Daughter of Lightning

by Anna Logan

  She was trembling. Even with the gag removed, she didn’t say a thing. When aqua light radiated from her hands, it reflected in her wide, terrified eyes. She pointed one of her quivering hands at the back of the cave.

  Tugging her along with him, he stepped over Seles and Brenly and went to the back wall. “More light.” As Kae illuminated the grotto, he inspected every inch of the wall, running his bloody hands over the stone. He stopped when his fingertips dipped into a groove. Followed it, until he’d figured a rectangular outline, put his shoulder against the middle of it, and pushed. A fresh influx of pain reminded him of how battered his body was. Didn’t matter. He simply pushed harder, grunting, until the rock gave way.

  It opened into a tunnel, a few feet wide and the height of the average man. Dimly he heard Seles crying, Haeric trying to calm her. He ducked into the opening and ran heedlessly, leaving Kae and the light she provided behind. Didn’t matter. He just had to—

  Rounding a bend, he collided with a wall. The pain flared. Unable to see what the obstruction was, he briefly felt it—a pile of rocks?—before backing up a few paces and ramming his shoulder into it.

  The ache in his back from the knife that had been lodged there became a fiery burn, gripping his body like a vise, making him catch his breath and tense every muscle, staggering, just as blue-tinged light filtered into the corridor, allowing him to see Grrake and Kae as they caught up to him. “Yhkon!” Grrake grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the rocks. “You’ve got to stop.”

  “They caved it in,” he mumbled.

  “I know. But throwing yourself at rocks won’t help. To get her back, you need to be fit for a fight. Alright?”

  “I lost her,” he put a hand to his forehead, wishing he could soothe the stabbing pain there. He leaned back against the wall.

  Grrake’s grasp tightened, trying to pull him back the way they’d come. “Only temporarily. We’ll get her back. Come on.”

  Yhkon flung his hand off and glared as best he could despite his grimace, heat surging to his cheeks and his voice. “No! I lost her. It could take weeks to get her back. A teenage girl, in the hands of those brutes. They’ll—”

  The older Warden’s gaze was steady. “Don’t go down that road. They Asyjgon have rules, you know that. Besides, she can defend herself if need be.”

  Kae looked horrified, gulping and staring at Grrake as if for confirmation that he was telling the truth, for Talea’s sake. Yhkon knew he was. He knew that the Asyjgon never fraternized or slept with foreigners, as per their religion. To produce a mixed-race child among their kind probably meant death. Supposedly. Unlike Kae, though, he knew that if it weren’t for those rules, her ability might not be enough to protect her, not when she had so little practice with it, and there were ways to get around it.

  But there were rules. Still…even if they kept to those rules…they had no restrictions otherwise. They would still hurt her.

  Grrake pulled at his arm again. “You’re not helping her or yourself by staying down here. Come on. Let’s go back and figure this out.”

  Too tired to do anything else, he followed them back down the tunnel. Only a few steps in, whatever adrenaline and craze he’d been functioning on ebbed away, and he ended up leaning against Grrake just to get out of the cave.

  Seles rushed them the moment they appeared, cheeks tear-streaked and swelling from a blow. “Where is she?! Where’d they take her?!”

  Yhkon didn’t have it in him to explain. He let Grrake do it for him.

  “What?!” fresh tears sprang to her eyes. “Then how will we…she’ll be…we’ve got to—”

  Haeric took her arm and led her aside, murmuring some sort of answers or comfort.

  That left Tarol, Brenly, and Kae. The tent the boys were in was farther off where they’d been able to find a flat spot, apparently far enough that they hadn’t heard the commotion. The girls were conspicuously shaken. They were looking to him and Grrake for something, some reassurance, some instruction.

  That wasn’t something he had to offer. His whole body felt as though it were made of lead. The throbbing ache in his head was gaining intensity, as were the pains everywhere else. Supporting him with his shoulder, Grrake helped him to a tree and had him sit down against it. What could they do? How were they supposed to find her, let alone retrieve her, if she was taken to one of the Asyjgon bases? It was impossible to know how long the tunnel was, or where it led. How far? Where to find tracks? If there was a solution, a logical next step, he was too exhausted to guess what it was. He got out Grrake’s name in a slurred voice, but nothing else.

  Grrake must have understood. He got back to his feet and took command. “It’s too dark to track them now. At first light, the three of us will ride out to find their trail. For now, girls, Seles, go to our shelter and try get some sleep. We’ll all stay on watch and make sure nothing else happens.”

  Nods from Tarol and Haeric. Brenly and Kae, timidly, did as told, hugging their arms to themselves. Seles followed them, wiping away tears. Yhkon just put his head in his hands.

  ~♦~

  Heavy footfall after heavy footfall jarred her aching body. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. At every stride, the man’s shoulder dug into her rib cage, painful nausea surged in her stomach from the movement and the uncomfortable position in which he carried her, his sweaty odor filling her nostrils. The only view to be had was of her captor’s back and the ground he jogged over.

  Her mind drifted. Fading in and out of awareness, as if floating between reality and an obscure mental expanse. A dull, intense ache still pounded her skull. What thoughts she had were foggy, and revolved around her predicament, or the predicament of the friends and family she’d been stolen from. Simply to grasp the grim notion that she’d truly been captured by the Asyjgon took effort. That she was being borne to who-knew-where, for who-knew-what was beyond her comprehension.

  How long had they been traveling? It might have been days, as far as she was concerned. At least a few hours. Opening her eyes resulted in a fresh stab of pain in her temple, but it allowed her to see that the forest wasn’t so black and shadowy. Morning was on its way. That meant…she grimaced. Four hours, at least.

  Thud. Thud. Thud. On, and on. There was no relief from the incessant jarring. From the pain in her head. Her thoughts were slipping again. It was easier to close her eyes, to drift. Slipping, slipping…into peaceful darkness.

  ~♦~

  Wylan woke with the strange sense that something was wrong. Hazily his thoughts came to order. It was a dream…the lingering feeling of danger from a dream, in which…the scenes and sounds were blurred now. Someone crying. A scuffle of some form.

  He sat up. Naylen and Ki were still asleep beside him. There was no noise outside to indicate trouble. It must have just been a dream. All the same, he pulled his boots on, got up, and left the shelter.

  His first impression was that logic was correct, and it had only been a dream, that nothing was wrong. It was only a couple seconds after that conclusion, however, that he was forming a very different one.

  Despite it being later than the group usually woke up, there was only one person in the middle of the campsite. Yhkon, sitting against a tree, hunched over, hands clasped behind his head. From this distance there were no visible details to confirm it…but he still knew. Something was wrong.

  Cautiously, he approached. Yhkon didn’t seem to notice. “What’s going on?”

  The Warden looked up, and the visible details of confirmation fell into place: he looked haggard, eyes bloodshot, one side of his face swollen and bruised. There were bloodstains on his shirt. Overall, it looked like he’d taken a thorough beating.

  Tension made Wylan’s neck and shoulders rigid. “What happened?” he demanded, quietly.

  “They,” Yhkon’s voice cracked, so he swallowed and tried again. “They took her…”

  Wylan moved closer, until he was standing over the man, a new experience since Yhkon was a head taller. “Who is they and who di
d they take?”

  The Warden closed his eyes in a wince. “Talea. They took Talea.”

  They took Talea? Alarm constricted his throat. That and anger. He sprinted toward the Warden’s shelter, ducked inside, and felt the heat flame in his skin when it was Seles, Kae, and Brenly he saw sleeping inside instead of the three men.

  Fists clenched, he marched back to Yhkon. He should have known. He never should have trusted them. By taking Talea, they’d taken the one person who could have helped him overcome them. They’d separated them. Cut their chances in half. And what were their intentions for her? How badly might they hurt her?

  When he reached the injured Warden, he crouched beside him. Clearly, Yhkon had tried to stop them. So maybe he had some worth or honesty to him, but either way, he’d been on their side. He’d probably killed Wylan’s family. And, he might know where they went.

  There was a moment in which Yhkon’s exhausted expression tightened with apprehension, perhaps realizing what was about to happen. Before he could do anything about it, Wylan grabbed his shoulders and put his knee on Yhkon’s stomach, shoving him down and pinning him to the ground. “Tell me where they’ve taken her.”

  The Warden looked at him like he was crazy. “If I knew I’d be there. You think I—”

  With a twinge of guilty reluctance that surprised him, Wylan let heat fill his palms.

  Yhkon’s eyes widened. Then closed in a grimace. “Get off! I didn’t—” he sucked in his breath as Wylan exerted more energy, no doubt burning where he held the man’s shoulders.

  “Just tell me how to find them!” Perspiration was beading on his brow. He swallowed nervously, increasing the heat even more, hoping it would be enough to convince Yhkon so that he could stop.

  Instead, the Warden choked on a yell of pain, and tried to shove him off. He gasped out a curse and struggled with a renewed vigor, dislodging Wylan’s grip so he could clumsily fumble away.

  Wylan lunged to his feet, cringing even though he wasn’t the one in pain. “Just tell me—”

  “Gsorvi, Wylan,” Yhkon lurched to a tree, using it for support, “it wasn’t us! For goodness sake, next time give me a chance to explain before you try to torture information out of me that I don’t have!”

  “What on Kameon is going on here?” Grrake had appeared without either of them noticing. His gaze landed on Yhkon’s shoulders, where his sleeves were charred from the heat Wylan had applied. He whirled to glare at him. “What did you do?”

  Wylan fought the urge to take a step back. “You were gone, and he said Talea had been taken. I thought…”

  Grrake’s demeanor, usually so calm and gentle, was practically seething. “So you assumed we’d kidnapped her, and you attacked Yhkon when he’s already injured?!” he stalked forward. The way his posture was leaned forward, the way his arms flexed…Wylan instinctively poised his feet for action, ready to run.

  “Grrake.” Yhkon’s tone had lost its hostility. He just sounded tired. Dejected, even. “Leave him be. I hardly blame him for coming to that conclusion.”

  Some of Grrake’s aggression abated, though as he replied to Yhkon he still glowered at Wylan. “Well he might have had the sense to realize you were injured, and clearly not a culprit.”

  “Of course I realized that,” Wylan muttered. “But I thought he’d know where they had taken her.”

  After a final glare, Grrake turned his back as he faced Yhkon. “How bad did he burn you?”

  “I’ll be fine,” the lead Warden said dismissively. “What did you find?”

  “Maybe a trail, not for sure, and a broken one if it is. I left Tarol and Haeric to keep at it while we packed up, so we’d be ready to join them when they’ve got a better idea.”

  Wylan pursed his lips, scuffed the toe of his boot in the dirt, then rolled his eyes at himself and spoke up. “Look, I’m sorry.”

  Grrake’s features had softened. If not to their usual benevolence, than at least to the beginning stages of forgiveness. “Just don’t do it again,” was all he said.

  Yhkon glanced at him. Didn’t say anything. But he didn’t look mad, just wretched.

  “Will you tell me what happened?” he asked. “I assume it was Asyjgon. Because of her lightning.”

  “No doubt,” the lead Warden took faltering steps away from the tree, heading toward the tent Naylen and Ki were still asleep in, if slowly. “A group of them attacked me. There was a hidden tunnel connected to that cave, so while I was distracted, more of them got in there, restrained the girls, and took Talea. They left and we realized she was gone, but they’d already caved in the tunnel.” A pause. “It was my fault.”

  “No it wasn’t.” Grrake shook his head and caught up to him. “You couldn’t—”

  “Oh, leave it!” Yhkon snapped, frowning at him. Acrimony set his jaw. “I think I’m old enough to know my own mind, Grrake.”

  The older Warden fell silent. At the despondency in his countenance, the way he hunched his shoulders, Wylan almost couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. “Alright,” he cleared his throat. “What now?”

  Yhkon kept going toward the shelter. “Now, we wake everyone up and prepare to go. Once we convince Naylen not to kill me.” He stopped a few paces from the tent. “And then we get her back.”

  ~♦~

  Talea groaned without meaning to. Her rib cage ached from the shoulder of the Asyjgon man, her stomach roiled, her head still hurt. If only she hadn’t woken up until they stopped moving. If they ever stopped moving.

  “Gah, how much farther?” the man carrying her muttered, shortly before his jolting footsteps came to a halt. She almost sighed with relief, until he adjusted her on his back, bringing a fresh wave of pain.

  “Not much,” someone replied.

  He shifted her again, just as roughly. “My shoulder’s killing me.”

  “If you hadn’t forgotten to get their celiths, you wouldn’t have to carry the wench at all.” The speaker snapped his fingers. “Ralib, take his place.”

  Another man, apparently Ralib, approached. She did her best to let her body slump and steady her breathing. Better that they think she was unconscious. Ralib grabbed her by the waist and arranged her on his back, with her tied wrists dangling around his neck, supporting her thighs with his forearms. A small sigh escaped, and she almost wanted to thank the man for carrying her more comfortably. “Fool. Why’d you carry her like that?” he retorted, securing his grip and starting forward. His gait wasn’t quite so heavy and jostling as the previous man, nor was he quite so sweaty and dirty, or his armor jagged and positioned just so that it bit into her skin. Between that and the better posture, she was able to fall into an uneasy doze, that gradually deepened to unconsciousness.

  Talea woke with a start to the realization that they weren’t moving. That they weren’t there at all. She was curled up on solid ground, instead of backpacked by an Asyjgon.

  Her eyes opened to dimness. It took a moment to be able to discern anything about her surroundings. The only light was pale and bleary, coming from a hallway a stone’s throw away. Between her and it were vertical bars. Rusty, metal bars, with only a few inches gap between them, that stretched from the stone floor to the stone ceiling.

  A prison cell.

  A tingling shiver crept over her skin. It was square, roughly big enough that she could have stretched out from one side to the other. Completely bare, other than a chamber pot in one corner, and shackles embedded in the wall. At least she didn’t have to wear those.

  Talea pulled herself into a stiff, achy ball, hugging her knees to her chest. The damp, cold air made her grateful she’d worn all her clothing to bed instead of just a smock and underclothes. Her throat was dry. There was a squeezing pressure in her chest. The overwhelming notion that she’d been captured by the Asyjgon became the overwhelming reality that she was a captive of the Asyjgon. That she was alone. Completely alone, in a prison cell, in the dark, with no idea where she was. No idea where her friends where, or what had happened to
them. Alone.

  A sound broke the terrifying stillness. Someone was coming.

  14

  Reassuring Lies

  T he calloused hand tightened around her wrist, yanking. She collided with the bars but was immediately pushed back and pulled through the open door instead. With a firm hold and a sharp jerk whenever she stumbled, the man dragged her out of the tiny room, past the other cells beside it, and into the hallway.

  There was a fork at the end of it. To the right, voices, laughter, general noise. To the left, nothing. He tugged her into the left passage. What was worse, the noise or the silence? “Where are you tak—”

  His palm slammed into her cheek, bringing a stinging pain and a wave of dizziness. Without giving her so much as a moment to recover, he kept walking. Leaving her no choice except to flounder after him.

  The corridor was saturated with darkness, just like the prison. As if the Asyjgon had a fear of light, or just a love of caves. Because as far as she could tell, that’s what this was. The stone of the walls was smooth and continuous, not in chunks cemented together the way most stone architecture was. It seemed to be one giant cavern that they’d carved into a base.

  Her cheek hurt. The bruising on her ribcage from being carried there hurt. Her whole body was stiff and cold. Hunger gnawing at her stomach, thirst parching her throat. Wondering what awaited her wherever the man was taking her.

  He stopped at a closed door and knocked. It opened almost instantly to a room lit by torches and occupied by twelve Asyjgon men. One of them she recognized: the man that had seemed to act as leader among the men that kidnapped her and taken her here. It was toward him that she was thrust, too harshly to avoid a collision. He caught her by the elbow, yanking her arm behind her back painfully, forcing her to move wherever he pulled. But as quickly as he’d grabbed hold of her, he let her go, stepping back to stand beside two of the other men. There he faced her with a countenance of stony criticism. “I am Captain Lerrip. From now on, you and I will be seeing a lot of each other.”