Blood of Fire

by Marlow York

  The fire pulled away from the building, and the flames trailing onto the neighboring buildings followed. It took nearly all my energy to heave the weight of the fire away from the buildings, over the trees, and slam it into the lake. The water boiled and hissed into angry steam, but the fire was extinguished.

  I panted as I looked at Sarrenke’s terrified eyes, but she said nothing. The villagers around us gaped at me. Not a sound could be heard except for the quiet moans of the injured, and the whistling wind.

  I looked down at my hands, and as I panted, the fire lessened and disappeared. My legs shook, and suddenly I was completely exhausted. My head spun, and as much as I wanted to stay awake, my body gave out and I collapsed onto the ground.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  When I awoke, I was lying on the floor in Tarek’s home, my body aching. It felt like I had carried a boulder for miles. I tried to lift my arms, but the blanket on top of me suddenly weighed a ton. There were pots and pans strewn about the floor, but the house was still intact. The scent of smoke wafted through the air.

  A soft hiss came from my right. I turned and saw Saven beside me, staring with worry emanating from his mind.

  “I’m okay,” I whispered, my voice cracked and weak. “What happened?”

  “You don’t remember?” he asked.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. Images of the battle flashed across my eyelids. The airships dropping bombs, the soldiers in black armor, one with a broken face mask and an axe in his face. My axe. I opened my eyes.

  “The battle,” I croaked. I cleared my throat. “They took hostages, including Tarek. They set the village on fire, but I….” I looked at Saven again. “Did everyone see?”

  “Everyone who was still alive.”

  I swallowed hard. “And the ones who were killed. It was my fault.”

  “Stop saying that,” Saven chided, but he didn’t deny it either.

  “It’s true,” I said firmly. “They were after me, and they’re going to keep coming after me until they find me.”

  Saven didn’t respond, his tail writhing with discomfort in the cramped space.

  I pushed myself up onto my elbows, ignoring my aching muscles and the throbbing pain in my head. I hadn’t anticipated how much physical effort it would take to use the Ancient Fire like that, and I felt disappointed in myself for my weakness.

  The door suddenly opened, startling me. I don’t know what or who I was expecting, but it was just Sarrenke.

  “You’re awake,” she said. Her eyes were still swollen, but she wasn’t crying anymore. She seemed more like her usual calm self. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been trampled by Zani,” I said.

  Sarrenke smiled weakly and passed me a canteen of water. “Fortunately, Zani is okay. Tarek and Khero on the other hand…”

  “I know.” I crawled to the short table and leaned my elbows against it. I took a swig of water. “Where did you go?” I asked.

  “Ysolda wished to speak to me.”

  “I can imagine what about,” I muttered.

  “Many things, not just you.” Sarrenke produced some bread and dried meat and set them on the table, but neither of us reached for the food.

  After a long pause, Sarrenke finally said, “I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely truthful with you.”

  “I haven’t either,” I admitted. “But I’m sure you’ve noticed that by now.”

  “Yes.” Sarrenke reached for the bread and pulled a hunk off. “I am not Grakkir,” she said, looking down at her hands.

  “No?” I asked in surprise.

  She shook her head. “I am from the City.”

  Whatever color was left in my face drained away. Saven hissed sharply. “You’re a—”

  “No.” Sarrenke looked up quickly, shaking her head. “I’m not a spy. I’m a refugee. I ran away from the City when I was a teenager, and the Grakkir took me in.”

  “But why?” I asked. “I thought the City was rich and powerful and an amazing place where everyone wants to live.”

  “It is rich, and it is powerful, and most people do wish to live there, but it is not as perfect as you were taught to believe. The City has a great deal of ugly secrets, and you have been unfortunate enough to witness some of them firsthand.”

  I sat back on my heels, my shoulders slumped. “So, what happened?”

  Sarrenke looked down at her hands, her fingers laced in front of her. The piece of bread sat uneaten on the rough wooden surface. “There were three of us girls: my older sister, my younger sister, and myself. Our parents died when I was small, and so my older sister and oldest brother raised us. My brother worked for the City’s government, and through him my older sister learned about the horrors the City is willing to commit to keep its people in order.

  “The three of us girls agreed to run away, deciding it would be safer to live in the wilderness among the ‘savage’ people than under the thumb of the truly savage City. My brother refused to come with us and said he would disown us if we left.”

  “But he didn’t tell anyone?” I asked.

  “I don’t think he did, because he didn’t have to. Within the City walls, every person is implanted with a tracking device when they are born. It is implanted dangerously close to the spine,” she gently rubbed the back of her neck, indicating where the implant was placed, “which prevents people from trying to take them out on their own, though most City Dwellers would never want to.”

  “Why would they want to be tracked?” I asked.

  “Because if you should become lost, it will be easy to find you and bring you home. It doesn’t just track your location. It also monitors your vital signs and can detect illness or injury before the host even knows they are sick or injured. A raised heart rate could indicate the host is in danger, and help will be sent to them before they need to call for it. For every potentially negative aspect of the implants, the City countered with a dozen positive aspects. It’s all part of their control mechanisms.”

  “I see,” I said slowly. “So, you and your sisters ran away?”

  Sarrenke nodded. “I worked with the Collection Crew, the ones who go to the villages to collect goods and give payment. One of my coworkers was sympathetic to our feelings, so it was easy to pay him to let us out of the gate. However, it didn’t take long for City officials to realize we had gone outside the allowed perimeter. I still don’t know what sort of consequences my friend faced, but I can imagine.”

  She looked down at the table again, her brows furrowed as regret fell over her.

  “Go on,” I prodded gently.

  “We weren’t even halfway to the Grakkir village when they sent airships after us. Small, quick ones, not the large War Ships you’ve seen. My youngest sister tripped and fell. We knew we needed to get the devices out so they couldn’t follow us. We cut out my older sister’s device first, then mine. It was risky and foolish, but it was the only way we had a chance of getting away. Before we could cut into my younger sister’s neck, the airship was directly on top of us. My sister screamed for us to run and leave her there. We told her no, but she turned and ran away from us, back towards the City so the ship would find her. That was the last time I saw my younger sister.

  “The two of us kept running. We hid for a long time in a small cave, barely big enough for the two of us to squeeze inside. We must have been sitting in the same spot for at least two days before we dared continue onward.”

  “And you were welcomed here with open arms?” I asked sarcastically.

  Sarrenke shook her head. “They were wary at first, understandably so. We met with the Elder Council and explained what had happened. They seemed to believe us, but living here made us a potential threat to the village’s safety. Many people wondered if we were still loyal to the City and had been sent as spies or thieves. The Animal Gods were perceptive, though. They could smell the fear and blood on us, as well as the scent of my lost sister. The Animal Gods can always sense truth and lies.”


  We both glanced at Saven, who gave a slow, quiet hiss.

  “After much debate,” Sarrenke continued, “the Elder Council decided we could stay as long as they kept a close eye on us. We were treated much like you were at first, forced to live with separate households and do chores. We were not well-liked or respected, merely because we came from the City.”

  “I’m surprised they let you stay at all, considering how much the Grakkir dislike the City,” I said.

  “It was an unusual request, but Ysolda is both kind and intuitive. She would never agree to anything that would put the village in danger. Besides, she knew how useful it would be to have two City Dweller informants.”

  I thought about myself and the attack we had just witnessed. Wasn’t it Ysolda who decided to let me stay there? Or were the rules different for captured slaves?

  “Sarrenke,” I said quietly. “You need to understand that the attack wasn’t your fault. It was mine. The City wants to capture or kill me because I have the Ancient Fire.”

  Sarrenke frowned at me. “Do you think that is why they attacked the Fiero village?”

  I nodded. “Yes. As I was running away, my mother said something to me about it. She said I was the last of my kind. She said my survival was important and that I couldn’t let the City find me. When I was captured by the Grakkir, I didn’t really have any say in my fate. I didn’t want to put more innocent people in danger, but there was no way I could escape Tarek and Khero.”

  Sarrenke nodded, looking thoughtful.

  If only I’d just been honest from the beginning, maybe Ysolda and the others would have let me leave. This attack could have been avoided.

  “You would have been hunted either way,” Saven said, reading my mind. “And you wouldn’t have Warrior knowledge or me at your side to protect you.”

  I glanced at him but didn’t respond. I turned back to Sarrenke.

  “There must have been another spy in my village,” I said.

  “Another?” she asked.

  “My schoolteacher, Juliano. He was a City Dweller placed in the Fiero village when he was a child and raised like one of us. But I don’t think he was the one who told.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “He met with my parents once, not long after my powers were discovered, and swore to secrecy. That was at least ten years ago. If he had really wanted to reveal my powers, he would have done it then, not now.”

  “But you have no other ideas who it might have been?” Sarrenke asked.

  I shook my head.

  Had it been someone who had grown up with us? Had the City planted someone else among the Fiero and they grew up spying on us and reporting to the City? Or was it just one of the guards? My heart ached to think someone among the Fiero would ever betray their people.

  “What do you think they want with you?” Sarrenke asked.

  “Knowing what I know about the City now…I’d say they want to kill me,” I said. I wouldn’t have thought that of the City a year ago, but now it seems like the most probable conclusion. “The City is the most powerful entity we know of. That authority would be difficult to maintain if there were someone alive with enough power to destroy the entire city and everyone in it. They could have kidnapped me from the Fiero village or from this one, but instead they resorted to extremes. My existence is likely considered the highest act of treason, which would require a drastic punishment.”

  Sarrenke looked at me with creased brows. “Your time as a Warrior has made you wise in the ways of war.”

  “I’m barely a Warrior,” I scoffed. “I just know my enemy very well.”

  “But there is still much that you do not know.”

  I couldn’t agree with her more, and that fact was frightening. Almost as frightening as knowing our enemy was willing to destroy villages and kill hundreds of people to find me.

  “Maybe that is part of their plan,” Saven said suddenly.

  “What’s part of their plan?” I asked aloud.

  “They killed your entire village looking for you, but did anyone from the City ever come looking for you on foot during the attack?”

  “No, I don’t think anyone from the City came looking for me after I ran.”

  “And this time, they destroyed only a small part of a village, killed only a handful of people, and took many Warriors captive. Warriors—some of the most important people in the society and the only ones trained to protect the village and everyone in it.”

  “Yes. I’m certain they will torture the captive Warriors until they reveal my location.”

  “I don’t think they have to,” Saven said.

  “Oh!” Sarrenke gasped. Even though she could only hear half of the conversation, she seemed to figure out what Saven was suggesting before I did.

  “What?” I asked, looking from Saven to Sarrenke and back again.

  “They took the Warriors and left many of us alive,” Sarrenke said. “Including Ysolda and the Elder Council.”

  “Which is enough people left to hate me,” I said, suddenly realizing what this meant. “The City never needed to come looking for me. The attack on the Fiero village was just phase one of the plan. They knew if they hadn’t found me, then by process of elimination, the Grakkir would have taken me. They’re betting on the Grakkir to realize what will happen to them if they don’t turn me over.”

  “Yes.” Saven hissed and flicked the end of his tail angrily.

  “They think we will hand you over so our village doesn’t get destroyed too,” Sarrenke said. “They’re also using the Fiero and the Grakkir as an example to any other village who would try to hide fugitives.”

  “But how do they even know I’m here?” I asked, my heart thudding wildly against my ribs. “As far as I know, they haven’t seen my face and they don’t know my name.”

  “Maybe they don’t know for sure who you are,” Saven said. “Perhaps they knew if they hadn’t found you among the dead Fiero then the Grakkir Scouts would have captured you before you got too far.”

  “That still isn’t enough assurance for them to bomb another village,” I countered. “And what if I had been dead among the Fiero? How would they have known?”

  “People with Ancient Blood, like yourself and the Grakkir with Animal God companions, have a sort of marker in their blood,” Sarrenke said. “Your bodies also give off a certain type of energy. Maybe the City has devices that can detect those things.”

  “They have that sort of technology?”

  “They didn’t when I lived there, to my knowledge. However, they never stop developing new devices. Without subjects to test on, they would not have been able to perfect such technology. Not until they find someone like you.” She shrugged. “It is just a theory. I’m no scientist, so I don’t know what they can do.”

  I remembered the day I had walked too close to Khero; the odd pressure that had pushed at us. Maybe that was the energy she was referring to. Somehow our bodies recognized each other’s powers.

  I found myself breathing heavily. I looked down at my lap, fists clenched so tightly my fingernails bit into my palms. “They had us all figured out this entire time. They know so much about us and we know hardly anything about them.” My voice shook when I spoke.

  “We should go to the Elder Council,” Sarrenke said suddenly. “They will know what is best and what needs to be done.”

  “I should just turn myself in,” I said.

  Saven hissed angrily.

  “That’s absurd,” Sarrenke said. “You would let your people, the Fire Bringers, die out just to appease the City?”

  “No. I would let myself be killed to prevent anyone else from dying.” I looked at her sharply. I couldn’t hide the tears in my eyes. “They will keep attacking villages and killing people until I’m found. I’m not worth that much death and destruction.”

  “There could be another way!” Sarrenke cried. She looked desperate. The steadfast, smiling Sarrenke looked like the person she was on the inside: a sc
ared child who ran from a tyrannical society and had to hide her identity just to stay alive.

  “Another way that doesn’t get people killed?” I asked hotly.

  A tear raced down Sarrenke’s face, creating a small trail in the dark soot that still clung to her cheek. “Another way that doesn’t get you killed,” she said quietly.

  I stared at her and felt my chest tighten. When did it happen? When did my captor become my friend? There were moments when I realized I truly cared for Sarrenke, but it wasn’t until that moment I understood how much she genuinely cared for me as well.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “We will go see what the Elder Council wants to do with me.”

  Sarrenke wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand, and together we stood and walked out into the smoky air.

  Chapter 22

  Compared to the attack on the Fiero village, the Grakkir village was in much better shape, but there were still heavy losses. Nearly every building was destroyed, while the remaining ones were blackened and smoldering. The marketplace was unrecognizable, a bustling place in the midst of celebration turned to makeshift cemetery.

  The bodies of the dead lined the streets with blankets covering their faces while their surviving relatives cried nearby. I didn’t need to see their faces; they were people I had known, even if only vaguely, even if from a distance. When we passed by, no one stared at me as an outsider anymore, but that was only because they didn’t know I was to blame for their loved ones’ deaths.

  I spotted Anza kneeling beside two covered bodies. She didn’t look up at me as I passed, but I could see she had been crying. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes stared blankly into nothingness. The bodies must have been her parents.

  I had to look away as bile rose in my throat. I did this.

  Saven hissed quietly with empathy.

  We approached the Elder Hall, which had a massive scorch mark on one side, but was otherwise mostly undamaged. The Elder Council were not sitting in their usual places, calmly waiting to advise people. Instead, humans and animals stood in a restless cluster, speaking quickly amongst themselves. They hardly noticed when we walked through the doorway.