To my youngest son, Kalad,
To reach adulthood in the absence of your father is a hardship I have known, and I dearly wish that I could alter this situation
for you. Before he died, my father gave me one piece of advice that I now hand on to you. It is by this advice that I know the path I choose is correct, and that my death will have served you far better than my survival: Fight to save what you love, never to destroy what you hate...
The following day, he visited the people he needed to visit, postponed meetings and put what affairs he could in order. He avoided Silar with admirable success while he marched the castle, and it wasn’t long before he reached his eldest son’s rooms. He said what he could without giving too much away to Tallyn. “I will not be around forever,” he warned, “And I want you to protect your mother after me. Make her smile when she is sad.”
Though, he had few worries about that son. He would make an excellent king once he was old enough. And Medea would have made as great a queen as her mother, one day. When he went to visit his daughter he found her cutting and slashing at a dummy, shouting, “I will be beat my brother! I don’t care if he’s older or bigger or anything!”
“You won’t do it if you allow yourself to become that angry,” Morghiad said, interrupting her solitary battle.
She pulled a face at him and flopped into a chair. Blazes, but she looked so like her mother! He said many of the same things to her that he had said to Tallyn, but then he took her hands and searched her power. Very little work was required to undo the block he’d set about her fires, and her eyes almost popped
out of her skull when he’d finished. “It’s... free. Dad, I can’t... I don’t know what to do with it!”
“Yes you do. You’ve had plenty of lessons. Go on.”
She started by lifting a canal pen from her desk, and then a water jug from her dresser, and then a crowd of objects circled about their heads. His daughter didn’t even break a sweat doing it. She was easily a grade thirteen wielder, though her fires were different again from Artemi’s. Morghiad shook his head in amazement. “You can do a lot of good with such power. But you can also do some very bad things. Promise me you will only do good.”
Medea nodded solemnly.
“Your mother and I will be watching to see that you do. Now, I must get on with other
business.” He hugged his daughter goodbye and continued on his round of errands.
He spent most of his final night awake and staring at his sleeping wife. She appeared so calm and beautiful, the sort of image that could cease raging wars and quiet violent storms.
“I remember the first time I saw you,” he whispered, “And I thought you were a terrible distraction. And now you are my focus. And what a perfect focus you have turned out to be.” How different the world would have been if he’d never met her. Acher would still rule, Cadra would still sit darkly amongst the grassy plains. And he would be locked inside it, childless... or possibly dead at the old king’s hands. And where would Artemi be now? Back in The Crux, raising the offspring of that
odd-looking man? Would she have been more unhappy than he was about to make her? He crushed that thought into the depths of his mind.
The sunlight touched her auburn locks as her eyes fluttered open, but he was dressed, ready to leave. “I’m going for a ride, my heart,” he said.
Her voice was groggy, but she mustered a smile. “Don’t be long. Wait, I spoke to Silar yesterday. He wants to see
you.”
Morghiad nodded as if there was nothing untoward about that. “Alright, I will. But if you see him first, could you tell him there’s a letter in his pigeon hole?”
Artemi nodded and snuggled back into the bed sheets.
He kissed her forehead, whispered an,
“I love you,” and then he walked from the rooms. Blazes, how much he’d wanted to cry then! Damn this curse on his family! Damn this monster in his head! Morghiad strode confidently down to the palace gate, carefully placing Silar’s letter in the correct box, and proceeded to the stables. There, he tacked up one of the army’s spare horses and rode out, not wishing to have Tyshar witness what was about to happen.
What he hadn’t expected, however, was to see Silar pacing one of the streets in the opposite direction. He was occupied with talking to someone else, but nodded to Morghiad as they passed. Morghiad was very careful to respond with conscious control: a measured nod, well-contained movements - but he was sure something flickered in Silar’s eyes.
He decided to kick his horse on a little faster once they were out of sight.
The grey sky hung low and heavy over Gialdin, threatening with sleet rather than snow or hail. Medea wondered at it, and all the things she could sense in the world around her. The gate was obvious to her, glowing beneath the ground and pulsing with its peculiar energy, and the buildings of the city sang the same song. She couldn’t sense Danner anymore, and she missed him. He’ll come back to us in his next
life, her mother had said.
“Enjoying your vast powers, oh great one?” Tallyn teased, coming to sit beside her.
“It does feel... like nothing else,” she grinned and played with the claw bracelet her father had given her. Your grandmother’s, he had told her.
They’d already wielded a few forms together the previous evening, making things burn and then covering them with ice. Nothing too destructive. She was glad her brother could use it too; she didn’t like being too different from him.
“Med?” he asked.
“Yes?”
Tallyn took a deep breath. “Do you think they will be upset with us? For what we’ve done?”
Medea sat up and pulled her mouth tight. “It was only a stupid pen!”
“No, I don’t mean that. I mean the other thing: dad.”
She knew what he meant. Bloody Achellon, her parents ought to be pleased with it! “They love each other. They shouldn’t be separated. It’s not right. We don’t even know if it worked.”
Her brother took a deep breath and sighed. “I know. It just... feels like we’ve changed something we don’t really understand. And mum always says it’s a curse on her and those like her.”
“It’s not a curse if they aren’t alone anymore.”
It was then that General Forllan came running towards them. He had a crumpled letter in his right hand, and he looked very flustered. “Where is your mother?”
Tallyn shrugged. “Still with Kalad, I think. Is something wrong?”
Silar didn’t answer them, instead running off to the castle tower on his long legs.
Medea shook her head. Everyone knew Lord Forllan was in love with their mother. At first she’d found it embarrassing, then amusing, at times annoying and now... Now she simply accepted it as the norm. Silar had always been very kind to them, though he was a tougher sword instructor than their father. “Tal, do you ever thi-” She stopped as she felt something ripple through the fabric of the city. It felt horrible... unsettled and incongruous. And something else came with it, a sound that only she could hear. It took a
moment for her to work out quite what it was. And then she understood. Her mother was howling, screaming with pure, unfettered and uncontrolled grief.
Artemi did not rouse from her bed for some time after his river had ceased to flow through her mind. She could not bring herselfto see Kalad, or even her other two children, with so little life in her. At first she’d wielded a great gateway of flame to throw herself into, but had
been held back by the knowledge that she could not die, even if she wanted to. And her babies. How could she leave them as their father had? She sat up and read his letter again, but it only fanned her ire even more. How could he have done this? And without so much as a whisper of it to her or anyone. And Dorlunh... She would track that little weasel down and make him suffer for it!
She threw the letter at the wall and cried again. This was not right. None of it made sense at all! But her children needed her. His children
. Artemi clawed herself from her bed and stood, wavering on the white ground. She’d always known this moment would come one day - that the perfection could not last. But never so soon as this. A plan started to form in her head. Kalad and the others needed her
now, but when they were all grown they would not. And then she would return to The Crux, and she would be free to give herself up to the flames. No more walking the earth for eternity, not alone.
Artemi dressed herselfand washed her face with shaking hands. It took every fibre of her strength to step out of those rooms - to face the bright light of her palace. And outside her green-eyed son and daughter were waiting, and Kalad was in Medea’s arms. Their father was visible in each one of them. “I’m sorry you’ve waited so long,” she said through her tears, before embracing them all tightly. “I am here for you now.”
As she closed her eyes, she felt something stir in a dark corner of her mind. She couldn’t have said what it looked like, except
that it was a creature of the shadows. It prowled the edges of her thoughts only briefly, and then it was gone.
Glossary of Terms
Achellon – A mythical place inhabited by the all-powerful fire gods. It is believed that Achellon is composed entirely of Blaze Energy and that it is the true source of such power. It is often described as a place devoid of pain or suffering.
Benay-gosa – An unmarried, female attendant of male royalty. Her primary duty is to provide an heir, though she is more
commonly viewed as a provider of pleasures for her mate. Benay-gosa are chosen by their sponsors, and considered to be royal property. They are similar to concubines, though they can be selected from any level of society.
Blaze Energy – A fiery power that can be manipulated into weapons, shields, sources of light and even used to construct buildings. It is usually described as blue light in its most basic form, but to most people it is not visible.
Blazes, The – The fires from which Blaze Energy is extracted. Only wielders (directly) and kanaala (indirectly) have access to these fires.
Eisiel – A creature so burned by The Blazes that it is half-dead. Described as charred, oily skinned and wasted in
appearance, eisiels kill without remorse. They usually hunt for a specific target, selected by their maker. It has been observed that they are former lovers of wielders, whose fires burned them during love-making. They are immune to weapons made with Blaze Energy.
Form (Blaze) – A structure made with Blaze Energy that will produce a specific weapon, shield, light or piece of matter. Forms are altered by defining the speed, vibration and shapes of Blaze Energy that make it. Once constructed, most forms can be deconstructed or unravelled, but the time required is dependent upon the complexity of the form.
Ghar-en – An amplifying tool for reinforcing or enlarging existing Blaze forms. Only a few of these are known to have been made, and most have become lost through
Gar-sira – An object to which a Blaze form can be anchored, thereby impeding any kanaala’s or wielder’s efforts to deconstruct it. Gar-siras are usually objects that can be smashed or destroyed to remove the form.
Kahr – A male heir of royal blood in the central and eastern areas of the Sennefhal continent.
Kahriss – A female heir of royal blood in the central and eastern areas of the Sennefhal continent.
Kanaala – A man who can manipulate (i.e. wield) Blaze forms or deconstruct them. Kanaala are the male counterpart to wielders, and they cannot access Blaze Energy independently. A kanaala can control the Blazes through a wielder, and he can access
her fires before her power is fully matured. He also has the ability to permanently quench a wielder of her power.
Kanaala are the only men who can safely sleep with wielders, though this is dependent upon their grading. For example, a kanaala graded four will almost certainly die if he lies with a wielder graded five and this is due to his limited capacity for her power.
Kanaala are graded according to their ability, with most falling between grades three and five. A kanaala graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
A kanaala can detect the presence of a wielder. The more powerful either one is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Kanaala can only detect other kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Kanaala are born with their full potential already reached, and do not mature into their abilities as wielders do. Prospective parents fear giving birth to kanaala, since the child's arrival will always result in the mother's death. The same is not true of wielders unless the child has the potential to be especially powerful. It is thought that this difference has something to do with the child's latent Blaze abilities at birth.
Morghiad of House Jade’an is the only known example of a kanaala whose mother survived.
Blaze abilities are often inherited, but have been known to spontaneously appear in families where it has previously been absent.
Kefruit – A hand-sized, yellow tree fruit with mottled peel. Its sweet flavour makes it popular in desserts.
Nalka – The physical pain suffered by lovers upon being separated from each other. It usually manifests about ten days after their last engagement in sexual intercourse and is complete within four days of the first pains.
The affliction is usually fatal to those who suffer it before the age of twenty, and so it is not advised that lovers enter into a sexual relationship before they're old enough to withstand the separation.
It represents the termination of the bond between partners and their potential to procreate. However, lovers are able to have children subsequently, but only if they are able to maintain a sexual relationship without undergoing nalka for nine years.
In spite of this phenomenon, brothels
and whore houses are prevalent across much of the world.
Partition (Blaze) – A Blaze form that masks wielding from any nearby kanaala or wielders. The construction of most Blaze forms gives off heat, and a partition will impede any further dispersal of that heat.
Pinh – A black, poisonous liquid which prevents wounds from healing. If enough poison is ingested by an individual they will suffer pinhatar death, where the blood becomes too saturated with the substance to perform its proper function. Scars that result from wounds are generally caused by the presence of pinh.
Sarkha – A tube-like implement with a plunger and reservoir at either end, used to clean pinh-saturated wounds that are too deep to be washed any other way. One reservoir is
filled with water and the flexible, middle section of the tube is inserted into the wound. Once the water reservoir has been emptied into the injury, the second reservoir can be used to withdraw the diluted poison.
Stasis – The body’s method of preserving itselfin times of drought or famine. Sufferers will fall into a death-like, comatose state and will be unrousable. They will wake, on average, once per decade and search for nourishment. If a sufferer is unable to find food or water in order to break the stasis cycle, they will eventually succumb after one-to-twohundred years have passed.
Swift – An orange, ground-creeping flower, native to mountainous regions. Tanno – A juicy, purple berry with a
slightly acidic taste. It is usually skinned, pressed and fermented to make wine.
Vanha-sielu – An old term for an even older group of people, meaning "repeated life." These individuals are born again within two weeks of their deaths, ad infinitum. In each life they carry an identical appearance and are inevitably given the same name by their parents or guardians.
Occasionally, their own fame in previous lives causes them to be named after themselves.
Until the age of 23 they are unaware of their deep past, although several aspects of their character will manifest in the same way through childhood. If memories are forced upon a vanha-sielu before their mind is ready to accept them, it can lead to death or madness.
However, familiar faces and objects do not seem to trigger this in young vanha-sielu, whi
ch implies that a certain set of words are necessary in order to initiate premature recall.
It is currently unknown how the phenomena of vanha-sielu came about, and new ones do not appear to have been created in recent times.
Wielder – A wielder is able to control Blaze Energy and access The Blazes independently. Wielders are exclusively female, born with the potential to reach a certain level of ability, but they can only access their powers independently once they reach the age of twenty. Until then they must employ the aid of kanaala to help them wield.
A wielder can detect the presence of another wielder. The more powerful either one
is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Wielders can only detect kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Wielders are graded according to their ability, with most falling between grades two and four. A wielder graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
The Fireblade Array: 4-Book Bundle Page 106
