by Trudi Jaye
The horses were huddling under the trees, still with their saddles on their backs. Bree sat next to Eldrin, who was lying on the earth near the fire, eyes closed and his face still ashen.
“How is he?” asked Jena.
“He’s recovering. I don’t think it intended to hurt him, just make us think it was going to hurt him,” said Bree.
“Well, he’s out of its power now.”
Argus looked up from his fire. “And the water demon? What of it?”
“It has agreed to take us to Remus by water,” said Nate.
“What?” said Argus, his scowl deepening.
Jena answered, glancing at Nate. “There’s an underground river. The demon said it would help us use the river to get close to our destination.”
“I can’t swim,” said Bree, her eyes widening in panic.
“You don’t need to swim. We’ll be in a boat.” Jena went over to sit next to Bree, and put a hand on her arm. “It’s safe. The demon will take us where we need to go, much easier and faster than if we rode.”
“We can’t trust that thing! Look what it did to Eldrin.” Argus gestured to his friend, who still had not woken up. “And what are we to do with the horses? You can’t tell me they’ll go down that hole in the ground.”
Nate looked up. “Time is still a concern, isn’t it, Argus? If we stay on the horses, what chance do we have of getting to your master’s house in time?” Nate clenched his fist at his side. Sometime between leaving the forest and now, it had become important to him that they make it to Remus.
Argus pushed at a log on the fire with his foot, causing sparks to fly up into the air. He placed his hands on his thighs and stood up. “This is a stupid idea, Nate. We have no control over that thing in there,” he said, gesturing to the cave. “It will suck us in and then spit out our dead bodies without so much as a second thought.”
“No, it won’t, Argus. It will do anything I say. It’s in my power.”
Argus halted, and spun to look down on Nate. “That’s just as bad. That’s a hair’s breadth from being in its power.” He threw down the stick he’d been using to nurse the fire and stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Nate.
“Argus, we have no choice. You’ve been pushing us all along to get back to Remus. If we’re going to make it in time, this is how we have to do it.”
Argus seemed about to argue, then abruptly sat down on a nearby rock. “Fine. You’re right, we need to get there.” As Jena watched, Argus transferred his gaze to Bree. His eyes softened, and then he turned away, his hand balled into a fist on his leg. He stood and went to his horse, busying himself by taking off the saddle, and rubbing down the stallion, ignoring the rest of the group. Silently, Bree followed him and started wiping down the other horses.
By the time they had finished looking after the horses, Nate had prepared dinner. He had baked the last of their potatoes, heated in the fire, to be eaten along with some of their dried rations.
No one said much. Jena chewed on her meat jerky, glad of its sustenance after the earlier action. Across from her, Nate was gauging out a potato with a spoon. The fire blazing in front of them reflected in his eyes, reminding her of when they’d first found him after he ran.
What did being a Fire Mage mean for Nate? It certainly seemed to give him more power, but if he were going to face Lothar, he’d need every bit he could get. She felt the raven on her belly move for the first time all day, and put her hand to her stomach. Images popped into her head of Thornal, attempting to get the fire demon he’d managed to call to do his bidding. The creature had laughed in his face.
It made her smile, to be reminded of his frustration.
She was just beginning to realize how potent Nate’s ability was. Even a small part of her was thinking Nate might be able to take on Lothar and win. If she were there helping him, perhaps it would mean that she didn’t need to use her own mage skills to kill Lothar. Perhaps she wouldn’t be sentenced to death. For the first time since they’d left the forest, Jena felt a flicker of hope that she might survive this journey.
Eldrin groaned, and then moved his head. His eyes opened, and darted left and right. He looked more like a frightened rabbit than a mercenary.
“What...? Where am I? Who are you?” He looked at the group around him, blinking and struggling to focus. He saw the biggest shape. “Argus? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me. How did you get yourself mixed up with a water demon?” Argus spoke roughly, but he was grinning.
Eldrin put his hand up to his face, rubbing it across his forehead. “I... I don’t know.” He looked around. “Where are we now? I don’t recognize this place.”
“We’re on the back pass of the Ember Volcanoes. About a quarter of the way through.”
Eldrin frowned. “The back pass? How did I get here?”
“You don’t remember?” said Bree, leaning forward.
“Last I recall was a cave at the entrance to a valley up north. Taking refuge from a thunderstorm. Who are you? How did I get here?”
Bree leaned forward, and put a hand on his arm. “My name is Bree. This is Jena and Nate. We’re traveling with Argus.”
Eldrin nodded his head at each of them in turn. “So how did I get here?”
“You don’t remember meeting up with the water demon?” said Argus.
“No. That is, I don’t think so. I remember a voice.” He rubbed his face with his hands, scratching at the stubble on his face and closing his eyes for a second. “How much time has passed since then do you think?” His voice was soft, a plea. Jena felt goosebumps on her arms.
“When were you at the cave?”
“Spring. Ash Eve was just about to pass.”
Argus looked up at Bree, then the others. “That’s a while ago, Eldrin.”
“How long?” Eldrin’s expression suggested he didn’t really want the answer.
“It’s now autumn, rolling toward winter.” Argus put his hand on Eldrin’s shoulder. “You’ve lost about half a year.”
“Half a year! That can’t be right.” Eldrin looked around him, taking in the yellow and red leaves on the trees, the cold wind blowing through the camp, the fire in the hearth.
He tried to sit up, pushing himself off the ground with one arm. Argus leaned down to stop him, but Eldrin jerked out of his grasp, and sat up. “I have to go. I was supposed to be at Summer Hearth.” Eldrin’s face was a mask of pain, but he didn’t lie back down again. He had the same determination Jena had seen on Argus’s face so often.
Jena frowned. Eldrin was Utugani; that much had just become obvious. Argus had told her that Summer Hearth was the annual gathering of all the hearths. She looked carefully at Eldrin’s face. He didn’t have the same square jaw, and his eyes were blue instead of Argus’s brown.
But there was something about the way he held his head.
“Eldrin, you’re too late. I’m sorry. Summer Hearth will be well over by now.”
“I can’t be too late, Argus. I promised the Utugan. I can’t break my promise to him; you know that as well as I do.”
“He’ll survive. We all do.”
Eldrin’s face went still. “I would argue over your survival.”
“I’ve survived well enough. Mind yourself, not me.” Argus’s voice was sharp.
“I can’t help minding you. The Utugan gives me no choice.”
“He should stay out of it. You should both leave me be.” Argus stood up, leaning over Eldrin threateningly.
“What are you talking about, Argus?” Bree entered the conversation, looking anxiously between the two men. Both looked at her in surprise.
Eldrin looked back at Argus. “Yes, Argus, what are we talking about?”
Argus sighed, and shook his head. “You always were a stubborn bastard.” He glanced at Bree, his expression grim.
Looking from Argus to Bree, Eldrin began to grin. “As were you, my brother.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
It was hard to listen to the fi
ght that erupted between Argus and Bree with the ghost mage sitting next to him. “Oh no, he’ll never be able to argue his way out of that.” A chilly hand clapped onto Nate’s shoulder. “Ouch! Did you hear that? She’s one annoyed young woman. Only one reason for a woman to be that annoyed with a man.”
Nate attempted to block the ghost out and concentrate on what was happening in front of him.
“Your brother! I can’t believe you didn’t tell us. When were you going to say something?” Bree was pacing in front of Argus, who had his hands out and was trying to soothe her.
“It isn’t something I could talk about. I no longer live that life.”
“What does that mean? Is he no longer your brother?” She whirled toward Eldrin. “How does that make you feel, Eldrin? You’re no longer important enough for him to mention.”
Argus looked over at his brother with a pleading look in his eyes. “Eldrin understands what I mean. I don’t mean he’s not my brother. It’s just that I’m not the same as when Eldrin and I were younger.”
“Who are you, then, Argus? Do we even know you?” Bree pushed off Argus’s hand and continued pacing in front of him, battering at his hands whenever he tried to get her to stop in front of him.
“You know me, Bree.” The big mercenary looked down into her eyes, his face solemn. Nate looked away, feeling like he was intruding on a very personal moment.
“Then why didn’t you tell me Eldrin was your brother?” Bree whispered through her angry tears. Nate wasn’t sure he understood exactly why she was reacting so badly to the news. Except that perhaps, the ghost mage was right.
“She’s thinking to herself that maybe he doesn’t trust her,” the ghost mage added. “Ah, women. They’re complicated creatures, are they not?” The ghost seemed to be enjoying the awkward scene.
Argus was still trying to placate Bree. “He didn’t recognize me; that’s how I knew something was wrong. He was treating me like just another soldier he’d met. Telling everyone would have let whatever was controlling him know I wasn’t fooled. I couldn’t do that.” Argus reached out and grabbed Bree’s arm, and this time she allowed him to stop her pacing. She came to a halt in front of him.
“What about the rest of your family? Who are they?”
Argus sighed. “I have a mother and a father, just like anyone else. Plus a younger sister. And Eldrin.”
It was hard to imagine the big mercenary with a family. He’d always seemed solitary. The man he’d first met and this man in front of them today seemed far distant from each other.
Bree paused, and looked down at Eldrin, who was grinning up at his brother. “There’s no need to take enjoyment from this, Eldrin,” she said. “You’re as bad as he is.”
Eldrin’s grin spread even further.
“Listen, Bree, I didn’t want to lie to you. I’ve been living a certain way for a long time. I had no control over it. But now, I do. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Nate saw tears well in Bree’s eyes, and she nodded her head. Argus leaned forward and took her in his arms, stroking one hand over her long hair.
At Nate’s side, the ghost mage crowed his delight. “I told you! It’s taken me two hundred years, but I can pick a woman in love. And a man in love, come to that.”
Nate looked over at Jena and she lifted one shoulder. He cleared his throat. “Perhaps you two should go look for firewood?” he said, ignoring the large pile he had already collected.
Argus nodded. “Yes, that’s what we’ll do. Firewood.” Without looking at the others, he took Bree’s hand and led her along the nearest trail, disappearing around a rocky corner. Before they disappeared completely from sight, Argus put his arm around Bree’s shoulders.
Beside Nate, the ghost mage shifted position. The old man walked around to where Eldrin lay, crouched beside him, and covered Eldrin’s forehead with his wrinkled hand. Nate’s hand twitched as he controlled the urge to leap up and tell the ghost to get away from the living.
But this was no ordinary ghost, and these weren’t ordinary times. Even as he watched, the old man looked up and nodded at him. Nate nodded back, then realized it would look like he was nodding at the patient.
“Now what?” he said to make sense of his mistake.
Eldrin didn’t answer. It was as if he knew the old man was still standing over him and was waiting for him to finish.
Jena answered, “We wait for them to get back. We can’t make any plans without them.” She gestured toward the trail Argus and Bree had just disappeared down.
“I’ve never seen him so besotted. Not even when we were young,” said Eldrin.
“Besotted? He barely even blinked differently.” Nate snorted at him disbelief.
“He’s had a hard life. He doesn’t show emotion easily. But it’s there if you look for it.” Eldrin gave a brief scowl in Nate’s direction. “Just the fact that he told Bree about our family shows he cares.”
“Fine, so he cares.” Jena leaned forward, her arms resting on her legs. “Tell us instead, why you had to get back for the Summer Hearth so urgently.”
Eldrin sighed. “I promised my father I would be back before the Summer Hearth. He gave me leave to go wandering, but it is my duty to go back and take my place beside him.”
“Surely he’d understand?”
“I promised him I would be there, on pain of death. He’ll think I’m dead.”
“Or he might just think something happened to delay you.” Jena raised her brows at him.
Eldrin shook his head. “Our older brother died when we were younger, and it has been a very long time since Argus has been at the hearth. My father worries when I don’t come home.”
“What happened? How is it you haven’t seen Argus in so long?” asked Jena.
Eldrin pushed one hand through his hair. “It’s not a happy fireside story.”
“He’s just disappeared into the night with my sister. You need to tell us.”
Eldrin sat up a bit more, leaning into the fire. He put his hands out in front of him, soaking up the warmth of the burning logs. His face was pinker, back to a more natural hue, and he seemed more alert.
The ghost mage was sitting on a log just down from Jena. The old man winked at Nate, then turned to Eldrin. Nate had questions he wanted to ask the ghost mage, but he couldn’t do it while Eldrin was awake. He half hoped their patient would suddenly feel worse and he could suggest Jena give him a sleeping spell.
Instead, Eldrin started to speak. “Argus missed the Summer Hearth, the year he turned fifteen. On the way, he’d gone hunting with our older brother and his friends.” Eldrin cleared his throat. “They got into trouble. Big trouble. They ran into a hive of Graffen, in the middle of a mating.” Eldrin paused.
Nate’s mind couldn’t even picture what might happen to anyone unlucky enough to interrupt a mating graffen. The large cat-like animals were vicious at the best of times.
“Of the five members of the group, only one survived—Argus. Our older brother was the only reason Argus made it out alive.”
Nate took a deep breath. “His brother was killed saving him?”
Eldrin nodded. “Argus idolized our brother. We both did. Argus barely survived, and I think he’s regretted it ever since.”
“He must have been devastated,” said Jena.
“He was. He barely spoke afterward. We were all in shock; it was a huge blow to all of us.”
“What happened?”
“He stayed with the hearth for a while, but I think the pain of being around family was too much. So he left.” Eldrin paused, and looked at them for a moment, his expressive face sad. “He blames himself, and he’s been trying to kill himself in an honorable way ever since. When he left the hearth he joined the Flame Guards.”
Nate let out a slow breath. It explained a lot; the knowledge Argus seemed to have of certain things around Lothar and the Royal Flames, his fierce ability to fight.
“How did he end up working for a mage?”
&n
bsp; “I don’t know. Last time I saw Argus was when we were both part of the Flame Guard. About three years ago, he disappeared. Just vanished. I tried to find him, but couldn’t. Until this day, I didn’t know if my brother still lived.”
“You said that you had to get back because of the Utugan and your father?” Jena said.
Eldrin rubbed one hand over his stubbled chin. “Our father is the Utugan.”
“The gypsy king?” Nate sat back, stunned. Argus was from the royal gypsy line? No wonder his brother and father searched for him.
“You’re the next Utugan?”
Eldrin nodded. “I wasn’t supposed to be. Our brother Petra was groomed for leadership. The whole hearth felt the pain when he died.”
“I’m surprised your father let you follow Argus as long as he did,” said Nate.
Eldrin shrugged. “I can be very persuasive.”
“But eventually you had to take Petra’s place, and try to live up to expectations?” Nate’s voice was soft.
“It’s not so bad. Argus suffers more than I ever will.”
“Your father is still worried about Argus?” Jena leaned toward Eldrin, a soft expression on her face.
“Our father lost one son, and he wasn’t prepared to lose another. But to be honest, he believes Argus to be dead.”
“So you can tell him otherwise?” Jena gave a small half smile.
Eldrin raised his eyebrows. “I hadn’t thought about it. But yes, I will.” He smiled back at Jena.
Nate cleared his throat. “How are you going to get back, Eldrin? Or do you travel to Remus with us?” Nate wasn’t sure he wanted Eldrin to join them; he was too much of an unknown quantity. But he knew that Argus would ask his brother to come with them.
“Thank you for your offer.” Eldrin bowed his head, almost ironically, as if he knew Nate was asking reluctantly. “But I cannot go with you. I must continue my journey home.”
“But if the Summer Hearth is over, how will you know where to go?” Nate knew enough about the Utugani to know they would have moved on.
“There is a winter hearth, in a valley near a river that flows for most of the winter. They will be there.”