The Flames of Arathia

by Jordan Liberatore

  Going down to eat, there was a silence in the room. Drusilla just stared at her food as though lost in thought, not that Nathan could blame her for it. No, she had every right to her silence. Adam kept glancing over at her, clearly concerned not that Lu seemed to notice. Lu seemed to be acting as though Drusilla and Adam just didn’t exist. She was unaware of the tension between the other two, though Nathan saw it right away. He could see how tense Adam was, trying not to reach out. He saw how subtly quiet Drusilla was, dirty blonde hair hanging in front of her face like a shield. Her silence screamed words unsaid. Nathan knew where her heart truly belonged, why Avariana came to her and not him. Love was stronger than heritage, at least in this case. Nathan was just going to have to accept that. Still it stung, causing Nathan to abruptly stand, placing his things in the sink and retreating to his room.

  Barely in his room, Nathan crumbled to the ground, perhaps out of exhaustion. How many nights had he been kept awake by the memories and the nightmares? Everything just mocked him. The life he loved was dead and he was holding on to broken pieces. He needed to. He couldn’t give it up, any of it. His mind wouldn’t let him forget though. It taunted Nathan each time he closed his eyes. The flames, the ashes, the screams… He almost preferred it to memories of laughter and family meals. The happier thoughts had turned so cold and bitter for Nathan. How could he go on with so many losses? How was he not dying inside, or was he already dead? He felt like just a ghost walking in the land of the living.

  Quickly Nathan took out a leather chain from beneath his shirt. A reddish green stone was tied to the end. It was a fairy stone, or half of one. It held so many memories. It was the most intimate thing he owned. “Give me a sign that you are alright, Flower,” Nathan hissed, clenching the stone in his fist. “Find me.” He swallowed back the tears, taking a deep breath. He needed sleep more than he cared to admit. The man tossed off his shirt and curled into his bed with a heavy yawn. His mind would torture him, but he couldn’t keep torturing his body any longer. With that thought in mind, and the stone in his fist, the young captain slipped into a deep sleep.

  It was a year before the fire, the summer before. The meadow stretched out before Lillian and Nathan. They’d been traveling through the meadow towards the ruins of the old kingdom just to explore, sleeping beneath stars at night and running through the grass in the day. Nathan flung himself on the grass with a yawn, staring at an almost cloudless sky. It was a perfect day. Lillian laid herself down next to him with a laugh. Red and black streaked blonde curls of hair fell onto the ground, framing Lillian’s face. She had the darkest green eyes that shined with joy. She was so beautiful to Nathan, like a Druid girl or Elven princess. She was, to him, beyond words. She had such beautiful pale skin, this being early summer and before she began work with her father, and lightly rosy cheeks. Nathan turned to his side, resting a hand on her hip as they caught their breaths. The sound of a nearby river trickled into their ears as butterflies fluttered through the air around them.

  “Come dear Flower,” Nathan urged, kissing the outer edge of her ear. “We must fill our water skins.” Lillian simply raised an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side.

  “Maybe we can explore for a while, Love,” Lillian whispered. She propped herself up. “Perhaps find a place to eat a bit. Come now, future king of Galdirr and of the fireblood people.” With a stretch she stood to teasingly bow to Nathan, causing him to laugh. He forced himself to stand again, reflecting on how witty Lillian could be.

  “I’d be shocked if it were I that the prophecy speaks of, dearest Lillian,” Nathan cooed, grabbing her hand and kissing it. “But I know that you would be my loyal and gorgeous queen.”

  “By what do you mean, Nathan?” Lillian asked, turning to face him as they walked along. She had reached back to start braiding her hair.

  “I mean only that I love you and cannot live without you,” Nathan assured. Lillian pursed her lips, raising her eyebrow. She wasn’t one to be tricked so easily.

  “Nathan Rodrick, do you mean to ask me something, or have I just gone crazy?” Lillian inquired. “Come now, you always play with me, darting around your meanings with everyone. Speak your mind for once.” Sighing, Nathan grabbed her hand to stop her, kneeling on the ground. He knew when his ruse was up.

  “Lillian Serenity there is something I do wish to ask. I have put this off for far too long. I have known you for all the time I have walked this earth and have not regretted a single second of it. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Marry me, my Love, marry me and we shan’t have to spend our lives unhappy and tortured,” Nathan mused. Lillian had fallen silent, her eyes wide and mouth lightly gaping. Too shocked for words, Lillian simply pulled Nathan to his feet, kissing him. It was the happiest day of their lives, and not even a year later it would all burn in flames.

  Drusilla was helping Adam clean up after dinner while Lu was on duty up deck. “What was that about with Nathan?” Drusilla inquired. Adam shrugged, handing another clean dish to Drusilla for her to dry.

  “He gets like that from time to time,” Adam sighed. “He lost the love of his life too.”

  “So he’s mentioned,” Drusilla muttered. She paused, looking at Adam. “Just because you fall in love once though doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love again.”

  “Well, look who’s the wise one now,” Adam chuckled. He studied her a moment. “You aren’t wrong. Some people love, lose, and lose again. Some people only love and lose.”

  “I would hope to be of the first rather than latter,” Drusilla sighed, getting back to work.

  “How are you holding up?” Adam inquired. Drusilla shrugged.

  “It hurts, if I’m honest. Still, it might be for the better,” Drusilla mused.

  “Well, just don’t give up on hope,” Adam urged. He handed her the last plate and rinsed off his hands. “I’ve learned that sometimes hope is the only thing that keeps us together.”

  “And once again you prove more wise than I,” Drusilla laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She finished up and went to get some fresh air. Lu was working at cleaning off her knife again. “Careful, rubbing too hard by the hilt won’t be good,” Drusilla cautioned.

  “What the hell do you know?” Lu growled. Sighing, Drusilla took out her dagger and walked up to Lu.

  “I’ve been trying to wash this off completely for four years. A great man once told me that sometimes the past will just stick to the blade and you just have to accept it will always be there,” Drusilla explained. Lu frowned.

  “I would suggest just getting to work,” Lu snapped.

  “Lu, she’s only trying to be helpful,” Adam insisted as he walked over. Lu crossed her arms.

  “Oh yes, so helpful by telling me what to do with my own weapon and flirting around with you,” Lu huffed.

  “We’re just friends,” Drusilla hissed. “I’ve already lost the man I loved.” With that she grabbed a mop and marched over to the other side of the deck. Adam glared at his wife.

  “I don’t know what the hell is going on with you, Lucinda, but it needs to stop here and now before you destroy the only good in your life,” Adam warned. “Before you push all of us away.” Lu simply remained silent, slipping her knife right back in its sheath. Adam looked back over at Drusilla who was tense and clearly agitated. Sighing, he went over to her. “Hey, it’s okay,” Adam assured.

  “Is it? What even is it between us?” Drusilla asked. Adam simply looked down at the ground.

  “I don’t know and I don’t know if it matters,” Adam admitted. He looked up. “What matters is getting to that island and not killing each other. I know Lu has been awful towards you, but just hold on.”

  “When we were at Tiarta my brother told me something,” Drusilla remarked. Adam sighed.

  “Lu being a Mace, I presume,” Adam interrupted. Drusilla nodded. “I know very little of her past, sad to say. She would never tell me anything unless it was necessary. I thought she was running away but now… Just be careful and
don’t irritate her enough to make us all sorry.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Drusilla told him. “I’ve not had home for four years. I’m not giving this up so easy.” Adam smiled.

  “That has to be the greatest thing I’ve heard you say yet,” Adam cooed, going back to work in the early hours of the night.

  Chapter 5:

  Nathan woke with a start, his skin near drenched with sweat. His heart was racing and aching, mind still lost in his dream. Why was he forced to relive those happy moments that now killed him? He would give everything he could to feel nothing, to be numb. It was better than this, it had to be. He wiped his brow with the back of his brow, looking around the room. He had to kill the Brethren. He had to end the Eknar’s life once and for all. There was no other option. It was blood for blood now. All that was in Nathan’s heart was rage, a flaming anger. These people had burned his family, his kind. They’d murdered Drusilla’s mother and twisted Malcolm and perhaps many like him to their cause. It had to end. That was Nathan’s duty.

  It was clear to Nathan now that he had to take back the throne. Galdirr was meant for better than this, so many innocent lives lost. It was supposed to be a kingdom of hope and peace. It was a place of refuge. And now… Now that was all lost. What would it take to win that dream back? Nathan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Whatever the cost, Nathan was willing to pay. He had to. Forcing himself up, Nathan looked in the mirror. For the first time he clearly saw a king. He saw a man ready to lead and do what he had to for his people. Nathan was meant to be king, not Gluther. Nathan would fight to remind Galdirr of that. Nathan sheathed his sword, grabbing his hat and walking out into night.

  Adam was the only one on deck, not that it surprised Nathan. His right hand looked at him, studying him with a cautionary glance. “Have they returned, Nathan?” Adam asked. He was always the caring friend. At least some people never changed. Nathan stiffly nodded.

  “I don’t understand why it had to happen,” Nathan sighed. He took the wheel from Adam’s hands.

  “How could any?” Adam mused, looking out at the horizon.

  “I suppose you’re right. You have feelings for her, don’t you?” Nathan inquired. Adam looked down at the ground, slow to answer.

  “I don’t know what I feel anymore, Nathan. I thought I loved Lu, but now, well now I don’t know if I can look her in the eye. With Drusilla, I can’t say what my heart is set on,” Adam explained. His voice was weary, a sign that his mind was tired of arguing with itself. Nathan could understand that. It was a taxing thing, to be so unsure.

  “I sense hatred in Lu’s eyes when she looks at you, Adam. I think you may be right about her, but I can’t see a Fireblood being one,” Nathan remarked, the words leaving his mouth before he could think them through. Adam just smiled though, slowly nodding.

  “You may be right. It’d be hypocrisy for that. You would truly have to question a heart in that situation,” Adam agreed.

  “I’d continue to keep an eye on her, if I were you. She may not be who we wish her to be. However, I doubt her to be one, whatever she feels or whatever she does. We don’t know enough about her to judge so lowly,” Nathan assured. He was trying to be realistic. They’d been with Lu for how long? He couldn’t think one way or another about her without some problem from it.

  «I suppose you are right in that regard. I feel I barely know her at all now. I’m going down for now, let you enjoy the night. I shall see you in the morning,” Adam replied, walking away. Nathan was left alone in the salty air. The moon was shining overhead, and as Nathan closed his eyes, he realized that he loved this. He loved being out on the open sea, and taking his place on the throne would mean giving this up. He’d have to. That would be the greatest sacrifice. Nathan only hoped that in the end it was worth it.

  Luther faced the other Free Striders. They had met in the dead of night under a midnight moon. The summer air wasn’t too cold for the night, and they had two fires going. “We have to fight,” Luther argued.

  “Why?” growled an older man. Luther looked over at him. “We are Free Striders. We have no bother fighting in this war.”

  “Don’t we? Many of us are firebloods as well. Besides, who is to say the Brethren won’t be going to kill us next?” Luther argued.

  “He has a point,” Zerienne, a woman in her thirties with a two year old girl named Serapha asleep in her arms. “We would be fighting for our right to live.”

  “That means nothing!” the older man snapped.

  “No, it means every bloody thing,” Luther insisted. He shook his head. “I’ve seen too much. I don’t care what it takes. We are not just fighting for ourselves, and maybe that is how it should be.”

  “You think only of the girl,” another Free Strider groaned. Luther glared at him.

  “Drusilla can hold her own,” Luther assured.

  “But she did reach your soft spot,” Zerienne pointed out. Luther rolled his eyes.

  “As I recall did you,” Luther muttered. “If I fight for anything concerning her, it’s the boy. If they find out he’s a fireblood, that will mean his end. We can no longer just sit back. Three hundred years and this war has not ended. It is beyond time someone does something.”

  “So let’s fight,” Zerienne agreed. “Let’s put an end to all of this and make Galdirr what it was. Isn’t that what the Free Striders vowed to be? The image of what was? Let’s prove that we are.”

  “We ride out in the morning,” the old man sighed, caving in.

  “Annloe wrote. He said to turn towards the old village of Norto,” Luther explained.

  “Then Norto it is,” Zerienne muttered, taking her daughter back to their tent. The other Free Striders all began to leave to their own tents, Luther standing there lost in thought. Until the older man walked up.

  “The child looks like you,” the man pointed out. Luther looked over at him.

  “Serapha is solely her mother’s,” Luther assured. The man chuckled.

  “Is it? Careful now, we are on the edge of war,” the man warned.

  “Are we? Or are we only jumping headfirst into the fire?” Luther mused. The man sighed.

  “I suppose that is up to you,” the man cooed, walking away. It was that man who had made Luther the Free Strider he was, and that man that Luther now had to look to for wisdom. The greatest trials were now ahead and not behind.

  Nathan opened his eyes, looking around him. Dawn was threatening on the horizon and with it came too much. Annloe was the one who would expose Nathan’s greatest secrets, his ties to King Latorro. However, Nathan understood they had to seek the sorcerer. He would know what to do with the prophecy. That was his duty. His hand subconsciously reached up, grabbing the stone around his neck once more. Lillian was the one thing he could never get out of his mind no matter how hard he tried. “Ri yen,” Nathan whispered in Elvish. “Find me.” He didn’t know why he felt such a need to say it, but he did. For some odd reason he just had to. It gave him comfort in an odd way.

  Looking up, Nathan saw how fresh dawn had become. Streaks of red and orange lined the horizon as the sun began to rise. In the distance could be seen the mass that was the Isle of Serenity. Nathan groaned. He’d known that today they’d be reaching their destination, but he was weary of it all the same. There were many reasons for that, though, and Nathan just had to push on. There was no other option. Stretching, Nathan prepared himself. It was now or never. Everything was about to change.

  Annloe stirred in his sleep. He’d fallen fast asleep reading in the library. He groaned, looking around the room. The fire in the fireplace had dimmed. Stretching, he walked to the window, looking out at the sea. He noticed the ship clearly and smiled. “We shall be having some guests,” Annloe muttered to himself. He grabbed his cloak and staff, ready to leave. He could at least prepare some breakfast. Today would be too important to overlook even the smallest of details.

  Lu bit at her nail, facing the wall. Adam had decided to sleep on the floor. What had s
he done to screw things up this much? What had she overlooked? It was no matter. There were worse situations to come. Lu softly shook her head. She should have known this would be a problem. Then again, it shouldn’t have had to have been. No, nothing was going as she wanted. Well, she could only hope the Beings would start to play the cards in her favor. Otherwise… Otherwise it would all be for nothing. And that was the very last thing Lucinda wanted.

  Chapter 6:

  “Awake!” Nathan called down the stairs. “The isle is on the horizon!” He ran down to change, grabbing an ash stained shirt. Why he had kept such a thing, Nathan didn’t know. Seven years and Nathan wouldn’t let go. Tossing it on with a stretch of his arms, Nathan walked back up to where the sun was starting to truly find its place in the sky. The isle before him was decorated by white sandy beaches, spots of bright green grass, and flowers of various colors. The ground rose and sloped beautifully. There was a stone mansion of sorts on the island, older than Nathan dared to guess. The others were already working on lower the anchor and Nathan couldn’t help but smile.

  The day was warm and Nathan noticed that Drusilla was wearing a shirt with shorter sleeves than she usually did, her hair braided back as usual. Nathan walked over, helping the others out. The water was such a vivid blue that it mesmerized Nathan. He couldn’t help but look at its beauty. This was what he loved most. The sharp ocean breeze met his nose like an old companion while he looked out at one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. Moments like this never got old for him. Perhaps they never would. What could he say? He was a seaman through and through.

  “Let’s start heading to shore,” Nathan advised. Adam and Drusilla were quick to prepare a boat. Lu, however, was not. She looked at Nathan with cold gray eyes. There was something about the way she crossed her arms and had no emotion in her eyes that set Nathan on edge.