by Aimee Moore
Within the hour, we had a sword full of cooked meat, and Mindrik and I threw ourselves on it with ecstatic groans and blissful sighs. It had no seasoning whatsoever, and it was a red meat that did not take kindly to being cooked in water, but it was the best thing I had ever tasted.
I glanced at Dal as he lowered himself with careful grace, standing and stretching. Large muscles bulged and stretched elegant tattoos, and I tilted my head, wondering what they meant. Would all of Dal's dusky skin be as smooth under my fingertips as it looked? If I traced an elegant tattoo line down his front, would he tense? Would the hazel eyes watch me with the same wonder that I experienced?
Dal caught me staring, and my face heated. “Want some?” I held a hunk of meat out.
“No.” Dal sat in his spot against the wall, skin glistening from exertion.
“You must be hungry.”
“Death does not find Kraw on such a smooth path as hunger. Eat.”
“Did I hear him say that he had a way out of here?” Mindrik asked.
I nodded.
“Why hasn't he shared?”
I tilted my head at Dal. “I don't know. Why haven't you shared, Dal?”
“Patroma is not weak minded. She is right, we will find ourselves in icy graves before we find sanctuary. If she does not find us first.”
“So we'll stay here in our frosty prison, being starved or beaten, until the Warlord arrives and decides that he really wants you to die after all,” I said.
“There is greater chance of death beyond these walls than within.”
I frowned, then shook my head. “I would rather die free than live beaten and captive, Dal. I miss sunlight. I miss fresh air and flowers.”
“Flowers are dead, air is frozen.”
“Not in the capital,” Mindrik said.
Both of us turned to him. “Capital?” I asked.
Mindrik nodded. “When the Kraw beasts invaded our lands, the council established a stronghold that no Kraw could penetrate. The king himself proclaimed it the greatest city humanity had ever known. It's guarded and ruled by the Gifted. The capital spans as far as the eye can see, accepting all refugees.”
“But not Kraw refugees,” Dal said.
Mindrik got a thoughtful look on his face. “You are able to share Kraw weaknesses with the council, right?”
Dal watched Mindrik for a time. “No.”
“Why in heaven's name not? Your own people call you a traitor and wish to slaughter you. What do you have to lose? Help us fight them,” Mindrik said.
“I will not.”
“Why, Dal?” I asked.
“Kraw purpose is worth dying for.”
I scowled at that. Surely Dal wasn't so narrow minded as to take on a lemming-like mindset.
“What, exactly, is their purpose?” Mindrik asked with a frown.
“My words will fall on deaf ears. In time, I will tell you why Kraw fight. That alone will seal my fate.”
Mindrik threw his head back in exasperation. “Secrets from a traitor. Of course.”
I furrowed my brow at Dal. I wanted to ask what purpose could possibly be worth dying for, but I was afraid to ask, because if the answer didn't justify their deaths, I would be mad at Dal all over again.
“Where is the capital?” I asked Mindrik.
“South, on the coast. The air is warm and scented like honey, the flowers are always in bloom, and the sea crashes against the shores with siren songs in its waves. There is a life for you there, Sera, if you choose to go. The university in the capital will train you, and you can work alongside other Gifted. You can farm, or bake, or craft. Whatever makes you happy.”
“That is not for her,” Dal said.
“What do you know of our ways,” Mindrik said, scoffing.
“She is not what she appears,” Dal said.
I frowned. “What does that mean, Dal?”
“It means that you are different, and you will not find a place among human peasantry. You will rise above them.”
Mindrik huffed half a laugh. “Well, that's very sentimental, and all, but unfortunately for you, Kraw, humans don't exactly crown filthy country bumpkins as—"
“Kraw can see your gift, human. Would you call yourself powerful?”
Mindrik straightened, puffing his chest. “I am quite skilled, I'll have you know, my power rivaling even—"
Dal cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Kraw know this. It is why your life was spared while your peers were slaughtered. You are the most powerful Gifted outside of your capital.”
Mindrik gave a quick nod. “Yes. I'm glad we can all come to an understa—"
“She is more gifted than you,” Dal said, pointing to me.
My lips parted in surprise, and I looked at Mindrik, afraid to know if he knew this or not.
“Her? You really are mad; she can barely light a spark.”
“Her gift is blinding. It saturates everything she touches while yours is a flickering candle. She is not meant for the mundane, it is why Patroma has her. The only reason you live is to teach. You are alive for her.”
There was silence in the room as all eyes were on me. Dizziness swam through me, along with the realization that I was too stupid to handle this gift that was supposedly so powerful. I looked up at Dal, who was watching me.
“I want to go to the capital, Dal.”
“I know.”
“Please. I want to learn to use my gift. I want to see my people, and a proper hearth, and fresh bread, and laughing children. I want to know what this war is really about.” I looked down. “I want to see flowers,” I whispered.
“There, you see? The woman wants flowers. The world's most powerful urchin has requested posies.” Mindrik crossed his arms with a flap of his robes and sat back on his rear.
I ignored Mindrik and looked up at Dal, pleading with my eyes the best way I knew how.
“You will not like the answers your capital gives,” Dal said in Kraw.
“Why not?”
“You are not ready to hear.”
“Then why fight me with it?” I didn't know the Kraw word for pester, so fight would have to do.
Dal furrowed his brow a moment, before a look of understanding crossed his face. “Your human capital is hostile territory. For both of us, Sera.”
“I hate it when you two speak that awful language,” Mindrik said.
I let off a sigh, trying to see the whole picture as Dal did with such ease. I couldn't. “How could my own people be hostile to me, Dal? You're not making sense.”
“When you know why Kraw are here, you will know why your people are hostile.”
I switched to my language. “That's easy. My people are hostile because your people are killing us by the thousands. We don't stand a chance.” I was surprised at the bitterness that colored my words.
“You are angry,” Dal said.
“Yes, I'm angry. Kraw are killing my world. You saw the crumbling mountains and skeletal forests on the way here as surely as I did. But Kraw don't just kill my world, they kill my people, too. What good could possibly come from that? What purpose could possibly make my family's death okay?
“I was to be married. I was to be a wife, and have children of my own. My sister was to make me an aunt. Lonnie was building a house by the river so that we could raise a family. And now that's all gone. I will never know that life because of Kraw!” I was breathing hard. “Nothing Kraw want could possibly justify my loss!”
Dal sighed with a regretful patience that made him seem ancient. Hazel eyes met mine with a raw sorrow and honesty, and suddenly I was afraid of what Dal might say.
“Kraw are not killing your world, Sera. Humans are. Kraw are here to stop them.”
I had no air to breathe.
Chapter 7
A Flame is a Flame
“The beast is manipulating you,” Mindrik said with a scowl as I struggled to remain upright.
“He knows of what I speak,” Dal said, gesturing toward Mindrik.
I whirled on Mindrik. “You knew? The whole time, you knew that our world was dying because of us, and you never told me? You accused Dal of being the enemy?”
“He is the enemy, Seraphine. You said yourself that Kraw took away everything that made life worth living for you. Why do you still believe him?”
“Because he has never pretended that it was anything other than what I saw with my own eyes. The first thing you did to me was lie with pretty words. Tell me how we're killing the world, Mindrik,” I said in a dangerous voice.
“We are not doing anything but sitting here and rotting. As I said, the beast is manipulating you.”
“Tell me what you know or so help me I'll take that sword and run it through you myself.”
Mindrik waved a careless hand about. “Only what the rest of the world knows. It's such common knowledge that it surprises me to learn that country folk don't know.”
I glared as I waited.
“The council have found a raw leyline to extract power from the earth. Complicated business, only the council are privy to the specifics. But I do know that the end result is an unstoppable weapon with a few undesirable side effects. There will be no enemy that stands up to us, not even Kraw when the full force is extracted.”
“What side effects?” I growled.
Mindrik shrugged. “The Gifted who called upon this power caused great veins to heat within the earth, rendering one farm barren. A small price to pay, the man can find more land. Meanwhile, Kraw bastards pillage our people for ways to steal this power for their own, sundering our planet with their greed, scattering it to the stars. The beast manipulates you.”
I turned to Dal slowly, afraid to hear him deny everything. “Kraw are here to take it for their own?”
Dal spoke in Kraw. “You will believe whomever you wish.”
“Why did the Kraw come here, Dal?” I asked in Kraw.
“Kraw were summoned.”
“Summoned?” The Kraw word was foreign to me.
Dal thought for a moment. “Were given a song to answer. Summoned.”
“By what?”
“Your world. Worlds that march toward death change their song. We must right the song and leave.” When I furrowed my brow at the wording, Dal switched to my language. “Kraw have people who listen. People who study. We are not all warriors, our home world is alive with intellect, song, science, and politics. You look surprised, Sera.”
“I am,” I whispered. “What song does my world sing now?”
“I do not hear it. Patroma may. But I do not. I know that we are here because the song is feeble and weak. Dying. Kraw come and slaughter their way to the cause, and then we eliminate it.”
“You cannot hear the song, but you see my power.”
Dal gave a single nod.
“We have to go to the capital, Dal. We have to convince them to stop using their power on this leyline. The solution is so simple.”
“They will not.”
“We can end this war if we can just make them listen.”
“Listen?” Mindrik asked. “What is there to listen to? Kraw invade and destroy, and now this one has convinced you that we should tell the capital, our only resistance, to stop fighting back, stop using the only weapon we have against the beasts.”
“The council are the ones destroying our world, you fool. The Kraw are here to stop them,” I hissed at Mindrik.
“How easily you are manipulated, Seraphine.”
I sighed and turned to Dal. “Please. When they see you showing me kindness and protecting me, they'll have to listen. They're my people.”
Dal let off a deep breath. “Kraw will not stop, even in the face of surrender. The threat to this world must be eliminated.”
And the threat was the Gifted. The Gifted who carried a spark. It all made sense. I caught Mindrik's sardonic smirk as I cast around for an answer. I buried my head in my hands, watching mud flake to the floor. There had to be a solution, and it frustrated me to no end that two parties were so bent on destroying each other.
“The capital is dangerous for you. Even dragonflies have predators,” Dal said.
I looked up at Dal. “And what eats Kraw?” I asked in his language.
“Oh mercy, not again,” Mindrik said in a sour voice.
Dal gave a soft grunt as he thought. “Other Kraw,” he said at last.
My eyes widened.
“Many worlds have forged us, Sera, Kraw will meet their objective and leave. Victorious. Balance will be preserved.”
I shook my head. “So you're saying that they'll wipe out all of human existence, then just up and leave?”
Dal shifted to get comfortable as he spoke. “The Warlord has probably learned by now that only the Gifted are responsible. He may not yet know of this leyline, but he will. Kraw will eliminate anything that stands between them and the target.”
“So they're only keeping me alive to use me against my own people,” I said, switching to my language, sinking my head into my hands again.
“Your people would use you against Kraw, sending more of your world into the sea of blackness beyond the skies. Both sides seek to use you. You must choose which side you wish to be wielded by.”
“Ludicrous,” Mindrik said.
“That may be,” I said, straightening, “but I believe him.”
“It's nonsense. The capital would welcome you. If you are as powerful as he says, which I doubt, no offense, then they would provide you with grandeur.”
“At what price?” I asked.
Mindrik looked away. “No price.”
I furrowed my brow at him.
“You cannot go to the capital, Sera,” Dal said in Kraw.
“What if I destroy their leyline?” I asked in his language.
“The vein which they drink from?” Dal asked.
I nodded. “What if I'm powerful enough to destroy it? Would Kraw still press on?”
Dal let off a sigh of defeat. “Perhaps.”
“And what if I destroyed the council and their leyline. The threat would be extinguished, and Kraw could leave.”
“The risk is great, Sera. You are unskilled in your gift, and the council will destroy you before allowing their weapon to be extinguished,” he said in Kraw.
“Extinguished?”
Dal cut his hand to the side.
I nodded. “I plan to eliminate my council, that makes us both traitors, Dal,” I said in Kraw.
“I do not like where this is going,” Dal murmured.
“If we stay here, Patroma will beat us and use us. You will probably be killed, and I... well, we'll just say that I'd rather be dead than think of what they'd do.”
Dal frowned.
“If we leave here, the Kraw will continue to be at a stalemate with the Gifted in the capital, and Patroma will hunt us,” I said.
Dal ran a large hand through his hair in agitation.
“Dal, if we go to the capital, you can feed the council just enough information to keep you alive, while I figure out how to destroy the leyline.”
“I will appear to betray my race, while you betray yours,” he said as if he'd heard it before.
I nodded.
Dal shook his head, not meeting my eyes.
I switched to my language. “That, or we sit here and rot. Let's end this war, Dal. Give someone else their mother and father and sister. Make sure another Lonnie isn't killed. Please.”
“What madness are you planning now,” Mindrik said in a curt tone.
“We're trying to figure out how to stop all of this,” I said.
“Have caution when speaking around him,” Dal said in Kraw. “He waves their banner.”
I gave a nod and looked back at Mindrik, who was scowling between Dal and me.
“The only way to end this war is to tell us how to stop the Kraw,” Mindrik said. “Unless he plans on doing that, then he can forg—"
“He will,” I said.
Mindrik snapped his mouth shut. “Truly? The beast is comply
ing at last?”
“Stop calling him that,” I growled.
Mindrik rolled his eyes at me. “My dear woman, I call it what it is. A beast is a beast as much as a flame is a flame. Your misplaced indignation will not change that.”
“Let him use whichever words make him feel bigger. I do not hear them,” Dal said in my language, leaning his head back in relaxation.
Mindrik's face soured as he glared at Dal.
“We need to leave. We need to go to the capital, Dal,” I said. “Before Patroma tries something else.”
Dal looked at me for a long time. Sadness crossed his features before he gave a single nod. “Tonight, after the fourth torch, we shall.”
Mindrik laughed. “Just like that? Waltz out of here? Even though she hasn't learned to wield fire yet? I think not.”
“You will get us out,” Dal said to Mindrik.
“I will do no such thing.”
“We shall see what you think after some persuasion.”
Mindrik's scowl was wiped away. “What kind of persuasion.”
Dal closed his eyes and settled back. “Let us hope you do not find out.”
I glanced at Mindrik, who appeared to be fighting a Kraw-worthy battle within himself, and tried not to laugh. Dal had a way with words.
As the day wore on, the night ushered coldness into our prison, frost knitting up the walls. Dal allowed me to curl into him for warmth, as always, and Mindrik wrapped himself tightly in his robes, scowling at us. The cracks around the door to our prison became black, and voices outside began to die down. Dal's breathing was calm and even, as if he'd performed enough daring escapes in his life that this was nothing worth note. My heart was performing a spirited dance in my chest.
“You are frightened,” Dal whispered in my ear. His warm breath tickled me, setting new jitters to dance alongside my nervous ones.
“Yes,” I whispered back.
“There is time to reconsider.”
“No, we need to do this. I'm just... worried.”
“Awareness is not foolish.”
“Patroma said they would kill you and do what they wanted with me. Both of those things sound awful.”
“I do not doubt that.”
“Why do Kraw take from human women?” I shifted a little in Dal's arms, facing him so that I did not have to crane my neck so far.