The Blaze Ignites (31 page)

We put Thrawyn and Meddyn together under a
large juniper tree and Addredoc cast powerful magic over the graves
so they would never be disturbed by any person or animal. All of us
said a prayer to the Light Gods to accept their spirits wholly
among them in the Sky, where all good spirits rested after
death.

When we dispersed, the powerful need to
apologize to Azrel came over me full force. I couldn’t get the last
thing I said to her at Rocksheloc out of my mind. The Deralilya’s
warning though, made me pause. Looking at Azrel now, I longed to
know if she hated me for what I’d said, yet a big part of me didn’t
want to know. I don’t think I could stand knowing she hated me. I
breathed deeply and turned away from her. I walked to the fallen
tree that Cairikson sat on and took a seat beside him.

I patted his hair. “Hey buddy, are you
okay?”

“No!” He surprised me by yelling. “I couldn’t
help! I didn’t have a weapon and my magic wasn’t big enough to kill
more than twelve of those things! If I had a weapon I could have
done more!” Tears filled his big blue-green eyes. “Meddyn wouldn’t
have had to die! Thrawyn wouldn’t have had to k…kill himself!”
Finally big tears rolled down his cheeks. “Addredoc wouldn’t have
had to lose his mama like I did…or his daddy. I could have done
more.” He started to openly cry. I picked him up and put him in my
lap, hugging him close. “I could have done more!” He sobbed into my
shoulder.

My boy. Tears filled my eyes too as I stood
up, holding him against me. It was official; I wanted a son. “I
know you could have. But you know what?” I leaned away from him so
I could look in his eyes. “I am
very
proud of you.” He wiped
his arms over his cheeks, drying his tears. “You were really,
really brave.”

“I was?”

“You sure were. You killed twelve giant
wolves! That’s not something to sneer at.” He smiled. I kissed his
forehead, and then his cheek two or three times. “Tell you what,” I
said cheerfully, “how about I make you a bow and some arrows
today?” His face brightened. “It will be a birthday present from
me. The arrows won’t have metal tips because, well, we’re in the
middle of the woods and there’s no smithy around here.” He gave a
small giggle, still wiping his eyes. “But I’ll sharpen the arrow
shafts to a point. Think you can work with that?” He nodded. “And
as soon as we get into a town I’ll buy you some real arrows,
okay?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You know what, Ortheldo?”

“What’s that?”

He looked at me with his enormous eyes full
of sincerity. “I wish you could be my daddy.”

A broad smile spread across my face and I
turned a little red. I kissed his cheek one more time then looked
in his eyes. “I do, too.”

“I’ll help you,” Rabryn said stepping forward
with a soft smile. “I can use my magic and get you a weapon quickly
if that’s alright with you both.”

Cairikson looked at me for approval, which
made me smile. “A Salynn bow would be much better than one I could
make, and you’ll actually have it on your birthday.”

“Okay but”—he looked at Rabryn—“is it alright
if Ortheldo makes me a quiver fit for me on his own? I don’t need
that right away and I’d like a gift from him as well.”

Rabryn nodded. “Of course. We might as well
go make it now. Azrel has Forfirith going after the other horses,
and there’s no telling how far they bolted when the Welptacks came.
It might be a while.”

I nodded, then bounced Cairikson once in my
arms, “Let’s go get you a weapon.”

He smiled, “Okay.” I put him on the ground
and took his small hand.

Rabryn went over to Acalith and told her
where we were going. She nodded and said something, but I was
already heading up the short hill on the side of the road into the
woods. Rabryn was quickly behind me.

We walked for about ten minutes before Rabryn
found a beautiful cluster of yew trees. I expected him to whip out
his sword and start hacking away at the branches, but he didn’t. He
looked at the tree in front of him for a few moments with a
slightly troubled expression. The woods were nearly silent.

Rabryn stood there for so long that I took in
a breath to say something to him, but before I could, the blankest
look came over his face. His expression was so lifeless I thought
he might faint. He tilted his head—the only sign of life in him. He
then slowly brought his hand up to the tree trunk, his fingers wide
apart.

Cairikson gave my sleeve a little tug.
“What’s he doing?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know.”

A soft gold light formed around Rabryn’s hand
and he smiled. I watched in amazement as he pushed his hand
through
the tree trunk up to his elbow! He moved it up and
down and side to side as if he was searching for something
inside
the tree.

“
Diolalle obelega,”
Rabryn whispered,
startling me. It meant,
thank you, oh mighty on
e in the
Ancient
Salynn speech! He was speaking Ancient Salynnian! I
didn’t think Addredoc was teaching Rabryn that!

Rabryn started to pull his arm out. I watched
in disbelief as the brown wood of the trunk seemed to liquefy and
stretch a bit with the pull of his hand. When his hand emerged, in
his grip was a shapely bow that looked like it was being pulled
directly out of the wood, yet there was no hole left in its place!
It lacked a string, but the small bow was stunningly beautiful. It
was a rich brown color with carvings of vines and fruits along the
length of it, as if it had been crafted by hand.

I looked at him in disbelief. “What…how did
you…what did you just do?”

Rabryn chuckled as he came up to us. “Well
first, I asked the tree permission to make a bow from her wood.
When she gave me leave for that, I asked her to help me shape it to
be fit for a young Salynn of Galad Kas, since I don’t know how
Galad Kas makes their weapons. She knew though, and thus”—he held
up the bow—“I have this.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. I didn’t know Salynns
could do…could…
talk
to trees with their magic! I
still
couldn’t believe it. What puzzled me even more was how
Rabryn had gotten so highly skilled in his magic craft to be able
to do such a thing. Addredoc had hardly been teaching him that
long.

“Of course after her help and her allowing me
to take a piece of her away, I had to thank her.” Rabryn smiled
teasingly. “Trees don’t know the common speech, but we Salynns are
older than you young bucks, so I took a shot at her knowing the
Ancient Salynn tongue. Addredoc has taught me a few basic phrases
and words.”

I nodded, “So, you can talk to trees…”

Rabryn laughed as he got to one knee. He
rested one end of the bow on the ground and pinched the other end
between his thumb and index fingers. He dragged both fingers down,
extending a thread of gold light from top to bottom. When he
pinched the other end, the gold light disappeared and a bow string
was left in its place. He stood, taking the bow up with him. He
drew the string to his cheek, and pulled it a few times to test the
tension and line of sight.

“Very nice,” he said at last, then handed the
bow down to the wide-eyed birthday boy. “Try it out.”

Cairikson glanced up a Rabryn before taking
the gift gingerly. He took aim in a daze of disbelief and drew the
string to his cheek a few times. His bright eyes went back to
Rabryn. “It’s wonderful,” he said in a breath. “Thank you.”

Rabryn smiled. “Well, it won’t be of much use
without arrows, now will it?”

Cairikson giggled softly, “No.”

Rabryn smiled at him and then turned and
reached into the tree again with his glowing hand. I had to shake
my head in disbelief again as it looked like he was reaching into a
brown, vertical pond. Liquid bark rippled along the trunk as he
pushed his hand into it. When his hand emerged again he held a big
hand full of small arrow shafts.

“
Diolalle au
,” he said, which meant
thank you again
. He turned towards us.

I couldn’t help smiling at him. “Yeah, these
will be really useful in battle.”

He glared at me playfully and shoved the
bundle into my chest, making me hold them. “I’m not done yet.” He
turned and I followed him to a large nearby rock embedded in the
forest floor. He got to one knee and rested his gold glowing hand
on it.

My brows dropped. “Why are you asking the
permission of a rock? They aren’t alive.”

“Salynns don’t like taking anything from
nature without its permission. The rock may not be able to answer
me, but the earth can.”

It made sense, sort of. Suddenly Rabryn’s
hand seeped into the rock. He held out his other hand to me and
frantically wiggled his fingers, keeping his eyes on the grey
liquid mass. I began to hand him the bundle of arrows shafts. “One
at a time.”

I took the bundle back and handed him a
single rod. He put the end of the shaft into the liquid stone and
held it there a moment. When he pulled it out, a wickedly sharp
stone arrow tip was attached. I stared in wide-eyed wonder when he
handed it back to me.

“It’s not metal, but it may as well be,”
Rabryn said.

“No kidding,” I mumbled. “I’ve never seen
such sharp edges made of stone before. Not even from the greatest
Salynn stone artisan.”

“Hand me another one, Ortheldo.”

I placed another wooden rod in his hand and,
one by one, they all received stone tips. Rabryn then thanked the
rock and held his hands out to me. I gave him the bundle of arrows.
He tucked them under his left arm with arrow heads pointing out
behind him. He held his right hand over the bare ends and his hand
began to glow gold again. I watched as the gold sparkling light
dripped off of his skin and stuck to the wood, making it glow and
sparkle. There was a small flash of gold light, and when I looked
back at him I couldn’t help being stunned yet again. The arrows now
had white feathers on the ends.

Smiling down at Cairikson, he handed the
arrows over. “Happy Birthday, kiddo. They’re all yours.”

Cairikson smiled and took them. “Thank you,
My Goldian. I’ll treasure them forever.” He placed his fingertips
on his forehead and bowed low at the waist, the Salynn sign of
respect to a Salynn of higher rank. Rabryn returned the bow, then
ruffled the boy’s hair. “Go show Azrel your present.”

The excited boy started running back towards
the road where we left the others. He stopped suddenly and his
bright face turned back to me. “Are you still going to make me a
quiver, Ortheldo?”

I smiled. “Yes I will. With Rabryn’s help it
will be done in no time.” Cairikson took a deep, excited breath
that made his chest puff out a little before he spun away and
continued running.

I looked at Rabryn as we both started walking
back towards the road. “Okay, I could hardly believe my eyes
watching you do that.” Rabryn chuckled. “I didn’t even know Salynns
could
talk
to nature! How is it that you’ve learned how to
do such a complex thing in such a short amount of time? I mean,
Addredoc has only been teaching you for a couple weeks hasn’t he?
How can you be so…so…” I laughed. “So far beyond good I can hardly
believe it’s possible.”

Rabryn laughed with me. “Well see, that’s the
thing. Addredoc, truthfully, hasn’t been teaching me much.”

“Then how can you be so advanced?”

He shrugged. “Addredoc asked the same thing.
When I didn’t have answer for him he asked me about incidences in
the past when I used my magic. I told him everything and he came to
the conclusion that my magic works completely on need, instinct and
emotion…not knowledge. He says it’s unlike that of any Salynn ever
born.”

My brows went up. “Impressive, but how does
he know?”

He shrugged again. “He’s Addredoc.” We both
laughed. “Seriously though, think about all the times I’ve used my
magic—healing Azrel in Oaksher, for example. I didn’t know anything
about my magic then. All I knew was how I would feel if she died
and I couldn’t let that happen, I
wouldn’t
let that happen.
The next thing I knew I was yanking the knife from her back and
putting my hand on her and she was healed. Killing that Shadow
assassin during the Black Storm is another example. I was fearful
for Azrel’s sake.”

“Not to mention pretty pissed off, I’m
sure.”

Rabryn blew out a breath. I saw him shudder
as he tried to shake off the memory. “Yeah, that too.”

“Well what about just now in making
Cairikson’s bow? There was no emotion there. There really was no
instinct.” I paused for a moment, then looked at him and saw him
already smiling slyly at me. I grinned. “But there was a
need.
”

Rabryn nodded. “Cairikson needed a weapon so
he will be able to help in the next battle and we hopefully won’t
have to lose anyone else.”

I nodded in agreement. It was quiet as I
thought about the other few times Rabryn had used his magic and,
sure enough, in each incident there’d been high emotion or great
need, or he’d used it on instinct. Suddenly I thought about how he
used his magic to show me what Azrel’s life had been like in The
Pitt.

I grabbed his arm, stopping him in midstride.
“What happened to Cluna?” A shadow passed over his bright blue
eyes. He pressed his lips together and looked away from me. I
wasn’t sure he was going to answer me, but I had to know. “Did you
kill her, Rabryn?”

He sighed. “It was an accident.”

“What happened?”

He bowed his head and I followed him to a
nearby boulder. Both of us sat down on it. It was quiet before he
took a breath to speak. “As I told you, my mother died the day
after—he paused and blew out a breath—“the day after Azrel was
almost burned alive. With the death of my mother so close to the
attempted murder of my sister, I went a little crazy temporarily.”
He bowed his head. “Azrel was laid up for a while with her feet
bandaged, and both my parents were dead, so there really wasn’t
anyone to stop what I did.” He clasped his hands in front of his
mouth and looked into the woods, staring out at nothing.