Embrace the Fire (32 page)

“You're right.” Ayden waded into the water to begin the grisly work, and Kinna helped him, dragging the Ogres from the water. The creatures were heavy and disgusting, their skin thick and gray, except for the blood—which was black—that smeared over their hairy naked haunches and leathery chests. Many of them were missing heads. It was the first thing the Dragons went for, and the last thing that kept the Ogres alive.

Ayden entered the river, wading through, searching out heads, and throwing them onto the shore, black blood swinging in liquid arcs across the stones.

Kinna fought nausea. She clamped her mouth shut and hefted the creatures by their feet until they lay in piles along the back of the cavern. When it was over, she went back to the river and vomited.

Embarrassed and fighting tears, she sat down on the riverbank and wished Ayden had been a million fieldspans away when she'd lost control.

But he wasn't. He was right there, coming toward her. He sat down next to her and pulled his legs up against his chest, hugging them with his arms. “One fight down,” he said at last. “There may be many more before Cedric is returned to us.” He brushed a tendril of her hair from her face and smoothed it behind her ear, trailing fire over her skin. “But you did well. That wasn't an easy battle.”

“An understatement.” Kinna smiled tremulously. “I'm sorry you had to see ... that.” She flushed as she looked away from the river where she'd been sick.

Ayden shrugged and didn't comment.

“Ayden, what will you do once this is all over?”

“This? You mean the war between Lismaria and West Ashwynd?”

“Aye. What plans do you have?”

Ayden didn't answer for a long time. When Kinna had finally decided that he wasn't going to, he pulled in a deep breath and spoke. “I've thought about it, but I haven't made any decisions. What are my skill sets? Dragons and fire, apparently. I suppose I've already done what I do best—serving in the King's Dragon keep, training the creatures, fighting for purses of sceptremarks. But that won't work under your rule, will it?” He glanced sideways at her.

“What do you mean?”

“We've spoken many times about the Dimn system Sebastian has set up. It doesn't work; right now it only perpetuates cruelty. If the Dimn actually achieve
psuche
, it's different—it's an understanding between the creatures that is equal and just and fair and right. But when the Dimn merely beat the beasts into submission, that's not right.”

“No, it's not,” Kinna agreed. “But you're more than a Dragon keeper, Ayden, and I think you know it.”

“What role would you have me play, Kinna?” His voice was measured, but Kinna understood the deeper meaning that underpinned his words.

She retreated, confused, into silence. He nodded, looking away, and again, the awkward silence fell between them that neither accepted nor rejected the other. Kinna sighed.

“What happened here?” Ashleen's voice interrupted their silence as she dropped from the roof onto the floor two spans away. Her black eyes measured the piles of Ogres.

Kinna motioned behind them. “Erlane's Ogres came up the tunnel. I assume they were the first squadron planning to swing around behind Sebastian's army—but it's likely more will be coming.”

Ayden stood. “In which case, we'll either have to fight to hold our position here, or head back up the river to find another hiding place.”

“We can't,” Ashleen said. “Sebastian is even now heading to where he is to meet Lianna. We will be seen if we come out by the lake. And Lianna is coming up the river from ClarenVale.”

“With a contingent?” Ayden asked.

Ashleen shook her head. “Nay. This is the one point where Lianna and her uncle do not see eye-to-eye. He has been set on Cedric as his Dragon-Master since he first heard of his arrival in Sebastian's palace. Any plans Lianna has for a prisoner exchange are done by herself, in secret.”

Kinna brushed her hair back. It had long since come loose from its braid. “That was why she came by herself to Sebastian last night.”

Ashleen nodded. “Most likely. At any rate, we can't move from here until nightfall without being seen. That is to say,” she added as an afterthought, “you two could go. But Ember will be spotted immediately, day or night. He can smother his flaming scales for short time spans, but I don't know if he could hold it for long.”

“That's it, then,” Kinna said, straightening. “If we go, invisibly, near Sebastian's meeting place with Lianna, we can wait there for Ashleen, who will come at just the right time, when Cedric needs her most.”

“Aye.” Ayden nodded. “But what to do about the forces coming up the gorge? Ember and Ashleen will be trapped. Nay, we need to stay here to ward off danger as long as we can. We'll just pray to the Stars that it's soon.”

Kinna walked to the edge of the cave, peering up at the sun, which was now visible through the narrow opening. It had moved overhead, and she judged it to be just past the noon hour. “We still have some hours yet. As soon as dusk comes, we'll make our move. Iolar specifically overheard Sebastian promise to meet Lianna at dusk, and we don't want to risk missing our only chance.”

Ashleen nodded her acquiescence. “I'll scout downstream with Ember. You'll hear my call if I see anything.”

Kinna nodded, her stomach still rolling from the stench of the dead Ogres. “Aye, and you'll hear the same if anything surprises us from this end.”

Ashleen turned for the ledge and edged along it out of sight.

K
inna huddled
as far away from the Ogres as she could get. “Ayden, I'm curious about something.”

Ayden glanced up from where he sat by the bank, rinsing his leg and breeches in the clear, cold water. “You want to know about the bolt and why I didn't bleed to death when I yanked it out.”

“Aye.”

Ayden shook his head. “I don't know, Kinna, I can honestly say that.”

Kinna shook her hair from her face. “What do you mean?”

Ayden shrugged. “Just that. I don't know. All I know is that it has something to do with the power of the Amulet, and that it has affected me ever since I handed it over to Sebastian at the Tournament. How that power works, why it split its powers between Sebastian and me, I don't know.”

Kinna nodded thoughtfully. “I bet Helga could help. Remember last year—”

“Yes, she terrified me last year. Telling me all about the Amulet and how I could break my Ash-Touch curse by giving it to Sebastian. But she never said anything about this fire or any other powers.” He spread his fingers wide, staring at them.

“We should go speak with her as soon as we possibly can.”

“We?” The word was too quick. Both of them jerked away from the rash response.

“I—I mean,
you
could,” Kinna amended, and then wished she'd just left it. That didn't sound good either.

“Yes,
I
could,” Ayden returned heavily.

Kinna trailed her fingertips through the water. “What if—what if the Touches that came with the Amulet...” she trailed off, and then tried again. “Ayden, what if the Touches are controlled by feelings? I mean, look at—”

“Your Grace!” Ashleen's cry ricocheted over the crashing water of the river, and Ember appeared with Ashleen on his back. “Iolar calls for our help; his scout reached me at an open point in the gorge just south of here. He and his Clansmen are under attack, and if they are defeated, our whole plan will fail!”

Kinna scrambled to her feet, not heeding the water as she splashed into it, and met Chennuh midstream. Crawling onto his back, her streaming boots sliding on his scales, she urged him forward as Ayden vaulted onto Luasa. Kinna quickly twisted Chennuh's fin, and they vanished.

The only sign of their exit from the gorge was a loud splash as Chennuh's tail swung into the water. Then they were soaring through the afternoon sky toward Iolar and the Elves, whose cries of distress Kinna could hear, even from her position.

A
yden urged
Luasa forward until he was sure he was even with Kinna and Chennuh in the air, even though he couldn't see them. “Down there,” he pointed, and knew Kinna saw what he referred to.

Iolar had posted his men in a semi-circle around the cavernous area where he had said Sebastian planned to meet Lianna at dusk to exchange Cedric for Lanier and the Amulet. But Nicholas Erlane's scouts had found the Elves' position, and from the air, Ayden could see Direwolves and their Dimn creeping through the dales toward them. Iolar's few hundred were in desperate straights as they formed a large circle, facing outward, their swords drawn and ready. None of them had yet looked toward the sky, not that they would find the Mirages even if they had.

Ayden blessed Ashleen for staying behind. She would have endangered the plan if she had been seen in the skies above Sebastian's chosen spot, and if she could still be tracked, she posed even more risk. Still, she was essential to Cedric's escape, and worry nudged him as he considered the next course of action.

“I'm going down,” Kinna yelled through the whipping air.

“Not without me!”

“Yes! You head to the south, I'll go to the north! It's the only way, Ayden. We have to defend them from both sides!”

With a muttered curse, Ayden guided Luasa toward the southern portion of the circle of Elves where they huddled, facing the advancing Direwolves. The monstrous creatures were easily as tall at the withers as an Elf, and their hackles were raised, their jowls bared, slaver dripping from their sharp fangs.

Short snarls punctuated the silence as Luasa circled. Ayden watched for his chance. Suddenly, Luasa folded her wings and dropped like a rock, snapping the membranes open only spans from the ground, landing with a crash on top of the nearest wolves.

The Elves cried out in confusion, and Luasa snapped into visibility again when Ayden touched her fin. He leaped free of her, and she displayed the insanity of her wild nature as she tore into the wolves, biting and snapping, hurling blasts of flame that sent Direwolves yipping, squealing, and rolling until they found their feet and escaped with high-pitched howls. Their Dimn issued outraged cries, leaping forward with swords drawn, entering the fray. The rocky landscape was a writhing, roiling mass of snarling creatures and humans.

Ayden drew his sword and leaped into the midst of the attack, supported by the Elves who fought with a vengeance.

The Direwolves launched themselves at Luasa, but their sharp teeth slid ineffectively from her slippery scales. Only her sensitive muzzle was vulnerable, but she kept a roll of fire so steady that no wolf or Dimn could get close. Her powerful tail swished back and forth, sweeping aside Direwolves, Dimn, and the occasional Elf that got too close.

Ayden spotted Iolar in the midst of enormous Direwolves, swinging his sword and wielding his bow and quiver at the same time. The Elf moved as if he were liquid silver, flashing so quickly, he hardly had time to register movement in his sight.

Direwolves fell to his right and left, but more kept coming. Over the valley they swept, but Luasa and Chennuh kept them at bay.

Then the Direwolves were replaced with Goblins. Ayden looked around; he was sure Sebastian or Nicholas Erlane would have focused on this pocket of fighting, but the castle was not visible from this area, and the main fighting was happening beyond them, out of sight. The Elves wore no colors so their opponents could not be sure to which army they belonged.

Ayden dashed among the Goblins. They were easier to fight than the Direwolves; though they relied on swords and spears and teeth, they were slower and clumsier than the Direwolves, and Ayden buried his sword to the hilt in many of them.

He checked over his shoulder for Kinna's bright red hair. He couldn't see her, but swaths of fire cut the air, barreling across the Goblins. At one point, a Goblin swung his sword when Chennuh had evidently swept low over the company, and the sword clashed with the Dragon scales, refracting both Chennuh and Kinna into visibility once more. Kinna didn't pause to touch the fin again. She wielded a sword and swung it to one side and the other. Concentration tightened her jaw, and pain, too.

She, the symbol of hope for a nation of creatures, was forced to kill some for the sake of others. When a King urged his Dimn to subjugate his creatures with vile forms of torture, this was the end result.

Ayden thrust his sword with extra vim through a Goblin and whirled to hack at another one approaching from behind.

A sharp, high cry from Luasa pierced his thoughts, and he jerked his head in her direction. Two goblins had gained her back, and while one hacked at her wing, having little success against her armor, the other climbed her twisting, writhing neck, and brought his sword point-down into her soft snout.

She screamed and flailed. The Goblin flew from her head, but his sword remained impaled in her muzzle.

“Luasa!” Ayden charged toward her. He was nearly there when a wave of Goblins rolled over Luasa with their swords and shields, stabbing and hacking, aiming especially for her head where she was the most vulnerable.

“No!” Ayden yelled, feeling helpless and ineffective.

Then he reached them, fighting with the fury of a tornado, whirling and slashing at each Goblin. Several Elves ran to Ayden, swinging their own swords and firing arrows into the midst of the warty, dark creatures.

The furor subsided as Ayden dispatched the last few Goblins from the Dragon's neck and looked around, realizing that the Elves and the Dragons had all but contained the Goblins.

“How many more?” Ayden murmured as he searched the ridges for any more incoming hordes.

He turned to Luasa. His Dragon lay, inert and still, her sides heaving, her scales slitted and hacked, her plated wings slashed, blood running in slick rivulets over mirrored scales.

“No,” Ayden's voice broke as he knelt next to his Dragon. Wisping, pain-filled rumbles issued from her throat, and smoke hissed from her mouth in short, sharp bursts. Tears blurred Ayden's gaze; he touched the destroyed snout where a sword still protruded.

Luasa's smoky iris gazed up at him. She blinked once and then closed her eye, groaning deep inside.

“No,” Ayden cried again, wrapping his arms around her bloody scales and burying his head in the crook where her jawline met her neck. “Luasa, no.”

He heard another Dragon's snort of alarm. Chennuh was charging toward them. Kinna was crying, her panicked face white and scared where she rode on Chennuh's neck. Chennuh released a stream of fire into the sky. He slowed as he reached Luasa, his snout nosing hers, high anxious noises issuing from his throat as he tried to rouse her.

Her every breath seemed labored and harsh.

Kinna slid from Chennuh's back, hurrying to Ayden's side, her hands gently touching Luasa's jaw, fingering the shattered scales. Luasa didn't even react.

“We're losing her,” Ayden cried.

“No!” Kinna shook her head. “We can't. Because if she goes, you go, too. You've achieved
psuche
.”

Dread circled in Ayden's stomach. She was right. A creature and its Dimn, if they'd achieved
psuche
, could not live without the other. The connection was too intense, too close, to continue on one's own.

Luasa was as much a part of him as he was of her, and if one of them was pulled from the other, like the slow drain of a bath, his life would flow from him as well.

“Ayden,” Kinna pulled her hand back. “Can you heal her?”

Ayden jerked his head up, staring at her. “I—haven't tried.”

“Well, try!” Kinna snapped, motioning at the sword in the snout. “If it works on humans, maybe it'll work on Dragons, too? Particularly if you have
psuche
with her?”

Ayden scrambled forward on his hands and knees, leaning over Luasa, calling the fire to his hands. They didn't obey.

Panic flooded Ayden's mind as he glanced desperately at his palms. “Not now, please. Please work!”

No flames appeared. He slammed his hands against the unscaled portion of Luasa's snout, wrapping them around the base of the sword where it was buried in her hide. There were no flames. No heat flooded his fingertips.

But—

A sensation crept into his palms, one that he hadn't felt in four months, since the moment he'd handed the Amulet to Sebastian.

Death, decay, and ash flooded his senses.

“Kinna!” Ayden gasped, weakness and horror washing through him.

Kinna, misunderstanding his cry, pushed Chennuh's snout out of the way. The Dragon protested, but allowed her space. She grasped the hilt of the sword, and with a sharp pull, released it from its Dragon-flesh prison.

Ayden clamped his hands over the wound, and the ash, the death that he'd thought himself free of forever, flickered across the thick flesh, darkening the mirrored scales as it worked its way up and over Luasa's head, down her neck, along her body to the wings, and then to the tail—the very end of it.

Her breathing eased, and for a long, silent moment, Ayden was sure he'd lost her, that he'd somehow finished her off. Ayden, the misfit, the one who could never do anything right, had killed his own Dragon, and then himself in the process. Turning everything to ash, as ever.

And then Luasa opened her eyes, struggling to raise her head. Ayden let go of her snout, checking the wound. It had completely sealed shut. The other slashes in her scales had also healed, and even though the scales still gaped at those places, the hide beneath no longer bled. As Ayden watched, the scales began regenerating over the scarred flesh. Luasa rolled, shaking herself as she slowly got to her feet. She nosed Chennuh, who nipped her gently, swinging his huge head over her neck, crowding close to her.

Ayden sagged against a boulder, staring at his hands. Ash-Touch had returned, but with it, some portion of control. He'd never been able to control it before, but as he gazed at his fingers, he felt the Touch ebb as he tugged it away from his flesh.

He couldn't help it; he bent double and cried into his hands. He didn't know how to process all that had happened.

Ash had always been his enemy, his curse, but it had saved Luasa's life. It had restored a dream to him that he'd once thought he could never have because of his curse.

He swiped away the tears and glanced at Kinna where she stood with her hand over her heart, the residue of wide-eyed panic still on her face. Emotion crashed through Ayden.

Kinna ran to Ayden and threw her arms around his neck. “I was so afraid we were going to lose you and Luasa,” she cried into his skin.

Ayden pulled her closer, burying his head in her hair. “I know, I was afraid she was gone, too. I'm not ready to leave you, Kinna.”

“I know,” she sniffed, and then she was kissing him again, despite what they'd decided the night before, and Ayden knew why. Their hearts had already decided, and though fear held Kinna in its firm grip, love had proven more powerful. It only made the road they could walk more difficult.

Difficult, but not impossible. She would hate herself if her father were killed because she had given in to a moment of passion. He closed his eyes, enjoyed one more lingering second of her soft lips on his, and then gently broke the kiss. He didn't say anything, and the pain in her eyes was too much for him. He turned away, smoothing his hand over Luasa's scales, allowing her to arch her neck around him and nip him gently on the shoulder. Sympathetic noises issued from her throat—she could feel his inner turmoil—even as Chennuh felt Kinna's and tried to comfort her.

It would have been amusing if it weren't so frustratingly heart-breaking, watching the two Dragons try to comfort their own separate Dimn. It was a challenging situation; Chennuh and Luasa were mates, one in their bodies and minds, and yet their Dimn could never be that way, not ever, and the obstruction was a difficult one to get around.

Iolar approached from the side, bowing before Kinna. “Your Grace,” he said, “your assistance was invaluable, you and your Dragons.” He nodded to Ayden as well. “Without your help, I fear we would have been lost, and your plan could not succeed. As it is, I believe we will be able to proceed.”

“Good,” Kinna nodded, shaking her hair over her shoulder and peeling her eyes from Ayden's. “How many have you lost?”

A shadow crossed Iolar's face. “Several, Your Grace, at least forty-three, though the count is not fully complete. But it was not a complete rout, and we are thankful to you for that.”

Kinna shook her head. “It was your courage and swift reaction that saved you all. We didn't do much.” She glanced at the darkening sky. “We can't relax yet, though, Iolar. The sun sets, and we are still vulnerable if we stay here. I want you and your men to retreat down to the lake and hide yourselves in the woods. I want you all to have a clear view of Sebastian's meeting place with Lianna, but keep yourselves hidden. Be prepared to leap into action; Sebastian is not known for keeping his promises. I have a feeling he will be accompanied by more men than it will appear at first sight.”

“Aye, Your Grace.” Iolar strode away, motioning to his banner Elf to raise the signal for them to convene.

Ayden absently patted Luasa. “You handled that well, Kinna. All goes to plan then?”

“All goes to plan,” she murmured, meeting his gaze.

And Ayden again saw the Queen she would become. Despite Kinna's insecurities, she embodied the hope of a life without oppression or slavery, the hope of creatures and Dimn alike. His own hope. He, too, had lived too long under Sebastian's Dimn system—which may have been originally designed to organize a chaotic living environment crowded with many different types of creatures, some of whom were quite dangerous if not treated with proper caution—but it had turned into mistreatment and mismanagement. It made Ayden angry, deeply angry, to see the power that Sebastian wielded and used for himself. He had the ability to use his position for so much good, and he refused. A waste, a complete waste, of talent and ambition, subverted by hatred, greed, and envy.

Kinna would be different.

A
yden launched
himself into the sky on Luasa's back, melding his mind with hers, putting his own tortuous thoughts behind him. As he gained altitude, he could see over the ridge, catching sight of ClarenVale. Dusk had fallen across the castle, bathing it in gloom. The war cries from Sebastian's army had faded as his forces had withdrawn for the night, seeking the shelters of their tents as they waited for morning and light again.