The Blaze Ignites (34 page)

“Addredoc, ” Azrel said firmly but softly and
cupped my face in her hands. I looked into her intense blue eyes
and my feelings for her stirred inside like a whirlwind in my soul.
It was the unavoidable penance for being the White Warrior’s
protector. “Those were
not
your parents.” She paused and
suddenly her eyes widened with terror. She slowly leaned away from
me. “Hathum must have paid you a visit.”

I shook my head and wiped my face again to be
sure no more tears leaked out. “He can’t.”

“He…he’s closer than I thought!”

I looked up at her, a little confused.
“Azrel, it’s impossible for him to invade my mind.”

Her brows dropped in confusion, “How’s
that?”

I looked back at Reese. He looked confused
for a moment, then shrugged. “She didn’t know what the Deralilya
was until I told her in Rocksheloc. She must not know how her team
is protected either.” Then he smiled wolfishly. “I’ll let
you
tell her.”

I looked back at Azrel’s gorgeous face. Her
clear blue eyes burned with curiosity. Suddenly feeling extremely
self-conscious, I cowered away from her. I didn’t want to tell her
this. I didn’t know how she would react.

“Addredoc?” Azrel asked.

I looked to Reese again for support, but he
only looked at me with teasing mischief in his eyes. “Go on. Tell
her, Addredoc.”

I grimaced before facing Azrel again. She was
waiting. Maybe I could tell her without actually telling her.
“Well, you see”—I had to look away from those penetrating eyes of
hers for a moment in order to think clearly—“your protectors have a
magical and extremely powerful shield around their minds. It was
created by the Light Gods way back in your father’s time. The Light
Gods knew the Shadow Gods had gifted Hathum with mind corruption
magic. So they understood that the White Warrior’s own protectors
could pose a danger to him, if those protectors were susceptible to
such magic.

“So as long as certain requirements are met,
this shield is absolutely impenetrable by Hathum’s magic. It’s this
shield, and this shield alone, that allows us to be your
protectors. The Deralilya is not only an extremely gifted and
ruthless warrior and protector, but he or she also has the ability
to detect ‘cracks,’ if you will, in any protector’s shield. The
Deralilya will either dispatch or dismiss the protector, depending
on the severity of the crack.”

Azrel looked at me with intense interest.
“Well, what causes a crack?” I thanked the Light Gods she didn’t
ask what the requirements were to
receive
the shield.

“Any evil notions that a protector acts
upon,” I replied. “Things like revenge, hatred, and so on. We are
allowed to
think
thoughts like that; we can think pretty
much whatever we want without fear of causing a crack, but the
moment we act upon those thoughts, there is a break in the shield,
and Hathum can get in our minds.

“The only thoughts we
can’t
have, that
do not require action, are doubts about Goodness. The moment we
question whether Goodness is the path for us, or is worthwhile—the
moment we think
anything
negative about Goodness—the shield
will crack severely, allowing Hathum in with barely any effort on
his part.”

Azrel scratched her head with interest. “And
what makes this shield of yours come about?”

I heard Reese snicker behind me. I pressed my
lips together and looked back at him helplessly. All he did was
shake his head to tell me he would not be taking this burden from
me. I so wished he would—he was better with women than I was.

As I looked back at Azrel, I summoned all the
courage I possibly could in order to utter one word. Even then my
voice trembled. “Love.”

“Love? What do you mean love?”

I sighed softly in frustration and bowed my
head. That’s it. I was done explaining. I didn’t have the guts to
say more.

“What he means,” Reese said, coming to my
rescue finally, “is we have to have such unconditional love for
you, the Warrior of Goodness, that we have to be willing to die for
the pure sake of that love.”

Azrel stayed silent for a while, her eyebrows
moving up and down in increments of confusion and disbelief. “Wait,
so”—her brows went up—“all of my protectors are”—brows down—“in
lo…” She made a choking sound at the word, then cleared her throat.
“They are in love with me?”

“You”—a new voice piped in from behind me,
one that made my skin crawl—“or the White Warrior.”

I glared over my shoulder at Lisswilla, who
stood behind Reese. I hadn’t even heard him get up. “Way to butt
into the conversation.”

Lisswilla’s dark green eyes turned on me and
slightly narrowed. “The White Warrior asked a question and I have a
right to answer it.”

“Reese could have answered it just as well as
you could have. If you would have given him half a second, he
would have.
Now run along back to your little bed roll and
let the adults talk.”

“I swear Addredoc, you better stop ta…”

“Enough!” Azrel finally said. “My Light Gods!
You two are like little children!”

“Or husband and wife,” Reese muttered.

“I don’t know what beef you two have
accumulated in these ‘other world’ meetings of yours, but leave it
there. I don’t know what goes on there, so I’d rather be spared the
effects of it while you’re here, alright?” Both Lisswilla and I
sighed and looked back at Azrel. She massaged her temples for a
moment before looking back at us with a hand on her forehead. After
a long moment of staring at each of us in turn, she put her hand
down and sighed. “What about Acalith? Is she in love with me
too?”

“No,” all three of us answered. Lisswilla and
I glared at each other again.

Azrel sighed. “Am I going to have to make you
kids take turns answering my questions?” All three of us chuckled.
Azrel smiled. “So Acalith is not in love with me. How is she
protected, then?”

I looked back at the other two. Both nodded
to give me leave to answer. I turned back to Azrel. “She’s not.”
Azrel’s eyes went wide. “That’s why she’s stayed away from you for
the majority of this journey. She’s not protected until you
officially name her the Deralilya and give her a steel weapon. Then
the power of Goodness itself,
your
power, will envelop her
and protect her. Then
you
personally will know if Hathum
gets to her. Just as Acalith senses flaws in our shields, you will
sense flaws in hers and be able to dispatch her or dismiss her as
you see fit.”

Azrel rubbed a hand over her mouth and looked
away in thought. “How interesting.” She looked back at me. “I’m
assuming my brother’s love is just that, brotherly love.”

“Yes.”

She nodded and looked away again, this time
towards the camp. I saw her eyes rest on Ortheldo, asleep in his
bed roll. Her eyes flew wide and she looked back at me.
“Ortheldo?”

I nodded.

“Ortheldo is in love with me?” She asked in
disbelief.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
Everyone, except for her, knew that he was.

“Yes,” Lisswilla piped in. “Otherwise we
probably would have had to kill him by now.”

I clenched my teeth as Azrel looked at him.
“You would have killed him if he didn’t love me?”

“No,” I said quickly. I shot Lisswilla a
dangerous glare to silence him. “We’d just have to keep him very
far away from you because it wouldn’t be safe to have someone that
close to you who was not protected by the shield.”

Azrel visibly relaxed. “And Rabryn’s
brotherly love is enough to keep him safe?”

I almost snorted in disbelief that she was
even asking. All of us knew that Rabryn was the most powerfully
protected of all of us. The love these two siblings had was a bond
to be envied. “Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes,” Reese chuckled, knowing how powerful
Rabryn’s shield was. “He’s the very reason your father se…OW!”

His cry made me spin around. Lisswilla was
holding a fistful of his hair so tight to his scalp that Reese was
forced to look up into Lisswilla’s eyes. “Mind what you reveal,”
Lisswilla growled down at him.

I was fast on my feet with a ball of red fire
roaring in my palm. “Let him go, or I’ll be only
too
happy
to sever your arm from your body.”

“He needs to watch it! Even
you
know
that, Salynn!” He spat the word “Salynn,” which only made my blood
burn hotter.

Azrel was suddenly on her feet, the tip of
her sword so firmly against Lisswilla’s throat that I saw him stop
breathing. “Don’t you ever interrupt someone again when they have
something to tell me about my father.
Ever!
” Lisswilla
didn’t have room to nod, or the air to reply. His eyes must have
delivered an apology though, because Azrel’s sword came down. She
squatted down in front of Reese. “What were you going to say?”

“I uh…” Reese tried to begin, shrinking under
her intense gaze. “I’m actually not supposed to tell you.”

Azrel’s sword dropped to the ground. She
gathered the front of Reese’s tunic in both fists, yanking him
towards her. “What does my father have to do with Rabryn’s shield?
Why does my father have
anything
to do with my brother?”

Reese’s eyes were wide with panic. “The
Deralilya said—”

“I outrank her!” Azrel screamed, jerking
Reese again so their noses nearly touched. Now the whole camp was
stirring.

Reese swallowed. I saw his inner turmoil as
he tried to think of a way to avoid telling her, but there was no
way to avoid it now. He sighed in defeat. “Your father told Beldorn
he wanted you to go to The Pitt.”

I started to relax, hoping she would leave it
at that.

“My father told me
himself
that he
wanted me to go to The Pitt! What does that have to do with
Rabryn’s shield?”

My heart was pounding. She wasn’t going to
let it go.

“Azrel?” Rabryn said carefully as he stepped
slowly from his bed roll towards us. “What’s wrong?”

“Reese, what happened? What’s going on?”
Acalith piped in, stepping forward.

Reese’s eyes never left Azrel’s. He sighed in
full defeat. “Your father wanted you sent to your brother because
he knew how powerful a protector Rabryn would be.” He paused for a
moment and Azrel had to jerk him again by his tunic, her teeth
looking clenched hard enough to shatter. Reese swallowed heavily.
“Because he knew how strong Rabryn’s love for you would be when he
watched you endure inhuman cruelties and abuse at the hands of The
Pitt.”

“Reese!” Acalith roared.

“Azrel…” Ortheldo tried to begin, but found
no words.

Rabryn just looked at his sister in wide-eyed
horror.

Azrel’s face went completely slack, as did
her grip of Reese’s tunic. Reese backed away from her as she stared
into nothingness with the same expression of horror Rabryn had on
his face.

Ortheldo rushed forward to comfort her, but
Azrel jumped to her feet too fast. “Don’t!” she cried. She started
shaking. “Don’t…” Her wide eyes stayed on the ground, her arms
stiff, as she slowly backed away from us. “Don’t…” She slowly shook
her head. Her arms started trembling so violently it looked like
she was rattling a package to try to hear what might be inside.
“Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t,” she was saying.

Suddenly her eyes rolled back and her entire
body went limp. Ortheldo, who was closest, dove in to catch her
before she smashed her head into the ground.

Suddenly everyone was talking and yelling and
moving at once.

“What happened?!”

“Next time shut up when I tell you to!”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“What does that mean? Her most powerful
protector?”

“Azrel? Azrel!”

“Is she okay?”

“Was she sent to The Pitt because of me?”

“What did you tell her while I slept?”

“I thought she knew about all of it!”

Before I realized it, a ball of wizard fire
was in my palm. With a growl I threw it down at the ground. It
exploded in red, making everyone cry out and throw their arms over
their eyes. When it cleared, they all looked at me. “Could we focus
on Azrel instead of each other’s throats, please?”

“Focus on what? Her sleeping?” Acalith spat,
and then took a step towards me. “I need to know what in the Nine
Hells of the Shadow Gods Lair
happened!
”

Reese bravely stepped forward. “It was my
fault Lady Acalith. I—”

“Was I speaking to you?” Acalith said coldly,
looking at him with a narrow glare. Reese shrunk back. “When I
speak to you, you’re going to know it. Was I speaking to you?”

“No,” Reese said in a small voice.

Acalith looked back at me and waited without
another word.

I sighed. “Azrel asked how her protectors
were protected from Hathum’s magic, so I explained about the
shields and how they came about. She became concerned about
Rabryn’s shield and asked if brotherly love was strong enough to
protect him. Reese and I kind of laughed about it because we know
how flawlessly protected Rabryn is.” I sighed and looked at Reese
apologetically. “Reese started to tell Azrel that Rabryn’s flawless
protection was the reason her father sent her to The Pitt.”

“What?” Rabryn asked confused. “What are you
talking about? Azrel’s father couldn’t have sent her to The Pitt
because of me! He didn’t even know I existed!”

“Beldorn did,” Ortheldo chimed in.

“But…” Rabryn was grasping at straws,
desperately trying to find an excuse that he could accept for
Azrel’s torture at The Pitt that didn’t involve him. “Her father
and Beldorn only met once! Maybe Beldorn mentioned my existence
then, but how could her father know that if I saw my sister
tortured on a daily basis I would become…whatever you said, her
most flawless protector. What does that even
mean?
”