too fast to even see where he was going.
Flows of snow dragged at him. He fought through them. He tore across the grounds and raced through the orchard. Twilight shadows engulfed him as he crossed the bridge and sprinted between rows of bare apple trees.
Sweat soaked his shirt. His rapid breath pumped out like steam from one of his engines. At some point he lost the orchard path and found himself stumbling through deeper drifts of snow and surrounded by wild old trees.
He tripped over a fallen branch and crashed into the snow. As he scrambled back to his feet, he caught a glimpse of the roiling black mass rushing through the twilight shadows towards him. He heard whispers, like distant screams. Overhanging tree branches splintered apart the instant the shadow curse fell across them-ripped to shreds just as the groom, Victaro, had been.
Raw panic electrified Kiram's trembling muscles. He fought through the snow and raced into the darkness of the dense woods. From overhead came the cry of a bird. A crow. First one, then another, and another.
"Help me!" Kiram shouted, praying that this once Bahiim mysticism would serve him. "Please, sisters, help me!"
He didn't have the strength to waste waiting for a response. He kept moving; then suddenly black wings swept past his head. A crow circled him and then flew between the big pines on Kiram's left. Desperate for any hope, Kiram plunged through the undergrowth after the bird. Other crows swept down from the branches, leading Kiram and calling him, their harsh voices challenging the terrible growls and shrieks of the curse behind him.
Hard cramps bit through Kiram's legs. His lungs felt raw. He staggered blindly after the crows, running between towering trees and snow-covered brambles. Then, as one the crows alighted in the bare branches of a huge oak. Kiram fell against the rough trunk of the old tree. His legs buckled beneath him.
The black mass of the curse came up fast, rushing after Kiram. It arched up over the snow like a cresting wave. As its shadow neared Kiram a sick pain punched into his body. Something twisted through his intestines.
It must have blood, Kiram. Alizadeh's voice moved over him like a chill wind.
Then the crows dived from their perches, sweeping down over Kiram and the curse crashed across their backs. Burning feathers and blood spattered the snow and pelted Kiram. Crow carcasses fell, smoking, to the ground. The curse rose like a black steam from the mutilated birds. Kiram pressed himself back against the oak, not wanting even a wisp to touch him. The curse hung like smoke in the air.
Kiram held his breath, afraid on some primal level that the curse might somehow hear him gasp or feel him exhale. He stared intently as the black wisps slowly coalesced into the dark silhouette of a man.
Kiram recognized the long body with its broad shoulders and slim hips. The curse could have been either Javier's or Fedeles' shadow, suspended in the air before his eyes. It took a step closer to Kiram, one hand extending, but then stopped. Suddenly its featureless head turned back as if hearing a call. Its mass dropped to the snow and slithered back across Kiram's tracks. In an instant it was gone.