Fire Dancer

by Catherine Jones Payne

  “I know you have a lot to think about. Your family. The new baby. Your whole world, really. But I want you to know that if it’s time for you to leave the clan, you’ll have a home with my family.”

  “Thank you,” I managed through my tears.

  “I’m not asking you to marry me or anything. I know there’s a lot you want to do. I’m just saying that you’ll have a place to stay, people who care about you.”

  “Aye.” Wiping again at my tears, I turned the thought over in my mind. Reached into my bag to run my fingers over the coal. Over the marble. “I’ve a lot to think about,” I said, my voice quavering. “But I might like that.”

  The more I considered the idea, the better it sounded. Stay with Nolan’s family. Make friends outside the clan. Continue to learn magecraft without the oversight of the council. Maybe someday Nolan and I could travel. Go to the other side of the world, where the Fintan had never toured. Start up our own fire festival with a few other defectors, one where both men and women were mages and people could come and go as they pleased.

  It was a sight better than marrying one of Liam’s awful friends or staying in the clan and doing . . . nothing.

  Pain still swelled in my chest, but some of the heaviness had lifted. Papa’s words played in my head.

  We’re going to have to let her go someday.

  Papa had known. Papa had always known. The tears returned with a vengeance, but it was a different sort of pain this time.

  All wasn’t lost. But oh, how it would hurt to say goodbye.

  We sat there for an hour or so, until my tears subsided and left a dull ache in their place. “I’ll stay,” I said softly.

  Nolan stirred beneath me. “I’m glad.”

  I managed a small smile. “It’s the only thing left to do.” Then I tilted my face up, sniffing. “Do you smell that?”

  Nolan took a gulp of air, and his eyes widened. “Smoke,” he said.

  “But not woodsmoke.”

  He shook his head and smelled the air again. “No . . . it doesn’t have the clean smell of woodsmoke.”

  Dread coiled in my stomach. Another fire? Could it be a coincidence? “Arson?” Wouldn’t that just be the perfect ending to a perfect day?

  The question hovered between us, dancing, flaunting all its horrifying possibilities. “Can you see where it’s coming from?” he asked.

  The flickering specter of arson tugged at me as I pushed myself to my feet, carefully gripping the branch above me for support. I scanned the forest in every direction. Nothing but leaves. “If I get just a little higher,” I said.

  “Be careful.”

  I hauled myself up onto the next branch. It swung beneath me, threatening to dump me off into the forest below. “Oh, no you don’t,” I murmured. If I stood from here, I was sure I could see above the other trees well enough to find the smoke. Inch by inch, I straightened, keeping my back against the trunk for stability.

  There. In the distance, to the south. About where I’d expect . . .

  “Terra Market,” I said. A rush of horror flooded me, deeper and stronger and blacker than the horror I’d felt while standing before the council being stripped of my role as Phoenix. My voice dropped to a hoarse, gravelly hiss. “Breanna was going there today. This afternoon.” My sense of hearing faded away; my vision narrowed to a single point of light in a dark tunnel.

  Breanna.

  And then I was in the white maze, in front of a pillar I’d never seen before. Over the pillar was a surging flame that suddenly winked out of existence.

  A voice whispered through the maze. This time, I could understand it. “There is still time to save her.”

  Breanna.

  “I’m coming,” I said as I jerked myself out of the maze and almost toppled off the branch.

  “Kyla! Kyla!” Nolan called from two branches below me. “Are you okay? Please don’t fall.”

  “We have to go now,” I spat, swinging down to my usual branch.

  “Do you think Breanna is still there?”

  “The labyrinth thinks so.” I jumped onto his branch and then down one further.

  Nolan followed me down the tree.

  “We have to go,” I said again.

  “What do you mean?” he gasped out from above me.

  “I can put it out,” I managed between gulps of air.

  “Kyla, stop!” He dropped down next to me. “Your magic is too unpredictable. The quellers will deal with it.”

  “My sister is there!” I yelled. The branches were larger now, and I jumped from one to the next until I hit the ground and took off running toward the path.

  I doubt I’d really convinced him it was a good idea, but he said nothing and ran alongside me. My breath was coming in hot, fast pants now. I hated running.

  But I would not lose Breanna. I would die for her without hesitation or question.

  Though I very much hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  We reached the path and took off toward the south. I’d never run so fast for so long, but desperation fueled my every step. The pain in my lungs was nothing compared to the pain of burying Breanna and her child.

  The Terra Market clearing opened up in front of us. Flames shot up from the old barn in the northwest corner, and a blaze was taking hold in another building somewhere toward the center. The road wound down the hill in a lazy serpentine, but we cut straight across the field. A horse galloped toward us, screaming in fear. The smell of smoke and seared flesh and burnt herbs filled my nostrils in a cacophonous, choking blend.

  I dodged the horse and bolted toward the out-of-control blaze. The small wagon of three quellers was already here, but this fire was too much for them. They needed the rest of the quellers to have a hope of putting out a blaze this size. I looked around but didn’t see any trace of the other two wagons.

  Hurry up!

  I hoped against hope that Breanna wasn’t here, that she’d been in the open part of the market when the fire started.

  But her favorite sellers set up shop in the stalls of the old barn.

  I put on an extra burst of speed and arrived at the blazing wooden structure three steps before Nolan did. Grinding to a halt, I closed my eyes a moment and tried to focus.

  Find Breanna, a voice whispered from deep in my soul. The same voice I’d heard in the labyrinth.

  When I’d flashed into the labyrinth—back in the tree—the maze had shown me a tactic for extinguishing the fire. I was sure of it. I closed my eyes and entered the maze, finding myself standing on the smooth white floor before that same pillar. The fire flared to life in front of me in the shape of a phoenixbird, only to be instantly extinguished, leaving a bed of ashes in its stead.

  “Tell me what to do,” I hissed at the pillar. “I need to know. Now.”

  The whispering voice spoke in that strange language. But I had no time to try to interpret it. I needed to know how to put out the fire.

  A louder, feminine voice spoke over the whispers. I’d heard that voice once before. “Do you love your sister?” the voice asked.

  I whirled around, looking everywhere but finding no source for the voice. “Aye!” I yelled.

  “Then you may take the flames that surround her into yourself,” the voice intoned. “Leave the young man behind, or all will burn.”

  What the blazes is that supposed to mean? But the white room trembled, and a single crack appeared in the wall, snaking down toward the floor. Then there was a massive jolt, and I found myself back in the physical world, falling forward onto my face in front of Nolan.

  Thud.

  The fall knocked the air out of me, but I forced myself back to my feet before I fully caught my breath.

  Horror flooded me as I looked up at the burning building. If the voice in the maze was right, Breanna was inside.

  And I might be the only one who could save her.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I turned to Nolan. “Stay here,” I said. “Promise me.”

  “What—”


  “Promise me on your mama’s soul. I don’t have time to explain. The labyrinth spoke. You have to stay here or we all die.” I whirled around and ran toward the burning barn.

  “Kyla!”

  The desperate, haunted timbre of Nolan’s voice tugged at my heart as I bolted past three very confused quellers.

  I’m sorry, Nolan. But I have to do this.

  With every footstep, one of my failures flashed in my head. Steps I missed at dance practice. Times I’d disappointed Papa. The days I’d let the magic get out of control and started fires. And, worst of all, failing to convince the council. Watching them take away everything I’d worked for. I’d made so many mistakes. Lost so much.

  None of that mattered now. I couldn’t afford any mistakes here. I had to get to Breanna.

  To Breanna’s baby girl.

  Overwhelming emotions swirled inside me as I ducked beneath the smoldering doorframe and into the blazing heat. I sucked in a breath of air, but only choking smoke filled my lungs. I pulled the collar of my shirt over my face and tried to suppress the hacking coughs. A high-pitched squeal met my ears, and I turned to see a small black cat bolt toward the entrance.

  Where is Breanna?

  I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and pressed deeper into the oppressive heat. When I blinked, I found myself for a moment in the labyrinth, staring at the pillar that had seemed to speak to me.

  “Where is she?” I screamed.

  I forced my eyes open. The orange flames leaped from rafter to rafter, casting an eerie, hellish glow over the whole scene. The fire crackled and hissed, spewing embers at me. I jumped forward, dodging a falling, flaming board that had torn free of the roof.

  I tripped over something and tumbled to the ground, rolling across the fallen board and wincing as pain shot through my body. When I glanced back wildly to see what had tripped me, my heart broke in two pieces.

  A little boy, perhaps five, his skin dark with soot, his brown hair sticking to his cheeks in damp curls. He was lying on the ground, his knees tucked into his chest. But his terrified eyes met mine. He was alive.

  My gaze darted back toward the entrance. Where were the blasted quellers? I looked deeper into the burning barn. Why hadn’t I let Nolan come with me? He could take the child to safety while I found my sister.

  But the magic had spoken so clearly.

  “Breanna, where are you?” I pleaded.

  I lunged to my feet, scooped the boy into my arms, and bolted for the doorway, pleading with the fire to slow its murderous course.

  A cracking sound tore the air, and I redoubled my pace. A burning beam came crashing down in front of me, and I didn’t hesitate before I leaped over it and sailed through the door and out of the barn.

  I sucked in a breath of life-giving air and bent over, coughing and hacking, trying to cleanse the choking smoke from my lungs.

  “Kyla!” yelled Nolan.

  I shoved the boy at him. “Take care of him,” I rasped. “I have to get Breanna.”

  “She might not even be in there,” he yelled.

  “The labyrinth told me to.” I held his gaze, my eyes pleading.

  Nolan took the boy from my arms. “I’ll go with you.”

  I shook my head. “Please, don’t. The magic . . . told me. We’ll die if you come. I can get her. I swear it.” Then I sucked in a breath of air, turned, and fled back into the raging inferno.

  The heat prickled across my skin, and then its full fury seemed to consume me. Breanna! I pushed into the barn, fear ravaging my very soul.

  What if the voice is wrong? What if it’s luring me into a trap?

  I shook away the thought. If Breanna was here, I had to find her. I had to.

  I leaped over the fallen beam and bolted into the depths of the barn.

  Where is she? I demanded, hoping that the voice in the labyrinth could hear me. That it would give me an answer. Any answer.

  Acid flooded my mouth when I saw a charred body off to my right. I refused to even think it could be Breanna.

  But someone had lost their brother or sister to these flames. I pushed further into the barn, and something seemed to tug me to the left. I followed the instinct. Then I turned into a wide stall, and I saw her.

  Breanna. On the ground.

  I ran to her, bending over her, searching for signs of life. Relief flooded every inch of me when I saw her shallow breathing.

  And then I noticed the others. Four children, hiding in the corner. Another woman, also unconscious.

  The fire roared behind me. But maybe if the children dragged the other woman, I could shepherd them all out.

  And then, the screaming of splintering wood. I whirled around just in time to see a post collapse behind me, and then a section of roof caved in, blocking our escape.

  I turned back to the children, who stared at me with wide, panic-filled eyes.

  We were trapped.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  In that moment, my first thought was of Shayla. Of how satisfied she’d be that her nemesis was not only disgraced, but dead. Anger radiated out of my chest, and the flames flared even hotter, throwing more heat at my scalded skin.

  I needed to focus. I needed to quell these flames, to carve a path through which I could drag Breanna and lead the children to safety. Or at least hold it off long enough for the quellers to rescue us.

  Then a thin sheen of fire slithered its way across the ceiling, directly overhead. I swallowed. The quellers wouldn’t reach us in time. We had to make it through the flames.

  My eyes found the other unconscious woman—the children’s mama, if the resemblance was anything to go on—and my throat burned. We would have to run. I could throw Breanna over my shoulder, but I couldn’t rescue the woman too. If I tried to drag them both out, we’d all die.

  I couldn’t save everyone.

  I whipped back around to stare at the flames that blocked our exit. “Come here,” I called to the children.

  I heard them shuffling behind me, and then one of the little ones wailed. “Ma-maaaa!”

  My heart cracked. Focus, Kyla. I tried to steady myself. Save Breanna. Save the children. Save . . .

  My vision flashed white. That confounded pillar pulsed in front of me like a living creature, underneath that uncanny symbol of fire pulling together and then exploding into nothing.

  Of fire in the shape of a phoenixbird.

  And then I understood the strange magic that the labyrinth had shown me. I’d been right.

  I couldn’t save everyone.

  A child gripped my skirt, and I turned to look at her siblings, her mama, my sister.

  But I can save all of the others.

  I was still a phoenix.

  Images of the life I’d dared to allow myself to dream of—a future with Nolan, first on his family’s farm and then traveling in distant lands, forming our own festival—crowded at the edge of my thoughts, but I shoved them away.

  No time to mourn that loss. No time to mourn my own life.

  “Grab her,” I called to the oldest two children, nodding at the unconscious woman. “Bring your mama over here.” I gestured to Breanna. “Lay her beside my sister.”

  The children trembled but complied, their littler siblings sticking close at their sides.

  The heat felt like it was going to melt my skin, and a pang of fear tugged on my heart at what I was about to do. But when I looked at the sweat trickling down Breanna’s brow, I felt certain. This was why the labyrinth had welcomed me in, had spoken to me. It wasn’t so I could pursue my own ambition.

  It had known I would need to save them.

  Breanna had been right. Love. It came down to love.

  Because I was dancing for you.

  “Huddle together with your mama,” I called to the children.

  I reached out with a tentative hand to squeeze my sister’s fingers. And then I turned and faced the flames.

  “You will not take them,” I whispered. The world flashed white
again, and I reached out and grabbed ahold of the pillar with both hands. When the white room faded and I found myself again in the fiery barn, I knew what to do. I stretched out both hands toward the fire.

  I love you, Breanna.

  And without a single word, I drew the flames toward myself. They came at me slowly, pulsing, as if surprised by my magic. Then hotter. Brighter. Tears burned in my eyes, but they evaporated before they could trail down my cheeks. Though I would be reduced to ashes, life would spring up from the blackened ground. Life for the children, for their mama, for Breanna and her baby.

  The first wave of flame hit me, and I screamed. The searing-hot fire seemed to melt my skin and liquefy my bones, but I kept pulling, taking the fire into myself, until my whole body felt scorched from within. And still, I pulled the flames toward me, forcing myself to stay conscious through the pain with only the keen awareness of the love I had for my sister.

  I’m sorry, Nolan.

  I glanced back toward Breanna, and then threw out my hands and screamed into the inferno. All at once, the fire raced toward me like a living thing, engulfing me whole in brilliant white light.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “Kyla!” Nolan’s voice came to me as if through deep water. My mind swam, churning, trying to find the surface. Why was Nolan here? Had he run into the barn and died too? Had we stepped into the world beyond together?

  “Kyla.” Nolan again. Why wouldn’t he let me sleep?

  Awareness began to trickle through my being. The air was smoky. How could I know that the air was smoky unless I was breathing? The ground beneath me felt cool and gritty. I flexed my fingers and toes and experienced no pain. But something was different. A strange warmth pulsed inside me.

  My eyes flew open.

  Nolan knelt above me. People milled around the edges of my vision, speaking in hushed tones. Sunlight traced its tendrils over my body. I was alive. But how?

  “Breanna,” I managed, my voice hoarse. I lifted my hand and gazed at my fingers. They were dark, covered in soot. But whole, unburned.

  How? But that wasn’t the most important question.

  “Breanna?” I said again, insistently.