Flicker of the Flame: A YA Epic Fantasy

by Evelyn Puerto

  Tereka rubbed her eyes. No. She couldn’t be seeing this. Whatever curses Relio had flung at the guards, she was in full agreement.

  The pirate leader pointed up the slope in Tereka’s direction. He shouted a command. His men formed their line and advanced up the slope, swords and bows at the ready.

  “They sold us out.” Poales dropped to his knees. Tereka’s breath caught in her throat. She didn’t want to die like this. She glanced up the hill behind her, looking for a more defensible place. Some kind of fortified tower sat fifty yards or so higher up the slope. Maybe if she and some others could get there, they could hold off the pirates.

  She surveyed the field below. They’d been fools to volunteer. They were all weak from heavy labor and bad food. Other than Poales and perhaps a few others, they didn’t know how to use swords. They’d been sent to battle well-fed and seasoned fighters. There was no hope of victory.

  Shouts from below drew her attention back to the battle. A group of pirates had charged a clump of prisoners, mowing them down like hay before sickles. Eleven of the prisoners turned and fled up the hill.

  “Over here, this way!” Tereka jumped from behind the wall and yelled. She ran up the hill, vaulting the lower portions of the stone walls where they’d fallen into disarray. Between the walls, grass and scrub weed grew over what looked like paving stones.

  Gasping, she tore along one of the ruined roads to the tower. A stitch in her side pierced her with every breath. The prisoners ran after her. She led them higher up the hill, jumping piles of stone that had once been parts of walls. Pressing a hand on the pain in her side, Tereka staggered to the tower, closely followed by the others. They ran in and up the steps to the first landing. “Quick.” She hefted a large rock to the landing. “Pile up stones so they can’t follow us.”

  Working frantically, she pulled stones from the crumbling walls to make a blockade across the stairwell. Poales and Naco pulled a beam from a side wall. They added it to their barrier. The grunts of the others, the crash of rock, and her own pounding heart blocked out all other sound.

  When they had closed the opening, Tereka stood back, panting. She frowned. Something wasn’t right.

  Savinnia wiped her forehead. “Will that hold them— ”

  Tereka held up a hand. “Wait. Listen.”

  Naco frowned. “I don’t hear anything.”

  “That’s exactly the problem.” Tereka’s hands shook. She climbed higher up the stairs, the others trailing behind her. She climbed more than seventy steps before she reached the top. She moved out onto the balcony. When the others joined her she grabbed Savinnia’s hand. The bodies of the other prisoners lay scattered like lifeless dolls. As far as Tereka could tell, she and the others in the tower were the only survivors. The pirates stalked around the field, like jungle cats seeking their prey, stabbing any of the prisoners who were still moving.

  A touch on her arm jolted her. “Look.” Naco pointed. It took her a moment, then she realized what she was looking at. The guardsmen were still seated on their horses, watching the pirates kill the remaining prisoners. Tereka turned to the others. Their horrified, wide-eyed expressions reflected what she felt. She tried to form words. None would come.

  Relio spoke for her. “We’ve been had. Not sure how, but we’ve been had.”

  “Why? Why would they do this?” Tereka asked.

  “Dunno. And right now, don’t care. Twenty of us, trapped like mice with a hundred hungry cats trying to get in. Got any ideas?”

  48

  Tereka stared at the approaching pirates, hands hanging limp at her sides. Her mouth went dry and her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes darted from the advancing enemies to the pile of rubble below her. She pressed a hand to her mouth. It wouldn’t take them long to break through. “Our only chance is to kill them before they get in,” she said.

  “Without bows?” Relio spit out a curse.

  “We have bricks. And stones. Quick. Gather as many as you can, break up some of the rubble.”

  Relio frowned, then nodded. “Hey! What are you duraki standing around for? You heard her.” He ran to the crumbling wall of the tower and tugged at the top brick. It fell with a crash, breaking into two large chunks. Tereka swooped in and carried them to a spot near the parapet. She dropped them and ran back to collect more.

  Soon all twenty of them were working feverishly. Tereka paused to wipe the sweat from her face and glanced down at the field. The pirates had massed together and slowly advanced up the hill. They didn’t seem to be hurrying. She nibbled on her lip. Of course, they’re taking their time. They think they have us trapped. “Who’s got good aim?”

  Poales and a man with massive shoulders—Murlat, she thought his name was— spoke up.

  “Good.” Tereka rubbed a hand on her forehead. The throbbing didn’t ease. If only she didn’t keep seeing spots. She blinked a few times. “Get a few of the others. Throw stones as the pirates get closer.” She turned to Relio and Sebezh. “You drop big rocks on the heads of anyone who gets close to the barricade. The rest of us will gather more.”

  “Yes, chief,” Relio said. He rolled his eyes.

  “I thought you asked for ideas.”

  He grinned. “You’re doing fine, girly.”

  Savinnia plucked at Tereka’s sleeve. “What if we run out of stones?”

  “We have to kill them all before then. Now go!”

  Poales hurled a rock. It flew square in the face of one of the pirates. Murlat’s toss wasn’t as accurate, but close enough to slow down the pirate he was aiming for. Tereka let out a sigh. Neither of them had idly boasted. She ran to the opposite side of the tower.

  The others had managed to pull down most of a wall. Its bricks lay scattered about like fallen soldiers. She hefted two and ran back to drop them on a pile near Poales and Murlat.

  Half an hour later, Tereka leaned against a wall panting, soaked with sweat, her hands scraped and sore, mud forming where her blood and sweat mingled with the dirt. Poales and Murlat were grunting, sweat soaking their worn tunics. Their aim was deteriorating. Everyone moved slowly. All they’d managed to do was keep their foes at a distance. Barely.

  The pirates edged closer. Every so often they’d loose an arrow. It wouldn’t be long before their shots reached the top of the tower. The guardsmen stood motionless in the distance, observing the battle as silently as if they were stones.

  Naco touched her shoulder and pointed at the guards. “They’re waiting to see who wins.”

  “And then what?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

  Relio joined them. “If it’s the pirates, they’ll send them on their way. Mission accomplished. They killed off the prisoners who most want freedom. The ones most likely to stage a revolt.”

  Tereka stared at him, her eyes wide. “Of course. That’s why they promised us freedom. Just to see who was willing to die for it.”

  “Right you are, girly.” Relio spat. “Now if we win, then the guardsmen are heroes for getting rid of the pirate scourge. What they’ll do with us, that’s the question.”

  A cold fist grabbed Tereka’s insides and twisted. Would they have defeated the pirates, only to be rewarded with execution? Heat rose in her face. The prisoners were taken for endangering safety and fairness, yet the guardsmen ignored any sense of fairness for them. She shoved her thoughts aside. If only they had bows. She felt a sudden warmth in her side. For a heartbeat, she thought a pirate’s arrow had struck her. Then she remembered. That was where her amulets were hidden. She put a hand over them. Sky-god, will you help?

  She wasn’t sure what she expected in response. But it wasn’t tingling in her feet. And the urge to walk down the stairs to the first landing above their barricade. With no other ideas, she obeyed the impulse. Once at the bottom, she surveyed the walls. Her right hand lifted as if pulled by an invisible string. She ran her hand over the stones of the wall near the third step from the bottom. One stone shifted. Holding her breath, Tereka pushed it until it fell
inward. She peered inside. The opening was filled with a soft purple light.

  She reached in and grasped the source of the light. Her hand shook as she stared at the amulet in her hand, twin to the larger one she had, a dragonfly with three purple stones in its tail. She took a deep breath. Her heart hammered in her ears. A second amulet of power, one of the three that supposedly find the Desired One when they’re needed most.

  Gripping the amulet in her fist, she held it to her chest. No. She couldn’t be the Desired One. She was no leader. She wasn’t worthy to be a leader. She didn’t want to be the One. Her pulse throbbed in her ears and she leaned against the wall. The amulet’s purple light gleamed through her fingers. She sighed and hung her head. Maybe she couldn’t fight it. If this was her destiny, then the sky-god had to help her. She didn’t know what to ask, except for aid.

  The amulet jerked her hand away from her chest. She allowed it to lead her to the back wall of the tower. She laid her other hand on the weatherbeaten stones, her eyebrows pulled together and her mouth hanging open. She pressed the stone and her eyebrows raised as the wall moved inward, grinding the floor. She peeked her head around it and gasped. This can’t be possible.

  Tereka shoved her way in and stared. The hidden chamber’s walls were hung with weapons. Swords and shields lined one wall, softly gleaming in the dim light, reflecting purple glints from the amulet’s glow. Bows hung from racks, quivers full of arrows standing underneath. She tucked the amulet in the pouch with the others then grabbed an arrow and peered along its length. The shaft was straight, the feathers as crisp as if the arrow had been fletched only days ago. She grasped a bow and strung it. With a grimace, she plucked the string. The twang echoed in the room and she nearly dropped the bow. The string was taut. Why hadn’t they rotted? The tower must have been a ruin for centuries.

  In the center of the chamber, she saw a low stone structure, round with a wooden cover. She pushed the cover to the side and looked in. A tear formed in her eye and splashed onto the surface. She gulped to suppress a sob. The sky-god gave her what she needed most. Weapons. And water. She dipped her hand into its coolness, raised it to her lips, moaning as it eased the dryness in her mouth.

  “Hello? Tereka? Where are you?”

  She dashed to the door. “Naco, get Relio here now.” While she waited, she took another drink. On the far side of the well, she discovered a bucket. She filled it, then poured the water over her head. Naco and Relio burst through the door.

  “What— ” Relio stared at her. “You’re wet.”

  She pointed to the well. “That’s not the best part.” She pulled a bow from the rack. “We have weapons.”

  Naco’s eyes widened. “Now you’re talking. But how did you find them?”

  Should she tell them about the amulets? No. “Um, I asked the sky-god for help.”

  Relio burst into laughter. “So now it’s fairy tales and myths to the rescue?”

  “The bows seem real enough,” Naco said, gazing at Tereka. “But I can’t understand how you knew they were here.”

  “Later.” Tereka shoved a quiver into his arms. “Get a drink. We’ve got pirates to fight.”

  Tereka grabbed half a dozen bows and as many quivers as she could carry and bounded up the stairs, Naco and Relio close behind her. As she ran, she heard a howl of pain from above. A heartbeat later, she burst onto the parapet. Murlat was on his knees, his hand gripping an arrow that had gone through his arm. Tereka dumped the weapons into Savinnia’s arms. “Give them to whoever can shoot.” She put a hand on Murlat’s arm to stop him from pulling out the arrow. “Come with me.”

  On the other side of the parapet, away from the fighting, she told Murlat to look away. When he turned his head, she pulled out an amulet. She called on the sky-god once more, pressing the amulet to Murlat’s arm where the arrow was lodged. She pulled. Her eyes widened as it slid out easily. She waved the amulet over the wound. The flow of blood slowed, then formed a scab. She shoved the amulet back into her pouch, then touched Murlat on the shoulder. “What do you think? Can you fight?”

  Murlat looked at Tereka with astonished eyes. “What did you do? Most of the pain is gone.”

  “I’ll tell you later, if we get out of this. Listen, there’s a well downstairs. Fill the bucket and bring water up so everyone can drink. Come on.”

  She raced back to the other side of the parapet, grabbed a bow and quiver, then knelt and nocked an arrow. She aimed at a tall pirate charging for the barricade and released the arrow. It lodged in the man’s eye. Tereka stared at the bow. She was a skillled archer, but had never been that good of a shot. Was that luck? Or did the amulets have something to do with it?

  A burly man with tattoos covering his arms like multi-colored sleeves became her next target. Five of her friends knelt along the parapet, nocking and releasing arrows. Between them, they downed all but four of the pirates. The survivors stood at a distance, out of range. Tereka wiped her face and sucked in a breath.

  The sound of approaching horses caused her heart to lurch. The pirates turned toward the sound. Led by their lieutenant, the guardsmen charged over the hilltop. With a shout, they fell on the pirates and killed them all.

  Tereka’s jaw dropped. “What’s going on?”

  Relio spat. “If you ask me, it appears the guards had a deal with the pirates for them to kill all of us. Now that the pirates have failed, the guards had no choice but to kill them.” He hurled the stone in his hand against the wall of the tower. “Their plans for us can’t be good. I think our only chance is to agree with whatever they say has happened here. If they know we saw them leave us to be killed, I don’t think we’ll last too long.”

  They all watched silently as the lieutenant approached. Tereka’s heart raced, her sense of being trapped increasing with each step the officer took. When he was close enough to be heard, he called up to them. “I congratulate you on helping us win a great victory! You held this group long enough for us to destroy their main force. Come down, the reward is yours.”

  “And I congratulate you on your brave victory!” Relio waved. “We are honored to have helped you in your mission!”

  “You think they’ll believe that?” Tereka said.

  “Can’t hurt.” He shrugged.

  With a nod, Tereka turned to the others. “I think we should be ready for anything.” She took an arrow, broke it, and hid the arrowhead in her sleeve. The others did the same. They collected their swords and began the climb down the tower steps. Tereka gulped. Were they walking to freedom or death?

  49

  Other than the rumbling of the wagon wheels over the dusty road, the ride back to the prison camp was a silent one. Along with Tereka and her nineteen companions, four other prisoners had survived, men who’d fled the battle when they realized the guardsmen had abandoned them. These four were shoved into a separate wagon, and they sat hunched over, heads hanging low. A lump rose in Tereka’s throat as she studied them. They were headed for the salt mines. Poor souls.

  She glanced around, more concerned for herself and those who’d fought with her. Would the commander honor his promise of freedom? Or was this a deception? Surely the Prime Konamei wanted something done about the pirates and using prisoners to fight them was the answer.

  The lieutenant must have seen a way to pretend to do the Prime Konamei’s bidding while making some money on the side. As long as the pirates didn’t sail too far up the river, raiding and looting, the Prime Konamei would be satisfied. No one would mourn the deaths of prisoners, since their families thought they were already dead.

  Tereka chewed the inside of her cheek. Was the commander part of this treachery or not? And if he really did give them freedom, would she have the opportunity to ask about her mother? She shifted and fidgeted in her seat. The idea of leaving the camp without knowing if her mother was there made her heart shrink.

  When they arrived in the prison camp, the guards marched them to the yard in front of the commander’s office. Tereka’s
hands trembled and she swallowed the sourness in her mouth. They had faced bloodthirsty pirates. They could face this.

  Tereka ended up at the end of the line, next to Poales. Relio was muttering about something not being right. Before she had a chance to question him, the guards pulled the four deserters to one side.

  She did her best to keep her face still as the lieutenant told the scowling commander a tale of a vicious pirate attack that wiped out most of the prisoners. “Then a second group of pirates massed from behind. This demanded the attention of me and my men. So we rode to engage them. While we were gone, a small group of prisoners,” he pointed at Tereka and her group, “a small group of prisoners distracted the first mob of pirates long enough for us to defeat the second group. We returned just in time to finish off the first.”

  Tereka clenched her teeth, keeping her expression blank. If that lieutenant was ever wounded, he’d do well as a storyteller.

  The commander listened, nodding approval. He pointed to the four prisoners standing to the side. “And these?”

  “They fled while the battle was going hard.”

  “You know the penalty.” The commander frowned. “Execution.”

  Three of the four condemned men hung their heads. The fourth stared defiantly at the commander.

  After a pause, the commander looked over at Tereka and the others. “You have served well and have earned your freedom.” He paused, then looked over their heads. “In a few days, we will send you separately to your new homes. You will not be permitted to speak of your time here. You are to use the names we give you, and live the lives assigned to you. Any violations will be paid for with instant death. Does anyone have any questions?”

  Tereka blurted the words before she knew what she’d said. “I do.”