by Marlow York
I stepped outside to the sound of laughter and the drumming of music. I ignored the celebration and led Saven away from the village, back down the path to Tarek’s home.
When we reached the house, a familiar scent wafted from the open windows. I opened the door to see the table set and Sarrenke heating food pilfered from the celebration.
“Surprise!” she smiled.
“And yet I’m not,” I grinned. “I knew Lozen wouldn’t let you leave without taking something.”
Sarrenke was admiring my tattoo. “Looks painful,” she observed. “I will get a salve to calm the swelling.”
She crouched to open a low cupboard at the same time Tarek entered the house.
“Here,” he said shortly. He shoved a small object wrapped in cloth into my hands, then stepped towards the table.
I unwrapped the cloth and my heart leapt. It was Juliano’s old dagger, the one Tarek had taken the day he captured me. I looked at him, but he was busy spooning food into his bowl.
“I sharpened it,” he stated. “The blade was so dull I could hardly skin a rabbit with it.”
I stared at him for a long moment, then looked to Sarrenke, as if she could explain his sudden generosity. She merely smiled and approached me with the salve. She gently applied it to my sore skin. “Becoming a Warrior is a great honor, one that must be properly celebrated. We may not be invited to the gathering with the rest of the village, but that does not lessen your achievement. Right, Tarek?”
Tarek grunted as he chewed, not looking at us.
I smiled, both proud and bashful. We knelt together around the table, and for perhaps the first time since my village had been destroyed, I felt like I was part of something akin to family. Whether this acceptance was equal to betrayal, I did not know. However, I wished to savor this moment for what it was worth, and revel in the fleeting emotion of belonging.
Chapter 21
In my dream, I was standing beside Jenassa at the edge of the lake. We had been talking about the last harvest, how it was better than previous years, and how many new calves had joined the herd. She held a shepherd’s staff while the cattle waded in the shallows.
“There’s a very cute one. It looks just like you,” Jenassa chuckled.
“Like me?” I asked. I turned to look at her, and a huge crow landed on her shoulder. She looked at the crow and smiled, as though the bird were an old friend. It opened its beak, but instead of cawing, a gut-wrenching scream came from its mouth.
“Why is it doing that?” I asked.
Jenassa continued to look at the crow with a strange, tight-lipped smile. The crow screamed again. The sound was so human-like that it sent shivers up and down my arms.
The cattle stomped and shifted nervously, turning towards the deep water.
“Jenassa, the cattle! They’re going to drown!”
Still, my sister said nothing. She smiled at me while the crow screeched again on her shoulder.
“Tell it to stop!” I shouted. The ground beneath us started to tremble. An earthquake. Thunder boomed in the distance, but when I looked out over the water, the sky was clear.
“Valieri,” Jenassa finally said. Her strange smile faltered. She seemed worried and anxious.
“What?” I asked.
The crow shrieked again.
“Valieri!” Jenassa shouted.
“I’m right here!” I cried, but it was like she was looking right through me.
“Valieri!” Something bumped my shoulder. I awoke to Saven’s huge head looming over me, and I realized the earthquake wasn’t in my head, it was really happening.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Something’s wrong. There’s screaming coming from the village.”
I threw the blanket off and leapt to my feet. I shoved aside the tent flap and looked towards the village. Though it was dark where I stood, the village was glowing with flames. A strange rumbling sound, unlike anything an animal could make, thundered across the field. It was the same sound that had haunted my dreams for months.
There, looming above the trees, was the cause of the booming and shaking. A massive black airship hovered above the village.
“It can’t be,” I breathed. My legs quivered, and the blood drained from my face.
A second ship appeared from the darkness, its massive propellers carrying it smoothly and quickly through the air. I clutched my chest in disbelief. This can’t be happening again. But it was. The Grakkir were being bombed, just like the Fiero. Soon, everyone would be dead.
“Valieri!” Saven shouted. “What do we do?”
I knew what he was asking. Do we run away, or do we join the fight alongside the Grakkir? I could hear the Warriors shouting to each other, someone commanding them to attack from this angle or that location. All the training I’d endured over the last several weeks disappeared from my mind. I wasn’t a Warrior or Grakkir or even a slave. I was a teenaged Harvester in the Fiero village. I hunched over rows of crops, plucking weeds. I climbed fruit trees and filled the basket strapped to my back. I watched as my village was destroyed and ran away from danger, only to return to watch my teacher die in a pit of ash, surrounded by charred bodies and flaming buildings. I wasn’t a fighter, I was a coward.
“I…” My knees gave out and I sank to the ground.
“Valieri? What are you doing?” Saven was scared and shocked by my weakness.
“I’m not a fighter,” I whispered.
Another bomb dropped, this time just on the outskirts of the village. A few houses were hit directly, and there were more screams. Why weren’t they aiming for the center of the village? Why just attack the trees along the outer edges?
“This is my fault. Again, it’s my fault.”
“But you can make a difference this time,” Saven insisted. “You are much stronger now. If we are to die today, we will not do it on our knees.”
I looked up at the snake. He was right. I wasn’t the same person I was when the Fiero village was attacked. I could do something this time. I touched the burning tattoos on my chest and throat. I couldn’t let everything I’d survived count for nothing.
“What are you doing, Valieri!”
I turned at the familiar shout. Tarek rode Zani from around the side of the house, one battle axe in hand and the other strapped to his back. Khero appeared beside him, the hair on his neck raised.
“A Warrior does not watch a battle when he can fight. Do not be a coward, Valieri. Stand up and fight!”
Without another word, Tarek kicked Zani’s sides and the three of them sprinted up the trail to the village. Even Shunned and forbidden from entering the village, Tarek still fought for the Grakkir. There was no question where his heart and loyalties lay.
I pushed myself to my feet. They shook with each step, but they still carried me towards the battle. The trail was dark, but the flames served as a beacon to guide my way. Saven and I hurried up the trail, and when we made it to the other side, hell stretched out before us.
The farthest side of the village was consumed by fire. The airships had stopped dropping bombs because their fighters were now on the ground challenging the Grakkir Warriors. We jogged into the village, which was nearly unrecognizable. Many buildings were either on fire or had partially collapsed. Debris littered the streets, as well as the bodies of those who had been closest to the explosions.
We continued into the marketplace where the battle unfolded before us. Grakkir Warriors clashed with faceless City guards, clad in some sort of black armor that covered them from head to toe and moved like a second skin. Darkened face shields hid their faces. They looked nothing like the guards who had patrolled the Fiero village, promising safety and security.
A dark shape leapt from behind a building and sprinted towards me, sword held high. I jumped out of the way, but Saven intercepted the City’s soldier and latched onto him with his massive jaws. His powerful fangs punctured the armor, and in one swift move, he hurled the man to the ground. As venom entered the ma
n’s body, he began convulsing wildly. White foam oozed from where his mouth hid beneath the black mask, until he finally lay still.
“Get the women, children, and elderly to safety!” a familiar voice called.
I turned and saw Ysolda standing just outside the Elder Hall with two Warriors hovering protectively on either side of her. The other council members and their gods hurried to help the frightened villagers.
The young male council member turned to his elk companion. An unspoken message passed between man and beast. The elk lifted his massive head and trumpeted, his shrill call echoing off the buildings and trees.
At first, I hardly felt the ground vibrating. The vibration rose to a tremble, which became a distinctive shake. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Was it a third airship? No, something else was coming.
When the herd burst through the forest and thundered into the village, the City fighters fumbled with confusion. As elk streamed into the melee, the Grakkir raced to meet them. Men lifted the elderly and women placed their children on the animals’ backs, uncertain if they’d ever see each other again. No one feared the elk, nor did they question where they were going as they stampeded out of the village. They were assured their loved ones would be safe and far away from the fight.
“Valieri!” Ysolda beckoned me closer. A pang of fear stabbed my chest. Had she realized the City was probably here for me?
I ran, and when I reached her side, she pulled an axe from one of the Warrior’s belts and passed it to me.
“A Warrior cannot fight unarmed, can she?” Her eyes were fixed on mine. Could she see how scared I was? Did she understand my hesitance?
“The other new Warriors have already joined the fight,” she continued. “Go help them.”
As much as I wanted to run away, she and Tarek were right. The title of “Warrior” meant nothing if I wasn’t willing to fight for my people, regardless of bloodlines.
“Do not let the Fiero die in vain,” Ysolda told me. “The Ancient Fire runs in your veins. Do your people proud!”
I looked at her suddenly. Had Jindi or Anza told her I possessed the Ancient Fire, or had she somehow figured it out on her own? I had many questions but no time to ask them. Instead, I gave a quick nod and hurried towards the fight.
As I ran into battle, I didn’t have time to think about strategy. We were outnumbered, but that didn’t seem to faze the Warriors. The goal was to kill enough of the City’s soldiers to drive them away, and it was apparent the older Warriors were masters in the art of killing. I noticed many of them were wearing nearly-transparent armor on their chests. Saven’s old skin.
I spotted Tarek in the middle of the fight. If there were a way to make killing look elegant, he knew how to do it. With an axe in each hand, he spun, blocked, and slashed any soldier who dared get too close. He made it look easy; I could see why he had once been a highly-respected Warrior.
Khero was never far from Tarek’s side. He leapt from one soldier to the next, his massive jaws breaking bones as though the black armor wasn’t even there. Vondak fought several feet to my left, his huge frame easily overpowering any soldier that challenged him, even with only one arm.
A roar of anger erupted to my right. One of the soldiers sprinted at me with a club in hand. I readied my axe to block him, but something whizzed past my head.
An arrow pierced into the man’s throat, perfectly lodged in a tiny opening that revealed the only weak spot in his armor. He gasped and clawed at the arrow, then fell to the ground.
I turned and smiled when I saw Bjorn standing several yards away, bow still raised. I nodded in appreciation, and he nodded back.
A group of Scouts stood atop one of the few buildings that wasn’t burning, bows raised high. Irlav lead the group, and when he shouted “Fire!”, the arrows soared into a new group of soldiers racing into the fight. Nearly every arrow found the tiny flaw in their armor, and the soldiers collapsed like falling trees. Anyone who had doubted the Scout’s skills and importance would have taken back their words in a heartbeat.
I looked around and saw Anza fending off a soldier who was at least a foot taller than her. She was bloodied and exhausted. A second soldier ran at her, and my instincts took over.
I sprinted to intercept the soldier and swung my axe at his legs. He cried out, but the axe hardly left a mark in his skin-like armor. He turned, but before he could react, I heaved my axe at his face mask. The first blow cracked the black face shield, and so I swung again, and again. Upon the third blow, the mask shattered, leaving the man’s face exposed.
His eyes boiled with rage, but they also had a strange, faraway look to them. They were merciless eyes, and they didn’t seem to notice I was only a teenaged girl, or even a person for that matter. Maybe he just didn’t care. I swung through the broken screen, until I could no longer see his eyes at all.
I panted, standing over the fallen soldier. I’d done that, I realized. I’d killed him.
“Hey!”
I shook away my looming panic and looked at Anza.
“I had them both handled!” she spat.
I rolled my eyes and turned away from her. But then I wondered, was this attack because she had told someone about the Ancient Fire? Had word reached the City and now they were punishing the Grakkir for hiding me rather than rewarding them for revealing my location?
Before I had a chance to ask, the sky rumbled again and one of the airships opened.
“Bomb!” I screamed. “Everyone run!”
My voice was almost lost under the sound of fighting, but someone heard me and echoed, “Bomb!”
The message was passed along, and we all turned to run as an object hurled to the ground.
I expected an earth-shattering explosion, but none came. When the bomb hit the ground, it disintegrated into dozens of small, metal projectiles pointed with vicious spikes. The spikes erupted from the bomb and hurled in every direction like angry wasps.
Saven quickly curled around me and tucked his face in, blocking the spikes’ path. They bounced off his hard scales and fell to the ground, useless. Other Warriors were hit and collapsed. Their eyes fluttered as they fought unconsciousness, every instinct telling them to stand and keep fighting. Unfortunately, the spikes couldn’t penetrate the soldiers’ armor.
A dozen people fell to the ground, but the rest had run far enough away to avoid the explosion. More soldiers jumped from the airship and ran for the fallen Warriors, binding their arms and legs with thick cables that trailed back to the ship.
I watched in confusion as every soldier immediately stopped fighting and raced back to the two ships, as though called by an unspoken command. The cables were pulled taut and dragged the unconscious Warriors across the ground and lifted them into the air.
“Where are they going?” someone called.
The soldiers fired small guns up to the ships and hooked themselves to the protruding ropes. As the ships lifted into the air, the soldiers were gradually pulled into the ships, along with about a dozen Grakkir hostages.
“Back to the City,” I whispered in horror.
A blaze of grey shot past me, and I watched as Khero sprinted after the ships.
“Khero!” I called, but the wolf ignored me.
“Tarek. He’s not here,” Saven observed.
I looked around and realized Saven was right. As the Warriors regrouped and helped the injured to their feet, I realized Tarek was nowhere to be seen. My heart raced, and I looked up at the airships as they quickly became smaller and smaller. Khero had disappeared into the forest, determined to find his companion. I wanted to follow him, but he would soon find out what I already knew—he would never get through the City walls. None of us would.
Shouts came from the Grakkir village, but they were not shouts of victory, nor of another fight. The village was still ablaze from the first attack, and the fire was quickly passing from one building to the next.
Saven and I sprinted back into the village. The streets were strewn with dead bodi
es, but they were mostly ignored as villagers raced back and forth from the lake with buckets of water, their feeble attempts to stop the blaze from destroying the entire village.
“That will never work,” I told Saven. My heart pounded wildly.
“You need to do something,” Saven hissed. “They are your people.”
“But they aren’t….” My inner voice faltered when another thought came to mind.
“They are now,” Saven said, reading my thoughts.
“Damn…” I muttered. It would be selfish not to help them, but being selfish could also keep me safe. “If they find out about me, there’s no telling what they will—”
“Valieri!”
I turned and saw Sarrenke stumbling towards me. Her eyes were wide, reddened from smoke and swollen with tears that left salty trails down her soot-covered cheeks. She looked at the destruction around us with a wild, unhinged expression on her face. I’d never seen her look so broken.
“Sarrenke what’s wrong?”
“This—this is all my fault,” she lamented. She reached my side and gripped my arm. Her hand was shaking.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. I glanced up at Saven, but he was as confused and taken aback as I was.
Sarrenke sniffled. “The City is after me. They came here for me, and when they did not find me they…they.” She shuddered as though she might collapse.
“That’s absurd!” I said. I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “It’s not your fault. They don’t want you, they want me!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you get it?” I said, my voice thick with angry tears. “This is my fault. Just like they destroyed my village, somehow they figured out I was here and came for me.”
Sarrenke shook her head in confusion. “Why would they want you?”
“Don’t you understand?” I cried. This time I couldn’t control the Ancient Fire. I felt the heat engulf my hands, but instead of pushing the energy outward, I lifted my hands to the blaze consuming the nearest building and focused until I felt a tugging, like the flames had somehow latched onto the fire on my hands. I pulled my arms away, and as I tugged, I felt the weight of the fire like it was a heavy stone attached to the end of a rope.
