The Blaze Ignites (2 page)

“Lie back! I can’t reach the wound!” Rabryn
cried over the pounding hooves.

I arched my back and pushed my torso out as
best I could. I felt him peel up my torn and blood-soaked shirt and
rest his hand on my wound. I gasped from the hot sting of his
touch, but then sighed as a gentle tingling sensation crawled over
my skin. I felt my gash pinch together. Strength came back into my
body. I sat up in my saddle, feeling fully alert. There was still a
pool of blood on my shirt, leg, saddle that dripped down
Forfirith’s coat, but when I lifted my shirt I found not even a
bruise left where I’d been savagely cut open. I spun my head around
and looked over my shoulder at my brother, who smiled sheepishly.
He looked so innocent yet so devious to me at that moment.

“Did you . . .?” I didn’t get to finish my
question because I realized that two of the six Legan’dirs were no
longer behind us. I faced forward, searching for them.

Suddenly, I felt them. They were hiding in
the patch of trees just ahead, where the clearing through which we
rode now bent to the left. They were going to attack us from the
side when we made that turn . . .

But we weren’t going to make that turn.

I clenched my teeth and yanked up my right
arm, making my dangling sword jump. I snatched the hilt out of the
air. I took the reins from my brother and bent over Forfirith’s
neck. “Ya!” I said and sped him up. I fixed my gaze straight ahead.
“All of you fall back! Stay behind me!” I called to the others as
we passed them. They obeyed without question. An odd feeling came
over me for a moment, but I hardly had time to ponder what it might
be. I began to pull my legs up. I grabbed Rabryn’s shoulder as I
got to my knees in the saddle.

“What are you doing?” he cried.

“Listen to me,” I said, as I looked down at
him and handed him back the reins. “When I jump, I want you to pull
Forfirith’s reins hard to the left. He can turn on a coin, so pull
as hard as you can. He won’t lose his balance.”

“Why?”

“Just do it!” I yelled. I looked down at
Forfirith. “You hear that, boy? Help him out with the turn. Use
whatever hidden capabilities you might have to make that maneuver.”
He grunted in understanding.

I pushed myself up so I was standing in a low
crouch in the saddle. I kept one hand on Rabryn’s shoulder with my
sword out behind him and reached with my other into the sheath on
my thigh, pulling my Salynn blade free. I concentrated on feeling
for the evil these things radiated. I watched for them as we
approached the trees.

As I’d predicted, the two Legan’dirs rushed
from the shadows, knives raised in their fists. I set both of my
blades aflame with white fire and leapt off my horse’s back, while
Rabryn pulled hard on the reins to get Forfirith out from
underneath me and away from the creatures’ falling blades. I
twisted my body to avoid their weapons, flipping my legs over my
head in an airborne backwards summersault. In midair, I back
slashed both of my weapons across the throats of the shadows.

I tucked myself again before I hit the ground
and did another backwards summersault snapping myself up on one
knee, ready to leap up if I was suddenly attacked. My sword and
Salynn blade were up, ready for anything, but nothing came. The
echoes of the Legan’dirs’ death screams faded away.

Rabryn finished the tight circle he’d put
Forfirith in and came back towards me at full speed. My eyes
widened. What was he doing? I had to get back on! As Rabryn flew
past me, he bent to the side, reached down, and pulled me up by the
arm, throwing me behind him in the saddle.

I stared at him. “How did you do that?”

“No time to explain. In case you forgot,
we’re still riding for our lives.” I looked behind. Ortheldo and
the Tan Stranger were riding together in front, then Addredoc and
Meddyn, and then Thrawyn in the rear. “I don’t know about
Forfirith,” Rabryn said, “but the other horses are on their last
leg.” Indeed everyone, especially the horses, looked to be in bad
shape. The remaining Legan’dirs were still in pursuit and gaining
fast.

“I’ve had enough of this,” I said, and turned
to face backwards in the saddle. I held my palms out. My comrades
glanced at each other, seeing my eyes turn white from my magic in
use and the white flames suddenly surround my hands, then pulled
their horses to opposite sides making a clear path down the middle.
I released my magic, the blasts of fire hitting the Legan’dirs
square in the chest. They exploded in a white flash and a
collective scream.

Everyone slowed down their horses to a brisk
trot. Rabryn looked over his shoulder. “Ortheldo, where is the
nearest water source? These horses need to rest.”

Ortheldo nodded his chin outward. “About two
miles ahead.”

I sat forward in the saddle and my arms
slipped under Rabryn’s. He gently patted my hands, and I rested my
cheek against his back. I suddenly felt very tired, which was odd
because thanks to Rabryn’s healing I’d felt perfectly fine a moment
ago.

I closed my eyes, deciding to catch a wink of
rest until we reached the water source. I suppose it had been a
long enough day, or two days rather, since leaving Narcatertus. I
hadn’t slept or rested. Apparently these six hadn’t either, if
they’d managed to keep up with me as well as they had.

Why were the Salynns here? The question
echoed in my mind as I drifted off into sleep.

I awoke a few minutes later as Rabryn halted
Forfirith. I sat up from Rabryn’s back. He patted my hands again
before he dismounted. I looked around and found myself in a wide
open grass clearing with trees encircling us about a half a mile
away. A small creek, from which the horses were already drinking
heavily, ran horizontally in front of us. I dismounted Forfirith to
let him go. To my left, standing tall and proud against the light
grey sky, was the tallest peak of the Mongerst range, Rocksheloc
Mountain. Beldorn was there right now, waiting for us, and we were
late. It had been two weeks and five days since we’d left The Pitt,
and we still had two days travel to go. Beldorn wasn’t going to be
happy.

So much had happened though on this forsaken
journey. Goodness. All I wanted to do was give the necklace to
Beldorn and have him find the owner, but I knew he wouldn’t let me
do that. I looked over my shoulder towards the group as they sat on
the ground, all of them with different looks in their eyes.
Ortheldo was standing by the creek, bending over Urylia’s head to
wash the foam from her mouth, his eyes on me. I quickly looked away
from him as I recalled the feel of his lips against mine. Though it
had been quick, and my magic had really done it, it was
beautiful.

I gazed at Rocksheloc again. From out of
nowhere, a thought hit me. I had been in control of myself when I
killed those Legan’dirs! My magic hadn’t taken me over! I had done
it! My legs started to shake as a feeling of security washed over
me. I had control of my magic! Why? Why, all of the sudden, had I
not been put into that detached mindset? Would it stay this way?
Could I have control of my magic? An odd mixture of terror and
happiness came with that thought.

Snapping back to my immediate situation, I
turned to face the party that had followed me from Narcatertus, all
my other questions returning. Who had Rabryn killed, and why was he
a danger to me? What was the Deralilya? What had I whispered to
Ortheldo and Addredoc? What had I been talking about in saying to
the Salynns “Nice to see you in this world?” And how did my brother
suddenly know how to use his magic to heal me and lift me off the
ground as if I weighed nothing?

Other things, too, plagued my mind, even if
perhaps they weren’t as important as these questions: The two men I
loved betraying me. My desperate attempt to die. Addredoc thinking
I was selfish. But I had to concern myself with the bigger issues I
was facing right now. I still didn’t know why the Gods had left me
with this task, as if I were only a pawn, a subject of Their cruel
entertainment. And I knew more crap was coming—I could feel it.

I sighed and looked down at my ripped and
blood-soaked outfit. Well, actually Addredoc’s ripped and
blood-soaked outfit. I looked at the group again and decided I’d
have to change later because my questions were too pressing at the
moment. I crossed my arms as I walked over to the group and stood
just outside their circle. The only one still standing was the Tan
Stranger. Why were they all here?

“Thank you all for coming to my aid,” I said
bowing my head in annoyance and some shame. “Is anyone hurt
badly?”

Addredoc smiled up at me nervously, probably
due to our last encounter. “It’s nothing that can’t be
handled.”

I nodded and gazed at the biggest mystery
before my eyes, the Tan Stranger. She seemed to be glaring at me
with those dangerous eyes. In fact, she looked about ready to rip
my head off. I looked down at her belt where a thin wooden paddle
rested, its edge sanded to a thin, almost sharp edge. Why wood?

I looked up into her eyes again. “Steel is
more effective, and less messy.”

Her eyes went wide and what I could see of
her face was bright red. She shook with barely controlled rage,
then pointed an accusing finger at me. “I don’t have a steel weapon
because of you, Azrel! You’re too busy getting in your own damn way
to give me one!”

My rage spiked in turn and I let my
expression show it. No one talked to me like that. “Excuse me?”
Suddenly, everyone stood, the rest preparing to tear us off one
another in case a fight broke out. Even Ortheldo rushed towards us
from the creek.

It took a few moments under my stare, but her
confidence waned. Apparently she hadn’t expected me to respond like
that. Perhaps she thought her intimidation would break me down into
tears. She didn’t know me very well.

My eyes narrowed. “What’s your name?”

She held her head high and glared right back
at me. “Acalith.”

“Well, Acalith”—I rested my left hand on the
hilt of my sword—“perhaps you’d like firsthand a lesson in just how
much more effective steel is?” It was deathly quiet for a long
moment, but I finally stared those defiant eyes down to the ground.
“I didn’t think so,” I declared. “Now tell me who you are and why
you’re following me.” I looked at the Salynns, meeting each of
their eyes and letting them know I was wondering the same thing
about them.

Rabryn then stepped forward. “Um, Azrel? She
saved your life on a few occasions. I think you could be. . .”

I shut him up immediately with a dangerous
glance. He softly cleared his throat and stepped back. I looked at
Acalith again. “Well?”

“I am the Deralilya,” she said simply.

“Yeah, I got that much in Narcatertus. But
since I don’t know what the Deralilya is, that doesn’t help me very
much.” I looked at Ortheldo, “And I don’t know how you could
possibly know what it is when I don’t!”

He went stiff for a moment, looking like he
was grasping for an answer, but then finally shrugged one shoulder,
a clear indication he was about to lie to me. I’d learned that
telltale sign long ago. “Your father told me some war stories, and
the Deralilya came up a few times.”

My eyes went wide. “What does a Deralilya
have to do with my father?” Ortheldo went pale and looked about to
panic. I looked back at Acalith, but she was gone. I looked at
Ortheldo again. “What does she have to do with my father? And if
she does have anything to do with him, how could you know about it
and not me?”

Ortheldo shrugged again. “He just mentioned
it casually when he would tell me stories.”

“Don’t give me that! You grabbed my arm and
looked like you were going to go mad with excitement and terror
when the Deralilya was mentioned. Why would you react that way if
my father only talked about it ‘casually’?”

He swallowed and was silent again, as if
waiting for an answer. Then his face brightened and he shrugged his
shoulder again. “Well, the mention of the Deralilya brought back
sudden memories of him.”

I didn’t buy one word of that. Mentioned
casually? I doubted it.

Thinking it was safe, the rest sat back down
on the ground, Ortheldo joining them. I wanted to stay standing,
but the weight of my two-day ride was starting to hit me, so I sat
as well and glared at the entire group. “Someone better start
explaining this insanity to me.” All eyes went down.

I waited, then shuddered from a sudden chill.
The torn and blood-soaked area of my clothing was making me cold. A
cloak was thrown over my shoulders. I looked beside me to see
Ortheldo smile gently at me. Goose pimples formed on his arms and
he pulled his sleeves down.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance and rolled
my eyes as I moved closer to his side, putting half the cloak
around his shoulders. He smiled at me as we pulled the cloak closed
tightly around us as best we could.

I blushed at the feel of him so close to me.
“Um . . . I’m sorry that I . . . well, for what happened in
Narcatertus. I had no right to do that.”

“You’re sorry?” I nodded. “I’m not.”

I glanced up at him and saw a kind smile on
his face. I quickly looked away from him without returning the
smile, then looked back. “What did my ma . . .” Something felt
wrong about saying it this way, but I had no better way to say it.
“What did my magic whisper to you in Narcatertus?”

He was quiet a moment as he looked at me, his
eyes taking on a faraway look as if he was paying attention to
something somewhere else. I glanced at the group and noticed that
Addredoc had the same look in his eyes, as if he was seeing through
the grass he was idly picking at.

I looked back at Ortheldo with my brows
drawn. “Is the question really that difficult?”

He blinked and finally focused on me. “What?”
He looked away quickly. “No, I’m just a bit confused as to why you
need to ask me that.” He looked at me again. “After all, you
whispered it to me, didn’t you?”