Swallowing Fire

by ERIN BEDFORD

  “Not hungry or don’t like it?” Jack asked, looking over at me as he took a small bite of his tart and chewed slowly.

  “I… it’s fine, I’m just, you know.” I gestured toward the door. “Too anxious, I guess.”

  “It’s fine, you don’t have to lie about it, Maya,” Firestar said, giving me a forced grin. “I never trust a thin cook either.” He nodded at the half-eaten tart on his plate. “I don’t even like it, I just didn’t want Jack to feel bad since he talked them up so much, but then I realized I couldn’t let you keep living in denial.” He reached out and patted Jack’s shoulder. “Sorry.”

  I couldn’t tell what reaction he was going for because instead of getting annoyed, Jack simply raised an eyebrow at him.

  “That’s your sixth tart.” Jack shrugged. “But I appreciate what you’re trying to do.” He sighed. “I’m worried too.”

  “It’s amazing how quickly everything changes. I mean, we just found out Maya was pregnant, and…” Firestar trailed off as he turned his gaze went to the doors as if Raiden or Trina might appear at any moment.

  “You’re right,” Jack said, and the sound of his voice brought my eyes back to him. “We should be celebrating the baby.” He nodded to me. “Say, do you think it’s a boy or a girl?”

  “I, um, I don’t know.” I flushed. “I hadn’t even thought about it.”

  “I would rather a girl,” Firestar chimed in, but when I turned toward him, I found him still looking toward the door. “You know, rather a daddy’s girl than a momma’s boy and all that.” He rolled his eyes. “We saw how well that worked.” He paused. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “Maybe we should go for a walk?” Jack suggested, standing from the table. “I can show you around the town. Some fresh air might do you some good.”

  I shook my head not following his lead. “I don’t really feel like walking.”

  “Maya,” Firestar started, his tone the kind he used when commanding his men, “you will make yourself sick wallowing. Best keep busy until we know there is something to worry about. Go with Jack. I’ll come find you the moment they report anything.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked, anxiety eating at me. “What if something happens and I’m not here? Who’s going to be there for Raiden? It’s my fault his brothers got hurt in the first place.” I shook my head, my face pinched in pain.

  “Nonsense,” Jack snapped. “You didn’t force them to stay behind. They wanted to.”

  “But they wouldn’t have had to if I had just done what their mother wanted. Maybe then Raiden wouldn’t have lost her—”

  “That wretched woman would have pushed her sons away in some form or another. Don’t you dare blame yourself for her misdeeds.” Jack growled, his eyes flashing with anger I rarely saw on his face.

  I gripped the edge of the table as I tried to calm down. Jack was right as usual. It wasn’t my fault Raiden’s mother was a cold-hearted bitch. I couldn’t have stopped her from being the way she was any more than I could stop my father. All I could do was worry about how I acted in response, and right now I needed some air.

  “I think a walk might be a good idea,” I said finally, standing from the table. Jack offered me his arm, and I readily took it before glancing over my shoulder to Firestar. “Coming?”

  “Out there?” Firestar glanced out the window and then shivered. “No, thank you. Besides,” - he paused, reaching across the table and grabbing my neglected plate - “I missed breakfast too.”

  I rolled my eyes as Jack led me out of the dining room and down the hallway. We didn’t get very far before we almost ran right into Raiden.

  His eyes were down on the ground, his pace fast as he came down the hallway. The intense look on his face explained why he didn’t see us or even smell us before we came into view.

  “Raiden, everything okay?” I called before he could run us over.

  Raiden’s gaze shot up to me and his face softened. His pace increased, and when he was close, he scooped me up into his arms, burying his face in my neck. He inhaled deeply, almost crushing me to him.

  “Mmm… you smell like raspberries.” He didn’t say it like he normally would have. No, the tone was all off, and it was obvious he was trying to hide his emotions. I didn’t complain though, knowing he needed me.

  Instead, I ran a hand through his dark hair and made a shushing sound while he composed himself. “It’s all right. I’m here.”

  Eventually, his grip on me relaxed, and he placed me back on my feet with a sigh. “Thank you, I needed that. Remind me next time to just leave when someone I love is being treated. It was worse watching them being healed because I couldn’t do anything but stand there like an idiot. I should have just gone with you. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Raiden,” I said, smiling at him.

  “Are they all right?” Jack asked, placing a hand on Raiden’s shoulder.

  Raiden nodded. “A bit worse for wear, but they will live. Trina gave them a sleeping drought, but they will be awake soon enough.”

  “How about you?” I grabbed his hand in mine. “Are you, all right?”

  He gave me one of his lopsided grins. “You know me, nothing can keep me down.”

  To the outsider, those words would have been enough to put the subject to rest, but I knew better. He used that smile of his to hide his pain, his jokes to cover up the hurt. Raiden did a good job making those around him laugh and smile, but when it came to cheering himself up, he wasn’t so good at it.

  “We were about to go for a walk.” I glanced at Jack, who nodded in agreement. “Would you like to join us? Maybe they will be awake by the time we return.”

  Raiden’s face bunched up in thought before he sighed. “Sure, it can’t be worse than waiting around here. Trina assured me it would be several hours before either of them will have the strength to tell us what happened, if they even woke at all today. I’m not going to do any good waiting by their bedside like an over-anxious wife.”

  I shot him an annoyed look, but let it go. If he needed to make jokes to make himself feel better, I wasn’t going to deny him. Instead, I looped my arms through both of theirs and continued down the hallway.

  “So, tell me about the village,” I started, trying to distract all of us from the elephant in the room. “Are there many trades here? I mean there’s so much snow, I can’t see how you have any plants at all.”

  Jack snorted. “Just because we have limited resources doesn’t mean we don’t have the means to feed ourselves. We fish and hunt for meat. The plants we can’t grow using heat lamps, we trade for with neighboring kingdoms.” Jack paused, his lips pursed. “Well, we used to. Now that the East has been taken over, I’m not sure how that will affect our trade.”

  Raiden shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. My mother might be a lot of things, but she is always a diplomat. She wouldn’t chance angering the other regions because of internal issues. In fact, I doubt she will want it out that she has taken the throne. She’ll probably make the people think my father is ill or something and not locked in the dungeons.”

  I didn’t doubt that. Lady Nariko wouldn’t risk losing her throne by letting anyone know she had committed treason. Especially since we were a patriarchy, and the rival lords wouldn’t accept a female ruler no matter how she had taken the throne.

  That said, as we exited Jack’s home, I regretted it immediately. The cold air burned my skin, reminding me I didn’t have a coat on. Jack, as usual, didn’t seem bothered, but Raiden shivered beside me.

  “Holy balls, it’s cold.” He rubbed his hands over his arms. “How do you stand it?”

  Jack shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me, but you, my dear, are expecting one. It won’t do to have you catch a chill.” He pulled me back inside and reached into a closet near the door. Pulling out a coat that must be for visitors, he held it out for me. “You shouldn’t be out here without a coat.”

  “Hey!” Raiden called out. “What about me? I’m cold too.”
<
br />   Jack reached into the closet, pulled out another furred coat, and tossed it at Raiden. The lightning dragon barely caught it before it hit him in the face. Grumbling under his breath about cold hearts and icicles up butts, Raiden pulled his coat on.

  “Ready?” Jack asked with a menacing grin, not in the least bothered by Raiden’s comments.

  “Always,” Raiden responded before leading the way out of the house once more.

  Jack and I trailed after him, even though Raiden probably had no idea where to go. It didn’t take him long to stop and wait with a hand on his hip.

  “What’s taking you two so long.” He rolled his eyes, gesturing for us to move along the path. “It’s going to be annoying if I have to keep waiting so maybe you should just lead.”

  “You make an excellent point,” Jack replied, not bothering to comment further. The ice dragon was surely the more mature of the two.

  We walked between the houses down a road made of straw. Snow had been shoveled from the path to build small walls alongside. The burning wood smell was still there like before, but now it was accompanied by a sweet and spicy scent. My eyes searched for the source of the delectable aroma and found many more stalls than our first trek through town.

  I was suddenly ravenous. Before I could make my stomach’s demands verbal, something else came to my attention.

  As we made our way to the heart of the town, people stopped and greeted Jack. They seemed genuinely happy to see him and many of them he knew by name.

  “Remarkable,” I murmured.

  “What is?” Jack asked, turning away from the old man who had insisted on showing him his new grandchild.

  I waved a hand around us. “That you know all these people.” I couldn’t imagine knowing everyone in my town, but then again, my father rarely let me mingle among the commoners. Hell, the only time I’d really interacted with them was when I’d snuck out.

  “Of course,” Jack replied with a lift of one shoulder. “I grew up here. Our community is a small one, and it takes a village to make sure everyone is cared for. I’ve even been scolded a time or two by the man we just saw.”

  “Really?” Raiden’s brow rose clearly also finding the situation unusual.

  “Do you always have so many foreigners?” I asked, pointing at a guy bundled up in a bright blue parka. While the ice dragons dressed as if it were a nice summer day, those like Raiden and I who were not used to the cold were bundled up to their ears, and it made them stick out like sore thumbs.

  The thing was, there were almost as many ice dragons as there were those bundled up for the weather. Back home, we maybe had a dozen or so non-earth dragons living amongst us and rarely as many as this visiting. Sure, my father was strict on the comings and goings of those who don’t belong, but this seemed excessive even to me.

  “Uncle Fafnir does not believe turning people away because they are different is right. He believes, like most of us do, that if we are to survive as a species, we must welcome all.”

  “Aren’t you worried about spies? Invaders?” Raiden’s questions matched my own thoughts, and I was glad he’d voiced them because I’d been about to.

  Jack shrugged. “Our region is hardly fitting for anyone not of our kind. Those who come here usually have nowhere else to go.”

  “They could be unaligned,” I reminded him.

  “Even the unaligned sometimes need somewhere to call home.” Jack stopped at a booth where they were selling hot nuts. He took a moment to speak with the vendor before pointing at me. The red-faced man took one look at me and grinned before handing Jack a bag of nuts.

  “Here, be careful they are hot but delicious,” Jack said as he came back over and offered them to me.

  “Thanks.” I blew on one before popping it into my mouth. The sweet and spicy scent I had noticed earlier filled my mouth. How they were able to combine both of them into one made my mouth water.

  “You’re welcome.” He nodded to me for a second before continuing, “The unaligned are usually made up of outlaws and outcasts. But sometimes they are families who have no choice, and the wilderness is no place for children. Who are we to turn them away?”

  “Because you aren’t stupid,” Raiden pointed out as he stole a nut from my bag. He popped it into his mouth right before his expression filled with pain. “Ow!” He spat the nut out, fanning his tongue.

  Laughing at his antics, I held the bag out of his reach. “Now, who is the stupid one?”

  Raiden’s eyes narrowed right before he launched himself at me. I ran away, my bag of hot nuts clutched to my chest as he chased me. People looked on with amused interest but generally went about their business. Distracted by the onlooking crowd, I missed Raiden coming up on me until he knocked me off my feet. My back hit the cold ground with a thump, and my treat bag went flying, spraying hot nuts everywhere.

  “I’ve got you now,” Raiden smirked down at me, his hands finding my side and making me laugh and squirm. “Do you concede?”

  “Never!” I shouted, struggling against him. He kept tickling my sides until I couldn’t breathe and had to give up. “All right! You win. You’re not stupid.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Raiden stopped tickling me and stood. As he helped me to my feet, I frowned at the ruined bag of nuts.

  “You made me drop my nuts,” I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest.

  Raiden wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close to his side. Whispering so no one could hear, he said, “That’s okay. I have a better pair you can have later.”

  My face heated at his crude words, and I glanced around to make sure no one had heard him. Thankfully, everyone had returned to their own business.

  As we walked back to where Jack stood, he gestured toward the spilled back. “Would you like me to get you some more?”

  I shook my head, my face still aflame. “No, I think I’ve had all the nuts I can handle for now.”

  Raiden burst out laughing beside me before a coughing fit made him clear his throat. “Too true. Too true.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow at me, but when I didn’t elaborate he just shrugged. “Ready to see more?”

  “Sure, I think I can handle the cold for a few more minutes—”

  “Jack, Maya, Raiden!” the medic, Marcus, called, interrupting me.

  I spun on my heel to see him sprinting toward us, chest heaving with effort. He stopped when he reached us, his hands on his knees as he took a couple great gulps of air.

  “What is it?” Raiden asked, his face filled with fear and worry. “Are my brothers okay?”

  As I watched the medic struggle to breathe, all the anxiety from before came rushing back. The fear that Raiden would lose his family all in one go filled me to the brim. I wanted nothing more than for the medic’s words to be positive, but I’d learned long ago not to hold my breath.

  “No ... I mean yes. They’re fine.” Marcus shook his head, clearly insecure about his place. “In fact, they’re awake. That’s why I came. They need to speak to you right away!”

  5

  The infirmary doors banged against the walls as Raiden rushed inside. Jack and I trailed behind him, trying to get him to calm down. His brothers were healing. They didn’t need him freaking out.

  Firestar was with Trina at the end of Fujin’s bed. Fujin and Raijin were still laying down, but their eyes were wide open as they watched their brother come storming over to them.

  “Now, hold on a moment.” Trina held her hand up to stop Raiden’s approach. “They might be awake, but they are still weak. You can’t overload them right now.”

  “They’re my brothers,” Raiden snarled, his eyes wild as they flew over to his brothers before settling on the medic. “I just want to see them.”

  “Trina, it’s fine,” Fujin said weakly from his bed. Then, groaning the whole time, pushed himself up on his elbows. “He’s just gonna keep pestering you until you let him talk to us. Besides, we have much to discuss.” His brown eyes circled the room. “We all
do.”

  Trina dropped her arm to her side, and though she was still frowning, she stepped to the side. Raiden wasted no time barreling past and knelt between his brothers. Grabbing their hands in his, Raiden searched their faces. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but he seemed to have found it because the next thing I knew, he was smacking his brothers on the arms and yelling at them.

  “What the hell were you two thinking? Never again! Never again will you put yourselves in danger like that,” Raiden shouted, still banging on his brothers’ arms, making them wince in pain.

  Jack and Firestar shot over to Raiden, grabbing hold of the distraught dragon and pulling him back. Raiden fought against them, but they held onto him while Firestar whispered something in his ear that eventually made him calm down.

  The pair let Raiden go hesitantly. It was as if they expected him to jump at his brothers again. I understood Raiden’s frustration. If it had been my sister Aeis lying there, I’d have been upset too. But his brothers were still healing, so giving them their well-deserved beating would have to wait until later.

  “I’m fine.” Raiden shoved at the guys’ hands that reached out to him when he tried to approach the twins once more. “I’m sorry.” He directed his apology to his brothers who watched him with growing amusement.

  “It’s all right,” Fujin said with a lopsided grin. “We know crazy runs in the family. It was bound to be in one of us.”

  “That’s right,” Raijin chuckled. “They already had two perfect sons. As the youngest, it’s only normal you would get the short end of the straw.” His eyes darted down to Raiden’s lower region as the twins chortled.

  “Oh, like you are God’s gift to the world,” Raiden snorted, not at all bothered by their insults. Their relationship was so carefree. They were so at ease with each other, something I’d never had with my own sister. Aeis might be a lot of things, but she’d never openly teased me, at least not since we were children.

  “You two have no room to talk as it is,” Raiden continued, pointing a finger at the two. “If you think I’m the less blessed of this family, our boy Jack would put you to shame.”