Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga)

by Scott Prussing

  “I just wanted to reassure you that I’m nowhere near Columbus. I guess my little ruse worked. All my backtracking around the city must have made the black waziri think I was connected to the place somehow. Hopefully, they’ll forget about Connecticut a little bit.”

  “Yeah, I hope so,” Leesa said. “I know you’re in a hurry, but there’s something I need to tell you. I was practicing dream magic the other night and tried to summon a dream about you. Instead, I dreamed about this thing at the mall.”

  The phone was quiet for a moment as Dominic digested the news.

  “I see,” he said. “What worries you about that?”

  Leesa sucked in a deep breath. She was about to voice the fear that had been gnawing at her ever since she first heard the news about the attack.

  “I have to know—there’s no way my dream could have caused this to happen, right?”

  Again, Dominic was silent for a few seconds. Leesa guessed her question had taken him by surprise.

  “No, I do not see how,” he said finally. “Such a thing would be unheard of, among the waziri, at least. I’m certain my black brethren were behind the incident.”

  Among the waziri, at least. The words echoed in Leesa’s head. They did not fully comfort her. Her fingers began twirling in her hair.

  “But I’m not like any other waziri, am I?” she said. “I’m the first woman to get these powers. And I’ve got that grafhym taint in me as well.”

  “You are right,” Dominic said. “Still, I do not see how you could do what you spoke of. But just to be safe, I think it best you refrain from using any dream magic until I return.”

  Leesa thought that was probably a pretty good idea. She had plenty of other magic she could practice.

  “I won’t,” she promised.

  “What’s most disturbing about this is our foes’ increasing control over the dead,” Dominic said. “We may have less time than I had hoped before they manage to break the seal completely. They need to be stopped—and sooner than I thought.”

  Leesa did not like the sound of that. Dominic’s plan all along had been for her to help him defeat the black waziri with her magic, which they could not detect. But she knew she was a long ways from having the necessary power. She needed Dominic back here to help her train. Even then, she knew it would be some time before her help would be of much use. The wizard’s next statement made her wonder once again whether he could read her mind.

  “Under the circumstances, I think you should increase your practice to two hours a day,” he said.

  “I will,” she promised.

  “If you start to feel fatigued, cut back for a day or two.”

  “I understand. Do you know when you’ll be back?”

  “It will be a little while yet, I’m afraid.”

  That wasn’t what Leesa wanted to hear. She wanted him back now. At least she knew he was safe.

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll let you go now. Good-bye.”

  “Good-bye, Leesa.”

  The phone went dead in her ear. She limped to the door and pulled it open. Cali was sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, waiting.

  “Sorry about that,” Leesa said.

  Cali stood up. “Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah. There’s just some stuff I can’t tell you. But it’s nothing to worry about.”

  “That’s cool.” Cali grabbed Leesa’s forearm. “For now,” she added with a grin.

  She walked past Leesa and dropped back onto the bed as if she hadn’t just been kicked out of the room for a private conversation.

  “Turn up the sound. I want to hear more about those zombies.”

  Leesa smiled as she turned up the volume. Cali was definitely the best best friend.

  22. AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE

  The next week passed fairly uneventfully, for which Leesa was profoundly grateful. She practiced her magic every evening, caught up on her schoolwork, and even managed to somehow score an A on a history test, despite the tumultuous weekend and missed class time of the previous week. Without Dominic to help her—and without the extra magic from underground in the volkaane settlement—her progress with her magic was slow. But at least it was steady.

  The zombie story in Ohio had died down, at least on the television news. It was still all over the internet, of course. The bodies had been spirited away to a hidden government research lab, but that didn’t stop the bloggers and conspiracy people from posting their opinions. The most popular explanation for the creatures seemed to be secret medical experiments gone awry. Other theories included a toxic waste spill, a terrorist attack, aliens from outer space, a plague of some kind, and even global warming, though Leesa failed to see how that might apply. Her favorite explanation came from a female blogger who wrote that the creatures were not really zombies, but instead were vampires suffering from some kind of devastating vampire disease. Not surprisingly with all the vampire fans out there, the woman was attracting a huge following.

  Fortunately, no one had proffered black magic from evil wizards as the cause of the walking dead, although the term “necromancer” had come up a couple of times. It was always in a general sense though, not about a fat, hairless creature sitting in an ancient castle in Romania.

  Saturday morning, Leesa and Rave were walking down the hill toward downtown Middletown. Leesa wanted to get some good exercise, so she was moving as quickly as her limp allowed. The air was cool—low forties, she guessed—but with the sun shining down brightly from a clear blue sky she had already warmed up enough to pull off her windbreaker, leaving her with a pale green T-shirt worn over a slightly heavier, dark green long-sleeved shirt. Rave was wearing a brown waffle-knit shirt and jeans.

  He had stopped by for a visit on Wednesday evening, so he already knew about Leesa’s dream and the zombies in Ohio. Despite the evidence that the black waziri were hundreds of miles away, and with a day too bright to worry about vampires, Dral and Bain still followed behind, providing an extra measure of security, just in case. Leesa was glad to have them there.

  “So, no more dreams?” Rave asked her.

  “No, none. I’m not trying to summon any, and none have popped up on their own. Which is just fine with me, believe me.”

  Suddenly, Rave stopped walking, halting so abruptly that Leesa’s momentum carried her another two steps before she was able to stop. She almost tripped on her bad leg in the process. She caught her balance and hurried back to him.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Rave didn’t answer. His eyes were fixed on Dral and Bain, who were striding rapidly toward them.

  “Do you feel it, too?” Rave asked his friends.

  “Yes,” Dral replied. Leesa had never heard him sound so uncertain.

  “Feel what?” she asked worriedly. Her head swiveled from side to side, looking for anything unusual, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  “Something has happened to my fire,” Rave said.

  “Ours, too,” Bain added.

  “What do you mean, something has happened to it?” Leesa immediately thought about Rammugul, and the story Balin had recounted about the female volkaane who lost her fire forever after using the ancient technique.

  “I’m not sure,” Rave said. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”

  Leesa grabbed Rave’s hand. It was nowhere near as warm as she was used to feeling.

  “It’s not from practicing Rammugul, is it?” she asked, voicing her worst fears.

  “No, it’s not that. Dral and Bain have not tried Rammugul, but they feel the change, too.”

  “All three of you have lost your fire? How is that possible?”

  “Not lost,” Rave said. “I can still feel it inside me. But it’s diminished somehow.”

  He stared down at the fingertips of his free hand, his face tight with concentration. Leesa prayed she would soon see the familiar blue flames flickering from his fingertips, but nothing happened.

  “I can’t call up my fire,” Rave
told her. “It’s too weak.”

  Leesa saw Dral and Bain looking down at their own hands. Apparently, neither could produce any fire, either.

  “What could be causing this?” Leesa asked.

  Rave shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like it. We need to get back home. Perhaps Balin or one of the other elders will know what is happening.”

  “I hope so,” Leesa said. Now that she wasn’t walking, she was beginning to grow cold. She slipped her windbreaker back on.

  “We’ll walk you back to the dorm before we leave,” Rave said.

  Leesa stared at Rave in disbelief.

  “Walk me home? Are you crazy? I’m not staying here, worrying about what’s happening with you. It’s not like you can call me up and give me progress reports.” Her expression became very determined. “I’m going with you.”

  Rave had seen that look on Leesa’s face before and knew better than to argue.

  “Okay,” he said. “But I can’t promise I’ll be able to bring you back here.”

  Leesa was not about to let that deter her.

  “If I have to, I can call my mom or my brother for a ride,” she said. “Do you still have your volkaane strength and speed? Or are those weakened, too?”

  In answer, Rave scooped her up into his arms, as easily as ever.

  “Those are physiological,” he said, “not magical, like our fire.” He put Leesa down. “It seems only our magic is affected.”

  A sudden, very disturbing thought reared up in Leesa’s head.

  “Come closer, all of you.” She held her hand palm upward in front of her stomach. “Hide my hand,” she told them as the three volkaanes clustered close in front of her.

  She looked around, checking to make sure no passersby were near enough to see, and then focused her concentration on her hand. “Illuminati verdus,” she said.

  Only the merest dot of light—scarcely the size of a pea—appeared above her palm. The glow was so faint it was barely visible in the daylight. Leesa stared at the meager light in dismay. She had gotten pretty good at this spell, but it was hardly working now.

  “Illuminati verdus,” she repeated more forcefully, as if that might somehow strengthen the spell.

  There was no change in the light. What the heck was going on here, she wondered? First the volkaane magic, and now hers. Her heart sank further as the dim light winked out. This was definitely not the time for her magic to quit on her. She was supposed to be doubling her practice. But what good would more practice do if her magic was barely working? She prayed that the black waziri were not somehow behind this. She wondered if black magic could somehow be used to nullify other kinds of magic.

  She looked up at Rave, her eyes filled with apprehension.

  “It’s not just your magic,” she said softly. “Mine has been weakened, too.”

  23. RUMBLINGS

  The ride in Rave’s arms was much different this time. The speed was still thrilling and the strength in his arms kept Leesa feeling loved and secure. What was missing was his heat. Without his amazing warmth, she was forced to keep her face buried against his chest and her hands balled up in the sleeves of her windbreaker for protection against the cold air that whipped against her skin. Despite the cold, she couldn’t think of any other way she’d rather travel, especially with the feel of his heart beating strongly against her cheek, giving her a feeling of reassurance she sorely needed right now. She pressed her face more tightly against his breast.

  She was less disappointed than usual when he finally put her down on the path outside Balin’s cabin. For the first time, the ride had felt just long enough, rather than way too short. She didn’t like the feeling at all. She hoped they got to the bottom of all this quickly.

  The door to Balin’s cabin was open, as if the old volkaane was expecting them. Or expecting someone, at least. Rave took her hand and ushered her inside. Dral and Bain followed them in.

  The fire in the fireplace seemed to be burning hotter than usual. Leesa wondered if that was just her imagination, conjured up by the lack of Rave’s heat, which she usually carried in here with her.

  Balin was clearly pleased to see them, though a flicker of surprise crossed his face when his eyes met Leesa’s. He obviously had not been expecting her. Nonetheless, he opened his arms wide in greeting.

  She moved into his welcoming embrace. His heat, never as warm as Rave’s to begin with, was even lower now. Hugging him did not feel much different than hugging her Uncle Roger, except that Balin was much slimmer.

  “I’ve been expecting these three,” Balin said, “but I’m surprised to see you here, given the circumstances. You are always welcome, of course.”

  “She refused to stay behind,” Rave said. “I know better than to argue when she sets her mind.” His smile assured Leesa that he was not upset.

  Balin looked at the three young volkaanes. His expression had turned grave.

  “Your presence here tells me you have all probably felt the diminishing of your fire. I was hoping it would not be so, that perhaps distance would keep you safe.” He sighed. “Perhaps you were not far enough away.”

  “Far enough from what?” Rave asked. “Do you know what’s causing this?”

  Balin shook his head. “We are not certain. Apparently, such a thing has happened at least once before, many, many ages ago, beyond the memory of any who are now alive. The Council of Elders is about to meet to see what we might discover in the archives. I was waiting for you three to return before I went.”

  “Wait a minute,” Bain said. “Do you mean this is happening to everyone? Not just to the three of us?”

  “It’s affecting everyone,” Balin replied. “Everyone in the village has had their fire diminished.”

  Before anyone could respond, the floor of the cabin began to vibrate and a loud rumbling arose from within the earth. Reflexively, Leesa grabbed Rave’s arm to steady herself.

  She had felt the Noises once before on a previous visit, but this time the shaking and the sound were much stronger. If she had experienced something like this back in California, she would have called it an earthquake. She remembered Dominic speaking of fell powers stirring under the ground here. She hoped they were not awakening, whatever they were. Not now of all times.

  The shaking lasted for almost two minutes before things finally quieted. Balin’s sturdy cabin suffered no damage, other than a nearly full bottle of mead that fell off a high shelf and shattered on the wooden floor. The golden liquid spread quickly across the floor. Balin made no move to clean it up.

  “A waste of good drink,” he said, smiling. “Perhaps it will help season the wood.”

  Leesa could not imagine that the three hundred year old boards needed any more seasoning.

  “The Noises have been much more active than usual of late,” Balin continued. “This is the second time just this morning.”

  “Do you think they have anything to do with the problem with our fire?” Dral asked.

  Balin shrugged. “I do not know. The Noises have been here as long as we have. Never in my lifetime have they caused anything such as this.”

  Leesa’s stomach began to feel hollow. She didn’t like what she was hearing. Dominic had said using her magic here might awaken whatever powers lived deep within the earth. She hated the thought that she might be responsible for something that was harming the volkaanes. Worse, she could not bear the thought she might have hurt Rave.

  “Dominic said there are fell powers in the earth near here,” she told Balin. “Whatever that means. He dreamed that using my magic here risked awakening them. That’s why I left last week. I hope this isn’t my fault.”

  Balin recognized the anguish on Leesa’s face and in her voice. He laid his hands gently upon her shoulders.

  “Hush, child,” he said. “You have done nothing to feel guilty about. We’ll figure something out.” He turned to the others. “I must go to the Council. Dral and Bain will come with me. Young Rave, you stay
here with Leesa.” He smiled. “With your fire weakened like it is, perhaps you will think of some way to comfort her.”

  It took a moment for Leesa to get what Balin was hinting at. When she finally understood, she felt herself blushing. But she couldn’t stop smiling, either. She linked her arms around Rave’s elbow.

  Balin followed Dral and Bain out the door. He stopped in the doorway and turned back toward Leesa and Rave.

  “I’ll knock before I come back in,” he said.

  24. RAPTURE

  For the first time since way back at the beginning of their relationship, Leesa felt a bit awkward around Rave. That was totally normal, she told herself. Balin had just given them permission to do what she had been longing to do for months—kiss for as long as they wanted without worrying about her safety. They were both pretty inexperienced with this stuff, so it was only natural to feel a little nervous. She gave Rave’s arm a squeeze.

  “Talk about a silver lining,” she said, smiling. “I’m just sorry it had to be because of something like this, with your fire being weakened.”

  “I’m not,” Rave said. He reached up and tenderly brushed a few stray strands of Leesa’s hair away from her forehead. “I told you I would give up my fire for you. I meant it.”

  Leesa sighed. Even without his heat, she still thrilled to his touch.

  “And I meant it when I said I would never let you do that.”

  Rave gently cupped her head in his strong hands, his fingers entwined in her hair.

  “Well, we don’t have to worry about that right now,” he said. He bent forward, so that his face was only inches from hers. “So unless you want to keep talking….”

  Leesa shook her head slowly. God, his eyes were beautiful. Her “no” was barely a whisper. She watched as his lips moved closer to her right eye. When they filled her vision, she closed her eyes.

  Rave tenderly kissed her eyelid, and then did the same thing to her other eye. Leesa had never felt anything so loving.

  Next, his soft lips kissed the tip of her nose. Her own lips parted slightly as she felt his warm, sweet breath move down toward her mouth. Finally, his lips brushed hers ever so lightly. A shiver fluttered down her spine.