The Blaze Ignites (3 page)

I flushed and looked away. “Um, well. Yes, I
suppose.” I had whispered it to him, but . . . no, my magic had
whispered it to him. “Well, I forgot. Remind me.” I looked from him
to Addredoc. Addredoc turned red and glanced nervously at Ortheldo,
then his parents, and then Rabryn, as if he didn’t know what to do.
I felt Ortheldo go rigid. Rabryn started chewing his bottom
lip.

They were keeping something from me.

I jumped to my feet, throwing off the warm
cloak. “I want answers and I want them now!” I screamed. My fists
were tight and my muscles ached with tension. My jaw hurt from my
teeth clenching hard enough to break. This was insane! What was the
big bloody secret? I hated it!

Ortheldo suddenly stood, taking the position
of gentle but firm authority that caught me off guard. “I’ll only
speak to you if you calm down.” I forced myself to relax, figuring
his request was reasonable. He nodded his head to the side. “Let’s
take a walk.”

I heard Addredoc gasp. He made a move to
stand and protest but Ortheldo’s expression became dangerous. “Sit
down!” He commanded, snapping his head toward the Red Wizard.
Everyone, even me, jumped at his tone.

The glare on his face and the hard expression
of authority in his stature sent flames licking down my spine. I
wasn’t expecting that kind of response from him. I had to clear my
throat and look away in order to breathe properly.

“Azrel,” Ortheldo said gently. I looked at
him. “Come on. I have a lot to tell you.” He looked at the group.
“Addredoc, teach Rabryn more while we’re gone.”

“Yes, sire.” Addredoc replied.

Ortheldo froze and slowly turned to look back
at Addredoc, echoing my own trademark gaze, wide eyes and teeth
clenched. Addredoc cowered. Clearly he’d been unaware of Ortheldo’s
hatred of his own history.

“Don’t ever call me that again.”

“I’m sorry,” Addredoc said half frightened,
half confused.

Rabryn rested his hand on Addredoc’s knee,
leaning in towards him to explain Ortheldo’s reaction. Ortheldo
guided me away from the group and we walked along the creek towards
the trees.

Azrel

We walked in silence for about a half hour.
Several times I was tempted to ask what it was he needed to tell
me, but I feared pushing him too hard. Besides, water had a calming
effect on him. He was probably just clearing his head, deciding how
to go about telling me. I remained patient, staring at the
creek.

We soon entered the trees that surrounded the
clearing. It was so breathable, not like the cluttered, dismally
dark forest Forfirith and I had ventured into when we met the
Legan’dirs. It wasn’t bright really because the sun was still
hidden by clouds, but it was well lit and air flowed easily and
calmly. Another twenty minutes passed. Just as I began to get
impatient, he suddenly took a gentle hold of my arm and guided me
up a small hill of land closer to the creek. As we crested the
small hill, I smiled. A lovely little cove setting spread out
before my eyes.

To my left was a five-foot rock wall that
went across the stream and then curled on the far side, bending in
towards us and almost completely encircling a single large flat
rock. The stream trickled through small hidden openings in the rock
wall, surrounding the lonely rock in the middle with a natural moat
before continuing to flow downstream. Green moss covered the rock
wall. The rock in the middle was edged with moss and tiny colorful
dots of different flowers.

Ortheldo guided me over the stepping stones
leading across the creek to the large flat rock. After he pulled me
onto it, I continued looking around, in awe of the private beauty
around me. I suddenly felt very safe. “This is beautiful.”

“I was hoping you’d like it.” We smiled at
each other. “This is my favorite place in Casdanarus. I feel safe
here.” I blushed slightly as he echoed my own thoughts.

“Why did you bring me here, though? It was
quite a hike.”

He shrugged. “I just wanted to share my
favorite place with you.” I continued enjoying looking around the
area, mostly so he wouldn’t see my face turn red. “And this was
also where I was sleeping when I was given that necklace.”

I snapped my head to look at him, forgetting
about the beauty of this place, and returned to the harsh reality
of that confounded necklace. “Really?”

He nodded, then sighed heavily and gathered
my hands into his. “Azrel, you know I care about you, don’t
you?”

I almost flinched. “What?”

“You know that, don’t you? That I care deeply
for you? I need to know that you understand that. I need to know
that you understand I would never say or do anything to
deliberately hurt you.”

“Yes,” I said. My answer even surprised me.
“I know that.”

“You
know
that?”

For a moment I was lost in his periwinkle
eyes, eyes that were pleading with me to understand and trust him.
For a moment I wished I could just melt into his arms and feel safe
again. His arms offered protection of a kind I’d never felt before.
For a moment, I realized he really
did
care about me.

“Yes, I know that,” I said more honestly.

He was my best friend. An irreplaceable bond
had held us together this long, even though we’d been far apart for
a long time. No one could replace my Ortheldo, nor did I want
anyone too. He was my friend, my companion . . . my love.

His eyes glowed with warmth and pride as he
took my hands up to his lips and kissed the backs of them. “I’m
glad to hear you say that.” He gently pulled me down to sit on the
rock with him. Then he looked into my eyes. “Azrel, most of what
I’m about to tell you is based on very educated guesses. Rabryn,
Addredoc and I have talked all of this over and over again and we
all agree on what we think is happening. Rabryn is the one that
figured most of this out, and I don’t doubt his conclusions for an
instant.”

“What conclusions?”

“Azrel,” he began softly but firmly, “you
have to promise me, on our friendship and on your father’s grave,
that you will hear everything I have to say. You have to promise
you won’t go off ranting and screaming until I’ve told you
everything I need to. Can you promise me that?”

His words were starting to make me tremble,
but I forced myself to stop. “Ortheldo, just tell me already.”

“Not until you promise.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll hear you out. I won’t speak
unless you give me permission.”

He nodded and seemed to relax. “Back in
Oaksher, after your encounter with Ibalissa, do you remember what
we talked about? Our suspicions about what could be wrong with your
magic?” I nodded. “It’s true. Rabryn and I were right.”

No!

“The White Warrior told us herself. It’s what
she whispered to me and Addredoc in Narcatertus.”

I felt like the creek below the rock was
sweeping me away to a world I didn’t care to be a part of. He was
telling me that I was mad!

“Your magic has become the White Warrior;
it’s become a separate person inside your mind.”

I wanted to scream and lash out at him. I was
just on the verge of punching my fist through the rock when he
quickly held up a finger. “You promised!”

Breathing heavily, I stared at him a moment,
contemplating whether or not to keep that promise. I wanted to hear
the rest of this, so I forced down the words with a heavy
swallow.

“We figured it this way. The White Warrior
gave me the necklace . . .”

“How?” I barked before I could stop
myself.

He narrowed his eyes at me a little
playfully, as if there was something funny about what he was saying
to me. “I
suppose
I’ll let that go even though I didn’t give
you permission.” I wanted to strangle him for trying to be cute
right now. “Back in The Pitt, do you remember when Beldorn said,
‘Your subconscious has the power to leave you when you sleep’?” I
couldn’t speak through my clenched teeth, so I only swallowed.
“When you are asleep, your subconscious is the most active; it’s
when everyone’s subconscious is most active. The White Warrior is
in your subconscious. Because of that, she is able to magically
leave you, somehow, to visit her protectors. We’re not sure about
the details of how this works, but four of those protectors are
back in that clearing.”

“Protectors?” I asked.

“Later,” he said. “Just know that Acalith,
Addredoc, Meddyn, and Thrawyn are all here to help you.”

Really? I wanted to say, is that why Acalith
looked like she wanted to rip my throat out?

“The White Warrior can leave you and give her
followers orders while you all sleep.”

“Everyone has to be asleep?”

“Stop talking out of turn. I was getting to
that,” he said, still trying to be playful. “She takes them all to
this ‘other world’ as we’ve come to call it, which is a void of
endless green light. Rabryn and I got a small sample of it in
Blesska.”

I was trying really hard not to scream. My
subconscious was harboring the White Warrior,
my magic,
as
another person? And it left me at will to pay people
visits
?
It was unconceivable! I couldn’t be
that
abnormal! I
couldn’t be
that
insanely strange!

“It was in this world of green light that she
gave me the necklace, hiding her face so I wouldn’t think I’d gone
mad seeing
you
give it to me.” He moved closer to me. “She
sent us on this journey for a reason! We think it was for a reason
beyond
finding the necklace’s owner.”

“What reason?” I choked out, my voice coming
out surprisingly hoarse.

He again moved closer to me, looking into my
eyes intently. “Can you deny that since this journey began that
your magic has gotten stronger?”

No, I couldn’t deny that.

“She sent us on this journey to reintroduce
herself, and you, back into the world. She needs you to remember
who you are and what purpose you were born for. She needs you to
face circumstances that will force you to use her, your magic, so
you two can become one again. You still have a horrible evil to
defeat and she needs both of you ready for that challenge. That’s
why we were sent on this journey.”

I was slipping from myself into madness of my
own making. “But . . . but why drag you and Rabryn into this? You
could have stayed home and . . . and been safe.”

“What home?”

The statement wasn’t firm or harsh. It was
just plain and factual. They had nowhere to go except with me . . .
us . . . whoever.

This didn’t make any sense! I didn’t want to
believe I was even more odd and strange than I’d grown up
believing. I’d thought I had
some
level of normalcy to
me.

A terrifying thought came to me; someone else
was in control of my magic! Someone else was in control of the
element of Goodness, the Light Gods’ power on earth; someone in my
mind … and Hathum could take over minds!

Oh Gods! I had to stay hidden! Hathum
couldn’t find me like this!

I pressed my hands against my cheeks in
horror. “How do I end this?” I cried. “If Hathum gets in my mind
and takes this . . . this person, my magic . . .”

He gently took my face in his hands, “We
don’t think he can. Not yet anyway.”

“What do you mean he can’t? He can’t get in
my
mind?
That’s what he
does
, Ortheldo! He did it to
my father! He made my father flee battle! What do I need to do to
stop this?”

“Azrel, Azrel,” he said gently. I looked into
his eyes, desperately clinging to the hope that what he was saying
was true, that somehow Hathum couldn’t get in my mind. His thumbs
caressed my cheeks. “We don’t know what it’s going to take to make
you one person again, but we believe this ‘other world’ of green
light is a fortress, a barrier against Hathum for now. It’s a place
your magic can go to hide if Hathum gets too close. It’s deep
inside your mind, and we think a part of it may even be
outside
your mind, which is where she meets people. Hathum
will have to look very hard in order to get to your magic.”

I slightly relaxed, but the look in his eyes
told me he wasn’t done. “There’s more?”

“I need to explain to you what happened in
Narcatertus.”

I swallowed hard.

“The person Rabryn went after was a man
Hathum had on the hunt for you.”

My eyes went wide and my hand came up to my
mouth. I heard my terrified heartbeat pounding in my ears. Hathum
was
looking
for me?

“We don’t know how he’s aware that the White
Warrior has returned. We don’t know for sure how much Hathum knows,
but we don’t think it’s very much. Otherwise, why would he send
someone to find you instead of coming after you himself?”

I could barely think straight. “And Rabryn
killed him because he found out who I was?” I breathed.

“Actually, Acalith killed him.”

I felt my sanity stretching as the terror
swelled inside my soul. “How did he find out?”

Ortheldo’s brows dropped. “You promised,
Azrel! Now pipe down and let me explain!”

My fear burned so badly in my throat that I
felt hot tears in my eyes. I was terrified, absolutely
terrified.

“Hathum sent this man armed with some basic
form of mind magic. That nightmare you had of snakes? We think that
was the hunter getting into your mind. I asked you if he was angry
because if he was, he might not have found evidence of the White
Warrior there due to the White Warrior hiding in the protective
‘other world.’ He must not have found anything because he came into
the room and insisted on seeing you, claiming he was an Herbest. We
think he really wanted to see your white tears.

“In Narcatertus he gave you another night
terror to make you cry. Unfortunately, Rabryn and I were in the
hallway and couldn’t get to you to wake you up. That’s why Rabryn
jumped out the window after him. That’s why he had to die—he would
have taken the proof of your tears to Hathum.”