Flicker of the Flame: A YA Epic Fantasy

by Evelyn Puerto

  The month of Oznobal was drawing to a close. Tereka inhaled the crisp autumn air, reveling in the scent of roasting nuts. “This is the perfect place, Da. When it’s peaceful like this I think I could live here forever.”

  He rested an arm on her shoulders. “How is it, really? From what Osip told me, this is a ruin.”

  “That part is.” She gestured at the tower behind them. “But down here, many of the rooms are intact. We found the kitchen early on, the storerooms and ovens are still useable. And the well is fresh.” She tipped her head to the side. “What was this place, anyway?”

  “Some kind of ancient guard outpost, I suppose. Abandoned when the Endless War began, and never rebuilt when Tlefas was established.”

  “It’s defensible, that’s for sure.” She pointed at the narrow, twisting path that led to the fort’s only gates. “But has few comforts. Anyway, when we arrived, we found the supplies Chen and Lilio had brought earlier. Only two blankets, but a good supply of wood and kindling. And enough food for a day or two.”

  “So you’re managing.”

  “Yes. Cillia sent more blankets and clothing, salt and soap.” She smiled. “We fought over that like starving cats. Who would get the first bath in hot water, using soap.”

  “Let me guess. You or Savinnia?”

  “Nope. Relio made us throw lots. To no one’s surprise, he won. But he insisted that we all take turns heating water so everyone would have some.”

  “What about food?”

  She pointed at a rack of skinned rabbits drying over smoking coals. “Naco and Alikse are good trappers. Savinnia and I have been gathering nuts, acorns, mushrooms, roots, and everything else we can find to dry for the winter.” She rubbed a half-healed burn on her hand.

  “You know how to do all that?”

  “I do now. My aunts came and showed us where to look and what to do. On top of that, Poales knew how to skin the animals, and we’ve got a collection of furs. We’re hoping by the end of autumn we’ll have fur robes for everyone. And Hinat and Sebezh have rebuilt and patched the walls. If all goes well, we’ll be ready for winter.”

  His arm tightened around her. “You have no idea— ” His voice caught. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”

  Scuffling footsteps and a few grunts caused her to look toward the steps that led to the levels below. A few heartbeats later Naco appeared, staggering under the weight of a large basket. He swung the basket to the ground and grinned at Tereka. “I brought you some more work. Hope you’re not too tired.”

  She peeked into the basket. “So many fish! How did you catch them all?”

  “I made a weir in the stream, just as it ran into the pond. Once the fish were inside, it wasn’t hard to pull them out with a net.”

  Impressed with his cleverness, she smiled at him. He returned it, and she blushed under the intensity of his gaze. “Oh, Da, this is Naco.”

  “Peace and safety.”

  “Peace and safety to you.” Naco inclined his head. “How long will you stay?”

  “Don’t worry, not long enough to sample any of your fish,” Da said with a grin. “You’ll need every scrap you can get. Just wanted to check up on my girl.”

  Naco’s smile faded and he looked Da in the eye. “I’ll make sure she’s safe.” He glanced at Tereka. “Do you need more wood?”

  “Yes, if you please.” She pointed at the wood box near the oven.

  “Relio’s been chopping all afternoon. We’ll bring you some.” With a wave of his hand, he trotted down the steps.

  Da took a step back and studied Tereka’s face. “Naco seems very protective of you.”

  Her face heated and she looked down at her hands. “He is.”

  “Well, uh, I have a present for you.” Da pointed to the bundle he’d brought. “Kemet sent you this.”

  “Kemet? The last I knew, he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  “He’s had a change of heart.” Da nodded at the bundle. “Open it.”

  Curious, Tereka knelt and untied the string around the brown cloth and unwrapped it. She folded it back to reveal two sheepskins and a pair of sheepskin gloves. Tears pricked her eyes. How thoughtful of him. The sheepskins will be warm and soft for sleeping. And then she saw that the cloth wrapping turned out to be a heavy cloak. She stroked the thick wool, frowning.

  “The boy is sorry, you know.”

  “I know, Da. But it hurt all the same. He wouldn’t even think about putting himself in danger for me, not like Naco.”

  “Oh, so that’s how it is?” Da patted her shoulder. “How well do you know this Naco?”

  Tereka pressed her lips together. She wasn’t sure of her feelings for Naco, let alone if he returned them or not. Time to end this conversation. “Da, there’s something I forgot to tell you.” She jumped to her feet and grabbed his hands. “My mother is alive.”

  Da’s dark face paled and his mouth dropped. His knees buckled and Tereka put out a hand to steady him. “That’s impossible.”

  “No, it’s not.” She explained about the rumor in the camp, and how the commander had confirmed that Iskra was alive.

  “Iskra still lives.” Da let his eyelids droop. “I am so sorry.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She must have suffered terribly the past seventeen years. And I couldn’t save her from it.”

  “You did what you could. Kaberco would have killed anyone who tried to stop him.” She pulled a small knife from her pocket and plucked a fish from the basket.

  “And Kaberco hasn’t changed at all,” Da said. “He questioned Waukomis and me for hours after it came to light that his guards were killed. But he wasn’t sure we had anything to do with it. Since then, his men have been trailing me. I made a quick trip to see your grandparents, and then did a lot of trading toward Anbodu. I think he’s backing off, but I can’t be sure.”

  “They haven’t come this far, have they?” Tereka sat on a ledge, the fish and knife in her hands, a bucket at her feet.

  “No. They only follow me to the trails that lead to the Risker camps. They can’t go any farther than that.”

  Tereka slid the knife into the fish’s side. “Good, but even if they don’t find us, we may kill each other.”

  “Really? That bad?”

  “Relio thinks he’s still leading the brigade. Sebezh is trying to push him aside. Alikse and Hinat can’t stop picking at each other. Meanwhile, Relio wants to resume his relations with Savinnia. She’s not so sure she wants to. Sebezh is making eyes at me. So far Poales and Naco have kept them under control.” She let out a huff. “This can’t go on forever.”

  “No, it can’t.”

  She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “You know, when I was small I’d watch the other children with their mothers, mothers who were kind and loving. And I wanted that above all else. And if I couldn’t have it for myself, I wanted to be able to give that to my own children.”

  “Oh, Tereka— ”

  “I’m not blaming you, Da.” She bent her head, staring at the fish in her hands. “I can never thank you enough for all you did for me. All those years, and you could have been taken for harboring a Risker’s daughter…

  “You know, when we were small, Tirk and I had such dreams. He’d go into trade with you. I’d find a job—every week I had a different idea—and marry well. And find a place I belonged.” Her breath came a little faster. “All I wanted was to be loved, to belong. Groa made sure I never had either of those feelings. Then Juquila made me feel as though I was as worthless as a folmit slug. The only one who loved me was you, who I despised for years as a philanderer and a cheat. Then I met my Risker relatives who loved me unconditionally. Why, I asked myself, are the only people who love me despised outcastes? And there was nothing I could do about it. When Kemet spurned me, it was just confirmation of that.”

  Her words had left a pinched look on Da’s face. “Da, I’m sorry. Now I truly value all you did for me, and see you as the honorable man y
ou are. And I’ve come to realize one Risker is worth more than a village of fools who look down on him.” She sliced the fish in half and scraped the innards into a bucket. “Ever since I landed in the prison camp, I’ve had to think about a lot of things. I was forced to form alliances with criminals and pirates. I’ve been pressed into life and death decisions. And in overcoming all that, I found my worth.” She dropped her hands to her lap, still holding the fish. “Besides, there’s a more important matter to consider.”

  “Which is?” Da’s voice was gentle.

  Did he know what she was about to say? Her throat constricted, as if trying to keep her from saying the words. She swallowed hard. “We can’t stay here forever. I can’t endanger my Risker relatives or presume that Sebezh will cooperate for much longer. Something has to give.”

  “Which is?” Da raised his eyebrows.

  Tereka’s heart beat erratically. If she said this, it would make it real. She laid the two halves of the fish onto the ledge. “Maybe I need to do what the Desired One is supposed to do.”

  “What do you mean?” Da took a step closer to her.

  “We’ve been played for fools, pretending the Prime Konamei’s Guard will protect us when they’re making deals with the bandits. They want us to meekly bow our heads, hoping ours won’t be the one that’s cut off.”

  “The trade guilds have tried to solve that for years and failed.”

  “I know. But it’s worse than that. All their promises of safety and fairness are worth less than warboar shit.” She waved the knife in the air, making a stabbing gesture in the direction of Gishin.

  “You sound bitter.” Da studied her face.

  “Do you blame me?” She scowled as she spit out the words. “I was tried on false charges and taken. I ended up in the copper mines, forced to produce as much as the men. In the name of fairness. If I wanted to survive, I was going to have to give favors to at least one of the men.” She snorted. “Fairness. Safety. Right.”

  Da’s face blanched and his eyes bulged. “Tereka, you didn’t—you weren’t— ”

  “No, no,” she said. “I managed to delay a little, and then we went off to fight pirates, and, well, you know the rest.” She jumped to her feet. “Now I have no hope of a normal life, a family, a peaceful existence. Because Juquila lied and a corrupt ephor sided with her.”

  The flickering flames of her anger grew stronger. Heat rose up her neck and flooded upwards to her hairline. “The same corruption in the markets and the courts is in the prison camps. They use prisoners to fight the pirates, while trading with those same pirates on the side.”

  “Think about it, Da.” She paced to the other side of the patio then spun to face him. “The Prime Konamei passed laws, supposedly for the good of the people, to keep all safe and to ensure fairness. But he hasn’t administered those laws equally.” She gripped the handle of the knife until her knuckles turned white. “He’s distanced himself from the population, from the people he claims are his equals, leaving them at the mercy of his konameis and agents, who just want to increase their own wealth and power.”

  The words tumbled from her mouth as a river spills over a cliff, her tone intense. “You know as well as I do that the Prime Konamei allows the rich and powerful to affect the verdicts in the courts. He denies that anyone is richer or more powerful than anyone else, claiming that all must live simply to build wealth for everyone in some glorious future. Yet some enjoy wealth now while others toil in poverty.”

  The throbbing in her chest made her pause. She spread her hands wide. “He dictates who we marry, where we live, what profession we follow. He sets up rule after rule, dictate after dictate, all in the name of safety and fairness, but in the end, all we get is misery and discontent.” She was nearly shouting. “Can you deny it?”

  Da’s eyes were full of sadness. “No, my girl, I’ve thought the same for years.”

  “Still worse,” Tereka continued,” he’s poisoned us against the Riskers whose only crime was to love freedom and be willing to take risks for it.” The blood pounded in her ears. “By keeping us separate from the Riskers, the Prime Konamei hides his lies more easily. Lies that say we cannot have rugs for our floors or feathers for our beds or fruit in winter. I’m done with his lies.” She placed one hand on the tower wall and leaned against it, panting.

  “But what can you do against him?”

  “Yes, he’s powerful, with his army of guardsmen, but we have a power he knows nothing about. We are in the right.” She swallowed, trying to ease the dryness in her throat. “That’s another one of his lies. The Prime Konamei dismissed tales that have survived for centuries. He called them legends or myths or superstitions. But some are rooted in truth.” She gave Da a sheepish smile. “When my Risker relatives told me about the sky-god, I laughed. But now I’m not so sure. Right now, fairness is what the powerful say it is. But what if the sky-god is the real arbiter of fairness?”

  “So, what are you saying?” Da searched her face. “Do you think you’re the Desired One?”

  She shrugged and resumed pacing. “The prophecy is hard to ignore. The Desired One was to be born to a villager and a Risker, a skilled archer with green eyes, and conceived just as the fields ripen for harvest in a year that began with a double eclipse.”

  Da rubbed his chin. “Which describes your parents and the year you were conceived.”

  “We also have to consider the amulets. Two found me. They’ve helped me when I needed it most.” She smiled. “I might not be the Desired One. You assumed I wasn’t because I’m a girl and maybe you were right. I’ll only believe it myself if the third amulet shows up. I still don’t want to be. But all that’s gone on is lighting a fire in me to do something about the unfairness of our lives.” She looked into Da’s face, her heart beating as fast as if she’d run up the mountain. “Whether I am or not, will you help me?”

  “Do what? Petition for a reform of the rules?”

  “No.” She tipped her chin up. “I want to overthrow the Prime Konamei and all his minions.” She scowled and flung the knife into the basket of fish, spearing one through the eye. “Starting with Juquila.”

  I hope you enjoyed reading Flicker of the Flame as much as I enjoyed writing it!

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  Meanwhile on the other side of the mountains, an ancient evil stirs…

  Flare of Fire, Book Three in the Outlawed Myth series, coming in 2022

  Acknowledgments

  First, a big thank you to you, my readers. Thank you spending time in the world I created for you. And especially to those of you who read Flight of the Spark and asked when the sequel was coming out. My apologies for it taking longer than I’d planned.

  Special thanks to Joe Bunting and the gang over at the Write Practice. Too many people to mention faithfully read and critiqued early versions of this book. Your feedback was priceless and saved me from publishing some very silly mistakes.

  My editor Elizabeth Doyle offered valuable suggestions that enhanced the story and made it stronger. And Sherry Chamblee did another round of editing and the final proofread. It’s amazing how many mistakes slip through to that point, so thank you for spotting them.

  Most of all I’m grateful to my husband Tony, whose support, encouragement and love keep me going when I can’t find the words. And thank you for patiently listen to me babble on about my imaginary people.

  And lastly, thanks be to God, who gave me what ability I have to string words together into a stor
y.

  About the Author

  Evelyn Puerto entered the world around the time of the unveiling of the microchip, the introduction of Japanese cars to the US, and postage stamps that cost four cents. Her Saturday morning friends were Mighty Mouse, Dudley Do-Right and the Jetsons.

  Growing up, school was merely an interruption of her exploration of the worlds of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Louisa May Alcott and, later, JRR Tolkien.

  When she married late in life, inherited three stepdaughters, a pair of step-grandsons, and a psychotic cat. Currently she writes from South Carolina.

  She’s the author of the award-winning Beyond the Rapids. To read more of her short fiction or to subscribe to her newsletter, visit www.evelynpuerto.com.

  If you’re looking for Flight of the Spark, the first book in the Outlawed Myth series, click here.