by Aimee Moore
Dal let off a soft sigh as he watched the emotions cross my face. “I have changed everything and nothing,” he whispered. Dal reached a hand through the bars with some difficulty and stroked my cheek. “Sera, you know that I care, you have seen the depth of my thoughts more than any other. But we must focus on our goals in this moment. For your world. For us. For the life that deserves a chance. Do you understand?”
The warmth in his hand was suffusing into me like sunlight, and I loved him so much that a tear escaped down my cheek. I didn't want to deal with the world right now, I wanted to feel his body close to me, I wanted to taste his kiss and hear him tell me that he loved me.
But the logical part of me stepped up, demanding that I suck in a deep breath, stand up, and do what I needed to do. I was the only one who could free us now, and bouts of emotional outburst weren't going to help.
I nodded in Dal's warm hand and palmed away the wetness on my cheeks. Dal gave a slight nod, pulling his hand back in and standing.
I stood on shaking legs, letting out a warm breath. The world around me was now brittle, as susceptible to my touch as tinder to flame. My gift writhed within me with a roar, strong and sure, laid bare to me in all of its intricacies. Dal had done this for me. He had both taken all of me and given everything to me.
Letting the flames lick themselves up my palm, I grasped the bars with sure hands, watching the metal turn from dull black to warm orange. I raised my lashes to Dal, who stood back as heat radiated out of my hands. Flame licked its way up my legs, into my hair, sending tendrils of it to float about as if in a warm breeze.
His gaze met mine in sureness, pride etching the strong bones of Dal's face. His pride surged my own, and I sent a great wave of heat into the bars, turning them to liquid orange in my hands. As the goo ran around my skin, hot and strange, I was unharmed, delighted in the power that was now mine to control.
Dal was watching me with unsure eyes, and a laugh bubbled out of me as I grasped the remaining parts of the bars and sent my full heat into them. The metal turned molten, splashing at our feet as Dal stepped back to avoid being burned. I did the same with more bars, and before long Dal was in my cell, marching toward the door.
I approached, giddy with my new ability, but stopped when I noticed the look on Dal's face. He thumbed away a spot of wetness on my cheek that I had missed.
“You are still breakable, Sera. Do not treat all the world as if it is parched straw.”
These words halted me. How did he know what I felt? But of course, I had seen myself in his eyes, I had seen how Kraw vision took in every twitch of muscle, every expression as if it were words dashed across a banner for all to see. I had seen his mind, too, and how it moved from one conclusion to another seamlessly, as if reciting a nursery rhyme.
I gave Dal a short nod, and raised my hands to the locking mechanism on the door of my cell. My hands, small and frail compared to the bars, wrought complete destruction on the immovable strength of the iron.
Dal swung the door open once the locking mechanism was none more than an orange puddle on the floor, and we strode out. My bag was slumped over the other prisoner's belongings with Dal's sword, and Dal scooped them up as we marched toward the stairs.
“We need to go to the leyline,” I said, proud of myself for having my head in the game.
“No,” Dal murmured. “The guard is too much to risk and I cannot stall time again.”
The other prisoners wailed at us as we passed, and I spared them a pitying look before reminding myself that they might have legitimate reasons for being here.
“Dal you're stronger than twenty men,” I said as I trotted to keep up.
He climbed the stairs without a word. As if I had just stated that the sky was blue.
“You can take them out with ease. You have your sword now; they won't stand a chance. We'll destroy the leyline by force. They don't know that we've escaped.”
“They will when the leyline is destroyed. I cannot defend you with an army pouring into the cavern.”
“You don't need to, I can care for myself, Dal.”
Dal rounded on me, and I flinched. “I will not lose another child for your species,” he said in harsh tones.
I furrowed my brow as guilt, sorrow, fear, and anger splashed about on my chaotic sea. “And what am I, Dal?” I whispered. “Insignificant? A vessel for your loss?” The words stung as soon as I loosed them.
Dal let out a harsh breath and turned from me, continuing his thundering march up the stairs. “You will be hidden somewhere safe when Kraw take this castle.”
My anger fired off like a tsunami. I grabbed Dal's arm and pulled with all my might, feeling his muscles go soft at my touch. He turned toward me as I yelled.
“I'm not made of glass! Child or no, this is my war to fight, and I will not sit idly by while the man I love risks his life for my world!” I was ready to go down swinging on this. He couldn't expect any less of me.
Dal's hazel frost softened on me, and he let out a long breath, tension melting away as he read into me. “Forever a dragonfly,” he said on a deep whisper. And then Dal's strong hand was gripping my arm and hauling me against him. His mouth was claiming mine in a fierce and possessive kiss that spelled out everything he couldn't say.
He loved my strength. He found me irresistible. He couldn't say no to me. He couldn't bear the thought of harm coming to me. He couldn't make sense of what I did to him, and he was wild with it. When he pulled away, I was shaken by the kiss, and a fierce look came over him.
“Come. Let us rid this world of the wound that seeps below this cursed place.” And with that, we raced up the stairs.
We ran through the gilded corridors and cavernous hallways, upsetting a passerby now and again. Dal didn't glance back, he pushed forward with only one objective, a single focus shining in his eyes. Again, we stopped at the corridor that led to the leyline.
And this time, as we charged up to the grand doorway, the guards snapped to attention, ready to defend. Fear widened their eyes as they tensed at the Kraw approaching them.
The men shouted at the beast to stop. One commanded the other to alert the council, and the man nodded and disappeared. I covered my mouth in horror as the remaining guard tried to stand in Dal's way and defend, and Dal cut him down with a flick of his wrist. Blood spilled across the polished stone as the human's body slumped to the floor, and still Dal lumbered forward, not glancing back.
I swallowed and ran forward to keep up, skirting the dead human with as much respect as I could muster. I feared the ruthlessness in Dal. And yet, I had to embrace it. I had asked for this.
We pressed forward as fast as possible, stopping only to cut more men down or let me catch my breath. When we finally reached the leyline, Dal stopped outside the doors, deciphering the symbols as he had before, and digging large fingers into the stone of the doors. The symbols writhed down to his hands, accepted him, and the doors opened.
Dal stepped back and looked at me with worry and regret. “You know I cannot go in there with you.”
I looked back the way we had come, and then into the cavern with the leyline. “What if I need you to?”
“There is no time to debate, Sera. You have to destroy it quickly; our time is short.”
I exhaled, gave a nod, and tore myself away from Dal, into the strange purple light of the room beyond the runed doors. Dal's hand brushed my arm as I passed.
I was alone.
✽✽✽
The vibrant purple light bathed the cavern, the song of my world humming in my veins. Only this time, my own song was loud and clear. In tandem with the music of my home, a perfect harmony. Shame ripped at me as I knew what I was about to do. This leyline, I knew now, could give me nearly infinite power if only I could channel the sheer magnitude of it. What if I could use it to shape the world? Fix it? Shape the stars themselves?
I could end the Kraw with this, I knew it as surely as I knew that I had to destroy it. And yet, the seduction of great
er power carried lilting notes of promise into my mind. I let out a shaking exhale, and a wave of heat, as if I were on fire, came with my breath.
I approached the leyline, and the throbbing, magnificent energy caused a scream of joy to become stuck in my throat. I could move mountains with my fingers. I could breathe stars into the sky. I could leap over lands to every ocean I had ever wanted to see.
The leyline was hot, comforting, like being a child again, wrapped in the warmest blankets on the coldest day. I never wanted that feeling to go away. Destroying this would make it go away.
But I had to do it. To end the war. To be with Dal. This much was clear to me. I raised my hands and let fire lick its way up my arms. Arms that shook. It would be quick. It would be the end of the beauty that lay before me. The utter and complete termination. Death.
“Sera!” Dal's voice echoed off the cavernous walls, strong and booming.
I turned, my gasp caught in the air in front of me, my hair swirling around me as if in slow motion, to see Dal in the crack of the door, raising his sword to meet another. The clash of steel echoed through the cavern as the grunts of human soldiers followed.
I had to do this before time ran out. New courage welled up inside of me. New purpose. I raised my hands again, a tear streaking down my face at the loss of this ancient, beautiful power.
“Carry on if you wish to die, girl.”
I looked up to see all five council members to my left, standing just at the edge of the wound in the world, Mindrik at their side. Sol Lalpund had spoken. I faltered, letting my flame die, not sure what their intentions were.
“Can't you see that it's destroying our world?” I asked, desperation in my voice. The chaos of battle continued to crash through the doorway. “If we destroy it, then they don't need to be here anymore.” I gestured toward Dal. “We can repair our world, live on.”
Mocking smiles met me.
“You believed the beast when he told you this?” Sol Crepuskar asked with a mock look of pity. The crown of black flame over her head pulsed with the leyline, much like my own magic did. Her voice was anything but sincere. “How quaint, you trust anyone you lift your skirts for.”
“You little fool,” Sol Creljin said, the placid calm that usually characterized him now replaced by anger breaking upon the shores of his face. “You lie with a beast, what choices after that could possibly be sane?”
“How can you not understand?” I asked, desperation in my voice as the hum of the leyline tried to drown me out.
“It is you who don't understand, you silly girl. You've tangled your inept fingers into things far bigger than yourself, nearly costing your entire species the victory over this war,” Sol Lalpund said.
“Treason...” Sol Vraldok said, giving me a nasty grin.
I sucked in a deep breath, looking about me for anything that may help me escape. There was a tunnel behind the council, the dirt mound next to it fresh turned. Sol Jalgon, an earth mover, must have used his gift to get them here at a moment's notice. I had no escape. To leave in their hands was my only choice, and the grins on their smug faces said that I would suffer for it. Possibly pay with my life.
Every instinct I possessed was screaming to live, at the cost of any life but my own; live. And the surest way to ensure that I clung to life, was to make sure that the people who wanted to end me did not. I turned to the council, slowly, a look of regret on my face, lighting a flame in my hands again.
Two of the six people before me laughed, Mindrik was one of them. “You cannot be serious, you stupid girl,” Sol Lalpund said.
“Dear heavens, Seraphine, don't do this,” Mindrik said, his smile faltering at the sight of my hands aglow. “Surely you see the error in this.” Mindrik fumbled for words for a moment, glancing about him at the five council members. “You cannot win, don't be foolish, woman.”
But power writhed within me, every heartbeat a chorus of cries to release the flame that burned within. “I've never been foolish, and you know it better than anyone here. You chose your side, and I chose mine. I am sorry that this has to happen.”
Mindrik opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't allow any words to escape. I let my inferno escape. With a short roar of flame, a nova of fire exploded out of me with a force that rocked the cavern. On a yell, Sol Lalpund stepped in front of the group and shielded them from my flame. I hadn't anticipated his defense any more than I had anticipated an offense.
Sol Crepuskar raised her arms, and darkness obscured my vision. Three more people yelled, and pain stabbed into my sides and head. Dal's battle roar sounded above all of it, and darkness began to seep into my mind, making the chaos around me sound awash. The purple light of the leyline streamed through my vision once before disappearing again as I hit the ground. Screaming and the echo of steel sliced through the darkness. Strong hands had me with bruising force, and the world was bouncing. The pain was still there, as was the darkness. Strong breathing met my ears.
Brightness pierced my eyelids, and I opened my eyes to see the waxing moon beaming down at me, fragments of my world floating to the stars, shadowing pieces of the moon's brilliant light. Dal was carrying me, fast and even breathing that barely sounded strained meeting my ears. Cold wetness began to seep into my arms and one side of my breast. I twisted in Dal's grip with a groan. Still, the world bounced with his strides.
How long we ran for, I didn’t know. Darkness took me now and again, and Dal muttered words in Kraw that I couldn’t understand. Pain ruled my world. Cold wetness took over the warmth on my body, and soon I was cold all over. I forced open my eyes to see Dal's eyes wide with worry, and then blackness took me.
Chapter 23
Old Friends, New Me
I awoke alone, in a hut with leather sides. I was on a cot that barely held my weight, shivering under furs that were a hair too light for my taste. Panic brought me upright immediately. Furs, leather, rudimentary pots, a rickety little desk, herbs, the smells of war and smoke; all whispered Kraw to my senses.
On a gasp, I looked for Dal, but found no sign of him. Looking down at my naked body, I noticed fine string holding the wounds in my sides closed. Bruises marked my torso and arms. I didn't look at my legs. Whether the bruises were from my time in the cavern with Dal, or something one of the council had done in the darkness, I put it on my list for later. I scrambled out of the bed, searching the room for my clothes, and found only a cloak of sorts, made of fur. I donned it, looking about me in the tiny hut.
With a gasp I remembered my necklace and palmed at my chest for it. The string was pulled tight around my neck as the whorled seashell hung at my back. I righted it with a grateful sigh and held it tight in one fist.
My legs knocked with weakness and fear, stomach growling. I inched back the fur on the door of the hut to see what I had feared most: a Kraw village. The landscape was not snowy, but the skeletal trees and smell of sea breeze were familiar. We had not gone far from the castle. Which meant I had a chance to make it back to humanity and rally a way to save Dal.
My heart sunk when I remembered the standoff between myself and the council. That bridge was burned. I would never be welcomed there again. Dizziness overtook me again, and I sat back against the wall, clutching my head as nausea swept through me. I rocked in place, attempting to soothe myself, until I threw myself on my hands and knees and vomited. This wasn’t going well.
Just then the flap of fur that made the door was pulled back, and an older Kraw woman with white war braids stared down at me before advancing to the scant desk at the other end of the hut. She was as tall as any of the other Kraw, dusky skinned, bearing minimal tattoos. She muttered a few Kraw words I didn't understand – possibly curses.
I backed against the wall, remembering the cruelty every Kraw except Dal had shown me. My instincts to protect myself warred with the knowledge that if I burned this place to the ground then Dal might be caught in my inferno. But the old woman only continued to mutter in Kraw tongue, much of which I understood.
“...injuries of which I have no knowledge. Don't know what Patroma expects of me. And now, look. Wounded, small creature, skittish as a rat in a dog pen. Treat its wounds, Chatska. Do not harm it, Chatska. Bah.”
I straightened from my position on the floor, listening to the woman, wondering if it was wise to tip my hand and reveal that I could understand her. She continued, mixing things in crude bowls and lamenting her task before turning to me.
“Well, come on then, let's get you back into bed.” She gestured at me and then pointed back at the bed with impatience.
I glared, having no desire to play along with anything if Patroma was involved.
The old woman sighed with distaste. “Agh. I'm not meant for this. I should be back home, caring for nobles instead of angry little beasts. Ridiculous.” She began muttering to herself, slamming the bowl down, and turning to me, body language suggesting that I was about to be handled roughly.
I squished myself against the wall, unsure of whether to hurt the old woman. One thing was clear to me: I would if she harmed me. I'd cook her on the spot.
“Come on, back into bed you idiot,” she said.
“Don't touch me,” I said in my language, shoving her away.
With a snarl, the old woman grabbed me with surprising strength and hauled me back onto my cot. Like a petulant child sat at the dinner table, I crossed my arms and glared at her, obviously outmatched for strength.
She nodded at me. “Uh-huh. You stay there you stubborn little beast. If you behave then maybe your Dal will convince Patroma to let you out of here.” The old woman gave slight laugh, turning back to her bowl and talking to no one. “That Dal. Don't know how he ended up here in the war tribes.
“The elders must know something we don't. Whatever it is, we may never find out, because Patroma doesn't care about their wishes, just the Warlord’s. Shame, that is, to lose such a fine man.” She turned to me, holding a strange yellow paste on her fingertips, and I flinched away from the foul smell, heart slamming in my ribs at the mention of Dal's life being in danger.