A Dragon Born (13 page)

Boric felt the energy of magic in the air and he turned his head toward a stand of trees just in time to see the ball of energy hurtling toward him. He ducked low, dropping a wing, barely in time and a piece of the blast caught him on his injured shoulder. He roared in pain as the lightning spiked into his arm, sending stabbing pain through his entire body. Boric spun and twisted as he spiraled toward the ground and managed to stop his fall just before the treetops. Instinctively he changed direction as another blast of energy sailed past him, but a third one caught him in the side of his leg, spreading waves of shocking static that stabbed through his entire body like a thousand knives. Unable to move while the energy coursed through him, Boric crashed through the trees, snapping thick branches as he fell.

"Damnable mages," he cursed as he destroyed several large trees and smashed hard into the forest floor.

Aaron felt like he did after a hard day of working his chores or training at swords with Tarnath. Every muscle ached, but he felt stronger for the work and he was glad his headaches did not seem to be bothering him at all. In fact, he could not even feel the little pull of tension that always tugged at the back of his neck, reminding him of the pain that was always only moments away. Something had changed and he could not wait to tell Ariana, but she was still asleep. He could feel her breathing, her body soft against his, laying on the bed next to him. Something was different.

Aaron's mind swam for a moment as he felt so many different sensations at once as the world flooded in on him, the smell of the sea, the creak of old wooden boards, voices and rough laughter from somewhere nearby, a gentle breeze blowing somehow right next to him, calm yet powerful and in the living form of a young woman, her scent familiar yet somehow different than he remembered. He opened his eyes and saw the girl, Ehlena curled up on his shoulder and sleeping peacefully, her hands resting, soft and cool on his arm. He wondered what she was doing here and then he realized that he was not even sure where here might be.

"You're awake," Ehlena said with a sleepy smile as her eyes fluttered open. Aaron noticed there was something different about her voice, something lighter but more powerful, even when it was barely more than a whisper. She curled up closer to him and squeezed his arm. "I'm glad you have returned."

"What happened?" Aaron asked. "Is this the pirate island?"

"Yes, Aaron," Ehlena said quietly, lifting her head too look at him as he sat up. "You are on Meer Island. You are safe here."

Aaron's mind started to clear, but his memory felt strange, as though things were in the wrong order. He looked around the room and did not recognize it but he remembered a storm on the sea and he thought he remembered seeing Tarnath.

"I was on a ship." He was sure of that. "Cerric's soldiers were looking for me. I remember now, that's why Carly was bringing me here. No one would care if I murdered the princess."

"But you didn't," Ehlena said.

"Of course not. It was that mage, Dakar, and Ariana's uncle Cerric."

"I know. It wasn't your fault. It was Cerric, and the influence of the dark god."

Aaron's mind flashed with a faint image of a man lashing out with pure power, burning everything around him. He felt like it was a piece of a memory, that he was the man, a mage, raging with power, but he knew it was not him. How could it have been him? He had learned how to do a few tricks with power, but nothing so powerful as that. Aaron remembered something else. Fire.

"Aaron," Ehlena said, putting a hand on his arm. "Stop thinking so hard. You are safe here."

"You keep saying that," Aaron said, shrugging her hand away and getting up out of the bed.

Ehlena frowned, but she got up as well then poured a cup of water from a jug that was on the small wooden table in the room.

"You must be thirsty. Drink some water."

Aaron took the cup and drained it. Ehlena picked up the jug and refilled his cup. He drank some more.

"Thank you," he said. "How is it that you are here on the pirate island?"

"I came for you," Ehlena told him. "I knew you were in trouble and that you needed my help."

"It's dangerous though," Aaron said. "Cerric's soldiers and those black robed priests, they were looking for me. Dakar stabbed Ariana and pushed her in the river. How did you know where to find me?"

"Aaron," Ehlena put her hand on his chest. "Take a deep breath. It's all right. You're safe here, with me. You have friends here. You were asleep, lost for a time, but you are awake now, and everything will be fine. None of it was your fault. There was nothing you could do."

"I know," Aaron said, feeling frustrated. "I should have protected her. It was my fault they found us. If that man hadn't have recognized me, we would have been safe."

Ehlena was worried. Aaron's memories should have returned, but he was misunderstanding what she was trying to tell him. When she had entered his thoughts to try to coax him back from the repeating dream, she had seen everything that had happened, right from the very beginning and she knew he would soon remember what had happened. There was a light tap at the door and a moment later, Zachary and Carly entered, followed by Stavros.

"Aaron, you're awake!" Carly rushed over to him and gave him a hug, pleased to see him up and about. "I was worried about you."

"Carly," Aaron said with a smile. "I guess we made it to the pirate island. I guess have you and Malek to thank."

"I don't know about that," she said. "If it weren't for you, we might not have survived that lightning storm. The mages tell me that you're very powerful."

"What mages are you talking about?" Aaron asked.

"Oh," Carly realized that he did not know. "This is Zachary, she said, pointing to him. And this is..."

"Tarnath?" Aaron was confused. He knew his uncle was not alive and yet he had just walked into the room. The old man smiled at him with that same old twinkle in his eye that Aaron remembered, but there was something a little bit somber behind his look.

"I am Stavros," he said. "Tarnath was my twin brother."

"Stavros," Aaron said the man's name. "Tarnath never told me he had a brother."

"He wouldn't have. He made an effort not to talk about many of the people in his life before he moved up to that little cottage near Ashford. It was better that way, for both your safety."

"Aaron," the mage named Zachary spoke. "Do you remember anything that happened after you arrived here at Meer Island?"

Aaron stared at the man and, even though he knew he had never met him, he somehow recognized him. He remembered seeing him filled with rage and power, blasting everything around him, trees bursting into splinters and flames exploding from the earth.
Fire
. He took a step back from the man.

"I saw you, destroying things," Aaron said.

"I worried that you might have caught a piece of that memory," Zachary said with a frown. "That is one of my great regrets, one of many moments in my life I am not proud of."

"Who are you and why do I have a piece of your memory?"

"Zachary is your father," Carly told him. "He and Stavros saved you. They removed that ward that was causing you such pain."

Aaron was confused.

"My father? My parents died when I was just..."

Fire.

Aaron remembered coal black eyes staring at him from the shadow.
Fire.
He remembered cold steel over him and the sound of screaming and yelling, the sound of fists pounding on the door. He remembered a woman opening a door, and the eyes turning to her and the steel cutting her. The eyes returned and the steel dripped with blood as the woman cried, pleading. He remembered fire, and he knew that the fire was his own.

"It was me," Aaron said, his voice almost a whisper.

"It was the shadows," Ehlena said. "You were but a babe, in the cradle. You are not to blame, Aaron."

"What's this?" Zachary said.

"It was me," Aaron said again, his voice hoarse from the lump that had appeared in his throat. "I burned them."

"The Lady is right, Aaron," Stavros told him. "It was an accident. I was there."

Aaron remembered the man with the sword, entering the room and fighting the steel from the shadows. The flames were already rising high, burning white hot and consuming the stone and wood of the room, burning away the shadows and everything else. He was afraid.

"You're safe here, Aaron," Ehlena took a step toward him. "Stavros has put a ward on this place. No one can harm you here."

"No one can harm me?" Aaron shook his head. He could feel the power inside him, like a sea of raging fire.

Ehlena took a step back as Aaron's eyes darkened, shifting almost to black, but with a hint of blue and shimmering lights deep within, like the night sky. The goddess within her knew something was different about him, but she had not realized how different until now.

"You are afraid," Aaron said, his voice reverberating deep like thunder. "And so you should be. I killed them, with fire."

"Aaron," Carly said. "Please calm yourself. The mages helped you and Ayra helped you. I have helped you. You are safe here, and we are not afraid."

"No," Aaron said. "You fear me, and you fear yourself. All of you are afraid, of the shadows."

"Aaron, my boy," Stavros said with his familiar voice that was so much like Tarnath's. "Take a deep breath and let go of it. Let go of your power."

"No," Aaron said. "If I don't control it, everything will burn."

"No, Aaron," Zachary said, his attention returning to the situation at hand. "That is a mistake, the first mistake of many a young mage. You cannot force your power. You must guide it."

"Things will burn, people will burn," Aaron said. "You destroyed the earth and the trees, and turned the stone to ash. I saw you. You are a destroyer, like me."

"It is true, I have done such things, for I have power of my own, but you must learn how to control your power properly or it will slip your grasp," Zachary explained.

"It is already slipping my grasp," Aaron told him, with a hint of panic in his voice. He was overwhelmed with the energy that flowed through him. It was so much more than the trickle of magic that he had learned to use, the few tricks that Ariana had taught him. When he thought of her, his thoughts spun into confusion. He remembered her now, her face, smiling at him, then he saw her flesh, burned and charred. Nothing made sense. He knew things but did not know how, he had knowledge he had never learned but everything swirled around and he could not tell what was true.

"Aaron, take a deep breath and just let go," Stavros said. Nothing you do here will harm anyone.

"How can you know this? How can you be sure?"

"It would take a lot more than some mage fire to burn anyone in this room."

"How?" Aaron looked around the room and he somehow sensed power from all of them. Ehlena was like the wind; Stavros a combination of colors; Zachary like him, a river of flame and Carly, who seemed so plain and calm, was like looking over a precipice into darkness, as though something was missing from her being. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me, Aaron," Carly said. "And I'd rather you didn't light things on fire, 'cause I don't really know what Stavros is talking about. These mages and the little goddess here might have such powers, but I have no interest in being roasted by some mage flames."

Aaron shook his head. He could tell that she spoke truth, but her words rang false. He did not know who to believe, what to believe. Why had they lied to him? Why had they tricked him. Ehlena, was just a girl from Aghlar traveling to see her aunt. And now, Carly called her a goddess and Aaron could somehow tell that what she said might be true. Was he blind before? Why would she lie? The mage, Stavros, was familiar but different. He looked like Tarnath, who he claimed was his brother, but something else about him was familiar and Aaron recognized the power that flowed through him. Like a flavor or a scent, it was so much like the feeling of his headaches, and he knew it was the same.

"You put the ward on me," Aaron accused the mage. "Why?"

"To keep you safe, Aaron," Stavros said. "To keep you hidden."

"Hidden from what? Why has everyone been lying to me? What must I hide from, if not myself?"

"The shadows, Aaron," Ehlena said. "They sought to hide you from the one who would harm you, the one who wants your power. The shadows are his."

"I burned the shadows," Aaron said, tears beginning to gather in the corners of his eyes. "I burned them away and I burned everything else. I set them to fire, all of them, everything, everyone."

"It was an accident," Stavros said.

"And if it happens again?" Aaron asked. He looked at Zachary. "You cannot control your power. I saw what you did."

"That only proves that I was weak," Zachary said. "Now quit being a fool, boy. Let go of your magic or I'll show you what real power looks like."

"Zachary, that is not wise," Stavros told him.

"I'm his father, Stavros, and it's time I took some responsibility."

"Zachary," Ehlena said, her voice filled with the power of the goddess. "Do not push him. Too much has been forced upon Aaron, for too long, and without his knowledge. You said it yourself, you cannot force power, you must guide it."

"I don't understand," Aaron said. "I don't understand any of it."

"Then let us explain," Ehlena told him and she stepped toward him. "You cannot harm me, not much, not as you are now. Let go of your power and if it escapes you, we will contain it. No one will be harmed. You are safe here."

She took another step toward him and put her hand gently on his arm. Aaron felt her power touch him and the fire within him became more intense and tongues of flame appeared in the air around him. He flinched. Ehlena removed her hand and turned to Carly.

"Please, Carly," Ehlena said. "I know you might not understand right now, but Aaron needs you to help him again, like you did by bringing him here. Please just touch him."