The Blaze Ignites (11 page)

I blew out the breath I’d been holding and
looked at Rabryn as he did the same. We both looked to where
Acalith had been. She was gone.

“That was close,” I said.

“Sure was.”

“So,” I said and began gathering Cairikson’s
and my old clothes up. “The window is open?”

“Yeah,” he responded, also stooping and
gathering the clothes and Azrel’s vials of liquid, which were
already full again.

“So she can use her magic at will?”

“Some of it, but not much. She said it was
her doing when she killed the last Legan’dirs, and the cake
appearance was probably her too, but that might be about all she
can do on her own.”

“And of course threaten the Deralilya’s
life.”

I said that to maybe get a chuckle out of
him, but he suddenly looked sad. “Yeah.”

My brows dropped. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

I twisted my mouth to the side and looked at
him. “I’m not stupid, Rabryn, and I’m insulted you think I am.”

He gave me a small smile but it quickly
faded. “I don’t know. It’s just…” He sighed and rubbed the back of
his neck with his free hand. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. I
can’t stop thinking about those green eyes.” I found myself
grinning, knowing where this was going. “It seems every waking
moment I’m thinking and wondering what the Deralilya’s face looks
like, her hair, her smile. It’s so aggravating how she comes and
goes. She doesn’t say two words to me and she leaves. I just…I
don’t know. I’d just…” He sighed. “I’d give anything to sit down
and talk to her.” He sighed again and shook his head. “And I’d give
everything
else
to see her face.”

My grin widened. “My friend, you have a love
bite.”

He looked at me skeptically. “A love bite?
How can I love her? I don’t even know her, in case that wasn’t
too
obvious.”

I chuckled. “A love bite doesn’t mean you’re
in love. It just means there is some serious potential to fall in
love.”

“No way,” he said smiling and turning a
little red.

“Trust me. I know these things,” I said and
tapped my temple with my index finger. “I was bitten too, a long
time ago, but I was too young, troubled and self-absorbed to feel
it or know what it was.” My heart sank at the memory of the worst
day of my life. “It took my losing her to realize what had happened
to me, and that I was already in love with her. Just be glad you
don’t have to find out the way I did.”

“Why?”

I smiled bitterly. “Try to imagine how it
feels—the very second you realize you love someone, she’s being
taking away from you, maybe forever.”

He cringed at the thought.

I nodded. “Like I said, be glad you don’t
have to find out like I did.”

It was quiet for a moment. “When were you
bitten?”

I felt myself smiling at the memory. “The
moment I first saw her.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I let my mind drift to that day. “I
was young, but I’ll never forget the way she looked in my eyes. I
was ten, and she was thirteen. She was jumping stones across the
creek. The sun was shining in her hair. She looked like a Sky sent
angel just for me because, when I saw her it was like…it felt
like…everything bad I’d been through just went away. It just
vanished.” I still felt the smile on my face as I went on. “I
watched her for a long time. Of course I was making excuses to
myself like I was only watching her for so long because ‘I have to
have a good attack strategy’”—we both laughed—“or ‘I have to wait
for the right time to…to execute my battle plans.’” He laughed
heartily and I shook my head. “No. I watched her for so long
because when I did, I just knew…I just felt that everything would
be okay. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Just by
looking at her I felt something happen to me, even as young as I
was. She’s my reason to breathe, my reason to hope. She’s my safety
and my peace.”

“I hope I get to feel like that someday.”

“You will,” I said clapping him on the back.
“You will.”

Rabryn sighed. “Well, we’d better get back.
See what Azrel has for us to keep us strong for a while, since we
clearly can’t rest.”

I laughed. “Let’s go then.” We both headed
for the shack.

Hathum

Fool! I wondered what Jonoic had done to
screw this one up.

“Great plan,” Glondra said flatly. “Are you
ready to listen to me yet? Or do two more of your ‘best’ men have
to fall victim to her before you’ll accept the fact that she’s the
one you’ve been searching for?”

I spun on her. “Glessar and Jonoic weren’t
killed by the assumed White Warrior,” I screamed. “Glessar fell
victim to the Deralilya and you saw for yourself that Jonoic was
killed by that blasted Gold Flower!”

“Uh, speaking of which,” Thaybo piped in,
“did either of you happen to recognize that Gold Flower?”

I snarled, “Of course I did.”

“Oh okay. Just making sure you’re on top of
the game, which you’ve failed to prove to me since this search of
yours began.”

I spun on him, grabbed his throat in my hand,
and bent him backwards over the table. “I don’t need to prove
anything to you, you slime! You’re below me!”

Thaybo laughed heartily, “Are you going to
kill me, Brother?”

I gave his throat a final squeeze while he
chuckled. “If only I could,” I said, releasing his throat.

Damn him! Damn them both! I knew I shouldn’t
have called them in on this! It only made concentration more
difficult. I gripped the back of the chair and bowed my head in
thought. I had no proof the woman was the White Warrior. I wondered
though, whether if I got close enough to her I would be able to
feel the force of the White Fire of the Light Gods’ Power beneath
the negative, black folds of humanity. I could
not
assume
the White Warrior was someone who had darkness inside her like this
woman had. I’d never heard of the Child of the Light Gods having
any
speck
of darkness, but this woman’s soul was swimming in
it. I could tell from the distant glimpse Jonoic got of her before
he was obliterated by that Gold Flower that something was wrong
with her. I could probably manipulate the darkness she had, but
what was the point if she wasn’t who I wanted?

“Come on, Brother!” Glondra cried. “You
know
it’s her!
I
know it’s her! For the Abyss’ sake,
Thaybo
knows it’s her! Now is the time to stop being a fool
and start practicing your victory dance!”

I gripped the chair harder, but not in time.
My fist flew around and cracked her in the jaw. She went sprawling
to the floor. “You need a reminder of your limits when dealing with
me, Little Sister!
Don’t
talk down to me!”

She was quickly on her feet, glaring. “Then
listen to me when I tell you what action to take and when! Then I
won’t
have
to talk down to you! I’m smarter than both of
you, Hathum! Haven’t you realized that yet? And if you hit me
again, you’ll never see victory.”

I sneered at her. “You act as though you felt
that.”

“That’s beside the point. Now sit down, shut
up and listen to my plan.”

“Why should we?” Thaybo piped in. “You left
on a mission to find out some secret behind the woman’s uncanny
beauty. Could it be,
maybe
because she’s the White Warrior
and blessed by the Beauty Creators?”

“I’m still working on that, which is more
than what you two are doing in any case!”

My teeth clenched. Damn it. I hated arguing
with her! She was always such a bitch about being right all the
time! Why couldn’t she be quiet and agreeable, like Thaybo was most
of the time? I supposed, though, nothing would get done that
way.

“What does this ‘brilliant’ plan of yours
consist of?”

“You’ll need to contact your minion in
Fayithjen Forrest and work my idea out with him. He needs to make
some arrangements there.”

“Glugnus? I don’t know if he’s still
loyal.”

“I guess you’d better find out then!” she
said, hands on her hips. “He took out that snake sorcerer’s family,
didn’t he? I’m sure he would have taken out the snake himself if
things hadn’t turned out the way they did.”

“What does Glugnus have to do with this?”

“You’ll have to hear my plan to know now,
won’t you
?” she cried. “Light be damned! You are the most
stubborn, thick-headed, proud immortal ever to exist!”

I glared at her. “You call that an
insult?”

“No, but shut up already and listen to me.”
All three of us sat down and she began to explain.

Azrel

Finally! At last we were outside the mammoth
gates of Rocksheloc Mountain. Rocksheloc was one of the realms
Beldorn and I had only passed by. I’d never actually been in there.
The mountain was about 25,000 feet at the summit, making it the
second tallest mountain realm in Casdanarus, second only to the
30,000 foot summits of the three mountains of the Triple Peaks
realm. While Rocksheloc was the second tallest mountain peak in
Casdanarus, it was still only a single mountain. It was a mountain
that seemed almost out of place because it was surrounded by
completely flat plains. Rocksheloc didn’t have a single foothill to
speak of.

The Rocksheloc Humounts had separate rooms
carved from the stone of the mountain that each person stayed in,
like an enormous inn. It was the only Humount realm that housed its
people that way. The more vast Humount realms, like Triple Peaks
and Godel, actually carved hundreds or thousands of
houses
out of the stone for people and families. Mountains that size also
had roads and market squares and shops carved inside.

Rocksheloc was large enough to house 120,000
Humounts
more
than adequately, and it had housed that many
in ancient days. But 119,700 of those rooms only housed spiders
now. Rocksheloc used to be very heavily populated and wealthy
because of the vast quantities of steel other metals mined there. A
magma creek even used to flow in the depths of the mountain in
ancient days. Back then, the Humounts had been masterful weapon and
metal craft smiths. Rocksheloc used to be the primary distributor
of weapons and warfare. The steel goods produced there had rivaled
even those of full Salynn realms.

When the mountain had threatened to explode
in those ancient days, it was my father who’d cooled the lava into
hard stone. While saving the Humounts, however, he’d destroyed
their way of life and main income. Many Humounts left the
mountain—out of 120,000 only 300 now remained.

I sighed as I looked up at Rocksheloc. I
wasn’t looking forward to seeing Beldorn right now, though I really
had no choice. I just wanted to get the maps and go, but the Gods
knew he’d want an explanation as to why we were two days late. We
had quite the story to tell him too, considering we were heavy four
Salynns.

I had yet to get a sufficient amount of rest
from my sudden exhaustion after curing Cairikson’s disease, but I’d
still insisted we only sleep for three hours last night so we
wouldn’t make ourselves later than we already were. Cairikson had
been very agreeable and brave about getting so little rest. He said
he’d rested enough over the past few years and liked having an
excuse not to. It made me laugh. He’d sleep like the dead tonight
though.

“How come we’ve got to stop here, Azrel?” he
asked in a yawn as he sat in front of me in the saddle.

I smiled and wrapped my arm tighter around
his belly and kissed the top of his head. “We’ve got to get recent
maps of the land so we can travel safely over it and not get lost
or run into some evil realm.”

“Makes sense to me.”

I smiled down at his head. “I’m
so
glad you approve.” I started to tickle his tummy. He squirmed and
laughed hysterically in the saddle. I had absolutely fallen head
over heels in love with this boy. I couldn’t deny it even if I
wanted to. In a lot of ways he reminded me of Rabryn when I first
met him, only smaller in stature.

I looked back at the Salynns, who rode
faithfully with me, and gave them a smile. “For once,
you’ll
be bowed to.” They all smiled back. Then I looked from Ortheldo to
Rabryn. “Time to face the music, boys.” I looked up at the
mountain. “Beldorn is going to be pissed.”

“Two days late? Two?” he bellowed even before
we had dismounted. He’d been waiting for us just inside the stone
gates that surrounded the entire base of the monstrous mountain,
making for the largest common area in Casdanarus. “I expected more
from you three! You had me worried into madness, you little
truants!” Rabryn, Ortheldo and I all glanced at each other. “And
what have you brought with you?” he said, seeing Cairikson tucked
into my right hip.

“Beldorn,” I sighed in exhausted, “a lot has
happened since we last saw you
. A lot
!”

“You tell me in a nutshell what has happened
and I’ll be the judge of whether it’s enough to make me forgive
you!”

“Alright,” I said with false brightness, but
clearly letting him know I was annoyed with him. “Let’s start with
the fact that about sixty people from Narcatertus are all dead by
our hands. A gang called the Dirty Thirty are also dead. About
forty Gibirs dead. And umm, a Fayithjen Forrest sorcerer from
Tribeltwel was killed in battle helping us. Eight Legan’dirs have
been destroyed and… Oh, let’s not forget two of Hathum’s White
Warrior hunters are dead, one of them high ranking enough to invoke
a Black Storm from the Light Gods when I got too close to him. And
to top it all off, I found out that my White Fire magic has become
a separate person inside my mind.”

Beldorn’s face was as white as his beard, and
his voice was softer than ever. “Come inside, children. We will
talk.”