Embrace the Fire (26 page)

“We'll have to go down and follow the river beneath the trees,” Kinna shouted to Ayden. “Even Chennuh can't see beneath them.”

Ayden frowned, but nodded. “Aye, so be it.” They plunged downward to the rough waters and entered the tunnel of trees. Chennuh splashed into a narrow pocket of water, his talons gripping the boulders that lined the sides of the Silver Rush. The mountains pierced the sky above them, dropping steeply in rocky cliffs to the rushing narrow gorge ahead of them. Trees clung to the vertical walls.

Kinna shivered as Chennuh and Luasa climbed the gorge, their talons scrambling for footholds. They reached the spot where the cliffs closed narrowly over their heads, and Chennuh clawed up the sheer sides of the cliff, his armored wings anchoring on ledges to assist his progress. Kinna clung to his back.

Chennuh leaped from place to place, approaching the tall clifftops beneath the tree cover. When Kinna glanced down, the height made her dizzy. She shut her eyes and buried her face into Chennuh's back.

When Chennuh stopped, Kinna opened her eyes. They stood atop the gorge. Chennuh raised his head, sniffing.

Danger.

“Ayden—”

“I know. Luasa smells it, too.”

“Smells ...
what
, exactly?”

Ayden didn't reply. A sound like liquid silver coated them, flowing through them like the most powerful herbs from the apothecary, sending Kinna into a halcyon of nothingness and ecstasy.

For no reason that she could identify, they needed to head northwest. She pointed in that direction, and the Dragon lurched forward.

Faster, Chennuh. It's taking too long to get there.

A low rumble shook Chennuh's thoughts, but Kinna ignored him. Behind her, Luasa crashed through the woods, spurred on by Ayden's impatient commands.

Chennuh skidded to a stop as the gorge yawned in front of him, nearly tumbling Kinna over his head. The water rushed and foamed hundreds of spans below them. In the opposite cliffside, the dark opening of a cave gaped in the rock face.

The pull from the cave was irresistible. The music that poured across the cliffs nearly vaulted Kinna forward, with or without her Dragon. “Chennuh, in.” For the first time, hesitation slowed Chennuh's movements.

Kinna glanced at Ayden. Luasa had also stopped, and Ayden pointed at the cave, urging the Dragon over the sharp drop. “In,” he commanded.

The Dragons, though hesitant, dragged their feet from the clifftop, their wings beating the air as they flew across the opening into the blackness of the cave.

The music swelled, filling Kinna with thoughts of what she most desired—home, family, safety, happiness, friends, and ... of course, Ayden. She tried to squash that last thought, but she seemed to have lost all control. She turned to him, and he was gazing at her as well.

“Kinna,” he whispered, his voice hoarse and raw. The longing in it was palpable.

“Welcome.” A new voice split the interior, the melody soft and lilting through both syllables.

Kinna whirled, her gaze lighting on a bent shape who huddled on sackcloth inside the cave.

“Who are you?” she asked. She felt warm and comfortable and ... peaceful. She never wanted to leave. She would have to live here.

“My name is Strynn. This is my home.” The woman stood, her head level with her own waist as she bent double and moved forward into the light. The cracks and wrinkles of her face sharply contrasted with the music that moved through her throat.

Naturally. Kinna didn't think to question it. All she knew was that whatever the woman said was the absolute truth. She only needed to listen.

She looked over at Ayden again. He had leaned both elbows on Luasa's neck and was staring dreamily at the woman, pure bliss in his expression.

“Please dismount your Dragons,” the woman said, “and instruct them to leave the way they came. You will stay with me, and they can return to whence they came.”

A tiny frisson of fear needled Kinna's mind, but she pushed it away. She swung her leg over Chennuh's neck and slid down the warm scales to dirt-crusted stone, her boots landing with a soft thud.

“Chennuh, leave,” she instructed.

The Dragon snorted a fireball. It billowed around her, but Kinna shook her head stubbornly. “She says you must go. You and Luasa. Go back the way you've come. I will stay here.”

Ayden also swung down beside his Dragon and approached the bent woman. “You have our protection, madam, if you wish it,” he said with courtly courtesy, bowing.

When he did so, Luasa rammed into his legs, sending him head-first into the woman, who tumbled backward, cracking her head against the stone wall.

The music stuttered to a stop, and cold, crisp air breathed through the cave, erasing the warm, muted feel of what had been, like wisps of ghosts long forgotten.

Kinna felt as if she'd just stood up in winter air from an ice-bath. She gulped in a huge breath, her heart beating wildly.

“Wh—at just happened, Ayden?”

Ayden shook his head, his hands rubbing his temples. “I—I feel like a fool.”

“As do I.” Kinna stared at the woman. “Ayden, she's coming to!”

Ayden tackled the woman, clamping his hand across her lips so that no words could possibly form even if she could produce sound. He looked up at Kinna.

“A Siren.”

“Aye, and a powerful one. She called to us from a long way away.”

“But why? Why did she draw us here?”

“Sirens are destruction to whomever they pull into their web. I've never heard of a good Siren.”

The woman struggled against Ayden's strong grip, her bugging eyes darting.

Kinna stumbled into Chennuh's warm scales, sinking to the ground as she realized the narrow escape they'd just had.

“So ... what do we do with her?” she asked. She glanced at the cave opening. “Want to send her out that way?”

“What, you mean drop her into the gorge?”

The Siren's eyes widened. She renewed her struggles to free herself, but Ayden was like a rock, solid and immovable.

“No,” Kinna shook her head. “But we could send her on the back of one of the Dragons. They don't seem as responsive to her voice as we were.”

“I'm not trusting her with Luasa, or Chennuh either, for that matter.”

“Then what do we do with her?”

Ayden sighed. “Tear off my sleeves.”

Kinna raised an eyebrow. “You're going to destroy yet another tunic?”
Not that I'm complaining.

A blush stained Ayden's cheeks. “
Only
the sleeves, not the rest of it.”

“What for?”

“For binding and gagging her with. She'll be able to make sounds, but she won't be able to move her tongue, and that's where the magic lies.”

“Where's Linc when you need him? I could use his Pixie magic now,” Kinna muttered as she stood and approached Ayden, untangling his sleeve from his wrist. Using her teeth, she started the tear and ripped it clear up to his shoulder. When she pulled the strip free, the rest of Ayden's sleeve hung from his bare arm. She did the same to his other sleeve. Pulling one strip around Ayden's hand that covered the crone's mouth, she yanked the material tightly into the woman's lips as Ayden slid his hand away, holding the Siren still as Kinna swiftly tied the strip behind the woman's gray, frizzy hair. Ayden tied the Siren's wrists tightly behind her back.

“Linc is safely back on shore, most likely wondering where you are by now. Didn't you tell him?”

“I didn't tell him where I was going, but he knows I'm with you.”

“I'm sure he's so comforted by that.”

“He is. If he weren't, he'd have followed me and found me long before now.”

“His tracking skills are pretty impressive.”

“He's a Pixie; of course they're impressive.”

Ayden pulled the Siren back to the wall. “Sit, crone, if you know what's good for you.” He turned, surveying the cave. “Why do you think she drew us here?”

Kinna shrugged, also looking around. The only light came from the entrance. Farther back, there was nothing but a deep, black void. Wafts of cold air blew outward from the darkness. Kinna shivered.

“What do you think is back that way?”

Ayden shook his head. “You're purpose is to find Cedric, right? Let's not linger here.”

“No.” Kinna turned toward Chennuh, preparing to pull herself between his fins again, but Chennuh would have none of it. He lifted his head as far as the cave ceiling allowed, and his great maw opened. A fire ball rolled from his mouth into darkness, highlighting in orange light everything in its path.

Two stone eyes stared at them, huge and round in the cavern wall. A face was sculpted around the eyes, and below it, firm, smooth stone made up the nose and lips.

Kinna leaped back with a shriek.

“Come,” a deep, gravelly voice said. “I have watched you and I have been impressed. Approach.”

As Ayden angled instead toward Luasa, the ground beneath their feet shook. “Do not attempt to leave the Marron Oracle. What I ask, you will obey, is this clear?”

“An Oracle,” Kinna breathed. There was one north of the Rockmonster Dwellings in West Ashwynd, she knew, and one here in Lismaria, but she hadn't been aware of its specific location.

“Come closer, young one.”

Kinna glanced at Ayden.

“He's talking to you,” Ayden whispered. “I'm older than you are.” He held up his hand, and it lit with flames. The light refracted off the stone walls and the Oracle's eyes.

“Yes, you're a regular grandfather.” Kinna squinted at the Oracle. In Ayden's flickering light, Kinna noted the Oracle's rock forelegs and haunches. His face was more human than it had originally appeared. The Oracle spoke again, but his stone lips didn't move.

“Kinna of West Ashwynd, I have a prophecy for you and your brother, and I have had my servant Strynn bring you hither to hear it. Do you wish to know where Cedric Andrachen is?”

Kinna's eyes widened, straining through the faint light. She felt Ayden stiffen beside her. “What—do you mean?”

“Stand before me, Kinna.” The voice was light, nearly playful, but the eyes brooded as they watched her. There was something disturbing about them.

Chennuh's roar shook the cavern, and Luasa spit a fireball past Ayden into the darkness. Ayden wrapped his fingers around Kinna's upper arm. It was the first time he'd touched her in days. Goosebumps swept over Kinna's scalp.

“Don't,” Ayden whispered.

Kinna shook her head. “I have to.”

Ayden stared at her, and Kinna saw the knowledge in his eyes. If once an Oracle uttered a prophecy, there would be no escaping its outcome. Many had searched out the Oracle to hear their fortunes, but were instead treated to unfortunate demises when the Oracle uttered less than pleasant forecasts.

“You
don't
have to,” he whispered. “We can find Cedric on our own.”

“You don't know that.”

Though it pained her to do so, she unpeeled Ayden's hot fingers from her arm and stepped toward the Oracle.

She stopped a span away.

“Which would you have first, Kinna? Your future or your brother's?”

Kinna opened her mouth to say
Cedric's
, but stumbled to a halt before the word even left her throat. An Oracle only ever gave
one
prophecy. One and only one. So the question had to be a test.

She breathed a prayer to the Stars and opened her mouth. “I want only to know of Aarkan the Firebringer's heir.”

A soft chuckle colored the cave. “Very good, Kinna.” The Oracle's deep voice continued. “Then hear this:

The Oracle closed his stone eyes. Kinna glanced at Ayden. He looked grave.

“What does that mean, Aarkan's heir will meet with Fate, and Fate will open up Death's gate?”
Arkaan's heir dies. That's me, or that's Cedric.
Kinna licked her dry lips and waited for the Oracle's answer, but the stone statue was void of life and character.

“An Oracle only gives his prophecy once,” Ayden muttered.

The words of the prophecy burned into Kinna's mind in letters of fire. She kept repeating the phrases over and over to herself, ensuring that she would not forget.

Muffled sounds turned Kinna's attention to the Siren who struggled silently against her strip of linen. Noises issued from her throat, but the magic stayed blessedly at bay.

Kinna twisted her braid around her wrist, thinking.

“Kinna, I think you should go back.”

“Back?”

Ayden nodded as he came forward. He allowed his flaming hand to fade to skin tone, and she could only see his outline, a silhouette in the darkness. He gripped her upper arms, squeezing gently. “You've talked for a while about pulling your people together, staging a coup to pull Sebastian off the throne, building a new creature system where they are not down-trodden or mishandled.”

Silence fell; only a gentle snort from Chennuh broke it.

“It's all a bit silly, isn't it?” Kinna asked, her voice small. “The grand revolution of the girl from the Pixie Glades. The outcast, the misfit. Why would I think they would ever follow me anyway?”

Ayden's hands fell away. He took a step back. “Why would they ever follow you?” Disbelief colored his tone. “Kinna, you are hope. You are inspiration. You're for whom the people and the creatures of West Ashwynd have been waiting for years, you and your brother. You are the change people want to believe in.”

Tears pricked Kinna's eyes. Ayden went on. “After a power-hungry tyrant who has no regard for the lives of those who serve him, you will be the fresh air that sweeps through the stagnant mire of Sebastian's corruption, bringing hope and healing.”