Fireborn Champion (43 page)

The alp’s eyes fixed on Iron. He saw the hate, the malice, and the unbridled power sputtering within them. And then, the oblivion that had come for Iron swallowed Caspran instead. The alp went limp and collapsed on Fang. Iron kicked him off his blade and shook the blood dripping form the glowing weapon. “Go back to hell, asshole.”

Fire once crackling around Iron’s arms receded to a few embers. Fang’s glow faded to a dull shimmer. He sheathed it and closed his eyes, spreading his arms to the stars.

In his mind, Iron soared. He soared over the thundersnows and smiled. He exhaled and opened his eyes, turning to the other champions. Batbayar vomited on the sand. Nephele clutched her stomach and turned her back. Kalila closed her eyes and took measured breaths. Sigrid collapsed to the sand in coughing fit. Sander pressed his hands on his knees, his salty hair dripping sweat.
 

“You did it,” Sander finally blurted. “Talk about a fucking miracle. I think I peed a little.”

“We did it.” Iron embraced the man and placed their brows together. “Thank you, Father, for seeing me through this.”

Sander returned the embrace just as tightly. “The circle is sealed, but we’ve only just begun. It will take more than just us to topple Sol.”

“Ayska.” Iron’s strength drained as the last of his fire died. The world swayed. “We need to bury her. We need—”

His words drifted through a tunnel of pain and exhaustion. Darkness drowned him.

* * *

Mist came and went through the void of Iron’s dreamless sleep. He didn’t know how he could see the thin trails of grey in this world without a sun, but he saw them nonetheless. They swept silently by like the long trains of ghosts on their way to a feast. Iron reached out and touched one. Chill droplets beaded on his hand.

“Is this death?” he wondered, walking through the darkness.

For how long he journeyed through that void, he couldn’t say. Perhaps a day passed. Perhaps ten or twenty. Maybe none.

Something glimmered in the black. Iron blinked, quickening his measured pace. “Ayska, is that you? Gods, please tell me it’s you. I—I’ve got so much I want to say, so much—”

Mists parted for him as he passed, and the object melted into view. Ayska did not appear with it.
 

A gold frame carved into interlocking snakes formed a rectangle taller than a titan. The structure held a polished mirror reflecting Iron’s image. Dark circles, bruises, cuts, bloodstains. They camouflaged the reflection he remembered.
 

“I look so much older.” He reached for the glass and pressed his hand against it. “What is this place?”

A once still image shimmered, and a new one came in its wake. A long room supported by mighty arches appeared. Vines of brilliant flowers hung in curling lines clinging onto the marble pillars. Gold braziers dotted with gems cast flickering firelight over the polished floor.
 

In the room’s center, the Mother’s cracked and broken head lay on its side. Atop the statue sat a golden throne, its back fashioned into a serpent’s skull.

A man sat upon that royal seat. Iron leaned closer, and the image shifted.
 

“Who are you?” Iron asked.

The man dropped his chin and pinched his nose. No matter how hard Iron tried, he couldn’t make out the stranger’s features.
 

The king sighed and made a fist with his other hand. “You have lost me my captain,” he said in a voice cold as an old glacier.

Iron’s heart lurched into his throat. He balled his hands into fists, his breath misting on the glass. “You’ve lost me my love. I’d say you got the better end of that deal, Sol.”

The High King laughed, and it rolled like thunder through the mighty room. Movement disturbed the shadows behind the throne. Something enormous stirred there.

“We can’t keep following the Six from Sun to Sun. It’s time to forgive and move on, even if that means our time is done. The hate has to end. And it will end with me.”

Sol clasped his hands between his legs and leaned forward. “You and I are intertwined. I the Serpent, you the man. If you truly want to end this war, you’ll join me. You know this truth. We were one once. There will be no peace until we are one again.”

“You’re not the Serpent yet, just half of him. As long as you don’t have me, you’ll never be complete.”

“And neither will you. Join me, Iron. Be whole again. Can’t you feel that empty pit inside you, begging you for something more?

“I will never join you. Ever. I’m faithful to the Six.”

“You always are each time we dance this little dance of ours. And in the end, you always fail and the Sun falls. I had hoped showing you the truth this time would enlighten you, but you are stubborn as ever. The thing is, Iron, I know you better than you think. I have done things differently this time. You will see. Soon enough, you will know the futility of fighting me, and on that day, you will stand by my side and watch the Third Sun fall like the gods who raised it.”

A massive creature slowly rose above the king’s throne. Its skin glittered like gold flecked with diamond dust. It had a long, graceful neck and a massive head like a python’s studded with gold horns. He’d heard stories of them in Sander’s tales of ages past, but seeing a glittering dragon alive behind the king not only brought the stories to life, it stoked a deeply-seeded terror in his heart. This thing had real power, power unlike his and even unlike the alp.

“You cannot run from me,” Sol said. “You cannot hide from me. The alp have failed me long enough. Now, I come for you.”

“And I’ll be waiting.”

The dragon’s reptilian eyes glimmered like fresh honey as it bared fangs as tall as long spears. The creature spread its enormous wings and roared, and an inferno erupted from its maw, shattering the mirror as Iron tumbled from it.
 

Iron would heal soon. Sander kept telling himself this over and over. Nephele took good care of the kid. A few days had passed since the boy defeated Brother Caspran, and each day Iron looked a little healthier than the last. Sander stood by his side ever since that night, worrying so much, he’d probably look a few years older when Iron finally woke.
 

Eventually, Nephele forced him out of the titan mountain to get some fresh air. He used his Sinner’s magic—gods, it felt good to have that back—to scale the sandstone ledges until he found a nice, quiet ledge overlooking the desert.

 
Sander sighed and tossed a rock over the cliff. He waited a few seconds for the dull thud that echoed up the mountain. Overhead, a field of stars unbroken by any cloud glimmered like a swarm of fireflies. He found the Mother’s constellation and pressed his lips into a line.

“He knows you’re his mother. But I guess that’s no surprise to you, is it?”

Of course the Burning Mother wouldn’t respond. Even if she hadn’t fallen, gods didn’t make a habit of communicating with mere mortals.

“I’m worried about what we did to save him. I never should’ve told the boy who you were. But what else could I do? Dammit, Mara, you’ve put me in a blasted bind, now haven’t you? Why’d you have to fall? Why’d you have to leave me? Are we going to find some other horrible secret in Ker that you’ve kept buried from us?”

A soft breeze tickled his cheeks, but he swatted it away. “
Bah
. I’m old and tired and I fart too much these days. Don’t try and whisper sweet nothings in my ears.”

He clasped his hands and leaned back, propping his head in his locked palms. “You told me the knowledge of who you were would be his undoing. I kept it from him for so long, but gods, Mara, it was breaking him. If I let him know how fucking scared I am about what comes next, why, he’d go screaming back to the Everfrosts and bury himself in the snow. This is all your fault. Girls and gold, that’s all I ever wanted. You gave me a boy and his burden instead.”

For a few minutes, he just stared at the sky and blinked. After awhile, he grinned, flashing his teeth to the stars. “Okay, fine, you’re right. Maybe I did want something a little more exciting. But how in the hells are we supposed to fight this king without an army when the king’s had years to stomp out anyone who’d raise a finger against him? I’m not even going to talk about that dragon of his, if it’s even real. The boy’s got his eyes set on Ker, and so to Ker we’ll go, but this running blindly into foreign lands has my heart palpitating. We should be gathering what’s left of the free people of Urum and looking to Eloia, not tromping through plains and gawking at Chanathan horses.”

Sander puckered his lips, and his eyes narrowed. Then, he leapt from his seat and hopped onto a dead tree, climbing its writhing limbs out over the open.

He stood tall on the outermost branch. Hundreds of feet below him, the ground spread. Above him, the stars shone. Ahead, the horizon waited. “Ah well, I’ll put my faith in you like I always do. I’ve never been to Ker anyway. Maybe it’ll be fun.”

The limb bobbed in a strong wind. He had to trust the boy. He had to trust the Six. The Sinner had saved him so far, after all.
 

Sander pinched his chin and smiled. “They say there’re some good looking women in Ker. I think I’d like to judge for myself. Nephele and I aren’t all that
 

So ends the first chapter of Iron’s journey. If you enjoyed his story, please rate this on Amazon. By doing so, you can help spread him journey to others.

Thank you so much for your time, and if you’d like to sign up for updates on the upcoming books, please visit my website at
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