Burnt (Blood and Fire Book 1)

by Michelle Wheet & Lyn Lowe

was nothing he could say to put any of it right. “How bad was it?”

  Sojun grimaced. “Your roof fell on me. When I got out, the village was burning and everyone was screaming. I thought I was stuck in a nightmare. They were waiting for people running. I saw Bridgett’s clothes catch fire. A man cut down Ned while he was trying to put them out. Then the man killed Bridgett, too. I couldn’t move. I just watched.”

  Kaie closed his eyes against the image. Bridgett made the best bows. And the clothes Ned made always seemed twice as colorful as anyone else’s. Their children were still babies, the oldest only just walking. And Sojun, his heart’s brother waking like that because he left him. He spit out words, any words, to keep those images away. “Navin. I watched one drag Navin right past me.”

  “But you saved the Lemme.”

  “We saved the Lemme,” he amended. It was weak; a flimsy shield thrown up against the shame and guilt of watching their family torn to bits by a ruthless beast. But it was all there was, and Kaie refused to keep all for himself.

  “Dahlia.”

  They jumped at the cracked voice cutting into their conversation. Both boys turned to the large, slumped figure a few feet away.

  “My name,” she croaked. “It has been nearly twenty years since someone called me that. If I am to die here, I would have it be as myself.”

  Kaie sat up, shaking his head. “You’re not dying, Lemme. Dahlia. We’re safe here. You said so.”

  “For a time,” Jun added lowly. Kaie avoided looking at his friend. The other boy was terrified. It wasn’t fair to be mad at him for that. Not after everything. But he was.

  “You’re the heart of the tribe,” he insisted. “For us to live, you must live.”

  She smiled faintly, but her eyes would not meet his. “Of course.”

  Kaie began to say something more, something comforting and meaningless, when a sound echoed through the cavern and snapped his mouth shut. He and Jun both craned their necks, trying uselessly to search beyond their circle of light for what sounded like someone’s shoe scuffing against the stone of the floor.

  Kaie pulled himself to the Lemme’s side, determined to throw his body between her and any danger. Jun crouched, hands clenched into fists. His friend’s face was twisted with the same fear that was there since entering the vault, amplified a thousand times. They both knew the stories, knew what came next. This was when the lost souls rose up to smite them for their trespass.

  It wasn’t a spirit that turned the corner, holding a flickering lamp over its head. It was Toman. Kaie sagged with relief but Jun’s tension didn’t diminish in any visible way.

  “Sojun? Is that you?”

  “Da? What are you doing here?”

  Kaie didn’t know Toman well. He spent much of his time holed up in his home, making the lamps or out here replacing them. Jun didn’t speak of him often and in all the years of their friendship, they only spent time at Sojun’s house a handful of times. Never when Toman was there. Kaie always got the sense that his friend was ashamed of something and, despite more than a decade of curiosity, never pressed the matter. So he could only wonder why Sojun seemed so upset now, instead of grateful to find his father alive.

  “Devin had a bad night,” Toman replied lowly, as though trying not to be overheard. It wasn’t necessary. Kaie did know Sojun’s younger sister, and was quite aware that she wasn’t born well. Her mind wasn’t altogether in the world. On occasion she would fly into fits of screaming and flailing with no clear cause. Sometimes the woods helped calm her. He helped bring her to them a few times over the years. But maybe Toman didn’t know about that.

  “So you brought her to see our family’s dead?”

  Toman’s lips pursed. “I brought her to the hill. Then there was screaming and fire. I brought her here to keep her safe.”

  Sojun’s fists dropped. “Where is she?”

  Toman gestured to the tunnel behind him. “I came for water. I left her in a cavern further back.”

  “Alone in the dark?” Jun demanded, the anger missing before showing clearly now. “Where she can stir up the lost spirits and no one is there to protect her?”

  Sojun’s father looked just as surprised at the tone as Kaie was. “I’m not new to this. She’s in a well-lit and safe place, calm, eating her crackers.”

  Ignoring the voice telling him to stay out of another family’s problems, he interrupted whatever Jun was about to say. “You have food?”

  Toman looked at him as though only just noticing he was there, then the same for the Lemme. The man’s face tightened in a way vaguely similar to the expression Sojun wore when especially anxious. “Some. I’ll give you what I can. Sojun, come with me. You can see your sister is fine and get food for your friend.”

  Jun’s whole body tensed up again, fists balling tightly. “No. Bring it here. Bring Devin here. She likes Kaie. She’ll be happier with us.”

  If Devin did feel any particular attachment to him, that was news to Kaie. She treated him no differently than anyone else. Whatever Jun’s reason, he couldn’t believe it was that. It looked like Toman suspected the same. But after a moment of silent staring, shrugged and went back into the tunnel.

  Kaie waited until the sound of footsteps was gone, waited two breaths more, then turned on his friend. “What’s going on?”

  His friend shrugged, staring off after Toman. “I told you, I’m not letting you out of my sight. With your luck, the instant I turn that corner there will be a rockslide and we’ll never see each other again.”

  “Jun…”

  “Don’t. I know you. I know you need to push. But for Mother Lemme’s sake, don’t. Not on this.” Sojun sighed. “I won’t leave you behind when you can barely stand, alright? Not for him, not for anyone. Can we just let that be enough?”

  He nodded, though his friend wasn’t looking to see it. “Yeah, Jun. It’s enough.”

  Ten

  “You need to listen to me Sojun!”

  Kaie kept his eyes closed, feeling awful for listening in on his friend’s whispered conversation but doing it anyway.

  “No, Da, I don’t. I’m not leaving them.”

  “Quit with the dramatics boy. I’m not suggesting we weight them down with rocks and toss them in the pool. Will you think about it for a minute? She’s sick. I don’t know that she’ll survive another day. And your friend is beat half to death. Can he even stand? When the soldiers find this place, they’ll slow us down. Get us all caught in minutes.”

  “So don’t toss them in the lake then, but throw them at the soldiers and hope Kaie and the Lemme are enough to satisfy their bloodlust?”

  Toman made a disgusted noise and it sounded like he started pacing. “Of course not! What I’m suggesting is best for all of us. You took the light from the first chamber, left a mess behind. That’s bound to cause a search. Those two can’t go anywhere but this place is off the main path. If we let them catch sight of us – just enough to make them give chase – and this alcove stays dark and quiet, your friend and the Lemme might go unnoticed. It’s a good plan, son. If you’d stop being so willful you’d see it too.”

  “If it’s such a good plan Da, why don’t we leave Devin? She’ll be safer here than leading some soldiers on a merry chase, won’t she?”

  “I’m not leaving either of my children, dammit!” Toman drew in a deep breath, no doubt regretting the increase in volume. The next words were whispers again. “She wouldn’t help them Sojun. You know that. Maybe she’d be quiet when she was supposed to, but chances are she’d have a bad moment and bring the soldiers down on them.”

  “I’m not leaving them behind, Da. Right or wrong, I won’t do it.”

  “So that’s it then. You’ll risk death for all of us, for your sister, to stay by the Lemme’s side? She’s just an old woman, son. I know what we say. I know what she’s supposed to mean. But, in the end, she’s just an old woman.”

  Kaie nearly spoke out then, furious at the implication. Sojun beat him to it. “Sh
e’s the heart of our tribe! She’s the voice of our god! And I know she’s the reason we are allowed to trespass here!” His friend drew in a deep breath, volume dropping again. “And she’s not the reason. I’m not leaving Kaie. If I’m going to die, it’s going to be keeping him alive for one more minute.”

  “That cocky brat? What’s he ever done but gotten you into trouble? He’s not your family, boy! Alma made that clear enough! Don’t you throw your life away for her whelp!”

  “He is my family. He’s my heart’s brother. That means a lot more to me than the blood ties between us. If you make me chose, you’re going to lose.”

  “Gods forsake you and this stupidity! I will drag you out if I have to!”

  That was enough. Kaie didn’t know what Toman was talking about – his mother would never say Jun wasn’t family – but he knew exactly what would happen if the man tried to force the matter. Sojun was not one to be cuffed into obedience any more than he was. It was time to put an end to the confrontation.

  He wanted to confess to eavesdropping and demand answers, but Kaie knew that would hurt Sojun. There was enough of that going on lately. So he played dumb.

  He yawned loudly and stretched, noting with some satisfaction that the action didn’t make him nearly as dizzy as before his nap. With luck he might not be the dead weight Toman thought. “Gods. I was hoping it was all just a nightmare. Is there any more food?”

  “You ate half my supply already,” Toman growled from just