A Question of Power (The Fire Chronicles Book 2)

by Susi Wright

  At the same time, Xian knew Luminor’s abilities and was not about to make the mistake of attempting the reverse. He began to draw on his internal resources of stolen Fire, just as his mentor had instructed. He felt the wraith’s magic. Using the edict, he summoned a handful of thralls to his aid. And, despite Gaian warriors dogging their every move, they broke away from the others and fired their arrows at Luminor and the dragon.

  Evading these by lightning reflexes, the two swooped away in different directions.

  So. . .Fire it is! Luminor conceded grimly. Again, much would be left to intuition and the rest, to Fate. This was after all the first real battle he had waged with Fire as a weapon. At that thought, Luminor drew Fire to his core with a centering breath, and Ra retaliated against the attackers with a series of coughed fireballs, obliterating four Xians in mid-flight. He neatly avoided the Gaian fliers, wheeling away like lightning and returning to Luminor’s side in no time. Small in size meant fast and agile. Ra was built for speed!

  Xian aimed his accumulated fire at Luminor, trying to avoid damaging the dragon, ignorant of the fact that he need not worry about that. This spoilt his aim and he missed hitting his opponent’s body.

  With a sweep of his hands, Luminor deflected the burst of flames thrown from Xian’s fingertips, sending them earthbound where the dust extinguished them. Instantly, he returned his own bolt of Fire which, if so intended, could have destroyed an entire village. Amazingly, it skirted around Xian instead of annihilating him and would have set light to the forested hillside on the far side of the plains, if Luminor had not prevented it.

  Meanwhile, Ra had swooped away to dispatch a couple more attacking warriors and Xian used the opening to unleash more of his newly-acquired skill, throwing a blast directly at the more experienced Luminor, who was ready for it.

  Just as when he had faced the Flame Adder, Luminor began to direct the Fire back to its source. As before, it would not go easily. The ever-unruly element, boosted by its ruthless instigator, pressed dangerously close. He could feel its searing heat on his body. He ducked and narrowly avoided being burned. Reaching deeper within, he tried to summon the same reserves of the Supreme Power which had turned the Adder’s Fire on itself and destroyed it, shocked to find they had been depleted. He drew on what he could, enough to give him the superior strength needed to force the Fire back towards Xian. Luminor threw such a great reserve of energy after the flames, he felt a sudden unfamiliar weakness. He watched the stream of flames and the aura of his energy that chased it, flowing around the dark lord like water, pooling around him and completely obscuring him from view for several moments. Time stood still.

  Then Fire and pursuing energy together seemed to be reabsorbed into Xian’s cloak as he flew forwards and he emerged from the conflagration. Unscathed. Laughing!

  Luminor was accustomed to the draining effect of using the Supreme Power, but in this moment, he experienced a sudden wave of extreme weakness, the like of which he had never felt before. For a dozen slow heartbeats, he felt himself free-falling from the sky like a bird without wings, as his friendly up-draught abandoned him. Ra flew in frantic circles around him, refusing to leave his side, so fast the movement became a blur, barking and growling, trying to catch him with outstretched wings. But only the size of a dog, he could not prevent the dive and was almost knocked from the air in the attempt, sent into an airborne somersault a furlong away and disappeared from Luminor’s view.

  How could this be? Always before, the Supreme Power had come to Luminor in plentiful supply. His presence alone could cow an opponent into submission. Bewildered momentarily, his head swam. He realised that his adversary must have managed to upset the balance and found a way to rob him of a little more! Xian and his necromancer had conspired, reaching into the depths of time to revive a powerful dark magic, long ago buried in the far reaches of the Ancient Realm. The mystical power embodied in the wraith was so insidious and stealthy that it had even been able to slip past the Guardians. This was a deadly power, the opposite of everything. The power of greed was like a vacuum. If allowed to march on, it could gobble up all love in Existence and turn it to hate.

  If Xian could draw some energy every time it was directed towards him, it would ultimately mean Luminor’s death because the Supreme Power, the power over Fire, was connected to the very essence of his being. It would be like a spider sucking the juices from a fly. A moment ago he had felt like that fly! Weakened physically, reflexes failing, he felt the thud and sting of an arrow as it pierced his side. How much energy has been taken? Is that poison in my ribs? How is this possible? This is not as it was written!

  He was still falling. . .down. . .down.

  Luminor hit the ground hard, knocking all the breath from his lungs, all movement from his limbs. There was a loud ringing in his ears, the sounds of raging conflict, the dizzying to-and-fro of movement, as brother parried and smote brother in the lamentable roundelay of death, the deadly Battledance.

  Dreamlike, he observed the scene around him with dimming vision, catching sight of his dragon wheeling past him then disappearing. . .all the sounds fading, along with the slowing beat of his heart. A strange new tranquility began to settle, in which he could feel the presence of the Guardians. . . ready to protect him?. . .or were they waiting to receive him? Images flashed through his mind: his beloved Fralii and their new little warrior-son fighting his way into the world with a mighty war-cry. . . then, vividly, little Espira flying towards him, as he had watched her so many times in the garden of their villa. . .a laughing, battle-crazed Xian throwing continuous flames at the melee of combatants on the battlefield, regardless of whether they were his own men, killing more than he could count in this moment. A myriad confusing images of flight and fight! The dust-cloud grew thicker. Frozen, he watched two more of his warriors fall to Xian swords, not far away, saw their lifeblood gushing into the thirsty sand. Or was that his own blood? He felt their pain, intensifying the agony in his ribs; he felt their passage into the mystical arms of the Ancestors, wondering belatedly in his numbing weakness, Where in all the Realms, is Ra?

  His vision slowly continued to dim. . .he wanted to move, but he could do nothing. . . about any of it.

  CHAPTER 38

  Healing

  Aleana and Shimbu left the room. They hurried down the corridor after Altor, leaving a puzzled Fralii to finish feeding the baby. The women’s emotion wavered with every step, between anxiety, that the child’s condition had worsened, to hope that it had improved. And neither could pin down why there was no foresight here, when both would normally have at least some sense of outcome. They squeezed in beside Altor, congregating at the door-way to Espira’s chamber, held there in bemusement at what they witnessed.

  Serafina was seated close to Espira’s cot. She had propped the motionless child up on pillows so she could look directly into the disturbing, blank gaze and had the two little hands enfolded in her own. She placed a gentle kiss on each chubby cheek before focussing once more on the eyes and began to murmur endearments in human dialect which soon became the hum of a haunting melody.

  The observers, able to see the proceedings clearly from the doorway, remained silent and still. Intuition advised them it was safer not to intrude.

  The humming became a song. Beautiful. Ethereal. The words were from no recognizable language but sung in a tone, both soothing and compelling. The voice was that of an angel, the melody inexplicably drawn from the Ancient Realm. Serafina’s eyes were glowing even brighter as she sang, focussed on the child, searching deep within the abandoned rainbow of Espira’s gaze.

  Singing was not unusual as a part of Gaian healing methods, employed to sooth a patient in pain. Most of the women knew all the traditional songs. Similarly, Morvians had recitations of their own. But neither Aleana, in all the time she had spent in the medical camps after the ravages of the Flame Adder, nor Shimbu from her experience, had ever heard a song like this. It had an undeniable power of its own. A way of instilling co
nfidence and calm to the bystander and who-knew-what-other benefit to the patient.

  Another matter entirely, Serafina’s eyes were very disturbing. Altor knew better than most what could happen if one played with any of the arts without instruction. Those very rare individuals, healers, were by necessity forced to venture into extremely volatile territory. To dabble in one of the Fires. And everyone knew the ramifications of overdoing that element! Even his brother Luminor, Lord of Fire, had learned much by experience. Altor had already noticed the rare and unsettling presence of Fire in Serafina’s eyes earlier that evening and in a different, even stronger way, now. But this time her gaze was trained on his beloved niece; the sudden trepidation caused him to cast an anxious glance at Aleana. She is an untried novice – This could be dangerous! Aleana simply shook her head once, smiling sagely, and they resumed their intriguing observations.

  Beside them, they noticed Shimbu as she watched the scene unfolding, smiling happily from ear-to-ear. Literally! Morvians had very wide, large-lipped mouths, much wider than any human or Gaian; there were two neat rows of small white teeth. Far from detracting, perhaps appearing ugly, it seemed to balance the huge round black eyes on either side of her wide flat nose. Her expression was irresistible, appealing and infectious. They found themselves smiling too, feeling inclined to put their faith in the power of healing itself. To watch and perhaps. . . even to be enlightened.

  Serafina continued, completely absorbed in her ministrations, the hypnotic melody of her song filling the space. The sound warmed the evening chill of the chamber, seeming to hold time still, even as it held her audience motionless at the doorway. She sang to Espira’s missing presence with her voice and summoned with her flaming eyes – for what seemed like hours – but was only minutes.

  During these few minutes, Aleana’s confidence in the situation was suddenly shaken by a sense that it was not so much Espira, but Luminor, who was in mortal danger. His mental guard had faltered for a moment and allowed her to glimpse him. Altor’s worried look told her he felt it too. But seconds later, that sense of peril was gone; the two assumed with great relief that whatever the danger, it had passed.

  This time was also long enough for Fralii to settle the baby to sleep in his cot, gather a small surprising reserve of energy, and make a determined decision. She addressed the otherwise empty room. “They are not leaving me out of this one!” With that, she made her way, wrapping clean linens about her body, willpower alone driving her shaky legs, to see what the fuss was all about. She guessed, from personal experience with her Gaian clans-folk, there was bound to be some interesting magic at work! She could hear the singing, which reminded her of the time when she was nursing alongside the Gaian women in northern Baram. Whatever was going on now, she was not going to miss it – even if she had to watch from a body which had collapsed in a heap on the floor of her daughter’s chamber!

  Expecting Fralii’s curiosity to get the better of her and sensing she was on her way to join them, Aleana and Altor met her along the corridor and helped her walk the rest of the way to Espira’s room. Altor brought a small padded stool from the hallway, placing it quietly just inside the doorway and settled Fralii on it to watch the proceedings.

  Three who watched, each endowed with the gift of sense-sight, had already realised that they were witness to something momentous. Fralii with her lesser, human awareness had only the advantage of the Link which she shared with Luminor. Recently, that had been deliberately cut off by him and she had understood the reason. Much still escaped her understanding, of course. Nevertheless, she regarded the scene with calm fascination. Having come to believe wholeheartedly in the talents and abilities of these people, she was prepared to be amazed once again!

  Xandor and Dak fought beside each other against half-a-dozen Xians. The Gaians were outnumbered, finding the Xians matched them move for move in hand-to-hand combat. They flew well and the archers were marksmen. It was evident they used poison-tipped arrows, managing to down and incapacitate many of Luminor’s warriors. Those who were not quick enough to evade a well-aimed shaft paid for it with their lives.

  Xandor’s suspicion, that perhaps the Xians had forgotten some of the old arts, might have been true, because none of them seemed to be using dust as a weapon. But equally, no-one could be certain if the edict itself prevented the use of the mental arts. Whatever the reason, this possibility gave the Gaians a small, and perhaps their only, advantage.

  There was another maniacal burst of Fire from Xian which ravaged a number of warriors from both sides. Xandor avoided that, throwing himself with vengeful fury back into the tragic fray.

  Xandor, in the midst of fighting off two enemy warriors at once, lost sight of Dak when his friend swooped away across the battlefield. He assumed Dak had joined equally talented brothers, employing one of their specialties, moving earth. He caught a glimpse of them, creating dust eddies to hamper the vision of the Xian warriors. But neither friend had missed Lord Luminor’s fall from a great height. They saw the dragon circling him at great speed, coughing a series of well-aimed fireballs, fending off a handful more Xians with Luminor in their sights.

  Xian emerged from the dust-cloud with jubilant expression on his face. Oblivious, or uncaring, of how many he had just murdered by Fire, Xian even took time to gloat a little before going in to extract his prize from the injured and dying Lord of Fire.

  At once, Xandor and Dak left the fighting and, in seconds, were on the ground by their wounded lord’s side. They arrived at the same instant the dragon grabbed Luminor’s cloak with its talons, almost succeeding to lift him up. Xandor and Dak took an arm each and the three of them sped for shelter, if only for a moment, beneath the trees of the thick woodland edging the field.

  Lord Xian, of course, saw them go and followed. But Dak had surrounded the group with his excellent shield and once they had the cover of the trees, they doubled back towards the plain. Flying low along a forest gully, they came to rest in an enclave of tall trees, hiding under a mossy rock overhang. Depositing Luminor on the ground, they crouched together, breathless. Here again, the dragon’s small size had been an advantage. The creature was puffing a little smoke at first, suffering from over-excitement, as it weaved its neck backwards and forwards anxiously over Luminor’s still form. Luckily, Xandor was able to disperse the haze quickly with a breeze so it did not give them away. He checked Luminor for injuries, noticing immediately the arrow protruding from his side and the dark circle of blood staining his tunic from rib to hem. Time being of the essence, he knew what must be done, setting himself to remove the arrow. This was never an easy thing and more often than not the head would break off, remaining dangerously embedded in the wound. He guessed there would be little he could do against the poison.

  Turning Luminor slightly, Xandor could see that this one had skimmed through the base of Luminor’s ribs, mercifully nowhere near a major organ. The head protruded out towards the back. Thanking the Stars that this was a simpler matter, he drew his dagger, plunging it without pause just under Luminor’s ribs along the length of the shaft, rending the fabric and flesh in one slash and yanked the arrow out sideways. This left a long cut that gushed fresh blood and no means to sew the wound. Helpfully, the little dragon cauterized and sealed the gash with a measured amount of his fiery breath, then settled down next to Luminor to wait, his watchful red eyes never leaving his master’s face.

  As Xandor examined their handiwork closely, worrying now about the unfamiliar poison. Neither he nor Dak recognised the smell and had no idea if it was fatal. The cut he made had been a significant wound in itself, two inches deep and eight long, the edges had puckered with the cauterization and the whole thing looked quite ugly. Purple veins had begun to spread from the wound site, extending up under Luminor’s arm and his entire body radiated excessive heat. Definitely not a good sign!

  But no sooner had Xandor noticed the severity of the injury, things started to change. The insidious purple veining began to recede back to
wards the cut, which had begun to knit together. Dak and Xandor watched the development, amazed and intrigued.

  From things he had already seen, Xandor would never venture to question the combined powers of his lord, a re-incarnated dragon and Fire itself, which inextricably bound them to each other and everything else! He was starting to comprehend, albeit vaguely, some of the higher concepts about Oneness and connection. But these were things that could confuse even the Elite. Dak’s understanding was more developed than his friend’s, but even he was in awe of the extent of that connection. Dak did not mention that in the few moments of the rescue, he had been shocked to sense the fleeting presence of a child on that battlefield, hovering close to Lord Luminor. The child was joined by a young woman, the briefest of glimpses, while something mystical had shimmered between the two and Luminor. He did not understand it. The two female auras disappeared, as if they had never been there, leaving Dak wondering if, in the heat of battle, his faculties had been playing tricks.

  Suddenly, with a sharp intake of breath, Luminor stirred, opened his eyes which looked brighter than ever, and sat bolt upright, startling them all. Dak was inclined to suspect those strange visitors had, in some way, been instrumental in this miraculous recovery.

  Luminor sat still for a moment, seeming to take mental stock of the situation, before exclaiming with a relieved sigh, “Good! Serafina has taken Espira home! I will have serious words to say to my daughter when I return! She could have lost us the battle and endangered everyone in the Capital at the same time! I am sure it is only luck that Xian did not spot her – Oh! There you are – ” remarked Luminor, noticing the creature fidget beside him, “ – right where you should be!” The dragon preened again and was right on his heels, as Luminor jumped to his feet, with no difficulty at all.